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| Mountain view |
Anders Wengholm (2171) - Spanton (2003)
English Symmetrical
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.e3 Nf6!? 5.d4 cxd4 6.exd4
The idea of playing 4...Nf6!?, rather than the more popular 4...Bg7, is so 5.d4 cxd4 6.exd4 can be met by ...
6...d5
... when Black is playing the white side of a Tarrasch Defence to the Queen's Gambit, but with a tempo less.
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| How should White proceed? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qb3 Nxc3 9.Bc4!? Nd5!? 10.Bxd5 e6 11.Bxc6+ bxc6
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| How would you asses this opening position? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
Black has the bishop-pair, but has an extra pawn island and is behind in development. Stockfish18 and Dragon1 reckon White is slightly better.
12.0-0 Bg7
The main line in ChessBase's 2026 Mega database runs 12...Qd5 13.Be3 f6!? 14.Rfc1 Bd6 15.Nd2, with White maintaining a slight edge, according to the engines, but there are many plausible alternatives along the way.
13.Bg5
The engines reckon the immediate 13.Bf4 gives White the upper hand.
13...f6!? 14.Bf4 g5!?
The engines are fine with this apparent-novelty, switching between it and the known 14...0-0 as their top choice, although Dragon1 comes to also like another apparent-novelty in 14...Qd5.
15.Bg3!?
The engines agree with offering the d pawn.
 |
| How should Black proceed? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
15...h5?!
Probably a pawn move too many. The engines suggest 15...Qd5 or 15...0-0, but reckon 15...g4?! 16.Nd2 (the engines prefer this over 16.Nh4) Qxd4? is asking for trouble, eg 17.Nc4 0-0 18.Rad1 Qe4 19.Rfe1, and either 19...Nd6 or 19...Bd6, in each case with more than enough for a pawn.
16.h4!?
The engines rate this more highly than 16.h3.
16...g4 17.Nd2 0-0
Again, taking on d4 is bad.
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| Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
Black still has the bishop-pair, but lags in development and has numerous weaknesses. The engines agree White has at least the upper hand.
18.Qe3!?
This is the engines' top choice.
18...f5 19.Nb3 Qf6 20.Bf4 Qxh4!?
This comes to be quite liked by the engines, but they eventually prefer 20...a5 or 20...c5!?
21.Rac1!?
This seems even stronger than 21.Bg5 f4 22.Bxf4 Qf6 23.Be5.
21...Qe7?!
Black should probably play 21...Bd7 or 21...Qf6, albeit with advantage to White.
22.Rxc6 e5?!
A pawn sacrifice for activity, but Black should probably settle for 22...Bd7.
23.dxe5 Bb7 24.Rd6 Be4?!
This hardly helps.
25.Rfd1 Rfd8
Not 25...Bxe5? 26.Bxe5 Qxe5 27.Qg5+.
26.Nc5 Bxe5?
A bad move in a bad position.
27.Rxd8+
By no means the only winning move.
27...Rxd8 28.Rxd8+ Qxd8 29.Bxe5
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| White is a knight to the good |
*****
*****
*****
*****
29...Qe7 30.Qb3+ Kh7 31.Qb8 g3 32.Nxe4 fxe4 33.Qc7 1-0
TEAM RESULT
| Bo. | 7 | Sweden 1 | Rtg | - | 13 | England 3 | Rtg | 3 : 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | CM |
| 2171 | - |
| 2003 | 1 - 0 | |||||
| 5.2 |
| 2059 | - |
| 1950 | ½ - ½ | ||||||
| 5.3 |
| 2041 | - |
| 1921 | 1 - 0 | ||||||
| 5.4 | CM |
| 2022 | - |
| 1903 | ½ - ½ |
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