C41 Philidor Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.Be2)

The tournament info is a bit out of date, since it was typed when I originally shared this game. I could have updated it to the current situation, but I decided not to do that. This game is from the 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen III tournament that started August 11th 2014. As there were no rating restrictions to join this tournament, the lowest rated player is rated 922 and the highest is rated 2065. Seven players are under 1400, there are ten players between 1400 and 1700 and the rest three are between 1827 and 1913. When I look at the tournament results so far, it would be interesting to see that I fight for the third place against the currently fourth lowest rated player in the tournament if I was not aware that he had a much better rating when he played these games. Well, enough that he managed to get 97 points, I think he may have lost some games on time as most of his latest games have been lost on time. I have currently the third highest rating in the tournament, 1861, so I am quite close where I ought to be considering the rating situation.

I have faced the move 3...Bg4 quite a few times. I should have, of course, continued like I had done before and play 4.dxe5. For some reason I decided to play 4.Be2 in this game. 4.Be2 is not a bad move by any means, but I think I prefer 4.dxe5 and the positions that might arise after it. The reply to 4.Be2 was 4...h5, which was the starting point for my opponent's downfall. Arayn should have played 4...Nf6 to stay in the game. I was not always able to find the strongest moves, but I was able to keep the advantage on my side to the rest of the game and even increase my advantage. The game ended in mate on move 33.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Arayn"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "1871"] [BlackElo "1164"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 {Philidor Defense} Bg4 (3... Nd7 4. Nc3 (4. Bc4 c6 ( 4... Nb6 {Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation. Sharp Variation}) 5. O-O Be7 6. dxe5 {Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation. Steiner Variation}) 4... Ngf6 5. Be2 (5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O h6 {Philidor Defense: Lion Variation. Lion's Claw II}) 5... Be7 6. O-O c6 {Philidor Defense: Lion Variation. Lion's Claw I}) 4. Be2 { C41 Philidor Defence} (4. dxe5 Nd7 {Philidor Defense: Alapin-Blackburne Gambit} ) 4... h5 $146 (4... Nf6 5. Bg5 Be7 6. dxe5 dxe5 7. Bxf6 Bxf6 8. Qxd8+ Bxd8 9. Nxe5 Bxe2 10. Kxe2 O-O 11. Ke3 f6 12. Nd3 Nd7 13. f3 c5 14. Rd1 Bb6 15. Ke2 Rfe8 16. c4 a5 17. Nc3 Nf8 18. Nd5 Ra6 19. Rd2 {Neumann,A-Nikolic,R Warsaw 1959 0-1 (39)}) (4... Bxf3 5. Bxf3 exd4 (5... Nc6 6. c3 Nf6 7. O-O Be7 8. d5 Nb8 9. Qb3 Qc8 10. Be3 O-O 11. Nd2 c6 12. c4 b6 13. Qd1 Nbd7 14. b4 c5 15. a3 a5 16. b5 Kh8 17. Be2 Rg8 18. f4 h6 19. Qc2 g6 20. h3 {Parakrama,A-Maouloud,M Buenos Aires 1978 1-0 (52)}) 6. Qxd4 Nc6 7. Qc4 Nf6 8. e5 Nxe5 9. Qa4+ c6 10. O-O Nxf3+ 11. gxf3 Nd5 12. Re1+ Be7 13. c4 Nf6 14. Bg5 O-O 15. b4 d5 16. b5 cxb5 17. Qxb5 h6 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. Rd1 {Bourbeau,R-Banks,D Lansing 1995 0-1 (36)}) (4... Nd7 5. O-O Ngf6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Be3 O-O 8. a4 Ne8 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Nxe5 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 dxe5 12. Rfd1 Nd6 13. Rd5 f5 14. exf5 Rxf5 15. Bc5 Qd7 16. Rad1 Qe6 17. Bxd6 cxd6 18. Ne4 Raf8 19. f3 {James,S-Merchiers,K Groningen 1980 1/2-1/2 (45)}) (4... Nf6 5. O-O $14) 5. dxe5 $16 dxe5 $2 (5... Bxf3 $142 6. Bxf3 dxe5 7. Bxh5 Nc6 $16) 6. Qxd8+ $18 Kxd8 7. Nxe5 Be6 8. O-O c6 9. Bf4 (9. Rd1+ Ke8 $18) 9... Nd7 10. Nc3 (10. Nf3 $142 $18) 10... b5 $4 {but even a better move would not have saved the game} (10... Nxe5 $142 11. Bxe5 Nf6 $16) 11. Nxc6+ $18 Kc8 12. Nxb5 Kb7 (12... g5 {doesn't improve anything} 13. Bxg5 a6 14. Nbd4 $18) 13. Ncd4 (13. Na5+ $142 {and White wins} Kc8 14. Nc7 $18) 13... Rc8 (13... a6 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 14. Rfd1 Ngf6 15. Nc3 $18) 14. Nd6+ (14. Rfd1 $142 {and White has it in the bag} Ngf6 15. Bf3 Nb6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 $18) 14... Bxd6 15. Bxd6 Rc6 (15... Bc4 {what else?} 16. Bxc4 Rxc4 $18) 16. Nxc6 Kxc6 17. Rfd1 f6 (17... Ngf6 {the last chance for counterplay} 18. Rd4 Nxe4 $18) 18. a4 Nh6 19. Bb5+ (19. Ra3 Kb7 20. Rc3 Nf7 21. Rc7+ Kb8 22. Rxd7+ Nxd6 23. R7xd6 Bc8 $18) 19... Kb6 (19... Kb7 {doesn't change anything anymore} 20. Bf4 Ne5 21. Bxe5 fxe5 22. Rd6 $18) 20. Rd3 (20. Bf4 $142 {and White takes home the point} Nc5 21. Be3 Kb7 22. Bxc5 Nf7 $18) 20... a6 (20... Nf7 {cannot undo what has already been done} 21. Rad1 Nb8 22. Rc3 $18) 21. Bxd7 (21. Bf4 $142 {and White can celebrate victory} axb5 22. Rd6+ Kb7 23. Rxe6 g5 $18) 21... Bxd7 22. b4 (22. Bf8 $1 {might be the shorter path} Kc7 23. Bxg7 Rh7 24. Rc3+ Bc6 25. Bxh6 Rxh6 $18) 22... Re8 23. f3 g5 (23... Nf7 {is not the saving move} 24. Bc5+ Kc7 25. Bb6+ Kc8 26. Rc3+ Kb8 27. Rc7 $18) 24. c4 g4 (24... Nf7 { doesn't change the outcome of the game} 25. c5+ Ka7 26. Bb8+ Kxb8 27. Rxd7 $18) 25. Bc5+ Kc7 26. b5 (26. Bb6+ {keeps an even firmer grip} Kc8 27. b5 Nf7 28. bxa6 Bc6 $18) 26... gxf3 (26... Nf7 {cannot change what is in store for White} 27. Bb6+ $1 {Deflection: d7} Kc8 28. bxa6 gxf3 29. Rb1 $18) 27. gxf3 axb5 ( 27... Nf7 {there is nothing better in the position} 28. Bb6+ $1 {Deflection: d7 } Kc8 29. bxa6 Bc6 $18) 28. axb5 f5 (28... Rg8+ {does not win a prize} 29. Kf2 Bc8 30. Ra7+ Bb7 31. Bd6+ Kc8 32. c5 Nf7 33. Bf4 Ne5 34. Bxe5 fxe5 35. c6 Rg7 36. b6 h4 37. Rd6 Re7 38. Rf6 Bxc6 39. Rxc6+ Kd8 40. b7 Rd7 41. b8=Q+ Ke7 42. Rxd7+ Kxd7 43. Qb7+ Ke8 44. Rc8#) 29. Ra7+ Kc8 (29... Kb8 {cannot change destiny} 30. Rdxd7 Rg8+ 31. Kh1 f4 32. Bd6+ Kc8 33. Rac7+ Kb8 34. Rc6+ Ka8 35. Ra6#) 30. Rdxd7 Kb8 (30... Rg8+ {doesn't improve anything} 31. Kh1 Kb8 32. Bd6+ Kc8 33. Rac7+ Kb8 34. Rc6+ Ka8 35. Ra6#) 31. Bd6+ Kc8 32. Rh7 (32. Rdc7+ Kb8 33. Rh7+ Kc8 34. Ra8#) 32... Ng8 (32... Rg8+ {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 33. Kf2 Nf7 34. Rhxf7 Rg2+ 35. Kxg2 f4 36. Ra8#) 33. Ra8# 1-0