Luis Bernardo Hoyos-Millán asks:

I liked Christiansen's analysis on the Evan's Gambit very much, but I think he overlooked something. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.0-0 Nge7 8.Ng5 d5 9.exd5 Ne5 10.Qxd4 N7g6 11.Re1 f6 12.d6 Bb6 13.Qd5 Qd7 14.Bf4, instead of 14...Nxf4, the simple 14...c6 seems to equalize for black (or am I mistaken?). I would love to know what Larry had in mind after this move!

NEW LIFE FOR BLACK VIA 14.c6!

Larry Christiansen responds:

Hello Luis, Jeremy, and the gang at silman.com,

Thanks for puncturing my latest attempt to rehabilitate the Evan's! Your calm 14...c6 is tough to refute. White's best appears to be 15.Qf3 Nxf4 16.Qxf4 Qf5! 17.g3! (This keeps up at least the facade of "pressure.") 17.Kf8! 18.Rxe5 fxe5 19.Qxf5 Bxf5 20.Nf7 Rg8 and now 21.Nd2 (21.Nxe5? Re8 is good for Black) gives White some play for the Exchange, but I would prefer Black. So it seems that Luis' 14...c6 handles my 14.Bf4 nicely.

So, what to do in this line? Okay, lets go back and investigate the following: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.0-0 Nge7 8.Ng5 d5 9.exd5 Ne5 10.Qxd4 N7g6 11.Re1 f6 12.d6 Bb6 13.Qd5 Qd7

WHAT SHOULD WHITE DO?

Clearly, White must get his queenside forces into battle, so what about 14.Nd2 instead of my 14.Bf4. Here too, Black seems to hold comfortably after 14...c6 15.Qe4 (15.Qf7+ Kd8!) 15.Qf5! and again Black preempts White's attacking ambitions. Scratch 14 Nd2.

Finally, let's take a look at 14.Nf7! which finally puts White on the right track. This move serves two important purposes - it moves a potentially threatened piece and applies pressure to Black's grip on e5. The two possible variations are A) 14.c6 and B) 14.Qf5!

In contrast to the position after 14.Bf4, the pawn advance to c6 is no longer effective.

15.Nxe5!

A FUN POSITION

15.cxd5

Best. 15...Nxe5 16.Rxe5+ Kd8 17.Qd2 Qg4 18.Be2! Qh4 19.Re3 is much better for White.

16.Nxd7+ Kxd7 17.Bxd5 Kxd6 18.Bf3 and I think White has a clear plus (or at least this position is much easier to play for White).

B) 14.Qf5!

Black's best defense.

15.Re2!

15 Be3!? comes close, but Black seems okay after 15...c6 16.d7+ Bxd7 17.Nd6+ Kf8! 18.Qd1 Qg4!.

15.c6 and we have two critical tries for White: B.1. 16.d7+ and B.2. 16.Qd1!

B.1. 16.d7+ Bxd7!

16...Qxd7!? 17.Qxd7+ Bxd7 18.Nxh8 Nxh8 and Black has good play for the Exchange : 19.Be3 Bxe3 20 Rxe3 0-0-0 21 Na3 Nhg6 22 g3 Bf5 looks like an exceptionally difficult technical task for White.

17.Qd1 Qg4! 18.Ba3

18.h3 Qh4 19.Nxh8 Nxh8 gives Black great compensation for the Exchange.

18.Nf4 19.Rxe5+ fxe5 20.Nd6+

DOES WHITE HAVE MORE THAN A PERPETUAL?

A small finesse.

20.Kd8 21.Nf7+ Ke8

Black has lost right to castle.

22.Qxg4 Bxg4 23.Nxh8 Rd8! and Black has good compensation for the piece.

B.2. 16.Qd1!

This seems to create real problems for Black.

16.Rf8 17.Bd3!

THE KEY IDEA

White continues to chip away at e5 by destroying the Knight on g6. Tempting but weaker is 17.d7+ Qxd7 18.Nd6+ Kd8 19.Rd2

SCARY, BUT BLACK CAN DEFEND

19.Kc7 (19.Ke7!?) 20.Nb5+ cxb5 21.Rxd7+ Bxd7 looks equal.

17.Qg4?!

This leads to an avalanche of fascinating complications that ultimately fail for Black. After the safer 17.Qe6 18.Bxg6 hxg6 19.Nxe5 fxe5 20.Be3 White can lay claim to no more than a small positional advantage.

18.h3!

Far stronger than 18.Bxg6 Qxg6 19.Nxe5 fxe5 20.Rxe5+ Be6 21.Be3 (no better is 21.d7+ Kf7 22.Be3) 21.0-0-0.

18.Qg3?

Of course, 18.Qh5?? loses immediately to 19.Rxe5+, while 18.Qe6 takes us into the note to Black's 17^th move (except that White has gotten h2-h3 in for free). Nevertheless, the retreat to e6 turns out to be the best Black has.

19.Be3!

BLACK LOSES IN ALL LINES

A Fritz recommendation that creates a wild position - it turns out to be winning for White in all lines. Less clear is 19.d7+ Bxd7 (Or 19.Kxf7 20.Qb3+ Ke7 21.dxc8=N+ Rfxc8 22.Ba3+ Kd8 23.Qg8+ and wins) 20.Kh1 Bxf2 21.Bxg6 Rxf7 (Avoiding 21.hxg6 22.Nd6+ Kd8 23.Ne4) 22.Rxe5+! (More accurate than 22.Bxf7+ Kxf7 23.Rxe5 Bxh3! 24.Qh5+ Kf8 25.Ba3+ c5 26.Qxh3 Qxe5) 22.fxe5 23.Bxf7+ Ke7 24.Ba3+ c5 25.Bd5 Rf8 (Capturing on h3 via 25.Bxh3 leads to a clear White advantage after 26.Qf3 Qxf3 27.Bxf3) 26.Nd2 Bxh3 27.Nf1 Qg5! (27.Qxc3 28.Rb1 Qxa3 (28.b6 29.Bb2) 29.Rxb7+ Kd8 30.Rb8+ Bc8 31.Rxc8+ Kxc8 32.Be6+ wins) 28.Bc1?! (28.Qd2! leaves White with some chances) 28.Bxg2+! 29.Bxg2 Qh4+ 30.Nh2 Bg3 31.Qg1 Bf2 with a draw.

19.Nf3+

19.Bxe3 20.Rxe3 Qh4 (20.Qxe3 21.d7+!) 21.Bxg6 hxg6 22.Nxe 5 fxe5 23.Rxe5+ Kd8 24.Qe2 is obviously miserable for Black.

20.Kf1 Nh2+ 21.Ke1 Nf3+ 22.gxf3 Qg1+ 23.Kd2 Qxd1+ 24.Kxd1 Kxf7 25.Bc4+ and White wins a piece and the game.

Thanks Luis, for leading theory away from 14.Bf4. At the moment it seems that 14.Nf7! gives White some advantage.

Regards,

Larry Christiansen

Cambridge, MA

P.S. Enduring record-breaking winters in New England is not easy for ex-California natives but I am doing my best. I average about 5-10 ice slips during a normal winter season here and the only damage is to my pride. But this time one of my pratfalls led to a cracked tooth and I have enjoyed a whole series of root canals, extractions, drillings, hairy arms and strong painkillers. Curiously, the slick-ice fall happened shortly after I listened to a Global Warming-themed "poetry slam" at some local coffee house here in Cambridge (I only went for the coffee). Of course the night before my root canal my wife Natasha helpfully rented the film Marathon Man ("Is it safe yet?").

Next on the agenda:  "Molar Attack," "Building a Bridge,"  "Biting on Granite" and "Tactical Drills." I also did a search for games between IM Doug Root and IM Esteban Canal but found no Root-Canal matches.