C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7)

And the reposting of games continues with this game. This was played in a tournament called 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen III and it is an ongoing tournament at Red Hot Pawn at least when I type this May 2nd 2015. Two players are still fighting for the win of the tournament and I am not one of them. The highest I can get is fourth place at this point. Even though both players made some mistakes during this game, I was never in a real danger of losing this game.

Jersey Bob's move 5...Na5 was not a good move. The knight on a5 is out of play and it gave me the opportunity to win the pawn on e5, but I did not use my chance, but instead moved my bishop to d3. The position below is taken after 5.c3.

I was able to take the clear advantage even with the reply I chose. The position drifted more towards a loss for my opponent when Jersey Bob played 8...b6 in the position below. The only move that would have kept my opponent only clearly worse was probably 8...Nc6. After the move played in the game I should have a winning advantage.

My advantage did not last for that many moves, when we reached the position below after 14...Nc6 I played 15.Nf5 in reply and most of my advantage disappeared. In order to keep my advantage, I should have played 15.Nxc6. My 15th move would have allowed Jersey Bob to play Nb4 and fork my queen and bishop. I should have been more protective of my bishop pair. However, I was on the slightly better side of the board even after the move 15.Nf5.

Luckily for me, Jersey Bob took the knight on f5 instead of moving the knight to b4, which meant that I was on the clearly better side again. The game continued with the moves 16.Bxf5 Nd4 and then I threw most of my advantage away again with the move 17.Qd3. The final mistake for my opponent came in the position below, which is taken after my 20th move Nd5.

Jersey Bob should have played either 20...Bd8 or 20...Re8 in order to stay in the game. The latter option being the more preferable one. The move played in the game, 20...Qd8, was a huge blunder, after which my opponent should be clearly lost. While I could not make the most accurate moves in the remainder of the game, I did not give any real chances for Jersey Bob to change the outcome of the game.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Jersey Bob"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C62"] [WhiteElo "1895"] [BlackElo "1261"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense} 4. d4 Bd7 { C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence} (4... exd4 5. O-O {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Center Gambit}) 5. c3 (5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bxc6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack}) 5... Na5 $146 (5... Be7 6. Be3 a6 7. Bd3 Nf6 8. d5 Nb8 9. c4 c5 10. Nc3 h6 11. h3 Nh7 12. Qd2 Bg5 13. Nxg5 Nxg5 14. f4 exf4 15. Bxf4 Qe7 16. O-O O-O 17. Rae1 f6 18. Re3 Be8 19. Rg3 Kh8 20. h4 {Mackenzie, G-Cohnfeld,A New York 1880 1-0 (45)}) (5... exd4 6. cxd4 Be7 7. Nc3 a6 8. Ba4 Na7 9. Bb3 Nb5 10. O-O Nxc3 11. bxc3 Nf6 12. Ng5 O-O 13. e5 Nd5 14. Nxf7 Rxf7 15. Bxd5 dxe5 16. dxe5 Bc6 17. Bxf7+ Kxf7 18. Qh5+ Kg8 19. Qg4 Qd7 20. e6 { Mchedlishvili,M (2586)-Bochkarev,Y (2076) Jerusalem 2015 1-0 (40)}) (5... h6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. d5 Na5 8. Bd3 c6 9. c4 c5 10. h3 Qb6 11. Bc1 Nh5 12. Nc3 Nf4 13. Bf1 f5 14. g3 Ng6 15. Nh2 f4 16. Qh5 O-O-O 17. Qxg6 Qb4 18. Qh5 Nxc4 19. Qe2 b5 20. Qc2 {Lanaspa Ballesteros,F (1490) -Diogo,H Famalicao 2015 1-0 (36)}) (5... a6 6. Bd3 exd4 7. Nxd4 Be7 8. O-O Ne5 9. Be2 Nf6 10. Nd2 O-O 11. f4 Nc6 12. N2f3 Nxe4 13. Bd3 Nc5 14. Bxh7+ Kxh7 15. Ng5+ Bxg5 16. Qh5+ Bh6 17. f5 f6 18. Qg6+ Kh8 19. Bxh6 Qe7 20. Bf4 {Zimmermann, L (1393)-Sauret,S (1481) Germany 2015 0-1 (36)}) (5... Nf6 6. Bd3 $14) 6. Bd3 exd4 7. cxd4 h6 (7... c5 $5 $16) 8. O-O b6 (8... Nc6 $16) 9. Nc3 $18 Nf6 $2 (9... Be7 $18) 10. Re1 Be7 11. e5 dxe5 ( 11... Ng8 {doesn't do any good} 12. b4 Nc6 13. e6 fxe6 14. d5 $18) 12. dxe5 Nh7 (12... O-O {does not help much} 13. Bb1 Bc6 14. Qc2 $18 (14. exf6 $6 Qxd1 15. Rxd1 Bxf6 $18)) 13. Qc2 (13. Bxh7 {makes it even easier for White} Rxh7 14. e6 Bxe6 $18) 13... Ng5 $4 {shortens the misery for Black} (13... Nf8 14. Rd1 Ne6 15. a3 $18) 14. Nd4 (14. Bxg5 $142 {and White wins} hxg5 15. Rad1 Be6 16. Bb5+ c6 17. Rxd8+ Rxd8 $18) 14... Nc6 $4 {terrible, but what else could Black do to save the game?} (14... Ne6 $142 15. Nf5 Nc6 $18) 15. Nf5 (15. Nxc6 $142 { and White can celebrate victory} Bxc6 16. Bxg5 hxg5 17. Nb5 $18) 15... Bxf5 $2 (15... Nb4 $142 $5 {should be examined more closely} 16. Qe2 Nxd3 17. Qxd3 Bxf5 18. Qxf5 Qd7 19. Qxd7+ Kxd7 $14) 16. Bxf5 $16 Nd4 17. Qd3 (17. Qa4+ $142 $5 Kf8 18. Rd1 $18) 17... Nxf5 $14 18. Qxf5 O-O (18... Qd7 19. Qxd7+ Kxd7 20. Rd1+ Kc8 21. Be3 $14) 19. Be3 {Black has a cramped position} Qc8 {Black threatens to win material: Qc8xf5} 20. Nd5 {White threatens to win material: Nd5xe7} Qd8 $4 (20... Re8 $142 {was necessary} 21. Qc2 Qg4 $14) 21. Rad1 $18 Kh8 (21... Re8 { doesn't improve anything} 22. f4 Nh7 23. Nxb6 cxb6 24. Rxd8 Raxd8 25. Qc2 $18) 22. Bxg5 Bxg5 23. f4 g6 (23... Be7 24. Nf6 Bxf6 25. Rxd8 (25. exf6 $6 Qxf6 26. Qxf6 gxf6 $11) 25... Bxd8 26. Qd7 $18) 24. Qg4 (24. Qh3 Qc8 25. e6 c6 26. Qc3+ Kh7 27. Nf6+ Bxf6 28. Qxf6 fxe6 29. Qe7+ Kg8 30. Rxe6 Qe8 31. Qd6 Rd8 32. Rxe8 Rxd6 33. Rxf8+ Kxf8 34. Rxd6 b5 35. Rxc6 Kf7 36. Ra6 g5 37. fxg5 hxg5 38. Rxa7+ Ke6 39. Rb7 b4 40. Rxb4 Kd5 41. a4 Kc5 42. Rb8 Kc6 43. a5 Kc7 44. Rb3 g4 45. a6 g3 46. a7 gxh2+ 47. Kxh2 Kd6 48. a8=Q Kc5 49. Qd8 Kc6 50. Rb6+ Kc5 51. Qd6+ Kc4 52. Rb4#) 24... h5 (24... Be7 {a last effort to resist the inevitable} 25. Qh3 Kg7 $18) 25. Qxg5 Qxg5 26. fxg5 c5 27. e6 fxe6 28. Rxe6 Kg7 (28... Rad8 { does not win a prize} 29. Rxg6 h4 30. Rh6+ Kg7 31. Rxh4 $18) 29. Rf1 (29. Ne7 Rad8 30. Rxg6+ Kf7 $18) 29... Rxf1+ 30. Kxf1 Rf8+ 31. Ke2 Rf5 32. Ne3 Rxg5 ( 32... Rf7 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 33. h4 $18) 33. Kf3 (33. h4 $142 {and White has it in the bag} Kf7 34. Re4 $18) 33... h4 (33... Kf7 {is not much help} 34. Re4 c4 35. Rxc4 $18) 34. Kf4 Rh5 35. Re7+ Kf6 36. Rxa7 Rh8 (36... b5 {does not improve anything} 37. Rb7 c4 38. Ng4+ Ke6 39. Rb6+ Ke7 40. Rxg6 $18) 37. Nd5+ Ke6 38. Nxb6 Rf8+ 39. Ke3 Rg8 (39... Rf1 {does not save the day} 40. Ra6 Kf5 41. Nc4 $18) 40. Nc4 (40. Ra6 {makes it even easier for White} Kd6 41. Nc4+ Kc7 $18) 40... Rd8 (40... Kd5 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 41. Kd3 Kc6 42. Ra6+ Kb7 43. Rf6 $18) 41. Ra6+ Kd5 (41... Kf5 {is one last hope} 42. Nd6+ Kg4 $18) 42. b3 (42. Kd3 h3 43. gxh3 g5 44. Rf6 g4 45. hxg4 Rd7 46. Nb6+ Ke5+ 47. Nxd7+ Kd5 48. b3 c4+ 49. bxc4#) 42... Re8+ 43. Kd3 Re6 44. Rxe6 Kxe6 45. Ke4 (45. Ke4 g5 46. a4 Kd7 47. Kd5 g4 48. Kxc5 g3 49. hxg3 h3 50. gxh3 Ke8 51. a5 Kd7 52. a6 Ke8 53. a7 Kd7 54. a8=Q Ke7 55. Qc6 Kf8 56. Ne5 Ke7 57. Qd6+ Ke8 58. Qd7+ Kf8 59. Qf7#) 1-0