A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Opening (1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 c5 3.e3 Nc6 4.Bb5)

The game I am sharing today was played in the first round of the 2014 October Glacial Super Casual Banded I 1650+ tournament. I am playing on group 1 and I currently reside on 9th place with 18 points. A player called takinitez007 (1890) leads the tournament having gathered 47 points so far. Caissad4 (1942) is on second place with 38 points, jankrb (2165) is on third place with 34 points. Takinitez007 not only is the current leader but also has the highest maximum possible score which means the current leader has very good chances to win the group and advance to the next round. I am, however, among the five people still who can win the group and advance to the second round. The way I have been playing recently, I do not think that I will be able to advance to the second round, I just seem to lose almost every single game.

[Event "Glacial Super Casual Banded"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.11.03"] [Round "1"] [White "anom asil"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A01"] [WhiteElo "1697"] [BlackElo "1809"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] {[%evp 9,59,-8,0,-6,-8,-18,-8,-14,-13,-13,0,0,0,-6,-9,-32,57,62,92,0,253,260, 341,347,697,358,280,145,133,132,126,130,127,126,154,67,128,0,0,0,0,0,554,558, 686,508,468,458,29986,29987,29994,29995]} 1. b3 d5 {A01 Nimzo-Larsen Attack: Classical Variation} 2. Bb2 c5 3. e3 Nc6 4. Bb5 {A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Opening } Qb6 5. Nc3 Nf6 {aiming for ...d4.} (5... e6 6. Qe2 Nf6 7. Nf3 Bd6 8. e4 dxe4 9. Ng5 Bd7 10. Bxc6 Bxc6 11. Ncxe4 Be7 12. O-O-O Bxe4 13. Nxe4 O-O-O 14. Nxf6 Bxf6 15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. g4 Rd4 17. Qf3 e5 18. c3 Rf4 19. Qd5 Qc7 20. Qg2 { Lehocz,J (1962)-Karacsonyi,G (2163) Budapest 2017 1/2-1/2 (40)}) 6. Nf3 Bd7 $146 (6... d4 7. Bxc6+ Qxc6 8. exd4 cxd4 9. Ne2 d3 10. cxd3 g6 11. O-O Bg7 12. Ne5 Qd6 13. Ng3 O-O 14. Qf3 Qd5 15. Ne4 Nxe4 16. dxe4 Qxd2 17. Nc4 Qd7 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. h3 b5 20. Rfd1 Qe6 21. Na5 {Daneri,M (2099) -Hernandez Riera,J (2203) Praia da Pipa 2014 1/2-1/2 (66)}) (6... a6 7. Bxc6+ Qxc6 8. Ne2 g6 9. Ne5 Qc7 10. d4 Bg7 11. O-O O-O 12. Nf4 cxd4 13. exd4 Bf5 14. c3 Rfd8 15. f3 Ne8 16. Re1 Bh6 17. Ne2 Bg7 18. Ng3 Nd6 19. Nf1 Rac8 20. Ne3 Be6 21. Nd3 {Torre,E (2519) -Purnama,T (2383) Tarakan 2008 1-0 (37)}) 7. Bxc6 Bxc6 8. Ne5 {The position is equal.} e6 9. O-O Bd6 10. f4 {[%mdl 32]} O-O 11. Ne2 {[%mdl 32]} Nd7 12. Ng3 { [%tqu "En","","","","f7f5","",10]} Nxe5 {0.57/26} (12... f5 $1 $15 {-0.32/26}) 13. fxe5 $14 Bc7 {[%tqu "En","","","","d2d4","",10]} 14. Qg4 {0.00/27} (14. d4 $1 $16 {0.92/27}) 14... Kh8 $2 {2.53/24 [%mdl 8192]} (14... Qb4 $1 $11 { 0.00/27 and Black is okay.} 15. Qe2 d4) 15. Nh5 $1 $18 {[#]} g6 16. Nf6 { Threatening mate with Qh3.} Kg7 $2 {6.97/24} (16... Bd8 {3.47/29} 17. Qg5 Kg7) 17. Qg5 Bd8 18. Rf4 $40 {1.45/25 [%mdl 128] White goes for the king.} (18. Rf3 $18 {2.80/23 White wants to mate with Rh3.} h6 19. Qf4) 18... h6 $16 19. Qg3 Qc7 20. Raf1 Bxf6 21. Rxf6 Rad8 22. R1f4 {0.67/27} ({White should play} 22. h4 $16 {1.54/24 h5 is the strong threat.} Qe7 23. h5) 22... Qa5 {1.28/24} ({ Black should try} 22... Be8 $14 {0.67/27}) 23. Rg4 {0.00/29} (23. Qf2 $16 { 1.28/24} Qc7 24. Qh4) 23... Be8 $11 24. h4 {[#] Threatens to win with h5.} Rg8 ({Not} 24... Qxd2 25. h5 $16) 25. h5 Kh7 $2 {5.54/25 [%mdl 8192]} (25... g5 $11 {0.00/32 and Black stays safe.}) 26. hxg6+ $18 Rxg6 27. Rgxg6 fxg6 28. Rxe6 { Re7+ would kill now.} Qxa2 {#14/36} (28... Qc7 $18 {4.58/28} 29. Qf3 Qg7) 29. Re7+ Kh8 30. Qh4 {Accuracy: White = 39%, Black = 42%.} 1-0 [Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2009.10.18"] [Round "?"] [White "Manninen, Juha"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A01"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "31"] 1. b3 d5 {A01 Nimzo-Larsen Attack: Classical Variation} 2. Bb2 c5 3. e3 Nc6 4. Bb5 {A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Opening} Qd6 5. f4 (5. Nf3 a6 6. Bxc6+ Qxc6 7. Ne5 Qc7 8. O-O Nf6 9. c4 dxc4 10. bxc4 e6 11. Qa4+ Nd7 12. d4 Bd6 13. Nd2 O-O 14. f4 cxd4 15. exd4 Nxe5 16. fxe5 Bxe5 17. dxe5 Qb6+ 18. c5 Qxb2 19. Nf3 Qb5 { De Santis,A (2260)-Lazic,M (2506) Forni di Sopra 2018 0-1}) 5... Bd7 $146 { 0.47/23} (5... a6 $11 {-0.22/26} 6. Bxc6+ Qxc6 7. Nf3 Nf6 8. O-O g6 9. d3 Bg7 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Qe1 b5 12. Qh4 c4 13. Ne5 Qc7 14. Bd4 Ne8 15. bxc4 dxc4 16. dxc4 f6 17. Nef3 bxc4 18. Rab1 Nd6 19. Bb6 Qc6 20. Nd4 Qd5 21. e4 Nxe4 { Niesel,M (2160)-Brueggemann,J (2290) Porz 1990 1-0 (50)}) (5... d4 6. Na3 Bd7 7. Nf3 O-O-O 8. Nc4 Qc7 9. O-O f6 10. Qe2 Nh6 11. exd4 Nxd4 12. Bxd7+ Qxd7 13. Bxd4 cxd4 14. Rae1 Nf5 15. g4 Nh6 16. h3 e5 17. fxe5 Bc5 18. Qd3 b5 19. Nd6+ Bxd6 20. exd6 {Torre,E (2531)-Gu,X (2300) Manila 2007 1-0 (34)}) (5... f6 6. c4 d4 7. Qh5+ g6 8. Qd5 Bd7 9. Qxd6 exd6 10. Bxc6 Bxc6 11. Nf3 dxe3 12. dxe3 O-O-O 13. Nc3 Bg7 14. O-O-O Nh6 15. Nd5 Ng4 16. Rhe1 Rhe8 17. h3 Nf2 18. Rd2 Ne4 19. Rd3 Rd7 20. Kc2 {Paehtz,E (2457)-Kosteniuk,A (2439) Beijing 2011 0-1 (58)}) 6. Nf3 $14 a6 {0.62/23} (6... e6 $11 {0.06/24}) 7. Bxc6 Bxc6 8. O-O {-0.04/24} (8. d4 $14 {0.54/24}) 8... Nf6 $11 9. Nc3 {-0.36/24} (9. d4 $14 {0.53/24}) 9... g6 {0.39/23} (9... e6 $15 {-0.36/24}) 10. Qe2 {-0.28/24} (10. Na4 $14 {0.39/23}) 10... Bg7 {0.19/26} (10... Bh6 $142 {-0.28/24}) 11. Ne5 {-0.46/22} ({White should try} 11. Nd1 $11 {0.19/26}) 11... O-O 12. Rae1 {-0.63/23} (12. a4 $11 { -0.08/25}) 12... b5 {-0.12/27} (12... Nd7 $15 {-0.63/23} 13. Nxc6 Qxc6) 13. Nxc6 Qxc6 14. Nd1 {-0.81/22} (14. e4 $11 {-0.01/27 keeps the balance.}) 14... b4 {0.00/27} (14... c4 $17 {-0.81/22}) 15. Nf2 {-0.68/24} (15. d3 $11 {0.00/27} ) 15... Rfc8 {-0.09/28} ({Black should play} 15... a5 $15 {-0.68/24}) 16. c4 { -0.73/26 Accuracy: White = 24%, Black = 26%.} (16. d3 $11 {-0.09/28}) 1/2-1/2