B83 Sicilian Scheveningen 6.Be2, lines without ...a6 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O Be7 8.Be3 O-O 9.Qd2)

This was previously shared in the post B83 Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Modern Variation #3. The remainder of the post is taken from the original post, with the exception of the diagrams and the name of the opening has been added to the game, the original classification of the opening can also be seen in the game. This game was played in the atadros's mini-tournament V at GameKnot. The mini-tournament consisted of 11 players and I was 9th in the final standings with 5.5 points, so things did not go all that well in the 20 games I played in this mini-tournament. My opponent, rayfisher, only managed to get one point, from the two draws he managed to get and he was on last place in the final standings. The mini-tournament was won by a player called desaparicidos (2080). The winner was able to gather 17.5 points, which consisted of 17 wins and 1 draw. I, on the other hand, won 2 games and played 7 draws, which is a very rare thing for me.

I have seen the move 8...Bd7 played against me before, but in this game rayfisher went for the move 8...O-O. Out of the two moves 8...O-O might be the more accurate one. The first critical error came in the position below when my opponent played 13...b5. Rayfisher's 13th move was a really bad one and it could have lost the game.

I honestly do not know what I was thinking about when I replied to rayfisher's 13th move, because I played 14.a4 instead of the obvious 14.Nxb5. I messed up my winning chance and ended up in a position that was roughly even. My next chance to take the game firmly in my grasp came after my opponent played 21...Bxd5 in the position below. In order to stay in the game rayfisher's only chance was to play 21...exd5. I had maybe three good moves to play in reply, 22.Qg4, 22.c4 and 22.Qg3 but I did not play any of them. All of those three moves would have been good enough to take the winning advantage. I played the move 22.Bd4 and gave my opponent another chance to hold on.

Rayfisher then played 22...Qc7, which was a mistake and with a correct reply I could have been on the clearly better side of the board. 22...dxe5 and 22...a5 were better alternatives for rayfisher. I was not able to find the best move, so I threw the advantage away again with the move 23.Bd3. Rayfisher took another wrong path in the position below with the move 26...e5. Once again I threw my advantage away, this time with the move 27.Bc3. 27.Qf5 was probably the best move.

My 27th move was only good enough for a draw, but luckily for me, rayfisher played 27...Bf7 in reply, which allowed me to play 28.Qf5 and get the winning advantage. For the first time in the game I was able to take the advantage and keep it for awhile. I did not play all that accurate moves, but when we reached the position below, I played 36.b3 allowing my opponent to get back into the game again. I should have played 36.Bxf5 instead. Rayfisher's next move was a bit sloppy and I could have taken a clear advantage, had I answered 36...Raf8 with 37.Bxf5 or 37.h3.

My 37th move Rfe1 was only good enough to get a drawish position. The game continued to played evenly until my opponent blundered again in the position below with the move 47...h5?? The path towards was a narrow one, only by playing 47...g5 rayfisher could have kept the equality in the position. Rayfisher's 47th move could have been another losing move and while my reply at first was good enough for a winning advantage, I was not able to keep it until the end.

Actually, only my reply 48.d5 was a step into the right direction, but then my reply 49.Ra1 to 48...a3 threw away all my advantage. The next position of interest came after my 50th move in the position below. Rayfisher blundered in the position and played 50...Ra7?? I obviously did not see tactics in this game, but I should have seen the move 51.Rxa2! The point of it is that I would have won a pawn because if 51...Qxa2, I would have taken on f6 with check.

In the game I played 51.Rf2 and the game looked to be going towards a draw again. The draw was agreed upon after 54.Qxf2.

[Event "atadros's mini-tournament V"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.05.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "rayfisher"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B83"] [WhiteElo "1766"] [BlackElo "1800"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "107"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be2 e6 {Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Modern Variation (#3)} 7. O-O Be7 8. Be3 O-O 9. Qd2 {B83 Sicilian Scheveningen: 6.Be2, lines without ...a6} (9. f4 Bd7 10. Nb3 {Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Modern Variation (#2)}) 9... Nxd4 10. Qxd4 (10. Bxd4 b6 (10... a6) 11. f4 Bb7 12. Bd3 e5 13. fxe5 dxe5 14. Bxe5 Nxe4 15. Nxe4 Bxe4 16. Rad1 Bc5+ 17. Kh1 Bxd3 18. Qxd3 Qxd3 19. Rxd3 Rfe8 20. Bc3 Re2 21. Rd2 Rxd2 22. Bxd2 Rd8 23. Bc3 f5 24. g3 Rd5 {Berg,E (2610) -Solodovnichenko,Y (2564) Maastricht 2009 1/2-1/2 (62)}) 10... a6 11. Qb6 $146 (11. Rfd1 Qc7 12. Rac1 b5 13. a4 e5 14. Qd3 b4 15. Na2 Qb7 16. Bg5 Be6 17. c4 bxc3 18. Nxc3 Bb3 19. Rd2 Rfc8 20. Re1 h6 21. Be3 Rc6 22. Bd1 Bc4 23. Qb1 Bd8 24. Nd5 Ba5 25. b4 Bxd5 {Margraf,D (2239)-Bruemmel,A (2106) Germany 2012 0-1 (74)}) 11... Qe8 {Black has a cramped position} 12. Rad1 Nd7 {Black threatens to win material: Nd7xb6} 13. Qa5 b5 $4 (13... Rb8 14. Bf4 e5 15. Be3 $11) 14. a4 $4 {a weak move, ruining a winning position} (14. Nxb5 $142 {ends the debate } Qd8 15. Qxd8 Rxd8 16. Nxd6 $18) 14... bxa4 $11 15. Nxa4 {White has new hanging pawns: b2+c2. Black has a cramped position} Qd8 {Black threatens to win material: Qd8xa5} 16. Qh5 {Black king safety dropped} (16. Qxd8 Rxd8 17. Bf4 Ne5 $11) 16... Nf6 {Black threatens to win material: Nf6xh5. Black forks: h5+e4} 17. Qh4 {Black has a cramped position} (17. Qf3 $5 {should be examined more closely} Qc7 18. Bd3 $11) 17... Bd7 $17 {Black threatens to win material: Bd7xa4} 18. Nc3 {Black has a cramped position} Bc6 (18... Nd5 19. Qg3 Nxe3 20. Qxe3 $15) 19. Qf4 h6 (19... Qc7 $5 $15 {should be investigated more closely}) 20. e5 $14 Nd5 21. Nxd5 Bxd5 $4 (21... exd5 22. c4 $14) 22. Bd4 $4 {releasing the pressure on the opponent} (22. c4 $142 {seems even better} Bg5 23. Qg4 Bxe3 24. cxd5 $18) 22... Qc7 (22... Rc8 23. exd6 Bxd6 24. Qg4 $14) 23. Bd3 (23. Qg3 $142 $5 g6 24. c4 $16) 23... f6 $14 24. exd6 {White forks: c7+e7} (24. exf6 Bxf6 25. Qg4 Bxd4 26. Qxd4 Qb7 $14) 24... Bxd6 $11 25. Qh4 a5 26. Qh5 e5 $2 ( 26... Rfd8 27. Rfe1 f5 28. Ra1 $11) 27. Bc3 (27. Qf5 $142 Rfd8 28. c4 $16) 27... Bf7 $4 (27... Rfd8 $142 $11 {had to be tried to avoid defeat}) 28. Qf5 $18 g6 29. Qxf6 Be8 $4 {the position was bad, and this mistake simply hastens the end} (29... Be7 30. Qxe5 Qxe5 31. Bxe5 Bc5 $18) 30. Qe6+ (30. Qxd6 $1 { makes it even easier for White} Qxd6 31. Bc4+ Bf7 32. Bxf7+ Kxf7 33. Rxd6 Rfd8 $18) 30... Kg7 (30... Bf7 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 31. Qg4 h5 32. Qg5 $18) 31. f4 (31. Be4 {might be the shorter path} Rf6 32. Qxd6 Rxd6 33. Bxe5+ Kf7 34. Rxd6 Qe7 35. Bd5+ Kf8 36. Rf6+ Qxf6 37. Bxf6 Ra7 $18) 31... Rf6 (31... Qc6 {doesn't do any good} 32. Kh1 Bc7 33. Qe7+ Rf7 $18) 32. Qg4 (32. Qxf6+ $142 $1 {secures the win} Kxf6 33. fxe5+ Ke7 34. exd6+ Qxd6 35. Be4 Qxd1 36. Rxd1 $18 (36. Bxa8 {succumbs to} Qd6 $15)) 32... Bd7 $2 (32... Bc5+ 33. Kh1 Bd4 34. Bxd4 exd4 $18) 33. Qh4 (33. Qg3 $142 {secures the point} Raf8 34. Rfe1 $18) 33... Bf5 $2 (33... Raf8 $5 $16) 34. fxe5 (34. Bxf5 Rxf5 35. g4 Bc5+ 36. Kg2 Qc6+ 37. Kh3 Rf7 38. Bxe5+ Kg8 $18) 34... Bxe5 35. Bxe5 Qxe5 36. b3 (36. Bxf5 Qc5+ 37. Kh1 Rxf5 38. Rd7+ Kg8 39. Rxf5 Qxf5 40. Qc4+ Kf8 $18) 36... Raf8 ( 36... Bxd3 37. Qxf6+ Qxf6 38. Rxf6 Kxf6 39. Rxd3 a4 40. bxa4 Rxa4 $14) 37. Rfe1 (37. Bxf5 $142 Rxf5 38. Rxf5 Qxf5 39. Qd4+ Qf6 40. Qc5 $16) 37... Qc5+ $11 38. Kh1 Bxd3 39. cxd3 Qc2 40. h3 Qxb3 41. d4 Qc4 42. Qe4 a4 43. Qe5 Qb4 (43... Kg8 44. d5 $11) 44. Rf1 (44. d5 Qf4 $11) 44... Qb6 45. Rb1 Qa6 46. Rf3 R8f7 47. Rbf1 h5 $4 {what a pity, victory was in sight} (47... g5 $142 $11 {was a good chance to save the game}) 48. d5 (48. Rxf6 Qxf6 49. Rxf6 Rxf6 50. d5 Kf7 51. Kg1 Rf5 52. Qe6+ Kg7 53. d6 Rf8 54. d7 g5 55. Qe7+ Kg8 56. d8=R Rxd8 57. Qxd8+ Kf7 58. Qxg5 a3 59. Qxh5+ Ke6 60. h4 a2 61. Qe2+ Kd5 62. Qxa2+ Kd4 63. h5 Kc3 64. h6 Kd4 65. h7 Kc3 66. h8=Q+ Kd3 67. Qd8+ Ke4 68. Qe6+ Kf4 69. Qh4#) 48... a3 (48... Qd6 {cannot undo what has already been done} 49. Qxd6 Rxd6 50. Rxf7+ Kh6 51. Rd1 Kg5 52. Ra7 Kf4 53. Rxa4+ Kg5 54. Rc4 Kf5 55. Rc3 h4 56. Kh2 g5 57. Rc6 Rd7 58. g4+ hxg3+ 59. Kxg3 Rd8 60. Re6 Rxd5 61. Rxd5+ Kxe6 62. Rxg5 Kf7 63. h4 Ke6 64. h5 Kf7 65. Kg4 Ke6 66. h6 Kf7 67. h7 Ke6 68. h8=Q Kf7 69. Qh6 Ke8 70. Rg7 Kf8 71. Qh8#) 49. Ra1 (49. Rxf6 Rxf6 50. Qe7+ Kh6 51. Rxf6 Qc8 52. Qf7 Qf5 53. Rxf5 gxf5 54. d6 a2 55. Qxa2 f4 56. Qe6+ Kg7 57. d7 f3 58. d8=Q fxg2+ 59. Kxg2 h4 60. Qdg8#) 49... a2 $11 50. Qb2 {White threatens to win material: Qb2xa2} Ra7 $4 {gives the opponent new chances} (50... Qb6 51. Qxb6 Rxb6 52. Rxf7+ Kxf7 53. Rxa2 Rb1+ 54. Kh2 $11) 51. Rf2 $4 {allows the opponent back into the game} (51. Rxa2 $142 $1 {a pity that White didn't try this} Qxa2 52. Qxf6+ Kh7 53. Qg5 Qb1+ 54. Kh2 $18) 51... Qd6 (51... Qb6 52. Qxb6 Rxb6 53. Rfxa2 Rxa2 54. Rxa2 Rb1+ 55. Kh2 $11) 52. Rxa2 (52. Raf1 Ra6 $11) 52... Rxa2 $11 {Black has a mate threat} 53. Qxa2 Rxf2 54. Qxf2 1/2-1/2