C84 Closed Spanish Game: Unusual White 6th moves (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.d4 exd4 7.e5)

Last year ended with me posting a loss of mine and the new year starts with a loss, so it kind of tells you how my games have been going lately. The game below was played in a team match called Russia Central Federal District vs DORU-66 & HIS BEST FRIENDS. It is played on 78 boards and I am playing on board 21 for DORU-66 & HIS BEST FRIENDS. The current score in the match is 59 - 57 in favor of Russia Central Federal District. This has been quite even match, but the balance has shifted in favor of Russia Central Federal District for the most of the match. Unfortunately I have been one of the weakest links in our team in this match and my other game against igrinyuk does not look that good, so this might be a bit disappointing performance from me again.

I think my tactical blindness is a major weakness that I need to get rid of. I missed some easy tactics in this game, like on move 16 I should have played Rxd4, which would have been much better than the move I played in the game. Then on move 24 I made a huge blunder because I completely missed that my opponent can take on g6 and no matter how I reply to that I am lost. Basically I lost this game because of one serious oversight. It is annoying to lose games like this, but at the moment I am just not tactically alert enough to see all the possibilities in a position. I have done more tactical training in the last month than maybe in years, however it is not saying much because I did not do almost any tactical training in several years. In order for me to get my rating back to where I like to see it, I really need to get my tactical awareness to a point where I can see most tactics, because it may be unrealistic to think that I would see all the tactical possibilities all the time.

[Event "Russia Central Federal District vs DORU-"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.11.13"] [Round "?"] [White "igrinyuk"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C84"] [WhiteElo "1901"] [BlackElo "1845"] [Annotator "Stockfish 6 64 BMI2 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [TimeControl "1"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d4 {Spanish Game: Closed Variations, Center Attack} exd4 7. e5 {C84 Closed Spanish Game: Unusual White 6th moves} Nd5 (7... Ne4 8. c3 dxc3 {Spanish Game: Closed Variations. Center Attack Basque Gambit}) 8. Bxc6 (8. Nxd4 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 Nb6 10. Bb3 O-O 11. Bf4 c5 12. Qd3 Qc7 13. c4 Qc6 14. Nc3 Qg6 15. Qxg6 hxg6 16. Rad1 Re8 17. a4 Ra7 18. Rc1 Na8 19. Nd5 Bd8 {1-0 (19) Pinal,N (2405) -Garcia Gonzales,G (2515) Cienfuegos 1983}) 8... dxc6 9. Qxd4 O-O 10. Nc3 {N} (10. Rd1 Nb6 11. Nc3 Qxd4 12. Nxd4 Bc5 13. Ne4 Bxd4 14. Rxd4 Bf5 15. Nc5 Rad8 16. c3 Bc8 17. Be3 Rxd4 18. Bxd4 Nd5 19. c4 Nf4 20. Be3 Ne6 21. Ne4 Rd8 22. Rf1 Kf8 23. f4 Ke8 24. Kf2 b6 { Putz,E (1836)-Stadler,H (1770) Germany 2007 1/2-1/2 (70)}) 10... Nxc3 (10... Bf5 11. Nxd5 cxd5 12. c3 {=/+}) 11. Qxc3 Bg4 (11... Re8 12. b3 {=}) 12. Bf4 ( 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Qd4 {=}) 12... Qd5 {=/+} 13. Rfd1 {White threatens to win material: Rd1xd5} Qe4 {Black threatens to win material: Qe4xf4} 14. Rd4 { White threatens to win material: Rd4xe4} Qf5 15. Qd3 Rad8 16. Rd1 (16. Qxf5 Bxf5 17. e6 Bxc2 18. Bxc7 Rxd4 19. Nxd4 Be4 {=/+}) 16... Qc8 (16... Rxd4 $5 17. Qxd4 Qxc2 {+/-}) 17. Qe4 {=/+ Black has a cramped position} Bf5 {Black threatens to win material: Bf5xe4} 18. Qe2 {Black has a cramped position} Bc5 19. R4d2 Rxd2 {Black forks: c2+e2} 20. Rxd2 Rd8 21. Qc4 {White threatens to win material: Qc4xc5} Bb6 22. Ng5 Bg6 (22... Rd7 {!? =/+ deserves consideration }) 23. e6 {=} fxe6 24. Qxe6+ (24. Nxe6 $4 Rxd2 25. Bxd2 Bf7 {-+}) 24... Kh8 $4 {forfeits the clear win} (24... Qxe6 {would bring relief} 25. Rxd8+ Qe8 26. Rxe8+ Bxe8 {=}) 25. Qxg6 {!! +- Mate threat} (25. Qxg6 Bxf2+ 26. Kf1 hxg6 27. Rxd8+ Qxd8 28. Nf7+ Kg8 29. Nxd8 {+-}) 1-0