B20 Sicilian: Unusual White 2nd moves (1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.d4 e6)

The game I am sharing today was played at Loimaa in a weekend tournament that was held there in February 2010. This game is from the 4th round and this was my second win in a row. On the first two rounds I lost my games, so after a rough start things were looking up again. On the last round I suffered another loss and it meant that I only managed to get 2 points out of the possible 5. I have not been one to like gambits, but when I am able to refute them, I feel quite happy. I will only go through some moments of this game and you can then view the full game with the game viewer. The first position I am going to take a look at arised after my fourth move 4...Nf6. In the position below my opponent played 5.f4, which is a first real mistake of this game. 5.c4 was a better alternative.

Then just a couple of moves later I played 7...Qa5 in the position below, briefly bringing the game into balance, or at least close to it. My opponent replied with 8.Nd2, making his position clearly worse again. 8.Ne2 was the better choice. I continued with 8...Be7, which is only good enough for a small advantage, 8...b3 was the right way to go and I would have been clearly better, had I chosen to play that move.

When we reached the position below, all of my advantage was almost gone. It was my move and I played 28...Na3, after which there was nothing left of my advantage.

It did not take long, however, until my opponent made the blunder that lost the game. In the position below my opponent played the horrible 30.Ng3, after which the game is lost for White. The correct move was 30.Rc1. To the move played in the game I replied with the strongest move 30...Rc3.

The game was not even close to being over just yet, because the game ended to my opponent's resignation after 51...Kf8. I have added a mate in two puzzle 744, mate in three puzzles 668 & 669 and mate in four puzzles 531 & 532 today.

[Event "LoimSK"] [Site "?"] [Date "2010.02.07"] [Round "4"] [White "Tammi, Tauno"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B20"] [WhiteElo "1723"] [BlackElo "1763"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "102"] [EventDate "2010.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. b4 {Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit} cxb4 3. d4 (3. a3 bxa3 { Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit, Carlsbad Variation}) (3. Bb2 {Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit, Abrahams Variation}) 3... e6 {B20 Sicilian: Unusual White 2nd moves} 4. Bd3 Nf6 (4... g6 5. h4 Nc6 6. Ne2 Bg7 7. e5 d6 8. f4 h5 9. Nd2 Nh6 10. Nc4 Bf8 11. exd6 Bxd6 12. Bb2 Ne7 13. Qd2 a6 14. Ng3 Rh7 15. Ne4 Nef5 16. Ng5 Rh8 17. d5 Rg8 18. dxe6 Bxe6 19. O-O-O {Khorganov,V (2075)-Osokin,V Barnaul 2013 1-0 (36)}) 5. f4 {N Black's piece can't move: c8} (5. Ne2 Be7 6. a3 Nc6 7. O-O O-O 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. e5 Be7 11. Be4 d5 12. Bd3 bxa3 13. c3 Bd7 14. Nxa3 a6 15. f4 b5 16. Nc2 Qb6 17. Kh1 Na5 18. Ne3 Nc4 19. Bxc4 dxc4 {Gluchaciov,N-Januseviciute,D (1800) Klaipeda 2010 1-0 (35)}) (5. a3 d5 6. Nd2 dxe4 7. Nxe4 Nxe4 8. Bxe4 Nc6 9. Nf3 Be7 10. h4 Qa5 11. Bd2 Nxd4 12. axb4 Nxf3+ 13. gxf3 Qe5 14. Ra5 Qc7 15. f4 b6 16. Re5 Bb7 17. Rg1 Bf6 18. Bxb7 Qxb7 19. Re3 O-O-O {Vogiatzis,D (2033)-Struk, J (2266) Fuerth 2001 0-1}) (5. Nd2 d5 6. e5 Nfd7 7. f4 Nc6 8. Ne2 g6 9. h4 h5 10. Nf3 Nb6 11. Ng5 Nc4 12. g4 hxg4 13. h5 gxh5 14. Ng3 Nxd4 15. Nxh5 Rxh5 16. Rxh5 Nf3+ 17. Nxf3 gxf3 18. Qxf3 Qc7 19. Qg3 Bd7 {Lauren,M (2210)-Funck,K Finland 1997 1-0}) (5. c4 {!? =}) 5... Nc6 { Black threatens to win material: Nc6xd4} 6. Be3 d6 7. Qf3 Qa5 (7... e5 8. fxe5 dxe5 9. d5 {+/-}) 8. Nd2 (8. Ne2 d5 9. e5 Ne4 {=}) 8... Be7 (8... b3 9. Ne2 Nb4 10. O-O bxc2 11. Bc4 {+/-}) 9. Nb3 (9. Ne2 Qh5 {=/+}) 9... Qh5 10. Qxh5 Nxh5 11. Nf3 (11. g4 Nf6 12. g5 Nd7 {=/+}) 11... Nf6 {+/-} 12. h3 b6 13. g4 Bb7 ( 13... d5 14. e5 Ne4 15. Nbd2 {+/-}) 14. g5 {White threatens to win material: g5xf6} Nd7 15. Kf2 {White loses the right to castle} Na5 {Black has a cramped position} 16. Nbd2 (16. Nxa5 bxa5 17. a3 O-O {=/+}) 16... Rc8 (16... d5 17. h4 {+/-}) 17. Rab1 (17. a3 {!? should not be overlooked} bxa3 18. Rxa3 {=/+}) 17... d5 {+/-} 18. e5 Nb8 19. f5 exf5 20. Bxf5 Rd8 (20... Rc3 21. h4 {+/-}) 21. h4 Bc8 {Black threatens to win material: Bc8xf5} 22. Bd3 Be6 {Blocks the pawn on e5} 23. Nf1 Rc8 24. Ng3 {Black has a cramped position} Nc4 {White has a very active position. Menacing} 25. Bc1 Nc6 {White has an active position} 26. Nf5 {White threatens to win material: Nf5xg7} Bf8 27. Bf4 N6a5 (27... a5 28. h5 Kd7 29. g6 fxg6 30. hxg6 {=/+}) 28. h5 {= Black has a cramped position} Na3 { Attacks the backward pawn on c2. Black threatens to win material: Na3xb1. Black forks: c2+b1} 29. Rbg1 Nxc2 {Black has a cramped position.} (29... Rc3 30. Ne3 N5c4 {=/+}) 30. Ng3 {?? there were better ways to keep up the pressure} (30. Rc1 {would keep White in the game} b3 31. axb3 {=}) 30... Rc3 {-+} 31. Ke2 {?? terrible, but what else could White do to save the game?} (31. Rd1 Bg4 32. Ne2 {-+}) 31... Bg4 32. Bxc2 (32. Kd2 {doesn't do any good} Bxf3 33. Bxc2 Nc4+ 34. Kc1 Bxh1 35. Rxh1 Na3 {-+}) 32... Bxf3+ (32... Rxc2+ {!? and Black can already relax} 33. Bd2 Bxf3+ 34. Kxf3 Rxd2 35. Ra1 Rd3+ 36. Kf2 Rxd4 37. Rad1 { -+}) 33. Kf2 Bxh1 34. Ba4+ Kd8 35. Rxh1 Ra3 36. Bb5 Rxa2+ 37. Kf3 (37. Ne2 { cannot change what is in store for White} b3 38. Rb1 Bb4 {-+}) 37... b3 38. Bd3 (38. Rb1 {does not solve anything} b2 39. Ke2 Nc4 40. Bxc4 dxc4 {-+}) 38... b2 39. Bb1 (39. Rd1 {is not the saving move} Ra1 40. Ke2 Nb3 {-+}) 39... Ra1 40. Bd2 (40. Bd3 {does not help much} Nc4 {-+}) 40... Nc4 41. Bc3 (41. Ke2 { cannot undo what has already been done} Na3 42. Bc3 Rxb1 43. Rxb1 Nxb1 44. Bxb2 Kd7 {-+}) 41... Ba3 (41... Ra3 {secures the win} 42. Ne2 Bb4 43. h6 gxh6 44. Kg4 Bxc3 45. Kf5 hxg5 46. Kf6 {-+}) 42. Kg4 Be7 43. Bd3 Rxh1 44. Nxh1 Ba3 45. Ng3 (45. Nf2 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} g6 {-+}) 45... g6 46. Ne2 (46. Kf3 {is not much help} Kd7 {-+}) 46... Kd7 47. Be1 (47. Nf4 {is no salvation} Kc6 {-+}) 47... Rc8 48. Nf4 (48. Kf3 {-+ there is nothing better in the position}) 48... Ne3+ 49. Kf3 Nc2 50. Bb5+ Ke7 51. Nxd5+ Kf8 (51... Kf8 52. Bc3 b1=Q 53. Ba6 Qh1+ 54. Ke2 Rxc3 55. Nxc3 Bc1 56. d5 Qg2+ 57. Kd3 Qd2+ 58. Kc4 Qd4+ 59. Kb3 Na1+ 60. Ka2 Qd2+ 61. Kxa1 Qb2#) 0-1