Mario Born (2152) - Spanton (1928)
Queen's Pawn Game
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 c5!?
White's move-order suggests he is angling for a Catalan, but without letting Black play an early ...dxc4, which has been cited as a relatively simple equalising line.
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| How should White respond? |
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4.Bg2
This is by far the most popular move in ChessBase's 2024 Mega database, and becomes the top choice of Dragon1, although for some time the engine prefers the peculiar 4.dxc5!? Stockfish16.1 suggests 4.c4, continuing 4...dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nd7!? 6.Qxc4 a6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Bg2, rating the position as completely equal.
4...cxd4!?
Much more popular are 4...Nf6 and especially 5...Nc6, but the text, which has been played by Garry Kasaprov, can be thought of as an anti-Catalan continuation.
5.0-0 Nf6 6.Nxd4 e5!? 7.Nb5
The mainline in Mega24 runs 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Bg5 Nbd7 9.Nc3 Be7 10.e4!? dxe4 11.Nxe4 Nxe4 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Bxe4 Nf6 14.Bg2 0-0, with complete equality, according to the engines.
7...a6 8.N5a3!?
The engines prefer retreating the knight to c3.
8...Be7
This may be a novelty. The engines reckon Black is better after 8...Nc6 or 8...Be6.
9.c4
The engines suggest 9.Bg5.
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| How should Black proceed? |
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9...d4!?
This seems best. The position now resembles a Réti, albeit one in which the Réti knight has been transported from f3 to a3.
10.Bg5 0-0 11.Bxf6!?
This is the top choice of the engines.
11...Bxf6 12.Nd2 Nc6 13.Qb3!?
MB offered a draw.
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| How would you assess the position? |
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Black has the bishop-pair and a central pawn-majority, together with more space in the centre. White has more pieces developed, a queenside space advantage and the endgame advantage of a farside pawn-majority. The engines give Black the upper hand.
13...Na5 14.Qd3 Nc6 15.Qb3 Qc7 16.Rac1 Be6 17.Bd5!?
This is the engines' top choice.
17...Bh3 18.Rfe1 Bg5 19.Rcd1 Rab8 20.Nc2 Ne7 21.Bg2 Bxg2 22.Kxg2
The bishop-pair has gone, but Black retains a good advantage.
22...Rfc8?!
This seems to largely let White off the hook, whereas 22...b5 is very strong, the point being 23.cxb5?! Rxb5 is winning for Black, eg 24.Qd3 Rxb2, or 24.Qa4 Bxd2 25.Rxd2 Rxb2.
23.Ne4?!
Probably better is the engines' 23.e3, eg 23...b5 24.exd4 bxc4 25.Qf3 Rxb2 26.Ne4 h6 27.Qc3 Qb7 28.dxe5, with an unclear position that the engines reckon gives equal chances.
23...Qc6 24.Qf3 Bh6 25.Nb4 Qg6
Not 25...Qxc4? 26.Nd6 etc.
26.c5!? f5!? 27.Qb3+ Kf8!?
Not 27.Kh8? Nd6 28.Rf8 Nd5 with a strong initiative.
28.Nd2 Bxd2 29.Rxd2 Rxc5
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| Black is a sound pawn up |
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30.Nd3 Rb5 31.Qa3 Rc8 32.Kg1?!
There probably was not time for this. The engines suggest 32.e3 or 32.f4!?, but give Black the upper hand.
32...Qb6 33.Rc1
The engines suggest 33.Red1 or 33.b4, but agree Black has a positionally won game.
33...Rxc1+ 34.Nxc1 Ra5 35.Qd3 Qc6 36.Rc2 Rc5 37.Rxc5 Qxc5 38.Nb3 Qc6?!
This allows White an equalising chance, whereas 38...Qb4, among other moves, maintains an advantage, according to the engines.
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| How does White equalise? |
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39.Qd2
The engines show 39.f4! breaks up Black's centre and so equalises, eg 39...exf4 40.Nxd4 Qc1+ 41.Kg2 fxg3 42.Nxf5 Nxf5 43.Qxf5+ with perpetual check.
39...b6 40.f4?!
A move late, and with much less effect thanks to the white queen being on d2 (as will soon become clear). However, after the engines' 40.e3 dxe3 41.Qxe3 Qd6 Black remains a sound pawn up.
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| How does Black gain a large advantage? |
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40...Nd5!
There is no good answer to this. MB spent 21 minutes on his next, but defied grandmaster John Nunn's 20-minute rule (see yesterday's game for a brief explanation of this rule) by coming up with what Dragon1 reckons is best.
41.Kf2!?
Stockfish16.1 for quite some time agrees this is best, but comes to slightly prefer 41.e4 and 41.Qc1, albeit reckoning Black is the equivalent of more than a minor piece ahead.
41...Ne3 42.Qc1 Qxc1
This is stronger than 42...Qg2+ 43.Ke1 Qf1+ etc. However the engines reckon that, instead of 43...Qf1+, Black gets an even larger advantage with 43...b5!?
43.Nxc1 exf4 44.Nb3 Nd1+ 45.Kf3 fxg3 46.hxg3 Nxb2 47.Nxd4 g6 48.Ne6+ Kf7 49.Ng5+ Kg7 50.Ke3 h6 51.Ne6+ Kf7 52.Nc7 a5 53.Kd4 h5 54.Nd5 Ke6!? 55.Nxb6
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| White is now 'only' one pawn down, but Black can create a winning passer on the h file |
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55...g5 56.Nd5 a4 57.Nc3 h4 58.gxh4 gxh4 59.e4!? h3 60.Ne2 h2 61.Ng3 f4 62.Nh1 Nd1 63.Kd3 Ke5 64.Kd2 Ne3 65.Nf2 Nf1+ 66.Kd3 Ng3?? 67.Ng4+ ½–½
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