Spanish Berlin
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 Nd4 6.Nxd4 Bxd4 7.c3 Bb6
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| A standard position, occurring 735 times in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database |
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8.Bg5
This and 8.Nd2 are almost equally popular, but the latter scores 11 percentage points higher in Mega25.
8...h6 9.Bh4 c6 10.Ba4
Stockfish17 and Dragon1 prefer 10.Bc4!?
10...d6 11.Nd2?!
The engines strongly dislike this, although it has been played by grandmasters. They suggest 11.Bxf6!?, albeit giving Black a slight edge, but definitely not 11.Qf3?? as that loses the dark-square bishop to 11...g5, since 12.Bg3? can be met by 12...Bg4, trapping White's queen.
11...g5
This is why the engines dislike White's 11th move,
12.Bg3 Bg4
They reckon even stronger is 12...h5, and if 13.h4 then 13...Bg4, eg 14.Qe1 Nd7! with a strong kingside attack.
13.Qe1 Nh5
Again the engines prefer ..h5.
14.Nc4
The engines agree this is marginally better than 14.Kh1, as played in Alexei Shirov (2660) - Peter Keller (2328), Chess.com Blitz 2024. That continued 14...Qf6 15.h3?! Be6 16.Bh2!? Nf4, with the upper hand for Black, according to the engines (but 1-0, 54 moves).
14...Nxg3 15.hxg3 Qd7
This may be a novelty. The engines like the known 15...Bc7, or another apparent-novelty in 15...h5.
16.Nxb6 axb6 17.Bb3 h5!? 18.f3 Be6 19.Qe3
The queen hits two undefended pawns.
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| How should Black respond? |
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19...h4!
The engines prefer this over defending the b and g pawns with 19...Qd8.
20.g4
Possible is 20.Qxg5!?, but 20...hxg3 21.Qxg3 0-0-0 gives Black promising compensation. After 22.Kf2!? (forced, according to the engines) Rhg8!? 23.Qh4 d5 the position is unclear, with the engines fluctuating between calling the position equal and awarding White a slight edge.
20...Qd8
The engines are happy with this retreat, now the position has changed slightly.
21.d4 c5?!
21.d4 c5?!
Probably better is 21...Bxb3.
22.Bxe6 fxe6 23.dxe5 dxe5 24.Rfd1 Qe7
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| Black has two pairs of doubled pawns, but the weaknesses are not easy for White to get at |
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25.Qd3 h3?
It is better to give up the b6 pawn, eg 25...Kf7!? 26.Qb5 Kg6!?, and if 27.Qxb6, now 27..h3, when 28.g3 h2+ 29.Kg2 Rad8 is completely equal, according to the engines.
26.Qb6+ Kf8 27.Rd7 Ra5?!
Probably better is 27...Qf6, but 28.Qxb6 hxg2 29.Rad1! is winning, according to the engines.
28.Qd3 Qf6?
Better is 28...c4, but the simple 29.Rxe7 cxd3 30.Rxe6 gives an advantage that the engines reckon is almost equivalent to being a rook up.
29.Qd6+ 1-0
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