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