B32 Sicilian: Löwenthal and Kalashnikov Variations (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 d6 5.c4 e5 6.Nb5 a6 7.N5c3 Nf6)

In addition of having 216 normal correspondence chess in progress, I even created a challenge for Fischer random or Chess960 as it is also known with 3 days per move. I am also having ideas of playing Chess960 at ICC more. Last time I played that with 5 minute time controls and drew a game where I didn't realize where all my pieces where and tried to play normally only to see that I lost a pawn quite quickly in the opening. When I played normal chess after that game, I was more clueless than usual in those games as well. This time I might be better prepared to play from the unusual start up position, whatever it might be. I think I have only played like 5 Chess960 games ever with a score of 4,5/5. It does seem like a great result but in four of those games I had a opponent who usually likes to use quite a lot of his time, usually ending in my win not due to the position on the board but because I win on time.

The first critical position in this game after my 18th move. You can see that position below. I only had a small advantage in the position, but after CNJEDUARDO's move 15...Kg7 I had a clear advantage, at least according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT. The position already looked promising to me, but had my opponent played 18...Bc8, CNJEDUARDO should have been able to hang on in the game with accurate play.

I messed up and played 19.Rf3 in reply. It gave my opponent a chance to play Bc8 again and keep the position equal. 19.Nf3 would have been a stronger move to play. The game continued with the moves 19...Qa5 20.Nb3 Qb4. Both CNJEDUARDO's moves made my position look better. The newest Stockfish engine thinks that I should be clearly better after 20...Qb4. Stockfish 5 64 SSE4.2 only thought that the position is only slightly better for me. It seems that the newest engine is more optimistic than the older version. Well, at least in that one position. The game continued rather evenly up to the move 29...Bg5. I played 30.f6+ in reply in the position below.

It was a huge blunder, from which I could not recover and I resigned after 32...Be3+ in a completely lost position.

[Event "Let's Play!"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2011.08.01"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "CNJEDUARDO"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "1874"] [BlackElo "1709"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "64"] [EventDate "2011.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 {Sicilian Defense: Open (#3)} d6 (4... d5 {Sicilian Defense: Nimzo-American Variation}) (4... e5 5. Nb5 d6 {Sicilian Defense: Kalashnikov Variation}) (4... g6 5. c4 (5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 { Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon. Modern Bc4 Variation}) 5... Bg7 (5... Nf6 6. Nc3 Nxd4 7. Qxd4 d6 {Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon. Maroczy Bind Gurgenidze Variation}) 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Ng4 {Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon. Maroczy Bind Breyer Variation}) 5. c4 e5 6. Nb5 a6 7. N5c3 Nf6 { B32 Sicilian: Löwenthal and Kalashnikov Variations} 8. Be2 Be7 9. Be3 O-O 10. Nd2 (10. O-O Be6 11. Na3 Rb8 12. Rc1 Kh8 13. Qd2 Qa5 14. Rfd1 Rfc8 15. h3 Bf8 16. Bf1 h6 17. Kh2 Re8 18. f3 Nd7 19. Qf2 Qd8 20. Nc2 f5 21. exf5 Bxf5 22. Nd5 Be6 23. Nb6 Nxb6 24. Bxb6 Qf6 {Palac,M (2575)-Bhend,E (2285) Biel 1997 1-0 (33) }) 10... Nd4 $146 (10... Ne8 11. Nd5 f5 12. h3 Nf6 13. Bb6 Qd7 14. Nxe7+ Qxe7 15. Bf3 Nd7 16. Qb3 Kh8 17. exf5 Nxb6 18. Qxb6 Nd4 19. O-O Nxf3+ 20. Nxf3 Bxf5 21. Rfd1 Bxh3 22. Qxd6 Qf7 23. Qxe5 Bxg2 24. Ng5 Qxf2+ 25. Kh2 {Alonso Liarte, I (1834)-Torras Coloma,P (1834) Santa Eulalia de Roncana 2015 0-1}) (10... Nd7 11. Nd5 Bg5 12. O-O Nc5 13. b4 Ne6 14. Bb6 Qd7 15. Bg4 Bd8 16. Nb3 Ne7 17. Be3 f5 18. Nxe7+ Qxe7 19. Bxf5 Bc7 20. Qd5 Kh8 21. Qd2 Bd7 22. Rfd1 Bc6 23. c5 dxc5 24. Nxc5 Rad8 25. Qb2 {Hillgarter,C-Kroell,S Austria 1995 1/2-1/2 (38)}) 11. Bxd4 (11. Bd3 Bd7 $11) 11... exd4 $11 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. cxd5 b5 14. O-O Bf6 15. Bd3 {The bishop blocks d4} Bb7 (15... g6 16. f4 $11) 16. Qh5 {Black king safety dropped} (16. a4 Qc7 $16) 16... g6 $14 {Black threatens to win material: g6xh5} 17. Qh3 h5 (17... Bc8 18. Qg3 $11) 18. f4 $14 Kg7 (18... Bc8 19. Qf3 Bg7 $14) 19. Rf3 (19. Nf3 Qc8 20. f5 Qd8 $16) 19... Qa5 (19... Bc8 $5 {is interesting} 20. f5 Re8 $11) 20. Nb3 $16 {White threatens to win material: Nb3xa5} Qb4 21. f5 (21. Raf1 $5 Rae8 22. Qg3 $16) 21... g5 $14 22. Qxh5 Rh8 23. Qg4 Rh4 24. Qg3 Rah8 25. h3 Kf8 26. Rc1 (26. a3 Qxb3 27. Qxd6+ Kg7 $14) 26... g4 {Black threatens to win material: g4xf3} 27. a3 {White threatens to win material: a3xb4} (27. hxg4 $4 {White will choke on that pawn} Rh1+ 28. Kf2 Rxc1 29. Nxc1 Rh1 $19) 27... Qxb3 28. Qxd6+ {White forks: f6} Kg7 29. e5 {White threatens to win material: e5xf6} Bg5 {Black threatens to win material: Bg5xc1} 30. f6+ $4 {what a pity, victory was in sight} (30. Rc7 $142 {the only rescuing move} Rg8 31. Rxf7+ Kh8 32. Rg7 Rxg7 33. f6 Qd1+ 34. Rf1 Qxd3 35. fxg7+ Kxg7 36. Qf8+ Kg6 37. Qg8+ Kh6 38. Qf8+ Kh5 39. Qh8+ Kg6 40. Qg8+ Kh6 41. Qf8+ Kh5 42. Qh8+ Kg6 43. Qg8+ $11) 30... Kh6 $19 31. Rc7 Bxd5 (31... gxf3 32. Rxf7 Qd1+ 33. Bf1 Be3+ 34. Kh2 Qxf1 35. Rh7+ Kg5 36. Rg7+ Kh5 37. g4+ Rxg4 38. hxg4+ Kh4 39. Rh7+ Rxh7 40. b3 Kxg4#) 32. Bc4 (32. Rxf7 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} Bxf7 33. e6 gxf3 34. exf7 Be3+ 35. Kh2 Bf4+ 36. Qxf4+ Rxf4 37. Kg3 Qxd3 38. Kxf4 Qe3+ 39. Kf5 fxg2 40. b3 g1=Q 41. f8=B+ Rxf8 42. a4 Qg6#) 32... Be3+ (32... Be3+ 33. Kh2 gxh3 34. Qf8+ Rxf8 35. Bxd5 hxg2+ 36. Kg3 g1=Q+ 37. Kxh4 Bf2+ 38. Kh3 Qg3+ 39. Rxg3 Qxg3#) 0-1