Miniatures 13

IN this occasional series I am going through my decisive games of 20 moves or fewer.

Tarek Fatin (204 BCF) - Spanton (151 BCF)

Barbican (London) Rapid 1989

English

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Be6 6.Nf3 Nbd7?!

Black should probably play the normal move, 6...Nc6.

7.0-0 c6!?

Stockfish17 and Dragon1 much prefer developing with 7...Be7.

8.d4

How should Black proceed?

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

8...Bd6!?

A move that still does not appear in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database. The engines like it, along with the known 8...Nxc3, preferring both moves over the other known moves, 8...f6, 8...Qc7?! and 8...exd4?!, although they reckon White has the upper hand.

9.Ne4 Qe7?

Correct is 9...Bc7.

10.Nxd6+ Qxd6 11.dxe5 Nxe5??

Losing a piece, but moving the queen also leaves White well on top.

12.e4 0-1

LESSON: self-pinning, as Black effectively did in this game, is often dangerous, and should not be done without good reason.