C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Ne5 6.Bb3 Nf6)

This a real blast from my past as this is game from one of the first official tournaments I have played over the board chess in. I did not get many points back then and maybe got my first win in a selo, also known as Finnish elo, game in my 12th or 13th game. I have now played over the years 501 selo games so maybe it is a good time to start looking at them here... I have posted already two other over the board chess games and they were played in this same tournament. This one was played in the second round of the tournament and it was really tough tournament for me at that time as I lost all five games. This is luckily starting to be extremely rare that I would lose all my games in a tournament, no matter where it is played, over the board or in the internet. I can't actually even remember when was the last time that I lost all my games in a tournament. I have added one more puzzle to mate in one, two, three, four and nine.

[Event "SalSK"] [Site "?"] [Date "2001.11.03"] [Round "2"] [White "Niemi, Esa"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "1646"] [BlackElo "1303"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2001.11.04"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 h6 {C55 Italian Game: Anti-Fried Liver Defense} 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Ne5 6. Bb3 Nf6 {0.90/25 C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo} (6... Bc5 $11 {0.19/27}) 7. Nc3 {0.47/27} (7. Nf3 $16 {0.90/25} Nxf3+ 8. Qxf3) 7... Bc5 {1.05/22} (7... Bb4 $14 {0.47/27}) 8. O-O {0.00/30} (8. f4 $16 {1.05/22} Nc6 9. Be3 Bxd4 10. Bxd4) 8... O-O (8... b6 9. Nf5 O-O 10. Be3 Bxe3 11. Nxe3 d6 12. f3 Be6 13. Ncd5 c6 14. Nf4 Bxb3 15. axb3 b5 16. Kh1 g6 17. Qe2 Re8 18. Rfd1 Qc7 19. Ra6 Rab8 20. Rda1 Rb7 21. Qd2 Rd8 22. Nd3 c5 23. Nf4 { Berglitz,R (2115)-Sprotte,G Cattolica 1989 1-0 (50)}) (8... c6 9. Nf5 Rg8 10. Bf4 Qc7 11. Na4 Bb6 12. Nxb6 Nxe4 13. Nxa8 {1-0 (13) Hertle,P (1784)-Witt,A (1535) Wiesbaden 2018}) 9. Be3 $146 {-0.10/28} (9. h3 $14 {0.32/24}) (9. Kh1 d6 10. f4 Bxd4 11. Qxd4 Nc6 12. Qd3 Be6 13. f5 Bxb3 14. axb3 Re8 15. Bf4 Nb4 16. Qe2 a6 17. g4 Nxe4 18. Nxe4 d5 19. Qd2 Rxe4 20. c3 Nc6 21. Rad1 d4 22. Qg2 Qe7 23. g5 Re2 {Deus Filho,J (2017)-Dutra,L (1684) Rio Claro 2013 1-0 (56)}) (9. f4 Nc6 10. Be3 d6 11. Kh1 Ng4 12. Nxc6 Qh4 13. Ne7+ Kh7 14. h3 Bxe3 15. f5 Nf2+ 16. Rxf2 Bxf2 17. Ned5 Bb6 18. Nxb6 axb6 19. Nd5 Qxe4 20. Nxc7 Rb8 21. Qxd6 Bxf5 22. Qg3 Rbd8 23. Re1 Qc6 {Johansen,A (1621)-Roen,A (1458) Oslo 2008 0-1 (31)}) 9... b6 {0.51/23} (9... Nfg4 $11 {-0.10/28}) 10. f3 {0.00/28} (10. h3 $14 {0.51/23}) 10... Bb7 {0.68/24} (10... d6 $11 {0.00/28}) 11. Na4 {0.13/27} ( {White should play} 11. Nf5 $14 {0.68/24}) 11... Be7 {1.04/24} (11... d6 $11 { 0.13/27}) 12. Qe2 {0.08/27} (12. Nf5 $16 {1.04/24}) 12... d5 $11 13. exd5 { -0.26/24} (13. Nf5 $14 {0.41/25}) 13... Bxd5 {0.86/26} (13... Nxd5 $11 { -0.26/24} 14. Rad1 Nxe3 15. Qxe3 Bd6) 14. Rad1 {0.33/27} ({White should try} 14. c4 $16 {0.86/26} Bb7 15. Rad1) 14... Bxb3 $14 15. Nxb3 {-0.10/28} (15. axb3 $16 {0.80/26 Ne6! is the strong threat.} Bd6 16. Nc3) 15... Qe8 $11 16. Nc3 Bb4 {0.45/27} (16... Ng6 $11 {-0.15/29}) 17. Nb5 Qe7 {0.95/26} (17... Nc4 $11 { 0.29/30 keeps the balance.} 18. Qxc4 Qxe3+ 19. Kh1 Bd6) 18. c3 Bd6 19. Rfe1 Rfe8 {0.87/30} (19... Rae8 $14 {0.40/30 was preferrable.}) 20. Nxd6 cxd6 21. Bd4 {0.20/30} ({Better is} 21. Nd4 $16 {0.85/22}) 21... Nc6 $2 {1.95/26 [#]} ( 21... Qc7 $11 {0.20/30 and Black stays safe.}) 22. Qd2 {0.56/27} (22. Qxe7 $18 {1.95/26} Nxe7 23. Bxf6 gxf6 24. Rxd6) 22... Qd8 $1 $14 23. Rxe8+ Nxe8 24. Bf2 Qd7 25. Bg3 {0.29/31} (25. Nd4 $16 {0.75/24}) 25... Rd8 26. Qd5 Ne7 27. Qd3 d5 28. Bh4 g5 {0.64/24} (28... Nc7 $11 {0.08/30}) 29. Bg3 Nf6 {0.77/29} (29... Ng7 $11 {0.24/30 remains equal.}) 30. Nd4 $36 {White has good play.} Kg7 $2 { 2.57/22 [#]} (30... Nh5 $14 {0.64/31}) 31. Be5 $18 Nc8 $2 {10.10/26} (31... Re8 {2.52/30} 32. Rf1 Ng6) 32. Nf5+ Kg6 33. Nxh6+ Kxh6 34. Bxf6 Ne7 35. Qe3 Re8 36. Qxg5+ Kh7 37. Qg7# {Accuracy: White = 22%, Black = 15%.} 1-0