Malta Is Back - Fingers Crossed

A WELCOME announcement has appeared at the ChessOrg.de site to the effect that its Malta tournament should return in 2026 after a seven-year absence.

The event ran from 2011-19, before being cancelled in 2020 due to covid, and not being revived.

But organiser Jürgen Wempe hopes to relaunch this year, although there is no indication if it will resume in its previous November timeslot.

Here is one of my better games from Malta.

Spanton (1940) - Kevin Goater (2102)

Buġibba 2018

Modern Defence

1.Nc3 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.d4 a6!?

This is second in popularity to 4...Nf6, but scores five percentage points better in ChessBase's 2026 Mega database.

5.Bc4 e6!? 6.a4 b6 7.Bg5 Ne7 8.Qd2 h6 9.Be3 Nd7 10.Rd1 Bb7

Black has a 'perfect' Hippopotamus setup, at least as as defined in Wikipedia 

*****

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The diagram position occurs nine times in Mega26, with White enjoying a slight edge, according to Stockfish17.1 and Dragon1.

11.0-0

But now we have reached a position that appears 96 times in Mega26.

11...g5!?

With White having committed the king, a typical Black plan is to play ...g5, followed by moving the king's knight to f4 via g6.

12.d5!?

There is only one example of this move in Mega26, but it is the top choice of Stockfish17.1, although Dragon1 marginally prefers 12.h3.

12...Bxc3!? 13.Qxc3 e5 14.Qd2

Guenter Moser (2315) - Michael Bezold (2508), Austrian Team Championship 1999, went 14.h4!? f6!? 15.g3 Nc5 16.Bxc5 bxc5 17.Kg2, with a slight edge for White, according to the engines (½–½, 25 moves).

14...Ng6 15.Be2 Nf6 16.Bd3 Qd7 17.b3 Rg8 18.a5!? Nf4

How should White continue?

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19.Ne1

Not 19.axb6?! Nxg2!

19...b5 20.c4 bxc4 21.bxc4 c5 22.Rb1 Rd8 23.Bc2!? Bc8!? 24.Qd2 Kf8 25.Rb6 h5?

Missing a point of White's last move.

26.Bxc5! Qe7 27.Be3 h4 28.c5!?

A pawn sacrifice to open lines.

28...Nd7?!

Black almost certainly should have accepted the gambit.

29.Rxd6 g4 30.Ba4 g3 31.Bxf4 exf4 32.Bxd7 gxh2+ 33.Kxh2 Bxd7 34.Qf3 Bb5 35.Rxd8+ Qxd8 36.Rh1 h3!?

Desperation, but Black's kingside attack has got nowhere, and meanwhile White is two pawns up.

37.gxh3 Qg5 38.c6 Qe5 39.Qa3+ Ke8 40.Nf3 Qh5 41.Qd6!? Rg6

Or 41...Qxf3 42.Qb8+ Ke7 43.Qxg8.

42.Qxf4 Kf8 43.Ne5 Rh6 44.Nd7+ Kg7 45.Qe5+!?

Getting queens off the board greatly reduces the chance of an accident.

45...Qxe5+ 46.Nxe5 f6 47.Rg1+ Kf8 49.c7 1-0