C10 French with 3.Nc3: Unusual Black 3rd moves and 3...dxe4 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.e5 Ne4)

Now this is a game I have wanted to share for some time but as I value the order of posting maybe more than presenting the selected games first, it was only now that this game came up in the database of games I have gone through. And after this game I shall move to another database of games, I like to keep my games from one site in a database where there are only games from that site. The game you see below was played in the first round of the French 2014 thematic tournament where the starting position was after the moves 1.e4 e6 had been played. My opponent in this game was a FM Juergen Kaufeld. We played two games against each other in the first round and the other game I lost. This is most likely the best draw I have ever had. In the light of the ratings that is. I would assume that my opponent remains the highest rated person I have drawn against for quite a long time. I did manage to advance to the next round in this tournament even though there was two titled players in my group one International Master and one FIDE Master. Well, I came third in the group and barely advanced to the next round, half a point ahead of the IM. Only three games remain in the round one, so the next round might start soonish, I have not checked what is the status of those games but assuming those games are not really long games, they should not take many months to finish. Today I have added 14 more puzzles divided into mate in two, three and four pages.

[Event "French 2014 - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.08.07"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Avancado"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C10"] [WhiteElo "1910"] [BlackElo "2456"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "79"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 {C10 French Defense: Normal Variation} Nc6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. e5 Ne4 {0.84/21 C10 French with 3.Nc3: Unusual Black 3rd moves and 3...dxe4} (5... Nd7 $14 {0.37/20}) 6. a3 {-0.13/19} (6. Bd3 $16 {0.84/21}) 6... Nxc3 $11 7. bxc3 Na5 8. Bd3 {-0.17/21} (8. Qd2 $142 {0.27/19}) 8... h6 (8... c5 9. h4 Bd7 10. Ng5 Be7 11. Qf3 Bxg5 12. Bxg5 Qc7 13. O-O c4 14. Be2 Ba4 15. Ra2 h6 16. Bd2 O-O-O 17. h5 Nc6 18. Qh3 Ne7 19. Bg4 Qd7 20. Rb1 Rdf8 21. Rb4 Bc6 22. Bc1 f5 23. exf6 {Kravtsiv,M (2565)-Praveen Kumar,C (2358) Metz 2011 1-0 (36)}) ( 8... Be7 9. h4 h6 10. Qd2 c5 11. h5 Qc7 12. O-O Bd7 13. Qf4 c4 14. Be2 Ba4 15. Bd1 Nc6 16. Qg4 Kd7 17. Nh2 Rag8 18. f4 Kc8 19. f5 Nd8 20. fxe6 fxe6 21. Rf2 Kb8 22. Nf1 Be8 23. Qh3 {Vokhidov,S (2377)-Khoroshev,N (2380) Toshkent 2017 1/ 2-1/2 (44)}) 9. O-O c5 {0.51/22} (9... b6 $11 {-0.14/21}) 10. a4 $146 {-0.76/18 } (10. dxc5 $1 $14 {0.51/22 stays ahead.} Bxc5 (10... Qc7 11. Nd4 Bd7 12. Nb5 Bxb5 13. Bxb5+ Nc6 14. Qd4 O-O-O 15. Qa4 Bxc5 16. Rb1 Nxe5 17. Bf4 g5 18. Bxe5 Qxe5 19. Ba6 Bb6 20. Qc6+ Qc7 21. Bxb7+ Kb8 22. Qxc7+ Kxc7 23. Ba6 Rd6 24. c4 dxc4 25. Bxc4 {Harper,R (2175)-Zaragatski,I (2491) Port of Spain 2016 1/2-1/2 (66)}) 11. Nd4) (10. Ne1 Qc7 (10... Bd7 11. f4 Qb6 12. Nf3 O-O-O 13. a4 Kb8 14. Be3 Qc7 15. Qd2 cxd4 16. cxd4 Nc4 17. Qe2 Rc8 18. Rfb1 Be7 19. Bc1 f6 20. Nh4 Be8 21. Ng6 Bxg6 22. Bxg6 fxe5 23. fxe5 Rhf8 24. g3 Bg5 25. Bxg5 {Areshchenko, A (2335)-Heberla,B (2364) Evpatoria 2001 1/2-1/2}) 11. Be3 Bd7 12. f4 O-O-O 13. Nf3 Be7 14. Qe1 Ba4 15. dxc5 Bxc5 16. Nd4 Bb6 17. Kh1 Nc4 18. Bc1 Ba5 19. Nb3 Bb6 20. Nd4 Ba5 21. Nb3 Bb6 22. Nd4 Ba5 23. Nb3 Bb6 24. Nd4 Ba5 {Garbowska,H (2090)-Szymanska,M (2133) Glogow 2001 1/2-1/2}) 10... Bd7 {0.36/21} (10... c4 $17 {-0.76/18} 11. Be2 b6) 11. Be3 {-0.86/19} (11. dxc5 $1 $14 {0.36/21 keeps the upper hand.} Qc7 12. Nd4) 11... Qc7 {-0.19/23} (11... c4 $17 {-0.86/19} 12. Be2 Be7) 12. Nd2 {-0.73/18} (12. Bb5 $11 {-0.19/23 remains equal.}) 12... Nc6 { 0.00/23} (12... c4 $17 {-0.73/18} 13. Be2 Nc6) 13. f4 {-0.73/21} (13. Bb5 $11 { 0.00/23}) 13... cxd4 {-0.02/23} (13... c4 $1 $17 {-0.73/21} 14. Be2 Be7) 14. cxd4 Nb4 15. Nf3 {-0.74/21} (15. Nb3 $11 {-0.07/22 keeps the balance.}) 15... Be7 $17 16. Qd2 {-0.79/21} (16. Qb1 $15 {-0.36/22}) 16... O-O 17. Rfc1 Nxd3 18. Qxd3 {-0.93/20} (18. cxd3 $15 {-0.45/23 deserves consideration.} Bc6 19. Qd1) 18... Rfc8 19. Bd2 {-1.04/21} (19. a5 $15 {-0.53/22}) 19... Qc4 {-0.60/26} ( 19... a5 $17 {-1.04/21}) 20. Qb3 {-1.16/21} (20. Qxc4 $15 {-0.60/26} Rxc4 21. a5) 20... Rc7 {-0.50/27} (20... b6 $17 {-1.16/21}) 21. a5 {-0.92/24} (21. h3 $15 {-0.50/27}) 21... Bb5 22. Qxc4 Rxc4 ({Reject} 22... dxc4 23. Rcb1 $11) 23. c3 Rac8 24. Kf2 R4c7 {-0.21/24} (24... Ra4 $17 {-0.76/22}) 25. Rcb1 {-0.87/21} (25. Ke3 $1 $11 {-0.21/24}) 25... Ba6 {-0.12/21} ({Better is} 25... Bd3 $17 { -0.87/21} 26. Rb3 Bc2) 26. Rb3 {-0.68/21} (26. Ke3 $11 {-0.12/21}) 26... Kf8 27. Ne1 {-0.92/20} (27. Ke3 $15 {-0.39/25}) 27... Ke8 28. Nc2 Bd3 29. Nb4 { -0.96/21} (29. Ne1 $15 {-0.55/23 is superior.} Bc4 30. Rb2) 29... Be4 30. Rc1 { -1.11/21} (30. g3 $15 {-0.56/24}) 30... f6 31. g3 fxe5 32. fxe5 Kd7 {-0.65/24} ({Black should try} 32... Bd8 $17 {-1.12/24} 33. Ke2 Rf7) 33. Ke2 $15 Rf8 34. Rf1 {-1.15/24} (34. Nd3 $15 {-0.57/25}) 34... Bf5 35. Rf2 Rc4 {-0.84/23} (35... Rcc8 $142 {-1.26/19} 36. Bf4 Bg4+ 37. Kd2 g5) 36. Be3 $17 Kc7 {-0.69/24} (36... Rcc8 $17 {-1.21/21} 37. Nd3 Kc6) 37. Kd1 Be4 38. Rxf8 Bxf8 39. Kd2 Be7 40. Rb2 {Accuracy: White = 18%, Black = 27%.} 1/2-1/2