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 O-O 6.O-O a6 7.d4)

The game below was played in the first round of the 2014 October Split II tournament. I shared the win of group 1 with two other players, therefore I was able to advance to the next round. I gathered 56 points on round one. I lost two games, drew two games and won the rest on round one. One of those losses I suffered in my other game against aukermdr, the opponent I faced in this game. On the second and final round I was only able to gather 4 points, which was only enough for third place in a group of four players. The tournament was won by a player called NN Cheap (2063). The game below was not all that easy for me and I could have certainly lost this game as well.

It did not take me long to go along the wrong path because already with my 7th move I started to run into trouble. With my next move I took my next step towards the grave. Actually, had my opponent played 9.d5 in the position below, I would have been quite close to a losing position. Aukermdr played 9.a3 in the game.

While aukermdr's reply was not the best possible one, it was still good enough for a clear advantage. That being said, I blundered with my next move and I was in a losing position after 9...Ba5. Then aukermdr took a wrong path and played 10.Bg5, which threw most of the advantage away. The move d5 was still the strongest move and on move 10 it was even better than on the previous move. It did not take me long to make a horrible move, because after 11.Bh4 I played 11...g5 in the position below and I was on the losing side of the board again.

Aukermdr was able to take the winning advantage, but was not able to keep it for very long. The game continued with the moves 12.Nxg5 Nxe4 13.Nf3 Ng5. Then aukermdr captured the knight from g5 with the knight, unfortunately for my opponent it was the wrong capture. Taking with the knight was good enough only for a small advantage, whereas taking with the bishop keeps the winning advantage on aukermdr's side. The next huge blunder was made by my opponent on move 15. Aukermdr played 15.Qg4 in the position below.

The problem with the queen move is that I can reply with 15...d5 and then both bishops are threatened by pawns and the queen on g4 is under attack due to the discovered attack by my bishop. The move was so bad that it became the losing move as I was able to maintain the winning advantage on my side to the end.

[Event "Split"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.10.24"] [Round "1"] [White "aukermdr"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "1904"] [BlackElo "1927"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "104"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 {Italian Game: Classical Variation. Giuoco Pianissimo} O-O (5... a6 6. Bb3 Ba7 7. h3 O-O 8. O-O d6 9. Re1 {Italian Game: Classical Variation. Giuoco Pianissimo Main Line}) 6. O-O a6 7. d4 {C54 Giuoco Piano: 4.c3 Nf6, main lines with 5.d4 and 5.d3} exd4 (7... Ba7 8. dxe5 Nxe4 9. Bd5 Nc5 10. Re1 d6 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Bg5 Qd7 13. exd6 Qxd6 14. Nbd2 Nd3 15. Ne4 Qd5 {1/2-1/2 (15) Grosar,A (2495) -Grabarczyk,M (2480) Pula 1997}) 8. cxd4 Bb4 $146 (8... Ba7 9. e5 (9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 g5 11. d5 Ne7 12. e5 Ng6 13. Bg3 Nh5 14. Re1 Nxg3 15. hxg3 Re8 16. g4 b5 17. Bb3 c6 18. Nc3 Qb6 19. Qd2 Bb7 20. d6 b4 21. Ne4 Kg7 22. Nf6 Red8 23. Rab1 Qb5 {Ljikar,T (1738)-Blazeka,I (1688) Valpovo 2010 1-0 (32)}) 9... Ne8 10. Bg5 Ne7 11. Nc3 h6 12. Bh4 g5 13. Bg3 Nf5 14. d5 h5 15. Qc2 Neg7 16. Bd3 d6 17. exd6 cxd6 18. Ne4 h4 19. Nfxg5 hxg3 20. hxg3 Nxg3 21. Qc3 Nxf1 22. Nf6+ Kh8 23. Rxf1 {Hanham, J-MacLeod,N New York 1889 1-0 (33)}) (8... Bb6 9. e5 d5 10. exf6 dxc4 11. d5 Nb4 12. fxg7 Re8 13. Nc3 Bg4 14. Qa4 Bxf3 15. gxf3 Nd3 16. Qxc4 Nxf2 17. Rxf2 Re1+ 18. Kg2 Rxc1 19. Rxc1 Qg5+ 20. Qg4 Qxc1 21. Re2 Qg1+ 22. Kh3 Qxg4+ 23. Kxg4 {Plenca,J (2072)-Beljan, M (1810) Rijeka 2012 1/2-1/2 (64)}) (8... Ba7 $5 9. d5 Ne7 $16) 9. a3 Ba5 (9... Be7 $142 10. e5 Ne8 $16) 10. Bg5 $4 {Black has a cramped position. Black's piece can't move: c8. White loses the upper hand} ( 10. d5 $142 {with excellent chances for White} Ne7 11. e5 $18) 10... h6 $14 { Black threatens to win material: h6xg5} 11. Bh4 g5 $2 (11... d6 $142 $14 { is a viable option}) 12. Nxg5 $18 Nxe4 13. Nf3 (13. Nxe4 $6 Qxh4 14. Nbc3 Bxc3 15. Nxc3 Qxd4 $14) 13... Ng5 14. Nxg5 (14. Bxg5 $142 {and White can look forward to a comfortable game} hxg5 15. d5 $18) 14... hxg5 $14 15. Qg4 $4 { weakening the position} (15. Bg3 $142 {saving the game} d5 16. Ba2 $16) 15... d5 $19 16. Qg3 dxc4 17. Bxg5 Qd6 18. Bf4+ (18. Bf6+ Qxg3 19. fxg3 $19) 18... Qg6 19. d5 (19. Nc3 {cannot change destiny} Nxd4 20. Bxc7 Qxg3 21. Bxg3 Bf5 $19 ) 19... Qxg3 20. Bxg3 (20. fxg3 {does not improve anything} Nd4 $19) 20... Nd4 21. Nc3 Bd7 (21... Bf5 {and Black can already relax} 22. Be5 Nb3 23. Ra2 $19) 22. Rad1 (22. Rae1 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} Rfe8 23. f3 Bf5 24. Rxe8+ Rxe8 $19) 22... Bxc3 23. bxc3 Ne2+ 24. Kh1 Nxg3+ 25. fxg3 Rae8 26. Kg1 (26. Rde1 {does not save the day} Bf5 $1 {Deflection: e1} 27. g4 Bxg4 $19) 26... Re3 27. Rf3 (27. Rc1 {does not help much} Rd3 $19) 27... Bg4 (27... Rfe8 $142 { seems even better} 28. Rb1 b5 29. Rc1 $19) 28. Rxe3 Bxd1 29. Re7 Rc8 30. Kf2 Kf8 31. Re1 (31. Re4 {is not much help} b5 $19) 31... Bb3 32. Kf3 (32. Re2 $19 {no good, but what else?}) 32... Re8 33. Re4 (33. Rf1 $19 {otherwise it's curtains at once}) 33... Rxe4 34. Kxe4 Bd1 (34... Ke7 $142 $19 {might be the shorter path}) 35. h3 (35. d6 {doesn't do any good} cxd6 36. Kd5 Ke7 37. Kxc4 Be2+ 38. Kd4 Bf1 $19) 35... Ke8 (35... Ke7 $142 {and Black has it in the bag} 36. Kd4 Be2 37. Kc5 $19) 36. g4 (36. Kd4 {is still a small chance} Be2 37. g4 $19) 36... Ke7 37. Kf5 Bc2+ 38. Ke5 b5 39. h4 f6+ 40. Kf4 Kd6 41. g5 (41. Ke3 { doesn't get the cat off the tree} Kxd5 42. Kd2 Be4 43. g3 c5 44. Kd1 a5 45. Kd2 b4 46. a4 Bd3 47. g5 fxg5 48. hxg5 Bg6 49. Kc1 bxc3 50. Kd1 Kd4 51. Kc1 Kd3 52. Kd1 c2+ 53. Kc1 Ke3 54. g4 Ke2 55. Kb2 Kd2 56. Ka1 c1=Q+ 57. Ka2 Qc2+ 58. Ka1 Qb1#) 41... fxg5+ 42. Kxg5 Kxd5 43. Kf6 (43. Kf4 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} a5 44. Ke3 c5 45. g4 b4 46. a4 Bd1 47. g5 Bh5 48. g6 Bxg6 49. h5 Bxh5 50. cxb4 cxb4 51. Kf4 c3 52. Ke3 b3 53. Kf4 c2 54. Ke3 b2 55. Kf2 c1=Q 56. Kg3 Qg1+ 57. Kh3 b1=Q 58. Kh4 Qg4#) 43... c5 44. g4 (44. Kg5 {hardly improves anything} a5 45. h5 b4 46. axb4 cxb4 47. cxb4 axb4 48. h6 b3 49. h7 Bxh7 50. g3 b2 51. Kf4 b1=Q 52. g4 c3 53. g5 c2 54. g6 c1=Q+ 55. Kg3 Qxg6+ 56. Kf2 Qd2+ 57. Kf3 Qgg2#) 44... b4 $1 {an unpleasant surprise} 45. axb4 (45. axb4 cxb4 46. cxb4 Bb3 {Combination}) (45. cxb4 c3 {Passed pawn}) 45... cxb4 46. cxb4 c3 47. g5 (47. b5 {does not save the day} axb5 48. g5 Bb3 49. g6 c2 50. g7 Ke4 51. h5 c1=Q 52. g8=R Bxg8 53. h6 Qf4+ 54. Ke7 Qc7+ 55. Ke8 Be6 56. h7 Qd7+ 57. Kf8 Qf7#) 47... Bd3 48. g6 c2 49. g7 Bh7 50. Kf7 (50. g8=R {does not win a prize} Bxg8 51. b5 c1=Q 52. Kf5 Bh7+ 53. Kf6 Qh6+ 54. Kf7 Kd6 55. h5 Qg5 56. b6 Qe7#) 50... c1=Q 51. g8=Q (51. h5 {does not help much} Qf4+ 52. Ke7 Qd6+ 53. Ke8 Ke6 54. g8=B+ Bxg8 55. b5 Bf7#) 51... Bxg8+ 52. Kxg8 (52. Ke7 {does not improve anything} Qf4 53. b5 Be6 54. h5 Qf7+ 55. Kd8 Qd7#) 52... Qh6 (52... Qh6 53. Kf7 Ke5 54. b5 Qh7+ 55. Kf8 Kf6 56. h5 Qf7#) (52... Ke6 53. b5 Qh6 54. h5 Kf6 55. b6 Qg7#) 0-1