E38 Nimzo-Indian: Classical, 4...c5 (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 Bxc5 6.e3)

This was played in a team match called Battle For Victory vs. "MONIKA". The match was played on 77 boards and I played on board 15 for Battle For Victory. My other game against DogOnTheRoad ended in my victory. The match ended with a score 82.5 - 71.5 in favor of Battle For Victory.

The first blunder of the game was seen after my 18th move Rxd8. The next diagram shows the position in which DogOnTheRoad played 19.Nb5? I am not at all sure what my opponent was thinking. Maybe he wanted to take on c4 with the queen and keep the pawn structure intact. Unfortunately for my opponent, I did not need to move my queen, I was able to take on b3 and actually win a pawn. After 19...cxb3 DogOnTheRoad could not really play 20.Bxe5 because of the reply 20...bxc2 and the position would be lost for my opponent.

I think I played this game quite well until I played 27...b4. The position where I played my 27th move can be seen in the diagram below. Actually at this point it started to be increasingly difficult for me to find the correct plan. The most natural looking move for me is still 27...b4 and I would likely play that again if I were to end up in the same position again. Then again with a deeper thought I might go for the stronger pawn push.

I was able to maintain some of my advantage and even increase it a bit before the advantage disappeared with the move 31...Qc7, played in the diagram position below. Even after this I could have gone back into an advantageous position, but instead I played the horrible move 32...h6, which destroys my good game.

I may have at least been able to keep the position close to even, but I self-destructed instead with the most horrible move of the game 34...Qd6. The position in which that was played can be seen in the next diagram.

The game ended with the moves 35.Qg6+ Kg8 36.Nf7. After 36.Nf7 I had to accept my loss and resigned.

[Event "Battle For Victory vs."] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.12.19"] [Round "?"] [White "DogOnTheRoad"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E38"] [WhiteElo "1832"] [BlackElo "1821"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 {Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Berlin Variation} 5. dxc5 Bxc5 (5... Bxc3+ {Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Berlin Variation, Steiner Variation}) (5... O-O 6. a3 Bxc5 7. Nf3 b6 8. Bf4 {Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Berlin Variation, Macieja System}) 6. e3 {E38 Nimzo-Indian: Classical, 4...c5} b6 7. Be2 (7. Nf3 Bb7 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O d5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Qxd5 12. a3 a5 13. Bd2 Nc6 14. Bc3 Rfd8 15. Rad1 Qf5 16. Qxf5 exf5 17. Bc4 Rxd1 18. Rxd1 Rd8 19. Rxd8+ Nxd8 20. Ne5 Bc8 21. Bb5 Kf8 {Bazant,P (2360) -Tichy,V (2345) Czechia 1998 1-0 (38)} ) 7... Bb7 8. Bf3 Bxf3 (8... Nc6 9. Nge2 Nb4 10. Qd1 Bxf3 11. gxf3 Nc6 12. Ng3 Rc8 13. Nge4 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 Bb4+ 15. Bd2 O-O 16. Bxb4 Nxb4 17. a3 Nc6 18. Nd6 Rb8 19. f4 Qf6 20. Qc2 e5 21. fxe5 Qxe5 22. O-O-O a6 23. Rd5 {Cruz Ramirez,N (1770)-Angel Acosta,J (2184) Las Palmas 2012 1/2-1/2 (69)}) 9. Nxf3 O-O $146 ( 9... d5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. O-O Nxc3 12. Qxc3 O-O 13. b4 Be7 14. Bb2 Bf6 15. Qc2 Bxb2 16. Qxb2 Nd7 17. Rfd1 Qe7 18. Rac1 Rac8 19. Nd4 Ne5 20. b5 Rxc1 21. Qxc1 Qb7 22. Nc6 f6 23. h3 Qc7 24. Nxe5 {Skakun,V (1829)-Sychev,V (2079) Tambov 2009 1-0 (38)}) 10. O-O Nc6 11. a3 {Consolidates b4} (11. Rd1 Rc8 $14) 11... a5 (11... Qc7 12. b4 Be7 13. Bb2 $11) 12. Rd1 Qb8 13. h3 {Controls g4} Ne5 14. Nxe5 Qxe5 15. b3 Rfd8 16. Rd3 (16. Bb2 $5 $14 {should be investigated more closely}) 16... d5 $11 17. Bb2 dxc4 18. Rxd8+ Rxd8 19. Nb5 $2 (19. bxc4 $142 $5 {would allow White to play on} Bd6 20. Kf1 $11) 19... cxb3 $17 20. Qxb3 (20. Bxe5 $4 {White will regret his greed} bxc2 21. Bd4 e5 $19) 20... Qf5 21. Nd4 Qe4 22. Rd1 $4 {another bit of territory lost} (22. Rc1 h5 $17 (22... Bxd4 $143 23. Bxd4 Nd7 24. Qc3 $14)) 22... Rd5 (22... a4 $142 {seems even better} 23. Qxa4 e5 $19) 23. Nf3 $4 {the position was bad, and this mistake simply hastens the end} (23. Rc1 Rg5 24. g3 Rh5 $17) 23... Rxd1+ (23... a4 $142 {and Black takes home the point} 24. Qxd5 Nxd5 $19 (24... Qxd5 $6 25. Rxd5 Nxd5 26. Kf1 $19)) 24. Qxd1 $17 Qd5 25. Qa1 (25. Qxd5 Nxd5 26. a4 f6 $17) 25... Be7 26. Bd4 b5 27. Qc3 b4 (27... a4 $142 $5 $19) 28. axb4 $17 axb4 29. Qc8+ Qd8 30. Qb7 Nd5 31. Ne5 Qc7 {Black threatens to win material: Qc7xb7} (31... Qe8 32. g3 $17) 32. Qb5 (32. Qa8+ Bf8 33. Nd3 $15) 32... h6 (32... Qc1+ $142 33. Kh2 Qc8 $17) 33. Qe8+ $11 {White forks: f7} Kh7 34. Qxf7 Qd6 $4 (34... Qc2 $142 $14 { saving the game}) 35. Qg6+ Kg8 36. Nf7 (36. Nf7 e5 37. Nxh6+ Kh8 38. Nf7+ Kg8 39. Nxd6 Bxd6 40. Qxd6 exd4 41. Qxd5+ Kf8 42. e4 b3 43. Qxb3 d3 44. Qxd3 Ke7 45. e5 Ke6 46. Qd6+ Kf7 47. e6+ Kg8 48. e7 Kf7 49. Qd8 g6 50. e8=Q+ Kg7 51. Qh8+ Kf7 52. Qhf6#) (36. Ng4 Nf6 37. Nxh6+ Kh8 38. Nf7+ Kg8 39. Nxd6 Bxd6 40. Bxf6 Kf8 41. Qxg7+ Ke8 42. g4 b3 43. Qb7 b2 44. g5 e5 45. Qxb2 Bb4 46. Qxb4 Kd7 47. g6 e4 48. g7 Kc6 49. g8=Q Kd7 50. Qf7+ Kc6 51. Qfb7#) 1-0

E39 Nimzo-Indian: Classical, 4...c5 5.dxc5 O-O (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 Bxc5 6.Nf3 O-O 7.Bg5 Be7)

This was played in a team match called Vikings know no limits. It was being played on 69 boards between Great Viking Warriors and Limitless Chess. I played on board 22 for Limitless Chess and lost both of my games. I tried to play as well as I can, but Raho1967 played better chess than me. Well, now that I looked the match results on August 24th, 2017, I noticed that my opponent's account has been closed due to violating the fair play policy.

The game went reasonably well for me until it came to my 13th move. The position below is the one in which I played 13...Ne5, the first step towards a loss. Had I played 13...Bd7, I might have been able to hold on for a draw with accurate play.

My final mistake was to play 21...axb5, after that there was no coming back for me. You can see the position when I played that move below this paragraph.

The rest of the game only featured my futile attempt to change the way the game was going.

[Event "Vikings know no limits - Board 22"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.11.10"] [Round "?"] [White "Raho1967"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E39"] [WhiteElo "1945"] [BlackElo "1861"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 {Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation. Berlin Variation} 5. dxc5 Bxc5 (5... Bxc3+ {Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Berlin Variation, Steiner Variation}) (5... O-O 6. a3 Bxc5 7. Nf3 b6 8. Bf4 {Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Berlin Variation, Macieja System}) 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Bg5 Be7 {E39 Nimzo-Indian: Classical, 4...c5 5. dxc5 O-O} 8. e4 d6 9. Rd1 Qa5 10. Be2 Nc6 11. a3 a6 12. O-O Rd8 13. h3 $146 { Covers g4} (13. Bc1 Rd7 14. b4 Qd8 15. Na4 b6 16. Be3 Rb8 17. Nd2 Rdb7 18. Nb3 Bd7 19. Nc3 Ne5 20. f4 Neg4 21. Bc1 b5 22. c5 dxc5 23. e5 cxb4 24. exf6 Qb6+ 25. Kh1 Nxf6 26. axb4 Rc8 27. Qd3 Bxb4 {Nikolov,S (2390)-Kubala,P (2260) Decin 1997 0-1 (54)}) 13... Ne5 14. Nxe5 Qxe5 15. Be3 Qa5 16. f4 {Black has a cramped position} Bd7 17. g4 Bc6 18. g5 Nd7 19. h4 Rab8 (19... Rac8 20. Qd2 Qc7 21. h5 $16) 20. h5 (20. b4 $5 Qc7 21. Rc1 Nf8 $16) 20... b5 21. cxb5 axb5 ( 21... Bxb5 $5 22. b4 Qc7 $16) 22. Nd5 Bxd5 (22... exd5 23. Qxc6 dxe4 24. Qxe4 $16) 23. exd5 $18 Rdc8 24. Qb1 (24. Qe4 Qa4 25. Rd4 $18) 24... Nb6 $4 {the pressure is too much, Black crumbles} (24... b4 $142 25. a4 Nc5 $16) 25. dxe6 $18 fxe6 (25... Qa7 {no good, but what else?} 26. exf7+ Kh8 $18) 26. Qe4 Nc4 27. Bd3 (27. Bd3 Kf7 28. Bd4 $18) 1-0

E39 Nimzo-Indian: Classical, 4...c5 5.dxc5 O-O (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 Bxc5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Bg5 Be7 8.e3 Qa5 9.Be2 O-O)

Chess may not still be completely figured out game but there has been millions of games where players from all over the world have made their attempts to the possible solutions. Every chess game that has ever been played or will be played is just one more solution to the game, how ever faulty they may be. I have only participated to this mass solution with mere few thousand wrong solutions and will continue bringing those as long as I live.

From my move five onwards I played sloppy moves that brought me into problems, but it was only when we reached the position below that I started to slip from a possible draw. The position below came to the board after my opponent played 12.Nxd5. I had two possible replies, 12...exd5 and 12...Qxd5. Unfortunately I chose the latter because I wanted to keep my pawn structure intact, but it was a bad decision.

The move I played in the game had the big downside of leaving the light-squared bishop behind the e-pawn and making the devolepment of my queenside pieces rather difficult. From that point on I struggled a lot, but refused to resign. My efforts to resist the inevitable loss were rewarded at last when fledermaus played 49.Be6 in the position below.

After that mistake the game was fought evenly to the end. Allowing me to bring my king to b5 made it possible for me to capture the extra pawn and drawing the game was easy after that.

[Event "ICC 45 45"] [Site "Internet Chess Club"] [Date "2011.12.03"] [Round "?"] [White "fledermaus"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E39"] [WhiteElo "1961"] [BlackElo "1846"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "118"] [EventDate "2011.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 {Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation. Berlin Variation} 5. dxc5 Bxc5 (5... Bxc3+ {Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation. Berlin Variation Steiner Variation}) (5... O-O { Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation. Berlin Variation Pirc Variation}) 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Bg5 Be7 8. e3 Qa5 9. Be2 O-O {E39 Nimzo-Indian: Classical, 4...c5 5. dxc5 O-O} 10. O-O d5 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 Qxd5 $146 (12... exd5 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. Nd4 Bd7 15. b4 Qb6 16. Rfd1 Rac8 17. Qd2 Qg6 18. Bf3 Bg4 19. Rac1 Bxf3 20. Nxf3 Qe4 21. Qb2 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 Rc8 23. Rxc8+ Nxc8 24. h3 f6 25. Nd4 Qd3 26. Ne6 b5 27. Qd4 {Roumegous,M (2217)-Assad,K (2042) France 2008 1-0 (48)}) (12... exd5 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. Qb3 $14) 13. Bxe7 $16 Nxe7 14. Rfd1 Qc6 15. Qxc6 Nxc6 16. Rac1 Rd8 17. Rxd8+ Nxd8 18. Rd1 Nc6 19. Ne5 Kf8 20. Nxc6 bxc6 21. Bf3 { White threatens to win material: Bf3xc6} (21. Rd6 a5 $16) 21... Ke7 (21... Rb8 22. b3 $16) 22. Bxc6 $16 Rb8 23. b3 Rb6 24. Ba4 Rd6 25. Rxd6 Kxd6 26. Kf1 Kc5 27. a3 Ba6+ 28. Ke1 e5 29. Kd2 Bf1 30. g3 a5 31. Kc3 f6 32. h4 h6 33. Bd7 Be2 34. Bf5 Ba6 35. Be4 Bb5 36. Bd3 Bc6 37. b4+ axb4+ 38. axb4+ Kb6 39. f4 Bd7 40. Bc4 Bf5 41. Kd2 Be4 42. Ke2 Bc6 43. fxe5 fxe5 44. Kf2 Be4 45. Kg1 Bf3 46. Kh2 g5 47. hxg5 hxg5 48. Kh3 (48. Kg1 Be4 $16) 48... Bd1 (48... e4 49. Be6 $11) 49. Be6 (49. Kg2 $142 $5 $16) 49... Kb5 $11 {Black threatens to win material: Kb5xb4} 50. Bg4 Bb3 51. Be2+ Kxb4 52. Kg4 {White threatens to win material: Kg4xg5} Kc3 53. Bb5 Kd2 54. e4 Ke3 {Black threatens to win material: Ke3xe4} 55. Kf5 {White threatens to win material: Kf5xe5} Bc2 {Black threatens to win material: Bc2xe4} 56. Bc6 Kd4 57. g4 Bd3 58. Kxg5 Bxe4 59. Bxe4 Kxe4 1/2-1/2

E17 Queen's Indian, 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.O-O O-O 7.Re1 d5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Nc3 Nbd7 10.Bf4)

This one was played in a team match called EPIC MATCH. It was played on 60 boards between The King Attackers and DORU-66 & HIS BEST FRIENDS. I played on board 9 for DORU-66 & HIS BEST FRIENDS. I lost both games against Ardell9648. The final result of the match is 51.5 - 68.5 in favor of DORU-66 & HIS BEST FRIENDS. This game deviated from the first game already on move 7. In the first game I tried 7...c5 and in this game I tried the move 7...d5. Both moves are okay and the mistakes came later. The game was played quite well by both players until it came time to play my 13th move. Up to that point in the game only small inaccuracies were seen. The position just before my 13th move 13...dxe4 can be seen below.

The game seemed to go in favor of my opponent for a few moves, but then it was time for Ardell9648 blunder the advantage away with the move 18.Ree1 in the position below.

I managed to find the best reply 18...Qf6 and the game would be fought rather evenly with accurate play. The game continued with small inaccuracies for a few moves, but it was in the position below that my position started to go down the drain again.

I played 22...a5 and my opponent had a clear advantage once again. I never recovered from this position and only managed to make my position more lost with my last move 27...Nf8. After the reply 28.Bxb6 I was in a completely lost position and decided to resign.

[Event "EPIC MATCH - Board 9"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.03.28"] [Round "?"] [White "Ardell9648"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E17"] [WhiteElo "1970"] [BlackElo "1809"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 {Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Kramnik Variation} (7. Nc3 d5 {Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation, Nimzowitsch Line} ( 7... Na6 {Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Tiviakov Defense}) (7... Ne4 8. Qc2 Nxc3 9. Qxc3 {Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation, Main Line})) 7... d5 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Nc3 Nbd7 10. Bf4 { E17 Queen's Indian, 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7} a6 11. Rc1 Re8 (11... b5 12. Ne5 Nb6 13. Nd3 c6 14. Nc5 Bc8 15. a4 b4 16. Nb1 a5 17. Nd2 h6 18. Nf3 Nfd7 19. Nd3 Bb7 20. Nfe5 Nxe5 21. Nxe5 Re8 22. Bh3 {1-0 (22) Fang, Y (2448)-Czebe,A (2460) Kecskemet 2016}) (11... Rc8 12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Ne4 14. Nxe4 dxe4 15. Qc2 f5 16. exf6 Bxf6 17. Bxe4 Bxe4 18. Qxe4 Bxb2 19. Red1 Qf6 20. Rc6 Qf7 21. Qd5 Qxd5 22. Rxd5 Rf7 23. e4 Re7 24. f3 Ba3 25. Kf2 Bc5+ 26. Be3 {Moore,G (2100) -Buttell,D (1781) Wakefield 2016 1-0 (41)}) 12. Ne5 Nf8 13. e4 $146 (13. Qb3 Ne6 14. Red1 Bf8 15. Be3 Rb8 16. Qa4 Qd6 17. Bf4 Nxf4 18. gxf4 c5 19. dxc5 bxc5 20. e3 Red8 21. Ne2 Qe6 22. b3 Nd7 23. Nxd7 Rxd7 24. Ng3 d4 25. Bxb7 Rbxb7 26. exd4 Rb4 27. f5 Qd6 {Hegde,R (2344)-Chokshi,M (2248) Mumbai 2004 1-0 (47)}) 13... dxe4 (13... Ne6 14. Nxd5 Nxd5 15. exd5 Nxf4 16. gxf4 $14) 14. Qb3 $16 ( 14. Bxe4 $2 {is nothing because of} Nxe4 15. Nxe4 Ne6 $17) (14. Nxe4 $6 Nxe4 15. Rxe4 Bxe4 16. Bxe4 Bd6 $11) 14... Ne6 15. Nxe4 Nxe4 $2 (15... Nd5 $142 $5 { is worth consideration} 16. Nc3 Nexf4 17. gxf4 c6 $16) 16. Bxe4 $16 Bxe4 17. Rxe4 Bd6 18. Ree1 $4 {White lets it slip away} (18. Nxf7 $142 Kxf7 19. Rce1 $16 ) 18... Qf6 $11 19. Be3 Re7 (19... Bxe5 $5 {has some apparent merit} 20. dxe5 Qxe5 21. Bxb6 Qf6 $11) 20. Qd5 Rae8 (20... Ree8 21. Nc6 $11) 21. Nc6 $14 { White threatens to win material: Nc6xe7} Rd7 22. Qc4 a5 23. Qb5 h6 {Exerts pressure on the isolated pawn. Prevents intrusion on g5} (23... Nf8 $5 $14) 24. Nxa5 $16 Rdd8 25. Nb7 Rb8 26. Nxd6 cxd6 27. d5 Nf8 (27... Nc5 28. Bxc5 Rxe1+ 29. Rxe1 dxc5 30. Re8+ Rxe8 31. Qxe8+ Kh7 32. Qe4+ g6 33. Qd3 $16) 28. Bxb6 ( 28. Bxb6 Rxe1+ 29. Rxe1 $18) 1-0

D12 Slav Defence, 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 (1.d4 Nf6 2.e3 d5 3.c4 c6 4.Nf3 Bf5 5.Nc3 Nbd7 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O Bd6 8.a3)

This was played at GameKnot in the "atadros's mini-tournament V". 11 players took part in this mini-tournament and I was 9th in the final standings with 5.5 points. My opponent in this game, rayfisher, was able to get 1 point and he was on 11th place in the final standings. This mini-tournament started on December 10th, 2015 and ended on October 3rd, 2016.

The first position of interest can be seen below. In that position rayfisher played 11.cxd5, which is a mistake. It was better to play the bishop to d3. The problem with the move played in the game is that when I take back with my e-pawn, I have the square e4 under my control. Had rayfisher played 11.Bd3, then I might have played 11...dxc4 in reply and that position would be more comfortable for White than the game continuation.

This was only the start of the problems that rayfisher faced. After 11...exd5 rayfisher made his position even worse by playing 12.Bd3. While maybe not huge blunders by themselves, these two mistakes might be considered as one blunder in the sense that they both contributed for rayfisher's position getting clearly worse. The game continued with the moves 12...Ne4 13.Qc2. With my 13th move, Qe7, I lost some of my advantage. The move 13...Re8 was the correct reply to Qc2. The game went on rather evenly until rayfisher chose to play 19.fxe4 in the position below.

It was the starting point for the final downhill for my opponent in this game. It was a much better idea to play 19.Nxe4. I replied with the best move 19...Rad8 and then rayfisher played 20.e5? After that horrible move it was clear who was going to win the game. The pawn might have forked the bishop and the knight, but it was not a dangerous fork because I was able to play 20...Bxe5! Had the pawn taken back, then the rook takes the undefended queen on d3. In the game rayfisher took on e5 with the rook, but it did not matter, I could just take the rook with my queen! If pawn takes queen, then rook takes queen and I end up a pawn and an exchange up. The game ended shortly after this, when it came time for rayfisher to play his 24th move, he resigned instead of making a move.

[Event "atadros's mini-tournament V"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.06.18"] [Round "?"] [White "rayfisher"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D12"] [WhiteElo "1700"] [BlackElo "1802"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "46"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 d5 3. c4 c6 4. Nf3 Bf5 {Slav Defense: Quiet Variation, Schallopp Defense} 5. Nc3 (5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Nc3 (6. Qb3 Qc8 7. Bd2 e6 8. Na3 { Queen's Gambit Declined: Slav, Landau Variation}) 6... e6 7. Ne5 Nfd7 {Queen's Gambit Declined: Slav, Amsterdam Variation}) 5... Nbd7 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Bd6 8. a3 {D12 Slav Defence, 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5} a5 (8... h6 9. b4 Ne4 10. Bb2 a6 11. c5 Bc7 12. a4 Qf6 13. Qb3 Bg4 14. Rad1 Qg6 15. Nh4 Qh5 16. Bxg4 Qxh4 17. h3 h5 18. Be2 Ng5 19. f4 Nxh3+ 20. gxh3 Qg3+ 21. Kh1 Qxh3+ 22. Kg1 Qg3+ 23. Kh1 { Brasket, C (2290)-Finegold,B (2470) Winnipeg 1994 0-1 (56)}) 9. h3 $146 { Covers g4} (9. Nd2 Qb8 10. h3 h5 11. f4 h4 12. Bf3 Qa7 13. c5 Be7 14. b3 Bg6 15. Bb2 Nh5 16. Ne2 Bf6 17. b4 a4 18. e4 dxe4 19. Bxe4 Bxe4 20. Nxe4 Be7 21. f5 exf5 22. Rxf5 g6 23. Rf1 O-O {Ramirez,H (2087)-Munoz Romero,C (1884) Bogota 2012 1-0 (32)}) (9. Bd2 O-O 10. h3 Ne4 11. Be1 Qf6 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Rc1 Rfe8 14. Bd3 Qh6 15. Qc2 Re6 16. Ne5 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Bxe5 18. f4 Bd6 19. Bxe4 dxe4 20. Nxe4 Rxe4 21. Bd2 Rae8 22. Qb3 R4e7 23. Rf3 Bc7 {Roberts,N-Chin,F (2164) England 2012 1/2-1/2}) (9. b3 O-O 10. Bb2 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nb6 12. Bd3 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Qe7 14. e4 Bf4 15. Ne2 Bh6 16. Ng3 Rfd8 17. Rfd1 a4 18. b4 Ne8 19. Bc1 Bxc1 20. Raxc1 Nd7 {1/2-1/2 (20) Hurtado Diaz, R-Penunuri Esquer,J Hermosillo 2001}) (9. Nh4 dxc4 10. Bxc4 O-O $11) 9... O-O 10. Re1 (10. Nh4 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nb6 $11) 10... h6 {Controls g5} (10... Ne4 11. Bd3 $15) 11. cxd5 (11. Bd3 $5 $11) 11... exd5 $15 12. Bd3 Ne4 13. Qc2 Qe7 14. Nd2 {White threatens to win material: Nd2xe4} Ndf6 (14... Rfe8 15. f3 Nxc3 16. bxc3 Bxd3 17. Qxd3 $15) 15. f3 $15 {Prevents intrusion on g4} Nxd2 (15... Nxc3 16. bxc3 (16. Bxf5 $143 Bg3 17. bxc3 Bxe1 $17) 16... Bxd3 17. Qxd3 $15) 16. Bxd2 (16. Bxf5 $5 Nc4 17. e4 $11) 16... Bxd3 $15 17. Qxd3 Rfe8 18. e4 dxe4 19. fxe4 (19. Nxe4 $5 {is noteworthy} Qd8 20. Nxf6+ Qxf6 21. Kf1 $11) 19... Rad8 $17 20. e5 $2 (20. Qe3 c5 21. e5 cxd4 22. exd6 Qxe3+ 23. Bxe3 (23. Rxe3 $4 dxe3 (23... Rxe3 $6 24. Bxe3 dxe3 25. Rd1 $15) (23... dxc3 $6 {succumbs to} 24. Rxe8+ Nxe8 25. Bxc3 $11 ) 24. Be1 Rxd6 $19) 23... dxe3 24. Rad1 $17) 20... Bxe5 $1 $19 {Deflection: d4. } 21. Rxe5 $4 {the position was bad, and this mistake simply hastens the end} ( 21. dxe5 Qc5+ {Decoy Double attack} (21... Qc7 {Discovered attack}) (21... Rxd3 {Clearance Deflection Pinning})) (21. Rxe5 Qd6 {Discovered attack}) 21... Qxe5 $1 {Deflection: d4} 22. dxe5 Rxd3 23. exf6 (23. Bf4 {does not win a prize} Nd7 $19) 23... Rxd2 0-1

D07 Queen's Gambit: Chigorin Defence (1.c4 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3.e3)

This game was played in a clan challenge between The Fast Players and The White Hats. The challenge was played on four boards and each player played with both colors against their opponents. I played on board 1 for The White Hats. In addition to this loss, I won my other game against Adrian Shaw. The final result of the challenge was 5 - 3 in favor of The Fast Players.

The first mistake of the game was played by my opponent on move 3. In the position below Adrian Shaw played 3...f5, but he should have played 3...e5, for instance. In order to take the advantage of Black's third move, White should play 4.cxd5. In the game I played 4.Nc3 and instead of getting a clear advantage I had to settle for a slight advantage.

The next mistake was also played by my opponent. It came after my 15th move in the position below. Adrian Shaw played 15...g5, which was a big enough blunder to lose the game, but because I did not see the reason why 15...g5 was so bad move, I played 16.Nd2 and I had to be satisfied with only a small advantage.

When my opponent played the move 18...c6, it was Adrian Shaw's third blunder. The position below is taken after my 18th move f3. I could not unfortunately take advantage of any of these three blunders.

Then when it came to my 21st move, I made a mistake that was the starting point for my loss. You can see the position where I played 21.Qe2 below this paragraph.

After my mistake Adrian Shaw started to play accurately enough so that he was only able to gain more advantage in the remainder of the game. I finally had to resign after 27...Nxf3 in a completely lost position.

[Event "Clan challenge"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2016.03.22"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Adrian Shaw"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D07"] [WhiteElo "1961"] [BlackElo "2149"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. c4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 {Queen's Gambit Refused: Chigorin Defense} 3. e3 {D07 Queen's Gambit: Chigorin Defence} (3. Nc3 Nf6 (3... e5 {Queen's Gambit Refused: Chigorin Defense, Tartakower Gambit}) 4. Nf3 dxc4 {Queen's Gambit Refused: Chigorin Defense, Modern Gambit}) (3. Nf3 Bg4 4. Qa4 {Queen's Gambit Refused: Chigorin Defense, Main Line, Alekhine Variation}) 3... f5 (3... dxc4 4. Bxc4 e5 5. d5 Nce7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Nf3 Ng6 8. Qb3 Bd6 9. Bb5+ Nd7 10. O-O O-O 11. Ne4 Nc5 12. Nxc5 Bxc5 13. e4 Rb8 14. Bg5 Qd6 15. Rac1 c6 16. Qc2 Bd4 17. dxc6 bxc6 18. Qxc6 {Behrhorst,F (2355)-Mohr,S (2325) Germany 1987 0-1 (57)}) 4. Nc3 e6 5. Nf3 (5. cxd5 exd5 6. Nf3 Be6 7. Bd3 b6 8. Bb5 Qd7 9. Ne5 Nge7 10. Nxd7 Rd8 11. Nxf8 Kxf8 12. Bxc6 Nxc6 13. Qa4 Na5 14. b4 Bd7 15. Qa3 Nc4 16. Qxa7 c6 17. Qc7 Ke8 18. Qg3 g6 19. O-O b5 {Mutesi, P-Balunywa,S Kampala 2011 1-0 (31)}) 5... Nf6 6. Be2 $146 (6. a3 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Qc2 Kh8 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. h3 Qe8 11. Bd2 a6 12. O-O-O b5 13. Nxd5 exd5 14. g4 Rb8 15. gxf5 b4 16. axb4 Bxb4 17. Rde1 Bxd2+ 18. Qxd2 Nb4 19. Bb1 Bxf5 20. e4 Bxe4 {Dus Chotimirsky,F-Rabinovich,I Vilnius 1909 0-1}) 6... Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. b3 b6 9. Bb2 Bb7 10. Rc1 a6 {Covers b5} 11. Na4 Ne4 12. Bd3 (12. c5 Be7 $14) 12... Qe7 13. Nc3 Nb4 14. Bb1 dxc4 15. bxc4 g5 $2 (15... Nd2 $1 16. Nxd2 Bxh2+ 17. Kxh2 Qh4+ 18. Kg1 Bxg2 $11) 16. Nd2 (16. d5 $5 Nxc3 17. Rxc3 $18) 16... Nxc3 17. Bxc3 a5 (17... g4 18. f4 gxf3 19. Nxf3 a5 $16) 18. f3 (18. e4 fxe4 19. Nxe4 Nxa2 $16) 18... c6 (18... c5 19. Re1 $14) 19. e4 (19. a3 Na6 20. c5 bxc5 $16) 19... Qc7 (19... c5 20. d5 exd5 21. exd5 $16) 20. e5 (20. h3 c5 21. d5 exd5 22. exd5 Bg3 $16) 20... Be7 21. Qe2 (21. a3 $142 $5 Na6 22. Bb2 $14) 21... c5 $15 {Black has a new backward pawn: b6} 22. Rfe1 ( 22. Qe3 $5 Qd7 23. a3 $15) 22... Rad8 $17 23. dxc5 (23. d5 $5 exd5 24. cxd5 Nxd5 25. Nc4 Nxc3 26. Rxc3 $17) 23... Bxc5+ 24. Kh1 a4 25. a3 Nc6 26. Bb2 $4 { White has lost his nerve... understandable when you consider his position} (26. Bc2 $142 Bxa3 27. Ra1 $19) 26... Nd4 $19 27. Qe3 (27. Bxd4 {is the last straw} Rxd4 28. Rcd1 $19) 27... Nxf3 (27... Nxf3 28. Nxf3 Bxe3 29. Rxe3 g4 $19) 0-1

C99 Closed Spanish Game: Chigorin Defence, 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 d6 7.c3 b5 8.Bb3 O-O 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Nc6 14.Nb3)

This game was played in a mini-tournament called "dim_weasel's XIV". Five players took part to this mini-tournament and I was third in the final standings due to tie-break. I was able to gather 2.5 points in 8 games. I shared the third place with two other players and we had to share the third place prize, which was 1 mini-tournament point. It meant that each of us got 0.33 mini-tournament points... My opponent in this game, mhead123, was second in the final standings with 4.5 points.

I started go wrong in the position below when I played 21...Qa5. Up to that point I had things more or less in control. That is not to say that I could not improve my game earlier on, but the first sign of real trouble was my 21st move.

I should have gone for the move 21...Qb7 instead. Mhead123 missed his or her chance and played 22.Rac1. It let me off the hook a bit and I had a chance to fight for the draw again. It was better to play 22.b3 or 22.b4 instead. I was able to hang on quite well in the game until we reached the position below, in which I blundered by playing 29...Rc8??

I should have played 29...b4 and equality might have been reached. However, the game continuation was hopelessly lost for me. Mhead123 correctly saw the continuation that quickly ended the game, 30.Rxc8+ Bxc8 31.e5. After 31.e5 I resigned because I either lose the knight or get mated.

[Event "dim_weasel's XIV"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.06.11"] [Round "?"] [White "mhead123"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C99"] [WhiteElo "1940"] [BlackElo "1808"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 d6 7. c3 b5 8. Bb3 O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 cxd4 13. cxd4 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Chigorin Defense Panov System} Nc6 14. Nb3 {C99 Closed Spanish Game: Chigorin Defence, 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4} Nb4 15. Bb1 a5 16. Be3 a4 17. Nbd2 exd4 18. Nxd4 Bd7 19. a3 Na6 20. Bd3 Rab8 21. Qe2 {White has an active position} Qa5 $146 (21... Qb7 22. Rac1 Nc5 23. Bb1 Nfxe4 24. Nxe4 Nxe4 25. Bf4 f5 26. f3 Bg5 27. Bxe4 Qb6 28. Bxg5 fxe4 29. Qxe4 Rbe8 30. Qd5+ Kh8 31. Kh1 h6 32. Bh4 Rb8 33. Ne6 Rf7 34. Bg3 Bxe6 35. Rxe6 Rd7 36. Rxd6 {Ascic, I-Mrak,M Pula 2001 1-0 (59)}) (21... Nc5 22. Nxb5 Qa5 23. Nd4 $14) 22. Rac1 (22. b3 $5 axb3 23. N2xb3 $16) 22... Nc5 $14 23. Bb1 Rfe8 24. Bf4 Ne6 (24... Bf8 25. Rcd1 $11) 25. Nxe6 $14 Bxe6 26. Qd3 {Exerts pressure on the isolated pawn} (26. Nf3 Bc4 27. Bd3 Bxd3 28. Qxd3 Qb6 $14) 26... Rbd8 27. Be3 Rc8 (27... g6 28. Bd4 $11 ) 28. f4 (28. Bd4 g6 $14) 28... Rxc1 29. Rxc1 Rc8 $4 (29... b4 $142 $11 { would be a reprieve}) 30. Rxc8+ $18 Bxc8 31. e5 (31. e5 dxe5 32. fxe5 $18) 1-0

C99 Closed Spanish Game: Chigorin Defence, 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 Na5 9.Bc2 c5 10.d4 Qc7 11.h3 O-O 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Bd7 14.Nf1 Rfc8 15.Ne3)

This one was played in the paweljaniak's mini-tournament I at GameKnot. I was second in the final standings in this 7 player tournament and I gathered 8.5 points in the 12 games. Paweljaniak has finished all of his games and has also secured the win in his own mini-tournament. I have to think of a better variation to play in the Spanish because I do not like this one at all. Alternatively I could just learn to play this better and maybe start to like it if my results get better.

This game started to differ from the games previously seen in this post again on Black's 13th move. This time I tried the move 13...Bd7. It should be a perfectly playable move. One improvement that might have made this game more interesting is had I played 16...bxc4 instead of 16...Qxc4 in the position below. The idea behind taking with the queen was that I liked to keep the c-file open for me and I also liked to keep my pawn structure better and not create an isolated pawn on the a-file. However, due to my bad judgement, I got into trouble on the c-file and I was forced to be on the defensive.

The game continued with the moves 17.Bb3 Qc7 18.Be3. The 18th move by paweljaniak reduced my opponent's advantage into a small one. When we reached the position below, I played 19...Bc6?? It was a huge blunder that threw away the game. It started a series of tactical blows that decided the game.

I should have played 19...Rxc1 and I might have been able to fight for a draw. I thought it best to resign a couple of moves later after my opponent played 22.Rxc6.

[Event "paweljaniak's mini-tournament I"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.02.27"] [Round "?"] [White "paweljaniak"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C99"] [WhiteElo "2042"] [BlackElo "1763"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 Na5 9. Bc2 c5 10. d4 Qc7 11. h3 O-O 12. Nbd2 cxd4 13. cxd4 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Chigorin Defense Panov System} Bd7 14. Nf1 Rfc8 15. Ne3 { C99 Closed Spanish Game: Chigorin Defence, 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4} Nc4 16. Nxc4 Qxc4 (16... bxc4 17. Bd2 Bc6 18. Bc3 Nd7 19. Qe2 Bb7 20. Rad1 Bf6 21. dxe5 Nxe5 22. Nd4 Ng6 23. Qd2 d5 24. Nf5 dxe4 25. Bxf6 e3 26. Rxe3 gxf6 27. Re8+ { 1-0 (27) Pourkashiyan,A (2356)-Iman,H (2094) Muscat 2015}) 17. Bb3 Qc7 18. Be3 $146 (18. Bg5 Ra7 (18... h6 19. Rc1 Qd8 20. dxe5 hxg5 21. exf6 gxf6 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Nd4 Qf8 24. Qh5 Rc5 25. Bd5 Qg7 26. b4 Rc7 27. Nf5 Bxf5 28. exf5 Qf8 29. Qe2 Kh7 30. Qf3 Kg7 31. a3 Qh8 32. Bb3 Qc8 33. Kh2 {Morovic Fernandez,I (2611)-Loncar,R (2406) Pula 2000 1-0 (56)}) 19. Rc1 Qb8 20. Rxc8+ Bxc8 21. Bh4 (21. dxe5 dxe5 22. Be3 Rd7 23. Qc2 Rc7 24. Qb1 Bd6 25. Rd1 Rd7 26. Bg5 Ne8 27. Bd5 h6 28. Bh4 Bb7 29. Bxb7 Rxb7 30. Qd3 Kh7 31. Qd5 f6 32. Qc6 Rb6 33. Qd7 Rb7 34. Qf5+ g6 35. Qe6 Re7 {Bartek,L (2057)-Mrva,V (2149) Slovakia 2008 1-0 (61)}) 21... Rd7 22. Ng5 Bf8 23. Nxf7 Rxf7 24. dxe5 dxe5 25. Qd8 Qb7 26. Rc1 Bxh3 27. Rc7 {1-0 (27) Varga,D (2330)-Mrva,V (2112) Brezova 2010}) (18. Bd2 Qb8 19. Bb4 exd4 20. e5 Ne8 21. Qxd4 dxe5 22. Nxe5 Bxb4 23. Bxf7+ Kh8 24. Ng6+ hxg6 25. Qh4# {1-0 (25) Pacher,M (2324)-Mrva,V (2142) Zvolen 2008}) 18... Qb8 19. Rc1 Bc6 $4 (19... Rxc1 $142 {this is the best way to fight back} 20. Qxc1 a5 $14) 20. Bxf7+ Kxf7 21. dxe5 Nxe4 (21... dxe5 22. Qb3+ Bd5 23. exd5 Qd6 $18) 22. Rxc6 $1 {Decoy: c6} (22. Rxc6 Kg8 23. Qd5+ Kh8 24. Qxe4 Rxc6 25. Qxc6 $18) 1-0

C97 Closed Spanish Game: Chigorin Defence, 11.d4 Qc7, sidelines (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.h3 d6 9.c3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Re8 14.Nf1)

The game below was played on the first round of the 2015 October Grand Split Three Seven I 1800+ tournament that is held at Red Hot Pawn. I played on group 1 and I gathered 46 points. It was not much compared to the winner of the group, cenerentola, who gathered 82 points. Cenerentola is clearly the highest rated player of the group, but also the highest rated player on the site by almost a hundred points. If nothing else, I can at least say after this that I have faced some of the top players at RHP. I have played against three of the four best players on the site. Obviously I have lost all my games against them, but maybe in the future I could make these encounters a bit more interesting and not be the automatic point giver. That is what I would like to be able to do, but it does require a huge improvement on my chess abilities before that happens.

As I compare this game to the previously shared games in this blog, the first new move is 13...Re8. I chose to play a different move in this game than I played in a game that was in progress at the same time as this game was played for some reason. At the time this game started, the other game was still in progress, so I did not know that 13...Nc4 was a mistake. No matter what the reason for me changing my 13th move, but 13...Re8 is somewhat better than the move I had played in the other game. 13...Be6 or perhaps 13...Nc6 might be the best move that Black can do in that position. There is only one critical moment in this game in my opinion. It came in the position below when it came time to play my 16th move.

I played in the position above 16...exd4. It was my first step towards the loss, but it was not the last one. 16...Nc6 was a better option for me. Cenerentola played 17.Nxd4 and then I made the game losing blunder 17...Qd7. The moves 17...Qd8 and 17...Bb7 were better alternatives. Cenerentola took full advantage of my mistakes and I resigned when it was time to play my 26th move.

[Event "Grand Split Three Seven"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2015.12.21"] [Round "1"] [White "cenerentola"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C97"] [WhiteElo "2541"] [BlackElo "1885"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3 d6 9. c3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 cxd4 13. cxd4 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Chigorin Defense Panov System} Re8 14. Nf1 {C97 Closed Spanish Game: Chigorin Defence, 11.d4 Qc7, sidelines} h6 (14... Bf8 15. Ng3 g6 16. b3 Nc6 17. Bb2 Bg7 18. d5 Nb4 19. Bb1 a5 20. a3 Na6 21. b4 Bh6 22. Bd3 Bd7 23. Qb3 Rec8 24. Ne2 Nh5 25. Nc3 Nf4 26. Bf1 a4 27. Qa2 Qb6 28. Rad1 Nc7 29. Bc1 { Tukhaev,A (2520)-Fruteau,S (2105) Rethymno 2013 1-0 (37)}) 15. b3 $146 { Secures c4} (15. d5 Bf8 16. b3 Bd7 17. Bd2 Rec8 18. Rc1 Nb7 19. N3h2 a5 20. Qf3 Qd8 21. Ne3 g6 22. g3 b4 23. Kg2 Nc5 24. Nc4 Rcb8 25. Rh1 Nh7 26. Ne3 Bxh3+ 27. Kg1 Ng5 28. Qe2 Bd7 29. f3 a4 {Martinez,A (2200)-Collado Pallas,D Palma de Mallorca 1991 1/2-1/2 (49)}) (15. a4 Bd7 16. Re3 Bf8 17. Rc3 Qb7 18. axb5 axb5 19. d5 b4 20. Re3 Nc4 21. Rxa8 Nxe3 22. Nxe3 Rxa8 23. b3 Be7 24. Bd2 Ne8 25. Bd3 Bb5 26. Ne1 Bxd3 27. Nxd3 Bg5 28. Nc2 Bxd2 29. Qxd2 Ra2 {Glaeser,P (2094) -Klaus,H Rheinhausen 2000 0-1 (43)}) (15. Ng3 Bf8 16. b3 Nc6 17. Bb2 Bb7 18. Rc1 Qd8 19. Bb1 Rc8 20. Qd2 g6 21. d5 Nb8 22. a4 Qb6 23. Bc3 bxa4 24. bxa4 Qb3 25. a5 Rc7 26. Ba2 Qa4 27. Rb1 Rec8 28. Bb3 Qe8 29. Bb4 Nbd7 {Mainka,R (2515) -Christofis,I Ano Liosia 1993 1-0 (52)}) 15... Bf8 16. Bb2 exd4 (16... Nc6 $5 $14) 17. Nxd4 $16 Qd7 $2 (17... Bb7 $142 $5 $16) 18. Ne3 $18 Nxe4 $4 {Black crumbles in face of a dire situation.} (18... Bb7 $142 19. Qd2 Qd8 $18) 19. Nd5 Ng5 (19... Bb7 {praying for a miracle} 20. Nb6 Qd8 21. Nxa8 Bxa8 $18) 20. Rxe8 Qxe8 21. Nc7 Qd7 (21... Qd8 {does not save the day} 22. Nxa8 d5 23. Nf3 Nxf3+ 24. Qxf3 $18 (24. gxf3 $6 Qg5+ 25. Kh1 Bxh3 $18)) 22. Nxa8 Qb7 (22... Bb7 { doesn't get the cat off the tree} 23. Nb6 Nxh3+ 24. gxh3 Qxh3 25. f3 Qg3+ 26. Kf1 Qh3+ 27. Ke2 Qg2+ 28. Ke3 Qg5+ 29. f4 Qg3+ 30. Nf3 $18) 23. h4 Ne6 (23... Ne4 {what else?} 24. Qe1 Nc5 25. Qxa5 Qxa8 $18) 24. Qd3 g6 25. Nxe6 Bxe6 26. Qc3 (26. Qc3 f6 27. Nc7 $18) 1-0

C99 Closed Spanish Game: Chigorin Defence, 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 cxd4 12.cxd4 Qc7 13.Nbd2 Nc6)

So, this post has some out of date information because it was typed when I originally shared this game. This is the final fourth round game from the first WORLD OPEN RAPID tournament that I have played. In this tournament everything worked like a charm and I won the tournament undefeated with a score of 3,5 out of 4. I think I have played seven tournaments now at FIDE Online Arena and this still remains the only victory I have. It may still be one more than I would have originally thought that I could get. The opening in this one does differ from the theoretical move order and I am not sure if I should have played 13.Nc3 instead of the game continuation. I think I have tried out that Nc3 at some point in these 15 minute tournament games but I can't even remember what the result was. I played the move 13.Nbd2 because I knew that I end up in an opening variation that I had not previously covered in this blog. Since I started doing this blog, I have started to remember the ECO codes for some openings and even the names of them, which I guess can be seen at least as a progress in my chess skills. I am currently very close of reseting the game requirement for the Arena International Master as I have since my decent start managed to destroy my rating and it has dropped over 100 points in a few tournaments. Currently my monitored elo in rapid is 1711, which means that I may be one loss away of reseting that game counter which does annoy me. I have faced some bad luck in facing underrated people and losing against them. I have decided that if I am going to get one title from these games, it will be at least the Arena International Master title. If I mess up my first go at it and would only be allowed to get Arena FIDE Master title after those 50 games have passed, I won't claim that title but wait until I can get the AIM title. It may mean a very long wait if I keep playing as badly as I have before... Until tomorrow, my fellow chess enthusiasts.

The first sign of trouble for andrei2015 was seen when my opponent played 14...Nb4 in the position below. When I played 14.Nf1, I probably did not see the idea behind the moves 14...Nxd4 and 14...exd4. I could not have taken back twice on d4 because I would have lost the bishop on c2. After the move andrei2015 played in the game, I should be close to a clear advantage.

The game continued with the moves 15.Bb3 a5 16.a3. Then andrei2015 played 16...Na6, after which my opponent was starting to be in clear trouble. Or rather would have been in clear trouble, had I played a good move in reply, but I did not. I played 17.Qd3, which allowed andrei2015 back into the game. My best option would have been the move 17.Bg5. I got another chance for the clear advantage when, in the position below, andrei2015 played 18...Rfb8.

I replied with the move 19.Nd5 and it was good enough to take an advantage that the Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT roughly estimates to be 1.4 pawns. The game continued with the moves 19...Nxd5 20.Bxd5. After my 20th move andrei2015 made the biggest blunder of the game so far by playing 20...Ra7. The only move that could have kept my opponent from ending up being in a completely lost position was 20...Bc6. I answered to the move played in the game by moving my bishop to g5, which was not the best possible idea. It was better to play the bishop to e3 on move 21. Then andrei2015 played another bad move, 21...Be8. With that move andrei2015 ended up in a lost position once again. I was not playing accurately and a few moves later, when I played 27.Qg5 in the next position, I had lost all of my advantage.

The move that I should have played according to Stockfish is 27.Rxc7. With that move I could have remained on the clearly better side of the board. In the remainder of the game I got maybe one more chance to a clear advantage when andrei2015 played 40...Rxe4 in the next position. That being said, there might have been one other chance after my opponent played 31...Nd3, but that is not as clear as the one after 40...Rxe4.

I did not find the strongest reply 41.Nd3 and instead played 41.Nxg6. Even after that move I should be clearly better, at least according to Stockfish, but to my eyes it does not seem so easy. Actually the position seems to be quite close to a draw, but what do I know. The rest of the game went clearly in my favor, apart from the position after 42.Rb5, which was about even. Even if I may have an advantage in the last position of the game, I doubt that I could have won the game.

[Event "Tournament 27899239"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.03.14"] [Round "4"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "andrei2015"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C99"] [WhiteElo "1823"] [BlackElo "1955"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 cxd4 12. cxd4 Qc7 13. Nbd2 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Chigorin Defense Panov System} Nc6 {C99 Closed Spanish Game: Chigorin Defence, 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4} 14. Nf1 Nb4 15. Bb3 (15. Bb1 a5 16. a3 Na6 17. Bd3 Bd7 18. Ne3 Rfe8 19. Bd2 Bf8 20. Rc1 Qb7 21. dxe5 dxe5 22. Bc3 { 1/2-1/2 (22) Kaposztas,M (2290)-Ksieski,Z (2365) Rzeszow 1986}) 15... a5 16. a3 Na6 (16... Nc6 17. Bg5 a4 18. dxe5 Nxe5 19. Nxe5 dxe5 20. Rc1 Qb6 21. Bxf6 Bxf6 22. Bd5 Ra6 23. Rc6 Qa5 24. Qd2 Qd8 25. Rec1 Rxc6 26. Rxc6 Bd7 27. Rc1 Bg5 28. Ne3 Qe7 29. Qd3 Rd8 30. Rc7 Qe8 31. Qc3 {Alavanja,D (1838)-Racki,B (1875) Rijeka 2012 1/2-1/2 (45)}) 17. Qd3 $146 {White threatens to win material: Qd3xb5} (17. Bd2 a4 18. Rc1 Qb8 19. Ba2 h6 20. b4 Bd7 21. Ng3 Re8 22. dxe5 dxe5 23. Bc3 Bf8 24. Nh4 Be6 25. Qe2 Bxa2 26. Qxa2 Re6 27. Ngf5 Qe8 28. f4 Nd7 29. Qd2 exf4 30. Qxf4 Ne5 31. Qg3 Ng6 {Zapata Rios,P (1985)-Gonzalez Garcia,S (1875) Barcelona 2003 1/2-1/2 (41)}) (17. Bg5 Bb7 18. Rc1 Qd8 19. Ng3 h6 20. Bd2 exd4 21. Nxd4 Nc5 22. Bc2 Qd7 23. Ndf5 Rfe8 24. Bc3 b4 25. axb4 axb4 26. Bxb4 Bf8 27. Bc3 Nh7 28. b4 Ne6 29. Nxh6+ gxh6 30. Qg4+ Nhg5 31. h4 Qc8 { Abramov,L-Shamayev,L Leningrad 1939 1-0 (38)}) (17. Bg5 a4 18. Rc1 Qa7 $16) 17... Bd7 (17... a4 18. Bc2 $14) 18. Ne3 {White has a very active position} ( 18. Ba2 exd4 19. Nxd4 Nc5 $16) 18... Rfb8 $2 (18... exd4 $142 {and Black can hope to live} 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. Bxd5 Nc5 $14) 19. Nd5 $16 Nxd5 20. Bxd5 Ra7 $2 ( 20... Bc6 21. dxe5 Nc5 22. Qc3 $16) 21. Bg5 $4 {a weak move, ruining a winning position} (21. Be3 $5 {and White can already relax} Be8 22. Qd2 Qd8 23. dxe5 Nc5 $18) 21... Be8 $2 (21... Bxg5 $142 $5 22. Nxg5 Be8 $16) 22. Rac1 (22. Be3 exd4 23. Nxd4 Nc5 $18) 22... Qd8 23. Qe3 (23. Be3 $142 $5 exd4 24. Nxd4 $18 ( 24. Qxd4 $143 Rc7 $16) (24. Bxd4 $6 Rc7 $16)) 23... Bxg5 $14 24. Nxg5 Rc7 25. dxe5 dxe5 26. Nf3 Qe7 27. Qg5 (27. Rxc7 $142 $5 Nxc7 28. Qa7 $16) 27... Qxg5 $11 28. Nxg5 Rbc8 29. Rxc7 Rxc7 (29... Nxc7 $4 30. Rc1 $18) 30. Re2 Nc5 31. Nf3 {White threatens to win material: Nf3xe5} Nd3 (31... Nd7 $142 $5 $11 {would allow Black to play on}) 32. Rd2 $16 Nf4 33. Ba2 (33. Nxe5 $142 $5 Kf8 34. Kh2 $16) 33... Ng6 $11 34. g3 {Controls f4+h4} Kf8 35. Kf1 b4 (35... f6 36. Ke2 $11 ) 36. axb4 Bb5+ (36... a4 37. Ne1 Rb7 38. Nd3 $14) 37. Kg2 $14 axb4 38. Rd5 { Menacing} (38. Rd8+ $5 Ke7 39. Rb8 $14) 38... Bc4 39. Bxc4 Rxc4 40. Nxe5 (40. Nd2 Rc2 41. b3 $11) 40... Rxe4 (40... Nxe5 $5 {is interesting} 41. Rxe5 Rc2 $11 ) 41. Nxg6+ (41. Nd3 Ke8 $16) 41... hxg6 {A rook endgame occured} 42. Rb5 (42. Kf3 $5 f5 43. h4 $16) 42... f5 (42... Rd4 $5 $11) 43. Kf3 $16 1/2-1/2

C90 Closed Spanish Game with 7...d6: Early deviations (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 d6 7.Re1 Be7 8.c3 Na5 9.Bc2 c5)

This was played in the first round of the 2014 October Long Haul Split I tournament at Red Hot Pawn. I won group 2 with 59 points. I lost one game, drew two and won all the rest on round one of this tournament. Group 1 was won by caissad4 and therefore we faced each other on round two. On round two both players won with the black pieces, so a third round was needed. On the third round the tournament was finally decided and caissad4 was able to win one of the games and the second was a draw and therefore caissad4 took first place and I was forced to accept second place.

The first position of interest is in my opinion the one that came to the board after jose sureda played 12.d5. Up to that point nothing serious had happened, the game was roughly evenly fought.

I played 12...c4, with the idea of opening the c-file. The idea was quite bad since it can be easily refuted with 13.b4. Had my opponent played 13.b4, my knight would need to go to b7, where it would have a hard time coming back to the game. For some reason jose sureda avoided playing b4, which worked out for me in the game continuation. Jose sureda played 13.Bg5 instead and some of the danger I was in was avoided for the time being. I should have maybe played 13...cxb3 in reply, but instead I played the more risky and passive move 13...Bd7. My move allowed jose sureda to play b4 once again. I was happy that my opponent did not drive my knight back to b7. Jose sureda moved the knight from b1 to d2 instead of playing b4, which at last made the move I played on move 12 justified. 14.Nbd2 lost a pawn by force, but according to the engine, jose sureda has some compensation for the pawn. I am assuming that because my pieces are somewhat worse than those of my opponent's, it gives jose sureda some compensation. The position below is taken right after I won the pawn on c3.

Jose sureda played in the position 17.Qc1, making things a bit easier for me. 17.Bd2 might have been a better option or maybe moving the other bishop to d3. 17.Qc1 allowed me to increase the pressure on my opponent by playing 17...Rfc8. Jose sureda's next move was a huge blunder 18.Bd1. Or it would have been, had I answered it with the move 18...Qxe1+! The move I chose, 18...Kf8, was a decent one, but far from the strongest move in the position. Jose sureda continued with 19.Bd2, ending up in a lost position. 19.Qxc3 might have been the best chance for my opponent. After the 19th move of my opponent, it was all downhill for jose sureda.

[Event "Long Haul Split"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.10.24"] [Round "1"] [White "jose sureda"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C90"] [WhiteElo "1534"] [BlackElo "1846"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "92"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 d6 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense (#2)} 7. Re1 (7. Ng5 d5 8. exd5 Nd4 9. Re1 Bc5 10. Rxe5+ Kf8 { Spanish Game: Rabinovich Variation}) 7... Be7 8. c3 Na5 9. Bc2 c5 {C90 Closed Spanish Game with 7...d6: Early deviations} 10. b3 (10. a4 b4 11. cxb4 cxb4 12. d4 Bg4 13. Nbd2 Qc7 14. h3 Bxf3 15. Nxf3 O-O 16. Bg5 Rfe8 17. Rc1 Nd7 18. Bb3 Qd8 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Bd5 Rac8 21. Qd2 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 Nf6 23. Qxb4 Nxd5 24. exd5 e4 {Arnason,J (2450)-Arnason,A Reykjavik 1981 1-0 (56)}) 10... O-O (10... Qc7 11. d4 Bg4 12. d5 h6 13. h3 Bh5 14. Nbd2 g5 15. Nf1 g4 16. hxg4 Bxg4 17. N1h2 Bh5 18. Qd3 Ng4 19. Bd1 Qa7 20. a4 c4 21. Qb1 Nxh2 22. Kxh2 cxb3 23. Nxe5 dxe5 24. Bxh5 bxa4 25. Qd3 {Grabarczyk,E (1424) -Rudnik, A (1739) Bialystok 2014 0-1 (44)}) 11. d4 $146 {White threatens to win material: d4xe5} (11. Bb2 Bg4 12. h3 Bh5 13. g4 Bg6 14. d4 cxd4 15. cxd4 Nc6 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. Qxd8 Rfxd8 18. Nxe5 Nb4 19. Nxg6 Nxc2 20. Nxe7+ Kf8 21. Nc3 Kxe7 22. e5 Nd5 23. Nxd5+ Rxd5 24. Rad1 Rad8 25. Rxd5 Rxd5 {Skowronski, H-Bulinski,R Poznan 2004 1/2-1/2 (41)}) 11... Qc7 {Black intends c4} (11... cxd4 $5 {should be examined more closely} 12. cxd4 Nc6 $11) 12. d5 $14 {White gets more space} c4 {Black gains space} ( 12... Bd7 13. h3 $14) 13. Bg5 (13. b4 Nb7 $16) 13... Bd7 14. Nbd2 (14. b4 $142 Nb7 15. a4 $14) 14... cxb3 $15 15. Nxb3 Nxb3 (15... Nc4 16. Bc1 $17) 16. axb3 $15 Qxc3 17. Qc1 (17. Ra2 a5 $15) 17... Rfc8 $17 18. Bd1 $2 (18. Ra2 a5 $17) 18... Kf8 (18... Qxe1+ $142 19. Nxe1 Rxc1 20. Rxc1 Kf8 21. Bxf6 Bxf6 $19) 19. Bd2 $4 (19. Qxc3 $142 $5 {deserves consideration} Rxc3 20. Bd2 $15) 19... Qxc1 (19... Qd3 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} 20. Qb2 Nxe4 $19) 20. Bxc1 a5 21. Bg5 a4 22. b4 $4 {simply worsens the situation} (22. Bd2 $142 $17) 22... Rc4 $19 23. Bxf6 (23. g3 {is not much help} Rxe4 24. Bxf6 Rxe1+ 25. Nxe1 Bxf6 $19) 23... Bxf6 24. Rb1 (24. Re2 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} Rxb4 25. Kf1 Bd8 $19) 24... Rac8 (24... a3 $142 $5 {and Black can already relax } 25. Nd2 Rd4 26. Nb3 Rxb4 27. g3 $19) 25. Kf1 Rc1 (25... Bd8 $142 {makes it even easier for Black} 26. Nd2 Rc1 27. Be2 $19) 26. Be2 Rxe1+ (26... Rxb1 { might be the shorter path} 27. Rxb1 Bd8 28. Bd3 $19) 27. Nxe1 Rc3 28. Nd3 (28. Bd3 Bg5 $19) 28... Bg5 29. Ke1 (29. h4 {does not win a prize} Bxh4 30. Rc1 Rb3 $19) 29... f5 30. f3 Be3 31. Nf2 (31. Kd1 {does not help much} Be8 32. Nc1 $19) 31... Rc1+ (31... Bd4 $142 {finishes off the opponent} 32. Nd3 fxe4 33. fxe4 a3 $19) 32. Rxc1 Bxc1 33. Nd3 $2 (33. Kd1 Be3 34. Nd3 Bg1 $19) 33... Be3 (33... Bf4 $142 {seems even better} 34. Kd1 fxe4 35. fxe4 Bxh2 36. Ne1 $19) 34. Kd1 g6 35. Kc2 (35. Ne1 Bd4 36. Kc1 Kf7 $19) 35... Kf7 36. g3 (36. Ne1 $19) 36... Kf6 (36... fxe4 {makes it even easier for Black} 37. fxe4 Bg1 38. Nc1 Bxh2 39. g4 $19) 37. Kb2 (37. Bf1 {hardly improves anything} h5 $19) 37... h5 (37... fxe4 $142 {and Black can already relax} 38. fxe4 Bg1 39. h4 $19) 38. Kc3 (38. exf5 { is not the saving move} gxf5 39. Ne1 Bg1 $19) 38... Kg5 (38... fxe4 $142 { keeps an even firmer grip} 39. fxe4 Bg1 $19) 39. g4 (39. f4+ {there is nothing better in the position} Kh6 40. fxe5 fxe4 41. Nf4 dxe5 42. Ne6 $19) 39... hxg4 40. fxg4 fxe4 41. Ne1 Bd4+ 42. Kd2 a3 43. Nc2 a2 44. h3 a1=Q 45. Nxa1 Bxa1 46. Bf1 (46. Ke3 {cannot change destiny} Bc3 47. Kxe4 Kh4 48. Bd3 Kxh3 49. Ke3 Kxg4 50. Be2+ Kg3 51. Bd3 Bxb4 52. Bxg6 Bc5+ 53. Kd2 Kf4 54. Kc3 e4 55. Bh5 b4+ 56. Kb2 Bg4 57. Bxg4 Kxg4 58. Kb3 e3 59. Kc2 e2 60. Kd2 Kf3 61. Kc2 e1=Q 62. Kb3 Qd1+ 63. Kc4 Qa4 64. Kd3 Qb3+ 65. Kd2 Be3+ 66. Ke1 Qb1#) 46... Kf4 (46... Kf4 47. Ke1 Bc3+ 48. Ke2 Bxb4 49. Kd1 Kf3 50. h4 Kf2 51. Be2 Ba3 52. Kc2 Kxe2 53. h5 gxh5 54. g5 e3 55. g6 Kf3 56. g7 e2 57. g8=Q e1=Q 58. Qf7+ Ke3 59. Qf3+ Kxf3 60. Kb3 Qb1+ 61. Kc3 Bb4#) 0-1

C79 Spanish Game: Steinitz-type lines with 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O d6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 d6 7.d4 exd4)

This game is one of the many games that I have messed up lately. This game was played in a team match called Friendly match. It was played between ИШК ПАРТИЗАН and Chess School. I was playing on board 3 for Chess School in this match and unfortunately I was not in my best form. The match was played on eight boards and the match ended with a score 3.5 - 12.5 in favor of Chess School. Luckily my teammates were in better shape than I was.

I would like to show the position after 7.d4 because it was in this position that I made the blunder, 7...exd4, which gave my opponent a clear advantage. A better option for me would have been to play 7...Nxd4.

SojicSrecko blundered immediately with the move 8.Nxd4 and gave me a chance to get a winning advantage. I did not find the best reply 8...Nxd4, but instead moved my knight to a5 and gave the advantage to my opponent. SojicSrecko continued after that quite accurately and did not allow me to get back into the game again.

Game number two. This was played in a team match called LITHIUM. It was played between GRUNGE and The Night's Watch at Castle Black on 24 boards. I played on board 4 for The Night's Watch at Castle Black. I won both of my games in this match against tedy7 and in both of them my opponent lost on time. The game below was winning for me anyway but the other one ended in the opening phase where nothing had been decided yet. The score after the match was 29 - 19 in favor of GRUNGE, so they took a clear win out of this match.

This game followed the unfortunate path that was seen on game one in this post up to the move 8.Nxd4. I should have, of course, deviated on move 7. Actually, this game started a bit earlier than game number one, so it was in that game that I should have learned from my mistake. I played 8...Bb7 in this game, which was actually better than the blunder 8...Na5 I played on the game against SojicSrecko. My 8th move was far from the best one, because 8...Nxd4 would have given me a winning advantage. The move I played in the game was only good enough for a slightly worse position. In the position after I played 8...Bb7 my opponent played 9.Re1. You can see the position in which 9.Re1 was played below.

The game could have continued clearly in my favor, had I played 9...Nxd4, but I blundered with the move 9...Be7 instead. The game continued evenly with the moves 10.Nxc6 Bxc6 and then tedy7 took another wrong turn and played 11.e5. Tedy7's 11th move sacrificed a pawn because after 11...dxe5 tedy7 can't take the pawn back without allowing a back-rank mate. The next position of interest can be seen below. The diagram shows the position after 14...axb5.

Tedy7 played 15.Nc3, which is not a move that the engine likes. I replied with the move 15...O-O, which still seems the most natural move for me to make even now. However, the move 15...Nc5, which is suggested by the engine, seems to be also an interesting idea. The game continued in my favor, but it was only with the move 16.f4 when I got the opportunity to take the winning advantage.

I played some sloppy moves and in the position below I played 19...Bd6, giving away what was left of my advantage. In reply tedy7 made a huge mistake and moved the knight to e4. In order to continue the game evenly, it was necessary for tedy7 to play 20.Be7. I answered the huge mistake by playing 20...Bb4, which allows my opponent to hang on in the game.

Tedy7 was not able to find the most accurate move and played 21.Re2 and the position looked a bit brighter for me once again. It still was not the final downhill, however, because I made things harder for me again in the position you can see below. In this position I played 27...Bd6, which is only good enough for a small advantage.

Tedy7 replied with 28.Bd4 and it was the point at which started the downfall of my opponent. The remainder of the game went clearly in my favor despite some of the inaccurate moves I made.

Game number three. This game was played in a team match called "GALACTIC MATCH 2 (for 1-250 members team)". The match was played on 25 boards between La Belle France and BULGARIA. I played on board 5 for La Belle France and in addition to this win I lost my other game against paci-golfa. The final result of the match was 35.5 - 14.5 in favor of La Belle France.

This game followed the first and second games in this post up to the move 8.Nxd4. I do not know if I ever get rid of the bad habit of taking on d4 with the pawn on move 7, but it seems I have improved my 8th move over time. In the first game I played the horrible 8...Na5, then on game two I played 8...Bb7. Actually, the game number two started a few days earlier than game number one in this post, so it is likely that I actually made the way I play a lot worse when I reached the position after 8.Nxd4 for the second time. The third appearance of that position over a year later in the game below I was able to play the strongest reply to 8.Nxd4. In the position below my opponent had just played 8.Nxd4 to which I replied with the move 8...Nxd4 and the game should be easy to win after that.

While the moves 7...exd4 and 8.Nxd4 are horrible, the first move that had not been played before in my reference database was 12...Bb7. It is not only me that has played this opening in a really awful way. The reason why the move 8.Nxd4 is so bad can be seen clearly in the game continuation 8...Nxd4 9.Qxd4 c5 10.Qd3 c4 and the light-squared bishop is trapped. After this material gain the game was easy for me to play and I never allowed my opponent to get back into the game again.

[Event "Friendly match - Board 3"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.12.03"] [Round "?"] [White "SojicSrecko"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C79"] [WhiteElo "1781"] [BlackElo "1906"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "33"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 d6 {C78 Spanish Game: Morphy Defense (#2)} 7. d4 (7. Re1 Be7 8. c3 Na5 9. Bc2 c5 10. d4 Qc7 11. a4 { Spanish Game: Closed Variations. Balla Variation} (11. Nbd2 O-O 12. Nf1 Bg4 13. Ne3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 {Spanish Game: Closed Defense. Alekhine Gambit})) 7... exd4 { C79 Spanish Game: Steinitz-type lines with 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O d6} 8. Nxd4 Na5 $4 $146 {instead of simply winning the game} (8... Nxd4 9. Qxd4 c5 10. Qe3 (10. Qd3 c4 11. Bxc4 bxc4 12. Qxc4 Be7 (12... Be6 13. Qc6+ Bd7 14. Qc3 Qc8 15. Qf3 Bg4 16. Qf4 Be7 17. Nc3 O-O 18. f3 Be6 19. Re1 Nh5 20. Qe3 Qc5 21. Qxc5 dxc5 22. Be3 Rab8 23. Na4 Rfc8 24. b3 c4 25. Rac1 cxb3 26. cxb3 Rxc1 27. Rxc1 { Rueda Fragoso,E-Ospina,C (1989) Bilin 2008 0-1 (70)}) 13. Nc3 O-O 14. Bf4 Be6 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. exd5 Bf5 17. c3 Qb6 18. Qe2 Bf6 19. Rfe1 h6 20. Bxh6 gxh6 21. Qf3 Qxb2 22. Qxf5 Qxc3 23. Rac1 Rae8 24. Kf1 Rxe1+ {Deinert,W (1843) -Raskin,V Dortmund 2011 0-1}) 10... c4 11. e5 (11. Bxc4 bxc4 12. Rd1 Qc7 13. Nc3 Be7 14. Qg3 Bb7 15. Nd5 Bxd5 16. exd5 O-O 17. Bh6 Ne8 18. Re1 Bf6 19. c3 Qb7 20. Rab1 Qxd5 21. Red1 Qh5 22. Bf4 Be5 23. Rd2 Qg6 24. Rbd1 Qxg3 25. Bxg3 Bxg3 {Krenek, M (2104)-Sachsenhofer,M Austria 2001 0-1 (46)}) 11... dxe5 12. Qxe5+ Be6 13. Bg5 Bd6 14. Bxf6 Bxe5 15. Bxd8 Bxb2 {0-1 (15) Sergeenko,B (1876) -Kokov,G (2039) Abakan 2014}) (8... Nxd4 $142 {would have made live much easier for Black} 9. Qxd4 c5 $19) 9. Bd5 $16 Nxd5 $2 (9... Rb8 $142 $5 10. Bd2 b4 $18) 10. exd5 $18 Bd7 $4 {an oversight. But Black was lost anyway.} (10... Be7 11. Bd2 Nc4 12. Nc6 $18) 11. Qe1+ (11. Re1+ $142 {and White has it in the bag} Be7 12. Bg5 $18) 11... Be7 12. Qxa5 O-O (12... c5 {cannot change destiny} 13. Nb3 $18) 13. Nc6 Bxc6 14. dxc6 Bf6 (14... d5 {doesn't improve anything} 15. a4 b4 16. Rd1 $18) 15. Nc3 Re8 (15... Qe8 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 16. Nd5 Qxc6 17. Nxf6+ gxf6 18. b3 $18) 16. Nd5 Ra7 (16... Re5 {doesn't change anything anymore} 17. Nxf6+ Qxf6 18. Qxc7 $18) 17. Be3 (17. Be3 Ra8 18. Qxc7 $18) 1-0 [Event "LITHIUM - Board 4"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.11.27"] [Round "?"] [White "tedy7"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C79"] [WhiteElo "1730"] [BlackElo "1848"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "92"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 d6 {C78 Spanish Game: Morphy Defense (#2)} (6... Bb7 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Archangelsk Variation}) (6... Be7 7. a4 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Wing Attack}) 7. d4 exd4 {C79 Spanish Game: Steinitz-type lines with 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O d6} 8. Nxd4 Bb7 (8... Nxd4 9. Qxd4 c5 10. Qe3 c4 11. Bxc4 (11. e5 dxe5 12. Qxe5+ Be6 13. Bg5 Bd6 14. Bxf6 Bxe5 15. Bxd8 Bxb2 {0-1 (15) Sergeenko,B (1876) -Kokov,G (2039) Abakan 2014}) 11... bxc4 12. Rd1 Qc7 13. Nc3 Be7 14. Qg3 Bb7 15. Nd5 Bxd5 16. exd5 O-O 17. Bh6 Ne8 18. Re1 Bf6 19. c3 Qb7 20. Rab1 Qxd5 21. Red1 Qh5 22. Bf4 Be5 23. Rd2 {Krenek,M (2104)-Sachsenhofer,M Austria 2001 0-1 (46)}) 9. Re1 $4 $146 {White loses the upper hand} (9. Bg5 Be7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Nf5 h6 12. Nxe7+ Qxe7 13. Bh4 Qe5 14. Nd5 Ne8 15. Re1 Na5 16. Re3 Nxb3 17. axb3 Bxd5 18. exd5 Qf5 19. Be7 Nf6 20. Bxf8 Rxf8 21. Rxa6 Ng4 22. Rf3 Qh5 23. Rh3 Qf5 { Karatzanos, K-Politis,D (2090) Athens 2000 0-1 (44)}) (9. c3 Be7 (9... Nxe4 $2 {doesn't lead to the expected results} 10. Bd5 Na5 11. Bxe4 Bxe4 12. Re1 $18) 10. Nf5 O-O $11) 9... Be7 $4 {letting the wind out of his own sails} (9... Nxd4 $142 {and the scales tip in favour of Black} 10. Qxd4 c5 $19) 10. Nxc6 (10. Nf5 O-O $14) 10... Bxc6 $11 11. e5 (11. Nc3 $5 $11 {might be a viable alternative}) 11... dxe5 $15 12. Qxd8+ Rxd8 13. c4 Nd7 (13... O-O 14. cxb5 axb5 15. Na3 $15) 14. cxb5 $15 axb5 15. Nc3 (15. Be3 e4 $15) 15... O-O (15... Nc5 $17) 16. f4 $2 (16. Be3 $142 $5 $15 {is the best option White has}) 16... Bd6 17. fxe5 Bxe5 ( 17... Nxe5 $5 18. Bg5 Rde8 19. Bf4 Bc5+ 20. Be3 Nf3+ 21. gxf3 Rxe3 22. Rxe3 Bxe3+ 23. Kf1 Bxf3 24. Nxb5 $19) 18. Bg5 $17 Ra8 (18... Rde8 19. Rad1 Nf6 20. Bh4 $17) 19. Rad1 Bd6 (19... Rfe8 $17) 20. Ne4 $4 {hands over the advantage to the opponent} (20. Be7 Rfe8 21. Bxd6 Rxe1+ 22. Rxe1 cxd6 $11) 20... Bb4 { Black threatens to win material: Bb4xe1} (20... Bxe4 $5 21. Rxe4 Nc5 22. Re3 Nxb3 23. Rxb3 $19) 21. Re2 (21. Bd2 Bxd2 22. Rxd2 Ne5 $15) 21... Rfe8 $17 22. Ng3 (22. Nc3 Rxe2 23. Nxe2 Ne5 $17) 22... Nc5 23. Rxe8+ Rxe8 24. Bc2 (24. Bd2 Bxd2 25. Rxd2 Kf8 $17) 24... Ne6 (24... Na4 $5 $19) 25. Be3 $17 Rd8 26. Rxd8+ Nxd8 27. a3 Bd6 (27... Bf8 28. Ne4 $17) 28. Bd4 (28. Nf5 $5 $15 {looks like a viable alternative}) 28... Ne6 $17 29. Bf2 g6 30. Ne4 Be5 31. b3 (31. Nc3 Bd7 $17) 31... Nd4 $19 32. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 33. Kf1 h6 (33... f5 34. Ng5 $19) 34. g3 (34. a4 f5 35. Nd2 Bb6 $19) 34... Kf8 35. a4 bxa4 (35... f5 36. Nd2 $19) 36. bxa4 $17 Ke7 37. Ke2 Ke6 38. Kd3 $2 (38. Bb3+ $142 Bd5 39. Nd2 $17) 38... Bg1 $19 39. h3 Ke5 (39... f5 $142 40. Nd2 Bg2 $19) 40. Nc3 $2 (40. Nd2 $19) 40... Bf2 41. Ne2 (41. a5 {does not improve anything} Bxg3 42. Ke2 f5 $19) 41... g5 42. Bb3 (42. a5 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} f5 $19) 42... f5 43. g4 ( 43. Nc3 $19 {a last effort to resist the inevitable}) 43... f4 44. a5 (44. Bd1 f3 45. Nc3 Bb6 $19) 44... Bg2 45. Nc3 Bxh3 46. a6 (46. Bd1 {is no salvation} Bg2 47. Ba4 Bf1+ 48. Kd2 Bc5 $19) 46... Bxg4 (46... Bxg4 47. Na2 h5 $19) 0-1 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.03.24"] [Round "?"] [White "paci_golfa"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C79"] [WhiteElo "1698"] [BlackElo "1827"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "50"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 d6 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense (#2)} (6... Bb7 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense, Arkhangelsk Variation}) (6... Be7 7. a4 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense, Wing Attack}) 7. d4 exd4 {C79 Spanish Game: Steinitz-type lines with 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O d6} 8. Nxd4 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 c5 10. Qd3 (10. Qe3 c4 11. Bxc4 (11. e5 dxe5 12. Qxe5+ Be6 13. Bg5 Bd6 14. Bxf6 Bxe5 15. Bxd8 Bxb2 {0-1 (15) Sergeenko,B (1876) -Kokov,G (2039) Abakan 2014}) 11... bxc4 12. Rd1 Qc7 13. Nc3 Be7 14. Qg3 Bb7 15. Nd5 Bxd5 16. exd5 O-O 17. Bh6 Ne8 18. Re1 Bf6 19. c3 Qb7 20. Rab1 Qxd5 21. Red1 Qh5 22. Bf4 Be5 23. Rd2 Qg6 24. Rbd1 Qxg3 {Krenek,M (2104)-Sachsenhofer,M Austria 2001 0-1 (46)}) 10... c4 11. Bxc4 bxc4 12. Qxc4 Bb7 $146 (12... Be7 13. Nc3 O-O 14. Bf4 Be6 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. exd5 Bf5 17. c3 Qb6 18. Qe2 Bf6 19. Rfe1 h6 20. Bxh6 gxh6 21. Qf3 Qxb2 22. Qxf5 Qxc3 23. Rac1 Rae8 24. Kf1 Rxe1+ 25. Rxe1 Qc4+ 26. Kg1 Bg7 {0-1 (26) Deinert,W (1843)-Raskin,V Dortmund 2011}) (12... Be6 13. Qc6+ Bd7 14. Qc3 Qc8 15. Qf3 Bg4 16. Qf4 Be7 17. Nc3 O-O 18. f3 Be6 19. Re1 Nh5 20. Qe3 Qc5 21. Qxc5 dxc5 22. Be3 Rab8 23. Na4 Rfc8 24. b3 c4 25. Rac1 cxb3 26. cxb3 Rxc1 27. Rxc1 {Rueda Fragoso,E-Ospina,C (1989) Bilin 2008 0-1 (70)}) ( 12... Bd7 13. Nc3 Be7 14. Be3 O-O 15. Rfe1 Qc8 16. Qd3 Qc6 17. Bd4 Rfd8 18. Qg3 Be6 19. Rad1 Kf8 20. Nd5 Nh5 21. Qf3 Nf6 22. Nxf6 Bxf6 23. Bxf6 gxf6 24. Qxf6 Rac8 25. e5 d5 26. c3 Bg4 27. Qxc6 {Le Roy,B-Netzer,J France 1996 1/2-1/2}) 13. Bg5 Be7 14. Nc3 (14. Qa4+ Qd7 15. Qxd7+ Kxd7 $19) 14... O-O 15. Rfe1 Rc8 16. Qa4 Qc7 17. Rac1 (17. Bf4 Rfe8 $19) 17... Rfe8 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 (18... gxf6 $6 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. exd5 $19) 19. Nd1 (19. a3 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} Bxc3 20. bxc3 Qxc3 $19) 19... Re5 (19... Bg5 $142 $5 {might be the shorter path} 20. Rb1 Qxc2 21. Qxc2 Rxc2 22. Ne3 Bxe3 23. Rxe3 Rxe4 24. Rb3 $19) 20. c3 d5 21. f3 (21. Rc2 $19 {the last chance for counterplay}) 21... dxe4 22. fxe4 (22. f4 { cannot undo what has already been done} Ra5 23. Qc2 Qxf4 $19) 22... Rce8 (22... Bh4 $142 {and Black has prevailed} 23. g3 Rg5 24. Kf1 Rxg3 25. hxg3 Qxg3 26. Re3 Qf4+ 27. Kg1 Qg4+ 28. Kf1 $19) 23. Nf2 Qb6 (23... Bc6 $142 {seems even better} 24. Qc2 Rg5 25. Rcd1 $19) 24. Qb4 (24. Re2 {otherwise it's curtains at once} Bc6 25. Qd4 $19) 24... Rb5 25. Qa4 Bc6 (25... Bc6 26. Re2 Rxb2 27. Rxb2 Qxb2 $19 (27... Bxa4 $2 {looks tantalising, but} 28. Rxb6 Bg5 29. Ra1 $18)) 0-1

C67 Spanish Game: Berlin Defence, 4.O-O Nxe4 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6)

This was played on the first round of the tournament called EXPECT NO MERCY - NAZARETH TOUR!!! This is by far the worst game of mine from the tournament so far. Despite this loss, I was able to win my group. I gathered 6,5 points in 8 games. My place on the second round was secured by a half a point difference as csabiu (1669), who finished on second place with 6 points. My opponent in this game, JoBer74, finished 3rd in group 7. JoBer managed to win 4 games and draw one game. The first round is still in progress, there is only one game left on round one.

The first blunder of the game was seen on the position below as my opponent played 10...Ne4. That knight move weakened the protection of the square f7, which I immediately took advantage of by playing 11.Qb3+. Of course the weakening of the moves started with the move 9...f5, but it was the knight move that allowed me to get a winning position. Everything seemed to go well and I should have managed to get an easy win, especially after I won a second pawn on move 14. There was one thing that was not going my way, however, it was the fact that I was behind in development. The lead in development was not enough to give my opponent counterplay.

While I had easy time developing my pieces, I did not pay enough attention to all positions. One of those times when I should have been more alert, was the position you can see below. The move I played was 17.Nd2. The move I should have played seems so obvious to me now. The move I am referring to is 17.f3, of course. Had I played that move, the game might have ended soon after.

I should have been in a winning position even after my 17th move, but it made things more difficult for me. I remained on the better side of the board until it came time to play my 34th move. In a position that had become quite difficult for me to play, I made a huge blunder that became the losing move.

[Event "EXPECT NO MERCY - NAZARETH TOUR!!! - Ro"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.03.06"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "JoBer74"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "1816"] [BlackElo "1407"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 {Spanish Game: Berlin Defense. Rio Gambit Accepted} 5. Re1 (5. d4 Be7 (5... a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Bc5 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Bc2 Nxf2 {Spanish Game: Open Variations, Dilworth Variation}) 6. dxe5 {Spanish Game: Berlin Defense, Minckwitz Variation} (6. Qe2 d5 {Spanish Game: Berlin Defense, Trifunovic Variation})) 5... Nd6 {C67 Spanish Game: Berlin Defence, 4.O-O Nxe4} 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. Nxe5 Be7 8. d4 O-O ( 8... f6 9. Qh5+ Kf8 10. Ng6+ hxg6 11. Qxh8+ Kf7 12. Qxd8 Bxd8 13. Nc3 Bb7 14. Bf4 Nf5 15. Rad1 d6 16. Ne2 g5 17. Bc1 c5 18. dxc5 dxc5 19. Rd7+ Kg6 20. Nc3 Bc6 21. Rdd1 Nh4 22. Nd5 Bb7 23. c4 {Banaghan,A-Barnes,M (2240) Grangemouth 1998 1-0 (57)}) 9. Qg4 (9. Nc3 Bh4 10. Nf3 Bf6 11. Bf4 Ne8 12. Qd3 Bb7 13. Ne5 Be7 14. Ne4 Nf6 15. Ng5 d6 16. Ng4 c5 17. Nxf6+ {1-0 (17) Obando Guzman,S (1788)-Cotes Ontibon,S (1912) Columbia 2012}) 9... f5 $146 {Black threatens to win material: f5xg4} (9... g6 10. Bh6 Re8 11. Nc3 Bh4 12. g3 Bf6 13. h4 Bg7 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. h5 Qf6 16. hxg6 hxg6 17. Re3 Kg8 18. Rf3 Qg7 19. Qf4 Re7 20. Qh4 f6 21. Rxf6 g5 22. Qh6 Qxh6 23. Rxh6 Nf7 24. Rh5 {Zulaika Centeno,A-Gomez Sanchez,N Zarauz 2004 1/2-1/2 (50)}) (9... Nb5 $5 10. Qf4 Bd6 $11) 10. Qg3 $14 {Black has a cramped position} Ne4 $2 (10... Rb8 $142 $14 {and Black could well hope to play on}) 11. Qb3+ $18 d5 12. Nxc6 Qd6 13. Nxe7+ Qxe7 14. Qxd5+ ( 14. f3 Qh4 15. Qxd5+ Kh8 $18) 14... Be6 15. Qe5 Rad8 $2 (15... Rfe8 16. f3 Nf6 17. Nc3 $18) 16. Bf4 (16. f3 $142 {makes it even easier for White} Rd5 17. Qf4 Nf6 $18) 16... Rd7 $4 {terrible, but what else could Black do to save the game? } (16... Rfe8 17. c3 g5 18. Rxe4 fxe4 19. Bxg5 $18) 17. Nd2 (17. f3 $142 { and White can celebrate victory} Rd5 18. Qxc7 $18) 17... Rd5 18. Qxc7 Qxc7 19. Bxc7 Rxd4 20. Nxe4 (20. Nb3 Bxb3 21. cxb3 Rc8 $18) 20... fxe4 21. Ba5 Bf5 22. Bc3 Rd5 23. Re3 Rfd8 24. Rae1 h5 25. Rg3 g6 26. h3 Kf7 27. Rge3 g5 28. Kh2 Kg6 29. Bb4 Rb8 30. Ba3 Rd2 31. R1e2 Rbd8 (31... Rxe2 32. Rxe2 Rb5 33. b4 $18) 32. c4 (32. Bc5 Rxe2 33. Rxe2 a6 $18) 32... R8d3 (32... Rd1 33. Bb4 Rb1 34. Bc3 $16 ) 33. c5 (33. Bb4 Rd1 $18) 33... g4 (33... Rd1 34. Bb4 $16) 34. Kg3 $4 { throws away the game} (34. c6 $142 {a pity that White didn't try this} Rxe3 35. Rxd2 $18 (35. Rxe3 $143 gxh3 36. Bc5 Rxb2 $16)) 34... Rxe2 $19 (34... Rxe2 35. hxg4 Bxg4 $19) 0-1

C67 Spanish Game: Berlin Defence, 4.O-O Nxe4 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1)

The short game below was played in the first round of the Ruy Lopez tournament that is still in progress at Chess.com. The time limit for each move is 14 days in this tournament and that means that it is a tournament with the longest possible timeout that you can have in a Chess.com tournament. Some players take their time with their moves and others expected to play this tournament like blitz, so they complain about the time their opponents use for their moves... I really do not understand players who think that they can finish a tournament like this quickly. I mean if you are not going to like really long lasting games, why are you playing with these time controls anyway? I guess some people do not understand that correspondence chess is not meant to be a sprint but a marathon. I won the group 1 and from out of the 22 games I played on round one I won 21 and drew 1. I have still avoided losing a game even though round two is 3 games away from finishing on my part. On round two I have finished 15 games, out of which I have won 12 and drawn 3 games. I do have one thing to mention about the way the games have started, the second game against the same opponent only starts after the first one is finished, which is not really necessary in my opinion with these long time controls. All the games could have started at the same time, just to save some time.

It did not take long for my opponent to blunder. Already in his 5th move jcsk8 made a huge mistake. Jcsk8 played 5...Ng5 in the position below. The best option for my opponent was 5...Nd6.

I did not play the most accurate move in reply unfortunately and played 6.Bxc6, letting my opponent off the hook as the position was about even once again. I should have of course played 6.Nxg5 instead. Jcsk8 replied correctly with 6...dxc6 to the move I played in the game. I continued with 7.Nxe5 obviously and in order to stay in the game jcsk8 should have blocked the e-file by playing either 7...Be7 or 7...Ne6. The former being the move I would prefer. Jcsk8 made the game losing blunder instead when he played 7...Qf6, which allowed me to play 8.Ng4+ and be in a completely winning position. My opponent resigned after my 8th move.

[Event "Ruy Lopez - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.04.20"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "jcsk8"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "1887"] [BlackElo "1254"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "15"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {Thematic Game - This is the starting position.} Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 {Spanish Game: Berlin Defense. Rio Gambit Accepted} 5. Re1 { C67 Spanish Game: Berlin Defence, 4.O-O Nxe4} (5. d4 Nd6 (5... Be7 6. Qe2 Nd6 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. dxe5 Nf5 {Spanish Game: Berlin Defense. Cordel Variation}) 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Ne4 {Spanish Game: Berlin Defense. l'Hermet Variation, Westerinen Line} (7... Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Bd7 {Spanish Game: Berlin Defense. Berlin Wall})) 5... Ng5 6. Bxc6 dxc6 (6... Nxf3+ 7. Qxf3 bxc6 8. Rxe5+ Be7 9. d3 Rb8 10. b3 O-O 11. Bb2 Bf6 12. Qg3 g6 13. d4 Bxe5 14. Qxe5 f6 15. Qg3 Qe8 16. h3 d6 17. Nd2 Bf5 18. c4 c5 19. dxc5 dxc5 20. Qxc7 Qe2 21. Bc3 { Martinez Gueldos,F (1690)-Marti de Toro,X (1535) Santa Eulalia de Roncana 2016 1-0}) 7. Nxe5 (7. Rxe5+ Ne6 8. Nc3 Bd6 9. Re1 O-O 10. d4 Qf6 11. d5 cxd5 12. Nxd5 Qg6 13. Nh4 Qh5 14. Qxh5 g6 15. Qe2 c6 16. Nf6+ Kg7 17. Ne4 Nf4 18. Bxf4 Bxf4 19. Qf3 f5 20. Qxf4 fxe4 21. Qxe4 Bf5 {Kabanova, Y-Wijesuriya,G (2089) Kemer 2009 1-0}) 7... Qf6 $4 $146 (7... Be7 8. d4 O-O 9. c3 Bf5 10. Nd2 Qd5 11. Nf1 Be4 12. Ne3 Qe6 13. N3g4 f6 14. Bxg5 fxe5 15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. Rxe4 Rf4 17. Rxe5 Qd7 18. f3 Raf8 19. Qb3+ Kh8 20. Rae1 Qf7 21. Qxf7 R4xf7 22. Re7 {Lozano Marques, M-Dos Reis Cabrera,J Cotelec 2009 1-0}) (7... Qd5 8. Ng6+ Kd8 9. Nxh8 Bd6 10. Qe2 Be6 11. d3 Bb4 12. c3 Ba5 13. f4 Qc5+ 14. d4 Qc4 15. fxg5 Qxe2 16. Rxe2 Bg4 17. Nxf7+ Kd7 18. Ne5+ Kd6 19. Nxg4 Rf8 20. Nd2 Bb6 21. Nc4+ Kd5 22. Nge3+ {Arenkov,W-Hamann,P Oberbernhards 2004 1-0 (32)}) (7... Be7 $142 $11 { was much better}) 8. Ng4+ $18 (8. Ng4+ Qe7 9. Rxe7+ Bxe7 10. d3 $18) 1-0

C54 Giuoco Piano: 4.c3 Nf6, main lines with 5.d4 and 5.d3 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.O-O d6)

This was played on the second and final round of a tournament called 2014 October Split II. The tournament was played at Red Hot Pawn. I had advanced to the second round by sharing the win of group 1 with two other players, one of them being aukermdr, the player who I faced in this game. The round two group consisted of four players and the player who won that group also won the tournament. I played much worse on this second round than on the first one and finished third in the tournament with 4 points. Aukermdr was second with 13 points and the tournament was won by a player called NN Cheap (2019). NN Cheap gathered 15 points on round two. SuperMac (1775) finished fourth with 3 points. Those three points were gathered from the win that SuperMac managed to get against me.

I certainly could have been able to get more points, had I been able to maintain the advantage that I managed to get due to two consecutive bad moves from my opponent, starting with the move 19.Qg3. The position below is taken after my 18th move Ne7. I replied to the move 19.Qg3 with the move 19...Nxf5. The next move from aukermdr could have been the losing move and at first it indeed looked the part. Aukermdr should have played 20.exf5, but instead played 20.Rxf5, which allowed me to win a pawn by playing 20...Nxe4! Aukermdr can't take the knight in view of Rxd1+. It was the reason why Rxf5 was a blunder.

The game continued to be favorable for me until I played my 44th move Kg6. I did get one last chance to get an advantage when aukermdr played 46.Rb7 in the position below. I found a good reply 46...Rb2 and I was on the better side of the board once again. 46.Kh2 might have been good enough to hold the draw for aukermdr.

While the remainder of the game remained to be favorable for me, my advantage declined so much after I played 49...a2 that winning this game became very unlikely. We agreed to a draw after aukermdr's 51st move Nxa2.

[Event "Split"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2016.01.25"] [Round "2"] [White "aukermdr"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "1996"] [BlackElo "1961"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "101"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 {Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo} a6 6. O-O (6. Bb3 Ba7 7. h3 O-O 8. O-O d6 9. Re1 {Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, Main Line}) 6... d6 { C54 Giuoco Piano: 4.c3 Nf6, main lines with 5.d4 and 5.d3} 7. Be3 Bxe3 8. fxe3 O-O (8... Na5 9. Bb3 Nxb3 10. axb3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Qe7 12. Qc2 Bd7 13. Rae1 a5 14. c4 a4 15. b4 b5 16. c5 d5 17. d4 exd4 18. exd4 dxe4 19. Nxe4 Nxe4 20. Rxe4 Qd8 21. Ne5 Be6 22. Ref4 Qd5 23. Rh4 {Velikic,A (2128) -Persson,A (2258) Paracin 2015 0-1 (46)}) 9. Bb3 Be6 10. Nbd2 d5 $146 (10... Qd7 11. Qe2 Bxb3 12. axb3 d5 {1/2-1/2 (12) Holm,K (2272)-Battey,A (2336) Kecskemet 2011}) 11. exd5 {White forks: c6+e6} Bxd5 12. e4 (12. Qc2 Bxb3 13. axb3 a5 $11) 12... Bxb3 13. Nxb3 Qd6 14. Qe2 {Black has an active position} Rad8 15. Rad1 Rfe8 16. Nh4 Qe6 ( 16... Ne7 17. d4 Qb6 18. Qf2 $11) 17. Nf5 (17. Nc5 Qg4 18. Qf2 Qf4 $16) 17... b6 {Covers a5+c5} (17... Ne7 18. Ne3 $11) 18. Qf3 Ne7 19. Qg3 (19. Nh6+ $142 $1 {is an interesting idea} Kf8 20. d4 $14) 19... Nxf5 $15 20. Rxf5 $4 (20. exf5 $142 {and White has air to breath} Qd7 21. d4 $17) 20... Nxe4 $1 $19 { Deflection: d3} 21. Qf3 (21. dxe4 Rxd1+ {Deflection Pinning}) 21... Nd6 (21... g6 $142 {makes it even easier for Black} 22. Qxe4 Qxf5 23. Qxf5 gxf5 24. Kf2 $19) 22. Rg5 (22. Rh5 c5 23. Re1 e4 $19) 22... f6 (22... e4 $5 {and Black can already relax} 23. Qe2 exd3 24. Qxe6 Rxe6 25. Rd5 $19) 23. Rg3 Qf5 (23... a5 24. Re1 $19) 24. Qc6 Re7 25. Rf1 Qe6 26. Qa4 a5 27. Nd2 Red7 28. Qb3 (28. Ne4 Kh8 29. a3 Nf7 $19) 28... Qxb3 29. Nxb3 Kf7 30. d4 (30. Re3 a4 31. Nd2 a3 32. bxa3 Nb5 $19) 30... exd4 (30... a4 $5 {might be the shorter path} 31. Nd2 exd4 32. cxd4 $19) 31. Nxd4 Re8 32. Rgf3 (32. Rd3 Nb5 $1 {Deflection: d4} 33. Rfd1 Nxd4 34. Rxd4 Rxd4 35. Rxd4 Re2 36. Rd7+ Kg6 37. Rxc7 Rxb2 $19) 32... Rde7 ( 32... c5 $5 33. Nf5 Nc4 34. R3f2 $19) 33. h3 Nc4 34. R3f2 Re1 35. b3 Rxf1+ 36. Rxf1 Nd6 37. c4 Re5 (37... c5 $5 38. Nf3 $19) 38. Rd1 $17 Ke8 39. Kf2 Ne4+ 40. Kg1 (40. Kf3 $5 $17) 40... Nc3 $19 41. Rd2 Re4 (41... c5 42. Nf3 Re2 43. a3 $19 ) 42. Nc6 (42. Kf2 $17) 42... Re2 {Black threatens to win material: Re2xd2} ( 42... Re1+ $142 $5 43. Kf2 Rd1 44. Rxd1 Nxd1+ 45. Ke1 Nc3 $19) 43. Rd8+ $15 Kf7 44. Rd7+ {White forks: c7} Kg6 (44... Ke6 45. Rxg7 Kd6 46. Nd4 $15) 45. Rxc7 $11 Rxa2 46. Rb7 {White threatens to win material: Rb7xb6} (46. Kh2 Ne2 47. Ne7+ Kg5 $11) 46... Rb2 $15 {Black threatens to win material: Rb2xb3} 47. Rxb6 (47. Kh2 Rxb3 48. c5 a4 49. Ne7+ Kg5 $15) 47... a4 $17 48. Kh2 a3 49. Ra6 a2 ( 49... Rxb3 50. Nd4 Rb4 51. Rxa3 Rxc4 52. Ne6 $17) 50. Nb4 $15 Rxb3 51. Nxa2 1/2-1/2

C54 Giuoco Piano: 4.c3 Nf6, main lines with 5.d4 and 5.d3 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 h6 6.b4)

This is from the second round of a tournament that was played at Salo over eleven years ago. In the first round I had won a game against a player who was almost 300 points lower rated than me at the time of this tournament. This round I faced an opponent who was slightly higher rated than me and I ended up losing my first game during this tournament, at this time I of course had no idea that this would also be my only loss of the tournament. My opponent in this game ended up sharing the win of group B with me and two other players. All four of these players represented even the same club at this time! I think this has been the only time when this many players from the same club have been able to share the win in this type of tournaments. Well, at least I think I have not been part of similar things any other time during my chess playing years.

This game was played rather evenly until my opponent moved his a-rook to d1 on move 18. The position below is taken after my 17th move Bg4. A better alternative to Esa was 18.h3, but even after that I should be on the better side of the board.

I immediately lost most of my advantage with the horrible move 18...Bxf3. I should have played 18...f5 instead and I could have been on my way towards a win, at least if the engine is to be believed. I was not able to maintain my advantage all that long, with my 19th move Qd6, the balance had been restored to the game. Only small inaccuracies were seen until we reached the position below after 34.Be3.

I played 34.Rh8, which was a mistake that threw the possibility for a draw out of the window. The final nail in my coffin was the huge mistake I made on my 37th move, which resulted in a lost position for me.

[Event "SalSK"] [Site "?"] [Date "2004.10.30"] [Round "2"] [White "Niemi, Esa"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "1750"] [BlackElo "1704"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "106"] [EventDate "2004.10.30"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 {Italian Game: Classical Variation. Giuoco Pianissimo} h6 (5... a6 6. Bb3 Ba7 7. h3 O-O 8. O-O d6 9. Re1 {Italian Game: Classical Variation. Giuoco Pianissimo Main Line}) 6. b4 { C54 Giuoco Piano: 4.c3 Nf6, main lines with 5.d4 and 5.d3} Bd6 7. a4 (7. Nbd2 O-O 8. Nf1 Re8 9. Ng3 Bf8 10. Qb3 d5 11. exd5 e4 12. dxe4 Nxe4 13. O-O Nb8 14. Nxe4 Rxe4 15. Bd3 Re8 16. Bf4 Bg4 17. Ne5 Qf6 18. Nxg4 Qxf4 19. f3 Bd6 20. g3 Qg5 21. Kg2 h5 {Neelakantan,N (1942)-Jaeel,A (1644) Mumbai 2016 1-0 (40)}) 7... a6 8. O-O O-O 9. a5 $146 {White wins space} (9. Re1 Ne7 10. Nh4 Kh7 11. f4 c6 12. d4 Bc7 13. fxe5 Ne8 14. Bd3 Ng6 15. Nf5 d5 16. Qh5 Kg8 17. exd5 cxd5 18. e6 Bxe6 19. Nxh6+ gxh6 20. Bxg6 Ng7 21. Bh7+ Kxh7 22. Qxh6+ Kg8 23. Bg5 f6 { Guex,P-Katona,M (2200) Switzerland 1995 0-1 (41)}) 9... b6 10. Be3 (10. Nbd2 b5 11. Ba2 Be7 $14) 10... Bb7 (10... b5 11. Ba2 Be7 12. Bd5 $11) 11. Nbd2 $14 b5 12. Ba2 Be7 13. Nb3 (13. Re1 d5 14. exd5 Nxd5 $14) 13... d5 {Black threatens to win material: d5xe4} 14. Nc5 Bc8 15. exd5 (15. Rc1 Bxc5 16. Bxc5 Re8 $14) 15... Nxd5 $11 16. Bxd5 (16. Qd2 Bg4 $11 (16... Nxe3 $143 17. Qxe3 (17. fxe3 $6 Bxc5 18. bxc5 Be6 $11) 17... Bg4 18. Nxe5 Bxc5 19. Qxc5 (19. Nxc6 $6 Bxe3 20. Nxd8 Raxd8 21. fxe3 Rxd3 $11) 19... Nxe5 20. Qxe5 $16)) 16... Qxd5 $15 17. Qe2 (17. Qb3 Qxb3 18. Nxb3 Be6 $15) 17... Bg4 $17 18. Rad1 $2 (18. h3 Bh5 19. g4 Bg6 $17) 18... Bxf3 $4 {not a good decision, because now the opponent is right back in the game} (18... f5 $142 $5 19. h3 Bxf3 20. gxf3 $19) 19. gxf3 (19. Qxf3 Qxf3 20. gxf3 Rfd8 $15) 19... Qd6 (19... Rfe8 $5 $17) 20. Ne4 Qe6 21. Kh1 (21. f4 f5 22. Nc5 Qd5 $15) 21... f5 $17 22. Nc5 Bxc5 (22... Qd5 $5 23. d4 Bxc5 24. dxc5 Qe6 $17) 23. Bxc5 $11 {The white bishop is well posted.} Rfe8 24. Rg1 Qf6 (24... Kh7 25. Rg2 $11) 25. Qc2 (25. Rg2 Kh7 $11) 25... Rad8 26. Rg2 Rd7 27. Rdg1 g5 28. h4 {White threatens to win material: h4xg5} Rg7 29. hxg5 (29. c4 $5 Nd8 30. cxb5 axb5 31. d4 $14) 29... hxg5 $11 30. Qb3+ Kh8 31. Rh2+ Rh7 32. Rgg2 Rxh2+ 33. Rxh2+ Kg7 34. Be3 Rh8 {Black prepares f4} (34... f4 $142 $5 {and Black could well hope to play on} 35. Bc5 Qg6 $11) 35. Rxh8 $16 Kxh8 36. Qd5 f4 37. Bc5 Ne7 $4 {solves nothing} (37... g4 $142 38. Kg2 gxf3+ 39. Kxf3 Nd8 $16) 38. Qd8+ $18 Ng8 39. Qxc7 Qf5 (39... Nh6 {doesn't do any good} 40. c4 bxc4 41. dxc4 $18) 40. Qd6 Qh3+ 41. Kg1 Qxf3 42. Qxe5+ Kh7 43. Qxg5 Qd1+ 44. Kg2 f3+ 45. Kg3 (45. Kh2 Qxd3 46. Bf8 Qg6 47. Qh4+ Nh6 48. Qxh6+ Qxh6+ 49. Bxh6 Kxh6 50. Kg3 Kg5 51. Kxf3 Kf5 52. Ke3 Kg6 53. c4 bxc4 54. Kd4 Kf5 55. b5 axb5 56. a6 b4 57. Kxc4 b3 58. Kxb3 Ke4 59. a7 Kd4 60. a8=Q Ke5 61. Kc3 Kf6 62. Qc6+ Ke5 63. Kd3 Kf5 64. Qd6 Kg5 65. Ke4 Kg4 66. Qg6+ Kh4 67. Kf3 Kh3 68. Qg3#) 45... Qg1+ $18 46. Kf4 Qc1+ 47. Be3 Qxc3 48. Qf5+ Kg7 49. Qe4 (49. Qd7+ $142 { and White can already relax} Kg6 50. Bd4 Qd2+ 51. Ke5 Qe1+ 52. Kd6 Qxb4+ 53. Kc6 $18) 49... Nf6 (49... Qc7+ 50. Kxf3 Qf7+ 51. Ke2 Ne7 52. Bd4+ Kh6 53. Qh4+ Kg6 54. Qg4+ Kh6 $18) 50. Bd4 Qd2+ (50... Qc7+ {does not save the day} 51. Kxf3 Qd7 52. Qf4 Qc6+ 53. Kg3 Kg6 54. Qxf6+ Qxf6 55. Bxf6 Kxf6 56. Kf4 Ke6 57. Ke4 Kf7 58. f4 Ke6 59. f5+ Kf7 60. d4 Kg8 61. d5 Kf7 62. Ke5 Kg8 63. d6 Kf7 64. f6 Kg6 65. d7 Kh5 66. d8=Q Kg4 67. Qd3 Kh5 68. Qg3 Kh6 69. Kf5 Kh7 70. Qg7#) 51. Kxf3 (51. Kf5 Qh6 52. Ke6 Qh3+ 53. Qf5 Qxf5+ 54. Kxf5 Kh8 55. Bxf6+ Kh7 56. d4 Kg8 57. d5 Kf7 58. d6 Ke8 59. Ke6 Kf8 60. d7 Kg8 61. d8=R+ Kh7 62. Kf5 Kh6 63. Rh8#) 51... Qd1+ (51... Kf7 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 52. Bxf6 Qd1+ 53. Kg2 Qc2 54. Qe7+ Kg6 55. Bd4 Qxd3 56. Qf6+ Kh5 57. Qf3+ Qxf3+ 58. Kxf3 Kh6 59. Ke4 Kg5 60. f4+ Kh6 61. f5 Kh7 62. f6 Kg6 63. Kf4 Kf7 64. Kf5 Kg8 65. Ke6 Kf8 66. Bc5+ Kg8 67. f7+ Kh7 68. f8=Q Kg6 69. Qf6+ Kh7 70. Qf7+ Kh8 71. Bd4#) 52. Kg2 Kf7 53. Bxf6 Kxf6 (53... Qc2 {hardly improves anything} 54. Qe7+ Kg6 55. Bd4 Qxd3 56. Qf6+ Kh5 57. Qf3+ Qxf3+ 58. Kxf3 Kh6 59. Ke4 Kg5 60. f4+ Kh6 61. f5 Kh7 62. Ke5 Kg7 63. f6+ Kf7 64. Kf5 Kg8 65. Ke6 Kf8 66. Bc5+ Kg8 67. f7+ Kh7 68. f8=Q Kg6 69. Qf6+ Kh7 70. Qf7+ Kh8 71. Bd4#) 1-0

C54 Giuoco Piano: 4.c3 Nf6, main lines with 5.d4 and 5.d3 (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 a6)

This was played in a team match called OPEN MATCH LA BELLE FRANCE / CALABARZON CHESS TEAM. The match was played on 15 boards and I played on board 5 for La Belle France. I won both of my games on time. In the game below I was in a completely losing position though. My opponent's rating in the notation of this game is far from her highest. The highest she has been is 2155, so she is quite underrated at the moment. Well, the highest rating does not tell the true strength of a player but it might tell something of the potential of the player. The match ended with a score 20 - 10 in favor of La Belle France.

Apart from several small mistakes, it was the mistake I made when it came to my 20th move that was a real blunder. The position below is the position where I made the horrible move 20...b6. Benibide replied with 21.Nc6 and because of that was able to get a clear advantage.

I continued with 21...Nxc3 and then benibide messed up by playing 22.Rd2. The game was evenly fought again. It did not take long time from me to blunder again. I played in the position below 25...Rac8.

My 25th move was the start of my final downhill. The only reason why I won this game was that my opponent ran out of time.

[Event "OPEN MATCH LA BELLE FRANCE / CALABARZON"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.03.25"] [Round "?"] [White "benibide"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "1653"] [BlackElo "1903"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "58"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 {Italian Game: Classical Variation. Giuoco Pianissimo} a6 {C54 Giuoco Piano: 4.c3 Nf6, main lines with 5.d4 and 5.d3} 6. a4 (6. Bb3 Ba7 7. h3 O-O 8. O-O d6 9. Re1 {Italian Game: Classical Variation. Giuoco Pianissimo Main Line}) 6... d6 7. Bg5 O-O $146 ( 7... Ba7 8. O-O (8. Nbd2 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 O-O 11. O-O Nh7 12. h3 (12. Ne1 Kg7 13. Nc2 f5 14. exf5 Bxf5 15. Ne3 Bg6 16. Re1 Nf6 17. b4 Qd7 18. b5 Ne7 19. bxa6 bxa6 20. Ne4 Nh5 21. Rb1 Nxg3 22. Nxg3 Rf4 23. Nh5+ Bxh5 24. Qxh5 Raf8 25. Kh1 a5 26. d4 exd4 {Mamedov,R (2688)-Leko,P (2693) Tallinn 2016 1/2-1/2 (36)}) 12... h5 13. d4 exd4 14. Nxd4 g4 15. hxg4 hxg4 16. Nxc6 bxc6 17. e5 d5 18. Be2 Qg5 19. a5 f5 20. exf6 Nxf6 21. Ra4 Rf7 22. Re1 Nh5 {Topalov,V (2760) -So,W (2794) London 2016 0-1}) 8... Be6 9. Nbd2 Qd7 10. Be3 O-O 11. Bxa7 Rxa7 12. Re1 Ne7 13. d4 Ng6 14. Be2 h6 15. Kh1 Re8 16. d5 Bg4 17. Ng1 Nf4 18. f3 Bh5 19. Nf1 Bg6 20. Ne3 Raa8 21. Bf1 Nh7 22. g3 {Briquet,D (1635)-Kobayashi,A (1997) Cappelle la Grande 2013 1/2-1/2}) 8. b4 {White threatens to win material: b4xc5 } Ba7 9. O-O (9. Nbd2 Qe7 $11) 9... Be6 (9... h6 10. Be3 $11) 10. Bb3 (10. Nbd2 Re8 $11) 10... Bxb3 $11 11. Qxb3 Qe7 12. Nbd2 Rfe8 13. Qc4 Qe6 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Nh4 Qxc4 {Black forks: d3+c3} (15... Ne7 16. Qxe6 fxe6 17. Nhf3 $11) 16. Nxc4 (16. dxc4 a5 17. b5 Ne7 $14) 16... Ne7 17. Kh1 (17. Ne3 d5 $16) 17... Ng6 (17... d5 $5 {deserves consideration} 18. Na5 b6 $11) 18. Nf5 $14 {A beautiful square!} Nf4 19. Rad1 Ne2 {Black threatens to win material: Ne2xc3} 20. Na5 { White threatens to win material: Na5xb7} (20. Nce3 $142 Bxe3 21. fxe3 $14) 20... b6 $4 {weakening the position} (20... Nxc3 $142 {and Black can hope to live} 21. Rc1 Bd4 $11) 21. Nc6 $18 Nxc3 22. Rd2 $4 {White is ruining his position} (22. Rc1 $142 $5 Nxa4 23. Nfe7+ Kf8 24. Nd5 $18) 22... Nxa4 (22... a5 23. Rc2 Nxa4 24. g3 $14) 23. f4 (23. Nce7+ $5 Kh8 24. Nd5 $14) 23... b5 $11 { Black has a new backward pawn: a6} 24. Nce7+ Kf8 (24... Kh8 25. Nd5 Bb6 26. Rc2 $11) 25. Nd5 $16 {White threatens to win material: Nd5xf6. White forks: f6+c7} Rac8 $2 (25... c5 $142 26. Nxd6 cxb4 27. Nxe8 Rxe8 28. Nxb4 a5 $14) 26. Nxf6 Red8 (26... Re6 27. fxe5 dxe5 28. Nxh7+ Ke8 29. Ng7+ Ke7 30. Nxe6 fxe6 $18) 27. Nxh7+ (27. Rf3 exf4 28. Nxh7+ Kg8 29. Nf6+ Kf8 30. Rh3 f3 31. Rh8#) 27... Ke8 ( 27... Kg8 {does not win a prize} 28. Nf6+ Kf8 29. Rf3 Bf2 30. Rdxf2 a5 31. Rh3 d5 32. Rh8#) 28. Nf6+ $18 Kf8 29. Rf3 exf4 (29... exf4 30. Rh3 f3 31. Rh8#) ( 29... Bf2 {does not improve anything} 30. Rdxf2 a5 31. Rh3 d5 32. Rh8#) 0-1