A39 Symmetrical English vs ...g6: 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.O-O O-O 7.d4 (1.c4 c5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 O-O 8.O-O Qb6 9.Nc2 d6 10.b3 Bf5)

Still making some changes to my older posts... Like changing the names of the openings used in the games to correspond the opening classification used by Deep Fritz 14. This game was played in a mini-tournament called "dim_weasel's XIV". There were 5 players playing in this mini-tournament and I was third in the final standings. I was on third place because I had a better tie-break than players who finished on 4th and 5th places. We all were able to gather 2.5 points in 8 games. My opponent and the creator of this mini-tournament, dim_weasel, was 4th in the final standings. A player called jug_head (1971) won the mini-tournament with ease, jug_head won all of his 8 games. The mini-tournament started on January 18th, 2016 and finished on July 9th, 2016.

My position started to go down the drain when I played 17...Bc6 in the position below. I should have played either 17...Rc8 or 17...Qa5 in order to have a chance to play for a draw.

I might have not been lost after my 17th move, but when we reached the position below and I played 24...Rfd8, my position was lost. Dim_weasel did not use his chance and instead lost most of his advantage by playing 25.f4. 25.Rd1 was the best choice for dim_weasel.

The game continued with the moves 25...Qc7 26.Rd1. With my 26th move I made the losing blunder Ne8. The game ended quickly after that as I resigned after seeing the position after 28.Qxb7.

[Event "dim_weasel's XIV"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.05.26"] [Round "?"] [White "dim_weasel"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A39"] [WhiteElo "1863"] [BlackElo "1768"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. c4 c5 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. Nf3 Nf6 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Full Symmetry Line} 6. d4 (6. O-O O-O 7. b3 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Double Fianchetto} (7. d3 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Duchamp Variation}) (7. d4 d6 8. d5 Na5 9. Nd2 a6 10. Qc2 Rb8 11. b3 b5 12. Bb2 bxc4 13. bxc4 Bh6 {King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Panno Variation, Donner Line})) 6... cxd4 7. Nxd4 O-O 8. O-O Qb6 9. Nc2 d6 10. b3 Bf5 {A39 Symmetrical English vs ...g6: 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.O-O O-O 7.d4} 11. Rb1 $146 (11. e4 Bg4 12. Qe1 Rae8 (12... Nb4 13. Nxb4 Qxb4 14. Bd2 Qc5 15. h3 Be6 16. Qe2 Rac8 17. Rac1 a6 18. Kh2 Qa3 19. Rc2 Bd7 20. f4 Qc5 21. e5 dxe5 22. fxe5 Nh5 23. Nd5 Rfe8 24. Bb4 Qd4 25. Bc3 Qc5 26. g4 e6 27. Nb4 {Uhlmann,W (2485)-Fronczek,H (2270) Bad Wildbad 1997 1-0 (46)}) (12... Nd7 13. Be3 Qa5 14. Bd2 Nde5 15. Nd5 Qd8 16. f3 Be6 17. Bc3 Bxd5 18. exd5 Qb6+ 19. Kh1 Nb8 20. Qd2 Nbd7 21. Bd4 Qc7 22. Rae1 Nc5 23. f4 Ng4 24. Qe2 Nf6 25. Qxe7 Ncd7 26. Qe2 Rac8 27. Ne3 {Sachs,G-Epstein,E (2150) Moscow 1983 1-0 (54)}) 13. Be3 Qc7 14. Qd2 h5 15. Rac1 Qc8 16. Nd4 Nxd4 17. Bxd4 b6 18. Rfe1 Bh3 19. Nd5 Bxg2 20. Bxf6 Qh3 21. Bxg7 Bf3 22. Nf4 Qg4 23. Bxf8 Rxf8 24. h3 {1-0 (24) Spreng, S-Schmid,E Pang 1983}) (11. Bg5 e6 12. e4 Bg4 13. Qd2 e5 14. Qxd6 Rad8 15. Qa3 Rd3 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. exd5 Nd8 18. Be3 Qc7 19. Qxa7 {1-0 (19) Leski,M (2425) -Juglard,E (2260) France 1998}) (11. Bb2 Bxc2 12. Qxc2 Rac8 13. Qd2 Ne5 14. Rab1 Rfd8 15. h3 Qa5 16. Bxb7 Rb8 17. Bg2 d5 18. cxd5 e6 19. Qe3 Nxd5 20. Nxd5 exd5 21. Bxe5 d4 22. Bxd4 Bxd4 23. Qf4 Be5 24. Qa4 Qb6 25. e3 Rd3 {Eretova,K (2135)-Muresan,M (2195) Dresden 1990 1/2-1/2 (48)}) 11... Nb4 {Black threatens to win material: Nb4xc2} 12. e4 {White threatens to win material: e4xf5} Bg4 { Black threatens to win material: Bg4xd1} 13. Qd2 Nxc2 14. Qxc2 a6 { Consolidates b5} 15. Be3 Qd8 16. f3 {White threatens to win material: f3xg4} Bd7 17. Rbd1 (17. a4 Qa5 $14) 17... Bc6 (17... Rc8 $5 $11 {has some apparent merit}) 18. e5 Ne8 19. exd6 exd6 20. Nd5 Bxd5 (20... Nf6 21. Nb6 Re8 22. Qc1 $16) 21. Rxd5 (21. cxd5 $6 Rc8 22. Qd3 Qa5 $11) 21... Qe7 (21... Nf6 22. Rd3 $16) 22. Bf2 Nf6 23. Rd3 Rac8 (23... b5 24. Rfd1 bxc4 25. bxc4 $16) 24. Qd2 Rfd8 (24... d5 25. cxd5 Qd6 26. g4 $16) 25. f4 (25. Rd1 Rc6 $18) 25... Qc7 ( 25... b5 26. cxb5 axb5 27. a4 bxa4 28. bxa4 $16) 26. Rd1 (26. f5 $142 d5 27. cxd5 $16) 26... Ne8 $2 (26... Ng4 $142 $16) 27. Qb4 $18 Qe7 $2 (27... b5 28. cxb5 axb5 29. Qxb5 Rb8 $18) 28. Qxb7 (28. Qxb7 Qxb7 29. Bxb7 $18) 1-0