English Woes

ONE problem with playing the English against a stronger opponent is that Black can unbalance the position without taking undue risks.
Not only that, but Black can unbalance the game in a way that often gives a kingside attack - never an easy thing for a lower-rated player to defend.
Borivoj Novak (1637) - Spanton (1881)
Olomouc seniors round 7
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 g6 4.g3
The mainline in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database runs 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.g3, with a slight edge to White thanks to his better pawn-structure. Note that this virtually rules out a Black kingside attack.
4...Bg7 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Nge7 7.d3 0-0 8.Bd2!?
The main move is 8.Rb1. The text may look like a bit of a nothing move, but it has been played by Romanishin and Pribyl.
8...Be6 9.Rc1!?
More normal in this type of position is Rb1, but 9.Rc1!? is liked by the analysis engine Komodo9.
9...Qd7 10. Ne4?!
Perhaps hoping for 10...h6? 11.Bxh6, but an obvious improvement is 10.Ng5.
10...Bh3 11.Neg5?
Now Black gets to exchange White's fianchettoed bishop, weakening the white king's position, and gets two free tempi for a kingside attack.

Black has an attack that almost plays itself (not that I managed to play it accurately)

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11...Bxg2 12.Kxg2 h6 13.Nh3?!
Almost certainly better is 13.Ne4, even though this allows 13...f5 with tempo.
13...g5 14.Nhg1 Ng6 15.e4 g4 16.Nh4?
Better is 16.Ne1, when Stockfish10's evaluation of plus-over-minus strikes me as much more likely to be right than Komodo9's "=".
16...Nxh4+ 17.gxh4 f5 18.f3 fxe4 19.dxe4 h5?
I rejected the superior 19...gxf3+ because I could not see a clear follow-up after 20.Nxf3 Qg4+ 21.Kh1, when I somehow missed the simple 21...Qxe4.
20.Bg5?
The reply I expected, but White had better, eg 20.h3, which protects against the threat of ...gxf3+ followed by ...Qg4. Instead, one line given by the engines runs 20...Nd4 21.fxg4 Rxf1+ 22.Qxf1 Rf8, when Black, although a pawn down, is at least equal.
20...Nd4
Best was probably still ...gxf3+, but the text is also good enough for an edge.
21.f4?
The engines still want White to play h3, but now reckon Black has the upper hand (Stockfish10) or is the equivalent of just under half-a-pawn ahead (Komodo9).
21...exf4 22.Bxf4 Rae8 23.Qd3 Qe7 24.Rce1 Qxh4 25.Qg3!?
Getting queens off might be prudent, but it greatly reduces White's chances of a swindle.
25...Qxg3+ 26.hxg3
This loses a second pawn, but 26.Bxg3 Rxf1 27.Kxf1 is also miserable for White; indeed the engines switch between preferring 26.Bxg3 and 26.hxg3.
26...Re6 (0-1, 44 moves)

Scotch Drubbing

Simon Wilks (2065) - Spanton (1900)
South Wales International Round Three
Scotch Opening
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nb3
This was very much the mainline, at least at club level, before Kasparov revitalised 5.Be3 and 5.Nxc6.
5...Bb6
5...Bb4+!?, a favourite of former European junior champion Oleg Romanishin, scores best in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database.
6.Nc3 Nf6 7.Bg5
More popular is 7.Qe2, but both moves have been played by Carlsen.
7...h6 8.Bh4 g5?!
This has been played by some strong players, and is second in popularity to 8...d6, but it is very committal. The problem for Black is not just that the move to all intents and purposes rules out kingside castling, but it creates numerous weaknesses, especially the squares f5 and f6.
9.Bg3 d6 10.Qe2!?
Not liked by my main analysis engines, Stockfish10 and Komodo9, who prefer 10.Qd2, 10.h4 or 10.Bb5.
10...Be6
Played with my (faulty) next move in mind. The mainline runs 10...Qe7 11.0-0-0 Bd7 12.f3 with a position clearly better for White (Stockfish10) or equal (Komodo9).
11.0-0-0 Bxb3?!
Smyslov, and everyone else in Mega19 who reached this position, played 11...Qe7. I rejected it because of 12.Nd5 Bxd5 13.cxd5 Qxe2 14.Bxe2, when White has the bishop-pair, as in the game, but without doubled b pawns. However, this was wrong thinking on at least two counts: a) the doubled pawns are not weak, b) with queens off, Black is not in danger of being mated, and his kingside weaknesses are not so exploitable. Nevertheless, the text is for a time the second choice of both engines..
12.axb3 Qe7 13.f3 Nh5?
I get to chase White's pieces around with my knight but, as SW pointed out in the postmortem, nothing much is accomplished by this, not least because White's dark-square bishop is not doing much anyway, at least in the short-medium term. Probably best was 13...0-0-0.
14.Bf2
Even better, it seems, was 14.Nd5! I thought it was bad because of 14...Nxg3, but the engines point out the simple 15.hxg3, when Black has a major headache over where to put his queen. 15...Qe5 makes it a target for White's pawns, while 15...Qe6 is met by 16.Qe1! (allowing White's bishop access to c4, and at the same time covering g3). Even worse is 15...Qd8? as Black's king gets trapped in the middle of the board, while 15...Qd7?? loses instantly to 16.Nf6+.
14...Nf4 15.Qd2 Bxf2 16.Qxf2 0-0-0

Who, if anyone, stands better, and why?

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I was quite pleased at having got rid of White's bishop-pair, leaving him with a bishop that is semi-bad. But actually this position is very good for White - my f4 knight will be driven back, his knight will occupy a great post at d5, and his bishop will have plenty of scope, either at b5 or at g2, in either case with latent pressure against Black's queenside.
17.g3 Ne6 18.Nd5 Qf8 19.b4 Kb8 20.Bg2 Qg7

Just four moves have passed between the two diagrams, but White's position has dramatically improved just as Black's has clearly worsened

21.c3
Somewhat cautious. I was more worried about 21.Rd3, which is Stockfish10's choice, while Komodo9's 21.f4 also looks strong.
21...Rhf8?
I never get to play ...f5, so the text just wastes time. An obvious try was 21...Ne5, which turns out to be the engines' choice, but White can ignore the move, if he wants, and complete development with 22.Rhe1, the point being that 22...Nc4 would just be a pretty gesture, rather like …Nh5-f4, as the knight cannot stay on c4 after 23.Bf1 or 23.Qe2.
22.Qc2 Ne5 23.Rhe1 g4?
A mistake - the result of wanting to "do something." More sensible was the calmer 23...h5, when White remains better, but the game continues.
24.f4 Nf3!?
Giving up a pawn to get rid of White's soon-to-be-powerful bishop. Not much better, if at all (Stockfish10 prefers my move, at least for a while), is the retreat 24...Nd7, when White has gained space and can slowly ratchet up the pressure on Black's queenside.
25.Bxf3 gxf3 26.Qf2 Qg4?
The pawn cannot be held, so this is pointless, but it is hard to come up with any active plan for Black.
27.Ne3
I now collapsed horribly. The remaining moves were:
27...Qh5? 28.Rd5 Qh3 29.Qxf3 c6?? 30.Rh5 1-0