B38 Sicilian: Maroczy Bind with 5...Bg7 and 7...O-O (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 a6 7.Be2 O-O 8.O-O Nc6 9.Be3 d6)

The game below was played in the second round of the tournament called 1800-2000: Knock Out. The 64 players were divided into 2 player groups where only the winner continues to next round or in case of a tie, both advance to the next round. In the first round I lost one and won one and both players advanced to the next round. This second round I still have my other game against Danman24 in progress, which will determine if I will be eliminated from the tournament or not. At the time I type this, only two games remain to be finished in round two. After my rating momentarily visited over 1900 at Chess.com yesterday, today it went below it again as I needed to resign one more horrible game. It was not probably the last one, unfortunately. Time will tell if I can balance my wins and losses so that I would at least keep my rating around 1900 there. I have not climbed over 2200 at Queen Alice Internet Chess Club either as my opponents keep resisting my efforts... I have added one mate in one, three mate in twos and one mate in three puzzle today.

[Event "1800-2000: Knock Out - Round 2"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.10.05"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Danman24"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B38"] [WhiteElo "1895"] [BlackElo "1861"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "96"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. d4 (1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. d4 {0-1 (49) Kovanova,B (2399)-Savina, A (2373) Bilbao 2014}) (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Be2 Bg7 8. Be3 Nc6 9. O-O {1-0 (24) De Souza Mendes,J-Engels,L Sao Paulo 1966}) 1... Nf6 (1... g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. e4 O-O { 1-0 (41) Nguyen,H (2029)-Nguyen,T (1830) Hanoi 2017}) 2. c4 c5 (2... g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nc6 9. Be3 {1/2-1/2 (65) Rahman,M (2243)-Md Zafrul,I (1863) Dhaka 2017}) 3. Nf3 {A31 English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Anti-Benoni Variation} g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4 cxd4 (5... O-O 6. Be2 {0-1 (49) Kovanova,B (2399)-Savina,A (2373) Bilbao 2014}) 6. Nxd4 a6 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O Nc6 9. Be3 d6 {B38 Sicilian: Maroczy Bind with 5...Bg7 and 7. ..0-0} 10. Kh1 h5 $146 {1.16/19} (10... Rb8 $142 {0.72/22}) (10... Nxd4 11. Bxd4 e5 (11... Be6 12. f4 Rc8 13. b3 Qa5 14. Rc1 Bd7 15. e5 dxe5 16. fxe5 Bh6 17. exf6 e5 18. Bg1 Bc6 19. Rc2 e4 20. Qe1 Rfe8 21. Bg4 Rcd8 22. Be3 Bf8 23. Nd5 Bxd5 24. Qxa5 {1-0 (24) De Souza Mendes,J-Engels,L Sao Paulo 1966}) 12. Be3 Be6 13. Qd2 Rc8 14. b3 Qa5 15. Rac1 Rc6 16. Rfd1 Rfc8 17. Bg5 b5 18. Nd5 Qxd2 19. Bxd2 Bxd5 20. exd5 R6c7 21. Ba5 Rb7 22. cxb5 Rxc1 23. Rxc1 axb5 24. Rc8+ Bf8 25. Bd8 {Rahman,M (2243)-Md Zafrul,I (1863) Dhaka 2017 1/2-1/2 (65)}) ( 10... Bd7 11. f3 Rc8 12. Rc1 (12. Qd2 Nh5 13. Nd5 e6 14. Nxc6 Bxc6 15. Nb6 Rb8 16. Rad1 Qh4 17. Bf2 Qf4 18. g3 Qxd2 19. Rxd2 Rfd8 20. Rfd1 f5 21. exf5 exf5 22. b3 Nf6 23. Kg2 Bf8 24. Kg1 Kf7 25. b4 Nd7 26. b5 Nxb6 {Nguyen,H (2029) -Nguyen,T (1830) Hanoi 2017 1-0 (41)}) 12... Nxd4 13. Bxd4 Bc6 14. b4 Bh6 15. Rb1 Nh5 16. g3 Bg7 17. f4 Nf6 18. Bf3 b5 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Qe2 Qd7 21. Rbd1 Qb7 22. a4 Rb8 23. a5 Rbc8 24. Qg2 Rfd8 25. Bb6 {Kovanova,B (2399)-Savina,A (2373) Bilbao 2014 0-1 (49)}) 11. Qd2 {0.32/20} (11. h3 $16 {1.16/19}) 11... Ng4 $1 $14 12. Nxc6 {White is slightly better.} bxc6 13. Bf4 Qb6 14. Bxg4 {-0.27/20} ( {White should play} 14. Kg1 $16 {0.87/20}) 14... Bxg4 15. h3 Be6 16. b3 $1 Qa5 {0.62/21} (16... Qd4 $15 {-0.34/23} 17. Rac1 Qxd2 18. Bxd2 a5) 17. Rfc1 { -0.25/22} (17. Rac1 $14 {0.62/21}) 17... Rad8 {0.28/19} ({Better is} 17... f5 { -0.25/22}) 18. Bh6 d5 {0.88/22} (18... f6 $11 {0.00/23}) 19. exd5 {0.27/24} ( 19. Bxg7 $16 {0.88/22} Kxg7 20. Qd4+ Kh7 21. cxd5) 19... Bxh6 $11 20. Qxh6 cxd5 21. cxd5 ({Reject} 21. Nxd5 Bxd5 22. cxd5 Rxd5 $11) 21... Bxd5 22. Nxd5 Qxd5 23. Rc7 {-0.49/24} (23. Qe3 $11 {0.00/26}) 23... Qd4 24. Rf1 Qe5 25. Qc1 Rd3 26. Re1 Qd5 27. Kg1 e6 28. Rc6 Qa5 29. Rc2 {-0.44/22} (29. Re2 $11 {0.00/28}) 29... Rfd8 $15 30. Kh2 Rd2 {[#] Hoping for ...Rxc2.} 31. Re2 $1 Rxc2 {0.00/26} (31... Rxe2 $15 {-0.45/24} 32. Rxe2 Rd4) 32. Qxc2 {Endgame KQR-KQR} Qg5 33. Qc4 Rd1 34. b4 {-0.44/22} (34. Qc8+ $11 {0.00/24} Rd8 35. Qc3 (35. Qxa6 $2 Qf4+ 36. Kg1 Rd1+ 37. Re1 Rxe1+ $19)) 34... Rc1 35. Qd4 Qb5 36. Qd8+ Kg7 37. Qd2 { -0.42/24} (37. Qd4+ $11 {0.00/27 should be considered.} Kg8 38. Re5) 37... Qb8+ 38. f4 {-1.33/19} (38. g3 $11 {-0.16/26 was the only way to keep the balance.} Qc7 39. Re4) 38... Rc4 $36 {Keeping White busy.} 39. Rf2 {-2.23/21} (39. a3 $17 {-1.43/26 is a better defense.}) 39... Qxb4 $19 ({Much less strong is} 39... Rxb4 40. Qe3) 40. Qe3 Re4 41. Qc1 Qd4 42. Rf3 e5 43. f5 {[#] f6+ is the strong threat.} Rf4 $1 44. Rxf4 $2 {-25.87/18} (44. Re3 {-3.37/25} Rf2 45. Rb3) 44... Qxf4+ 45. Qxf4 exf4 46. fxg6 fxg6 47. g4 hxg4 48. hxg4 g5 {Accuracy: White = 14%, Black = 43%.} 0-1