 |
| Cemetery chapel in the village of Koutouloufari |
Spanton (2003) - Paul Townsend (2102)
*****
*****
French Winawer
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7
This is a popular alternative to the mainline 4...c5. Often the moves transpose.
5.Bd2 b6 6.a3 Bxc3 7.Bxc3 c5 8.Bb5+
The start of a well-known manoeuvre that costs a tempo, but avoids an exchange of light-square bishops.
8...Bd7 9.Bd3 Nbc6
Stockfish18 and Dragon1 reckon this is better than pushing on with 9...c4!?
10.Nf3 Qc7 11.0-0
 |
| PT spent 25 minutes over his next move, flying in the face of John Nunn's 20-minute rule |
*****
*****
*****
*****
Nunn wrote in Secrets Of Practical Chess (Gambit 1998): "I have observed that if a player spends more than 20 minutes over a move, the result is almost always a mistake."11...Ng6!?
The engines are not keen on this, preferring 11...cxd4 or 11...h6!? Note that 11...0-0?! allows a version of the Greek Gift sacrifice, ie 12.dxc5! (better than immediately capturing on h7) bxc5 13.Bxh7+! Kxh7 14.Ng5+, when the engines continue 14...Kg6 15.Qg4 f5 16.exf6 gxf6 17.Nxe6+, with a large advantage for White. After the engines' top choice, 11...cxd4, they reckon best-play runs 12.Nxd4!? (12.Bxd4? Nxd4 13.Nxd4 Qxe5 is good for Black) Nxe5 13.Nb5, when White has good compensation for a pawn after both 13...Bxb5 and 13...Qb8.
12.Re1 0-0
 |
| Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
Black has strong pressure against White's centre, but the centre gives White kingside attacking chances, and the engines agree White has the upper hand.
13.h4!?
Apparently a novelty, which the engines reckon is an improvement on Dimitrios Mastrovasilis (2621) - Alexei Shirov (2705), European Team Championship (Porto Carras, Greece) 2011, which went 13.Qd2 a5 14.Qe3!? Nce7!? 15.g3 Nef5 16.Qd2, with at least a slight edge for White, according to the engines (½–½, 63 moves). However, the engines reckon that better than both moves is another apparent-novelty in 13.dxc5!?, the idea being to meet 13...bxc5 with 14.b4!?
13...h6
On 13...cxd4 the engines agree 14.Bb4!? is strong, eg 14...Nxb4 15.axb4 h6 16.h5!? Nf4 17.Bf1 Nxh5 18.Qxd4 g5!? 19.Ra3!?, with an attack worth more than the pawn sacrificed. A possible improvement for Black is 14...Ngxe5!? 15.Nxe5 Nxe5 16.Bxf8 Rxf8 17.Bxh7+ Kxh7 18.Qh5+ Kg8 19.Qxe5 Qxe5 20.Rxe5 f6, although the engines reckon Black does not have enough for the exchange.
14.Bf1!? cxd4 15.Bxd4 Nxd4 16.Qxd4 Qxc2
 |
| How should White proceed? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
17.Rac1
This is enough for a slight edge, according to the engines, but they reckon Rac1 should be preceded by 17.h5!? Ne7.
17...Qa4 18.Qxa4!? Bxa4 19.Rc7
The engines reckon 19.Ba6!? gives White at least enough for a pawn.
19...Rfc8 20.Rec1 Rxc7 21.Rxc7 Bd1!? 22.h5!?
The engines agree this is best.
22...Nf4
 |
| What should White play? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
23.Ba6?
After 23.Nd4 Bxh5 24.g3 Ng6 25.f4, the engines reckon White has full compensation for being two pawns down.
23...Bxf3 24.gxf3 Nxh5
 |
| Rook and bishop usually make a better team than rook and knight, but here White is two pawns down and has a chronically weak kingside |
*****
*****
*****
*****
25.Rd7!?
Black can meet 25.Bb7 with 25...Rd8, getting behind the passed pawn.
25...Nf4 26.Bb7 Rb8 27.Ba6 Ng6 28.Rxa7 Nxe5 29.f4 Ng6 30.f5!?
The best try, but completely inadequate.
30...exf5 31.Bd3 Nf4 32.Bxf5 Rd8 33.Rd7!? Rxd7 34.Bxd7 Kf8 35.b4 Ke7 36.Ba4 Kd6 37.f3 Ke5 38.Bd1 Kd4 39.a4 Kc4 40.b5 Kb4 41.Bc2 g5 42.Kf2 h5 43.Kg3 d4 0-1
TEAM RESULT
| Bo. | 13 | England 3 | Rtg | - | 8 | England 2 | Rtg | 2 : 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 |
| 2003 | - |
| 2102 | 0 - 1 | ||||||
| 5.2 |
| 1950 | - |
| 1996 | 0 - 1 | ||||||
| 5.3 |
| 1921 | - | AFM |
| 1980 | 1 - 0 | |||||
| 5.4 |
| 1903 | - |
| 2012 | 1 - 0 |
No comments:
Post a Comment