D12 Slav Defence, 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 (1.d4 Nf6 2.e3 d5 3.c4 c6 4.Nf3 Bf5 5.Nc3 Nbd7 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O Bd6 8.a3)

This was played at GameKnot in the "atadros's mini-tournament V". 11 players took part in this mini-tournament and I was 9th in the final standings with 5.5 points. My opponent in this game, rayfisher, was able to get 1 point and he was on 11th place in the final standings. This mini-tournament started on December 10th, 2015 and ended on October 3rd, 2016.

The first position of interest can be seen below. In that position rayfisher played 11.cxd5, which is a mistake. It was better to play the bishop to d3. The problem with the move played in the game is that when I take back with my e-pawn, I have the square e4 under my control. Had rayfisher played 11.Bd3, then I might have played 11...dxc4 in reply and that position would be more comfortable for White than the game continuation.

This was only the start of the problems that rayfisher faced. After 11...exd5 rayfisher made his position even worse by playing 12.Bd3. While maybe not huge blunders by themselves, these two mistakes might be considered as one blunder in the sense that they both contributed for rayfisher's position getting clearly worse. The game continued with the moves 12...Ne4 13.Qc2. With my 13th move, Qe7, I lost some of my advantage. The move 13...Re8 was the correct reply to Qc2. The game went on rather evenly until rayfisher chose to play 19.fxe4 in the position below.

It was the starting point for the final downhill for my opponent in this game. It was a much better idea to play 19.Nxe4. I replied with the best move 19...Rad8 and then rayfisher played 20.e5? After that horrible move it was clear who was going to win the game. The pawn might have forked the bishop and the knight, but it was not a dangerous fork because I was able to play 20...Bxe5! Had the pawn taken back, then the rook takes the undefended queen on d3. In the game rayfisher took on e5 with the rook, but it did not matter, I could just take the rook with my queen! If pawn takes queen, then rook takes queen and I end up a pawn and an exchange up. The game ended shortly after this, when it came time for rayfisher to play his 24th move, he resigned instead of making a move.

[Event "atadros's mini-tournament V"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.06.18"] [Round "?"] [White "rayfisher"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D12"] [WhiteElo "1700"] [BlackElo "1802"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "46"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 d5 3. c4 c6 4. Nf3 Bf5 {Slav Defense: Quiet Variation, Schallopp Defense} 5. Nc3 (5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Nc3 (6. Qb3 Qc8 7. Bd2 e6 8. Na3 { Queen's Gambit Declined: Slav, Landau Variation}) 6... e6 7. Ne5 Nfd7 {Queen's Gambit Declined: Slav, Amsterdam Variation}) 5... Nbd7 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Bd6 8. a3 {D12 Slav Defence, 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5} a5 (8... h6 9. b4 Ne4 10. Bb2 a6 11. c5 Bc7 12. a4 Qf6 13. Qb3 Bg4 14. Rad1 Qg6 15. Nh4 Qh5 16. Bxg4 Qxh4 17. h3 h5 18. Be2 Ng5 19. f4 Nxh3+ 20. gxh3 Qg3+ 21. Kh1 Qxh3+ 22. Kg1 Qg3+ 23. Kh1 { Brasket, C (2290)-Finegold,B (2470) Winnipeg 1994 0-1 (56)}) 9. h3 $146 { Covers g4} (9. Nd2 Qb8 10. h3 h5 11. f4 h4 12. Bf3 Qa7 13. c5 Be7 14. b3 Bg6 15. Bb2 Nh5 16. Ne2 Bf6 17. b4 a4 18. e4 dxe4 19. Bxe4 Bxe4 20. Nxe4 Be7 21. f5 exf5 22. Rxf5 g6 23. Rf1 O-O {Ramirez,H (2087)-Munoz Romero,C (1884) Bogota 2012 1-0 (32)}) (9. Bd2 O-O 10. h3 Ne4 11. Be1 Qf6 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Rc1 Rfe8 14. Bd3 Qh6 15. Qc2 Re6 16. Ne5 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Bxe5 18. f4 Bd6 19. Bxe4 dxe4 20. Nxe4 Rxe4 21. Bd2 Rae8 22. Qb3 R4e7 23. Rf3 Bc7 {Roberts,N-Chin,F (2164) England 2012 1/2-1/2}) (9. b3 O-O 10. Bb2 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nb6 12. Bd3 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Qe7 14. e4 Bf4 15. Ne2 Bh6 16. Ng3 Rfd8 17. Rfd1 a4 18. b4 Ne8 19. Bc1 Bxc1 20. Raxc1 Nd7 {1/2-1/2 (20) Hurtado Diaz, R-Penunuri Esquer,J Hermosillo 2001}) (9. Nh4 dxc4 10. Bxc4 O-O $11) 9... O-O 10. Re1 (10. Nh4 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nb6 $11) 10... h6 {Controls g5} (10... Ne4 11. Bd3 $15) 11. cxd5 (11. Bd3 $5 $11) 11... exd5 $15 12. Bd3 Ne4 13. Qc2 Qe7 14. Nd2 {White threatens to win material: Nd2xe4} Ndf6 (14... Rfe8 15. f3 Nxc3 16. bxc3 Bxd3 17. Qxd3 $15) 15. f3 $15 {Prevents intrusion on g4} Nxd2 (15... Nxc3 16. bxc3 (16. Bxf5 $143 Bg3 17. bxc3 Bxe1 $17) 16... Bxd3 17. Qxd3 $15) 16. Bxd2 (16. Bxf5 $5 Nc4 17. e4 $11) 16... Bxd3 $15 17. Qxd3 Rfe8 18. e4 dxe4 19. fxe4 (19. Nxe4 $5 {is noteworthy} Qd8 20. Nxf6+ Qxf6 21. Kf1 $11) 19... Rad8 $17 20. e5 $2 (20. Qe3 c5 21. e5 cxd4 22. exd6 Qxe3+ 23. Bxe3 (23. Rxe3 $4 dxe3 (23... Rxe3 $6 24. Bxe3 dxe3 25. Rd1 $15) (23... dxc3 $6 {succumbs to} 24. Rxe8+ Nxe8 25. Bxc3 $11 ) 24. Be1 Rxd6 $19) 23... dxe3 24. Rad1 $17) 20... Bxe5 $1 $19 {Deflection: d4. } 21. Rxe5 $4 {the position was bad, and this mistake simply hastens the end} ( 21. dxe5 Qc5+ {Decoy Double attack} (21... Qc7 {Discovered attack}) (21... Rxd3 {Clearance Deflection Pinning})) (21. Rxe5 Qd6 {Discovered attack}) 21... Qxe5 $1 {Deflection: d4} 22. dxe5 Rxd3 23. exf6 (23. Bf4 {does not win a prize} Nd7 $19) 23... Rxd2 0-1