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