C95 Closed Spanish Game: Breyer Variation with 10.d4 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 O-O 7.c3 b5 8.Bb3 d6 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.a4 c5)

I thought I could not make it, but again I am wrong. The daily posting cycle did not break today and I am quite happy about it, even if it means that I was wrong yesterday. The game below was played in the first round of the Smaller Tournament. I am currently on third place and I have gathered 4,5 points in six games. Two games left and if I win both of them, I will win my group and advance to the next round. My opponent in this game, nemoz, is currently on second place and will not advance to the second round as only the winner will advance. This is because nemoz has no more games to play. Both of my remaining games are against the current leader of the group, Jessemw915, who has won all his other six games in this tournament. The game below was quite evenly fought and I think it was my opponent, who offered the draw and I accepted because I was uncertain of how to continue and also because draw against a higher rated player is something I can be somewhat happy about. And maybe even more importantly, it decreased my game load. Not by much, but every little bit helps. I have added one mate in one, three mate in twos and one mate in six today. Until tomorrow, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

[Event "Smaller Tournament - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.05.06"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "nemoz"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C95"] [WhiteElo "1925"] [BlackElo "2026"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "36"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 (5... b5 6. Bb3 Be7 { 0-1 (44) Przerwa,W (1799)-Mike,P (1877) Koszalin 2016}) 6. Re1 O-O (6... b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 {1/2-1/2 (14) Busquets Prat,R (2248)-Mundet Riera,J (2090) Barcelona 2018}) 7. c3 b5 8. Bb3 d6 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 {C95 Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Breyer Defense Zaitsev Hybrid} 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. a4 c5 {C95 Closed Spanish Game: Breyer Variation with 10.d4} 13. axb5 {-0.12/24} (13. d5 $16 {0.92/20}) 13... axb5 $11 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 15. Bc2 $146 (15. Qe2 cxd4 16. cxd4 Qa5 17. Bc2 Qb6 18. b3 Re8 19. Bb2 Bf8 20. Bd3 b4 21. dxe5 dxe5 22. Nc4 Qc7 23. Rc1 Qb8 24. Nfd2 Nc5 25. Bc2 Nfd7 26. Ne3 Ne6 27. Qg4 Nf6 28. Qh4 Nf4 29. Rd1 Qc7 {Samhouri,A (2336)-Sasikiran,K (2675) Doha 2006 0-1 (31)}) (15. d5 Qa1 ( 15... c4 16. Bc2 Nc5 17. Nf1 Re8 18. Ng3 Bc8 19. Nh2 h6 20. f4 exf4 21. Bxf4 Bf8 22. Nf3 Qa7 23. Kh1 Qb7 {1/2-1/2 (23) Aghayev,M (2299)-Arnaudov,P (2487) Erice 2013}) 16. Nf1 c4 17. Bc2 Rb8 18. g4 Nc5 19. Ng3 g6 20. g5 Nfd7 21. h4 Na4 22. Bxa4 Qxa4 23. Qe2 Nc5 24. h5 Nd3 25. hxg6 hxg6 26. Rf1 Kg7 27. Nf5+ gxf5 28. exf5 Nxc1 29. Rxc1 f6 {Przerwa,W (1799)-Mike,P (1877) Koszalin 2016 0-1 (44)}) 15... g6 {0.45/20} (15... Rc8 $11 {-0.18/23}) 16. Qe2 {0.00/24} (16. dxe5 $14 {0.45/20} dxe5 17. b3) 16... cxd4 17. cxd4 Rc8 18. Bd3 {0.00/24} (18. Bb1 $14 {0.41/21}) 18... Qa1 1/2-1/2