C07 French Tarrasch: 3...c5, 4.Ngf3 and 4.exd5 Qxd5 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.dxc5 Bxc5 6.Ngf3 Nf6 7.Bc4 Qd8)

With this post the number of different opening variations covered reaches 140!! The game below should have of course been a loss of mine if my opponent would have remembered to move in time that is. Larrave is also highest rated player that I have beaten at Chess.com but I would have rather won the game by playing better than my opponent and not have a lucky win on time. I have updated puzzles from mate in ones to mate in five moves and all in between today. What I am going to post tomorrow is a bit uncertain at this point but if it is not opening variation number 141, then I will start exploring a bit new territory on these posts but only time will tell what will happen tomorrow.

This and the following paragraphs have been added on November 21st, 2016, unless otherwise stated. I was able to play reasonable moves until it came time to make my 11th move in the position below. The best move according to Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT is 11...Nh5. I played my other knight on the rim with the move 11...Na5, unfortunately it was not as good as the other knight move. My 11th move was a novelty, it had not been seen in any of the games in my reference database. The problem with my move was that the knight does not do anything useful on a5 and the coordination of my pieces less than ideal.

The starting point for my downfall was the move I played in the position above, but it was only after I replied to the move 15.Ne5 that I was in a lost position. I should have played either 15...Be8 or 15...Ba4 in order to have a fighting chance, but I played 15...Rfd8 instead in the position below.

The remainder of the game continued to be hopelessly lost for me and I only won because my opponent ran out of time.

[Event "French 2014 - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.08.07"] [Round "?"] [White "Larrave"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C07"] [WhiteElo "2132"] [BlackElo "1765"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "48"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 {Thematic Game - This is the starting position.} 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 {French Defense: Tarrasch Variation. Chistyakov Defense} 5. dxc5 (5. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nb3 Nc6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 a6 {French Defense: Tarrasch Variation. Chistyakov Defense Modern Line}) 5... Bxc5 6. Ngf3 Nf6 7. Bc4 Qd8 {C07 French Tarrasch: 3...c5, 4.Ngf3 and 4.exd5 Qxd5} 8. Qe2 O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. Nb3 Be7 (10... Bd6 11. Bg5 Qc7 12. Rad1 Ng4 13. h3 Nge5 14. Bd3 Nxd3 15. Qxd3 Bf4 16. Bxf4 Qxf4 17. Rfe1 e5 18. Qe2 f6 19. Nc5 Qb4 20. Nd3 Qb6 21. c3 Be6 22. b3 Rfe8 23. Nd2 Rad8 24. Ne4 Bf7 25. Nb2 {Mohaupt,S (2193) -Kniest,O (2252) Cologne 2015 1/2-1/2}) 11. Bf4 Na5 $146 (11... Nh5 12. Be3 ( 12. Bd2 Qc7 13. Rfe1 Bd7 14. Bd3 Nf6 15. c3 h6 16. Rad1 e5 17. Bc1 Rfe8 18. Qc2 Bf8 19. Nbd2 Be6 20. h3 Rac8 21. Qb1 g6 22. Ne4 Nxe4 23. Bxe4 Bg7 24. Bd5 Bf5 25. Be4 Bxe4 26. Qxe4 f5 {Ushenina,A (2484)-Hou, Y (2527) Istanbul 2008 0-1 (60)}) 12... Qc7 13. g3 g6 14. Bh6 Re8 15. Nbd2 a6 16. a4 Bd7 17. Ne4 Ne5 18. Bb3 Bc6 19. Nd4 Bxe4 20. Qxe4 Bd6 21. Rad1 Rad8 22. Bg5 Rc8 23. Rfe1 Ng7 24. Re2 Nc4 25. c3 Bf8 26. Nf3 {Van Oosten,A (2141) -Lerstad,B (1825) Dresden 2010 1-0 (34)}) (11... Bd7 12. Rfd1 Qb6 13. c3 Rfd8 14. Nbd4 Nxd4 15. Nxd4 Qc5 16. Be5 Rac8 17. Bb3 Ne8 18. Rd3 Bf6 19. Re3 a6 20. Re1 Bb5 21. Nxb5 Qxb5 22. Qxb5 axb5 23. a3 Rd2 24. R1e2 Rcd8 25. Bg3 R8d3 26. Kf1 {Erkelenz,R (1963) -Hirschberg,M (1759) Ruhrgebiet 2005 1-0 (52)}) (11... Nh5 $5 {is worth consideration} 12. Bd2 Qc7 $11) 12. Rfd1 $16 Qb6 13. Nxa5 Qxa5 14. c3 (14. Ne5 Qb6 15. c3 Rd8 $16) 14... Bd7 15. Ne5 {White threatens to win material: Ne5xd7} Rfd8 $2 (15... Be8 $142 $5 $16) 16. Nxd7 Rxd7 17. Rxd7 Nxd7 18. Bxe6 $1 { Decoy: e6.} Nf6 (18... fxe6 19. Qe4 {Decoy Double attack}) 19. Bb3 Qc5 (19... Re8 20. Qc4 Qh5 21. Re1 $18) 20. Be3 Qc7 21. Bd4 a6 $6 {Black seems to have resigned himself to defeat.} (21... Rf8 $18) 22. Re1 Kf8 (22... Bf8 {is not much help} 23. Bxf6 gxf6 24. Qg4+ Bg7 25. Re3 $18) 23. Bb6 $1 {Deflection: e7} Qd7 (23... Qxb6 24. Qe3 {Decoy Double attack} (24. Qxe7+ {Deflection})) 24. Qc4 Bd6 (24... Bd6 25. Bc5 Ne8 26. Rxe8+ Rxe8 27. Bxd6+ Kg8 $18) 0-1