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)

There has been a lot of posts about the Spanish Game also known as Ruy Lopez lately and there will be a few more still to go before the posts start to go away from the Spanish. The game below is from the first round of a tournament that was played at Turku over 13 years ago. I started the tournament with a win against a lower rated opponent. I would normally like to play against higher rated opponents, but of course I can't choose my opponents in tournaments. I had some problems in the early part of this game, but I survived from the difficulties and I was able to turn the game around again. My 5th move 5...d5 was perhaps already a step in a bad direction, but my 6th move dxe4 was a horrible blunder and I should have castled instead.

6...dxe4 was a move I played because I wanted to keep material even, but I completely missed the reply 7.Nxf7! Not only did I lose the pawn anyway but I also lost the right to castle. After the game continuation 7...Kxf7 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qxc5 I was down a pawn and my king was in some trouble. The only thing going for me was the fact that I was ahead in development. With my 9th move I continued my development with Be6, but that was not a good decision and after that I was in a losing position. Moves like 9...Re8 and 9...a6 were better choices for me. At this point in the game it seemed that I was going to lose to a player who was lower rated than me by almost 400 points. I was in serious trouble, but with the move 10.b4 my opponent threw some of the advantage away, a stronger move was 10.Qe3. It was with the move 12.Bxc6 though that my opponent's advantage almost disappeared.

Even though my opponent was still up a pawn in material, the fact that he had not developed the queenside pieces gave me counterplay for the material. A couple of moves later moving only the queen placed my opponent already on the worse side of the board. Admittedly my opponent should have moved the queen on move 15, but he chose the wrong square to go to. In the game Seppo played 15.Qe5, which is a dangerous square for the queen. Even though centralizing the queen is usually a good idea, it was a horrible one in this particular position. The move I should have played in response was 15...Rae8, but I played the sloppy 15...Bd5 instead, which was only good enough for a slight advantage, whereas 15...Rae8 would have given me an advantage that was close to winning.

At this point in the game my opponent should have finally developed a piece by playing 16.Bf4 because that would have also increased pressure towards the pawn on c7. The move my opponent chose was 16.a4, which was the game losing time waster of a move. I replied with the move 17...Rae8, which was my first step towards victory. The game continued up to the move 38...Qb2, but I never let go of my winning advantage and in a position where I had an extra rook, my opponent resigned.

[Event "TSY"] [Site "?"] [Date "2004.04.23"] [Round "1"] [White "Laine, Seppo"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1313"] [BlackElo "1706"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "2004.04.23"] 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 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} d5 6. Nxe5 dxe4 7. Nxf7 Kxf7 8. Qh5+ g6 9. Qxc5 Be6 10. b4 $146 (10. Qe3 Bf5 11. f3 exf3 12. Rxf3 a6 13. Bc4+ Kg7 14. d4 b5 15. Qh6+ Kf6 16. Bg5# { 1-0 (16) Kawaler,A (1610)-Guzik,T (1284) Szczyrk 2014}) (10. Qe3 Qd5 11. Na3 Nf5 $18) 10... Rf8 (10... Re8 11. Re1 Qd5 12. Na3 $16) 11. Qe3 Qd5 12. Bxc6 ( 12. c4 $5 Qd3 13. Nc3 Bxc4 14. Bxc4+ Qxc4 15. Nxe4 $16) 12... Qxc6 $14 13. d4 ( 13. Na3 Nf5 14. Qf4 Kg8 $11) 13... Nf5 {Black threatens to win material: Nf5xe3 } 14. Qf4 Kg8 {Black king safety improved} 15. Qe5 (15. Qg5 a5 $11) 15... Bd5 ( 15... e3 $142 16. Bxe3 Bd5 $17) 16. a4 $4 (16. Bf4 $142 $15 {the rescuing straw }) 16... Rae8 $19 17. b5 Qd7 (17... Rxe5 {is a bad alternative} 18. bxc6 Re6 19. cxb7 $16) 18. Qf4 Nxd4 19. Qh6 (19. cxd4 {praying for a miracle} Rxf4 20. Bxf4 $19) 19... Nc2 (19... e3 20. Qh4 Ne2+ 21. Kh1 Re4 22. Qh6 Rg4 23. f3 Rxf3 24. Rxf3 Bxf3 25. Qf8+ Kxf8 26. Ba3+ Kg8 27. h3 Qd1+ 28. Kh2 Rxg2#) 20. Be3 $19 Nxa1 21. Nd2 (21. Rc1 {is no salvation} Rf5 $19) 21... Nc2 22. Bxa7 (22. Rc1 { there is nothing else anyway} Nxe3 23. Qxe3 $19) 22... b6 23. c4 Bxc4 (23... e3 24. f3 Bxc4 25. Nxc4 Qd4 26. Nxe3 Nxe3 27. Bxb6 cxb6 28. Kh1 Nxf1 29. Qc1 Qh4 30. Qxf1 Re1 31. g3 Rxf1+ 32. Kg2 Qg5 33. Kxf1 Qd2 34. h3 Re8 35. f4 Re1#) 24. Nxc4 Qd4 (24... Qd3 25. Ne3 Nxe3 26. Qxe3 Qxe3 27. fxe3 Rxf1+ 28. Kxf1 Ra8 29. Bb8 Rxb8 30. Kf2 Ra8 31. Kg3 Rxa4 32. Kf4 c6 33. bxc6 Rc4 34. g3 b5 35. Ke5 Rxc6 36. h3 b4 37. Kd5 Rc8 38. Kd6 b3 39. Kd7 Rc2 40. g4 b2 41. Ke6 b1=Q 42. Kd5 Rd2+ 43. Ke5 Qb5+ 44. Kxe4 Qd5+ 45. Kf4 g5+ 46. Kg3 Qg2#) 25. Na5 Qxa4 ( 25... e3 26. Nb3 exf2+ 27. Kh1 Re1 28. Qc1 Qd3 29. Nd2 Rxc1 30. h3 Qg3 31. Rxc1 Ne1 32. Rxe1 fxe1=Q+ 33. Nf1 Rxf1#) 26. Qd2 bxa5 (26... e3 27. Qd5+ Kh8 28. Nb3 e2 29. Nd2 Qf4 30. h3 e1=Q 31. Qd3 Qfxd2 32. Qxd2 Qxd2 33. Bb8 Re1 34. Bxc7 Rxf1+ 35. Kh2 Qxf2 36. Be5+ Kg8 37. Bh8 Kxh8 38. h4 Qxh4#) 27. Qd5+ $19 Rf7 28. Qc6 (28. h3 {no good, but what else?} Nb4 29. Qc4 $19) 28... Rd8 29. Rc1 Nd4 ( 29... e3 30. Bxe3 Nxe3 31. h3 Rd1+ 32. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 33. Kh2 Nf1+ 34. Kg1 Qe1 35. Qa8+ Kg7 36. Qa7 Ng3+ 37. Kh2 Ne2 38. f4 Qg3+ 39. Kh1 Rxf4 40. Qxc7+ Kh6 41. Qc1 Nxc1 42. Kg1 Ne2+ 43. Kh1 Rf1#) 30. Qxe4 $19 Rf4 $1 {Deflection: e2} 31. Qe7 (31. Qxf4 Ne2+ {Mate attack Deflection}) 31... Rdf8 (31... Nc6 $142 { makes it even easier for Black} 32. Qe6+ Rf7 $19) 32. Bxd4 (32. Qe5 {is still a small chance} Qa3 33. Qd5+ R8f7 34. Qd8+ Qf8 35. Qxf8+ Rxf8 36. Ra1 $19) 32... Qxd4 33. Qe6+ Kg7 34. Rxc7+ (34. Qe7+ {hardly improves anything} R8f7 35. Qe3 Qxe3 36. fxe3 Rf1+ 37. Rxf1 Rxf1+ 38. Kxf1 a4 39. g3 a3 40. Ke2 Kf6 41. h3 a2 42. b6 cxb6 43. h4 a1=Q 44. Kd3 Ke5 45. g4 Qb2 46. h5 Qb3+ 47. Ke2 Ke4 48. Kf2 Qd1 49. g5 Qf3+ 50. Kg1 Qg3+ 51. Kf1 Kxe3 52. h6 Qf2#) 34... R8f7 (34... Kh8 35. h3 Rxf2 36. Qg4 Rxg2+ 37. Kxg2 Qf2+ 38. Kh1 Qf1+ 39. Kh2 Rf2+ 40. Kg3 Rg2+ 41. Kh4 Qf6+ 42. Qg5 Qxg5#) 35. Rxf7+ Rxf7 36. Qe1 (36. h4 {is not much help} Qxf2+ 37. Kh2 Qxh4+ 38. Kg1 Re7 39. Qh3 Qxh3 40. gxh3 a4 41. Kf2 a3 42. h4 a2 43. h5 a1=Q 44. b6 Qe1+ 45. Kg2 Re2+ 46. Kh3 Qf1+ 47. Kh4 Qf4+ 48. Kh3 Rh2#) 36... a4 37. h3 (37. Qe2 {does not win a prize} Qa1+ 38. Qf1 Qxf1+ 39. Kxf1 a3 40. f3 a2 41. Kf2 a1=Q 42. h4 Qe5 43. h5 Rd7 44. h6+ Kxh6 45. f4 Qxf4+ 46. Ke1 Qe3+ 47. Kf1 Rd1#) 37... a3 38. Qe2 (38. b6 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} a2 39. Kh2 a1=Q 40. Qxa1 Qxa1 41. b7 Rxb7 42. g4 Rb2 43. Kg3 Qe1 44. Kf3 Rxf2+ 45. Kg3 Rf1+ 46. Kg2 Qf2#) 38... Qb2 (38... Qb2 39. Qxb2+ axb2 40. f3 b1=Q+ 41. Kh2 Qe1 42. b6 Qe5+ 43. f4 Qxf4+ 44. Kg1 Re7 45. g3 Qxg3+ 46. Kf1 Re1#) 0-1