B32 Sicilian: Löwenthal and Kalashnikov Variations (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nxd4 5.Qxd4 e6)

Still continuing to post games that have been previously seen in the blog. Actual new content I will start doing maybe next week or the week after that. The rest of the post was typed when I originally shared this game, mostly anyway. This was played on the second round of Sarah's Mini Cooper Tournament (No 52). I finished second in group #1, having scored four points in the six games I played on round round two. I was able to advance to the third round because two of the best players from each group will advance to the next round and the rest are eliminated from the tournament. I scored half a point less than the winner of the group, a player called hozer. At the moment I type this, there are still 11 games left to finish on round two and the longer they take to finish, the better for me, I guess. I would like to get my game load reduced as much as possible before the next round starts, so I could concentrate on these games more and fight for the win of the group on round three.

My opponents have previously played the moves 4...d6 and 4...a6 and they are better than what pipoca2007 played in this game. That being said, my opponent should not be losing after 4...Nxd4. The position shown below is taken after my 15th move f4. This was the position where pipoca2007 took a path towards a loss. Pipoca2007 played 15...Rad8.

Had it been played, the game would have continued evenly. The move played in the game allowed me to win a pawn for free. Not only had I the material advantage, but also the positional advantage. It was therefore a rather easy task to win this game from that point on.

[Event "Sarah's Mini Cooper Tournament (No 52)"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.03.29"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "pipoca2007"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "1923"] [BlackElo "1644"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 {Sicilian Defense: Open (#3)} Nxd4 (4... g6 5. Nxc6 {Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon. Exchange Variation}) (4... Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Nb3 {Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation. Schlechter Variation} (6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 {Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation. Sveshnikov Variation Novosibirsk Variation}) ) 5. Qxd4 e6 {B32 Sicilian: Löwenthal and Kalashnikov Variations} 6. Bc4 Ne7 ( 6... b6 7. O-O (7. Nc3 Bb7 8. Bf4 a6 9. O-O-O Nf6 10. f3 Bc5 11. Qd2 b5 12. Bb3 Bc6 13. g4 h6 14. Bd6 Qb6 15. Rhe1 a5 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. exd5 Bxd6 18. dxc6 Bb4 19. Qxd7+ Kf8 20. c3 Be7 21. c7 g6 {Ayoro,A-Samuel, N Abuja 2015 1-0 (42)}) 7... Bc5 8. Qxg7 Qf6 9. Qg3 Ne7 10. e5 Qg6 11. Nc3 Bb7 12. Kh1 Rg8 13. Qxg6 Rxg6 14. f3 O-O-O 15. Bd3 Nf5 16. Ne4 Bxe4 17. Bxe4 Rdg8 18. f4 Rh6 19. Bxf5 exf5 20. Bd2 Rhg6 21. g3 {Rodriguez,J (2240) -Pla,V Spain 1993 1/2-1/2 (66)}) 7. O-O Nc6 8. Qd1 Be7 $146 (8... Bc5 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Qe2 a6 11. Be3 Be7 12. Qg4 Ne5 13. Qe2 Nxc4 14. Qxc4 b5 15. Qe2 Qc7 16. Qf3 Bb7 17. Bf4 d6 18. Qg3 Rfd8 19. Bh6 Bf6 20. Bg5 Bxg5 21. Qxg5 d5 22. exd5 exd5 23. Rad1 {Baiburina, Y-Petrov,I Khanty-Mansiysk 2009 0-1 (38)}) 9. Nc3 {Black's piece can't move: c8 } O-O {Black castles and improves king safety} 10. Be3 {Black has a cramped position. Black's piece can't move: c8} (10. Bf4 d6 $11) 10... Qc7 11. Qe2 b6 { White has an active position} 12. Rad1 d6 {Black has a cramped position} (12... a6 13. f4 $11) 13. Rd2 a6 14. a4 Bb7 15. f4 {White has an active position} (15. Rfd1 $142 $14) 15... Rad8 $4 {Black loses the upper hand} (15... Na5 $142 { and Black can hope to live} 16. Ba2 Rac8 $11) 16. Bxa6 $16 Bxa6 (16... Bf6 17. Bxb7 Qxb7 18. Nb5 $16) 17. Qxa6 $18 Nb4 $4 {Black has lost his nerve... understandable when you consider his position} (17... Ra8 $142 18. Qe2 Na5 $18) 18. Qxb6 (18. Qb5 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} Nc6 19. Bxb6 Qc8 20. Bxd8 Rxd8 $18) 18... Qxb6 19. Bxb6 Rb8 20. Be3 (20. a5 {seems even better} Rfc8 $18) 20... Nc6 $2 (20... Rfc8 $142 $18) 21. Nb5 Rfd8 (21... Rfc8 {does not improve anything} 22. b3 $18 (22. Nxd6 $6 Bxd6 23. Rxd6 Rxb2 $18)) 22. Rfd1 d5 (22... e5 {does not solve anything} 23. b3 $18) 23. exd5 exd5 24. Rxd5 Rxd5 (24... Ra8 {is no salvation} 25. b3 $18) 25. Rxd5 g6 26. Bc5 (26. c3 {might be the shorter path} Ra8 27. b3 h5 $18) 26... Bxc5+ (26... Kf8 {is not the saving move } 27. Bxe7+ Nxe7 28. Rd7 $18) 27. Rxc5 Nb4 (27... Nd8 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 28. f5 Ra8 29. b3 $18) 28. b3 Rd8 (28... Kf8 { cannot change what is in store for White} 29. Kf2 $18) 29. Rc4 Na2 (29... Na6 { does not help much} 30. b4 $18) 30. Rd4 (30. a5 $5 {might be the shorter path} Ra8 31. Ra4 Nc1 $18) 30... Re8 (30... Ra8 {does not save the day} 31. Nc7 Ra5 32. Nd5 $18) 31. Kf2 (31. a5 {seems even better} Nc1 32. Ra4 Ra8 $18) 31... Nc1 (31... Rc8 {cannot undo what has already been done} 32. a5 Rxc2+ 33. Ke3 $18) 32. Nc3 f5 33. Rd1 Rc8 34. Rxc1 Rxc3 35. a5 Kf7 36. g3 Ke7 37. b4 Kd7 38. Ke2 Kc8 (38... h6 {is not much help} 39. Kd2 Ra3 40. c4 $18) 39. Kd2 Ra3 40. c3 Kc7 (40... h6 {does not win a prize} 41. Kd3 Ra2 42. Rc2 $18) 41. Rc2 (41. Kd3 $142 $5 {keeps an even firmer grip} Kd6 $18) 41... Kc6 42. Kd3 (42. Kd3 Kd5 43. Re2 $18) 1-0