A00 Irregular Openings (1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 Bxb4 3.Bxe5 Nf6 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bb2 d5)

The position after 5...d5 is classified as A00 Irregular Openings, but when I went through my other games that were previously in the post A00 Polish Opening: General, I also found another game where the opening was classified as A00 Irregular Openings after the move 5...d5, but other moves played before that move were not the same as in this one, therefore I have started to add the full list of moves in the name of the posts in order to make clear what the post is about. That same post also featured another similar problem, but more about that when I share the other two games that I will add to the blog next week.

The opening phase of the game went without any big mistakes, but improvements could be made, of course. While already in some small problems, my opponent would have still been able to hold on for a draw with accurate moves had he or she not played 15.Nf3 in the middlegame. Moving the knight to f3 enabled me to exchange the knights, which removed a key defender from my opponent.

The weakened kingside came under immediate pressure in the game continuation 16.Bxf3 Qd6 (Threatening mate on h2.) 17.g3 (The only way to prevent the mate, but leaves the pawn on h3 undefended) Bxh3 18.Bg2 and then I moved my queen to h6, thinking that the bishop can't move from g2 due to Bxf1. Unfortunately, it was too simplistic of a way looking at the position and taking on d5 was exactly the thing that my opponent should have done in order to punish me from my mistake.

Instead of making the move that would have saved the game for EiserfeldWolf, my opponent blundered by moving his or her queen to f3 before taking on d5. I made one more horrible mistake before the game was decided, my 22nd move, b6, threw away my advantage and the game could have been heading for a draw, had my opponent then played either 23.Rh5 or 23.Rh4.

EiserfeldWolf played 23.Qh5 in the game and I was on my way towards a win once again. The remainder of the game I was able to make good enough moves keep the advantage and the game finally ended in my win after my opponent resigned on move 30.

Game number two. The following game was added to this post on October 10th, 2017. It was played in the Clans Challenge between Metallica and The White Hats. It was played on 3 boards and I played on board 1 for The White Hats. While I was able to win this game, I lost my other game against Johannes Goethe. The challenge ended badly for us, Metallica was able to win it with a score of 4 - 2. It was enough for my opponent to make one huge blunder to decide the game. For the first 21 moves there is not much to criticize, only maybe small inaccuracies from both sides, but when Johannes Goethe played 22.Bxd4, it was all over for my opponent.

It gave the piece for free because after the continuation 22...Qxd4 23.Rd1 Qf6, White can't take the knight on d7 because of the reply 24...Qxa1+. Had the a-rook been somewhere else, for instance, at b1, then Rxd7 would have been possible. My opponent continued the struggle, but had to call it quits after my 34th move Qxf4 when I won a second piece.

[Event "Corr game 19.8.2008-6.10.2008"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2008.08.19"] [Round "?"] [White "EiserfeldWolf"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "1530"] [BlackElo "1831"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "2008.??.??"] {[%evp 12,59,4,0,10,21,18,15,24,22,46,0,6,-36,-26,-43,-31,-60,-53,-118,-129, -114,-106,-116,-108,-118,-78,-153,-140,-182,-104,-100,-96,-156,-96,-202,-183, -549,-204,-203,-210,-187,-173,-527,-471,-666,-637,-696,-677,-677]} 1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 Bxb4 3. Bxe5 Nf6 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bb2 d5 {A00 Irregular Openings} 6. e3 O-O 7. Be2 {LiveBook: 19 Games} Bf5 8. O-O {The position is equal.} Re8 9. d3 (9. d4 Ne4 10. c4 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Na5 12. Be2 Qd5 13. Qa4 Nc6 14. a3 Bf8 15. Nc3 Nxc3 16. Bxc3 Be4 17. Qb5 Qd7 18. Nd2 a6 19. Qb2 Bf5 20. Bf3 Nd8 21. d5 f6 22. h3 Bd6 23. e4 Bxh3 {Golyak,I (2200)-Trapl,J (2325) Decin 1974 1-0 (49)}) (9. c4 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Bd6 11. d4 Ne4 12. Nc3 Qf6 13. Nb5 Bg4 14. Nxd6 Qxd6 15. Be2 Nb4 16. Ne1 Bxe2 17. Qxe2 Qa6 18. Qxa6 Nxa6 19. Nd3 c6 20. Rfe1 Nd6 21. Rec1 Nc7 22. Rab1 Nd5 23. a4 Nb6 {Carrasco Rodriguez,J (2178)-Barcelo Sola,D (2048) Barcelona 2018 1-0}) 9... Bd6 $146 (9... Qe7 10. Nbd2 Rad8 11. Rb1 b6 12. Ba1 Bc5 13. d4 Bd6 14. Bb5 Bd7 15. c4 Nb8 16. Ne5 c6 17. Ba4 Bc7 18. cxd5 cxd5 19. f4 Qa3 20. Bb3 Bf5 21. Rc1 Qe7 22. Qf3 Ne4 23. Nxe4 Bxe4 24. Qg3 {Bach,M (2251) -Bathke,J (2144) Lüneburg 2013 1-0 (54)}) (9... Bf8 10. Nbd2 g6 11. Rb1 b6 12. c4 Nb4 13. Ne1 c5 14. a3 Nc6 15. Bxf6 Qxf6 16. cxd5 Na5 17. Qc2 Rac8 18. Nc4 Nb7 19. Nf3 Nd6 20. Nfd2 b5 21. Nxd6 Bxd6 22. Rxb5 c4 23. Nxc4 Bxa3 24. Qb3 { Lebel,P (2113)-Peignien,L (1528) Hammamet 2010 1/2-1/2 (36)}) 10. Nbd2 Ng4 11. h3 Nge5 12. Nd4 {-0.36/24} (12. a4 $11 {0.06/27}) 12... Nxd4 $15 13. Bxd4 c5 14. Bb2 Bc7 15. Nf3 {-1.18/25} ({White should play} 15. e4 $15 {-0.53/24} dxe4 16. dxe4) {[%tqu "En","","","","e5f3","",10]} 15... Nxf3+ $1 $17 16. Bxf3 Qd6 { [#]} 17. g3 Bxh3 18. Bg2 Qh6 19. Qf3 {-1.53/23} (19. Bxd5 $142 {-0.78/25} Bxf1 20. Qf3) 19... Rad8 $40 {[%mdl 128] Black attacks with force.} 20. c4 {-1.82/23 } (20. Bxh3 $17 {-1.40/27} Qxh3 21. Rac1) {[%tqu "En","","","","h3e6","",10]} 20... Bxg2 {-1.04/29} ({Better is} 20... Be6 $1 $19 {-1.82/23} 21. Qe2 Qg5 22. cxd5 Bxd5 23. Bxd5 Qxd5) 21. Kxg2 Qe6 22. Rh1 {-1.56/25} (22. Rac1 $142 { -0.96/28}) 22... b6 {-0.96/30} (22... dxc4 $142 {-1.56/25} 23. dxc4 Qxc4) 23. Qh5 {-2.02/26} (23. cxd5 $17 {-0.96/30 is a better defense.} Rxd5 24. Rh4 Rxd3 25. Rah1) 23... h6 $19 24. g4 $2 {-5.49/23} (24. Rac1 {-1.83/27}) 24... f6 $2 { -2.04/31} (24... dxc4 {-5.49/23} 25. Qf5 Qxf5 26. gxf5 cxd3) 25. Qg6 {[#] Rxh6 is the strong threat.} Kf8 26. Rxh6 gxh6 27. Rh1 $2 {-5.27/24} (27. Bxf6 { -1.73/28 was the crucial defense.} Qg8 28. Qf5 (28. Qxh6+ $2 Kf7 $19)) 27... Ke7 {Black is clearly winning.} 28. Rxh6 {-6.66/25} (28. Qg7+ $142 {-4.71/25} Kd6 29. Rxh6) 28... Rf8 29. Rh7+ Rf7 30. cxd5 {Accuracy: White = 34%, Black = 53%.} 0-1 [Event "Clan challenge"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2016.05.19"] [Round "?"] [White "Johannes Goethe"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "1886"] [BlackElo "1942"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] {[%evp 9,68,0,0,-40,-37,-50,-43,-45,-26,-38,-34,-47,0,-14,0,-6,35,33,48,47,66, 0,0,16,2,12,20,2,18,13,29,-15,24,-16,0,-393,-427,-445,-454,-466,-439,-502,-507, -560,-527,-658,-576,-879,-881,-855,-524,-641,-638,-935,-925,-942,-942,-914, -910,-29985,-29986]} 1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 Bxb4 3. Bxe5 Nf6 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bb2 d5 { A00 Irregular Openings. LiveBook: 13 Games} 6. c3 (6. g3 O-O 7. Bg2 Re8 8. O-O Bf5 9. a3 Bc5 10. d4 Bf8 11. Nbd2 Na5 12. Re1 h6 13. c4 dxc4 14. Ne5 Be6 15. Rc1 c6 16. Ndxc4 Nxc4 17. Nxc4 Bd5 18. f3 Bxc4 19. Rxc4 Re3 20. Bc1 Nd5 { Dumpor,A (2285)-Ghitescu,T (2440) Biel 1986 0-1 (31)}) 6... Bd6 7. d4 O-O $146 (7... Bg4 8. e3 Qd7 9. Be2 Ne7 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. O-O Rfc8 12. c4 c6 13. Rc1 Ng6 14. Re1 h5 15. c5 Be7 16. Ne5 Bxe2 17. Qxe2 Qf5 18. e4 dxe4 19. Nxe4 Nd5 20. Ng3 Qe6 21. Nxh5 Re8 22. Qg4 {Braine,A (95)-Corrigan,J (107) London 2015 1/2-1/ 2}) 8. e3 {Black is slightly better.} Bg4 9. Be2 Re8 10. O-O a6 {0.00/28} ( 10... Na5 $15 {-0.47/24}) 11. h3 Bh5 12. Nbd2 h6 {0.35/26} (12... Na5 $11 { -0.06/29 feels stronger.}) 13. c4 $14 dxc4 14. Nxc4 Bf8 15. Nfe5 {0.16/29} (15. Rc1 $14 {0.66/23}) 15... Nxe5 $11 16. Nxe5 Bxe2 17. Qxe2 Qd5 18. Rfc1 c6 19. a4 {[%mdl 32]} Nd7 {[%mdl 32]} 20. Nc4 {-0.15/29} (20. Nxd7 $142 {0.29/26} Qxd7 21. Qh5) 20... c5 21. a5 cxd4 22. Bxd4 $2 {-3.93/26 [%mdl 8192] [#]} (22. Rd1 $11 {0.00/29}) {[%tqu "En","","","","d5d4","",10]} 22... Qxd4 $1 $19 {[%mdl 512]} 23. Qa2 (23. exd4 Rxe2) 23... Qf6 24. Rab1 Nc5 25. Nb6 Rad8 26. Rc2 Rd3 27. Rbc1 Ne4 28. Nd5 Qd6 29. Nf4 Rd2 30. f3 Rxc2 31. Rxc2 Nf6 32. Kf2 Qe5 33. Re2 Bc5 34. Qb3 Qxf4 {Accuracy: White = 23%, Black = 49%.} 0-1

C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.O-O d6 5.c3 Bd7 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb6 8.Nc3)

This game was played in a team match called LullabyVisca vs ΙRANIAN. The match was played on 95 boards and I played on board 16 for LullabyVisca. The match was quite evenly fought, the final score in the match was 93 - 97 in favor of ΙRANIAN. This match has also featured things you would not like to see, timeouts and cheater badges next to player handles. There are 8 players in our team that have that badge unfortunately, the IRANIAN team also had 8 players with that badge. Up to the move 9.Ba4 both players played reasonable moves. Then my opponent played the very slow and passive move 9...h6, which allowed me to take a clear advantage by replying with 10.d5, 10.Be3 or even with the move I played 10.Re1. The first two alternatives are better than what I did.

It did not take long for me to wither my advantage because after the game continuation 10...Nge7 11.Bf4 O-O I played 12.a3 and the position was roughly even again. It was on move 16 when I made the biggest blunder of the game up to that point, I moved my pawn to b4. It could have meant a loss for me. My opponent even found one of the strongest replies, 16...Nce5, after which I am in serious trouble. An even stronger move might have been 16...Qf6, which would have attacked the undefended knight on c3 and increase the pressure towards the knight on f3.

The game continued with the moves 17.Nb1 Qf6 18.Nbd2 and then my opponent played the inaccurate 18...Nxf3+, which threw most of the advantage away. The threat was stronger than the execution, it would have been better to try and increase the pressure because the problem I had with the pin would not have gone away easily. I should have taken the knight with its counterpart and I would have been okay, but I took on f3 with the pawn and I was back in serious difficulties. While at first my opponent played a good move in reply, 19...Bh5, on move 20 afshar_khan took a wrong path once again with the move 20...Ne5.

After that draw was the likely outcome again until moved my queen to g2 on move 26. With that move the scale tipped more in favor of my opponent, but still it was not clear that I would lose. More bad moves were seen, but it was only with afshar_khan's 35th move dxe5 that my opponent ended up in a losing position for the first time during this game.

I could not keep my winning advantage all the way to the end, on move 40 I moved my king to e4, which could have meant that the game would end in a draw. The reason why move was a mistake can be seen in the game notation.

My opponent was not able to take advantage of my mistake by playing 40...Rxe5+ and instead moved the other rook to f8. That gave me an opportunity to see the mistake I played on my previous move, but alas I did not and moved my rook to c1, which gave my opponent the chance to win the e-pawn once again and get an equal position. Luckily for me, afshar_khan blundered with the move 41...Rc8 and I was on my way to win the game once again. This time I was able to keep my advantage to the end of the game, sadly I missed a mate in one on move 50... There is no real excuse for missing such an obvious move, but even with my horrible skills of realization I managed to finally find the mate with 60.d8Q#.

[Event "LullabyVisca vs ?RANIAN - Board 16"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.10.27"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "afshar_khan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1815"] [BlackElo "1687"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "119"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O d6 ( 4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) (4... Nd4 5. b4 {Spanish Game: Classical Defense: Zaitsev Variation }) 5. c3 Bd7 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 Bb6 8. Nc3 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} a6 9. Ba4 h6 (9... Nge7 10. h3 O-O 11. Bg5 Qe8 12. Re1 Ba5 13. Bb3 Bxc3 14. bxc3 Na5 15. e5 Ng6 16. exd6 Qc8 17. Be7 Nxb3 18. Qxb3 Re8 19. Ng5 Nh8 20. c4 h6 21. Nf3 Ng6 22. c5 c6 23. Rab1 Rb8 24. Ne5 { Gagarin,V (2395)-Bradaric,R (2185) Zadar 2000 1-0}) 10. Re1 Nge7 11. Bf4 $146 ( 11. a3 O-O 12. h3 Qc8 13. Bf4 Ng6 14. Bg3 Nce7 15. Bb3 Be6 16. Bc2 Bd7 17. Qd2 Bc6 18. Bb3 Rb8 19. Re2 Ba5 20. Rae1 Ra8 21. Nh2 Kh8 22. f4 f5 23. d5 Bb5 24. exf5 Nxf5 25. Re6 Nxg3 {Gucaga,A (1485) -Subelj,J (1521) Mureck 2013 0-1}) 11... O-O {White has an active position} 12. a3 {White has a very active position} (12. h3 $5 $14) 12... Ng6 {Black threatens to win material: Ng6xf4} ( 12... Bg4 13. Be3 $11) 13. Bg3 Na5 (13... Bg4 14. Bxc6 bxc6 15. Re3 $11) 14. Bc2 (14. b4 $5 Bxa4 15. Nxa4 $16) 14... Bg4 $11 15. d5 {White has an active position} (15. Qd3 $5 $11 {is an interesting alternative}) 15... Nc4 $15 16. b4 $2 (16. Na4 $142 {is the best option White has} Nce5 17. Nxb6 cxb6 18. Bd3 Bxf3 19. gxf3 $15) 16... Nce5 $19 17. Nb1 Qf6 18. Nbd2 Nxf3+ (18... Bd4 19. Rb1 Bc3 20. Re2 $17) 19. gxf3 (19. Nxf3 $5 {is noteworthy} a5 20. b5 $15) 19... Bh5 $17 20. Bd3 Ne5 (20... a5 $5 $17) 21. Be2 $15 Qg6 22. f4 Bxe2 (22... Ng4 23. Bxg4 Bxg4 24. Qc2 $15) 23. Qxe2 $11 Nd7 (23... f5 24. exf5 (24. fxe5 $2 {is tempting but does not stand up to the reality of the position} f4 25. Kh1 fxg3 26. fxg3 Rf2 $19) 24... Rxf5 25. fxe5 Rxf2 26. Qxf2 Bxf2+ 27. Kxf2 Rf8+ 28. Kg1 dxe5 29. Rxe5 $11) 24. Kh1 (24. f5 $5 Qf6 25. Nc4 $14) 24... f5 $11 25. f3 (25. e5 dxe5 26. fxe5 f4 $15) 25... Rae8 26. Qg2 (26. Qd3 Nf6 27. exf5 Rxe1+ 28. Rxe1 Qf7 $15) 26... Nf6 $17 27. Re2 fxe4 (27... Qf7 $5 $17) 28. fxe4 $11 Nh5 { Black threatens to win material: Nh5xf4} 29. Rf1 Nxg3+ 30. Qxg3 Qxg3 31. hxg3 Re7 32. Nc4 Rfe8 (32... Bd4 33. Rd1 Ba7 34. e5 $11) 33. Nxb6 cxb6 {A double rook endgame occured.} 34. Rfe1 Rc8 (34... Rd8 35. Kg2 $14) 35. e5 $16 dxe5 $4 {another step towards the grave} (35... Rd7 $142 36. e6 Rdc7 $16) 36. fxe5 $18 Rd8 37. Rd1 Kf7 (37... Ree8 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 38. e6 Rd6 39. Kg2 $18) 38. Kg2 (38. e6+ $142 {makes it even easier for White} Kg6 39. d6 Ree8 $18) 38... Ke8 (38... Ree8 {hardly improves anything} 39. Kf3 h5 $18) 39. Kf3 (39. e6 $142 {secures victory} Rc7 40. d6 $18) 39... Kd7 40. Ke4 $4 { throwing away the advantage} (40. Re3 $142 Rde8 41. Kf4 $18) 40... Rf8 $4 { forfeits the clear win} (40... Rxe5+ 41. Kxe5 Re8+ 42. Kd4 Rxe2 43. Rf1 $11) 41. Rc1 (41. Rc2 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} Rfe8 42. e6+ Kd6 43. Rdc1 Rxe6+ 44. dxe6 Rxe6+ 45. Kf3 $18) 41... Rc8 $4 {a weak move, ruining a winning position} (41... Rxe5+ $142 $1 {would be a reprieve} 42. Kxe5 Re8+ 43. Kd4 Rxe2 $11) 42. Rec2 $18 Rxc2 43. Rxc2 g6 (43... Kd8 {is no salvation} 44. d6 Rf7 45. e6 Rf1 46. Rc7 Re1+ 47. Kf5 Rf1+ 48. Kg4 Re1 49. e7+ Ke8 50. Rc8+ Kd7 51. Rd8+ Kc6 52. e8=Q+ Rxe8 53. Rxe8 Kxd6 54. Rg8 a5 55. Rxg7 axb4 56. axb4 Kd5 57. Rxb7 Kc6 58. Rh7 Kb5 59. Rxh6 Kxb4 60. Kf4 b5 61. g4 Kc5 62. g5 b4 63. g6 b3 64. g7 b2 65. g8=Q b1=Q 66. Qc8+ Kb5 67. Qb8+ Kc4 68. Rc6+ Kd3 69. Qxb1+ Kd2 70. Rc2+ Kd3 71. Qd1#) 44. Rf2 (44. d6 Rf7 45. Kd5 Kd8 46. Ke6 Rh7 47. Rf2 Ke8 48. d7+ Rxd7 49. Rf8+ Kxf8 50. Kxd7 Kg7 51. e6 Kf6 52. e7 Ke5 53. e8=Q+ Kd4 54. Qxg6 a5 55. Qxb6+ Kd3 56. bxa5 h5 57. Qxb7 h4 58. gxh4 Kc2 59. a6 Kd3 60. a7 Kc2 61. a8=Q Kd3 62. Qb3+ Kd2 63. Qg2+ Kc1 64. Qg5#) 44... b5 (44... Ke8 {is not the saving move} 45. d6 Rd7 46. Rf6 b5 47. Kd5 Rf7 48. Rxg6 Rf8 49. g4 Kd8 50. g5 hxg5 51. e6 Rh8 52. Rf6 g4 53. e7+ Kd7 54. Rf8 Rh5+ 55. Ke4 Kxd6 56. e8=Q Rf5 57. Qd8+ Kc6 58. Rxf5 b6 59. Qe7 g3 60. Rf6#) 45. Rf6 (45. d6 Rg7 46. Kd5 Ke8 47. e6 a5 48. Rc2 Kd8 49. Re2 Ke8 50. e7 g5 51. d7+ Kxd7 52. e8=Q+ Kc7 53. Rc2+ Kb6 54. Rc8 Ka7 55. Ra8+ Kb6 56. bxa5+ Kc7 57. Rc8#) 45... Rg7 46. Kd4 Kc7 47. Kc5 {White prepares the advance d6} h5 (47... Kd7 {does not help much} 48. d6 Ke8 49. e6 h5 50. Kb6 a5 51. bxa5 b4 52. axb4 h4 53. gxh4 Rh7 54. Rxg6 Kf8 55. d7 Ke7 56. Rg8 Kxe6 57. d8=Q Rh6 58. Rg5 Rh7 59. Qe8+ Re7 60. Qg6+ Kd7 61. Rd5+ Kc8 62. Qc2+ Rc7 63. Qxc7#) 48. d6+ Kb8 (48... Kd7 {does not solve anything} 49. e6+ Ke8 50. Kb6 h4 51. gxh4 Rh7 52. Rxg6 Kf8 53. d7 Ke7 54. Rg8 Kxe6 55. d8=Q Kf5 56. Qd3+ Kf4 57. Rf8+ Rf7 58. Rxf7+ Ke5 59. Rf5+ Ke6 60. Kc7 a5 61. Qd7#) 49. e6 (49. Rf8+ Ka7 50. e6 h4 51. e7 Rh7 52. g4 h3 53. e8=Q Rc7+ 54. dxc7 b6+ 55. Kc6 h2 56. Qa8#) 49... Kc8 (49... Rg8 {does not win a prize} 50. e7 Rc8+ 51. Kd5 Ka7 52. d7 Rc1 53. d8=Q Rd1+ 54. Ke4 Re1+ 55. Kd3 Rd1+ 56. Kc2 h4 57. Qb6+ Kb8 58. e8=Q+ Rd8 59. Qexd8#) 50. Rf7 {White prepares d7} (50. Rf8# ) 50... Rg8 51. Kb6 (51. Rc7+ Kd8 52. Rxb7 Kc8 53. Kb6 Rd8 54. d7+ Rxd7 55. Rb8+ Kxb8 56. exd7 h4 57. d8=Q#) 51... Rd8 (51... Re8 {doesn't improve anything } 52. d7+ Kd8 53. dxe8=Q+ Kxe8 54. Kc7 h4 55. Kd6 h3 56. Rf6 h2 57. e7 a5 58. Rf8#) 52. d7+ Kb8 (52... Rxd7 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 53. Rxd7 h4 54. Rd3 h3 55. e7 h2 56. e8=Q#) 53. Re7 (53. e7 Rxd7 54. e8=Q+ Rd8 55. Qxd8#) 53... a5 (53... Ka8 {cannot undo what has already been done} 54. Re8 Rb8 55. Rxb8+ Kxb8 56. d8=Q#) 54. bxa5 (54. Re8 a4 55. Rxd8#) 54... b4 (54... Ka8 {doesn't change anything anymore} 55. Re8 Rb8 56. Rxb8+ Kxb8 57. d8=Q#) 55. axb4 (55. Re8 b3 56. Rxd8#) 55... h4 (55... Ka8 {cannot change what is in store for White} 56. Re8 Rb8 57. Rxb8+ Kxb8 58. d8=Q#) 56. gxh4 (56. Re8 h3 57. Rxd8#) 56... g5 (56... Ka8 {doesn't do any good} 57. Re8 Rb8 58. Rxb8+ Kxb8 59. d8=Q#) 57. hxg5 (57. Re8 g4 58. Rxd8#) 57... Ka8 58. Re8 Rb8 59. Rxb8+ Kxb8 60. d8=Q# 1-0

C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.O-O Nge7 5.c3 Bb6 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Re1+ Be6 10.Ne5)

This was played on the third round of a tournament that was held at Hanko in June 2005. This is a tournament that I will remember for a long time. On the first round I drew against a player who was rated 2034, it was the first time that I had been able to get even a half point from a player rated over 2000. Then on the second round I won a game against who was slightly lower rated than me and on this third round I was able to get a full point after a game that I remember mostly because of the bishop versus knight ending that I thought during the game was well played by me. After my opponent played 28.bxc5, the position should probably lead to a draw with correct play but I would still prefer the side with the bishop at least slightly. After three rounds I had 2.5 points and everything seemed to go my way. I remember something else about this tournament as well, I had started to go for a daily walk of about 6 kilometers around two weeks before this tournament and this tournament broke that daily habit for three days. I started that daily habit because I wanted to get into better shape and lose weight. I managed to lose 37 kilograms during that eight month or so period that I went for those daily walks that later turned into partly jogging but still partly walking. So not only did I improve on my chess, but also on my health back then.

Apart from the opening phase inaccuracies that I have typed about before in this blog, 7...d5 and so on, the first mistake which gave me a clear advantage was 31.Ke2. I replied with the move 31...Bd5, which is also good, but 31...Bc4+ might be even stronger.

A few moves later my opponent made the horrible decision of playing 36.Kc3. It is an understandable move, White wants to be able to play Kb2 when Black goes Ka4, so that the pawn on a3 is defended.

It is, however, utterly passive and something that my opponent could not afford to play. Active play might have given my opponent some counterplay and he might have saved the game. That being said it would have required for me to make a mistake. While I did not play the remainder of the game perfectly, I am still happy about the way I was able to finish the game.

[Event "Hangon turnaus"] [Site "?"] [Date "2005.06.18"] [Round "3"] [White "Auvinen, Esa"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1917"] [BlackElo "1678"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "120"] [EventDate "2005.06.19"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O Nge7 (4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) (4... Nd4 5. b4 {Spanish Game: Classical Defense: Zaitsev Variation}) 5. c3 Bb6 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Re1+ Be6 10. Ne5 { C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} Qd6 11. Nc3 O-O 12. Ne4 Qb4 {Increasing the pressure on the isolated pawn on d4} 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. Nxc6 Qc4 15. Ne5 Qxd4 16. Qxd4 Bxd4 17. Nf3 Bb6 18. Bg5 $146 (18. Bd2 Rab8 19. Rac1 Rfe8 20. h3 h6 21. b3 Rbd8 {1/2-1/2 (21) Augusta,D (2108)-Grobelsek,A (2054) Velika Gorica 2003}) (18. a3 Rfe8 19. Nc3 Nxc3 20. bxc3 Bf5 21. Be3 Bxe3 22. Rxe3 Rxe3 23. fxe3 Rb8 24. Nd4 Bg6 25. Ra2 Rb1+ 26. Kf2 h6 27. Ne2 Rb3 28. Nd4 Rxc3 29. Nb5 Rc2+ 30. Rxc2 Bxc2 31. Nxc7 Kf8 32. Nb5 a5 {Roessler,L (1571) -Straze,J Maribor 2012 1/2-1/2 (40)}) 18... Nb4 {Black threatens to win material: Nb4xa2} 19. Be7 {White threatens to win material: Be7xb4. White forks: b4+f8} Nc2 20. Bxf8 Nxe1 21. Rxe1 Rxf8 22. b3 {Consolidates c4} Rd8 23. h3 {Covers g4} h6 {Secures g5} 24. Rc1 Bf5 25. Nc5 Rd5 26. b4 (26. Na4 g5 $15) 26... Bxc5 (26... a5 27. a3 $15) 27. Rxc5 $11 ({Weaker is} 27. bxc5 a5 $17) 27... Rxc5 28. bxc5 {A minor pieces endgame occured.} Be6 29. a3 Kf8 30. Kf1 Ke7 31. Ke2 (31. Nd4 $5 $11) 31... Bd5 32. Ne1 (32. Ke3 Bxf3 33. Kxf3 Kd7 $19) 32... Kd7 33. Kd3 Kc6 34. Kd4 Bb3 35. Nd3 Kb5 36. Kc3 (36. h4 $5 $17) 36... Ka4 $19 37. Kb2 Bc4 38. Ne5 $2 (38. Ne1 Kb5 $19) 38... Kb5 (38... Bf1 {might be the shorter path} 39. Nxf7 Bxg2 40. h4 $19) 39. Kc3 $2 (39. h4 $142 $19) 39... Bf1 40. Nxf7 (40. h4 {does not improve anything} Bxg2 41. Kd4 f6 $19) 40... Bxg2 41. h4 Kxc5 42. Ne5 (42. Kd3 {cannot change destiny} Kd5 43. Ke3 Ke6 $19) 42... Kd5 43. Ng4 (43. Nd3 {cannot undo what has already been done} Ke4 $19) 43... Ke4 44. Ne3 Bh3 45. Kc4 (45. Kd2 {the last chance for counterplay} Kf3 46. Ke1 $19) 45... Kf3 46. Nd5 (46. Nd1 {there is nothing better in the position} Ke2 47. Nc3+ Kxf2 48. Kd4 $19) 46... c6 (46... Be6 47. Kc5 Bxd5 48. a4 g5 49. hxg5 hxg5 50. Kxd5 Kxf2 51. a5 g4 52. a6 g3 53. Kc6 g2 54. Kb7 g1=Q 55. Kxa7 Qg6 56. Kb7 Qb6+ 57. Kc8 Qxa6+ 58. Kxc7 Kf3 59. Kd7 Ke4 60. Ke7 Qc6 61. Kf8 Qb7 62. Kg8 Kf5 63. Kh8 Kf6 64. Kg8 Qg7#) 47. Ne7 Bd7 48. Kc5 Kxf2 49. Kd6 Bg4 50. Nxc6 a6 51. Ke7 Kg3 52. Kf7 Kxh4 53. Kxg7 (53. Ne5 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} h5 54. Kg6 Be2 55. Kf5 Kg3 56. Ke4 h4 57. Ke3 h3 58. a4 h2 59. Kxe2 h1=Q 60. Nd3 g5 61. Ke3 Qd5 62. a5 g4 63. Ne1 Qc5+ 64. Kd2 Qf2+ 65. Kd1 Qe3 66. Nc2 Qc3 67. Na1 Qxa1+ 68. Kc2 Qa4+ 69. Kb1 Kf3 70. Kb2 g3 71. Kc3 g2 72. Kb2 g1=Q 73. Kc3 Qgd4#) 53... h5 54. Ne7 (54. Nd8 {does not help much} Kg3 55. Nf7 h4 56. Ng5 Bf5 57. a4 Kf4 58. Kh6 a5 59. Kh5 h3 60. Nxh3+ Bxh3 61. Kh6 Ke5 62. Kg5 Bd7 63. Kh6 Bxa4 64. Kg5 Bb3 65. Kh6 a4 66. Kg5 a3 67. Kg4 a2 68. Kf3 a1=Q 69. Ke2 Kf4 70. Kd2 Qb2+ 71. Kd3 Qc2+ 72. Kd4 Qc4#) 54... Kg3 55. Ng6 (55. Nd5 {is not the saving move} h4 56. Ne3 h3 57. Kg6 Kf4 58. Nf1 Be2 59. Nh2 Kg3 60. Kf5 Kxh2 61. Kf4 Kg2 62. Ke3 Bb5 63. a4 Bxa4 64. Kd2 h2 65. Kc3 Kg3 66. Kb2 h1=Q 67. Kc3 Qc6+ 68. Kb2 Qc2+ 69. Ka1 Qd2 70. Kb1 Bb3 71. Ka1 Qc1#) 55... Bf5 56. Ne5 (56. Ne7 {doesn't do any good} Be4 57. a4 h4 58. Ng8 Kf3 59. Nf6 h3 60. Kf7 h2 61. Ke6 h1=Q 62. Ke5 Qh8 63. a5 Bc2 64. Ke6 Bb3+ 65. Kf5 Qh6 66. Ne4 Qe6+ 67. Kg5 Kxe4 68. Kh4 Qg6 69. Kh3 Kf3 70. Kh4 Qg4#) 56... h4 57. Kf6 Be4 (57... Kf4 58. Nc6 h3 59. Nb4 Be4 60. Nxa6 h2 61. Nc5 Bf5 62. Ne6+ Bxe6 63. Kxe6 h1=Q 64. Kd6 Qe4 65. a4 Qxa4 66. Kd5 Qb5+ 67. Ke6 Qc6+ 68. Kf7 Kf5 69. Kg8 Qd7 70. Kh8 Kf6 71. Kg8 Qg7#) 58. Kg5 (58. Nf7 {does not save the day} h3 59. Ng5 h2 60. Nxe4+ Kf4 61. Nf2 Kf3 62. Nd3 h1=Q 63. Nc5 Qa1+ 64. Kf5 Qxa3 65. Ne6 Ke3 66. Ke5 a5 67. Kd5 Qb3+ 68. Kd6 a4 69. Nc5 Qb4 70. Kd5 a3 71. Kc6 a2 72. Na6 Qe4+ 73. Kb6 Qe6+ 74. Kb5 a1=Q 75. Nb4 Qee5+ 76. Nd5+ Qxd5+ 77. Kb6 Qaa5#) 58... h3 59. Ng4 Bf3 60. Ne3 Kf2 (60... Kf2 61. Kf4 h2 62. Nc2 h1=Q 63. Ke5 Qc1 64. Nb4 Qxa3 65. Nc2 Qc5+ 66. Kf6 Qxc2 67. Ke6 Qg6+ 68. Kd7 Qf6 69. Kc7 Qc6+ 70. Kd8 Qd6+ 71. Kc8 Qe7 72. Kb8 Qb7#) 0-1

C41 Philidor Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Qf6 7.Qb3)

It seems that if there is any possibility, however small, chance to mess things up, I am likely to do so... I thought I had been careful when publishing these new posts, but I have done one mistake with them that I noticed yesterday. The game that is shared now was shared in a post called C41 Philidor Defence (7.Qb3), I failed to notice that this game had one different move during those seven moves than the first game in that post. That post now has all the moves considered to be theory by Deep Fritz 14 in the name of the post like I have done with this game. I think I now need to this same thing to all my other posts too... This game was played in a team match called CS Africa vs King Hunters (jp). The match was played on 5 boards between Chess Society Africa and King Hunters. I played on board 3 for King Hunters and I was able to win both my games against keem2016. The final result of the match was 3.5 - 6.5 in favor of King Hunters.

The move 4...Bxf3 creates a position that is clearly favorable for White. The first move that could have been the losing one was my opponent's 7th move, b6, in the position below.

A better option for keem2016 would have been 7...Nd7, but even then the game would have been very tough for my opponent. Keem2016 kept fighting on and was almost rewarded for the fight later on in the game. The first time I lost my winning advantage was in the position below because I blundered with 34.Rd3??

It was difficult for me to convert my material advantage into a win and indeed I had to be very careful with my moves. There was only one move to keep my winning advantage and sadly I could not find the correct idea. Instead of 34.Rd3 I should have played 34.Rd1. Keem2016 replied with 34...Qe2, blundering the game away again. I made a second horrible move in a row, my 35th move actually gave my opponent for the first time a chance to fight for the win. Then my opponent took a wrong path again and played 35...Qf1+, the correct move was 35...Re8. I continued with 36.Kb2, which gave the last chance to keem2016 to get a win from this game. Unfortunately for him, he played 36...Qxg2+, which became the losing move of the game.

[Event "CS Africa vs King Hunters (jp) - Board"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.03.01"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "keem2016"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "1815"] [BlackElo "1721"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "101"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 {Philidor Defense} Bg4 (3... exd4 4. Qxd4 Bd7 { Philidor Defense: Boden Variation}) (3... f5 4. Nc3 {Philidor Defense: Philidor Countergambit, Zukertort Variation}) (3... Nd7 4. Bc4 c6 5. c3 { Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation, Delmar Variation}) 4. dxe5 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 dxe5 6. Bc4 Qf6 7. Qb3 {C41 Philidor Defence} b6 8. Nc3 c6 9. Be3 (9. O-O Bd6 10. Be3 Ne7 11. Rad1 O-O 12. Rd2 Ng6 13. Rfd1 Bc7 14. g3 b5 15. Bc5 bxc4 16. Qb7 Na6 17. Qxa6 Rfd8 18. Qxc4 Rxd2 19. Rxd2 Rd8 20. Rxd8+ Qxd8 21. Bxa7 Qa8 22. Bc5 Bd8 23. b4 h5 {Biccari,A (1848)-Vivoda,S (1697) Trieste 2017 1-0 (85)}) 9... b5 (9... Nd7 10. a4 Bc5 11. O-O Qe7 12. Rae1 Bxe3 13. Rxe3 Ngf6 14. Rd1 O-O 15. Re2 Nc5 16. Qb4 Rad8 17. f3 Rxd1+ 18. Nxd1 Rd8 19. Ne3 g6 20. b3 Kf8 21. Rd2 Rxd2 22. Qxd2 Qd7 23. Qxd7 Nfxd7 24. Kf2 {Mossakowski,F (2229) -Woestmann,U Bad Zwesten 1999 1-0 (43)}) 10. Be2 a5 11. Nxb5 $146 (11. a3 Bd6 12. Rd1 b4 13. Na4 Nd7 14. Qd3 Ke7 15. Bg5 Qxg5 16. Qxd6+ Ke8 17. Qxd7+ Kf8 18. Qxc6 Rb8 19. Qd6+ {1-0 (19) Klein, O-Heiser,K Mehlingen 1992}) (11. Nd5 $142 { and White takes home the point} cxd5 12. Bxb5+ Nc6 13. exd5 Bb4+ 14. c3 $18) 11... cxb5 12. Bxb5+ Nc6 13. O-O-O Nge7 (13... Rc8 {hardly improves anything} 14. Rd3 Bb4 15. Qd5 $18) 14. Rd3 (14. Bc5 $142 {secures the point} a4 15. Qb4 g6 $18) 14... g6 15. Rhd1 Rc8 (15... Bg7 {there is nothing else anyway} 16. Rd6 Qh4 17. Rxc6 O-O $18) 16. Qa4 (16. Rd6 $142 {and White can already relax} Qxd6 17. Rxd6 Bg7 18. Bxc6+ Nxc6 $18) 16... Bg7 17. Rd6 Qh4 18. Bxc6+ (18. g3 $142 { ends the debate} Qh3 19. Rd8+ Rxd8 20. Bxc6+ Nxc6 21. Qxc6+ Qd7 22. Rxd7 Rxd7 23. Bg5 $18) 18... Nxc6 19. Rxc6 O-O 20. h3 (20. Rxc8 {seems even better} Rxc8 21. Qxa5 Bh6 22. Bxh6 Qxh6+ 23. Qd2 Qxh2 $18) 20... Rcd8 (20... Rxc6 21. Qxc6 Bh6 22. Qc3 $18) 21. Rcd6 (21. Rxd8 $5 {keeps an even firmer grip} Qxd8 22. b3 Qd7 $18) 21... Rc8 (21... Bh6 22. Qa3 Rc8 23. Bxh6 Qxh6+ 24. R1d2 $18) 22. R1d5 (22. Kb1 {might be the shorter path} Ra8 $18) 22... Bh6 23. Bxh6 Qxh6+ 24. Kb1 (24. Rd2 $142 $18 {nails it down}) 24... Qf4 $16 25. f3 Qg3 $4 {but even a better move would not have saved the game} (25... Qh2 $142 26. g4 Qh1+ 27. Rd1 Qxf3 $16) 26. Rd2 $18 Kg7 (26... Qe1+ 27. Rd1 Qf2 28. R6d2 $18) 27. c4 Qe1+ 28. Kc2 Rc5 29. b3 Rfc8 (29... Rb8 30. R6d5 Rxd5 31. Rxd5 (31. exd5 $6 e4 32. Qa3 e3 $11) (31. cxd5 $4 Rc8+ 32. Qc6 Rxc6+ 33. dxc6 Qe3 $19) 31... Qf2+ 32. Rd2 $18) 30. R6d5 Rxd5 31. exd5 ({Weaker is} 31. Rxd5 Qg1 32. Qd7 Ra8 $18) 31... e4 32. Qxa5 e3 33. Qc3+ f6 34. Rd3 {White threatens to win material: Rd3xe3} (34. Rd1 {makes it even easier for White} Qe2+ 35. Kc1 Qxa2 $18) 34... Qe2+ $4 { causes further problems for White} (34... Qf2+ 35. Kc1 Ra8 36. Rxe3 Rxa2 $11) 35. Kb1 (35. Kc1 $142 {finishes off the opponent} Re8 36. d6 Qxg2 37. d7 $18) 35... Qf1+ 36. Kb2 $4 {releasing the pressure on the opponent} (36. Kc2 Qe2+ 37. Kc1 $18) 36... Qxg2+ $4 {throws away a nice position} (36... Re8 $142 { with excellent chances for Black} 37. d6 Qf2+ 38. Qc2 Qxc2+ 39. Kxc2 e2 $19) 37. Qc2 $18 Qxf3 38. d6 Qxh3 (38... Re8 {is one last hope} 39. a4 Qf1 $18) 39. Qe2 Qd7 40. Qxe3 Re8 41. Qf2 Re5 42. c5 Kf7 43. Kc3 (43. Qc2 f5 44. c6 Qe6 45. c7 Re2 46. c8=Q Qxc8 47. Qxe2 Qd8 48. Qe5 Qe8 49. Qa5 f4 50. d7 Qe2+ 51. Rd2 Qe7 52. d8=Q Qxd8 53. Rxd8 Ke6 54. Re8+ Kd6 55. Qa6+ Kc7 56. Re7+ Kd8 57. Qd6+ Kc8 58. Qc7#) 43... Qb5 (43... g5 {praying for a miracle} 44. Qd4 Kg6 $18) 44. b4 Re4 45. Rd4 Re2 46. Qf3 Kg7 47. Kb3 (47. d7 Qa6 48. a4 Qe6 49. d8=Q Re3+ 50. Qxe3 Qxe3+ 51. Kb2 Qe2+ 52. Rd2 Qe5+ 53. Qd4 Qe1 54. c6 Qg3 55. Qd7+ Kh6 56. c7 Qe5+ 57. Ka2 f5 58. c8=Q Qg3 59. Qc1 Kh5 60. Qh1+ Kg4 61. Rd4+ Qf4 62. Qg2+ Kh5 63. Qxh7+ Qh6 64. Qgxg6#) 47... f5 48. d7 Re1 (48... Qa6 {doesn't change anything anymore} 49. Qxe2 $3 {Mate threat} Qxe2 50. d8=Q Qe6+ 51. Qd5 Qe1 52. c6 Kh6 53. Ka4 Qc3 54. Qd7 f4 55. c7 Qc2+ 56. Ka5 Qxa2+ 57. Kb6 Qc2 58. c8=Q Qxc8 59. Qxc8 Kh5 60. Qh3+ Kg5 61. Qh2 Kf6 62. Qxf4+ Kg7 63. Rd7+ Kh8 64. Qb8#) 49. d8=Q Re8 (49... Re6 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 50. c6 $1 { Mate attack} Qxc6 51. Qxc6 Re3+ 52. Ka4 f4 53. Qdf6+ Kg8 54. Rd8+ Re8 55. Rxe8# ) 50. Rd7+ Kf8 (50... Qxd7 {doesn't do any good} 51. Qc3+ Qd4 52. Qcxd4+ Kf7 53. Q8f6+ Kg8 54. Qg7#) 51. Qf6+ (51. Qf6+ Kg8 52. Qg7#) 1-0

C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.O-O Nge7 5.c3 Bb6 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Re1+ Be6)

The game below was played on the third round of a tournament that was played at Helsinki in 2008. On the first two rounds I had lost both of my games, so getting this win was a nice change to the way things had gone so far. On the fourth round I lost again, but it was against a player who was rated 2024 at the time, so back then it was an acceptable loss. On the last three rounds I was able to avoid losing a single game, so the tournament ended on a positive note for me.

Back when this game was played, I did not really know that much of opening theory, but the variation I played in this game I had known for about four years before I played this game. Not exactly theory, but a system that was taught to me by a National Master. Basically up to the move 11...O-O, I was in a comfortable situation where the ideas of this system I played from memory. This way of playing might not be completely sound for Black, but I think it can be played against players rated lower than 2000. It is possible that one could struggle even against those players in this line, but against most players it may still be playable because the opponent would need to find a narrow path to the advantage. In this game my opponent stepped off that path when he played 10.Bxc6+.

After my opponent's 10th move the game was played evenly again for awhile. The move 12.Qc2 was one that I had not seen before, so this was probably the first time during this game that I actually used my time to think about the next move I was going to play. I was very confident about my chances to win the game after I saw the move 14.Rxe6. In fact that was the losing move of the game.

Well, probably already after 11.Ng5 already I was thinking that I am going to get a good result from this game. It is also very satisfying to play a move like 17...Qxf2 with the knowledge that I am going to win the game. The game ended in checkmate on move 18 when I played 18...Re1#.

Game number two. The game was played on the second round of the Open Finnish Championship tournament that was played at Naantali in 2008. On the first round I lost a game against a player who was rated 1982. I guess the first two rounds went okay for me because I was clearly lower rated than my opponents, but the next three rounds were really horrible as I lost on every round. My first win and actually the only win of the tournament came from my round 6 game. On rounds seven and nine I was able to get two more draws, so I finished the tournament with 2.5 points out of the possible 9. This has been maybe the worst tournament that I have ever played because I dropped my rating 101 points.

I was quite confident about my chances after my opponent played 10.Ng5, but I was even happier after Lyly took on e6, because I knew that it was good for me. After the blunder 13.Qg4, I should have already had a winning advantage, I even replied with the strongest move 13...Qf6.

All seemed to go very well for me, but then I chose the wrong plan on move 18 and I threw away the win. I played 18...Nb4 with the idea of going for the rook on the corner, which is almost never a good idea, especially in a position like this.

The position slowly drifted towards a draw and I had to accept that I had messed up yet another win after 39.Nf7+ when the draw was agreed upon.

[Event "HSL Pääsiäisturnaus"] [Site "Shakkikoti"] [Date "2008.03.21"] [Round "3"] [White "Tuominen, Esa"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1746"] [BlackElo "1672"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "36"] [EventDate "2008.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O Nge7 (4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) (4... Nd4 5. b4 {Spanish Game: Classical Defense: Zaitsev Variation}) 5. c3 Bb6 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Re1+ Be6 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} 10. Bxc6+ bxc6 11. Ng5 O-O 12. Qc2 (12. Nxe6 fxe6 13. Qg4 Nb4 14. Qxe6+ Kh8 15. Qb3 Bxd4 16. Be3 Rb8 17. Na3 Nd5 18. Qa4 Nxe3 19. fxe3 Bxb2 20. Rad1 Qg5 21. Nc4 Qc5 22. Re2 Rb4 23. Qc2 Qxc4 24. Qxc4 Rxc4 25. Rxb2 Rc3 26. Re2 h6 {Reyes Rios,J (1985) -Vallejo,D Medellin 2010 1/2-1/2 (32)}) 12... g6 (12... Nf6 13. Nxe6 fxe6 14. Be3 Bxd4 15. Bxd4 Qxd4 16. Nd2 Nd5 17. Ne4 Nb4 18. Qb3 Rae8 19. Rad1 Qb6 20. Rd7 Nd5 21. Qc2 Qa5 22. Rd1 Qxa2 23. Ng5 Nf6 24. h4 Qa5 25. g3 Qf5 26. Qxf5 exf5 27. Rxc7 {Arizmendi Martinez,J (2440)-Eslon,J (2375) Valencia 1998 1/2-1/ 2 (32)}) 13. Nxe6 fxe6 14. Rxe6 $4 $146 {not a good decision, because now the opponent is right back in the game} (14. Bh6 Rf7 15. Qe4 Qf6 16. Nd2 Bxd4 17. Nf3 Bxb2 18. Rad1 e5 19. Qe2 Bc3 20. Rf1 Re8 21. Ng5 Rd7 22. Ne4 Qf5 23. Nxc3 Nxc3 24. Qc4+ Nd5 25. Qxc6 Qe6 26. Qc5 c6 27. h3 Qd6 28. Qc4 Rb7 {Niedermaier, H (2230)-Grzesik,T (2300) Germany 1987 1/2-1/2 (46)}) (14. Be3 $142 $11 { this is the best bet to save the position}) 14... Bxd4 $19 15. Re2 Qf6 (15... Rxf2 {and Black can already relax} 16. Rxf2 Qe7 17. Bd2 $19) 16. Bh6 (16. Nc3 Rae8 (16... Nxc3 $6 17. bxc3 Rae8 18. Be3 Bxe3 19. Rxe3 $11) 17. Bh6 Rxe2 ( 17... Bxc3 $2 {looks very interesting, but} 18. Bxf8 Rxe2 19. Qxe2 $18) (17... Nxc3 $6 {is much worse} 18. bxc3 Rxe2 19. Qxe2 Qxf2+ 20. Qxf2 Bxf2+ 21. Kf1 $15 ) 18. Qxe2 Qxf2+ 19. Kh1 Qxe2 (19... Nxc3 $2 {doesn't lead to anything significant} 20. Qe6+ Kh8 21. Bxf8 Qxf8 22. bxc3 Bxc3 23. Rb1 $18) (19... Bxc3 $6 20. Qxf2 Rxf2 21. bxc3 $17) 20. Nxe2 Bxb2 $19) 16... Rfe8 17. Bc1 $4 { sad, but how else could White save the game?} (17. Nc3 Bxc3 18. bxc3 $19) 17... Qxf2+ $3 {Deflection: e2.} 18. Rxf2 (18. Rxf2 Re1# {Mate attack Deflection}) 18... Re1# 0-1 [Event "Naantali Avoin SM"] [Site "?"] [Date "2008.07.01"] [Round "2"] [White "Lyly, Seppo"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1912"] [BlackElo "1768"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2008.06.30"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O Nge7 (4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) (4... Nd4 5. b4 {Spanish Game: Classical Defense: Zaitsev Variation}) 5. c3 Bb6 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Re1+ Be6 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} 10. Ng5 O-O 11. Nxe6 fxe6 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Qg4 (13. Nc3 Qh4 (13... Qf6 14. Be3 Nxe3 15. fxe3 Qf2+ 16. Kh1 Qxb2 17. Na4 Qa3 18. Qc2 Ba5 19. Re2 Qd6 20. Nc5 Rf7 21. Kg1 Bb6 22. Rc1 e5 23. Qc4 Re8 24. Rf2 Qd5 25. Rxf7 Kxf7 26. Kf1 exd4 27. exd4 Ke7 28. Qxd5 {Toelly,M (1938)-Reinwald,P (2231) Austria 2015 0-1 (45)}) 14. Ne4 h6 15. g3 Qh3 16. Nc5 Rxf2 17. Kxf2 Qxh2+ 18. Kf3 Rf8+ 19. Ke4 Bxc5 20. dxc5 Nf6+ 21. Ke3 Qxg3+ 22. Ke2 Qg2+ 23. Ke3 Ng4+ 24. Kd4 Rd8+ 25. Kc3 Rxd1 26. Rxd1 Qf3+ 27. Rd3 Qf6+ {Marcetic,M (2245)-Lazarevic,M (2160) Belgrade 2006 0-1 (34)}) 13... Qf6 $146 (13... Nb4 14. Qxe6+ Kh8 15. Qb3 Bxd4 16. Be3 Rb8 17. Na3 Nd5 18. Qa4 Nxe3 19. fxe3 Bxb2 20. Rad1 Qg5 21. Nc4 Qc5 22. Re2 Rb4 23. Qc2 Qxc4 24. Qxc4 Rxc4 25. Rxb2 Rc3 26. Re2 h6 27. g3 Re8 28. e4 {Reyes Rios,J (1985) -Vallejo,D Medellin 2010 1/2-1/2 (32)}) 14. Qxe6+ $2 (14. Rf1 $142 Bxd4 15. Qe2 $19) 14... Qxe6 15. Rxe6 Bxd4 16. Re2 Rae8 17. Rxe8 Rxe8 18. Kf1 Nb4 (18... Rf8 $142 { ends the debate} 19. f3 Ne3+ 20. Bxe3 Bxb2 $19 (20... Bxe3 $143 21. Nc3 $14)) 19. Na3 $15 Nd3 {Black has a mate threat} 20. Nc2 {White threatens to win material: Nc2xd4} Bxf2 ({Not} 20... Bxb2 21. Bxb2 Nxb2 22. Ne3 $11) 21. Bd2 Bb6 22. b3 Rf8+ (22... Ne5 23. Ne3 $17) 23. Ke2 $15 Nf4+ 24. Bxf4 Rxf4 25. Rf1 Rxf1 26. Kxf1 {A minor pieces endgame occured} Bc5 (26... Kf7 27. Ke2 $15) 27. Ke2 $11 Kf7 28. Kd3 Ke6 29. Ke4 Bg1 30. h3 c5 31. g4 Bf2 32. Kf3 Bd4 33. Ke4 Bg1 34. Ne1 Kd6 35. Nf3 Bf2 36. Ng5 {White threatens to win material: Ng5xh7} h6 { Black threatens to win material: h6xg5} 37. Nf7+ Kc6 38. Nd8+ Kd6 39. Nf7+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "Ladder"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2017.01.11"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Pauline Calf"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1885"] [BlackElo "1524"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "23"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. c3 Nge7 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb6 7. O-O d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Re1+ Be6 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4. O-O Nf6} 10. Bg5 {LiveBook: 33 Games} Nde7 $2 {2.68/26 [#]} (10... Qd6 $16 { 1.00/29} 11. Na3 O-O 12. Nc4 Qb4 13. Nxb6 axb6 14. Bxc6 bxc6 15. Qc2 Qd6 16. a3 Rfe8 17. Bh4 Bd7 18. Bg3 Qg6 19. Qxg6 Rxe1+ 20. Rxe1 hxg6 21. Ne5 Be8 22. Rc1 Ne7 23. Nc4 Rc8 24. Ne3 f6 25. d5 cxd5 {Stehno,P (2310)-Heberla,B (2487) Marianske Lazne 2006 0-1 (53)}) (10... Qc8 11. Ne5 O-O 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Bxc6 Rb8 14. Nc3 Nb4 15. Bf3 Qd7 16. a3 Nd5 17. Qd2 f6 18. Bxd5 Bxd5 19. Nxd5 Qxd5 20. Be3 Rbd8 21. Rad1 Rf7 22. Qc2 Rfd7 {1/2-1/2 (22) Wallgren,U (2086)-Nagel,G (1939) Berlin 2012}) 11. Bxe7 $146 {1.37/26} ({Only move:} 11. Nc3 $18 { 2.68/26 Threatens to win with d5.} O-O 12. d5 $1 Bxd5 13. Bxc6 Bxc6 14. Bxe7 Qxd1 15. Raxd1 Rfe8 16. Nd5 f6 17. Bb4 Rxe1+ 18. Nxe1 Bxd5 19. Rxd5 Re8 20. Kf1 Kf7 21. Rd7+ Kg6 22. Nd3 Re4 23. Bc5 Bxc5 24. Nxc5 {1-0 (24) Mercado,L (2053) -Denon,N (1671) Bento Goncalves 2010}) 11... Kxe7 $4 {4.47/24} (11... Qxe7 $16 {1.37/26 is tougher.} 12. Qa4 O-O-O) 12. d5 $1 1-0

C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.O-O Nge7 5.c3 Bb6 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Ne5)

This was played on round one of the tournament called Matin päivän turnaus that was held at Espoo between February 25th and February 27th 2005. This was I guess the first time in my chess playing days that I was the highest rated player of the group. It is a place I do not really like because then I usually create too much pressure for myself because I think I have to win every game. When the pressure gets too much to handle, I crumble and can't perform at my usual level anymore. I think I have learned over the years to not put too much pressure on myself and keep my head calm when I play. The first move that the engine does not really like is 7...d5 and it certainly has downsides, but I am likely to play it in the future as well because I feel quite comfortable playing the positions after that.

The reason why 7...d5 is a questionable move is that one should not open the e-file while your own king is in the center and the king of the opponent is safely castled on the kingside. If White plays well, then Black is in some trouble. My opponent in this game, Heikki Luoma, played the correct reply 8.exd5. Had he played 8.e5, I would have been happy because the center remains closed and I would be able to take the game under control with the bishop landing on g4 and try to attack the central pawns. In the game I continued with the obvious 8...Nxd5 and most of the time I have faced the move 9.Re1+, but I have faced the move 9.Ne5 that my opponent played in this game a few times too if my memory serves me right. The moves 9.Re1+ and 9.Bg5 were much better than what Heikki played in the game. Those two moves would have kept my opponent on the clearly better side of the board. The move 9.Ne5 was not as strong and brought the position into balance once again. I took another bad path when I played 11...g6 and allowed my opponent to take the knight on d5 with a check.

I was ahead in development, but behind in material and my position did not look at all good. My king was out in the open, while my opponent's king was safe. The game evened out quickly, however, the game continued with the moves 12.Qxd5+ Be6 and then Heikki traded queens, which is usually a good thing to do when one is ahead in material, but not in this position. The only way to keep the advantage was to play 13.Qf3+. After the queen trade I had enough pressure on the isolated pawn on d4, so that I was able to win it and get material equal once again. Even though the material evened out, I had worse pawn structure, but because I had the more active pieces, the game continued evenly up to the move 32.Kc3.

The game continued with the moves 32...g5 33.Nd4 Bb5 34.Nf3+ Kf4 35.Nd2 Bc6. The game did not continue clearly in favor of my opponent all that long, already with his 36th move f3 Heikki threw the advantage away. The move my opponent should have played was 36.g3+. Heikki did get two more chances for a clear advantage, first of which saw the light of day when I played 45...Bb5.

The correct move in reply would have been 46.Nc5, but my opponent went for the move 46.Ne5. I then made my final mistake of the game and moved my bishop to f1. 47.a4 was my opponent's last chance for a clear advantage, but luckily for me, Heikki moved the knight to f7 and that the game ended in a draw after his 48th move.

Game number two. The game below was played on the second round of a rapid chess tournament that was played at Salo on May 10th, 2008. There is no need to keep a score sheet during these over the board rapid chess tournaments, but I have done so occasionally and this game might be the only time I did so during this tournament. I mainly did it because my opponent was a much higher rated player than me and maybe I could learn something from this game. Actually he still is much higher rated player than me... I played my favorite line in the Spanish, so at least I sort of knew what kind of positions I want to get out of the opening. I was able keep things quite even for the first 13 moves, apart from the moves 7...d5 8.exd5 Nxd5, but then I made the game losing blunder on move 14.

My opponent used his chance to get a winning advantage after 14...Kd8 and the game ended in a few moves to my resignation.

[Event "MatSK"] [Site "?"] [Date "2005.02.25"] [Round "1"] [White "Luoma, Heikki"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1620"] [BlackElo "1730"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "95"] [EventDate "2005.02.25"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O Nge7 (4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) (4... Nd4 5. b4 {Spanish Game: Classical Defense: Zaitsev Variation}) 5. c3 Bb6 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Ne5 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6. White threatens to win material: Ne5xc6} Bd7 $146 (9... Qf6 10. Nc3 Nxc3 11. bxc3 O-O 12. Nc4 (12. Re1 Rd8 13. Qh5 h6 14. Ba3 Nxe5 15. Rxe5 Be6 {1/2-1/2 (15) Bobotsov,M-Tringov,G Sofia 1963}) 12... Rd8 13. Nxb6 axb6 14. Qh5 (14. Qe2 Be6 15. Be3 Ra3 16. Rfd1 Ne7 17. Bc1 Ra5 18. Bd3 Nd5 19. Qd2 Bf5 20. Qc2 Bxd3 21. Rxd3 Re8 22. Qd1 Qf5 23. h3 Qe4 24. Qf1 Qe2 25. Qxe2 Rxe2 26. Bd2 Ra3 27. Kf1 Re8 28. g3 b5 { Bhend,E-Canal,E Venice 1953 0-1 (79)}) 14... Ra5 15. a4 Be6 16. Qg5 Ne7 17. Qg3 Rda8 18. Qxc7 h6 19. Bd2 Bd5 20. Rfe1 Ng6 21. c4 Rxb5 22. cxb5 Nh4 23. Qe5 Nf3+ 24. gxf3 {Kopetzky,K-Canal,E Vienna 1952 0-1 (32)}) (9... O-O 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Bxc6 Rb8 12. Qa4 Qd6 13. Be3 Ne7 14. Bf3 Nf5 15. Rd1 Bd7 16. Qa3 Rfe8 17. Qxd6 cxd6 18. Na3 Nxe3 19. fxe3 Rxe3 20. Nc4 Re6 21. Nxb6 Rxb6 22. Rac1 Re8 23. Rc7 Be6 24. b3 {Nedeljkovic,A-Bogoljubow,E Belgrade 1952 1/2-1/2 (54)}) (9... O-O 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Bxc6 $11) 10. Nxf7 $14 {White forks: d8+h8. Decoy: f4} Kxf7 11. Qh5+ g6 (11... Kf8 12. Qxd5 Be8 13. Qf3+ Qf6 14. Qa3+ Qe7 15. Qxe7+ Nxe7 16. Be2 $14) 12. Qxd5+ Be6 13. Qxd8 (13. Qf3+ $142 Kg7 14. Bxc6 bxc6 15. Qxc6 $16) 13... Raxd8 14. Bxc6 bxc6 {Black has the pair of bishops} 15. Be3 Bxd4 16. Bxd4 {White forks: h8+a7} Rxd4 17. Nc3 Rhd8 (17... Rb8 18. b3 $11) 18. b3 { Covers c4} R8d7 19. Rfd1 Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 21. Nxd1 {A minor pieces endgame occured} Ke7 22. Kf1 Kd6 23. Ke2 Kc5 24. Kd2 Kb4 25. Kc1 c5 26. Kb2 c4 27. a3+ Kc5 28. b4+ Kd4 29. Kc2 Bd7 30. Nc3 a6 {Consolidates b5} 31. Ne2+ Ke5 32. Kc3 g5 (32... c5 $142 $5 $11 {should be examined more closely}) 33. Nd4 $16 Bb5 34. Nf3+ Kf4 35. Nd2 Bc6 36. f3 (36. g3+ $142 Kg4 37. Nxc4 $16) 36... Ke3 $11 37. Nxc4+ Kf2 {Black threatens to win material: Kf2xg2} 38. Ne5 {White threatens to win material: Ne5xc6} Be8 39. g4 {White has a new backward pawn: f3} Kg2 { Black threatens to win material: Kg2xh2} 40. Kd4 Kxh2 41. Ke3 Kg3 42. Nd3 h5 43. gxh5 Bxh5 {Exerts pressure on the isolated pawn} 44. Ne5 Be8 45. Nd3 Bb5 ( 45... Bh5 46. f4 g4 47. f5 $11) 46. Ne5 Bf1 (46... Be8 47. Ke4 $11) 47. Nf7 { White threatens to win material: Nf7xg5} (47. a4 $142 $5 $16) 47... Kh4 $14 48. Kf2 1/2-1/2 [Event "Salon nopean shakin turnaus"] [Site "?"] [Date "2008.05.10"] [Round "2"] [White "Rehn, Ralf"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "2144"] [BlackElo "1675"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "37"] [EventDate "2008.03.06"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O Nge7 (4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) (4... Nd4 5. b4 {Spanish Game: Classical Defense: Zaitsev Variation}) 5. c3 Bb6 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Ne5 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} Qd6 10. Nc4 {White threatens to win material: Nc4xd6} (10. Nc3 O-O 11. Nc4 Qd8 12. Ne3 Nf6 13. d5 Ne5 14. Be2 a6 15. b3 Re8 16. h3 Ba7 17. a4 Ng6 18. Nc4 Ne4 19. Nxe4 Rxe4 20. Be3 Bxe3 21. Nxe3 Qg5 22. Qc2 Re7 23. Bg4 Nf4 24. h4 Qh6 {Daulyte,D (2307) -Martinez de Negri,M (1945) Puerto Madryn 2009 1-0}) (10. b3 O-O 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Ba3 c5 13. Nd2 Nc3 14. Qe1 Qxd4 15. Ndf3 Qf4 16. Qxc3 Be6 17. Bxc5 Rfd8 18. Rad1 Bd5 19. Bxb6 cxb6 20. Rd4 Qf5 21. Rfd1 f6 22. Nc6 {1-0 (22) Gil Sierra,J (2041)-Soto Martin,P (1740) Madrid 2013}) 10... Qf6 $146 {The pressure on the isolated pawn grows. Black threatens to win material: Qf6xd4} (10... Qb4 11. Qe2+ Be6 12. Bd2 (12. Nc3 O-O 13. Nxb6 axb6 14. Nxd5 Bxd5 15. Be3 Nxd4 16. Bxd4 Qxd4 17. Rfd1 Qe4 18. Qxe4 Bxe4 19. f3 Bc6 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21. Rd7 Rac8 22. Re1 Rfd8 23. Rde7 Kf8 24. R1e2 Re8 25. Rxe8+ Rxe8 26. Rc2 Re6 {Carretero Ajo, J-Hernandez Romero,J Valladolid 1979 1/2-1/2 (59)}) 12... Qe7 13. Nxb6 axb6 14. Nc3 O-O 15. Nxd5 Bxd5 16. Qxe7 Nxe7 17. Bb4 c5 18. dxc5 Nc6 19. Bxc6 bxc6 20. cxb6 Rfb8 21. Bc5 Bxa2 22. Rfd1 h6 23. Rd7 Be6 24. Rda7 Rxa7 25. bxa7 { Kyriakides,S-Bastian,A Luzern 1982 1-0}) 11. Nc3 {White threatens to win material: Nc3xd5} Be6 12. Nxb6 cxb6 (12... Nxb6 13. Be3 O-O 14. d5 $14) 13. Nxd5 Bxd5 {White has the pair of bishops} 14. Re1+ Kd8 $4 (14... Be6 $142 $11 { saving the game}) 15. Qh5 $18 Ne7 (15... Bf3 {is still a small chance} 16. gxf3 Qg6+ 17. Qxg6 hxg6 $18) 16. Rxe7 (16. Bg5 Bc6 17. Rxe7 Kxe7 18. Bxf6+ gxf6 19. Re1+ Kd6 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21. Qxf7 Rae8 22. Rxe8 Rxe8 23. Qxe8 Kd5 24. Qd7+ Kc4 25. a4 a6 26. Qxc6+ Kxd4 27. Qxb6+ Ke5 28. Qxa6 h6 29. a5 f5 30. Qxh6 f4 31. a6 f3 32. a7 Kd4 33. a8=Q Kc4 34. Qhc6+ Kd3 35. Qc3+ Ke2 36. Qaxf3#) 16... Qxe7 17. Qxd5+ Kc7 (17... Kc8 {does not save the day} 18. Bf4 a6 19. Rc1+ Qc7 20. Rxc7+ Kb8 21. Qxb7#) 18. Bf4+ Kc8 19. Rc1+ (19. Rc1+ Qc7 20. Rxc7+ Kb8 21. Qxb7#) 1-0

C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.O-O Nge7 5.c3)

There has been a lot of posts about the Spanish Game also known as Ruy Lopez lately and there will be a few more still to go before the posts start to go away from the Spanish. The game below is from the first round of a tournament that was played at Turku over 13 years ago. I started the tournament with a win against a lower rated opponent. I would normally like to play against higher rated opponents, but of course I can't choose my opponents in tournaments. I had some problems in the early part of this game, but I survived from the difficulties and I was able to turn the game around again. My 5th move 5...d5 was perhaps already a step in a bad direction, but my 6th move dxe4 was a horrible blunder and I should have castled instead.

6...dxe4 was a move I played because I wanted to keep material even, but I completely missed the reply 7.Nxf7! Not only did I lose the pawn anyway but I also lost the right to castle. After the game continuation 7...Kxf7 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qxc5 I was down a pawn and my king was in some trouble. The only thing going for me was the fact that I was ahead in development. With my 9th move I continued my development with Be6, but that was not a good decision and after that I was in a losing position. Moves like 9...Re8 and 9...a6 were better choices for me. At this point in the game it seemed that I was going to lose to a player who was lower rated than me by almost 400 points. I was in serious trouble, but with the move 10.b4 my opponent threw some of the advantage away, a stronger move was 10.Qe3. It was with the move 12.Bxc6 though that my opponent's advantage almost disappeared.

Even though my opponent was still up a pawn in material, the fact that he had not developed the queenside pieces gave me counterplay for the material. A couple of moves later moving only the queen placed my opponent already on the worse side of the board. Admittedly my opponent should have moved the queen on move 15, but he chose the wrong square to go to. In the game Seppo played 15.Qe5, which is a dangerous square for the queen. Even though centralizing the queen is usually a good idea, it was a horrible one in this particular position. The move I should have played in response was 15...Rae8, but I played the sloppy 15...Bd5 instead, which was only good enough for a slight advantage, whereas 15...Rae8 would have given me an advantage that was close to winning.

At this point in the game my opponent should have finally developed a piece by playing 16.Bf4 because that would have also increased pressure towards the pawn on c7. The move my opponent chose was 16.a4, which was the game losing time waster of a move. I replied with the move 17...Rae8, which was my first step towards victory. The game continued up to the move 38...Qb2, but I never let go of my winning advantage and in a position where I had an extra rook, my opponent resigned.

[Event "TSY"] [Site "?"] [Date "2004.04.23"] [Round "1"] [White "Laine, Seppo"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1313"] [BlackElo "1706"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "2004.04.23"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O Nge7 (4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) (4... Nd4 5. b4 {Spanish Game: Classical Defense: Zaitsev Variation}) 5. c3 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} d5 6. Nxe5 dxe4 7. Nxf7 Kxf7 8. Qh5+ g6 9. Qxc5 Be6 10. b4 $146 (10. Qe3 Bf5 11. f3 exf3 12. Rxf3 a6 13. Bc4+ Kg7 14. d4 b5 15. Qh6+ Kf6 16. Bg5# { 1-0 (16) Kawaler,A (1610)-Guzik,T (1284) Szczyrk 2014}) (10. Qe3 Qd5 11. Na3 Nf5 $18) 10... Rf8 (10... Re8 11. Re1 Qd5 12. Na3 $16) 11. Qe3 Qd5 12. Bxc6 ( 12. c4 $5 Qd3 13. Nc3 Bxc4 14. Bxc4+ Qxc4 15. Nxe4 $16) 12... Qxc6 $14 13. d4 ( 13. Na3 Nf5 14. Qf4 Kg8 $11) 13... Nf5 {Black threatens to win material: Nf5xe3 } 14. Qf4 Kg8 {Black king safety improved} 15. Qe5 (15. Qg5 a5 $11) 15... Bd5 ( 15... e3 $142 16. Bxe3 Bd5 $17) 16. a4 $4 (16. Bf4 $142 $15 {the rescuing straw }) 16... Rae8 $19 17. b5 Qd7 (17... Rxe5 {is a bad alternative} 18. bxc6 Re6 19. cxb7 $16) 18. Qf4 Nxd4 19. Qh6 (19. cxd4 {praying for a miracle} Rxf4 20. Bxf4 $19) 19... Nc2 (19... e3 20. Qh4 Ne2+ 21. Kh1 Re4 22. Qh6 Rg4 23. f3 Rxf3 24. Rxf3 Bxf3 25. Qf8+ Kxf8 26. Ba3+ Kg8 27. h3 Qd1+ 28. Kh2 Rxg2#) 20. Be3 $19 Nxa1 21. Nd2 (21. Rc1 {is no salvation} Rf5 $19) 21... Nc2 22. Bxa7 (22. Rc1 { there is nothing else anyway} Nxe3 23. Qxe3 $19) 22... b6 23. c4 Bxc4 (23... e3 24. f3 Bxc4 25. Nxc4 Qd4 26. Nxe3 Nxe3 27. Bxb6 cxb6 28. Kh1 Nxf1 29. Qc1 Qh4 30. Qxf1 Re1 31. g3 Rxf1+ 32. Kg2 Qg5 33. Kxf1 Qd2 34. h3 Re8 35. f4 Re1#) 24. Nxc4 Qd4 (24... Qd3 25. Ne3 Nxe3 26. Qxe3 Qxe3 27. fxe3 Rxf1+ 28. Kxf1 Ra8 29. Bb8 Rxb8 30. Kf2 Ra8 31. Kg3 Rxa4 32. Kf4 c6 33. bxc6 Rc4 34. g3 b5 35. Ke5 Rxc6 36. h3 b4 37. Kd5 Rc8 38. Kd6 b3 39. Kd7 Rc2 40. g4 b2 41. Ke6 b1=Q 42. Kd5 Rd2+ 43. Ke5 Qb5+ 44. Kxe4 Qd5+ 45. Kf4 g5+ 46. Kg3 Qg2#) 25. Na5 Qxa4 ( 25... e3 26. Nb3 exf2+ 27. Kh1 Re1 28. Qc1 Qd3 29. Nd2 Rxc1 30. h3 Qg3 31. Rxc1 Ne1 32. Rxe1 fxe1=Q+ 33. Nf1 Rxf1#) 26. Qd2 bxa5 (26... e3 27. Qd5+ Kh8 28. Nb3 e2 29. Nd2 Qf4 30. h3 e1=Q 31. Qd3 Qfxd2 32. Qxd2 Qxd2 33. Bb8 Re1 34. Bxc7 Rxf1+ 35. Kh2 Qxf2 36. Be5+ Kg8 37. Bh8 Kxh8 38. h4 Qxh4#) 27. Qd5+ $19 Rf7 28. Qc6 (28. h3 {no good, but what else?} Nb4 29. Qc4 $19) 28... Rd8 29. Rc1 Nd4 ( 29... e3 30. Bxe3 Nxe3 31. h3 Rd1+ 32. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 33. Kh2 Nf1+ 34. Kg1 Qe1 35. Qa8+ Kg7 36. Qa7 Ng3+ 37. Kh2 Ne2 38. f4 Qg3+ 39. Kh1 Rxf4 40. Qxc7+ Kh6 41. Qc1 Nxc1 42. Kg1 Ne2+ 43. Kh1 Rf1#) 30. Qxe4 $19 Rf4 $1 {Deflection: e2} 31. Qe7 (31. Qxf4 Ne2+ {Mate attack Deflection}) 31... Rdf8 (31... Nc6 $142 { makes it even easier for Black} 32. Qe6+ Rf7 $19) 32. Bxd4 (32. Qe5 {is still a small chance} Qa3 33. Qd5+ R8f7 34. Qd8+ Qf8 35. Qxf8+ Rxf8 36. Ra1 $19) 32... Qxd4 33. Qe6+ Kg7 34. Rxc7+ (34. Qe7+ {hardly improves anything} R8f7 35. Qe3 Qxe3 36. fxe3 Rf1+ 37. Rxf1 Rxf1+ 38. Kxf1 a4 39. g3 a3 40. Ke2 Kf6 41. h3 a2 42. b6 cxb6 43. h4 a1=Q 44. Kd3 Ke5 45. g4 Qb2 46. h5 Qb3+ 47. Ke2 Ke4 48. Kf2 Qd1 49. g5 Qf3+ 50. Kg1 Qg3+ 51. Kf1 Kxe3 52. h6 Qf2#) 34... R8f7 (34... Kh8 35. h3 Rxf2 36. Qg4 Rxg2+ 37. Kxg2 Qf2+ 38. Kh1 Qf1+ 39. Kh2 Rf2+ 40. Kg3 Rg2+ 41. Kh4 Qf6+ 42. Qg5 Qxg5#) 35. Rxf7+ Rxf7 36. Qe1 (36. h4 {is not much help} Qxf2+ 37. Kh2 Qxh4+ 38. Kg1 Re7 39. Qh3 Qxh3 40. gxh3 a4 41. Kf2 a3 42. h4 a2 43. h5 a1=Q 44. b6 Qe1+ 45. Kg2 Re2+ 46. Kh3 Qf1+ 47. Kh4 Qf4+ 48. Kh3 Rh2#) 36... a4 37. h3 (37. Qe2 {does not win a prize} Qa1+ 38. Qf1 Qxf1+ 39. Kxf1 a3 40. f3 a2 41. Kf2 a1=Q 42. h4 Qe5 43. h5 Rd7 44. h6+ Kxh6 45. f4 Qxf4+ 46. Ke1 Qe3+ 47. Kf1 Rd1#) 37... a3 38. Qe2 (38. b6 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} a2 39. Kh2 a1=Q 40. Qxa1 Qxa1 41. b7 Rxb7 42. g4 Rb2 43. Kg3 Qe1 44. Kf3 Rxf2+ 45. Kg3 Rf1+ 46. Kg2 Qf2#) 38... Qb2 (38... Qb2 39. Qxb2+ axb2 40. f3 b1=Q+ 41. Kh2 Qe1 42. b6 Qe5+ 43. f4 Qxf4+ 44. Kg1 Re7 45. g3 Qxg3+ 46. Kf1 Re1#) 0-1

C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.O-O d6 5.c3 Bg4)

This one was played in the first round of the Roy Lopez Classical Tournament. And yes, the tournament was named liked this and not Ruy Lopez Classical Tournament as one might have thought. This game ended June 8th 2015 and it was also my last game in the tournament because I finished third in my group and only the winner of the group advanced to the next round. This tournament started on September 7th 2014, so it is going to be most likely taking over a year to finish the tournament, especially because not all the games start at the same time. You need to finish your first game against your opponent before you get to play the second game with reversed colors. If my opponent had won or drawn this game, he would have advanced to the second round.

While this was recognized as theory by Deep Fritz 14's classify opening function, this is not a line anyone should play. Up to the move 5.c3 it is okay, but the move 5...Bg4 is a horrible blunder that should lose the game. The problem with the move 5...Bg4 is that it does not help to prevent the d-pawn's advance. I could have played 6.d4 and my opponent would have lost a piece no matter how dgrish would have replied. The square d4 was well enough protected despite the pin on my knight and when the bishop is driven away from c5, the pawn's advance d4 to d5 will win a piece if the bishop went to b6 immediately that is.

Even though I had seen similar pawn advances before this game, for some reason I totally missed it at this time and played the silly 6.h3 instead. Luckily for me, I got another chance to play d4 because dgrish blundered a second time in a row and moved the bishop to h5. Had my opponent taken on f3, the position would have been fine for both sides. I did not miss my second chance and played 7.d4. After that the game was completely in my control and I had a winning advantage from this point on to the last move played in the game. My opponent tried to resist the inevitable as best he or she could and had a few moments where I could have gone wrong and end up being mated, but I was able to avoid all the tricks and emerge victorious from this game.

[Event "Roy Lopez Classical Tournament - Round"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.01.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "dgrish"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1916"] [BlackElo "1824"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "107"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Thematic Game - This is the starting position. Spanish Game: Classical Variation.} 4. O-O d6 (4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) 5. c3 Bg4 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} 6. h3 Bh5 7. d4 (7. Re1 a6 8. Ba4 b5 9. Bc2 Nf6 10. d3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Rc8 12. Nf1 Re8 13. Ng3 Bg6 14. Be3 Bxe3 15. fxe3 d5 16. exd5 Nxd5 17. e4 Nf4 18. Qd2 Qd6 19. Rad1 b4 20. Ba4 bxc3 21. Qxc3 Nb4 {Fertakis,D (1064)-Tsouchnikas,G (1046) Porto Rio 2016 0-1 (40)}) 7... Bb6 $2 $146 (7... exd4 8. cxd4 Bb4 (8... Bb6 9. d5 a6 10. Ba4 Qd7 11. dxc6 bxc6 12. Nc3 Nf6 13. Nd5 O-O 14. Nxf6+ gxf6 15. Bh6 Rfe8 16. Bc2 Kh8 17. Be3 Rg8 18. Kh2 Rxg2+ 19. Kxg2 Rg8+ 20. Kh2 Bg4 21. Rg1 d5 22. Bxb6 Qd6+ 23. Rg3 {Franssen, M-Tontheon playchess.com INT 2004 0-1}) 9. Bd2 Bxd2 10. Nbxd2 a6 11. Ba4 b5 12. Qc2 Qd7 13. Bb3 Nf6 14. Rfe1 O-O 15. Rac1 Ne7 16. Qxc7 Rfd8 17. e5 dxe5 18. Rxe5 Bxf3 19. Rxe7 Qxc7 20. Rcxc7 Bh5 21. g4 Bg6 22. Nf3 { Schock,K (1363) -Maier,M (1173) Deizisau 2002 1/2-1/2 (61)}) (7... Bxf3 8. Qxf3 exd4 9. e5 Qd7 10. exd6 cxd6 11. Qe4+ Nge7 12. cxd4 d5 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. Qe3 Bd6 15. Nc3 O-O 16. Qf3 Ng6 17. Ne2 Rfe8 18. Nf4 Nxf4 19. Bxf4 Bxf4 20. Qxf4 Re4 21. Qd2 Rae8 22. Rfe1 {Szwajkowska,K (1321)-Godek,M (1373) Solina 2012 1/ 2-1/2 (50)}) (7... Bxf3 $142 8. gxf3 Bb6 $18) 8. d5 a6 9. Ba4 (9. dxc6 $6 { is the less attractive alternative} axb5 10. cxb7 Rb8 $14) 9... Nge7 10. dxc6 bxc6 11. Bg5 (11. Nbd2 {seems even better} O-O $18) 11... f6 12. Bh4 O-O 13. Qd3 Bg6 14. Nbd2 d5 15. Qe2 Kh8 16. Rad1 Qc8 (16... Rb8 17. g4 $18 (17. Qxa6 { is a useless try} Ra8 18. Qe2 Rxa4 $17)) 17. Bc2 (17. Nxe5 {makes it even easier for White} Qe8 18. Nxg6+ Nxg6 $18) 17... Bf7 (17... Qd7 18. c4 $18) 18. Nb3 (18. Nxe5 $142 {secures victory} Be6 19. Nef3 $18) 18... Ng6 19. Bg3 Be6 ( 19... a5 20. Rfe1 $18) 20. Kh2 (20. c4 {might be the shorter path} dxc4 21. Nbd2 c3 22. bxc3 a5 $18) 20... a5 21. a4 Qe8 22. Nbd2 Nf4 (22... Qe7 23. Nh4 Nxh4 24. Bxh4 $18) 23. Bxf4 exf4 24. exd5 (24. Rfe1 {keeps an even firmer grip} Bf7 $18) 24... cxd5 25. Qd3 Qh5 26. Nd4 Bf7 27. N2f3 c5 28. Nb5 g5 29. Ng1 (29. Qd2 $5 {and White can already relax} Rad8 $18) 29... Rad8 30. Qe2 (30. Rfe1 { keeps an even firmer grip} d4 31. Qf3 Qxf3 32. Nxf3 Kg8 $18) 30... Qh6 (30... Qxe2 31. Nxe2 Rfe8 32. Ng1 $18) 31. Bf5 Bh5 (31... Rfe8 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 32. Qc2 $18) 32. Bg4 (32. Qe6 $142 $5 {and White can already relax } Rb8 33. Nf3 d4 34. cxd4 cxd4 35. Nbxd4 Qg7 $18) 32... Bxg4 33. Qxg4 f5 34. Qe2 Rfe8 35. Qc2 Re5 (35... Qf6 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 36. Rfe1 Re4 37. Rxe4 dxe4 38. Ne2 $18) 36. Rfe1 Rde8 (36... Rxe1 {what else?} 37. Rxe1 Qf6 $18) 37. Rxe5 Rxe5 38. Nf3 Re4 39. Rxd5 g4 40. Ng1 (40. Rxf5 $142 { makes it even easier for White} g3+ 41. fxg3 fxg3+ 42. Kxg3 Qg6+ 43. Ng5 Qxf5 44. Nxe4 Qe5+ 45. Kg4 Qe6+ 46. Kf3 Qf5+ 47. Ke2 Qg6 $18) 40... c4 (40... g3+ { hardly improves anything} 41. Kh1 c4 42. Nd4 $18) 41. Nd4 g3+ (41... Qg6 { does not win a prize} 42. Rxf5 g3+ 43. Kh1 $18) 42. fxg3 fxg3+ 43. Kh1 Qe3 44. Rxf5 Qe1 (44... Rf4 {doesn't change anything anymore} 45. Rxf4 Qxf4 46. Ngf3 $18) 45. Rf7 (45. Rf1 Qe3 46. Rf8+ Kg7 47. Nf5+ Kxf8 48. Nxe3 Rxe3 49. Qxh7 Re6 $18) 45... Kg8 46. Rf3 h5 (46... Re5 {a last effort to resist the inevitable} 47. b3 Rg5 $18) 47. Nde2 Bxg1 48. Rxg3+ Rg4 49. hxg4 Bf2+ 50. Kh2 Bxg3+ 51. Nxg3 h4 (51... hxg4 {doesn't do any good} 52. Qg6+ Kf8 53. Qxg4 Qe7 54. Qf4+ Kg8 55. Nf5 Qe2 56. Qg4+ Qxg4 57. Nh6+ Kg7 58. Nxg4 Kg6 59. Ne5+ Kf5 60. Nc6 Ke4 61. Nxa5 Kd3 62. g4 Kc2 63. Nxc4 Kb1 64. g5 Ka2 65. g6 Kb3 66. a5 Kxc4 67. a6 Kb3 68. a7 Ka2 69. g7 Ka1 70. a8=Q+ Kb1 71. g8=Q Kc2 72. Qa4+ Kb1 73. Qd1+ Kxb2 74. Qgb3#) 52. Qg6+ Kf8 53. Nf5 (53. Qd6+ Qe7 54. Qxe7+ Kxe7 55. Nf5+ Kf8 56. Kh3 Kf7 57. Kxh4 Ke6 58. Nd4+ Kd5 59. g5 Ke5 60. Kh5 Kd6 61. g6 Ke7 62. Kg5 Ke8 63. g7 Kf7 64. Nf5 Ke6 65. g8=Q+ Kd7 66. Qxc4 Ke8 67. Kf6 Kd7 68. Ne7 Ke8 69. Qc8#) 53... Qe5+ 54. Kh3 (54. Kh3 Qxc3+ 55. Kxh4 Qe1+ 56. Kh5 Qh1+ 57. Nh4 c3 58. bxc3 Ke7 59. g5 Qd1+ 60. g4 Qxa4 61. Nf5+ Kd8 62. Qb6+ Kd7 63. Qb7+ Ke6 64. g6 Ke5 65. Qe7+ Kd5 66. g7 Kc4 67. g8=Q+ Kxc3 68. Qe1+ Kb2 69. Qg7+ Qd4 70. Qxd4+ Kb3 71. Qec3+ Ka2 72. Qb2#) 1-0

C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.O-O Nge7 5.Nc3)

The game below was played in the 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen II tournament that was held at Red Hot Pawn. This is still the most successful tournament I have played at the site and I think my next tournament win there if there ever will be a second one, will be far in the future. With the way I play these days, I am not that confident of my abilities to win a game or even a tournament. That being said, my results have been a bit better lately in correspondence chess, though it may be only due to the fact that my opponents have been lower rated on average compared to the time not so long ago when I lost almost every game.

While some inaccurate moves were played before the move 11.c4, it is the 11th move by my opponent that made a real weakness in Diapason's position. Moving the pawn to c4 allowed me to control the square d4 dominantly. The move hardly lost the game, but it made playing the game more difficult for my opponent.

The game went further down the drain for Diapason, when my opponent played 15.d3. After that move the engine thinks that White is quite lost or at least very close to being lost. The strongest reply seems to be 15...Bh5, though I would prefer 15...Qf7 with the idea of increasing the pressure towards White's pinned knight and perhaps winning some material as well.

Diaposon's position quickly fell apart completely, the clearest losing blunder being 17.g3, after which it was crystal clear that I was on my way to win the game, which I was able to do by checkmating my opponent on move 20.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Diapason"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1514"] [BlackElo "1827"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "40"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O Nge7 (4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) 5. Nc3 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} a6 {Black threatens to win material: a6xb5} 6. Bd3 $146 (6. Ba4 Ba7 (6... d6 7. d3 h6 8. Be3 Ba7 9. Bxa7 Rxa7 10. d4 Bd7 11. d5 Na5 12. Bxd7+ Qxd7 13. Nd2 b6 14. f4 c6 15. fxe5 dxe5 16. b4 Nb7 17. Nc4 cxd5 18. exd5 Qc7 19. Qd3 b5 20. Nb2 O-O 21. Rf3 {Apaza,J-Perez,J Cochabamba 2015 0-1 (43)}) 7. d3 O-O 8. Bg5 f6 9. Be3 Kh8 10. Bxa7 Nxa7 11. d4 d6 12. Ne2 Bg4 13. Qd3 b5 14. Bb3 Nac6 15. a3 Na5 16. Ba2 c5 17. b4 c4 18. Qe3 Nac6 19. d5 Nb8 20. h3 Bh5 {Reinup,H (1433)-Stuhr,F (1740) Shrivenham 2016 0-1 (46)}) (6. Bc4 b5 (6... O-O 7. Ng5 Qe8 8. Qh5 h6 9. Nxf7 Rxf7 10. Bxf7+ Qxf7 11. Qxf7+ Kxf7 12. d3 b5 13. Be3 Bd4 14. Nd1 Bb7 15. c3 Bxe3 16. Nxe3 Rf8 17. f3 Kg8 18. Kh1 Ng6 19. Rg1 Nce7 20. h3 Nf4 21. Kh2 {Duriez,A-Stotskaja,E Rimavska Sobota 1992 1-0 (38)}) 7. Bb3 d6 8. Ng5 d5 9. Nxd5 Nxd5 10. Bxd5 Qxg5 11. Bxc6+ Bd7 12. Bxd7+ Kxd7 13. d4 Qg6 14. dxc5+ Ke7 15. Qf3 Qc6 16. Be3 b4 17. Rfd1 a5 18. Rd5 f6 19. Rad1 Rhd8 20. Rxd8 Rxd8 {Pecha,T (2212)-Maracek,I (2103) Slovakia 2013 1-0 (34)}) ( 6. Bxc6 $5 Nxc6 7. Nxe5 Nxe5 8. d4 $14) 6... O-O 7. a3 {Covers b4} d6 8. b4 { White threatens to win material: b4xc5} (8. Bc4 b5 9. Ba2 Bg4 $11) 8... Ba7 $15 9. Nd5 (9. Bc4 b5 10. Ba2 Nd4 11. Nxd4 Bxd4 $15) 9... Be6 (9... Nxd5 10. exd5 Ne7 11. c4 $15) 10. Nxe7+ (10. Bc4 Bxd5 11. Bxd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 Nd4 $11) 10... Qxe7 11. c4 (11. c3 f5 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Bxf5 Rxf5 $11) 11... Nd4 12. Bb2 Bg4 13. Be2 Nxe2+ 14. Qxe2 f5 15. d3 (15. c5 fxe4 16. Qxe4 Bxf3 17. gxf3 Qg5+ 18. Kh1 Qxd2 $15) 15... Qf6 (15... Qf7 16. Rae1 $17) 16. h3 (16. c5 Qg6 $17) 16... Bh5 17. g3 $4 {the position was bad, and this mistake simply hastens the end} ( 17. c5 $142 $19) 17... fxe4 18. dxe4 Bxf3 19. Qd3 (19. Qe1 {is not much help} Bg2 20. Qe2 Bxh3 $19) 19... Qg6 20. Bc1 (20. c5 {desperation} Bxe4 21. Qc4+ d5 22. Qe2 $19) 20... Qxg3# 0-1

C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3)

The game below was played at Red Hot Pawn in a tournament called 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen II. This tournament is still the only one I have been able to win at the site. The tournament consisted of 21 players and every player faced each other twice, one with both colors. All games started at the same time, so this tournament added my game count by 40 games. I gathered 112 points from those games. I won the tournament with only a 2 point difference to the player who finished second. Player who was 3rd in the final standings gathered 22 points less than me. A couple of small mistakes early on made by Dadnay gave me a clear advantage. The first one coming as early as move six. Dadnay's 6th move c4 was a mistake because it weakens the control of the dark squares, especially the square d4. It also does not help with development, so it was a waste of time.

While the position might be slightly favorable for me after Dadnay's 6th, a draw was still the most likely result. My opponent's position transitioned from bad to worse on move 9 and soon after that collapsed completely to a lost position. Dadnay played 9.g4, a risky pawn advance in a position which my opponent only had only one developed piece on the board.

The game continued with the moves 9...Bf7 10.Nc3 Ne7 and then Dadnay continued the g-pawn's advance, which really would have thrown the game away, had I replied with 11...Bh5, for instance. I played 11...Ng6 instead, which was a decent move, but much weaker than moving the bishop to h5 or castling. Dadnay's next move, Be3, was the final nail in the coffin because I just took the bishop, doubling the pawns on the e-file and won the pawn on g5. I had a solid position and much safer king. I continued my dominance the remainder of the game and my opponent finally decided to resign after I won my third pawn on move 41.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Dadnay"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1390"] [BlackElo "1814"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "82"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. Bxc6 (4. c3 Bb6 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Charousek Variation}) (4. O-O Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) 4... dxc6 5. d3 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6 } f6 6. c4 $146 {White has a new backward pawn: d3} (6. Be3 Bd6 (6... Bb6 7. Bxb6 cxb6 8. Nbd2 Bg4 9. O-O Ne7 10. h3 Bh5 11. Qe1 O-O 12. Qe3 Ng6 13. g4 Bxg4 14. hxg4 a5 15. Nc4 b5 16. Ncd2 Qc8 17. Nh2 Nf4 18. Rfe1 Rd8 19. b3 c5 20. a3 a4 21. Reb1 {Conradie,D (997)-Huisamen,B (1034) Bloemfontein 2016 0-1 (35)}) 7. O-O (7. Nc3 c5 8. Nd2 Be6 9. Qh5+ g6 10. Qe2 Qd7 11. a4 Ne7 12. Nc4 Nc6 13. Nb5 Nd4 14. Bxd4 cxd4 15. Nbxd6+ cxd6 16. b3 O-O 17. O-O g5 18. a5 Rac8 19. Qd2 Kh8 20. Qb4 Rfd8 21. Rfe1 d5 {Anton Guijarro,D (2627)-Vahidov,T (2435) Almaty 2016 1-0 (43)}) 7... Bg4 8. Nbd2 Ne7 9. Re1 c5 10. Nf1 Qd7 11. Ng3 h5 12. h3 h4 13. Nf1 Bh5 14. N1h2 g5 15. Qe2 O-O-O 16. Qf1 Rdg8 17. Kh1 Ng6 18. Ng1 g4 19. hxg4 Bxg4 20. Nxg4 Qxg4 {Woehl,E-Saemisch,F Berlin 1920 0-1 (37)}) (6. Nbd2 Ne7 7. Nc4 O-O 8. Be3 Bd6 9. h3 f5 10. exf5 Nxf5 11. Qe2 Qf6 12. Ncd2 Be6 13. Ne4 Qg6 14. Nfg5 Bd5 15. Rg1 h6 16. Nf3 Be6 17. g4 Ne7 18. Nfd2 Nd5 19. O-O-O Nf4 20. Bxf4 exf4 {Valencia,C (1933)-Salazar, A (1581) Florencia 2013 1-0}) (6. O-O Ne7 $11) 6... Bg4 $15 7. h3 {White threatens to win material: h3xg4} Bh5 8. a3 { Prevents intrusion on b4} a5 9. g4 (9. O-O $5 $15) 9... Bf7 $17 10. Nc3 Ne7 ( 10... Qd6 $142 $17) 11. g5 $4 (11. Be3 $5 {is worthy of consideration} Bxe3 12. fxe3 $15) 11... Ng6 (11... Bh5 {and Black can already relax} 12. gxf6 Rf8 13. Bg5 $19) 12. Be3 $2 (12. Na4 $142 $5 Ba7 13. h4 $17) 12... Bxe3 $19 13. fxe3 fxg5 14. Rg1 h6 15. c5 $6 {doesn't do very much to defend the position} (15. h4 gxh4 16. Qe2 Qe7 $19) 15... Qd7 (15... Qe7 {makes it even easier for Black} 16. Qe2 O-O 17. d4 $19) 16. Rg3 (16. h4 g4 17. h5 gxf3 18. hxg6 Be6 $19) 16... O-O 17. d4 (17. Qe2 {is not the saving move} Rad8 $19) 17... Rae8 18. b4 (18. Qc2 { does not solve anything} exd4 19. exd4 Nh4 $19) 18... axb4 19. axb4 exd4 20. Qxd4 (20. Qd3 $19 {doesn't get the cat off the tree}) 20... Be6 (20... Qe7 { might be the shorter path} 21. Nb1 Rd8 22. Qc3 Qxe4 23. Nbd2 $19) 21. O-O-O ( 21. Qxd7 Bxd7 22. Ra4 $19) 21... Qe7 22. Ne5 (22. Qd3 $19 {no good, but what else?}) 22... Nxe5 23. Qxe5 Bb3 (23... Rf2 $142 {finishes off the opponent} 24. Qd4 Qf7 $19) 24. Qxe7 Rxe7 25. Rdg1 Rf2 26. R3g2 Ref7 27. e5 (27. b5 {doesn't improve anything} R2f3 $19) 27... R2f3 (27... R7f3 {seems even better} 28. Rxf2 Rxf2 29. Ne4 Rc2+ 30. Kb1 $19) 28. Rg3 Kf8 (28... Rxg3 {keeps an even firmer grip} 29. Rxg3 Rf2 30. e4 Rc2+ 31. Kb1 $19) 29. Kb2 (29. Ne2 {does not help much} Rf2 30. R1g2 Bd5 31. Rxf2 Rxf2 $19) 29... Be6 30. Ne4 (30. Kc1 {does not improve anything} Bxh3 31. Ne2 Rxg3 32. Rxg3 Bd7 $19) 30... Bxh3 31. Nf6 (31. Kc3 $19 {there is nothing else anyway}) 31... Rxg3 (31... gxf6 $6 {is impossible} 32. Rxf3 g4 33. Rf5 fxe5 34. Rh5 $11) 32. Rxg3 gxf6 33. Rxh3 Kg7 34. exf6+ (34. e6 {the only chance to get some counterplay} Re7 35. Kc3 $19) 34... Rxf6 35. Kc3 Kg6 36. Kd4 Re6 (36... g4 $142 {makes sure everything is clear} 37. Rh2 Kg5 38. e4 $19) 37. e4 h5 38. e5 g4 39. Re3 Kf5 40. Re4 h4 41. b5 cxb5 (41... cxb5 42. Re1 g3 43. c6 bxc6 44. Rf1+ Kg5 45. Ra1 h3 46. Ke4 Kg4 47. Ra8 Rg6 48. Rf8 g2 49. Rf4+ Kg5 50. Rf2 g1=Q 51. Rf5+ Kh4 52. Rf4+ Rg4 53. Kf5 Rxf4+ 54. Kxf4 Qg4+ 55. Ke3 h2 56. e6 h1=Q 57. e7 Qc1+ 58. Kd3 Qgc4#) 0-1

C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.O-O Nge7 5.c3 Bb6)

The first game was played in the 2014 September Octet I 1700-1800 tournament at Red Hot Pawn. The tournament started September 10th, 2014. I was 2nd in the final standings and I was able to gather 31 points in 14 games. Win awarded 3 points and 1 point was given for a draw. This relatively short game featured 4 horrible moves, the first of which was played by me on move 14. I moved my knight to b4, which may not seem so bad at first, but then you see the move 15.a5 and notice the bad placement of pieces and realize that Black loses material by force. If the bishop moves to a7, then 16.Qa4 Qd6 17.Ne4 Bb5 18.Nxd6 Bxa4 19.Rxa4 Nc2 20.Nxb7 Nxe1 21.Nxe1. Other alternative moves are possible, but it would seem there is no way to save Black's position and prevent material loss.

In the game peterh played 15.Nd2 and I could breath more easily. The game continued evenly only for the duration of the moves 15...Bd3 16.Nf3 Bf5. Then peterh blundered with the move 17.Rc1, which did not help my opponent at all because it does not prevent the knight fork, it only changed the square from which it happened. Instead of the move 17.Rc1 that lost the game, peterh should have played 17.a5 or perhaps even 17.Bg5 in order to stay in the game.

Game number two. This is taken from the 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen II tournament. This was my first and so far my only tournament victory at Red Hot Pawn. I won all my 20 games when I controlled the black pieces, when I controlled the white pieces, I won 17 games, drew 1 and lost 2 games. The key moment in the game came to the board quite early in the game. Apsol's 9th move, e5, was a blunder from which my opponent could not recover.

It enabled me to play 9...Bg4 in reply, which either wins a pawn or ruins the kingside pawn structure. In the game I was able to do both and therefore I gained a winning advantage. We continued the game quite long despite of my clearly winning advantage. When I was able to get 4 pawns ahead in material on move 28, my opponent resigned.

Game number three. This was my third game in a row against this same opponent. Interestingly all these three games were won by the player with the black pieces. After this game I had played 35 rapid games with a rating of 1700 or above, so I was still missing 15 games from the Arena International Master title. I was very optimistic at this point in time that I could easily get those required games without my rating dropping below the rating requirement. My confidence was boosted by the fact that my opponent seemed to play much too quickly considering that this was a 15 minute game. Not only in this game, but also in our previous encounters, probably for that reason we ended up playing four games against each other. Had the games taken their full duration, I might have not played beyond game two. In this game, for instance, Hermie used only 44 seconds for the full game while I used 1 minute and 14 seconds out of the 15 minutes... Despite of the fast pace, the twelve first moves were played rather well by both players.

It was the unfortunate bishop move on move 13 that lost Hermie Cagatin the game. Hermie moved the bishop to e3, allowing me to ruin the kingside pawn structure with 13...Nxf3+. After that the game quickly ended with the moves 14.gxf3 Bh3 and now 15.Bxa7 making my job of winning the game much easier because I had a forced mate, starting with the move 15...Qxg5+. My 15th move was also the last move played in the game.

[Event "Octet"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.09.10"] [Round "1"] [White "peterh"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1636"] [BlackElo "1844"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "36"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O Nge7 (4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) 5. c3 Bb6 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} 6. a4 $146 (6. Na3 O-O 7. Nc4 d5 8. exd5 (8. Nxb6 axb6 9. d3 Bg4 10. h3 Bh5 11. g4 (11. Qe2 Qd6 12. g4 Bg6 13. Nh4 Qc5 14. Bxc6 Qxc6 15. Nf5 Rfe8 16. Re1 f6 17. Kh2 Bf7 18. g5 dxe4 19. dxe4 Nxf5 20. exf5 fxg5 21. Bxg5 Qd7 22. Qg4 h5 23. Qf3 Bd5 24. Rad1 e4 25. Qf4 Qf7 {Szabo, L-Florian,T Hungary 1972 1-0}) 11... Bg6 12. Qe2 f6 13. Nh4 Bf7 14. g5 Qd6 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. f4 fxg5 17. fxg5 Be6 18. Rxf8+ Rxf8 19. Kh2 dxe4 20. dxe4 Qd7 21. Be3 Bxh3 22. Rd1 Qc8 {Kuijf,M (2470)-Welling,G (2360) Wijk aan Zee 1987 1/2-1/2 (43)}) 8... Qxd5 9. Nxb6 axb6 10. Ba4 Bg4 11. Bb3 Qd6 12. Qe2 Qg6 13. Qe3 Nf5 14. Nxe5 Nxe5 15. Qxe5 Rfe8 16. Qf4 Be2 17. Bc2 Bxf1 18. Kxf1 Qe6 19. g3 Nd4 20. cxd4 {0-1 (20) Guarini,C-Hellmann,E Trieste 1923}) (6. Re1 O-O 7. h3 d5 8. d3 d4 9. cxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 Bxd4 11. Bc4 Ng6 12. Nd2 Nf4 13. Nf3 Ne6 14. Rb1 c6 15. Nxd4 Nxd4 16. Be3 b5 17. Bxd4 Qxd4 18. Bb3 a5 19. a3 Ra7 20. Qc2 Rc7 {Vladyka,V (2074)-Nagel, G (1880) Leutersdorf 2003 1/2-1/2}) (6. b4 d6 7. a4 a5 8. bxa5 Bxa5 9. Na3 O-O 10. Nc4 Be6 11. Ra3 h6 12. d4 Bxc4 13. Bxc4 exd4 14. cxd4 d5 15. exd5 Nxd5 16. Ne5 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Nb6 18. Qg4 Bd2 19. Rg3 Bg5 20. Bb3 Kh8 {Sardarov,E-Naftalin, S Tbilisi 1957 1-0 (41)}) 6... a6 {Black threatens to win material: a6xb5} 7. Bc4 O-O 8. d4 (8. d3 h6 $11) 8... exd4 9. cxd4 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nc3 { White threatens to win material: Nc3xd5} Be6 12. Bxd5 (12. Bg5 Qd7 $15) 12... Bxd5 $15 13. Be3 Bc4 {The pressure on the isolated pawn grows. Black threatens to win material: Bc4xf1} (13... Re8 14. Ne5 $15) 14. Re1 $11 Nb4 $4 {Black is ruining his position} (14... Ba5 15. Nd2 Bd5 16. Nb3 $11) 15. Nd2 $4 {White threatens to win material: Nd2xc4. allows the opponent back into the game} (15. a5 $142 {and White could have gained the advantage} Ba7 16. Qa4 $18) 15... Bd3 16. Nf3 Bf5 (16... a5 $142 $15) 17. Rc1 $4 (17. a5 $142 {had to be tried to avoid defeat} Ba7 18. d5 $11) 17... Nd3 $19 18. Rb1 $2 (18. b4 $19) 18... Nxe1 (18... Nxe1 19. Qxe1 Bxb1 20. Qxb1 Qd6 $19) 0-1 [Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "apsol"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1598"] [BlackElo "1844"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O Nge7 (4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) 5. c3 Bb6 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} 6. Re1 O-O 7. d4 exd4 8. cxd4 d5 9. e5 Bg4 10. Be3 Bxf3 $146 (10... f6 11. Bxc6 Nxc6 12. exf6 Qxf6 13. Nbd2 Bxd4 14. Qb3 Bxe3 15. Rxe3 Rae8 16. Qxd5+ Kh8 17. Qb3 Rxe3 18. fxe3 Qe6 19. Qxe6 Bxe6 20. Ng5 Bg4 21. h3 h6 22. Nge4 Bh5 23. Nc5 b6 24. Ncb3 Re8 25. Rc1 {Rozman,M (1689) -Ursic,J (1910) Sentjur 2005 1-0 (64)}) (10... Nf5 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. h3 Bxf3 13. gxf3 Qh4 14. Kh2 Bxd4 15. Bxd4 Qxd4 16. Qd2 Rab8 17. Re2 Rfe8 18. f4 Rb4 19. Nc3 Qxf4+ 20. Qxf4 Rxf4 21. Rae1 Nd4 22. Kg3 Nxe2+ 23. Nxe2 Re4 24. f4 f6 {0-1 (24) Sebastian Enesco,A-Lopez Paniego,N (2011) Padrun 2008}) 11. gxf3 Nf5 12. Nc3 $2 (12. Bxc6 $142 bxc6 13. Qd3 $19) 12... Ncxd4 13. Bxd4 (13. Kh1 c6 14. Bd3 Qh4 $19) 13... Nxd4 (13... Bxd4 $6 14. f4 Qh4 15. Qf3 $19) 14. Bf1 c6 15. f4 Qh4 16. Bg2 Qxf4 17. Qd3 Rae8 (17... Ne6 {seems even better} 18. Qg3 $19) 18. Rad1 (18. Ne2 {hardly improves anything} Qg4 19. Nxd4 Bxd4 $19 (19... Qxd4 $6 20. Qxd4 Bxd4 21. Rad1 Rxe5 22. Rxe5 Bxe5 23. Bf3 $19)) 18... Rxe5 19. Rxe5 Qxe5 20. Kf1 (20. Qg3 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} Qf6 $19) 20... Re8 21. Qg3 Qxg3 (21... Qe7 $142 {secures victory} 22. Qf4 g6 23. Bh3 $19) 22. hxg3 (22. fxg3 $4 Nc2 23. Bf3 Ne3+ 24. Ke1 Nxd1+ 25. Kxd1 Bd4 $19) 22... Re6 23. Bh3 Rf6 24. Kg2 Kf8 25. Bc8 Ne6 (25... Nf5 $142 {might be the shorter path} 26. Bxb7 Bxf2 27. Kxf2 Nd6+ 28. Ke2 Nxb7 $19) 26. Bxb7 (26. f4 g5 27. Ne2 $19) 26... Nd8 (26... Rxf2+ $5 {keeps an even firmer grip} 27. Kh1 Rxb2 28. Bxc6 $19) 27. Ba6 Rxf2+ 28. Kh3 (28. Kh1 {cannot change what is in store for White} Rxb2 29. Rc1 Ne6 $19) 28... Rxb2 0-1 [Event "Challenge 35774953"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.12.08"] [Round "1"] [White "Cagatin, Hermie"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1753"] [BlackElo "1760"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "30"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O Nge7 (4... Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) (4... Nd4 5. b4 {Spanish Game: Classical Defense: Zaitsev Variation}) 5. c3 Bb6 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4. O-O Nf6} 6. a4 $146 (6. Na3 O-O 7. Nc4 d5 8. exd5 (8. Nxb6 axb6 9. d3 Bg4 10. h3 Bh5 11. g4 (11. Qe2 Qd6 12. g4 Bg6 13. Nh4 Qc5 14. Bxc6 Qxc6 15. Nf5 Rfe8 16. Re1 f6 17. Kh2 Bf7 18. g5 dxe4 19. dxe4 Nxf5 20. exf5 fxg5 21. Bxg5 Qd7 22. Qg4 h5 23. Qf3 Bd5 24. Rad1 e4 25. Qf4 Qf7 {Szabo, L-Florian,T Hungary 1972 1-0 }) 11... Bg6 12. Qe2 f6 13. Nh4 Bf7 14. g5 Qd6 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. f4 fxg5 17. fxg5 Be6 18. Rxf8+ Rxf8 19. Kh2 dxe4 20. dxe4 Qd7 21. Be3 Bxh3 22. Rd1 Qc8 { Kuijf,M (2470)-Welling,G (2360) Wijk aan Zee 1987 1/2-1/2 (43)}) 8... Qxd5 9. Nxb6 axb6 10. Ba4 Bg4 11. Bb3 Qd6 12. Qe2 Qg6 13. Qe3 Nf5 14. Nxe5 Nxe5 15. Qxe5 Rfe8 16. Qf4 Be2 17. Bc2 Bxf1 18. Kxf1 Qe6 19. g3 Nd4 20. cxd4 {0-1 (20) Guarini,C-Hellmann,E Trieste 1923}) (6. Re1 O-O 7. h3 d5 8. d3 d4 9. cxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 Bxd4 11. Bc4 Ng6 12. Nd2 Nf4 13. Nf3 Ne6 14. Rb1 c6 15. Nxd4 Nxd4 16. Be3 b5 17. Bxd4 Qxd4 18. Bb3 a5 19. a3 Ra7 20. Qc2 Rc7 {Vladyka,V (2074)-Nagel, G (1880) Leutersdorf 2003 1/2-1/2}) (6. b4 d6 7. a4 a5 8. bxa5 Bxa5 9. Na3 O-O 10. Nc4 Be6 11. Ra3 h6 12. d4 Bxc4 13. Bxc4 exd4 14. cxd4 d5 15. exd5 Nxd5 16. Ne5 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Nb6 18. Qg4 Bd2 19. Rg3 Bg5 20. Bb3 Kh8 {Sardarov,E-Naftalin, S Tbilisi 1957 1-0 (41)}) (6. d4 Ng6 $14) 6... a6 $11 7. Bxc6 Nxc6 8. d4 exd4 9. cxd4 d6 {Secures e5} 10. Nc3 {White has an active position} (10. d5 Ne7 $11) 10... Bg4 11. d5 {White threatens to win material: d5xc6} Ne5 12. a5 Ba7 { White has an active position} 13. Be3 $4 {gives the opponent counterplay} (13. Qa4+ $142 {would keep White alive} Bd7 14. Qd1 $11) 13... Nxf3+ $19 14. gxf3 Bh3 15. Bxa7 $4 {the pressure is too much, White crumbles} (15. Qa4+ $142 Kf8 16. Kh1 Bxe3 17. fxe3 Bxf1 18. Rxf1 $19) 15... Qg5+ (15... Qg5+ 16. Kh1 Qg2#) ( 15... Rxa7 $6 {is easily refuted} 16. Ne2 Bxf1 17. Kxf1 $19) 0-1

C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.Nxe5)

This was played in the first round of the Roy Lopez Classical Tournament. In this tournament I was not able to go to the second round which is currently a good thing as I like to minimize the amount of games that are still ongoing. My opponent of this game not only won our group but also the tournament. I was 3rd in the final standings of the group consisting of six players. It did not take long for one of the players to make a horrible move, DEEPERGRAY'S 7th move was so a bad that it could meant a loss for my opponent.

In order to punish my opponent from the mistake, I needed to continue with the move 7...c6. I just happily castled, ignorant of my chance to get a winning advantage. That was actually the only moment in the game when one of the players could have taken a winning advantage. The rest of the game continued to be quite well played by both players up to the last move of the game 37...R8e6.

Game number two. This was played in the first round of a Ruy Lopez thematic tournament at Chess.com. The tournament has gone really well for me so far, I have won 33 games, four games ended in draws and no losses!! This is one of the tournaments that has the longest time controls you can get in tournaments at Chess.com, which is 14 days per move. I was the first player to mess up, I castled on move 8, which the engine thinks is a mistake.

Good replies to 8...O-O were 9.Kg1 and 9.d4. The reason why I had to play either 8...Ng6 or 8...d5 was that otherwise my knight at f6 will get pushed back to the awful square e8. Knights_23 played d3 instead and the position was roughly even once again. The equality lasted until knights_23 blundered with the move 15.Qxf4?

Taking with the queen was bad due to the reply 15...Qc5+ and the pawn on c2 was lost. The game quickly ended after that to my opponent's resignation.

[Event "Roy Lopez Classical Tournament - Round"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.09.07"] [Round "?"] [White "DEEPERGRAY"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1978"] [BlackElo "1914"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Thematic Game - This is the starting position. Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. Nxe5 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} (4. O-O Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 { Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) 4... Bxf2+ 5. Kxf2 Nxe5 6. Rf1 Nf6 {Black threatens to win material: Nf6xe4} (6... c6 7. Be2 d6 8. d4 Ng6 9. Kg1 N8e7 10. Bd3 O-O 11. Qh5 Be6 12. h3 Qd7 13. Nc3 f6 14. Bd2 Bf7 15. Qf3 c5 16. d5 Ne5 17. Qg3 Kh8 18. a4 Nxd3 19. cxd3 Ng6 20. Ne2 Rae8 21. Bc3 { De la Villa Garcia,J (2440)-Mayer,R (2235) Alcobendas 1993 1-0 (62)}) 7. Qe2 $4 $146 {a transit from better to worse} (7. Nc3 O-O 8. Kg1 c6 9. Be2 d5 10. d4 Ng6 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. exd5 cxd5 14. Qd2 Kg7 15. Bf3 Be6 16. Rae1 Qd6 17. Qf2 Rad8 18. Be2 Bc8 19. Bf3 Be6 20. Be2 Bc8 21. Bd3 a6 {Schwab,P-Talmon,T Germany 1998 1-0 (58)}) (7. Kg1 c6 8. Be2 (8. Ba4 d5 9. exd5 O-O 10. d4 { 1/2-1/2 (10) Taistra,E-Feige,M Gruenheide 1997}) 8... Qb6+ 9. d4 d6 10. Kh1 Nxe4 11. dxe5 Nf2+ 12. Rxf2 Qxf2 13. exd6 Bf5 14. Nc3 Bxc2 15. d7+ Kd8 16. Bg5+ f6 17. Qxc2 fxg5 18. Rf1 Qh4 19. Qf5 Kc7 20. Qe5+ Kb6 21. b3 a6 {Metev,M (2004) -Le Borgne,R (1707) Sofia 2015 1-0}) (7. Kg1 c6 8. Ba4 d6 $16) 7... O-O $4 { Black lets it slip away} (7... c6 $142 $5 8. Bd3 Qb6+ 9. Ke1 d5 $17) 8. Kg1 { White king safety improved} (8. d4 $5 {has some apparent merit} Ng6 9. Kg1 $11) 8... c6 $15 {Black threatens to win material: c6xb5} 9. Ba4 d6 (9... d5 10. exd5 Neg4 11. d4 Nxd5 12. h3 $15) 10. h3 {Secures g4} (10. d4 Bg4 11. Qe3 Ned7 $11) 10... Be6 (10... Qb6+ 11. Kh1 Qd4 12. Nc3 $15) 11. Bb3 $11 Re8 12. d4 { White threatens to win material: d4xe5} Ned7 13. Nc3 Bxb3 14. axb3 h6 { Consolidates g5} 15. Qf3 Qe7 16. Bd2 a6 {Controls b5} 17. Rae1 Qf8 18. Qg3 Kh7 (18... Re6 19. d5 cxd5 20. exd5 Rxe1 21. Rxe1 $11) 19. Qd3 (19. Rf5 Re6 $16) 19... Kh8 (19... Kg8 20. Bf4 $11) 20. Nd1 Re6 21. Bb4 c5 {Black threatens to win material: c5xb4} 22. Bc3 (22. d5 Rxe4 23. Rxe4 Nxe4 24. Qxe4 cxb4 25. Qxb4 b5 $11) 22... Rae8 23. Nf2 cxd4 24. Bxd4 Nc5 {Increasing the pressure on the isolated pawn on e4} 25. Bxc5 dxc5 26. Re2 Qe7 27. Rfe1 Qc7 28. Qf3 Kg8 (28... b5 29. Kh1 $15) 29. Nd3 $11 Nd7 30. Nf4 Re5 31. Nd5 {White threatens to win material: Nd5xc7} Qc6 32. c4 b5 33. Qd3 Nb6 34. Kf2 {White king safety dropped} Kf8 35. Re3 Nc8 36. Nc3 Nd6 37. Nd5 {An ideal square for the white knight.} R8e6 1/2-1/2 [Event "Ruy Lopez - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.10.10"] [Round "?"] [White "knights_23"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1418"] [BlackElo "1840"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "34"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {Thematic Game - This is the starting position.} Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. Nxe5 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} (4. b4 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Spanish Wing Gambit}) (4. c3 Bb6 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Charousek Variation} (4... d5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Konikowski Gambit})) 4... Bxf2+ 5. Kxf2 Nxe5 6. Rf1 c6 (6... Nf6 7. Kg1 c6 8. Be2 Qb6+ 9. d4 d6 10. Kh1 Nxe4 11. dxe5 Nf2+ 12. Rxf2 Qxf2 13. exd6 Bf5 14. Nc3 Bxc2 15. d7+ Kd8 16. Bg5+ f6 17. Qxc2 fxg5 18. Rf1 Qh4 19. Qf5 Kc7 20. Qe5+ Kb6 21. b3 {Metev,M (2004)-Le Borgne,R (1707) Sofia 2015 1-0}) 7. Be2 Nf6 $146 {Black threatens to win material: Nf6xe4} (7... d5 8. exd5 cxd5 9. Bb5+ Bd7 10. Bxd7+ Qxd7 11. Re1 Qd6 12. d4 Qb4 13. Nc3 f6 14. dxe5 fxe5 15. Qh5+ Kd8 16. Qxe5 Nf6 17. a3 Qa5 18. Qe7+ Kc8 19. Qxg7 Qd8 20. Qg3 Rf8 21. Kg1 Qb6+ 22. Kh1 {Moreno, A-Alshasmeary,D Linares 2007 0-1}) (7... d6 8. d4 Ng6 9. Kg1 N8e7 10. Bd3 O-O 11. Qh5 Be6 12. h3 Qd7 13. Nc3 f6 14. Bd2 Bf7 15. Qf3 c5 16. d5 Ne5 17. Qg3 Kh8 18. a4 Nxd3 19. cxd3 Ng6 20. Ne2 Rae8 21. Bc3 Bxd5 22. Nf4 {De la Villa Garcia, J (2440)-Mayer,R (2235) Alcobendas 1993 1-0 (62)}) (7... Qh4+ 8. Kg1 Qe7 9. d4 Ng6 10. Nc3 b5 11. e5 d5 12. exd6 Qxd6 13. Ne4 Qd8 14. Nc5 N8e7 15. Bf3 O-O 16. Bg5 h6 17. Bxc6 Rb8 18. Bxe7 Nxe7 19. Bf3 Nf5 20. Qd2 Qxd4+ 21. Qxd4 Nxd4 22. c3 {Liebert,E-Janska,J (1705) Mureck 2011 0-1 (50)}) 8. Nc3 O-O (8... Ng6 9. d4 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Qxd5 12. Kg1 $14) 9. d3 (9. d4 $5 Ng6 10. Kg1 $14) 9... d5 $11 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Qxd5 12. Kg1 {White king safety improved} ( 12. d4 Ng6 13. Kg1 Bf5 $11) 12... Be6 (12... Qd4+ 13. Kh1 $11) 13. Bf4 Ng6 14. Qd2 Nxf4 {Black has a mate threat} 15. Qxf4 $2 (15. Rxf4 $142 $5 {and White can hope to survive} Rfe8 16. d4 $11) 15... Qc5+ $17 16. Kh1 (16. Rf2 $5 Qxc2 17. Qb4 $17) 16... Qxc2 $19 17. Rab1 $4 {the final mistake, not that it matters anymore} (17. Bf3 $142 Qxd3 18. Rfd1 $19) 17... Qxe2 0-1