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