C07 French Tarrasch: 3...c5, 4.Ngf3 and 4.exd5 Qxd5 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Ndf3 cxd4 6.Qxd4)

This game was played in a team match called Chess Match Championship 1200+. The match was played on 76 boards between Chess lovers & CHESScom-International_EUROPE and Kopaonik. I played on board 18 for Kopaonik and I was able to win both of my games against chesszardoz. The final result of the match was 67 - 85 in favor of Kopaonik! While it was nice to be on the side of the winners, not all aspects of the match are so nice. The reason for it is that there were a lot of players in the match that have their accounts closed due to violation of the fair play policy. There were 9 of those in our opponent's roster. We were unable to avoid this thing and one player in our roster also has the Closed: Fair Play badge next to the username.

This game deviated from a previously shared game in this blog, in the post C07 French Tarrasch: 3...c5, 4.Ngf3 and 4.exd5 Qxd5 (7...Qd8) when I played 5.Ndf3. In that game my opponent played 5.dxc5. Both moves lead to a game that is evenly fought. No clear advantage was seen in the game until chesszardoz played 27...Ke8. I did get to the wrong side of the board with the move 13.Bb5 and I was slightly worse for awhile, but I was able to stay in the game long enough to my opponent play his 27th move in the position below.

The best and actually the only move that would have kept my opponent on an equal footing was 27...Bd5. Other moves were the source of serious trouble for my opponent. Actually the move chesszardoz played was the second best move in the position. I replied with the obvious and accurate move 28.Nf5. Then my opponent played 28...Rd7 and after that I allowed my opponent back into the game again with the move 29.Nxh6. The advantage shifted a bit back and forth and the last time my opponent threw away the game was in the position below after my 30th move, Nf5.

Chesszardoz should have played 30...Bc5, but instead he went for the move 30...Bf8. The rest of the game went in my favor, but I missed an easy win in the position below. During the game I could not think of a better move than 50.b3, but obviously I should have played 50.Rxb5!

Taking the pawn on b5 would have forced the trade of rooks, which would have made my job of winning the game a lot easier than it was in the game continuation.

[Event "Chess Match Championship 1200+ - Board"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.02.06"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "chesszardoz"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C07"] [WhiteElo "1834"] [BlackElo "1804"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "119"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 {French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Chistyakov Defense} 5. Ndf3 (5. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nb3 Nc6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 a6 {French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Chistyakov Defense, Modern Line}) 5... cxd4 6. Qxd4 {C07 French Tarrasch: 3...c5, 4.Ngf3 and 4. exd5 Qxd5} Nf6 7. Bd3 (7. Bc4 Qxd4 (7... Nc6 8. Qxd5 exd5 9. Bb5 Bc5 10. Ne2 O-O 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Nfd4 Ba6 13. c3 Rfe8 14. Be3 Ng4 15. Kd2 Nxe3 16. fxe3 Rab8 17. Rab1 Bb7 18. Nf4 a5 19. Rhe1 Re4 20. g3 Rbe8 21. Nd3 Ba7 22. b4 { Vojdani,B (1634)-Naumann,F (1462) Dortmund 2011 1-0 (53)}) 8. Nxd4 Nc6 9. Nb5 Bb4+ 10. c3 Ba5 11. Be3 O-O 12. Nf3 a6 13. Nbd4 {1/2-1/2 (13) Ilkin, A (2200) -Matveev,V (2234) Odintsovo 2008}) 7... Nc6 8. Qxd5 Nxd5 9. c3 $146 {Covers b4} (9. c4 Bb4+ 10. Kf1 Nf6 11. Bf4 Bd7 12. Ne2 Rc8 13. a3 Be7 14. Nc3 Nh5 15. Be3 h6 16. Rd1 g5 17. h3 Nf4 18. Bc2 Ng6 19. Nb5 a6 20. Nd6+ Bxd6 21. Rxd6 Nge5 22. Nxe5 Nxe5 23. b3 Ke7 {Peray,S (2064)-Rosenfeld,I (2017) France 2000 1-0 (40)}) 9... Be7 10. Ne2 e5 11. h3 {Prevents intrusion on g4} h6 {Controls g5} 12. O-O Be6 {Black has an active position} 13. Bb5 f6 {Consolidates g5} 14. Ng3 Rc8 ( 14... Kf7 15. Ba4 $15) 15. Re1 (15. Nh4 Kf7 $15) 15... Kf7 $15 {Black loses the right to castle} 16. Bd2 Rhd8 17. Ba4 a6 (17... Nb6 18. Bb3 $17) 18. a3 { Secures b4} b5 19. Bc2 Nf4 (19... Na5 $142 $5 $17) 20. Bxf4 $11 exf4 21. Ne2 g5 22. Rad1 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Rd8 24. Nfd4 Nxd4 {Black forks: c2+e2} 25. Nxd4 Bc8 26. Re1 (26. b4 $11) 26... Bb7 (26... Bc5 27. Rd1 $11) 27. Bb3+ (27. Bd1 Bd5 $14) 27... Ke8 (27... Bd5 $142 $5 $11 {is worthy of consideration}) 28. Nf5 $16 Rd7 29. Nxh6 ({Weaker is} 29. Nxe7 Rxe7 30. Rxe7+ Kxe7 $11) 29... Kd8 30. Nf5 (30. Ng8 $16) 30... Bf8 (30... Bc5 $5 $14) 31. Nd4 $16 Be7 $2 (31... Re7 $142 $5 32. Rd1 Kc8 $16) 32. Be6 $18 Rc7 33. Bg4 Bc8 34. Bf3 (34. Bxc8 $142 $5 Kxc8 35. Re6 $18) 34... Bd7 35. Bd5 (35. Kf1 Ke8 $16) 35... Bd6 (35... Bc5 $5 36. Nb3 Bb6 $16) 36. Be6 Be5 37. Bxd7 Kxd7 38. Rd1 Ke8 39. Nf3 Ke7 40. Kf1 Ke6 41. Ke2 a5 ( 41... Rc8 42. Nd4+ Kf7 43. Nb3 $16) 42. Nd4+ $18 Bxd4 43. Rxd4 Ke5 44. Kd3 Rb7 45. f3 Rb6 46. Rd8 a4 47. Re8+ Kd5 48. Re4 Rc6 $2 (48... Rb8 49. Rb4 Kc5 50. c4 bxc4+ 51. Rxc4+ Kd6 52. Rb4 $18) 49. Rb4 Rc5 $4 {terrible, but the game is lost in any case} (49... Kc5 50. c4 Rd6+ 51. Kc3 bxc4 52. Rxc4+ Kb5 53. Rb4+ Ka5 54. Rd4 Rc6+ 55. Rc4 $18) 50. b3 (50. Rxb5 Rxb5 51. c4+ Kc5 52. cxb5 Kxb5 53. Kd4 Kb6 54. Kc4 Ka5 55. Kc5 Ka6 56. Kd6 Kb5 57. Kd5 f5 58. Kd4 Kc6 59. Ke5 Kc5 60. Kxf5 Kd6 61. Kxg5 Kc6 62. Kxf4 Kd5 63. g4 Kc6 64. h4 Kd7 65. Kf5 Kd6 66. g5 Kc5 67. g6 Kd6 68. h5 Kc5 69. g7 Kd6 70. g8=Q Kc5 71. h6 Kd6 72. Qe6+ Kc7 73. h7 Kb7 74. h8=Q Ka7 75. Qh7+ Kb8 76. Qe8#) 50... axb3 51. Rxb3 Ke5 52. Rb4 f5 $2 (52... Rd5+ $142 53. Rd4 Rc5 $18) 53. c4 $18 bxc4+ 54. Rxc4 Rb5 ( 54... Rd5+ 55. Kc2 $18) 55. Rb4 Rc5 (55... Rd5+ 56. Kc3 Ke6 57. Rb6+ Kd7 58. a4 $18) 56. Rb2 (56. a4 {seems even better} Ke6 57. Rb5 Rc1 $18) 56... Kd5 (56... Ra5 57. Ra2 $18) 57. Ra2 (57. a4 $142 $5 {makes it even easier for White} Ke6 58. Ra2 Ra5 $18) 57... Ra5 58. a4 Kc5 59. Kc3 Ra6 $4 {Black crumbles in face of a dire situation} (59... Kc6 $142 $18) 60. a5 1-0