B01 Scandinavian Defence (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd8 4.Nf3)

The game I am sharing today was originally in the post B01 Scandinavian Defense: Mieses-Kotroc Variation. The new naming method will mean that there is no longer a post named like that. This game was played reasonably well until my opponent played 38...g5 in the diagram position below. Before that neither player had made any major mistakes. The problem with the move 38...g5 is that it loses a pawn by force. Or rather it would lose a pawn by force in case the player controlling the white pieces would play accurate moves. The loss of a pawn would mean a loss for my opponent, but apart from my reply 39.Rb5, I was not able to play correct moves. Marko Krale then played 39...Kd6 and now had I continued with 40.Rb6+, I would have been on my way to victory. In the game I played 40.Rb7, which allowed my opponent to get back into the game.

The game did not continue evenly all that long, because Marko Krale's 42nd move was a horrible blunder that allowed me to take the winning advantage once again. The problem with the move 42...Ke7 is that it gives me time to play 43.fxe5. Had my opponent moved his king to c7, I would not have had time to take on e5. The game continued with the moves 43...Rh4 44.Rc6 Rxh3+ and then I threw my win away again with the move 45.Kf4. The position was roughly even after that.

The final downhill began for Marko Krale when he played 46...Ke6. I replied correctly with 47.Rc6+ and then my opponent made the final mistake 47...Kf7?? After that the game quickly ended in my favor.

This paragraph was typed when I originally shared this game. The game below is from a tournament called 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen II. I have still five games in progress in this tournament and I am still in the fight for the win. I might be quite close of reaching the best tournament score I have ever had at Red Hot Pawn but it can still go horribly wrong of course, nothing is all that certain at this point.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Marko Krale"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B01"] [WhiteElo "1895"] [BlackElo "1719"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 {Scandinavian Defense: Mieses-Kotroc Variation} 3. Nc3 Qd8 (3... Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3 {Scandinavian Defense: Lasker Variation}) (3... Qd6 4. d4 c6 (4... Nf6 5. Nf3 a6 {Scandinavian Defense: Bronstein Variation}) 5. Bc4 Nf6 6. Nge2 Bf5 7. Bf4 Qb4 {Scandinavian Defense: Schiller-Pytel Variation. Modern Variation}) 4. Nf3 {B01 Scandinavian Defence} e6 5. Bc4 (5. d4 Bb4 6. Bd3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Ne7 8. O-O Nd7 9. c4 c6 10. a4 Qc7 11. Qe2 Ng6 12. g3 Nf6 13. h4 O-O 14. Bg5 Ng4 15. h5 Ne7 16. Bf4 Qd8 17. Ng5 Nf6 18. Be5 Nf5 19. c3 h6 {Trigo Urquijo,S (2062)-Urbano Ortega,I Erandio 2004 1-0 (38)}) 5... c5 (5... Bb4 6. d3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Nf6 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Bg5 b6 10. Re1 O-O 11. d4 h6 12. Bh4 Bb7 13. Ne5 g5 14. Bg3 Qc8 15. Nxd7 Qxd7 16. Be5 Qc6 17. f3 Ng4 18. Re2 Nxe5 19. Rxe5 Qxc4 20. Rb1 {Moreno,M-Prokopiuk,N Villa Angela 2016 0-1}) 6. O-O a6 $146 {Prevents intrusion on b5} (6... Nf6 7. Re1 Be7 8. d4 O-O 9. d5 b5 10. d6 bxc4 11. dxe7 Qxe7 12. Bf4 Rd8 13. Qe2 Nc6 14. Qxc4 Bb7 15. Be3 Rac8 16. Bxc5 Qc7 17. b4 Nxb4 18. Qxb4 Bxf3 19. gxf3 Qxc5 20. Qxc5 Rxc5 21. Red1 {Deimert,E (1720)-Enns,P Grande Prairie 2010 1/2-1/2 (49)}) (6... Nc6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nb5 a6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 Bc5 11. c3 Nf6 12. Bg5 O-O 13. Bd3 Be7 14. Qe2 Nd5 15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. f4 Qc7 17. Qf2 Nf6 18. Rae1 h6 19. Qh4 Qa5 20. g4 Qd8 21. g5 {Darwisch,M (1734)-Wienen,J (1670) Germany 2008 1-0 (41)}) 7. a4 Nc6 8. d3 Nf6 9. Bg5 Be7 {Black should quickly conclude development.} 10. Re1 O-O 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12. Rxe5 Bd6 {Black threatens to win material: Bd6xe5} (12... Qc7 13. Re1 $11) 13. Re1 h6 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 {Black has the pair of bishops} 15. Qe2 Bd7 (15... Bc7 16. Qe3 b6 17. g3 $15) 16. Ne4 { White threatens to win material: Ne4xf6. White forks: d6+f6} Qe7 17. Nxd6 Qxd6 18. Qg4 (18. a5 Rfd8 $11) 18... b5 19. axb5 axb5 20. Bb3 Bc6 21. Rxa8 Rxa8 22. Qe2 Bd5 23. c4 bxc4 24. Bxc4 {A sound move} Rd8 25. b3 {Controls c4} Rb8 26. Ra1 g6 27. g3 Qc6 (27... Bb7 28. Kf1 $11) 28. f4 (28. Qe3 Ra8 29. Rxa8+ Qxa8 30. Bxd5 Qxd5 31. Qxh6 Qxd3 $11) 28... Bh1 (28... Rd8 29. Qe3 $15) 29. h3 (29. f5 gxf5 (29... exf5 $143 30. Ra6 Qf3 31. Rxg6+ Kh7 32. Qxf3 Bxf3 33. Rf6 $16) 30. Ra6 Qb7 31. Rxe6 fxe6 32. Qxe6+ Kg7 33. Qe5+ Kg6 34. Qe6+ Kh7 35. Qxf5+ Kg7 36. Qe5+ Kg6 37. Qe6+ Kh7 38. Qf5+ Kg7 39. Qe5+ Kg6 40. Qe6+ Kh7 41. Qf5+ $11) 29... Rd8 30. Kh2 (30. f5 gxf5 (30... exf5 $143 31. Ra6 Qf3 32. Qxf3 Bxf3 33. Rxg6+ Kh7 34. Rf6 $16) 31. Ra6 Qf3 32. Qxf3 Bxf3 $15) 30... Bd5 31. Qe3 Bxc4 32. bxc4 Qd6 {Black threatens to win material: Qd6xd3} (32... Rb8 33. Qe2 $15) 33. Rd1 (33. Ra5 Rb8 $11) 33... Qd4 (33... Rb8 $5 $17) 34. Qxd4 $11 {White forks: c5+d8} Rxd4 {A rook endgame occured. Here comes the goal-getter} 35. Kg2 Kf8 36. Kf3 Ke7 37. Ke3 f5 {Black has a new backward pawn: e6} (37... f6 38. Rb1 e5 39. fxe5 fxe5 40. Rb6 $11) 38. Rb1 g5 $4 (38... Rd7 $142 $14 {would keep Black alive}) 39. Rb5 $18 Kd6 40. Rb7 (40. Rb6+ $142 Ke7 41. Rc6 $18) 40... gxf4+ $11 41. gxf4 e5 {Black threatens to win material: e5xf4.} 42. Rb6+ {White skewers: h6} Ke7 $4 {with this move Black loses his initiative} (42... Kc7 $142 {is the best chance} 43. Rxh6 e4 $11) 43. fxe5 $18 Rh4 (43... f4+ { cannot change destiny} 44. Kd2 h5 45. Rf6 $18) 44. Rc6 Rxh3+ 45. Kf4 {White threatens to win material: Kf4xf5} (45. Kd2 $142 {finishes off the opponent} f4 46. Rxc5 Rh2+ 47. Kc3 $18) 45... Rxd3 $11 46. Rxc5 {White has a new passed pawn: c4.} Ke6 $2 (46... Rd1 $142 $5 $11 {and Black can hope to survive}) 47. Rc6+ $16 Kf7 $4 {causes further problems for White} (47... Ke7 $142 48. Rxh6 Rc3 49. Kxf5 Rxc4 50. Rh7+ Kf8 $16) 48. Kxf5 $18 Kg7 49. Rc7+ (49. Rc7+ Kf8 50. c5 Ke8 51. Rh7 Kd8 52. Rxh6 Rc3 53. Ke6 Re3 54. Rh8+ Kc7 55. Kd5 Rd3+ 56. Ke4 Rd1 57. e6 Kc6 58. Ke5 Re1+ 59. Kf6 Rf1+ 60. Ke7 Kxc5 61. Rc8+ Kb6 62. Ke8 Ra1 63. e7 Re1 64. Rc4 Kb5 65. Rd4 Ra1 66. Kd7 Ra8 67. Rd2 Kc5 68. e8=Q Rxe8 69. Kxe8 Kc4 70. Rd6 Kc5 71. Kd7 Kb5 72. Rd5+ Kb4 73. Kd6 Kc4 74. Kc6 Kb3 75. Kc5 Kc3 76. Kb5 Kb2 77. Kc4 Kc2 78. Kb4 Kb2 79. Rc5 Ka1 80. Kb3 Kb1 81. Rc6 Ka1 82. Rc1#) 1-0