B06 Modern Defence (1.e4 g6 2.d4 c6 3.Nf3 d5 4.e5 Bg7 5.c4)

This is one of those games where the engine didn't really like the Black's opening choice and considered this clearly better for White from the start. Since I started analysing my games for this blog, I have started to see positions where the engine gives maybe a bit false results. In the old versions of Fritz I faced this more often and started to disengage myself from computer analysis and started to think better moves myself and not be so reliant on the computer.

The biggest increase in my chess skills was probably when I started playing correspondence chess in 2004, then I used to spend several hours thinking about the next moves in my games. I used to write down on my notebook the variations that I came up with so I could remember them after it was my time to move again. I can't even think of doing that again, just not enough time anymore for that sort of thing. So many other things taking up my time these days but back then my day schedule was like, wake up, get breakfast, turn on computer and see what my opponents have done, start analysing the positions on my chess board. It was that glorious time when I spent most of my waking time studying chess.

[Event "ICC 5 0"] [Site "Internet Chess Club"] [Date "2014.05.27"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "dtimm1"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B06"] [WhiteElo "1573"] [BlackElo "1424"] [Annotator "Stockfish 5 64 SSE4.2 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [TimeControl "300"] 1. e4 g6 {Modern Defense: King Pawn Fianchetto.} 2. d4 c6 (2... Bg7 3. Bd2 { Modern Defense: Westermann Gambit.} (3. Bd3 {Modern Defense: Wind Gambit.}) (3. c4 c5 4. d5 Qa5+ {Pterodactyl Defense: Central. Benoni Pterodactyl} (4... d6 5. Nc3 Qa5 {Pterodactyl Defense: Central. Benoni Quetzalcoatlus} (5... Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Qa5 {Pterodactyl Defense: Central. Benoni Beefeater Pterodactyl}))) (3. Bc4 b5 {Modern Defense: Bishop Attack. Bücker Gambit})) 3. Nf3 d5 4. e5 Bg7 5. c4 f6 6. Nc3 (6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. Bb5 Bg4 9. O-O fxe5 10. dxe5 e6 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Rc8 13. Qg4 Qd7 14. Rd1 Nge7 15. Ne4 O-O 16. Nc5 Qe8 17. Nxe6 Rf5 18. Nxg7 Kxg7 19. Qh4 a6 20. Bd3 Rxe5 {Ehlvest,J (2585)-Ivanov,I (2505) Saint John 1988 1-0 (55)}) 6... fxe5 7. dxe5 Nh6 {N} (7... e6 8. h4 Nd7 9. Bf4 Nh6 10. h5 Nf7 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. hxg6 hxg6 13. Rxh8+ Bxh8 14. Nxd5 exd5 15. e6 Qe7 16. Qe2 Kf8 17. exf7 Bxb2 18. Rb1 Bc3+ 19. Kd1 Qxe2+ 20. Bxe2 Kxf7 21. Rc1 Ba5 22. Ng5+ {Djuraev,S (2339)-Khamrakulov,I (2580) Dresden 2008 0-1 (37)}) (7... e6 {!? +/= is noteworthy}) 8. cxd5 {+/-} O-O 9. Be2 Bg4 $2 (9... Nf7 10. O-O { +/-}) 10. O-O (10. Ng5 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 cxd5 {+-}) 10... Bxf3 (10... cxd5 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Bxf3 {+/-} (12. gxf3 e6 {+/-})) 11. Bxf3 Nf5 (11... Nf7 12. Qb3 Qb6 13. e6 {+-}) 12. dxc6 {+-} Nxc6 $2 (12... bxc6 13. Qb3+ Kh8 {+-}) 13. Qb3+ Kh8 14. Qxb7 Nxe5 15. Qe4 (15. Qxa8 {and White takes home the point} Qxa8 16. Bxa8 Rxa8 17. Rd1 {+-}) 15... Nxf3+ (15... Nd6 $5 {should be considered} 16. Qe3 Nxf3+ 17. gxf3 Qd7 {=/+}) 16. Qxf3 {+/=} Qb6 17. Nd5 {White threatens to win material: Nd5xb6} Qd6 (17... Qb7 {=}) 18. Bf4 $4 {White lets it slip away} (18. Qe4 Rad8 19. Nc3 Qb6 {+/=}) 18... Qd7 $4 {throwing away the advantage} (18... e5 19. Bg5 h6 20. Bd2 {+/-}) 19. Rab1 $4 {hands over the advantage to the opponent} (19. Qe4 {+/-}) 19... Nd4 {-+} 20. Qe4 Rae8 $4 {ignoring the path to victory} (20... Qf5 {and Black is on the road to success} 21. Rfe1 Rad8 22. Qxf5 Rxf5 (22... Nxf5 23. Ne3 {+/-}) 23. Rxe7 Rfxd5 {-+}) 21. Be5 {+/-} Nf5 ( 21... Ne2+ 22. Qxe2 Qxd5 23. Bxg7+ Kxg7 24. Rfd1 {+/-}) 22. Bxg7+ Kxg7 (22... Nxg7 23. Rbd1 {+-}) 23. Nf4 (23. Rbd1 $5 Qb7 {+-}) 23... e5 {+/-} 24. Nh3 (24. Nd3 Nd6 25. Qd5 Qe6 26. Qxe6 Rxe6 {+/-}) 24... Nd6 (24... Re7 25. Rbd1 Qb7 26. Qxb7 Rxb7 27. Rd2 {+/-}) 25. Qd5 Qe6 26. Qxe6 Rxe6 27. Rbd1 e4 28. Rfe1 (28. g3 Rfe8 {+/-}) 28... Rfe8 (28... h6 {!? +/-}) 29. Nf4 Re5 $4 {the pressure is too much, Black crumbles} (29... Rf6 {+-}) 30. Rxd6 {Black resigns} 1-0