Chess Evolution: The French Defence (part seven)

THE McCutcheon fell under a cloud after its rough treatment from Lasker in his 1908 world championship match against Tarrasch.
It was still played, especially at club level, but attention focused on what was already the main line of the French Classical: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7.
Lasker helped in this process by turning up on the black side of the line, continuing to play it well into the later stages of his career.
Ossip Bernstein - Emanuel Lasker

Zürich 1934
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.Qg4!?

The move 7.Qd2 was popular in the early days of this line but today 7.f4 is established as the main try.

7...0-0 8.Nf3 c5 9.Bd3 f5!?

The most-popular move in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database, but strong players in modern times have been more likely to play 9..h6 or 9...cxd4, moves preferred by the analysis engines Stockfish11 and Komodo11.01.

10.exf6

The engines like 10.Qg5!?

10...Rxf6!?

Hans Johner had played 10...Nxf6 two rounds earlier, losing to Walter Henneberger.

11.Qh4 Nf8 12.dxc5 Qxc5 13.0-0 Nc6 14.Rae1 Bd7 15.Ne5!?

Bernstein seeks to blockade the black central pawn-duo, as taught by Nimzowitsch, but the blockade cannot be maintained. The engines suggest White should be content for now to keep the pawns under restraint, for example with 15.Qg5.

15...Nxe5 16.Rxe5 Qb6

16...Ng6 17.Bxg6 Rxg6 also looks reasonable for Black.

17.Re3 Be8!?

A well-known manoeuvre in the French - the light-square bishop seeks activity from h5 or, in this case, g6.

Bad is 17...Qxb2? 18.Rb1 Qa3 19.Nxd5!

18.Rg3 Bg6 19.Qg4 Rd8

Could Lasker here have grabbed the b2 pawn?

Position after 19.Qg4

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

Yes, according to the engines, who give 19...Qxb2!? 20.Rb1 Qxc3 21.Bxg6 Qc7, reckoning White does not have sufficient compensation for the pawn.

20.b3 Rd7 21.Na4!?

Hitting the black queen, but driving it to a better square.

21...Qd6 22.Rf3 Bxd3

Starting the central pawns rolling with 22...e5!? looks promising.

23.cxd3!?

This creates a weakness, but seeks to hold up the black central pawns.

23...Rh6 24.Qg3 e5 25.Re3 b5 26.Nc3 Ng6?

If 26...d4, White replies 27.Ne4. However that is better than the text, which lets White seize the initiative.

27.d4 exd4?

The engines give 27...Qe7, but much prefer White.

28.Nxb5 Qc5 29.Qb8+?

The wrong check. After 29.Re8+ Kf7 29.Rfe1!, grabbing the knight with 29...Qxb5? loses to 30.Qf3+. The engines reckon Black's best is 29...Nf8, but then White can play 30.Nxd4 as 30...Qxd4 loses to 31.Rxf8+ Kxf8 32.Qb8+ Kf7 33.Qe8+ Kf6 34.Qe6+ Kg5 35.Re5+ etc.

29...Nf8 30.Rf3?

Bernstein had to find 30.b4! Qxb4 31.Rb3 with roughly equal chances.

30...Rb6 31.Qe8 Rf6 32.Rxf6 gxf6 33.Qe2 a6

The white knight is trapped.

34.Nxd4 Qxd4 35.Qxa6

White has two connected passed pawns for the knight, but they are a long way from queening. It is not simple for Black, however, as his king is exposed.

35...Qe5 36.Qd3 Ne6 37.g3

Objectively best, according to the engines, is 37.Qg3?!, but exchanging queens in a position such as this is tantamount to giving up.

37...d4 38.Rc1 Qd5 39.h4 Kg7 40.Re1 Nc5 41.Qd1 d3 42.b4 Ne4 43.Qf3 Nc3 44.Qg4+ Kf7 0-1

Lasker's technique in keeping his pieces (apart from the king) centralised while gradually advancing the d pawn has left Bernstein without counterplay.

Marvellous Meran

THIS is the second in an occasional series on How The Openings Got Their Names.
The Meran System, aka the Meran Variation, is a series of lines, many of them very sharp, in the Semi-Slav arising after the moves 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 e6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5.

Start of the Meran … the early moves, especially Black's second, third and fourth, can be played in various orders

The Meran is named after a town-sized city in the South Tyrol that was part of Austria but was given to Italy, and renamed Merano, after World War One.
The city hosted a tournament in 1924 in which Rubinstein used the "Meran System" as Black to beat Grünfeld, who later in the same tournament switched to the black side of the system to beat Spielmann.
It probably will not surprise anyone to learn that the Meran had been played long before it got its name, including by Bernstein to draw with Capablanca in 1914.
When I discovered that an international tournament, the Gold Cup, is still played for in the city, I could not resist going. That was in 2013, and I have been back twice since.
Meran(o) - the linguistic split in the wider commune is apparently almost exactly 50% German, 50% Italian, but with the latter dominating in the city itself - has a beautiful setting amid snow-capped mountains whose lower slopes are covered in vineyards and apple orchards.
The modern Gold Cup is organised as part of the German-based ChessOrg.de series of tournaments, which includes Bad Wörishofen and Malta.
The Gold Cup is that rarity of modern tournaments of being a nine-rounder that is not Fide-rated.
I never managed to play the Meran in Meran(o), not least because 2.c4 is a rare follow-up to 1.d4 d5 at club level.
But here is a double-d pawn opening from round two of the 2014 Gold Cup.
Franz-Josef Schleime (1749) - Spanton (1949)
London System
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bf4 Bg4 4.e3 e6 5.Nbd2 Bd6 6.Bg3 e5!?
As is usual in the London System, White has two pawn breaks - e4 and c4. Black is using a pseudo-Chigorin set-up in which he has only one pawn break, ...e5, but White's move-order has allowed Black to get in his pawn break first, albeit at the cost of moving a man for the second time in the opening.
7.dxe5 Nxe5 8.Be2 Ng6?!
White was threatening to win a piece, but probably a better way of meeting that was to exchange on f3.
9.Bxd6 Qxd6 10.Nd4
Stockfish10 and Komodo9 want to dissolve Black's little centre with 10.c4, as grandmaster Nigel Davies played against me in a similar position in this month's South Wales International (https://beauchess.blogspot.com/2019/07/grandmaster-crush.html).
10...Bd7 11.Nb5 Qb6
I cannot recall why I did not play the simple 11...Bxb5 12.Bxb5+ c6.
12.Nc3 Nf6 13.Rb1 0-0 14.Nf3 Rad8 15.0-0
Not 15.Nxd5? Qa5+ 16.Nc3 Bh3.
15...Be6 16.Nd4?!
White's kingside proves surprisingly vulnerable after this. The engines suggest 16.b4!?
16...c5 17.Nxe6
Best, according to the engines, as 17.Nf3?, for example, runs into 17...d4.
fxe6 18.Bf3?
White is in big trouble after this, which is why the engines give 18.Bd3, albeit with a slight edge to Black.
18...Nh4 19.Bg4??
19.Be2 would have been met with the same move as in the game, so it seems best was 19.g3, but Black has the initiative after 19...Nxf3+.
19...d4
White loses a piece. The game finished:
20.exd4 Rxd4 21.Bxe6+ Qxe6 22.Qc1 Nxg2 0-1