D55 Queen's Gambit Declined: 4.Bg5 Be7: Lines without ...h6 and 6...h6 7.Bxf6 (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nc3 O-O 6.e3 b6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.O-O Nbd7 10.Rc1 c5 11.Bb1)

Once again I go back to one of my earliest over the board games and this was played in the same tournament as the previous over the board games I have shared. This is from round four and and my fourth loss in the tournament, it was quite hard for me to get any points in my earliest games. Luckily it has changed a bit over the years. Still I reckon that I have lost more than won in over the board games as even though I can't really remember exact statistics from the games, I do remember that I have only rarely scored more than 50% in the tournaments that I have played. I have, however, managed to get 4,5 out of 5 points two times if my memory serves me right and a few times I have got 4 out of 5. Whenever I have had chances for getting the maximum score in a tournament, the last round game has always been too tough to win for me.

I am surprised to see how well I played back then as I look at the game now, I mean I might have lost the game but it did show some promise of something better in the future. I did manage to get my rating up 283 points in one year or something like that after my climb from 1300 or so started. It has been up to this day the biggest rating climb I have had and most likely the biggest I will ever have again. I have added one mate in one, one mate in three, one mate in four, one mate in six and one mate in seven puzzle today to the exercises section of the blog.

[Event "SalSK"] [Site "?"] [Date "2001.11.04"] [Round "4"] [White "Virtanen, Antti"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D55"] [WhiteElo "1751"] [BlackElo "1303"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2001.11.04"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. e3 {D55 Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation. Normal Line} b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Rc1 c5 11. Bb1 {-0.23/25 D55 Queen's Gambit Declined: 4.Bg5 Be7: Lines without ...h6 and 6...h6 7.Bxf6. LiveBook: 5 Games} (11. Bf5 $14 {0.37/25}) 11... Rc8 {0.63/24} (11... Ne4 $11 {-0.23/25} 12. Bf4 Nxc3 13. bxc3 (13. Rxc3 c4 $11) 13... Re8) 12. Qd3 {-0.20/26} (12. Bf5 $14 {0.63/24}) (12. Qc2 Ne4 13. Bf4 Ndf6 14. Rfd1 cxd4 15. Nxd4 Bd6 16. Bxd6 Qxd6 17. Nxe4 dxe4 18. Qe2 Rxc1 19. Rxc1 Rc8 20. Rxc8+ Bxc8 21. h3 g6 22. a3 Qd5 23. Qb5 Qc5 24. Qxc5 bxc5 25. Nb3 c4 26. Nc5 Kg7 {Swayams,M (2423)-Mythireyan,P (1715) Chennai 2012 1-0 (61)} ) 12... Ne4 (12... c4 13. Qf5 g6 14. Qh3 Re8 15. Ne5 Nf8 16. f4 N6d7 17. Bh6 f6 18. Ng4 f5 19. Ne5 Nxe5 20. fxe5 Qd7 21. Rxf5 Rcd8 22. Rcf1 Bc8 23. Qf3 gxf5 24. Qg3+ Ng6 25. Bxf5 Qc6 26. e6 Bh4 27. Qg4 {Kalesis,N (2260)-Blatny,P (2495) Corfu 1991 0-1 (38)}) 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 {The position is equal.} 14. Nd2 $146 { -0.35/24} (14. dxc5 $14 {0.38/23} Ndxc5 15. Qd1) (14. Ne5 Nxe5 15. dxe5 Qxe5 16. f4 Qe6 17. Rcd1 Rcd8 18. f5 Qe5 19. f6 gxf6 20. Rf3 f5 21. Rdf1 Bc8 22. Ne2 Rd6 23. Nf4 c4 24. Qe2 Rh6 25. Rh3 Rxh3 26. Nxh3 Nf6 27. Rf3 Ng4 28. Rg3 d4 { Grandadam,N (2048)-Angst,R (1737) Winterthur 2007 0-1 (74)}) 14... Ndf6 { 0.20/27} (14... f5 $15 {-0.35/24}) 15. Ndxe4 dxe4 16. Qd2 Rfd8 17. Ne2 Rd7 { 0.00/32} (17... g6 $15 {-0.48/24}) 18. b3 {-1.06/27} (18. Rfd1 $11 {0.00/32 keeps the balance.}) 18... Ba6 {-0.60/29} (18... Rcd8 $17 {-1.06/27} 19. Rfe1 Ba6) 19. Rfd1 $15 Qd8 {0.00/31} (19... Rcd8 $17 {-0.99/27} 20. Qe1 Bxe2 21. Qxe2 cxd4 22. exd4 Rxd4 23. Rxd4 Rxd4) 20. Qb2 {-0.41/28} (20. Ng3 $11 {0.00/31 }) 20... Bxe2 21. Qxe2 cxd4 {[#] Strongly threatening ...d3.} 22. Rxc8 Qxc8 23. exd4 Qc6 24. h3 a5 {0.00/29} (24... g6 $15 {-0.57/26}) 25. Qe3 {-0.59/25} ({ White should try} 25. Qc4 $11 {0.00/29} Qd5 26. Qxd5 Rxd5 27. g3) 25... Qd5 { 0.00/31} (25... Kf8 $1 $15 {-0.59/25}) 26. Qc3 {-0.56/25} (26. g4 $11 {0.00/31} ) 26... Kf8 {0.00/29} ({Black should play} 26... g6 $15 {-0.56/25}) 27. a3 { -0.62/27} ({Better is} 27. b4 $1 $11 {0.00/29}) 27... Ke8 {0.00/34} (27... Qd6 $15 {-0.62/27}) 28. Qc4 Kd8 29. Kf1 b5 30. Qc3 Rb7 {0.92/25} (30... b4 $11 { 0.00/34} 31. axb4 Qb5+ 32. Kg1 Qxb4) 31. Qxa5+ $16 Kd7 32. Qb4 Ke8 $2 {2.81/26 [#]} (32... Ne8 $16 {0.86/30}) 33. Rc1 Qd7 34. Re1 Qe6 $2 {6.39/26} (34... Qe7 {2.19/26} 35. Qc3 Rc7) 35. a4 $2 {2.15/29} (35. Bxe4 $1 {6.39/26} Nxe4 36. d5 $1) 35... Qd5 $2 {4.75/26} (35... Qe7 {2.15/29} 36. Qc3 Qc7) 36. f3 $2 {1.27/26 } (36. a5 $18 {4.75/26 and the rest is easy.}) 36... bxa4 37. Qxa4+ Kf8 $2 { 2.65/27} (37... Qb5+ $16 {1.11/26 keeps fighting.} 38. Bd3 Qxa4 39. bxa4 Rb4 40. Bxe4 (40. fxe4 Rxd4 41. Bb5+ Kd8 $16) 40... Nxe4) 38. Qa3+ $18 ({Resist} 38. fxe4 $6 Qxb3 39. Qxb3 Rxb3 $16) 38... Ke8 $2 {15.88/22} (38... Re7 {2.69/29 } 39. Bxe4 Qxd4 40. Bxh7 Qa7 41. Qxe7+ Qxe7 42. Rxe7 Kxe7) 39. Bxe4 Nxe4 40. Rxe4+ ({Weaker is} 40. fxe4 Qxb3 41. Qa8+ Rb8 $16) 40... Kd7 41. Re7+ Kc8 42. Qa8+ {Accuracy: White = 20%, Black = 10%.} 1-0