D55 Queen's Gambit Declined: 4.Bg5 Be7: Lines without ...h6 and 6...h6 7.Bxf6 (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.e3 b6 7.Be2 Bb7 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Bxe7 Qxe7 10.O-O Nd7 11.a3 c5 12.Rc1)

This was played in the second round of the 28th Chess.com Tournament (1601-1800). I am currently fifth in group #18 and only if I win my last game in this round which is also the last game I have left in the tournament, I will be able to finish fourth or basically be in shared third place. That last game is against fliubo, who can take the lead in the group in case he wins that game. The current leader of the group is Kounle (1860), who has only game left to finish this round and the result of that game will pretty much decide if Kounle or fliubo will advance to the third round. It is nice to see that the win of the group will be decided in the last game, so that the interest for the remaining games is still there. Had the group been decided earlier, the rest of the games would have been just something that you are forced to play and they would not have had been that exciting anymore. It only took one ill-adviced move from me to lose this game. My move 27...exd4?? was the game losing mistake after which I could not bring the game to a balanced state anymore. Admittedly the position was not pleasent for me to play at that point anyway. Until Monday, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

[Event "28th Chess.com Tournament (1601-1800) -"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.04.28"] [Round "?"] [White "fliubo"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D55"] [WhiteElo "2043"] [BlackElo "1861"] [Annotator "Stockfish 6 64 BMI2 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 {Queen's Gambit Declined: 4.Bg5 Be7} 5. Nf3 O-O (5... h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. Rc1 dxc4 {Queen's Gambit Declined: Uhlmann Variation}) 6. e3 (6. Qc2 {Queen's Gambit Declined: Miles Variation}) 6... b6 7. Be2 Bb7 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. O-O (10. Nxd5 Bxd5 11. Rc1 Qd6 12. Qc2 Rc8 13. O-O a6 14. Ng5 g6 15. e4 Bb7 16. Qb3 Qe7 17. f4 Nd7 18. Bc4 b5 19. Qh3 Nf8 20. Bb3 c5 21. dxc5 Rxc5 22. Rce1 Kg7 23. Qh4 f6 24. Nxe6+ Nxe6 {Michenka, J (2351)-Kolar,S (2160) Karvina 2003 1/2-1/2 (55)}) (10. Rc1 c6 11. O-O Nd7 12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Qa4 a5 14. Qb3 Qb4 15. Qc3 c5 16. a3 Qxc3 17. Rxc3 c4 18. b3 b5 19. bxc4 dxc4 20. Rb1 Ba6 21. Ng5 f5 22. Bf3 Rab8 23. Bd5+ Kh8 24. Ne6 Rf6 { Santos,M (1701) -Cortes,G (1801) Vitoria 2015 1-0 (62)}) 10... Nd7 11. a3 { N Secures b4} (11. Bc4 Nxc3 12. bxc3 c5 13. Qe2 Nf6 14. Rac1 Ne4 15. Rfd1 Rfd8 16. Nd2 Nxd2 17. Rxd2 Rac8 18. Rdd1 cxd4 19. cxd4 Rc7 20. Bb3 Rdc8 21. Rxc7 Rxc7 22. e4 h6 23. Qd3 Qd6 24. f3 Rd7 25. Kh1 Rc7 {Leniart,A (2235)-Simonian,H (2156) Urgup 2004 1/2-1/2 (37)}) (11. Rc1 N7f6 (11... Rac8 12. Qa4 a5 13. Nb5 c5 14. Qd1 cxd4 15. Nfxd4 Nc5 16. a3 Rfd8 17. Na7 Rc7 18. Qe1 Rdd7 19. Ndb5 Nb3 20. Nxc7 Nxc1 21. Qxc1 Rxc7 22. Qd2 Rd7 23. Qc2 Rc7 24. Qb3 Qc5 25. Bd3 Nxe3 26. Nb5 {Cihak,A-Ruzicka,A Klatovy 2003 0-1}) 12. Ne5 Rac8 13. Nb5 a6 14. Na7 Ra8 15. Nac6 Qd6 16. Qc2 Nd7 17. Bf3 f6 18. Nd3 Nb8 19. Bxd5 exd5 20. Nxb8 c5 21. dxc5 bxc5 22. Qxc5 Qxb8 23. Rfd1 Rc8 24. Qe7 Re8 25. Qd7 Rd8 {Zapata Arbelaes,E (1965)-Lopez Oliveira,T (1753) Cali 2011 1-0 (36)}) 11... c5 12. Rc1 {D55 Queen's Gambit Declined: 4.Bg5 Be7: Lines without ...h6 and 6...h6 7.Bxf6} Rfd8 13. Qa4 cxd4 {Black forks: c3+e3} 14. Nxd4 ({Weaker is} 14. exd4 Nf4 {+/-} ) 14... Nc5 15. Nxd5 Bxd5 (15... Nxa4 $4 {greedy!} 16. Nxe7+ Kf8 17. Rc7 {+-}) (15... Rxd5 $6 16. Qc2 Rdd8 17. b4 {=}) 16. Qc2 Qg5 {Black has a mate threat} 17. Nf3 {White threatens to win material: Nf3xg5} Qf6 18. Rfd1 Bb3 19. Rxd8+ Rxd8 20. Qc3 Qxc3 {Black forks: b2+c1} 21. Rxc3 Kf8 22. Nd4 Bd5 23. b4 { White threatens to win material: b4xc5} Ne4 {Black threatens to win material: Ne4xc3} 24. Rc7 {White threatens to win material: Rc7xa7} Ra8 (24... e5 25. Nf3 f6 26. Ne1 {=} (26. Rxa7 Rc8 27. g4 Rc1+ 28. Kg2 Rc2 {+/-})) 25. Ba6 Nd6 26. f3 {Consolidates e4} e5 {Black threatens to win material: e5xd4} 27. Rd7 (27. Nb5 Nxb5 28. Bxb5 {+/=}) 27... exd4 (27... Bc4 $5 {has some apparent merit} 28. Rxd6 Bxa6 {=}) 28. Rxd6 {+/-} Be6 29. Rxd4 Ke7 30. Kf2 Rd8 (30... Rb8 $5 31. a4 Bb3 {+/-}) 31. Rxd8 Kxd8 32. e4 Kc7 33. Ke3 Bd7 34. Bc4 f6 35. f4 Kd6 36. Kd4 { White intends e5} Bc6 37. g3 Bb7 38. a4 a6 $4 {the pressure is too much, Black crumbles} (38... Bc8 {+/-}) 39. e5+ fxe5+ (39... Kc7 {+- there is nothing better in the position}) 40. fxe5+ Ke7 41. a5 b5 42. Bd5 Bc8 43. Kc5 (43. Kc5 g5 44. Kb6 h5 45. Bb7 Bf5 46. Bxa6 h4 47. gxh4 gxh4 48. Bb7 Bd3 49. a6 Ke6 50. a7 Kxe5 51. Kc5 Kf6 52. a8=Q Ke7 53. Qa6 Kf7 54. Qh6 Bc4 55. Bd5+ Bxd5 56. Kxd5 h3 57. Qg5 Ke8 58. Qg7 Kd8 59. Kd6 Ke8 60. Qe7#) 1-0