E14 Queen's Indian: Classical Variation (4.e3) (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 b6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.e3 O-O 7.Bd3 d5 8.O-O Nbd7 9.a3 Be7 10.e4 dxe4 11.Nxe4 Nxe4 12.Bxe4 Bxe4 13.Qxe4)

This is one of those openings that could have appeared in this blog before and actually the second game in this post was previously under a different post. Only when I searched for the opening variation used in this game, did I notice the mistake and corrected it. The game below was played in tedjj's mini-tournament XLIII. I am currently sixth and I can only either remain sixth or be overtaken by another player and end up on seventh place but those are my only options in this tournament anymore. This has not gone all that well and if I indeed lose all my four remaining games, this will be a real disaster of a tournament for me. I guess things could have gone even worse so maybe I can find some solace in that at least.

Both in Red Hot Pawn and Chess.com I have started losing a lot more recently than I lost in my most active correspondence chess days about seven months ago. Now that I have only 106 games in progress, almost 200 games less than I had in January this year, the moving accuracy has also decreased for some reason. Maybe I just want to get my game load decreased as much as possible and not that keen on making the most accurate moves. I do admit that it has become a bit of a chore instead of something that I would like to do, the moving in those games that is. Even though I should have more time to spend on each game, somehow I may spend even less time on my moves than I did when I had 300 games to worry about. In those days I even did these blog posts every day... Those were really busy days. Until tomorrow, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

[Event "tedjj's mini-tournament XLIII"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2015.08.22"] [Round "?"] [White "frericks"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E14"] [WhiteElo "1610"] [BlackElo "1746"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "32"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 d5 8. O-O ( 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 c5 11. a4 Nc6 12. Ba3 Na5 13. Be2 Qc7 14. O-O Rfd8 15. Rfd1 cxd4 16. Nxd4 a6 17. c4 Rac8 18. Rac1 h6 19. c5 bxc5 20. Qxc5 Qxc5 21. Bxc5 Nc6 22. Rb1 Ne4 {Pomar Salamanca,A (2510) -Zuidema,C (2430) Vienna 1972 1/2-1/2 (42)}) 8... Nbd7 9. a3 Be7 $146 (9... Bxc3 10. bxc3 (10. Qxc3 dxc4 11. Bxc4 c5 12. Rd1 Qc7 13. Be2 Rac8 14. b3 Ne4 15. Qb2 Rfd8 16. Bd2 cxd4 17. Nxd4 e5 18. Rac1 Ndc5 19. Nf3 Nxd2 20. Nxd2 Qe7 21. b4 Nd3 22. Bxd3 Rxd3 23. Rxc8+ Bxc8 24. Qc2 Qd8 {Moro,A (1941)-Pomar,M (2055) Florianopolis 2017 0-1 (39)}) 10... h6 11. cxd5 (11. Qe2 Ne4 12. Bb2 f5 13. cxd5 exd5 14. c4 Re8 15. Rac1 dxc4 16. Bxc4+ Kh7 17. Rfd1 Qe7 18. Ba2 c5 19. h4 a5 20. Bc4 Rac8 21. dxc5 Ndxc5 22. Ba1 Bc6 23. Ne5 Qxh4 24. Nxc6 Rxc6 25. Bb5 Ree6 {Zenzera,A (2047)-Skokov,B (2102) Omsk 2008 1-0 (40)}) 11... exd5 12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Ne4 14. Bb2 Nc5 15. Be2 Qe7 16. f4 Rfd8 17. c4 dxc4 18. Bxc4 Be4 19. Qe2 Bf5 20. Rad1 Rxd1 21. Rxd1 Rd8 22. Rd4 Be6 23. f5 Bxf5 24. e6 {Veljkovic,D (2174) -Savic,M (2129) Belgrade 2017 0-1 (52)}) 10. e4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 Bxe4 13. Qxe4 {E14 Queen's Indian: Classical Variation (4.e3). LiveBook: 3 Games} Nf6 14. Qc2 c5 15. Bf4 cxd4 16. Nxd4 $2 {-4.55/26 [#]} (16. Rad1 $11 { 0.09/28 and White stays safe.}) 16... Qxd4 0-1

B15 Caro-Kann: 3.Nc3: 3...g6 and 3...dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Ng3 c5)

This is from the second round of the WORLD OPEN RAPID tournament that was played at the FIDE Online Arena on April 6th 2015. I started the tournament with a win but on this second round I got a tougher opponent, who it turns out I could have won if I seen the opportunities that arose after 13...Nd5?? or later after the move 16...Rb8??. Of course I was not able to take those chances and slowly drifted towards a loss.

Today I was able to climb back towards 2200 unexpectedly at Queen Alice Internet Chess Club as one of my opponents decided to stop making moves all together. My rating jumped from 2180 to 2196 due to that win on time. I am not sure what happened there because it seems that my opponent has logged back in after over a week being offline. I did sent my opponent a move reminder and waited over 24 hours for him to come online and make his move, but eventually I had to claim the win on time. I was probably quite lost in that position, so he should have won the game but time is also a deciding factor in games like these. Until Monday, my fellow chess enthusiasts! Next week this blog will have its 900th analysed chess game!

Game number two. This was played with 10 minute time controls and it was sort of warmup for the continuation of the 100 game match with 15 minute time controls.

Game number three. After two years or so break, my friend and I continued the 100 game match with 15 minute time controls. Due to the long break the difference in my play style and strength did change during that time and maybe there was some change in the strength of my opponent as well but maybe not so much in the way he plays chess. He did lead the series when we paused the match after 20 games in 2013 10.5 - 9.5 if I recall correctly. So with the loss I suffered in the game below, Tomi managed to increase his lead. Now the score was 11.5 - 9.5 in Tomi's favor.

[Event "Tournament 28673217"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.04.06"] [Round "2"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Valvassino"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B15"] [WhiteElo "1851"] [BlackElo "2074"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "94"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Ng3 c5 {B15 Caro-Kann: 3.Nc3: 3... g6 and 3...dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6. LiveBook: 4 Games} 6. Be3 e6 7. dxc5 { Threatens to win with Qxd8+.} Qc7 8. Nf3 {The position is equal.} Bxc5 9. Bxc5 Qxc5 10. Bd3 $146 {-0.50/25} (10. c3 $11 {0.00/27}) (10. Qd4 Qc7 11. Bd3 Nc6 12. Qc3 O-O 13. O-O Bd7 14. Rfe1 Rac8 15. Qd2 Rfd8 16. Rad1 h6 17. c3 Be8 18. Qe2 Qf4 19. Bc2 a6 20. Rxd8 Rxd8 21. Rd1 Rxd1+ 22. Qxd1 {1/2-1/2 (22) Vardal,H (1816)-Woldseth,O (1773) Sotra 2002}) 10... Qb4+ $15 11. Qd2 Qxb2 12. O-O O-O 13. Ne4 Nd5 {0.77/28} (13... Nbd7 $17 {-0.71/25}) 14. Nd6 $2 {-0.79/23} (14. Rab1 $1 $16 {0.77/28} Qa3 15. c4) 14... Qc3 15. Qg5 {[#] Hoping for Bxh7+!} Nd7 16. Rab1 Rb8 $2 {1.87/28} (16... Qc7 $17 {-1.05/27 keeps the pressure on.} 17. Nb5 (17. Nxc8 Raxc8 18. Qh4 h6 $17) 17... Qa5) 17. Rb3 $2 {-0.54/27} ({White must play} 17. Bxh7+ $1 $18 {1.87/28} Kxh7 18. Qh4+ Kg8 19. Ng5 Qxc2 20. Rb3) 17... Qf6 $1 18. Qh5 {-1.06/24} (18. Qxf6 $15 {-0.52/26} gxf6 19. Be4) 18... g6 19. Qh6 Qg7 20. Qh4 {-1.22/22} (20. Qd2 $15 {-0.69/26}) 20... Nc5 $17 21. Ra3 a6 22. c4 {-1.58/24} (22. Bc4 $142 {-0.88/26}) 22... Nb4 $1 23. Bb1 Bd7 24. Ne4 Nxe4 25. Bxe4 f5 26. Bb1 e5 $1 27. Rb3 {-2.28/23} (27. Ng5 $142 {-1.85/27}) 27... Nc6 $19 28. c5 h6 29. Qc4+ Kh8 {Strongly threatening ...e4.} 30. Rd1 Na5 31. Qb4 $2 {-4.48/23 [#]} (31. Qc3 {-2.53/28} Nxb3 32. Nxe5) 31... Nxb3 32. axb3 Bc6 33. Nd2 Rbd8 34. Re1 e4 35. Nc4 Qd4 36. Qb6 Kh7 37. Qc7+ Rd7 38. Qg3 f4 39. Qg4 Re7 40. Kf1 Qxc5 41. h4 h5 42. Qh3 b5 43. Nd2 e3 44. Nf3 exf2 45. Rxe7+ Qxe7 46. Kxf2 Qe3+ 47. Kf1 Qc1+ {Accuracy: White = 16%, Black = 66%.} 0-1 [Event "Challenge 30789412"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.06.13"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Tocklin, Tomi"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B15"] [WhiteElo "1803"] [BlackElo "1729"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "95"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Ng3 c5 {B15 Caro-Kann: 3.Nc3: 3... g6 and 3...dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6. LiveBook: 4 Games} 6. Be3 Nc6 {0.41/23 } (6... cxd4 $11 {-0.15/25} 7. Qxd4 (7. Bb5+ Bd7 8. Bxd7+ Qxd7 9. Bxd4 Nc6 10. Nf3 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Qxd4 12. Nxd4 e6 13. O-O Bc5 14. Rfd1 O-O 15. Rd2 Rac8 16. c3 Bxd4 17. Rxd4 Rfd8 18. Rad1 Rd5 19. Rxd5 Nxd5 20. Rd4 b5 21. Ne4 Rc6 {Simo, L-Chilla,R Ruzomberok 2010 1/2-1/2 (90)}) 7... Qxd4 8. Bxd4 Nc6) 7. dxc5 $14 Qxd1+ {0.89/26} (7... Qc7 $14 {0.43/27 might be stronger.}) (7... Nd5 8. Bd2 Qc7 9. c3 a5 10. Bc4 Be6 11. Nf3 Ne3 12. Bxe3 Bxc4 13. Qa4 Bd5 14. O-O-O Bxf3 15. gxf3 g6 16. h4 h5 17. Rhe1 Bg7 18. f4 Qc8 19. f5 gxf5 20. Rg1 Be5 21. f4 Bf6 22. Nxh5 {Zetic,B (2165)-Ivekovic,M (2355) Zagreb 1999 1-0 (45)}) 8. Kxd1 $146 {-0.06/26} (8. Rxd1 $16 {0.89/26} g6 (8... Ng4 9. Bb5 f5 (9... Nxe3 10. fxe3 g6 11. Nf3 Bd7 12. O-O Bh6 13. Rd3 f6 14. Rfd1 O-O-O 15. Bxc6 Bxc6 16. Nd4 Bd7 17. c4 a6 18. Ne4 f5 19. Nc3 e5 20. Nc2 Be6 21. Nd5 e4 22. R3d2 Rhe8 23. b4 g5 24. Nb6+ {Kreh, S-Hartmann,W Germany 1988 1-0 (43)}) 10. Nf3 e5 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bxc6+ bxc6 13. Rd8+ Kf7 14. Bd2 Ke6 15. O-O Bb7 16. Rxa8 Bxa8 17. h3 f4 18. Ne4 Nf6 19. Re1 Nd7 20. b4 Be7 21. Bxf4 exf4 22. Neg5+ Kf6 23. Re6+ {Faisst, H-Strobel,M Wuerttemberg 1991 1-0 (38)}) 9. h3) 8... Ng4 9. Ke2 {-1.07/23} (9. Bb5 $11 {0.00/26}) 9... Nxe3 {-0.30/26} (9... e5 $17 {-1.07/23 .. .f5 is the strong threat.} 10. Ne4 Bf5 11. Nd6+ Bxd6 12. cxd6 O-O-O) 10. Kxe3 e5 11. Ne4 Bf5 {Black wants to play ...Bxe4.} 12. Nd6+ {-0.70/25} (12. Rd1 $11 {-0.17/25}) 12... Bxd6 $1 $15 13. cxd6 O-O-O {Strongly threatening ...Nb4.} 14. Bc4 { -0.99/26} (14. Rd1 $1 $15 {-0.42/27}) 14... f6 {-0.22/28} ({Black should play} 14... Rxd6 $17 {-0.99/26 White should prevent ...Nd4.} 15. Bxf7 Rhd8) 15. c3 { -1.37/30} (15. Rd1 $11 {-0.22/28}) 15... Rxd6 $17 16. Nf3 Rhd8 17. h3 Na5 { -0.52/28} ({Better is} 17... Ne7 $17 {-1.39/25} 18. Bb3 Nd5+ 19. Bxd5 Rxd5) 18. Be2 $1 $15 a6 {-0.14/31} (18... h5 $17 {-0.75/26}) 19. b3 $11 Nc6 20. Rhd1 Rxd1 (20... Ne7 {feels hotter.} 21. Rxd6 Rxd6 22. c4 Be6 23. Rd1 Rxd1 24. Bxd1 b5) 21. Rxd1 Rxd1 22. Bxd1 {Endgame KBN-KBN} a5 23. Nd2 Be6 24. Be2 a4 25. Bc4 Bxc4 26. Nxc4 axb3 27. axb3 {KN-KN} Kc7 28. Ke4 b5 {1.15/34} (28... Ne7 $1 $11 { 0.00/30}) 29. Ne3 $16 Na5 {2.00/29} (29... Kd7 $16 {1.14/30}) 30. b4 $1 $18 Nb7 31. Kd5 Kd7 32. c4 bxc4 33. Nxc4 g6 34. Ne3 Nd6 35. f3 Nb5 36. Kc5 {0.82/35} ( 36. Ng4 $1 $18 {1.69/33 has better winning chances.} Nc7+ 37. Kc5) 36... Nd4 $16 37. Kb6 {0.00/33} (37. Nd5 $16 {0.71/30} Ke6 38. Nc3) 37... Ne6 $2 { 2.34/28 [#]} (37... Kd6 $11 {0.00/33 and Black is okay.}) 38. Ng4 $1 $18 Ke7 39. b5 h5 40. Ne3 {0.08/31} ({White has to play} 40. Nf2 $1 $16 {1.49/31}) 40... Nd4 $2 {1.77/30} (40... Kd6 $11 {0.08/31 and Black stays safe.}) 41. Kc5 Kd7 42. Nd5 {0.64/31} (42. b6 $1 $18 {1.75/31}) 42... f5 $2 {2.84/27 [#]} ( 42... Ne6+ $1 $14 {0.64/31} 43. Kc4 f5) 43. b6 $2 {0.51/34} (43. Nf6+ $18 { 2.84/27} Ke7 44. Nh7) 43... Nb3+ $2 {3.93/32} ({Black should try} 43... Ne6+ $1 $14 {0.51/34} 44. Kc4 Nd8) 44. Kb5 Nd4+ 45. Ka6 Nc6 46. b7 $1 e4 $2 {8.02/33} ( 46... Kd6 $16 {1.09/33} 47. Nf6 Kc5) 47. fxe4 fxe4 48. Nf6+ {Accuracy: White = 41%, Black = 25%.} 1-0 [Event "Challenge 31508307"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.07.08"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Tocklin, Tomi"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B15"] [WhiteElo "1703"] [BlackElo "1849"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Ng3 c5 {B15 Caro-Kann: 3.Nc3: 3... g6 and 3...dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6. LiveBook: 4 Games} 6. Be3 Qb6 (6... cxd4 7. Qxd4 Qxd4 8. Bxd4 Nc6 9. Bb5 Bd7 10. Bxc6 Bxc6 11. f3 e6 12. N1e2 Be7 13. Nc3 O-O 14. O-O-O Rfd8 15. Nge4 Nxe4 16. Nxe4 b6 17. Be3 f6 18. Rxd8+ Rxd8 19. Rd1 Rxd1+ 20. Kxd1 Kf7 21. b3 {Ryznar,V (2130)-Ivekovic,M (2258) Zagreb 2010 0-1 (41)}) 7. b3 {-0.52/24} (7. Bd3 $11 {0.05/26}) 7... Qb4+ $146 (7... e6 8. Bd3 Nd5 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Bxc5 Qxc5 11. N1e2 Qb4+ 12. c3 Qb6 13. Qc2 Nc6 14. Rd1 Bd7 15. Be4 Nf6 16. Bf3 Ne5 17. Be4 h5 18. h4 O-O-O 19. O-O Rh6 20. Qd2 Bc6 {1/2-1/2 (20) Nakamura,A (2143)-Heurung,D (2271) Saint-Paul 2000}) 8. Qd2 { Black has an edge.} Qxd2+ $1 9. Kxd2 cxd4 10. Bxd4 Nc6 11. Bb2 Be6 12. Rd1 O-O-O+ 13. Kc1 Rxd1+ $1 14. Kxd1 g6 15. h3 {-1.24/25} (15. Bd3 $15 {-0.46/27}) 15... Bh6 $17 16. Nf3 Rd8+ 17. Bd3 Nb4 18. Ke2 {-1.70/27} (18. Nd4 $17 { -1.24/26 was called for.}) 18... Nxd3 19. cxd3 Nd5 20. Rd1 {-1.77/26} (20. Rb1 $17 {-1.35/27 was necessary.}) 20... Nf4+ $19 21. Kf1 Nxd3 22. Bd4 {-2.33/28} ( 22. Ba3 $142 {-1.61/28}) 22... Nb4 23. a3 {-3.31/28} (23. Re1 $142 {-2.03/28}) 23... Nc6 24. b4 $2 {-6.91/24 [#]} (24. Rd3 {-2.59/29}) 24... Bg7 $2 {-2.45/26} (24... Bb3 {-6.91/24} 25. Rb1 Bc4+ 26. Kg1 Nxd4 27. Nxd4 Rxd4) 25. Ne2 Bc4 26. Bxg7 $2 {-9.25/25} (26. Rc1 {-2.44/28} Bxe2+ 27. Kxe2 Bxd4 28. Nxd4 Rxd4 29. b5 ) 26... Rxd1+ 27. Ne1 Rd2 {Accuracy: White = 15%, Black = 60%.} 0-1

B33 Sicilian: Pelikan and Sveshnikov Variations (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.a4 Be6 7.N1c3 a6 8.Na3 Nf6 9.Bc4 Be7 10.O-O O-O 11.Re1)

This short game was played in a team match called Limitless Chess vs France/Deutschland Group. The match is played on 87 boards and I played on board 23 for Limitless Chess. The score in the match is at the moment I type this 56 - 74 in favor of France/Deutschland Group. It does look bad for our team but the match has not been decided yet, so we could still turn things around. Both of my games against Blutsvente ended in a strange manner, in both game boards it says that my opponent both resigned and lost on time. In my opinion neither position was resignable, so the timeout is a more likely cause to end both of these games. That being said, neither of these games are counted as timeout losses in the team match, so who knows what happened there.

[Event "Limitless Chess vs France/Deutschland Gr"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.07.07"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Blutsvente"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B33"] [WhiteElo "1960"] [BlackElo "1739"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "25"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. a4 Be6 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 Nf6 9. Bc4 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Re1 {B33 Sicilian: Pelikan and Sveshnikov Variations. LiveBook: 6 Games. The position is equal.} Nb4 (11... Rc8 12. Bg5 Nb4 13. Bxf6 Bxc4 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Nxc4 Rxc4 16. a5 (16. Re2 Rfc8 {1/2-1/2 (16) Ivanov,I (2151)-Dochev,D (2369) Plovdiv 2004}) 16... Rfc8 17. Re2 Rd4 18. Qb1 d5 19. exd5 Nxd5 20. Qe1 f6 21. Nxd5 Rxd5 22. Rd2 Rcd8 23. Rxd5 Rxd5 24. Qc3 Qd7 25. h3 h6 26. b3 {Zhigalko,A (2393)-Kasparov,S (2452) Minsk 2001 1/2-1/ 2 (38)}) 12. Nd5 Nbxd5 13. exd5 $146 {Loss on time!?} (13. Bxd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Bd7 15. Nc4 Rc8 16. b3 b5 17. axb5 axb5 18. Na5 f5 19. Bd2 e4 20. Bb4 Bf6 21. Ra2 Be5 22. Nc6 Bxc6 23. dxc6 Kh8 24. Ra6 Qh4 25. g3 Qh3 26. f4 exf3 27. Qxf3 f4 {Buchner,M-Jelen,I (2345) Schwarzach 1998 0-1 (40)}) 1-0

D35 Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 O-O 7.Bd3 Nc6)

The game below was played in a team match called ☼ The Farm ☼ vs Historical Association. It was played on 72 boards and I played on board 8 for Historical Association. Luckily other members of Historical Association were in better shape than I was during this match and we ended up winning the match with a score of 67 - 77! I was only able to get a draw out of the two games I played against MENTAC, though I had chances to win the game below. My poor technique meant that I had to agree to a draw on move 78. I might have had some small chances in the position where the game ended but as I saw or at least thought I saw that my opponent could easily draw this position, I agreed to his draw offer.

Today I played in the first round of a tournament at the chess club where I occasionally play over the board chess. The time controls in the tournament are 1 hour for 40 moves and 15 minutes to the end of the game. I played with the black pieces against a friend of mine who likes to play the King's Gambit. Before the game I thought I probably should avoid it completely, but when we started to play, I replied his 1.e4 with 1...e5. It was no surprise that his second move was f4. I think I managed to get an ok position from the opening but later I did one careless move which gave him a bit too much initiative that I would have liked. When the first time scramble started he made a sacrifice that I believed to be completely losing for him and it would have probably been the losing sequence if I had played correctly after the smoke cleared but I did not and kept making bad moves and in the final time scramble, I had to resign.

[Event "N The Farm N vs Historical Associati"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.01.21"] [Round "?"] [White "MENTAC"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D35"] [WhiteElo "2038"] [BlackElo "1967"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "155"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 Nc6 { D35 Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation} 8. Nge2 Bg4 (8... Be6 9. O-O Qd7 10. Ng3 h6 11. Bf4 Rfc8 12. Rc1 Bf8 13. Bb1 Ne7 14. Qd3 g6 15. e4 dxe4 16. Ncxe4 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Nd5 18. Be5 b6 19. Qg3 Bf5 20. Rfe1 Bg7 21. h4 Re8 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. h5 {De la Rosa,D (2125) -Johansen,M (2210) Tjele 1995 1-0 (40)}) 9. h3 $146 (9. f3 Be6 (9... Bh5 10. Ng3 Bg6 11. O-O Nb4 12. Bxg6 hxg6 13. a3 Nc6 14. Qb3 Na5 15. Qb5 c6 16. Qd3 Nc4 17. Rf2 Kh8 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. Rd1 Qd6 20. e4 Bh4 21. e5 Qe7 22. f4 Bxg3 23. hxg3 Qe6 24. b3 {Morus,A (1159)-Halmajan,I (1273) Baile Felix 2017 1/2-1/2}) 10. O-O h6 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Rc1 Bg5 13. f4 Be7 14. Bb1 f5 15. a3 Rf6 16. Ng3 Qd7 17. Qc2 Raf8 18. Na4 Rg6 19. Nc5 Bxc5 20. Qxc5 Rg4 21. Qb5 Rb8 22. Rc3 a6 23. Qb3 Na5 {Boos,P (1442)-Marquardt,P (1269) Willingen 2004 1-0 (34)}) (9. O-O Re8 (9... a6 10. f3 Bh5 11. Bh4 Qd6 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Nf4 Bg6 14. Bxg6 fxg6 15. Nfxd5 Rae8 16. Nxf6+ Qxf6 17. Qb3+ Rf7 18. Ne4 Qe7 19. Qxb7 Nd8 20. Qxa6 Ne6 21. Qd3 Ref8 22. Qc3 Rf5 23. b4 Rh5 24. a4 { Schrik,R-Koning,B Hengelo 1996 1-0}) 10. a3 a6 11. Bc2 Ne4 12. Bxe7 Rxe7 13. f3 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Bd7 15. e4 dxe4 16. fxe4 Re8 17. Qd3 Qg5 18. Nf4 Rad8 19. e5 g6 20. Qf3 Bf5 21. Bb3 Rf8 22. Nd5 Be6 23. Nf6+ Kg7 {Yang,D (2124)-El Felo,S Kemeri 2007 1-0}) 9... Be6 10. Nf4 {White is better.} h6 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Nxe6 fxe6 13. O-O Be7 14. Qb3 b6 {1.18/24} (14... Bd6 $14 {0.56/26}) 15. Qc2 { 0.06/25} (15. Qa4 $16 {1.18/24} Nb4 16. Be2) 15... Nb4 $11 16. Bh7+ Kh8 17. Qb1 Rc8 18. Ne2 Bd6 19. a3 Nc6 20. Bd3 Ne7 21. e4 c5 22. Bb5 Nc6 {0.58/24} (22... Bc7 $11 {0.07/28}) 23. Qa2 {-0.37/25} (23. e5 $14 {0.58/24} Bb8 24. Ba6) 23... Be7 {0.19/26} (23... cxd4 $15 {-0.37/25} 24. exd5 exd5) 24. dxc5 bxc5 25. Rad1 d4 {0.91/25} (25... Ne5 $11 {0.04/29} 26. exd5 c4) 26. Qxe6 $16 Rf6 27. Qc4 { 0.00/26} (27. Qg4 $1 $16 {1.00/24}) 27... Qb6 {0.81/22} (27... Ne5 $11 {0.00/26 } 28. Qa4 Rb8) 28. Qa4 {0.32/31} ({Better is} 28. Bxc6 $16 {0.81/22} Rfxc6 29. b3) 28... Ne5 $14 29. f4 Ng6 {1.45/23} (29... c4 $11 {0.23/28} 30. Kh2 (30. fxe5 $2 d3+ 31. Nd4 Rxf1+ 32. Rxf1 Qxd4+ 33. Kh1 Qxe5 $19) (30. Nxd4 Nd3 $17) ( 30. Rxd4 $2 Bc5 $19) 30... a6) 30. Bd7 {0.00/27} (30. e5 $16 {1.45/23} Rff8 31. Kh2) 30... Rb8 31. e5 Rff8 32. Bg4 {-1.02/26} (32. Qc4 $11 {0.01/29}) 32... Qxb2 {0.07/27} (32... d3 $17 {-1.02/26} 33. Ng3 (33. Rxd3 $2 c4+ 34. Rd4 Nxf4 $19) 33... Nxf4) 33. Qxa7 $11 Ra8 34. Qd7 Qxa3 {0.73/23} (34... c4 $11 { 0.08/29 remains equal.} 35. Qxd4 (35. Nxd4 Nxf4 36. Bf3 Rae8 $11) 35... Qxd4+ 36. Nxd4 Nxf4) 35. Rf3 {0.00/28} (35. Kh2 $1 $16 {0.73/23}) 35... Qa4 36. Qxa4 Rxa4 37. e6 {-0.94/22} (37. Kh1 $11 {0.00/29 keeps the balance.}) 37... Ra2 { -0.40/28} ({Black should play} 37... Bf6 $17 {-0.94/22} 38. Rfd3 Rd8) 38. Rff1 Bd6 {0.06/28} (38... Bf6 $15 {-0.45/24}) 39. g3 {-0.87/24} (39. Nc3 $1 $11 { 0.06/28} Raa8 (39... dxc3 40. Rxd6) 40. Ne4 Bxf4 41. Nxc5) 39... Ne7 {0.09/27} (39... Ra3 $17 {-0.87/24 aiming for ...d3.} 40. Rf3 Rfa8) 40. Nc1 $2 {-1.68/24 [#]} (40. Nc3 $1 $11 {0.09/27} Ra3 (40... dxc3 41. Rxd6) 41. Ne4) 40... Ra3 $19 41. Nd3 Nd5 {-0.64/28} (41... g6 $19 {-1.70/23} 42. Be2 Rc8) 42. Rf3 Ne3 $36 { Black is in control.} 43. Ne5 {-1.87/25} (43. Rxe3 $1 $17 {-0.80/30} dxe3 44. Ne5 Bxe5 45. e7) 43... Bxe5 $1 44. fxe5 Rxf3 45. Bxf3 {[#] Endgame Intending e7 and mate. KRB-KRN} Ra6 $1 ({Don't go for} 45... Nxd1 $2 46. e7 $18) 46. Rc1 {-2.40/27} (46. e7 $17 {-1.50/34} Re6 47. Ra1 Rxe7 48. Ra8+ Kh7 49. Be4+ g6 50. Rc8) 46... c4 ({Worse is} 46... Rxe6 47. Rxc5 Kg8 48. Kf2 $14) 47. Rb1 Rxe6 48. Rb8+ {-2.90/31} (48. Rb5 $142 {-2.05/30}) 48... Kh7 49. Be4+ g6 50. Rb7+ Kg8 51. Rb8+ $2 {-3.43/26} (51. Kf2 $17 {-1.60/30 is a better defense.}) 51... Kf7 52. Rb7+ {-4.97/25} (52. Rd8 $142 {-3.42/28} Rxe5 53. Rd7+ Kf6 54. Rxd4) 52... Ke8 53. Rb8+ Kd7 54. Rb7+ Kc8 55. Rg7 $2 {-8.51/27} (55. Rb5 {-3.31/30} d3 56. Rc5+ Kd7 57. Bf3) 55... g5 56. Rh7 c3 57. Rh8+ Kc7 58. Rh7+ Kb6 59. Rb7+ Kc5 60. Rc7+ Kb4 61. Rb7+ Ka3 62. Ra7+ Kb2 63. Rb7+ Kc1 64. Rd7 Rxe5 65. Rxd4 Rc5 $2 {-2.77/28} (65... Rxe4 $1 {-7.56/26} 66. Rxe4 c2 67. Rxe3 Kd2) 66. Rd3 { -4.31/29} (66. Kf2 $142 {-2.77/28} Nf5 67. Rd8) 66... Nd1 67. Rd6 c2 $2 { -0.72/36} (67... h5 $19 {-3.07/23 And now ...c2 would win.} 68. Rh6 g4 69. hxg4 hxg4) 68. g4 {-1.68/28} (68. Rxh6 $17 {-0.72/36} Re5 69. Bh7) 68... Kb2 { -0.72/38} (68... Rc4 $1 $19 {-1.68/28 and Black stays clearly on top.} 69. Bxc2 Rxc2 70. Rxh6 Kd2) 69. Rb6+ $17 Kc3 70. Bxc2 $1 Kxc2 {KRN-KR} 71. Kf1 Ne3+ 72. Ke2 $2 {-2.41/33} (72. Kf2 $17 {-0.73/35}) 72... Ng2 $19 {...Nf4+ is the strong threat.} 73. Rxh6 Nf4+ $2 {-0.69/33} (73... Rc8 $19 {-2.33/33 White must now prevent ...Rf8.} 74. Rf6 Rc4) 74. Kf1 $2 {-12.06/31} (74. Kf2 $15 { -0.69/33}) 74... Rc3 75. h4 gxh4 $2 {-0.69/32} ({Black should try} 75... Rf3+ $19 {-46.14/30} 76. Kg1 Kd2 77. hxg5 Ke3) 76. Rxh4 $15 {Black is slightly better.} Rf3+ 77. Kg1 Kd2 78. Rh6 {Accuracy: White = 31%, Black = 34%.} 1/2-1/2

C77 Spanish Game: 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nf6, unusual lines (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Nc3 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.d3)

This game was played in the first round of the Smaller Tournament that is held at Chess.com. I was in some real trouble during this game but some inaccuracies by my opponent brought me back to the game and the only reason I won is because Jessemw915 lost on time. This lucky win or unlucky in some ways meant that I advanced to the second round from group #4. In round one I won six games and drew one and lost one. Second place finisher was the opponent I had in this game, Jessemw915, and he managed to get six points, so he was leading the group before the game below ended. Nemoz finished third in the group and he or she ended up getting 5,5 points, so the first three were quite close in points but the last two were far behind the first three as fourth place holder only got two points and the last one in the group lost all his or her games in this tournament. Out of the 200 games that started with this tournament, five games remain to be finished so that round two can begin. I have added two mate in one, one mate in two, one mate in three and one mate in five puzzle today.

[Event "Smaller Tournament - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.07.10"] [Round "?"] [White "Jessemw915"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C77"] [WhiteElo "1533"] [BlackElo "1966"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "32"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] {[%evp 13,32,13,12,10,54,29,29,5,26,32,24,-8,55,-25,78,81,159,152,157,-43,0]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {[%mdl 32]} a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Nc3 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. d3 {C77 Spanish Game: 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nf6, unusual lines} h6 {LiveBook: 37 Games} 8. Be3 Qe7 {0.54/24} (8... Bxe3 $11 {0.10/27 feels stronger.} 9. fxe3 d6) (8... Bb6 9. a4 b4 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. Bxd5 Qe7 12. O-O Bb7 13. Bxb6 cxb6 14. d4 d6 15. Qd2 a5 16. c3 O-O 17. Rfe1 Rac8 18. Rac1 Rfd8 19. g3 Qd7 20. Qe3 bxc3 21. Rxc3 Nb4 22. Bxb7 Qxb7 23. Rec1 {El Taher,F (2497)-Breckenridge,S (2320) Sharjah 2014 1/2-1/2 (49)}) (8... d6 9. a4 Rb8 10. axb5 axb5 11. h3 O-O 12. O-O Nd4 13. Bxd4 Bxd4 14. Nxd4 exd4 15. Ne2 c5 16. c3 dxc3 17. bxc3 Qb6 18. Ng3 Be6 19. Rb1 Bd7 20. d4 Rfe8 21. Re1 Qc7 22. Qf3 Be6 23. Nf5 {Bierenbroodspot,P (2093) -Markgraf,S (2121) Germany 2017 1/2-1/2 (41)}) 9. a3 $146 (9. Nd5 Nxd5 10. Bxd5 Bxe3 (10... Bb7 11. Bxc5 Qxc5 12. Nxe5 O-O-O 13. O-O Nxe5 14. Bxb7+ Kxb7 15. d4 Qe7 16. dxe5 Qxe5 17. Qd5+ Qxd5 18. exd5 Rhe8 19. Rfe1 d6 20. h3 Re5 21. Rad1 Kb6 22. Rxe5 dxe5 23. Rd3 f6 24. b4 Rd7 25. a4 {Julian Solera,L (1781)-Serra Vilaro,A (2013) Barcelona 2014 0-1 (33)}) 11. fxe3 Rb8 12. O-O Nd8 13. Qe1 c6 14. Bb3 d6 15. Qg3 g6 16. d4 h5 17. h4 exd4 18. exd4 Bg4 19. e5 O-O 20. exd6 Qd7 21. Ng5 Ne6 22. Ne4 Qa7 23. c3 Rbd8 {Milano,M-Parra,D Paracotos 2005 1-0 (37)}) 9... O-O {White has an edge.} 10. Qd2 Bxe3 11. fxe3 d6 12. O-O-O Bd7 { 0.55/24} ({Black should try} 12... Rb8 $11 {-0.08/26}) 13. Rhf1 {-0.25/25} (13. Rhg1 $14 {0.55/24}) 13... Rfb8 {0.78/26} (13... Na5 $11 {-0.25/25 keeps the balance.}) 14. Nh4 $16 a5 {1.59/26} (14... Ra7 $142 {0.81/27}) 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. exd5 $2 {-0.43/24 [#]} ({Only move:} 16. Bxd5 $16 {1.57/27} Qxh4 17. Rxf7) 16... Nd8 {0.00/29 [%mdl 32768] Accuracy: White = 29%, Black = 25%. . Loss on time!?} (16... Qxh4 $15 {-0.43/24} 17. dxc6 Be6) 0-1

C60 Spanish Game: Unusual Black 3rd moves and 3...g6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nge7 5.O-O g6 6.c3 Bg7 7.d4 exd4 8.cxd4)

Today I will share my latest loss from Queen Alice Internet Chess Club. The way I am playing there at the moment, the next latest loss from there will be the next game that finishes there. The game below is from the second round of the AUTO-MASTER-2135 tournament that is still being played. I doubt it will be for much longer though, because the only remaining game in that tournament is my other game against Evandrobit and I have a feeling it will soon end... This tournament of course started as well as a tournament can start because I won all my games on round one. The second round seems to be the complete opposite of round one, I have lost all my games on round two and will most likely lose the last game in progress aswell. Of all the correspondence chess sites, my rating at Queen Alice Internet Chess Club is clearly the highest and at the moment it is the only thing that might keep me playing there. That is because the site has one major weakness, tournaments can go to a situation where they are never completed. The reason for this is that there is no automatic timeout in any of the games. I have two tournaments going there that are likely never going to be finished. The one that started in 2011 does not matter to me all that much because I have finished all my games in that tournament years ago, but the other one started only last year and it is halted by two players who are unwilling to claim their timeout wins. One reason for this might be that because they have no chance to advance in that tournament so why would they bother to finish their games and give other people the opportunity to win the tournament... I would always claim the timeouts, so that the tournament can continue even if I could no longer win it myself. That latter tournament I am interested in because I would be advancing to the next round if those two players would claim their wins. I have added one mate in one, one mate in three, one mate in five, one mate in six and one mate in seven puzzle today. Until tomorrow, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

[Event "AUTO-MASTER-2135"] [Site "http://www.queenalice.com/gam"] [Date "2015.05.14"] [Round "2"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Evandrobit"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C60"] [WhiteElo "2189"] [BlackElo "2305"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "42"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] {[%evp 15,42,33,66,0,34,-53,-59,-72,-81,-193,-192,-256,-189,-179,-189,-281, -262,-282,-272,-272,-271,-294,-297,-276,-275,-443,-411,-812,-795]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nge7 {C70 Spanish Game: Morphy Defense, Cozio Defense} 5. O-O g6 6. c3 Bg7 7. d4 exd4 8. cxd4 {C60 Spanish Game: Unusual Black 3rd moves and 3...g6} d5 {LiveBook: 5 Games} 9. e5 {0.00/29} (9. exd5 $14 {0.66/25} Nxd5 10. Re1+ (10. Bg5 Qd6 $11) 10... Be6 11. Bg5) 9... O-O {[%mdl 32]} 10. Nc3 {-0.53/25} (10. h3 $14 {0.34/26}) 10... Bg4 $15 {Black is slightly better.} 11. Be3 f6 12. exf6 {-1.93/23} (12. Bxc6 $17 {-0.81/26} Nxc6 13. exf6 Qxf6 14. Nxd5 ) 12... Rxf6 $19 ({Don't do} 12... Bxf6 13. Re1 $17) 13. Qe2 $146 {-2.56/22} ( 13. Rc1 $142 {-1.92/26}) (13. Bb3 Qd7 14. Ne4 Rf5 15. Nc5 Qc8 16. Bc2 Rf7 17. Kh1 Bxf3 18. gxf3 Qh3 19. f4 b6 20. Nb3 Nb4 21. Nd2 Nxc2 22. Qxc2 Nf5 23. Qb3 Rd8 24. Rg1 c5 25. dxc5 d4 26. cxb6 dxe3 27. b7 Rb8 {Frick,R (2103) -Papatryfonos,C (2107) Andorra la Vella 2009 0-1}) 13... Bxf3 14. gxf3 Re6 15. Qd2 {-2.81/24} (15. Qd3 $142 {-1.89/28}) 15... Nf5 16. Bxc6 bxc6 ({Don't play} 16... Rxc6 17. Kh1 $19) 17. Kh1 Qf6 18. Rad1 Nh4 19. f4 Qf5 20. f3 $2 {-4.43/ 27 [#]} (20. Rg1 {-2.75/29}) 20... Qh3 21. Qf2 {-8.12/27} (21. Bg1 $142 { -4.11/30} Bh6 22. Rf2) {[%tqu "En","","","","e6e3","",10]} 21... Rxe3 $1 { [%mdl 512] Accuracy: White = 27%, Black = 67%.} 0-1

C47 Scotch Four Knights and Four Knights with 4.g3 (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.d3 d5)

This tournament is still one of the worst that I have played at the FIDE Online Arena. In these first three rounds, I lost two out of three despite the fact that I was clearly the higher rated player in all of those three games. In the last two rounds of the tournament I did won both of the remaining games but because the last round game I won on time, due to the fact that my opponent did not make any moves in that game, it did feel a bit like a tournament where nothing goes my way. In the few months time that have passed since this game was played, I think that my playing strength has improved enough that these kind of bad performances are not likely to appear as often as they may have appeared in the past. My recent statistics should be confirming my current improvement in strength, I have managed to get to the 98.7 percentile at Chess.com's Online Chess ratings. The fact that I had a streak of 20 games at the FIDE Online Arena with a score of 13 wins, 6 draws and 1 loss would also suggest that I am doing something right. Still those stats might be a bit misleading because I have faced only one opponent in those 20 games. After that 20 game period I have a lost two games in a row. Those games are part of the 100 game match I am playing against a friend of mine that when I started playing chess in over the board tournaments, I lost pretty much all the time against him. I have added one mate in one, one mate in three, one mate in four and two mate in five puzzles today. Until Monday, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

[Event "Tournament 28604120"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.04.05"] [Round "3"] [White "vannan"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C47"] [WhiteElo "1547"] [BlackElo "1869"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "39"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] {[%evp 9,39,-55,-22,-58,-57,-64,-63,-86,-33,-28,-29,-48,-34,-58,-22,-23,0,0,0, -10,28,39,1104,1122,1319,524,1333,1325,1325,1310,1405,1248]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nf6 {C46 Four Knights Game: General} 4. d3 d5 {C47 Scotch Four Knights and Four Knights with 4.g3} 5. Qe2 (5. Bg5 dxe4 6. dxe4 Qxd1+ 7. Rxd1 Bb4 {1/2-1/2 (7) Krasnov,V (2352) -Parfjonov,P (2252) Yaroslavl 1995}) 5... dxe4 6. Nxe4 Be7 $146 (6... Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8. Qe3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 Nd4 10. Qd1 Qd5 11. f3 Qc6 12. Nc3 Bb4 13. Bd2 Rd8 14. a3 Ba5 15. Be2 Nd5 16. Qc1 Bxc3 17. O-O Nxe2+ 18. Kh1 Nxc1 19. Raxc1 Bxd2 20. Rcd1 Bf4 21. c4 {Baraut,A (1299)-Bignon, A (1550) France 2004 0-1}) 7. Bd2 O-O 8. O-O-O {Black is slightly better.} Qd5 {-0.33/26} (8... a5 $17 {-0.86/20}) 9. Kb1 $15 Be6 10. Nc3 Qa5 {[%tqu "En","", "","","f3g5","",10]} 11. Ng5 $1 Bg4 12. f3 Bf5 13. g4 Bd7 14. h4 Nd5 15. Qe4 $36 {[%mdl 2048] [#] White has the initiative.} Nxc3+ $4 {11.04/23 [%mdl 8192]} (15... Nf6 $14 {0.39/25} 16. Qe3 Nd4) 16. Bxc3 $18 {White is clearly winning.} ({Not} 16. bxc3 g6 $17) 16... f5 17. gxf5 {5.24/27} (17. Bxa5 fxe4 18. dxe4 Nxa5 $16) (17. Qc4+ $142 {13.19/24} Kh8 18. Bxa5) 17... Bxf5 18. Qc4+ ({ Less strong is} 18. Bxa5 Bxe4 19. fxe4 (19. Nxe4 Nxa5 20. Be2 Nc6 $11) 19... Bxg5 $16) 18... Kh8 19. Bxa5 Nxa5 20. Qxc7 {Accuracy: White = 67%, Black = 20%. } 1-0

B59 Classical Sicilian: 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Be3 O-O 9.O-O)

This was played in the second round of a rapid chess tournament that was played at the FIDE Online Arena on April 5th 2015. In the first round of this tournament I lost against a player who was rated almost 300 points lower than me, so the tournament had not gone all that well and winning on this second round against a player who was lower rated by over 500 points was only a small consolation. Tomorrow I will post a third round game from this same tournament and I will type more about this tournament then.

I would like to thank all of you who have followed me on Google+ and Twitter and also people who have shared my posts, it is much appreciated! After this post there are 882 analysed chess games of mine posted in here and 374 different opening variations are featured in those games. Out of those 882 games, I have won 568 (64.4%), drawn 74 (8.39%) and lost 240 (27.21%). It might be also interesting to note that the most featured opening variation in this blog, A20 English Opening: King's English Variation. General, has only 30 games in it which means that learning opening theory might not be all that useful because I faced the exact same line only about 3.4% of the time. And most of the variations have only one game in them which means most of those opening variations I have only faced about 0.1% of the time. Admittedly that is not the most theoretical opening and most of the games that were played in that variation were played years ago when my main opening move with White was c4. In those times I knew very little about different openings or how they are supposed to be played. I may not be expert on openings even to this day but I have much better knowledge of them since I started blogging again. I have, for instance, started to remember the ECO codes of some lines quite well, I mean after nearly 900 games of searching for the opening played in a game, I should start remembering something about them... I have added one mate in one, two mate in two, one mate in three and one mate in four puzzle today.

[Event "Tournament 28604120"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.04.05"] [Round "2"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "kbskk2004"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B59"] [WhiteElo "1743"] [BlackElo "1225"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] {[%evp 16,82,14,14,33,19,32,10,97,91,99,93,119,91,130,118,298,291,281,281,275, 71,78,0,928,946,954,908,1341,891,907,911,1409,1395,1404,1363,1383,1297,1295, 1271,29979,6334,29988,29989,29991,29992,29992,29993,29993,29994,29994,29995, 29996,29995,29995,29994,29994,29995,29995,29996,29997,29997,29997,29998,29998, 29998,29998,29999,29999]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 {B59 Sicilian Defense: Boleslavsky Variation} Be7 8. Be3 O-O 9. O-O {B59 Classical Sicilian: 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 LiveBook: 208 Games} b6 (9... h6 10. Bf3 Be6 11. h3 Na5 12. Nxa5 Qxa5 13. Qd2 Rfc8 14. Kh2 a6 15. g4 Nh7 16. Be2 b5 17. f4 b4 18. Nd5 Bxd5 19. exd5 Bf6 20. g5 exf4 21. gxf6 fxe3 22. Qxe3 Nxf6 23. Rxf6 gxf6 24. Rg1+ {Sousa,N-Leonardo,J (2245) Portugal 1993 0-1}) 10. Qd2 ( 10. f4 Bb7 11. Bf3 Rc8 12. a3 Nd7 13. f5 Nc5 14. Nd5 Bg5 15. Bf2 Ne7 16. Nxc5 dxc5 17. c4 Nc6 18. Bg4 Ra8 19. Qd3 Nd4 20. b3 Bxd5 21. cxd5 Bf6 22. Rac1 Rc8 23. Be3 Rc7 24. Rc3 Qe7 {Kabanova,I (1997)-Buldakova,I (1762) Russia 2012 1/ 2-1/2 (47)}) 10... Bb7 11. Rad1 Na5 $146 {0.97/23} (11... Nb8 $11 {0.10/24 keeps the balance.}) (11... Rc8 12. Bg5 Ne8 13. Be3 Qd7 14. h3 Nf6 15. Bg5 Ne8 16. Bg4 Qd8 17. Bxc8 Bxg5 18. Bxb7 Bxd2 19. Rxd2 Qc7 20. Ba6 f5 21. Rfd1 fxe4 22. Nxe4 Qf7 23. Bb5 Ne7 24. Rd3 d5 25. Rf3 Nf6 26. Nxf6+ {Van Willenswaard,C (1463)-Van der Vlies,F (1406) Enschede 2010 0-1 (51)}) 12. Nxa5 $16 bxa5 13. f3 Rc8 14. Bxa7 d5 15. exd5 {[#] Threatens to win with d6.} Bc5+ $2 {2.98/27} ( 15... Bb4 $16 {1.18/26 is a better defense.}) 16. Bxc5 $18 Rxc5 17. Qe3 Qd6 18. Nb5 $2 {0.71/27} (18. Qf2 $18 {2.75/23 has better winning chances.}) 18... Qb6 $16 19. Nc3 {0.00/30} ({White should try} 19. Na3 $16 {0.78/24}) 19... Rd8 $2 { 9.28/23 [%mdl 8192] [#]} (19... Qd6 $11 {0.00/30}) 20. Na4 $18 Qb4 21. Nxc5 Nxd5 22. a3 Qb6 23. Qf2 h6 24. Nxb7 Qxb7 25. c4 Qxb2 26. cxd5 Qxa3 27. Qb6 Ra8 28. d6 a4 29. d7 {White mates.} Qf8 30. d8=Q Qxd8 31. Rxd8+ Rxd8 32. Qxd8+ Kh7 33. Bd3+ g6 34. Qd7 Kg7 35. Qxa4 h5 36. Rc1 Kh6 37. Rc7 f5 38. Qd7 Kg5 39. g3 Kh6 {[%tqu "En","","","","d3f5","",10]} 40. Bxf5 $1 Kg5 (40... gxf5 41. Qg7#) 41. h4+ Kf6 42. Qe6# {Accuracy: White = 22%, Black = 12%.} 1-0

C12 French: Classical System, McCutcheon Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.e5 h6 6.exf6 hxg5 7.fxg7 Rg8 8.Qd3)

This game is from round two of the French 2014 thematic tournament that is being played at Chess.com. This has been quite a difficult tournament for me so far, in the first round I managed to barely advance to the second round, I got only half a point more than the player who finished fourth in the group. There were a FIDE Master and an International Master playing in the same group as I was on round one and against both I got what I thought a surprising amount of points. Against the FIDE Master who was rated at the time 2456, I managed to get a draw and lost a game. The IM I won in one of the games and the other I lost. All of those games can be seen in this blog. On round two I am very close of being eliminated from the rest of the tournament once again. I have only one game left to finish and if I win that game, I will advance to the third round, otherwise I am eliminated from the tournament. It might not be a surprise to anyone at this point that it is also the last game in this round. The game is played between me and albatros1, who I faced in the game below as well. I am not sure why my opponent agreed to draw this game but I am happy he or she did because I am quite lost in the final position. I have added two mate in one, one mate in three, one mate in six and one mate in eight puzzle today.

[Event "French 2014 - Round 2"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.01.06"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "albatros1"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C12"] [WhiteElo "1959"] [BlackElo "1980"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] {[%evp 15,89,0,0,-20,0,0,0,0,0,-10,-11,0,0,-40,-30,-79,-52,-116,-117,-188,-187, -181,-181,-197,-141,-291,-240,-280,-270,-360,-292,-844,-852,-712,-592,-1013, -989,-655,-636,-635,-599,-805,-797,-769,-750,-670,-246,-246,-49,-47,-32,-58,0, 0,0,0,0,0,169,0,169,169,645,633,652,270,220,-33,-12,-112,824,-332,-302,-319, -302,-1544]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. exf6 {C12 French Defense: MacCutcheon Variation, Chigorin Variation} hxg5 7. fxg7 Rg8 8. Qd3 {C12 French: Classical System: McCutcheon Variation} Qf6 {LiveBook: 3 Games } 9. g3 $146 (9. Nf3 c5 10. Ne5 a6 11. O-O-O Nc6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. f3 Rb8 15. h4 gxh4 16. Qh7 Be3+ 17. Kb1 Rxg7 18. Qh8+ Kd7 19. Rd3 Bg5 20. b3 Rg6 21. Qxf6 Bxf6 22. Ne4 Be7 23. c4 a5 {Pazo,A-Guimard,C Argentina 1936 0-1 (36)}) (9. O-O-O Rxg7 (9... a6 10. Qe3 Be7 11. g4 Nd7 12. Bg2 Nb6 13. Nge2 Bd7 14. Kb1 Qxg7 15. Nc1 O-O-O 16. h3 Bd6 17. Nb3 Kb8 18. a3 Bc8 19. Qf3 c6 20. Bf1 f6 21. Bd3 e5 22. Bf5 Rh8 23. Bxc8 Rxc8 24. Qg3 {Pons,A-Engels,L Montevideo 1941 1/2-1/2 (46)}) 10. Nf3 Nc6 11. Qe3 Bxc3 12. Qxc3 Bd7 13. Bb5 Qf4+ 14. Kb1 f6 15. g3 Qd6 16. h4 g4 17. Bxc6 Bxc6 18. Nd2 O-O-O 19. h5 Rh8 20. h6 Rgh7 21. Qe3 Bd7 22. Rh4 b6 23. Rdh1 e5 {Pastar,S (2249)-Skare,G (2278) Belgrade 2016 0-1 (61)}) (9. a3 Bxc3+ 10. Qxc3 Nc6 11. Bb5 Bd7 12. Nf3 O-O-O 13. Bxc6 Bxc6 14. Ne5 Rd6 15. O-O-O Qxg7 16. Qf3 Be8 17. g3 f6 18. Nd3 Bg6 19. Qe3 Bxd3 20. Rxd3 Rh8 21. h4 Rh5 22. f4 Qh8 23. Qf2 g4 {Collier,P-Welch,C Nottingham 1946 1-0 (34)}) 9... c5 10. a3 Bxc3+ {The position is equal.} 11. bxc3 c4 12. Qe3 Nc6 13. Nf3 Qxg7 14. Bg2 Bd7 15. O-O {-0.79/28} (15. h4 $11 { -0.30/29}) 15... O-O-O 16. Rfb1 {-1.16/25} (16. Ne5 $15 {-0.52/26}) 16... f5 $17 17. Rb2 {-1.88/28} (17. a4 $17 {-1.17/27}) {[%tqu "En","","","","f5f4","", 10]} 17... f4 $1 $36 {[%mdl 2560] Keeping White busy.} 18. Qe1 (18. gxf4 gxf4) 18... g4 19. Nh4 f3 {-1.41/25} (19... Rh8 $19 {-1.97/26} 20. a4 b6) 20. Bh1 { -2.91/25} (20. Bf1 $17 {-1.41/25}) 20... Rh8 21. Rab1 b6 22. Qe3 Qf6 23. h3 $2 {-8.44/29 [#]} (23. Nxf3 {-2.92/28} gxf3 24. Qxf3) 23... Rxh4 24. gxh4 Qxh4 25. Bxf3 gxf3 26. Qxf3 Ne7 27. Kh2 Rg8 28. Rg1 Rxg1 29. Kxg1 Qg5+ 30. Kh2 Ng6 $2 { -2.46/29 [#]} (30... Qc1 {-6.70/25} 31. Qf8+ Kc7) 31. Rb1 Qf4+ $2 {-0.49/29} ( 31... Qe7 $19 {-2.46/25 aiming for ...Nh4.} 32. Rg1 Be8) 32. Qxf4 $15 Nxf4 { [%tqu "En","","","","b1e1", "",10]} 33. Re1 $1 {[%tqu "En","","","","f4h5","", 10]} Kc7 {0.00/40} ({Better is} 33... Nh5 $1 $15 {-0.58/30}) 34. Kg3 $11 Ng6 35. h4 Kd6 36. h5 Ne7 $2 {1.69/35} (36... Nf8 $11 {0.00/38}) 37. Rh1 $2 { 0.00/34} (37. Kf4 $18 {1.69/35} Ba4 38. Re2) {[%tqu "En","","","","d7a4","",10] } 37... Nf5+ $2 {1.69/37} (37... Ba4 $1 $11 {0.00/34}) 38. Kf4 $18 {[%mdl 1024] White has strong compensation.} Nh6 $2 {6.45/31} (38... Ba4 {1.69/43} 39. h6 Bxc2) 39. Kg5 Nf7+ 40. Kg6 {2.70/34} (40. Kf6 $142 {6.52/33} Nh6 41. Kg6) 40... Ke7 41. Kg7 $2 {-0.33/34} (41. h6 $18 {2.20/28}) 41... Nd6 {[%tqu "En","","", "","h1g1","",10]} 42. h6 {-1.12/40} (42. Rg1 $1 $11 {-0.12/34 remains equal.}) 42... Nf5+ $2 {8.24/35 [%mdl 8192]} (42... Be8 $17 {-1.12/40}) {[%tqu "En","", "","","g7g6","",10]} 43. Kg8 $4 {-3.32/31 [%mdl 8192]} (43. Kg6 $1 $18 {8.24/35 }) {[%tqu "En","","","","d7e8","",10]} 43... Be8 $1 $19 44. Kh7 Kf6 45. Kg8 $2 {-15.44/31 [%mdl 32768] Accuracy: White = 22%, Black = 54%. . An unexpected result.} (45. Rh3 {-3.02/34} Kf7 46. Rh2) 1/2-1/2

A08 King's Indian Attack (1.Nf3 d5 2.d3 c5 3.Nbd2 Nf6 4.g3 Nc6 5.Bg2 e5 6.e4)

It is time once more to look at my FIDE Online Arena games and tomorrow I will publish some of my Chess.com Online Chess games. After I started doing these blog updates from Monday to Friday instead of every day, it has given me some extra time on weekends to prepare the content that I am going to post in the following week. It takes some of the pressure off from doing these posts when you know that you have something to post the next day. This game was played in the first round of a rapid chess tournament at the FIDE Online Arena. Whenever I lose in the first round against a player who is rated almost 300 points lower than me, I just know the tournament will not go well for me. This tournament did not end up as a huge disaster even with this bad start, admittedly it was not a huge success either because I won three games and lost two. It was slightly on the negative side still because the last round game I did win but only because my opponent did not make any moves in that game and lost on time. All my opponents were also lower rated than me to make my results even worse.

I have played some games again at the FIDE Online Arena again, today I played a couple of 15 minute games against a friend of mine there that are part of the 100 game match that we agreed to play. It has been going on quite a long time, because the first games were played two years ago I think. Then the match halted for some reason or the other for that two year period and then this year we continued the match again. The first 20 games were the old games of that match and were played at ICC, now we have played another 20 games, this time at the FIDE Online Arena. After the first twenty games my friend lead the series 10.5 - 9.5 but now the match has taken a different direction all together and I now lead the match 23.5 - 16.5. There are still 60 games to play so anything can happen but at the moment it does look good for me. I have added two mate in one, one mate in two, one mate in five and one mate in six puzzle today.

[Event "Tournament 28604120"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.04.05"] [Round "1"] [White "SHIVAKUMAR"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A08"] [WhiteElo "1466"] [BlackElo "1743"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] {[%evp 10,63,-25,-26,-11,-45,-17,-66,-8,0,24,33,28,22,25,14,17,8,28,33,41,21, 14,26,49,1,50,39,54,52,40,58,41,27,67,31,35,0,35,-54,-63,-105,-63,-75,-61,-79, -17,-44,0,0,0,0,683,683,29996,29997]} 1. Nf3 d5 2. d3 {A06 Zukertort Opening: Old Indian Attack} c5 3. Nbd2 Nf6 4. g3 Nc6 5. Bg2 e5 6. e4 {A08 King's Indian Attack. LiveBook: 114 Games} Be6 7. c3 (7. O-O dxe4 (7... Qc7 8. Re1 O-O-O 9. c3 d4 10. Qc2 Bd6 11. a4 h6 12. Nh4 g6 13. Nb3 c4 14. dxc4 Bxc4 15. Nd2 Be6 16. Qb1 Be7 17. Bf1 Nd7 18. Nhf3 Nc5 19. cxd4 Nxd4 20. Nxd4 Rxd4 21. Nf3 Rxa4 22. Rxa4 {Berger,N (1813)-Mao,Y (1897) Germany 2017 1-0}) 8. dxe4 Nd7 9. c3 c4 10. Qe2 Na5 11. b4 cxb3 12. axb3 Qc7 13. Ng5 Qxc3 14. Nxe6 fxe6 15. Ra2 Nc6 16. Bb2 Nd4 17. Qh5+ g6 18. Bxc3 gxh5 19. Bxd4 exd4 20. e5 Nxe5 21. Bxb7 Rb8 {Visser,Y (2453)-Bertholee,R (2382) Hoogeveen 2001 1-0 (73)}) 7... Be7 $146 (7... Bd6 8. O-O O-O 9. Ng5 Bg4 10. Bf3 Bxf3 11. Ngxf3 Re8 12. Re1 d4 13. cxd4 cxd4 14. Nc4 b5 15. Nxd6 Qxd6 16. Nh4 Rac8 17. Nf5 Qe6 18. Bd2 Ne7 19. Nxe7+ Rxe7 20. Kg2 h6 21. Ba5 Qa6 22. Qd2 {Kopp,P (2018)-Lutz,A (2206) Sooden Allendorf 2015 1/2-1/2 (64)}) 8. h3 {-0.66/24} (8. exd5 $11 {-0.17/27 feels stronger.} Nxd5 9. O-O) 8... Qc8 {-0.08/29} (8... d4 $15 {-0.66/24} 9. cxd4 cxd4) 9. Ng5 $11 O-O 10. Nxe6 fxe6 11. O-O Qd7 12. Qe2 Rad8 13. Nf3 Bd6 (13... c4 $5) 14. Bg5 Qf7 15. Rac1 h6 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. Nh2 {0.01/26} (17. exd5 $14 {0.49/22 should be considered.} exd5 18. c4) 17... Bc7 {0.50/25} (17... d4 $11 {0.01/26}) 18. Ng4 $14 Qg5 19. h4 Qg6 20. exd5 exd5 21. a3 Rfe8 22. h5 Qg5 23. Nh2 Qf5 24. Nf3 { -0.54/25} (24. Qg4 $14 {0.35/27} Rf8 25. c4) 24... Qxh5 $15 25. Qc2 {-1.05/21} (25. Nd4 $15 {-0.63/25} Qxe2 26. Nxe2) 25... Kh8 {-0.63/25} (25... e4 $17 { -1.05/21} 26. dxe4 dxe4) 26. Nh2 Qf5 27. Nf3 {[%mdl 32]} e4 {-0.17/27} (27... Qf6 $17 {-0.79/22} 28. Nd2 Qg6) 28. Nh4 Qh7 {0.00/32} (28... exd3 $15 {-0.44/ 24 might be stronger.} 29. Nxf5 dxc2 30. Rxc2 Re5) 29. dxe4 $11 dxe4 {[#] aiming for ...g5.} 30. Rce1 e3 $2 {6.83/31 [%mdl 8192]} (30... g5 $11 {0.00/30} 31. Bxe4 Rxe4 32. Qxe4 Qxe4 33. Rxe4 gxh4) 31. Ng6+ $18 Kg8 32. Qb3+ {Accuracy: White = 40%, Black = 16%.} 1-0

A00 Irregular Openings (1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nxe4 e5 4.Bc4 Bf5)

The game below is my 297th finished game from Red Hot Pawn. Once upon a time the site where I had played most of my correspondence chess games was RHP but in the last few months the number one spot has gone quite clearly to Chess.com. There I have played 405 correspondence chess games so far. Red Hot Pawn will always be a special place to me because it was the first site where I ever played correspondence chess and I will continue playing there regularly until who knows how long. This game was played in the third round of the 2014 August Banded Threesomes I 1700-1800 tournament. In round three there is only one group left and whoever wins this group, wins the tournament. This is the first and so far the only game to have finished for me in this round and even though I still have theoretical chances to win the group and the tournament, I think that it is very unlikely thing to happen. At least considering how the other games are going. I advanced from the first round with one other player as we tied on points. The second round was a bit easier for me and I advanced to the third round with relative ease, this time I was the sole winner of the group. During this third round I have even dropped my rating so much at Red Hot Pawn that I am now the weakest player in this round, based on the rating that is. Well, there might not have been that huge drop because I was probably only third highest anyway in this four people group before my rating started to drop.

[Event "Banded Threesomes"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2015.07.04"] [Round "3"] [White "Paullli"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "1993"] [BlackElo "1866"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. Nc3 d5 2. e4 dxe4 3. Nxe4 e5 4. Bc4 Bf5 {A00 Irregular Openings} 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Nf3 (6. d3 Nf6 7. Bg5 Be7 8. N1e2 h6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. O-O O-O 11. c3 Nc6 12. f4 Qd7 13. f5 Bh7 14. Ne4 Qe7 15. N2g3 Na5 16. Bb3 Rfd8 17. Bc2 Nc4 18. Qf3 Nd6 19. Qg4 Kh8 20. Nxf6 Qxf6 {Kopecky,P (2285)-Skrivanek,J (2206) Pribram 2000 0-1 (48)}) 6... Bd6 $146 {1.09/22} (6... Nc6 $11 {0.19/27} 7. a3 (7. O-O Bd6 8. Re1 Nge7 9. c3 O-O 10. d4 exd4 11. Nxd4 Nxd4 12. Qxd4 Bxg3 13. Qxd8 Raxd8 14. hxg3 Nf5 15. Bg5 Rd7 16. g4 Nd6 17. Rad1 h6 18. Bh4 a6 19. Bb3 Kh7 20. c4 b6 21. Ba4 Rdd8 {Bierwisch,B (2100)-Abele,A (1950) Ellwangen 2000 1-0}) 7... e4 8. Nh4 Qxh4 9. b4 Nf6 10. Bb2 Bd6 11. d4 O-O 12. Nf1 Bh5 13. Qd2 Bf4 14. Qc3 e3 15. g3 exf2+ 16. Kxf2 Qg4 17. d5 Ne4+ 18. Kg2 Nxc3 19. Bxc3 Qf3+ 20. Kg1 Be3+ 21. Nxe3 Qxe3+ {Szymanska,I-Starczewska,M (1879) Mazowsze 2010 0-1}) 7. d4 { -0.14/25} (7. O-O $16 {1.09/22}) 7... exd4 {0.69/23} (7... e4 $11 {-0.14/25} 8. Qe2 Qe7) 8. Nxd4 {0.05/26} (8. O-O $14 {0.69/23}) 8... Ne7 {0.50/24} (8... Qe7+ $11 {0.05/26} 9. Be2 Nc6) 9. O-O O-O 10. f4 {-0.03/30} (10. Bg5 $14 {0.46/24 feels stronger.}) 10... h6 $2 {3.80/23} (10... Bc5 $1 $11 {-0.03/30 and Black has nothing to worry.} 11. c3 Bxd4+ 12. Qxd4 (12. cxd4 Nf5 $11) 12... Qxd4+ 13. cxd4 Nf5) 11. f5 $18 Bh7 12. f6 Nec6 {11.63/23} (12... Be5 $142 {4.05/27}) 13. fxg7 {[#] Hoping for Qg4.} Kxg7 14. Qh5 Ne5 15. Bxh6+ Kg8 16. Bxf8 Qxf8 {[#]} 17. Bb3 {8.46/26} (17. Rxf7 $142 $3 {20.15/26} Nxf7 18. Rf1) 17... Bg6 18. Qg5 Kh7 19. Rae1 Nbd7 20. Ngf5 Bc5 21. Rf4 {White threatens Rxe5! and mate.} Bxd4+ 22. Rxd4 Qc5 23. Qh6+ {Accuracy: White = 39%, Black = 10%.} 1-0

B06 Modern Defence (1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Nc3 a6 5.Be2 b5)

The game below was played in the third round of a rapid chess tournament that was played at the FIDE Online Arena on April 4th 2015. I won the first two games of the tournament, the first one I won after my opponent blundered some pieces and the second one was a win on time in a position that was losing for me. In this game I got outplayed by my opponent after I did some mistakes which grunhyde2004 was able to convert into an advantage for Black. My rapid rating at FIDE Online Arena has increased quite nicely lately and if the games keep going well for me, my next FIDE title will come after 34 more games. After I get the Arena International master title, I will go for the Arena Grandmaster title. If I do happen to get that AGM title, I might start playing over the board games more actively again. But before that happens, I have no real interest in over the board games.

[Event "Tournament 28606340"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.04.04"] [Round "3"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "grunhyde2004"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B06"] [WhiteElo "1747"] [BlackElo "1961"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Nc3 a6 5. Be2 b5 {B06 Modern Defence} 6. a3 Bb7 7. O-O Nd7 {LiveBook: 13 Games} 8. Bf4 {The position is equal.} (8. h3 e6 9. Bg5 Ne7 10. Qd3 h6 11. Bh4 O-O 12. Rfe1 g5 13. Bg3 f5 14. Rad1 Nf6 15. exf5 exf5 16. Nd2 Qd7 17. Nb3 Rae8 18. f3 Nh5 19. Bf2 g4 20. fxg4 Nf4 21. Qg3 Nxg2 22. Rf1 f4 {Holm,S (2256)-Pancevski,F (2484) Dresden 2013 0-1}) (8. Re1 c5 9. Be3 cxd4 10. Bxd4 Ngf6 11. Nd2 O-O 12. f3 e5 13. Be3 Nb6 14. a4 b4 15. a5 bxc3 16. Bxb6 cxd2 17. Bxd8 dxe1=Q+ 18. Qxe1 Rfxd8 19. c4 Nh5 20. g3 f5 21. Bd3 Nf6 22. Kg2 fxe4 {Fuksik,J (2179)-Tikovsky,A (2185) Czech Republic 2017 1-0 (38)}) 8... c5 $146 (8... Ngf6 9. Qd3 c5 10. d5 O-O 11. h3 c4 12. Qe3 Qb6 13. Rfd1 Qxe3 14. Bxe3 Rac8 15. g4 Nc5 16. Bxc5 dxc5 17. Rab1 Rcd8 18. Nd2 Nd7 19. Nf3 Bxc3 20. bxc3 Nb6 21. Re1 Ba8 22. Bf1 e6 23. dxe6 {Aguilo Pons,F (1944)-Juan Mas,S (2025) Palma de Mallorca 2013 0-1 (46)}) 9. dxc5 Nxc5 10. Bd3 {-0.54/22} (10. e5 $11 {-0.09/25 deserves consideration.}) 10... Ne6 11. Be3 Nf6 12. h3 Rc8 13. Qd2 h6 {0.19/24} (13... O-O $15 {-0.46/25}) 14. Rfe1 Nd7 15. Rab1 Nb6 16. Ne2 {-0.52/24} (16. Nd5 $11 {0.02/27} Nxd5 17. exd5 Bxd5 18. Bxb5+ axb5 19. Qxd5) 16... Nc4 $15 17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18. e5 {-1.82/26} ({Better is} 18. Nfd4 $15 { -0.56/25}) 18... Bxf3 $19 19. gxf3 Bxe5 20. Bxh6 $2 {-7.75/24} (20. f4 $17 { -1.45/26} Bf6 21. c3) 20... Rh4 21. f4 Bf6 22. Bg5 Nxg5 23. fxg5 Rxh3 24. Ng3 { -13.57/24} (24. Qd5 $142 {-4.49/26} Bxg5 25. Kf1) 24... Be5 $2 {-3.81/27} ( 24... Qa8 {-13.57/24} 25. Ne4 Be5) 25. Qe3 $2 {-10.15/24} (25. Rxe5 {-3.81/27} dxe5 26. Rd1 Qxd2 27. Rxd2) 25... e6 26. b3 Qa8 27. Kf1 R8h4 28. Qd3 Qc6 29. Rbd1 Kf8 $2 {-0.57/30} (29... Rxg3 $19 {-55.19/26} 30. Re3 Rxe3 31. Qxe3 Rh1+ 32. Ke2 Qxc2+ 33. Qd2 Qe4+ 34. Qe3 Qg4+ 35. f3 Qg2+ 36. Qf2 Qxf2+ 37. Kxf2 Rxd1 38. f4 Bxf4 39. Ke2 Rd2+ 40. Kf3 Bxg5 41. a4 bxa4 42. bxa4 f5 43. Kg3 e5 44. Kf3 e4+ 45. Kg3 a5 46. Kh3 Bf4 47. Kh4 Rh2#) 30. Rxe5 $1 $15 dxe5 $40 {Black attacks.} 31. Qd8+ Qe8 {[#] Threatens to win with ...Qxd8.} 32. Qf6 $2 { -2.58/27} (32. Qd6+ $15 {-0.62/28} Kg8 33. Qxe5) 32... Rd4 $1 $19 33. Re1 $2 { -9.11/27} (33. Rxd4 {-2.66/30} exd4 34. Qxd4) 33... Rd2 {-3.97/29} (33... Qc6 $142 {-9.11/27} 34. Qxe5 Rh1+ $1 35. Nxh1 Qxh1+ 36. Ke2 Re4+ 37. Qxe4 Qxe4+ 38. Kd1 Qd5+ 39. Ke2 Qxg5) 34. Kg2 Rh7 {Hoping for ...Qc6+.} 35. Qxe5 Qa8+ 36. Kf1 $2 {-#2/31 [#]} (36. Ne4 $19 {-3.76/27} Rd5 37. Qg3) 36... Rxc2 {-5.21/29} ( 36... Rh1+ $142 $1 {-#2/31} 37. Nxh1 Qxh1#) 37. Qd6+ Kg8 {( -> ... Rh1+!)} 38. Re3 Rh1+ $1 39. Nxh1 Qxh1# {Precision: White = 6%, Black = 37%.} 0-1

D13 Slav Defence: Exchange Variation without ...Bf5 (1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Bf4 Bd6 7.Bxd6 Qxd6 8.e3 O-O 9.Bd3 Bd7 10.O-O Nc6 11.Rc1)

This game is the 400th Online Chess game I have played at Chess.com. Considering that I became a member there in 2008, it is not that many games. Most of those games have actually been played in the last year. The game below was played in a team match called Battle in the Wolves' Den. The match is played on 18 boards between The 13th Legion and TROY. I am playing on board 1 for TROY in this match. The winner of the match is known at this point and it will be The 13th Legion because they lead the match 20 - 14 at the moment. Before this match started, there was a rating restriction that allowed only players that were rated under 1900 to join. I have of course broken that limit some time ago but after the match had already started. This match started on March 30th 2015 and because there is only one simultaneous game at a time, this match basically lasts a lot longer than it would have lasted if both of the games would have been played at the same time. My current Online Chess rating of 1957 puts me in the 98.8 percentile and if I remember correctly, I have not been in the 99 percentile yet but it is quite close by now. Also I would like to get a new peak rating at Online Chess because the old peak came in 2009 and it is way too long of a time period ago. Getting a new peak is much easier said than done though, I have been losing games annoyingly often or drawing against lower rated people that I may remain close to that peak but never actually break it. I have added two mate in one, two mate in four and one mate in eight puzzle today.

[Event "Battle in the Wolves' Den - Board 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.03.30"] [Round "?"] [White "zoslen"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D13"] [WhiteElo "1807"] [BlackElo "1957"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "94"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] {[%evp 20,94,31,23,32,35,37,21,30,6,37,29,83,59,126,127,117,47,83,7,104,104,95, 95,114,120,126,110,138,125,147,147,147,72,79,0,168,162,165,163,191,162,191,192, 179,0,182,171,224,8,285,162,247,193,229,85,85,85,85,85,85,85,85,85,127,72,166, 156,161,66,66,66,161,53,177,-29961,-29963]} 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. cxd5 cxd5 {D13 Slav Defense: Exchange Variation} 5. Nc3 e6 6. Bf4 Bd6 7. Bxd6 Qxd6 8. e3 O-O 9. Bd3 Bd7 10. O-O Nc6 11. Rc1 {D13 Slav Defence: Exchange variation without ...Bf5. LiveBook: 94 Games} Qb4 $146 (11... Rfd8 12. Bb5 (12. Bb1 Rac8 13. Qe2 a6 14. Rfd1 b5 15. b3 Rc7 16. e4 dxe4 17. Nxe4 Nxe4 18. Qxe4 f5 19. Qe3 Rdc8 20. d5 exd5 21. Qb6 Qf4 22. Rc3 Ne5 23. Rxc7 Nxf3+ 24. gxf3 Rxc7 25. Qe3 Qxe3 26. fxe3 Be6 {Kiprov, A-Toshev,Y Sofia 1945 0-1 (40)}) (12. a3 Rac8 13. Qe2 Be8 14. Rfd1 Nd7 15. Na4 f6 16. Nc5 Rc7 17. b4 Ncb8 18. e4 b6 19. exd5 bxc5 20. dxe6 cxb4 21. Rxc7 Qxc7 22. exd7 Qxd7 23. axb4 Bh5 24. b5 Kf8 25. Bc4 Qd6 26. Qe4 Bg6 {Kasparian, G-Randviir,J Parnu 1947 1-0 (52)}) 12... Rac8 13. Bxc6 Bxc6 14. Ne5 Nd7 15. Nxd7 Bxd7 16. Qd3 Rc4 17. b3 Rc7 18. Ne2 Rdc8 19. f3 Qb4 20. Rxc7 Rxc7 21. Rd1 Bb5 22. Qd2 Qxd2 23. Rxd2 Bxe2 24. Rxe2 Kf8 25. Kf2 Ke7 26. Ke1 {Mueller, H-Przepiorka,D Gyor 1924 1/2-1/2}) (11... e5 12. dxe5 (12. Nb5 Qe7 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nbd4 Bg4 15. Be2 Nxf3+ 16. Bxf3 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 Rfc8 18. Qh3 Qd8 {1/2-1/2 (18) Antoshin,V (2440)-Gufeld,E (2530) Sochi 1979}) 12... Nxe5 13. Nxe5 Qxe5 14. Be2 {1/2-1/2 (14) Polugaevsky,L (2640)-Gufeld,E (2520) Skopje 1971}) 12. Qe2 a6 13. Ne5 Rad8 {The position is equal.} 14. Bb1 Qd6 15. f4 b5 {0.83/24} (15... Ne8 $11 {0.29/25}) 16. Nd1 Na5 { 1.26/27} (16... Ne4 $14 {0.59/29}) 17. Nf2 $16 Nc4 18. Nxd7 {0.47/29} (18. b3 $16 {1.17/24}) 18... Rxd7 19. Nd3 {0.07/27} (19. g4 $16 {0.83/25}) 19... Ne4 { 1.04/29} (19... Rc7 $11 {0.07/27 remains equal.}) 20. Ne5 Nxe5 21. fxe5 Qb4 22. Bxe4 dxe4 23. Qc2 Rfd8 24. a3 ({Resist} 24. Qxe4 $6 Qxb2 25. Qc6 Qa3 $14) 24... Qe7 25. Qxe4 Rc7 26. Qb1 {0.72/31} (26. b4 $142 {1.47/29}) 26... Rdc8 27. b4 { 0.00/34} (27. Rxc7 $16 {0.79/29} Qxc7 28. Qe4) 27... g6 $2 {1.68/28 [#]} (27... Qg5 $11 {0.00/34} 28. Kf2 Qh4+ 29. Kg1 Qg5) {[%tqu "En","","","","c1c5","",10]} 28. Rc5 $1 $18 Ra8 29. Rfc1 Rd7 30. Qc2 Kg7 31. Qe4 Raa7 32. Qc2 $2 {0.00/30} ( 32. Qf4 $18 {1.79/25}) {[%tqu "En","","","","a7a8","",10]} 32... Qg5 $2 { 1.82/26} (32... Ra8 $1 $11 {0.00/30 and Black is okay.}) 33. Qf2 Rdb7 {2.24/28} (33... Qe7 $142 {1.71/27} 34. h3 Qg5) 34. Qf4 $2 {0.08/28} (34. e4 $18 {2.24/28 }) 34... Qe7 $2 {2.85/26 [%mdl 8192]} (34... Qxf4 $11 {0.08/28} 35. exf4 a5) 35. g4 {1.62/29} (35. e4 $142 {2.85/26}) 35... h6 {2.47/26} (35... g5 {1.62/29 keeps fighting.} 36. Qf3 a5) 36. Kg2 a5 37. bxa5 {0.85/32} (37. Rc8 $18 { 2.29/26 is the precise move to win. White threatens Rh8! and mate.} g5 38. Qf3 axb4 39. axb4) 37... Rxa5 $16 {[%tqu "En","","","","c1c3","",10]} 38. R1c3 $1 Rba7 39. Kg3 Rxa3 40. Rxa3 Rxa3 41. Rxb5 {[%mdl 4096] Endgame KQR-KQR} Ra2 { 1.27/33} (41... Ra1 $142 {0.85/37}) {[%tqu "En","","","", "f4f3","",10]} 42. h4 {0.72/35} ({White should play} 42. Qf3 $1 {1.27/33}) 42... Qc7 {1.66/32} (42... g5 $16 {0.72/35 is a better defense.} 43. hxg5 Qxg5) 43. Qf6+ Kh7 44. Rc5 { 0.66/33} ({White should try} 44. h5 $18 {1.61/29 Hoping for Rb8!} gxh5 45. Rb1 (45. gxh5 Ra1 $16)) 44... Qb7 $14 {( -> ...Qg2+)} 45. Qf3 {[%tqu "En","","","", "b7f3","",10]} Qd7 {1.61/29} (45... Qxf3+ $1 $14 {0.66/32} 46. Kxf3 Rh2) 46. Qc6 {0.53/31} (46. h5 $18 {1.61/29}) {[%tqu "En","","","","d7c6","", 10]} 46... Qe7 {1.77/33} (46... Qxc6 $1 $14 {0.53/31} 47. Rxc6 Kg7) 47. Qd6 $4 {-#39/28 [%mdl 8192] [#]} (47. Rb5 $18 {1.77/33} Ra7 48. Rb1) 47... Qb7 {Accuracy: White = 17%, Black = 13%.} 0-1

C18 French: 3.Nc3 Bb4: Main line: 7.h4 and 7.Qg4 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qa5 7.Bd2 c4)

The games that I have finished lately at Chess.com will be added to the blog tomorrow including the 400th Online Chess game I have played there. Unless more games finish there before I make my post tomorrow, all the correspondence games I have played there are then published in this blog, well long enough games anyway. Friday I will post my latest games from GameKnot and Red Hot Pawn if more games do not end in those sites before then that is. The game below was played in the first round of the Maximum ! tournament that is held at Chess.com. It is named like that because the tournament uses the maximum thinking time available in Online Chess games at Chess.com which has a 14 day per move time limit. I am currently on eight place in group #4 and I have gathered 10 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses in the 17 games I have finished so far. There are five games still left for me to finish and if I happen to win them all, I will end up on third place in this group. That would also mean that I would advance to the second round. If there is a tournament where I would not like to advance to the next round, it would be this one. The thinking times are a bit too long, so I will forget what I was thinking about the last time I had to move in one of my games that have this 14 days per move time limit. My memory of the positions does differ from position to position though, it depends on how long I have actually used time to think about the current position on the board. I have added one mate in one, two mate in three, one mate in five and one mate in six puzzle today. Until tomorrow, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

[Event "Maximum ! - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.09.11"] [Round "?"] [White "minotauro79"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C18"] [WhiteElo "1712"] [BlackElo "1945"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] {[%evp 13,56,0,50,43,51,22,37,26,32,28,35,28,53,37,61,44,50,45,43,29,27,0,0, -112,-109,-116,-111,-145,-150,-451,-424,-450,-436,-451,-416,-435,-379,-1075, -1060,-1324,-1311,-29983,-1190,-2546,-2540]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 {C18 French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation #2} Qa5 7. Bd2 c4 {0.50/26 C18 French: 3.Nc3 Bb4: Main line: 7.h4 and 7.Qg4} ({Black should try} 7... Qa4 $11 {0.00/26}) 8. Qg4 $14 Kf8 9. Nf3 ( 9. Be2 Ne7 10. h4 h6 11. Nh3 Bd7 12. O-O Ba4 13. Rfc1 Qd8 14. Nf4 Nf5 15. g3 Ke7 16. Nh5 Rg8 17. Rab1 b6 18. Qh3 Kd7 19. Bg4 Ne7 20. f4 Kc7 21. Kh2 Nd7 22. Qg2 g6 23. Nf6 Nxf6 {Lokendra,R (1447)-Utkarsh,A (1586) New Delhi 2018 0-1 (66) }) 9... Ne7 $146 (9... Qa4 10. Rc1 Nc6 11. Be2 Nge7 12. O-O Nf5 13. Qh5 Qxa3 14. g4 Nfe7 15. Ng5 Nd8 16. f4 Kg8 17. Rf3 Qa4 18. Nh3 a5 19. f5 exf5 20. gxf5 Bxf5 21. Rxf5 g6 22. Rg5 b5 23. Qf3 Ra6 24. Nf4 {Bolado Saez,S (2367) -Bellipanni,P (2166) Malaga 2008 1-0}) 10. Be2 {White is slightly better.} Bd7 11. O-O Ba4 12. Rfc1 Na6 13. Ra2 Nc7 14. Qf4 h6 15. Ne1 Kg8 16. Bh5 Rf8 17. Qg3 Nf5 18. Qh3 {-1.12/29} (18. Qf4 $11 {0.00/32}) {[%tqu "En","","","","f5d4","", 10]} 18... Nxd4 $1 $17 {[%mdl 512]} 19. Qe3 (19. cxd4 Qxd2) 19... Nf5 20. Qf4 g6 $36 {[%mdl 2048] Black is really pushing.} 21. Qg4 $2 {-4.51/25 [#]} (21. Bg4 $17 {-1.50/27 is a better chance.}) 21... Kh7 {[%mdl 32]} 22. Bxg6+ fxg6 23. Nf3 Qc5 24. h4 Nb5 25. Bxh6 $2 {-10.75/26 [#]} (25. Rb1 {-3.79/27}) 25... Kxh6 $19 26. Qg5+ Kg7 27. g4 Ne7 {-11.90/27} (27... Nxh4 $142 {-#17/24} 28. Qf6+ Rxf6 29. exf6+ Kxf6 30. g5+ Kg7 31. Nd4 Nxd4 32. Re1 Nhf3+ 33. Kf1 Rh1+ 34. Kg2 Rh2+ 35. Kg3 Qd6+ 36. Re5 Qxe5+ 37. Kg4 Qxg5#) 28. h5 Rxf3 {Accuracy: White = 37%, Black = 56%.} 0-1

C42 Petroff Defence: 3.Nxe5 and unusual White 3rd moves (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Bc4)

This one is both a disappointing draw and draw I should be happy with. I should be happy with this draw because it came after I had struggled for the most part of this game in a bad position. The disappointing part coming from the fact that despite the hard fought game and getting into a position where I have a pawn more than my opponent, I could not win this game and instead had to agree to a draw by repetition of moves. This game was played in a team match called CYBERMEN ELITE vs «Classic Hits». This is a match that is played on 19 boards and I played on board 3 for «Classic Hits». In addition to this draw, I lost my other game against Jo-Mir-asol. The current score in the match is 22.5 - 14.5 in favor of CYBERMEN ELITE. This means that they will win the match officially after the last game in the match is finished. I have added two mate in one, one mate in four, one mate in six and one mate in seven puzzle.

[Event "CYBERMEN ELITE vs Classic Hits&ra"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.04.20"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Jo-Mir-asol"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1942"] [BlackElo "1970"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s)"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 {C42 Petrov's Defense #5} 5. Bc4 { C42 Petroff Defence: 3.Nxe5 and unusual White 3rd moves} Bg4 $2 {1.48/19 [#]} ( 5... d5 $11 {-0.29/21} 6. Bb3 Nc5) 6. O-O {0.26/22} (6. Bd5 $1 $16 {1.48/19} Ng5 7. Bxb7) (6. d3 Nf6 7. O-O Be7 8. Be3 Nbd7 9. Nbd2 Ne5 10. d4 Nxc4 11. Nxc4 Qd7 12. c3 O-O 13. Ncd2 Nd5 14. Re1 Nxe3 15. fxe3 Rfe8 16. Qb3 Qc6 17. Rf1 Qb6 18. Qc2 Bh5 19. Nc4 Qb5 20. b3 Bg6 {Nilsson,U-Westlund,T Lund 2018 0-1}) 6... d5 7. Qe2 {-0.58/22} (7. h3 $14 {0.55/21} Be6 8. Bb3) 7... Be7 $146 (7... Nc6 8. Qe3 Nb4 9. Qd4 Nxc2 10. Qxd5 Qxd5 11. Bxd5 Nd6 12. Nc3 Nxa1 13. Re1+ Be7 14. d3 Nf5 15. Nb5 O-O 16. Re5 c6 17. Nfd4 Bf6 18. Re4 Nxd4 19. Nxd4 Rfe8 20. Rxg4 Re1# {0-1 (20) Chou,R-Rindler,S San Jose 1994}) 8. d3 {-0.86/19} (8. h3 $11 { 0.03/22} Bxf3 9. Qxf3) 8... Nc5 9. Bb3 $1 a5 {0.00/22} (9... O-O $17 {-0.91/19} ) 10. a3 $2 {-2.06/24 [#]} (10. Re1 $11 {0.00/22 and White has nothing to worry.}) 10... Nc6 11. Nbd2 O-O {-1.33/24} (11... Nxb3 $19 {-1.74/22} 12. Nxb3 a4) 12. Qe3 $2 {-3.05/20} (12. Ba2 $17 {-1.33/24}) 12... Qd6 $2 {-1.17/24} ( 12... Re8 $19 {-3.05/20 is more deadly. Strongly threatening ...Bd6.} 13. Qf4 h5) 13. Nd4 {-1.66/23} (13. d4 $17 {-1.17/24} Nxb3 14. Qxb3) 13... Nxd4 { -0.75/22} (13... Nxb3 $19 {-1.66/23} 14. N2xb3 a4 15. Nxc6 bxc6) 14. Qxd4 $17 Be6 15. Ba2 $1 Nd7 {-0.48/24} (15... Bf6 $17 {-1.12/20} 16. Qe3 Bd7) 16. Nf3 $15 c5 17. Qf4 Qc6 {-0.12/23} (17... h6 $17 {-0.87/19}) 18. Ne5 {-1.11/20} (18. Qg3 $11 {-0.12/23 remains equal.}) 18... Nxe5 $17 19. Qxe5 b5 {-0.60/22} (19... Rfe8 $17 {-1.34/21} 20. Qh5 Bf6) 20. c3 $15 b4 21. axb4 $2 {-2.76/19} (21. Qg3 $15 {-0.69/23}) 21... axb4 $19 22. Bd2 {-4.23/22} (22. cxb4 $142 {-2.68/22} Bf6 23. Qg3) 22... Bf6 23. Qg3 bxc3 24. bxc3 c4 25. dxc4 dxc4 26. Bg5 Bxg5 27. Qxg5 Ra3 28. Qd2 Rfa8 $2 {-0.07/26} (28... Qa4 $19 {-2.38/24 aiming for ...Qa5.} 29. f4 Bf5) 29. Rfb1 $2 {-2.82/23} (29. Rad1 $1 $11 {-0.07/26}) 29... Qa4 30. Rb2 h6 31. h3 {-2.38/20} (31. Qf4 {-1.97/25 was called for.}) 31... Rb3 $2 {0.09/27 } (31... Qa5 $19 {-2.38/20 Threatens to win with ...Bf5.} 32. f3 Bf5) 32. Rab1 Bf5 {0.87/23} (32... Rxb2 $11 {-0.12/25} 33. Rxb2 Bf5) 33. Rxb3 {0.42/29} (33. Bxb3 $16 {0.87/23} cxb3 34. Rxb3 Bxb1 35. Rxb1) 33... cxb3 {0.89/26} (33... Bxb1 $14 {0.42/29} 34. Rxb1 Qxa2 35. Qxa2 Rxa2) 34. Bxb3 $16 Qa3 35. Bc2 { 0.44/26} (35. Rb2 $1 $16 {1.19/23}) 35... Qa2 $14 36. Rc1 Qb2 37. Qd1 $1 Be6 38. Be4 Re8 39. Bf3 {0.00/38} ({White should try} 39. c4 $16 {1.04/20}) 39... Bb3 $1 $36 {The position is equal. Black is more active.} 40. Qf1 {c4 is the strong threat.} Bc4 $1 41. Qd1 Bb3 $1 42. Qf1 {And now c4 would win.} Bc4 $1 43. Qd1 {Accuracy: White = 30%, Black = 32%.} 1/2-1/2

C48 Four Knights: 4.Bb5, replies other than 4...Bb4 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Bc5 5.Nc3 O-O 6.Nxe5 Nxe5 7.d4)

This was played at Chess.com in a team match called 2. The match was played between Team Bulgaria United and Magnus Carlsen Group on 17 boards. I played on board 3 and considering the rating difference between me and my opponent, I was not able to get a good result from the two games because I lost my other game against crisdim. Team Bulgaria United was the clear winner of this match because the match ended 27 - 7 in their favor. We lost fourteen of those games due to timeouts... It is always sad when most of the games are lost due to timeouts because the match is basically forfeited by those players. Players who actually want to fight for the win like me do not have any real importance in the match like this because our wins or possible wins can't change the outcome of the match. This match finished on August 3rd 2015, the same day that the game below ended. I have added two mate in four, two mate in five and one mate in seven puzzle today. Until tomorrow, my fellow chess enthusiasts and feel free to share my posts!

[Event "2 - Board 3"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.03.08"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "crisdim"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C48"] [WhiteElo "1945"] [BlackElo "1741"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "99"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] {[%evp 12,99,5,0,65,62,88,84,70,89,65,68,329,170,255,118,122,125,131,60,131, 122,113,111,122,106,118,67,92,88,125,116,137,121,160,154,222,208,209,162,224, 214,276,70,257,262,337,331,339,333,324,339,412,416,407,392,411,287,491,526,511, 497,450,438,492,472,800,800,795,732,729,795,794,790,793,776,1001,965,29973, 29974,29974,29975,29984,29983,29984,29985,29988,29989,29989,29990]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Bc5 {C65 Spanish Game: Berlin Defense, Beverwijk Variation} 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Nxe5 Nxe5 7. d4 {C48 Four Knights: 4.Bb5, replies other than 4...Bb4. LiveBook: 86 Games} Bxd4 {0.65/28} ({Don't blunder} 7... Nfg4 $2 8. dxc5 d6 9. f3 $18) (7... Bd6 $11 {0.00/28}) 8. Qxd4 $14 d6 9. Bg5 h6 {White is better.} 10. Bh4 c6 (10... a6 11. Be2 c5 (11... g5 12. Bg3 Nc6 13. Qd2 Qe7 14. h4 Nxe4 15. Nxe4 Qxe4 16. hxg5 hxg5 17. Qxg5+ Qg6 18. Qd2 Bf5 19. c3 Ne5 20. Bxe5 dxe5 21. Qe3 Rae8 22. f3 Qg3 23. Qf2 Qg5 24. Bc4 Kg7 25. Rfe1 Qf4 26. Bd5 {Musovic,S (2021)-Zivanovic,B (1940) Paracin 2015 0-1 (32)}) 12. Qd1 Ng6 13. Bg3 Re8 14. f3 Qb6 15. Rb1 Rd8 16. Qd2 Nh5 17. Nd5 Qc6 18. Bf2 b5 19. Rbd1 Ra7 20. f4 Nf6 21. Nxf6+ gxf6 22. f5 Ne5 23. Qxh6 Qxe4 24. Bd3 Nxd3 25. Rxd3 {Kulashko,A (2396)-Franks,C Gold Coast 1999 1-0}) 11. Be2 Be6 $146 { 3.29/25 [%mdl 8192] [#]} ({Black should try} 11... c5 $14 {0.68/27} 12. Qd1 b6) (11... Ng6 12. Bg3 d5 13. Rad1 Be6 14. f4 Ne7 15. f5 Bd7 16. Bh4 Qb6 17. Qxb6 axb6 18. g4 Kh7 19. Bf3 g5 20. Bf2 Nc8 21. a3 c5 22. e5 Ne8 23. Nxd5 Bc6 24. c4 Ra4 25. Rc1 Nc7 26. Rfd1 {Cooksey, P (2120)-Millward,D London 1995 1-0 (41)}) 12. Rad1 {1.70/28} (12. f4 $142 {3.29/25}) 12... Ned7 {2.55/24} (12... c5 { 1.70/28 might work better.} 13. Qxd6 Qxd6 14. Rxd6 Nc6) 13. Bxf6 {1.18/31} ({ Don't take} 13. Qxd6 Qb6 $18) (13. f4 $18 {2.55/24}) 13... Nxf6 $16 14. Qxd6 Qb6 {[%tqu "En","","","","c3a4","",10]} 15. Qa3 {0.60/27} (15. Na4 $1 $16 { 1.31/25} Qa5 16. Nc5) 15... Bg4 {1.31/25} (15... a5 $14 {0.60/27}) 16. Bxg4 Nxg4 17. h3 Ne5 {[%mdl 32]} 18. b3 $36 {[%mdl 2048] White has strong initiative.} Rad8 19. Qb2 {0.67/30} (19. Rd6 $16 {1.18/26}) 19... Ng6 20. Ne2 c5 21. Ng3 Nf4 22. Qe5 Ne6 23. Nf5 Rfe8 {2.22/26} (23... Qc7 $16 {1.54/29} 24. Qxc7 Nxc7 25. Ne7+ Kh7) 24. Qg3 Kh7 25. c3 g6 {2.24/26} (25... Qa6 $142 { 1.62/27} 26. Nd6 Nd4 27. cxd4 Rxd6) 26. Ne3 $18 {Hoping for Nd5.} Ng5 27. Nc4 $2 {0.70/29 [#]} (27. Nd5 $18 {2.76/24} Qc6 28. f3) 27... Qe6 $2 {2.57/25} ( 27... Nxe4 $14 {0.70/29} 28. Nxb6 Nxg3 29. fxg3 Rxd1 30. Rxd1 axb6) 28. f3 b5 29. Nd6 Re7 30. Nxb5 Rxd1 31. Rxd1 c4 32. Rd6 Qc8 33. b4 Qb8 34. Nd4 Rd7 $2 { 4.91/26} (34... Rxe4 {2.87/29} 35. Kh2 (35. fxe4 Nxe4 36. Qe5 Nxd6 $16) 35... Re3) 35. e5 Qe8 36. Rxd7 Qxd7 37. Qf2 a6 38. Qe2 Qc7 {8.00/25} (38... Qd5 $142 {4.72/29} 39. a4 Ne6 40. Nxe6 Qxe6) 39. f4 Ne6 40. Nxe6 fxe6 {[%mdl 4096] Endgame KQ-KQ} 41. a4 {[%mdl 32]} Kg7 42. Qe3 Qd7 43. a5 Qd1+ 44. Kh2 Qd3 45. Qa7+ {White mates.} Kf8 46. Qxa6 Qd5 47. Qb6 g5 48. Qd6+ Ke8 49. Qxd5 exd5 50. a6 {Accuracy: White = 57%, Black = 25%.} 1-0

A08 King's Indian Attack (1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.O-O e5 5.d3 Be7)

The game below was played in a team match called OCD BIG XMAS MATCH. It is played on 76 boards between Obsessive Chess Disorder!! and ♞KNIGHTS of the REALM♞. I played on board 15 for OCD and in addition to this loss, I won my other game against Ahmedegyptair. The current score in the match is 79 - 71 in favor of Obsessive Chess Disorder!! which means we have already secured the win in the match. Timeouts and cheating badges raised their ugly heads once more in this match, the latter only seen in our opponent's roster, only on two boards though, but timeouts were the nuisance for both teams.

From time to time I like to check how many games I still have in progress and at the moment the sum from four different sites seem to be 128. I have managed to decrease my game load quite nicely this year but my move speed has not increased in the way I would have liked. This is of course due to the positions I face in these games which are quite tough more often than not, at least to me that is. When I have decreased the amount of games I have in progress enough, I may start increasing it a bit again but only if I can get to face players around my rating or higher rated than me. I think one of the biggest reasons that have been in the way of my chess improvement is that I have been facing opponents that are mostly lower rated than me which has the downside that I do not need to play at all that accurately to win. Maybe that is generalizing a bit too much, it may not always be the case but most of the time it is. I have added two mate in one, one mate in two, one mate in three and one mate in five puzzle today. Until Monday, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

[Event "OCD BIG XMAS MATCH - Board 15"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.03.10"] [Round "?"] [White "Ahmedegyptair"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A08"] [WhiteElo "1858"] [BlackElo "1941"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "127"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] {[%evp 11,127,-21,-18,-55,-36,-66,-61,-82,-75,-77,-48,-89,-80,-96,-88,-93,28, -86,0,0,0,-66,-65,-66,-60,-114,-95,-118,-92,-115,-92,-89,-70,-217,-92,-92,-73, -95,-77,-92,0,-218,-218,-215,-201,-237,-233,-303,-260,-265,-191,-192,-168,-181, -198,-203,-190,-237,-227,-220,-175,-169,-85,-80,-59,-146,-179,-179,-189,-189, -187,-283,-279,-322,-93,-80,-4,-105,0,0,0,-285,-282,-256,-238,-235,0,-120,0, -106,203,131,437,469,501,416,629,632,621,651,627,608,584,580,928,853,1435,765, 738,660,29979,29980,29984,29985,29985,29986,29986,29987]} 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 {A08 King's Indian Attack: Sicilian Variation} Nc6 4. O-O e5 5. d3 Be7 { A08 King's Indian Attack} 6. Na3 Nf6 {LiveBook: 18 Games} (6... Bf6 7. e4 d4 8. c3 Nge7 9. cxd4 cxd4 10. Bd2 Ng6 11. h4 Nf8 12. h5 Bg4 13. h6 Qd7 14. Rc1 Ng6 15. Rc5 O-O 16. Qa4 Kh8 17. Rfc1 gxh6 18. Rd5 Qe6 19. Nb5 Bxf3 20. Bxf3 Bg5 21. Qd1 {Podzielny,K (2435)-Dokhoian,Y (2505) Germany 1992 1/2-1/2 (61)}) (6... Be6 7. e4 d4 8. Nc4 f6 9. a4 Qd7 10. Ne1 g5 11. f4 gxf4 12. gxf4 O-O-O 13. f5 Bxc4 14. dxc4 h5 15. Nd3 Nh6 16. Bxh6 Rxh6 17. Bf3 Qe8 18. Kh1 Qf7 19. b3 Rg8 20. Rg1 Rhh8 21. Qe2 {Wynn Zaw Htung (2407) -Ismail,A (2059) Nay Pyi Taw 2013 1-0 (61)}) 7. Bg5 $146 (7. e4 dxe4 (7... O-O 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Re1 f6 10. c3 Nc7 11. Be3 Be6 12. d4 cxd4 13. cxd4 e4 14. Nd2 f5 15. Nc2 Rc8 16. Nb3 Nb4 17. Nxb4 Bxb4 18. Bd2 Qd6 19. Bf4 Qb6 20. Re2 Rfd8 21. Rc1 Nd5 22. Be5 {Szilardfy,G (2123)-Borda,L (2132) Budapest 2005 1/2-1/2 (35)}) 8. dxe4 Qxd1 9. Rxd1 O-O 10. c3 Ne8 11. Nc4 f6 12. Ne3 Be6 13. Nd5 Bd6 14. Bf1 Rd8 15. Be3 b6 16. Rd2 Ne7 17. Bc4 Nxd5 18. Bxd5 Bxd5 19. Rxd5 Nc7 20. Rd2 Be7 21. Rad1 Rxd2 {Arwanitakis, M (2254)-Poeltl,T (2159) Austria 2006 1/2-1/2 (51)}) (7. c4 d4 8. Nc2 Bf5 9. a3 Nd7 10. Bd2 a5 11. b3 Qc8 12. Rb1 O-O 13. Bg5 Qd8 14. Bd2 Re8 15. b4 Bf6 16. bxa5 Qc7 17. Qc1 e4 18. Nfe1 exd3 19. exd3 Nde5 20. Bf4 Qc8 21. Qb2 Nxd3 { Pierrugues,L (1880)-Ferrero,P (2018) Vitrolles 2005 1/2-1/2 (38)}) 7... O-O 8. Bxf6 {Black is slightly better.} Bxf6 9. c3 Be6 10. Nc2 Qd6 11. Qd2 {-0.89/23} (11. Nd2 $15 {-0.48/25}) 11... Rad8 $17 12. Rfd1 Rfe8 13. e4 {[%tqu "En","","", "","d5d4","",10]} Bg4 {0.28/27} (13... d4 $1 $17 {-0.93/25} 14. cxd4 exd4) 14. Nce1 {-0.86/24} (14. exd5 $11 {0.28/27 remains equal.} Qxd5 15. Ne3) 14... Rd7 {0.00/26} (14... d4 $17 {-0.86/24}) 15. exd5 $11 Qxd5 16. Qc2 {-0.66/25} (16. h3 $11 {0.00/26} Be6 17. Nd4) 16... Qe6 $15 17. Rd2 Red8 $36 {[%mdl 2048] Black fights for an advantage.} 18. Bf1 {-1.14/22} (18. Re2 $15 {-0.60/26}) 18... Qf5 19. Be2 Qg6 {[#] Threatens to win with ...e4!} 20. Rad1 Bf5 21. Qa4 a6 22. Nh4 {-2.17/26} (22. Ng2 $15 {-0.70/27} Be6 23. Ne3) {[%tqu "En","","", "","b7b5","",10]} 22... Bxh4 {-0.92/28} (22... b5 $1 $19 {-2.17/26} 23. Nxg6 bxa4) 23. Qxh4 $17 b5 24. Bf1 e4 25. Bg2 exd3 {0.00/27} (25... h6 $17 {-0.92/27 } 26. h3 Qg5 27. Qxg5 hxg5) {[%tqu "En","","","","e1d3","", 10]} 26. b3 $2 { -2.18/26 [#]} (26. Nxd3 $1 $11 {0.00/27 [%mdl 512] and White is okay.} Bxd3 ( 26... Rxd3 27. Bxc6) 27. Bxc6 Qxc6 {[%tqu "En","","", "","d2d3","",10]} 28. Rxd3 $1 {[%mdl 512]}) 26... Ne5 $19 27. Qf4 f6 28. Qe3 c4 29. f4 Ng4 30. Qc5 Be6 31. bxc4 bxc4 32. h3 Nh6 33. g4 f5 34. g5 {-2.37/26} (34. Nf3 {-1.90/28 was called for.} Nf7 35. gxf5 Qxf5 36. Qxf5 Bxf5 37. Rb1) 34... Nf7 35. Bf3 Rd6 36. Ng2 Nh8 {-0.85/28} (36... Rc8 $19 {-1.69/25} 37. Qa5 Bd7) 37. h4 $17 Qf7 38. h5 {-1.46/25} ({White should try} 38. Rb2 $15 {-0.59/25}) {[%tqu "En","", "","","e6d5","", 10]} 38... Bd5 $1 39. Bxd5 Qxd5 ({And not} 39... Rxd5 40. Qxc4 R5d7 41. Qb3 $16 (41. Qxa6 Qxh5 42. Rxd3 Qxd1+ 43. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 44. Kf2 R1d2+ 45. Kf3 R2d3+ 46. Ne3 Rxc3 $11)) 40. Qxd5+ Rxd5 41. Rb1 {-2.83/26} (41. Rb2 $142 { -1.87/30}) 41... Rb5 $19 42. Re1 Kf7 $2 {-0.93/29} (42... Nf7 $19 {-3.22/23 has better winning chances.} 43. Ne3 Nd6) 43. Ne3 $17 Rc5 {-0.04/29} (43... Re8 $17 {-0.80/25} 44. Kf2 Re4) 44. Kf2 {-1.05/25} (44. Rb2 $11 {-0.04/29 keeps the balance.}) 44... g6 {0.00/31} ({Black should play} 44... Kf8 $17 {-1.05/25} 45. Nc2 Rdc8) 45. h6 $11 Kf8 {aiming for ...Nf7.} 46. Nc2 $2 {-2.85/30 [%mdl 8192]} (46. Rb1 $11 {0.00/29}) 46... Nf7 $19 47. Nd4 {[%tqu "En","","","", "d8d4", "",10]} Rxd4 $1 {[%mdl 512]} 48. cxd4 {[%mdl 4096] Endgame KRR-KRN [%tqu "En","","","","c5c8","",10]} Rd5 $2 {0.00/32} (48... Rc8 $1 $19 {-2.35/ 29 Strongly threatening ...Nd6.} 49. Rc1 Nd6) {[%tqu "En","","","", "d2b2","", 10]} 49. Ke3 {-1.20/28} (49. Rb2 $1 $11 {0.00/32} Rd8 50. Rb7) 49... Nd6 { 0.00/32} ({Better is} 49... Rd8 $17 {-1.20/28 White must now prevent ...Re8+.} 50. Rdd1 Nd6) {[%tqu "En","","","","d2b2","", 10]} 50. Rc1 {-1.06/30} (50. Rb2 $1 $11 {0.00/32} Ne4 51. Rb8+ Ke7 52. Rd1) {[%tqu "En","","","","d5b5","",10]} 50... Ke7 $2 {2.03/29 [%mdl 8192]} (50... Rb5 $1 $17 {-1.06/30 keeps the pressure on.}) {[%tqu "En", "","","","a2a4","",10]} 51. a4 $1 $18 Kd7 $2 { 4.37/27 [%mdl 8192]} (51... Ke6 $16 {1.31/31 is a better chance.}) 52. Rb2 Kc7 53. Rc3 Ra5 {6.29/33} (53... a5 $142 {4.16/31} 54. Rc1 Kc6) 54. Rb4 Rd5 55. Rbxc4+ Nxc4+ 56. Rxc4+ {KR-KR} Kd7 57. Kxd3 Rd6 58. Rc5 Re6 59. Ra5 Kc7 60. Re5 Kd6 61. Kc4 {White mates.} Re7 62. Rxe7 Kxe7 63. Kd5 Kd7 64. a5 {Accuracy: White = 42%, Black = 24%.} 1-0 [Event "Rated game, 6m + 3s"] [Site "Main Playing Hall"] [Date "2006.01.28"] [Round "?"] [White "Doc Snyder"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A08"] [WhiteElo "1581"] [BlackElo "1615"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2006.01.28"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] 1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 c5 3. Nf3 Nc6 {A08 King's Indian Attack: French Variation} 4. d3 e5 5. O-O Be7 {-0.05/26 A08 King's Indian Attack} (5... Nf6 $17 {-0.79/23}) 6. c3 {-0.66/22} (6. Na3 $11 {-0.05/26}) 6... Nf6 {0.00/28} (6... Be6 $15 { -0.66/22}) 7. Nbd2 {-0.69/22} (7. e4 $11 {0.00/28}) (7. a3 O-O 8. b4 a6 9. bxc5 Bxc5 10. d4 exd4 11. cxd4 Bd6 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. Nc3 Qd8 15. e3 Be6 16. Nd2 Qa5 17. Ndb1 Rac8 18. Qa4 Qxa4 19. Nxa4 Ne7 20. Ra2 b5 21. Nac3 Rc7 { Kuba,S (2173)-Andreev,E (2458) Prague 2015 0-1 (42)}) 7... Bg4 {0.09/27} (7... O-O $15 {-0.69/22}) 8. Qc2 $146 {-1.22/23} (8. h3 $11 {0.09/27} Be6 9. Ng5) (8. a3 a5 9. Qc2 Rc8 10. h3 Bh5 11. c4 d4 12. Re1 Nd7 13. e3 O-O 14. exd4 exd4 15. Ne4 Bg6 16. Bf4 Re8 17. Nd6 Bxd6 18. Bxd6 Qf6 19. Bf4 Nce5 20. Nxe5 Nxe5 21. Bxe5 Rxe5 22. Bxb7 Rce8 {Le Hong,Q (1492)-Thomas,T (1309) Magdeburg 2010 1-0 (42)}) 8... O-O {-0.40/27} (8... Nd7 $17 {-1.22/23}) 9. e4 {-1.12/24} (9. a3 $15 {-0.40/27}) 9... d4 $17 10. h3 {-1.12/24} (10. a4 $15 {-0.66/26}) 10... Be6 11. Ng5 {-1.32/25} (11. Nh4 $142 {-0.76/25}) 11... Qd7 $2 {0.29/24} (11... Bd7 $17 {-1.32/25} 12. Ngf3 Qc7) 12. Nxe6 $11 Qxe6 13. f4 {-0.75/23} (13. a4 $11 { 0.27/26}) 13... exf4 {-0.10/27} (13... Rad8 $17 {-0.75/23}) 14. gxf4 Qd7 { 0.09/25} (14... Nh5 $15 {-0.64/23}) 15. Nf3 {-0.73/25} (15. e5 $11 {0.09/25 remains equal.} Nh5 16. Ne4) 15... Rfd8 {0.00/26} (15... Rad8 $17 {-0.73/25}) 16. c4 {-0.50/26} (16. cxd4 $11 {0.00/26} Nxd4 17. Qf2) 16... Nb4 $2 {1.11/24} (16... g6 $15 {-0.50/26}) 17. Qe2 {0.38/27} (17. Qd1 $16 {1.11/24}) 17... Rab8 {1.23/24} (17... Nc6 $1 $14 {0.38/27}) 18. a3 {0.41/25} ({Better is} 18. Ne5 $16 {1.23/24} Qe8 19. Bd2) 18... Nc6 $14 {[#]} 19. Bd2 {0.14/28} (19. b4 $1 $16 {0.90/23}) 19... Nh5 {aiming for ...Ng3.} 20. Be1 $2 {-2.48/23} (20. Rfb1 $14 { 0.52/26}) 20... Rf8 $2 {0.62/26} (20... Nxf4 $19 {-2.48/23} 21. Qd2 Qc7) 21. Qd2 $2 {-0.99/24 [#]} (21. Nh4 $14 {0.62/26 keeps the upper hand.} g6 22. Nf5 $1) 21... Bd6 {0.16/28} (21... Qc7 $1 $17 {-0.99/24} 22. Nh4 g6) 22. e5 $11 Be7 23. Nh4 {-0.12/26} (23. Rb1 $14 {0.39/25}) 23... g6 24. Qe2 Ng7 {0.58/27} ( 24... Kh8 $11 {-0.06/26}) 25. Bd5 $2 {-1.17/25} (25. Qg4 $1 $14 {0.58/27 stays ahead.} Qxg4 26. hxg4) 25... Qxh3 {-0.32/27} (25... Bxh4 $1 $17 {-1.17/25} 26. Bxh4 Qxh3) 26. e6 $2 {-4.33/24} ({White should try} 26. Qf3 $15 {-0.32/27} Qxf3 27. Nxf3) 26... Bxh4 27. exf7+ Kh8 {-1.37/27} (27... Rxf7 $19 {-2.69/26 Strongly threatening ...Re8!} 28. Bg2 Re7 29. Bxh3 Rxe2 30. Bxh4 Re3) 28. Bxh4 $4 {-7.01/23} (28. Bg2 $17 {-1.37/27} Qe3+ 29. Qxe3 dxe3 30. Bxh4) 28... Qxh4 $19 {Black is clearly winning.} 29. Rf2 Qg3+ 30. Rg2 Qxf4 31. Rf1 Qe3+ 32. Qxe3 dxe3 33. Rf3 Ne7 34. Rh3 Nxd5 35. cxd5 Rxf7 36. Rgh2 h5 37. Rxe3 Rd8 38. Re6 Kh7 39. Rg2 Nxe6 {Accuracy: White = 11%, Black = 21%.} 0-1

C42 Petroff Defence: 3.Nxe5 and unusual White 3rd moves (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nxe4 4.d4 d6 5.Nf3 Bg4)

This game is from the first round of the WORLD OPEN RAPID tournament that was played at the FIDE Online Arena on March 30th 2015. When I won this first round game, I had no idea how well the rest of the tournament would go. The rest of the tournament went as well as it could have gone because I ended up winning this tournament for the second time! I do not remember much from the first win but I do remember this second one because in this, I won all my five games and had a performance rating of 2413!! I have not been able to reproduce similar results after this but who knows, maybe one day I can and even get a higher performance rating. I did offer a draw in my last round game but as my opponent did not accept the first offer, I thought I just had to show my opponent that it was the wrong decision... Which I managed to do this time. I have added one mate in one, two mate in two and two mate in three puzzles. Until tomorrow, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

[Event "Tournament 28440088"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.03.30"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "eliagirgis"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1841"] [BlackElo "1446"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "75"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] {[%evp 9,74,26,60,25,117,106,304,295,299,180,227,94,195,195,256,249,254,220, 349,319,422,370,365,363,651,647,788,709,3295,2541,2289,2193,2170,2046,29990, 29991,29992,29984,29984,29985,29985,29986,29986,29987,29989,29990,29991,29990, 29992,29992,29992,29992,29993,29992,29995,29996,29996,29997,29997,29997,29998, 29999,29999,29996,29998,29999,29999]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 { C42 Russian Game: Damiano Variation} 4. d4 d6 5. Nf3 Bg4 {C42 Petroff Defence: 3.Nxe5 and unusual White 3rd moves. LiveBook: 29 Games} 6. Be2 {[%mdl 32]} (6. h3 {seems wilder.} Bf5 7. Bd3 d5 8. O-O Be7 9. Re1) 6... Bxf3 {1.17/24} (6... d5 $11 {0.25/25}) 7. Bxf3 $16 ({Much worse is} 7. gxf3 $6 Nf6 $11) 7... Qe7 $2 {3.04/24 [#]} (7... d5 $16 {1.06/26}) {[%tqu "En","","","", "e1g1","",10]} 8. O-O $1 $18 {White has a decisive advantage.} d5 9. Re1 f5 $146 {2.27/23} (9... Qd7 $142 {1.80/27} 10. c4 (10. Bxe4 dxe4 11. Rxe4+ Be7 $16) 10... Bb4) (9... Qe6 10. Nd2 Bb4 11. c3 Bd6 12. Bxe4 dxe4 13. Rxe4 O-O 14. Rxe6 fxe6 15. Ne4 Nc6 16. Nxd6 cxd6 17. d5 exd5 18. Qxd5+ Rf7 19. Bf4 Re8 20. Kf1 Ne5 21. Re1 h6 22. Bxe5 dxe5 23. Rxe5 Rxe5 24. Qxe5 {Smara, L-Cheype,M Romans 1999 1-0}) {[%tqu "En","","","","c2c4","",10]} 10. g3 {0.94/27} (10. c4 $1 $18 {2.27/23 [%mdl 512] is the precise move to win.} Nd7 (10... dxc4 11. Nc3) 11. Nc3 (11. cxd5 O-O-O $18)) 10... Nd7 {1.95/24} (10... Qf7 $16 {0.94/27}) 11. Bg2 Ndf6 {2.56/25 } (11... O-O-O $142 {1.95/26} 12. f3 g6) 12. f3 O-O-O 13. fxe4 fxe4 {3.49/24} ( 13... dxe4 $142 {2.20/26} 14. c3 h5) 14. Bf4 h6 15. Nd2 g5 16. Be5 g4 $2 { 6.51/24 [#]} (16... Bg7 {3.63/25} 17. c4 Nd7 18. cxd5 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Qc5+ 20. Kh1 Qxd5 21. Qg4+ (21. Rxe4 Qxd2 22. Qb3 Qd3 $18) 21... Kb8 22. Qxe4 Qxe4 23. Nxe4 c6) 17. c4 c6 18. cxd5 cxd5 19. Rc1+ Kd7 20. Rc7+ Ke8 21. Qa4+ Rd7 22. Bxf6 {White mates.} Qe6 23. Bxh8 Kd8 24. Rxd7+ Qxd7 25. Bf6+ Be7 26. Bxe7+ Qxe7 27. Qxa7 Qb4 28. Rd1 Qxb2 29. Qa5+ Ke8 30. Nb3 Qc2 31. Rc1 Qd3 32. Rc8+ Ke7 33. Qc7+ Kf6 34. Qe5+ Kf7 35. Rc7+ Kg6 36. Qg7+ Kf5 37. Rf7+ Ke6 38. Qf6# { Accuracy: White = 56%, Black = 17%.} 1-0

A40 Unusual replies to 1.d4 (1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7 4.e4 Nxe5 5.Nc3 c6)

This game was played in the first round of the 1800+ 7 Days tournament that is held at Chess.com. 64 players started this tournament and they were divided into groups of eight. I am playing on group #5 and I currently reside in fourth place. In the eight games I have finished so far, I have gathered 4 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses. There are also two other players in five points but their tie break is worse than mine so they are behind me in standings. Three of the best players should advance to the second round but our current leader in the group has his account closed due to cheating, so if three other players can't overtake him, I guess three of the best players who have not cheated will advance to next round. For years I had not a single game that ended in repetition of moves but recently I have ended up drawing a few games in that manner. The game below is one of those games. This game is probably the only one of those draws that I felt quite good about receiving as I did not really like my position. I have added one mate in one, three mate in twos and one mate in three puzzle today.

[Event "1800+ 7 Days - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.10.10"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "BigGStikman"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A40"] [WhiteElo "1948"] [BlackElo "2038"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] {[%evp 9,53,76,87,74,66,65,70,60,60,25,26,-2,-13,-13,0,-58,-56,-56,-58,-43,-47, -58,-26,-38,-38,-54,-17,-14,-17,-9,-9,-8,-8,-29,-7,-11,-8,-34,-11,-20,0,-35,0, -22,0,-24]} 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Nc6 3. Nf3 Qe7 {A40 Englund Gambit Complex: Englund Gambit} 4. e4 Nxe5 5. Nc3 c6 {A40 Unusual replies to 1.d4} 6. Bf4 (6. Be2 d6 7. Nd4 g5 8. O-O h5 9. f4 gxf4 10. Bxf4 Nh6 11. Qd2 Bg4 12. Bg5 Qd7 13. Nd5 Ng8 14. Qa5 cxd5 15. Bb5 Nc6 16. Qa4 Rc8 17. exd5 Bg7 18. dxc6 bxc6 19. Nxc6 Kf8 20. Ne5 {1-0 (20) Movsziszian,K (2470) -Schaffarth,P (2215) Bad Woerishofen 1995}) 6... Ng6 (6... Nxf3+ 7. Qxf3 Qe6 8. g3 Bb4 9. Bg2 Qc4 10. Qd3 Qxd3 11. cxd3 b6 12. a3 Bxc3+ 13. bxc3 Ba6 14. Kd2 Ne7 15. Rhe1 O-O 16. Bh3 Bc8 17. Bd6 Re8 18. f4 Ng6 19. d4 Nf8 20. f5 Ba6 21. e5 {Paeslack,L (1744) -Kulenovic,A (1944) Bad Homburg 2016 1/2-1/2 (43)}) 7. Bg3 Qb4 $146 (7... f5 8. h4 fxe4 9. Ng5 d5 10. Be2 Bf5 11. Qd4 Qc5 12. Be5 Qxd4 13. Bxd4 h6 14. Nh3 Nf6 15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. Bh5 Rg8 17. g4 Be6 18. Bxg6+ Rxg6 19. Nf4 Kf7 20. Nxg6 Kxg6 21. Rg1 Bc5 22. Na4 {Mihciyazgan,C-Serra Azul Neto,F (1981) Antalya 2011 0-1 (71)}) (7... Nf6 8. Bd3 Nh5 9. Qd2 Nxg3 10. hxg3 Qf6 11. a3 Be7 12. O-O-O b5 13. Rhe1 a5 14. e5 Qe6 15. Nd4 Qg4 16. Bf5 Qg5 17. f4 Qxg3 18. Nce2 Qxg2 19. Qd3 Qd5 20. Be4 Qc4 21. Qxc4 bxc4 22. Nxc6 {Martinez Lozano, A-Pol Plazas,P San Javier 1995 0-1 (33)}) 8. Qc1 {White is slightly better.} Nf6 {[%mdl 32]} 9. Bd3 d6 10. O-O Nh5 11. a3 Qa5 12. Qg5 {-0.58/28} (12. Ne2 $11 {0.00/26}) 12... Qxg5 $15 13. Nxg5 Be7 14. Nf3 Nxg3 15. hxg3 Bg4 16. Rfe1 O-O-O 17. Bc4 Bxf3 18. gxf3 Ne5 19. Be2 g5 20. Kg2 h5 {[%mdl 32]} 21. Rh1 Rdg8 22. Rh2 h4 23. Rah1 Ng6 24. Bc4 Ne5 {[%tqu "En","","","","c4e2","",10]} 25. Be2 $1 Ng6 26. Bc4 Ne5 {[%tqu "En","","","","c4e2","",10]} 27. Be2 $1 {Accuracy: White = 42%, Black = 60%.} 1/2-1/2

B57 Classical Sicilian: Sozin with 6...Qb6 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.O-O Nc6 8.Nb3 Be7 9.Be3 b5 10.a3 d6 11.f4 O-O 12.Qf3 Bb7)

This is my latest game from Queen Alice Internet Chess Club. This is fourth loss in a row for me there which is not good but then again the opponents I have faced there have been quite good. The average rating of my opponents has been much higher on Queen Alice Internet Chess Club than it has on any other site. In the last ten games I have played there, the average rating of my opponents is around 2247 and I have been able to only win two of those games, played two draws and lost six. On other sites that average is below 1800, sometimes even far below that. The game below was played in the second and final round of the AUTO-MASTER-2135 tournament that is in progress at the Queen Alice Internet Chess Club. In this second round I have lost both of my games against Franzel and have two games in progress against Evandrobit and after those games have ended, I have finished the tournament. If I either draw or win one of my remaining games, Franzel will win the tournament. If I lose both of the remaining games, then the win of the tournament is shared with Evandrobit and Franzel. In the first round I faced much more maintainable opponents and I won my first round group with a maximum score. I have added two mate in ones, two mate in twos and one mate in four today.

[Event "AUTO-MASTER-2135"] [Site "http://www.queenalice.com/gam"] [Date "2015.05.14"] [Round "2"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Franzel"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B57"] [WhiteElo "2194"] [BlackElo "2415"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "58"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] {[%evp 23,58,0,4,-3,7,-8,0,-12,7,-12,0,0,7,-39,0,-81,-74,-91,-104,-153,-154, -138,-138,-200,-121,-200,-197,-183,-197,-231,-226,-319,-304,-410,-399,-507, -507]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 {B43 Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation, Knight Variation} Qc7 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. O-O Nc6 8. Nb3 Be7 9. Be3 b5 10. a3 d6 11. f4 O-O (11... h5 12. Kh1 Bb7 13. Qf3 h4 14. Qh3 Na5 15. Nxa5 Qxa5 16. f5 e5 17. Bd2 Qc7 18. b4 d5 19. exd5 Nxd5 20. Nxd5 Bxd5 21. Rfe1 Bf6 22. a4 O-O 23. Rac1 Qc6 24. Qg4 Rad8 25. axb5 axb5 26. Be3 {Derakhshani,B (2265) -Krueger,N (2091) Abu Dhabi 2016 1-0 (42)}) 12. Qf3 Bb7 {B57 Classical Sicilian: Sozin with 6...Qb6. LiveBook: 30 Games} 13. Rad1 $146 (13. Qh3 e5 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. exd5 h6 16. dxc6 Bxc6 17. fxe5 dxe5 18. Qg4 Bb7 19. Be4 Bc8 20. Qg3 Rb8 21. Bxh6 Qb6+ 22. Be3 Qc7 23. Qf3 Bd7 24. Rad1 b4 25. Bd5 Be8 26. axb4 Rxb4 27. Qf2 Rb5 {Kostjoerin,A-Brunk,C Haifa 1976 1-0 (31)}) 13... Rac8 14. Ne2 Rfd8 15. Ng3 {The position is equal.} g6 16. Nd4 Nxd4 17. Bxd4 h5 {[%mdl 32]} 18. h3 {-0.39/27} (18. f5 $11 {0.07/26} e5 19. Bc3) 18... Rd7 (18... e5 $5 19. Be3 d5 20. fxe5 Qxe5 21. exd5 Rxd5 $11) 19. Qf2 {-0.81/24} (19. Kh2 $11 { 0.00/29 remains equal.}) 19... h4 $17 20. Ne2 {Threatening f5.} Nxe4 21. Qe3 { -1.53/24} (21. Bxe4 $142 {-1.04/28} Bxe4 22. Rd2) {[%tqu "En","", "","","c7c6", "",10]} 21... Qc6 $1 {Hoping for ...Nc3!} 22. Qf3 f5 $36 {[%mdl 2048] Black is on the roll.} 23. Rfe1 {-2.00/24} (23. Be3 $17 {-1.38/28}) 23... Nc5 24. Qxc6 { -2.00/27} (24. Qf2 $17 {-1.21/25 is a better defense.}) 24... Bxc6 $19 25. Nc3 Nxd3 26. Rxd3 Kf7 27. Rde3 {-3.19/27} (27. Rd2 {-2.26/26 keeps fighting.}) { [%tqu "En","","", "","e6e5","",10]} 27... e5 $1 {[%mdl 512]} 28. fxe5 dxe5 29. Bb6 Rb8 {Accuracy: White = 5%, Black = 55%.} 0-1

C14 French: Classical System: 4.Bg5 Be7 main line (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.Bd3 O-O)

The game below is from the 2014 September Grand Seven Fourteen III tournament that is still in progress at Red Hot Pawn. The winner of the tournament is already clear, even though all the games have not finished yet. The tournament was won by player called kopsov (1930), who has one more game still to finish, so the battle for the win was not even a close one. At the moment kopsov has gathered 111 points in the tournament and can even get to 114 if he or she can win the last game. A player called Luft (2007) is on second place at the moment and gathered 102 points in the 40 games he or she played. My opponent in this game, Reverb, can actually overtake Luft if he or she wins his or her remaining games because Reverb has a maximum possible score of 104. Reverb is currently on third place. I am currently in fourth place and the highest I can theoretically get to is third, but I can finish lower than fourth place as well. Some of the games I still have in progress in this tournament can still become the longest I have ever played and it does not even take that long to get there. The longest game I remember playing lasted almost a year. Some of my games can go over a year if these games are in progress from a bit over a month from now. I have added two mate in ones, two mate in twos and one mate in three puzzle today.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.09.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Reverb"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C14"] [WhiteElo "1901"] [BlackElo "1697"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "86"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 (1. Nc3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. Bg5 e6 {1-0 (48) Heinemann,K-Weck,U (1697) Busto 2015}) 1... e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Bd3 { C14 French Defense: Classical Variation, Tarrasch Variation} O-O {0.49/23 C14 French: Classical System: 4.Bg5 Be7 main line} (7... Qb4 $11 {0.00/22 is superior.}) 8. Qh5 {-0.68/19} (8. Nf3 $14 {0.49/23}) 8... g6 $15 (8... f5 9. exf6 Nxf6 10. Qh4 Nc6 11. Nf3 Qf7 12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Qh5 14. Qxh5 Nxh5 15. g3 g6 16. Ne2 c5 17. c4 d4 18. Be4 Rb8 19. a4 b6 20. Nc1 Bb7 21. Bxb7 Rxb7 22. Ke2 Rbf7 23. Nd3 {De Vreugt,D (2398)-Meester,A Haarlem 1999 1-0 (38)}) 9. Qh6 c5 (9... f5 10. Nf3 Qg7 11. Qh4 h6 12. O-O-O c5 13. Bb5 a6 14. Bxd7 Nxd7 15. dxc5 Nxc5 16. Qd4 Qe7 17. h4 b5 18. Qf4 Qg7 19. Kb1 Bb7 20. Nd4 Rae8 21. f3 Nd7 22. Rde1 Rf7 23. g4 fxg4 24. Qg3 {Heinemann,K-Weck,U (1697) Busto 2015 1-0 (48) }) 10. dxc5 $146 {Black is slightly better.} (10. Nf3 cxd4 11. Nb5 Nc6 12. Ng5 f6 13. exf6 Nxf6 14. O-O a6 15. Na3 e5 16. f3 Qg7 17. Qxg7+ Kxg7 18. Rae1 h6 19. Nh3 Bxh3 20. gxh3 Nh5 21. Nb1 Nf4 22. h4 Rae8 23. a3 Re6 24. Nd2 Ne7 { Duras,O-Spielmann,R San Sebastian 1911 0-1 (47)}) 10... Nxe5 11. Qe3 {-1.95/21} (11. Nf3 $1 $15 {-0.45/22} Nxf3+ 12. gxf3) 11... Nbc6 $19 12. Nf3 {-2.18/19} ( 12. Nge2 $17 {-1.30/20}) 12... d4 $2 {-0.29/23 [#]} (12... Nxf3+ $19 {-2.18/19} 13. Qxf3 f5) 13. Nxd4 $11 Qxc5 14. Nxc6 Qxe3+ 15. fxe3 Nxd3+ {0.86/24} (15... Nxc6 $11 {-0.22/23} 16. O-O Ne5) 16. cxd3 $16 {[#] Hoping for Ne5.} bxc6 17. O-O-O {0.12/24} (17. Kd2 $16 {0.95/22}) 17... Bb7 {0.65/21} (17... Rb8 $11 { 0.12/24}) 18. Rhf1 c5 19. g3 f5 20. d4 {-0.15/23} (20. b3 $16 {0.94/19}) 20... c4 {0.63/20} (20... cxd4 $11 {-0.15/23} 21. Rxd4 Rac8) 21. d5 {0.00/28} (21. Rfe1 $14 {0.63/20}) 21... exd5 $11 22. Nxd5 Rad8 {0.62/22} (22... Rae8 $11 { 0.00/28}) 23. Nf4 {-0.37/26} (23. Nc3 $14 {0.62/22}) 23... Rxd1+ {1.05/22} ( 23... Kf7 $15 {-0.37/26 keeps the upper hand.}) 24. Rxd1 $15 {Endgame KRB-KRN} Re8 25. Re1 $2 {-0.44/24} ({White must play} 25. Rd7 $16 {1.07/24} Bf3 26. Kd2) 25... g5 26. Nh3 $1 h6 27. Kc2 Bd5 28. Kc3 Kg7 29. a3 {-1.14/23} (29. Nf2 $11 { -0.13/30}) 29... Kf6 $17 30. Kd2 {-2.27/22} (30. Nf2 $17 {-1.09/24 is a better defense.}) 30... Ke5 31. Nf2 Kd6 {-0.92/25} (31... Rb8 $19 {-1.74/22} 32. Nd1 Rd8) 32. Nd1 a6 {-0.71/25} ({Black should play} 32... Rd8 {-1.25/26} 33. Kc1 Bf3) 33. Rf1 Be4 34. Nc3 Bd3 {-0.26/26} (34... Rd8 $17 {-0.81/25}) 35. Rf2 $11 Rb8 {0.00/27} (35... a5 $15 {-0.55/25}) 36. Kc1 {-0.68/25} (36. b4 $11 {0.00/27 }) 36... Re8 {-0.09/25} ({Black should try} 36... Ke5 $15 {-0.68/25}) 37. Nd1 { -0.66/24} (37. Kd2 $11 {-0.09/25}) 37... Re7 38. Kd2 Rb7 {0.00/26} (38... Be4 $1 $15 {-0.60/25}) 39. Kc3 Ke5 40. Kd2 {-0.71/26} (40. b4 $11 {0.00/28 keeps the balance.}) 40... Rb3 41. Kc1 Rb6 42. Rd2 Ke4 43. Rf2 Ke5 {Accuracy: White = 24%, Black = 26%.} 1/2-1/2