All About That Bass VII

MOST of us have an opponent against whom nothing seems to work.

When the opponent is considerably stronger, this is not surprising, but when ratings are not so different, the results are harder to explain.

My biggest bogeyman is probably John Bass, whose record against me is +6=1-0.

Seven games is not a huge sample, but such a poor performance on my part must signify something.

So in this mini-series I am looking at my games against JB to try to discover what is going on.

Here is our latest encounter.

Spanton (1980) - Bass (1932)

Central London League 1925

English Four Knights

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e4!?

This was a Nimzowitsch favourite.

4...Bb4 5.d3 0-0 6.Be2 d6 7.0-0

Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position?

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White has more queenside space, and the hole at d4 is probably not a serious weakness, but White has a passive and bad light-square bishop, while Black's bad bishop is outside the pawn-chain, and therefore active. Stockfish17.1 and Dragon1 rate the game as equal.

7...h6 8.h3 Bxc3!? 9.bxc3 Re8 10.Rb1 Ne7 11.c5!? Ng6 12.cxd6 Qxd6!? 13.Qc2 b6 14.Rd1 Bb7 15.Be3 Rad8 16.Nh2 c5 17.Ng4 Nxg4 18.Bxg4 Qc7 19.Bh5 Nf4!? 20.Bxf4 exf4 21.Bf3

There has been much manoeuvring, and quite a few exchanges, but the position remains equal, according to the engines

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21...Re7 22.Qa4 Bc6 23.Qc4 Bb7 24.a4 Qc8 25.Bg4 Qc7 26.Ra1 Bc8 27.Bxc8 Qxc8 28.a5

More prudent is 28.f3.

28...f3! 29.axb6?

White is only slightly worse after 29.Re1, according to the engines.

29...axb6

This is enough for an edge, but stronger is 29...fxg2! 30.Kxg2 (30.bxa7? Qxh3) axb6.

30.Kh2?

The engines suggest 30.Re1 or 30.Qa6.

30...fxg2 31.Rg1?!

If 31.Kxg2?!, then 31...Qc6. Best may be 31.Re1.

31...Qc7+ 32.Kxg2 Qf4 33.Rad1 Re6 34.Qa2 Rg6+ 35.Kf1 Rxg1+ 36.Kxg1 Qf3 37.Rd2 Rxd3 38.Rxd3 Qxd3 39.Qa8+ Kh7 40.Qd5!?

This is Dragon1's top choice, but the ending is lost anyway.

40...Qxd5 41.exd5 Kg6 42.c4 Kf6 43.f4 g5 44.Kf2!? gxf4 45.Kf3 Ke5 46.h4 b5 47.cxb5 Kxd5 48.Kxf4 c4 49.Ke3 Kc5 0-1

LESSON: carelessness about king safety was followed by sub-optimal tactics that left me with a losing position.