B08 Pirc Defence: Classical System (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bc4 O-O 6.h3 c6)

I am taking a look at my old over the board games this week, since there seemed to be enough never before covered opening variations to last for this week. Well, opening variations that have not seen the light of day in this blog that is. This game was played in a weekend tournament at Turku in April, 2009. The tournament consisted of four groups and I played in group D with 11 other players. The game below was played on round two and it was my first loss. I had won my first round game against a player who was rated 1643. On the next two rounds I was able to win my games again, but on the last round I suffered my second loss. With a score of 3 out of 5 I shared third place in the group, but due to tie-break I was 5th in the fianl standings of group D.

The first position of interest appeared after my opponent played 6...c6. These days I would almost always castle in that position without much thought, but in this game I chose for some reason to play 7.d5, which seems a bit premature since my king is still in its original square in the center. 7.d5 was a really bad idea and the first clear mistake of the game.

It was not the start of my downfall just yet though, because a few moves and some inaccuracies later we reached the position after 12.O-O. You can see that position below. My opponent replied with 12...Rae8 after which the position was even once again. 12...Nc5 was the best option to keep the advantage.

The next clear shift in the balance came in the position below after I had played 24.Bxc4. My opponent was slightly better in that position, but then he played 24...a4, which gave me a chance for a clear advantage. Unfortunately I did not play 25.Ba6, which meant that instead of being the one in a favorable position, I gave the favorable position to my opponent with the move 25.Ne2.

The game then went on without big mistakes until we reached the position below. It is taken after my 33rd move Nxc5. My opponent played 33...Qf8, which is a huge blunder according to Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT. The engine thinks that I am in a winning position after 33...Qf8. The correct move was 33...Qb6 and the position would have been even after that. Again I missed the strongest move, which in this case would have been 34.Ne6. The move I chose, 34.Be2 is good enough to a clear advantage, so I should have been doing quite well at this point in the game.

Two consecutive blunders changed the outcome of the game. In the position below I was on the clearly favorable side, but I went to grab the a-pawn with the knight instead of the possibly winning move 36.Ne6 and suddenly the position was more even again. Especially after my opponent played 36...Qh4. The other option to keep the equality was to play 36...Qa5.

The former option was probably better for practical reasons as it seems like the harder one to make a good move against. I was not able to find a good answer to 36...Qh4 and made the game losing move 37.Bf1. The only move that could have kept me in the game was 37.g3, all other moves were losing for me. I did play a few more moves, but had to accept my defeat after 42...Rxf7. I have added a mate in one puzzle 523, mate in two puzzles 742 & 743, a mate in three puzzle 667 and a mate in four puzzle 530 today.

[Event "TSY"] [Site "?"] [Date "2009.04.04"] [Round "2"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Raitanen, Pentti"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B08"] [WhiteElo "1676"] [BlackElo "1683"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "2009.??.??"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 {Pirc Defense: Classical Variation} 5. Bc4 (5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O Bg4 {Pirc Defense: Classical Variation, Quiet System, Parma Defense} (6... c6 {Pirc Defense: Classical Variation, Quiet System, Czech Defense}) (6... Nc6 {Pirc Defense: Classical Variation, Quiet System, Chigorin Line})) 5... O-O 6. h3 c6 {B08 Pirc Defence: Classical System} 7. d5 b5 (7... Nbd7 8. Bf4 h6 9. h4 Qa5 10. O-O Ng4 11. Qd3 Nde5 12. Bxe5 Nxe5 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. a3 b5 15. Ba2 Ba6 16. Rfd1 Qb6 17. b4 c5 18. Qe3 cxb4 19. Qxb6 axb6 20. axb4 Bxc3 21. Rab1 Bb7 22. Rd3 {Farcas,T (1001)-Didiliuc,D (1582) Calimanesti 2013 0-1 (40)}) 8. Bd3 b4 9. Ne2 Qc7 {N} (9... cxd5 10. exd5 Qa5 11. Bc4 Bb7 12. Nf4 Nbd7 13. O-O Nb6 14. Bb3 Nbxd5 15. a3 Nxf4 16. Bxf4 Qf5 17. Bd2 Ne4 18. axb4 Nxd2 19. Qxd2 Bxf3 20. gxf3 Qxh3 21. c3 Be5 22. f4 Qg4+ 23. Kh1 Bxf4 24. Qd3 {Adoamnei,R (2071)-Barbu,N (2202) Ploiesti 2002 0-1 (48)}) ( 9... cxd5 10. exd5 Bb7 11. Nf4 {+/-}) 10. c4 (10. a3 cxd5 11. exd5 Bb7 12. axb4 Nxd5 {=/+}) 10... Nbd7 (10... bxc3 11. Nxc3 cxd5 12. O-O dxe4 13. Nxe4 {+/-}) 11. Ng3 (11. a3 cxd5 12. exd5 Nc5 13. axb4 Nxd3+ 14. Qxd3 Bf5 {=}) 11... Bb7 { White has an active position} (11... Nc5 {!?} 12. Be3 cxd5 13. cxd5 Nfd7 {+/-}) 12. O-O Rae8 (12... Nc5 13. Be3 {=}) 13. Bf4 {Black has a cramped position} e5 {Black threatens to win material: e5xf4} (13... Nc5 14. Qd2 {=}) 14. Be3 { White threatens to win material: Be3xa7} a5 {Black has a cramped position} 15. Qd2 Nc5 16. Bxc5 dxc5 {Black has the pair of bishops} 17. Bc2 cxd5 {Black forks: c4+e4} 18. cxd5 {White has a new protected passed pawn: d5} Rd8 19. Bb3 {White has an active position} Ne8 20. Rac1 Nd6 {In the style of Nimzovich} 21. Qe3 {Attacking the backward pawn on c5. White threatens to win material: Qe3xc5 } Rc8 22. Nd2 Ba6 23. Nc4 (23. Bc4 Bb7 {=}) 23... Bxc4 24. Bxc4 {The bishop likes it on c4} a4 (24... f5 25. Qf3 {=/+}) 25. Ne2 (25. Ba6 {!? +/-}) 25... Qa5 ({Less advisable is} 25... Nxc4 26. Rxc4 Qd6 27. a3 {+/=}) 26. Rc2 (26. Ng3 Qd8 {=/+} (26... Nxc4 27. Rxc4 Rfe8 28. Rfc1 {+/-})) 26... Rc7 (26... f5 27. exf5 gxf5 28. Qc1 {+/-}) 27. Nc1 (27. Ng3 f5 28. exf5 gxf5 {=/+}) 27... Kh8 ( 27... f5 28. b3 {=/+}) 28. Nd3 f5 29. f3 (29. exf5 Nxf5 30. Qg5 Bh6 {=}) 29... fxe4 30. fxe4 Rxf1+ 31. Kxf1 Rf7+ (31... b3 {!? is worthy of consideration} 32. axb3 axb3 {=/+}) 32. Kg1 {+/=} Qd8 33. Nxc5 (33. Qe1 {+/=}) 33... Qf8 {??} ( 33... Qb6 {and Black hangs on} 34. Kh2 Bf8 {=}) 34. Be2 (34. Ne6 {!?} Bh6 35. Qg3 Bf4 {+-}) 34... Bh6 {+/-} 35. Qd3 Qd8 36. Nxa4 {?? forfeits the advantage} (36. Ne6 {White has a promising position} Qh4 37. Rc6 Qf2+ 38. Kh1 {+/-}) 36... Qh4 {=} 37. Bf1 {?? overlooking an easy win} (37. g3 {would be a reprieve} Qxh3 38. Nc5 {=}) 37... Qe1 38. Qa6 (38. Qe2 {does not win a prize} Qg3 39. Qd3 Be3+ 40. Kh1 Nxe4 41. Qxe3 Qxe3 42. Ba6 Qg3 43. Kg1 Nf2 44. Rc8+ Kg7 45. Rf8 Nxh3+ 46. Kh1 Kxf8 47. Nc5 Rf2 48. Ne6+ Kg8 49. Nf4 exf4 50. a3 Qxg2#) 38... Be3+ 39. Kh2 Rxf1 40. Qa8+ (40. Qxf1 {does not improve anything} Qxf1 41. Rc1 Bxc1 42. Nc5 Bf4+ 43. g3 Qf2+ 44. Kh1 Bxg3 45. a3 Qh2#) 40... Kg7 41. Rc7+ Nf7 (41... Kh6 42. Qf8+ Rxf8 43. a3 Qg1+ 44. Kg3 Bf2+ 45. Kg4 Qxg2#) 42. Rxf7+ Rxf7 (42... Rxf7 43. Qf8+ Rxf8 44. Nc5 Qg1+ 45. Kg3 Bf2+ 46. Kg4 Qxg2#) 0-1