B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Bg5)

I am starting to post analysis made in my correspondence games to show that they are not all that better than my blitz games sometimes... ;-) However, this first example is first of all quite a short game and one in which I managed not to make any serious mistakes. There will be other examples in which I play like a brain-dead monkey even if there are usually many days to think about a move in the correspondence chess games I play. Speaking of which, I have at the moment 139 of those games in progress. A long time ago when I turned 25 I wanted to play 100 corr games simultaneously but it took 5 more years for me to actually get into the headset that I should try this and now it has gone a bit over the originally planned amount of games. And it might even increase from this current amount. In the opening theory phase I have managed to move in all of the games it was my turn to move during the same day but now when the games have mostly gone beyond my opening knowledge and middlegame and uncertain phases have started, I had to divide my time a bit and not move in all the games. It feels like I would play 139 blitz games simultaneously since the actual amount of time I use per move resembles that of a blitz game. Mostly I am completely clueless as what to do and for some reason or the other, some sites I manage to win more often than lose and others I mostly lose. At Chess.com I think I have lost 7 of my last daily games there, for example. I play there sometimes also blitz and in one of them I managed to get a nice mate, I will show you lot that game or the mate sometime in the future.

Nothing of great interest happened in the game until it came time for my opponent to make hers or his 10th move. Flo25 decided to capture the bishop with the pawn, which weakens the pawn structure on the kingside, it doubled the pawns on the f-file and left the h-pawn isolated. It was completely unnecessary thing to do, because Qxf6 was possible. Maybe my opponent wanted to use the g-file for attack, but there really was nothing to attack since I castled on the queenside as my reply to gxf6.

My opponent could not recover from the mistake even though I did not make the best possible moves after it. The game was not lost at this point, however. The game losing mistake was played when my opponent moved the bishop to g5 on move 13. The bishop left the job of defending the pawn on d6 only to the queen, which was insufficient because I attacked the pawn with two pieces, which meant I was able to win a pawn. After the trades on d6, my opponent made winning of the game much easier for me with the move 15...Be7, because I was able to take a free piece on e6, due to the fact that the f-pawn was pinned by the bishop on h5.

Game number two. This was played on the second round of the 28th Chess.com Tournament (1601-1800). I advanced from the first round with ease, I won all my ten games in group 137. The second player in the group got only five points. On this second round, I was put in my place again and I was fifth on the final standings of group 18. I was able to only get 4 points out of the possible 10 this round, which was a huge disappointment after the great success of round one. This meant that I am now eliminated from this tournament because only the winner or winners will advance to next round. My opponent in this game, fliubo, was playing much better and managed to get 8 out of the 10 possible points. Unfortunately for fliubo, there was one player who played slightly better and was able to get 8.5 points. The player who won our group is called Kounle (1777).

I was able to play roughly equally with my stronger opponent for the first 19 moves. My 20th move, Bh4, was the first sign of actual trouble for me. The problem with my move was that fliubo could have first taken on e2, forcing the reply Qxe2, because Nxe2 would lose the queen and then my opponent could have taken the pawn on f4 and won a pawn. Fliubo took the pawn on f4 first, which was not as good as 20...Bxe2.

While the move played in the game, 20...exf4, also won a pawn, I could have had compensation for the lost material in the game continuation, but not if my opponent had taken on e2 first. I should have replied with 21.Nd3 and maybe I could have been able to draw the game with accurate play. I took the knight on f6 with my bishop on move 21 instead, which was unfortunately one move too late. When I took on f6, I may have briefly thought that I can take on f4 and get the material back. That being said, when I saw the reply 21...Bxf6, it was obvious that I can't win the pawn back so easily or at all. I then made position even worse, likely even lost with my next move 22.Rfd1. At this moment in the game it seemed that I am going to lose yet another game, but I did get one more chance to hold on to a draw when my opponent played 32...Bh4.

I was able to get into a position where material was even and the game should have headed towards a draw. Unfortunately I quickly collapsed after that with the move 36.Ne4.

My position only went downhill after that and maybe my final nail in the coffin was my 42nd move Nd4, after that I was completely lost. However, I did not want to resign the game for some reason and continued the game up to the move 66...Bg5 and then resigned.

[Event "Let's Play!"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2010.11.29"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "flo25"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "1874"] [BlackElo "1708"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "31"] [EventDate "2010.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation} e5 7. Nb3 Be6 (7... Be7 8. O-O Be6 { Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Modern Line} (8... O-O {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Traditional Line})) 8. Bg5 {B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2} Nc6 $146 (8... Nbd7 9. f3 (9. Qd2 Be7 ( 9... Qc7 10. O-O Rc8 11. f3 Be7 12. Rac1 O-O 13. Rfd1 Rfd8 14. Be3 b5 15. g4 Nb6 16. a3 d5 17. exd5 Nbxd5 18. Nxd5 Nxd5 19. Bd3 Nxe3 20. Qxe3 Bxb3 21. cxb3 Bc5 22. Rxc5 Qxc5 23. Qxc5 Rxc5 24. Bxh7+ {McGowan, G-Colon Romero,M Moscow 1956 1/2-1/2 (35)}) 10. O-O-O b5 11. f4 O-O 12. Bf3 Rc8 13. Qe3 b4 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. exd5 Bxg5 16. fxg5 Bf5 17. Rd2 Nb6 18. Na5 Nc4 19. Nxc4 Rxc4 20. g4 Bxg4 21. Be4 Qc8 22. Rf1 a5 23. Rdf2 Bh5 {MacDonald,O-Vidal,R (2370) Neuquen 1992 0-1 (35)}) (9. Nd5 Bxd5 10. exd5 Be7 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. O-O O-O 13. a4 Bg5 14. c4 a5 15. Qc2 f5 16. Ra3 Rc8 17. Nc1 Bxc1 18. Rxc1 Nc5 19. Rh3 g6 20. b3 Ra8 21. Bd1 f4 22. Qe2 e4 23. Bc2 Qg5 {Madera,S (1900)-Vrabec,M (2105) Czechia 1993 0-1}) (9. O-O h6 10. Be3 Nb6 11. Nd2 Qc7 12. a4 Rc8 13. a5 Nbd7 14. f4 exf4 15. Bxf4 Be7 16. Kh1 Ne5 17. Nf3 O-O 18. Nxe5 dxe5 19. Be3 Qc6 20. Bd3 Ng4 21. Bb6 Bc5 22. Nd5 Qd6 23. h3 Bxd5 {Tavares da Silva,L-De Carvalho,F Sao Paulo 1952 1/2-1/2}) 9... Be7 10. Qd2 O-O 11. Rd1 Rc8 12. O-O Qc7 13. Kh1 Rfd8 14. a3 Nb6 15. Qe1 d5 16. exd5 Nfxd5 17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18. Bxe7 Qxe7 19. Bd3 Qg5 20. Qd2 Ne3 21. Rc1 h6 22. Rg1 Bxb3 23. cxb3 {Galia, K-Kottnauer,C Vienna 1947 0-1 (35)}) 9. Qd2 h6 10. Bxf6 gxf6 (10... Qxf6 $5 {is worth consideration} 11. Nd5 Qd8 $11) 11. O-O-O $16 Be7 (11... f5 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. f4 $16) 12. Bh5 (12. f4 f5 13. Bd3 fxe4 14. Bxe4 Qc7 $16) 12... f5 (12... a5 13. a4 $16) 13. Kb1 ( 13. f4 fxe4 14. Nxe4 Bxb3 15. axb3 d5 16. Qxd5 Qxd5 17. Rxd5 Rd8 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. fxe5 Nxe5 $16) 13... Bg5 (13... a5 $5 14. Qe3 f4 $16) 14. Qxd6 Qxd6 15. Rxd6 Be7 $4 {Black falls apart} (15... Ke7 $142 16. Rdd1 Rad8 $16) 16. Rxe6 $18 (16. Rxe6 Kf8 17. Rxe7 Nxe7 18. exf5 Nxf5 19. Rd1 $18) 1-0 [Event "28th Chess.com Tournament (1601-1800) -"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.04.28"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "fliubo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "1851"] [BlackElo "2047"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "132"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation} e5 7. Nb3 Be6 (7... Be7 8. O-O O-O { Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Traditional Line}) 8. Bg5 {B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2} (8. O-O Be7 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Modern Line}) 8... Nbd7 9. O-O Qc7 10. Qd2 (10. Rc1 Be7 11. Qd2 O-O 12. Rfd1 (12. Kh1 h6 13. Be3 Nb6 14. f4 Nc4 15. Bxc4 Bxc4 16. Rf3 Ng4 17. Bg1 exf4 18. Qxf4 Ne5 19. Rg3 Bg5 20. Rxg5 hxg5 21. Qxg5 Qd8 22. Qg3 Qf6 23. Rd1 Rad8 24. Na5 Rd7 25. Bd4 Be6 26. h3 Qh6 {Kaniok,J (1916) -Kasas,L (1998) Slovakia 2016 1/2-1/2 (32)}) 12... b5 13. Bxf6 Nxf6 14. Nd5 Bxd5 15. exd5 Ne4 16. Qd3 f5 17. c4 Qb6 18. Rf1 b4 19. Qc2 Nc5 20. Nxc5 Qxc5 21. Qa4 Bg5 22. Rcd1 e4 23. Qc6 Rfc8 24. Qd7 Rf8 {Plat,V (2216)-Kusina,J (2128) Stare Mesto 2006 1/2-1/2}) 10... Be7 11. Rad1 O-O 12. Kh1 $146 (12. Qc1 Rac8 13. Kh1 Rfd8 14. Rd3 Nc5 15. Nxc5 dxc5 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. exd5 e4 19. Rdd1 Qe5 20. c4 Rd6 21. Rfe1 Bg5 22. Qc3 Qxc3 23. bxc3 f5 24. Rb1 b6 25. Rb3 Re8 26. g4 f4 {Oprea,E (2086)-Pasko,P (2131) Slovakia 2002 1/2-1/2 (60)}) ( 12. f4 b5 13. f5 Bc4 14. Bxf6 Nxf6 15. Bxc4 bxc4 16. Nc1 Qb7 17. Rde1 Qxb2 18. Re3 Qb6 19. Kh1 Qc6 20. Rff3 Kh8 21. Rh3 Rad8 22. Nd5 Nxd5 23. exd5 Qd7 24. Rh5 g6 25. Rxh7+ Kxh7 26. Rh3+ Kg7 {Struik,T-Peeters,M Hengelo 2001 1-0}) 12... b5 13. a3 Rac8 14. f4 Rfe8 15. Nc1 Bc4 16. Nd3 Qb7 17. Nf2 (17. fxe5 dxe5 18. Nb4 a5 $11) 17... b4 (17... exf4 18. Bxf4 Ne5 19. Qe3 $15) 18. axb4 Qxb4 19. Rb1 { White has an active position} h6 {Black threatens to win material: h6xg5} 20. Bh4 (20. Bxf6 Nxf6 21. Bd3 a5 $11) 20... exf4 (20... Bxe2 21. Qxe2 exf4 22. Bxf6 Bxf6 23. Nd5 $17) 21. Bxf6 (21. Nd3 $142 $5 {is an interesting alternative } Qb7 22. Qxf4 $15) 21... Bxf6 $17 (21... Nxf6 $6 22. Nd3 Qb7 23. Qxf4 $15) 22. Rfd1 (22. Bxc4 Qxc4 (22... Rxc4 $6 23. Nd3 Qb7 24. Qxf4 $15) 23. Qxd6 Bxc3 24. bxc3 Qe6 25. Qxf4 Rxc3 $17) 22... Bxe2 $19 23. Nxe2 Qc5 24. Nxf4 Qxc2 25. Nd5 Bg5 26. Qe1 (26. Qxc2 Rxc2 27. Kg1 a5 $19) 26... Nc5 27. Nc3 (27. Nb4 Qc4 28. Nd5 Rb8 $19) 27... Re6 (27... f5 $142 $5 {seems even better} 28. Qe2 Qxe2 29. Nxe2 fxe4 30. Rxd6 $19) 28. b4 Na4 (28... Nd3 29. Rxd3 Rf6 30. Qd1 Rxf2 31. Qxc2 Rxc2 32. Nd5 $19) 29. Nxa4 Qxa4 30. Ra1 Qc6 (30... Qb5 31. Ra5 Qc4 32. Qf1 Qxb4 33. Rxa6 $19) 31. Ra2 (31. Qf1 $17) 31... d5 $1 $19 {Deflection: e4} 32. Re2 (32. Rxd5 Qxd5 33. exd5 Rxe1# {Mate attack Deflection Pinning}) (32. exd5 Rxe1+ {Deflection Pinning}) 32... Bh4 (32... dxe4 $142 {and Black has it in the bag} 33. Rxe4 Rxe4 34. Qxe4 Qxe4 35. Nxe4 Be7 $19) 33. exd5 $17 Rxe2 { Black forks: e1+f2} 34. Qxe2 (34. dxc6 $4 {a tasty morsel with a slight problem...} Rxe1+ 35. Rxe1 Bxf2 $19) 34... Qc2 (34... Qa4 35. Qg4 Rc2 36. Qxh4 Rxf2 37. Rg1 $15) 35. Qxc2 $11 Rxc2 36. Ne4 (36. Nd3 $5 {is an interesting idea } Be7 37. g3 $11) 36... Rc4 $17 37. Nc5 a5 38. g3 axb4 39. Nb3 Bd8 40. d6 Kf8 41. Kg2 (41. Re1 $5 f5 42. Re5 $17) 41... Ke8 $19 42. Nd4 $4 {White crumbles in face of a dire situation} (42. d7+ $142 Ke7 43. Rd5 $19) 42... Kd7 43. Nf5 ( 43. Rd3 {doesn't do any good} Bf6 44. Ne2 Rc2 $19) 43... Bf6 (43... b3 $142 $5 {keeps an even firmer grip} 44. Ne3 Rc3 45. Ng4 $19) 44. Ne3 Rd4 45. Rb1 Rd2+ ( 45... Rd3 {makes it even easier for Black} 46. Nf1 Bc3 47. Kf2 $19) 46. Kh3 ( 46. Kf3 {does not save the day} Bc3 $19) 46... Bc3 47. Rf1 (47. Nc4 {is not the saving move} Rd4 48. Ne3 Rxd6 $19) 47... f6 48. Rc1 Rxd6 49. Nf5 (49. Nd1 { doesn't do any good} Be5 $19) 49... Rb6 (49... Rd5 {and Black can already relax } 50. Rf1 $19) 50. Nxg7 (50. Kg4 {cannot change destiny} Be5 51. Ne3 b3 $19) 50... Kc6 (50... Rb5 $142 $5 {might be the shorter path} 51. Rd1+ Kc6 52. Rc1 $19) 51. Nf5 (51. Kg4 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} Kd5 52. Kf3 Kc4 $19) 51... Kc5 (51... Kd5 $142 {seems even better} 52. g4 Ke4 $19) 52. Nxh6 ( 52. Kg4 $19 {is still a small chance}) 52... Kc4 53. Kg4 (53. Ng4 {is one last hope} Kd3 54. Rd1+ Bd2 55. Rf1 $19) 53... b3 54. Nf5 (54. Kf5 {otherwise it's curtains at once} Kd3 55. Rb1 $19) 54... b2 55. Rb1 Kb3 (55... Kd3 56. Kf4 Rb4+ 57. Kf3 Re4 $19) 56. h4 (56. Ne3 Ka2 57. Rxb2+ Rxb2 58. h4 $19) 56... Kc2 57. Rh1 b1=Q 58. Rxb1 Rxb1 59. h5 Rh1 60. Nh4 Bd2 61. Kf5 Bg5 62. Kg4 (62. Ng6 { cannot undo what has already been done} Rxh5 63. Ne7 Rh1 64. Nc6 Kd3 65. Nb4+ Kc4 66. Nc6 Re1 67. Nb8 Re5+ 68. Kg6 Re7 69. Nc6 Rd7 70. Nb8 Rc7 71. Kf5 Kd5 72. g4 Rb7 73. Na6 Kc6 74. Ke4 Rb6 75. Nc7 Kxc7 76. Kd4 Rb4+ 77. Kc3 Rxg4 78. Kb2 Kd6 79. Kc3 Kd5 80. Kb3 Rg3+ 81. Kb2 f5 82. Ka1 Kc4 83. Kb2 Rg2+ 84. Ka1 Kb3 85. Kb1 Rg1#) 62... Kd3 63. Nf5 Bc1 64. Nh4 (64. Nd6 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} Kd4 65. Nf5+ Kd5 66. Ne7+ Ke4 67. Nf5 Rxh5 68. Nd6+ Kd5 69. Kxh5 Kxd6 70. Kh4 Ke5 71. Kh3 Ke4 72. Kg2 f5 73. Kh2 Kf3 74. Kh3 Be3 75. Kh4 Bd2 76. Kh3 Be1 77. Kh2 Bxg3+ 78. Kh3 Bb8 79. Kh4 f4 80. Kh3 Be5 81. Kh4 Ke4 82. Kh5 f3 83. Kg6 f2 84. Kf7 f1=Q+ 85. Ke6 Qf6+ 86. Kd7 Kd5 87. Ke8 Bc7 88. Kd7 Qd8#) 64... Rxh4+ $1 {the end, the rest is history} 65. Kxh4 (65. gxh4 Ke4 { Combination}) (65. Kxh4 Ke4 {Combination}) 65... Ke4 66. Kg4 (66. Kh3 {does not improve anything} Kf3 67. Kh4 f5 68. Kh3 Be3 69. Kh2 Bf2 70. h6 Bxg3+ 71. Kh3 Be5 72. Kh4 f4 73. Kg5 Ke4 74. Kg4 f3 75. Kh3 Ke3 76. Kg4 f2 77. Kf5 Kd4 78. h7 f1=Q+ 79. Ke6 Qh3+ 80. Kf7 Qxh7+ 81. Ke6 Bc7 82. Kf6 Bd8+ 83. Ke6 Qe7+ 84. Kf5 Qe4#) 66... Bg5 (66... Bg5 67. Kh3 Kf3 68. Kh2 Kg4 69. Kg2 Kxh5 70. Kf3 f5 71. Kg2 Kg4 72. Kf2 Bf6 73. Kg2 Be5 74. Kf1 Bxg3 75. Ke2 f4 76. Kd1 f3 77. Kd2 f2 78. Ke2 Kf4 79. Kf1 Ke3 80. Kg2 Be5 81. Kf1 Bf6 82. Kg2 Ke2 83. Kh3 f1=Q+ 84. Kg3 Be7 85. Kg4 Qf3#) (66... f5+ 67. Kh4 Kf3 68. Kh3 Bg5 69. Kh2 Be3 70. h6 Bf2 71. h7 Bxg3+ 72. Kg1 Be5 73. Kh1 Bh8 74. Kh2 f4 75. Kh3 Ke3 76. Kg4 f3 77. Kf5 f2 78. Ke6 f1=Q 79. Kd5 Qb5+ 80. Ke6 Qc6+ 81. Kf7 Qd7+ 82. Kg6 Kf4 83. Kh6 Qg7+ 84. Kh5 Qxh7#) 0-1