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