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