 |
| I was surprised after the game to find this position 'only' occurs 6,921 times in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database, despite games going back to 1843 |
*****
*****
*****
*****
The four commonest continuations, in ascending order of popularity are 4...Nf6, 4...d3, 4...d5 and 4...dxc3, but titled players have also tried 4...Qe7 and even 4...Nge7.
For what it is worth, Stockfish17 and Dragon1 reckon taking on c3 is best, and I suspect that is what my opponent wanted, as in the postmortem he said he had hoped I would play something more interesting than my choice of 4...d5.
I was reminded of an incident in my first 'overseas' tournament, Guernsey 1989, when my round-five game, where I was White, began 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 NF6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Qe2.
I won, but afterwards my opponent complained bitterly that it was ridiculous to "come all this way" and play such boring chess.
Anyway, getting back to Liverpool, my choice may have been 'uninteresting', but it was practical for a human, as White's scores against Black's fourth-move options suggest.
Move White's % in Mega25
4...dxc3 62
4...d5 52
4...d3 56
4...Nf6 59
4...Qe7 63
4...Nge7 42(!)
It would seem 4...Nge7 deserves further investigation (among those who have won with it are Victor Ciocâltea, Alexander V Tolush and Jonny Hector), but of the main moves the practical choice, especially if caught unprepared, is surely 4...d5.
LESSON: the objectively best move may not produce the best results.
Your notes to the game suggest that your oppenent was fully prepared for the Capablanca defence and was aware of the Qb3 idea and the subsequent complications. Checking my game archive I first played the ..d5 idea in 1971. I don't think I played it without understanding either as it had been suggested by Leonard Barden in his Guardian column.
ReplyDeleteRdC
Anyone who plays the Göring Gambit regularly must surely spend a fair bit of time trying to find an edge against 4...d5. Having said that, I see from my personal database that the two times I had the white side of the gambit my opponents neither played 4...d5 nor accepted the proffered pawn - one replied 4...Nf6 and the other tried 4...d3. Perhaps 4...d5 is most usually played only by people who have specially prepared it.
Delete