B20 Sicilian: Unusual White 2nd moves (1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 e6 4.d4)

This week has been mostly about the over the board games I have played and it will continue to be like that also for the rest of the week. Game of today is from the last round of the tournament that was played at Vammala in 2002. Before this fifth round, I had lost the first three games and then on the fourth round I managed to finally win a game. The game below unfortunately brought me back to a normal result for me in those days, so I ended up only having 1 point out of the possible 5 points which was really disappointing at the time, despite of the fact that I was the lower rated player in all of these five games.

Today was a really chess filled day because in the morning I went to an elementary school to teach some chess or should I say tried to teach it, because it seemed that no one actually cared to learn the game and after that I went to a high school and had anyone interested shown up for the club, I would have taught some chess there too. Well, due to the way the elementary school chess club has been done this year, not all who participate in it are actually interested in the game. I think that the way it was done last year was much better because then only the children who were interested in chess, participated in it. Last year we also had this club at high school, then basically only one person showed up for it, but it was actually good in some ways because not only was that person interested in chess but also got personal training and because of that may have learned chess better than if on a group. I am far better at teaching chess one on one than for a group of people. I am not saying though that I would be that good in teaching and I actually do not like it all that much, but the way things are at the moment, I am partly forced to do that. In the evening I played on round three in our club tournament which did not go as well as I had thought. I did have some advantage in that game but I guess some less than accurate moves made by me enabled my opponent to get back into the game. I have not had the time to check the game with the computer to see if my position was as good as I thought during the game. I even ended up slightly worse side after a series of moves, but the game ended in a peaceful draw which I need to be happy about considering how the game went before my last move in the game that I think basically forced the draw.

[Event "Vammala"] [Site "?"] [Date "2002.09.01"] [Round "5"] [White "Tuomisto, Kalevi"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B20"] [WhiteElo "1506"] [BlackElo "1321"] [Annotator "Stockfish 6 64 BMI2 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2002.09.01"] 1. e4 c5 2. b4 cxb4 3. a3 {Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit, Marshall Variation} e6 (3... bxa3 {Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit, Carlsbad Variation}) (3... d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Bb2 {Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit, Marienbad Variation} (5. Nf3 e5 6. Bb2 (6. c4 Qe6 7. Bd3 {Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit, Nanu Gambit}) 6... Nc6 7. c4 Qe6 {Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit, Romanian Defense})) 4. d4 { B20 Sicilian: Unusual White 2nd moves} Nc6 (4... d5 5. e5 Nc6 6. axb4 Bxb4+ 7. c3 Be7 8. Qg4 g6 9. Bd3 f5 10. Qg3 Na5 11. Ra2 Bd7 12. h4 Nc4 13. Nf3 Qb6 14. h5 g5 15. Bxg5 O-O-O 16. O-O Bb5 17. Qf4 a6 18. Bxe7 Nxe7 19. Ng5 {Schmitt,L (2224)-Fang,J (2433) Manchester 1994 0-1 (55)}) 5. Nf3 {N Black's piece can't move: c8} (5. axb4 Bxb4+ 6. c3 Be7 7. Bd3 (7. Nf3 d6 8. Bd3 Nf6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O b6 {1/2-1/2 (10) Mihok,O (2160)-Zilahi, G (2102) Budapest 2005}) 7... Bg5 ( 7... d5 8. e5 Bg5 9. f4 Bh6 10. Nf3 Nge7 11. O-O Ng6 12. Ng5 Qb6 13. Kh1 O-O 14. Bd2 Qb2 15. Na3 a6 16. Nb5 Rb8 17. Rb1 Qa2 18. Ra1 Qb2 19. Rb1 Qa2 20. Ra1 Qb2 21. Nd6 Qb6 22. Rb1 {Bradley,A-Bates,L (2178) ICC INT 2009 1-0 (40)}) 8. f4 Bh4+ 9. g3 Be7 10. e5 Rb8 11. Qg4 g6 12. Na3 d5 13. Ne2 a6 14. O-O b5 15. Qf3 f5 16. Be3 h5 17. h4 Nh6 {0-1 (17) Bainov, D-Grekhneva,N (1715) Irkutsk 2012}) 5... Nge7 (5... d5 $5 {is worth looking at} 6. e5 a6 {=}) 6. axb4 (6. d5 $5 Nb8 7. axb4 {+/-}) 6... Nxb4 {+/= Black has a new passed pawn: a7. Black has a cramped position. Black's pieces can't move: c8+f8} 7. Ba3 {White threatens to win material: Ba3xb4} Qb6 (7... Ng6 8. h4 d5 9. h5 dxe4 10. hxg6 exf3 11. Rxh7 {+/-}) 8. Nbd2 Nbc6 $4 (8... Ng6 {would save the game} 9. c4 Qc7 {+/-}) 9. Nc4 {+-} Qc7 10. e5 {Black has a cramped position. Black's pieces can't move: c8+f8 } (10. Nd6+ {finishes off the opponent} Kd8 11. Nxf7+ Ke8 12. Nd6+ Kd8 13. Ng5 Qa5+ 14. Ke2 {+-}) 10... Nd5 $4 (10... Nf5 $5 {and Black can hope to survive} 11. c3 b6 {=}) 11. Bxf8 (11. Nd6+ Bxd6 12. Bxd6 Qb6 {+-}) 11... Rxf8 (11... Kxf8 $5 12. Bd3 Nf4 {+/-}) 12. Nd6+ {+-} Ke7 $2 (12... Kd8 13. c4 Nde7 14. Bd3 {+-}) 13. Bd3 (13. c4 {makes it even easier for White} Ndb4 14. Qd2 f6 {+-}) 13... h6 (13... Nxd4 14. c4 (14. Nxd4 $2 Qc3+ 15. Kf1 Qxd4 {-+}) 14... Nxf3+ 15. Qxf3 {+-} (15. gxf3 $6 Nf4 16. Qd2 Nxd3+ 17. Qxd3 Qc5 {+/-})) 14. O-O (14. c4 {might be the shorter path} Nf4 15. Qd2 {+-}) 14... Ncb4 $4 {terrible, but the game is lost in any case} (14... f6 15. Be4 fxe5 16. dxe5 {+-}) 15. Rc1 ( 15. c4 {keeps an even firmer grip} Nf4 16. Be4 f6 {+-}) 15... Nxd3 $4 { terrible, but what else could Black do to save the game?} (15... Nc3 16. Qe1 Nbd5 {+-}) 16. cxd3 (16. Qxd3 $5 {seems even better} Rh8 17. c4 Nf4 {+-}) 16... Qb6 17. Qd2 (17. Qe2 {makes it even easier for White} Kd8 {+-}) 17... a5 (17... Qb3 {is not the saving move} 18. Rb1 Qa3 19. Rfc1 {+-}) 18. Rc5 Nb4 (18... Qa6 {+- a last effort to resist the inevitable}) 19. Rfc1 Nc6 20. Qf4 a4 (20... Qb4 {+- the only chance to get some counterplay}) 21. Qh4+ f6 22. Qg4 g5 23. Qh5 Kd8 (23... fxe5 {is one last hope} 24. dxe5 Nxe5 25. Nxe5 Kxd6 {+-}) 24. Qxh6 Rg8 25. Qxf6+ (25. Qh7 Kc7 26. Qxg8 fxe5 27. Nb5+ Qxb5 28. Rxb5 exd4 29. Nxg5 b6 30. Nf7 Kb7 31. Rb4 Rb8 32. Rxc6 dxc6 33. Qd8 Ka7 34. Rxa4+ Ba6 35. Qe7+ Rb7 36. Rxa6+ Kxa6 37. Qa3+ Kb5 38. Nd6#) 25... Kc7 26. Qf7 Rd8 (26... Rh8 { does not improve anything} 27. d5 Kb8 {+-}) 27. Nxg5 (27. Rb5 {and White can already relax} Qa6 28. d5 exd5 29. e6 Kxd6 30. e7 {+-}) 27... a3 (27... Kb8 { is the last straw} 28. Rb5 Qc7 {+-}) 28. Rb5 Qa6 29. Nxe6+ Kb8 30. Rcb1 (30. Nc5 {and White takes home the point} Qxb5 31. Nxb5 {+-}) 30... Ra7 $4 {Black has lost his nerve... understandable when you consider his position} (30... a2 31. Nxd8 $1 {a forceful and devastating end} Qxb5 32. Qxa2 Rxa2 33. Nxb5 Nxd8 { +-}) 31. Nc5 (31. Nc5 Qa5 32. Rxa5 Rxa5 33. Nxc8 {+-}) 1-0