C68 Spanish Game: Exchange Variation, sidelines (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.h3)

The game below is from the first round of the 2014 October Split II tournament that is still in progress at Red Hot Pawn. I am still leading group one and I have gathered 54 points in the 20 games that have finished so far. I have still two more games to go, so I can get to total of 60 points if I win both of my remaining games. In order for me to win this group, I need to win the two remaining games as that would also decrease the maximum possible score of my opponent to 60 points. If were to be both at 60 points, we would both be advancing to the second and also final round. The game below was fought quite evenly until it came to White's 20th move, then he made the mistake that made my life a little bit easier in this game. After that mistake, I played accurately enough not to give my opponent any real chances and went on to win this game. I have added four mate in twos and one mate in six today. Until tomorrow, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

[Event "Split"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.10.24"] [Round "1"] [White "mikaeloff philippe"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C68"] [WhiteElo "1430"] [BlackElo "1914"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 {C68 Spanish Game: Exchange Variation. General} dxc6 5. h3 {C68 Spanish Game: Exchange Variation, sidelines} f6 { 0.30/19} (5... Qd6 $142 {-0.22/22}) 6. d4 {-0.17/20} (6. d3 $142 {0.30/19}) 6... exd4 $11 7. Qxd4 {-0.52/21} (7. O-O $11 {0.03/22}) 7... Be6 {0.57/21} ( 7... Qxd4 $15 {-0.52/21} 8. Nxd4 Bd6 (8... c5 9. Nf3 Bd6 10. Nc3 Ne7 11. Be3 O-O 12. O-O b5 13. Nd2 Bb7 14. f3 Rae8 15. Rad1 c4 16. Ne2 Ng6 17. Rfe1 Be5 18. Bc5 Rf7 19. c3 Rd7 20. Be3 Kf7 21. Kf2 Bd6 22. Nc1 Nf4 23. Nf1 {Kovarik, O-Mikulas,D (2315) Slovakia 1997 1/2-1/2})) (7... Bd6 8. Be3 {0-1 (30) Uliczny, K (1690)-Pascot,J (1856) Espalion 2017}) 8. Be3 {-0.42/21} (8. Bf4 $14 {0.57/21 }) 8... Bd6 {0.32/21} (8... Qxd4 $15 {-0.42/21} 9. Nxd4 Bf7) 9. b3 $146 { -0.34/20} ({White should play} 9. Nbd2 $14 {0.32/21}) (9. Nc3 c5 10. Qd2 Ne7 11. Rd1 Ng6 12. Qe2 Qe7 13. Nd5 Qf7 14. O-O Rd8 15. b3 c6 16. Nb6 O-O 17. c4 Bc7 18. Bxc5 Nf4 19. Qe3 Bxh3 20. g3 Bxf1 21. Rxf1 Rd3 22. Qe1 Rfd8 23. Nh4 g5 {Uliczny,K (1690)-Pascot,J (1856) Espalion 2017 0-1}) 9... Ne7 10. c4 {-0.81/18 } (10. Nbd2 $11 {-0.10/24}) 10... Bb4+ {0.00/23} (10... c5 $17 {-0.81/18} 11. Qd2 b5) 11. Nbd2 (11. Bd2 {is interesting.} c5 12. Qe3 Qd6 13. Nc3 O-O-O 14. O-O-O) 11... O-O {0.10/21} (11... Ng6 $15 {-0.37/20}) 12. a3 Bxd2+ $1 13. Qxd2 b6 {0.53/21} ({Black should try} 13... Ng6 $11 {0.00/22}) 14. O-O {0.03/21} ({ Better is} 14. Qxd8 $14 {0.53/21} Rfxd8 15. O-O) 14... c5 15. Qxd8 {-0.35/23} ( 15. Qc3 $11 {0.11/23}) 15... Raxd8 (15... Rfxd8 {is more complex.} 16. Rfd1 Nc6 17. Bf4 Rdc8 18. Bh2 h6) 16. Rad1 {-0.65/21} (16. b4 $11 {-0.24/27}) 16... Nc6 {-0.09/24} (16... Ng6 $1 $15 {-0.65/21}) 17. Kh2 {-0.85/19} (17. Bf4 $11 { -0.09/24} Na5 18. Bxc7 Rxd1 19. Rxd1 Nxb3 20. Bxb6) 17... Na5 $17 18. Nd2 Rd3 { [#] White must now prevent ...Rfd8.} 19. Rb1 Rfd8 {aiming for ...Rxe3!} 20. Rfe1 $2 {-4.52/23} (20. Rb2 $17 {-0.80/21 is a better chance.}) 20... Rxd2 21. Bxd2 Rxd2 22. Kg1 Kf7 23. Re3 Nc6 24. Rc3 Ne5 25. f4 Nc6 26. f5 Bd7 27. Re3 Nd4 28. a4 Bc6 29. Kf1 Ke7 30. g4 Kd6 31. Ke1 Rh2 {[#] And now ...Nc2+ would win.} 32. Kf1 Ke5 {Strongly threatening ...Rh1+.} 33. Kg1 Rc2 34. Rbe1 Kf4 35. e5 fxe5 36. Rxe5 Nf3+ {-61.54/24 Accuracy: White = 10%, Black = 39%.} (36... Kg3 $142 {-#7/33} 37. R1e3+ Nf3+ 38. Rxf3+ Bxf3 39. Kf1 Rc1+ 40. Re1 Bg2+ 41. Ke2 Rxe1+ 42. Kxe1 Bxh3 43. Kd2 Bxg4 44. Kd3 Bxf5+ 45. Kd2 h5 46. b4 h4 47. Kc3 h3 48. a5 h2 49. axb6 cxb6 50. Kd2 h1=Q 51. Kc3 Qe1+ 52. Kb2 cxb4 53. Kb3 Qc3+ 54. Ka4 Bd7#) 0-1