C99 Closed Spanish Game: Chigorin Defence, 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 Na5 9.Bc2 c5 10.d4 Qc7 11.h3 O-O 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Bd7 14.Nf1 Rfc8 15.Ne3)

This one was played in the paweljaniak's mini-tournament I at GameKnot. I was second in the final standings in this 7 player tournament and I gathered 8.5 points in the 12 games. Paweljaniak has finished all of his games and has also secured the win in his own mini-tournament. I have to think of a better variation to play in the Spanish because I do not like this one at all. Alternatively I could just learn to play this better and maybe start to like it if my results get better.

This game started to differ from the games previously seen in this post again on Black's 13th move. This time I tried the move 13...Bd7. It should be a perfectly playable move. One improvement that might have made this game more interesting is had I played 16...bxc4 instead of 16...Qxc4 in the position below. The idea behind taking with the queen was that I liked to keep the c-file open for me and I also liked to keep my pawn structure better and not create an isolated pawn on the a-file. However, due to my bad judgement, I got into trouble on the c-file and I was forced to be on the defensive.

The game continued with the moves 17.Bb3 Qc7 18.Be3. The 18th move by paweljaniak reduced my opponent's advantage into a small one. When we reached the position below, I played 19...Bc6?? It was a huge blunder that threw away the game. It started a series of tactical blows that decided the game.

I should have played 19...Rxc1 and I might have been able to fight for a draw. I thought it best to resign a couple of moves later after my opponent played 22.Rxc6.

[Event "paweljaniak's mini-tournament I"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.02.27"] [Round "?"] [White "paweljaniak"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C99"] [WhiteElo "2042"] [BlackElo "1763"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 Na5 9. Bc2 c5 10. d4 Qc7 11. h3 O-O 12. Nbd2 cxd4 13. cxd4 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Chigorin Defense Panov System} Bd7 14. Nf1 Rfc8 15. Ne3 { C99 Closed Spanish Game: Chigorin Defence, 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4} Nc4 16. Nxc4 Qxc4 (16... bxc4 17. Bd2 Bc6 18. Bc3 Nd7 19. Qe2 Bb7 20. Rad1 Bf6 21. dxe5 Nxe5 22. Nd4 Ng6 23. Qd2 d5 24. Nf5 dxe4 25. Bxf6 e3 26. Rxe3 gxf6 27. Re8+ { 1-0 (27) Pourkashiyan,A (2356)-Iman,H (2094) Muscat 2015}) 17. Bb3 Qc7 18. Be3 $146 (18. Bg5 Ra7 (18... h6 19. Rc1 Qd8 20. dxe5 hxg5 21. exf6 gxf6 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Nd4 Qf8 24. Qh5 Rc5 25. Bd5 Qg7 26. b4 Rc7 27. Nf5 Bxf5 28. exf5 Qf8 29. Qe2 Kh7 30. Qf3 Kg7 31. a3 Qh8 32. Bb3 Qc8 33. Kh2 {Morovic Fernandez,I (2611)-Loncar,R (2406) Pula 2000 1-0 (56)}) 19. Rc1 Qb8 20. Rxc8+ Bxc8 21. Bh4 (21. dxe5 dxe5 22. Be3 Rd7 23. Qc2 Rc7 24. Qb1 Bd6 25. Rd1 Rd7 26. Bg5 Ne8 27. Bd5 h6 28. Bh4 Bb7 29. Bxb7 Rxb7 30. Qd3 Kh7 31. Qd5 f6 32. Qc6 Rb6 33. Qd7 Rb7 34. Qf5+ g6 35. Qe6 Re7 {Bartek,L (2057)-Mrva,V (2149) Slovakia 2008 1-0 (61)}) 21... Rd7 22. Ng5 Bf8 23. Nxf7 Rxf7 24. dxe5 dxe5 25. Qd8 Qb7 26. Rc1 Bxh3 27. Rc7 {1-0 (27) Varga,D (2330)-Mrva,V (2112) Brezova 2010}) (18. Bd2 Qb8 19. Bb4 exd4 20. e5 Ne8 21. Qxd4 dxe5 22. Nxe5 Bxb4 23. Bxf7+ Kh8 24. Ng6+ hxg6 25. Qh4# {1-0 (25) Pacher,M (2324)-Mrva,V (2142) Zvolen 2008}) 18... Qb8 19. Rc1 Bc6 $4 (19... Rxc1 $142 {this is the best way to fight back} 20. Qxc1 a5 $14) 20. Bxf7+ Kxf7 21. dxe5 Nxe4 (21... dxe5 22. Qb3+ Bd5 23. exd5 Qd6 $18) 22. Rxc6 $1 {Decoy: c6} (22. Rxc6 Kg8 23. Qd5+ Kh8 24. Qxe4 Rxc6 25. Qxc6 $18) 1-0