D43 Semi-Slav: 5.Bg5 h6 (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.a4 Bb4 8.e3 b5 9.axb5 cxb5)

I think I will cover games from Chess.com and Red Hot Pawn on alternating days from now on as long as there are games to cover from those sites. So today I look at games from Red Hot Pawn and tomorrow games from Chess.com and so on. The end in this game is mysterious to me as I am not sure what happened in my brain when I played 22.Bc4 instead of just taking back the rook. Admittedly I would have been lost either way but had I taken the rook, I might have been able to struggle on for a bit longer. This was played in the second round of a tournament called 2014 August Banded Quartets I 1700-1800. In the first round of this tournament I was able to advance to this second round fairly easily but the second round I was lost almost every game. I ended up being fourth in the final group that consisted of five players. My opponent in this game, chessicle, won the second round and at the same time the whole tournament by winning all his games on the second round. From the 14 games he played in this tournament he was able to win 12, draw 1 and lose 1. In comparison I played 16 games, won 9 of them, drew 2 and lost 5 games. The difference in the total games played comes from the fact that I played on the first round in a group that had five players, while chessicle played in a group with 4 players. I have also added three mate in ones, one mate in two and one mate in six today.

[Event "Banded Quartets"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.12.20"] [Round "2"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "chessicle"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D43"] [WhiteElo "1914"] [BlackElo "2000"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "44"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 (2. Nf3 c6 3. c4 Nf6 {1/2-1/2 (34) Rakonitz,D (1479)-Brown,N (1457) San Francisco 2012}) 2... c6 (2... e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 {0-1 (29) Fittante,G (2011)-Lazic,M (2465) Genova 2001}) 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 {D44 Semi-Slav Defense: Anti-Moscow Gambit} dxc4 7. a4 (7. e3 b5 8. a4 { 1/2-1/2 (34) Rakonitz,D (1479)-Brown,N (1457) San Francisco 2012}) 7... Bb4 8. e3 b5 9. axb5 cxb5 {D43 Semi-Slav: 5.Bg5 h6} 10. Be2 {-1.35/20} (10. Nd2 $1 $15 {-0.47/21}) 10... Nbd7 {-0.63/21} (10... Bb7 $17 {-1.35/20} 11. O-O (11. Qc2 a6 (11... O-O 12. O-O a6 13. Rfd1 Nbd7 14. Ne5 Bxc3 15. bxc3 Qc7 16. Nxd7 Nxd7 17. e4 Qf4 18. Bg3 Qxe4 19. Qxe4 Bxe4 20. Bd6 Rfc8 21. Bg4 Nf6 22. Be2 Nd5 23. Rdc1 Rc6 24. Bc5 Nf4 25. Bf1 Bd3 26. g3 {Perez Garcia,S (1568)-Salazar de la Cruz,J (1897) Fuerteventura 2015 0-1 (64)}) 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Ne5 Be7 14. Bf3 Bxf3 15. Nxf3 Nd5 16. Bxe7 Nxe7 17. Qe4 O-O 18. Qb7 Qc8 19. Qxc8 Rfxc8 20. Ra2 Nc6 21. Rd1 Nb6 22. e4 Rd8 23. Raa1 Nb4 24. Rd2 f6 25. g3 Kf7 {Fittante,G (2011)-Lazic, M (2465) Genova 2001 0-1}) 11... Qb6) 11. O-O $15 Qb6 $146 (11... a6 12. Nxb5 Bb7 13. Nc3 Qc7 14. Bg3 Qc8 15. Qa4 a5 16. Ne5 Bd5 17. h3 O-O 18. Rfc1 Bxc3 19. bxc3 Nb6 20. Qd1 Ne4 21. Bh2 Qd8 22. f3 Nf6 23. e4 Bb7 24. Nxc4 Nxc4 25. Bxc4 Ba6 26. Qd3 {Rakonitz,D (1479)-Brown,N (1457) San Francisco 2012 1/2-1/2 (34)}) 12. Qc2 {-1.58/19} (12. Na2 $142 {-0.78/21} Be7 13. Nc3) 12... Bb7 {-1.10/24} ( 12... a5 $142 {-1.58/19} 13. Bg3 Bb7) 13. b3 {-2.47/19} (13. Bxf6 $17 {-1.10/ 24 is a better defense.} Nxf6 14. b3) 13... Bxc3 $19 14. Qxc3 Ne4 {-0.99/23} ( 14... Nd5 $19 {-2.33/20 is more deadly.} 15. Qc2 c3) 15. Qc2 {-1.52/19} (15. Qb4 $142 {-0.99/23} g5 16. Ra5) 15... c3 {-0.65/22} ({Better is} 15... cxb3 $1 $17 {-1.52/19} 16. Qxb3 b4) 16. b4 {-1.23/19} (16. Bd3 $15 {-0.65/22} f5 17. b4 ) 16... g5 {-0.54/23} (16... O-O $17 {-1.23/19} 17. Bd3 Qc6 18. Bxe4 Qxe4 19. Qxc3 Rfc8) 17. Bg3 {-1.20/20} (17. Bd3 $15 {-0.54/23}) 17... a5 {-0.62/23} ({ Black should play} 17... Ke7 $1 $17 {-1.20/20} 18. Bd3 Nxg3 19. fxg3 Rhc8) 18. bxa5 $2 {-3.46/18} ({White should try} 18. Be5 $15 {-0.62/23} O-O 19. Bd3) 18... Rxa5 19. Bd3 {[#] And now Rxa5 would win.} Nxg3 20. hxg3 b4 21. Rfb1 { White wants to play Ra4.} Rxa1 22. Bc4 $2 {-11.44/24} (22. Rxa1 {-3.41/22} O-O 23. Qb3) 22... Rxb1+ {Accuracy: White = 17%, Black = 54%.} 0-1