A60 Modern Benoni: Early Divergences (1.e4 e6 2.d4 c5 3.d5 d6 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7)

This game is one of those games where I have resigned too quickly. I should always look at all my options before I resign but I seem to have forgotten that as that is something I have learned years ago. After I had moved 22.Rb1 I immediately saw that it was bad as my opponent can just take my knight on c3 because the bishop is pinned to the rook. Already then I thought that I would resign if my opponent takes the piece. I thought then that Rb1 just loses the piece for nothing. Only after analyzing the game afterwards with the engine did I saw some hope in it after all. This one was another good game spoiled by me understanding the position wrongly and not spending enough time to find the saving moves. Maybe I have finally learned something from these games so that similar things will not happen in the future. The game below was played in the second round of the French 2014 thematic tournament at Chess.com. I have added one mate in one, one mate in two, two mate in three and one mate in seven today.

Today happened something that I have waited for a long time to happen, I got my first official FIDE title!! I am now Arena FIDE Master, it is not the title I wanted at first but I took it anyway. From now on I focus on getting the Arena International Master title which is the title I at first thought to be fairly easy for me to obtain. I think I change my playing habits at the FIDE Online Arena a bit and get away from tournament play for now as most of the rapid chess tournaments start there at a time when I start to be sleepy. In order to obtain the best results, I need to be fully awake and concentrate on the game in a way that nothing else exists than the board and the pieces. I am confident that if I play games earlier in the day, my playing strength is much better than in the evening. I guess I will start experimenting tomorrow and see what happens.

[Event "French 2014 - Round 2"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.01.06"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Lasker64"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A60"] [WhiteElo "1834"] [BlackElo "2105"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "44"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 (1. d4 e6 (1... Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 d6 {1/2-1/2 (63) Sepulveda Herrera,J (2240)-Letelier Martner,R (2235) Santiago de Chile 1995}) (1... c5 2. d5 Nf6 3. c4 d6 4. Nc3 {1/2-1/2 (35) Garcia Cruz,F (1459)-San Juan Santin,A (1179) Benidorm 2018}) 2. c4 c5 3. d5 d6 {1-0 (34) Phillips,H-Voigt,H New York 1907}) 1... e6 2. d4 {C00 French Defense: Normal Variation} c5 3. d5 d6 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 {1.42/20 A60 Modern Benoni: Early Divergences} (5... g6 $14 { 0.66/21}) 6. Bd3 {0.90/21} (6. Nf3 $142 {1.42/20}) 6... O-O $16 7. Nge2 { 0.98/20} (7. Nf3 $142 {1.46/20}) 7... Nbd7 $146 (7... e5 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Ng3 Re8 10. Nf5 Nf8 11. f4 exf4 12. Bxf4 Bxf5 13. exf5 Qb6 14. Rb1 N6d7 15. Ne4 f6 16. Qg4 Ne5 17. Bxe5 dxe5 18. d6 Bd8 19. Rf3 Qc6 20. Rg3 Qd7 21. Nxc5 Bb6 22. b4 { Phillips,H-Voigt,H New York 1907 1-0 (34)}) (7... exd5 8. exd5 (8. cxd5 a6 9. a4 Bg4 10. f3 Bh5 11. Ng3 Bg6 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Kh1 Ne5 14. Be2 h6 15. f4 Ned7 16. f5 Bh7 17. Be3 Ne5 18. h3 Nfd7 19. Nh5 Nf6 20. g4 Nxh5 21. gxh5 Bg5 22. Qd2 Qe7 {Garcia Cruz,F (1459)-San Juan Santin,A (1179) Benidorm 2018 1/2-1/2 (35)}) 8... Ng4 (8... Nbd7) 9. O-O Ne5 10. Bc2 f5 11. b3 Na6 12. Bb2 Nc7 13. Qd2 f4 14. f3 b5 15. Nxb5 Nxb5 16. cxb5 a6 17. Rad1 Bf6 18. Bb1 axb5 19. Nc3 Bh4 20. Ne4 Ng6 21. b4 c4 22. Qd4 {Sepulveda Herrera,J (2240)-Letelier Martner,R (2235) Santiago de Chile 1995 1/2-1/2 (63)}) (7... Na6 8. a3 Nc7 9. O-O a6 10. f4 e5 11. f5 b5 12. b3 Rb8 13. Qe1 b4 14. axb4 Rxb4 15. Bc2 Bd7 16. h3 Nfe8 17. Rf3 h6 18. Ng3 Kh7 19. Nh5 Nf6 20. Qh4 Nxh5 21. Qxh5 Bg5 22. Rg3 {Stroe,F (1793) -Antonica,D (1971) Calimanesti Caciulata 2016 1/2-1/2}) 8. f4 {White is better. } exd5 {1.52/19} (8... g6 $142 {0.85/22}) 9. cxd5 {0.61/21} ({Inferior is} 9. Nxd5 b5 $11) (9. exd5 $16 {1.52/19} a6 (9... Re8 10. O-O Nf8 11. Ng3 a6 12. a4 b6 13. Bd2 Ng6 14. Nf5 Bf8 15. g4 Ne7 16. Ne3 h5 17. gxh5 Kh8 18. Kh1 Neg8 19. Rg1 Nh6 20. Qf3 Ra7 21. Rg3 Rae7 22. Rag1 Bd7 23. f5 Re5 24. b3 {Rajesh,V (2335)-Pradip,G (2121) Noida 2016 0-1 (55)}) 10. a4) 9... a6 $14 10. O-O { 0.49/21} (10. a4 $16 {1.21/17}) 10... b5 11. b3 {0.00/20} (11. a3 $16 {1.01/17} ) 11... Bb7 {0.96/20} (11... Nb6 $1 $11 {0.00/20 remains equal.}) 12. Ng3 $16 g6 13. Qf3 Rc8 {1.40/19} ({Better is} 13... Qb6 {0.75/20}) 14. Bb2 {0.09/22} ( 14. a4 $16 {1.40/19}) 14... c4 $11 15. bxc4 bxc4 16. Bb1 Qb6+ 17. Rf2 $1 h5 { 1.52/19} (17... Nc5 $1 $11 {0.19/22}) 18. h3 {0.71/23} ({White should play} 18. Na4 {1.52/19} Qa5 19. Bc2) 18... h4 $16 19. Nf1 $1 Nc5 {1.62/20} (19... Rfe8 $11 {0.17/22 and Black has nothing to worry.}) 20. Ne3 {0.99/22} (20. f5 $1 $18 {1.62/20}) 20... Nd3 21. Bxd3 $1 cxd3 22. Rb1 {0.55/23} ({White should try} 22. f5 $16 {1.21/21}) 22... Rxc3 $1 {Accuracy: White = 35%, Black = 54%. . Loss on time!?} 0-1