Spanton (1922) - Ulrich Nehmert (2233)
Sicilian O'Kelly/Morra Gambit
Time control: 130 minutes with a 30-second increment.
1.e4 131 c5 131 2.Nf3 131 a6!? 131 3.d4 130 cxd4 131 4.c3!? 130 dxc3 130 5.Nxc3 130 Nc6 129 6.Bc4 130 e6!? 128
Robert Fischer - Viktor Korchnoi, Buenos Aires 1960, went 6...d6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Bg5 e6 9.Qe2 Be7 10.Rfd1 Qc7, with a slight edge for Black, according to Stockfish17 and Dragon1 (½–½, 29 moves). The text is preferred by the engines, and is the commonest continuation in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database.
7.0-0 130 Nge7 128 8.Qe2 130
This is a normal Morra move, but the engines much prefer 8.h4!?
8...Ng6 126 9.Rd1 130 Be7 116
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| How should White proceed? |
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10.Nd5!? 128
This is the top choice of Dragon1, but Stockfish17 marginally prefers 10.a4.
10...exd5 110 11.exd5 128 0-0!? 110
If 11...Na5, which does not appear in Mega25, then 12.d6 Nxc4 13.Qxc4 (13.dxe7?! Qc7) Bf6 14.Re1+ Kf8 leaves Black a bishop up, but White has obvious compensation. Stockfish17 slightly prefers Black, but Dragon1 gives Black the upper hand.
12.dxc6 128 bxc6 110 13.Nd4!? 124
The routine developing move 13.Be3 allows 13...d5, after which it is hard to find any compensation for White being a pawn down.
13...Qc7 98 14.Nf5 122 Bc5!? 84
This is the engines' top choice. The problem with 14...Bf6 is that it gives up the d6 square, when best is 15.Rd6!, one point being 15...Be5? runs into 16.Rxg6! hxg6 17.Ne7+ Kh7 18.Qg4! Bxh2+ 19.Kh1 Qe5 20.Bg5, with mate, or a huge win of material, to come.
15.b4?! 112
Objectively better is 15.Be3, but 15...Bxe3 followed by 16...d5 is very good for Black.
15...d5 84 16.bxc5 112 Bxf5 84 17.Bd3 111
Zoran Avramović (2219) - Miloš Perunović (2384), Serbian Championship (Kragujevac) 2000, went 17.Bxa6 Qa7?! (I was more worried about 17...Rfe8, which is the engines' preference) 18.Bd3 Bxd3 19.Qxd3 Qxc5, after which White does not have enough for a pawn (0-1, 66 moves).
17...Rfe8 82 18.Qc2 110 Bxd3 80 19.Qxd3 110 Qa5 80 20.Be3 109 Re4 73
UH in the postmortem said 20...Rab8 may be better, but the engines prefer the text.
21.Rdb1 106 Rae8 70 22.h3?! 101
Probably better is 22.Rb6 d4 23.Rxa6 (23.Bxd4?? Re1+ etc), although after 23...Qd8 24.Bd2 R4e6 the engines reckon Black is winning.
22...Ne5 61 23.Qd2 98 Qxd2 61 24.Bxd2 98 Nc4 60
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| How would you assess this late-middlegame position? |
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Black is up a protected passed pawn, and has the better minor piece, even though a bishop is normally better than a knight at cooperating with rooks. The engines agree Black is winning.
25.Be1?! 97
The more-active 25.Bc3 is probably better.
The more-active 25.Bc3 is probably better.
25...Na3!? 60 26.Rc1 97 Nc2!? 60 27.Rxc2 97 Rxe1+ 59 28.Rxe1 98 Rxe1+ 59 29.Kh2 98 Rb1 60
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| How would you assess this rook-and-pawn ending? |
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Black is up a protected passer, and the white rook has little choice but to defend White's two isolanis. The engines reckon Black is the equivalent of more than a minor piece ahead.
30.Kg3 98 f6 58 31.Kf4 98 Kf7 58 32.Ke3 97 Ke6 56 33.Kd4 96 Rb4+ 53 34.Kd3 96 Kd7 51 35.Ke3 95 a5 49 36.Kd3 94 f5 49 37.f3 93 g6 47 38.Ke3 91 d4+ 46
The pawn could have been pushed earlier, but there was no hurry as White has no counterplay.
39.Kd3 87 Ke6 46 40.f4 85 Kd5 46 41.g4 85 Ra4 46 42.gxf5 85 Ra3+ 46 43.Kd2 81gaf5 46 0-1
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