D07 Queen's Gambit: Chigorin Defence (1.c4 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3.e3)

This game was played in a clan challenge between The Fast Players and The White Hats. The challenge was played on four boards and each player played with both colors against their opponents. I played on board 1 for The White Hats. In addition to this loss, I won my other game against Adrian Shaw. The final result of the challenge was 5 - 3 in favor of The Fast Players.

The first mistake of the game was played by my opponent on move 3. In the position below Adrian Shaw played 3...f5, but he should have played 3...e5, for instance. In order to take the advantage of Black's third move, White should play 4.cxd5. In the game I played 4.Nc3 and instead of getting a clear advantage I had to settle for a slight advantage.

The next mistake was also played by my opponent. It came after my 15th move in the position below. Adrian Shaw played 15...g5, which was a big enough blunder to lose the game, but because I did not see the reason why 15...g5 was so bad move, I played 16.Nd2 and I had to be satisfied with only a small advantage.

When my opponent played the move 18...c6, it was Adrian Shaw's third blunder. The position below is taken after my 18th move f3. I could not unfortunately take advantage of any of these three blunders.

Then when it came to my 21st move, I made a mistake that was the starting point for my loss. You can see the position where I played 21.Qe2 below this paragraph.

After my mistake Adrian Shaw started to play accurately enough so that he was only able to gain more advantage in the remainder of the game. I finally had to resign after 27...Nxf3 in a completely lost position.

[Event "Clan challenge"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2016.03.22"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Adrian Shaw"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D07"] [WhiteElo "1961"] [BlackElo "2149"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. c4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 {Queen's Gambit Refused: Chigorin Defense} 3. e3 {D07 Queen's Gambit: Chigorin Defence} (3. Nc3 Nf6 (3... e5 {Queen's Gambit Refused: Chigorin Defense, Tartakower Gambit}) 4. Nf3 dxc4 {Queen's Gambit Refused: Chigorin Defense, Modern Gambit}) (3. Nf3 Bg4 4. Qa4 {Queen's Gambit Refused: Chigorin Defense, Main Line, Alekhine Variation}) 3... f5 (3... dxc4 4. Bxc4 e5 5. d5 Nce7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Nf3 Ng6 8. Qb3 Bd6 9. Bb5+ Nd7 10. O-O O-O 11. Ne4 Nc5 12. Nxc5 Bxc5 13. e4 Rb8 14. Bg5 Qd6 15. Rac1 c6 16. Qc2 Bd4 17. dxc6 bxc6 18. Qxc6 {Behrhorst,F (2355)-Mohr,S (2325) Germany 1987 0-1 (57)}) 4. Nc3 e6 5. Nf3 (5. cxd5 exd5 6. Nf3 Be6 7. Bd3 b6 8. Bb5 Qd7 9. Ne5 Nge7 10. Nxd7 Rd8 11. Nxf8 Kxf8 12. Bxc6 Nxc6 13. Qa4 Na5 14. b4 Bd7 15. Qa3 Nc4 16. Qxa7 c6 17. Qc7 Ke8 18. Qg3 g6 19. O-O b5 {Mutesi, P-Balunywa,S Kampala 2011 1-0 (31)}) 5... Nf6 6. Be2 $146 (6. a3 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Qc2 Kh8 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. h3 Qe8 11. Bd2 a6 12. O-O-O b5 13. Nxd5 exd5 14. g4 Rb8 15. gxf5 b4 16. axb4 Bxb4 17. Rde1 Bxd2+ 18. Qxd2 Nb4 19. Bb1 Bxf5 20. e4 Bxe4 {Dus Chotimirsky,F-Rabinovich,I Vilnius 1909 0-1}) 6... Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. b3 b6 9. Bb2 Bb7 10. Rc1 a6 {Covers b5} 11. Na4 Ne4 12. Bd3 (12. c5 Be7 $14) 12... Qe7 13. Nc3 Nb4 14. Bb1 dxc4 15. bxc4 g5 $2 (15... Nd2 $1 16. Nxd2 Bxh2+ 17. Kxh2 Qh4+ 18. Kg1 Bxg2 $11) 16. Nd2 (16. d5 $5 Nxc3 17. Rxc3 $18) 16... Nxc3 17. Bxc3 a5 (17... g4 18. f4 gxf3 19. Nxf3 a5 $16) 18. f3 (18. e4 fxe4 19. Nxe4 Nxa2 $16) 18... c6 (18... c5 19. Re1 $14) 19. e4 (19. a3 Na6 20. c5 bxc5 $16) 19... Qc7 (19... c5 20. d5 exd5 21. exd5 $16) 20. e5 (20. h3 c5 21. d5 exd5 22. exd5 Bg3 $16) 20... Be7 21. Qe2 (21. a3 $142 $5 Na6 22. Bb2 $14) 21... c5 $15 {Black has a new backward pawn: b6} 22. Rfe1 ( 22. Qe3 $5 Qd7 23. a3 $15) 22... Rad8 $17 23. dxc5 (23. d5 $5 exd5 24. cxd5 Nxd5 25. Nc4 Nxc3 26. Rxc3 $17) 23... Bxc5+ 24. Kh1 a4 25. a3 Nc6 26. Bb2 $4 { White has lost his nerve... understandable when you consider his position} (26. Bc2 $142 Bxa3 27. Ra1 $19) 26... Nd4 $19 27. Qe3 (27. Bxd4 {is the last straw} Rxd4 28. Rcd1 $19) 27... Nxf3 (27... Nxf3 28. Nxf3 Bxe3 29. Rxe3 g4 $19) 0-1