C68 Spanish Game: Exchange Variation, sidelines (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.O-O Bg4 6.h3 h5)

The losses keep coming... Well, for awhile now anyway. I have turned my downhill to a small incline at Chess.com at least and actually at Red Hot Pawn too, though not as clearly because at both sites I have only won the last game and not even two in a row, but the difference is that out of the last four games, I have won three and drawn one at Chess.com while at RHP I have won only once in that same amount of games and lost three games. Admittedly, the average rating of my opponents at RHP in those three games was 2422, so it is no wonder I lost them. The game below is one of those losses.

This was played on round one of the 2015 December Quartets I 1800+ tournament. 22 players started this tournament and they were divided into two groups of five and three groups of four players. I am playing in group 3, which is the only one of the five where the winner of the group has already been decided. TheBigKat won our group and will advance to the next round. I have finished three out of the six games in this group and I have lost them all. With my score of zero points, I actually tie on third place because one other player has not received any points so far either. I am doubtful that I will get any points from my three remaining games, but I will do my best to prove myself wrong on that occasion. Until Monday, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

[Event "Quartets"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2015.12.21"] [Round "1"] [White "TheBigKat"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C68"] [WhiteElo "2475"] [BlackElo "1886"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bg4 6. h3 h5 {C68 Spanish Game: Exchange Variation, sidelines} 7. Na3 (7. hxg4 hxg4 8. d4 gxf3 9. Qxf3 Qh4 10. g3 Qh2# {0-1 (10) Gusev,A (2329)-Murzin,L (2257) Tula 2000}) 7... Bd6 { N} (7... Bxa3 8. bxa3 Bxf3 (8... Qf6 9. Rb1 Bxf3 10. Qxf3 Qxf3 11. gxf3 O-O-O 12. d3 Ne7 13. f4 exf4 14. Bxf4 g5 15. Bd2 Rhg8 16. Rbe1 c5 17. Bc3 Nc6 18. Bf6 Rd7 19. Re3 Rg6 20. e5 Nd4 21. Rc1 Ne6 22. Re4 Rd4 23. Rce1 {Sergeev,A (2333) -Korjakin,A (2150) Nizhnij Tagil 2007 0-1 (74)}) 9. Qxf3 Ne7 10. Rb1 b6 11. Qc3 Qd6 12. Bb2 O-O-O 13. Rfd1 Ng6 14. Qc4 Kb7 15. a4 Nf4 16. Kh2 h4 17. a5 b5 18. Qf1 Rh5 19. a4 Qg6 20. axb5 cxb5 21. d3 Rg5 22. Bc1 {Stingl,R (1905)-Kopp,A (2176) Bayern 2014 0-1 (31)}) 8. d4 {White threatens to win material: d4xe5} ({ Instead of} 8. hxg4 hxg4 9. g3 gxf3 10. Qxf3 Qd7 {=/+}) 8... Qf6 9. dxe5 { White forks: d6+f6} Bxe5 10. Nc4 ({Not} 10. hxg4 hxg4 11. Re1 gxf3 12. Qxf3 Qh4 {=/+}) 10... Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Qxf3 12. gxf3 {Black king safety improved} Bf6 13. Rd1 b6 {Prevents intrusion on a5} 14. a4 Nh6 (14... Rc8 $5 {+/= must definitely be considered}) 15. Bf4 {+/-} Rc8 (15... b5 $5 16. Na5 Bxb2 {+/-}) 16. a5 {+-} b5 17. Nb6 cxb6 $4 {terrible, but what else could Black do to save the game?} (17... Rb8 18. Nd7 Rc8 {+-}) 18. axb6 O-O 19. b7 Bxb2 20. bxc8=Q ( 20. bxc8=B $6 Bxa1 21. Bxa6 Bb2 {+-}) 20... Rxc8 21. Rxa6 Kh7 (21... Bc3 { doesn't improve anything} 22. Rd6 c5 23. Rdb6 {+-}) 22. Rd7 1-0