A03 Bird's Opening with 1...d5 (1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bb5+ Bd7 5.Bxd7+ Nbxd7 6.O-O e6 7.b3 Bd6 8.Bb2)

The thing I really like about playing chess on the internet is that I get to play against people all around the world. My opponent in this game apparently comes from Japan, according to the flag next to his handle that is. There has been so many opponents and so many different places they were from that I can't even remember all of them. I guess I should type something about the game before I get sidetracked too much. The game below was played in the 2014 September Octet I 1700-1800 tournament. In this game I played much better than in my other game against OdaNobunaga, in this same tournament. My fight for the second place in the tournament still continues as I still have two games in progress that decide the fate of second place. I did calculate for my own interest how many correspondence chess games I have played and my results in them. I have played at the moment I type this 605 games out of which I have won 437, drawn 33 and lost 135. This means that my winning percent is a bit over 72, which is quite nice in my arrogant opinion. Well the win percentage may seem nice until you dig a bit deeper and realize that most of my opponents have been lower rated than me. I have added two mate in three, two mate in six and one mate in eight puzzle today. Until tomorrow, my fellow chess enthusiasts.

[Event "Octet"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.09.10"] [Round "1"] [White "OdaNobunaga"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A03"] [WhiteElo "1712"] [BlackElo "1813"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 c5 3. e3 Nf6 {A03 Bird Opening: Lasker Variation} 4. Bb5+ Bd7 5. Bxd7+ Nbxd7 6. O-O e6 7. b3 Bd6 8. Bb2 {A03 Bird's Opening with 1...d5} O-O (8... Qc7 9. Na3 a6 10. c4 O-O 11. Rc1 d4 12. exd4 Bxf4 13. g3 Bd6 14. dxc5 Nxc5 15. d4 Nce4 16. Ne5 Rad8 17. Qe2 Bxe5 18. dxe5 Qc5+ 19. Kh1 Rd2 20. b4 Qc6 21. Qf3 Ng4 22. Rc2 Nef2+ 23. Rxf2 {Szlabey,G (2085)-Kis,J (2123) Hungary 2001 0-1 (31)}) 9. d3 (9. Ne5 Qc7 10. Ng4 d4 11. Na3 Nxg4 12. Qxg4 Nf6 13. Qf3 a6 14. Nc4 b5 15. Nxd6 Qxd6 16. e4 e5 17. d3 Rac8 18. fxe5 Qxe5 19. Bc1 c4 20. Bf4 Qc5 21. Bh6 Qh5 22. Qxh5 Nxh5 23. Rf5 cxd3 {Tenzer,D (1600)-Waters,A (1617) Johannesburg 2018 1-0 (53)}) 9... Qc7 10. g3 $146 {-0.50/23} (10. c4 $11 { -0.03/25}) (10. Nc3 a6 11. Ne2 b5 12. a3 c4 13. Qe1 Rac8 14. Bc3 Qb6 15. Bd4 Bc5 16. b4 Bxd4 17. Nfxd4 Nb8 18. Rf3 Nc6 19. Qh4 cxd3 20. cxd3 Nxd4 21. Nxd4 Rc3 22. Rg3 Kh8 23. Rxg7 Kxg7 24. Qg5+ {1/2-1/2 (24) Duval,A-Milliet,S France 1999}) 10... e5 {Black is slightly better.} 11. fxe5 Nxe5 12. Nbd2 {-0.80/20} ( 12. Nh4 $11 {0.03/28}) 12... Rfe8 {-0.29/28} (12... Neg4 $17 {-0.80/20} 13. Qe2 Rae8) 13. Kg2 $2 {-3.96/24 [#]} (13. Nh4 $11 {-0.29/28}) 13... Neg4 $19 14. Re1 Nxe3+ 15. Rxe3 Rxe3 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Nh4 {intending Nf5.} Re5 {-2.30/29} ( 17... Qd7 $142 {-3.85/24 Hoping for ...Rae8.} 18. Nf1 Re5) 18. Ndf3 Ree8 19. Qd2 Rac8 20. Rf1 Qd7 21. Qh6 {-3.48/23} (21. Ng1 {-2.12/30 keeps fighting.}) 21... Qg4 22. Qxf6 Re6 {[#]} 23. Qg5+ $2 {-4.14/27} (23. Qxf7+ $1 {-1.62/28 was worth a try.} Kxf7 24. Ne5+ Ke7 25. Nxg4) 23... Qxg5 24. Nxg5 Re2+ 25. Kh3 Rc7 26. Ngf3 Rxc2 27. Re1 Re7 {Black is clearly winning.} 28. Ra1 Ree2 29. Nf5 Bc7 30. d4 b6 31. Rd1 c4 32. bxc4 Rxc4 33. Kg4 Kf8 34. Ng5 {-7.17/24} (34. h4 $142 {-4.80/29} Rc6 35. Rf1) 34... Rxh2 35. Re1 h5+ 36. Kf3 Rc3+ 37. Ne3 Rxa2 { Accuracy: White = 23%, Black = 53%.} 0-1