Miniatures 32

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

R White (?) - Spanton (147 BCF)

Highbury (London) Rapidplay 1990

King's Indian Attack

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d3!?

White, going first, can afford liberties like this, which may be why the position after 3.d3!? occurs 4,216 times in ChessBase's 2026 Mega database, with players on the white side including Nimzowitsch, Capablanca, Barcza, Benko, Shirov, Ehlvest, Topalov and Gukesh. Perhaps the idea is to take the opponent out of book, but it is also possible, as happens in this game, to transpose into lines of the King's Indian Attack with a quick g3.

3...Nf6 4.Nbd2 Be7 5.g3 d6

Stockfish17.1 and Dragon1 reckon 5...d5 gives Black a slight edge.

6.Bg2 Bg4 7.0-0 Qd7!?

Raising the spectre of opposite-side castling

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

8.Re1 0-0!?

Cold feet? I cannot recall, but, for what it is worth, the engines are not keen on castling on either side at this point, suggesting instead 8...h5!?

9.c3 Ne8!?

Probably a novelty - the move is not in Mega26.

10.Nf1 Bh3 11.d4 Bxg2 12.Bxg2 exd4

How should White recapture?

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****
13.Nxd4!? 

Dragon1 prefers 13.cxd4, but Stockfish17.1 fluctuates between the two moves.

13...Nf6 14.h3 Rfe8 15.Nf5!?

The engines strongly dislike this, preferring 15.Bf4 or 15.f3!?

15...Bf8

Preserving the bishop-pair and unmasking pressure against e4. The engines now suggest 16.c4, albeit awarding Black a slight edge.

16.Qg4?? 0-1

RW resigned without waiting for 16...Nxg4.

LESSON: blunders do not come much bigger than putting the queen en prise, but there is always an underlying cause for such moves, and here I suggest it was a case of concentrating so much on one's own threats that the opponent's possibilities were overlooked.