B38 Sicilian: Maroczy Bind with 5...Bg7 and 7...O-O (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 O-O 6.Nf3 c5 7.h3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Be3 Bd7 10.O-O Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Bc6)

For some reason quite a few games of mine from the Maximum ! tournament round one have ended recently and the game below is just one of them. I am quite happy about it as the more I get my game load down, the more I can do other things. I am currently playing 241 correspondence games, so slowly getting the game load down but still a long way to go for it to be in my comfort zone. I could juggle even more games than this without losing on time of course but it becomes quite stressful after having to make a lot of moves each day for many months in a row, especially when you need to do other things as well during the day. My opponent offered a draw in that final position and as I was not all that eager to play anymore because I did not like my position all that much, I took the draw. I have also added one mate in one, two mate in twos, one mate in three and one mate in seven puzzle today.

[Event "Maximum ! - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.09.11"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "astra81"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B38"] [WhiteElo "1845"] [BlackElo "1916"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "52"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. d4 (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nc3 d6 8. Be2 O-O (8... Bd7 9. O-O {1-0 (39) Gumularz,S (1651)-Pietras,D (1455) Solina 2012}) 9. O-O Bd7 {1-0 (78) Novosadova,K (2231)-Ryjanova,J (2387) Melbourne 2016}) (1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. h3 c5 7. Be3 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nc6 {1/2-1/2 (20) Nielsen,P (1715)-Dittrich,T (1943) Helsingor 2017}) 1... Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 {E73 King's Indian Defense: Normal Variation. Standard Development} O-O 6. Nf3 c5 7. h3 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nc6 9. Be3 Bd7 (9... Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Bd7 {1/2-1/2 (20) Nielsen,P (1715)-Dittrich,T (1943) Helsingor 2017}) 10. O-O Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bc6 {0.82/19 B38 Sicilian: Maroczy Bind with 5...Bg7 and 7...0-0} (11... a5 $11 {0.17/23 keeps the balance.}) 12. f3 Nh5 13. Kh2 $146 {-0.21/20} (13. Bxg7 $14 {0.60/19} Kxg7 (13... Nxg7 14. Kh2 Ne6 15. Qd2 Qc7 16. Nd5 Qd7 17. Rad1 Rfd8 18. g4 Bxd5 19. cxd5 Ng7 20. Rc1 {1/2-1/2 (20) Nielsen,P (1715)-Dittrich,T (1943) Helsingor 2017}) 14. Qd2 (14. Qd4+ Kg8 15. Rfd1 Nf4 16. Bf1 Qa5 17. Nd5 Nxd5 18. exd5 Bd7 19. a3 Qc7 20. b4 b6 21. Rac1 Rac8 22. Bd3 a5 23. h4 h5 24. Re1 Rfe8 25. g4 e5 26. dxe6 Rxe6 27. Rxe6 Bxe6 28. gxh5 d5 {Gumularz,S (1651) -Pietras,D (1455) Solina 2012 1-0 (39)})) (13. b4 Bxd4+ 14. Qxd4 Nf4 15. Rfd1 Qb6 16. b5 Qxd4+ 17. Rxd4 Be8 18. Bf1 Ne6 19. Rd2 f6 20. Nd5 Kf7 21. f4 Nc5 22. Re1 Bd7 23. e5 dxe5 24. fxe5 Be6 25. Rf2 f5 26. g4 Rad8 27. Re3 Rd7 { Novosadova,K (2231)-Ryjanova,J (2387) Melbourne 2016 1-0 (78)}) 13... Qc7 { 0.80/19} (13... Be5+ $1 $11 {-0.21/20} 14. Bxe5 dxe5) 14. Nd5 {White is better. } Bxd5 15. cxd5 {0.00/24} (15. exd5 $14 {0.48/21} Be5+ 16. Bxe5 dxe5 17. Qe1) 15... Be5+ {0.46/22} (15... Rac8 $11 {0.00/24 is more appropriate.}) 16. Bxe5 $14 dxe5 17. Rc1 $36 {White is pushing.} Qb6 18. Rc2 {-0.13/22} (18. Qd2 $14 { 0.38/18}) 18... Qf6 {0.76/21} (18... Rac8 $11 {-0.13/22}) 19. Qd2 {0.26/23} ( 19. Qc1 $16 {0.76/21}) 19... Qh4 {1.18/21} (19... Rfc8 $11 {0.26/23}) 20. Rfc1 {0.39/25} (20. Rc7 $16 {1.18/21}) 20... Qg3+ 21. Kh1 Nf4 $2 {1.99/19 [#]} ( 21... Qf2 $14 {0.42/24}) 22. Bf1 $18 f5 {2.94/18} (22... Qh4 $142 {1.81/22} 23. Rc7 Rab8) 23. Qf2 $2 {0.00/22} ({Better is} 23. exf5 $18 {2.94/18 Black must now prevent Rc7.} gxf5 24. Rc7) 23... Qg5 {1.36/19} (23... Qxf2 $11 {0.00/22 remains equal.} 24. Rxf2 Rac8) 24. exf5 $16 Rxf5 25. Bc4 {0.53/20} (25. h4 $16 {1.27/19} Qf6 26. d6 (26. g4 Nd3 $15) 26... Qxd6 27. Rd2) 25... Kg7 $14 26. Kh2 {0.00/21} ({White should try} 26. Qe1 $16 {0.87/19}) 26... Rf6 {1.09/21 Accuracy: White = 24%, Black = 22%.} (26... Rc8 $11 {0.00/21}) 1/2-1/2