League Chess

PLAYED on board two (of eight) for Battersea 2 against Hackney 3 in London League Division Four last night.

Spanton (1957) - Chris Gribben (1723)

French Rubinstein

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7

This is the start of the For Knox Variation within the Rubinstein complex.

5.Nf3 Bc6!?

This seems to have been first played by José Capablanca in 1902.

6.Bd3 Nd7 7.0-0 Ngf6

There are 5,288 examples of this position in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database

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8.Re1

The mainline in Mega25 runs 8.Ng3 Be7 9.Re1 0-0 10.c3, with a slight edge for White, according to Stockfish17 and Dragon1.

8...Nxe4 9.Bxe4 Bxe4 10.Rxe4 Nf6 11.Re1

The engines like 11.Rh4!?

11...Be7 12.c3 0-0 13.Bg5 c6 14.Ne5 Qc7!?

This may be a novelty. Known moves are 14...h6 and 14...Nd7.

How should White proceed?

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15.Re3?

Building up on the kingside is positionally desirable, but here it is tactically flawed. The engines suggest 15.a4, 15.Bf4 or 15.Qe2.

15...Nd5! 16.Bxe7

There is nothing better, eg 16.Qg4? can be met by 16...Bxg5 17.Bxg5 f6.

16...Nxe3 17.fxe3 Qxe7 18.Qf3 Rad8 19.Rf1 Rc8!? 20.Qg3 Qc7 21.Qh4 Qd8 22.Qg3 Rc7 23.h4 Kh8?!

The engines dislike this, preferring 23...f6 or 23...c5.

24.Qf4 Qe7 25.h5 h6?

The engines reckon 25...Kg8!? and 25...Qd8!? maintain a winning advantage.

26.Ng6+! fxg6 27.Qxf8+

CG offered a draw.

27...Qxf8 28.Rxf8+ Kh7 29.g4

White has a slight edge after 29.Ra8 a6 30.Re8!?, according to the engines.

29...gxh5 30.gxh5 Re7 31.Kf2 g6 32.hxg6+ Kxg6 33.Kg3 e5 34.Rf2 exd4 35.exd4 Re4+ 36.Kf4 Re7

Who, if anyone, stands better?

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The engines reckon the position is completely equal.

37.Rg2+ Kf6 38.Rh2 Rh7!? 39.c4 Ke6 40.b4 a6 41.Rh5 b5!? 42.Re5+ Kd6 43.c5+ Kd7 44.d5 cxd5 45.Rxd5+ Kc7

White has a protected passed pawn, but this is balanced by Black's mobile passed pawn, the position remaining completely equal, according to the engines

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46.Rd6 Kb7 47.Kf5 h5 48.Rd3

White gets nowhere with 48.Kg6 Rh8 49.Kg7 Re8.

48...h4 49.Kg4 Re7!? 50.a3 Re4+ 51.Kf5 Rc4

What should White play?

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52.Kg5?

It was time to think about securing the draw, starting with, for example, 52.Rd7+ or 52.Ke6.

52...a5 53.Rb3?!

Perhaps the best practical chance lay with 53.Rd7+ Kc8 54.Rh7, but the Syzygy endgame tablebase shows the position after 54...axb4 55.axb4 Rxb4 is winning for Black.

53...axb4 54.axb4 Kc6 55.Kf5 Kc7

This does not spoil anything, but the simplest win begins with 55...h3!?

56.Kf5 ½–½

Battersea 2 won the match 5-3..

MY BATTERSEA SEASON 2024-5

DATE.....EVENT...........................COL..RATING..OPP'S RATING..SCORE..SEASON PERF

12/9/24  Central London League   W     1933         1886                   1            2286

26/9/24  Central London League   B      1933         2112                   1            2399

15/10/24 Club Championship        W     1968         1578                   1            2259*

31/10/24 Central London League  B      1968         1867                   0            2061*

19/11/24 London League               W     1957         1991                   1            2127*

21/11/24 Central London League   B      1957         2035                   =           2112*

27/11/24 London League               W     1957         1723                   =           2056*

*My season's performance is slightly better than this, the point being my win against a 1578 counts as a 1978 performance, which lowers my average despite me winning the game.

Missed Opportunities

TODAY was the double-round day at Jersey - necessary to fit nine rounds into a Saturday-to-Saturday schedule - and it turned out for me to be a day of missed opportunities.
First up this morning in round three I had Black.

Black to make his 31st move in Alek Safarian (2005) - Spanton (1914)

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31...Rh2??
A ridiculous move that removes any danger from White's king while exposing Black's weak kingside pawns.
I wanted to play 31...g5 but rejected it because of 32.Ne4. What I missed, but Stockfish10 and Komodo9 see instantly, is that Black has 32...Nxe3! as the obvious 33.Bxe3 runs into 33...gxf4. Black is then temporarily down a bishop for two pawns, but threatens to win the e3 bishop or fork White's king and g2 rook, in either case giving Black a winning advantage.
After the text, the game continued ...
32.Rxh2 Nxh2 33.Ne4
… when White's bishop-pair, combined with Black's weak pawns and uncoordinated pieces, gave White a winning advantage (1-0, 53 moves)
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MY reward for being the only player in the Open on nul points was to be upfloated against the 12th seed in round four.
Spanton (1914) - Paul Curtis (2186)
French Rubinstein (Fort Knox Variation)
1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7!?
The Fort Knox has a super-solid reputation but seems a strange choice against someone rated 272 elo lower. Stockfish10 at first rates Black's fourth move as giving White a winning position, but soon calms down.
5.Nf3 Bc6 6.Bd3 Nd7 7.0-0 Ngf6 8.Qe2
It is more popular to avoid exchanges with 8.Ng3.
8...Be7 9.Re1 Nxe4 10.Bxe4 Bxe4 11.Qxe4 c6 12.Ne5!?
The engines do not like this, preferring 12.Bf4.
12...Nf6 13.Qf3!?

Position after 13.Qf3!?

This seems to be a novelty. The idea is to meet 13...Qxd4 with 14.Nxc6, when the engines agree with what I thought was the main line, namely 14...Qd5 (14...bxc6?? loses the a8 rook after 15.Qxc6+) 15.Qxd5 Nxd5 16.Nxe7 Kxe7, when White has bishop-v-knight and a queenside pawn-majority, but Black has no weaknesses.
13...Qd5 14.c3
The engines reckon 14.Qxd5 cxd5 is fine for White, but I suspect PC would have fancied his chances of turning a minority attack into a full point.
14...Qxf3 15.Nxf3 0-0 16.Bf4 Rac8 17.Rad1 Rfd8 18.h3 Nd5 19.Be5 Bf6 20.Bxf6 Nxf6 21.Ne5 Rd6 22.Nc4 Rd5 23.a4 Rcd8 24.b4 b6?!
This may look aggressive because of the line-up of Black's rooks on the d file, but in reality it is weakening.
25.Ne5
Even stronger is 25.a5, which I looked at but was not sure about after 25...c5? 26.axb6, although with the help of the engines it is fairly easy to see that Black is in big trouble, eg 26...cxd4? 27.bxa7 wins for White, not least thanks to the threat of Nb6. The engines reckon Black's best after 25.a5 is the horrible 25...b5, when White is clearly better after 26.Ne5.
Maybe if I had not had such a disappointing start to the tournament, or had been playing someone nearer my rating, I would have looked harder at these lines instead of concentrating on avoiding defeat.
25...R5d6 26.Nc4 Rd5 27.Ne5 R5d6
While I was thinking about my next move, which would almost certainly have been 28.Nc4, PC offered a draw, which I accepted.