Spanton (1940 ECF/1954Fide) - Michael Woolley (1258 ECF/1466 Fide)
Queen's Fianchetto Defence
1.d4 b6 2.e4 Bb7 3.Bd3 e6 4.f4!?
Stockfish17 and Dragon1 do not like this.
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4...d6
Most popular in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database is 4...Nf6, but the engines prefer 4...c5 or 4...d5.
5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.Qe2 c5?!
The engines strongly dislike this, suggesting 8...0-0.
9.e5 Nd5 10.Ne4 Nb4?
Better is 10...0-0!? or 10...dxe5.
11.Nxd6+
This is good enough for the upper hand, according to the engines, but they reckon even stronger is 11.exd6 Bf6 12.Bb5!?
11...Bxd6 12.exd6 Nxd3 13.Qxd3 cxd4 14.Qxd4 0-0
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White is up a pawn, which is passed, has a lead in development and has more space - all in all, a winning advantage, according to the engines.
15.Ne5?!
The engines much prefer 15.b3 or 15.c4.
15...Rc8 16.c4 Qf6?!
The engines reckon that after 16...f6 or 16...Nc5 White has, at best, the upper hand, although no longer winning.
17.Be3 Nxe5?! 18.fxe5
Now the passer is protected.
18...Qg6 19.Rf2
This is probably better than creating kingside light-square weaknesses with 19.g3?!
19...Qe4?
With queens off the board, White's passed pawn becomes even more of a threat.
20.Rad1 f6!? 21.exf6 Rxf6 22.Qxe4 Bxe4 23.d7 Rd8 24.Bg5
Black is about to go down the exchange and a pawn, and without hope of reaching an ending of opposite-coloured bishops |
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The game finished:
24...Bc6 25.Rfd2 Kf7 26.Rd6 Bb7 27.b4 h6!? 28.Bxf6 gxf6 29.c5 bxc5 30.bxc5 Bd5 31.c6 Ke7 32.c7 Rxd7 33.c8=Q Rxd6 34.Rc1
MW now picked up his king, used it to 'capture' my queen, and resigned.
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