C18 French: 3.Nc3 Bb4: Main line: 7.h4 and 7.Qg4 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 cxd4 6.axb4 dxc3 7.bxc3)

I have noticed that when I play these team matches no matter if they are on the internet or over the board, I do get the extra push to try and win the game. Sure it does not always equal to victory but the need to fight for the team is stronger than if I would play just a random game. Sadly this does not always even add up to great moves by me which might be partially due to the large amount of games I play at the same time. One part is of course that I may not be all that good to begin with but I certainly have my moments... This game was played in a team match called The Castle of Chenonceau - super semi-open match La Belle France. The match is still ongoing between La Belle France and CALABARZON CHESS TEAM. And yes the latter team name is all in caps. I played board four for the home team that was in this match La Belle France. I won both my games on time. The match is played on seven boards and we currently lead the match 11,5 - 0,5 so we have secured the victory some time ago. There are still two games left in the match and both of them are played on board one. I have added one mate in one and four mate in three puzzles today. Unlike maybe other places on the internet, the puzzles I have shared here have sometimes more than one solution. I do not feel that it is a bad thing, it may sometimes make the puzzles harder or easier depending on the situation and it might be better training for chess as usually there are more than one way to play the position.

[Event "The Castle of Chenonceau - super semi-o"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.10.29"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "makiling13"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C18"] [WhiteElo "1896"] [BlackElo "1515"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "35"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 cxd4 6. axb4 dxc3 {C18 French Defense: Winawer Variation. Maroczy-Wallis Variation} 7. bxc3 {0.58/23 C18 French: 3.Nc3 Bb4: Main line: 7.h4 and 7.Qg4} (7. Qg4 $1 $16 {1.06/19} cxb2 8. Bxb2) 7... Nc6 {1.52/19} (7... Ne7 $14 {0.58/23}) 8. Nf3 {0.41/22} ({White should try} 8. f4 $16 {1.52/19}) 8... f5 $146 {1.77/17} (8... Qc7 $14 {0.41/22} 9. Bb5 (9. Be2 Nxe5 10. O-O Nxf3+ 11. Bxf3 Nf6 12. Bb2 Bd7 13. Qe2 O-O 14. Rfd1 a6 15. c4 Rfd8 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. cxd5 Bb5 18. Qe4 f5 19. Qh4 Qxc2 20. dxe6 Rxd1+ 21. Rxd1 fxe6 22. Qg5+ Kf8 23. Qf6+ Kg8 {Lavrador,R (1866)-Nuno,R (1661) Lisboa 2017 1-0}) (9. Bf4 Bd7 10. Bd3 Nce7 11. Qd2 Ng6 12. Bg3 N8e7 13. O-O O-O 14. Rad1 Rac8 15. c4 dxc4 16. Bxg6 Bc6 17. Bh5 Rcd8 18. Qg5 h6 19. Qf4 Bxf3 20. Bxf3 Ng6 21. Qe4 b5 22. Rd6 f5 23. exf6 Rxd6 {Cuenya de la Iglesia,C-Velasco Palmero,R Valladolid 1984 1-0}) 9... Bd7 10. Bf4 h6 11. O-O Nge7 12. Re1 O-O 13. Bd3 a6 14. Qd2 Ng6 15. Bg3 Nce7 16. h4 Rac8 17. h5 Nh8 18. Ra3 Bc6 19. Nd4 Bd7 20. Bf4 Nc6 21. Nf3 Na7 22. Bxh6 Nb5 23. Qg5 g6 {Schmied,A (2081)-Meldal,P (1526) Helsingor 2011 1-0}) (8... Nge7 9. Bf4 Ng6 10. Bg3 O-O 11. Bd3 Bd7 12. O-O a6 13. Qd2 Rc8 14. Rae1 Re8 15. h4 Nf8 16. h5 h6 {1/2-1/2 (16) Keresztes,R (2255)-Meszaros,G (2314) Kecskemet 2011}) 9. exf6 {0.95/21} (9. b5 $18 {1.77/17 } Na5 10. Qd4) 9... Nxf6 $16 {White is better.} 10. Bb5 $2 {0.27/23 [#]} (10. b5 $18 {1.87/18}) 10... O-O {1.01/19} (10... Bd7 $11 {0.27/23 remains equal.}) 11. O-O {0.49/22} (11. Bxc6 $16 {1.01/19 Black must now prevent Bb5.} bxc6 12. O-O) 11... Bd7 12. Re1 {0.27/22} ({Better is} 12. c4 $16 {0.75/20}) 12... Ne4 { 1.61/18} (12... Qc7 $11 {0.27/22 and Black stays safe.}) 13. Qd3 $2 {0.00/22} ( 13. c4 $1 $18 {1.61/18}) 13... a6 $11 14. Ba4 b5 {0.44/21} (14... Rc8 $11 { -0.13/22}) 15. Bb3 $14 Qb6 $2 {5.63/23 [#]} (15... Kh8 $11 {0.25/24}) 16. Be3 $2 {2.23/25} (16. Rxe4 {5.63/23} dxe4 17. Qxd7 exf3 18. Be3) 16... Qc7 17. Bd4 $2 {0.00/25} (17. Bxd5 $1 $18 {2.37/19} exd5 18. Qxd5+ Rf7 19. Qxe4) 17... Nxd4 {0.68/23} (17... a5 $11 {0.00/25}) 18. cxd4 {-0.41/22 Accuracy: White = 10%, Black = 19%. . Loss on time!?} (18. Qxd4 $14 {0.68/23} Rf5 19. Rxe4 dxe4 20. Qxe4) 1-0