E06 Closed Catalan: Early deviations (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.O-O O-O 7.Nc3 d5 8.Ne5 c6 9.cxd5 cxd5)

After a quite lot of rapid chess games, it is time once again to look at one of my recently finished correspondence games. It was played at Red Hot Pawn, in a tournament called 2014 September Grand Seven Fourteen III. This tournament started September 11th 2014, so the game below is one of the longest games I have ever played. I actually still have two games left to finish from those games that started with this tournament over a year ago. One of those games is against the opponent I had in this game, caissad4. Both players are partly responsible for the slow pace. When these games started, I had already taken maybe a bit too many games to play and at the start my moving pace was quite slow. It may have improved a bit now that I have maybe 200 games less to play than I did back then. My opponent on the other hand I think has played insane amount of games at the same time, I think he has kept his games in progress around 1000... The most I had in progress at the same time was 300 and that actually lasted only a few hours because the games ended in a suitable time.

This tournament was decided some time ago already but there are still games left to play. The tournament winner is a player called kopsov (1866). Kopsov has one game left to finish, but it does not really matter anymore as the tournament is concerned that is. The player who finishes second is still unclear, it can go to either Luft (1971) or to Reverb (1728). It will depend on what happens in Reverb's last game. If Reverb wins that last game, he will be second, but in all other results, he will be on third place. In case of a loss, he might be in a shared third place though with me, in case I manage to win both of my remaining games. If I can't win both of them, I will finish fourth.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.09.11"] [Round "1"] [White "caissad4"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E06"] [WhiteElo "1753"] [BlackElo "1855"] [Annotator "Stockfish 6 64 BMI2 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "106"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 d5 { Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation, Nimzowitsch Line} (7... Na6 {Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Tiviakov Defense}) (7... Ne4 8. Qc2 Nxc3 9. Qxc3 {Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation, Main Line}) 8. Ne5 c6 9. cxd5 cxd5 {E06 Closed Catalan: Early deviations} 10. b3 (10. f4 Nc6 11. Kh1 Nxe5 12. fxe5 Ne8 13. Bh3 Qd7 14. Qd3 Nc7 15. Bf4 Rac8 16. Rf2 Ba6 17. Qf3 Nb5 18. Qg4 Kh8 19. Bd2 Nxd4 20. Qxd4 Bc5 21. Qf4 Bxf2 22. Qxf2 d4 23. Ne4 Rc2 24. Bg2 Qb5 { Lukman,R (2355)-Wong,M (2415) Singapore 1997 0-1 (76)}) 10... Nc6 11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. Bb2 {N} (12. Qd3 Qd7 13. Bb2 Rfd8 14. Rfc1 Qb7 15. e3 Rac8 16. f4 g6 17. Bf3 Ne4 18. Rc2 f5 {1/2-1/2 (18) Ulaneo, M (1976)-Izquierdo,S (2021) Paysandu 2010}) 12... Rc8 13. Rc1 Qd7 14. Qd3 Bb4 15. Rfd1 Rfe8 16. a3 Bd6 17. b4 Qe7 18. b5 {White threatens to win material: b5xc6} Bb7 19. a4 Rc4 {Black can be proud of that piece} 20. Ra1 Rec8 21. Rdc1 Bb4 22. Na2 Bd6 23. e3 { Consolidates f4} (23. Nc3 h6 {=/+}) 23... Rxa4 24. Rxc8+ Bxc8 {Black has a new backward pawn: a7} 25. Bf1 (25. e4 $5 {must definitely be considered} e5 26. exd5 {=}) 25... Rc4 {+/-} 26. Qb3 Rc7 27. Nc3 Qd7 28. Bd3 Be7 29. Kg2 Ne8 30. Bf1 Nd6 31. Bd3 (31. Ba3 Qd8 {+/-}) 31... g6 (31... Nc4 32. Kg1 {+/-}) 32. h3 ( 32. Ra4 Bf8 {+/-}) 32... Nc4 33. Bxc4 Rxc4 34. Qa2 $2 (34. Kg1 Qc7 {+/-}) 34... Rc7 (34... Bb4 {would have given Black a clear advantage} 35. Rc1 e5 {-+}) 35. Qb3 {+/-} Bd6 36. Rd1 Qe7 37. Ne2 (37. Ra1 Bd7 {+/-}) 37... Bb4 (37... a5 $5 38. Rc1 {-+}) 38. Rb1 Bd7 39. Nc3 (39. Bc3 Bd6 {+/-}) 39... Rc4 40. Ba1 Qe8 41. Na2 Ba5 42. h4 (42. Nc3 Bxc3 43. Bxc3 e5 {-+}) 42... Qc8 43. Kh2 (43. e4 dxe4 44. Qe3 f6 {-+}) 43... Rc2 (43... e5 {keeps an even firmer grip} 44. Rb2 exd4 45. Qd1 {-+}) 44. Kg2 $2 (44. Rb2 Rc7 {-+}) 44... Qc4 (44... Bxb5 $5 {might be the shorter path} 45. Qxb5 Rxa2 46. Qb3 {-+}) 45. Qxc4 Rxc4 (45... dxc4 $6 46. Nb4 Bxb4 47. Rxb4 {-+}) 46. Kf3 Kf8 (46... Kg7 {makes it even easier for Black} 47. g4 {-+}) 47. g4 Ke7 (47... Ra4 {and Black can already relax} 48. Nc1 Rb4 49. Rxb4 Bxb4 50. Na2 {-+}) 48. Nc1 (48. Bb2 Ke8 49. Ba1 e5 {-+}) 48... Rb4 ( 48... Bxb5 {seems even better} 49. Nb3 Bb4 {-+}) 49. Rxb4 Bxb4 50. Nd3 $4 { White has lost his nerve... understandable when you consider his position} (50. Na2 Ba3 51. Nc3 {-+}) 50... Ba5 (50... Bd6 {keeps an even firmer grip} 51. Bc3 {-+}) 51. Bb2 Bxb5 52. Nf4 (52. Ba3+ {doesn't do any good} Ke8 53. Nb4 Kd7 {-+} ) 52... Bb4 53. g5 (53. e4 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} dxe4+ 54. Kxe4 a5 {-+}) 53... a5 0-1