C20 1.e4 e5: Unusual White second moves (1.e4 e5 2.c4 Nf6 3.d3)

The game below was played in a team match called PFCC YEAR END CHALLENGE-December 14. It was a 27 board match between PHILIPPINES' FINEST Chess Club and The Toon Gang. I played board ten in this match for the The Toon Gang. Our opponent won the match with a score of 28 - 26. As the other game that I played in this match I have already shared previously, you might have seen the same information there. This match started December 11th 2014 and concluded March 12th 2015. Thinking time was 3 days for each move. This match was quite fruitful to me as it brought two opening variations that were previously unseen in this blog, so I can only thank my opponent for his choice of opening play.

I previously thought that it would be easy enough for me to maintain a rating over 1700 at FIDE Online Arena but as there are some people who are clearly lower rated than they should be, it might be more difficult task than I first thought. Not only that but as I have played mainly rapid tournaments there, I might get only two official games played per day and I can't be sure on which round those games will come. Well, it is not always sure that I even get one official game played in a tournament. Official games I call the games that affect my monitored elo that is. Only those monitored elo games increase the game requirement for the title. If I had more free time to play, I might get these games faster but it is not a likely thing to happen in the near future. I have added one mate in two, one mate in three, two mate in four and one mate in five puzzle today. Until tomorrow, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

Game number two. This was played in the second round of an over the board tournament that was held at Turku between December 7th 2001 and December 9th 2001. It is sometimes rather painful to look at my earliest recorded games because they were really bad. I may find solace on the fact that I have improved my game quite a lot over the years. In order to complete my chess legacy in this blog, I have to include all my games whether they are good or not. After I had played two games in this tournament, I still had not gathered any points. It was an uphill battle for the most part back then and I ended up losing most of my games. I am happy that those days are long gone and I have become a winning player, well for the most part that is.

[Event "PFCC YEAR END CHALLENGE-December 14 - B"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.12.14"] [Round "?"] [White "Nnairsoirra"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C20"] [WhiteElo "1742"] [BlackElo "1857"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s)"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 (1. c4 e5 2. d3 Nf6 {0-1 (48) Gil Pou,J-Garcia Domingo,J (2206) Valencia 2003}) 1... e5 2. c4 {C20 English Opening: The Whale} Nf6 3. d3 {C20 1.e4 e5: Unusual White second moves} c6 4. Nc3 Bb4 (4... d5 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3 Bxf3 7. gxf3 Bb4 8. Bd2 d4 9. Ne2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 Nh5 11. Rg1 Nd7 12. Rg5 g6 13. Rg1 Qf6 14. Bg2 g5 15. Bh1 Nf4 16. Nxf4 gxf4 17. O-O-O O-O-O 18. Rg2 Rhg8 19. Rdg1 { Gil Pou,J-Garcia Domingo,J (2206) Valencia 2003 0-1 (48)}) 5. Bd2 O-O $146 ( 5... Qb6 6. h3 Bc5 7. Be3 Bxe3 8. fxe3 Qxb2 9. Qc1 Qb6 10. Be2 O-O 11. Nf3 d6 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Kh1 Nc5 14. d4 exd4 15. exd4 Ncxe4 16. Nxe4 Nxe4 17. Qf4 { 1/2-1/2 (17) Khatukhira,B-Enzama,C Kampala 2017}) 6. a3 Be7 $2 {0.87/20 [#]} ( 6... Bxc3 $17 {-0.83/21} 7. Bxc3 (7. bxc3 d5 $15) 7... d5) 7. h3 {-0.60/22} (7. Nf3 $16 {0.87/20}) 7... d5 $15 8. cxd5 {-0.89/19} (8. Nf3 $11 {-0.09/22 remains equal.}) 8... cxd5 $17 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 {-1.25/21} (10. Nf3 $15 { -0.50/23}) 10... Qxd5 11. Nf3 Bf5 {-0.84/21} (11... Rd8 $142 {-1.35/20} 12. Be2 Bf5) 12. Bc3 Nc6 13. Be2 Rad8 {-0.78/19} (13... Qe6 $142 {-1.25/18} 14. O-O Rfd8) 14. O-O Bf6 {-0.63/22} (14... a6 $17 {-1.21/19} 15. Rc1 Rfe8) 15. Nh2 { -1.30/19} ({Better is} 15. Re1 $15 {-0.63/22}) 15... Bxd3 {-0.48/25} (15... Rfe8 $17 {-1.30/19} 16. Ng4 Bg5) 16. Bxd3 $15 Qxd3 17. Qxd3 {-1.32/24} (17. Ng4 $15 {-0.39/21}) 17... Rxd3 $17 18. Ng4 {-1.72/22} (18. Rae1 $17 {-1.22/25}) 18... Rd6 $2 {-0.09/24 [#]} ({Black should try} 18... Be7 $19 {-1.72/22 Black wants to play ...Rfd8.} 19. Rfd1 Rfd8 20. Rxd3 Rxd3) 19. Rfe1 {-0.57/21} (19. f4 $11 {-0.09/24} Rd5 20. Rad1) 19... Re8 {-0.09/23} (19... Rd5 $15 {-0.57/21}) 20. f4 {-1.00/21} (20. Rad1 $11 {-0.09/23} Rxd1 21. Nxf6+ gxf6 22. Rxd1) 20... Rde6 {-0.18/24} ({Black should play} 20... Bh4 $1 $17 {-1.00/21} 21. fxe5 Rde6) 21. Nxf6+ $11 gxf6 22. f5 {-1.15/21} (22. Rad1 $11 {0.00/24}) 22... Rd6 $17 23. g4 {-1.69/21} (23. Rad1 $17 {-1.02/23 is a better defense.} Red8 24. Rxd6 Rxd6 25. Kf2) 23... Rd3 {-1.17/26} (23... Red8 $19 {-1.69/21} 24. Kf2 h5 $1) 24. Kg2 {-2.14/21} (24. Rad1 $17 {-1.17/26 was worth a try.} Red8 25. Rxd3 Rxd3 26. Kg2 ) 24... Red8 $19 25. Re2 Nd4 26. Bxd4 R8xd4 ({Less strong is} 26... exd4 27. Rc1 $15) 27. Rc1 {-2.97/18} (27. Rf1 $142 {-2.00/24}) 27... Rb3 {Accuracy: White = 28%, Black = 35%.} 0-1 [Event "TuTS"] [Site "?"] [Date "2001.12.08"] [Round "2"] [White "Väisänen, Voitto"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C20"] [WhiteElo "1428"] [BlackElo "1280"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "107"] 1. e4 e5 2. c4 {C20 English Opening: The Whale} Nf6 3. d3 {C20 1.e4 e5: Unusual White second moves} c6 4. Nf3 (4. Nc3 d5 5. exd5 cxd5 6. Bg5 d4 7. Ne4 Qa5+ 8. Nd2 Be7 9. Ngf3 O-O 10. Be2 Nc6 11. O-O Bf5 12. Re1 Rad8 13. Bf1 Rfe8 14. a3 Nd7 15. b4 Qc7 16. b5 Bxg5 17. Nxg5 Ne7 18. Nde4 f6 {Hushie,C (1761) -Mensah,J (1980) Accra 2016 1-0 (60)}) 4... Qc7 (4... Bc5 5. Bg5 Qb6 6. Qc2 Ng4 7. Bh4 O-O 8. h3 Nf6 9. Nxe5 Bd4 {0-1 (9) Navratil,J (2185)-Karhanek,P (2159) Prague 2004}) 5. Be2 Be7 $146 {0.76/23} (5... d5 $11 {-0.08/25} 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Nbd2 Nc6 8. Qa4 Bd7 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nc4 Nd4 11. Qd1 b5 12. Be3 bxc4 13. Bxd4 exd4 14. a3 c3 15. Qc2 Rb8 16. b3 Bd6 17. g3 O-O 18. O-O Rfe8 19. Rfe1 Re7 20. Rac1 Rbe8 {Pfaff,H-Wegener,W Bad Wiessee 1998 0-1}) 6. h3 {-0.35/28} (6. Nc3 $16 {0.76/23}) 6... O-O {0.25/25} (6... d5 $15 {-0.35/28}) 7. O-O {-0.26/33} ( 7. Nc3 $142 {0.25/25}) 7... d5 $11 8. exd5 {The position is equal.} cxd5 9. cxd5 {-0.47/27} (9. Nc3 $11 {0.12/28}) 9... Nxd5 $15 10. Re1 {-0.67/24} (10. Nc3 $11 {-0.17/29} Nxc3 11. bxc3) 10... Nc6 11. a3 {-0.70/22} (11. Nc3 $11 { -0.29/27} Rd8 12. a3) 11... b5 {0.08/27} (11... Bf5 $15 {-0.70/22}) 12. Bd2 a5 13. Nc3 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Rb8 15. Nh2 {-1.24/23} (15. d4 $11 {0.08/23}) 15... Be6 { -0.29/28} ({Better is} 15... Bf5 $17 {-1.24/23} 16. Qc1 Rfd8) 16. Bg4 {-0.95/24 } (16. Bf3 $11 {-0.29/28}) 16... Bxg4 {-0.46/26} (16... f5 $17 {-0.95/24} 17. Bf3 Nd8) 17. Nxg4 Rfe8 {0.07/28} (17... Rfd8 $17 {-0.72/22} 18. Qe2 Bf8) 18. Ne3 {-0.58/23} (18. Qf3 $11 {0.07/28}) 18... b4 {0.33/26} ({Black should play} 18... Qd8 $15 {-0.58/23}) 19. cxb4 $14 axb4 20. Nd5 Qb7 21. Nxe7+ Rxe7 {0.92/25 } (21... Qxe7 $11 {0.08/28 keeps the balance.} 22. Qa4 Nd4) 22. axb4 {0.17/29} (22. Bxb4 $1 $16 {0.92/25} Rd7 23. Bc3) 22... Nxb4 $2 {4.15/26 [#]} (22... Rd7 $1 $11 {0.17/29 and Black has nothing to worry.}) 23. Rb1 $18 Qb5 24. Rxb4 Qe8 25. Rxb8 Qxb8 26. f4 h6 27. fxe5 Rxe5 28. Rxe5 Qxe5 29. Qf1 Qd4+ 30. Kh1 g5 31. Qe2 Kh7 32. Be3 Qa1+ 33. Bg1 Kg6 34. Qe4+ Kg7 35. d4 f6 36. Qe7+ {White mates.} Kg6 37. Qe8+ Kg7 38. d5 Qe5 39. Qd7+ Kf8 40. Bc5+ Kg8 41. Qd8+ Kf7 42. Qf8+ Kg6 43. Qg8+ Kh5 44. Qf7+ Kh4 45. Bf2+ Qg3 46. Bxg3+ Kxg3 47. Qxf6 Kh4 48. Qxh6+ Kg3 49. Qxg5+ Kf2 50. d6 Ke2 51. d7 Kf2 52. d8=R Ke2 53. Qd2+ Kf1 54. Rf8# { Accuracy: White = 51%, Black = 10%.} 1-0