C10 French with 3.Nc3: Unusual Black 3rd moves and 3...dxe4 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ndf6 6.Bd3 Nxe4 7.Bxe4 Nf6 8.Bd3 c5 9.Be3)

The game below is from the second round of a thematic tournament called French 2014. At the moment I am in third place in my group with two points or actually I am in shared first place as first three players all have two wins and nothing else. Both of my wins have been against this same opponent. I rarely see tactics but I did see something in this game and I am happy about that. Three best players advance to the next round and even though I am currently in third place, I doubt it will continue to the end of round two. I thought about joining yet another WORLD OPEN RAPID tournament today but it does seem that time is running out quite fast again for it to be a possibility. This would be third day in a row that I have been too busy to join that tournament. It is a bit annoying and I try to change that in the very near future. I have added one mate in two, two mate in three, one mate in five and one mate in seven puzzle today. Until tomorrow, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

[Event "French 2014 - Round 2"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.01.06"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Gerard1963"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C10"] [WhiteElo "1863"] [BlackElo "1927"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 (3. Nd2 dxe4 {0-1 (46) Volodarsky,Y (2184)-Gerentsev, V Novokuznetsk 2010}) 3... dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 {C10 French Defense: Rubinstein Variation. Blackburne Defense} 5. Nf3 Ndf6 (5... Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ (6. Bd3 Nxe4 7. Bxe4 {1-0 (29) Munoz Pantoja,M (2476)-Gonell Aparici,R (2093) Barcelona 2018}) 6... Nxf6 {0-1 (46) Volodarsky,Y (2184)-Gerentsev,V Novokuznetsk 2010}) 6. Bd3 Nxe4 7. Bxe4 Nf6 8. Bd3 c5 9. Be3 {C10 French with 3.Nc3: Unusual Black 3rd moves and 3...dxe4} cxd4 {1.03/16} (9... Bd7 $14 {0.50/21}) 10. Bxd4 $16 Bb4+ $146 (10... Bd7 11. Ne5 Bc6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. c3 Be7 14. Qc2 Qc7 15. O-O h6 16. h3 O-O 17. Qe2 Rad8 18. Rad1 Rd5 19. Rfe1 Rfd8 20. Bc4 Rg5 21. Be5 Qa5 22. Rxd8+ Bxd8 23. b4 Qb6 24. h4 Rxe5 25. Qxe5 {Volodarsky,Y (2184)-Gerentsev,V Novokuznetsk 2010 0-1 (46)}) (10... Be7 11. Qe2 (11. O-O O-O 12. c3 b6 13. Qc2 h6 14. Rad1 Qe8 15. Qe2 Bb7 16. Ne5 Qc8 17. Ng4 Nh7 18. Qe5 f6 19. Qg3 Kh8 20. Nxh6 Qc6 21. Ng4 Bd6 22. Qh3 f5 23. f3 Rad8 24. Rfe1 Bc5 25. Ne5 Bxd4+ { Butt,S-Abbas,B Dubai 1986 0-1 (35)}) 11... Qa5+ (11... O-O 12. O-O-O Qc7 (12... Qa5 13. Kb1 b6 14. Bc3 Qh5 15. h3 Bb7 16. g4 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 Qc5 18. h4 Rac8 19. g5 Nd5 20. Bd4 Qc6 21. Qe4 g6 22. h5 Bxg5 23. hxg6 f5 24. gxh7+ Kf7 25. Qe1 Bf6 26. Bxf6 Nxf6 27. Qe5 {Small,V (2360)-Cornford,L (2220) New Zeeland 1985 1-0 (34)}) 13. Kb1 Rd8 14. g4 Bd7 15. g5 Nd5 16. Qe4 g6 17. Be5 Qa5 18. a3 b5 19. h4 Bc6 20. Qg4 b4 21. Qc4 Nc3+ 22. Bxc3 bxc3 23. Qxc6 Rab8 24. b3 Rdc8 25. Qa6 Qd5 26. Be2 {Munoz Pantoja,M (2476)-Gonell Aparici,R (2093) Barcelona 2018 1-0} ) 12. Bc3 Bb4 13. Bxb4 Qxb4+ 14. c3 Qc5 15. Qe5 {1/2-1/2 (14) Dastan,B (2457) -Bortnyk,O (2552) Lvov 2015}) 11. c3 {[#] Qa4+ is the strong threat.} Be7 { White is better.} 12. O-O O-O 13. Qc2 {0.89/21} (13. Qe2 $142 {1.60/19}) 13... h6 {1.39/19} (13... Qc7 $142 {0.89/21}) 14. Rad1 {Hoping for Bxf6.} Qa5 { 1.64/18} (14... Bd7 $16 {1.06/21 was worth a try.}) 15. c4 {0.72/21} (15. b4 $18 {1.64/18 has better winning chances.} Qc7 16. Be5) 15... b6 {1.89/21} ( 15... Rd8 $16 {0.72/21 was called for.}) 16. Ne5 {0.53/21} (16. Bc3 $1 $18 { 1.89/21} Qh5 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Bh7+ Kh8 19. Be4) 16... Bb7 $14 17. b3 {0.00/25} (17. a3 $16 {0.86/21}) 17... Rad8 18. Bc3 Qc5 {0.62/19} (18... Bb4 $1 $11 { -0.09/22} 19. Bxb4 Qxb4) 19. Qe2 {0.15/23} (19. b4 $14 {0.62/19} Qc7 20. h3) 19... Qc7 $11 20. Rfe1 Bd6 21. h3 {0.00/24} (21. h4 $14 {0.50/23}) 21... Nd7 $2 {1.70/22} (21... a5 $11 {0.00/24 and Black is okay.}) 22. Nxd7 $1 $18 Rxd7 { 2.39/18} (22... Qxd7 $16 {1.55/26 was necessary.} 23. Qg4 f5) 23. Qg4 $1 $40 { [#] White attacks with force.} e5 24. Re3 Qd8 $2 {8.41/21} (24... Kh8 {2.73/23} 25. Bc2 Re7) 25. Bxe5 Bxe5 26. Bh7+ $1 {Accuracy: White = 25%, Black = 33%.} 1-0