D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines (1.d4 d5 2.a3)

The game below was played in the first round of the WORLD OPEN RAPID tournament that was played March 17th 2015 at the FIDE Online Arena. This was by no means an opening theoretical master piece as the game went out of theory on move two. What surprised me was the fact that some quite decent players have played in a similar manner for three first moves. So the move 4.b4 is a novelty that no one had played in my reference database that consists of over 6 million games. I have thought about removing some games from the database but I am not sure if I should do it. It is interesting that there are some games that I have played as well, none of them have appeared as reference games in any of the analysed games that I have posted here. I am happy in a way that those games have not been there but there have been games from people that have much lower rating than I have. Those lower rated games I have thought about getting out of the database because what would I need them for. I am not sure why they are added in the database in the first place but I guess there is a good enough reason to do that. I have also added one mate in two, three mate in three and one mate in thirteen.

[Event "Tournament 28004503"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.03.17"] [Round "1"] [White "luisnaples"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D00"] [WhiteElo "1568"] [BlackElo "1795"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "118"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. d4 (1. a3 d5 {0-1 (22) Secelle,H (2096)-Donovan,L (2159) Gent 2008}) 1... d5 {D00 Queen's Pawn Game} 2. a3 {D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines} Nf6 (2... Bf5 3. e3 {0-1 (34) Borda,L (2191)-Mizsei,J (2096) Budapest 2007}) 3. e3 Bf5 4. b4 $146 ( 4. f4 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Ne5 h6 9. Nd2 c5 10. Ndf3 Rc8 11. c3 c4 12. h3 Ne4 13. Kh2 Nxe5 14. dxe5 Nc5 15. Nd4 Be4 16. Bd2 Qb6 17. Bc1 f6 18. exf6 Rxf6 {Secelle,H (2096)-Donovan,L (2159) Gent 2008 0-1}) (4. c4 dxc4 ( 4... c6 5. Nc3 e6 6. b4 Bd6 7. c5 Bc7 8. Bd3 Bg6 9. Qc2 Nbd7 10. Nf3 e5 11. dxe5 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 Bxe5 13. O-O Bxh2+ 14. Kxh2 Ng4+ 15. Kg3 Qg5 16. f4 Qh5 17. Bd2 Qh2+ 18. Kf3 Bh5 19. Rh1 {Saric,H (1825)-Rajkovic,F (1773) Porec 2015 1/ 2-1/2}) 5. Bxc4 e6 6. Nc3 Nbd7 7. Nf3 c6 8. Qe2 Ne4 9. Nd2 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Be7 11. O-O Bg6 12. f4 Qa5 13. Bb2 Nb6 14. Bb3 Na4 {1/2-1/2 (14) Borda,L (2149) -Mayer,I (2164) Budapest 2008}) (4. Bd3 e6 5. c4 dxc4 6. Bxf5 exf5 7. Qa4+ Nc6 8. Nc3 Be7 9. Qxc4 O-O 10. b4 Re8 11. Nge2 Bd6 (11... Ne4 12. Bb2 Qd7 13. Nxe4 fxe4 14. d5 Nd8 15. Ng3 b5 16. Qb3 Bd6 17. O-O Be5 18. Nxe4 Bxb2 19. Nc5 Qd6 20. Qxb2 Qxd5 21. Rad1 Qc6 22. Rd7 Ne6 23. Qb3 Rad8 24. Rfd1 Rxd7 25. Rxd7 Rd8 26. Rxd8+ {Borda,L (2191)-Heyl,T (2076) Budapest 2007 1-0 (45)}) 12. Qd3 Ne4 13. g3 h5 14. Bb2 Qd7 15. h4 a6 16. Rg1 Rad8 17. Nf4 g6 18. Ncd5 Bxf4 {Borda,L (2191)-Mizsei,J (2096) Budapest 2007 0-1 (34)}) 4... c6 5. Bb2 e6 {-0.04/21} ( 5... a5 $15 {-0.61/18}) 6. Nf3 {-0.81/18} (6. c4 $11 {-0.04/21}) 6... Bd6 { -0.01/22} (6... b5 $17 {-0.81/18}) 7. Nbd2 $11 Nbd7 8. Be2 {-0.76/18} (8. c4 $11 {-0.08/20 keeps the balance.}) 8... Qc7 {0.47/22} (8... b5 $17 {-0.76/18}) 9. Rc1 {-0.87/19} (9. c4 $1 $14 {0.47/22 keeps the upper hand.}) 9... O-O { 0.51/20} (9... b5 $17 {-0.87/19}) 10. h3 $2 {-1.77/19 [#]} (10. c4 $1 $14 { 0.51/20 was the only good move.}) 10... e5 $2 {0.25/22} (10... b5 $1 $19 { -1.77/19} 11. Nh4 a5) 11. dxe5 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 {-0.66/22} (12. O-O $11 {0.25/22}) 12... Bxe5 $15 13. Bxe5 Qxe5 14. Nf3 $2 {-1.68/19} (14. Nb3 $11 {-0.10/21}) 14... Qc3+ $19 15. Qd2 Qxa3 {And now ...Ne4 would win.} 16. O-O {-2.71/21} (16. Bd3 $17 {-1.36/24 might work better.} Ne4 17. Bxe4 Bxe4 18. O-O Bxf3 19. gxf3) 16... a5 {-1.35/25} (16... Ne4 $19 {-2.71/21 is more deadly.} 17. Qe1 Nc3) 17. bxa5 Qxa5 18. Qd4 Qc7 {-1.00/24} ({Black should play} 18... Ne4 {-1.45/21} 19. c4 dxc4) 19. c4 dxc4 {-0.95/24} (19... Be4 $142 {-1.40/19} 20. Rfd1 Ra2) 20. Bxc4 $17 Qd8 {-0.88/23} ({Black should try} 20... Be4 {-1.36/21} 21. Rfd1 Bxf3 22. gxf3 Rfd8) 21. Qb2 {-1.41/21} ({Better is} 21. Ne5 {-0.88/23}) 21... Rb8 { -0.64/22} (21... Qe7 $17 {-1.41/21} 22. Rfd1 Be4) 22. Qb3 {-1.45/20} (22. Qe5 $15 {-0.64/22} Be4 23. Rfd1) 22... Qe7 23. Ra1 {-2.24/20} (23. Qb6 $17 { -1.12/23}) 23... b5 $19 24. Bd3 {-2.84/19} (24. Be2 $142 {-1.99/21}) 24... Bxd3 25. Qxd3 c5 26. Rac1 c4 27. Qc3 Rfc8 28. Nd4 {-4.41/22} (28. Qd4 $142 {-2.90/24 }) 28... b4 29. Qc2 Qc5 30. Qa4 $2 {-6.50/19} (30. Rfd1 {-3.81/26}) 30... Ne4 31. Qa6 {-6.48/21} (31. Qc2 $142 {-4.37/22} f5 32. Nb3) 31... b3 32. Nxb3 Rxb3 33. Rcd1 c3 34. Rc1 c2 35. Qa2 Rc3 36. Qa4 Nd2 37. Rfe1 Nb3 38. Rxc2 Rxc2 39. Qxb3 h6 40. Rf1 Rc1 {[#] ...Rxf1+ is the strong threat.} 41. Rxc1 Qxc1+ 42. Kh2 Qe1 43. Qb7 Qc3 44. Qd7 Qc7+ 45. Qxc7 Rxc7 {Endgame KR-KP} 46. g4 Kf8 47. Kg3 Ke7 48. f3 Rc3 49. e4 Ke6 {Black mates.} 50. Kf4 Rc1 51. h4 Rf1 52. h5 f6 53. Ke3 Ke5 54. Ke2 Ra1 55. Kf2 Kf4 56. Ke2 Ra2+ 57. Kd3 Kxf3 58. e5 fxe5 59. Kc4 e4 {Accuracy: White = 19%, Black = 30%.} 0-1