ENGLAND 3 faced Czech team ŠK Sokol Vyšehrad in this afternoon's final round.
Jiří Groh (1989) - Spanton (1896)
QGD Bf4
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 e6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Bf4!?
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| This position, which goes back to at least the 1899 Janowski-Showalter match, occurs 1,1,28 times in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database, but is very much a sideline, although recently Nakamura has played it |
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4...Bd6 5.Bxd6 Qxd6 6.e3 0-0 7.Nc3 c5 8.Be2 dxc4!?
This move in not in Mega25, but it is the top choice of Stockfish17 and Dragon1. Known continuations are 8...Nc6, 8...cxd4, 8...Bd7 and 8...b6.
9.Bxc4
The game has transposed to a position occurring 18 times in Mega25, but in 16 of them it is White to play.
9...a6 10.a4
The engines prefer 10.dxc5, 10.0-0 or10.Be2!?
10...Nc6 11.0-0
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| Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position? |
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Black's bishop is hemmed in by its own pawns, but the engines reckon that disadvantage is more than offset by Black's pressure against the white centre.
11...Rd8 12.dxc5 Qxc5 13.Qe2 e5?!
Freeing the bishop, but missing that White has sharp counterplay.
14.Ng5 Rf8
This withdrawal is more-or-less forced.
15.Rac1 Qe7 16.Rfd1?!
Another case of missing an opponent's fairly obvious reply. The black e pawn should be stopped from advancing, perhaps by 16.Nge4.
16...e4 17.Rd2?
JG picked up the rook, intending to move it to d4, but did not let go of the piece, it seems, and played the text instead.
17...h6
Forcing a combination that nearly always favours the side gaining two pieces for rook and pawn.
18.Nxf7
Worse is 18.Nh3? Bxh3 19.gxh3 Ne5.
18...Rxf7 19.Bxf7+ Qxf7 20.Rcd1?
Yet another case of missing a simple reply.
20...Bg4 21.f3 exf3 22.gxf3 Bh3 23.Nd5 Nxd5 24.Rxd5 Rf8 25.Rd6
The engines suggest 25.Rc5 or 25.a5, but agree Black is winning.
25...Qh5!?
This is stronger than grabbing the f pawn.
26.Qc4+ Kh8 27.Qd5 Ne5 28.f4!? Qg4+ 29.Kf2
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| How should Black proceed? |
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29...Qh4+
This is fine, but immediately devastating is 29...Rxf4+! 30.exf4 Qxf4+, eg 31.Kg1 Nf3+ 32.Kf2 Nd4+ 33.Kg1 Qg4+ 34.Kf2 Qe2+ 35.Kg3 Qe3+ 36.Kh4 Nf5+, or 31.Ke2 Bg4+ 32.Ke1 Qe3+ 33.Kf1 Bh3+.
30.Kg1 Ng4?!
This is winning, but transposing to the previous note with 30...Qg4+ is better, and if White avoids that by playing 31.Kh1?!, then 31...Nf3 is decisive.
31.Qf2 Nxh2??
This lets White force queens off. Instead 31...Nf6 threatens 32...Bg4, when White apparently has nothing better than 33.Rc1, after which Black has many attractive continuations, eg 33...Bf5 34.Rd4 Re8 35.Qg3!? Qxg3+ 36.hxg3 Rxe3.
32.Qf2 Qxf2+ 33.Kxf2
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| How would you assess this ending? |
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Bishop and knight are usually worth more than a rook in middlegames, but that is not always the case in endings, especially when, as here, Black has difficulties getting the minor pieces safely out of the enemy's position.
33...Bf5?
Black can hold the balance by hitting the d1 rook with 33...Bg4.
34.Rd8?
Winning is 34.Kg3 Ng4, and now 35.Rd8, when Black cannot meet White's threat to push the e pawn.
34...Kg8?!
Completely equal, according to the engines, is 34...Rxd8 35.Rxd8+ Kh7.
35.Kg3
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| Black to play and (probably) hold the draw |
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35...Ng4!?
Possibly better is 35...Nf1+ 36.Kf2 Nh2, offering to repeat. White should avoid this with 37.Rxf8+ Kxf8 38.Kg3, but 38...Ng4 gives good drawing chances as 39.e4 Be6 40.f5 can be met by 40...Bc4, when 41.Kxg4?? loses to 41...Be2+. Instead the engines reckon 41.Rd8+ leaves White slightly better.
36.e4 Ne3
This is the best try as 36...Be6? can be met by 37.R1d6.
37.R1d3 Nf1+ 38.Kf2 Bxe4 39.R3d4
This is Dragon1's top choice, but Stockfish17 prefers first exchanging on f8.
39...Rxd8 40.Rxd8+ Kf7 41.Kxf1
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| How would you assess this rook-v-bishop ending? |
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Dragon1 reckons Black is winning; Stockfish17 reckons the position is equal.
41...Ke6?!
The engines agree activating the king is a mistake. Instead they suggest 41...g5 or 41...Bc6, but disagree as to how the game stands.
42.Kf2 Bc6 43.a5 Kf5 44.Kg3 g6 45.Rf8+ Ke6 46.Kh4 Be4 47.Kg4 Kd5 48.Rf6 Kd4 49.Rb6 Ke3 50.Rb3+ Kd4 51.Rb4+ Ke3 52.Rb3+ Kd4 53.Rb4+ Ke3 54.Rb3+ ½–½
White should not have acquiesced to a draw, according to the engines, but are they right?
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| Position after 49...Ke3 (and 51...Ke3 and 53...Ke3) |
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Best play, according to the engines, goes something like 50.Kg3 Kd3 51.Kf2 Bc6 52.b4 Ke4 53.b5!? Bxb5 (53...axb5? 54.Rxc6 bxc6 55.a6 etc) 54.Rxb7 Bd3 (54...Kxf4? 55.Rxb5!) 55.Rb4+ Kd5 56.Ke3 Bb5 57.Rd4+ Ke6 58.Rd1 Kf6 59.Rh1 Kg7 60.Rg1 Kf6 61.Rb1 Bc4 62.Kd4 Be2 63.Rb2 Bf1 64.Rb1 Be2 65.Ke4 Bc4 66.Rb6+ Kg7 67.Ke5 h5 68.Rb7+ Kh6 69.Rb8 Kg7 70.Kd4 Bf1, and so on, and so on. The engines are convinced White is winning (about +5.5, Stockfish17; about +8.5, Dragon1), but do not make progress.
So it seems the final position may be drawn after all, but White could have played on in the hope of inducing an error.
TEAM RESULT
Josef Jurek (IM 2160) 1-0 Brian Hewson (2039)František Hoštická = (2059) Anthony Ashby (2049)
Jiří Groh (1989) = Tim Spanton (1896)
Karel Šlechta (1874) 0-1 Charles Higgie (1945)
ŠK SOKOL VYŠEHRAD 2-2 ENGLAND 3
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