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