D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines (1.Nc3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nf3 g6 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 O-O 6.Be2 Bf5)

While this blog is not a place where I type about the things that are happening in the world of chess, however, I will briefly mention the sad news about the death of Grand Master Viktor Korchnoi. Around 12 years ago was the first and only time that I saw him play in a tournament that I also participated in. I was not of course playing in the same group, but in the same playing area or at least quite close to it, so that I could go watch him and other strong players play after my game had ended. It is actually one of the most memorable tournaments for me and I am glad that I went to play the 32nd Rilton Cup. I remember that Korchnoi and Grand Master Mark Taimanov were also in the same hotel as me. It was nice to see these players in real life. I also remember watching a couple of chess videos where Viktor Korchnoi was teaching chess. I have always been interested in chess history and Viktor Korchnoi certainly was a memorable personality in that history.

Okay, now I should concentrate on the game below. The theoretical move order for this opening is 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 O-O 6.Be2, which not so surprisingly differs from the move order that was played in this game. This game was played in a clan challenge between The Fast Players and The White Hats on 4 boards. I played on board 1 for The White Hats and in addition to this win, I lost my other game against Adrian Shaw. My results against Adrian Shaw are surprisingly good in my opinion, considering that I am the lower rated player. I have now 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss against him. The final score in this clan challenge was unfortunately 5 - 3 in favor of The Fast Players. I have now played six games in these clan challenges on board 1 and out of those 6, I have won 2, drawn 3 and lost 1. While I have not played all that many games for the clan, I am the only player in The White Hats that has more draws than wins... Admittedly not by much, but we shall see how the situation changes over time.

Nothing of huge interest happened in the game until I allowed the move 16.Qb3, at that point I felt that my position was quite bad. I did not play the best reply to 16.Qb3, but during the game I thought that it was the best of my bad options. However, I was wrong and ended up losing a pawn. 16...Qe7 might have been my only chance to try and hold the position together. I was in huge trouble for a long time and I even started to slip very close to a completely lost game when I played 29...h6. While I saw that the reply 30.Rxf6 would be the move that ends my resistance, I still continued the game. I saw that after I take the rook, my opponent plays 31.Be5+ and I should resign soon. That being said, I was very surprised to see the huge blunder 31.h4 instead. After that huge blunder I was no longer losing and I was facing a clearly winning position instead. This game is a perfect example of the very rare times when I have been lucky in chess.

By the way, I solved the problem I had with the game editor at Chess.com and I added the games back to the post Chess960 SP39 that I had previously taken out to make that post work in HTTPS. I am now confident that I am able to repost all the games using the game editor to publish the games. I stumbled upon three different games where the PGN did not work properly when I added them to the editor with comments. Two of the games seen in the post Chess960 SP39 had problems with castling and one other game was declared as a improper PGN file by the game editor. I did notice that the PGN files were I had not added any commentary those three games worked, so I had to add the analysis to the games while they were in the editor. It is a really slow way to publish games compared to some other options, but it seems as the only option for me at the moment, so I just have deal with it.

[Event "Clan challenge"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2016.03.22"] [Round "?"] [White "Adrian Shaw"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D00"] [WhiteElo "2140"] [BlackElo "1947"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "126"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. Nc3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nf3 g6 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Be2 {Queen's Pawn Game: Barry Attack, Gruenfeld Variation} Bf5 {D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines} 7. Bg3 {N} (7. O-O Nbd7 (7... Nh5 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Ne5 gxh4 11. Bxh5 e6 12. f4 Nd7 13. Bf3 c5 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15. g4 hxg3 16. hxg3 cxd4 17. exd4 Rac8 18. Rf2 Rc4 19. Rd2 Qc6 20. Rb1 Qb6 21. Ne2 Rfc8 22. c3 {Schnoor,J-Teloudis,A Germany 1988 0-1 (44)}) 8. Ne5 c6 9. g4 Be6 10. Nd3 Ne4 11. Nb1 Qb6 12. f3 Nd6 13. Nc3 f6 14. Na4 Qc7 15. Nac5 Bf7 16. e4 Nxc5 17. dxc5 e5 18. Bg3 Nb5 19. c3 Qe7 20. Qc2 Nc7 21. b4 Rae8 {Antoshin, V-Shcherbakov,V Moscow 1955 1/2-1/2 (41)}) (7. Ne5 c6 (7... Nbd7 8. g4 Be6 9. h4 Ne4 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. h5 Nxe5 12. dxe5 c6 13. h6 Qa5+ 14. Qd2 Qxd2+ 15. Kxd2 Rfd8+ 16. Kc3 Bh8 17. Rad1 f6 18. Bg3 g5 19. Rd4 fxe5 20. Rxe4 Bd5 21. Bc4 e6 22. f3 {Hodgson,J (2525)-Jonsson,B (2375) London 1988 0-1 (39)}) 8. g4 Be6 9. h4 Nbd7 10. h5 Ne4 11. hxg6 hxg6 12. Nxd7 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Qxd7 14. Kd2 f6 15. Qg1 Kf7 16. Bh6 Rh8 17. g5 Bxh6 18. gxh6 Rh7 19. Rh2 Rah8 20. Qh1 Bg4 21. f3 Bh5 {Blatny,P (2535)-Uhlmann,W (2490) Germany 1995 0-1 (45)}) (7. h3 Qc8 8. g4 Be6 9. Qd2 Rd8 10. Ne5 c5 11. f3 Nfd7 12. O-O-O Nc6 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. h4 Qb7 15. h5 g5 16. Bxg5 Rdb8 17. b3 cxd4 18. exd4 Qb4 19. Nb1 Qxd2+ 20. Rxd2 f6 21. Be3 Bf7 {Hansen,L (2565)-El Kher,H (2338) Aarhus 1999 1-0 (43)}) 7... a6 {Secures b5} 8. O-O Nc6 9. h3 {Covers g4} Ne4 10. Nxe4 Bxe4 (10... dxe4 11. Nd2 {+/=}) 11. Rc1 {+/=} Re8 12. Nd2 Bf5 13. c4 e5 14. cxd5 Qxd5 15. Bc4 Qd8 16. Qb3 {White threatens to win material: Qb3xb7} Rf8 (16... Qe7 17. Bh4 Na5 18. Bxe7 Nxb3 19. Bxb3 Rxe7 20. e4 {+/=}) 17. Qxb7 {+/-} Na5 18. Qd5 Nxc4 19. Qxd8 Rfxd8 20. Nxc4 ({Instead of} 20. Rxc4 Bd3 21. Bxe5 Bxf1 22. Nxf1 Bxe5 23. dxe5 Rd1 {=/+}) 20... exd4 21. Bxc7 Rf8 22. exd4 Bxd4 23. Rfd1 Bf6 24. b3 Be6 (24... Ra7 25. Be5 Bxe5 26. Nxe5 {+/-}) 25. Nb6 Ra7 26. Nd7 Bxd7 27. Rxd7 Rc8 28. Rc6 Kg7 29. g4 h6 (29... Bb2 30. Rc4 Rca8 31. Kg2 {+/-}) 30. Rxf6 {! +- Mate threat} Kxf6 (30... Kxf6 31. Be5+ Kxe5 (31... Ke6 32. Rxa7 {Discovered attack}) (31... Kg5 32. Rxa7 {Discovered attack}) 32. Rxa7 { Discovered attack}) 31. h4 {?? simply marches past the door to victory} (31. Be5+ {! would have given White the upper hand} Kxe5 32. Rxa7 {+-}) 31... Raxc7 32. Rd6+ (32. Rd4 {does not improve anything} a5 33. Ra4 Rc5 {-+}) 32... Ke5 33. Rxa6 Kf4 34. h5 (34. a4 {does not save the day} Kxg4 35. Rd6 Rb7 36. Rd4+ Kh3 37. Rd3+ Kxh4 38. Rd4+ Kh3 39. Rd3+ Kg4 40. Rd4+ Kf3 41. Rd3+ Ke4 {-+}) 34... Rc6 35. Ra3 Kxg4 36. hxg6 (36. Kg2 {-+ there is nothing else anyway}) 36... fxg6 37. Kg2 h5 38. f3+ Kg5 39. Kf2 Rc2+ 40. Ke3 R8c3+ (40... h4 { and Black takes home the point} 41. Ra5+ R8c5 {-+}) 41. Ke4 Kh4 (41... Re2+ 42. Kd4 Rxf3 43. Ra5+ Kh4 44. b4 {-+}) 42. f4 Kg4 43. Ra6 Rc6 44. Ra5 Re2+ (44... Re6+ 45. Kd5 Re1 46. Ra6 Kxf4 47. Rf6+ Kg5 48. Ra6 h4 49. Kd4 Rd1+ 50. Ke3 h3 51. Ra5+ Kh6 52. a3 h2 53. Ra8 h1=Q 54. Rh8+ Kg5 55. Rxh1 Rxh1 56. Kd3 Rhh2 57. Ke4 Rcd2 58. a4 Rh3 59. b4 Rdd3 60. a5 Rhe3#) 45. Kd5 Rcc2 46. Ra7 Kxf4 47. Rf7+ Kg4 48. Rf1 Rxa2 49. Rg1+ Rg2 50. Re1 g5 51. Re4+ Kh3 52. Re1 g4 53. Rh1+ (53. b4 {does not solve anything} g3 54. Rh1+ Rh2 55. Rg1 g2 56. Re1 Ra3 57. Rg1 Rh1 58. Rxg2 Kxg2 59. b5 Rc1 60. b6 Rb3 61. b7 Kf3 62. b8=Q Rxb8 63. Ke6 Kf4 64. Kd6 Rb7 65. Ke6 Rd1 66. Kf6 Rd6#) 53... Rh2 54. Rc1 g3 55. b4 (55. Re1 {cannot change what is in store for White} g2 56. b4 Rh1 57. Re3+ Kg4 58. Re8 g1=Q 59. Rg8+ Kf3 60. Rxg1 Rxg1 61. b5 Rc1 62. b6 Rb2 63. Ke6 Rxb6+ 64. Kd7 Rc2 65. Ke8 Rc7 66. Kd8 Rbb7 67. Ke8 Rc8#) 55... Rab2 56. Rc3 (56. b5 {is no salvation} Rxb5+ 57. Kc6 Rb4 58. Kc5 Rg4 59. Kd6 g2 60. Rc3+ Kh4 61. Rc1 g1=Q 62. Rxg1 Rxg1 63. Kc5 Rc1+ 64. Kd4 Rd2+ 65. Ke3 Rcd1 66. Kf4 Re2 67. Kf5 Rd6 68. Kf4 Rf6#) 56... Rhf2 (56... Rhd2+ 57. Ke6 Rxb4 58. Kf7 Kh2 59. Rc5 g2 60. Rxh5+ Kg3 61. Rg5+ Rg4 62. Ra5 g1=Q 63. Ra3+ Kh4 64. Ra5 Rf4+ 65. Rf5 Rxf5+ 66. Ke6 Qg6+ 67. Ke7 Qf7#) 57. Kc6 (57. Re3 {doesn't change anything anymore} Kh2 58. Re5 h4 59. Rg5 g2 60. Kc5 g1=Q 61. Rxg1 Kxg1 62. b5 h3 63. b6 Rfd2 64. b7 Rxb7 65. Kc6 Rbb2 66. Kc7 h2 67. Kc8 h1=Q 68. Kc7 Qb7#) 57... Rxb4 (57... Rbc2 58. Rxc2 Rxc2+ 59. Kd5 g2 60. b5 g1=Q 61. b6 Qc5+ 62. Ke6 Re2+ 63. Kf7 Qe7+ 64. Kg8 Rg2+ 65. Kh8 Qg7#) 58. Kd6 (58. Kc5 {does not win a prize} Rfb2 59. Kd6 Kh2 60. Rc5 g2 61. Rxh5+ Kg3 62. Rg5+ Rg4 63. Rc5 g1=Q 64. Rc3+ Kh2 65. Rc5 Rg6+ 66. Kd5 Rd2+ 67. Kc4 Qd4+ 68. Kb3 Rb2+ 69. Ka3 Qb4#) 58... Kh2 59. Kc5 (59. Rc5 {does not help much} g2 60. Rxh5+ Kg3 61. Rg5+ Rg4 62. Ra5 g1=Q 63. Ra3+ Kh4 64. Ra5 Rf6+ 65. Ke7 Qb6 66. Rd5 Re4+ 67. Re5 Qd6+ 68. Ke8 Rxe5#) 59... Rbf4 ( 59... Rfb2 60. Rc1 g2 61. Ra1 g1=Q+ 62. Rxg1 Kxg1 63. Kd6 Rb6+ 64. Kc5 R2b5+ 65. Kd4 Kf2 66. Kc3 Ke2 67. Kd4 Rc6 68. Ke4 Rc4#) 60. Re3 (60. Kd6 {is not much help} g2 61. Rc1 g1=Q 62. Rxg1 Kxg1 63. Kc5 h4 64. Kd6 h3 65. Kc5 h2 66. Kd6 h1=Q 67. Kc5 Rf6 68. Kb4 Qe4+ 69. Ka3 R6f3#) 60... g2 61. Re1 g1=Q (61... Rd2 62. Kb5 g1=Q 63. Rxg1 Kxg1 64. Kc6 Rc4+ 65. Kb5 Rc8 66. Ka4 Rb2 67. Ka3 Rb6 68. Ka2 Ra8#) 62. Rxg1 Kxg1 63. Kc6 (63. Kd6 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} h4 64. Kc5 h3 65. Kd6 h2 66. Kc5 h1=Q 67. Kd6 Qh5 68. Ke7 Rf7+ 69. Kd6 R2f6#) 63... Rd2 (63... Rd2 64. Kc5 Rf8 65. Kb4 Rc8 66. Kb3 Rd7 67. Ka2 Rb7 68. Ka1 Ra8#) 0-1