A16 English Opening: 1...Nf6 with ...d5 (1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 c5 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.O-O O-O 7.e4 d6 8.a3)

The game below was played in the 2014 September Grand Seven Fourteen III tournament. I have gathered 85 points so far and I can get to 103 points if I win my last six games. I am currently on fourth place but I can end up anywhere from second place to sixth place depending on what happens on the remaining games. In three days, I have gone from 169 games in progress to 159 games in progress which is a very good sign. Games might end in a decent pace in the nearish future aswell, so maybe I could get under 100 in July. I have added one more analysed game to the following posts today: A00 Mieses Opening: Reversed Rat, C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense and D45 Semi-Slav Defense: Main Lines. I have also added two mate in twos, two mate in fours and one mate in six. Until tomorrow, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

The first sign of trouble for my opponent came when adalia bipunctata played 9.b4 in the position below. It was a better idea to play 9.h3. One of the problems with the move 9.b4 is that it loses a pawn in the game continuation 9...cxb4 10.axb4 Nxb4 11.Qb3 a5. My 9th move was not the best, 9...Nxe4 was a much stronger move and the game might have been quickly over had I played it.

Even with the move I played in the game I was clearly better for a few moves. When I played the move 12...Qc7 in the position below, my advantage decreased into a small one. 12...Rc8 and 12...Nd7 were better options.

Adalia bipunctata then made the game losing blunder 13.d5. It gave me another opportunity to play 13...Nxe4! Given enough time, even I can find a good move and I did play the move 13...Nxe4 in the game. My opponent never recovered and ended up resigning the game after my 37th move d4+.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.09.11"] [Round "1"] [White "adalia bipunctata"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A16"] [WhiteElo "1340"] [BlackElo "1893"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation. Full Symmetry Line} 6. O-O O-O 7. e4 (7. b3 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation. Double Fianchetto}) (7. d3 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation. Duchamp Variation}) (7. d4 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation. Mecking Variation}) 7... d6 8. a3 {A16 English Opening: 1...Nf6 with ...d5} (8. h3 Ne8 9. d3 Nc7 10. Rb1 a6 11. Be3 Ne6 12. Nd5 Ned4 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14. Bg5 Re8 15. f4 f6 16. Bh4 e6 17. Ne3 g5 18. fxg5 fxg5 19. Qh5 gxh4 20. e5 Nf5 21. Be4 hxg3 22. Nxf5 exf5 {Pesantes Carbajal,C (2335)-Horvath, J (2480) Manila 1992 0-1}) 8... Bg4 (8... a6 9. d3 Bg4 10. Be3 Ne5 11. h3 Nxf3+ 12. Bxf3 Bxh3 13. Re1 Bc8 14. Rb1 Rb8 15. Nd5 Nd7 16. b4 e6 17. Nf4 b6 18. Ng2 Qc7 19. Qd2 Ne5 20. Be2 Bb7 21. Rb3 Bc6 22. bxc5 bxc5 23. Reb1 {Milla Mercado, J (1268)-Martorell Prats,A (1593) Santa Margalida 2016 0-1 (31)}) 9. b4 $2 $146 (9. h3 Bd7 10. Rb1 Ne8 11. d3 Nc7 12. Bd2 Ne6 13. b4 Rb8 14. Nd5 Ncd4 15. Nxd4 Bxd4 16. Kh2 b5 17. f4 Nc7 18. Ne3 e6 19. Qe2 Bg7 20. bxc5 dxc5 21. e5 bxc4 22. dxc4 Ba4 23. Ba5 Qd7 {Daskevics,V (2169)-Naxakis, T Kallithea 2003 1/2-1/2 (32) }) (9. h3 $142 {would keep White in the game} Bxf3 10. Qxf3 $11) 9... cxb4 10. axb4 Nxb4 {Black has a new passed pawn: a7} (10... Nxe4 $5 11. Ra3 Ng5 $17) 11. Qb3 a5 12. d4 Qc7 (12... Rc8 $142 $17) 13. d5 $4 {White gets more space} (13. e5 $142 {and White is still in the game} dxe5 14. Nxe5 $15) 13... Nxe4 $1 $19 { Deflection: c3} 14. Bb2 $4 {terrible, but what else could White do to save the game?} (14. Nxe4 Bxa1 {Clearance Deflection Pinning}) 14... Nxc3 (14... Bxf3 $142 {and Black has triumphed} 15. Bxf3 Nd2 $19) 15. Bxc3 Bxc3 16. Qxc3 Rfc8 17. Ng5 (17. Rfc1 Nxd5 $1 {Deflection: c4} 18. Qd2 $19) 17... Qxc4 18. Qxc4 ( 18. Qe3 {cannot change destiny} h6 19. Ne4 Kg7 $19) 18... Rxc4 19. f3 (19. Bf3 {is not much help} Bxf3 20. Nxf3 Nxd5 $19) 19... Bd7 (19... Bf5 {makes it even easier for Black} 20. Rfd1 a4 21. Bf1 $19) 20. Rae1 Re8 21. Re4 (21. Rb1 { cannot undo what has already been done} b5 $19) 21... Rxe4 22. fxe4 f6 23. Ne6 Bxe6 (23... a4 $142 {might be the shorter path} 24. Rb1 a3 25. Nd4 $19) 24. dxe6 Rc8 25. e5 (25. Rb1 {does not save the day} b6 $19) 25... dxe5 26. Bxb7 Rc7 27. Be4 f5 28. Bg2 e4 29. h4 (29. Ra1 {doesn't improve anything} Rc5 $19) 29... Rc6 (29... Nd3 30. g4 Rc1 31. Rxc1 Nxc1 32. gxf5 gxf5 33. Bf1 Nd3 34. Bh3 a4 35. Bxf5 a3 36. Bxe4 Nf4 37. Bb1 Ne2+ 38. Kf1 Nc3 39. Bf5 a2 40. Kf2 a1=Q 41. Ke3 Nd5+ 42. Kd2 Qc3+ 43. Ke2 Qe5+ 44. Kd3 Qxf5+ 45. Kd4 Qf3 46. h5 Qd1+ 47. Kc4 h6 48. Kc5 Qd3 49. Kc6 Qc4+ 50. Kd7 Qc7+ 51. Ke8 Nf6#) 30. Rd1 Rxe6 ( 30... Kg7 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} 31. Ra1 $19) 31. Rd8+ (31. Bf1 { doesn't change anything anymore} Kg7 32. Be2 Rc6 $19) 31... Kf7 32. Bf1 Rd6 33. Rxd6 (33. Rc8 {hoping against hope} a4 34. Rc4 $19) 33... exd6 34. Kf2 (34. Bb5 {doesn't do any good} Ke6 35. Be8 d5 36. h5 gxh5 37. Kf2 d4 38. Ba4 Ke5 39. Kf1 e3 40. Ke2 Ke4 41. Bd1 d3+ 42. Kf1 a4 43. Bxa4 e2+ 44. Kf2 Nc2 45. Kg2 e1=Q 46. Bc6+ Ke5 47. Bf3 Ne3+ 48. Kh3 Qf1+ 49. Kh4 Qxf3 50. Kg5 Qg4+ 51. Kh6 Qg6#) 34... Ke6 35. Bc4+ d5 36. Bb3 (36. Bb5 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} d4 37. h5 gxh5 38. Bc4+ Ke5 39. Bb3 d3 40. Ke3 h4 41. g4 f4+ 42. Kd2 e3+ 43. Kc3 e2 44. Ba4 e1=Q+ 45. Kc4 Qc1+ 46. Bc2 dxc2 47. g5 Qd1 48. Kb5 c1=Q 49. g6 Qd7+ 50. Kb6 Qcc7#) 36... Ke5 37. Ke3 (37. Bd1 {cannot change what is in store for White} d4 38. h5 gxh5 39. Ke1 e3 40. Ke2 Ke4 41. Kf1 d3 42. Bxh5 a4 43. Bd1 a3 44. Bh5 a2 45. Kg2 a1=Q 46. Bf3+ Ke5 47. g4 e2 48. g5 Qf1+ 49. Kh2 Qf2+ 50. Bg2 e1=Q 51. g6 Qg3#) 37... d4+ (37... d4+ 38. Kf2 d3 39. Bd1 Nc2 40. h5 f4 41. gxf4+ Kxf4 42. hxg6 hxg6 43. Be2 e3+ 44. Kf1 dxe2+ 45. Kxe2 Ke4 46. Kd1 Kd3 47. Kc1 e2 48. Kb1 e1=Q+ 49. Ka2 Qa1+ 50. Kb3 a4#) 0-1