B45 Sicilian Four Knights (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 Bc5 6.Nb3 Bb6 7.Be2)

The game below was played in the first round of a tournament that was held at Vammala in 2002. Back then, the most common result for me in over the board games was a loss and this tournament was no exception, I lost four of the five games I played. Well, to be fair to my old self, most of the opponents I faced in this tournament were clearly higher rated than me at the time. Only one opponent was quite close to my rating and that game I was able to win.

Tomorrow I will post some of my correspondence games again, both chess and chess960 games will be featured. I previously thought that I would post those chess960 games today, but then I experienced the lack of productivity and inspiration, so it will be something I do tomorrow instead. Speaking of correspondence games, I only have 72 in progress at the moment, so things are definitely looking brighter on that area. I should have increasingly more time to play the remaining games for the title at the FIDE Online Arena and maybe even have time to read some books I have bought but not read yet. I have around 20 books that are in my reading schedule that I have not even opened yet. Then at some point I should start doing tactics training again and do that regularly, I would also like to go through my chess books that have been collecting dust for years. But I think that I will start going through those chess books only after I have read those books unrelated to chess first.

[Event "Vammala"] [Site "?"] [Date "2002.08.31"] [Round "1"] [White "Laurila, Antti"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B45"] [WhiteElo "1616"] [BlackElo "1321"] [Annotator "Stockfish 6 64 BMI2 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "105"] [EventDate "2002.09.01"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nc3 {Sicilian Defense: Paulsen Variation, Normal Variation} Bc5 (5... a6 6. Be2 Nge7 {Sicilian Defense: Paulsen Variation, Taimanov Variation}) (5... Nf6 6. Ndb5 Bb4 7. Nd6+ { Sicilian Defense: Paulsen Variation, American Attack}) (5... Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Be2 {Sicilian Defense: Paulsen Variation, Bastrikov Variation}) 6. Nb3 Bb6 7. Be2 {B45 Sicilian Four Knights} Qf6 {Black has a mate threat} (7... Nf6 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 d5 11. exd5 exd5 12. O-O Be6 13. Re1 Qd7 14. Bb5 O-O-O 15. a4 a6 16. Be5 Ng4 17. Bxc6 Qxc6 18. Bd4 Qd6 19. g3 h5 20. Bxb6 Qxb6 21. Qd4 Qc7 22. Nc5 {Sanchez Quintero, R (2120)-Rodriguez Mellado,A (1741) Gran Canaria 2012 1-0}) 8. Bf3 {N} (8. f4 Qh4+ 9. g3 Qe7 10. Nb5 a6 11. Nd6+ Kf8 12. f5 Bc7 13. Bf4 e5 14. Nxc8 Rxc8 15. Be3 d6 16. Qd2 Rd8 17. h4 h6 18. O-O-O Nf6 19. Bf3 Rd7 20. g4 Ng8 21. Nc5 Rd8 22. Nxb7 Rd7 {Arancibia Moreno,R (2408)-Cid Gutierrez,S Santiago de Chile 2009 1-0 (43)}) (8. O-O Nge7 {+/=}) 8... a6 { Consolidates b5} 9. Qd3 (9. Qd6 Nge7 {+/=}) 9... Nge7 10. Be3 {White threatens to win material: Be3xb6} Ne5 {Black threatens to win material: Ne5xd3. Black forks: d3+f3} 11. Qe2 Bxe3 (11... Bc7 12. h4 {+/=}) 12. Qxe3 {+/=} O-O 13. Be2 N7c6 (13... d5 14. O-O-O {+/=}) 14. a3 (14. O-O-O b5 {+/-}) 14... Rb8 (14... b5 15. O-O-O {+/=}) 15. f4 Ng6 16. g3 Rd8 17. h4 (17. O-O-O {!? +/-}) 17... d5 { +/= Black has a cramped position} 18. e5 {White threatens to win material: e5xf6} Qe7 19. Nd4 (19. O-O-O {!? +/=}) 19... Qc5 {= Black threatens to win material: Qc5xd4} 20. Rd1 Nge7 21. Qd3 (21. Qf2 Nxd4 22. Qxd4 Qa5 {=}) 21... Nxd4 (21... Bd7 22. Nb3 Qa7 23. Qf3 {=/+}) 22. Qxd4 {=} Qxd4 23. Rxd4 {Black has a cramped position} Nc6 {Black threatens to win material: Nc6xd4} 24. Rd2 b5 25. b4 {White has a new backward pawn: c2} Bb7 26. O-O Rd7 (26... Rbc8 27. Rf3 {=}) 27. Ne4 Rbd8 (27... Rc7 28. Nc5 {+/=}) 28. Nd6 {An ideal square for the white knight.} (28. Nc5 Rc7 {+/=}) 28... Ne7 (28... Ba8 29. Rfd1 {=}) 29. g4 {White plans f5} (29. a4 Bc6 {+/=}) 29... Ba8 30. Bd3 {White intends f5} ( 30. a4 Bc6 {+/=}) 30... Nc8 31. Nxc8 Rxc8 32. f5 {White gains space} Rc3 { Black threatens to win material: Rc3xa3} 33. Ra1 d4 (33... Rd8 {!? = might be a viable alternative}) 34. a4 {+/-} Bc6 35. axb5 axb5 36. Bxb5 $1 {Deflection: a8.} Rd8 $4 {solves nothing} (36... Bxb5 37. Ra8+ {Mate attack Deflection}) 37. Bxc6 {+-} Rxc6 38. Rad1 $4 {not a good decision, because now the opponent is right back in the game} (38. Rxd4 $1 {seems even better} Rdc8 39. c4 h5 {+-}) 38... Kf8 $2 (38... Rc4 {+/-}) 39. Rxd4 {+-} Rxd4 40. Rxd4 Rxc2 (40... exf5 41. c4 fxg4 42. Rxg4 Ke7 {+-}) 41. fxe6 $4 {throws away the game} (41. f6 {and the result of the game is clear: White will win} gxf6 42. exf6 {+-}) 41... fxe6 { +/=} 42. Rd6 {White threatens to win material: Rd6xe6} (42. Kf1 Ke7 {+/=}) 42... Ke7 43. Rb6 Rc7 $2 (43... Rc4 {= would allow Black to play on}) 44. Kf2 { +-} h6 (44... Rc4 45. Kg3 h6 46. Rb7+ Kf8 47. b5 Rc3+ 48. Kf4 Rc4+ 49. Kf3 Rc3+ 50. Ke2 {+-}) 45. Ke3 g5 (45... Rc4 46. Rb7+ Kf8 {+-}) 46. hxg5 hxg5 47. Kd4 Kd7 48. Rb5 (48. b5 {might be the shorter path} Rc2 49. Rb7+ Kc8 {+-}) 48... Rc6 $4 {Black falls apart} (48... Rc2 49. Ra5 Rg2 {+-}) 49. Rc5 Rxc5 50. Kxc5 Kc7 51. b5 Kb7 (51... Kd7 {hardly improves anything} 52. b6 Kd8 53. Kd6 Kc8 54. Kc6 Kd8 55. b7 Ke8 56. Kd6 Kf8 57. b8=Q+ Kg7 58. Kxe6 Kg6 59. Qb7 Kh6 60. Kf7 Kh7 61. Qh1#) 52. b6 Kc8 (52... Kb8 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 53. Kd6 Kb7 54. Kxe6 Kc6 55. Kf6 Kxb6 56. e6 Kb5 57. e7 Kc4 58. Ke5 Kd3 59. e8=Q Kc4 60. Kd6 Kc3 61. Kd5 Kc2 62. Kc4 Kd2 63. Qe4 Kc1 64. Kc3 Kd1 65. Qe5 Kc1 66. Qe1#) 53. Kd6 (53. Kd6 Kb7 54. Kxe6 Kc6 55. Ke7 Kxb6 56. Kd6 Ka6 57. e6 Ka5 58. Kc5 Ka4 59. e7 Kb3 60. e8=Q Kc2 61. Qe3 Kb1 62. Qf2 Ka1 63. Kb4 Kb1 64. Kb3 Ka1 65. Qe1#) (53. Kc6 Kd8 54. b7 Ke8 55. b8=Q+ Kf7 56. Qh8 Kg6 57. Kd6 Kf7 58. Qh7+ Kf8 59. Kxe6 Ke8 60. Qe7#) 1-0