C99 Closed Spanish Game: Chigorin Defence, 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Be7 7.Re1 O-O 8.h3 d6 9.c3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4)

This was played on the second round of the Smaller Tournament. I advanced from the first round by winning group 4 with a half point difference to the player who finished second. Only the winner or winners of each group will advance from every round. I was able to get 6.5 points out of the possible 8, on round one. This second round has already gone worse than the previous round for me, as I have lost two games out of the five that have finished so far. My losses were against rudobrody, who is clearly the highest rated player of the group and he is also very likely to win the group and advance to the next round. The player who is currently second, _Henry_, has theoretical chances to tie rudobrody in points and in doing so would also be able to advance to the third round. I know for sure that I am not able to tie rudobrody anymore, because that would mean that I would have to win all my remaining games and he would need to lose the last game he has in progress. Which is very unlikely because his opponent has not been online in months...

When compared to the first game in this post, the first new move in this game was seen when I played 13...Nc4. In the first game andrei2015 played the move 13...Nc6. My novelty, when considering the games I have played in this variation, was not a good one. It would have been a step towards difficulties, had my opponent replied accurately. However, my move was not a clear mistake and only very precise play may have led to an advantage close to a clear advantage for my opponent. Rudobrody played the move 14.b3 and my opponent was only slightly better. 14.Nxc4 was the strongest move for my opponent. In reply to 14.b3 I played 14...Nb6, which caused me more trouble than I had experienced previously in the game. The position after 14.b3 can be seen below.

Rudobrody answered with the move 15.Bb2 and my opponent was very close to a clear advantage. My more significant downhill started with my 15th move exd4. Only decent move for me would have been 15...Nbd7. Rudobrody played a good move, 16.Rc1, in response to 15...exd4. With my 16th move Bb7 I went to a position that could not be salvaged anymore. I struggled on for a few moves, but when it came time to make my 20th move, I understood the futility of continuing my struggle and I resigned.

[Event "Smaller Tournament - Round 2"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.12.15"] [Round "?"] [White "rudobrody"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C99"] [WhiteElo "2135"] [BlackElo "1843"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "39"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 d6 9. c3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 cxd4 13. cxd4 {C99 Closed Spanish Game: Chigorin Defence, 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4} Nc4 14. b3 {White threatens to win material: b3xc4} (14. Nf1 Bb7 15. b3 Nb6 16. Bb2 Rac8 17. Rc1 Nbd7 18. Ne3 Rfe8 19. Nd5 Qa5 20. Nxe7+ Rxe7 21. a3 Rce8 22. dxe5 dxe5 23. b4 Qb6 24. Qd2 Nf8 25. Qe3 N6d7 26. Bb3 Ng6 27. Qxb6 Nxb6 28. Rc5 Kf8 {Nikolov,J (2095)-Danko, J (1955) Sunny Beach 2013 0-1 (59)}) 14... Nb6 $146 (14... Nxd2 15. Qxd2 Bb7 16. Bb2 Nd7 17. Rac1 Rac8 18. Bb1 Qb8 19. dxe5 Nxe5 20. Nd4 Rfd8 21. Rxc8 Rxc8 22. Nf5 Bf8 23. Rd1 Rc6 24. Ba3 d5 25. Bxf8 Kxf8 26. Qb4+ {1-0 (26) Malzahn, S-Janssen,H Schleswig Holstein 1991}) (14... Nxd2 15. Bxd2 (15. Nxd2 $143 Qc3 16. Rb1 Qxd4 $17) (15. Qxd2 $6 Bb7 $11) 15... Bb7 16. Rc1 $14) 15. Bb2 exd4 ( 15... Nbd7 $5 $14) 16. Rc1 $16 Bb7 $4 {shortens the misery for Black} (16... Qb7 $142 $16) 17. e5 $18 Qd7 18. exf6 Bxf6 19. Ne4 Be7 (19... Bxe4 {is one last hope} 20. Bxe4 d5 $18) 20. Qxd4 (20. Qxd4 f6 21. Neg5 $18) 1-0