C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.O-O)

For a long time now I have managed to take my time with the correspondence chess moves and as a result my moves have been quite decent. Today I went through the games at Chess.com and managed to move in around 60 games until I started something that would resemble a blunder marathon, so I decided I have to take a break before I ruin more of my games. I guess the chance of making idiotic moves increases when you are moving fast and not even looking the board properly... Speaking of game losing blunders I did one against the opponent that is featured in the game below. It did not happen in this game though but in our other encounter which sometimes still troubles me deeply when I close my eyes... Speaking of games that have haunted me for weeks after I have played them, I only remember one that I played several years ago in a close chess tournament. I had calculated a winning combination in that game but then I started to think that maybe there is something even stronger in that position, so I looked the position again and thought I found something better and of course then played that move. My originally calculated line would have won the game but the one I actually played lost the game. After that game, everytime I closed my eyes for a couple of weeks, I saw the position again in my mind where I could have won. I do not sleep all that well in the best circumstances but then it was much harder to get into sleep. I have updated some more positions today in the exercises section of the blog.

This game went horribly wrong for my opponent very early on. On move 5 sphagnis played the incomprehensible move Nb8. Moving the knight back to its original square is very passive and unnecessary. The moves 5...exd4 and 5...Nf6 are better options for Black in that position. I had the clearly favored position after my opponent's 5th move.

The move 5...Nb8 was seen in the position above. I replied with 6.Bc4, which was a good move, but 6.Qd3 might have been a better one. Then sphagnis played 6...Be6. Moving the bishop for the second time in a row in the opening in this case was a waste of time that my opponent could not afford. Admittedly it led to me moving my bishop for the third time, but the difference is that my third bishop move ruined my opponent's pawn structure and allowed me to win material. Already after six moves I was in a winning position.

[Event "AUTO-OPEN-3305"] [Site "http://www.queenalice.com/gam"] [Date "2014.08.08"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "sphagnis"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C62"] [WhiteElo "2140"] [BlackElo "1694"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense} 4. d4 Bd7 (4... exd4 5. O-O {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Center Gambit}) 5. O-O {C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence} (5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bxc6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack}) 5... Nb8 (5... exd4 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Nxd4 Bd7 8. Re1 Nf6 9. Bf4 Be7 10. c4 O-O 11. Nc3 Ng4 12. h3 Ne5 13. Qe2 Re8 14. Rad1 Bf8 15. Nf3 c6 16. Rd2 Qe7 17. Red1 Be6 18. Nxe5 dxe5 19. Bxe5 Bxc4 20. Qxc4 { Pokojowczyk,J (2385)-Adamski,A (2365) Krakow 1978 0-1 (70)}) 6. Bc4 Be6 $146 ( 6... Qe7 7. Nc3 c6 8. Ng5 Nh6 9. Be3 b5 10. Bb3 a5 11. a4 b4 12. Ne2 f6 13. Nf3 Be6 14. d5 Bd7 15. Bxh6 gxh6 16. Nh4 c5 17. Ng3 Qf7 18. Bc4 Rg8 19. Be2 Qg7 20. Bh5+ Kd8 21. Qd2 {Mietner,F (2013) -Kraska,E (1449) Duisburg 2006 1-0 (64)}) ( 6... Nc6 7. c3 $16) 7. Bxe6 $18 fxe6 8. dxe5 Nc6 9. exd6 Qxd6 (9... Bxd6 10. Qe2 e5 11. b4 $18) 10. Qe2 $18 g6 $4 {sad, but how else could Black save the game?} (10... O-O-O $142 $18) 11. Rd1 Qb4 12. c3 (12. a3 {seems even better} Qe7 13. Bg5 Qg7 $18) 12... Qe7 (12... Qa4 {does not solve anything} 13. Ng5 Nd8 14. Bf4 $18) 13. Bg5 Nf6 (13... Qg7 {desperation} 14. Qc4 Be7 $18) 14. e5 Qc5 ( 14... Bg7 {there is nothing better in the position} 15. Nbd2 h6 16. exf6 Bxf6 17. Bxf6 Qxf6 $18) 15. Bxf6 Rg8 16. Ng5 Be7 17. Nxe6 Qa5 18. Nd2 Kf7 19. Ng5+ Kf8 20. Qc4 Nxe5 21. Bxe5 (21. Nxh7+ Ke8 22. Qe6 Nc6 23. Nc4 Rg7 24. Nxa5 Rxh7 25. Nxc6 Kf8 26. Nxe7 Rf7 27. Rd7 g5 28. Ng6+ Kg8 29. Qxf7#) 21... Rg7 22. Ne6+ (22. Bxg7+ Kxg7 23. Qf7+ Kh6 24. Qxh7+ Kxg5 25. Ne4+ Kf4 26. g3+ Kf5 27. Qf7+ Ke5 28. Qxe7+ Kf5 29. Qg5+ Kxe4 30. Qf4#) 22... Ke8 (22... Kg8 {cannot undo what has already been done} 23. Nxg7+ Kf8 24. Ne6+ Ke8 25. Nf3 Qa6 26. Nxc7+ Kf8 27. Nxa6 g5 28. Rd7 h6 29. Qe6 Re8 30. Qxh6+ Kf7 31. Nxg5+ Kg8 32. Qg7#) 23. Bxg7 c6 (23... b5 {does not help much} 24. Nxc7+ Qxc7 25. Qxc7 Rc8 26. Qxc8+ Kf7 27. Re1 Kxg7 28. Rxe7+ Kf6 29. Qe6+ Kg5 30. Nf3+ Kf4 31. Rf7#) 24. Ne4 Rc8 (24... Qd5 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 25. Rxd5 cxd5 26. Qxd5 Kf7 27. N6g5+ Ke8 28. Nf6+ Bxf6 29. Bxf6 a6 30. Qf7#) 25. Nd6+ (25. Nc7+ Qxc7 26. Qg8+ Bf8 27. Qxf8#) 25... Bxd6 26. Rxd6 Qb5 (26... Qd5 {does not improve anything} 27. Rxd5 cxd5 28. Qxc8+ Ke7 29. Re1 d4 30. Qc7+ Ke8 31. Nxd4#) 27. Qf4 (27. Ng5 Qxc4 28. Re1+ Qe6 29. Rexe6#) 27... Qf5 28. Qxf5 (28. Ng5 Rc7 29. Re1+ Re7 30. Rxe7+ Kxe7 31. Bf6+ Qxf6 32. Qxf6+ Ke8 33. Qd8#) 28... gxf5 29. Ng5 Rc7 30. Re1+ (30. Bf6 Re7 31. Rad1 Kf8 32. Rd8+ Re8 33. Rxe8+ Kxe8 34. Rd8# ) 30... Re7 31. Rxe7+ (31. Re5 Rxe5 32. Bxe5 h6 33. Rxh6 f4 34. Rh7 Kd8 35. Ne6+ Kc8 36. Rc7+ Kb8 37. Rd7+ Ka8 38. Rd8#) 31... Kxe7 32. Re6+ Kd7 33. Kf1 a5 (33... h5 {is no salvation} 34. Rf6 c5 35. Rxf5 h4 36. Rf4 h3 37. Nxh3 c4 38. Ng5 Kc6 39. h4 a5 40. h5 a4 41. h6 a3 42. bxa3 b6 43. h7 Kc7 44. h8=Q Kb7 45. Rf7+ Kc6 46. Qc8+ Kb5 47. Rf5+ Ka4 48. Qa8#) 34. Ke2 (34. Rf6 h5 35. Rxf5 c5 36. c4 a4 37. Rf7+ Kc6 38. Ne6 a3 39. Nd8+ Kb6 40. Rxb7+ Ka6 41. b4 h4 42. b5+ Ka5 43. Nc6+ Ka4 44. Ra7#) 34... b5 (34... h5 {is not much help} 35. Bd4 c5 36. Bxc5 b6 37. Bxb6 a4 38. c4 Kc8 39. Re7 Kb8 40. Ne6 f4 41. Nc5 f3+ 42. gxf3 a3 43. Re8#) 35. Ke3 b4 (35... c5 {hardly improves anything} 36. Kf4 h6 37. Rxh6 a4 38. Kxf5 a3 39. bxa3 b4 40. Be5 b3 41. Ne4 b2 42. Nxc5+ Ke7 43. Rh7+ Kf8 44. Ke6 b1=Q 45. Rh8#) 36. cxb4 (36. Kd4 b3 37. axb3 h6 38. Rxh6 a4 39. Kc5 a3 40. Bf6 a2 41. Rh7+ Kc8 42. Kb6 f4 43. Rh8+ Kd7 44. Rd8#) 36... axb4 37. Kd4 h5 ( 37... b3 {doesn't improve anything} 38. a4 h6 39. Rxh6 f4 40. Kc5 f3 41. Rh7 fxg2 42. Be5+ Kd8 43. Kxc6 g1=Q 44. Bf6+ Ke8 45. Rh8#) 38. Kc5 f4 (38... h4 { does not save the day} 39. Bf6 b3 40. Re7+ Kd8 41. Kxc6 h3 42. Ne6+ Kc8 43. Re8#) 39. Bf6 h4 (39... f3 {doesn't change anything anymore} 40. Re7+ Kd8 41. Kxc6 b3 42. Ne6+ Kc8 43. Re8#) 40. Re7+ Kd8 (40... Kc8 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 41. Kb6 b3 42. Re8+ Kd7 43. Rd8#) 41. Kxc6 b3 42. Ne6+ Kc8 43. Re8# 1-0