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