C41 Philidor Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.Qb3 Qe7)

The things typed after this sentence were typed when I originally shared this game. This was played at ChessRex.com. This was a correspondence game and both players were able to use 7 days for each move. The interesting thing is, I had faced the position after 10.Bd2 in a game I had played a couple of months before this game in a team match that was played over the board. Not only that but I also faced the same position in another game at ChessRex.com. In all three games the move order was exactly the same. When I reached the position after 7...Qe7, I was annoyed that I had not analysed the over the board game because I had thought about two moves here, 8.Qxb7 and 8.Bxf7+. Despite having thought about those possibilities, I did play 8.Qxb7 in all three games though I did consider Bxf7+ maybe better, but I was not confident enough to play it, mostly due to the fact that I do not trust my calculation skills. I did check those possibilities with Stockfish 6 64 BMI2 now and it first thought that Bxf7+ is better, but after some time it decided that Qxb7 is clearly the better move. Like I have previously typed, the move 6...Nf6 is the losing move of the game. The rating shown in the notation is my current rating there after two games. That is also the only rating you get there, it does not matter if you play chess, chess960 or the times you are using for the game, the rating is still the same. It is the only site where I have played that uses only one rating for players. It is certainly something that makes it stand out from other sites. The first time I noticed only one rating for players, I had to ask about the rating thing in the lobby, because I could not believe it. I actually embrace these different ways to do things, it is refreshing to me.

Game number two. This game had a very similar start as the previous game in this post. I was rather surprised of that fact, but also because these two games followed a game I had played in a over the board team match couple of months before these two games started. These two games that were played at ChessRex were quite easy because of that earlier thought process I had done during that team match. Of course all these games did deviate from each other at some point, but I think it was this second game that followed more closely to the over the board game.

[Event "game id 36879"] [Site "http://ChessRex.com"] [Date "2015.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "EXTREME"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "1536"] [BlackElo "1316"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 {Philidor Defense} Bg4 (3... Bd7 {Philidor Defense: Philidor Gambit}) (3... exd4 4. Bc4 {Philidor Defense: Morphy Gambit}) 4. dxe5 Bxf3 (4... Nd7 {Philidor Defense: Alapin-Blackburne Gambit}) 5. Qxf3 dxe5 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Qb3 Qe7 {C41 Philidor Defence} 8. Qxb7 Qb4+ 9. Qxb4 Bxb4+ 10. Bd2 Nxe4 $4 $146 {shortens the misery for Black} (10... Bxd2+ 11. Nxd2 Nbd7 (11... Ke7 12. f3 Rd8 13. O-O-O Nc6 14. c3 Rab8 15. Kc2 Nd7 16. Bd5 Na5 17. b4 Nb7 18. Nc4 f6 19. Rd2 Nb6 20. Ne3 Nd6 21. Rhd1 Na4 22. Bb3 Nb6 23. c4 Ne8 24. Nf5+ { 1-0 (24) Andreev, E (2482)-Bracha,P (1894) Bardejov 2014}) 12. O-O Rb8 13. b3 Ke7 14. Rfd1 Rhd8 15. f3 Rb6 16. Be2 Rd6 17. Nc4 Rxd1+ 18. Rxd1 Ne8 19. Na5 Nb8 20. Rxd8 Kxd8 21. Kf2 Nd6 22. Nc4 f6 23. Nxd6 cxd6 24. Bb5 Kc7 25. Ke3 { Soares,J (1838)-Mathow,H (1813) Macae 2015 1-0 (44)}) (10... c5 11. a3 Bxd2+ 12. Nxd2 O-O 13. O-O Nbd7 14. f3 Rad8 15. Rfd1 Nb6 16. Be2 Nfd7 17. Nc4 Rfe8 18. Nxb6 Nxb6 19. Bb5 Rf8 20. b3 f6 21. Bc6 h6 22. Bd5+ Kh7 23. Rd2 Rd6 24. Rad1 Kh8 25. Bb7 {Liebert, U-Funke,E Zwickau 1955 1-0 (45)}) (10... Bxd2+ $142 11. Nxd2 a5 $18) 11. Bxb4 $18 a5 12. Ba3 Nd6 13. Bd5 (13. Bxd6 {makes it even easier for White} cxd6 14. Nc3 Nc6 $18) 13... c6 14. Bxc6+ $1 {forces the win} Nxc6 15. Bxd6 Rd8 16. Ba3 (16. Bc5 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} Rc8 17. c3 Nd4 18. Bxd4 exd4 $18) 16... Rc8 (16... Nd4 {is still a small chance} 17. c4 Nc2+ 18. Ke2 Nxa1 $18) 17. Nc3 Nd4 (17... f6 {does not solve anything} 18. O-O-O $18) 18. O-O-O Kd7 (18... f6 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 19. f4 $1 {Deflection: d4} Kf7 20. fxe5 fxe5 21. Rhf1+ Ke6 22. Kb1 $18) 19. Nb5 (19. Rhe1 $142 {and the result of the game is clear: White will win} Kc6 20. Rxe5 $18) 19... Rxc2+ 20. Kb1 Rxf2 (20... Re2 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 21. Rhf1 f6 22. Nc3 $18) 21. Nxd4 (21. Rhe1 $142 $5 {and White can already relax} Kc6 22. Nxd4+ exd4 23. Rxd4 Rf6 24. Rc1+ Kb6 25. Bc5+ Kb7 26. Rd7+ Kc8 $18) 21... exd4 22. Rxd4+ (22. Rhe1 $142 {might be the shorter path} Kc7 23. Rxd4 $18) 22... Kc8 (22... Ke6 $18 {otherwise it's curtains at once}) 23. Rc1+ Kb7 24. Rd7+ (24. Rd7+ Ka8 25. Rc6 Rf6 26. Bd6 Rxd6 27. Rcxd6 Kb8 28. Rb6+ Ka8 29. Rbb7 h5 30. Ra7+ Kb8 31. Rdb7+ Kc8 32. Rxf7 Kb8 33. Rxg7 a4 34. Rgb7+ Kc8 35. Rh7 Rxh7 36. Rxh7 Kd8 37. Kc2 h4 38. Kc3 h3 39. g4 Ke8 40. Rb7 a3 41. bxa3 Kf8 42. Kc2 Kg8 43. a4 Kh8 44. a5 Kg8 45. a6 Kh8 46. a7 Kg8 47. a8=Q#) 1-0 [Event "game id 36874"] [Site "http://ChessRex.com"] [Date "2015.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "AWOLNATION"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "1552"] [BlackElo "1527"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 {Philidor Defense} Bg4 (3... exd4 4. Nxd4 (4. c3 { Philidor Defense: Bird Gambit}) 4... g6 {Philidor Defense: Larsen Variation} ( 4... Nf6 {Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation})) 4. dxe5 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 dxe5 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Qb3 Qe7 {C41 Philidor Defence} 8. Qxb7 Qb4+ 9. Qxb4 Bxb4+ 10. Bd2 Bxd2+ 11. Nxd2 O-O (11... Ke7 12. f3 Rd8 13. O-O-O Nc6 14. c3 Rab8 15. Kc2 Nd7 16. Bd5 Na5 17. b4 Nb7 18. Nc4 f6 19. Rd2 Nb6 20. Ne3 Nd6 21. Rhd1 Na4 22. Bb3 Nb6 23. c4 Ne8 24. Nf5+ {1-0 (24) Andreev,E (2482)-Bracha,P (1894) Bardejov 2014}) (11... Nbd7 12. O-O Rb8 13. b3 Ke7 14. Rfd1 Rhd8 15. f3 Rb6 16. Be2 Rd6 17. Nc4 Rxd1+ 18. Rxd1 Ne8 19. Na5 Nb8 20. Rxd8 Kxd8 21. Kf2 Nd6 22. Nc4 f6 23. Nxd6 cxd6 24. Bb5 Kc7 25. Ke3 Kb6 26. c4 {Soares,J (1838)-Mathow,H (1813) Macae 2015 1-0 (44)}) 12. f3 Nc6 13. O-O-O $146 (13. c3 Rab8 14. O-O-O Na5 15. Be2 h6 16. Nc4 Nxc4 17. Bxc4 Rb6 18. Rd2 Rc6 19. Bb3 a5 20. Rhd1 a4 21. Bxa4 Ra6 22. Bb3 c5 23. Rd8 Ne8 24. R1d7 Rf6 25. Bc4 g6 26. a4 Ng7 27. a5 Nh5 { Kunte,A (2517)-Akshay,V (1766) Jalgaon 2010 1-0 (37)}) 13... Na5 14. Bd3 c5 ( 14... Rfd8 15. Nf1 $18) 15. Nc4 (15. Rhe1 Rac8 16. Re3 Rc7 $18) 15... Nxc4 16. Bxc4 Rab8 (16... Rfd8 17. Rxd8+ Rxd8 18. Re1 $18) 17. Rd6 Rb4 (17... Rfc8 18. Rhd1 h5 19. Ra6 $18) 18. b3 Rb7 19. Rhd1 Ne8 (19... h5 {cannot undo what has already been done} 20. Rc6 $18) 20. R6d5 (20. Rd7 {and White can already relax} Rb6 21. a4 a5 $18) 20... Re7 (20... Nf6 {is no salvation} 21. Rxe5 Rc7 22. g4 $18) 21. Rxc5 (21. Rd7 $142 {seems even better} Rxd7 22. Rxd7 a5 $18) 21... Rc7 (21... Nf6 {does not win a prize} 22. Rd6 $18) 22. Rxe5 (22. Rxc7 $142 { secures victory} Nxc7 23. Rd7 Rc8 24. Bxf7+ Kf8 $18) 22... Kh8 (22... Nf6 $18 { there is nothing better in the position}) 23. Rd8 (23. Rd8 g6 24. Rexe8 Rxe8 25. Rxe8+ Kg7 26. Kd2 $18) 1-0