E51 Nimzo-Indian: Rubinstein: 4...O-O 5.Nf3 d5 (1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nc6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.e3 Nf6 6.Bd3 O-O 7.O-O Bxc3 8.bxc3)

I am once again going through my over the board games, so that someday I would cath up to my most recent efforts in that area. The game below was played slightly over 8 years ago on the first round of a tournament that was played during Easter at Helsinki. If my memory serves me right, this was the first time that I played this tournament and it is also the last time I have played this tournament. At the time I felt that the time controls were too long for me and it might be true also to this day. Well, too long for over the board chess that is. My longest games have lasted over a year...

This tournament was played between March 20th and March 24th and it consisted of 7 rounds. This was the second tournament that I played in 2008, the first one being a huge success for me, I won group C with 4.5 points and my rating increased 133 points. This second tournament was far from the success that I had in the first one. Admittedly the average rating of my opponents was also considerably higher, so that had obvious impact on how many points I was able to gather. This ended up being also a positive tournament, but only slightly, as I managed to increase my rating only by 5 points.

I was able to hang on in the game for about 11 moves without messing up, but after that I started to get a bit on the worse side of things and on move 16 I played the game losing move Rec8. My opponent finished the game accurately and did not give me any change to get back into the game.

[Event "HSL Pääsiäisturnaus"] [Site "Shakkikoti"] [Date "2008.03.20"] [Round "1"] [White "Rautanen, Sari"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E51"] [WhiteElo "1971"] [BlackElo "1672"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2008.??.??"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nc6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e3 Nf6 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O { Nimzo-Indian Defense: Ragozin Defense} Bxc3 (7... dxc4 {Nimzo-Indian Defense: 4.e3, Ragozin Variation}) 8. bxc3 {E51 Nimzo-Indian: Rubinstein: 4...O-O 5.Nf3 d5} b6 (8... Re8 9. Qc2 h6 10. Re1 (10. Rd1 b6 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Bb5 Bd7 13. Bxc6 Bxc6 14. Ne5 Re6 15. f3 Qe8 16. a4 a5 17. c4 Rd8 18. Bd2 Nd7 19. cxd5 Bxd5 20. Nxd7 Qxd7 21. e4 Bxe4 22. fxe4 Qxd4+ 23. Kh1 Qf2 24. Rf1 Qxd2 {De Oliveira, H (2106)-Brito,L (2285) Juazeiro do Norte 2014 0-1}) 10... e5 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. e4 Nf4 13. Nxe5 Nxd3 14. Nxd3 Qh4 15. f4 b5 16. a4 b4 17. d5 b3 18. Qxb3 Ba6 19. g3 Qf6 20. Nc5 Rab8 21. Qc2 Nb4 22. cxb4 Qxa1 23. Nxa6 {Gutov,A (2483) -Markin,I (2158) Tomsk 2008 1-0}) 9. Ba3 {N White threatens to win material: Ba3xf8} (9. cxd5 exd5 10. Qc2 h6 11. a3 a6 12. c4 dxc4 13. Bxc4 Na5 14. Ba2 Be6 15. Bxe6 fxe6 16. e4 Rc8 17. e5 Nd5 18. Bxh6 Qe8 19. Bd2 Nb7 20. Ng5 g6 21. Qd3 a5 22. Qh3 Qe7 23. Qh6 Rce8 {Kienel,N (1882) -Steffen,G (2023) Dresden 2012 0-1 }) 9... Re8 10. cxd5 exd5 11. c4 Ba6 {Black threatens to win material: Ba6xc4} 12. Rc1 Na5 (12... dxc4 13. Bxc4 Bxc4 14. Rxc4 {+/=}) 13. cxd5 {+/=} Bxd3 14. Qxd3 Nxd5 15. Rc2 (15. Rfe1 Qf6 {+/-}) 15... Qd7 (15... c6 16. Re1 {+/=}) 16. Rfc1 (16. Ne5 Qe6 17. e4 {+/-}) 16... Rec8 $2 (16... f6 {= and Black hangs on}) 17. Ne5 {+-} Qd8 18. Qf5 (18. e4 Ne7 19. Bb4 {+-}) 18... Nf6 $4 {Black crumbles in face of a dire situation} (18... Qf6 19. Qxf6 gxf6 {+/-}) 19. Bb4 ( 19. g4 {seems even better} h6 20. h4 c5 {+-}) 19... Nb7 (19... Qd5 20. Rxc7 Rxc7 21. Rxc7 Qe6 22. Qxe6 fxe6 23. Bxa5 bxa5 {+-}) 20. Nc6 Nd6 21. Qxc8 (21. Nxd8 $6 {is a useless try} Nxf5 22. Nc6 Re8 {+/=}) 21... Rxc8 22. Nxd8 Rxd8 23. Bxd6 (23. Bxd6 cxd6 24. Rc8 {+-}) 1-0

E15 Queen's Indian: 4.g3 sidelines, 4.g3 Ba6 and 4.g3 Bb7 early deviations (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 d5 6.Bg2 Bb4+ 7.Bd2)

The game I am sharing with you all today was played at a mini team match called 1800-1900 CHESS Lounge vs TPOC. The reason why I call it a mini team match is because it was played only on one board between THE POWER OF CHESS and CHESS Lounge. I played for CHESS Lounge and I managed to win both of my games against Solomonar. I won both games on time and the only one of those two games worthy of going through is the game below. In our other game I only played two moves before my opponent ran out of time. I am not 100% sure, but I think that this was my first team match representing CHESS Lounge. I am currently part of 80 clubs, formerly known as teams at Chess.com and it is sometimes very hard to keep track on how many times I have played for them in these matches. While the result of this match was very good for us, had these two games continued past the points they were interrupted by time, the result of the match might have been completely different. The reason why I think that is mainly due to this game and how the game started to look like from my point of view towards the end of the game.

I think this game was played quite well by both players, up to my 27th move, but I think somewhere along the way it became harder for me to think of good moves than it was for my opponent. With the move 27...Kc7, I started to make playing with the black pieces in this game even harder for me because my plan turns out to be a bad one. My plan was at this point to get my king to defend against possible pawn pushes on the queenside and put my rooks on the kingside. Couple of moves later I think that my king is needed on the kingside, so I start to make my way there. I knew that I was worse at this point in the game, but I thought I should continue the game and see what happens. My position gets worse over time, but not to a point that I would see a clear win for my opponent, so I played as resistantly as I could, so that maybe at some point I could turn the game around. I usually only resign at a point where I consider the game to be lost without a shadow of a doubt. I have added one mate in one, two mate in three and two mate in four puzzles today.

[Event "1800-1900 CHESS Lounge vs TPOC - Board"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.12.30"] [Round "?"] [White "Solomonar"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E15"] [WhiteElo "1759"] [BlackElo "1826"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 {Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Nimzowitsch Variation, Quiet Line} d5 (5... Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 {Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Check Variation, Intermezzo Line} (6... Qe7 {Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Check Variation, Modern Line})) 6. Bg2 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 {E15 Queen's Indian: 4.g3 sidelines, 4.g3 Ba6 and 4.g3 Bb7 early deviations} Bxd2+ 8. Nbxd2 O-O 9. Ne5 (9. O-O Qe7 (9... c5 10. dxc5 bxc5 11. e4 Nc6 12. exd5 exd5 13. Re1 dxc4 14. Nxc4 Bxc4 15. bxc4 Qc7 16. Qa4 Rab8 17. Rab1 h6 18. h3 Rfd8 19. Rb5 Nd7 20. Rxb8 Rxb8 21. Nh4 Nce5 22. Nf5 Nf6 23. Qc2 Re8 24. Qc3 {Demidov,M (2465)-Kovalenko,I (2621) Izhevsk 2013 0-1 (38)}) 10. Ne5 c5 11. dxc5 bxc5 12. e4 dxc4 13. Ndxc4 Nfd7 14. Re1 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Qc7 16. f4 Rd8 17. Qh5 Bb7 18. Rac1 Na6 19. Bf1 Rd2 20. a3 Rad8 21. Bc4 g6 22. Qh6 Qd6 23. Nf3 Ra2 {Inarkiev,E (2675)-Wang,H (2691) Ningpo 2008 0-1 (49)}) 9... Bb7 10. O-O Nbd7 {N} (10... Nfd7 11. Nxd7 Nxd7 12. e4 c6 13. Rc1 Rc8 14. b4 Qe7 15. Qb3 dxc4 16. Nxc4 Rfd8 17. Rfd1 Nf6 18. e5 Ne8 19. a4 Rb8 20. Qa3 Ba8 21. a5 Nc7 22. Nd6 Nb5 23. Nxb5 cxb5 24. Bxa8 Rxa8 25. a6 { Skrbin,K (2176)-Konic,Z (2082) Porec 2005 1/2-1/2 (45)}) 11. Qc2 Rc8 12. b4 c5 13. Nxd7 Qxd7 14. dxc5 bxc5 15. b5 {This push gains space} Rfe8 16. Rfd1 d4 { Black gets more space} 17. Bxb7 Qxb7 18. f3 {Prevents intrusion on e4+g4} e5 19. Ne4 Nxe4 20. Qxe4 Qxe4 (20... Qd7 21. g4 {=}) 21. fxe4 {A double rook endgame occured} Re6 22. a4 Kf8 23. a5 Ke7 24. Rab1 Rb8 25. Rd3 Kd7 26. Rf1 f6 27. Kg2 Kc7 (27... h5 $5 {= should be considered}) 28. g4 {+/-} Rbe8 (28... Kd6 29. Rg3 {+/-}) 29. h4 R8e7 30. Rdf3 Kd7 31. R1f2 Rd6 32. Kf1 h6 33. Ke1 Ke6 34. Rg2 {White plans g5} (34. g5 hxg5 35. hxg5 Kf7 {+-}) 34... Re8 (34... Rf7 $5 { +/-}) 35. g5 {+-} hxg5 (35... fxg5 36. hxg5 h5 37. g6 {+-}) 36. hxg5 Rf8 (36... Rd7 37. gxf6 gxf6 38. Rg6 {+-}) 37. gxf6 gxf6 0-1

Chess960 SP499

The game below was played in a team match called March game 32. The match is in progress at Chess.com and it consists of 10 boards. It is played between Kuda Hitam chess club and Kopaonik. I played on board 6 for Kopaonik and in addition to this draw, I lost my other game against Nathan_echo. That other game will be posted at some point, possible on Thursday this week if I have time to analyse it before then. The current score in the match is 5.5 - 5.5, so the match can still go either way. I am not happy of the way I performed in this match, but Nathan_echo was a bit higher rated than me and seems to have played more chess960 games than me, so I may not feel that bad about my result. Regardless of that I should be able to make better moves than I did in both of my games against Nathan_echo.

I played 1.e4 because it fights for the control of the important center squares. I also want to plant my f-knight behind the e-pawn to e3 where it can help secure squares like d5 and f5. I prioritise the development of the kingside pieces first because I want to castle there. My opponent replied with 1...b5, which is an interesting move that makes it a bit awkward to protect my e-pawn. Ideally I would like to play 2.Nc3 here to protect the pawn, but it would just get replied with 2...b4, which would drive the knight away. Because 2.Nc3 is not an option, I thought of other ways to defend the pawn. I played 2.g3 in order to both defend the pawn and open the long diagonal for my bishop. Nathan_echo continues playing moves that I would not play when he goes for the move 2...Qa6. It is actually a good move that both threatens to take on a2 with the queen and also Bxe4 is now available for him. I played the passive 3.a3 which is probably not the best move, but as I only saw the threat to my a-pawn and thought that I need to play a3 anyway in order to develop my knight to c3 safely without the need to worry about b4 kicking the knight away, I ended up playing that move, but 3.b4 is a better alternative. My move turned out to be ok, since Nathan_echo played the inaccurate b4 as a reply. I have a small advantage after that according to Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT. Interestingly enough, the engine thinks that 4...Rxb4 is the biggest mistake of the game during those first four moves. I think it is a natural reply to my move, it not only captures the pawn back but also adds pressure to the e4-pawn. This might be one of those times where I disagree with the engine. I do not really see why White should be favored here. I felt that my position is not so comfortable to play during the game. I think my pieces are not doing much in comparison with Nathan_echo's pieces. Apparently I was on the better side of things up to move 10.Qd2. After that the game is basically drawn by force by my opponent since I can't really do anything other than move my king back and forth between g1 and g2 because other moves lose at this point. Apparently my positional understanding is not always correct because during the game I thought that I was on the worse side most of the game and I was surprised that Nathan_echo went for the draw. I was ok with that draw as he was higher rated than me and because of the way the game had went at least to my understanding that is. I have added one analysed game to the following posts: E01 Catalan Opening: Closed Variation, C44 Scotch Game: Scotch Gambit, A36 English Opening: Symmetrical Variation. Symmetrical Variation and A15 English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense. Mikenas-Carls Variation. I have also added one mate in two, three mate in three and one mate in four puzzle.

Game number two. The game below is my other game from the match called March game 32. The match is still even, the score has changed a little and now the score is 6.5 - 6.5. There are still seven games left to finish in the match and there is no certainty yet, how those games will end. Both of these games started at the same time, so I did not have the option of getting some understanding of the way my opponent plays this particular starting position, but instead had to see it unfold on both boards about the same time. Nathan_echo had a similar opening strategy on both games and unfortunately for me, so did I. The move 1.g3 is something that I would see myself starting with as it opens up the long diagonal for the bishop. I replied with 1...e5, which might not be such a good idea because I ran into some problems quite quickly. The move itself is okay, but the way I handled the game afterwards made the pawn on e5 the center of my problems. I think I should have played 1...g6 instead and I would have been able to get an easier position to play. Nathan_echo continued with 2.b4, which to me seems like a move that I would avoid playing, but it is probably good in this position. It grabs some space on the queenside, opens up the long diagonal for the bishop, allows a rook lift later on and makes it possible for the queen to develop itself. It is hard to do more than that in one move. The game continues quite logically, I played g6 in order to protect my pawn on e5, then my opponent increased the pressure on the pawn by playing 3.f4, which I again have to defend against, so I played 3...d6. I started to really dislike the way that I had played so far and knew that there had gone something wrong.

Stockfish may consider the position after 4...dxe5 equal, but I still think that White should be favored here. Maybe not by much, but it is definitely easier to play this position with the white pieces in my opinion. Nathan_echo continued by developing his queen to a3 with a tempo. I replied with a6 and simply defended the pawn. I did not see any other alternative way to respond to the threat. My opponent continued with the aggressive approach to the game and played 6.b5. That is a bit inaccurate move and maybe 6.e4 was a better option. That does not matter all that much because I played the horrible 7...Qe6, which was the game losing move. Later on in the game I thought that I would get some play with 21...Nh3+, but it was not enough to turn things around.

Chess960 SP63

This week starts with a chess960 game that I would have posted earlier if I had not faced some problems with it. It has usually been enough for me to change the variant from Chess960 to chess 960 in the pgn-file, but for some reason this game also required some other changes to the pgn-file before it was shown correctly in Chessbase 12 and Deep Fritz 14, the two programs I use to view and analyse my finished games. The problem with this particular game even made me consider other chess programs and even though I did find one that was able to show the game correctly without me changing the pgn-file, the analysis quality was not at the level I would like it to be and therefore I had to work on the pgn-file again to see if I could get it to work also on the aforementioned programs.

This game was played at lichess.org on January 15th, 2016. Before this game started, my rating was 1843 and oquzlar's rating was 1859. Unfortunately this has been the last time that I have faced a higher rated opponent at lichess. The reason for that might be simply the time controls I put in the challenge. People like to play much faster games than I do, especially those that are higher rated than me, so I usually play against lower rated players there. This game starts with both players pushing their g-pawn one square forward and by doing that they are activating their bishops on the h-file. I did notice this time that when I played g3, the bishop from h1 targets the undefended pawn on b7. When my opponent replied with the same idea, I decided not to take on b7, because then oquzlar just takes on b2 and it would have been a position that I do not like, so I developed my knight to c3 instead. My plan was to castle long and therefore I did not want to weaken my pawn structure on the queenside. Oquzlar defends the b-pawn by playing c6, which I do not like the looks of, but it is a decent move regardless. The reason why I do not like this move is that in my opinion the knight would belong on c6 instead of the pawn. I continued with 3.f4 opening the g1-a7 diagonal for my bishop. At this point I think that it should be easy to develop the remaining pieces and the opening part of the game has gone without problems. I think I am slightly better after 6 moves, but then on move seven I castle, even though I should have played e4, in order to stop the immediate d5. In the game continuation oquzlar gets to play 7...d5 and the position is about even. The center was a bit tied up, so I played h3 in order to play g4 and try to open lines in front of oquzlar's king.

Before I ended up playing g4, I moved both of my bishops out of the back rank, so that there would be room for my rooks to roam around. I was able to open the g-file and plant my rook on g1 and maybe have some play along that file. My immediate threat after 13.Rg1 is 14.Qxf5 because the pawn is pinned on g6 and can't take the queen. Oquzlar played 13...Bg7, which stops my idea for now anyway. Actually Stockfish does not like my position at this point in the game and thinks that Black is clearly better. Actually my positional downhill started with the move 12.gxf5 according to the engine, well I had been on the worse side a bit earlier, but the position had become equal again, before declining again. My difficulties continue up to the move 41...g3, after which I could have held the draw with accurate play. Around this time I was quite confident that I am going to lose, but wanted to continue the game to see what happens. It was a pity that I could not find the move 42.Re1 and I might have survived. I was not able to find it and I was crushed quite quickly after that. I have added one analysed game to these three posts today: A30 English Opening: Symmetrical Variation. General, C11 French Defense: Classical Variation. Delayed Exchange Variation and E12 Queen's Indian Defense: General. I have also added two mate in one, two mate in four and one mate in five puzzle.

C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bb4+ 5.c3 dxc3 6.bxc3 Ba5 7.O-O)

The reason for this post is to correct a mistake of the past and therefore it does not bring new content to this blog. I went through some of my games that have recently ended and noticed a new opening variation. That in itself would not have broken the posting schedule I have. The problem with this one was that it resembled a line that I had already posted in the blog, so I looked through those games and noticed that the game below did not belong there, but instead under this new opening variation. Well, new to me that is. I have noticed similar things in the past and when I have run into them, I have corrected them as soon as I can. The reason why these mistakes even occur is that not all the sources where I look openings from have the same openings listed. The openings explorer at the new version of Chess.com helps a lot because it recognizes the openings even if you go through the moves in untheoretical order, which is a really helpful thing because my games almost never follow theoretical move orders.

This was played in a tournament called 2014 September Grand Seven Fourteen III at Red Hot Pawn. This is one of the tournaments there that I have chances to win still. Four other players are still in the fight with me, so it is still uclear who is going to win. I have only the fourth highest maximum possible score, so my chances are not as good for the top spot but as long as no one exceeds my maximum possible score, I still have some chances. With this game, I was able to tie my score against Luft. For a brief moment, I did give chances to my opponent to take the win but as he did not take advantage of my blunder, I was able to not only get back into the game but maintain my advantage to the end.

Game number two. The game below is the reason why this post was created in the first place. While I looked for the opening used in this game, it was similar enough to a variation I had previosly published, so I had to make sure there were no errors there and unfortunately there was one, so I corrected it as soon as I could. This game was played in a team match called GREECE_LOVERS vs Alexander Grischuk Chess Club. It was played on 25 boards and I played on board 3 for GREECE_LOVERS. In addition to this confidence boost of a win, I lost my other game against celeron. The match ended with a score of 17.5 - 32.5 in victory of Alexander Grischuk Chess Club. They were able to have higher higher rated players on most boards, so the result was not a huge surprise.

The first mistake of the game was played by Celeron on move 8, while Bg5 seems like a good move, it develops a piece with a tempo, it does not really suit into White's plan. It was better to play 8.Qb3 and increase pressure on f7. The starting point for celeron's downfall was this 8th move. The game did last a long time after that move, but I was always on the better side even though I did play some inaccuracies that could have cost me the win and I would have been forced to accept more drawish result. I think that it was a good idea by celeron to double my pawns on move 13, because it might have given him some counterplay. He decided to undouble those pawns immediately after that which I was happy to see, so that I do not have one less pawn weakness to worry about. He does end up getting my pawns doubled on the queenside, but that is not as bad of a weakness that the doubled pawns on the f-file would have been. I played well enough to keep the advantage on my side until I went a bit astray with the move 38...Kd6, which was maybe the only chance given to celeron to draw the game after the early blunder was made that enabled me to be on the better side of the board. Celeron was not able to take advantage of his chance, and I was able to play the rest of the game without any huge mistakes, enabling me to win the game on move 79 when my opponent decided it was pointless to carry on with the game.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.09.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Luft"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C44"] [WhiteElo "1936"] [BlackElo "1914"] [Annotator "Stockfish 6 64 BMI2 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "60"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Bb4+ 5. c3 dxc3 6. bxc3 {Scotch Gambit} Ba5 7. O-O {C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit} Qf6 {The isolated pawn on c3 becomes a target} (7... Nge7 8. Ng5 Ne5 9. Bb3 h6 10. f4 Bb6+ 11. Kh1 hxg5 12. fxe5 O-O 13. Bxg5 d6 14. exd6 cxd6 15. Qh5 Be6 16. Qh4 Re8 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Rf3 Qd7 19. Rh3 Qa4 20. Nd2 Nf5 21. Qh7+ Kf8 22. exf5 {Loiterstein,M (2275) -Lopez Paz,N Mar del Plata 1992 1-0}) 8. e5 Qg6 9. Ng5 {N} (9. Re1 Nh6 10. Bd3 Qh5 11. Ba3 Bb6 12. h3 g5 13. Nbd2 g4 14. Ne4 Ng8 15. Ng3 Qh6 16. hxg4 Qf4 17. Ne4 h6 18. Qe2 Nce7 19. Bc1 Qxg4 20. Nf6+ Nxf6 21. exf6 Qe6 22. fxe7 Qxe2 23. Rxe2 d6 {Rodriguez Sanchez,A (2001) -Morales Rosales,J Malaga 2003 1-0 (40)}) 9... Nh6 10. f4 $4 {White has a king attack. with this move White loses his initiative} (10. Bd3 Nf5 11. g4 {+/-}) 10... Bb6+ {=/+} 11. Kh1 Na5 $4 { instead of simply winning the game} (11... d6 12. exd6 Bf5 13. Qe2+ Kd7 14. Na3 {+/-}) 12. Bd5 (12. f5 {and White has triumphed} Qxg5 13. Bxg5 Nxc4 14. f6 {+-} ) 12... d6 {=/+} 13. Be4 (13. Nd2 O-O 14. Ndf3 Qh5 {=/+}) 13... Bf5 {+/-} 14. exd6 $2 (14. Qa4+ c6 15. Nd2 O-O-O {+/-}) 14... Qxd6 (14... O-O-O $5 15. Nd2 Rxd6 {-+}) 15. Qxd6 cxd6 16. Bb2 (16. Nd2 {+/-}) 16... O-O $5 17. Nd2 Rad8 ( 17... Bxe4 18. Ngxe4 d5 19. Ng3 {-+}) 18. Bd5 $2 (18. Ba3 {-+}) 18... Ng4 19. c4 Nf2+ (19... Bd3 {keeps an even firmer grip} 20. Ne6 Bxf1 21. Rxf1 fxe6 22. Bxe6+ Kh8 23. Bxg4 {-+}) 20. Rxf2 Bxf2 21. Bc3 Nc6 22. g3 h6 23. Ngf3 (23. Nge4 {doesn't improve anything} Bd4 {-+}) 23... Rfe8 24. Rd1 (24. Nh4 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} Bd3 {-+}) 24... Be6 (24... Re2 {seems even better} 25. Nh4 Bg4 26. Bf3 Bxf3+ 27. Ndxf3 {-+}) 25. Bxc6 (25. Nb3 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} Rc8 {-+}) 25... bxc6 26. Ne4 (26. Kg2 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} Bb6 27. Bd4 c5 {-+}) 26... Bc5 (26... Bg4 $5 {keeps an even firmer grip} 27. Kg2 Rxe4 28. Kxf2 {-+}) 27. Ned2 (27. Nxc5 {cannot undo what has already been done} dxc5 28. Rxd8 Rxd8 {-+}) 27... d5 (27... Bg4 {makes it even easier for Black} 28. Rf1 Re3 {-+}) 28. Nd4 (28. Nb3 {does not help much} Bg4 29. Rf1 Bb6 {-+}) 28... Bd7 (28... Bxd4 {and the rest is a matter of technique} 29. Bxd4 dxc4 30. Bc3 {-+}) 29. cxd5 (29. N4b3 {doesn't do any good} Bg4 30. Rb1 Bf5 {-+}) 29... cxd5 (29... Bg4 {makes sure everything is clear} 30. Rc1 Rxd5 31. N2b3 {-+}) 30. Kg2 (30. N2b3 {no good, but what else?} Bf8 31. Kg2 {-+}) 30... Re3 (30... Re3 31. Bb2 Bxd4 32. Bxd4 Rd3 {-+}) 0-1 [Event "GREECE_LOVERS vs Alexander Grischuk Ches"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.12.27"] [Round "?"] [White "celeron"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C44"] [WhiteElo "2042"] [BlackElo "1844"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "158"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Bb4+ 5. c3 dxc3 6. bxc3 {Scotch Gambit} Ba5 7. O-O {C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit} d6 8. Bg5 (8. Qb3 Qf6 (8... Qe7 9. e5 Nxe5 10. Nxe5 Qxe5 11. Bxf7+ Kf8 12. Bxg8 Rxg8 13. Bb2 Be6 14. c4 Qe4 15. Nc3 Bxc3 16. Qxc3 Re8 17. Rfe1 Qxc4 18. Qf3+ Bf7 19. Rxe8+ Kxe8 20. Qxb7 Kd7 21. Rc1 Bd5 22. Qxa7 Ra8 23. Qe3 {Winter,L (1954) -Sevall,J (1883) Hofheim 2015 0-1}) 9. e5 dxe5 10. Re1 Bb6 11. Nbd2 Bf5 12. Nxe5 Nxe5 13. Qb5+ c6 14. Qxe5+ Be6 15. Qg3 O-O-O 16. Ne4 Qf5 17. Bxe6+ fxe6 18. Bg5 Nf6 19. Bxf6 gxf6 20. Re2 Bc7 21. Qe3 Bb6 22. Qg3 e5 {Kwiecien,Z (2225) -Waniek,P Bytom 1995 0-1} ) 8... Nf6 9. e5 {N} (9. h3 Bd7 10. Re1 Qe7 11. Qd3 Ne5 12. Nxe5 dxe5 13. Nd2 O-O 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15. Qxd7 Rad8 16. Qa4 Rxd2 17. Rf1 Bxc3 18. Rac1 Bd4 19. Rc2 Rxc2 20. Qxc2 Qc6 21. Rd1 b5 22. Bxf7+ Rxf7 23. Qxc6 Rxf2 {Lo,M (52)-Hartman,J Aberystwyth 2014 1-0 (33)}) 9... dxe5 10. Qxd8+ Nxd8 11. Nxe5 Be6 12. Re1 O-O 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. Bxe6 fxe6 (14... Nxe6 15. Nc4 Bb6 16. Nba3 {+/-}) 15. Nc4 Bb6 16. Nxb6 (16. Nbd2 $5 {=/+ deserves consideration}) 16... axb6 {+/-} (16... cxb6 $6 17. Nd2 {=/+}) 17. Nd2 Kf7 18. a4 Nc6 19. Nf3 (19. Nc4 h5 {-+}) 19... Ra5 20. Red1 Ke7 21. Nd4 Nxd4 (21... Rd8 22. Nb5 Rxa4 23. Nxc7 {-+}) 22. Rxd4 { +/-} Rd8 23. Rh4 h5 24. h3 Rdd5 (24... Rd3 25. Rc1 {-+}) 25. Re1 b5 26. axb5 Rdxb5 27. Rhe4 Rb6 28. R1e3 (28. Rc4 Kd7 {+/-}) 28... Rc6 29. Rb4 b6 30. Rb3 ( 30. Rh4 Kf7 {+/-}) 30... Rac5 (30... Ra1+ $5 31. Kh2 {-+}) 31. Kf1 Kd6 32. Ke2 Rd5 (32... e5 33. Kd3 {+/-}) 33. f3 Kc5 (33... Ra5 34. Kd3 {+/-}) 34. h4 (34. Rb4 Rcd6 35. Rh4 b5 {+/-}) 34... b5 (34... Kd6 {+/-}) 35. Rb4 (35. g4 Rcd6 36. Kf2 e5 {+/-}) 35... Rcd6 (35... Ra6 36. Rb2 {+/-}) 36. Rbe4 (36. Rb2 e5 {+/-}) 36... e5 (36... Rd2+ $5 37. Kf1 e5 38. f4 Rd1+ 39. Kf2 R6d2+ 40. Re2 {-+}) 37. f4 {+/-} Re6 38. Kf3 Kd6 (38... exf4 39. Kxf4 Rxe4+ 40. Rxe4 {+/-}) 39. f5 $2 ( 39. g4 $5 {= and White could well hope to play on}) 39... Re7 {+/-} 40. g4 hxg4+ 41. Kxg4 (41. Rxg4 Rh7 {+/-}) 41... Rh7 (41... Rg7+ 42. Kf3 Rd1 43. Re1 Rd3+ 44. R1e3 Rxe3+ 45. Rxe3 {-+}) 42. Rh3 (42. h5 {-+}) 42... Rd1 43. Ree3 ( 43. h5 Rg1+ 44. Kf3 Rf1+ 45. Ke2 Rxf5 {-+}) 43... Rg1+ 44. Rhg3 (44. Kf3 Rf1+ 45. Ke2 Rxf5 {-+}) 44... Rxg3+ (44... Rg7+ {nails it down} 45. Kh3 R1xg3+ 46. Rxg3 Rxg3+ 47. Kxg3 Ke7 {-+}) 45. Kxg3 (45. Rxg3 Rg7+ 46. Kh3 Rxg3+ 47. Kxg3 { -+}) 45... Kd5 46. Kg4 (46. Re1 {is no salvation} Kc4 {-+}) 46... Kc4 47. h5 c5 {Black plans b4} 48. Kh4 (48. Re1 {-+ the only chance to get some counterplay}) 48... b4 49. cxb4 cxb4 50. Re4+ Kc5 51. Re3 Kd4 (51... Rb7 {and Black can celebrate victory} 52. Rb3 Kc4 {-+}) 52. Rg3 Ke4 53. Rb3 Kxf5 54. Rxb4 (54. Rf3+ {is one last hope} Ke6 55. Rf2 {-+}) 54... Rd7 55. Rb8 Rd4+ 56. Kg3 Kg5 57. Rh8 Rf4 (57... Rg4+ 58. Kf3 Rh4 59. Rf8 Rxh5 60. Ke4 Rh4+ 61. Kd5 {-+}) 58. h6 Kg6 59. h7 (59. Kh3 {-+ the last chance for counterplay}) 59... Kg7 60. Ra8 Kxh7 61. Ra6 Kg6 62. Rb6 Kf5 63. Rb3 Rd4 64. Rf3+ Ke6 (64... Kg5 {and Black takes home the point} 65. Rb3 {-+}) 65. Ra3 f5 66. Ra8 Rd3+ 67. Kf2 Kd5 68. Ra5+ Ke4 69. Ra4+ (69. Ra2 {hardly improves anything} Rd4 70. Re2+ Kf4 71. Kf1 Rd1+ 72. Kg2 e4 73. Rb2 Rd4 74. Rf2+ Kg4 75. Kf1 e3 76. Rg2+ Kf3 77. Rf2+ Ke4 78. Ra2 f4 79. Ra8 Kf3 80. Ke1 Rc4 81. Ra1 Rc2 82. Rb1 Rh2 83. Kd1 Rh1+ 84. Kc2 Rxb1 85. Kxb1 e2 86. Kb2 e1=Q 87. Kb3 Ke3 88. Ka4 Qb1 89. Ka5 f3 90. Ka4 f2 91. Ka3 f1=Q 92. Ka4 Qa6#) 69... Rd4 70. Ra2 (70. Ra5 {does not solve anything} f4 71. Ra1 f3 72. Kg3 Rd2 73. Ra4+ Ke3 74. Ra3+ Ke2 75. Rxf3 Rd3 76. Rxd3 Kxd3 77. Kf2 e4 78. Ke1 Ke3 79. Kd1 Kf2 80. Kc2 e3 81. Kc3 e2 82. Kc4 e1=Q 83. Kd5 Ke3 84. Kc5 Ke4 85. Kd6 Kd4 86. Kc6 Qe6+ 87. Kb5 Qh6 88. Ka4 Qb6 89. Ka3 Kc3 90. Ka2 Qb2#) 70... f4 {-+} 71. Re2+ Kf5 {Black intends e4} 72. Ra2 e4 73. Ra8 (73. Ra5+ {doesn't change anything anymore} Kg4 74. Ke2 e3 75. Ra2 Rd2+ 76. Rxd2 exd2 77. Kd1 Kg3 78. Kxd2 f3 79. Ke1 Kg2 80. Kd2 f2 81. Kc3 f1=Q 82. Kb4 Kf3 83. Kc5 Ke4 84. Kc6 Qc4+ 85. Kd6 Kf5 86. Kd7 Qc5 87. Ke8 Ke6 88. Kd8 Qc1 89. Ke8 Qc8#) 73... Rd2+ 74. Ke1 (74. Kg1 {does not save the day} e3 75. Re8 Kg4 76. Kf1 Kf3 77. Ke1 Re2+ 78. Kd1 Ra2 79. Kc1 e2 80. Kb1 Ra3 81. Kb2 Re3 82. Rxe3+ Kxe3 83. Kb3 e1=Q 84. Ka4 Qb1 85. Ka5 f3 86. Ka4 f2 87. Ka3 f1=Q 88. Ka4 Qa6#) 74... e3 75. Rg8 (75. Ra3 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} Kg4 76. Kf1 Kf3 77. Ke1 Rb2 78. Kd1 Kf2 79. Kc1 Rd2 80. Rc3 f3 81. Rc2 Rxc2+ 82. Kxc2 e2 83. Kc3 e1=Q+ 84. Kb3 Kg3 85. Kc2 f2 86. Kd3 f1=Q+ 87. Kd4 Qb4+ 88. Ke5 Qc5+ 89. Ke6 Qff5#) 75... Ke4 (75... Ra2 76. Kf1 Ke4 77. Rh8 Ra1+ 78. Kg2 f3+ 79. Kh2 e2 80. Re8+ Kf4 81. Rf8+ Ke3 82. Kh3 Rg1 83. Rb8 e1=Q 84. Re8+ Kf2 85. Rxe1 Kxe1 86. Kh4 f2 87. Kh5 f1=Q 88. Kh4 Qg2 89. Kh5 Qh1#) 76. Rh8 (76. Ra8 { doesn't improve anything} Rh2 77. Kd1 Rh1+ 78. Kc2 e2 79. Re8+ Kf3 80. Kd2 Rd1+ 81. Kc3 e1=Q+ 82. Rxe1 Rxe1 83. Kb3 Ke4 84. Kb4 f3 85. Kc5 Rb1 86. Kd6 f2 87. Kc5 f1=Q 88. Kd6 Qa6+ 89. Kc5 Rb5+ 90. Kc4 Qc6#) 76... Rg2 (76... Ra2 77. Re8+ Kf3 78. Rd8 Ra1+ 79. Rd1 Rxd1+ 80. Kxd1 Kf2 81. Kc2 e2 82. Kb3 e1=Q 83. Kc4 f3 84. Kb3 Kg3 85. Ka4 f2 86. Kb5 f1=Q+ 87. Kc5 Qc3+ 88. Kd6 Qff6+ 89. Kd7 Qcc6#) 77. Kf1 (77. Kd1 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} Ra2 78. Rd8 f3 79. Re8+ Kf4 80. Kc1 f2 81. Rf8+ Ke4 82. Kb1 Rd2 83. Kc1 Kd3 84. Rd8+ Ke2 85. Rxd2+ exd2+ 86. Kb2 d1=Q 87. Ka3 f1=Q 88. Kb4 Qd4+ 89. Ka3 Qfa1+ 90. Kb3 Qaa4#) 77... Kf3 { Black prepares the advance e2} (77... Ra2 78. Rd8 Kf3 79. Ke1 Ra1+ 80. Rd1 Rxd1+ 81. Kxd1 Kf2 82. Kc2 e2 83. Kb3 e1=Q 84. Kc4 f3 85. Kb3 Kg3 86. Ka4 f2 87. Kb5 f1=Q+ 88. Kc5 Qc3+ 89. Kd6 Qff6+ 90. Kd7 Qcc6#) 78. Rh3+ Rg3 79. Rh8 ( 79. Rh1 {does not win a prize} Rg5 80. Rh3+ Kg4 81. Rh1 f3 82. Rh8 Ra5 83. Rg8+ Kh5 84. Rh8+ Kg6 85. Kg1 f2+ 86. Kf1 Ra1+ 87. Ke2 f1=Q+ 88. Kxe3 Qc1+ 89. Kd4 Qd2+ 90. Kc4 Qc2+ 91. Kd4 Rd1+ 92. Ke3 Qc3+ 93. Kf4 Rd4+ 94. Ke5 Qe3#) 79... e2+ (79... e2+ 80. Ke1 Rg1+ 81. Kd2 e1=Q+ 82. Kd3 Qe4+ 83. Kc3 Rc1+ 84. Kb2 Qc2+ 85. Ka3 Ra1+ 86. Kb4 Rb1+ 87. Ka3 Qb3#) 0-1

Chess960 SP148

The last post of the week will take a look at two chess960 games that were played at Chess.com. The first two games in this post (more might be added at a later time) were played in a team match called Friendly match: 960 CS vs Purple haze (960 chess) - Goodbye 2015. The match consists of 23 boards and it is played between 960 CHESS STARS and PURPLE HAZE. I played on board 5 for PURPLE HAZE and only managed to get two draws against my lower rated opponent. At the moment it seems that only on my board both games ended peacefully in draws. For some reason my opponent offered draws in both of these games at the same time. I was actually happy to get a draw in the game where I was playing with the white pieces because in that one I was in huge difficulties and had the game continued, I would have likely lost. The other game seemed like a draw, so I accepted the draw offer in that one too. The current score in the match is 27.5 - 14.5 in favor of 960 CHESS STARS and therefore they have secured the win quite comfortably.

The first blunder of the game was played by my opponent with the move 4...b6. The game could have been over much quicker had I reacted to 4...b6 in the most accurate way. Again my tendency to develop my pieces as quickly as possible hinders my ability to make good moves. While my move 5.Nb3 is a decent move, it was better to play 5.Nb4. I keep ignoring my opportunities also on my next move, after which my advantage again decreases. When I played 15.Nb3, it was the first time that I ended up being slightly worse. Inaccurate reply by Instar78 tips the advantage back in my favor. With my next move 16.Rd2, I hand over the advantage back to Instar78. Bad moves from both players shift the advantage back and forth for awhile until I make the move that should have been the losing move, 26.g4. My tactical awareness was nowhere to be seen yet again and I did not even consider the possibility that my opponent could reply 26.g4 with 26...Nxe3! I was quite confident that I am lost after I saw that move, but I stubbornly wanted to continue the game. The game lasted for a few moves more, but to my surprise it ended in a draw and not to my loss. I have added one mate in one, two mate in two, one mate in three and one mate in four puzzle today. Until Monday, my fellow chess and chess960 enthusiasts!

Game number two. Apart from few inaccuracies, the first ten moves of this game kept the game in balance. The 11th move by my opponent was the first move that can be said to be a mistake, even though I only get a small advantage out of it. That adavantage does not last long as I merrily seem to give it back with my 12th move. I never intentionally make bad moves, but avoiding them completely is impossible. When Instar78 played 15.f4, I had the best chance up to that point to seize the advantage. I was, however, unable to do so. I made this game harder for me than it should have been with my 16th move, but because I did not see a better move, I had to play 16...Rd6. Instar78 has clearly the better game for a few moves, but when it comes to his 24th move, he goes a bit astray from the right plan. That enables me a better possibility to hold a draw. After 30.Be3, the advantage that was there before has completely fizzled out. We continued a few more moves until my opponent offered the draw and I thought that I should probably accept it because there seemed to be no way that I can increase the pressure and both players should hold their positions with ease.

B07 Pirc Defence: Miscellaneous Systems (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bc4 Bg7 5.Qe2 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Be3 e5)

It is time for some action from Red Hot Pawn again. This game ended my good streak of games that enabled me to get my peak rating of 1967 at Red Hot Pawn. The game below started the unfortunate losing streak that is still in progress for me. This game was played on the first round of the 2015 October Grand Split Three Seven I 1800+ tournament. I have gathered 39 points so far and I can get to 51 points if I manage to win the 4 games I have still left to finish in this tournament. My opponent, InvaderOfRome has gathered 35 points, but he has a maximum possible score of 59 and it is likely that InvaderOfRome will be ahead of me in the final standings. I am currently in 6th place and it is possible that it will be also the place I found myself in the final standings, but it is not at all certain yet. InvaderOfRome is currently on 9th place, but can get to 4th place if all goes well for him in the remaining games.

I may have experimented a bit too much in this game, first I went to 4.Bc4, which I had not played in that position before and then later on I castled queenside, which is something I usually do not play. Actually, only the move 8.O-O-O put me in trouble, everything up to that move was ok. The position after 8.O-O-O can be seen below.

The game continued pretty much I had expected 8...exd4 9.Bxd4 Nxd4 10.Rxd4. While I did notice when I castled that the rook would end up in a square that is a bit awkward, I did not think that my position would be horrible as a result. Stockfish thinks in this after game analysis that InvaderOfRome is just clearly better after 10.Rxd4 and I may know why that is. Even though I am ahead in development, my pieces are located quite badly, my knight is pinned to the queen and the rook on d4 is not well placed. InvaderOfRome's pieces are on the other hand well placed. My opponent did not find the best move and by moving the knight to h5 gave me a chance to get the game in balance. I was not able to play the move 11.e5 that could have gone towards a draw, but instead made a mistake by playing 11.Rdd1 and it made my life more difficult for several moves. Only after InvaderOfRome played a bad move 28...f5, I was getting closer to draw the game again. By playing 28...f5 in the position below, my opponent enables me to get rid of one of my doubled pawns, improving my pawn structure a bit.

It is something that he should not have done. My position quickly falls apart again due to some mindless moving on my part starting with the move 30.Rhg1. I was only slightly worse after 30.Rhg1, but with my 31st move I went to a clearly worse position. I played the biggest blunder of the game with my move 36.Kc1, after which there is no point to continue the game, especially when I saw InvaderOfRome's reply 36...Nc3. The position where I played 36.Kc1 can be seen below.

I considered for awhile what to do after 35...Ne4+ and I saw that I can't go to d3 or e2 because I would lose a piece to the knight fork. I honestly can't remember what went on my head when I decided that c1 is a better square for the king than e1. Of course after 36...Nc3 it was obvious to me how stupid I was again able to be. Then again my position was already quite hopeless and I should have gone towards a loss even if I had played 36.Ke1. I have added one analysed game to these two posts: C18 French Defense: Winawer Variation. Classical Variation and C11 French Defense: Classical Variation. Burn Variation. I have also added one mate in two, one mate in three and three mate in four puzzles today.

[Event "Grand Split Three Seven"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2015.12.21"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "InvaderOfRome"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B07"] [WhiteElo "1951"] [BlackElo "1989"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bc4 {Pirc Defense: Kholmov System} (4. Be2 Bg7 5. g4 {Pirc Defense: Chinese Variation} (5. h4 {Pirc Defense: Bayonet Attack})) (4. Be3 c6 5. h3 {Pirc Defense: 150 Attack, Sveshnikov-Jansa Attack}) 4... Bg7 5. Qe2 Nc6 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Be3 e5 {B07 Pirc Defence: Miscellaneous Systems} 8. O-O-O (8. dxe5 Nxe5 9. Bb3 O-O 10. h3 Nxf3+ 11. gxf3 Be6 12. O-O-O Nh5 13. Qd2 a5 14. Ba4 Bxc3 {0-1 (14) Hernandez Fierro, R (2200)-Taulbut,S (2405) Mexico City 1978}) (8. Bb5 exd4 9. Bxd4 O-O 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 c5 13. Be3 Qb8 14. Rb1 Re8 15. O-O Qb7 16. Rfd1 Rab8 17. Nd5 Nxe4 18. b4 Qc6 19. Bg5 Qd7 20. Bf6 Bxf6 21. Qxe4 Bg7 22. Qf4 Re5 {Masio,A-Tatenhorst,V (2280) Germany 1996 0-1}) 8... exd4 9. Bxd4 Nxd4 10. Rxd4 Nh5 $146 {White has a very active position} (10... Nd7 11. e5 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Nxe5 13. Qxb7 O-O 14. Bb3 Nd7 15. Rc4 Nc5 16. Qc6 a5 17. Rd1 Ra6 18. Qd5 Qf6 19. f4 a4 20. Bxa4 Nxa4 21. Rxa4 Rxa4 { 0-1 (21) Thiel,T-Altunbas,A Dortmund 1986}) (10... O-O 11. Rdd1 $17) 11. Rdd1 ( 11. e5 Bxf3 12. Bxf7+ Kxf7 13. Qxf3+ Kg8 14. Qd5+ Kf8 15. Qf3+ Kg8 16. Qd5+ Kf8 17. Qf3+ Kg8 $11) 11... Bxc3 (11... Nf4 $5 12. Qd2 Nxg2 $17) 12. bxc3 $15 Qf6 13. Qe3 (13. e5 Qf4+ 14. Kb2 O-O 15. exd6 Rfe8 $15) 13... Bxf3 14. gxf3 O-O 15. Rdg1 (15. Rhg1 Rfe8 $17) 15... Qf4 16. Rg4 Qxe3+ 17. fxe3 Nf6 18. Rg2 Rfe8 19. Kd2 Rad8 20. h4 (20. Rgg1 Re5 $17) 20... Kf8 (20... d5 21. exd5 Nxd5 22. Bxd5 Rxd5+ 23. Ke2 $19) 21. Rb1 (21. Rg5 a6 $17) 21... b6 (21... d5 22. exd5 Nxd5 23. Bxd5 Rxd5+ 24. Ke2 $17) 22. Bb5 Re5 23. c4 (23. Rg5 Re7 $17) 23... Nd7 ( 23... Rh5 24. Rh1 Rc5 25. Rg5 $19) 24. Rg5 Nc5 25. Rbg1 f6 26. R5g3 Ke7 27. Bc6 Rf8 28. Rh1 f5 (28... Rh5 $142 $5 $17) 29. exf5 $11 Rfxf5 {White has new hanging pawns: e3+f3} 30. Rhg1 (30. f4 Re6 $11) 30... Rh5 {Black threatens to win material: Rh5xh4} 31. Rg4 (31. Rh3 Rh6 $15) 31... Nd7 $17 32. Ba4 Nf6 33. Rf4 Ref5 34. Rxf5 Rxf5 35. f4 (35. Ke2 $5 $17) 35... Ne4+ $19 36. Kc1 $4 { sad, but how else could White save the game?} (36. Ke1 $142 Rc5 37. Bb3 $19) 36... Nc3 (36... Nc3 37. Kd2 Nxa4 $19) 0-1

B19 Classical Caro-Kann: 4...Bf5 main line (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 h6 5.h4 Bf5 6.Ng3 Bh7 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.Bd3 Bxd3 9.Qxd3 Ngf6 10.Bd2 e6 11.O-O-O Qc7 12.Rhe1 O-O-O 13.Qb3)

The game below was played in a team match called Rise Of The Daleks. It is played on 34 boards between Daleks of Skaro and TriBaL KnighT's. I am playing on board 9 for Daleks of Skaro. The current score in the match is 22.5 - 31.5 in favor of TriBaL KnighT's. While the winner of the match is still not been decided, TriBaL KnighT's is already too close to secure the match in their favor, from our point of view that is. It is still possible to turn things around and that is what we need to do in the remaining games and we can only handle two more points to be lost if we want to win the match.

The move 4...h6 is an interesting one and I probably did not reply to it in the best possible way. I just tried to get to a more familiar position and played 5.h4, but it probably is just a useless move because the bishop can retreat to h7 in one move after Ng3. I should have maybe played either 5.Nf3 or even 5.Ng3 with the idea of preventing the bishop from coming to f5. The position starts to look a bit like the Caro-Kann Defense: Classical Variation, Lobron System or the Caro-Kann Defense: Classical Variation, Seirawan Variation with the exception that both players have one pair of moves missing, White has not played h5 and Black has not played Bg6. Up to my 11th move, both players follow similar ideas as in those two opening variations I mentioned, but then letranknight goes for 11...Qc7, which is a decent alternative to moves like 11...Be7 or 11...Bd6. This game was played with only small inaccuracies until letranknight played 36...Kb7. I was quite confident about my chances at this point in the game, but I chose the wrong plan and had to face a position where my winning chances had gone down the drain and needed to accept the draw. I think this was a good game from both players and the only real chance I got in this game, I was not able to use properly.

[Event "Rise Of The Daleks - Board 9"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.01.15"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "letranknight"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B19"] [WhiteElo "1821"] [BlackElo "1808"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 h6 {Caro-Kann Defense: Finnish Variation} (4... Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. f4 {Caro-Kann Defense: Classical Variation, Maroczy Attack} (6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. Bd2 Ngf6 12. O-O-O Be7 {Caro-Kann Defense: Classical Variation, Lobron System} (12... Bd6 { Caro-Kann Defense: Classical Variation, Seirawan Variation}))) 5. h4 Bf5 6. Ng3 Bh7 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. Bd3 Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Ngf6 10. Bd2 e6 11. O-O-O Qc7 12. Rhe1 O-O-O 13. Qb3 {B19 Classical Caro-Kann: 4...Bf5 main line} Bd6 14. Ne2 (14. Qa4 Kb8 15. Ba5 Nb6 16. Bxb6 axb6 17. Ne4 b5 18. Qb3 Bf4+ 19. Kb1 Nxe4 20. Rxe4 Rd5 21. Rde1 Rhd8 22. c3 Bd6 23. Qc2 c5 24. dxc5 Bxc5 25. a3 Qb6 26. R4e2 Qc7 27. g3 Be7 28. Rd2 Rxd2 {Zapata,A (2545)-Adianto, U (2495) Novi Sad 1990 1/2-1/2 (75)} ) (14. Nf1 Bf4 15. g3 Bxd2+ 16. N1xd2 Ng4 17. Re2 Kb8 18. Nc4 Rhe8 19. a4 c5 20. Qc3 Ndf6 21. b3 a6 22. Nce5 Rd5 23. Nxg4 Nxg4 24. dxc5 Qxc5 25. Qxc5 Rxc5 26. Rd7 Rc7 27. Rd4 f5 28. Ne5 Nxe5 {Kuba,J (2211)-Simecek,A (2140) Czechia 2012 1-0 (44)}) 14... c5 {N} (14... Ng4 15. Rf1 Qb6 (15... Ndf6 16. Qa4 Kb8 17. c4 Qe7 18. Nc3 Qc7 19. g3 Qc8 20. b4 e5 21. dxe5 Nxe5 22. Be3 Nxc4 23. Bxa7+ Kc7 24. Rd4 b5 25. Nxb5+ cxb5 26. Qxb5 Na3 27. Qa5+ Kb7+ 28. Bc5 Bxc5 29. bxc5 Rxd4 30. Nxd4 {Lasker,E-Lee,F London 1899 1-0 (39)}) 16. Qa4 Qb5 17. Qxb5 cxb5 18. Nc3 a6 19. Ne4 Bc7 20. Kb1 (20. Rde1 Ngf6 21. Nxf6 Nxf6 22. Ne5 Rxd4 23. Nxf7 Rf8 24. Ne5 Bxe5 25. Rxe5 Rxh4 26. Rxe6 Re4 27. Re1 Rxe1+ 28. Rxe1 Re8 29. Kd1 Kd7 30. Be3 Nd5 31. Bd4 Rxe1+ 32. Kxe1 g6 33. Kd2 Ke6 34. c3 h5 {Cohn, E-Lee,F Ostend 1907 1/2-1/2 (34)}) 20... Ngf6 21. Rfe1 Nxe4 22. Rxe4 Nf6 23. Re2 Nd5 24. g3 Kb8 25. c3 Rc8 26. Ne1 Bd6 27. Nd3 Rc7 28. Rde1 Rhc8 29. Ne5 { Shoosmith,H-Lee,F Ostend 1907 1/2-1/2 (41)}) 15. g3 {Secures f4} Kb8 16. Bf4 Bxf4+ 17. Nxf4 Rc8 (17... Ng4 18. Qc3 {=}) 18. d5 {+/=} c4 19. Qe3 (19. Qc3 exd5 20. Nxd5 Nxd5 21. Rxd5 Nf6 {+/=}) 19... Nxd5 (19... Ng4 $5 20. Qa3 e5 {=/+ }) 20. Nxd5 {=} exd5 21. Rxd5 Nf6 {Black threatens to win material: Nf6xd5} 22. Rd4 Rhe8 23. Qc3 Rxe1+ 24. Qxe1 c3 25. Qxc3 Qxc3 26. bxc3 Rxc3 27. Ne5 a6 28. Kb2 {White threatens to win material: Kb2xc3} Rc7 29. f3 {Consolidates e4+g4} Kc8 (29... Re7 30. Nd3 {=}) 30. g4 (30. Nc4 $5 {+/=}) 30... Re7 {=} 31. Nc4 Kc7 32. Kc3 b5 {Black threatens to win material: b5xc4} 33. Nd2 Rd7 34. Rxd7+ Kxd7 {A knight endgame occured} 35. Kb4 Kc6 36. Ka5 {White threatens to win material: Ka5xa6} Kb7 (36... Nd5 37. Nb3 g6 38. h5 gxh5 39. gxh5 {=}) 37. Nb3 ( 37. c4 $5 {+/-}) 37... Nd7 {=} 38. a4 bxa4 39. Kxa4 Kb6 1/2-1/2

Chess960 SP373

It is time again for some chess960 and this post contains two games when it is first published. Both of these games were played in a team match called 4.) 1/3/2016,Chess960, Happy New Year 2016=Sretna Nova 2016.Godina. It is played on 15 boards between MY FRIENDS, International, Moji prijatelji&Φίλοι μου and ISK Crvena Zvezda. I played on board 7 for MY FRIENDS, International, Moji prijatelji&Φίλοι μου. The current score in the match is 23 - 2 in favor of MY FRIENDS, International, Moji prijatelji&Φίλοι μου. There are only 5 games left in this very one-sided match and even if we lose them all, it would be only a small consolation for our opponents.

This game starts like the French Defense, but obviously the starting positon differs a bit from the usual. The moves e4 and d4 also open up diagonals for the bishops in this starting position like they do in chess. The difference being that the light-squared bishop starts from d1 instead of f1. Bishop starting from d1 is maybe slightly worse than the one that starts from f1, but there is probably not that big of a difference between the two. The first move that seems a bit off to me is 2...c6 because it may further restrict the scope of Black's light-squared bishop. The problem with how vogar1 has handled the first two moves is that it is quite difficult now to develop the black pieces to good squares, at least in my opinion. The knight from a8 would be most likely ideally placed on b6 but before it can go there, vogar1 would probably want to play b5, so that the light-squared bishop can be developed to a decent square. That is because I do not like its prospects on the c8-h3 diagonal because the pawn on e6 blocks its path. Maybe 2...d5 would have been a better try than 2...c6.

I am able to continue the game with logical developing moves while my opponent chooses a passive way to play. After 8...O-O-O vogar1 has catched up a bit on piece development, but honestly both vogar1's knights and the light-squared bishop seem bad pieces to me, when comparing them to their counterparts. I played 9.Qh2 in order to get my queen a bit more active as it goes to the h2-b8 diagonal and eyes on the undefended pawn on d6. The way vogar1 reacts to my threat makes his light-squared bishop an ever worse piece than it was before moving it to e8. I think vogar1 should have just played 9...d5 to which I would have probably played the inaccurate reply 10.exd5. Had the game actually proceeded in that way, the result of the game would have been much less obvious. 9...Be8 is probably the mistake that enabled me to win the game, though vogar1 makes a more concrete mistake on move 10 with Ng6, because that gives up the pawn on d6 for free. I am able to convert the advantage into a win on move 25 when vogar1 resigned seeing that he will loose too much material to offer any resistance or end up being mated. I have added one analysed game to the following posts: C41 Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation, C88 Spanish Game: Closed and C34 King's Gambit: Accepted. Fischer Defense. I have also added one mate in two, one mate in three and three mate in four puzzles today.

Game number two. In this game vogar1 had chances for a draw a lot longer than in our other game. I was not able to use my chances to take the advantage when I was first given the chance to do so. Only after the blunder 16.Nh3, I started to play accurately enough that I was able to keep the advantage the remainder of the moves. I was not sure about the best way to continue after 16.Nh3 and I was not really sure if I am going to win even though I certainly felt that I should be on the better side of things. Had my opponent not blundered with 23.f4, this game might still be in progress.

B32 Sicilian: Löwenthal and Kalashnikov Variations (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 e6 4.d5 exd5 5.exd5)

This game was played on the third round of the Sarah's Mini Cooper Tournament (No 52). I am playing in group 4 and I am also currently on 4th place. I have 2.5 points at the moment and if I win my two remaining games, I will end up sharing second place and that would mean that I will advance to the fourth round. My opponent, DocOrtho, had a very rough time on this round, he lost all of his games. Admittedly, all his opponents were higher rated than him. Group 4 was won by erimus (2195), who won all of his games. He is the highest rated player of the group by over 300 points, so it is not a huge surprise that he managed to get such a good result. I have been the second highest rated player of the group, but I have really struggled with my games because mostly my opponents have been able to create me some problems that have made the games challenging to play, which is obviously better than winning games without any resistance at all.

This particular opening variation is something that should not be played with the black pieces. By playing 3...e6 Black allows White to reply with 4.d5, which gives White a clear advantage. It is much better to reply 3.d4 with cxd4. This is just one example of many variations that may have been named in theory, but are not all that sound ways to play. While DocOrtho was clearly in a difficult position after 3...e6, it was not perhaps the losing move. The losing move of the game was 6...Nf6. It loses a piece one way or the other and makes the rest of the game quite easy for me to play. Even though the game was decided so early, it took me quite a long time to convert my advantage to a win as only after the move 56.Qd6+ my opponent resigned.

[Event "Sarah's Mini Cooper Tournament (No 52) -"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.01.08"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "DocOrtho"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "1831"] [BlackElo "1476"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "111"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 e6 {Sicilian Defense: Franco-Sicilian Variation} 4. d5 (4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qc7 6. Be3 {Sicilian Defense: Paulsen Variation, Bastrikov Variation}) (4. c3 d5 5. e5 Qb6 6. a3 {French Defense: Advance Variation, Main Line}) (4. Be2 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. O-O Be7 8. Be3 O-O 9. f4 {Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Modern Variation}) 4... exd5 5. exd5 {B32 Sicilian: Löwenthal and Kalashnikov Variations} Na5 6. Bd2 (6. c4 Nf6 7. h3 d6 8. Bd3 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Nc3 Bd7 11. a3 b6 12. Re1 Re8 13. Qc2 g6 14. Bh6 Bf8 15. Bg5 Bg7 16. Ne4 Nb7 17. a4 h6 18. Nxf6+ Bxf6 19. Bxh6 g5 20. Qd2 Na5 {Ushenina,A (2297)-Chmel,M Evpatoria 2002 1-0}) (6. d6 Qf6 7. Bd2 Bxd6 8. Bxa5 Qxb2 9. Bc3 Qb6 10. Bxg7 f6 11. Bxh8 Qb2 12. Nbd2 Bf4 13. Bc4 Be5 14. Rb1 Qa3 15. Nxe5 fxe5 16. Bxg8 d6 17. Qh5+ Kd7 18. Bd5 Kc7 19. Qf7+ {1-0 (19) Stojkovic,Z (1953)-Marinkovic,S Nis 2014}) 6... Nf6 $4 {N simply worsens the situation} (6... Bd6 7. Bd3 Ne7 8. O-O O-O 9. Ng5 Ng6 10. Qh5 h6 11. Nxf7 Rxf7 12. Qxg6 Kf8 13. Qxd6+ Kg8 14. Re1 c4 15. Bxa5 b6 16. Bxc4 bxa5 17. Qg6 d6 18. Bd3 Re7 19. Nc3 Bd7 20. Qh7+ Kf8 21. Bg6 {Osinski, K (1759)-Olencewicz,L Polanica Zdroj 2013 1-0}) (6... Be7 {+/-}) 7. Qe2+ {+-} Qe7 8. Qxe7+ (8. Bxa5 $5 {keeps an even firmer grip} b6 9. Bc3 Nxd5 10. Qxe7+ Kxe7 {+-}) 8... Bxe7 9. Bxa5 Nxd5 10. Bc4 Nf6 11. O-O O-O (11... d5 12. Bb5+ Kf8 13. Re1 {+-}) 12. Re1 (12. Nc3 {seems even better} b6 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. Bxd5 Bb7 15. Bxb7 Rab8 {+-}) 12... Bd6 (12... d5 {+-}) 13. Bc3 b6 (13... Bc7 {does not help much} 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Nc3 {+-}) 14. Nbd2 (14. Bxf6 {makes it even easier for White} gxf6 15. Nc3 Bb7 {+-}) 14... Bf4 (14... Bb7 {doesn't do any good} 15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. Ne4 Bxe4 17. Rxe4 {+-}) 15. Ne4 Nxe4 (15... Bb7 {does not win a prize} 16. Nxf6+ gxf6 17. Re7 {+-}) 16. Rxe4 Bc7 (16... Bh6 {doesn't change anything anymore} 17. Re7 Bb7 18. Rxd7 {+-}) 17. Bd5 Rb8 18. Rae1 (18. Rg4 {and White can already relax} g6 19. Ng5 {+-}) 18... h6 (18... Bb7 {the only chance to get some counterplay} 19. Bxb7 Rxb7 {+-}) 19. Re8 (19. Rg4 Be5 20. Bxe5 g5 21. Nxg5 h5 22. Rg3 h4 23. Re4 Re8 24. Rxh4 Kf8 25. Bd6+ Re7 26. Nh7+ Ke8 27. Rg8#) 19... Ba6 (19... Bd6 {is not much help} 20. Rxf8+ Kxf8 21. Ne5 {+-}) 20. Rxb8 ( 20. Bxf7+ {ends the debate} Kh8 21. Rxf8+ Rxf8 {+-}) 20... Rxb8 21. Re7 Rf8 22. Rxd7 Bb8 23. g3 (23. Ne5 {might be the shorter path} Bc8 24. Rxf7 Rxf7 25. Bxf7+ Kf8 {+-}) 23... Bb5 24. Re7 Kh7 (24... Rd8 {does not save the day} 25. Bb7 {+-} (25. Bxf7+ $6 Kf8 26. Rb7 Bc6 27. Rxb8 Rxb8 {+-})) 25. Rxf7 (25. Nh4 { secures the win} Re8 26. Rxf7 Be5 27. Bxe5 Rxe5 {+-}) 25... Rxf7 26. Bxf7 Bc6 27. Ne5 Bxe5 (27... Be4 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 28. Nd3 {+-}) 28. Bxe5 a6 (28... g5 {does not improve anything} 29. Bb8 a6 30. Ba7 {+-}) 29. f4 Be4 30. c3 b5 31. Bd6 c4 (31... g6 {is not the saving move} 32. Bxc5 Bf5 33. Bd5 {+-}) 32. Kf2 g6 (32... Bd3 {doesn't improve anything} 33. Ke3 {+-}) 33. Ke3 Bf5 34. Bd5 Kg7 (34... Bc8 {+- a last effort to resist the inevitable}) 35. Bb7 a5 36. Bc6 Bb1 37. a3 Kf6 38. Bxb5 Bd3 39. Bd7 (39. Bc7 {and White has triumphed} g5 40. fxg5+ hxg5 41. Kd4 {+-}) 39... Bc2 40. Kd4 Bd3 41. Bc7 g5 42. fxg5+ hxg5 43. Bxa5 Ke7 (43... Be2 {hardly improves anything} 44. a4 Ke7 45. Bb5 Bd3 46. Bb4+ Kd8 47. Bxc4 Bf5 48. a5 Kc7 49. a6 Bd7 50. Kc5 Bc8 51. Ba5+ Kd7 52. a7 Bb7 53. Bd5 Bxd5 54. Kxd5 Ke7 55. a8=Q Kf7 56. Qa7+ Kg6 57. Ke6 g4 58. Qf7+ Kh6 59. Bb6 Kg5 60. Be3#) 44. Bb5 Kd6 (44... Be2 {cannot change destiny} 45. a4 g4 46. Bb4+ Kd8 47. Bxc4 Bd1 48. a5 Kc7 49. a6 Bf3 50. Bc5 Kc6 51. Be6 Bh1 52. c4 Bg2 53. Bd5+ Bxd5 54. cxd5+ Kc7 55. Ke5 Kd8 56. a7 Kc7 57. a8=Q Kd7 58. Qb7+ Kd8 59. b3 Ke8 60. Qe7#) 45. Bxc4 Bxc4 (45... Bc2 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 46. b4 Bd1 47. b5 Bf3 48. Bd3 g4 49. c4 Bh1 50. Be4 Bf3 51. b6 Bxe4 52. Kxe4 Kc6 53. c5 Kb7 54. Kd5 Ka6 55. c6 Kxa5 56. b7 Ka4 57. b8=Q Kxa3 58. c7 Ka2 59. c8=Q Ka1 60. Qa6#) 46. Kxc4 g4 (46... Ke6 {cannot undo what has already been done} 47. b4 g4 48. b5 Kd6 49. a4 Kd7 50. Kd5 Kc8 51. Kd6 Kb7 52. c4 Kc8 53. c5 Kb7 54. Kd7 Kb8 55. c6 Ka7 56. c7 Ka8 57. c8=Q+ Ka7 58. b6#) 47. b4 Kc6 (47... Ke5 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 48. b5 Kd6 49. a4 Kd7 50. Kd5 Kc8 51. Kd6 Kb7 52. c4 Kc8 53. c5 Kb7 54. Kd7 Kb8 55. c6 Ka7 56. c7 Ka8 57. c8=Q+ Ka7 58. b6#) 48. b5+ Kb7 (48... Kd6 { doesn't get the bull off the ice} 49. a4 Kd7 50. Kd5 Kc8 51. Kd6 Kb7 52. Kd7 Kb8 53. c4 Ka7 54. c5 Kb8 55. c6 Ka7 56. c7 Ka8 57. c8=Q+ Ka7 58. b6#) 49. Kc5 {White plans b6} Ka7 (49... Kc8 {does not solve anything} 50. Kd6 Kb7 51. c4 Kc8 52. c5 Kb7 53. Kd7 Kb8 54. c6 Ka7 55. c7 Ka8 56. c8=Q+ Ka7 57. b6#) 50. Kc6 Kb8 51. Bc7+ Kc8 (51... Ka8 {cannot change what is in store for White} 52. c4 Ka7 53. b6+ Ka6 54. b7 Ka7 55. b8=Q+ Ka6 56. Qb7#) 52. Bf4 (52. h3 gxh3 53. b6 h2 54. b7#) 52... Kd8 53. b6 Kc8 (53... Ke7 {is no salvation} 54. b7 Kf8 55. b8=Q+ Kg7 56. Qe8 Kf6 57. Qg8 Kf5 58. Qf7+ Ke4 59. Qd5#) 54. b7+ Kd8 55. b8=Q+ Ke7 56. Qd6+ (56. Qd6+ Kf7 57. Bh6 Kg8 58. Qg6+ Kh8 59. Qg7#) (56. Qg8 Kf6 57. Kd7 Kf5 58. Qe6#) 1-0

Chess960 SP100

For the last post of the week I share a chess960 game that was played at lichess.org on March 6th, 2016. Like usual, the time control for this game was 10 minutes with a 10 second increment. For some reason I have really liked to play with that time control at lichess. Recent results also show that this time control has been very successful for me, because I have won 10 games in a row at lichess. Two of those were really short, so 8 proper games were included in those 10 games. Then again, the rating difference between me and my opponents has been clearly in my favor during this win streak, so it is not that amazing of a result. This is also my latest game from lichess. Funnily enough, this is my 100th chess960 game to appear in the blog, so convenient that the starting position is also 100. In those 100 games I have 66 wins, 11 draws and 23 losses.

This game starts with both players wanting to take the center of the board in control. Already on move three my opponent makes a questionable decision. Mjbelieve plays e5, which sacrifices the e-pawn for nothing in my opinion. After three moves I have developed a knight and a bishop while my opponent has not moved any of his or her pieces. Mjbelieve does have open file for the rook and open diagonal for the bishop. Both pieces can, of course, influence the game from their starting squares as well. Maybe it is actually then wrong to say that mjbelieve has not developed any pieces by move 3. The idea that a piece must be moved before it can take part in the game may be slightly hindering me when I play chess960. I am just so accustomed to certain opening principles that when someone does not play what I could call normal moves, I tend to be in trouble. Not all the time, because I am able to take advantage of some of the unconventional moves that my opponents plays.

On move four my opponent plays Be4 with the threat of removing the defender of my bishop on e5 by playing Bxc6 in the next move if I do not stop that idea. I was awake at the time, so I was able to see the threat and therefore moved my bishop to f6. Both players keep making natural looking moves, at least to my eyes, but on move 7 I am not liking my position that much even though I am a pawn up in material. My problem piece is the awkwardly placed bishop on f6. Even though I noticed that 8.Nd5 is rather annoying move, I still played 7...Ng6 and allowed that move to be played. This was because I saw that I should be able to handle 8.Nd5 with 8...Qc8. Then mjbelieve played a move that I had not expected, 9.Bxg6. I had expected 9.Nxf6+ to which I would have probably replied with 9...exf6 and tried to keep my pawn structure as good as possible. I took on g6 with the f-pawn because I thought that after castling short, my rook would be on the half open f-file. I also considered hxg6, which would activate my rook on the h-file. I honestly was not sure which was the better move, but after fxg6 I could have also repaired my pawn structure had mjbelieve taken on f6 with the knight next. I guess the possibility to undouble pawns made me lean on fxg6 over hxg6.

When mjbelieve does play Nxf6, I decided not to undouble the pawns, but instead keep the f-file open for the rook. I thought that it would be the more aggressive way to play and the one with better winning chances. However, the move 13.Bg5 does demonstrate that White gets some play after Rxf6. When mjbelieve played 14.Ne4 I kind of regretted my decision to play 12...Rxf6. After the two aggressive moves from my opponent, mjbelieve's initiative stops and I start to be the one who has the iniative. I was fairly confident that I can win the game when my opponent failed to react to my move 15...Ne5 in a proper manner. Tactical idea won me a second pawn and after my opponent also blundered on the next move with 17.Rd1, the game ended shortly after that. I have added one analysed game to the following posts: C03 French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, C42 Russian Game: Classical Attack, E20 Nimzo-Indian Defense: General and C45 Scotch Game: Schmidt Variation. I have also added two mate in two, one mate in three and two mate in four puzzles today. Until Monday, my fellow chess960 and chess enthusiasts!

C42 Petroff Defence: 3.Nxe5 and unusual White 3rd moves (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 Be7 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.O-O O-O 8.h3 Nc6)

The game below started with a position that arises after the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4. Therefore the first move that could be played in this game was made by my opponent, Levimitch, who controlled the black pieces. This was played at Chess.com in a team match called 12/30/2015 , Rusian Game : Classical Attac. The typos were in the match name, not added later by me. The match is played on 12 boards between MY FRIENDS, International, Moji prijatelji&Φίλοι μου and CALABARZON CHESS TEAM. I played on board 5 for MY FRIENDS, International, Moji prijatelji&Φίλοι μου in this match and I won both of my games against Levimitch on time. It annoys me a bit sometimes when I face a new opening variation, my opponents will time out and the games are a bit unfinished because of it. Mostly this has happened at Chess.com for some reason, but it has happened on other sites as well. I guess it is a good thing that this game at least lasted this long so that there is something to look at. Sometimes these timeout wins last less than 10 moves and are therefore not that interesting.

The current score in the match is 13 - 7 in favor of MY FRIENDS, International, Moji prijatelji&Φίλοι μου, so we have secured the win in the match already! CALABARZON CHESS TEAM has suffered 8 losses on time, which made a huge contribution towards our win. The first mistake of the game is the move 13...Bxf3. I am not sure why my opponent chose to take on f3 because it only helps me to get my pieces into better squares. Maybe Levimitch thought that a continuation starting with c4 harassing the bishop would be problematic for him, but there really is no threat yet. If Levimitch thought that only options to answer c4 would be either taking on f3 or Be6, then of course the former is better because the latter loses a piece for a pawn due to the fact that by playing d5 after Be6, the pawn forks the knight and the bishop. The move 13...Bxf6 started a downhill that my opponent was not able to recover from. Levimitch actually makes things worse by playing 14...a6 after which I should go on to win the game. Even though I am not able to make the most accurate moves in the remainder of the game, I am still able to maintain a minimum of clear advantage on my side.

[Event "12/30/2015 , Rusian Game : Classical Att"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.12.31"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Levimitch"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1818"] [BlackElo "1550"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "rnbqkb1r/ppp2ppp/3p4/8/3Pn3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 0 5"] [PlyCount "26"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] {Russian Game: Classical Attack} 5... Be7 (5... d5 6. Bd3 Bd6 (6... Be7 7. O-O Nc6 8. c4 Nb4 9. Be2 {Russian Game: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation, Main Line}) 7. O-O O-O 8. c4 Bg4 {Russian Game: Classical Attack, Tarrasch Variation } (8... c6 9. Re1 Bg4 {Russian Game: Classical Attack, Marshall Variation, Chinese Gambit})) 6. Bd3 {White threatens to win material: Bd3xe4} Nf6 7. O-O { White castles and improves king safety} O-O 8. h3 {Black has a cramped position } Nc6 {C42 Petroff Defence: 3.Nxe5 and unusual White 3rd moves} 9. c3 {Covers b4} Re8 10. Bg5 h6 {Black threatens to win material: h6xg5} 11. Bh4 Be6 (11... Nh5 12. Bxe7 Nxe7 13. Re1 {=}) 12. Nbd2 (12. Bg3 Bf8 {=}) 12... Bd5 (12... Nh5 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Bc2 {=}) 13. Re1 Bxf3 $2 (13... Nh5 {= and Black has air to breath}) 14. Qxf3 {+/-} ({Worse is} 14. gxf3 Qd7 15. Bg3 Qxh3 {=}) 14... a6 ( 14... Nd7 15. Bg3 {+/-}) 15. Re2 (15. Rxe7 Qxe7 16. Ne4 Qxe4 17. Bxe4 Nxe4 {+-} ) 15... Nd5 $2 (15... Nd7 16. Bc4 Rf8 17. Bxe7 Nxe7 18. Qxb7 Nb6 {+-}) 16. Bxe7 $4 {a weak move, ruining a winning position} (16. Rae1 {finishes off the opponent} Rf8 17. Qe4 {+-} (17. Qxd5 $6 Bxh4 18. g3 Bf6 {+-})) 16... Ndxe7 ( 16... Ncxe7 $5 17. Rae1 Qd7 {+/-}) 17. Rae1 Qd7 18. Qg3 1-0

B05 Alekhine's Defence: 4.Nf3 Bg4 (1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.exd6 exd6)

The games from Red Hot Pawn keep featuring opening variations that I have not previously covered in the blog, but as I have almost catched up to my latest finished game from RHP, games from other sites will take the center stage for awhile. Due to the fact that our ratings were so close at the time this draw was agreed upon, it did not have any effect on my rating. I have finished only one game after this at Red Hot Pawn and it was also a draw, but that did have a positive effect on my rating, though by only 3 points. That means my new peak rating at Red Hot Pawn is 1967!! While on other sites I struggle to even keep my rating where it is, at RHP I have had a really good streak of games lately. The lowest my rating has been during the past 90 days is 1851 and because that was my rating close to the start of that 90 days, the time period after that has been mostly been spent increasing the rating.

This game was played on the first round of the 2015 October Grand Split Three Seven I 1800+ tournament. I have finished 22 of the 28 games that started with this tournament and I have gathered 39 points in those games so far. Red cloud has finished 24 games and has gathered 50 points so far. Red cloud is currently on 4th place while I am on 6th place. Even though I can still theoretically get more points than red cloud, it is unlikely because I would probably need to win all my remaining games and red cloud could only win two of the four remaining games. As I have not looked at the positions in red cloud's games, I have no idea what the result of those games should be. Even if red cloud would lose all of those remaining games, it would not be at all certain that I would overtake him or her in the standings because it would still require a good result from me in my remaining games. However, it is no longer all that important to me where I am in the final standings of the group because I can't advance to the next round anymore. Despite of that I will obviously play the remaining games as well as I can.

[Event "Grand Split Three Seven"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2015.12.21"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "red cloud"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B05"] [WhiteElo "1964"] [BlackElo "1970"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 {Alekhine Defense (#3)} Nb6 5. Nf3 (5. c5 { Alekhine Defense: Hunt Variation}) (5. exd6 cxd6 6. Nf3 g6 7. Be2 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. h3 Nc6 10. Nc3 Bf5 11. Bf4 {Alekhine Defense: Exchange Variation, Karpov Variation}) (5. f4 Bf5 {Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Trifunovic Variation}) 5... Bg4 6. exd6 exd6 {B05 Alekhine's Defence: 4.Nf3 Bg4} 7. b3 Be7 8. Be2 Bf6 (8... O-O 9. Nbd2 Nc6 10. d5 Ne5 11. Nxe5 Bxe2 12. Qxe2 Bf6 13. O-O Bxe5 14. Rb1 Re8 15. Qd3 Bf6 16. Ne4 Nd7 17. Nxf6+ Qxf6 18. Bb2 Qg6 19. Qh3 Nf6 20. Rfe1 Rxe1+ 21. Rxe1 Re8 22. Qc3 Rxe1+ 23. Qxe1 {McGillivray,C-Nisbet,C Edinburgh 2015 1/2-1/2 (51)}) 9. Bb2 O-O 10. O-O c5 {N} (10... Nc6 11. Na3 Re8 12. Nc2 a5 13. Ne3 Bh5 14. Rb1 Bg6 15. Rc1 a4 16. Ng4 axb3 17. Nxf6+ Qxf6 18. axb3 Ra2 19. Qd2 h6 20. Ra1 Rea8 21. Rxa2 Rxa2 22. Ra1 Rxa1+ 23. Bxa1 d5 24. h3 Qf5 25. Qb2 {Chakeeva,A (1752) -Davletbayeva,M (2236) Pavlodar 2012 0-1}) ( 10... a5 11. Nc3 Re8 12. Qd2 Nc6 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Bxf3 Nxd4 15. Bxb7 Rb8 16. Be4 a4 17. Rab1 axb3 18. axb3 Nxb3 19. Bxh7+ Kh8 20. Qd1 Kxh7 21. Qxb3 Qd7 22. Nd1 Bxb2 23. Qd3+ Kg8 24. Rxb2 Qe6 25. Ne3 {Adnani,M (2228)-Bengafer,M (2296) Taza 2005 0-1 (56)}) (10... Nc6 11. Qd3 {=}) 11. Qd2 (11. Nc3 Re8 {+/=}) 11... Nc6 { =} 12. d5 {White wins space} Bxf3 13. Bxf3 Nd4 {'the knight is the knight!'} ( 13... Bxb2 14. Qxb2 Nd4 15. Bd1 {=}) 14. Bd1 Re8 15. Nc3 Nd7 16. Ne2 Nxe2+ 17. Bxe2 Ne5 18. f4 {White threatens to win material: f4xe5} Nd7 19. Bxf6 Nxf6 20. Bd3 Qd7 21. Rae1 h6 22. Bb1 Rxe1 23. Rxe1 Re8 24. h3 {Controls g4} (24. Rxe8+ Qxe8 25. a4 h5 {=}) 24... Rxe1+ 25. Qxe1 Kf8 26. Kf2 Qe7 (26... b5 27. Qc3 {=/+ }) 27. Qxe7+ Kxe7 {A minor pieces endgame occured} 28. Kf3 Nd7 29. Bd3 Kf6 30. Ke4 b6 31. Be2 a5 32. Bg4 {White threatens to win material: Bg4xd7} Nf8 33. Bf5 g5 34. fxg5+ 1/2-1/2

B01 Scandinavian Defence (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 c6 5.Nf3)

This is now the second day in a row when my main post features a game that has a bit unfinished feel to it. That is because in both games my opponent, joesheppe, lost the game on time in a position where he was clearly better. This game was played on the first round of a tournament called 2015 December Quartets I 1800+. It is being played at Red Hot Pawn and I play in group 3. I have only one game left and I am on third place in this four player group. Because my opponent decided not to continue moving in these two games against me, he ended up being 4th in the final standings of this group. It is very likely that if these two games had ended normally, I would have lost both of them and I would have been the one on last place with 0 points. In case I somehow manage to win my last game against Pattrick06 (2283), I will tie on points for the second place in the group. It does not matter all that much as far as the tournament is concerned because neither of us will be able to advance to the second round no matter what happens in that game. That game is also the last one in progress in the group I am in.

The game below featured some inaccuracies from me that over time decreased my small advantage first to a drawish position and then to a position where I was worse. After the move 11.Ne4 I started to lose control of the position and my opponent was on the better side of things. That move could have been the initial point for my downfall in the game, but it was not because the timeouts saved me from the losses.

[Event "Quartets"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2015.12.21"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "joesheppe"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B01"] [WhiteElo "1964"] [BlackElo "2035"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 c6 {Scandinavian Defense: Schiller-Pytel Variation} 5. Nf3 {B01 Scandinavian Defence} (5. Bc4 Nf6 6. Nge2 Bf5 7. Bf4 Qb4 {Scandinavian Defense: Schiller-Pytel Variation, Modern Variation}) 5... Bg4 6. Be2 Nf6 7. O-O e6 8. Bg5 Nbd7 9. Qd3 (9. Re1 Be7 10. h3 Bh5 11. Nh4 Bg6 12. Bf3 Nb6 13. Nxg6 hxg6 14. Qd3 O-O 15. Rad1 Rad8 16. Ne2 Qb4 17. Qb3 Qxb3 18. axb3 Nfd5 19. Bd2 Bf6 20. Ra1 Nc8 21. Bg4 Nde7 22. c3 Nf5 23. Bf4 Rd7 {Leon Hoyos,M (2543)-Lampl,G (2155) Bratto 2008 1-0}) (9. Qd2 Qc7 10. Rfe1 Bd6 11. h3 Bf5 12. Bd3 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 O-O-O 14. Ne4 Bf4 15. g3 Bxg5 16. Nfxg5 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Ne5 18. Qc3 Rxd4 19. f4 Qb6 20. Kh1 Ng6 21. Ng5 Rd7 22. Re2 Rhd8 23. Rae1 h6 {Drozdov, V (1973)-Gergel,V (2202) Pardubice 2015 0-1 (73)}) 9... Be7 10. Rad1 O-O 11. Ne4 {N} (11. Qe3 Nd5 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. c4 Nf6 15. c5 Qc7 16. h3 Bxf3 17. Bxf3 Rfe8 18. Rfe1 h6 19. b4 b5 20. Qd3 Qc6 21. Re2 a5 22. a3 axb4 23. axb4 Ra4 24. Rb2 Rb8 25. Be2 Ne4 {Toth,A (1657) -Salem,B Budapest 2010 0-1 (54)}) (11. h3 $5 {looks like a viable alternative} Bf5 12. Qd2 {=}) 11... Nxe4 {=/+} 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Qxe4 Bf5 14. Qf4 Bxc2 15. Rc1 Bg6 16. Qc7 Rab8 17. Ne5 Rfd8 18. Qa5 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Ra8 20. f4 (20. Bf3 $5 {+/-}) 20... Bd3 21. Bxd3 (21. Bxd3 Rxd3 22. Rcd1 {+/-}) 1-0

E20 Nimzo-Indian: 4.g3 and 4.f3 (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g3 d5 5.Bg2 O-O 6.Nf3 b6)

The game below was played on the first round of the 2015 December Quartets I 1800+ tournament. The tournament is played at Red Hot Pawn and the first round is still in progress. I am playing in group 3, which was the first group to be decided, in other words it is the only group of the five where the person who advances to the second round is already known. The player who won our group and will get to play on the next round is called TheBigKat (2473). It was not a huge surprise because TheBigKat was clearly the strongest player of the group. I have been the lowest rated player of this group of four players all the time and I probably will be the lowest rated player to the end of the tournament. I only have one game in progress and after that is finished, this tournament will be just another memory to me. Despite being the lowest rated player of the group, I will not be on the last place in the final standings. That place is secured by joesheppe, who lost all of his games in this tournament. To be honest, I was quite certain when this tournament started that I would finish on last place, but I guess I got a bit lucky in my games against joesheppe because I won both of my games against him on time. Those two timeout wins also increased my rating nicely and after I had claimed the timeout wins, my rating had climbed to 1964! It is not only my current rating there, but it is also my peak rating at Red Hot Pawn. If I can get similar timeout wins, my rating might get over 2000... My current rating means that I am the 298th highest rated active player at Red Hot Pawn. If I could get into top ten someday, it would be really awesome, but it would require a lot stronger play from me. Those who know me, know that I would prefer to win by outplaying my opponents and not win on time, but I will take these wins too when I can get them. It is true that I was in trouble in this game and had my opponent just kept making moves, I would have most likely lost this game.

[Event "Quartets"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2015.12.21"] [Round "1"] [White "joesheppe"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E20"] [WhiteElo "2035"] [BlackElo "1964"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "40"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. g3 {Nimzo-Indian Defense: Romanishin Variation (#2)} d5 (4... c5 5. Nf3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 O-O 7. Bg2 d5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 { Nimzo-Indian Defense: Romanishin Variation, English Hybrid}) 5. Bg2 O-O 6. Nf3 b6 {E20 Nimzo-Indian: 4.g3 and 4.f3} 7. Ne5 (7. O-O c6 8. Ne5 Qe7 9. Qb3 Ba6 10. a3 Bd6 11. cxd5 {1/2-1/2 (11) Kiss,P (2435)-Vojtek,V (2335) Slovakia 1999}) (7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 10. Ne5 c6 11. Qa4 Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 Ba6 13. Bf3 Qd6 14. O-O Bb5 15. Qc2 Nd7 16. a4 Ba6 17. Nxd7 Qxd7 18. Rfb1 Bc4 19. e4 dxe4 20. Bxe4 Rae8 21. Re1 Re7 {Hebert,J (2402)-Bolduc,S (2233) Montreal 2005 1/2-1/2}) 7... Bb7 {N} (7... Ne4 8. Qb3 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 Bb7 10. f3 Nd6 11. c5 Nf5 12. Nd3 Nc6 13. e4 Nfe7 14. Nf4 Qd7 15. O-O h6 16. Re1 Na5 17. Qc2 Rae8 18. cxb6 cxb6 19. Bh3 f5 20. exf5 Nxf5 21. Ba3 Rf7 22. Rxe6 {Cordes,H-Bruss,R Germany 1978 1-0 (32)}) 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Bg5 Bxc3 10. bxc3 h6 (10... Qc8 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Bh3 {+/=}) 11. Nxd7 {+/-} Qxd7 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. cxd5 Bxd5 14. e4 Bb7 15. Qg4+ Kh7 16. Qh4 {White threatens to win material: Qh4xf6} Qd8 17. d5 Rg8 ( 17... Rc8 18. Qf4 {+/-}) 18. Rad1 (18. dxe6 fxe6 19. Rad1 Qf8 {+/-}) 18... Qe7 19. dxe6 fxe6 20. e5 Bxg2 (20... Bxg2 21. exf6 Qf7 22. Kxg2 Raf8 {+/-}) 0-1

C45 Scotch Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Qh4 5.Nb5 Qxe4+)

The last post of the week features a game that was played in a tournament at Turku over eight years ago. The game below is from the third round. At this point in the tournament I had won two out of three games and lost one. The last two rounds did not go so well for me as I lost one more game on round four and drew the last round game. 2.5 points was not enough to make this a good tournament tournament for me, but it was not a huge disaster either, just slightly on the negative side. The combined effort from the two tournaments that I played in 2007 ended up being on the positive side and maybe the need to prove to myself and others that I was not reached my potential as a chess player, I activated myself a bit more on the following year on over the board chess. It had a very drastic change to my rating all through the year, but I will type more about that when I cover games from that year.

This game started unlike any game I have ever played that I can recall at least. I have mostly played 4...Nf6 and 4...Qh4 I just played because I was curious to see what happens and I thought it would not matter much when playing against a lower rated opponent. This game could have gone very wrong for me quite early on because I made a too greedy pawn grab on move 5. My greedy play pays off because Ilkka does not play the accurate 6.Be2, but instead 6.Qe2, which makes my game a bit easier and I am actually on the better side of things for the first time in this game. With his 9th move c3, Ilkka covers the squares b4 and d4 in order to prevent my knight jumping menacingly to those squares, not that d4 would be available to me at the moment anyway. It was better to just castle, for instance, or play 9.Nd2. I was able to keep the advantage until the move 22...Ne6 and that move could have cost me the win. Ilkka would have had the excellent reply 23.Nxe5! which would have resulted in an even position. My opponent was not able to use this chance, but instead played 23.a4 which hands over the advantage back to me. I am able to play the rest of the game accurately enough so that I do not give any more chances for my opponent and instead I am able to convert my advantage to a win. Until Monday, my fellow chess and chess960 enthusiasts!

[Event "TuTS"] [Site "Samppalinnan koulu"] [Date "2007.12.01"] [Round "3"] [White "Norri, Ilkka"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C45"] [WhiteElo "1307"] [BlackElo "1551"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "2007.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qh4 5. Nb5 {Scotch Game: Horwitz Attack} Qxe4+ {C45 Scotch Game} (5... Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Qxe4+ 7. Be2 Kd8 8. O-O Bxd2 9. Nxd2 (9. Qxd2 {Scotch Game: Horwitz Attack, Blackburne Variation}) 9... Qf4 10. a4 { Scotch Game: Horwitz Attack, McDonnell Variation} (10. c4 {Scotch Game: Horwitz Attack, Vienna Variation})) 6. Qe2 Qxe2+ 7. Bxe2 Kd8 8. Bf4 d6 9. c3 { N Prevents intrusion on b4+d4} (9. O-O a6 10. N5a3 (10. N5c3 Bf5 11. Nd5 Bxc2 12. Bg4 Nge7 13. Nbc3 Bf5 14. Bxf5 Nxf5 15. Bg5+ Be7 16. Bxe7+ Ncxe7 17. Nxe7 Nxe7 18. Rfe1 Re8 19. Re2 Kd7 20. Rae1 Nf5 21. Kf1 Rxe2 22. Nxe2 Re8 23. g4 Nh6 24. g5 Nf5 {Mroz,G-Korpalska,J (1611) Wroclaw 2012 0-1 (75)}) 10... Nf6 11. Nd2 Be6 12. Nf3 Be7 13. Bc4 h6 14. Rfe1 Bxc4 15. Nxc4 Nd5 16. Bg3 h5 17. Rad1 Nf6 18. Ng5 Rf8 19. Ne3 g6 20. Rd3 Kc8 21. f4 Nb4 22. Rb3 Nfd5 23. Nxd5 Nxd5 { Rodriguez Redondo,E (1504)-Badiola Morera,G (1415) Puerto de la Cruz 2013 0-1 (59)}) (9. Nd2 Bf5 10. c3 a6 11. Na3 Nge7 12. g4 Be6 13. Bg3 f5 14. gxf5 Nxf5 15. O-O-O Ke8 16. Rhe1 Kf7 17. f4 Be7 18. Bf3 Rhe8 19. Kb1 Bh4 20. Ne4 h6 21. Nc2 Re7 22. Bh1 Rae8 23. Bxh4 Nxh4 {Bohnstorff,M (2250)-Wegner,H (2390) Hamburg 1993 0-1 (44)}) (9. c4 a6 10. N5c3 Nf6 11. Nd2 g6 12. O-O-O Bg7 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bh4 g5 15. Bg3 Bf5 16. c5 Nd4 17. cxd6 cxd6 18. Nc4 Nxe2+ 19. Nxe2 d5 20. Nb6 Rb8 21. Bxb8 Ke7 22. Be5 Ke6 23. Bxf6 Bxf6 {Khelif,J (1790)-Vignette,J (1610) France 2007 1-0}) (9. Nd2 Bf5 {=/+}) 9... Be7 {+/-} 10. O-O Nf6 11. Nd2 Be6 (11... a6 12. Na3 {+/-}) 12. Bc4 (12. Nf3 $5 {=/+}) 12... Kd7 13. h3 h6 14. Rfe1 g5 15. Bxe6+ fxe6 16. Bh2 (16. Be3 g4 17. hxg4 Nxg4 {+/-}) 16... e5 (16... a6 17. Na3 {+/-}) 17. Rad1 {+/-} a6 18. Na3 Raf8 19. f3 (19. Nac4 Kc8 {+/-}) 19... Nd8 (19... h5 20. g4 {-+}) 20. Ndc4 Kc8 21. b4 (21. Ne3 h5 {+/-}) 21... b6 (21... h5 $5 22. Ne3 {-+}) 22. Nc2 Ne6 (22... h5 23. N2e3 {+/-}) 23. a4 $2 ( 23. Nxe5 $5 {might be a viable alternative} dxe5 24. Rxe5 {=}) 23... Nf4 24. Bxf4 (24. N4e3 h5 {+/-}) 24... gxf4 25. Re2 (25. Nd2 Rhg8 {+/-}) 25... Rhg8 26. Rdd2 (26. Nd2 Nh5 {+/-}) 26... Rg6 {-+} 27. Kf1 $2 (27. Nb2 Nh5 {-+}) 27... Rfg8 (27... Nh5 {seems even better} 28. Kg1 Ng3 29. Re1 {-+}) 28. g4 $2 (28. Kg1 {-+}) 28... fxg3 29. Kg2 (29. N4e3 {cannot undo what has already been done} Nh5 30. Ng2 Rf8 {-+}) 29... Nh5 30. Re4 Nf4+ 31. Rxf4 exf4 32. Re2 (32. Nd4 { does not save the day} Re8 {-+}) 32... Kd7 (32... Bf6 {and Black can already relax} 33. Nd2 Bxc3 34. b5 Bxd2 35. Rxd2 axb5 36. Nb4 bxa4 37. Nd5 {-+}) 33. Nd2 Re6 34. Rxe6 (34. Ne4 {doesn't change anything anymore} Re5 {-+}) 34... Kxe6 35. Nd4+ {White intends b5} Kd7 36. Ne4 (36. Ne2 {does not solve anything} Rf8 37. Nb3 Bg5 {-+}) 36... c5 (36... d5 37. Nf2 gxf2+ 38. Kxf2 Bh4+ 39. Kf1 { -+}) 37. Nf5 (37. bxc5 {does not help much} bxc5 38. Nf5 Rb8 {-+}) 37... Rg6 ( 37... cxb4 38. cxb4 Rc8 39. Nexg3 Rc2+ 40. Kf1 fxg3 41. Nxg3 d5 {-+}) 38. b5 ( 38. bxc5 {is one last hope} d5 39. Nd2 bxc5 40. h4 {-+}) 38... axb5 39. axb5 d5 40. Nexg3 fxg3 41. Ne3 d4 42. cxd4 cxd4 43. Ng4 Ke6 (43... Rxg4 44. hxg4 d3 45. g5 hxg5 46. Kf1 d2 47. Ke2 Bb4 48. f4 gxf4 49. Kd1 g2 50. Ke2 g1=Q 51. Kf3 d1=Q+ 52. Kxf4 Qdd4+ 53. Kf5 Qgg4#) 44. f4 (44. Kxg3 {is not the saving move} h5 45. f4 Kf5 46. Kf2 hxg4 47. hxg4+ Rxg4 48. Ke2 Ke4 49. Kd2 Rg2+ 50. Kc1 Kxf4 51. Kb1 Bb4 52. Ka1 Bc3+ 53. Kb1 d3 54. Kc1 Rg1#) 44... Bd6 (44... Rxg4 45. hxg4 d3 46. f5+ Kf6 47. Kf3 d2 48. g5+ hxg5 49. Ke2 Bb4 50. Kd3 d1=Q+ 51. Kc4 Qc2+ 52. Kxb4 g2 53. Ka3 g1=Q 54. Kb4 Qgc5#) 45. Kf3 (45. Kxg3 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} h5 46. Kf3 hxg4+ 47. hxg4 Rf6 48. f5+ Kd5 49. g5 Rxf5+ 50. Kg4 Ke4 51. Kh4 Kf4 52. Kh5 Rxg5+ 53. Kh6 d3 54. Kh7 d2 55. Kh8 d1=Q 56. Kh7 Qh1#) 45... h5 46. Ke4 (46. Kxg3 {doesn't do any good} hxg4 47. hxg4 d3 48. Kg2 Bxf4 49. Kf3 Bg5 50. Ke4 d2 51. Kd3 d1=Q+ 52. Kc3 Bf6+ 53. Kb4 Rxg4+ 54. Ka3 Ra4#) 46... Bxf4 47. Kxf4 (47. Kxd4 {does not win a prize} g2 48. Kc3 g1=Q 49. Kb3 Rxg4 50. hxg4 Qc1 51. g5 Bxg5 52. Ka2 Qc2+ 53. Ka1 Bf6#) 47... hxg4 48. Kxg3 (48. h4 {does not improve anything} g2 49. h5 Rf6+ 50. Kg5 g1=Q 51. h6 Qe3+ 52. Kxg4 Rg6+ 53. Kh5 Qxh6#) 48... gxh3+ 49. Kxh3 (49. Kf3 { hardly improves anything} h2 50. Ke2 h1=Q 51. Kd3 Rg3+ 52. Kc2 Qh2+ 53. Kb1 Rg1#) 0-1

D30 Queen's Gambit Declined: Systems without Nc3 (1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.d4 c5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.O-O Be7 8.b3 Bf5 9.Bb2 O-O)

Today I hit another milestone in the history of this blog, I posted the 1300th analysed chess game!! The game below is actually game number 1301 to be featured here. Even though every week that amount increases faster than I finish games, I should not run out of games to post for a long time because I am intending to go through all the games I have notation for sooner or later and that means maybe 2000 - 3000 games I have not yet posted. The current amount of 1301 games feature 758 (58.26%) wins, 128 (9.84%) draws and 415 (31.9%) losses. There has also been 474 different opening variations seen in those games. The most featured opening is A20 English Opening: King's English Variation. General with 47 games. The reason for that is of course that I played the English Opening mainly for several years and did not really know more theoretical variations. The most successful opening that I have played in these 1301 more than at least 10 times is C41 Philidor Defense with 10 games and winning percentage of 100. My worst opening that I have played at least on 10 occasions in these 1301 games is B92 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation if I look at my losing percentages and for that opening it is 47.06. My lowest winning percentage in the openings that I have played at least 10 times in games that have been published in this blog is C34 King's Gambit: Accepted. Fischer Defense with a winning percentage of 35. Because C34 King's Gambit: Accepted. Fischer Defense also has a very high losing percentage 45, it is the worst opening for me to play. It is good to see from time to time what openings I have done well at and what are the more problematic ones for me, so that I know what to play in my future games.

The game below was played on the fourth round of a weekend tournament that was held at Salo between November 3rd and November 4th, 2007. On the first two rounds I was able to win my games, but then on the third round I suffered my first loss. Unfortunately this fourth round game added to the losses I have suffered, making my performance in the tournament more like meh than good. On the fifth round I was able to win again, so this tournament did end up going slightly positive for me. With three points I finished third in group E and due to this result my rating increased by 37 points. It was nice to get finally a positive score in a chess tournament, since it did not happen even once in 2006.

The game below went in a reasonably evenish manner until my opponent made a huge blunder 13...Rac8. It could have been the losing move, but I was not able to take full advantage of the situation. Or rather I was able to play accurately first, but then on move 19 I make a very bad decision which takes away my advantage. However, Keijo blunders with 20...Ng4 and I am on the better side of the board again. The game went well for me until I played 26.Nf3 and the position was quite even again. The bigger problem for me, actually the game losing one, is created by the move 27.Qf4. After that it did not take long until I had to resign.

[Event "SalSK"] [Site "Hermanni"] [Date "2007.11.04"] [Round "4"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Rantamo, Keijo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D30"] [WhiteElo "1514"] [BlackElo "1597"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "2007.11.03"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. d4 c5 5. Nf3 Nc6 {Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Tarrasch Defense} 6. cxd5 exd5 7. O-O Be7 8. b3 Bf5 9. Bb2 O-O { D30 Queen's Gambit Declined: Systems without Nc3} 10. Nbd2 (10. Nc3 Re8 11. Rc1 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Qxd4 Bf8 14. Rfd1 Be6 15. e3 Qa5 16. a3 Red8 17. b4 Qa6 18. Bf1 Qb6 19. Qxb6 axb6 20. Nb5 Rac8 21. Bd4 Nd7 22. Bg2 Rc6 23. Na7 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Ra8 {Keene,R (2445)-Markland,P (2405) London 1973 1-0}) 10... Qb6 {N} ( 10... Rc8 11. Rc1 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 Qa5 14. a4 (14. Nf3 Ne4 15. a4 a6 16. Bb2 h6 17. Nd4 Bg6 18. Bh3 Rxc1 19. Qxc1 Bf6 20. Rd1 Qb6 21. Qa1 Re8 22. Bg2 Rc8 23. h3 Kh7 24. Qa3 Nc3 25. a5 Qc7 26. Bxc3 Qxc3 27. Qa4 Rc5 28. b4 Rc4 {Ree,H-Pfleger,H Wuerzburg 1965 0-1 (32)}) 14... Rxc1 15. Qxc1 Rc8 16. Qd1 Qb4 17. Be5 Nd7 18. Ba1 Nb6 19. Re1 Bc2 20. Qc1 Bf8 21. Nf3 Bxb3 22. Qg5 Bc2 23. Rc1 Be4 24. Ne5 f6 {0-1 (24) Sigut,D (1525)-Liska, J (1862) Malenovice 2013}) ( 10... Ne4 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. Nh4 Nxd2 13. Qxd2 Be4 14. Rac1 Bb6 15. Nf3 Qe7 16. e3 Ba5 17. Qe2 Bb6 18. Rfd1 Rfe8 19. Nd4 Nxd4 20. Bxd4 Bxd4 21. Rxd4 Rac8 22. Qd2 Rxc1+ 23. Qxc1 g6 24. b4 a6 25. a3 {Rojahn, E-Cintron,R Munich 1958 1-0 (66)}) 11. e3 {White has a cramped position} (11. dxc5 Qxc5 12. e3 Rfd8 {=}) 11... Bd3 {Black threatens to win material: Bd3xf1} (11... c4 12. Ne5 {=/+}) 12. Re1 Nb4 (12... c4 13. Ne5 {=}) 13. Bf1 {White has a cramped position} (13. Ne5 Qa6 14. dxc5 {+/=}) 13... Rac8 (13... cxd4 $5 {and Black could well hope to play on} 14. Nxd4 Rfc8 {=}) 14. a3 {+/-} Bc2 15. Qc1 Nd3 (15... Bg6 16. axb4 cxd4 17. Qd1 {+/-}) 16. Qxc2 Nxe1 17. Rxe1 (17. Nxe1 $6 cxd4 18. Qd3 dxe3 19. fxe3 Bc5 {+/=}) 17... cxd4 18. Qd3 dxe3 19. Qxe3 (19. Rxe3 $5 Bc5 20. Re2 {+/-} ) 19... Bc5 {=} 20. Bd4 Ng4 (20... Rfe8 $5 {is an interesting idea} 21. Bxc5 Qxc5 22. Qxc5 Rxc5 {=}) 21. Qf4 {+/-} Bxd4 (21... Nf6 22. Bxc5 Qxc5 23. b4 {+/- }) 22. Nxd4 Nf6 23. Nf5 Kh8 (23... Rce8 24. Rc1 {+/-}) 24. Qg5 (24. Re7 Ng8 25. Rd7 Rcd8 {+-}) 24... Rg8 (24... g6 25. Ne3 {+/-}) 25. Re7 (25. Ne7 Rce8 26. Nxg8 Rxe1 27. Nxf6 Qxf6 28. Qxd5 Rd1 {+-}) 25... Rc7 {+/-} 26. Nf3 (26. Re2 { +/-}) 26... Ne4 {= Black has a mate threat} 27. Qf4 $4 {an unfortunate move that relinquishes the win} (27. Qe3 {was possible} Qxe3 28. fxe3 Rxe7 29. Nxe7 {=}) 27... Qxf2+ {-+} 28. Kh1 Qxf1+ (28... Qxf1+ 29. Ng1 Nf2+ 30. Qxf2 Qxf2 31. Rxc7 Qxf5 32. Kg2 Qe4+ 33. Kf2 d4 34. Kf1 Re8 35. Rxf7 g5 36. Rf2 d3 37. Nf3 d2 38. Kg2 d1=Q 39. a4 g4 40. h3 gxf3+ 41. Kh2 Qeb1 42. Rf1 Qxf1 43. b4 Qg2#) 0-1

A36 Symmetrical English vs ...g6: 4.Bg2 Bg7 (1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.e3 e5 6.Nge2 Nge7 7.O-O O-O 8.b3 d6 9.Bb2 Be6 10.Nd5 Qd7)

While I prioritise the posting of my latest correspondence games, I need to go through games also from other sources from time to time. This is one of those times and the rest of the week I will go through some of my over the board games as well. Next week I should have a decent amount of correspondence games to go through, but I am not sure if all of the week is spent on those. The game below was played in a team match between EkSK and SalSK 3. This was a third round match in 3rd division, group 4. I played on board 4 for SalSK 3. The final score in this match that was played on five boards was 3 - 0 in favor of EkSK. There were two draws played in the match, but draws are not counted in these team matches. The game below ended my horrible year of 2006 and after this game I did not play in any over the board tournaments with long time controls until about a year later. I spend that time mostly recovering from the disaster of a year and did other things than chess for awhile. The interest towards chess never really dies for me, but it can sometimes get very frustrating if I can't win constantly and mostly lose games, like I did in 2006.

The first inaccuracy of the game is played by my opponent on move 12. Had I played 12...Bxd5 and followed that up with accurate moves, I could have been slightly better. I did not play the best move and after 12...Rad8, the position is about even again. Now that I look at this game with the knowledge I have gained since this game was played, I would not play 13...e4 anymore. Then again I would play something different earlier also, but definitely not e4 in this position, because it seems to close things up a bit too much to my liking. It is only a small inaccuracy though and does not decide the game. The biggest shift in the advantage comes with the huge blunder 17...h5, which is also the losing move. I can't believe I was so tactically blind that I did not see that my opponent can play 18.Nxe4 in reply to 17...h5. I played a few more moves, but there was nothing I could do to avoid losing the game.

[Event "EkSK - SalSK 3"] [Site "?"] [Date "2006.11.18"] [Round "3"] [White "Wendelin, Alf"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A36"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2006.11.18"] 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. e3 e5 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Botvinnik System Reversed} 6. Nge2 Nge7 7. O-O O-O 8. b3 d6 9. Bb2 Be6 10. Nd5 Qd7 {A36 Symmetrical English vs ...g6: 4.Bg2 Bg7} 11. f4 (11. Re1 Bxd5 12. cxd5 Nb4 13. d4 Nexd5 14. dxc5 dxc5 15. Rc1 Rad8 16. Rxc5 Qe6 17. Qa1 f6 18. Ba3 Rd7 19. Qc1 Rfd8 20. Bf3 Bf8 21. Nc3 Nxc3 22. Rxc3 Kg7 23. Rc7 e4 24. Be2 Nc6 25. Bxf8+ Kxf8 {Savchenko,B (2655) -Dominguez Perez,L (2721) Havana 2009 1/2-1/2 (48)}) (11. Nec3 Bh3 12. Ne4 Nxd5 13. Bxh3 Qxh3 14. cxd5 Ne7 15. Nxd6 Qd7 16. Nc4 Qxd5 17. Qe2 Rad8 18. e4 Qe6 19. a4 b6 20. Bc3 Nc6 21. Rfe1 Rd7 22. Rab1 Rfd8 23. Ne3 Bh6 24. Qc4 Bxe3 25. fxe3 Qxc4 {Martinez Alcantara,J (2458)-Cori Quispe,K (2381) Lima 2015 1/2-1/2 (31)}) 11... f5 12. Rb1 {N} (12. a3 Kh8 13. Nec3 Bg8 14. Rb1 Rae8 15. b4 e4 16. Qa4 b6 17. d3 Nxd5 18. cxd5 Nb8 19. Qxd7 Nxd7 20. dxe4 fxe4 21. Rfd1 Nf6 22. Bh3 h5 23. Rd2 Kh7 24. Rbd1 a6 25. b5 a5 26. Na4 Rb8 {Chadaev,N (2218) -Matveev,M Moscow 2002 1-0 (73)}) (12. Nec3 Rae8 13. d3 Bf7 14. Qd2 b6 15. Rab1 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 Ne7 17. e4 Nxd5 18. cxd5 fxe4 19. dxe4 Re7 20. f5 gxf5 21. exf5 Be8 22. g4 Ref7 23. Be4 Bf6 24. Bc1 Qe7 25. Rf3 Kh8 26. Rg3 Rg8 {Rantanen, A-Kononen,K Finland 2002 1-0 (56)}) (12. d3 Rab8 {=}) 12... Rad8 (12... Bxd5 13. cxd5 Nb4 14. fxe5 dxe5 15. e4 {=}) 13. d4 e4 {Black gets more space} (13... exd4 $5 14. exd4 Bxd5 15. cxd5 Nb4 {=}) 14. Nxe7+ {+/=} Nxe7 15. d5 {White threatens to win material: d5xe6} Bf7 16. Nc3 (16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. a4 h5 {+/=}) 16... a6 {Controls b5} 17. Bh3 h5 $4 (17... Qc7 {+/= was necessary}) 18. Nxe4 {! +- Deflection: f5} Bxb2 ( 18... fxe4 19. Bxd7 {Deflection Pinning}) 19. Rxb2 Kg7 (19... Nxd5 {does not solve anything} 20. cxd5 Qe7 21. Ng5 Qxe3+ 22. Rbf2 {+-}) 20. Re2 Qc7 (20... Nc8 {doesn't improve anything} 21. Ng5 Qe7 22. Qa1+ Qf6 23. Qxf6+ Kxf6 24. Nh7+ Kg7 25. Nxf8 Kxf8 26. e4 fxe4 27. Rxe4 {+-}) 21. Qa1+ Kh6 22. Ng5 Nc8 (22... Rde8 {cannot change what is in store for White} 23. Rd1 {+-}) 23. e4 Rde8 ( 23... Bg8 {there is nothing better in the position} 24. Qh8+ Bh7 {+-}) 24. Rfe1 fxe4 (24... Bxd5 {doesn't change anything anymore} 25. cxd5 Qg7 26. Qxg7+ Kxg7 27. exf5 Rxe2 28. Rxe2 Rxf5 29. Bxf5 gxf5 30. Re8 {+-}) 25. Be6 (25. Be6 Bxe6 26. Nxe6 (26. dxe6 $6 Qg7 {+-}) 26... Rxe6 27. dxe6 {+-}) 1-0

A25 English Opening vs King's Indian with ...Nc6 but without early d3 (1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 d6 4.Bg2 g6 5.e3 Bg7 6.Nge2 f5 7.d3 Nf6 8.O-O Be6 9.Nd5 O-O 10.Rb1 Qd7 11.Nec3)

The game below was played in a team match called GREECE_LOVERS vs Alexander Grischuk Chess Club. There is only game left in this match consisting of 25 boards and that is my other game against celeron. That last game does not matter as far as the match is concerned because the winner of the match has already been decided. The score in the match is 16.5 - 32.5 in favor of Alexander Grischuk Chess Club. Which is a bit unfortunate for me and the team I represent in this match, because I play on board 3 for GREECE_LOVERS.

Even though I mainly start my games with 1.e4, when I am contolling the white pieces, for some reason I decided to go for 1.c4 this time. I guess I needed a bit of a change because my rating had been slowly, but steadily going down and I had to try something else. Obviously it did not work against my higher rated opponent and I dropped my rating to 1802. The last time I had my rating this low was in the latter part of 2014. Then my rating was actually going up. I still have not dropped my rating below 1800 and I actually am slowly climbing back up again. While I suffered a lot of terrible games in a row at Chess.com, at Red Hot Pawn I have been actually improving a bit. For awhile now I have been able to maintain a 1900+ rating at Red Hot Pawn and my current rating there is 1920, only 15 points away from my peak rating there. At Chess.com I hit my peak rating in Daily chess in January, 2009. Actually I am not sure if I can break that record anymore unless I find some time to improve tactics and my play in the endgame. I think I would desperately need that, especially since in recent games I have struggled quite a bit in both areas.

This game went without any major mistakes until I played 25.Ng2. At this point in the game I was not sure what my plan should be and I chose rather poorly. I wanted to reroute my knight to c6 and maybe to e5 later on. I thought that my knight would be better placed in either of those squares than on f4. Obviously my plan would take a long time, but I did not think of anything better, so I went along with that plan. I should have played 25.h4 instead. After the move played in the game, I am slightly worse. 29.Na3 is probably the losing move, after that there is no real possibility for a draw anymore. I think celeron accurately takes advantage of my mistakes and does not give me any counterplay opportunities in the remaining moves. Happy International Women's Day!!

[Event "GREECE_LOVERS vs Alexander Grischuk Ches"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.12.27"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "celeron"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A25"] [WhiteElo "1802"] [BlackElo "2050"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 {English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Closed Sicilian} 3. g3 d6 (3... g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 (5. e3 d6 6. Nge2 Be6 { English Opening: King's English Variation, Bremen-Hort Variation}) (5. Rb1 { English Opening: King's English Variation, Hungarian Attack}) 5... d6 6. e4 { English Opening: King's English Variation, Botvinnik System}) 4. Bg2 g6 5. e3 Bg7 6. Nge2 f5 7. d3 Nf6 8. O-O Be6 9. Nd5 O-O 10. Rb1 Qd7 11. Nec3 {A25 English Opening vs King's Indian with ...Nc6 but without early d3} (11. b3 Ne8 12. Ba3 Nd8 13. Qd2 c6 14. Ndc3 Nf6 15. f4 Re8 16. Rbe1 Nf7 17. d4 Qc7 18. d5 cxd5 19. Nxd5 Nxd5 20. Bxd5 Bxd5 21. Qxd5 Qb6 22. Nc3 exf4 23. Na4 Qc6 24. Qxc6 bxc6 25. exf4 Re4 {Miles,A (2588)-Akesson,R (2535) Las Vegas 1999 1/2-1/2 (42)} ) (11. Qc2 Rae8 12. b4 Nd8 13. Ndc3 c6 14. b5 Nh5 15. Kh1 f4 16. Ng1 fxg3 17. fxg3 Rxf1 18. Bxf1 Rf8 19. Bg2 Nf6 20. h3 e4 21. d4 Bxc4 22. bxc6 bxc6 23. Nxe4 Nxe4 24. Bxe4 Qe6 25. Rb8 d5 {Asvestopoulos,H (1928)-Alexakis,D (2221) Nikaia 2014 0-1 (51)}) 11... Rab8 {N} (11... g5 12. f4 exf4 13. exf4 g4 14. Be3 Nd8 15. Qd2 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 c6 17. Nc3 d5 18. cxd5 cxd5 19. Bc5 Re8 20. Qf2 Nc6 21. Ne2 b6 22. Ba3 Rac8 23. Rbc1 Bf7 24. b3 Rc7 25. Rc2 Nd4 26. Nxd4 {Petran,P (2346)-Machalova,E (2006) Kaskady 2002 1-0 (57)}) (11... Nd8 12. Nxf6+ (12. b3 Nh5 13. Ne2 c6 14. Nb4 Kh8 15. d4 Nf6 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. Ba3 Nf7 18. Qc2 Rfd8 19. Rbd1 Qe8 20. Nd3 Nd7 21. f4 Rac8 22. Bb2 Qe7 23. Kh1 e4 24. Bxg7+ Kxg7 25. Nf2 Nf8 26. g4 Rxd1 {Troyke, C (2375)-Beuchler,H (2220) Germany 1994 1-0 (34)}) 12... Bxf6 13. Qc2 c6 14. b4 d5 15. c5 Bf7 16. Ne2 Ne6 17. Rd1 d4 18. a4 dxe3 19. Bxe3 Rad8 20. b5 g5 21. bxc6 bxc6 22. f4 Bh5 23. Rb4 gxf4 24. gxf4 e4 25. d4 Nxc5 26. Qxc5 {Stephan, A-Ludwig,K (2040) Germany 1997 0-1 (48)}) 12. b4 Ne7 13. Bd2 c6 {Controls b5} 14. Nxf6+ Bxf6 15. b5 {White gains space} d5 16. cxd5 cxd5 17. Qa4 b6 18. d4 e4 {This push gains space} 19. Ne2 Nc8 20. Bb4 {White threatens to win material: Bb4xf8} Be7 21. Rfc1 Bxb4 22. Qxb4 Nd6 23. Nf4 Bf7 24. Bf1 Rfc8 25. Ng2 Nc4 {Menacing} 26. Ne1 g5 27. Nc2 f4 28. exf4 gxf4 29. Na3 (29. Qe1 Bg6 30. Rb3 Na5 {=}) 29... e3 30. Nxc4 exf2+ (30... dxc4 $6 31. fxe3 fxg3 32. hxg3 {=}) 31. Kxf2 fxg3+ 32. hxg3 dxc4 33. Rd1 $4 {the position is going down the drain} (33. Qc3 {+/-}) 33... Bd5 {-+} 34. Kg1 (34. Bg2 Rf8+ 35. Kg1 Bxg2 36. Kxg2 Qd5+ 37. Kg1 {-+}) 34... Qg4 35. Qc3 (35. Rd2 Qxg3+ 36. Rg2 Bxg2 37. Bxg2 Qe3+ 38. Kh1 {-+}) 35... Qe4 36. Re1 (36. Rb2 {doesn't change anything anymore} Qh1+ 37. Kf2 Rf8+ 38. Ke2 Qh2+ 39. Ke1 Rxf1+ 40. Kxf1 Rf8+ 41. Ke1 Re8+ 42. Qe3 Rxe3+ 43. Kf1 Qxb2 44. Rd2 Qxd2 45. a3 Qg2#) 36... Qh1+ 37. Kf2 Qh2+ 38. Ke3 Rf8 (38... Rf8 39. Bg2 Qxg2 40. Re2 Rbe8+ 41. Kd2 Rxe2+ 42. Kc1 Rf1+ 43. Qe1 Rexe1#) 0-1