White To Play And Win

FROM this afternoon's fifth and final round of the Crewe congress:

White to make his 48th move in Spanton (1900/168) - Chris Vassiliou (1894/171)

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White wins with 48.Rh1+ Rh5 49.Qb5!
Also winning, according to Stockfish10 and Komodo10, is 48.Bf7, eg 48...Qd8 49.Qh2+ Kg7 50.Be6 Bf6 51.Rh1 Kf8 52.Qh6+ Ke7 53.Rf1 Qh8 54.Qxh8 Bxh8 55.Rf7+ Ke8 56.Rd7, although this is neither so clear nor so pretty as the engines' first line.
The game saw 48.Rf7+? Rg7 49.Rxg7+?! (White is slightly better, according to the engines, after 49.Qh2+ Kg6 50.Rf1) Kxg7 50.Qxg4+ Qg6 ½–½
My final score of +1=2-2 saw me lose 5.6 Fide elo and was an ECF grading performance of 167.8.

Double Fianchetto

HERE is this morning's bottom-board game from round four of the open section of Crewe congress
Barry Hymer (1921/178) - Spanton (1900/168)
Double- Fianchetto Opening
1.g3 e5 2.Bg2 d5 3.d3 Nf6 4.b3 Bb4+!?
I am not sure this really inconveniences White, but it certainly does not hurt Black.
5.c3 Be7 6.Nd2 Nc6 7.Bb2 0-0 8.c4
White's response of 5.c3 to 4...Bb4+!? more-or-less meant he would be obliged to follow up with c4.
8...d4
Black is well-placed to support this advanced pawn.
9.Ngf3 Re8 10.0-0 Bg4 11.h3 Bh5 12.g4!?
This wins the bishop-pair and slightly damages Black's kingside pawn-structure, but at the cost of badly damaging the white kingside pawn-structure.
12...Bg6 13.Nh4 Qd7 14.Nxg6 hxg6
14...fxg6, hoping to use the half-open f file, was a serious alternative, and might have been preferable if a black rook still stood on f8.
15.a3 a5 16.Qc2 Bc5!?
Making it harder for White to move his e pawn.
17.Bc1 Nd8
The f4 square beckons.
18.Rb1 c6
If 18...Qe7, then 19.Qb2, and White still pushes his b pawn.
19.b4 axb4 20.axb4 Bb6 21.c5!?
This surprised me. White gets the c4 square, but Black gets d5, which seems more important.
21...Bc7 22.Nc4 Ne6 23.e3 dxe3?!
Stockfish10 and Komodo10 strongly dislike this, preferring 23...Nd5 24.Bd2 Qe7, when they reckon Black has the upper hand.
24.fxe3 Nd5 25.Bd2 Red8 26.Qb2?!
White prepares to capture the e5 pawn while letting his d pawn fall. This opens the position for his bishops, but Black's pieces become very active. More solid was 26.Rbd1.
26...Nf6 27.Nxe5 Bxe5 28.Qxe5 Qxd3
The engines' 28...Ra2 may be even stronger.
29.Rb2 

Black to make his 29th move

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29...Nd7!
This retreat is powerful because White's queen does not have many squares it can safely go to.
30.Qg3 Nd4?!
Initiating complications, but the engines prefer 30...f6 31.Rc1 Ne5, when the knights are more active than the bishops.
31.Qf2 Ne2+ 32.Kh2 Ne5 33.Re1?
BH must have missed the strength of my reply. White is better after the semi-forcing line 33.Be1 Nc1 34.Rc2 Qa3 35.Rc3 Qa1 36.Bd2! Qb2 37.Bxc1 Qxc3 38.Bb2 Qb3 39.Bxe5 Ra2 40.Qg3 Rdd2 41.Rg1 Qxb4. That is a long line, but most of it is forced, and White emerges with two bishops for rook and pawn.
33...Nc4
The b2 rook has no good square to go to.
34.Rxe2 Nxb2 (0-1, 47 moves)

Crewe Round 3 Debacle

Spanton (1900/168) - Damian McCarthy (1837/173)
Maroczy Bind
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4!?
A lot of moves are more popular than the text, but it has been played by Carlsen, Leko and Yu.
3...Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Nxc6
The main move, but White's score with it in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database is just 42%.

Black to make his seventh move

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7....dxc6
Black has a pleasant choice between this simple equalising response, and going for more with 7...bxc6. Grandmasters have also played 7...Bxc3+, surrendering the bishop-pair but giving White multiple queenside weaknesses.
8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Bd3 e5 10.Bg5 Kc7 11.0-0 Be6 12.Rac1 Rad8 13.Be2 Kb8
Neutralising the threat of Nd5+.
14.f3?
Further weakening the central dark squares.
14...Bc5+ 15.Kh1 h6 16.Bh4 Rd2 17.Rfe1
Stockfish10 and Komodo10 reckon it was better to give up the b2 pawn with 17.Rfd1, which shows how bad White's position has become in very short time.
17...Bb4
Even stronger was 17...Bd4.
18.Nd1?
Horribly passive. Better was 18.Bg3, when the engines give 18...Nd7 19.Na4 Kc7 20.a3 Be7 21.Rcd1 Rxd1 22.Rxd1 - Black is better, but not immediately winning material.
18...Nh5 19.Bf2 Nf4 20.Bf1 Rd7 21.Nc3 Bxc3 22.Rxc3 Rd2 23.Ra3??
The final debacle. I resigned before DM could play 23...Rxf2.

Black To Play And Draw

BLACK to make his 43rd move in Mark Whitehead (1847/167) - Spanton (1900/168), Crewe Round 2.

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43...Qd2
The vulnerability of White's king means Black can offer his knight and draw. But the vulnerability of Black's king means saving the knight with 43...Ng3 (other moves lose) is also only a draw, eg 44.Qg6+ Kf8 45.Rc8+ Ke7 46.Qxg5+ Rf6 47.Nc3 Qd2 48.Rc7+ Kd8 (48...Kd6 49.Nb5+ wins for White) 49.Qxf6+ Kxc7 50.Qxe5+ etc.
44.Qxe4
44.Qxd2 Nxd2 45.Rc1 is also a draw, eg 45...Ne4 46.Nc3 Rc7 47.Ne2, when, according to Stockfish10 and Komodo10, Black can draw whether he keeps the rooks on or exchanges them.
44...Qe1+ 45.Kh2 Qg3+ 46.Kg1 ½–½

Morphing The French II

AM playing in the five-round open section of Crewe congress, which began yesterday evening at an Ibis Styles.
My opponent, a junior (born 2004), allowed me to try to put into practice what I learned from writing my Beau Chess series on how Paul Morphy tackled the French Defence.
Despite that series finishing back on July 23, this is just my second chance to 'Morph' the French..
Spanton (1900/168) - Ieysaa Bin-Suhayl (2208/200)
French Exchange
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Bd6 5.Bd3 Ne7
A rule-of-thumb in the French Exchange as Black is that a good way to unbalance the position is to watch what White does with his king's knight. If it goes to f3, play the black king's knight to e7; if it goes to e2, play the black king's knight to f6. That is why 5...Ne7 is the most popular move here in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database.
6.0-0 Nbc6 7.Re1 Bg4 8.c3 f6!?
Second-most popular, albeit a huge way behind 8...Qd7. The idea is presumably to take away g5 from White's pieces, while possibly preparing a kingside pawn-storm.
9.Nbd2 Qd7 10.b4!?
This has been played by Leko, and is the most popular move in the position. The idea is to discourage queenside castling, but a less-committal way to do this was 10.a4, which avoids weakening the c4 square.
10...0-0 11.h3 Bf5 12.Nf1 a6!?
I failed to see the real point of this move - it is by no means just to prevent White driving the queen's knight away with b5.
13.Ng3 Bxd3 14.Qxd3 b5!?
Revealing the real point of ...a6 - Black clamps down on the c4 square, which will be occupied by a knight.

Position after 14...b5!?

15.Bd2 Na7?!
Too hasty. Better was a move such as 15...Bxg3, giving Black a choice of knight outposts at e4 and c4, or attacking on the queenside with 15...a5.
16.Nh5
Heading for e6, but the engines Stockfish10 and Komodo10 give 16.Ne5!, the point being that 16...fxe5 17.dxe5 Bxe5 18.Rxe5 gives White promising kingside play. So the engines prefer 16...Qe8 with a small edge to White.
16...Nac8 17.Nf4 Nb6 18.Ne6 Rfe8 19.Nc5 Bxc5 20.dxc5 Nc4 21.Nd4 Nc6 22.Bf4 Nxd4 23.cxd4 c6 24.Kf1 g5!?
Aggressive play. Black has the better minor piece, but if he allows the rooks to come off without penetrating White's position, it is doubtful if that is enough to win.
25.Bd2 Re4 26.f3 Qf5?
This shocked me, but it is a mistake. Black should have let the rooks come off.
27.Kf2?
Strong is 27.Re2 as 27...Rae8? loses to 28.Bc1! So Black has to exchange minor pieces or allow an exchange of queens, and in either case White is better.
27...Rae8 28.Qc3?
28.Be3 is equal, according to the engines, which reckon Black has to play 28...Nxe3 as, say, 28...h5?! is met by 29.Kg1 R4e5 30.Qxf5 Rxf5 31.Bf2 Kf7 32.Rxe8 Kxe8 33.Re1+, with an edge.
28...Rxe1 29.Rxe1 Rxe1 30.Bxe1 Qb1
The rooks have come off, but Black has penetrated with his queen, giving White a very difficult defence.
31.Qb3 Qa1 32.Bc3 Qc1 33.Be1 Nb2
Strong was 33...Kg7, as explained in the next note, but probing for a mistake with the text does no harm.
34.Ke2 Kf7?!
34...Qc4+ 35.Qxc4 bxc4 (not 35...dxc4? 36.d5!) looks promising, but White may be able to hold.
Best, according to the engines, was 34...Nc4, and if White repeats position with 35.Kf2, then 35...Kg7 seems to be zugzwang, or at least leaves White without a good move, eg 36.g3 Qa1 37.Bc3 Qh1, or 36.Qc3 Qd1 and eventually White's defence collapses.
35.Qc3?
I was going to play 35.Bd2, which seems to hold. I saw what was wrong with the text, but after some more thought I played it anyway.
35...Qd1+ 36.Ke3
Or 36.Kf1 Nc4 (36...Nd3 is also good), and the defence again eventually collapses, eg 37.Kf2 f5 38.Kf1 f4 39.Kf2 Kf6 40.Kf1 Qb1 41.a3 (41.Qb3?? Nd2+) Ne3+ 42.Kg1 Qa2 43.Bd2 Qc4+ 44.Qxc4 dxc4, and Black wins the minor-piece ending.
Also losing is 36.Kf2? Nd3+ 37.Kf1 Nxe1 etc.
36...Nd3 37.Bf2?!
This loses quickly, but the engines' 37.Bg3 is also hopeless after 37...Nc1.
37...Nf4 38.Qd2 Qf1 0-1