D02 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 sidelines, including 2...Nf6 3.g3 and 2...Nf6 3.Bf4 (1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 c5 4.O-O Nc6 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 e5 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.c4 Be6)

As my hunt for the title continued on December 8th, I ended up playing seven games during this same day. The game below was my fifth game of the day. I really wanted to get the game requirement for the Arena International Master title done as soon as possible and now that the first four games seemed to be over quickly, I thought that I might as well play more games and see if the other ones are over as quickly as the four previous ones were. As this was my 39th rapid game, I still needed to play 11 games in a decent manner to obtain the new title. Losing this game did not really bring my confidence up, but the doubt began to grow whether or not I am going to mess things up again. I did end up playing two more games against Costache Florin Remus on December 8th and those went well enough that I thought I am able to do this without any problems and it is in fact only matter of playing the games I had left in order to achieve my goal. Admittedly nothing was certain at this point, had I lost enough games in a row, the game counter would have reset again.

In theory the move order for this opening is 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6. The first mistake of the game is seen when I played 9...e4, I am not sure why I played it to be honest. I should have played maybe Rc8 or Qd7 instead of e4. My opponent follows the right path until he plays 12.Qa5 which gives me some breathing room and the position is about even after that. Had he taken on d7, my position would have looked quite bad. The next clear disturbance in the balance came when I played 18...Rc7, which tips the balance in favor of my opponent. Stockfish seems to think that I should have pushed my h-pawn forward instead. When I played 21...a5, my position went further down the drain. The balance is restored immediately with the reply 22.Nf5, much better was Ne2 according to Stockfish. After this, I blunder the game away with 22...Rb8. Costache plays the rest of the game accurately enough, so that I am no longer able to bring the game in balance and I pretty much have to resign after he played 45.Qf4 because all my counterplay options are exhausted with that move.

[Event "Challenge 35776161"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.12.08"] [Round "1"] [White "florin remus, costache"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "1737"] [BlackElo "1779"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 {King's Indian Attack: Yugoslav Variation (#2)} 3. Bg2 c5 ( 3... c6 4. O-O Bg4 {King's Indian Attack: Yugoslav Variation}) (3... e6 4. c4 Be7 5. d4 {Catalan Opening: Closed Variation}) 4. O-O Nc6 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 e5 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. c4 Be6 {D02 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 sidelines, including 2...Nf6 3.g3 and 2...Nf6 3.Bf4} 9. Nc3 e4 (9... Qd7 10. Qa4 Rc8 (10... h6 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. Qxd7+ Kxd7 13. Rd1 Kc6 14. Be3 Bb4 15. Rac1 Bxc3 16. Rxc3+ Kd6 17. Rdc1 Rhb8 18. Rc7 Nd7 19. b3 g5 20. Bxa7 Rb5 21. b4 e4 22. R1c6+ Ke5 23. a3 Nb8 24. Bxb8 Rbxb8 25. Rc3 {Buyukasik,D (2074)-Erdogan,H (2200) Kocaeli 2015 1-0 (56)}) 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. Qxd7+ Kxd7 13. Rd1 Bc5 14. Na4 Bd6 15. Bg5 Rc2 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Bxd5 Rhc8 18. Rd3 Rxe2 19. Bf3 Rec2 20. Rad1 R8c6 21. Bxc6+ Rxc6 22. Nc5+ Rxc5 23. Rxd6+ Ke7 24. Ra6 {Janocha,W (2405)-Goj,A (2295) Lubniewice 1994 1-0}) 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Qa4+ {N} (11. Bg5 Be7 12. Qa4+ Qd7 13. Qxd7+ Nxd7 14. Bxe7 Kxe7 15. Rfd1 Nb6 16. Nb5 Rhc8 17. Rac1 Rxc1 18. Rxc1 Rc8 19. Rxc8 Nxc8 20. Kf1 a6 21. Nd4 Kd6 22. Ke1 Bd7 23. Kd2 Ke5 24. e3 Nd6 25. Bf1 Bb5 {Kiesekamp,M (2231) -Hahlbohm,M (2065) Berlin 2006 1-0 (40)}) 11... Qd7 12. Qa5 (12. Qxd7+ Kxd7 13. Rd1 Bd6 {+/-}) 12... Be7 (12... Rb8 {=}) 13. Nb5 (13. Rd1 $5 {+/= is an interesting alternative}) 13... O-O {=/+ Black castles and improves king safety } 14. Nd4 {The knight feels good on d4} Bh3 (14... Rab8 15. Qd2 {=/+}) 15. b3 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 {White king safety dropped} Rfc8 17. Ba3 Bxa3 18. Qxa3 Rc7 (18... h5 19. Qa5 {=}) 19. Rac1 Rac8 20. Rxc7 {White forks: a7+d7} Qxc7 21. e3 a5 ( 21... Ng4 22. b4 {+/=}) 22. Nf5 (22. Ne2 Qc5 23. Qb2 {+/-}) 22... Rb8 $4 (22... Qc5 {and Black hangs on} 23. Qb2 Kf8 {+/=}) 23. h3 (23. Rc1 Qd7 24. Nd4 a4 25. bxa4 h5 {+-}) 23... g6 24. Rc1 Qe5 $4 {an oversight. But Black was lost anyway. } (24... Qd8 25. Ne7+ Kg7 {+-}) 25. Ne7+ Kg7 26. Nc6 Qc7 (26... Qe8 {doesn't improve anything} 27. Nxb8 Qxb8 28. Qxa5 {+-}) 27. Nxb8 Qxb8 28. Qxa5 Qe5 ( 28... d4 {does not win a prize} 29. exd4 Qd6 30. Qe5 {+-}) 29. Qc7 (29. a4 $5 { makes it even easier for White} Qf5 30. Qc3 h6 {+-}) 29... Qb2 (29... Qf5 { doesn't change the outcome of the game} 30. Qf4 Qe6 31. a4 {+-}) 30. Qc2 Qe5 31. Qc7 {Twofold repetition} Qb2 32. a4 (32. Rc6 {keeps an even firmer grip} Qe2 33. Qf4 Nh5 34. Qe5+ Kh6 {+-}) 32... Qxb3 (32... d4 {a last effort to resist the inevitable} 33. Qc2 Qa3 34. exd4 h5 {+-}) 33. a5 Qa2 34. Qc3 Qa4 35. Ra1 Qd7 36. a6 Qf5 (36... Qa7 {doesn't change anything anymore} 37. Qd4 Qxd4 38. exd4 Ne8 39. a7 Nc7 40. Rc1 Na8 41. Rc8 Nb6 42. Rb8 e3 43. Rxb6 e2 44. Rb1 g5 45. a8=Q g4 46. hxg4 e1=R 47. Rxe1 h6 48. Qe8 h5 49. gxh5 f6 50. Re7+ Kh6 51. Qg6#) 37. Qe1 (37. a7 Kh6 38. a8=Q Nd7 39. Qd4 f6 40. Ra7 Ne5 41. Qf8+ Kg5 42. Rxh7 Qf3+ 43. Kg1 Qxg3+ 44. fxg3 Nf3+ 45. Kg2 Nxd4 46. Qd6 Ne6 47. Qxe6 d4 48. Qg4#) 37... Qf3+ 38. Kg1 h5 39. Qd1 Qf5 40. a7 Qxh3 (40... Qe5 {is not much help} 41. a8=Q h4 42. g4 d4 43. Ra7 dxe3 44. Qb3 exf2+ 45. Kf1 Qa1+ 46. Rxa1 e3 47. Qxe3 Kh7 48. Qh8+ Kxh8 49. Qh6+ Kg8 50. Ra8+ Ne8 51. Rxe8#) 41. a8=Q Ng4 (41... Qf5 {does not solve anything} 42. Qb8 Ng4 43. Qd4+ f6 44. f4 exf3 45. Ra7+ Kh6 46. Qbf4+ Qxf4 47. Qxf4+ g5 48. Qc7 f2+ 49. Kf1 Nxe3+ 50. Kxf2 Nd1+ 51. Kg1 d4 52. Qh7#) 42. Qxg4 (42. Qd4+ Nf6 43. Qh8+ Kxh8 44. Qxf6+ Kh7 45. Ra8 Qh2+ 46. Kxh2 d4 47. Qh8#) 42... Qxg4 {+-} ({Less advisable is} 42... hxg4 43. Ra7 Qh8 44. Rxf7+ Kxf7 45. Qxh8 g5 46. Qh7+ Ke6 47. Qc7 d4 48. exd4 Kd5 49. Qb6 Kc4 50. Qc5+ Kb3 51. d5 e3 52. fxe3 Ka2 53. d6 Ka1 54. d7 Kb1 55. d8=Q Ka1 56. Qc1+ Ka2 57. Qd5#) 43. Qxd5 h4 44. Qe5+ (44. Qd4+ Kh7 45. Ra8 f6 46. Rd8 Qe6 47. f4 Kh6 48. Qa7 Kh5 49. Qh7+ Kg4 50. Qxh4+ Kf3 51. Qh1+ Kxe3 52. Qg2 Qa2 53. Qxa2 Kf3 54. Qg2+ Kg4 55. Qxe4 f5 56. Qg2 g5 57. Rg8 Kh5 58. Qh3#) 44... Kh7 45. Qf4 (45. Qf4 Qf3 46. Qxh4+ Kg7 47. Ra8 Qd1+ 48. Kh2 Qh5 49. Qxh5 gxh5 50. Ra6 Kf8 51. Kh3 Ke7 52. Kh4 Kd7 53. Kxh5 Kc7 54. g4 Kd7 55. g5 Kc7 56. Ra7+ Kb6 57. Rxf7 Kb5 58. g6 Kc4 59. g7 Kd3 60. g8=Q Ke2 61. Qg1 Kd3 62. Rc7 Kd2 63. Qc1+ Ke2 64. Rc2+ Kf3 65. Qh1#) 1-0