B06 Modern Defence (1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bc4)

The week ends with a closer look at a 5 minute chess game. Looking at one of my blitz games seems appropriate, considering that I am going to play roughly 50 5 minute games over the weekend. In the post I am going to do on Monday, I will type more about the tournament I am going to participate in. Or rather have participated in by that point in time. Since most of the weekend is consumed by the tournament, I will not have as much time to prepare for the next week as I would normally have, but as I have done some preparations for next week before the weekend, the content might appear normally in this blog and at my Youtube channel next week.

Now for the game below. This game was part of a hundred game practise match that I played against a friend of mine. The move order played in this game differs a bit from the theoretical move order for this opening variation. The theoretical move order is 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Nf3 c6. I usually play a certain line as long as it seems to be working and I am not bored of it. I think I have tried something else on my 5th move other than Bc4, but I felt that it worked against my opponent, so I kept playing it during this match. I mean I am fairly certain that I reached the position after 5.Bc4 a few times during these hundred games. I have not actually gone through all of the games yet, so I can't be 100% sure of the openings played in them. The purpose of the reply 5...h6 is obviously to prevent the move Ng5. The problem with it is that it makes castling kingside somewhat difficult if I can form a battery with my bishop and queen towards h6 before my opponent can castle. A better idea would have been to play 5...Nf6 and follow it up by 6...O-O. The problems that my friend faced in this game started already on move 5. Those problems became even worse when Kojjootti played 12...Nf6 because it would have allowed me to take on e5 with my knight. Kojjootti could not have taken the knight with the queen due to Qd8#. Unfortunately for me, I did not think of that possibility during the game, however, my move 13.Qd6 was reasonably strong too. Things looked very dire for Kojjootti for most of the game, but near the end I gave two chances for my friend to even the game. Both were unintentional bad moves from me. The moves 37.f3 and 38.gxf3 allowed my opponent to take on d5 with the knight in a way that I could not take back because of Be3+ and I would have needed to accept the loss of a rook. Because Kojjootti did not take his chances, I was able to maintain a position that was completely winning for me. I have added mate in two puzzles 718, 719 & 720 and mate in four puzzles 515 & 516 today.

[Event "Live Chess"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.07.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Kojjootti"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B06"] [WhiteElo "1821"] [BlackElo "1697"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "79"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Nc3 c6 {Modern Defense: Two Knights Variation, Suttles Variation} 5. Bc4 {B06 Modern Defence} (5. Bg5 Qb6 6. Qd2 Qxb2 { Modern Defense: Two Knights Variation, Suttles Variation, Tal Gambit}) 5... h6 (5... Nh6 6. h3 b5 7. Nxb5 d5 8. Bb3 dxe4 9. Ne5 cxb5 10. Bxh6 Bxh6 11. Nxf7 Qa5+ 12. c3 Bg7 13. Nxh8 e6 14. Qg4 Qb6 15. Nxg6 hxg6 16. Qxe4 Nc6 17. O-O { 1-0 (17) Link,M (2290) -Haessler,C (2235) Schwaebisch Gmuend 1994}) 6. O-O { Black has a cramped position} (6. h3 b5 7. Bd3 a6 8. a3 Qc7 9. Be3 Bb7 10. O-O Nd7 11. Ne2 c5 12. c3 c4 13. Bc2 e6 14. Ng3 Ne7 15. Qd2 e5 16. Rad1 O-O-O 17. a4 exd4 18. Nxd4 Bxd4 19. Bxd4 Rh7 20. axb5 axb5 {Steer,J (1923)-Di Giovanni,V (1790) Budapest 2014 1-0 (38)}) 6... Nd7 {N Black should quickly conclude development.} (6... Bg4 7. h3 Bd7 8. Bf4 g5 9. Be3 g4 10. hxg4 Bxg4 11. Be2 Qc7 12. Nh2 h5 13. Nxg4 hxg4 14. Bxg4 Nd7 15. d5 Bxc3 16. bxc3 Ngf6 17. Bxd7+ Kxd7 18. f3 c5 19. Qe2 Rag8 20. Rab1 Nh5 21. Qb5+ {Wasserman,L (1494)-Sauddin,R Winnipeg 2008 0-1 (40)}) 7. Bb3 Qc7 8. Re1 e5 {Black has a cramped position. Black's piece can't move: c8} 9. Be3 Ne7 (9... Ngf6 10. Nh4 {±}) 10. Qd2 a6 ( 10... g5 11. Rad1 {±}) 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Rad1 Nf6 {?? Black falls apart} ( 12... b5 {!?} 13. a3 {±}) 13. Qd6 (13. Nxe5 {and White has it in the bag} Be6 14. Bf4 {+-}) 13... Qxd6 (13... Nfd5 14. Qxc7 Nxc7 15. Na4 {+-}) 14. Rxd6 Ng4 { ?} (14... Nd7 {+-}) 15. Red1 (15. Bc5 {!? keeps an even firmer grip} O-O 16. Na4 a5 {+-}) 15... O-O 16. Bb6 (16. Bc5 {might be the shorter path} b6 17. Bxb6 Nf6 {+-}) 16... h5 (16... Nf6 17. Bd8 (17. Nxe5 {?!} Nxe4 18. Nxc6 Nxc6 19. Nxe4 a5 {+-}) 17... Re8 18. Nxe5 {+-}) 17. h3 Nh6 (17... Nf6 {doesn't change anything anymore} 18. Bc5 b6 19. Bxb6 {+-}) 18. Rd8 (18. Na4 {!? makes it even easier for White} a5 {+-}) 18... Bf6 19. Bc5 Be6 (19... g5 {does not improve anything} 20. Nxe5 $1 {Deflection: e7} b6 21. Rxf8+ Kxf8 22. Bd6 Bxe5 23. Bxe5 {+-}) 20. Rxa8 Rxa8 21. Bxe6 fxe6 22. Bxe7 (22. Rd7 {!? keeps an even firmer grip} Kf8 {+-}) 22... Bxe7 23. Nxe5 (23. Rd7 {might be the shorter path} Bf6 24. Rxb7 Nf7 {+-}) 23... g5 (23... Rd8 24. Rxd8+ Bxd8 25. Nxg6 {+-}) 24. Rd7 Kf8 (24... Bf6 25. Nd3 Rb8 {+-}) 25. Rxb7 (25. Ng6+ {and White can already relax} Kg7 26. Nxe7 Rf8 27. Nf5+ Kg6 28. Nxh6 Kxh6 29. Rxb7 Rd8 {+-}) 25... g4 (25... Ng8 {+- the last chance for counterplay}) 26. hxg4 (26. Ng6+ {makes it even easier for White} Kg7 27. Nxe7 Nf7 28. Nxc6 Kg6 {+-}) 26... hxg4 (26... Ke8 {is no salvation} 27. Ng6 Bc5 28. Na4 {+-}) 27. Nxc6 (27. Ng6+ {and White has reached his goal} Kg7 28. Nxe7 {+-}) 27... Bf6 28. Ne2 (28. e5 {seems even better} Bh8 29. Na4 Rc8 {+-}) 28... Rc8 (28... Nf7 {cannot undo what has already been done} 29. Nf4 Nd6 30. Nxe6+ Kg8 31. Rb4 {+-}) 29. Ncd4 Re8 (29... Rc4 {does not save the day} 30. c3 (30. Nxe6+ Kg8 {+-}) 30... Bxd4 31. Nxd4 {+- } (31. cxd4 e5 {+-})) 30. Rb6 Kf7 31. Rxa6 e5 (31... g3 {does not solve anything} 32. f4 (32. fxg3 Rd8 33. Ra7+ Ke8 34. Nxe6 Rd2 {+-}) 32... e5 33. fxe5 Rxe5 34. Nxg3 {+-}) 32. Nb3 (32. Nc6 {might be the shorter path} Bg5 {+-}) 32... Rd8 (32... Rc8 {doesn't do any good} 33. Nc3 {+-}) 33. Nc3 Bg5 34. Nd5 Ng8 (34... Rc8 {is not much help} 35. c3 g3 36. Ra7+ Kf8 37. f3 {+-}) 35. Ra7+ Kg6 (35... Ne7 {does not help much} 36. Nc5 {+-}) 36. c4 (36. Nc5 {keeps an even firmer grip} Re8 37. Nd7 Ne7 38. Ra6+ Kg7 {+-}) 36... Nf6 37. f3 (37. Ra6 {seems even better} Kf7 38. Nc5 Bh4 {+-}) 37... gxf3 {?? gives away a clear win } (37... Nxd5 38. Ra6+ Nf6 39. Kf2 {=}) 38. gxf3 (38. Ra6 {and White can already relax} fxg2 39. Kxg2 Rb8 {+-}) 38... Rh8 {?? stumbles just before the finish line} (38... Nxd5 {would save the game} 39. Ra6+ Nf6 {=}) 39. Kg2 (39. Ne7+ {makes it even easier for White} Kh5 40. Kf2 Re8 {+-}) 39... Rh4 (39... Nxd5 {there is nothing better in the position} 40. exd5 Kf5 41. Rf7+ Kg6 {+-}) 40. Nxf6 (40. Nxf6 Kxf6 41. Ra6+ Kf7 42. Nc5 {+-}) 1-0