C19 French: 3.Nc3 Bb4: Main Line: 7.Nf3 and 7.a4 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qc7 7.Nf3 Ne7 8.Bd3)

This game is taken from a team match game called Man of History - Gough Whitlam (Round Two). The match is played on 20 boards between Historical Association and Team Australia. I play on board nine for the Historical Association. With four games still left in the match, we have already ensured our win because we lead the match 21 - 15. I still have quite a huge load of games that I do not seem to get rid of that easily as I want to play well and simply resigning games without the position otherwise requiring it, does not seem that appealing to me. The first position I would like to take a look at is the position after 13.Qd2. Johnb2007 played 13...a6 in reply, maybe thinking of following it up with b5 later, because I see no other reason to play a6 in that position. I wanted to prevent b5, so I played Rfb1. Placing the rook on a half open file may seem like a good idea, but maybe more aggressive and better move would have been 14.h4 and try to push that h-pawn up the board.

Johnb2007 then played 14...f6, which at first may seem like a good idea because it attacks my center pawns and tries to free up squares for the pieces. However, I could have replied with 15.Bd6 and maintained the control of the center. In the game I played 15.exf6 and the position was equal again. My 15th move allowed the passive knight on d7 to get into the game and activate itself, which it could not have done, had I played 15.Bd6. Well, at least not so easily. The second position to look at has been taken after 33...Bc8. The game did feature some mistakes between these two positions, but maybe not as horrible as 34.Re7.

I placed my rook to e7 for the simple reason that it adds more pressure to the pawn on e6. My opponent found the strongest reply and pushed a-pawn forward. I could not take on e6 with my bishop unfortunately due to Qxg2#, so the pawn on e6 was not actually in any danger. In response to 34...a4 I moved my bishop to e1, which could have lost me the game. It does attack the knight on h4, but the problem was that my opponent could have just played a3 and I could not have prevented the pawn from queening. Johnb2007 saved the knight by moving it to f5, but that was not a good idea because I managed to get back into the game. I took the knight with my bishop and then the worst move of the game was played by my opponent, 36...Qxf5, which allowed me to end the game with 37.Qxg7#.

[Event "Man of History - Gough Whitlam (Round Tw"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.09.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "johnb2007"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C19"] [WhiteElo "1870"] [BlackElo "1542"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Qc7 {French Defense: Winawer Variation. Classical Variation} (6... Ne7 7. a4 {French Defense: Winawer Variation. Advance Variation} (7. Nf3 {French Defense: Winawer Variation. Positional Variation}) (7. Qg4 Qc7 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 cxd4 10. Kd1 {French Defense: Winawer Variation. Poisoned Pawn Variation Paoli Variation} ( 10. Ne2 {French Defense: Winawer Variation. Poisoned Pawn Variation Main Line}) )) 7. Nf3 Ne7 8. Bd3 {C19 French: 3.Nc3 Bb4: Main Line: 7.Nf3 and 7.a4} c4 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O Nd7 $146 (10... Bd7 11. Bg5 Bc6 12. Bh4 Nf5 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bc1 Ba4 15. g4 Ne7 16. Be3 Nd7 17. Qd2 Kh7 18. g5 Nf5 19. gxh6 Nxe3 20. Qxe3 gxh6 21. Kh1 Rg8 22. Rac1 Nf8 23. Nh4 Qe7 24. Ng2 Bc6 25. f4 {Carbonell,A-Cortes,M Dos Hermanas 2003 0-1 (48)}) (10... Nbc6 11. Re1 (11. a4 Bd7 12. Ba3 h6 13. Qd2 b6 14. h4 f5 15. h5 Rf7 16. Qf4 Kh7 17. Nh4 g5 18. hxg6+ Nxg6 19. Nxg6 Kxg6 20. Qh4 Qd8 21. Bh5+ Kg7 22. Qg3+ Qg5 23. Bxf7 Kxf7 24. Qxg5 hxg5 25. g3 Kg6 { Auvinen,E (1887) -Hasberger,W (1739) Marianske Lazne 2016 1-0 (49)}) (11. Bg5 b5 12. Qd2 Bd7 13. Rfb1 Rab8 14. h3 h6 15. Bf4 g5 16. Bxg5 hxg5 17. Qxg5+ Ng6 18. Qh6 Rfe8 19. Ng5 Nf8 20. Bh5 Re7 21. Re1 Ng6 22. Qh7+ Kf8 23. Bxg6 { 1-0 (23) Rodriguez Llorens, J (1472)-Valles Blomecke,I (1696) Cerdanyola del Valles 2011}) 11... f6 12. Bf1 (12. exf6 Rxf6 13. Bg5 Rf7 14. Qd2 Ng6 15. Nh4 Nf4 16. Bxf4 Rxf4 17. g3 Rf6 18. f4 Bd7 19. Bf3 Raf8 20. Bg2 Qd8 21. Nf3 h6 22. Ne5 Nxe5 23. Rxe5 Qb6 24. Qc1 Rf5 25. Re2 R5f6 26. Rb1 Qc7 {Podolsky,A (2240) -Ivanov,V (2075) Shepetivka 2011 1/2-1/2 (31)}) 12... fxe5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Rxe5 Rf5 15. Re1 Bd7 16. g3 Raf8 17. Re2 h6 18. Bh3 R5f6 19. a4 Ng6 20. a5 Re8 21. Qe1 Qc6 22. Ba3 Ne7 23. Bc5 Nc8 24. Re3 b6 25. axb6 {Sharapov,E (2505) -Ivanov,V (2100) Khmelnitsky 2009 1-0 (67)}) 11. a4 Ng6 (11... a5 12. Ba3 Qd8 13. Qd2 $14) 12. Ba3 {White threatens to win material: Ba3xf8} Re8 13. Qd2 a6 14. Rfb1 f6 (14... Qd8 $14) 15. exf6 (15. Bd6 $142 $5 Qd8 16. a5 $16) 15... Nxf6 $11 16. Qg5 Ne4 17. Qe3 Bd7 18. Bc1 b5 (18... e5 19. a5 $11) 19. axb5 Bxb5 (19... axb5 20. g3 $11) 20. Ng5 Nxg5 (20... Nf6 $5 $11) 21. Qxg5 $16 Qf7 22. f4 Ne7 23. Bg4 (23. Qe5 $5 $16) 23... Nf5 $11 24. Bh3 h6 {Black threatens to win material: h6xg5} 25. Qg4 Reb8 (25... Nd6 26. Qe2 $11) 26. Bd2 (26. Ba3 Be8 $14) 26... Qa7 (26... Bd7 27. Rxb8+ Rxb8 28. g3 $11) 27. Kh1 (27. Qe2 $5 Qf7 28. Qe5 $14) 27... Qf7 $11 28. Qe2 Qg6 (28... Bd7 29. Kg1 $11) 29. Re1 (29. Qe5 Kh7 $14 ) 29... Bd7 $11 30. Reb1 (30. Qe5 $142 $5 $11 {would allow White to play on}) 30... Rxb1+ $17 31. Rxb1 a5 32. Qe5 Nh4 (32... a4 $5 {should be investigated more closely} 33. Ra1 Ra6 34. Qb8+ Qe8 35. Qxe8+ Bxe8 36. Bxf5 exf5 $15) 33. Rb7 $14 {Exerts pressure on the backward pawn. White threatens to win material: Rb7xd7} Bc8 {Black threatens to win material: Bc8xb7} 34. Re7 $4 {Increases the pressure on the backward pawn. a transit from better to worse} (34. Rc7 $142 {and White has air to breath} Kh7 35. Bc1 $14) 34... a4 $17 35. Be1 $4 { strolling merrily down the path to disaster} (35. Bc1 $142 a3 36. f5 Nxf5 37. Bxf5 $17) 35... Nf5 (35... a3 $142 {makes sure everything is clear} 36. f5 Qg5 37. Bxh4 a2 $19) 36. Bxf5 $14 {White has a mate threat} Qxf5 $4 (36... Qf6 $142 {the only rescuing move} 37. Qc7 exf5 $16) 37. Qxg7# 1-0