B73 Sicilian Dragon: Classical System without 9.Nb3 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be2 Bg7 7.Be3 Nf6 8.O-O O-O 9.h3 Bd7 10.Qd2)

This is a game that was played in the 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen III tournament at Red Hot Pawn. I am currently the third highest rated player in that tournament, with a rating of 1827. I do hold still some chances for second place but it does not need much for those dreams to be crushed as my main rival for that place only requires two points from his remaining games to go out my reach. After that happens, third place is my next goal, though in worst case even that can slip away from my grasp. Well maybe that is not the worst case actually because unless I get four more points at least, then I drop to fifth place but at least that should be the lowest I can go anymore in the standings. Agreeably there is a quite huge difference in ratings in this game but sometimes even that does not guarantee the win for the stronger player as I will be able show that in one of my most embarrassing losses sometime in the future. I have added one mate in one, two, five, six and seven puzzle today. Thank you all who have spent some of their time visiting my blog, it is much appreciated!

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "rlsomga"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B73"] [WhiteElo "1827"] [BlackElo "983"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 (1. Nc3 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. e4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O {0-1 (41) Taksrud,V (2191)-Thorfinnsson,B (2383) Oslo 2009}) 1... c5 2. Nf3 d6 (2... Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 (4... g6 5. Be3 Bg7 6. Be2 Nf6 { 1-0 (28) Gasik,A (2200)-Daleczko,Z (1886) Barlinek 2007}) 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 g6 7. Be3 {0-1 (55) Mersmann,M (1401)-Hoolt,S (1407) Rotenburg 2001}) 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 (4... Nf6 5. Nc3 Bd7 6. Be2 Nc6 7. Be3 g6 8. Qd2 Bg7 9. h3 O-O { 1-0 (43) Hng,E (1951)-Low,Z (2441) Bangkok 2017}) 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. Be3 Nf6 8. O-O {B73 Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation. Classical Variation} O-O 9. h3 Bd7 10. Qd2 {0.14/23 B73 Sicilian Dragon: Classical System without 9.Nb3} ( 10. Nb3 $16 {0.84/17}) 10... Nxd4 11. Bxd4 a6 {0.56/19} (11... b5 $11 {0.00/23} ) (11... Qa5 12. Rfd1 e5 13. Be3 Bc6 14. Nd5 Qxd2 15. Nxf6+ Bxf6 16. Rxd2 Be7 17. f3 Kg7 18. c4 f5 19. Bd3 h5 20. b4 fxe4 21. fxe4 g5 22. b5 Bd7 23. Be2 Be8 24. a4 a6 25. a5 Rc8 26. bxa6 {Taksrud,V (2191)-Thorfinnsson,B (2383) Oslo 2009 0-1 (41)}) (11... Be6 12. Bf3 Qd7 13. Rad1 b5 14. Nd5 Bxd5 15. exd5 Ne8 16. Qa5 Qc7 17. Qxb5 Bxd4 18. Rxd4 Rb8 19. Qa4 Rxb2 20. Rc4 Qb7 21. Re1 Nf6 22. Qa5 Rb6 23. Rc6 Rb8 24. a4 Kf8 25. Qd2 Qd7 26. a5 {Hng,E (1951)-Low,Z (2441) Bangkok 2017 1-0 (43)}) 12. Rad1 $146 {0.00/21} (12. Bf3 $14 {0.56/19}) (12. f4 Bc6 13. Bf3 e6 14. Rad1 Rc8 15. e5 dxe5 16. fxe5 Nd7 17. Qf4 Qc7 18. Bxc6 Qxc6 19. Ne4 Qxc2 20. Bc3 Nc5 21. Nxc5 Rxc5 22. Bb4 Rc4 23. Rd4 Rxd4 24. Qxd4 Rc8 25. Qd7 Qc7 26. Qxc7 Rxc7 {Mersmann,M (1401)-Hoolt,S (1407) Rotenburg 2001 0-1 (55)}) (12. a4 Qa5 13. Rfd1 Rac8 14. Nd5 Qxd2 15. Nxe7+ Kh8 16. Rxd2 Nxe4 17. Bxg7+ Kxg7 18. Rd4 Rce8 19. Rxe4 f5 20. Nxf5+ gxf5 21. Rxe8 Rxe8 22. Bd3 Kf6 23. f3 b5 24. axb5 axb5 25. Ra7 Ke6 26. Rxd7 Kxd7 {Gasik,A (2200)-Daleczko,Z (1886) Barlinek 2007 1-0}) 12... Qc7 {1.09/20} (12... Bc6 $11 {0.00/21 keeps the balance.}) 13. f4 {0.04/22} (13. Bxf6 $16 {1.09/20} exf6 14. Qxd6 Qxd6 15. Rxd6) 13... Bc6 $1 $11 14. Bf3 {0.00/22} (14. f5 $14 {0.55/18}) 14... Rad8 { 1.05/20} (14... e5 $11 {0.00/22} 15. fxe5 dxe5) 15. Qf2 {0.32/22} (15. Nd5 $16 {1.05/20} Nxd5 16. exd5 Bxd4+ 17. Qxd4) 15... e5 {1.54/20} ({Better is} 15... Rc8 $14 {0.32/22}) 16. fxe5 $16 dxe5 17. Bb6 $36 {White has strong initiative.} Qc8 18. Bxd8 Rxd8 19. Rxd8+ Qxd8 20. Rd1 Qc7 21. Qc5 {[#] Black must now prevent Nd5.} Bf8 22. Qc4 {0.69/23} (22. Qe3 $18 {1.83/19}) 22... Be7 {2.01/20} (22... Qb6+ $14 {0.69/23} 23. Kh2 Qxb2) 23. Nd5 $18 Nxd5 $2 {3.66/20} (23... Qd6 {1.76/25 is a better defense.} 24. Nxe7+ Qxe7) 24. exd5 Qb6+ 25. Kh1 Bb5 { 5.01/20} (25... Be8 $142 {3.36/24} 26. d6 Bxd6 27. Bxb7 Kg7 28. Qxa6 Qxa6 29. Bxa6 Bb4) 26. Qc8+ {White is clearly winning.} Kg7 27. c4 Ba4 28. b3 Bxb3 29. axb3 Qxb3 {Now ...e4 and Black clings on.} 30. d6 {Accuracy: White = 31%, Black = 18%.} 1-0