B56 Classical Sicilian: Unusual Lines (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bd7)

This is my latest game from GameKnot and admittedly it went on a bit longer than necessary. Sometimes clicking that resign button is just something I just avoid because making the decision that I have indeed lost is not easy for me. After I have seen that my opponent is up to the task of converting his or her material advantage or other advantage into a win, I resign. When that time comes during a game varies a bit of course. The game below was played in the mike5972p's mini-tournament VII. This was the last game in progress in the tournament, so after this I finally got my first mini-tournament points. In the final standings I am on fourth place but because I ended up having the same amount of points as the player who finished third, I shared the min-tournament points with that player. Had I been clearly on fourth place, I would have received only five mini-tournament points, but because I shared third place, I received 6 points. This then worked out well for me, however, it did not work out that well for ledinscak, the player that finished third. This is because the shared third place meant that ledinscak also received 6 points, had he been on undivided third place, he would have received 7 points. There were originally 11 players who started this tournament, but because two players withdrew from the tournament, I did not get to play all 20 games and instead played only 16 games. Which might have been a good thing because otherwise the tournament would still be in progress... This post was named B56 Sicilian Defense: Kupreichik Variation in the past, but as I classify openings with Fritz 16 these days I renamed this post.

[Event "mike5972p's mini-tournament VII"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2015.09.25"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "calenzana"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B56"] [WhiteElo "1758"] [BlackElo "1840"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "158"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bd7 {B56 Classical Sicilian: Unusual Lines. LiveBook: 894 Games} 6. Bd3 g6 (6... e6 7. O-O (7. Bg5 Be7 8. Qd2 a6 9. O-O-O b5 10. a3 h6 11. Bh4 Qb6 12. Nf3 a5 13. Nb1 b4 14. Rhe1 Nc6 15. h3 Rb8 16. Qe3 Qb7 17. Bf1 bxa3 18. Qxa3 d5 19. Qa2 Nxe4 20. Bxe7 Nxe7 21. Bd3 Nxf2 {Assankhan,L-Sultanbek,Z (1634) Pavlodar 2016 0-1}) 7... Nc6 8. Nb3 Be7 9. Kh1 O-O 10. f4 Rc8 11. Bd2 a6 12. Qf3 b5 13. a3 Qb6 14. Rae1 b4 15. Na4 Qc7 16. axb4 Rb8 17. e5 Nd5 18. exd6 Bxd6 19. Nac5 Ncxb4 20. Nxd7 Qxd7 21. Be4 { Bartel,M (2237)-Olszewski,M (2498) Warsaw 2008 0-1 (70)}) 7. O-O Bg7 8. Nde2 $146 {The position is equal.} (8. h3 O-O 9. Be3 Nc6 10. Re1 a6 11. a4 Rc8 12. Nxc6 Bxc6 13. a5 Nd7 14. Qd2 Re8 15. Ra3 Ne5 16. f4 Nxd3 17. cxd3 d5 18. Bb6 Qd7 19. e5 e6 20. Ne2 f6 21. Nd4 fxe5 22. fxe5 Qe7 {Sleczka,B (1886) -Mucha,R (2181) Dobczyce 2010 0-1 (38)}) 8... O-O 9. Be3 Nc6 10. Qd2 Ng4 11. Bf4 e5 12. Bg3 Nf6 13. Kh1 Be6 14. Bh4 {-1.05/25} (14. Bb5 $11 {-0.21/26}) 14... Nb4 $2 { 0.48/25 [#]} (14... Nxe4 $1 $17 {-1.05/25} 15. Bxe4 (15. Nxe4 Qxh4) 15... Qxh4) 15. Bg5 {-0.15/27} (15. f4 $14 {0.48/25}) 15... Rc8 {0.45/23} (15... d5 $11 { -0.15/27}) 16. a3 Nxd3 17. Qxd3 h6 $36 {Black is pushing.} 18. Be3 d5 19. exd5 Nxd5 20. Nxd5 Bxd5 21. Rad1 Bc4 22. Qd2 Qc7 {Strongly threatening ...Rfd8.} 23. Rfe1 Rfd8 24. Qc1 b6 25. Rxd8+ Rxd8 26. Nc3 Kh7 27. Rd1 f5 28. f3 Rxd1+ 29. Qxd1 Qc6 30. Qd2 Ba6 31. Qd5 {-1.10/27} (31. h3 $11 {-0.25/30}) 31... Qxd5 $17 32. Nxd5 {Endgame KBB-KBN} Bb7 {-0.75/31} (32... e4 $142 $1 {-1.30/27} 33. fxe4 Bxb2 34. exf5 Bxa3 35. fxg6+ Kxg6) 33. Nc7 e4 {-0.68/34} ({Black should try} 33... f4 $1 $17 {-1.15/29} 34. Bc1 e4 35. fxe4 Bxe4) 34. fxe4 $15 Bxe4 35. c3 Bd3 36. Nd5 Be5 37. Nb4 {-0.81/33} (37. Bd4 $11 {-0.29/34 remains equal.} Bxd4 38. cxd4) 37... Bb5 {-0.39/33} (37... Be4 $17 {-0.81/33}) 38. Kg1 {-0.88/32} ( 38. Bd4 $15 {-0.39/33} Bd6 39. b3) 38... g5 39. Nc2 Kg6 40. Nd4 Ba4 41. Nf3 Bd6 42. h3 {-1.29/28} (42. g3 $142 {-0.87/33}) 42... f4 $17 43. Bd4 Kf5 44. Kf1 h5 45. Nd2 g4 46. hxg4+ hxg4 47. c4 $2 {-3.43/31} (47. Kf2 $17 {-1.56/36}) 47... Bc6 $19 48. b4 Bb7 49. c5 $2 {-5.16/31} (49. Nb3 {-2.93/32 keeps fighting.}) 49... bxc5 50. bxc5 Bb8 51. Kf2 a6 52. Bc3 Ba7 53. Bd4 Ke6 54. Nb3 {[#] Hoping for c6!} Bb8 55. Bc3 $2 {-3.76/28} (55. c6 {-2.10/33} Bxc6 56. Nc5+ Kd5 57. Nxa6) 55... g3+ 56. Kf1 Kd5 57. Bb4 Bc8 58. Ke2 Bg4+ 59. Kf1 Be5 60. Nd2 Bd4 61. Nb3 {-5.77/31} (61. c6 $142 {-3.92/34} Be5 62. Nf3) 61... Be3 62. Bd2 Bxd2 {Black mates.} 63. Nxd2 Kxc5 {KB-KN} 64. Ne4+ Kd4 65. Nf6 Bd1 66. Kg1 Kc4 67. Nd7 Be2 68. Ne5+ Kb3 69. Ng6 f3 70. gxf3 Bxf3 71. Ne5 Bd5 72. Nd3 Kxa3 73. Nf4 Bc6 74. Ne2 g2 75. Kf2 a5 76. Nd4 Bb7 77. Ne2 Kb2 78. Nd4 a4 79. Nb5 a3 { Precision: White = 29%, Black = 71%.} 0-1