Davos Round Four

Mario Steiner (1804) - Spanton (1942)

Albin Countergambit

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5!? 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.a3!?

The idea of this move, which is the top choice of both Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1, is to prevent ...Bb4+, which can be a nuisance to White in some lines, eg 5.e3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 dxe3.

5...Be6!?

The mainline in ChessBase's 2024 Mega database runs 5...Bg4 6.Nbd2 Qe7 7.h3 Bh5 8.g4!? Bg6 9.Bg2 0-0-0 10.0-0 with a sharp game that the engines reckon favours White.

6.Qc2!?

The commonest continuations in Mega24 are 6.Nbd2 and especially 6.e3.

6...Nge7 7.Bf4

The engines prefer 7.b4.

7...Ng6 8.Bg3 Be7

The engines much prefer 8...Qd7.

9.Nbd2 a5

Again the engines prefer ...Qd7.

10.h4 h5 11.Rd1 a4 12.Ne4

Thanks to the pin down the d file, the d pawn cannot be saved

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12...Ra5!? 13.e3 Ngxe5 14.Nxe5 Nxe5 15.exd4 Ng6 16.d5 Bf5 17.Bd3 0-0 18.Nf6+?!

This throws away much of White's advantage.

18...Bxf6 19.Bxf5 Re8+ 20.Kf1

How should Black proceed?

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20...Nxh4?

Restoring material equality, but only temporarily as the move liberates the white king's rook and makes h5 undefendable. Instead 20...Ne5 leaves White with only a slight edge, according to the engines.

21.Bxh4 Bxh4 22.g3 Bf6 23.Rxh5

Can Black successfully fork the white king's rook and bishop?

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23...Qe7?

A bad move in a bad position, but 23...g6? also loses, eg 24.Bxg6 fxg6 25.Qxg6+ Bg7 26.Qh7+ Kf8 27.Rf5+ etc. Best, according to the engines, is 23...Re5, but White is winning after, for example, 24.f4.

24.d6! cxd6

Also hopeless is 24...Rxf5 25.dxe7 Rxh5 26.Rd8 Rxd8 27.exd8=Q+ Bxd8 28.Qxa4.

25.Bh7+ Kh8 26.Rxa5 g6 27.Bxg6 fxg6 28.Qxg6! Qe2+ 29.Kg2 Qe4+

Best.

30.Qxe4 Rxe4 31.Rxd6 Bxb2 32.Rxa4 b5 33.Ra7 1-0