C45 Scotch Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Qh4 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Qd3 Nf6)

The game below was played in group D, on the fourth round of the weekend tournament that was played at Turku in 2006. This was the first and also the last win in this tournament for me. After four rounds I had won one, drawn one and lost two games. In the last game I played a 15 move draw which is not a common result for me. I do not like to play short draws, but at this time I was really depressed about the bad results and did not care all that much about the result of the last game anymore. The win I received from this game, did not really improve my mood because I only won due to a horrible blunder by my opponent. Had the game been a hard fought one, then I would have had more confidence in my playing skills again and I might have declined the draw offer in the last game.

This is the 450th different opening variation to appear in the blog!! I know for sure that I have played at least one more different variation in my games, but I think all of those games that feature it, are still in progress. There might be others as well coming and according to Master Chess Openings there are 3636 recognized openings, so I am a very long way from covering all of them. Until Monday, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

[Event "TSY"] [Site "?"] [Date "2006.04.02"] [Round "4"] [White "Norri, Roger"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C45"] [WhiteElo "1516"] [BlackElo "1644"] [Annotator "Stockfish 6 64 BMI2 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "27"] [EventDate "2006.04.01"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qh4 5. Nc3 Bb4 {Scotch Game: Modern Defense} 6. Qd3 Nf6 {C45 Scotch Game} 7. Ndb5 O-O (7... Nxe4 8. Nxc7+ Kd8 9. Nxa8 Re8 10. Be2 Nxf2 11. Bg5+ Qxg5 12. Kxf2 Bc5+ 13. Kf1 Nd4 14. Ne4 Qf4+ 15. Bf3 Nxf3 16. gxf3 b6 17. Re1 Ba6 18. c4 Bxc4 {0-1 (18) Radoja,D (2222)-Terzic, G (2300) Nis 2013}) 8. a3 {N} (8. Bd2 Bxc3 (8... d5 9. exd5 Re8+ 10. Be2 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Bg4 12. Be3 Nxd5 13. g3 Bxe2 14. Qxe2 Qe4 15. O-O-O a6 16. Nd4 Nxc3 17. Qd3 Nxd4 18. Qxe4 Rxe4 19. Rxd4 Ne2+ {0-1 (19) Hidegh,E-Eberth,Z (2235) Sarospatak 1998}) 9. Nxc3 Nxe4 10. g3 Qe7 11. Nxe4 f5 12. f3 fxe4 13. fxe4 Ne5 14. Qb3+ Kh8 15. O-O-O d6 16. Bd3 b6 17. Rhf1 Bh3 18. Rf4 Ng6 19. Rxf8+ Rxf8 20. Be3 a5 21. Qb5 Bg2 22. Re1 Bxe4 {Klapsic,M (2220)-Zelic,M (2354) Pula 1999 0-1 (47)}) (8. Nxc7 Rb8 9. Bd2 Bxc3 10. bxc3 Qxe4+ 11. Qxe4 Nxe4 12. Bf4 Nxc3 13. Bd3 b6 14. a4 d5 15. Nb5 Nxb5 16. axb5 g5 17. Bxb8 Nxb8 18. Rxa7 Nd7 19. Kd2 Nc5 20. Re1 Nxd3 21. cxd3 Bf5 22. Re5 Be6 {Husovic,N (1892)-Vukovic,K (2008) Andrijevica 2012 1-0 (41)}) 8... Bxc3+ (8... Nxe4 $5 9. axb4 Nxf2 {=/+}) 9. Nxc3 {= White has the pair of bishops} ({Not} 9. bxc3 Nxe4 10. Qe3 d6 {+/-}) 9... Re8 {e4 draws heavy fire} 10. g3 {White threatens to win material: g3xh4} Qh5 11. Bg2 (11. Be2 Qg6 12. f3 Ne5 {+/=}) 11... a6 (11... d5 12. h3 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 Bf5 {+/-} (13... Rxe4+ $6 14. Bxe4 dxe4 15. Qe2 {+/=}) (13... dxe4 $6 14. Qe3 {+/-})) 12. O-O $1 {=} d6 13. h4 Ne5 14. Nd5 0-1