THE first of today's double-round games.
French Alekhine-Chatard
As far as I can recall, this is the first time I have faced an opponent with a Fide rating but no national one.
1.Nc3 e6 2.d4 Nf6 3.e4 d5 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.h4 c5!?
This has been played by Nigel Short, Victor Korchnoi and other top grandmasters, but more popular in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database are 6...Bxg5, 6...h6 and especially 6...a6.
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| How should White respond? |
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7.Nb5?!
There are 290 examples of this move in Mega25, it scores 58% and has been played by grandmasters, but it is almost certainly a mistake.
There are 290 examples of this move in Mega25, it scores 58% and has been played by grandmasters, but it is almost certainly a mistake.
Correct is 7.Bxe7, when 7...Qxe7 is strongly met by 8.Nb5, so Black should probably prefer 7...Kxe7!?, when 8.Nb5? Qa5+ leaves Black with the upper hand, according to Stockfish17 and Dragon1, but White has several promising alternatives to 8.Nb5?, including 8.Qd2, 8.dxc5!?, 8.f4 and 8.Nf3.
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| Black to play and refute Nb5 |
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7...Nc6?!
This is the engines' second choice, but almost certainly stronger is 7...f6, when White has nothing better than 8.exf6, after which 8...Nxf6 leaves Black with the upper hand, according to the engines.
8.Nd6+ Kf8 9.c3?!
Probably best is 9.Qh5 g6 10.Qh6+ (not in Mega25) Kg8 11.Bxe7 Qxe7 12.0-0-0!, when a likely line given by the engines runs 12...Nxd4 13.Qe3 Nf5 14.Nxf5 gxf5 15.Be2, which they reckon gives White more than enough for a pawn, although the position remains sharp.
Also promising is 9.Bxe7+, when 9...Qxe7?! 10.c3 is very good for White, according to the engines, but they reckon 9...Kxe7!? is not so clear, eg 10.c3? fails to 10...cxd4 11.cxd4 Qa5+ etc, so White should probably play 10.f4 or 10.Qg4, with about equal chances.
9...cxd4!?
9...cxd4!?
This is an improvement over the known move 9...h6?, when 10.Bxe7+ would have left White with a knight firmly entrenched in Black's position, to the menace of the black king.
10.Bxe7+?
Better is 10.cxd4, when 10...Qa5+ is comfortably parried by 11.Bd2, followed by 12.Nxc8. Possibly Black should play 10...f6!?, when the engines disagree as to White's best response, but it may be 11.exf6 Nxf6 12.Nb5, when the chances seem to be roughly even.
10...Kxe7!
This is definitely best. After 10...Qxe7? White consolidates with 11.cxd4, and has a pleasant advantage in a stabilised position.
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| How should White proceed? |
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11.f4!?
Objectively better, at least according to the engines, is 11.cxd4, but 11...Qa5+ 12.Qd2 (12.Ke2?! Qb6) Qxd2 13.Kxd2 Nxd4 leaves White a pawn down, without any compensation and with no hope of creating complications around Black's king.
11...Qa5+
Even stronger, according to the engines, is the 'greedy' 11...dxc3.
12.b4!?
PP offered a draw.
12...Qa3? ½–½
Black is winning after 12...Qb6!, according to the engines, eg 13.b5!? Ncxe5! 14.fxe5 dxc3!, when Black has three pawns and the initiative for a knight. That is a really difficult line, to both see and to properly assess, but after the text Black is lost.
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| Can you see why the final position is winning for White? |
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The engines give 13.Nb5 Qb2 14.Rb1 Qxa2 15.cxd4!, after which Black has no good response to 16.Nc3 Qa3 17.Rb3, trapping the black queen.
In fact Black's objectively best try after 13.Nb5 is 13...Qa6!, eg 14.Nc7 can be met by 14...Qa3, when White's best is repeating the position with 15.Nb5 Qa6!, after which White should probably play 16.cxd4 (this could also have been played at move 14), when both 16...Nxb4 17.Kf2! and 16...Qb6 17.a4!? win for White, according to the engines, but it remains very complicated, and clearly both players were out of their depth for a godly proportion of the game's 12 moves.
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