D31 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Slav without ...Nf6 (+ Marshall Gambit and Noteboom) and Exchange Variation lines without ...Nf6 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 c6 3.c4 d5 4.Nc3)

With this post there are 300 different opening variations covered!! It is a nice milestone to reach. Not sure how many more can be seen in my games but as long as there new ones, I shall keep doing this blog the same way as before. The move order seen in the game is quite unusual for this opening variation and the normal move order is 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4. So basically none of the moves were played in the order they appear in theory but as the position after the moves is the same it does not matter that much. Of course the different move order can give some options that were not present in the normal move order. This game was played in a team match called Open Challenge Royal Challengers. It started on October 26th 2014 and it is still ongoing due to the fact that one game remains in this match. The match is played between Royal Challengers and DORU-66 & HIS BEST FRIENDS. I play on board 7 in this match for the Royal Challengers. Part of the reason that my game is the last one again to finish is the fact that this game is quite a long one if you consider the move count. The score before the last game ends is 12,5 - 16,5 in favor of DORU-66 & HIS BEST FRIENDS which means they will win this match no matter what happens in the last game. I have added three mate in twos, one mate in six and one mate in seven moves puzzles today.

The name of the post was changed from D31 Semi-Slav Defense: Marshall Gambit to its current one on September 2nd, 2019.

[Event "Open Challenge Royal Challengers - Boar"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.10.26"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "zahidx"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D31"] [WhiteElo "1861"] [BlackElo "1582"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "157"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 (1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 c6 {1/2-1/2 (4) Salmensuu,O (2330)-Tella,J (2335) Helsinki 1997}) (1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 (2... e6) 3. Nc3 {1-0 (21) Avalos Arguello,J (1694)-Benitez,S Encarnacion 2018}) 1... e6 (1... c6 2. c4 e6 { 1-0 (11) Kuspak,A (1832)-Choina,M Sielpia 2010}) 2. d4 c6 3. c4 d5 4. Nc3 { D31 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Slav without ...Nf6 (+ Marshall Gambit and Noteboom) and Exchange Variation lines without ...Nf6 D31 Semi-Slav Defense: Marshall Gambit} Ne7 5. Nf3 (5. Bd3 Na6 6. Nf3 Qb6 7. O-O g6 8. Rb1 Bg7 9. exd5 exd5 10. Re1 Bg4 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. Nxd5 Qd6 13. Nxe7 Bf6 14. Nxg6+ Kd8 15. Bf4 Qb6 16. Nxh8 Bxh8 17. Qe2 Qc6 18. Qe7+ Kc8 19. Qe8+ Qxe8 {Avalos Arguello,J (1694)-Benitez,S Encarnacion 2018 1-0}) 5... Ng6 {1.71/18} (5... dxe4 $14 { 0.67/20} 6. Nxe4 Nf5) 6. Be2 $146 {0.62/21} (6. h4 $18 {1.71/18}) (6. cxd5 exd5 7. exd5 cxd5 8. Qb3 a6 9. Qxd5 Qxd5 10. Nxd5 Bd6 11. Nb6 {1-0 (11) Kuspak,A (1832)-Choina,M Sielpia 2010}) (6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Be3 dxe4 9. Nxe4 Nd7 10. Qc2 Nf6 11. Rad1 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 f5 13. Bd3 Qe8 14. Rfe1 Kh8 15. Bg5 Bxg5 16. Nxg5 Nf4 17. Nf3 Qg6 18. Bf1 Qf6 19. Ne5 g5 20. Qd2 Kg7 {Zingler,M (2088) -Schmidt,W (2087) Dresden 2001 1-0 (48)}) 6... Be7 {1.31/19} ({Black should play} 6... Bb4 $14 {0.62/21}) 7. O-O {0.56/22} (7. e5 $16 {1.31/19}) 7... a6 { 1.37/20} (7... O-O $14 {0.56/22}) 8. a4 {0.36/21} ({Better is} 8. cxd5 $16 { 1.37/20} exd5 9. exd5) 8... Bd7 $2 {2.32/18 [#]} (8... O-O $14 {0.36/21}) 9. Be3 {1.01/20} (9. exd5 $18 {2.32/18} cxd5 10. cxd5) 9... b6 $2 {2.56/22} (9... dxe4 $16 {1.01/20} 10. Nxe4 O-O) 10. exd5 cxd5 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Nxd5 O-O { 3.31/20} (12... Bg4 $142 {2.28/23}) 13. Nxe7+ $18 Qxe7 14. Qb3 {1.99/22} (14. d5 $142 {3.41/18}) 14... Be6 $2 {3.62/18 [#]} (14... Nc6 {1.99/22} 15. d5 Nce5) 15. Qxb6 Nd7 16. Qa5 Nf6 17. Bg5 h6 18. Bd2 Ne4 {2.72/20} (18... Rfb8 $16 { 1.50/23 was worth a try.} 19. Rfe1 (19. Bxa6 Qd6 $17) 19... Rxb2) 19. Bb4 Nd6 $2 {4.35/18} (19... Qd8 {2.28/22} 20. Rfe1 Nf6 21. Qxd8 Rfxd8) 20. Qc5 $2 { 1.69/22} (20. Ne5 {4.35/18}) 20... Nf5 $2 {3.65/22} (20... Rfd8 {1.69/22} 21. Ne5 Qb7) 21. Qxe7 Nfxe7 22. Rfc1 Rfb8 23. Bc3 Nd5 24. Rab1 {1.38/26} (24. g3 $18 {2.69/20}) 24... Ngf4 $16 25. Bf1 Bf5 26. Ra1 Rb6 {2.48/20} (26... Nd3 $16 {1.38/24 was necessary.}) 27. Ne5 $18 f6 {2.74/21} (27... Rab8 $142 {1.87/22} 28. Bc4 Rd6) 28. Nc4 Rc6 29. Ne3 Nxe3 30. fxe3 Nd5 31. Kf2 Kf7 32. Be2 Be4 33. Bf3 Bxf3 {2.68/22} (33... f5 $142 {1.74/26} 34. Bd2 Rb6 35. Bxe4 fxe4) 34. gxf3 Re8 {3.37/21} (34... Rb8 $142 {2.38/23} 35. e4 Nxc3) 35. Bd2 Rb6 36. Rc2 Reb8 37. Bc1 Nb4 38. Rc7+ Kg6 39. Ke2 Nd5 {4.91/21} (39... Rc6 $142 {3.17/25}) 40. Rc5 Ne7 41. Ra3 Nf5 42. Rac3 Rb3 {5.29/20} (42... Rb4 {3.72/22 is a better defense.} 43. R3c4 R8b7) 43. Kd3 h5 44. Kc2 R3b4 45. b3 Nh4 46. e4 {2.38/20} ( 46. Ba3 $142 {4.77/19}) 46... Rxd4 47. Rc6 a5 48. R6c5 Ng2 {3.71/19} (48... Ra8 {2.41/24 keeps fighting.} 49. R5c4 Rxc4 50. bxc4 Kf7) 49. Rxa5 Ne1+ 50. Kb2 Nd3+ 51. Kb1 Ne5 52. Bf4 Rdb4 53. Kc2 R8b7 54. Bxe5 fxe5 55. Rxe5 {Endgame KRR-KRR} Kf6 56. Rxh5 g5 57. h3 Rg7 58. Rh6+ Ke5 59. Rc5+ Kf4 60. Rf6+ Ke3 61. Kc3 Rbb7 62. b4 Rbd7 63. Rd5 Rc7+ 64. Kb3 Rh7 65. Rxg5 Rxh3 66. Rgf5 Rh1 67. Rc5 Rd7 68. Kc4 Rc1+ {8.24/19} (68... Rb1 $142 {5.04/24} 69. Rd5 Rc7+ 70. Kb5 Rb7+ 71. Kc6 R7xb4) 69. Kb5 Rf1 70. e5 Re7 71. e6 Kd4 72. Rc6 Ke5 73. Rf8 Rd1 74. f4+ Kd5 75. f5 Ke5 76. Kb6 Rd6 77. Rxd6 {White mates.} Kxd6 78. a5 Rh7 79. a6 {Accuracy: White = 43%, Black = 17%.} 1-0