D71 Fianchetto Grünfeld: 3.g3 d5 sidelines and 5.cxd5 (without Nf3) (1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.bxc3 c5 7.d4 Bg7)

This is the 1100th analysed chess game to appear in this blog!! It seems like a lot, but I still have a lot more of my games to go through. Those 1100 games feature 432 different opening variations, 668 (60.73%) wins, 102 (9.27%) draws and 330 (30%) losses. The more I post these games, the more unfavorable the statistics are for me, winning percentage decreases and losing percentage increases which is not the way I would like it to go. We shall see where it will go in the future as we come closer to the actual current statistics. The best opening variations that I have played more than 10 games in are C50 Italian Game: Italian Variation with a 75 % winning chance (20 games played), C45 Scotch Game: General with a 72.73 % winning chance (11 games played) and B92 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation with also 72.73 % winning chance (11 games played). The worst openings for me that I have played more than 10 times are C64 Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Charousek Variation with a 50 % losing chance (14 games played), C34 King's Gambit: Accepted. Fischer Defense with a 42.11 % losing chance (19 games played) and A15 English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense. Mikenas-Carls Variation with a 41.67 % losing chance (24 games played). According to these statistics, it would seem clear what sort of openings I should try to steer the games for, but because these only take in consideration a small part of the games I have played, I can't rely too much on these statistics.

The game below was played in the fifth and final round of the tournament that was held at Turku over eleven years ago. If my memory serves me right, this was the first over the board game where I faced a female opponent, well as far as the official games are concerned that is. I started this tournament with a win, but then I lost a game and on the third round I won my second game and continued winning on the fourth round, so I had three wins and one loss before this final round game. Luckily this loss did not interfere my rating climb, but it did make it a smaller one that I was used to in previous tournaments. My rating only climbed eight points to 1714, but it was yet another highest rating ever that point in time, so I was still going into the right direction, but not as fast as before.

[Event "TSY"] [Site "?"] [Date "2004.04.25"] [Round "5"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Matomäki, Kaisa"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D71"] [WhiteElo "1706"] [BlackElo "1771"] [Annotator "Stockfish 6 64 BMI2 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "100"] [EventDate "2004.04.23"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nc3 Nxc3 {English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anglo-Grünfeld Variation} (5... Nb6 {English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anglo-Grünfeld Variation (#2)}) 6. bxc3 c5 7. d4 Bg7 { D71 Fianchetto Grünfeld: 3.g3 d5 sidelines and 5.cxd5 (without Nf3)} 8. Bb2 ( 8. Nf3 cxd4 9. cxd4 Nc6 10. O-O O-O 11. Rb1 b6 12. d5 Bf5 13. Rb5 Na5 14. Nd4 Bd7 15. Rb1 Rc8 16. Bb2 Qc7 17. Ba3 Qe5 18. Nf3 {1/2-1/2 (18) Ponomariov,R (2758)-Svidler,P (2740) Rogaska Slatina 2011}) 8... Qa5 {N} (8... Nc6 9. e3 Bf5 10. e4 Bd7 11. Ne2 Na5 12. Rb1 O-O 13. O-O Nc4 14. Ba1 Rb8 15. Nf4 Qa5 16. e5 Ba4 17. Qc1 Bc6 18. Nd5 Kh8 19. Rd1 cxd4 20. Nf4 Bxg2 21. Kxg2 Qxe5 22. Re1 Qd6 23. cxd4 {Nguyen,V (1656)-Tran,M (2053) Ho Chi Minh City 2014 0-1 (45)}) (8... cxd4 9. cxd4 Qa5+ 10. Qd2 Qxd2+ 11. Kxd2 O-O 12. e3 Na6 13. Ba3 Re8 14. f4 Rb8 15. Rb1 Bf8 16. Ne2 e6 17. Bxf8 Kxf8 18. Nc3 Nc7 19. Rhc1 b6 20. Ne4 Nd5 21. Nd6 Rd8 22. Nxc8 Rbxc8 23. Bf1 {Aubry,Y (2170)-Marie,X (1826) Domloup 2013 1-0 (48)}) (8... O-O 9. Nf3 Qa5 10. O-O Rd8 11. Qc2 Nc6 12. Rfd1 cxd4 13. Nxd4 Bd7 14. Nxc6 Bxc6 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. a4 c5 17. Qe4 e6 18. Qc4 Rab8 19. Rxd8+ Rxd8 20. Qb5 Bxc3 21. Bxc3 Qxc3 22. Rb1 Qc2 23. Kg2 {Luuppala,J-Owczarzak,J (2205) Mureck 1998 0-1 (75)}) 9. Nf3 cxd4 10. Nxd4 O-O 11. O-O Rd8 12. Qb3 Qc7 (12... e5 13. Nc2 {=}) 13. f4 (13. Rad1 $5 {is worth consideration} Nc6 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. Rxd8+ Qxd8 16. Bxc6 {=}) 13... Nc6 {=/+ The knight aims for Nb8-c6-a5-c4. Black threatens to win material: Nc6xd4} 14. Rad1 Bg4 15. Rfe1 Na5 16. Qb4 Nc4 {A comfortable square for the black knight} 17. h3 Bd7 18. e4 $4 {another bit of territory lost} (18. Bc1 {+/-}) 18... e5 (18... a5 {and Black can already relax} 19. Qb3 Ba4 20. Qxa4 Nxb2 21. Qb3 Nxd1 22. Rxd1 {-+}) 19. fxe5 (19. Ba1 a5 20. Qb3 a4 {-+}) 19... Bxe5 (19... a5 {keeps an even firmer grip} 20. Qb3 Ba4 21. Qxa4 Nxb2 22. Qb3 Nxd1 23. Rxd1 Bxe5 24. Rf1 {-+}) 20. g4 $4 {sad, but how else could White save the game?} (20. Bc1 {-+}) 20... Bd6 (20... a5 $5 { seems even better} 21. Qb3 Ba4 22. Qxa4 Nxb2 23. Qb3 Nxd1 24. Rxd1 {-+}) 21. Qb3 Ba4 $3 {Deflection: b2} 22. Qxa4 Nxb2 23. Qb3 Nxd1 24. Rxd1 Rac8 25. Rf1 Rd7 26. Nb5 (26. Qa4 {is no salvation} a6 27. Kh1 Be5 {-+}) 26... Qc5+ 27. Kh1 Qe5 (27... Be5 $5 {might be the shorter path} 28. Nd4 Bxd4 29. cxd4 Qxd4 30. Qg3 {-+}) 28. Nxd6 Qxd6 (28... Rxd6 $6 29. Qxf7+ Kh8 30. Qxb7 {+/-}) 29. c4 Qd3 30. Qa4 (30. Qxd3 {does not improve anything} Rxd3 31. Rc1 b6 {-+}) 30... Rdc7 31. Qxa7 (31. e5 {doesn't improve anything} b6 {-+}) 31... Qxc4 (31... b5 { makes it even easier for Black} 32. Qa6 bxc4 33. e5 {-+}) 32. Rb1 (32. Qa5 { doesn't change the outcome of the game} Rd7 33. a3 Qe2 {-+}) 32... Qa6 (32... Qd3 {secures the point} 33. Rf1 Rc1 34. Qf2 Rxf1+ 35. Bxf1 {-+}) 33. Qxa6 bxa6 34. Rb6 (34. Bf1 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} a5 35. a4 Rc2 {-+}) 34... Rc6 35. Rb3 Rc1+ 36. Kh2 R8c2 37. Ra3 (37. a3 {-+ desperation}) 37... Ra1 ( 37... Re2 38. Kg3 Rg1 39. Rxa6 Rgxg2+ 40. Kf4 Rxa2 41. Rb6 Raf2+ 42. Ke3 {-+}) 38. Rxa6 Raxa2 39. Rxa2 Rxa2 40. Kg3 (40. g5 {what else?} Ra3 41. e5 {-+}) 40... g5 41. Kh2 Kg7 42. Kg3 Kf6 43. Bf3 Ke5 44. Bg2 Rxg2+ 45. Kxg2 Kxe4 46. Kg3 (46. Kf2 {does not help much} Kf4 47. Kg2 Ke3 48. Kg3 f6 49. Kg2 Ke2 50. Kg3 Kf1 51. h4 gxh4+ 52. Kh2 Kf2 53. Kh3 Kg1 54. Kxh4 Kg2 55. g5 f5 56. Kh5 Kg3 57. Kh6 Kg4 58. g6 hxg6 59. Kg7 f4 60. Kf6 f3 61. Ke5 f2 62. Kd6 f1=Q 63. Kc5 Kf4 64. Kb4 Qa6 65. Kc5 Ke4 66. Kb4 Kd4 67. Kb3 Qa1 68. Kb4 Qb1+ 69. Ka3 Kc3 70. Ka4 Qb4#) 46... Ke3 47. h4 (47. Kg2 {does not win a prize} f6 48. Kg3 Ke2 49. Kg2 h6 50. Kg3 Kf1 51. Kf3 Kg1 52. Kg3 Kh1 53. h4 gxh4+ 54. Kh3 Kg1 55. Kxh4 Kh2 56. Kh5 Kh3 57. g5 fxg5 58. Kxh6 g4 59. Kg5 g3 60. Kf4 g2 61. Ke5 g1=Q 62. Kd6 Qb6+ 63. Kd5 Kg3 64. Kc4 Kf4 65. Kd5 Qb5+ 66. Ke6 Qc6+ 67. Kf7 Kf5 68. Kf8 Kf6 69. Kg8 Qg2+ 70. Kh8 Qg7#) 47... h6 48. Kg2 (48. h5 {cannot change destiny} Ke4 49. Kf2 Kf4 50. Ke2 Kxg4 51. Ke3 f5 52. Ke2 f4 53. Kf2 Kf5 54. Ke1 Ke4 55. Kd1 g4 56. Ke1 g3 57. Kf1 Ke3 58. Kg2 Ke2 59. Kg1 f3 60. Kh1 Ke3 61. Kg1 g2 62. Kh2 Kf2 63. Kh3 g1=Q 64. Kh4 Qg3#) 48... Kf4 49. Kh3 (49. hxg5 { doesn't do any good} hxg5 50. Kf2 Kxg4 51. Ke2 Kf4 52. Kd3 g4 53. Kd2 g3 54. Ke2 Ke4 55. Ke1 Kf3 56. Kd1 g2 57. Kc1 g1=Q+ 58. Kb2 Ke2 59. Kc2 Qc5+ 60. Kb3 Kd3 61. Kb2 Qb4+ 62. Ka1 Kc2 63. Ka2 Qb2#) 49... Kf3 50. h5 (50. hxg5 {doesn't change anything anymore} hxg5 51. Kh2 Kxg4 52. Kg2 Kf4 53. Kf1 Kf3 54. Ke1 g4 55. Kd2 g3 56. Kc3 g2 57. Kc4 g1=Q 58. Kb5 Ke4 59. Kc6 Ke5 60. Kb5 Kd5 61. Kb4 Qg3 62. Kb5 Qb3+ 63. Ka6 Kc6 64. Ka5 Qa3#) 50... f6 (50... f6 51. Kh2 Kxg4 52. Kg2 Kf4 53. Kf1 g4 54. Ke1 Ke3 55. Kf1 Kf3 56. Ke1 g3 57. Kd1 g2 58. Kc1 g1=Q+ 59. Kc2 Ke4 60. Kc3 Qd4+ 61. Kc2 Qb4 62. Kd1 Kd3 63. Kc1 Qb6 64. Kd1 Qb1#) 0-1