A50 Queen's Fianchetto Defence (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 b6) (1.d4 Nf6 c4 c6)

Tomorrow I will post a game that features the 200th opening variation that I have covered in this blog! There might be many more still to come but if not, then I will turn my attention back to Chess960. Tomorrow I thought I had found a good way to publish my Chess960 games in this blog but it unfortunately did not work out as there was a restriction on how long the game can be... But now that I type this, a possible solution came to my mind, I will need to try it out tomorrow or perhaps later today if I have time. The game below is one of the 34 losses that I have suffered at Red Hot Pawn which is around 16% of all the rated games I have played there. The average opponent rating in past five years is 1460 so it is pretty low compared to my current rating. I would like have stronger opponents constantly to see how well I could do against them. I do have opponents that are close to or even higher rated than me there currently but there are not that many of them. I guess when I start more tournaments I should join only those that have rating restrictions, to ensure that the people I face are consistently higher rated than my current average opponent. I have added one puzzle to each of the following: mate in three, four, five, seven and twelve.

[Event "Corr game 15.5.2014-1.6.2014"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.05.15"] [Round "?"] [White "mpccsec"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A50"] [WhiteElo "1489"] [BlackElo "1863"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. d4 (1. c4 Nf6 {1-0 (29) Ivanchuk,V (2728)-Duda,J (2707) Tbilisi 2017}) 1... Nf6 (1... c6 2. c4 {1/2-1/2 (22) Thoday,F (1866)-Veelenturf,W (1694) Douglas 2018}) 2. c4 c6 {A50 Queen's Fianchetto Defence (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 b6) A50 Slav Indian} 3. Bf4 d5 $146 (3... g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. e4 d6 7. Be2 Bg4 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Qd2 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 e5 11. Be3 Qe7 12. d5 c5 13. Bg5 Rfd8 14. Bh6 a6 15. g3 Nb6 16. b3 Qd7 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Qe2 {Thoday,F (1866)-Veelenturf,W (1694) Douglas 2018 1/2-1/2}) (3... Qb6 4. Qd2 d5 (4... Ne4 5. Qc2 d5 6. f3 Nf6 7. e3 Nbd7 8. Nc3 Qa5 9. Bg3 g6 10. a3 Bh6 11. b4 Qd8 12. cxd5 Bxe3 13. dxc6 bxc6 14. Nge2 Nb6 15. Nd1 Bh6 16. Qxc6+ Bd7 17. Qb7 O-O 18. Bc7 Qe8 19. Bxb6 { Gorovets,A (2522)-Esserman,M (2453) Cambridge 2017 0-1 (39)}) 5. Nc3 Bf5 6. f3 e6 7. g4 Bg6 8. h4 h5 9. g5 Nfd7 10. e3 Na6 11. a3 Qa5 12. Rd1 Be7 13. Bg3 Rd8 14. c5 b6 15. Nxd5 Qxd2+ 16. Kxd2 cxd5 17. Bxa6 bxc5 18. Bc7 {Ivanchuk,V (2728) -Duda,J (2707) Tbilisi 2017 1-0}) (3... d6 4. Nc3 g6 5. e3 Bg7 6. Be2 O-O 7. h3 Nfd7 8. Nf3 e5 9. Bh2 Qe7 10. O-O Rd8 11. b4 a6 12. Qb3 b5 13. cxb5 axb5 14. d5 Nb6 15. Nd2 cxd5 16. Bxb5 Be6 17. Qb2 e4 18. a4 {Niemann,H (2329)-Arjun,V (2224) Charlotte 2018 1-0 (47)}) 4. Bxb8 Rxb8 5. e3 Bf5 {0.00/21} (5... e5 $1 $17 {-0.80/17 Hoping for ...Qb6.} 6. dxe5 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Ne4) 6. Nc3 {-0.71/19} ( 6. cxd5 $11 {0.00/21} Qb6 7. Qb3) 6... e6 {-0.25/22} (6... Qb6 $17 {-0.71/19} 7. Qb3 e6) 7. Nf3 {-0.69/18} (7. a3 $11 {-0.25/22}) 7... Bd6 {-0.25/22} (7... Bb4 $15 {-0.69/18 is more appropriate.}) 8. c5 {Black has an edge.} Bc7 9. h3 { -0.66/19} (9. Bd3 $11 {-0.12/21}) 9... h6 {0.16/20} (9... Nd7 $15 {-0.66/19}) 10. Nh4 {-1.07/16} (10. Bd3 $11 {0.16/20}) 10... Bh7 {-0.58/23} (10... Be4 $17 {-1.07/16}) 11. Bd3 $15 Ne4 $36 {White is under strong pressure.} 12. Nf3 O-O 13. Bxe4 dxe4 14. Nd2 f5 {-0.12/20} (14... e5 $17 {-1.37/18} 15. Nc4 Qe7) 15. Qb3 {-1.12/18} (15. O-O $11 {-0.12/20}) 15... Qe7 {-0.26/23} (15... Kh8 $17 { -1.12/18} 16. Qxe6 Bg8) 16. O-O-O {-1.04/19} (16. Nc4 $11 {-0.26/23 keeps the balance.}) 16... b6 {-0.59/23} (16... b5 $17 {-1.04/19}) 17. cxb6 {-1.23/20} ( 17. Qa4 $15 {-0.59/23}) 17... Rxb6 $2 {0.78/23 [#]} (17... axb6 $17 {-1.23/20 and life is bright.} 18. Kb1 Bg6) 18. Qc2 $2 {-0.77/18} (18. Qa4 $16 {0.78/23 stays on course.}) 18... Rfb8 {0.46/22} ({Better is} 18... Rb4 $17 {-0.77/18}) 19. Nb3 $2 {-1.32/18} (19. Nc4 $1 $14 {0.46/22 keeps the upper hand.}) 19... Bd6 {-0.01/21} (19... Rb4 $17 {-1.32/18} 20. Qe2 Bg6) 20. Na4 $1 $11 Ra6 $2 { 0.55/21} (20... Rb5 $1 $17 {-0.96/21}) 21. Qc4 $1 $14 Rab6 $2 {2.64/19 [#]} ({ Black should play} 21... Rb5 $14 {0.36/25}) 22. Nxb6 $18 Rxb6 23. Nc5 Bxc5 $2 { 5.15/19} (23... Kh8 {2.05/22 is tougher.} 24. Na4 Rb7) 24. dxc5 Rb5 25. Rd6 { Accuracy: White = 22%, Black = 10%.} 1-0