D03 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bg5, including Torre Attack with early ...d5 (1.d4 d5 2.Bg5 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.c3 Nf6 5.Nbd2 O-O)

Learning the names and the ECO codes of openings can be a very time consuming process. I would not recommend learning all of them, it is probably mostly waste of time. The way I learn the names, the moves and the ECO codes is by doing this blog. Over time I have learned some of them and the more games I look up openings for, the easier it is to remember these things. The problem I sometimes face is that not all the sources agree to the name of the openings, which of course adds to the confusion. Not only that but not all of the sources even have the same named openings. These things may not be all that problematic to most people, but people like me who want to organise their games based on the openings used in the games, this can be very frustrating at times. There have been times when I have needed to change some of my posts because I have found a source that recognises an opening that goes further in the line seen in the game than the source where I have looked openings for that post originally. Then there is the problem with move order that also complicates things. Luckily these days the sources I look these things up from, also understand different move orders and can therefore recognise the openings much better than before.

The reason I played 2...g6 is that I wanted to move my bishop to g7 before I developed my knight to f6 and avoid the possibility that my opponent takes on f6 and creates doubled pawns for me. The first move that I do not really agree with my opponent is 4.c3. It is a playable move, but not the kind of move I would make these days. I would have preferred to play 4.c4 and be as agressive with my moves as possible. Probably the second decision that I do not agree with my friend is the move 7.g4. It just seems a bit risky to do that. However, had my opponent castled queenside earlier than he did, then the pawn storm against my castled king would seem more appropriate. The move 7.g4 is not a bad move though, as long as White can follow it up correctly. It was something that Kojjootti unfortunately was not able to do. His next move 8.Ne5 could have lead him into some trouble, but that would have meant that I would have needed to reply with either 8...Nxe5 or with 8...Qd6. The former option being the better one. My choice to play 8...Ne4 did not accomplish what I wanted it to. The game continuation resulted in a position where I have doubled pawns on the e and c files. It is a thing that I usually try to avoid at all costs. However, in the position after 10...dxe4, the doubled pawns are not enough to give White an advantage, at least according to Stockfish's evaluation of the position. I was slightly ahead in development, so that compensated for the weak pawns for the time being.

I wanted to get rid of the doubled pawns, so when Kojjootti played 13.Qb3+, I blocked the check by placing my queen to d5. At that moment I wanted my opponent to take on d5, so that I can take back with the c-pawn, so that one of my doubled pawns would cease to exist. The move that my friend played was something that was even more favorable to me, he retreated with the queen back to d1, basically giving me a free move. This time I poorly took advantage of the free move and did not play the rook to a square where it would have actually attacked something. The correct square for the rook would have been b8. With my next move I continued the plan of improving my pawn structure with 15...c5. It also threatened to win a pawn, unless Kojjootti played something to stop that. He did not find the best reply and that meant that for a little while, I had the more favorable position. A couple of moves later I made a bad decision with 18...Bf6 and that turned the tables. Then on move 20 Kojjootti exchanged the bishops on f6, making this game even once again. I had managed to get rid of my doubled pawns and the position seemed promising to me, I was happy of the way things had gone. In order for me to win, it would still require a mistake from my opponent, which did came in the form of 26.h5. It was far from easy to me to convert the advantage into a win. Still, I was able to increase my advantage so that I should have been winning this game, unfortunately time was also working against me and I ran out of time on my 42nd move.

[Event "Live Chess"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.07.18"] [Round "?"] [White "Kojjootti"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D03"] [WhiteElo "1720"] [BlackElo "1786"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 {Queen's Pawn Game: Levitsky Attack} g6 (2... Bg4 {Queen's Pawn Game: Levitsky Attack, Welling Variation}) (2... h6 3. Bh4 c6 4. Nf3 Qb6 { Queen's Pawn Game: Levitsky Attack, Euwe Variation, Modern Line}) 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. c3 Nf6 5. Nbd2 O-O {D03 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bg5, including Torre Attack with early ...d5} 6. h3 Nc6 {N} (6... b6 7. e3 Bb7 (7... c5 8. Be2 Bb7 9. O-O Nc6 10. Re1 Rc8 11. Bf1 Re8 12. Bf4 a6 13. Ne5 Nd7 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15. dxc5 e5 16. Bg3 bxc5 17. Qa4 Qc7 18. b4 Ne7 19. Nb3 Bc6 20. Qa3 c4 21. Nc5 Bb5 22. Qb2 { Panic,M (2143)-Lampersberger,E (2114) Germany 2007 1-0 (50)}) 8. Bd3 Nbd7 9. O-O c5 10. Qb1 Rc8 11. b4 cxd4 12. cxd4 Re8 {1/2-1/2 (12) Arvai,E (2027)-Gal,H (2084) Budapest 2015}) (6... c5 7. dxc5 Qc7 8. Nb3 Na6 9. e3 Nxc5 10. Bf4 Qb6 11. Nxc5 Qxc5 12. Be5 Ne4 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. Qd4+ Qxd4 15. exd4 f6 16. Be2 Bd7 17. O-O b5 18. Rfe1 Kf7 19. Bd1 a5 20. Bb3 e6 21. a3 {Lukasiewicz,G (2385) -Socko,B (2445) Augustow 1996 0-1 (65)}) (6... c6 7. g4 Ne4 8. Bf4 c5 9. dxc5 Nxc5 10. e3 Nc6 11. Qc2 f5 12. Rg1 e5 13. Bh2 f4 14. O-O-O Qc7 15. Bg2 b5 16. Nb3 Nxb3+ 17. Qxb3 Be6 18. Ng5 Bf7 19. Nxf7 Rxf7 20. Bxd5 Bh6 21. g5 {Dubova,A (1784)-Misiuk,E (1475) Palanga 2013 1-0}) 7. g4 (7. e3 a6 {=}) 7... Re8 {=} 8. Ne5 (8. Bg2 h6 9. Bf4 h5 {=}) 8... Ne4 (8... Nxe5 {!?} 9. dxe5 Nd7 {=/+}) 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Bg2 f5 (11... Qd5 12. Be3 {=}) 12. gxf5 Bxf5 13. Qb3+ (13. Qa4 Qd5 {+/=}) 13... Qd5 {=} 14. Qd1 (14. O-O-O Qxb3 15. axb3 Reb8 {= }) 14... Rad8 (14... Rab8 15. b3 {=/+}) 15. h4 c5 16. e3 (16. dxc5 {!?} Qxc5 17. Qb3+ Kf8 18. O-O {=}) 16... cxd4 {=/+} 17. exd4 c5 {Black threatens to win material: c5xd4} (17... Rb8 {=/+}) 18. Qb3 (18. dxc5 Qxc5 19. Qb3+ Kh8 20. O-O {=}) 18... Bf6 {?? not a good decision, because now the opponent is right back in the game} (18... cxd4 19. cxd4 Bxd4 {+/-}) 19. Qxd5+ {+/-} Rxd5 20. Bxf6 ( 20. Bf1 Kg7 21. Bc4 {+/-}) 20... exf6 {=} 21. dxc5 Rxc5 {White has a new protected passed pawn: c3} 22. O-O-O Rb8 (22... Rce5 23. c4 {=}) 23. Rd6 { White threatens to win material: Rd6xf6} Kf7 24. Bf1 Be6 25. a3 f5 26. h5 {?} ( 26. Be2 {= is the best option White has}) 26... g5 {+/-} 27. Ra6 Rb7 28. h6 ( 28. Be2 f4 29. Ra4 Re5 {-+}) 28... Bb3 29. Be2 (29. Rd6 Ke7 30. Rd4 Kf6 {-+}) 29... Rd5 {-+} 30. Bh5+ (30. c4 Rc5 {-+}) 30... Ke7 31. Rg1 {?? leading to a quick end} (31. Bd1 Bxd1 32. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 33. Kxd1 Rxb2 34. Ke1 {-+}) 31... g4 32. f3 (32. c4 {is the last straw} Rd4 33. c5 {-+}) 32... exf3 33. Re1+ Kd7 ( 33... Kd8 34. Ra5 Rxa5 35. Re8+ Kd7 36. Re1 f2 37. Rf1 Rd5 38. Bf7 g3 39. Bxd5 Bxd5 40. b3 g2 41. Rd1 f1=Q 42. b4 Rc7 43. Kc2 g1=Q 44. Rxf1 Qxf1 45. a4 Qf2+ 46. Kb1 Rxc3 47. a5 Qa2#) 34. Rf6 Rb6 (34... f2 35. Rh1 Rd1+ 36. Rxd1+ Bxd1 37. Rxf5 Bf3 38. Rxf3 gxf3 39. Bg4+ Kd6 40. Bh3 Re7 41. Kd2 Re1 42. Bf1 Rxf1 43. Ke3 Rd1 44. Kxf2 Rd3 45. Kg3 Kd5 46. b4 Ke4 47. b5 Rd2 48. Kh3 Rg2 49. b6 axb6 50. a4 Rg6 51. c4 f2 52. a5 f1=Q+ 53. Kh2 Qg2#) 35. Rf7+ (35. Rxf5 {doesn't improve anything} Rxf5 36. Bxg4 Be6 37. Bxf5 Bxf5 {-+}) 35... Kc6 (35... Kd6 { seems even better} 36. Rf1 Ke5 37. Re7+ Kf6 38. Rf7+ Kg5 39. Rg7+ Kxh6 40. Bxg4 Kxg7 41. Bxf3 {-+}) 36. Rxh7 (36. Rf1 {does not help much} Rb8 37. c4 Rc5 38. Rf6+ Kc7 {-+}) 36... Kb5 (36... Rb8 {makes it even easier for Black} 37. c4 Bxc4 {-+}) 37. Rh8 (37. c4+ {is one last hope} Kxc4 38. Rc7+ Kd4 39. h7 {-+}) 37... Ka6 (37... f2 {keeps an even firmer grip} 38. Rhe8 Ka6 {-+}) 38. h7 Rb7 ( 38... Rbd6 39. Rd8 Rxd8 40. Re6+ Ka5 41. Re5 Rxe5 42. a4 Rd1#) 39. Be8 Rd6 ( 39... f2 40. Bb5+ Kxb5 41. Rf1 g3 42. c4+ Ka4 43. Rg8 Re5 44. Rxg3 Rd7 45. Rgg1 fxg1=Q 46. Rxg1 Re8 47. h8=R Rxh8 48. Kb1 Rhd8 49. Rc1 Rd1 50. c5 Rxc1+ 51. Kxc1 Rd1#) 40. Rh1 f2 (40... g3 41. Bb5+ Kxb5 42. a4+ Ka5 43. Rc8 Rxh7 44. Rc5+ Ka6 45. Rc6+ Rxc6 46. Rxh7 g2 47. Kd2 g1=Q 48. Rxa7+ Qxa7 49. c4 Qd4+ 50. Ke1 Re6+ 51. Kf1 Bxc4#) 41. Rf8 (41. Bc6 {is not much help} Rxc6 42. Rd8 Rxh7 43. Rhd1 g3 44. c4 Bxd1 45. Rxd1 g2 46. b3 f1=Q 47. a4 Qxd1+ 48. Kxd1 g1=Q+ 49. Kc2 Qf2+ 50. Kc3 Rh3+ 51. Kb4 Qc5#) 41... Rxh7 {!! Deflection: f1.} 42. Rf1 (42. Rxh7 f1=Q# {Mate attack Deflection}) 1-0