Fareham Round Six

THIS game sees me playing the same opponent as in round five, but with colours reversed - not so surprising in a six-round swiss with only five entries.

Spanton (1984) - Daniel Sullivan (2051)

Caro-Kann Tartakower

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6!?

Very much the fashion - Black gets easy development and a kingside pawn-majority, at the expense of conceding White a queenside pawn-majority and central space

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White's majority is an endgame asset - a sort of mirror image of the structure that arises in the Exchange Variation of the Spanish.

Black's majority, as I understand it, has two points. The first is that, in the event of opposite-side castling (Black on the kingside, White on the queenside), Black's wall of pawns on the kingside will give the black king good protection.

The second point is that if White castles kingside, Black can advance the kingside pawns in relative safety, creating attacking chances backed by Black's easy development.

For what it is worth, Stockfish17 and Dragon1 reckon White is slightly better.

6.c3 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.Ne2

More popular in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database is 8.Qc2 and then 9.Ne2.

8...Nd7

The main line in Mega25 runs 8...Re8 9.0-0 Nd7, reaching the same position as in the game via a minor transposition.

9.0-0 Re8 10.Ng3
Here, marginally more popular is 10.Bf4 Nf8 11.Bxd6 Qxd6, and now 12.Ng3.

10...g6 11.Re1 f5!?

This may be a novelty. The engines are happy with it, and with the known 11...Rxe1+

12.Bd2 Nf8 13.Rxe8 Qxe8 14.Qf3 Be6 15.Re1 Qd8 16.a3

Playable is the desirable 16.c4, as 16...Bxg3?! 17.Qxg3 Qxd4 18.Bc3 gives White excellent compensation for a pawn.

16...Bd5 17.Qe2 b5!?

How should White proceed?

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18.c4?!

It seems manoeuvring with 18.Nf1!? or 18.Qd1!? is better.
18...bxc4 19.Bxc4 Bxg3?!

Black is at least slightly better after 19...Bc7!? or 19...Ne6, according to the engines.

20.hxg3 Ne6 21.Bc3 h5!? 22.Bxd5 Qxd5

The engines prefer 22.cxd5!?

23.Qe5 Qxe5

As DS pointed out in the postmortem, Black is in trouble after 23...Rd8? 24.Qf6.

24.Rxe5 Rd8 25.Ra5 Rd7

Perhaps 25...Nxd4 is marginally better.

26.Ra6 Rc7?!

Passive rook play in endings is nearly always a mistake, when there is an active alternative, which here means 26...Nxd4.

27.Ba5 Rb7

This is much better than continuing passivity with 27...Rc8?, when 28.Rxa7 Nxd4 29.a4 is very dangerous for Black.

28.Rxc6 Nxd4!

The best move in a tricky position.

29.Rc8+ Kh7 30.Rd8?

Throwing away White's advantage. After 30.Rc7 Rxb2 (probably not 30...Rxc7?! 31.Bxc7) 31.Rxf7+ Kg8 32.Rxa7 White is no more than slightly better, according to the engines, but has the only winning chances. Note that 30.Bc3? is easily countered by 30...Ne2+ etc.

30...Nc6 31.Rd5 Nxa5

DS offered a draw.

32.Rxa5 Rxb2 33.Rxa7 Rb1+ 34.Kh2 Kg7 35.a4 Rb2 36.f3 Rb1 37.a5 Ra1 38.Ra8 g5 39.a6 g4 40.fxg4 hxg4 41.Ra7 ½–½