A85 Dutch Defence: 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 (1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 f5 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qb3 a5)

The last post of the week has a game in which I tried to play the English again. I might have been better off, had I gone for 1.e4 instead. This game was played in a team match called "LIFE'S A TRIP ! ENJOY THE RIDE 2016! ". The match consists of 56 boards and is played between SHETOS and Chess Champ. I played on board 2 for Chess Champ and lost both of my games against promoteking. Luckily these two losses did not have a serious impact on the score because the score is at the moment 43 - 66 in favor of Chess Champ! Our other players were more capable of playing winning chess than me, so big thanks to them for securing our win in the match.

I quickly went through this game and could not see anything awful about my play, except near the end. Therefore I had to see what Stockfish thought about my moves. For about 17 moves I played decent moves, maybe some inaccuracies here and there, but the fact that after 17...g5 I played 18.Nh2 is something I am a bit ashamed of. I reacted to the aggressive pawn push with a passive move, so this is one of those things that went wrong for me in this game. Had I used a bit more time on thinking about the different possibilities, I would have discovered that I should have played 18.Nxg5! If 18...Nxg5, then 19.Bxb7 and I would have been in a much better position than after 18.Nh2. I am not even so sure why I played my knight to h2, maybe it was designed against g4. After that both players played quite well, only small mistakes were seen, until I played 32.Ba3. That was the move that started my downhill in this game that ended in my loss after the huge blunder 35.Ba3. Basically the same move first tipped the advantage clearly to my opponent and on the second time it was the final mistake that lost the game. Until Monday, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

[Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.01.14"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "promoteking"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A85"] [WhiteElo "1841"] [BlackElo "1874"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "70"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 {English Opening: Agincourt Defense (#3)} f5 (2... d5 3. b3 (3. g3 b6 (3... c6 {English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Kurajica Defense}) 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O Nf6 6. d4 Be7 7. Nc3 O-O {Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation, Nimzowitsch Line}) 3... Nf6 4. Bb2 c5 5. e3 { English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Wimpy System}) 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qb3 a5 {A85 Dutch Defence: 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3} 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. Qxc3 O-O 8. g3 Ne4 (8... b6 9. Bg2 Bb7 10. b3 (10. O-O Qe7 11. b3 d6 12. Bb2 Nbd7 13. Rfe1 Ne4 14. Qc2 f4 15. Nd2 Nxf2 16. Bxb7 fxg3 17. Qc3 gxh2+ 18. Kg2 Rab8 19. Bf3 Qh4 20. Qe3 Rf6 21. Be4 Ng4 22. Bxh7+ Kh8 23. Qd3 h1=Q+ 24. Rxh1 Rf2+ {Ahlander,B (2416) -Menendez Rey,J (2210) Cappelle la Grande 2016 0-1 (31)}) 10... Qe8 11. O-O d6 12. Rd1 Nbd7 13. Ne1 Bxg2 14. Nxg2 e5 15. dxe5 Qxe5 16. Qxe5 Nxe5 17. Bb2 Rfe8 {1/2-1/2 (17) Radovanovic,D (2367) -Cabrilo,G (2471) Pozarevac 2012}) 9. Qc2 b6 {N} (9... d6 10. Bg2 a4 11. O-O Qf6 12. Be3 Nc6 13. d5 Nd8 14. Nd4 Nc5 15. Nb5 Qe7 16. Bxc5 dxc5 17. Rad1 Ra6 18. Nc3 Qe8 19. Nb5 Qe7 20. Nc3 Qe8 21. f4 exd5 22. cxd5 Nf7 23. e4 fxe4 24. Nxe4 {Simantsev,M (2447)-Kan,I (2196) Voronezh 2000 1-0 (57)}) 10. Bg2 Bb7 11. e3 (11. O-O Nc6 {+/=}) 11... d6 {Consolidates e5} 12. O-O Nd7 13. Rd1 (13. b3 c5 {=}) 13... Qe7 14. b3 Ndf6 15. h3 {Prevents intrusion on g4} Qf7 16. Bb2 Rac8 17. Rac1 g5 (17... c5 18. Qe2 {=}) 18. Nh2 ( 18. Nxg5 $5 Nxg5 19. Bxb7 {+/-}) 18... h5 {=} 19. Rf1 Qd7 20. b4 (20. Nf3 c5 {= }) 20... axb4 {=/+} 21. axb4 Ra8 (21... b5 22. d5 bxc4 23. dxe6 Qxe6 24. Nf3 {= } (24. Qxc4 $2 {doesn't work because of} Qxc4 25. Rxc4 Ba6 {-+})) 22. Ra1 (22. Nf3 g4 23. Nh4 Ra2 {=}) 22... Rxa1 (22... b5 $5 {is an interesting idea} 23. c5 Bd5 {=/+}) 23. Rxa1 {=} Ra8 24. Qc1 (24. Rxa8+ Bxa8 25. d5 e5 {=} (25... exd5 $2 26. f3 {+-})) 24... Kf7 (24... b5 25. Rxa8+ Bxa8 26. d5 {=}) 25. Nf3 Qc8 26. Ne1 Kg6 27. Nd3 {White intends c5} Rxa1 28. Qxa1 Qa8 29. Qxa8 Bxa8 30. c5 { This push gains space} Bd5 31. cxd6 cxd6 32. Ba3 (32. h4 g4 {=}) 32... Bc4 { =/+ Black threatens to win material: Bc4xd3} 33. Bf1 (33. Bxe4 Nxe4 34. Ne1 g4 {+/-}) 33... b5 (33... Nd2 34. Be2 Nd5 35. f3 {+/-}) 34. Bc1 Nd5 35. Ba3 $4 { cause more grief} (35. h4 {+/-}) 35... Nd2 {-+} 0-1