Earlier this week I was given the chance to take the place of someone who withdrew shortly before the start of section D of the British Correspondence Chess Reserves championship.
The tournament began on Wednesday.
Spanton (2330) - Raymond John Burridge (1543)
King's Indian Sämisch
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Bg5!?
This is the same move I gave an outing to in the last round of the recently finished Northumberland Open. My opponent played 6...Nbd7, which is the second-most popular continuation in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database.
6...c5
This is the start of the main variation.
7.d5 e6 8.Qd2 exd5 9.cxd5 a6 10.a4 b6!?
But here we leave normal lines. The text is sixth-most popular in Mega25, behind ...Qc7, ...Qa5, ...h6, ...Nbd7 and especially ...Re8.
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| How should White proceed? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
11.Nge2
The other known move is 11.Be2, while Stockfish17 and Dragon1 are quite keen on an apparent-novelty, 11.h4!?
11...h6!?
This is Stockfish17's top choice, based on the point that 12.Bxh6 can be answered by 12...Nxe4! 13.Nxe4 Qh4+ 14.g3 Qxh6. The game Borislav Ivkov (2520) - Albin Planinc (no rating), Majdanpek (Yugoslavia) 1976, continued 15.Qxh6 Bxh6 16.Nxd6, when Black's bishop-pair was insufficient compensation for White's extra and passed pawn, according to the engines (but ½–½, 51 moves).
12.Bxh6 1-0
Resignation is bizarre on at least two grounds:
1. Black is only a pawn down.
2. It is hard to believe anyone would play 11...h6!? without either a) knowing it is theory, or b) working out why it is not simply a blunder.
The game finished yesterday afternoon - before nine games in the tournament have even started.
Later I sent a message: "Did you mean to resign?!"
RB replied: "Yes I did, ...h6 was a howler, a pawn is a pawn."
Me: "It's theory - Black has 12...Nxe4!"
The theory of that trick should be known by most Kings Indian players and their opponents, particularly as it can pop up in other variations. Authors advocating the Samisch have claimed that in some lines taking the h6 pawn can lead to a White advantage.
ReplyDeleteI contrived to play .. h6 recently when it was a blunder, but my opponent trusted me and retreated the Bishop.
That game had gone 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 0-0 6. Bg5 Na6 7. Qd2 e5 8. d5 Bd7 9. f3 h6? 10. Be3
However if 10. Bxh6 Nxe4 11. Nxe4 Qh4+ 12. g3 Qxh6, then Nf6+ wins because of the hanging Bishop on d7
Incidently Planinc was a leading Yugoslav GM of the 1970s. His apparent lack of rating may be down to an altenative spelling of his name as Planinec
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albin_Planinc
RdC
https://olimpbase.org/Elo/player/Planinc,%20Albin.html sheds a bit more light on his rating-status. Perhaps the explanation is that ChessBase's source simply did not include the relevant rating, and its absence has not been corrected. The record shows that in 1976 Planinc was 2485.
DeleteThe 13.Nf6+! in your line is hard to spot in advance, as is the 'failure' of 13.Qxh6 Bxh6 14.Nf6+