 |
| World's longest two-seater bench? |
Norbert Heck (2235) - Spanton (1997)
Queen's Pawn Game
1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.0-0 e5!?
This is the commonest continuation in ChessBase's 2026 Mega database, and is the top choice of Stockfish18 and Dragon1.
7.Nb3 Be6 8.c4
This and 8.Bg5 are the most popular moves.
8...Nc6 9.cxd5 Bxd5
The engines prefer 9...Nxd5.
10.Bh3!? Be7 11.Nc3 Bc4
 |
| How should White proceed? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
12.Bg2!?
Marius Manolache (2520) - Andrei Filip (2222), Tășnad Orașului Cup (Romania) 2021, went 12.Bg5 0-0 13.Nd2!? Ba6 14.Bg2, with an equal game, according to the engines (1-0, 37 moves).Mikhail Demidov (2523) - Danii Voloshkin (2081), Russian Team Blitz Championship (Sochi) 2025, saw 12.Be3 0-0 13.Qxd8!? Rfxd8 14.Rfd1 b6!? 15.Bg2, again with an equal game, according to the engines (1-0, 39 moves).
The text, which may be a novelty, is the engines' top choice, albeit by a small margin.
12...0-0 13.Bg5 h6
The engines suggest 13...Qb6 or 13...Rc8.
14.Bxf6 Bxf6 15.Nd5 Rc8
Here the engines like 15...Nd4 or 15...e4!?
16.Rc1 Bxd5 17.Qxd5 Qb6 18.Qe4 Nd4!?
Dragon1 suggests 18...Rfd8 or 18...Be7, but Stockfish18 likes the text, even though after ...
19.Nxd4 exd4 20.Qxb7 Qxb7 21.Bxb7 Rab8 22.Rc7
... White has won a pawn.
 |
| How should Black continue? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
22...Rfd8?
The engines reckon Black should activate the bishop, eg 22...d3!? 23.exd3 Be5 24.Rd7 Rfd8 25.Rxd8+ Rxd8, after which Black wins back one pawn, and has enough activity to compensate for the other lost pawn, according to Stockfish18, although Dragon1 is less sure.
23.Ba6 Rxb2
 |
| Material is equal, but the engines reckon White is winning |
*****
*****
*****
*****
24.Bc4 a5 25.Rxf7 Kh8
The engines marginally prefer 25...Rc2!?, and if 26.Rc7+, now 26...Kh8, although they still reckon White is winning.
26.Rd1 Rc8 27.Be6 Re8 28.Bc4 Rc8 29.Ba6 Ra8 30.Bd3 Rxa2
 |
| Again material is level, but White has a winning attack |
*****
*****
*****
*****
31.Rb1 a4
There is no satisfactory defence. The best the engines can come up with is 31...Ra3 32.Ra7! Rc8 33.Kg2 a4 34.Rb5 Rb4 35.Rbxa5, after which White is a pawn up, but White's advantage is worth about a minor piece, according to the engines.
32.Rfb7! g5?
The engines suggest giving up the exchange with 32...Rg8!?, but after 33.Bc4 Rc2 34.Bxg8 Kxg8 35.Ra7 Rxe2 36.Rxa4 Black has no compensation, despite the passed d pawn, eg 36...d3?! 37.Rd1 d2 runs into 38.Kf1.
33.Rh7+ Kg8 34.Rxh6 Kg7 35.Rb7+
If now 35...Kxh6, then 36.Rh7#.
35...Kg8 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment