B01 Scandinavian Defence (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 a6 6.Be2 Nc6)

Second day in a row when the main post of the day features a game from GameKnot. This is even from the same mini-tournament as the game in the post yesterday. The mini-tournament is called dim_weasel's XIV. My position in the standings is the same as it was yesterday, I am on last place with 1 point and I have finished three games. The difference to the game I shared yesterday is the opponent and how I played the game. In this one I was able to play better than in the game against dim_weasel. This is far from perfect, but I was never in the risk of losing this game. My opponent, ichthus, has played seven games and has only one game left to finish and it is against me. Ichthus has gathered 2 points so far in this mini-tournament.

The first turning point of the game came when ichthus played 8...O-O-O. During the game I actually thought that I am worse after my opponent castled long and it took some time to find the move 9.Ng5, which I thought at the time to be my only rescuing move. In my mind I was playing against the possible loss of a pawn, which I think explains some of the decisions I made on the following turns. All my moves up to 11.Bc4 were aimed to keep the material balance in the game. I am not really comfortable in playing in a situation where I am down on material, even when I have some compensation for it. The reason why I played 11.Bc4 was that if ichthus takes the pawn on d4, then after some exchanges I can take on e6 with the bishop. My move is not the strongest move in the position and I should have played 11.Bf3 instead. My opponent replies badly to the move played in the game, but I am not able to take any advantage of ichthus' mistake and instead I made a bad move 12.Be2. After my 12th move, the position is equal. Ichthus blunders with 12...Qb4, after which I should be winning, at least according to Stockfish in this after game analysis. The problem with the move 12...Qb4 is that the queen is misplaced at b4 and does not even threaten to take on b2. That is because I could have replied 12...Qb4 with 13.a3 and if now 13...Qxb2, then 14.Na4 traps the queen. Even though I have seen similar queen traps before, I did not consider the possibility of it during this game. Instead I played the passive 13.Qc1 and defended the pawn directly. Even the move I played in the game gave me a clear advantage, but had I played 13.a3 I could have had a winning advantage.

The game went on in my favor up to my move 22.Qd3, which brought the game back into balance. Ichthus played two inaccurate moves in a row that gave me a clear advantage again. I threw that advantage away again with my 29th move. Sometimes I am unintentionally generous in that way... Ichthus gave the advantage immediately back with interest, but I was not able to see the best way to take advantage of my opponent's move, so I was only slightly better after 30.Rc1. I had a plan at this point that involved me pushing the queenside pawns to weaken the pawn structure in front of my opponent's king. I played Rc1 in order to pin the pawn on c6, so that when I play b5, it can't be taken with the pawn on c6. Of course this plan would not have been the winning idea, had my opponent played the most accurate replies to my moves. With the move 34...h6 my opponent goes from an equal position to a lost position. While I replied to that blunder with the correct move 35.Qa8+, after ichthus' reply Bb8, I went a bit astray with Ba7 that gave my opponent chances to hold the draw again. Luckily for me, ichthus made a huge mistake on his 36th move, which also turned out to be the losing move of the game because even with my poor technique, I was able to win the game.

[Event "dim_weasel's XIV"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.03.24"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "ichthus"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B01"] [WhiteElo "1751"] [BlackElo "1907"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "103"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 a6 {Scandinavian Defense: Bronstein Variation} 6. Be2 Nc6 {B01 Scandinavian Defence} 7. O-O Bg4 8. Be3 O-O-O 9. Ng5 (9. Qd2 e6 10. Rad1 Be7 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Qxd2 13. Rxd2 Rxd2 14. Bxd2 Bxe2 15. Nxe2 Ne4 16. Bc3 Nxc3 17. Nxc3 Rd8 18. h3 Rd2 19. Rc1 f6 20. Ne4 Re2 21. exf6 gxf6 22. Ng3 Rd2 23. Re1 Rxc2 {Patru,A (1209)-Bardas,A (1029) Calimanesti 2013 0-1 (32)}) 9... Be6 10. Nxe6 fxe6 11. Bc4 Na5 {N} (11... g6 12. Qe2 Bg7 13. Rad1 Nb4 14. Bc1 Kb8 15. Rfe1 Rhf8 16. Bxe6 Nh5 17. Bg4 Bxd4 18. Ne4 Nf4 19. Bxf4 Qxf4 20. c3 Nc6 21. cxd4 Nxd4 22. Qe3 Qxe3 23. fxe3 Nc2 24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Re2 Rd1+ 26. Kf2 {Hosek,M (2247)-Fiala,J (2246) Czechia 2001 1-0 (40)}) (11... e5 12. dxe5 Qxe5 13. Qf3 g5 14. Rfe1 g4 15. Qe2 Nd4 16. Bxd4 Qxd4 17. Be6+ Nd7 18. Rad1 Qb4 19. Rxd7 Rxd7 20. Rd1 {1-0 (20) Filev,G (2305)-Sirkov,L (2055) Sofia 2004}) (11... Nxd4 12. Bxd4 Qxd4 13. Qxd4 Rxd4 14. Bxe6+ Kb8 15. Rad1 {+/=}) 12. Be2 {Black's piece can't move: f8} Qb4 $4 { a transit from better to worse} (12... Nc6 {= and Black can hope to live}) 13. Qc1 (13. a3 {makes sure everything is clear} Qd6 14. b4 {+-}) 13... Nc6 14. a3 Qd6 15. Rd1 e5 16. dxe5 Qxe5 17. Rxd8+ Nxd8 18. Qd2 e6 (18... Qd6 19. Bd3 {+/-} ) 19. Rd1 {White has a mate threat} (19. Bf4 $5 Qa5 20. Rd1 {+/-}) 19... Bd6 20. g3 Qf5 21. Bf1 Nc6 (21... Ng4 22. Bh3 Qh5 23. Kg2 {+/=}) 22. Qd3 (22. Bg2 $5 {+/-}) 22... Rd8 23. Qe2 Nd5 (23... Be5 $5 {+/= should not be overlooked}) 24. Nxd5 {+/-} exd5 25. Bg2 Ne7 26. c4 dxc4 27. Qxc4 g5 (27... g6 28. a4 {+/-}) 28. Qb3 (28. Be4 $5 Qf6 29. Bxh7 {+-}) 28... c6 {+/-} 29. Qb6 (29. Qc4 {+/-}) 29... Qc2 $4 (29... Bc7 30. Rxd8+ Bxd8 31. Qa7 {=}) 30. Rc1 {White threatens to win material: Rc1xc2} (30. Bh3+ {it becomes clear that White will call all the shots} Nf5 31. Bg4 {+-}) 30... Qf5 {+/-} 31. a4 (31. Bf1 $5 Bf4 32. Bxa6 bxa6 33. Qxa6+ Kd7 34. gxf4 gxf4 35. Bc5 Qg4+ 36. Kf1 {+/=}) 31... Nd5 {=} 32. Bxd5 Qxd5 33. b4 Bc7 {Black threatens to win material: Bc7xb6} 34. Qa7 h6 $4 ( 34... Bb8 {saving the game} 35. Qa8 Qb3 {=}) 35. Qa8+ {+-} Bb8 (35... Kd7 { doesn't do any good} 36. Qxb7 Rb8 37. Qxa6 Rxb4 {+-}) 36. Ba7 {White threatens to win material: Ba7xb8} (36. Bb6 {might be the shorter path} Re8 37. b5 axb5 38. a5 {+-}) 36... Qe5 $4 {ruins a clearly superior position} (36... Kc7 { would hold out} 37. Be3 Kc8 {=}) 37. b5 $1 {+- the end of the story} axb5 38. axb5 Kc7 (38... Kd7 39. Bb6 Ke7 40. Bxd8+ Kxd8 41. Qxb7 Qc7 {+-}) 39. bxc6 Qb2 40. Qxb7+ (40. Bxb8+ Rxb8 41. Qa5+ Kd6 42. Qc5+ Kc7 43. Re1 Re8 44. Rxe8 Qa1+ 45. Kg2 Qf6 46. Qa5+ Kxc6 47. Rc8+ Kd7 48. Rc7+ Ke6 49. Qb6+ Kf5 50. g4+ Ke5 51. Rc5+ Kd4 52. Qb4+ Kd3 53. Qc4+ Kd2 54. Rd5+ Qd4 55. Rxd4+ Ke1 56. Qf1#) 40... Qxb7 {+-} 41. cxb7+ Kxb7 42. Bxb8 Kxb8 (42... Rd5 {does not improve anything} 43. Bc7 Rb5 {+-}) 43. Rc6 Rh8 $4 {shortens the misery for Black} ( 43... h5 {+-}) 44. Kg2 h5 45. Rg6 g4 (45... h4 46. g4 h3+ 47. Kg3 {+-}) 46. f3 gxf3+ (46... Kc7 {doesn't change anything anymore} 47. fxg4 Kd7 48. gxh5 Rxh5 49. g4 {+-}) 47. Kxf3 Kc7 (47... Rd8 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 48. Rg5 {+-}) 48. Kf4 Kd7 49. Kg5 h4 50. gxh4 (50. g4 h3 51. Rh6 {+-}) 50... Ke7 $4 { leading to a quick end} (50... Rd8 51. Kf6 Rf8+ 52. Kg7 Ke7 {+-}) 51. Rg7+ Kf8 52. Ra7 (52. Ra7 Rg8+ 53. Kf6 Ke8 54. Ra8+ Kd7 55. Rxg8 Kc6 56. h5 Kb5 57. h6 Kc4 58. h7 Kd5 59. h8=Q Kd4 60. Qh3 Kc4 61. Rc8+ Kb4 62. Qg2 Ka3 63. Qb7 Ka2 64. Ra8#) 1-0