C89 Closed Spanish Game: Marshall Attack (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Be7 7.Re1 O-O 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d4 Bd6)

This game was played at lichess.org on August 28th, 2016. This game has appeared also on my Youtube channel. There I posted the game on August 29th. In this post I offer a deeper look at the game that I could offer in the video. This was my first chess game that I played at lichess and this turned out to be a really promising start. We followed a theoretical path up to the move 13.Re1, but then my opponent played a move I had not seen played before in that position. While 13...Qf6 is not really a bad move, 13...Qh4 is a better option. I played 14.Be3 in order to get the bishop out of the way, so I could develop my knight to d2. The position below is taken after I played my 14th move.

My 14th move is not actually the best move and the position became roughly even with that move. I like to develope my pieces as soon as possible, so Be3 seemed like the way to go, even though it can give up the bishop pair. Actually my opponent did not take the bishop, but instead played 14...Bf4, a move that started the downfall for joachimmueller. I did not really understand that move during the game and it is hard for me to see the idea behind it. I guess taking on e3 and pressuring the e-pawn was the idea, but it can't be accomplished so easily. I played 15.Nd2 in response and while it may not be the most accurate move, it was good enough to secure a clear advantage for me. My opponent's next move was the final nail in the coffin. 15...Qg6 is horrible because I end up at least two pawns up and after that I am clearly in a winning position. In the game my opponent sacrificed a whole piece in desperation, but did not get any counterplay because of it, so the game was basically over after that. I have added mate in one puzzles 526 & 527 and mate in two puzzles 747 - 749 today.

[Event "Rated game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/b13QB4wq"] [Date "2016.08.28"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "joachimmueller"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C89"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1878"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "70"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d4 {Spanish Game: Marshall Attack, Main Line} Bd6 {C89 Closed Spanish Game: Marshall Attack} 13. Re1 Qf6 { N} (13... Qh4 14. h3 Bxh3 15. Qf3 (15. Bxd5 cxd5 16. gxh3 Qxh3 17. Re3 Bh2+ 18. Kh1 Bg3+ 19. Kg1 Qh2+ 20. Kf1 Qxf2# {0-1 (20) Prozorov,P-Guliev,G (2053) St Petersburg 2015}) 15... Bg4 16. g3 Bxf3 17. gxh4 Rae8 18. Be3 Re4 19. Nd2 Rg4+ 20. Kf1 Bg2+ 21. Ke2 Re8 22. Kd3 Nxe3 23. fxe3 Rxh4 24. a4 Rh3 25. axb5 axb5 26. Ra7 Be7 27. Re2 Bd5 28. c4 {Carter, G-Gee,J Sacramento 1944 0-1 (37)}) ( 13... Qc7 14. h3 Bf5 15. Nd2 Rae8 16. Rxe8 Rxe8 17. Nf1 Qd7 18. Bc2 Bxc2 19. Qxc2 Re6 20. Bd2 Rg6 21. Re1 f5 22. Nh2 Nf6 23. Nf3 Ne4 24. c4 Bc7 25. cxb5 axb5 26. Bb4 Qd5 27. Re3 Bf4 28. Ra3 {Ader Hausman,W-Stekel Grunberg,M Santiago de Chile 1959 1/2-1/2 (73)}) (13... Qh4 14. g3 Qh3 15. Be3 Bg4 16. Qd3 Rae8 17. Nd2 Re6 18. a4 Qh5 {Spanish Game: Marshall, Main Line, Spassky Variation}) 14. Be3 (14. Nd2 Bf5 15. Nf3 {+/=}) 14... Bf4 {?} (14... Nxe3 { !? is an interesting alternative} 15. Rxe3 c5 {=}) 15. Nd2 (15. Bxd5 cxd5 16. Bxf4 Qxf4 17. a3 {+/-}) 15... Qg6 {?} (15... Bc7 {+/-}) 16. Bxd5 {+-} Bxe3 17. Be4 (17. fxe3 {?!} cxd5 18. Nb3 Bg4 {+/-}) 17... Bxf2+ {?? Black falls apart} ( 17... f5 18. Rxe3 fxe4 19. Nxe4 Be6 {+-}) 18. Kxf2 f5 (18... Bf5 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 19. Qb1 Bxe4 20. Qxe4 (20. Rxe4 c5 {+-}) 20... Qf6+ 21. Nf3 {+-}) 19. Bc2 Qh6 (19... a5 {doesn't change anything anymore} 20. Re7 {+-}) 20. Nf3 f4 21. Re5 Bg4 22. h3 Bxf3 (22... Bh5 {does not win a prize} 23. Kg1 {+-}) 23. Qxf3 Qh4+ 24. Kg1 Rf6 (24... g6 {is not much help} 25. Bb3+ Kg7 26. Rf1 {+-}) 25. Rae1 Raf8 (25... Rc8 {is one last hope} 26. Re8+ Rf8 27. Bb3+ Kh8 28. Rxf8+ Rxf8 {+-}) 26. Re8 Qg3 27. Rxf8+ (27. Qe4 Qg6 28. Bb3+ Kh8 29. Qe7 Qxe8 30. Qxe8 f3 31. Re7 h6 32. Qd7 fxg2 33. Rxg7 Rf1+ 34. Kxg2 R1f2+ 35. Kg3 R2f3+ 36. Kh4 R3f4+ 37. Kh5 R4f5+ 38. Kxh6 R8f6+ 39. Rg6 Rxg6+ 40. Kxg6 Rg5+ 41. Kxg5 b4 42. Qe8+ Kg7 43. Qg8#) 27... Rxf8 28. Qxg3 (28. Qe4 {and White wins} Qh4 29. Qe6+ Kh8 {+-}) 28... fxg3 29. Re2 (29. Re3 {+- might be the shorter path}) 29... h5 (29... g6 {doesn't do any good} 30. b4 {+-}) 30. Be4 (30. Bg6 Rc8 31. Re8+ Rxe8 32. Bxe8 {+-}) 30... Rf6 31. Bf3 h4 (31... g6 { does not improve anything} 32. Re8+ Kf7 33. Ra8 {+-}) 32. Re4 (32. Re8+ { seems even better} Kf7 33. Ra8 a5 34. Rxa5 b4 {+-}) 32... g5 (32... Rf5 { cannot undo what has already been done} 33. Rxh4 c5 34. dxc5 Rxc5 35. Rg4 {+-}) 33. Re5 Rg6 (33... g4 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 34. Bxg4 Rf2 35. Re2 { +-}) 34. Rc5 g4 (34... Rg7 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 35. Rxc6 Re7 36. Kf1 {+-}) 35. Bxg4 Re6 1-0