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