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 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Re1+ Be6 10.Ne5)

This was played on the third round of a tournament that was held at Hanko in June 2005. This is a tournament that I will remember for a long time. On the first round I drew against a player who was rated 2034, it was the first time that I had been able to get even a half point from a player rated over 2000. Then on the second round I won a game against who was slightly lower rated than me and on this third round I was able to get a full point after a game that I remember mostly because of the bishop versus knight ending that I thought during the game was well played by me. After my opponent played 28.bxc5, the position should probably lead to a draw with correct play but I would still prefer the side with the bishop at least slightly. After three rounds I had 2.5 points and everything seemed to go my way. I remember something else about this tournament as well, I had started to go for a daily walk of about 6 kilometers around two weeks before this tournament and this tournament broke that daily habit for three days. I started that daily habit because I wanted to get into better shape and lose weight. I managed to lose 37 kilograms during that eight month or so period that I went for those daily walks that later turned into partly jogging but still partly walking. So not only did I improve on my chess, but also on my health back then.

Apart from the opening phase inaccuracies that I have typed about before in this blog, 7...d5 and so on, the first mistake which gave me a clear advantage was 31.Ke2. I replied with the move 31...Bd5, which is also good, but 31...Bc4+ might be even stronger.

A few moves later my opponent made the horrible decision of playing 36.Kc3. It is an understandable move, White wants to be able to play Kb2 when Black goes Ka4, so that the pawn on a3 is defended.

It is, however, utterly passive and something that my opponent could not afford to play. Active play might have given my opponent some counterplay and he might have saved the game. That being said it would have required for me to make a mistake. While I did not play the remainder of the game perfectly, I am still happy about the way I was able to finish the game.

[Event "Hangon turnaus"] [Site "?"] [Date "2005.06.18"] [Round "3"] [White "Auvinen, Esa"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1917"] [BlackElo "1678"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "120"] [EventDate "2005.06.19"] 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 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Re1+ Be6 10. Ne5 { C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} Qd6 11. Nc3 O-O 12. Ne4 Qb4 {Increasing the pressure on the isolated pawn on d4} 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. Nxc6 Qc4 15. Ne5 Qxd4 16. Qxd4 Bxd4 17. Nf3 Bb6 18. Bg5 $146 (18. Bd2 Rab8 19. Rac1 Rfe8 20. h3 h6 21. b3 Rbd8 {1/2-1/2 (21) Augusta,D (2108)-Grobelsek,A (2054) Velika Gorica 2003}) (18. a3 Rfe8 19. Nc3 Nxc3 20. bxc3 Bf5 21. Be3 Bxe3 22. Rxe3 Rxe3 23. fxe3 Rb8 24. Nd4 Bg6 25. Ra2 Rb1+ 26. Kf2 h6 27. Ne2 Rb3 28. Nd4 Rxc3 29. Nb5 Rc2+ 30. Rxc2 Bxc2 31. Nxc7 Kf8 32. Nb5 a5 {Roessler,L (1571) -Straze,J Maribor 2012 1/2-1/2 (40)}) 18... Nb4 {Black threatens to win material: Nb4xa2} 19. Be7 {White threatens to win material: Be7xb4. White forks: b4+f8} Nc2 20. Bxf8 Nxe1 21. Rxe1 Rxf8 22. b3 {Consolidates c4} Rd8 23. h3 {Covers g4} h6 {Secures g5} 24. Rc1 Bf5 25. Nc5 Rd5 26. b4 (26. Na4 g5 $15) 26... Bxc5 (26... a5 27. a3 $15) 27. Rxc5 $11 ({Weaker is} 27. bxc5 a5 $17) 27... Rxc5 28. bxc5 {A minor pieces endgame occured.} Be6 29. a3 Kf8 30. Kf1 Ke7 31. Ke2 (31. Nd4 $5 $11) 31... Bd5 32. Ne1 (32. Ke3 Bxf3 33. Kxf3 Kd7 $19) 32... Kd7 33. Kd3 Kc6 34. Kd4 Bb3 35. Nd3 Kb5 36. Kc3 (36. h4 $5 $17) 36... Ka4 $19 37. Kb2 Bc4 38. Ne5 $2 (38. Ne1 Kb5 $19) 38... Kb5 (38... Bf1 {might be the shorter path} 39. Nxf7 Bxg2 40. h4 $19) 39. Kc3 $2 (39. h4 $142 $19) 39... Bf1 40. Nxf7 (40. h4 {does not improve anything} Bxg2 41. Kd4 f6 $19) 40... Bxg2 41. h4 Kxc5 42. Ne5 (42. Kd3 {cannot change destiny} Kd5 43. Ke3 Ke6 $19) 42... Kd5 43. Ng4 (43. Nd3 {cannot undo what has already been done} Ke4 $19) 43... Ke4 44. Ne3 Bh3 45. Kc4 (45. Kd2 {the last chance for counterplay} Kf3 46. Ke1 $19) 45... Kf3 46. Nd5 (46. Nd1 {there is nothing better in the position} Ke2 47. Nc3+ Kxf2 48. Kd4 $19) 46... c6 (46... Be6 47. Kc5 Bxd5 48. a4 g5 49. hxg5 hxg5 50. Kxd5 Kxf2 51. a5 g4 52. a6 g3 53. Kc6 g2 54. Kb7 g1=Q 55. Kxa7 Qg6 56. Kb7 Qb6+ 57. Kc8 Qxa6+ 58. Kxc7 Kf3 59. Kd7 Ke4 60. Ke7 Qc6 61. Kf8 Qb7 62. Kg8 Kf5 63. Kh8 Kf6 64. Kg8 Qg7#) 47. Ne7 Bd7 48. Kc5 Kxf2 49. Kd6 Bg4 50. Nxc6 a6 51. Ke7 Kg3 52. Kf7 Kxh4 53. Kxg7 (53. Ne5 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} h5 54. Kg6 Be2 55. Kf5 Kg3 56. Ke4 h4 57. Ke3 h3 58. a4 h2 59. Kxe2 h1=Q 60. Nd3 g5 61. Ke3 Qd5 62. a5 g4 63. Ne1 Qc5+ 64. Kd2 Qf2+ 65. Kd1 Qe3 66. Nc2 Qc3 67. Na1 Qxa1+ 68. Kc2 Qa4+ 69. Kb1 Kf3 70. Kb2 g3 71. Kc3 g2 72. Kb2 g1=Q 73. Kc3 Qgd4#) 53... h5 54. Ne7 (54. Nd8 {does not help much} Kg3 55. Nf7 h4 56. Ng5 Bf5 57. a4 Kf4 58. Kh6 a5 59. Kh5 h3 60. Nxh3+ Bxh3 61. Kh6 Ke5 62. Kg5 Bd7 63. Kh6 Bxa4 64. Kg5 Bb3 65. Kh6 a4 66. Kg5 a3 67. Kg4 a2 68. Kf3 a1=Q 69. Ke2 Kf4 70. Kd2 Qb2+ 71. Kd3 Qc2+ 72. Kd4 Qc4#) 54... Kg3 55. Ng6 (55. Nd5 {is not the saving move} h4 56. Ne3 h3 57. Kg6 Kf4 58. Nf1 Be2 59. Nh2 Kg3 60. Kf5 Kxh2 61. Kf4 Kg2 62. Ke3 Bb5 63. a4 Bxa4 64. Kd2 h2 65. Kc3 Kg3 66. Kb2 h1=Q 67. Kc3 Qc6+ 68. Kb2 Qc2+ 69. Ka1 Qd2 70. Kb1 Bb3 71. Ka1 Qc1#) 55... Bf5 56. Ne5 (56. Ne7 {doesn't do any good} Be4 57. a4 h4 58. Ng8 Kf3 59. Nf6 h3 60. Kf7 h2 61. Ke6 h1=Q 62. Ke5 Qh8 63. a5 Bc2 64. Ke6 Bb3+ 65. Kf5 Qh6 66. Ne4 Qe6+ 67. Kg5 Kxe4 68. Kh4 Qg6 69. Kh3 Kf3 70. Kh4 Qg4#) 56... h4 57. Kf6 Be4 (57... Kf4 58. Nc6 h3 59. Nb4 Be4 60. Nxa6 h2 61. Nc5 Bf5 62. Ne6+ Bxe6 63. Kxe6 h1=Q 64. Kd6 Qe4 65. a4 Qxa4 66. Kd5 Qb5+ 67. Ke6 Qc6+ 68. Kf7 Kf5 69. Kg8 Qd7 70. Kh8 Kf6 71. Kg8 Qg7#) 58. Kg5 (58. Nf7 {does not save the day} h3 59. Ng5 h2 60. Nxe4+ Kf4 61. Nf2 Kf3 62. Nd3 h1=Q 63. Nc5 Qa1+ 64. Kf5 Qxa3 65. Ne6 Ke3 66. Ke5 a5 67. Kd5 Qb3+ 68. Kd6 a4 69. Nc5 Qb4 70. Kd5 a3 71. Kc6 a2 72. Na6 Qe4+ 73. Kb6 Qe6+ 74. Kb5 a1=Q 75. Nb4 Qee5+ 76. Nd5+ Qxd5+ 77. Kb6 Qaa5#) 58... h3 59. Ng4 Bf3 60. Ne3 Kf2 (60... Kf2 61. Kf4 h2 62. Nc2 h1=Q 63. Ke5 Qc1 64. Nb4 Qxa3 65. Nc2 Qc5+ 66. Kf6 Qxc2 67. Ke6 Qg6+ 68. Kd7 Qf6 69. Kc7 Qc6+ 70. Kd8 Qd6+ 71. Kc8 Qe7 72. Kb8 Qb7#) 0-1