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