C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7)

This was played in the 2014 September Grand Seven Fourteen III tournament that is still in progress at Red Hot Pawn. I am currently in fourth place in this tournament but it is wide open what place I am going to finish in. I know one thing for certain and it is that I can't win the tournament. I could still finish on second place though in theory at least. The player who first took a path towards difficulties was kopsov. In the position below kopsov played a second mistake in a row. The move 7...a6 played in the position below gave me the opportunity to take a clear advantage. Kopsov should have moved the pawn on c7 one square forward instead.

I replied with the best move 8.Bxd7 and I was clearly better for a few moves. With my 11th move h3 I lost some of my advantage and I only had a small advantage after that. Kopsov's reply 11...h6 allowed me to seize the clear advantage once again. I replied with the move 12.Nf5, which was good enough to do the job. Kopsov then protected the g-pawn with awkward looking move 12...Rh7. I had a winning advantage in the position below, but I threw all it away because I played 13.b4. The best move according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT is 13.f4.

The move I played in the game allowed kopsov the opportunity to play 13...Nxe4 because 14.Nxe4 is replied with 14...Qxf5. In the game kopsov just reacted to my play on the queenside with the move 13...b5?? I replied with the move 14.a4 and even though it was not the best answer, I had a winning advantage afterwards. In reply kopsov played 14...Nxe4, the move that my opponent should have played a move earlier. It might have still been kopsov's best move. My next move was far from the best one, I took the bishop on e7 and the position fizzled out, making the game evenly fought again. The next blunder was played in the position below by kopsov. Kopsov's 17th move Nc4 allowed some tactics that caused serious problems for my opponent.

I saw a tactic in the position, but not the strongest one. I played 18.Qd3, which threatened the rook at h7 and the move Rxa4. The double threat won material, but 18.Nxc7+ would have been even better way to continue the game. The idea behind Nxc7+ is that after Qxc7, White would play Qd5 threatening the rook at a8 and the check at e4. If Black castles long, then Qf5+ wins the rook. Had the game continued like that I would have been up the exchange. I remained on the better side of the board until we reached the position below, in which I threw my advantage away with the move 34.Nd5.

I had a few choices of moves that would have kept my advantage, for instance, 34.c3, 34.c4 or 34.Nf5. The game was probably more difficult for me to play at this point than it was to play for my opponent. A few moves later in the position below I finally made a hude blunder that lost the game.

I had a great idea... I played 39.Bc3+, so that I could trade rooks. I resigned after I saw what my opponent moved in reply. I even saw that he can take the the bishop with a check at some point but somehow forgot it again and just blundered the game away.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.09.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "kopsov"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C62"] [WhiteElo "1887"] [BlackElo "1922"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense} 4. d4 exd4 (4... Bd7 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bxc6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack}) 5. Nxd4 (5. O-O {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Center Gambit}) 5... Bd7 { C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence} 6. Be3 Ne5 (6... Nf6 7. Nxc6 Bxc6 8. Bxc6+ bxc6 9. Qf3 Qd7 10. c4 Qe6 11. Nd2 Nd7 12. O-O Be7 13. Qe2 O-O 14. f4 f5 15. exf5 Rxf5 16. Qf3 Rff8 17. Rae1 Qf5 18. Qxc6 Rac8 19. Bxa7 Bf6 20. b4 Bc3 21. Re7 {Kalinin,V (2064) -Fedotov,D Cheliabinsk 2010 1-0 (33)}) (6... a6 7. Ba4 b5 8. Bb3 Na5 9. Qf3 Nxb3 10. axb3 h6 11. Nc3 Nf6 12. e5 dxe5 13. Ndxb5 e4 14. Nxc7+ Qxc7 15. Nxe4 Rc8 16. Nxf6+ gxf6 17. Qxf6 Rh7 18. Qf3 Bb4+ 19. Kf1 Qxc2 20. Rc1 Qd3+ 21. Kg1 {Nguyen,L (1463)-Tran, C (1514) Ho Chi Minh City 2014 1-0 (60)}) 7. Qe2 $146 (7. Bxd7+ Qxd7 8. Qe2 (8. Nd2 Nf6 9. h3 g6 10. f4 Nc6 11. Qf3 Bg7 12. Nc4 O-O 13. O-O-O Qe8 14. e5 dxe5 15. Nxc6 e4 16. Qe2 Qxc6 17. Ne5 Qe6 18. Kb1 a6 19. g4 Nd5 20. Bc1 Bxe5 21. Qxe4 Bxf4 22. Qxd5 Qxd5 {Norkunas,D (1754)-Drungiliene,L Palanga 2012 1/2-1/2 (66)}) 8... Be7 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. O-O-O O-O-O 11. f4 Nc6 12. e5 dxe5 13. Nxc6 Qxc6 14. fxe5 Nd5 15. Bd4 Nxc3 16. Bxc3 Kb8 17. g3 Rhe8 18. Qh5 Qc4 19. Kb1 h6 20. e6 Qxe6 21. Bxg7 Bf8 {Mullerova,K (1319)-Blechova,L (1416) Kouty nad Desnou 2010 1/2-1/2}) (7. Be2 Nf6 8. Bg5 Be7 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. c3 O-O 11. O-O Re8 12. Nd2 c6 13. Rb1 Qc7 14. f4 Ng6 15. Bg4 Rad8 16. Bxd7 Rxd7 17. Qg4 Nf8 18. Kh1 Ne6 19. Nf5 Kh8 20. Rf3 Bd8 21. Rg3 f6 { Maillard, G-Levacher,A Nice 1938 1-0 (47)}) (7. Nc3 c6 8. Be2 b5 $16) 7... a6 ( 7... c6 $142 $5 {is noteworthy} 8. Ba4 Nf6 $11) 8. Bxd7+ $16 Qxd7 9. Nc3 Be7 ( 9... Ne7 10. f4 N5c6 11. O-O-O $14) 10. O-O Nf6 11. h3 h6 {Covers g5} 12. Nf5 Rh7 (12... O-O $142 $16) 13. b4 $4 {gives the opponent new chances} (13. f4 $142 Nc6 14. Bf2 $18) 13... b5 $4 (13... Nxe4 $142 {is the best chance} 14. Nxe4 Qxf5 $11) 14. a4 (14. f4 $5 {might be the shorter path} Nc4 15. Bd4 Bd8 $18) 14... Nxe4 15. Nxe7 $4 {spoils everything} (15. Nxe4 $142 {secures victory } Qxf5 16. Ng3 $18) 15... Nxc3 $11 {Black forks: a4+e2} 16. Qd2 Nxa4 ({Not} 16... Qxe7 17. Qxc3 Rd8 18. axb5 axb5 19. f4 $18) ({Worse is} 16... bxa4 17. Bf4 Qxe7 18. Qxc3 $16) 17. Nd5 (17. f4 $142 Qxe7 18. fxe5 dxe5 19. Qd5 $11) 17... Nc4 $4 {Black is ruining his position} (17... Rh8 18. Bd4 c6 19. Rxa4 cxd5 $11 (19... bxa4 $2 20. Nb6 Qd8 21. Nxa8 Qxa8 22. f4 $18)) 18. Qd3 Rh8 19. Rxa4 bxa4 $4 {an oversight. But Black was lost anyway.} (19... c6 $142 20. Raa1 cxd5 21. Qxd5 Qc8 $18) 20. Qxc4 $18 Kd8 (20... Kf8 {doesn't do any good} 21. Bd4 f6 22. Nf4 $18) 21. Ra1 (21. Bd4 $142 $5 {keeps an even firmer grip} f6 22. Re1 Rf8 $18) 21... Rc8 (21... Re8 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 22. Rxa4 $3 {Deflection: c7} Re5 23. Ra5 $18) 22. Qxa6 Re8 23. Rxa4 Qe6 (23... Re5 { cannot change destiny} 24. c4 Ke8 25. Qb7 $18) 24. Qc6 (24. Qb7 $142 {and White takes home the point} Qd7 25. b5 $18) 24... Qd7 25. Qxd7+ Kxd7 26. Ra7 Kd8 27. b5 Re4 (27... Re5 {does not improve anything} 28. Nxc7 $1 {White should return material} Rxc7 29. Bb6 Rxb5 30. Bxc7+ (30. Rxc7 $6 Rb1+ 31. Kh2 Rxb6 32. Rxf7 g5 $18) 30... Kd7 31. Bb6+ Ke6 32. Bd4 Rb1+ 33. Kh2 $18) 28. b6 ( 28. Nxc7 $142 {secures the point} Rb8 29. b6 Rxe3 30. fxe3 Rxb6 $18) 28... cxb6 29. Bxb6+ Ke8 30. Ne3 (30. Bc7 {makes it even easier for White} Rc4 31. Bxd6 Rd8 $18) 30... Rc6 (30... Re7 31. Ra6 g6 32. Bd4 $18) 31. Ra8+ Ke7 (31... Kd7 32. Rd8+ Ke7 $18) 32. Bd8+ (32. f3 $142 {and White wins} Re5 33. Bd4 Rxe3 34. Bxe3 Rxc2 35. Rg8 $18) 32... Kd7 33. Ba5 Ra4 34. Nd5 (34. c3 $142 g6 35. g3 $16 ) 34... Ra1+ 35. Kh2 {White has a king attack} Rxc2 36. Ra7+ Ke6 37. Nf4+ Ke5 { Black threatens to win material: Ke5xf4} 38. Kg3 Raa2 (38... Ra3+ $5 {might be a viable alternative} 39. f3 g5 40. Re7+ Kf6 41. Nd5+ Kg6 $11) 39. Bc3+ $4 { a weak move, ruining a winning position} (39. Re7+ $142 Kf6 40. Bd8 $16) 39... Rxc3+ (39... Rxc3+ 40. Kh2 Rxa7 41. Nh5 Ra2 42. f4+ Ke4 43. Ng3+ Ke3 44. h4 Rcc2 45. Nf1+ Kxf4 46. Kg1 Rxg2+ 47. Kh1 Kf3 48. h5 Kf2 49. Nd2 Ra1+ 50. Nf1 Rxf1#) 0-1