PLAYED on board six (of eight) for Battersea against Albany in London League division two last night.
Spanton (1984) - Chris Todd (1870)
Scandinavian
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd8!?
This move has experienced something of a revival, almost certainly thanks to recent books and DVDs, including international master Robert Ris's Fritztrainer The Smooth Scandinavian Defence. Stockfish17 prefers the text over the traditional 3...Qa5; Dragon1 disagrees.
4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Bc4!?
Much more popular are 6.h3!? and especially 6.Be2.
6...e6 7.h3!? Bxf3!? 8.Qxf3
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| How should Black proceed? |
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8...c6
Having given up the light-square bishop, Black puts pawns on light squares for a solid, but passive, setup. Note that 8...Qxd4?? loses to 9.Qxb7.
9.Be3 Bd6 10.0-0-0 Nbd7 11.Rhe1 0-0
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| Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position? |
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White is well ahead on development, but Black's queenside pawns are better placed than White's kingside ones for rolling forwards. The engines give White a slight edge.
12.Bg5 Qa5 13.Bd2 Qc7
The result of the last two moves is that White has effectively played Be3-d2, while Black has got in ...Qd8-c7. You might think the sequence should favour Black, but the engines reckon it marginally favours White.
14.g4 b5 15.Bd3 b4 16.Ne4 Nxe4 17.Bxe4 Rfc8?!
This apparent-novelty leaves the kingside a little short of defenders, but Black has a defensive plan in mind.
18.g5 Nf8!?
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| An old rule-of-thumb - coined by Bent Larsen? - has it that Black will never get mated with a knight on f8 |
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However the engines strongly dislike the text, preferring Black starts using the knight on the queenside with 18...Nb6!?
19.h4 Rab8 20.h5 Qe7?!
Covering the f6 square in the event of White pushing the h pawn. The engines prefer 20...c5 or 20...g6!?, but reckon White is positionally winning.
21.Bxc6!?
Also strong is 21.h6 anyway.
21...a5 22.d5 Qc7 23.Ba4 b3?!
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| Objectively bad, but it creates complications in what is anyway a lost position |
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24.Bxb3 a4!? 25.Bxa4 Ra8 26.Bb3 Rxa2! 27.Bc3?!
Probably best is 27.Kb1.
27...Bf4 28.Re3?
This throws away all of White's advantage. Correct is 28.Kb1, and if 28...Ra1+!? 29.Kxa1 Ra8+ 30.Kb1 Qa7 White has 31.Ba5! Qxa5 32.c3, emerging the exchange and two pawns up.
28...Ra1+ 29.Kd2 Rxd1+ 30.Kxd1 Bxe3 31.fxe3
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| How would you assess this imbalanced middlegame? |
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White has two bishops and two pawns for rook and knight, which is a material advantage, but the white king is exposed and the engines find the imbalance difficult to judge. Stockfish17 starts by calling the position completely equal, but comes to give Black a slight edge, while Dragon1 starts by marginally favouring Black, only to re-evaluate the position as completely equal.
31...exd5?
The engines like 31...Qh2 or 31...Rd8.
32.h6?
Correct is 32.Bxd5, winning a pawn, pressurising f7 and improving the defence of the king (the move e4 will solidify the bishop's outpost).
32...Rd8?
Necessary is 32...Ne6.
33.Bxg7 Qd6 34.Bd4 Ng6 35.Bf6? Rd7 36.Qf5?!
Probably better is 36.Ba4.
36...Qe6 37.Qd3?!
Probably better is 37.Qxe6!?, which improves Black's pawn-structure, but, with queens off the board, king safety is no longer an issue, and the engines reckon that change strongly favours White.
37...Qg4+ 38.Kd2 Qg2+ 39.Qe2 Qe4
Exchanging queens would be a big mistake, according to the engines.
40.Qh2 Qb4+?
The engines reckon Black had to play 40...Nf8!?
41.Bc3 Qb5 42.Qf2?!
The engines reckon 42.Qh3 and 42.Qg3 are winning, eg 42.Qh3 Qc6 43.Qf5 Rd6 44.Ba2!? Qc7 45.b4 etc.
42...Rd6?
Missing the chance to reduce White's advantage by 42...d4! 43.Bxd4 Qxg5.
43.Qf5 Qe8 44.Bd4 Qe6 45.Qd3?
As CT pointed out afterwards, this fundamentally misjudges the queens-off ending. Good is 45.Qf6!?, forcing queens off without improving Black's structure.
45...Ne5 46.Qb5 Rd8 47.Qa5 Nf3+?
45...Ne5 46.Qb5 Rd8 47.Qa5 Nf3+?
Black is completely equal after 47...Nc6, according to the engines.
48.Kc1 Qe8
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| White to win, lose or draw |
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49.Qc3??
Winning is 49.Ba7!, while 49.Ba4, among other moves, draws. After 49.Ba7! Black's best try is probably 49...d4!?, but 50.Bxf7+! Kxf7 (forced) 51.Qf5+ Kg8 52.Qxf3 leaves White with three pawns for the exchange. The second-best try is probably 49.Ba4, but the engines show 49...Qe7! draws as White cannot defend g5 (without giving up e3).
49...Ra8 50.Ba7
Too late.
50...d4! 51.exd4
Or 51.Qc7 Qxe3+ 52.Kb1 Nd2+ 53.Ka2 Nxb3 54.cxb3 d3 etc.
51...Rxa7 52.Kb1 Qe1+ 53.Qxe1 Nxe1 54.c3 Nf3 0-1
Albany defaulted on board one, Battersea on board four. Albany won the match 5-3.
MY BATTERSEA SEASON 2024-5
DATE.....EVENT...........................COL..RATING..OPP'S RATING..SCORE..SEASON PERF
12/9/24..Central London League....W......1933..........1886................1............2286
26/9/24..Central London League....B.......1933..........2112................1............2399
15/10/24.Club Championship.........W......1968..........1578................1............2259*
31/10/24.Central London League...B.......1968..........1867................0...........2061*
19/11/24.London League...............W.......1957..........1991................1.............2127*
21/11/24.Central London League...B.......1957..........2035................=............2112*
27/11/24.London League...............W.......1957..........1723................=............2056*
12/12/24.Central London League...B.......1965..........2153................0............2018*
7/1/25.....Club Championship.........B.......1958..........1785................1............2037*
9/1/25.....Central London League...B.......1958..........1851................0............1978
14/1/25....Eastman Cup.................B........1958..........2052................1............2021*
28/1/25....London League..............B........1958..........1766................1............2033*
4/2/25......London League..............B........1980..........1757................1............2043*
6/2/25......Central London League..W.......1980..........1932................0............2006*
11/2/25....Central London League..B........1986..........2178................=............2018*
13/2/25....Central London League.W........1986..........1998................1............2042*
27/2/25....Central London League..B........1986..........1996................0............2015*
13/3/25....Central London League..B........1984..........2286................0............2008*
17/3/25....London League..............W........1984..........1870................0............1980*
*My season's performance is slightly better than this as my win against a 1578 was a 1978 performance, lowering my average despite me winning.
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