A25 English Opening vs King's Indian with ...Nc6 but without early d3 (1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.e3)

I have decided to go through my over the board games for a change. These old games seem to be more willing to provide something new to share, in view of opening variations that is, than my latest games. The game below was played on round two in a 2nd division team match between VammSK 2 and SalSK 3. I played on board 1 for SalSK 3 at the time. This match was played on 5 boards and like you might guess from the rating difference on board 1, I faced an opponent who was nearly 400 points stronger than me, we were clearly the weaker team, in view of ratings that is. We lost the match 4 - 0, our board 5 player was the only one who managed to get a draw. Draws are not counted to the final score in these team matches.

I was able to maintain a good control in the position and it was actually my opponent, who ended up in some trouble first. In the position below my opponent played 14...h5, which is not a good idea.

The idea behind the move was to push the pawn all the way to h4 and get the h-file open. I would not have taken on h4, of course, because then my opponent could have taken back with the queen and I would have been in serious trouble. At least I am assuming that pushing the pawn to h4 was the plan, I can't say for sure, but it does seem like the plan to me. I continued with the right plan at first, but then on move 17 I played my queen to b3, which allowed my opponent to get back into the game. The blunder I made in the position below, 19.hxg4, could have meant the start for my downfall if not for the reply 19...Qb6?? It gave me an opportunity to keep the position even, but I took a step in the wrong direction instead and my opponent started to gain some advantage again.

My 20th move might have been the beginning of the end for me, but my 27th move was the one that secured a loss for me. It was positive to see that already almost eight years ago I was able create some problems for a player who was rated over 2100. The sadder part is that my playing strength has not made any significant changes for the better since those times. There have been some signs of improvement though and I do look to the future with a positive attitude. I have added mate in one puzzle 513, mate in two puzzle 729, mate in three puzzle 654 and mate in four puzzle 521 today.

[Event "2.divisioona, lohko 5"] [Site "?"] [Date "2008.10.04"] [Round "2"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Järvinen, Rauno"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A25"] [WhiteElo "1713"] [BlackElo "2108"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "2008.??.??"] 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. d3 d6 {English Opening: King's English Variation, Closed System, Full Symmetry} 6. e3 {A25 English Opening vs King's Indian with ...Nc6 but without early d3} (6. e4 {English Opening: King's English Variation, Botvinnik System}) 6... Nh6 7. Nge2 O-O 8. O-O f5 ( 8... Be6 9. h3 (9. Rb1 Qd7 10. b3 Bh3 11. e4 Bxg2 12. Kxg2 f5 13. f3 Ne7 14. b4 a6 15. a4 Nf7 16. b5 axb5 17. axb5 c5 18. Be3 g5 19. exf5 Nxf5 20. Qd2 g4 21. fxg4 Nxe3+ 22. Qxe3 Qxg4 23. Qf3 Qxf3+ {Gomez,J (2524)-Nguyen,A (2239) Ho Chi Minh City 2015 1-0 (66)}) 9... Rb8 10. Rb1 a6 11. b3 Qd7 12. Kh2 b5 13. Bb2 bxc4 14. bxc4 f5 15. Qa4 Nb4 16. Qxd7 Bxd7 17. Rfd1 e4 18. dxe4 Nxa2 19. Ba1 Nxc3 20. Nxc3 Rxb1 21. Rxb1 Bxc3 22. Bxc3 fxe4 23. Bxe4 {Petursson,M (2565) -Hjartarson,J (2570) Reykjavik 1995 1/2-1/2 (39)}) 9. Rb1 a5 {N} (9... Kh8 10. b4 (10. b3 g5 11. f4 Nf7 12. Bb2 Ne7 13. d4 gxf4 14. exf4 e4 15. d5 c5 16. Qd2 Nh6 17. Nd1 Rg8 18. Ne3 Qf8 19. b4 b6 20. bxc5 bxc5 21. Qa5 Qd8 22. Bxg7+ Kxg7 23. Qc3+ Kf7 24. h3 Rg7 {Dimitrov,V (2456)-Arnaudov,P (2226) Velingrad 2004 1-0 (60)}) 10... g5 11. Nd5 Ne7 12. b5 Ng6 13. Qa4 Bd7 14. f4 a6 15. Qb4 gxf4 16. exf4 axb5 17. cxb5 Rxa2 18. Nec3 c5 19. bxc6 Rxg2+ 20. Kxg2 Bxc6 21. Kg1 Ng4 22. h3 Nf6 23. Qc4 Nh5 24. Kh2 {Grimm-Preker,H (2220) Porz 1986 0-1 (35)}) 10. a3 {Secures b4} g5 11. f4 gxf4 12. exf4 Ng4 13. b4 axb4 14. axb4 h5 (14... Nd4 {!? +/= deserves consideration}) 15. Nd5 {+/-} Be6 16. Bd2 (16. fxe5 dxe5 17. b5 Ne7 {+/-}) 16... Nb8 (16... Ne7 {+/-}) 17. Qb3 (17. h3 Nf6 18. Ne3 {+/-} ) 17... c6 {=} 18. h3 cxd5 19. hxg4 (19. cxd5 Qb6+ 20. Kh1 {=}) 19... Qb6+ { ?? forfeits the advantage} (19... dxc4 20. dxc4 hxg4 21. fxe5 dxe5 22. Bd5 Bxd5 23. cxd5 {+/-}) 20. Kh2 (20. c5 {would keep White alive} dxc5 21. bxc5 Qxb3 22. Rxb3 {=}) 20... dxc4 {=/+} 21. dxc4 hxg4 22. Be3 (22. fxe5 dxe5 23. Be3 Qc7 { =/+}) 22... Qc7 {+/-} 23. Rbc1 (23. fxe5 Qxc4 24. Qxc4 Bxc4 {+/-}) 23... Nd7 ( 23... e4 {!?} 24. Nd4 Bxd4 25. Bxd4 b5 {-+}) 24. Bd5 Bxd5 25. cxd5 Qd8 26. Rc2 (26. fxe5 Bxe5 27. Kg1 Qe8 {+/-}) 26... Qe8 27. Kg2 {?} (27. Kg1 {+/-}) 27... exf4 {-+} 28. Nxf4 (28. gxf4 Qe4+ 29. Kg1 {-+}) 28... Qe4+ 29. Kg1 Rfc8 30. Rxc8+ Rxc8 31. Bf2 (31. Qd3 {is the last straw} Qxd3 32. Nxd3 {-+}) 31... Ne5 32. Be1 (32. Qe3 {there is nothing else anyway} Nf3+ 33. Kg2 {-+}) 32... Rc1 ( 32... Nf3+ 33. Rxf3 Qxe1+ 34. Rf1 Bd4+ 35. Kg2 Qe4+ 36. Qf3 gxf3+ 37. Kh1 Rc7 38. Kh2 Rh7+ 39. Nh3 Rxh3+ 40. Kxh3 Qg4+ 41. Kh2 Qh5#) 33. Ng2 (33. Bd2 { a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} Nf3+ 34. Qxf3 Qxf3 35. Rxc1 Bd4+ 36. Kh2 Qf2+ 37. Kh1 Qxd2 38. Rg1 Qe3 39. Rg2 Qc1+ 40. Kh2 Kf7 41. Nh5 Qh6 42. Kh1 Qxh5+ 43. Rh2 Qg5 44. Rf2 Bxf2 45. Kg2 Bd4 46. b5 Qc1 47. b6 Qg1#) 33... Nf3+ 34. Rxf3 gxf3 (34... gxf3 35. Qa2 fxg2 36. Qxg2 Rxe1+ 37. Kh2 Re2 38. Qxe2 Qxe2+ 39. Kg1 Bd4+ 40. Kh1 Qf2 41. g4 Qg1#) 0-1