Chess Evolution: The French Defence (part three)

NOT everyone agreed 2.d4 is White's best reply to 1...e6.

Henry Bird - George Medley

Match (London) 1849

French 2.f4

1.e4 e6 2.f4!?

This may look quaint but it has been played by Carlsen and Nakamura. The main idea is to gain space on the kingside without having to gambit a pawn as would be the case with 1.e4 e5 2.f4.

2...d5 3.e5 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bb5

Position after 5.Bb5

Carlsen and Nakamura preferred 5.c3. After the text the position has similarities to the Rossolimo Variation of the Sicilian.

5...Qb6

Medley later preferred 5...Bd7, meeting 6.Bxc6!? with 6...Bxc6.

6.Bxc6+ bxc6!?
Opening a diagonal for the black light-square bishop and reinforcing the black centre, factors that should prove more important than the disruption of Black's queenside pawn-formation. The black queen also gets to continue its pressure against b2. However Black also more-or-less loses the option of castling long.
7.0-0 Nh6 8.Kh1 Be7 9.Nc3 0-0 10.d3 a5!?
Medley judges he is safe enough on the kingside and can get on with queenside play.
11.b3 f6?!
Medley seems to have missed the secondary point of 11.b3, which is not just to prevent Black gaining more space with ...a4. Better is 11...c4!?, preventing 12.Ba3, or 11...Qa7 so 12.Ba3 does not pin the c5 pawn.
12.Ba3 Nf5
Threatens an exchange-winning fork at e3 as well as a defence of the c5 pawn by ...Nd7.
13.Qd2 Ba6 14.exf6 Rxf6 15.Ne5
Now White threatens an exchange-winning fork.
15...Qc7 16.Rae1 Rd8 17.Qf2 Nd4?
Stockfish11 and Komodo11.01 reckon Black's best is 17...c4!? 18.Bxe7 Nxe7, but prefer White after 19.dxc4 or 19.bxc4.
18.Na4 Bb5 19.Bxc5 Bxa4 20.Bxd4 Bb5?
Black had to try 20...c5, but then the engines give 21.Ng4 Rg6 22.Be5, eg 22...Qd7 23.bxa4 Rxg4 24.Rb1 with what they reckon is a winning advantage for White, although there is a lot of play left.
21.Bb6 1-0

A Tale Of Two Islands

Spanton (1914) - Ian Heppell (2001)
Jersey Round 8
Botvinnik English
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 f5
Black is playing the Grand Prix Attack with colours reversed and a tempo less.
4.Bg2 Nf6 5.a3!?
This move goes all the way back to a game of Bird's in 1889 (he lost) and has been played in more modern times by Nakamura, Naiditsch and other strong players. The idea - at least, my idea in playing it - is to stop Black playing ...Bb4 (Bb5 being a popular move for White in the Grand Prix Attack proper).
The most popular line in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database runs 5.d3 Bb4 6.Bd2 0-0 7.a3 Bxc3 8.Bxc3 d6 9.Nf3 Qe8, reaching a position from which Black scores a stupendous 63%, but which my main analysis engines Stockfish10 and Komodo9 regard as quite a bit better for White.
The last time I had White against IH, also in the Channel Islands, the game continued 5.e3!? (Tony Kosten warns in The Dynamic English against playing this) d5!? 6.Nxd5 Nxd5 7.cxd5 Nb4 8.d3 Nxd5, when, according to Kosten, "Black has a reasonable Sicilian structure." Spanton (2030) - Heppell (2106), Guernsey 2013 (½–½, 17 moves).
5...d6
Most popular is 5...a5, but it is by no means clear that Black has to stop White playing b4.
6.d3 g6!?
Now Black is playing a Closed Sicilian with colours reversed and a tempo down.
7.e4
Arguably more consistent was 7.b4 but the text, which establishes a Botvinnik formation, has been the choice of  at least two 2500+ players.
7...Bg7 8.Nge2 0-0 9.0-0 Ne7
This may be a novelty. Most popular is 9...Be6.
10.b4 c6 11.Bb2 Be6 12.Rc1
Preparation for the c file being opened after a later ...d5.
12...Qd7 13.a4?!
Black's next move shows White's queenside play is too slow.

Can you find Black's thematic move in this type of position?

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13...f4! 14.gxf4 Nh5 15.fxe5
The engines agree this is White's best try.
15...dxe5!?
I thought 15...Bxe5 was more dangerous, but the engines prefer the text. The position is certainly unclear, eg after 15...Bxe5, Komodo9 likes 16.f3, which it reckons is slightly better for White, but Stockfish10 reckons 16.f3 is slightly better for Black.
16.Rc2
Again the position is unclear. Komodo9 suggests 16.b5 with equal chances, but Stockfish10 reckons Black is close to winning after meeting 16.b5 with 16...g5 or 16...Rf7.
16...Bh3
The engines prefer a slow build-up with 16...g5 or 16...Rad8.
16...Bh6 looked strong in the postmortem, but as with many moves around here the best continuation is far from clear.
17.f3 Rad8 18.Bc1 Bxg2
The engines want to prepare ...g5 with 18...h6 or 18...Bf6.
19.Kxg2 Nf4+?!
This seems to dissipate what remains of Black's advantage. Again ...h6 and ...Bf6 are liked by the engines.
20.Nxf4?!
The engines agree White is quite a bit better after 20.Bxf4 exf4 21.d4.
20...exf4 21.Ne2 g5 22.d4 Ng6 23.Kh1 Nh4?!
The engines give 23...g4 24.d5 cxd5 25.Qxd5+ Qf7 26.Qxf7+ Rxf7 27.fxg4 Re8, when Black is temporarily two pawns down, but is about to get one back and apparently has almost full compensation for the other one.
24.Qe1?
Better was 24.d5 as the text allows Black a neat combination.

Black to make his 24th move

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24...Qh3
This is fine if followed up correctly, but even stronger seems to be 24...Bxd4! We both thought it failed to 25.Rd2, but then comes 25...Qh3 26.Nxd4 Rxd4 27.Rdf2 (27.Rxd4?? Qg2#) Rd3 28.Qe2 Rfd8 with what the engines reckon is a winning attack.
25.Ng1 Qd7
Better is 25...Qc8! with 26...Bxd4 to follow, when Black has restored material equality and still has an attack, although the engines disagree just how much better this is for Black.
26.Ne2
As IH pointed out in the postmortem, White has an edge after 26.Bb2.
The game finished:
26...Qh3 27.Ng1 Qd7 ½–½