C41 Philidor Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.Qb3)

This game was played at Red Hot Pawn in a tournament called 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen II. The tournament is all versus all 21 player tournament and you play two games against everyone else and all games are played simultaneously. I am currently the second highest rated player in the tournament and I am also currently second in the standings and some small hope is left for me to win the tournament.

It seems that I had found the move 7.Qb3 already in this game, but I had not played it in some of the games that started later than this game. While it did not change the result, it is still important to play the best moves if possible. I was basically in a winning position after 7.Qb3 and remained in a winning position the remainder of the game. However, while I had a possibility to end the game in the position below, I was unable to do so.

I missed the mate in one, 20.Qd5#, which is somewhat embarrassing. I continued playing a bit sloppy chess, but finally I was able to find the mate and end the game on move 27. A correction to the post was made September 27th, 2017. I noticed that the first game and the second game did not have exactly the same opening, one move was different and I only noticed it today, I am sorry about my mistake.

[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 "1199"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 {Philidor Defense} Bg4 (3... Bd7 {Philidor Defense: Philidor Gambit}) 4. dxe5 Bxf3 (4... Nd7 {Philidor Defense: Alapin-Blackburne Gambit}) 5. Qxf3 dxe5 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Qb3 {C41 Philidor Defence} Be7 8. Bxf7+ Kf8 9. Bc4 (9. Qxb7 Nbd7 10. Bd5 Rb8 11. Qxa7 Bc5 12. Qa6 Rb6 13. Qe2 Rd6 14. Bb3 Qa8 15. Nd2 Bb6 16. Nc4 Rd4 17. Nxb6 Qa5+ 18. c3 Nxb6 19. f3 Rd6 20. O-O Ke7 21. f4 Nbd7 22. Qc4 Qb6+ 23. Kh1 Rf8 {Putzbach,G (2260)-Linke,K Pinneberg 1996 1-0 (35)}) (9. O-O Nbd7 10. Rd1 Nxe4 11. Be6 Bd6 12. Qf3+ Qf6 13. Bxd7 Qxf3 14. gxf3 Nf6 15. Bf5 g6 16. Bh6+ Ke7 17. Be4 c6 18. Bg7 Rhd8 19. Bxf6+ Kxf6 20. Nc3 h5 21. Rd3 Bc7 22. Rad1 Rxd3 23. Rxd3 Rh8 {Sirera Ripoll,J (1750)-Villanes Hernandez,S Madrid 2014 1-0 (53)}) 9... b6 $146 (9... Nbd7 10. Qf3 Qe8 11. Nc3 c6 12. O-O h5 13. Bg5 Qg6 14. h4 b5 15. Be6 Ke8 16. Rad1 Nc5 17. Bf5 Qf7 18. b4 Ne6 19. Qg3 Ng4 20. Bxe7 Kxe7 21. Rd3 Rad8 22. Rfd1 Qf6 23. f3 Nh6 24. Bxe6 { Fatalibekova, E-Antropova,O Soviet Union 1967 1/2-1/2 (59)}) (9... Nc6 10. O-O Na5 11. Qc3 $18) 10. O-O Nxe4 (10... Nc6 11. Qg3 h5 $18) 11. Bd5 (11. Qf3+ { keeps an even firmer grip} Nf6 12. Qxa8 Nbd7 $18) 11... Nc5 (11... Na6 { is no salvation} 12. Qf3+ Nf6 13. Bxa8 $18) 12. Qf3+ (12. Bxa8 $6 {is a weaker possibility} Nxb3 13. axb3 a5 $11) 12... Bf6 13. Bxa8 Nbd7 (13... Ne6 {doesn't change anything anymore} 14. c3 $18) 14. Nc3 e4 (14... Ne6 {cannot undo what has already been done} 15. Ne2 $18) 15. Bxe4 Nxe4 (15... Ne5 {cannot change what is in store for White} 16. Qh3 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 $18) 16. Nxe4 Kg8 17. Nxf6+ ( 17. Qb3+ $142 {makes it even easier for White} Kf8 18. Nxf6 Qxf6 19. Rd1 $18) 17... gxf6 18. Bh6 Kf7 19. Qh5+ (19. Rfe1 Nf8 20. Rad1 Ne6 21. Qh5+ Ke7 22. Bf8+ Kxf8 23. Rxd8+ Nxd8 24. Re8+ Kg7 25. Re7+ Nf7 26. Rxf7+ Kg8 27. Rxf6 b5 28. Qf7#) 19... Kg8 (19... Ke7 {does not save the day} 20. Rfe1+ Ne5 21. Rxe5+ fxe5 22. Qxe5+ Kd7 23. Qd5+ Kc8 24. Qa8+ Kd7 25. Rd1+ Ke7 26. Bg5+ Ke6 27. Bxd8 Rxd8 28. Qxd8 b5 29. Qxc7 b4 30. Rd6+ Kf5 31. Qc5+ Ke4 32. Rd4#) 20. Rfe1 (20. Qd5#) 20... Ne5 21. Rad1 Qe7 (21... Qf8 {cannot change destiny} 22. Rd7 b5 23. Rg7+ Qxg7 24. Qe8+ Qf8 25. Qxf8#) 22. f4 (22. Rxe5 fxe5 23. Qf5 e4 24. Rd8+ Qf8 25. Rxf8#) 22... Qc5+ (22... c6 {does not help much} 23. fxe5 f5 24. Qxf5 Qc5+ 25. Kh1 Qd6 26. exd6 b5 27. Re8#) 23. Kh1 Ng6 (23... Qf8 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 24. fxe5 b5 25. exf6 b4 26. Qd5+ Qf7 27. Re8#) 24. f5 (24. Rd8+ Kf7 25. Rd7+ Qe7 26. Rexe7+ Kg8 27. Qd5#) 24... Qxc2 (24... Qf8 {hardly improves anything} 25. fxg6 c6 26. g7 Qe7 27. Rxe7 b5 28. Rd8#) 25. fxg6 hxg6 ( 25... Qxd1 {is not the saving move} 26. Rxd1 b5 27. Qd5#) 26. Rd8+ Kf7 27. Qd5# 1-0