C65 Spanish Game: Berlin Defence (3...Nf6), unusual lines and 4.O-O Bc5 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.O-O O-O)

This game is from the third round of the only 20 minute tournament that I have played at the FIDE Online Arena. It might also be the only 20 minute tournament that I have ever played but I am not sure about it. This tournament started well for me as I won first two games but then on the third round I started losing. I did not have all that much going for me in any phase of the game if I do not count the fact that I played with the white pieces and had a very small advantage because I moved first. For a while my correspondence games ended in a nice pace but now it seems to have stopped and after around a year playing actively correspondence chess, I would really need a longish break from it but unfortunately that is not happening anytime soon. I will not start losing games on purpose or anything like that but it would be really nice if my games would end in a fast pace. I am part of the reason that those games have lasted as long as they have as I tend to use a lot of time before I make my moves. Or I should say the time runs quite quickly in my games as I am not able to move even half of the games where it is my time to move during a day. The game deciding mistake appeared on the board when I played 17.d4.

My move completely failed due to the problems I had on e-file. Marcus64 was able to take advantage of my huge blunder in the game continuation 17...exd4 18.cxd4 Nxd4 19.exd4 f5. Had I not been lost before, I was when I then played 20.Qd2. A better try would have been 20.Nf6+, but even in that case I would have likely lost the game. I continued a few moves, but had to accept the loss when Marcus64 played 23...Rd2+ and I would have needed to give up my queen for free.

[Event "Tournament 28136926"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.03.22"] [Round "3"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Marcus64"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C65"] [WhiteElo "1837"] [BlackElo "1758"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "46"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. O-O {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Zukertort Gambit} O-O {C65 Spanish Game: Berlin Defence (3...Nf6), unusual lines and 4.O-O Bc5} 6. Re1 (6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) 6... Re8 7. d3 a6 8. Ba4 b5 9. Bc2 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 {White has a cramped position} 11. Nbd2 $146 (11. a4 b4 12. Ng5 h6 13. Ne4 Bb6 14. Qh5 Nf6 15. Qf3 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 Qd6 17. Nd2 f5 18. Qh4 Qe7 19. Qg3 bxc3 20. bxc3 Qf6 21. Nc4 Bd7 22. Nxb6 cxb6 23. Rb1 Na7 24. Qe3 Qg6 25. f3 b5 { Zhao,D-Kosteniuk,A Szeged 1994 0-1 (53)}) 11... Bb6 {White has a cramped position. White's piece can't move: c1} 12. Ne4 (12. a4 Rb8 $11) 12... Bb7 ( 12... h6 13. a4 Be6 14. h3 $11) 13. Bg5 {White threatens to win material: Bg5xd8} Qd7 {Black has a very active position} 14. Qe2 (14. a4 $5 $14 {is an interesting alternative}) 14... h6 $11 15. Be3 Nxe3 16. fxe3 {Black has the pair of bishops} Rad8 (16... Na5 $142 $15) 17. d4 $2 (17. b4 $142 $11 {is a viable option}) 17... exd4 $17 18. cxd4 (18. exd4 f5 19. Bb3+ Kh8 $19) 18... Nxd4 (18... Nb4 $142 $5 19. Ne5 Qe6 20. Bb3 $19) 19. exd4 $17 f5 20. Qd2 $4 { the position was bad, and this mistake simply hastens the end} (20. Nf6+ $142 gxf6 21. Qf1 $17) 20... fxe4 $19 21. Nh4 (21. Bb3+ {does not help much} Kh7 22. Bc2 g6 23. Bxe4 Bxe4 $19) 21... Qg4 22. g3 Rxd4 23. Qe2 (23. Qe3 {does not win a prize} Rd2 24. Bb3+ Kh7 25. Qxb6 cxb6 26. Bd1 Qd7 27. Be2 Qd4+ 28. Kg2 Rf8 29. Rac1 Rf2+ 30. Kh3 Qd7+ 31. g4 Rdxe2 32. Rxe2 Qd3+ 33. Re3 Qxe3+ 34. Nf3 Qxf3+ 35. Kh4 Rxh2#) 23... Rd2+ (23... Rd2+ 24. Kh1 Rxe2 25. Rxe2 Qxe2 26. Bb3+ Kh7 27. Ng2 e3 28. Rg1 Bxg2+ 29. Rxg2 Qf1+ 30. Rg1 e2 31. Bg8+ Rxg8 32. a3 Qxg1#) 0-1