A37 Symmetrical English vs ...g6: 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nf3 (1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.Nf3 e5 6.d3 Nge7)

This was played on the fifth round in a tournament that was played at Turku in 2005. On the first four rounds I gathered three wins and one draw, which meant that I was fighting for the win of group C and had I won this game, I would have won the group on my own. The same goes for my opponent as well, he could have won group C without anyone sharing the win with him. Actually the win of group C was also possible for two other players in the group. One of them could have won the group on his own or shared the win with either me or my opponent, but the other one was only able to share the win if the game below was drawn and it indeed ended up happening, so the win of group C was shared among three players. The tie-break put the final standings in a way that my opponent was on first place and I was on second place. The fact that I am able to play the tournament without losing is always nice to me, because it does not happen all that often. Even though I managed to get 4 out of 5 points, my rating only increased by 20 points because I mainly played against people who were rated 200 to 300 points lower than me.

[Event "TuTS"] [Site "?"] [Date "2005.12.04"] [Round "5"] [White "Seppä, Juri"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A37"] [WhiteElo "1748"] [BlackElo "1735"] [Annotator "Stockfish 6 64 BMI2 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "2005.09.02"] 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. Nf3 e5 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Botvinnik System Reversed} (5... Nf6 6. O-O O-O 7. b3 { English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Double Fianchetto} (7. d3 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Duchamp Variation}) (7. d4 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Mecking Variation})) 6. d3 Nge7 {A37 Symmetrical English vs ...g6: 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nf3} 7. Ne4 d6 8. Bg5 O-O (8... h6 9. Bf6 O-O 10. Nfd2 Be6 11. O-O Bxf6 12. Nxf6+ Kg7 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14. cxd5 Nb8 15. a4 Na6 16. Qb3 Qd7 17. e3 Rae8 18. Qb5 Qc8 19. d4 exd4 20. exd4 b6 21. dxc5 bxc5 22. Nc4 Rd8 23. Rfe1 {Weyrich,M (2380)-Kleeschaetzky,R (2295) Germany 1996 1-0 (38)}) 9. Bf6 (9. Bxe7 Nxe7 10. O-O h6 11. Nc3 Be6 12. e4 Qd7 13. Ne1 f5 14. Nc2 f4 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. cxd5 Bh3 17. f3 h5 18. Qe2 Kh7 19. Bxh3 Qxh3 20. Qg2 Qd7 21. b3 b5 22. Qe2 g5 23. Rf2 Bh6 {Burakov,A (1807)-Zaika,D (1983) Moscow 2015 0-1 (36)}) 9... Bxf6 10. Nxf6+ Kg7 11. Ne4 {N} (11. Nd5 Be6 12. Nd2 Qd7 13. Nxe7 Nxe7 14. Ne4 f6 15. Qd2 Rfd8 16. f4 Ng8 17. fxe5 fxe5 18. O-O Qe7 19. b4 Bf5 20. bxc5 Bxe4 21. Bxe4 dxc5 22. Rab1 Rab8 23. h4 b6 24. h5 Rf8 25. hxg6 hxg6 { Dyballa,M (2398)-Daum,N (2105) Berlin 2005 1-0 (87)}) 11... f5 {Black threatens to win material: f5xe4} 12. Nc3 d5 (12... h6 {!? = is worth looking at}) 13. cxd5 {+/=} Nxd5 14. Nxd5 (14. Nxe5 $5 {looks like a viable alternative } Nxc3 15. Nxc6 Nxd1 16. Nxd8 {+/=}) 14... Qxd5 {=} 15. O-O Qd6 16. Rc1 Rb8 17. Qa4 Be6 (17... Bd7 {!? =}) 18. Ng5 {+/=} Bd7 19. Qa3 (19. Bxc6 Bxc6 20. Qxa7 Qf6 {+/=}) 19... b6 20. Bxc6 Qxc6 (20... Bxc6 $5 {should not be overlooked} 21. Qxa7+ Rb7 {=}) 21. b4 {+/-} (21. Qxa7 $4 {That pawn is poisoned} Ra8 22. Ne6+ Qxe6 {-+}) 21... Rfc8 22. Qb3 {White has a mate threat} (22. bxc5 bxc5 23. Nf3 {+/-} (23. Qxa7 $4 {a poisoned pawn} Ra8 24. Ne6+ Qxe6 {-+})) 22... Qf6 { = Black threatens to win material: Qf6xg5} 23. Nf3 cxb4 24. Qxb4 Bc6 25. Nd2 Bd5 26. a3 Kf7 27. Nc4 (27. e4 fxe4 28. Nxe4 Bxe4 29. dxe4 Kg8 {+/=}) 27... Bxc4 28. Rxc4 Qe6 29. Rfc1 Rxc4 {Black forks: b4+c1} 30. Rxc4 Rc8 31. Rxc8 { White has a mate threat} Qxc8 {A queen endgame occured} 32. Qd6 {White threatens to win material: Qd6xe5} Qe6 {Black threatens to win material: Qe6xd6 } 33. Qb8 {White threatens to win material: Qb8xa7} Qe7 34. a4 Ke6 1/2-1/2