B20 Sicilian: Unusual White 2nd moves (1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.d3 g6 4.e4 Bg7)

Ah, back again after a two day break from posting. I actually used those two days more or less by doing some maintanance to this blog. I mostly corrected some minor mistakes that I have made in the past. As I went through all the posts, I noticed a mistake in the ECO code of one post and corrected it. Even though I usually am careful and check the ECO codes these days better than I did when I started doing this blog, there can occasionally be an inccorrect code in the post. I am quite confident though that I will not make a similar mistake in the future because I think I can learn from my past mistakes. I also now know for certain that there are 808 analysed chess games in this blog. Also for the first time since I started doind this blog, I can now check all the stats easier from the .ods file I made. As long as I remember to update that file, I should now all the essential statistics from the openings I have played. The game below is my latest game from Queen Alice Internet Chess Club. I have lost three games in a row there now, which is not a good sign. Even worse, I have only won one game out of the last seven games, played one draw and lost five games. Maybe I am a bit too hard on myself though because my opponents have been quite good, three of those losses have come against a player rated over 2400 and two of the losses against a player who is currently over 2200 but his true rating might be even higher because he still has a provisional rating and he his rating has gone steadily upward. This game was played in the second round of the AUTO-MASTER-2135 tournament that is still in progress. Only three players are left in this second and final round. I am currently in last place in the group and because I face tough opponents, I may not get much higher than that. This was my first game to end, so I have zero points, my opponent in this game, Franzel, is on first place with four points. On second place is a player called Evandrobit, who I have faced before and I have bad score against him. Evandrobit has two points that came from his draws against Franzel. That means of course that they share the win of the tournament if they both win me twice. I have added one mate in one, one mate in two, one mate in three and two mate in five puzzles today.

Game number two. This game, played at Chess.com in a team match called Natalia Pogonina! vs Space Angels Celebrate was my second game against hlornik. The match was played between We love Natalia Pogonina! and Space Angels Chocolate Dunk Monster Strawberries In Andromeda's Cluster Of Infinite Bright Stars on 33 boards. I played on board 7 for Space Angels Chocolate Dunk Monster Strawberries In Andromeda's Cluster Of Infinite Bright Stars and managed to win both of my games against hlornik. The final score in the match was 11.5 - 54.5 in favor of Space Angels Chocolate Dunk Monster Strawberries In Andromeda's Cluster Of Infinite Bright Stars.

The game below followed a similar path as can be seen in the first game in this post until hlornik played 5.Bd2. The move order was a bit different though. The first sign of trouble for my opponent was when hlornik played in the position below 10.exd5. It might be argued that my opponent's play can be improved earlier on, but hlornik should have been able to hold a draw with accurate play, had hlornik played 10.Re1, for example.

The game continued to go downhill for my opponent and hlornik's position became lost only a few moves later when he played 15.Qb3.

[Event "AUTO-MASTER-2135"] [Site "http://www.queenalice.com/gam"] [Date "2015.05.14"] [Round "2"] [White "Franzel"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B20"] [WhiteElo "2422"] [BlackElo "2199"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation. Two Knights Variation} 3. d3 (3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. e3 (5. e4 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation. Botvinnik System}) (5. Nf3 e5 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation. Botvinnik System Reversed}) 5... e5 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation. Botvinnik System Reversed}) 3... g6 4. e4 Bg7 {B20 Sicilian: Unusual White 2nd moves} 5. Be2 e6 (5... d6 6. f4 e6 7. Nf3 {1-0 (7) Weller,A (1573)-Klinke,R (1042) Eschborn 2014}) 6. Nf3 (6. Be3 Nd4 7. h4 h6 8. Nf3 Ne7 9. Qd2 d5 10. Bxd4 cxd4 11. Nb5 dxe4 12. dxe4 e5 13. c5 O-O 14. Rc1 Be6 15. b3 f5 16. Bd3 fxe4 17. Bxe4 Bd5 18. Nd6 Bxe4 19. Nxe4 Nd5 20. h5 g5 { Fancsy,I (2409)-Lubashov,A (2411) Dos Hermanas 2004 1-0 (49)}) 6... Nge7 7. Bf4 $146 (7. Bg5 d6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. h4 h5 10. Nh2 f5 11. exf5 exf5 12. O-O Be6 13. Rfe1 Qd7 14. Bh6 d5 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. cxd5 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 Qxd5 18. Bf3 Qd6 19. Qg5 Kh7 20. Bxc6 Qxc6 21. Nf3 Qd6 {Moiseev,I (2280)-Brukhovich,O Kiev 2005 1-0 (37)}) (7. Bd2 O-O 8. Qc1 d5 9. O-O d4 10. Nb5 a6 11. Na3 f5 12. exf5 gxf5 13. Bg5 Qd6 14. Bh6 e5 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Nc2 Ng6 17. g3 Bd7 18. Nd2 e4 19. Ne1 Rae8 20. Bh5 Re7 21. a3 Kh8 {Lahucky,P (2165) -Vrablik,M (2057) Slovakia 2002 0-1 (34)}) 7... a6 {Prevents intrusion on b5} 8. Bd6 {White threatens to win material: Bd6xc5} O-O (8... b6 9. Rb1 $11) 9. Qd2 b6 {Controls c5} 10. h4 Bb7 11. h5 Re8 12. O-O-O Nc8 $2 (12... e5 $142 {and Black can hope to survive} 13. hxg6 hxg6 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 $14) 13. Bf4 $18 d6 (13... Nd4 14. Bh6 Nxf3 15. Bxf3 $18 (15. gxf3 $6 Bf6 $16)) 14. Bh6 Bh8 15. Rh3 Ra7 (15... Ne5 16. hxg6 Nxg6 17. Rdh1 $18) 16. Rdh1 Ba8 (16... Nd4 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 17. Ng5 Bc6 18. Nxh7 $18) 17. Ng5 Nd4 18. Nxh7 $1 {the end} Nxe2+ (18... Kxh7 19. hxg6+ fxg6 (19... Kxg6 20. Rg3+ {Mate attack Clearance}) (19... Kg8 20. gxf7+ { Passed pawn}) 20. Bg5+ {Mate attack Clearance Pinning}) 19. Nxe2 f5 (19... g5 { is the last straw} 20. Nxg5 Be5 $18) 20. Bg5 Qd7 21. hxg6 (21. hxg6 Qxh7 22. gxh7+ Kf8 23. Nf4 $18) 1-0 [Event "Natalia Pogonina! vs Space Angels Celeb"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.03.20"] [Round "?"] [White "hlornik"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B20"] [WhiteElo "1450"] [BlackElo "1829"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Two Knights Variation} 3. e4 (3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. e3 (5. e4 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Botvinnik System}) (5. Nf3 e5 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Botvinnik System Reversed}) 5... e5 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Botvinnik System Reversed}) 3... g6 4. d3 Bg7 {B20 Sicilian: Unusual White 2nd moves} 5. Bd2 e6 6. Nf3 Nge7 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O d5 ( 8... b6 9. a4 Bb7 10. b3 d5 11. Qc2 Nb4 12. Qb2 dxe4 13. dxe4 Bxe4 14. Rad1 Nf5 15. Bh6 Qf6 16. Bxg7 Qxg7 17. Rd2 Bxf3 18. Bxf3 Rad8 19. Ne4 Qxb2 20. Rxb2 Nd4 21. Be2 f5 22. Ng5 e5 23. Rd1 {Liodakis,F (1297)-Kotronias,V (2533) Chania 2014 0-1}) 9. cxd5 $146 (9. Qc1 Re8 10. a3 Nd4 11. Nxd4 cxd4 12. Na2 b6 13. exd5 exd5 14. Bf3 Bf5 15. Nb4 Rc8 16. Bh6 Bh8 17. Rd1 dxc4 18. dxc4 Be6 19. b3 a5 20. Nd3 Nf5 21. Bf4 Qe7 22. g3 a4 23. Qb2 axb3 {Nemastil,L (1750)-Cervinka, P (1821) Czechia 2006 0-1 (47)}) 9... exd5 10. exd5 (10. Re1 b6 $11) 10... Nxd5 $15 11. Nxd5 Qxd5 12. Ne1 $2 (12. Bc3 $5 $17) 12... Nd4 (12... Bxb2 13. Bf3 Qd6 14. Rb1 $19) 13. Bc3 $17 Bf5 14. Bxd4 Qxd4 (14... cxd4 $6 15. Bg4 $15) 15. Qb3 $2 (15. Rb1 $142 $5 $17) 15... b6 $19 16. Nf3 (16. Nc2 Qxb2 17. Qxb2 Bxb2 $19) 16... Qxb2 17. Qxb2 Bxb2 18. Rab1 Bg7 19. h3 (19. Rfe1 Rfe8 20. Kf1 Rad8 $19) 19... Rad8 (19... Rae8 {might be the shorter path} 20. Rbe1 Bc3 21. Rc1 Rxe2 22. Rxc3 Rxa2 23. g4 $19) 20. Rbd1 (20. Rfd1 Rd7 $19) 20... Rd7 (20... Rfe8 { seems even better} 21. Rd2 c4 22. Rfd1 $19) 21. Nh4 (21. d4 cxd4 22. Bb5 Rd6 $19) 21... Be6 22. a3 Rfd8 23. Nf3 Bf5 24. Ne1 (24. d4 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} Bxd4 25. Nxd4 Rxd4 (25... cxd4 $6 26. Bd3 $19) 26. Rxd4 Rxd4 $19 (26... cxd4 $6 27. Rd1 $19)) 24... Bc3 (24... c4 $142 $5 {and Black can already relax} 25. Bg4 Bxg4 26. hxg4 cxd3 27. g5 $19) 25. g4 Be6 26. a4 ( 26. Rc1 {doesn't improve anything} Bf6 $19) 26... Bb3 27. Rc1 Bxe1 28. Rfxe1 Bxa4 29. Rc3 Bb5 30. Rd1 (30. Ra1 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} a6 $19) 30... Rd4 {[%cal Yc5c4] Black plans c4} 31. Ra3 a6 32. Kf1 c4 (32... a5 $142 $19 {makes it even easier for Black}) 33. Ke1 (33. dxc4 {the last chance for counterplay} Rxd1+ 34. Bxd1 Bxc4+ 35. Ke1 $19) 33... cxd3 34. Bf3 d2+ (34... d2+ 35. Rxd2 Rxd2 36. h4 Rb2 37. Bd1 Rb1 38. f3 Rbxd1+ 39. Kf2 R8d3 40. Ra2 Rf1+ 41. Kxf1 Rd2+ 42. Ke1 Rxa2 43. f4 a5 44. f5 gxf5 45. gxf5 Bd3 46. h5 Re2+ 47. Kd1 a4 48. f6 a3 49. h6 a2 50. Kc1 a1=Q#) 0-1