B41 Sicilian: Kan Variation: 5.c4 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Qc7 6.Bd3)

I started playing at GameKnot again near the end of last year. The game below is the first game that ended after my comeback to the site. This was played in the atadros's mini-tournament V. There are 11 players in this tournament. The number of simultaneous games is limited to four games at the same time. Therefore it will take quite awhile to play all the 20 games. It is one of the aspects of these mini-tournaments that I do not like that much. I could play all the games at the same time and finish games much quicker. This mini-tournament is called high-stakes tournament because the tournament entry cost is higher than normal, but it also rewards more points. The time control for these games is 3 days at the start and it has a 1 day increment. The increment is limited, so that you can have maximum of 5 days to think about your next move. I am currently on 9th place, but a lot can still change as I have only finished one game. I am the lowest rated player in the tournament, so unless I can outperform higher rated players, my place in the final standings might not be that high.

The game below went very wrong quite fast because I faced moves that I have not faced before that really messed up my thinking during the game. It is true that I placed my bishop also into a square where I have not usually played it to when I played 6.Bd3. I may have faced a position that I am more use to had I played 6.Be2 instead. The game continuation after that went into a strange path and already on move 10 I went wrong a bit. I played the losing move of the game on move 14. I played bxa5 because I thought that if I play Bb2 or something else than bxa5, I will lose more than a pawn. I thought that if I take the knight on a5, I will only lose a pawn. I was of course wrong and had to resign after 15...Ne5.

[Event "atadros's mini-tournament V"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2015.12.25"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "atadros"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B41"] [WhiteElo "1759"] [BlackElo "2005"] [Annotator "Stockfish 6 64 BMI2 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "30"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 {Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation, Maroczy Bind, Reti Variation} Qc7 (5... g6 {Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation, Maroczy Bind, Hedgehog Variation}) (5... Nf6 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Bd3 Nc6 8. Bc2 {Sicilian Defense: Kan, Maroczy Bind, Bronstein Variation}) 6. Bd3 { B41 Sicilian: Kan Variation: 5.c4} Bd6 {Black threatens to win material: Bd6xh2 } (6... d6 7. O-O b6 8. Nc3 Bb7 9. Be3 Nf6 10. f3 Nbd7 11. Rc1 Be7 12. g3 O-O 13. Qd2 Rac8 14. Rfd1 Rfe8 15. Bf1 Qb8 16. Qf2 Bd8 17. g4 Be7 18. g5 Nh5 19. Nde2 g6 20. Ng3 Nxg3 21. hxg3 {Karolyi,T (2440)-Videki,S (2440) Kecskemet 1990 1/2-1/2}) 7. Qg4 {N White threatens to win material: Qg4xg7} (7. Nc3 b6 (7... Nc6 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9. Be3 Rb8 10. Qd2 Nf6 11. c5 Be5 12. f4 Bxc3 13. Qxc3 Rg8 14. O-O Ng4 15. Bd4 f6 16. h3 Nh6 17. Be2 a5 18. Rad1 Nf7 19. Qg3 Kf8 20. Qh4 Rb4 21. Qxh7 Rh8 22. Qg6 {Schmitz,P (2183) -Burov,I (2075) Werther 2014 1-0}) 8. Be3 Bb7 9. h3 Nf6 10. O-O Nc6 11. Rc1 Ne5 12. f4 Nxd3 13. Qxd3 Bb4 14. e5 Bxc3 15. exf6 Bxd4 16. Qxd4 Qc6 17. Rf2 gxf6 18. Rcc2 Ke7 19. Bd2 Qc5 20. Qd3 f5 21. b4 Be4 {Perez Gutierrez,N (2044) -Thoene,R (1953) Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2015 1-0}) (7. h3 Nc6 8. Nxc6 dxc6 9. Qg4 g6 10. f4 Bc5 11. Nc3 b5 12. Bd2 Bb7 13. O-O-O O-O-O 14. Qe2 Bd4 15. cxb5 cxb5 16. Kb1 Qb6 17. e5 f5 18. exf6 Nxf6 19. Ne4 Kb8 20. Ng5 Rhe8 21. Nf7 Rd5 {Aay,A (1839)-Taher,Y Jakarta 2012 1-0 (63)}) 7... Ne7 8. Nc3 {Black has a cramped position. Black's piece can't move: c8} ( 8. Qxg7 $2 {is a blank shot} Be5 9. Qh6 Bxd4 {-+}) 8... Ng6 9. Nf3 {White has a very active position} Nc6 10. a3 {Controls b4} (10. O-O {!? =}) 10... Na5 { =/+ Black threatens to win material: Na5xc4} 11. Nd2 Bf4 {White has a very active position} (11... O-O 12. Qd1 {=/+}) 12. Qe2 O-O 13. b4 {White threatens to win material: b4xa5} (13. g3 Bxd2+ 14. Bxd2 Ne5 {=/+}) 13... Qe5 {Black threatens to win material: Qe5xc3} (13... Nxc4 14. Bxc4 d5 15. exd5 b5 {=/+}) 14. bxa5 $4 {with this move White loses his initiative} (14. Bb2 {was much better} Bxd2+ 15. Qxd2 {=}) 14... Qxc3 {-+} 15. Rb1 Ne5 (15... Ne5 16. O-O Nxd3 {-+} (16... Qxd3 17. Qd1 {-+})) 0-1