A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Opening (1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bb5 d6 5.Nf3 Bd7)

It seems I am still finding new opening variations to cover in this blog from my games, but it obviously is quite rare these days. According to my current statistics, this is the opening variation number 509 that has been published in the blog. The game below was played on the first round of a tournament called EXPECT NO MERCY - NAZARETH TOUR!!! I played in group 7 on this first round and I was able to win my group by half a point difference to a player called csabiu (1673), whom I faced in my last game of round one. Because only the winner or winners of each group advance on to the next round, the last game from this round was very important as it determined which one of us was able to advance to the second round. The group consisted of five players, but because the fifth participant of the group closed his or her account before even finishing one game properly, it felt like there was only three actual opponents in the group. My opponent in the game below, marcverkinderen, finished fourth in the group with 3 points. Those 3 points came from 3 wins that marcverkinderen was able to get. I won 6, drew 1 and lost 1. These tournaments also keep track of the biggest upset in the tournament and it links to the game where that happened. It links to my only loss on round one... I lost a game against a player who was rated 1407 at the time and I was rated 1816. I basically made one horrible blunder in that game and decided to resign the game when I saw what my opponent played is response to that blunder.

I have to admit that the way the game below started seemed quite strange to me, but it seems that this opening is playable for both sides. The game was actually quite well played by both players until my opponent played 12.Nh2 that is. It would have been a better idea to play 12.d4, for example and try to generate some play in that way. After the move played in the game, 12.Nh2, marcverkinderen was not able to get back into the game, so this was the start for all the problems that my opponent faced. Because it seemed that my opponent was not interested in taking the initiave, I thought that I should take it and played 12...f5. Marcverkinderen replied with 13.d4, but now that move is a mistake, a move earlier it would have been still a good move to play. Unfortunately for me and luckily for my opponent, I did not take full advantage of that bad move, but instead played the inaccurate 13...exd4. I probably thought that if I take on e4, then my opponent takes on e5 twice and the material would be even. I did not see that after 13...fxe4 14.dxe5 I could play d5 and not take that pawn at all. In that case the material would also be even, but the pawn on e5 might get weak and I would have some interesting pawns on the center, while also being able to get my dark-squared bishop to c5 in order to generate more pressure towards f2. That continuation would have made my light-squared bishop look like a big pawn on c6, but it could get a better square later on. I probably played 13...exd4 due to a greedier option, had my opponent replied with 14.Bxd4, then I would have won a pawn on e4, with 14...fxe4. Obviously marcverkinderen did not go for that line, but instead played the correct capture 14.exf5. I did remain on the slightly better side of things in the game continuation. My opponent went further towards a loss with the normal looking 15.Bxd4. The problem pieces for marcverkinderen were the knights on h2 and d2. Had my opponent played 15.Ndf3, then one of his knights would been better placed and the knight would have also stopped blocking the queen on the d-file. Marcverkinderen could have maybe taken on d4 on the following turn, unless I would have found the line that you see in the notation, where I would have first taken on f3 and followed it up by playing c5 in order to protect the pawn on d4. The game losing move came when my opponent played 19.Ng4, after that the game ended quite quickly in my favor. I have added two mate in two, two mate in three and one mate in four puzzle today. Until Monday, my fellow chess and chess960 enthusiasts!

[Event "EXPECT NO MERCY - NAZARETH TOUR!!! - Ro"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.03.23"] [Round "?"] [White "marcverkinderen"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A01"] [WhiteElo "1514"] [BlackElo "1808"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "42"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. b3 e5 {A01 Nimzo-Larsen Attack: Modern Variation} 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bb5 d6 5. Nf3 Bd7 {0.37/24 A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Opening} (5... Be7 $11 { -0.24/26}) 6. O-O Be7 {0.74/25} (6... e4 $11 {0.07/26} 7. Nd4 d5) 7. d3 { -0.13/26} (7. d4 $16 {0.74/25}) (7. Be2 O-O 8. c4 Re8 9. Nc3 Bf8 10. d3 h6 11. a3 a5 12. Nd2 Ne7 13. Nde4 Ng6 14. Nxf6+ Qxf6 15. Bg4 Bxg4 16. Qxg4 c6 17. Rac1 Rad8 18. Rfd1 Re6 19. h3 Qe7 20. g3 Qd7 21. e4 Be7 {Larsen,B (2660)-Andersson, U (2535) Teeside 1972 1-0 (45)}) 7... a6 $146 (7... O-O 8. Nbd2 a6 9. Bxc6 Bxc6 10. e4 b5 (10... Re8 11. Re1 Bf8 12. Nf1 g6 13. Ng3 Bg7 14. d4 exd4 15. Qxd4 Nh5 16. e5 Nxg3 17. hxg3 Bxf3 18. gxf3 Rxe5 19. Kg2 Qf8 20. f4 Rxe1 21. Qxg7+ Qxg7 22. Bxg7 Rxa1 23. Bxa1 f5 24. Bd4 a5 25. Kf3 {Guedes Lopez,M (1614) -Sanchez Quintero,R (2137) Arucas 2012 0-1 (34)}) 11. Re1 Bb7 12. Nf1 c5 13. Ng3 Bc8 14. h3 Ne8 15. Qd2 f5 16. exf5 Bxf5 17. Nxf5 Rxf5 18. Qe3 Nc7 19. a4 b4 20. Rad1 Qf8 21. Bc1 Nd5 22. Qe4 {Coronado Iruela,M (2054)-Mato Bonany,J (1840) Palafrugel 2017 1/2-1/2}) 8. Bxc6 $1 {White has an edge.} Bxc6 9. e4 {-0.18/25} (9. c4 $14 {0.41/25}) 9... O-O 10. h3 {-0.52/21} (10. Re1 $11 {0.20/28}) 10... h6 {0.00/28} (10... Nd7 $15 {-0.52/21}) 11. Nbd2 Nh7 {0.47/28} (11... a5 $15 { -0.38/27}) 12. Nh2 $2 {-1.17/23 [#]} (12. d4 $1 $14 {0.47/28}) 12... f5 { -0.56/27} ({Better is} 12... Ng5 $17 {-1.17/23}) 13. d4 {-1.62/21} (13. exf5 $1 $15 {-0.56/27} Rxf5 14. Ng4) 13... exd4 {-0.29/28} (13... fxe4 $19 {-1.62/21 next ...exd4 is good for Black.} 14. dxe5 d5) 14. exf5 $1 $11 Rxf5 15. Bxd4 { -1.46/24} (15. Ndf3 $1 $11 {-0.18/26}) 15... Qd7 16. Qg4 {-2.39/25} (16. Qe2 $17 {-1.14/26}) 16... Bf6 $19 17. Bxf6 Nxf6 18. Qc4+ Kh8 19. Ng4 Nxg4 20. hxg4 Rg5 21. f3 Bb5 {Accuracy: White = 17%, Black = 35%.} 0-1 [Event "ICC 5 0"] [Site "Internet Chess Club"] [Date "2014.04.22"] [Round "?"] [White "ThePawnbroker"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A01"] [WhiteElo "1535"] [BlackElo "1458"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "123"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] {[%evp 9,123,-13,55,-26,17,-5,53,8,37,-113,70,37,58,42,93,36,67,38,80,45,115, 92,164,78,198,179,185,160,336,345,339,327,462,448,452,451,453,440,456,456,537, 530,570,570,622,602,633,612,638,576,634,617,604,585,739,749,708,709,1022,795, 1033,776,29979,29966,1317,1357,1270,1189,1117,1059,1745,1044,29982,29983,29988, 29987,29989,29988,29990,29990,29990,29991,29992,29988,29989,29985,29987,29987, 29988,29989,29989,29989,29989,29990,29990,29991,29991,29992,29992,29990,29990, 29990,29990,29991,29995,29993,29996,29994,29997,29995,29998,29997,29997,29997, 29997,29997]} 1. b3 e5 {A01 Nimzo-Larsen Attack: Modern Variation} 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. e3 d6 4. Bb5 Bd7 5. Nf3 Nf6 {0.55/25 A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Opening. LiveBook: 5 Games} (5... f5 $11 {-0.13/29}) 6. c4 {-0.26/26} (6. O-O $14 { 0.55/25} Be7 7. c4 O-O 8. Bxc6 Bxc6 9. d4 exd4 10. Nxd4 Nd7 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Nd2 Bf6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. Nf3 c5 15. Qd5 Qe7 16. Rfe1 Nf6 17. Qd3 Ne4 18. Nd2 Nxd2 19. Qxd2 a5 20. Rab1 Rfb8 21. e4 {Karlsson,L (2465)-Matulovic,M (2490) Helsinki 1981 1/2-1/2 (43)}) 6... Be7 {0.17/25} (6... e4 $142 {-0.26/26} 7. Nd4 Ne5 8. Bxd7+ (8. O-O c6 9. Ba4 a6 10. b4 Nxc4 11. Bc3 d5 12. d3 exd3 13. Qxd3 Bd6 14. f3 Qc7 15. g3 Bh3 16. Nf5 Bxf1 17. Kxf1 O-O-O 18. Nxg7 Be5 19. Qf5+ Kb8 20. Kf2 Bxc3 21. Nxc3 Qe5 22. Qxe5+ Nxe5 {Farhat,M-Khalil,A Beirut 2014 0-1 (42)}) 8... Qxd7) 7. Nc3 Nb4 $146 {0.53/25} (7... e4 $11 {-0.05/27} 8. Bxc6 bxc6 (8... Bxc6 9. Nd4 O-O 10. Qc2 Qd7 11. Nxc6 Qxc6 12. O-O Rfe8 13. Rac1 Bf8 14. Ne2 Nd7 15. f4 Nc5 16. Ba1 f5 17. Ng3 Qd7 18. Nh5 Re6 19. Kh1 Rh6 20. Qd1 Qe7 21. g3 Nd7 22. Qe2 g6 23. g4 {Abdul Rahman,A-Hon Kah Seng,C Buenos Aires 1978 0-1 (36)})) 8. Bxd7+ $14 {White is slightly better.} Qxd7 9. d4 {-1.13/26} (9. d3 $14 {0.37/29 keeps the upper hand.}) 9... exd4 $2 {0.70/24 [#]} (9... e4 $17 {-1.13/26 ...Nd3+ is the strong threat.} 10. O-O exf3 11. Qxf3 d5) 10. Nxd4 (10. exd4 {is interesting.} O-O 11. O-O Rae8 12. a3 Na6 13. b4) 10... O-O 11. O-O Nc6 {0.93/22} (11... Rfe8 $14 {0.42/28}) 12. e4 {0.36/26} ({White should play} 12. Nc2 $16 {0.93/22}) 12... Nxd4 13. Qxd4 Rfe8 14. Rad1 {Black must now prevent e5.} Qc6 {1.15/23} ({Better is} 14... Qg4 $14 {0.45/26}) 15. Nd5 $16 Bd8 16. f3 {0.78/28} (16. Rfe1 $18 {1.64/23 is more deadly.}) 16... Qc5 { 1.98/26} (16... a5 $16 {0.78/28}) 17. Qxc5 $18 dxc5 {[%tqu "En","","","", "b2f6","",10]} 18. Bxf6 $1 Bxf6 $2 {3.36/27 [#]} (18... gxf6 $16 {1.60/30} 19. Ne3 Be7) 19. Nxc7 Bd4+ 20. Kh1 a6 {4.62/29} (20... a5 $142 {3.27/29} 21. g3 f6 22. Nxa8 Rxa8) 21. Nxa8 Rxa8 {[%mdl 4096] Endgame KRR-KRB} 22. b4 b6 23. bxc5 bxc5 24. Rb1 g6 25. Rb6 Ra7 26. Rfb1 Kg7 27. Rb7 Ra8 28. a4 a5 29. Rd7 Bc3 30. Rbb7 Rf8 31. Rb5 Bb4 32. e5 Kg8 33. f4 Re8 34. g3 h5 35. Kg2 Kf8 36. Kf3 Re7 37. Rxe7 Kxe7 {KR-KB} 38. h3 Ke6 39. Ke4 Ke7 40. Rb6 Kd7 41. f5 {White mates.} g5 42. Rf6 Ke7 43. Kd5 h4 44. gxh4 gxh4 45. Rh6 Be1 46. Kxc5 Bf2+ 47. Kb5 Be1 48. Ra6 f6 49. e6 Bc3 50. Rxa5 Bxa5 51. Kxa5 {KP-KP} Kd6 52. Kb5 Ke5 53. c5 { [%mdl 32]} Kxf5 54. c6 Kxe6 {K3P-KPP} 55. c7 Kd7 56. Kb6 Kc8 57. a5 f5 58. a6 f4 59. a7 f3 60. a8=Q+ Kd7 61. Qxf3 Ke6 62. Qe4+ {Accuracy: White = 69%, Black = 18%.} 1-0