C56 Two Knights: 4.d4 exd4 5.O-O Nxe4 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.Bc4 d6 6.Nxc3 Be7 7.O-O Nf6)

This week's last post adds one more opening variation that I have not covered before in the blog. This game was played on the first round of the 2015 October Grand Split Three Seven I 1800+ tournament. The game below sees its first mistake with the move 6...Be7, 6...Nf6 would be the preferred move in this position. I think I saw the problem of the move I chose after I had made the move 6...Be7, but at that point there was not all that much I could do about it. The reason why 6...Be7 is bad is the fact that red cloud could have played 7.Qb3 and I can't really defend f7. 7...Nh6 does not work because Bxh6 and 7...Na5 is not much better because it would lose the f-pawn as well. For some reason red cloud did not play Qb3, but instead castled, which gives me time to breathe. Shortly after that I start to gain some small advantage, which I give away again on move 15.

Apart from the blunder Be7, I had played the first 14 moves quite decently. The game goes to a balanced state for a couple of moves and then I make one of the worst moves I remember of making, 17...Bd8. The position was quite difficult for me to play at this point, but I have no idea why I did not even consider the move 17...Qb7, it would have been more natural move to make. Maybe I was worried about some wierd ideas like Rxe7, followed by Bxf6, which would sacrifice the exchange in order to get the pawn cover in front of the king opened up and weakened. Combine that with Qh5 and my opponent would have had some compensation for the exchange in my opinion unless there is something obvious I am missing. I did check that line a bit with the computer just now, after typing that last sentence and Stockfish really does not like my idea. Even though White seems to be getting some compensation for the exchange, it is far from adequate. Until Monday, my fellow chess and chess960 enthusiasts! Monday I will go through one chess960 game again, so if you like chess960, remember to check out that post! It is a better quality game than the two I posted this week.

[Event "Grand Split Three Seven"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2015.12.21"] [Round "1"] [White "red cloud"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C56"] [WhiteElo "1981"] [BlackElo "1909"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. c3 dxc3 5. Bc4 {Scotch Game: Göring Gambit, Double Pawn Sacrifice} (5. Nxc3 Bb4 6. Bc4 Nf6 {Scotch Game: Göring Gambit, Bardeleben Variation}) 5... d6 6. Nxc3 Be7 7. O-O Nf6 {C56 Two Knights: 4.d4 exd4 5.O-O Nxe4} 8. Nd4 {N} (8. Re1 O-O 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. gxf3 Nd7 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Nd5 Qd8 15. Kh1 Nb6 16. Nxb6 axb6 17. Rg1 Qf6 18. Qd2 Qxf3+ 19. Kh2 Qf6 20. f4 Ra5 21. Rg3 Kh8 22. Rag1 Rg8 {Skalny,P-Brazda,A (1765) Klatovy 2004 0-1 (33)}) (8. h3 O-O (8... h6 9. b4 O-O 10. Qb3 Bd7 11. Be3 Qc8 12. Rfe1 Be6 13. Rac1 Bxc4 14. Qxc4 Ne5 15. Nxe5 dxe5 16. Nb5 c6 17. Nc3 Qc7 18. b5 Bd6 19. Qb3 Qe7 20. f3 cxb5 21. Nxb5 b6 22. Red1 Rfd8 23. Nxa7 { Botwinovskyy,B (1861)-Kuersten,S (1533) Leipzig 2009 1/2-1/2}) 9. Qe2 (9. Qc2 Na5 10. Bd3 c5 11. e5 dxe5 12. Nxe5 Bd6 13. Nc4 Nxc4 14. Bxc4 a5 15. a4 Bd7 16. Bg5 Be7 17. Rfe1 Bc6 18. Rad1 Qc7 19. Re2 Rae8 20. b3 Bd8 21. Rde1 Rxe2 22. Rxe2 Ng4 23. hxg4 Bxg5 {Mares,H-Pachl,F Bellheim 1994 1-0 (33)}) 9... a6 10. Rd1 b5 11. Bb3 b4 12. Nd5 Na5 13. Bc2 Nxd5 14. exd5 Rb8 15. Bd2 Bf6 16. Rab1 g6 17. Ba4 Bf5 18. Bh6 Bxb1 19. Bxf8 Bxa2 20. Bh6 Bc4 21. Qc2 Bb5 22. Re1 Bd7 { Sipek,O-Urbanec,L (2260) Brno 1995 1/2-1/2 (34)}) 8... Bd7 9. h3 {Secures g4} O-O 10. Be3 a6 {Covers b5} 11. f4 (11. Nxc6 $5 {is an interesting idea} Bxc6 12. Qc2 {=/+}) 11... Nxd4 {+/-} 12. Bxd4 Bc6 {Black threatens to win material: Bc6xe4} (12... b5 13. Bb3 c5 14. Bf2 {+/-}) 13. Re1 {Black has a cramped position} b5 {Black threatens to win material: b5xc4} 14. Bd3 Re8 15. Qf3 (15. a4 b4 16. Nd5 Bb7 17. Nxe7+ Qxe7 {=/+} (17... Rxe7 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Re3 {+/=}) ) 15... Qc8 (15... Nd7 $5 {+/-}) 16. Nd5 {=} Bxd5 17. exd5 {White has the pair of bishops.} Bd8 $4 {lets it slip away} (17... Qb7 {is a viable option} 18. Rad1 Nxd5 19. Bxh7+ Kxh7 20. Qh5+ Kg8 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Rxd5 Qb6+ 23. Kh2 Bf6 24. Rg5+ Bxg5 25. Qxg5+ Kh8 26. Qh4+ Kg7 27. Qg5+ Kh8 28. Qh4+ Kg7 29. Qg5+ {=} ) 18. Rxe8+ {+/-} Nxe8 19. Qe4 Nf6 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 21. Qxh7+ Kf8 22. Qh8+ (22. Qh8+ Ke7 23. Re1+ Be5 24. Qh4+ f6 25. fxe5 dxe5 26. Rxe5+ Kd6 27. Re1 Qe8 28. Qb4+ c5 29. dxc6+ Kd5 30. Be4+ Ke6 31. Bg6+ Kd5 32. Bxe8 a5 33. Bf7+ Kxc6 34. Re6+ Kd7 35. Qe7+ Kc8 36. Rc6+ Kb8 37. Qc7#) 1-0