B14 Caro-Kann: Panov-Botvinnik Attack with 5...e6 and 5...g6 (1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.d4 cxd4 5.exd4 Nf6 6.Nf3 d5)

This is one of those opening variations where the name for it depends on the source you are looking it up from. The name I chose is the one that lichess.org uses. If you look this up using the Chess.com openings explorer, then the name is Modern Defense: Pterodactyl, Quiet Line. Interestingly enough they have removed the ECO codes from the opening names on the new version of Chess.com, which means that I have no longer any use for it... It was a very useful tool for me in the past and now it is completely useless. I even made a bug report of it, to which I got a quite quick reply to and the person who replied seemed to agree with my point, but because that person was not the one who can make such chances, only to pass the information to someone who can change it, it has not changed to the useful tool that it was yet. I am starting to think it never will. When I use the analysis board at lichess.org, it can detect the name of the opening, whether or not the moves are made in the theoretical order. That is a feature I like a lot. However, I do not think there is a way to check the theoretical move order anywhere at lichess. If there is and you know how to find it, please leave a comment. It is probably the only complaint that I can think of about the site, because for a site that offers you all of its features for free, is really awesome. The theoretical move order is 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.e3.

Now for the game below. I am going to take a look at some of the key moments of the game and then you may look through the whole game using the game viewer provided by Chess.com. The position below is taken after my opponent castled on move 13. Usually castling is a good thing, but sometimes it is a very bad move, like it was in this game. Actually there have been many times in my games where playing either O-O or O-O-O has been a bad move and you may see examples of that in some of the games that I have already shared. The best option for my opponent would have been to play 13.c5 and not allow me to take on c4. After 13.c5 my bishop on e6 would have been a bad piece.

Taking on c4 with the d-pawn was the only way of taking advantage of the mistake of my opponent. My 13th move dxc4 was replied with 14.Nxc4, which could have been the losing move if not for my horrible reply 14...Qc7. The correct move was 14...Bxc4, which I did not play because I wanted to keep my bishop pair. I should have realised that the bishop on e6 is not at all a good piece and trading it to the more active knight would have been a good idea. These days I am not as afraid to give up the bishop pair if the position requires it. I still prefer to have the bishop pair over the pair of knights though. Moving my queen to c7 was just too passive. However, I still was on the better side of things after my 14th move, but only slightly. The next position of interest is after White's 17th move f5.

The idea behind the move 17.f5 is to open some lines for the rook and for the dark-squared bishop. The problem was that the move does not tactically work and I could have won a pawn by taking on d4. In the line that you can see in notation, White can't take the bishop on c4 on move 21 due to Qb6+. I did not see that possibility during the game, but my response to 17.f5 was also clearly favorable for me. Then after 20.Qe1 we reached this next position. I went for the right idea in the wrong way. I played 20...Qb6 in order to put more pressure towards the pawn on d4. The problem with the move I chose is that Nc2 is possible and my opponent may be able fight for a draw. Had I played Be4, it would have still accomplished putting more pressure towards the pawn on d4, but it would have also prevented the move Nc2 defending the pawn.

My opponent did not go for the right defense and made a huge blunder instead with the move 21.Rf4, which is a good candidate for a losing move, but it turned out later in the game that I had to make things a lot harder for me than they should have been. Everything went quite well for me until we reached the position below. This position is taken after my opponent played 30.Qg5. There was a lot of things to think about and I decided to offer a trade of queens by playing Qf6. It is a rather desperate looking move to try and make the game easier for me to play. Unfortunately 30...Qf6 handed over the advantage to my opponent and then it was me who tried to even things up.

My opponent played 31.Qc5, threatening both my knight and rook at the same time, both pieces were undefended. There was no good way to defend against the threats, but I tried my best and played 31...Nc6. Had my opponent just played 32.Qxc6, I would have been on my way to a loss. However, my opponent played 32.d5 instead, turning the tables for the last time during this game. Until Monday, my fellow chess enthusiasts!

[Event "TuTS"] [Site "Samppalinnan koulu"] [Date "2008.11.29"] [Round "3"] [White "Vannassalo, Seppo"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B14"] [WhiteElo "1795"] [BlackElo "1783"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "108"] [EventDate "2008.??.??"] 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. d4 {A40 Pterodactyl Defense: Queen Pterodactyl, Quiet Line} cxd4 5. exd4 Nf6 6. Nf3 d5 {B14 Caro-Kann: Panov-Botvinnik Attack with 5...e6 and 5...g6} 7. Ne5 O-O 8. Be3 (8. f3 Nc6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. b3 Ba6 11. Be3 Qa5 12. Qd2 Rfe8 13. Na4 Qxd2+ 14. Kxd2 dxc4 15. bxc4 e5 16. Nc5 exd4 17. Bf2 Bc8 18. Bd3 Nd7 19. Nb3 c5 20. Rhe1 Ba6 21. Rxe8+ Rxe8 22. Re1 Rxe1 { Nagy,Z (1705)-Martonosi,A (1769) Hungary 2015 0-1 (58)}) 8... Nc6 (8... Nbd7 9. cxd5 Nb6 10. Qb3 a5 11. Bc4 a4 12. Qb5 Bf5 13. O-O Ne4 14. Rfd1 Nd6 15. Qb4 f6 16. Be2 fxe5 17. dxe5 Ndc8 18. g4 Bd7 19. e6 Be8 20. d6 exd6 21. e7 Qxe7 22. Bxb6 Nxb6 23. Qxb6 {Heinemann,J (2003)-Rozov,B (2152) Dresden 2013 0-1 (52)}) 9. Be2 Be6 {N White has a very active position} (9... dxc4 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Bxc4 Bg4 12. f3 Bf5 13. Qd2 Nd5 14. Rd1 Nxe3 15. Qxe3 Qb6 16. Rd2 e5 17. Ne4 exd4 18. Qb3 Qa5 19. Kd1 Qc7 20. Nc5 Rab8 21. Qa3 Qf4 22. Re2 Bh6 23. b3 d3 24. Nxd3 {Martin,L (1960)-Alpern,A (2187) Mar del Plata 2008 0-1}) 10. b3 {White has an active position} Rc8 (10... Qa5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Qd2 {=/+}) 11. f4 (11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. c5 Ne4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 {=}) 11... Qa5 {=/+} 12. Qd2 Rfd8 (12... dxc4 13. bxc4 Ne8 {=/+}) 13. O-O (13. c5 {= and White hangs on}) 13... dxc4 { +/-} 14. Nxc4 {?} (14. bxc4 Nd7 15. Nxc6 Rxc6 16. Ne4 {+/-}) 14... Qc7 { ?? simply marches past the door to victory} (14... Bxc4 {nails it down} 15. bxc4 Nxd4 16. Bxd4 Ne4 17. Nxe4 Bxd4+ 18. Kh1 Qxd2 19. Nxd2 Bxa1 {-+}) 15. Rad1 Nd5 16. Nxd5 Bxd5 {The bishop likes it on d5} 17. f5 (17. Ne5 e6 {=/+}) 17... b5 (17... Nxd4 18. fxg6 hxg6 19. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 20. Qxd4 Bxc4 21. Qf2 Rxd1 22. Rxd1 Bxe2 23. Qxe2 {+/-}) 18. Na3 a6 19. fxg6 hxg6 (19... fxg6 {?!} 20. Bg4 e6 21. Nc2 {=}) 20. Qe1 (20. Nc2 {+/-}) 20... Qb6 (20... Be4 21. Qf2 e5 22. dxe5 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Bxe5 {-+}) 21. Rf4 {??} (21. Nc2 {=/+ the rescuing straw}) 21... Bh6 { -+} 22. Bg4 (22. Qf2 {there is nothing else anyway} Bxf4 23. Bxf4 {-+}) 22... Bxf4 23. Bxf4 Ra8 (23... Nxd4 {makes sure everything is clear} 24. Kh1 Be6 25. Bxe6 Nxe6 {-+}) 24. Qg3 {?! offers little resistance} (24. Nc2 f5 25. Bf3 Nxd4 26. Rxd4 Bxf3 {-+}) 24... Ra7 (24... Nxd4 {!? might be the shorter path} 25. Be3 Be4 26. Kh1 {-+}) 25. h4 (25. h3 Nxd4 26. Be3 Be4 {-+}) 25... Be4 (25... e5 {makes it even easier for Black} 26. Bg5 Re8 27. Qf2 exd4 28. Nb1 {-+}) 26. Be3 Rd5 (26... Qc7 27. Bf4 e5 28. dxe5 Rxd1+ 29. Bxd1 {-+}) 27. h5 (27. Rc1 Ra8 ( 27... Nxd4 {?!} 28. Rc8+ Rd8 29. Rxd8+ Qxd8 30. Qe5 {=}) (27... Rxd4 {?!} 28. Qf2 {=/+}) 28. Nb1 Bxb1 {-+} (28... Nxd4 {?!} 29. Nc3 Rad8 30. Nxe4 {=}) (28... Rxd4 29. Nc3 Rd3 30. Kf2 Rxe3 31. Qxe3 Qxe3+ 32. Kxe3 Bxg2 33. Rg1 {+/-})) 27... Nb4 (27... Nxd4 28. Qf4 f5 29. Rxd4 Rxd4 30. Nc2 {-+}) 28. hxg6 {?} (28. Nb1 Bxb1 (28... Nxa2 {?!} 29. Nd2 Bd3 30. Bf3 {=/+}) 29. Rxb1 Nc2 {+/-} (29... Nxa2 {?!} 30. Rf1 Nc3 31. hxg6 Qxg6 32. Qb8+ Kg7 33. Bh3 Ne2+ 34. Kf2 {=})) 28... Bxg6 (28... Qxg6 {and Black has it in the bag} 29. Re1 f5 30. Qb8+ Kf7 { -+}) 29. Bf3 (29. Rc1 Ra8 (29... Nxa2 {?? the pawn is something Black will choke on} 30. Rc8+ Kg7 31. Nc2 {+-}) 30. Bf3 Rad8 31. Bxd5 Nxd5 {+/-} (31... Rxd5 {?!} 32. Rc8+ Rd8 33. d5 {=})) 29... Rd8 30. Qg5 Qf6 {?? letting the wind out of his own sails} (30... Rad7 31. d5 Qf6 32. Qxf6 exf6 {+/-}) 31. Qc5 {+/-} Nc6 32. d5 {?? an unfortunate move that relinquishes the win} (32. Qxc6 { the advantage is on the side of White} Qxc6 33. Bxc6 {+-}) 32... Rad7 {-+} 33. Rf1 Ne5 34. Bg4 (34. Nc2 Nxf3+ 35. Rxf3 {-+}) 34... Qd6 (34... Nxg4 {and Black has triumphed} 35. Rxf6 exf6 {-+} (35... Nxf6 {?!} 36. Nc2 {-+})) 35. Bxd7 {+/- } Qxd7 (35... Nxd7 {?!} 36. Qxd6 exd6 37. Nb1 {=/+}) 36. Rd1 {?? another bit of territory lost} (36. Nc2 Bxc2 37. Qxc2 Qxd5 {+/-}) 36... Nd3 (36... Qg4 37. Rd2 Nf3+ 38. Kf2 Nxd2 39. Bxd2 {-+}) 37. Qc6 {?? a blunder in a bad position} ( 37. Qd4 Qf5 38. Rf1 Qxd5 39. Qxd5 Rxd5 {+/-}) 37... Qxc6 (37... Qg4 {and Black can celebrate victory} 38. Rxd3 Bxd3 {-+}) 38. dxc6 {+/-} Rc8 39. Nc2 Rxc6 40. Nd4 Rd6 41. Ra1 Be4 42. Ne2 (42. Nf3 {!? +/-}) 42... Rg6 {-+} 43. g3 Bf3 { Black threatens to win material: Bf3xe2} (43... f5 {-+}) 44. Kf1 {??} (44. Nf4 {was a good chance to save the game} Rh6 45. Nxd3 Rh1+ 46. Kf2 Rxa1 47. Kxf3 Rxa2 48. b4 {=/+}) 44... Re6 {-+} 45. a4 (45. Nf4 {does not help much} Rxe3 46. Nxd3 Rxd3 {-+}) 45... Rxe3 46. Nd4 b4 47. Nf5 Re5 48. g4 (48. Nd4 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} Bd5 {-+}) 48... Kh7 49. Nd4 (49. Ng3 {-+ otherwise it's curtains at once}) 49... Bxg4 50. Kg2 Kg6 51. Ra2 Re4 52. Nf3 Bxf3+ 53. Kxf3 f5 54. Rc2 Ne1+ (54... Ne1+ 55. Kg3 Nxc2 56. a5 Re2 57. Kf3 Nd4+ 58. Kf4 e5+ 59. Kg3 Kg5 60. Kh3 Kf4 61. Kh4 Rh2#) 0-1