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