AM playing in a summer daytime tournament organised by Surrey's Coulsdon Chess Fellowship. It takes place on 10 Wednesday afternoons, the time control being 90 minutes with a 30-second increment. There was no round last week.
Spanton (1940 ECF/1954 Fide) - David C Clayton (1511 ECF/1641 Fide)
Queen's Fianchetto Defence
1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Nc3 e6 4.f4!?
This has been played by grandmasters, but is disliked by Stockfish17 and Dragon1, who give as best 4.Bd3.
4...Bb4 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.Qe2 d5 7.e5 Ne4
Black scores 67% with this move in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database.
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| The engines reckon White has only one move to maintain the balance |
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8.Bd2
Most popular in Mega25 is 8.Bxe4?!, but after 8...dxe4 White has problems, eg 29 of 36 games in Mega25 saw 9.Be3?!, when Black is positionally winning after 9...Bxc3? 10.bxc3, according to the engines, one line running 10...Qd5 11.c4 (this is best, according to the engines) Qa5+ 12.Qd2 Qa4 13.c5 bxc5 14.dxc5 Ba6 15.Ne2 Nc6 16.Kf2!? Rd8 17.Qc3 Bxe2!? 18.Kxe2 0-0, when Black has much the safer king, among other advantages.
The text is reasonable, but the engines suggest 8.Qg4!?, one point being 8...Nxc3 can be successfully met by 9.a3!, so Black's best may be 8...g6, or 8...Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 g6.
8...Bxc3+
The immediate 8...Qh4+ may be slightly stronger.
9.Bxc3 Qh4+ 10.g3
Apparently a novelty, but a forced one as 10.Kd1?? Nf2+ and 10.Kf1?? Qxf4+ are dreadful for White.
10...Nxg3
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| How should White proceed? |
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11.hxg3!?
Giving up the exchange as well as a pawn. After 11.Qf2 Nf5 12.Nf3 Qxf2+ 13.Kxf2 the engines reckon Black is at best slightly better.
11...Qxh1 12.0-0-0
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| How large is Black's advantage? |
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Black is up the exchange and a pawn, but does not have even a half-open file for the rooks. Meanwhile White has a large lead in development, and the more-secure king. The engines reckon Black has the upper hand, but has only one continuation that maintains this evaluation.
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12...Qh6?!
The move is 12...Nc6!, although the engines reckon Black is not worse after 12...g6 (Stockfish17) or 12...a5 (Dragon1).
The move is 12...Nc6!, although the engines reckon Black is not worse after 12...g6 (Stockfish17) or 12...a5 (Dragon1).
13.Nf3?!
Developing looks natural, but much stronger seems to be 13.Bd2!, when Black may have nothing better than 13...g6 14.f5 Qg7 15.fxe6 fxe6, after which 16.Bg5 is promising.
13...g6 14.Bb4?!
The engines still like Bd2, or 14.g4 followed by 15.Bd2.
14...Nc6 15.Ba3 0-0-0 16.Ba6?
Allowing an exchange of bishops eases Black's defensive task. Instead 16.Bb5 keeps some pressure, although the engines give Black at least the upper hand.
16...Bxa6!?
The engines like this, provided it is followed up properly.
17.Qxa6+ Kb8 18.Ne1!? Qg7?!
Getting the queen to the queenside looks sensible, but the engines much prefer 18...Ka8 or 18...Qh2!?
19.Nd3!
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| What should Black play? |
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19...Qg8?
Not 19...Nxd4? 20.Nc5! bxc5 21.Bxc5 etc, although White has to be aware that the tempting 20.Nb4? fails to 20...Rc8! 21.Rxd4 c5. However, correct is 19...Ka8!, allowing the b7 square to be covered, if necessary, by ...Rb8.
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| White to play and win |
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20.Nc5! bxc5
Or 20...Na5 21.b4.
21.Bxc5
Not 21.Qxc6? Qe8.
21...Qe8
Also losing is 21...Nb4!? 22.Bxb4, eg 22...c5 23.Qb5+ Ka8 24.Qc6+ Kb8 25.Bxc5 Qe8 26.Bxa7+ (26.Bd6 also wins) Kxa7 27.Qc7+ Ka6 28.Rd3 etc.
22.Rd3
White's build-up may look ponderous, but there is nothing Black's pieces can do about it.
22...Ka8 23.Ra3 Kb8?!
This allows a simple mate, but also hopeless is 23...Qd7, when several moves win, including 24.b4!? and 24.Bxa7, eg 24.b4!? Qc8 25.Qxc6+ Qb7 26.Rxa7+ Kb8 27.Qxb7#.
'Best', according to the engines, but I use the word loosely, is 23...Rd6!?, but 24.exd6 cxd6 25.Bxa7 Qc8 26.Qa4 Kb7 27.Qb5+ Kc7 28.Bb6+ Kd7 29.Ra7+ Ke8 30.Rc7 wins for White.
24.Rb3+ Ka8 25.Qb7#
Isn’t 8.Ne4. Illegal.
ReplyDeleteTechnically, yes. Thanks! Corrected.
Delete