C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O d6 5.h3 Nf6 6.Nc3 a6 7.Re1 O-O)

This may come a bit later than usual but I still managed to get a daily update done. I have not updated any puzzles today and I might only get those updated tomorrow earliest. I have been quite busy today and I still need to go through my Chess.com games before the day is done. While I tried to find a game that featured an opening that I have not yet covered, I went through three games as I thought that only the third one was something I had not featured here before, but actually I was wrong in my assumption. The game below is the second game I went through and thought that I had done this opening already, but when I searched through all the posts I have done, I could not find it. Good news is that now I have a game to share tomorrow, day earlier than usual.

The first move that seems a bit odd to me, is the move 8.b3 and actually it is a novelty according to my reference database. Paulsains wanted to fianchetto the dark-squared bishop, but it does not look like the right idea when the other bishop is at c4. I replied with 8...Nd4, which placed the knight to a more active position and to a square from which it could not be driven out with a pawn so easily. Paulsains then traded the knights and I took back with the bishop, which left it to an excellent square. At d4 the bishop restricted the movement of both the knight on c3 and the pawn on f2.

Then my opponent finally placed the bishop to b2, which was the first step in getting out of the pin and trying to challenge the bishop at d4. I followed it up by moving developing my bishop to e6 and Paulsains exchanged the bishops on e6. It generated doubled pawns on the e-file for me, which I was content with because it also opened up the f-file to my rook's disposal. The rook on the f-file and the strong bishop at d4 could generate an attack towards f2.

In the diagram position above Paulsains played 14.Ne2, which was the game deciding blunder that allowed me to take on f2 with my bishop. My opponent did not resign so easily though, Paulsains kept on playing even after I won a piece in a position where I was up two pawns. My opponent continued the struggle up to the move 27...g6, but then decided that he or she had enough and resigned.

[Event "AUTO-OPEN-3305"] [Site "http://www.queenalice.com/gam"] [Date "2014.08.08"] [Round "1"] [White "Paulsains"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "1890"] [BlackElo "2135"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s)"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. h3 Nf6 6. Nc3 a6 7. Re1 (7. d3 Be6 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 10. Nd5 Qd8 11. c3 O-O 12. d4 Ba7 13. a4 a5 14. Qd2 Kh8 15. Ne3 exd4 16. cxd4 Bxc4 17. Nxc4 d5 18. exd5 Qxd5 19. Ne3 Qd7 20. Rfd1 Rad8 21. d5 Nb4 {Nogrady,V (2250) -Mathe,G (2380) Hungary 1992 0-1}) 7... O-O { C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo} (7... h6 8. Nd5 g5 9. Nh2 Rg8 10. Qf3 Rg6 11. c3 Nxd5 12. d4 Bxd4 13. cxd4 Nxd4 14. Qd3 Nf4 15. Bxf4 gxf4 16. Nf3 Bxh3 17. Nxd4 Bxg2 18. Bxf7+ Kxf7 19. Qc4+ d5 20. Qxd5+ Qxd5 21. exd5 Bxd5+ 22. Kf1 {Christopher,A-Asabri,H (2286) Mallorca 2004 0-1}) 8. b3 $146 (8. Nd5 Na5 9. Bf1 Nc6 10. c3 Nxd5 11. exd5 Ne7 12. d4 exd4 13. cxd4 Bb4 14. Re4 Nxd5 15. Bg5 Nf6 16. Rh4 h6 17. Bxh6 gxh6 18. Qc1 h5 19. Qg5+ Kh7 20. Bd3+ Kh8 21. Rxh5+ Nxh5 22. Qh6+ Kg8 {Mogstad,O-Moldskred,K Volda 1992 1-0}) (8. Nd5 Nxd5 9. Bxd5 Qf6 $11) 8... Nd4 $15 9. Nxd4 Bxd4 ({Inferior is} 9... exd4 10. Na4 Ba7 11. Bf1 $11) 10. Bb2 Be6 (10... b5 11. Bf1 $15) 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. Rb1 (12. Qe2 Qe8 $15) 12... Nd7 $17 13. Rf1 Qh4 14. Ne2 $4 {strolling merrily down the path to disaster} (14. Qe2 $142 $17) 14... Bxf2+ $19 15. Kh1 (15. Kh2 Rf6 16. d4 Raf8 $19) 15... Qxe4 (15... Nf6 $142 {makes sure everything is clear} 16. Rxf2 Qxf2 $19) 16. d3 Qh4 17. Qd2 (17. Ng1 $19) 17... Rf7 18. d4 (18. Ng1 {cannot change what is in store for White} Raf8 $19) 18... exd4 (18... Raf8 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} 19. dxe5 Be3 20. Qxe3 Rxf1+ 21. Rxf1 Rxf1+ 22. Ng1 $19) 19. Nxd4 (19. Bxd4 Raf8 $19) 19... e5 (19... Nc5 $142 {and Black can already relax} 20. Qe2 Ne4 21. Rxf2 Rxf2 22. Qg4 Qxg4 23. hxg4 $19) 20. Nf3 (20. Ne6 c6 21. Ng5 $19) 20... Rxf3 $1 {Deflection: h3} 21. Qd5+ (21. gxf3 Qxh3# {Mate attack Deflection}) (21. -- $140 Rxh3+ {Mate threat}) 21... Rf7 22. Rbe1 (22. Qc4 { cannot undo what has already been done} Qxc4 23. bxc4 Nc5 $19) 22... Raf8 ( 22... Nf6 23. Qd2 Nh5 24. Qc3 Ng3+ 25. Kh2 Qf4 26. Rxf2 Nf1+ 27. Kg1 Qxf2+ 28. Kh1 Qf4 29. Rxf1 Qxf1+ 30. Kh2 Rf2 31. Qc4+ Qxc4 32. bxc4 Rxc2 33. Ba3 Rxc4 34. Kh1 Rf8 35. Kg1 e4 36. Kh1 e3 37. Kh2 e2 38. Bc1 Rxc1 39. h4 e1=Q 40. Kh3 Rc3+ 41. Kh2 Qxh4+ 42. Kg1 Rc1#) 23. Re2 (23. Re4 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} Qh6 24. Re2 Nf6 25. Qxf7+ Rxf7 26. Rexf2 Qe3 $19) 23... Bg3 24. Re3 Nb6 25. Qe6 Bf4 (25... Qe7 $142 {and Black wins} 26. Qxf7+ Rxf7 27. Rxf7 Qxf7 28. Rxg3 Qf2 $19) 26. Ref3 Qf6 (26... Qh6 $5 {seems even better} 27. Qxh6 Bxh6 28. c4 $19) 27. Qg4 (27. Qxf6 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} Rxf6 28. c4 Nd7 $19) 27... Qg6 (27... Qg6 28. Qxg6 hxg6 $19) 0-1