1.Nc3
1.Nc3 c5 2.Nf3 d5 3.d4 e6!?
Stockfish17 and Dragon1 dislike this, preferring 3...Nf6 or 3...Nc6.
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| How should White proceed? |
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4.Bf4
The engines reckon White is slightly better after 4.e4!?, which has been the top choice of grandmasters and scores an excellent 67% in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database.
4...Bd6?!
The engines like 4...Nf6, one point being 5.Nb5? costs White two tempi as 5...Qa5+ has to be met by 6.Nc3. After the text Black has difficulties.
5.Bxd6 Qxd6 6.e4!
This gives White a strong initiative.
6...Ne7!?
Apparently a novelty, and an improvement over the known 6...a6? The engines also like 6...c4!?, but reckon both moves leave White with the upper hand.
Tatyana Fomina (2214) - Siim Kanep (2333), Karksi (Estonia) Rapidplay 2009, went 6...a6? 7.dxc5 Qxc5 8.exd5 Nf6!? (this is best, according to the engines) 9.dxe6 Bxe6, when White is much better, and would have been winning after 10.Qd4!?, according to the engines (but 0-1, 53 moves).
7.dxc5!
MS spent somewhere in the region of 25 minutes on this move, flying in the face of John Nunn's advice to never take more than 20 minutes. Nunn wrote in Secrets Of Practical Chess (Gambit 1998):
"I have observed that if a player spends more than 20 minutes over a move, the result is almost always a mistake." Every rule has its exceptions, and the text is one of them - the engines agree it is the best continuation.
Note that 7.e5 can be met b7 7...Qb6, with more-or-less equality, according to the engines.
7...Qxc5 8.exd5 exd5
Dragon1 prefers recapturing with the knight; Stockfish17 is unsure.
9.Qd4!?
The same idea as with the engines' suggestion in Fomina-Kanep. Black is obliged to swop queens, bringing the white king's knight to the centre of the board, and on a blockading square. Meanwhile White is ready to castle long, adding extra pressure on the isolated queen's pawn.
9...Qxd4 10.Nxd4 Nbc6?!
Probably better is 10...Be6, although White maintains a good IQP position.
11.Bb5?!
Missing the win of a pawn by 11.Ndb5 0-0 (both 11...Kd7? and 11...Kd8? fail to 12.0-0-0) 12.Nc7 Rb8 and 13.N(either)xd5.
11...0-0 12.Bxc6 Nxc6!?
The engines agree this is slightly better than 12...bxc6.
13.0-0-0
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| Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position? |
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The isolani is a weakness without redeeming features (Black has no prospects of an attack), and White is ahead on development. The engines give White the upper hand.
13...Be6 14.Rhe1 Rad8?!
Almost certainly better is 14...Rfe8, not worrying about a white knight moving to b5 to threaten a fork on c7 as that can be met by 15...Re7.
15.f3
The engines give 15.Rxe6!? fxe6 16.Nxe6 Rxf2 17.Nxd8 Nxd8 18.Nxd5, claiming a winning advantage for White.
15...Rfe8 16.Ncb5 Re7?!
Probably better is 16...Nxd4, eg 17.Rxd4 Bd7!? 18.Rxe8+ Bxe8 19.Nc3 Bc6, although the engines reckon White is at least slightly better.
17.Nxc6 bxc6 18.Nd4 c5??
Black remains worse after 18...Rc8, but keeps drawing chances.
19.Nc6 Red7 20.Nxd8 Rxd8
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| White's advantage is the equivalent of being up at least a minor piece and a pawn, according to the engines |
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21.Re3 a6 22.Ra3 Rd6 23.Ra5 c4 24.c3 Kf8 25.b4 Ke7 26.Kb2 Kd7 27.a4 Kc7 28.Rc5+ Kb7? 29.Rxc4! 1-0
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