C15 French: 3.Nc3 Bb4: Unusual White 4th moves (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 Bxc3 5.Bxc3 dxe4 6.Qg4)

This game I share with you today is from the second round of a tournament called 2014 August Banded Quartets I 1700-1800 at Red Hot Pawn. Timeout in this tournament was 3 days and there was a timebank of 7 days. Only the first round went well for me as I won my group but then on the second round I faced the group winners and then I faced much tougher resistance. I ended up on fourth place, 15 points behind the tournament winner. If you won a game, you got 3 points, if you drew a game, you got one point and nothing if you lost the game. As far as I am aware, this is the way they calculate all the points in all the tournaments at Red Hot Pawn. I was quite lost in this game for a long time until I got finally some counterplay for the piece. I think this game shows that you should not resign too early, you might get some unexpected chances later on. Well, depends a lot of the disadvantage you are in of course. In case you are a pawn or two down or even a piece from the opening, for instance, there might be chances for a comeback, at least in case of amateur chess. While I typed this, one of my games ended at Red Hot Pawn to my win and it raised my rating once again to a new peak!! Now my all time highest rating there is 1934! That rating now enables me to be the 350th highest rated player on the site. There are 10751 active players on that list, so I am almost in the top 3% there now. I have added two mate in twos, one mate in three, one mate in four and one mate in ten today.

[Event "Banded Quartets"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.12.20"] [Round "2"] [White "jeremy reid"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C15"] [WhiteElo "1678"] [BlackElo "1914"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "118"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bd2 {C15 French Defense: Winawer Variation. Fingerslip Variation} Bxc3 5. Bxc3 dxe4 6. Qg4 {C15 French: 3.Nc3 Bb4: Unusual White 4th moves} Nf6 $1 7. Qxg7 Rg8 8. Qh6 Nc6 {0.62/17} (8... b6 $11 {-0.28/21 }) (8... Rg6 9. Qe3 b6 10. Ne2 Bb7 11. O-O-O Nbd7 12. g3 Nd5 13. Qd2 e3 14. fxe3 Nxc3 15. Nxc3 Bxh1 16. Bd3 Bc6 17. Bxg6 hxg6 18. e4 Qf6 19. d5 Bb7 20. dxe6 Qxe6 21. Nb5 O-O-O 22. Kb1 a6 23. Nc3 {Lima,N-Muzzi,E (1948) Montevideo 2016 0-1 (39)}) 9. Ne2 $146 (9. Qe3 Bd7 10. O-O-O Qe7 11. f3 exf3 12. Nxf3 O-O-O 13. Rg1 Rde8 14. Bc4 Qd6 15. Ne5 Nd5 16. Qf3 f5 17. Bxd5 exd5 18. Nxd7 Qxd7 19. Rgf1 Ref8 20. Rf2 Rf7 21. Rdf1 Rgf8 22. Qh5 Qe6 23. g4 Qg6 {Pacak,P (1808)-Wesolowska,K (1754) Lublin 2007 1-0 (56)}) (9. O-O-O Qe7 (9... Rg6 10. Qd2 Ne7 11. Ne2 Ned5 12. Nf4 Nxf4 13. Qxf4 Bd7 14. g3 Bc6 15. Bg2 Qe7 16. Rhe1 O-O-O 17. Qh4 Rd5 18. Qf4 Rf5 19. Qd2 Ng4 20. Re2 Nf6 21. Bb4 Qd7 22. c4 b6 23. Bc3 Kb8 24. d5 {Olesen,P (2052)-Ahlers,B (2116) Rogaska Slatina 2012 1-0}) 10. f3 Bd7 11. Qh4 O-O-O 12. Qe1 e3 13. Qxe3 Nd5 14. Qd2 e5 15. dxe5 Be6 16. Bd3 Qc5 17. g3 Ndb4 18. a3 Nxd3+ 19. cxd3 Nxe5 20. Qc2 Qe3+ 21. Kb1 Nxd3 22. Ne2 Nf2 23. Rxd8+ Rxd8 {Zellweger,W (2120)-Schmidt,R (2174) Faaker See 2003 0-1}) ( 9. d5 Rg6 10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. Qc1 exd5 12. g3 Bg4 13. Bg2 O-O-O 14. c3 Ne5 15. Qe3 Nd3+ 16. Kf1 Qa6 17. Ne2 Rf6 18. Nd4 Nxf2+ 19. Kg1 Nh3+ 20. Bxh3 Bxh3 21. Ne2 Rf3 22. Qd2 e3 23. Qc2 Rf2 {Dierckens,S-Shmirina,E (2164) Balatonlelle 2003 0-1}) 9... Rg6 10. Qd2 {-0.07/20} (10. Qe3 $14 {0.57/17}) 10... Nd5 { 1.11/18} (10... Qd6 $11 {-0.07/20}) 11. g3 {-0.15/21} (11. O-O-O $1 $16 { 1.11/18}) 11... Bd7 {0.62/18} (11... Qd6 $1 $11 {-0.15/21}) 12. Bg2 f5 13. Nf4 {0.00/23} (13. O-O $16 {1.08/19}) 13... Nxf4 {0.76/20} (13... Rg8 $11 {0.00/23 keeps the balance.}) 14. Qxf4 $16 Rg4 {1.22/22} (14... Ne7 $1 $11 {0.27/21}) 15. Qh6 Qe7 {1.42/21} (15... Qg5 $142 {0.89/23} 16. Qxg5 (16. Qxh7 O-O-O $16) 16... Rxg5) 16. O-O-O O-O-O 17. f3 $1 exf3 18. Bxf3 Rg6 19. Qf4 {0.64/21} (19. Qd2 $18 {1.83/18}) 19... Nb4 $14 20. Kb1 {0.33/22} (20. Bxb4 $1 $16 {0.95/21} Qxb4 21. Rhe1) 20... Ba4 {1.45/24} (20... Nd5 $14 {0.33/22} 21. Bxd5 exd5) 21. d5 $2 {-3.56/19} (21. Bxb4 $16 {1.45/24 keeps the pressure on.} Qxb4 22. Rhe1) 21... Bxc2+ $19 22. Ka1 Bxd1 $2 {0.83/22} (22... Nxd5 $19 {-4.59/23} 23. Bxd5 Bxd1) 23. Bxb4 $16 Qf7 $2 {2.80/19} (23... Qxb4 $14 {0.58/25} 24. Qxb4 Bxf3) 24. Rxd1 $18 {Black must now prevent d6.} exd5 25. Bh5 b6 26. Bxg6 hxg6 27. Bc3 c5 {3.15/20} (27... Re8 {1.93/22 was worth a try.} 28. Qd2 c6) 28. Be5 {1.85/24 } (28. b4 $142 {3.15/20}) 28... d4 {2.27/22} (28... Re8 $142 {1.85/24} 29. Rc1 Kb7) 29. Qf3 {[#] Qc6+ would kill now.} Qb7 30. Qxb7+ {1.24/26} (30. Qa3 $18 { 2.16/21}) 30... Kxb7 {Endgame KRB-KR} 31. Kb1 Kc6 32. Kc2 Kd5 {1.40/25} (32... Re8 $142 {0.90/25} 33. Bf6 Re6) 33. Bf4 $16 Re8 34. Rd2 {0.45/26} (34. Kd2 $16 {1.60/22}) 34... b5 35. b3 {0.00/24} (35. Rf2 $14 {0.68/23}) 35... c4 $11 36. bxc4+ bxc4 37. Bg5 {-0.95/25} (37. Kd1 $11 {0.00/32}) 37... Re6 {0.00/26} ( 37... c3 $1 $17 {-0.95/25} 38. Rf2 Kc4) 38. Bd8 {-0.87/28} (38. Rd1 $11 { 0.00/26}) 38... Ra6 {Black has strong compensation.} 39. Kd1 c3 40. Rc2 Kc4 41. Rf2 Kd3 42. Be7 $2 {-3.47/21} (42. Bc7 $17 {-1.00/27}) 42... Rb6 $19 43. Ba3 Rb1+ 44. Bc1 Ra1 45. a3 $2 {-8.74/24} (45. g4 {-3.03/28} fxg4 46. Rg2) 45... Kc4 46. Rf4 Kd5 47. Kc2 Kc4 $2 {-0.09/30} ({Black should try} 47... g5 $1 $19 { -4.75/22} 48. Rxf5+ Kc4) 48. g4 $2 {-8.36/22} (48. Be3 $11 {-0.09/30} Ra2+ 49. Kb1) 48... fxg4 $2 {0.00/30} (48... g5 $19 {-8.36/22} 49. Rxd4+ Kxd4 50. gxf5 g4) 49. Rxg4 {-0.93/24} (49. Be3 $1 $11 {0.00/30} Ra2+ 50. Kb1) 49... Ra2+ $17 50. Kd1 Rxh2 {-0.09/23} ({Better is} 50... a5 $15 {-0.66/25}) 51. Rxg6 $2 { -18.81/20} (51. Be3 $11 {-0.09/23}) 51... d3 52. Rg4+ Kb3 $1 {( -> ...Rh1+)} 53. Be3 a5 {-4.71/24} (53... c2+ $142 {-#11/26} 54. Ke1 Re2+ 55. Kf1 Rxe3 56. Rb4+ Kc3 57. Kg2 c1=Q 58. Rf4 d2 59. Rf6 d1=Q 60. Rc6+ Kb2 61. Rxc1 Kxc1 62. Kh2 Qd2+ 63. Kh1 Re1#) 54. a4 {-#10/27 [#]} (54. Rg1 $19 {-4.71/24} d2 55. Bxd2 Rxd2+ 56. Ke1) 54... Ra2 {-66.57/24} (54... c2+ $142 {-#10/27} 55. Ke1 Re2+ 56. Kf1 Rxe3 57. Kg2 c1=Q 58. Rg3 Rxg3+ 59. Kxg3 Qg1+ 60. Kh4 d2 61. Kh5 d1=Q+ 62. Kh6 Qd2+ 63. Kh7 Qdh2#) 55. Ke1 Rxa4 {-15.34/21} (55... Re2+ $142 {-49.10/22} 56. Kf1 Rxe3 57. Rg1 d2 58. Kf2 c2 $1 59. Kxe3 c1=Q 60. Rxc1 dxc1=Q+ 61. Ke4 Qg5 62. Kf3 Kc3 63. Kf2 Kd2 64. Kf3 Kd3 65. Kf2 Qg4 66. Kf1 Ke3 67. Ke1 Qg1#) 56. Rg2 Ra1+ {Black mates.} 57. Kf2 Ra2+ 58. Kf3 Rxg2 59. Kxg2 d2 {Accuracy: White = 17%, Black = 32%.} 0-1