New Spice (part two)

IN part one under A) I looked at accepting the Göring Gambit, but Black has three main ways to decline it.
B) 4...Nf6
This is the "most interesting" way, according to Botterill in Open Gambits, although it is less popular in Mega20 than 4...d3 or 4...d5.
White normally replies 5.e5, reaching a position that more-usually arises from a Ponziani move-order, viz 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.e5.
Bologan's recommendation in one of the Ponziani sections of his Black Weapons is 5...Nd5, which has been played by Magnus Carlsen but is not even worth considering, according to Botterill, who recommended 5...Ne4 6.Qe2 f5 7.exf6 d5. After that the main line runs 8.Nbd2 Qxf6 (after Botterill's recommendation of 8...d3 9.Qe3 Bc5 10.fxg7 Rg8 11.Nd4, the engines reckon White is quite a bit better whatever Black plays, although the position is complicated) 9.Nxe4 dxe4 10.Qxe4+ Qe6 11.Bd3 dxc3 12.0-0 Qxe4 13.Bxe4, which the engines reckon is slightly better for White. However, as in many of these lines a final verdict cannot really be given as there is much for both sides to investigate.

Position after 5...Nd5

Guanchu Liu (2445) - Jun Xu (2493)
Chinese Team Championship (Hangzhou) 2018
6.Qb3!?
More popular is 6.cxd4, but the text is more dynamic and quickly leads to a position in which Black often falls into a positional trap.
6...Nb6 7.cxd4 d5?!
"The main reason why White scores very well [with 6.Qb3] is that moves like 7...d5 and 7...Bb4 are … popular" - Bologan.
If a grandmaster, and twice champion of China, can play ...d5, then so can many of our opponents. It is dodgy because Black should be attacking White's spearhead pawn on e5.
Bologan recommended the "Phildor Undermining" 7...d6, and after 8.Bb5 gave the interesting 8...Be7!? (the main line in Mega20 runs 8...Bd7 9.0-0 Be7, when 10.exd6 seems to give White an edge whichever way Black recaptures) 9.d5 a6 10.Ba4 Nxa4 11.Qxa4 b5 12.Qe4 Na5. This was tried the year after his book came out in a game in which a white 2257 drew with a black 2305.
8.Bb5 Bd7 9.0-0 a6 10.Bg5!? Be7 11.Bxc6 Bxc6 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Nbd2 0-0
By straightforward means, White has gained an edge - a large one, according to Stockfish10. Black's bishop is bad and White has pressure down the c file. However, the game was eventually drawn.
**********
C) 4...d3?!
Calling this move dubious may seem a bit strong, especially as it has been played by grandmasters, but the engines actually call it a mistake.
Black spends a tempo, the main purpose of which is to stop White capturing on d4 with the c3 pawn. Black also hopes that preventing White developing his queen's knight to c3 will prove an irritant. But the knight can be usefully developed via d2, and the pawn on c3 reduces Black's chances of forcing simplifying exchanges. Botterill's judgment was that White has "slightly the better prospects because he has more space."

Position after 4...d3?!

Dragoljub Velimirović (2472) - Alija Muratović (2417)
Serbian Team League 2005
5.Bxd3 d6
If 5...Bc5, then Nimzowitsch's 6.b4!?, as played in a win over Spielmann in 1905, gives White much the better game, according to the engines.
6.h3
The engines prefer 6.0-0!?, and if 6...Bg4, which 6.h3 is designed to stop, then 7.Qb3 Bxf3 8.Qxb7 Nge7 9.gxf3, when they reckon White has the upper hand despite a weakened king's position.
6...Nf6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Nd4 0-0 9.f4!?
Velimirović played 9.Nd2 in games against Keres and Donner in the 1966, and Ivkov 10 years later, beating Donner and drawing with the other two.
The engines want White to swop on c6.
9...Re8
This is the most-played move here, but the engines prefer 9...d5!? or 9...Nxd4!?
10.Nd2 Bf8 11.Qc2
By transposition we have also reached the position in Velimirović's games against Keres and Donner, which saw 11...g6 12.N2f3, and now Keres's 12...Bg7 is probably better than Donner's 12...Bd7, but in both cases Velimirović seems to have been better.
11...Nh5!? 12.N2f3 g6 13.Nxc6!?
Often players are reluctant to make this exchange because, although Black's queenside is weakened, he gets more influence in the centre.
13...bxc6 14.f5!?
Part of an interesting plan to sac the exchange, although the engines reckon the simple 14.g4 is stronger.
14...Ng3 15.fxg6 hxg6 16.Bg5!?
He could have changed his mind about sacrificing the exchange by playing 16.Re1, which the engines reckon favours White.
16...f6 17.Bh4
Both players are now committed.
17...Nxf1 18.Rxf1 g5?!
The engines prefer 18...Be7, when Stockfish10 gives White an edge but Komodo10 rates the position even.
19.e5!
Muratović must have missed this as it appears to be clearly winning for White in all lines.
19...dxe5
If 19...gxh4, then 20.Bh7+ Kh8 21.Qg6, eg 21...Bg7 22.Ng5! fxg5 23.Rf7 Rg8 24.Qh5, and mate cannot be stopped.
20.Bc4+ Kh8
Perhaps the best try is the engines' 20...Be6, when 21.Qg6+ Bg7 22.Bxe6+ Rxe6 23.Nxg5! fxg5 (or 23...Rd6 24.Qh7+ Kf8 25.Bf2!) 24.Qxe6+ Kh8 25.Bg3 is level on material, but Black has six isolated pawns, a bad bishop and an exposed king.
21.Qg6 Be6
Not 21...gxh4? 22.Qg8#.
22.Nxg5! fxg5 23.Rxf8+
The combinations keep coming.
23...Rxf8 24.Qh6+ Kh8 25.Bxe6+ Rf7 26.Qg6+ Kh8 28.Bxf7
Threatens 29.Qh6#.
28...Qd1+ 29.Kh2 Qd6 30.Be6 1-0
If 30...Qf8, then 31.Bxg5 etc.
**********
D) 4...d5
Although 4...dxc3 is more popular in Mega20, I believe this is the move one should expect at club level.
After 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.cxd4 Bg4 (6...Bb4+ is nearly always a harmless transposition) 7.Nc3 (7.Be2 usually comes to the same thing) Bb4 8.Be2, we reach a position of great historic interest.

Position after 8.Be2

Ian Heppell (182 ECF) - Spanton (171 ECF)
London League Division One 2018-19
8...Bxf3
I include one of my games, not purely out of vanity or because it was particularly well played, but to show how theoretical best-play in the 4...d5 variation has become common knowledge even among club players.
The text was first played by Capablanca against Marshall at Lake Hopatcong (New Jersey) 1926.
9.Bxf3 Qc4
Not 9...Qxd4?? 10.Bxc6+.
Capablanca's idea is to forestall easy castling by White, obliging White to exchange queens, after which the isolated d pawn is more likely to be an endgame weakness than a middlegame strength.
10.Bxc6+
Marshall insisted on a middlegame by playing 10.Be3!?, but after 10...Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Qxc3+ 12.Kf1 (12.Be2!? Qd5 is nothing for White) Qc4+ 13.Kg1 Nge7 (all nine games in Mega20 saw this move, although Stockfish10 slightly prefers 13...Nf6!?), the players agreed a draw following 14.Rc1 Qxa2 15.Ra1 Qc4 16.Rc1.
10...bxc6!?
Bologan reckoned this is better than 10...Qxc6 because "the blockade of the d5 square is worth doubling the c pawns."
11.Qe2+ Qxe2 12.Kxe2 0-0-0 13.Be3 Ne7 14.Kd3!?
The main move, 14.Rhd1, was seen in Aldo Camilleri (196 ECF) - Spanton (167 ECF), Central London League 2018-19. It continued 14...Rhe8 15.a3 Ba5 16.Rac1 Nf5 17.Na4 (Stockfish10's choice) Nxd4+ 18.Kf1 Nb3 19.Rxd8+ Rxd8, when 20.Rxc6 Kb7 21.Rc2 would have been equal (and the game was drawn anyway).
The text is recommended by Karsten Müller and Martin Voigt in Danish Dynamite (Russell Enterprises 2002). The point is that the king is headed for c4, which Bologan reckoned is White's "main trump" after 13...Ne7.
14...Bxc3!?
Bologan reckoned Black had to play 14...c5 "if he wants to equalise in a relaxed manner." I rejected it because of 15.Kc4 cxd4 16.Bxd4, missing that Bologan's 16...Nc6 equalises. However, my novelty seems good enough.
15.bxc3 c5 16.Kc4 cxd4 17.Bxd4 Nc6 18.Rhe1
Not 18.Bxg7? Rhg8 with ...Rxg2 to come.
18...Nxd4 19.cxd4 Rhe8 20.Rad1 ½–½
(To be continued)

New Spice

NONE of us has much idea when normal over-the-board chess activities will resume.
Some people are trying to make up for this by playing online more, but it is not the same thing.
A lot of players will, I am sure, be using their enforced absence from the board as an opportunity to spruce-up opening repertoires.
Now is a good time to remove some of the stodge and try to inject new spice into our favourite lines.
On the other hand, if we have managed to last this long without theory-laden sharp lines, why change now?
As a compromise, I am planning to put forward a number of sharp lines, often gambits, but lines which, while respectable, do not require memorising loads of theory.
For example, after 1.e4 e5 it is all-too-easy to suggest 2.f4. That would certainly add spice to most repertoires, but it requires a detailed theoretical knowledge.
Similarly, after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 it is a simple matter to suggest continuing 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 - the Scotch Gambit.
But the Scotch Gambit has been deeply analysed for literally hundreds of years.
So instead, in part one of this series, I am starting with the Göring Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3!?
It is named after German master Carl Göring, although authors vary as to why, with some saying he introduced the line into master play, although the date of this varies.
In fact the gambit was played back in the 1840s by Howard Staunton, whose lead was followed in the 1850s by Alexander Meek and in the 1860s by Louis Paulsen and Albert Merian.
Other masters also experimented with it before the first known outings, largely unsuccessful, in the 1870s by Göring.
Be that as it may, the gambit's heyday came, long after those masters were dead, in the late 1950s and 1960s when it notched wins for the likes of Tal, Gufeld, Velimirović, Ribli, Ljubojević and, in Britain, Penrose and Levy.
The commonest response to the gambit is to accept with 4...dxc3, but Black's best results percentage-wise in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database come when it is declined with 4...d5.
I will also cover the two other main ways of declining the gambit, namely 4...d3 and 4...Nf6.
A) 4...dxc3
When George Botterill wrote Open Gambits (Batsford 1986), he felt obliged to admit he could not describe the Göring as "playable."
That verdict was effectively echoed by Larry Kaufman in The Chess Advantage In Black And White (McKay Chess Library, 2004), who recommended Black accepts the gambit as it "does not give White enough lead in development to fully offset the pawn sacrificed."
But then along came an even stronger author, Viktor Bologan, who in Bologan's Black Weapons In The Open Games (New In Chess, 2014) said he wanted to recommend acceptance but had found a sideline where he "wasn't able to find any advantage for Black."
After 4...dxc3, White can offer a second pawn with 5.Bc4!?, but I want to look at what I think can be called the main line, 5.Nxc3.

Position after 5.Nxc3

In some ways the position reminds me of the Morra Gambit in the Sicilian, except that in the diagram Black has a pawn on c7 instead of e7.
For White this is both good news (Black has less central influence) and bad news (Black is not so far behind in development, as he has opened a diagonal for his dark-square bishop).
From this it can be argued that the Morra is better than the Göring for White in the short term, but White's prospects in the long term are better in the Göring.
Jacob Yuchtman - Mikhail Tal
USSR Championship (Tbilisi) 1959
5...Bb4
Theoreticians are unanimous, as far as I can discover, in recommending this continuation for Black. Indeed Kaufman gives it in The Chess Advantage without comment.
The main alternative is 5...d6, after which 6.Bc4 is obvious and good, and the main line continues 6...Nf6 7.Qb3 Qd7! (7...Qe7 8.0-0 is embarrassing for Black in that the analysis engines Stockfish10 and Komodo10 reckon best now is 8...Qd7).
After 7...Qd7!, Whites overwhelmingly play 8.Ng5, but I am putting forward the calmer choice of the engines, namely 8.Qc2!?
This was played in a game in 2000 by German teenager Leonid Kritz - then a 'mere' 2424, but three years later a grandmaster.
The idea is that White does not need to rush matters. He has four development tempi - the knights, the queen and the light-square bishop - and has more space.
Black effectively only has two development tempi in that, while he has developed three pieces, it will take him an extra tempo to develop his light-square bishop as the c8-h3 diagonal is blocked by the black queen.
So 8.Qc2!? supports the e pawn and takes the string away from ...Na5, which would be an effective answer to 8.0-0.
A natural continuation after 8.Qc2!? is 8...Be7 9.0-0 (Kritz played 9.Bf4?! in his 2000 game and only drew) 0-0 10.Rd1!?, when the engines reckon Black's best is 10...Qe8!?, after which White's compensation is clear for all to see.
6.Bc4 d6 7.0-0
7.Ng5!? is little-played but liked by the engines at least as much as the text.
7...Bxc3
Black usually captures on c3 as soon as the knight is unpinned. Indeed Kaufman reckons Black's most precise move-order is 6...Bxc3+!? 7.bxc3 d6 so as to avoid White playing 7.Qb3, instead of 7.0-0, the idea being to meet ...Bxc3 with Qxc3.
8.bxc3 Nf6
The game reached this position by a different move-order: 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bb4 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.0-0 Bxc3 8.bxc3 d6.
Botterill recommended 8...Bg4 9.Qb3 Bxf3 10.Bxf7+ Kf8 11.gxf3 Ne5 12.Bxg8 (Stockfish10 prefers 12.Bd5!?) Rxg8 13.f4 Nf3+ 14.Kg2 Nh4+ 15.Kh1 Qd7. This is a long line but, as Botterill points out, is largely forced. Known continuations are 16.f5 and 16.c4, both aimed at keeping the black queen out of h3. But the engines reckon White can ignore this threat by playing 16.f3!! The point is that 16...Qh3 is met by 17.Rf2, eg 17...b6 18.Qd5 Re8 19.Qh5 h6 20.c4 with a winning attack against the black king. For that reason, instead of 16...Qh3, the engines suggest 16...Qc6, but Black's pieces are uncoordinated, and White is winning (Stockfish10) or at least much better (Komodo10) after 17.Qe6 or 17.Bd2.
9.e5!
Alekhine played 9.Ba3 in a 1919 win over Isakov, but Penrose came unstuck with the same move against Smyslov in 1958. The text was given by Alekhine as an improvement.
9...dxe5
Kaufman recommended 9...Nxe5 10.Nxe5 dxe5, after which the engines reckon best play is 11.Qxd8+ (Kaufman only covers 11.Qb3) Kxd8 12.Bxf7 Kxe7 13.Bb3 Be6 14.c4, as seen in Yuchtman - Semyon Furman, also in the 1959 USSR Championship, but eight rounds later. The position is unclear (Stockfish10 likes Black, but Komodo10 thinks the position is equal). In the game, White's bishop-pair and Black's somewhat-exposed king helped lead to a quick draw, although both sides could easily have played on.
10.Ng5 0-0!?
Black is two pawns up, so Tal offers the exchange to get his king to safety.
11.Ba3 Qxd1 12.Raxd1 Bf5
Not 12...Rd8? 13.Bxf7+ Kh8 14.Bb3 Re8 (best) 15.Nf7+ Kg8 16.Nd6+ etc.
13.Bxf8 Rxf8 14.Rfe1 h6 15.Nf3 Bg4 16.Rb1
The engines give 16.Bb5!? e4 17.Bxc6 bxc6 18.h3 Bh5 19.g4 Bxg4 20.hxg4 exf3 21.Rd3 Nxg4 22.Rxf3 with advantage to White, even though Black has three pawns for the exchange.
16...e4 17.Nd4 Ne5 18.Bf1 c5 19.Nb5 c4?!
The engines reckon White is only slightly better after 19...Rd8.
20.f3 Bxf3!?
Tal must have planned this combination as 20...Be6?! 21.fxe4 leaves White much better.
21.gxf3 Nxf3+ 22.Kf2 Ng4+ 23.Kg3 Nxe1 24.Rxe1 f5 25.Bxc4+
White has emerged from the complications with a bishop for three pawns. The position is unclear, but the engines prefer White.
25...Kh7 26.Be2 Ne5 27.Kf4 Ng6+ 28.Ke3 f4+ 29.Kd4
29.Kxe4?! f3 30.Nxa7 (any bishop move loses the rook) fxe2 31.Rxe2 is at best equal for White.
29...Kh8?
Tal was presumably worried about a possible pin on his knight after later pushing the e pawn, but correct is a move such as 29...Nh4, with equal chances according to the engines. The text is a mistake because it gives the white rook a tempo to get out of the potential skewer on the e file.
30.Rg1 Nh4 31.Kxe4 Re8+ 32.Kd3
Now Black only has two pawns for the bishop, and only one is a passer (1-0, 40 moves).
(To be continued)

Capablanca's Anti-Gambit Weapon

TURNED out for Battersea in division one of the London League against Wimbledon last night.
Ian Heppell (182) - Spanton (171)
Göring Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3 d5
George Botterill in Open Gambits (Batsford, 1986) stated: "Although it is really stronger to accept the gambit, over the board the gambit is declined more often than not, which is quite understandable if Black has not come fully prepared for all the complicated tactical play that may result from acceptance."
One problem with 4...dxc3 is that White has two almost equally popular replies in 5.Nxc3 and 5.Bc4, with both moves scoring more than 60% in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database.
A repertoire book recommending acceptance is Larry Kaufman's The Chess Advantage In Black And White (McKay, 2004). He wrote: "Black can equalise by 4...d5, but I think he should try for more. Like its cousins the Morra Gambit and the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, the Göring Gambit does not give White enough lead in development to fully offset the pawn sacrificed. That's why these gambits are almost never played by top grandmasters."
Perhaps he should have added "in modern times," because the list of strong players who have essayed 4.c3 includes Staunton, Paulsen, Blackburne, Anderssen, Tarrasch, Nimzowitsch, Lasker, Reti, Schlechter, Tal, Stein, Bronstein, Spassky, Ribli and Ljubojevic. The list since Kaufman's book was published is rather less impressive but includes several 2500+ players.
In a more recent repertoire book, Bologan's Black Weapons In The Open Games (New In Chess, 2014), Viktor Bologan rejects 4...dxc3, writing: "I was very interested in capturing the pawn (and another if White continues with 5.Bc4). However, I wasn't able to find any advantage for Black in one sideline."
It should be noted that as well as 4...d5, Black has two other important ways of declining the gambit, viz 4...d3 and 4...Nf6.
5.exd5 Qxd5 6.cxd4 Bg4 7.Be2 Bb4+ 8.Nc3 Bxf3
First played, as far as is known, by Capablanca against Marshall at Lake Hopatcong, 1926. The idea soon becomes clear.
9.Bxf3 Qc4
Preventing early castling by White.

How should White react?

10.Bxc6+
Marshall preferred 10.Be3, when Capablanca grabbed a pawn after all by 10...Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Qxc3+. The game was quickly drawn after the further moves: 12.Kf1 Qc4+ 13.Kg1 Nge7 14.Rc1 Qxa2 15.Ra1 Qc4 16.Rc1.
Much more popular than 10.Be3 is to seek an immediate queen-exchange by 10.Qb3, but the text is most popular.
10...bxc6
Blacks originally played 10...Qxc6, but Bologan says "it very quickly became clear the blockade of the d5 square is worth doubling the c pawns."
11.Qe2+ Qxe2+ 12.Kxe2 0-0-0 13.Be3 Ne7
Bologan writes: "It's easier for White than for Black to lose this position. Why is this so? Mostly because White (often) fails to play his main trump - installing his king on c4."
14.Kd3
IH in the postmortem said this is recommended in a book he has, although he could not recall the title. Judging from Bologan's comments, the book is probably Danish Dynamite. Even so, 14.Kd3 is only fourth-most popular in Mega19.
IH said his only loss with the text came against grandmaster Oleg Korneev, and that was due to a blunder late-on.
14...Bxc3!?
This seems to be a novelty.
Bologan says 14...c5 must be played "if (Black) wants to equalise in a relaxed manner." However, my move also seems satisfactory.
15.bxc3
15.Kxc3 Nd5+ gives the knight a fine central outpost.
15...c5 16.Kc4 cxd4 17.Bxd4 Nc6
Protecting the a7 pawn as the g7 pawn is effectively taboo.
18.Rhe1
Not 18.Bxg7? as Rhg8 leaves the bishop without a useful square, eg 19.Bf6 Rd6 20.Bd4 (20.Bh4?? Rg4+) Nxd4 21.cxd4 Rxg2 with much the better game for Black.
IH regretted not playing 18.Be3, which at least keeps the game going.
18...Nxd4 19.cxd4 Rhe8 20.Rad1 ½–½
Updated statistics
Battersea 2018-19
Event...Colour...Grade...Opponent's Grade...Result
CLL.........B..........167...….........196..............…D
LL...…….B...…...167...………..159...………….D
CLL...…..B...…...167...………..161...………….W
CLL...…..B...…...167...………..190...………….D
LL...…….W...…..167...………..161...….………W
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..148...………….D
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..165...………….W
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..160...………….D
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..159...………….D
LL...…….B...…...167...………..168...………….D
LL...…….W...…..171...………..159...………….W
CLL...…..B...…...171...………..198...……….….L
CLL...…..B...…...171...………..169...…………..L
CLL...…..B...…...171...………..196...…………..L
LL...…….B...…...171...………..182...…………..D
Overall this season for Battersea I have scored +4=8-3 for a grading performance of 175.
In season 2017-18 I scored +10=8-9, also for a grading performance of 175.