Miniatures 25

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

Spanton (151 BCF) - Paul Dargan (173 BCF)

British Major (Eastbourne) 1990

Morra Gambit (Delayed)

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bc4!? e6 5.0-0 Nf6 6.Qe2!?

Stockfish17.1 and Dragon1 are not keen on this, preferring 6.Re1 or 6.e5.

6...Qc7

Spanton (2015) - Kristian Schmidt (2272), Politiken Cup (Helsingør, Denmark) 2013, went 6...Nxe4!? 7.Qxe4 d5 8.Bxd5 Qxd5 9.Qxd5 exd5 10.Re1+ Be7, with Black enjoying the upper hand, according to the engines (0-1, 50 moves).

7.c3!? dxc3 8.Nxc3

How should Black proceed in this position, which occurs 484 times in ChessBase's 2026 Mega database?

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8...Ng4

Springing the Siberian Trap.

How should White respond?

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9.Nb5

Avoiding 9.h3? Nd4!

9...Qb8 10.Be3?

Possibly best is 10.h3 h5!? 11.e5!? with complicated play, eg 11...Ngxe5 12.Bf4 d6, and here the engines suggest what seems to be a novelty in 13.Rad1, claiming White has full compensation for being two pawns down.

10...a6 11.Nbd4 Nxe3 12.fxe3?!

Probably better is 12.Qxe3.

12...b5!? 13.Nxc6 dxc6 14.Bb3

The engines suggest 14.Ng5!?, albeit much preferring Black after 14...Ra7.

14...Be7 15.Ng5??

Presumably I missed that after ...

15...Bxg5 16.Qh5

... Black has ...

16...Bf6

This would have been a good point for White to resign.

17.g4 Qe5 18.Rf5!? Qxb2 19.Rff1 Qe5 20.Qh3 0-1

LESSON: backward bishop moves can be hard to spot.