B33 Sicilian: Pelikan and Sveshnikov Variations (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Nxe7 Qxe7 11.c3)

This blog post was mostly typed when I originally shared this game, so the info about the tournament is a bit out of date. Like previously, I have changed the static positions into living diagrams. This game was played on the first round of the 2015 October Grand Split Three Seven I 1800+ tournament. The tournament is still in progress at Red Hot Pawn. I was not able to advance to the second round as I was on shared 6th place in the last standings of group 1. Only the winner of the group advanced to the second round. My opponent in this game, funkydunky71, was 5th in the final standings of the group. While I managed to get 46 points, funkydunky71 was able to get 50 points. The winner of the group, cenerentola (2570), was able to get 82 points.

For the first 18 moves both players were able to avoid big mistakes, but then when it came to my 19th move, the first blunder of the game raised its ugly head. The position in which I played 19.Nd5 can be seen below. It would have been a better option for me to play 19.Qb3+.

The advantage that my opponent was able to gain due to my 19th move fizzled out a few moves later and was completely non-existent after 25...Qe5. The next mistake was played by funkydunky71 on move 31 in the position below. Had my opponent played 31...Qe5, the position would have remained about even. Actually it was probably the only saving move for funkydunky71.

Funkydunky71 played 31...Rd8, after which I was on the clearly better side of the board. I continued with 32.b5 and my opponent blundered again by playing 32...Qe5 in response. Now I had a winning position, but unfortunately I was not able to see the correct continuation. I chose to play 33.h3 because I was worried about my back-rank weakness. The winning continuation would have started with the move 33.Qxe5. The move I played was only good enough for a draw. The remainder of the game only featured small mistakes, but ended in an even position as draw was agreed upon after 50.Rb2.

[Event "Grand Split Three Seven"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2015.12.21"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "funkydunky71"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B33"] [WhiteElo "1963"] [BlackElo "2011"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "99"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5 {Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation. Sveshnikov Variation Chelyabinsk Variation} (9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. Bxb5 {Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Peresypkin's Sacrifice }) 9... Be7 10. Nxe7 Qxe7 11. c3 {B33 Sicilian: Pelikan and Sveshnikov Variations} h6 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. Be2 O-O 14. O-O Bb7 15. Bf3 Rfd8 16. Nc2 Ne7 17. Ne3 Qf4 $146 (17... Qg5 18. Qb3 Qf4 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. exd5 Nf5 21. Rfe1 Nh4 22. Qd1 f5 23. Be2 Qg5 24. Bf1 f4 25. Kh1 Rf8 26. a4 Rab8 27. b4 Rb7 28. axb5 axb5 29. Ra6 Rf6 30. h3 Rg6 31. Qg4 Qd8 32. Qh5 {Neugebauer,J-Niebling,F Hofbieber 1996 1/2-1/2 (63)}) (17... Qg6 18. Qc2 d5 19. exd5 Qxc2 20. Nxc2 Bxd5 21. Bxd5 Rxd5 22. Rfe1 Rd2 23. Rac1 Ng6 24. b3 Rc8 25. Re3 f5 26. g3 f4 27. gxf4 Nxf4 28. a4 Ne2+ 29. Rxe2 Rxe2 30. Kf1 Rd2 31. Ke1 Rd3 32. Nb4 {Richter,J (1137)-Spangenberg,R (1307) Willingen 2007 0-1 (44)}) (17... Qe6 18. Bg4 Qg6 19. Bh5 $11) 18. Qc2 (18. g3 Qf6 $14) 18... f5 $11 19. Nd5 (19. Qb3+ $5 { is an interesting alternative} Kf8 20. Rae1 $11) 19... Nxd5 $17 20. exd5 e4 21. Be2 Bxd5 22. Rfd1 Bf7 (22... Bc6 23. c4 d5 24. cxd5 Bxd5 25. Qc3 $17) 23. a4 bxa4 (23... Qe5 24. Rd4 $17) 24. Rxa4 $15 a5 25. Rda1 Qe5 26. b4 f4 27. Rxa5 Rxa5 28. Rxa5 {An ideal square for the white rook.} Qe7 29. Qd2 g5 (29... Rc8 30. Qxf4 Rxc3 31. Bf1 $11) 30. Qd4 $14 Rc8 (30... e3 31. c4 $16) 31. Ra6 { White threatens to win material: Ra6xd6} (31. b5 e3 32. Ra7 exf2+ 33. Kxf2 $16) 31... Rd8 $2 (31... Qe5 $142 $5 {and Black hangs on} 32. Rxd6 Qxd4 33. Rxd4 Rxc3 $11) 32. b5 (32. Ra7 Qe6 33. Bh5 Rf8 $18) 32... Qe5 $2 (32... e3 $142 $16) 33. h3 $4 {instead of simply winning the game} (33. Qxe5 $142 {and White wins} dxe5 34. b6 $18) 33... Qxd4 $11 34. cxd4 Bd5 {The bishop is not easily driven from d5} 35. Kh2 Kf7 36. Ra7+ Kg6 37. Rc7 Rb8 38. Rc2 (38. Rd7 Rb6 $11) 38... Rb6 (38... Ra8 $5 $17) 39. Rb2 (39. Rc7 Kf6 $11) 39... h5 40. Kg1 (40. Rc2 Rb8 41. Rc7 h4 $11) 40... Bf7 (40... Rb8 $5 $17) 41. Kf1 $11 Be6 42. Ke1 g4 43. hxg4 hxg4 44. Kd2 Kf5 45. Kc3 f3 46. gxf3 gxf3 47. Bf1 Kf4 48. Kd2 Bd5 49. Rb4 Be6 50. Rb2 1/2-1/2