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

The first game shared in this post was played over nine years ago in a correspondence chess site called Red Hot Pawn. This game is yet another addition to the games where I get outplayed by my opponent. This game was actually quite well played by both players until I played 23...h6. It was a terrible idea to weaken my kingside pawn structure without any provocation. Like it has been stated many times before, you can't move your pawns backwards, therefore it is very important to make sure you want to move them in the first place. Culpistar played 24.h4 in reply, which was also a bad pawn move, much stronger was 24.d4. Despite of the sloppy pawn move, my opponent should be favored in the position.

I was able to play reasonable moves and stay in the game until it came time to make my 27th move. It was then that I made the worst move in the game, which ended up being the final mistake that meant a loss for me. I took the pawn on e5 with my queen, not noticing that it would be replied with 28.Nf4.

The knight from f4 attacks both the rook on e6 and the pawn on g6, I can only defend one, not both. I actually took the pawn on e4 and sacrificed the exchange, which is the preferred move according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT, but it should be clearly losing nonetheless. I tried to hang on as best as I could, but ended up being mated on move 45.

Game number two. The game below was played in the first round of a tournament called Ruy Lopez. The time control in this tournament is 14 days per move which is also the longest thinking times you can get at Chess.com. This has been my best tournament at Chess.com and I have still avoided losing a game. I won the first round group with a score of 21.5 out of the possible 22 points. On the second round I have gathered 13.5 points in 15 games and three games are still unfinished. I am currently leading the second round group, but only due to tie-break. The first time when my opponent's position started to collapse was when jcsk8 played 8.d4.

I replied with the move 8...exd4, which is actually not the strongest move, the move to play was 8...Rd8. The move I played gave me a small advantage, but 8...Rd8 would have given me a clear advantage. My opponent's position deteriorated even further with his or her next move 9.Nxd4. It was a really bad decision to take on d4 because of my next move 9...Rd8. It was a better idea to just move the knight to a4. Then jcsk8 made a third mistake in a row by placing the bishop to g5, ignoring the threat to the knight on d4. It was the final mistake, after that there was no way for my opponent to avoid defeat.

[Event "Corr game 21.12.2007-8.3.2008"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2007.12.21"] [Round "?"] [White "culpistar"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1986"] [BlackElo "1856"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2007.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. Bxc6 (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... f5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Cordel Gambit})) (4. O-O Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) 4... dxc6 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} 5. Nc3 f6 (5... Bg4 6. d3 Qe7 ( 6... Nf6 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bxf6 Qxf6 9. O-O Bxf3 10. Qxf3 Qxf3 11. gxf3 O-O 12. Kh1 Rfe8 13. Na4 b6 14. Nxc5 bxc5 15. Rab1 Rab8 16. c3 Red8 17. b4 cxb4 18. Rxb4 Rxb4 19. cxb4 Rxd3 20. a4 Rd4 21. b5 {Von Hugo,A (729)-Duong,N Magdeburg 2015 0-1 (43)}) 7. Be3 O-O-O 8. Qd2 Nf6 9. O-O-O Bb4 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 g5 12. Bg3 Nxe4 13. Qe3 Nxc3 14. Bxe5 Nxd1 15. Rxd1 Bxf3 16. gxf3 f6 17. Bd4 Qxe3+ 18. fxe3 Rhf8 19. Rf1 c5 20. Bc3 {Castillo Ventura,R-Requejo,O (2235) Sullana 2012 0-1}) 6. d3 $146 (6. O-O Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8. d3 Ne7 9. Be3 Bb6 10. Qe2 O-O 11. Rfd1 Qd6 12. d4 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 exd4 14. Bxd4 Bxd4 15. Ne2 Bxf2+ 16. Qxf2 Qe5 17. Nc3 a6 18. Rd2 Nc8 19. Rad1 Nd6 20. Qe2 Rfe8 {Khachatrian,G-Zyrianov,V Dagomys 2009 0-1}) 6... Ne7 7. O-O O-O 8. Be3 Bxe3 9. fxe3 {White has new doubled pawns: e3+e4} Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 c5 12. Rad1 c6 {Covers b5+d5} 13. a3 b5 14. Na2 Qb6 15. Qg4 Rad8 16. Kh1 Rd6 17. Nc3 Rfd8 18. Ne2 Kh8 19. Qh5 g6 { Black threatens to win material: g6xh5} (19... a5 20. g4 $15) 20. Qh4 $11 Kg7 { Black king safety dropped} 21. Rf3 a5 22. Rdf1 Ng8 23. Qg3 h6 $4 {not a good decision, because now the opponent is right back in the game} (23... Re8 $5 $11 {must be considered}) 24. h4 (24. d4 $142 $5 cxd4 25. exd4 $18) 24... Qc7 25. d4 cxd4 26. exd4 Re6 27. dxe5 Qxe5 $2 (27... Rxe5 $142 28. Rf5 Rd7 $14) 28. Nf4 $18 Qxe4 29. Nxe6+ Qxe6 30. Re3 Qf7 31. Rfe1 c5 32. Re6 Rd5 (32... h5 33. Rc6 Nh6 34. Rxc5 $18) 33. Qf3 (33. Qb8 {keeps an even firmer grip} b4 34. Re8 Rd7 $18) 33... Qd7 34. Re8 Kf7 35. b3 Rh5 (35... b4 36. Qe4 f5 $18) 36. Qa8 Rxh4+ 37. Kg1 Qd4+ 38. R1e3 Qd1+ 39. Kf2 Rf4+ 40. Kg3 Rg4+ 41. Kh3 g5 (41... Rh4+ { a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 42. Kxh4 g5+ 43. Kh3 Qh5+ 44. Kg3 Qh4+ 45. Kf3 Qh5+ 46. Kf2 Qh4+ 47. Kg1 Qd4 48. Rf8+ Kg7 49. Rxg8+ Kh7 50. Rh8+ Kg6 51. Qe8+ Kf5 52. Qe6+ Kg6 53. Rg8+ Kh5 54. Qh3+ Qh4 55. g4#) 42. Qa7+ (42. Rxg8 $6 {is easily refuted} Rh4+ 43. Kg3 Qd6+ 44. Kf3 Qd1+ 45. Kg3 Qd6+ 46. Kf3 Qd1+ 47. Kg3 $11) 42... Kg6 (42... Ne7 {does not help much} 43. Qxe7+ Kg6 44. Rg8+ Kf5 45. Qh7+ Kf4 46. Re4#) 43. Rxg8+ Kf5 44. Qh7+ Kf4 45. Qe4# ( 45. Re4#) 1-0 [Event "Ruy Lopez - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.10.10"] [Round "?"] [White "jcsk8"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1165"] [BlackElo "1858"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "42"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. Bxc6 (4. c3 d5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Konikowski Gambit} (4... f5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Cordel Gambit})) (4. O-O Nf6 5. c3 O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation. Modern Main Line}) 4... dxc6 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} 5. Nc3 Qe7 (5... Bg4 6. d3 Qe7 7. Be3 O-O-O 8. Qd2 Nf6 9. O-O-O Bb4 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 g5 12. Bg3 Nxe4 13. Qe3 Nxc3 14. Bxe5 Nxd1 15. Rxd1 Bxf3 16. gxf3 f6 17. Bd4 Qxe3+ 18. fxe3 Rhf8 19. Rf1 c5 20. Bc3 {Castillo Ventura,R-Requejo,O (2235) Sullana 2012 0-1}) 6. O-O (6. d4 exd4 7. Nxd4 Nf6 8. Qd3 O-O 9. h3 Re8 10. f3 Rd8 11. Be3 Be6 12. O-O-O Bb6 13. Qe2 Ba5 14. Nxe6 Qxe6 15. Kb1 Nh5 16. Rxd8+ Rxd8 17. Rd1 Rxd1+ 18. Qxd1 h6 19. Bxa7 Qc8 20. Bd4 Qd8 {Oprica,R (1044)-Scanteie,D (1001) Calimanesti Caciulata 2016 1-0 (52)}) 6... Nf6 $146 (6... Be6 7. Nxe5 Bd4 8. Nf3 Bxc3 9. dxc3 Rd8 10. Qe2 Nf6 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bh4 g5 13. Bg3 Bc8 14. e5 Nh5 15. Rfd1 O-O 16. Rxd8 Rxd8 17. Rd1 Re8 18. h4 Nxg3 19. fxg3 f6 20. Qc4+ Kg7 21. hxg5 {Beer,M (1250)-Himl,D (1250) Mlada Boleslav 2012 0-1 (48)}) 7. h3 { Consolidates g4} O-O 8. d4 (8. d3 $5 $11 {must definitely be considered}) 8... exd4 9. Nxd4 (9. Na4 $5 {is worth looking at} Nxe4 10. Nxc5 Qxc5 11. Nxd4 $15) 9... Rd8 $17 10. Bg5 $4 {the pressure is too much, White crumbles} (10. Be3 $142 Nxe4 11. Nxe4 Qxe4 12. c3 $17) 10... Bxd4 $19 11. Bxf6 (11. Qf3 $19 { is one last hope}) 11... Qxf6 12. Qd2 (12. Qd3 {cannot undo what has already been done} Qg5 13. Qf3 Be6 $19) 12... Bxc3 (12... Qh4 $142 $5 {might be the shorter path} 13. Nd5 Bxb2 14. Rab1 $19) 13. Qxc3 Qxc3 14. bxc3 Be6 15. a4 Rd2 16. Rac1 (16. a5 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} Rxc2 17. Rfb1 Rb8 $19) 16... Rad8 (16... a5 {seems even better} 17. f3 $19) 17. f4 (17. a5 {cannot change destiny} f6 $19) 17... Bc4 18. Rfd1 (18. Rfe1 {is still a small chance} a5 19. h4 $19) 18... Rxd1+ 19. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 20. Kf2 Rd2+ 21. Kg3 Rxc2 (21... Rxc2 22. Kg4 b5 23. axb5 cxb5 24. g3 Rxc3 25. f5 b4 26. e5 b3 27. e6 fxe6 28. fxe6 Bxe6+ 29. Kf4 b2 30. Ke5 b1=Q 31. Kxe6 Qb5 32. Ke7 Rd3 33. g4 Qe5#) (21... Bf1 22. f5 Rxg2+ 23. Kf3 Rxc2 24. Ke3 Rxc3+ 25. Kd2 Rxh3 26. a5 Rf3 27. e5 h5 28. a6 Bxa6 29. e6 fxe6 30. fxe6 Kf8 31. e7+ Kxe7 32. Kc1 h4 33. Kb1 h3 34. Kb2 h2 35. Kc2 h1=Q 36. Kd2 Qg2+ 37. Kc1 Rf1#) 0-1