C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.O-O d6 5.c3 Bd7 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb6 8.Nc3)

This game was played in a team match called LullabyVisca vs ΙRANIAN. The match was played on 95 boards and I played on board 16 for LullabyVisca. The match was quite evenly fought, the final score in the match was 93 - 97 in favor of ΙRANIAN. This match has also featured things you would not like to see, timeouts and cheater badges next to player handles. There are 8 players in our team that have that badge unfortunately, the IRANIAN team also had 8 players with that badge. Up to the move 9.Ba4 both players played reasonable moves. Then my opponent played the very slow and passive move 9...h6, which allowed me to take a clear advantage by replying with 10.d5, 10.Be3 or even with the move I played 10.Re1. The first two alternatives are better than what I did.

It did not take long for me to wither my advantage because after the game continuation 10...Nge7 11.Bf4 O-O I played 12.a3 and the position was roughly even again. It was on move 16 when I made the biggest blunder of the game up to that point, I moved my pawn to b4. It could have meant a loss for me. My opponent even found one of the strongest replies, 16...Nce5, after which I am in serious trouble. An even stronger move might have been 16...Qf6, which would have attacked the undefended knight on c3 and increase the pressure towards the knight on f3.

The game continued with the moves 17.Nb1 Qf6 18.Nbd2 and then my opponent played the inaccurate 18...Nxf3+, which threw most of the advantage away. The threat was stronger than the execution, it would have been better to try and increase the pressure because the problem I had with the pin would not have gone away easily. I should have taken the knight with its counterpart and I would have been okay, but I took on f3 with the pawn and I was back in serious difficulties. While at first my opponent played a good move in reply, 19...Bh5, on move 20 afshar_khan took a wrong path once again with the move 20...Ne5.

After that draw was the likely outcome again until moved my queen to g2 on move 26. With that move the scale tipped more in favor of my opponent, but still it was not clear that I would lose. More bad moves were seen, but it was only with afshar_khan's 35th move dxe5 that my opponent ended up in a losing position for the first time during this game.

I could not keep my winning advantage all the way to the end, on move 40 I moved my king to e4, which could have meant that the game would end in a draw. The reason why move was a mistake can be seen in the game notation.

My opponent was not able to take advantage of my mistake by playing 40...Rxe5+ and instead moved the other rook to f8. That gave me an opportunity to see the mistake I played on my previous move, but alas I did not and moved my rook to c1, which gave my opponent the chance to win the e-pawn once again and get an equal position. Luckily for me, afshar_khan blundered with the move 41...Rc8 and I was on my way to win the game once again. This time I was able to keep my advantage to the end of the game, sadly I missed a mate in one on move 50... There is no real excuse for missing such an obvious move, but even with my horrible skills of realization I managed to finally find the mate with 60.d8Q#.

[Event "LullabyVisca vs ?RANIAN - Board 16"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.10.27"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "afshar_khan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1815"] [BlackElo "1687"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "119"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Classical Variation} 4. O-O d6 ( 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 Bd7 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 Bb6 8. Nc3 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} a6 9. Ba4 h6 (9... Nge7 10. h3 O-O 11. Bg5 Qe8 12. Re1 Ba5 13. Bb3 Bxc3 14. bxc3 Na5 15. e5 Ng6 16. exd6 Qc8 17. Be7 Nxb3 18. Qxb3 Re8 19. Ng5 Nh8 20. c4 h6 21. Nf3 Ng6 22. c5 c6 23. Rab1 Rb8 24. Ne5 { Gagarin,V (2395)-Bradaric,R (2185) Zadar 2000 1-0}) 10. Re1 Nge7 11. Bf4 $146 ( 11. a3 O-O 12. h3 Qc8 13. Bf4 Ng6 14. Bg3 Nce7 15. Bb3 Be6 16. Bc2 Bd7 17. Qd2 Bc6 18. Bb3 Rb8 19. Re2 Ba5 20. Rae1 Ra8 21. Nh2 Kh8 22. f4 f5 23. d5 Bb5 24. exf5 Nxf5 25. Re6 Nxg3 {Gucaga,A (1485) -Subelj,J (1521) Mureck 2013 0-1}) 11... O-O {White has an active position} 12. a3 {White has a very active position} (12. h3 $5 $14) 12... Ng6 {Black threatens to win material: Ng6xf4} ( 12... Bg4 13. Be3 $11) 13. Bg3 Na5 (13... Bg4 14. Bxc6 bxc6 15. Re3 $11) 14. Bc2 (14. b4 $5 Bxa4 15. Nxa4 $16) 14... Bg4 $11 15. d5 {White has an active position} (15. Qd3 $5 $11 {is an interesting alternative}) 15... Nc4 $15 16. b4 $2 (16. Na4 $142 {is the best option White has} Nce5 17. Nxb6 cxb6 18. Bd3 Bxf3 19. gxf3 $15) 16... Nce5 $19 17. Nb1 Qf6 18. Nbd2 Nxf3+ (18... Bd4 19. Rb1 Bc3 20. Re2 $17) 19. gxf3 (19. Nxf3 $5 {is noteworthy} a5 20. b5 $15) 19... Bh5 $17 20. Bd3 Ne5 (20... a5 $5 $17) 21. Be2 $15 Qg6 22. f4 Bxe2 (22... Ng4 23. Bxg4 Bxg4 24. Qc2 $15) 23. Qxe2 $11 Nd7 (23... f5 24. exf5 (24. fxe5 $2 {is tempting but does not stand up to the reality of the position} f4 25. Kh1 fxg3 26. fxg3 Rf2 $19) 24... Rxf5 25. fxe5 Rxf2 26. Qxf2 Bxf2+ 27. Kxf2 Rf8+ 28. Kg1 dxe5 29. Rxe5 $11) 24. Kh1 (24. f5 $5 Qf6 25. Nc4 $14) 24... f5 $11 25. f3 (25. e5 dxe5 26. fxe5 f4 $15) 25... Rae8 26. Qg2 (26. Qd3 Nf6 27. exf5 Rxe1+ 28. Rxe1 Qf7 $15) 26... Nf6 $17 27. Re2 fxe4 (27... Qf7 $5 $17) 28. fxe4 $11 Nh5 { Black threatens to win material: Nh5xf4} 29. Rf1 Nxg3+ 30. Qxg3 Qxg3 31. hxg3 Re7 32. Nc4 Rfe8 (32... Bd4 33. Rd1 Ba7 34. e5 $11) 33. Nxb6 cxb6 {A double rook endgame occured.} 34. Rfe1 Rc8 (34... Rd8 35. Kg2 $14) 35. e5 $16 dxe5 $4 {another step towards the grave} (35... Rd7 $142 36. e6 Rdc7 $16) 36. fxe5 $18 Rd8 37. Rd1 Kf7 (37... Ree8 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 38. e6 Rd6 39. Kg2 $18) 38. Kg2 (38. e6+ $142 {makes it even easier for White} Kg6 39. d6 Ree8 $18) 38... Ke8 (38... Ree8 {hardly improves anything} 39. Kf3 h5 $18) 39. Kf3 (39. e6 $142 {secures victory} Rc7 40. d6 $18) 39... Kd7 40. Ke4 $4 { throwing away the advantage} (40. Re3 $142 Rde8 41. Kf4 $18) 40... Rf8 $4 { forfeits the clear win} (40... Rxe5+ 41. Kxe5 Re8+ 42. Kd4 Rxe2 43. Rf1 $11) 41. Rc1 (41. Rc2 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} Rfe8 42. e6+ Kd6 43. Rdc1 Rxe6+ 44. dxe6 Rxe6+ 45. Kf3 $18) 41... Rc8 $4 {a weak move, ruining a winning position} (41... Rxe5+ $142 $1 {would be a reprieve} 42. Kxe5 Re8+ 43. Kd4 Rxe2 $11) 42. Rec2 $18 Rxc2 43. Rxc2 g6 (43... Kd8 {is no salvation} 44. d6 Rf7 45. e6 Rf1 46. Rc7 Re1+ 47. Kf5 Rf1+ 48. Kg4 Re1 49. e7+ Ke8 50. Rc8+ Kd7 51. Rd8+ Kc6 52. e8=Q+ Rxe8 53. Rxe8 Kxd6 54. Rg8 a5 55. Rxg7 axb4 56. axb4 Kd5 57. Rxb7 Kc6 58. Rh7 Kb5 59. Rxh6 Kxb4 60. Kf4 b5 61. g4 Kc5 62. g5 b4 63. g6 b3 64. g7 b2 65. g8=Q b1=Q 66. Qc8+ Kb5 67. Qb8+ Kc4 68. Rc6+ Kd3 69. Qxb1+ Kd2 70. Rc2+ Kd3 71. Qd1#) 44. Rf2 (44. d6 Rf7 45. Kd5 Kd8 46. Ke6 Rh7 47. Rf2 Ke8 48. d7+ Rxd7 49. Rf8+ Kxf8 50. Kxd7 Kg7 51. e6 Kf6 52. e7 Ke5 53. e8=Q+ Kd4 54. Qxg6 a5 55. Qxb6+ Kd3 56. bxa5 h5 57. Qxb7 h4 58. gxh4 Kc2 59. a6 Kd3 60. a7 Kc2 61. a8=Q Kd3 62. Qb3+ Kd2 63. Qg2+ Kc1 64. Qg5#) 44... b5 (44... Ke8 {is not the saving move} 45. d6 Rd7 46. Rf6 b5 47. Kd5 Rf7 48. Rxg6 Rf8 49. g4 Kd8 50. g5 hxg5 51. e6 Rh8 52. Rf6 g4 53. e7+ Kd7 54. Rf8 Rh5+ 55. Ke4 Kxd6 56. e8=Q Rf5 57. Qd8+ Kc6 58. Rxf5 b6 59. Qe7 g3 60. Rf6#) 45. Rf6 (45. d6 Rg7 46. Kd5 Ke8 47. e6 a5 48. Rc2 Kd8 49. Re2 Ke8 50. e7 g5 51. d7+ Kxd7 52. e8=Q+ Kc7 53. Rc2+ Kb6 54. Rc8 Ka7 55. Ra8+ Kb6 56. bxa5+ Kc7 57. Rc8#) 45... Rg7 46. Kd4 Kc7 47. Kc5 {White prepares the advance d6} h5 (47... Kd7 {does not help much} 48. d6 Ke8 49. e6 h5 50. Kb6 a5 51. bxa5 b4 52. axb4 h4 53. gxh4 Rh7 54. Rxg6 Kf8 55. d7 Ke7 56. Rg8 Kxe6 57. d8=Q Rh6 58. Rg5 Rh7 59. Qe8+ Re7 60. Qg6+ Kd7 61. Rd5+ Kc8 62. Qc2+ Rc7 63. Qxc7#) 48. d6+ Kb8 (48... Kd7 {does not solve anything} 49. e6+ Ke8 50. Kb6 h4 51. gxh4 Rh7 52. Rxg6 Kf8 53. d7 Ke7 54. Rg8 Kxe6 55. d8=Q Kf5 56. Qd3+ Kf4 57. Rf8+ Rf7 58. Rxf7+ Ke5 59. Rf5+ Ke6 60. Kc7 a5 61. Qd7#) 49. e6 (49. Rf8+ Ka7 50. e6 h4 51. e7 Rh7 52. g4 h3 53. e8=Q Rc7+ 54. dxc7 b6+ 55. Kc6 h2 56. Qa8#) 49... Kc8 (49... Rg8 {does not win a prize} 50. e7 Rc8+ 51. Kd5 Ka7 52. d7 Rc1 53. d8=Q Rd1+ 54. Ke4 Re1+ 55. Kd3 Rd1+ 56. Kc2 h4 57. Qb6+ Kb8 58. e8=Q+ Rd8 59. Qexd8#) 50. Rf7 {White prepares d7} (50. Rf8# ) 50... Rg8 51. Kb6 (51. Rc7+ Kd8 52. Rxb7 Kc8 53. Kb6 Rd8 54. d7+ Rxd7 55. Rb8+ Kxb8 56. exd7 h4 57. d8=Q#) 51... Rd8 (51... Re8 {doesn't improve anything } 52. d7+ Kd8 53. dxe8=Q+ Kxe8 54. Kc7 h4 55. Kd6 h3 56. Rf6 h2 57. e7 a5 58. Rf8#) 52. d7+ Kb8 (52... Rxd7 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 53. Rxd7 h4 54. Rd3 h3 55. e7 h2 56. e8=Q#) 53. Re7 (53. e7 Rxd7 54. e8=Q+ Rd8 55. Qxd8#) 53... a5 (53... Ka8 {cannot undo what has already been done} 54. Re8 Rb8 55. Rxb8+ Kxb8 56. d8=Q#) 54. bxa5 (54. Re8 a4 55. Rxd8#) 54... b4 (54... Ka8 {doesn't change anything anymore} 55. Re8 Rb8 56. Rxb8+ Kxb8 57. d8=Q#) 55. axb4 (55. Re8 b3 56. Rxd8#) 55... h4 (55... Ka8 {cannot change what is in store for White} 56. Re8 Rb8 57. Rxb8+ Kxb8 58. d8=Q#) 56. gxh4 (56. Re8 h3 57. Rxd8#) 56... g5 (56... Ka8 {doesn't do any good} 57. Re8 Rb8 58. Rxb8+ Kxb8 59. d8=Q#) 57. hxg5 (57. Re8 g4 58. Rxd8#) 57... Ka8 58. Re8 Rb8 59. Rxb8+ Kxb8 60. d8=Q# 1-0