C68 Spanish Game: Exchange Variation, sidelines (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 a6 5.Bxc6+ bxc6 6.dxe5)

This is one of those games that could have ended in a rather embarrassing way for me... For one move only I offered the win for my opponent, this I only realized in the after game analysis. I have no idea anymore why I played 32.Qd3?? as that move should have lost the game as my opponent just takes the rook on a1 with a check, oops... Luckily my opponent did not take it but if he had, I would have probably just resigned immediately. If I would at least bother to check the situation and look at the whole board, I would not make these awful moves again. I guess it is due to the huge confidence I have in my chess playing abilities that I think I only need to look only part of the board as I should have enough experience by now to see quite quickly what is important in a position. Of course that could not be more wrong, I am still far, far away from the level of play where I could do that. This game was played in a tournament called 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen II. Maybe I need to fit some tactics training to my daily schedule and maybe see if that helps, maybe also go outside for a walk more to get some fresh air... ;-)

The second game below was played in the first round of a Ruy Lopez tournament held at Chess.com. This has been so far one of my best tournaments there because I have won all the 15 games that have finished. There are seven games left for me to finish in this first round. I am currently in third place with 15 points or should I say I am a shared leader of the group #1, because all the top three players have 15 points. The only reason I am in third place is because my tie break is worse than those that the first two players have. The three best players of each group will advance to the second round and even though it seems at the moment that I am likely to advance to the next round, it is still not all that certain. If I were to lose all my remaining games, I would not be able to advance from this group. The opponent I faced in this game, djsniper800, is the current leader of our group and he has four games left to finish. The second place holder is a player called bzalasky and he has only two games left to finish.

4...a6 is a novelty in my games, but it is not a novelty in my reference database. It is a bad move and it should give me a clear advantage. The reason for my advantage is that I can play 5.Bxc6, like I did in the game. The move 5.Bxc6 destroyed my opponent's pawn structure and I also won a pawn. My opponent never recovered from this early blunder and I ended up winning the game after the move 28.Rb1 because my opponent resigned. At that point I was up the exchange and a pawn.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "golfnaturl"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C68"] [WhiteElo "1832"] [BlackElo "1262"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 {C44 Scotch Game} (3. Bb5 d6 {1-0 (21) Dongak, O-Ondar,A Kyzyl 2007}) 3... d6 4. Bb5 a6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. dxe5 {C68 Spanish Game: Exchange Variation, sidelines} d5 {2.15/19} (6... Ne7 $16 {1.50/22 was worth a try.} 7. exd6 cxd6) 7. exd5 cxd5 8. O-O Bc5 {1.94/21} (8... Ne7 $16 { 1.37/21} 9. Nc3 c6) 9. Bg5 {1.12/19} (9. c4 $18 {1.94/21}) (9. Nc3 Ne7 10. Nd4 c6 11. Be3 Bb6 12. Bg5 Bxd4 13. Qxd4 h6 14. Bh4 g5 15. e6 O-O 16. exf7+ Rxf7 17. Bg3 Nf5 18. Qd3 Nxg3 19. fxg3 Rf6 20. Rxf6 Qxf6 21. Nxd5 Qd6 22. Ne3 Qxd3 23. cxd3 Be6 {Sanz Uson,M (2070)-Bermudez Valles,J (1345) Madrid 2018 1-0 (44)} ) 9... Be7 $146 {2.11/20} (9... Ne7 $16 {1.12/19} 10. c4 c6 11. Nc3 Be6 12. Qa4 O-O 13. Rad1 Qb6 14. Qc2 dxc4 15. Ne4 h6 16. Bxh6 Nf5 17. Bc1 Nd4 18. Nxd4 Bxd4 19. Ng5 g6 20. Qe4 c5 21. Qh4 {1-0 (21) Dongak,O-Ondar,A Kyzyl 2007}) 10. Bxe7 Nxe7 11. Nc3 {0.93/19} (11. Qd4 $18 {1.84/19}) 11... Bg4 {1.99/20} (11... c5 $16 {0.93/19}) 12. Qd3 {1.33/22} (12. h3 $18 {1.99/20} Bh5 13. b4) 12... O-O $16 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 ({Stronger than} 14. gxf3 Ng6 $11) 14... d4 15. Ne4 { 0.82/23} (15. Rad1 $142 {1.55/18}) 15... Nd5 $2 {2.58/19 [#]} (15... Qd5 $16 { 0.82/23}) 16. a3 Qb8 {2.75/21} (16... Re8 $142 {1.75/24}) 17. b3 {1.45/22} (17. Ng5 $18 {2.75/21}) 17... Re8 $2 {4.50/19} (17... Qb6 $16 {1.45/22 is a better chance.} 18. Rad1 c5) 18. Ng5 $1 $18 h6 19. Qxf7+ ({Weaker is} 19. Qxd5 hxg5 20. Qxd4 c5 $18) 19... Kh8 20. Qxd5 {[#] Hoping for Nf7+.} hxg5 21. Qxd4 c6 22. Rfe1 Qc7 23. Qd6 Qa5 24. e6 Rad8 25. Qxc6 Re7 26. a4 Qf5 27. Qxa6 Rde8 28. Qc4 Rxe6 29. Rxe6 Rxe6 {Endgame KQR-KQR} 30. a5 Rf6 31. f3 Qe5 32. Qd3 $4 {-4.31/21 } (32. Qa4 $18 {8.27/22}) 32... Qc5+ $4 {8.44/22} (32... Qxa1+ $19 {-4.31/21} 33. Kf2 Qxa5) 33. Kf1 Rd6 34. Qc4 Qf5 35. a6 Qd7 36. a7 Rd1+ 37. Rxd1 Qxd1+ { KQ-KQ} 38. Kf2 Qd8 39. Qe2 {77.09/26} (39. Qb4 $142 {#23/29} Kh7 40. Qe4+ Kh6 41. a8=Q Qd2+ 42. Kg3 Qd6+ 43. Kg4 Qd7+ 44. Qf5) 39... Qb6+ 40. Qe3 Qa6 41. Qe8+ {White mates.} Kh7 42. a8=Q Qb6+ 43. Qe3 Qf6 44. Qee4+ Kh6 45. Qh8# { Accuracy: White = 10%, Black = 13%.} 1-0 [Event "Ruy Lopez - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.10.10"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "djsniper800"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C68"] [WhiteElo "1954"] [BlackElo "1694"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {Thematic Game - This is the starting position.} d6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense} 4. d4 a6 (4... exd4 5. O-O {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Center Gambit}) (4... Bd7 5. Nc3 (5. c4 {Spanish Game: Old Steinitz Defense: Semi-Duras Variation}) 5... Nf6 6. Bxc6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack}) 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. dxe5 {C68 Spanish Game: Exchange Variation, sidelines} d5 7. exd5 cxd5 8. O-O Bc5 (8... g6 9. Bg5 Be7 10. Bxe7 Nxe7 11. Re1 O-O 12. Nc3 c6 13. Qd2 Rb8 14. b3 Re8 15. Rad1 Bg4 16. Qf4 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 d4 18. Ne4 Nd5 19. c4 dxc3 20. Nf6+ Kf8 21. Nxe8 Kxe8 22. e6 f5 23. Qd3 {Moseler,T (1621)-Porstendoerfer,E (1060) Wiesbaden 2015 1-0 (34)}) 9. Nc3 Ne7 10. Bf4 $146 (10. Bg5 c6 (10... Be6 11. Nd4 Bxd4 12. Qxd4 c6 13. Qc5 Rc8 14. Ne2 Rc7 15. Nd4 Qd7 16. Qb6 c5 17. Nxe6 Qxe6 18. Qxc7 {1-0 (18) Villavicencio Sanchez,P (1782)-Montilla Bejarano, C (1094) Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2014}) 11. Na4 Ba7 12. c4 Be6 13. c5 a5 14. Nd4 Bd7 15. Qe2 Qc8 16. f4 O-O {1-0 (16) Carnino,L (1849)-Martino,G Turin 2008}) (10. Re1 O-O 11. a3 d4 12. Ne2 Bg4 13. Nexd4 Bxd4 14. Qxd4 Bxf3 15. Qxd8 Raxd8 16. gxf3 Ng6 17. f4 Rd4 18. Kg2 Nxf4+ 19. Bxf4 Rxf4 20. Rad1 Rc4 21. Re2 Rc6 22. Rd7 Re8 23. f4 h6 24. Red2 g6 {De los Santos Honrubia,M-Fos Santacreu,J Ronda 1997 1-0 (41)}) (10. Re1 Bb4 $16) 10... Be6 11. Nd4 Bxd4 12. Qxd4 O-O 13. Rad1 c6 14. Rfe1 Rb8 15. b3 Qa5 16. Na4 (16. Be3 Rfe8 $16) 16... h6 (16... Rfc8 17. Bd2 c5 18. Bxa5 cxd4 19. Re2 $16) 17. Qc5 (17. Bd2 Qd8 $16) 17... Qc7 (17... Qxc5 18. Nxc5 Rb5 19. Nxe6 (19. Nxa6 $143 Ra5 20. Nb4 c5 $14) 19... fxe6 20. Be3 $16) 18. Qc3 Ng6 19. Bg3 (19. Be3 Rfe8 $18) 19... Rb5 $16 20. Nc5 {White threatens to win material: Nc5xa6} (20. f4 $142 $16) 20... Bc8 $4 {cause more grief} (20... Qa5 $142 21. Qd4 Ne7 22. Nxe6 fxe6 $16) 21. a4 (21. e6 {and White can already relax} Qa5 22. Qd4 Qb4 23. Qxb4 Rxb4 $18) 21... Qa5 (21... Rxc5 22. Qxc5 Be6 23. f3 $18) 22. Qxa5 Rxa5 23. b4 Rxc5 24. bxc5 Bf5 25. c4 (25. Re2 $142 $18 {makes it even easier for White}) 25... Bc2 $4 {the position was bad, and this mistake simply hastens the end} (25... dxc4 $142 26. f3 Ra8 $16) 26. Rd2 $18 Bb3 (26... Bxa4 { is not much help} 27. cxd5 cxd5 28. e6 $18) 27. cxd5 Bxd5 28. Rb1 1-0