C52 Evans Gambit Accepted: 5.c3 Ba5 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.O-O Nf6 7.d4)

The game below is from a team match that was played at Chess.com. This match is played on 217 boards between DORU-66 & HIS BEST FRIENDS and TURK CHESS PLAYERS. I played on board 38 in this match for DORU-66 & HIS BEST FRIENDS. I won one and lost one, so it was quite evenly matched board this time. The current score in this match is 211,5 - 196,5 in favor of DORU-66 & HIS BEST FRIENDS, so we need 6 more points to get the win. Playing against gambit play has not worked out all that well for me in the past but maybe if I get more games like this, I would start to like to play against them. Maybe I should play gambit openings myself in order to learn them better and maybe doing so would improve my tactical awareness as well. I have added three mate in ones, one mate in two and one mate in six today. Until tomorrow, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

Game number two. This game was played on the first round of the 2015 October Grand Split Three Seven I 1800+ tournament. I have currently gathered 28 points in this tournament and my maximum possible score is 64, which is not even enough anymore to fight for the win of the group. I am on 8th place with my current collection of points and Johannes Goethe is on 7th place and he has gathered 30 points so far. I am not sure why my opponent offered me a draw in the final position. Because I thought I would be insane to refuse a draw in a position I was, I accepted the draw.

This game went wrong for me already on move 7 when I played the bold looking d5. It just is not a good move and I should have probably castled instead or play d6 or even Nxe4 was better than the move I played. The game actually briefly advances towards equality, but then on move 9 I start to mess up my position again which I continue to do a few times later on in the game. The final position looks to be clearly better for Johannes Goethe, so it is a mystery to me why he offered me a draw.

[Event "DORU-66 & HIS BEST FRIENDS vs TURK"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.01.31"] [Round "?"] [White "nabeel_javaid"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C52"] [WhiteElo "1849"] [BlackElo "1868"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "52"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 (3... Nf6 4. O-O Bc5 5. b4 Bxb4 6. c3 {0-1 (23) Hoekstra,E (1795)-De Jong,M (1623) Groningen 2001}) 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. O-O {C52 Italian Game: Evans Gambit. Slow Variation} Nf6 7. d4 {C52 Evans Gambit Accepted: 5.c3 Ba5} d6 {0.00/21} (7... O-O $17 {-1.01/21} 8. dxe5 Nxe4) 8. dxe5 ({Reject} 8. d5 Ne7 $17) (8. h3 O-O 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 Qe7 11. Qb3 Bb6 12. Nbd2 g5 13. Nxg5 hxg5 14. Bxg5 Na5 15. Qd1 exd4 16. f4 Nxc4 17. Nxc4 d3+ 18. Kh1 Qxe4 19. Bxf6 Bxh3 20. Rf3 Bg4 21. Nxb6 Bxf3 22. Qd2 axb6 {Knol,G (2156)-De Rover,Y (2287) Amsterdam 2012 0-1}) 8... Nxe4 $146 {0.65/22} (8... Nxe5 $15 { -0.36/24} 9. Nxe5 (9. Qa4+ Bd7 10. Bxf7+ Kf8 11. Qxa5 Nxf3+ 12. gxf3 Kxf7 13. Kh1 Rf8 14. Rg1 Kg8 15. Bh6 Rf7 16. Nd2 c6 17. Qg5 Ne8 18. Qh5 Qf6 19. Rae1 Qe5 20. Qh4 Qe7 21. Bg5 Qf8 22. Rg3 Kh8 23. Reg1 Nf6 {Churba,D (2120)-Fiorito,F (1469) Buenos Aires 2018 1-0 (39)}) 9... dxe5 10. Qb3 (10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. Bxf7 Nxe4 12. Ba3 Bf5 13. Rd1+ Kc8 14. Re1 Bb6 15. Be6+ Bxe6 16. Rxe4 Rd8 17. Kf1 Re8 18. Nd2 Kd7 19. Rd1 Rad8 20. Nc4+ Kc8 21. Rxd8+ Kxd8 22. Nxe5 Bxa2 23. c4 Bxc4+ {0-1 (23) Hoekstra,E (1795)-De Jong,M (1623) Groningen 2001}) 10... O-O 11. Ba3 Nxe4 12. Bxf8 Qxf8 13. Qb5 Bb6 14. Qxe5 Nd6 15. Bb3 Bd7 16. Nd2 Re8 17. Qf4 Re2 18. Bd1 Re6 19. Bf3 Qe7 20. Nb3 g5 21. Qb4 Re5 22. g3 Qf6 23. Bg2 Bb5 24. Qg4 Bxf1 {Vidovic,M (2110)-Kapic,I (2196) Pula 2002 0-1 (61)}) 9. Qd5 $2 { -1.06/20} (9. Re1 $1 $14 {0.65/22} Nc5 10. Bg5) 9... Be6 $17 {Black is better.} 10. Qxe4 {[#] And now exd6 would win.} d5 11. Bxd5 {-2.16/17} (11. Qc2 $17 { -0.73/25} dxc4 12. Rd1) 11... Qxd5 $19 12. Qh4 O-O 13. Ng5 {-2.59/19} (13. Qg3 $17 {-1.56/23} Qd3 14. Bh6) 13... Bf5 14. Ba3 Rfe8 ({And not} 14... Qxe5 15. Bxf8 Rxf8 16. Rc1 $15) 15. f4 $2 {-6.87/21 [#]} (15. Bb4 {-3.21/22}) 15... h6 16. Nf3 Rad8 17. Nbd2 {-6.74/19} (17. Qg3 $142 {-4.36/23}) 17... Bxc3 18. Rae1 Bxd2 19. Rd1 Be3+ 20. Kh1 Qxa2 21. Ra1 Qc4 22. g4 Be4 23. g5 hxg5 24. Qxg5 Nd4 {Black mates.} 25. Kg2 Nxf3 26. Rxf3 Qe2+ {Accuracy: White = 4%, Black = 32%.} 0-1 [Event "Grand Split Three Seven"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2015.12.21"] [Round "1"] [White "Johannes Goethe"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C52"] [WhiteElo "1876"] [BlackElo "1887"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "35"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 (2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 {1-0 (15) Paul,R (1927)-Klevenow,H (1557) Berlin 2015}) 2... Bc5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. O-O {C52 Italian Game: Evans Gambit. Slow Variation} Nf6 7. d4 $1 {C52 Evans Gambit Accepted: 5. c3 Ba5} d5 $2 {1.45/20 [#]} ({Resist} 7... Nxe4 8. Ba3 $15 (8. dxe5)) (7... O-O $17 {-1.12/24 and life is bright.} 8. dxe5 Nxe4 9. Qc2 d5 10. exd6 Nxd6 11. Rd1 h6 12. Ba3 Qf6 13. Bd5 Ne7 14. Bc5 Bb6 15. Bxd6 cxd6 16. Bb3 Bg4 17. Nbd2 d5 18. h3 Bh5 19. Re1 Rac8 20. Rac1 Bg6 21. Qb2 Rfd8 22. Nf1 Be4 23. N1h2 h5 { Stojanovic,Z (2200)-Pavlovic,B (2200) Bor 1983 0-1 (37)}) 8. exd5 $16 ({Not} 8. dxe5 dxc4 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 $15) 8... Nxd5 9. dxe5 $146 {-0.52/20} (9. Qb3 $18 { 1.68/21} Nce7 (9... Be6 10. Qxb7 Nde7 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. Bg5 Rb8 13. Qa6 Rb6 14. Qe2 h6 15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. Nxe5 Qg5 17. Nc4 Qd5 18. Nxb6 axb6 19. Re1 Kd7 20. c4 Qd6 21. Rd1 Nxd4 22. Qg4 Qe5 23. Qxd4+ Qxd4 24. Rxd4+ {Dreessen,J (1811) -Fronius,T (1109) Kiel 2012 1-0 (33)}) 10. Ba3 (10. Nxe5 O-O $11 11. Ba3 c6 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Bxd5 cxd5 14. Qxd5 Be6 15. Qxa5 {1-0 (15) Paul,R (1927)-Klevenow, H (1557) Berlin 2015})) 9... Nxc3 $2 {4.56/20} (9... Nb6 $1 $15 {-0.52/20 keeps the upper hand.} 10. Bd3 Bg4) 10. Nxc3 Bxc3 $2 {5.69/20} (10... Qxd1 { 3.29/23} 11. Nxd1 Be6) 11. Bxf7+ $2 {1.05/21 [#]} (11. Qb3 $1 $18 {5.69/20 and the rest is easy.}) 11... Kxf7 12. Qb3+ Ke8 $2 {4.37/20} (12... Be6 $16 { 0.87/22} 13. Qxc3 h6) 13. Qxc3 $18 Be6 14. Bg5 $2 {1.31/23} (14. Ba3 $18 { 4.46/21 and White stays clearly on top.}) 14... Qd5 $16 15. Rfd1 {1.13/22} (15. Qb2 $18 {1.87/21} Rb8 16. Rfd1) 15... Qc4 16. Qb2 Qa6 $2 {2.75/20} (16... Qb4 $16 {1.14/22} 17. Qxb4 Nxb4) 17. Nd4 {1.24/22} (17. Rac1 $18 {2.75/20 has better winning chances.}) 17... Nxd4 18. Rxd4 {0.88/25 Accuracy: White = 13%, Black = 29%.} (18. Qxd4 $142 {1.41/19} h6 19. Be3) 1/2-1/2