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 Bg4)

This one was played in the first round of the Roy Lopez Classical Tournament. And yes, the tournament was named liked this and not Ruy Lopez Classical Tournament as one might have thought. This game ended June 8th 2015 and it was also my last game in the tournament because I finished third in my group and only the winner of the group advanced to the next round. This tournament started on September 7th 2014, so it is going to be most likely taking over a year to finish the tournament, especially because not all the games start at the same time. You need to finish your first game against your opponent before you get to play the second game with reversed colors. If my opponent had won or drawn this game, he would have advanced to the second round.

While this was recognized as theory by Deep Fritz 14's classify opening function, this is not a line anyone should play. Up to the move 5.c3 it is okay, but the move 5...Bg4 is a horrible blunder that should lose the game. The problem with the move 5...Bg4 is that it does not help to prevent the d-pawn's advance. I could have played 6.d4 and my opponent would have lost a piece no matter how dgrish would have replied. The square d4 was well enough protected despite the pin on my knight and when the bishop is driven away from c5, the pawn's advance d4 to d5 will win a piece if the bishop went to b6 immediately that is.

Even though I had seen similar pawn advances before this game, for some reason I totally missed it at this time and played the silly 6.h3 instead. Luckily for me, I got another chance to play d4 because dgrish blundered a second time in a row and moved the bishop to h5. Had my opponent taken on f3, the position would have been fine for both sides. I did not miss my second chance and played 7.d4. After that the game was completely in my control and I had a winning advantage from this point on to the last move played in the game. My opponent tried to resist the inevitable as best he or she could and had a few moments where I could have gone wrong and end up being mated, but I was able to avoid all the tricks and emerge victorious from this game.

[Event "Roy Lopez Classical Tournament - Round"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.01.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "dgrish"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C64"] [WhiteElo "1916"] [BlackElo "1824"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "107"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {Thematic Game - This is the starting position. 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}) 5. c3 Bg4 {C64 Spanish Game: Classical Defence (3...Bc5) except 4.O-O Nf6} 6. h3 Bh5 7. d4 (7. Re1 a6 8. Ba4 b5 9. Bc2 Nf6 10. d3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Rc8 12. Nf1 Re8 13. Ng3 Bg6 14. Be3 Bxe3 15. fxe3 d5 16. exd5 Nxd5 17. e4 Nf4 18. Qd2 Qd6 19. Rad1 b4 20. Ba4 bxc3 21. Qxc3 Nb4 {Fertakis,D (1064)-Tsouchnikas,G (1046) Porto Rio 2016 0-1 (40)}) 7... Bb6 $2 $146 (7... exd4 8. cxd4 Bb4 (8... Bb6 9. d5 a6 10. Ba4 Qd7 11. dxc6 bxc6 12. Nc3 Nf6 13. Nd5 O-O 14. Nxf6+ gxf6 15. Bh6 Rfe8 16. Bc2 Kh8 17. Be3 Rg8 18. Kh2 Rxg2+ 19. Kxg2 Rg8+ 20. Kh2 Bg4 21. Rg1 d5 22. Bxb6 Qd6+ 23. Rg3 {Franssen, M-Tontheon playchess.com INT 2004 0-1}) 9. Bd2 Bxd2 10. Nbxd2 a6 11. Ba4 b5 12. Qc2 Qd7 13. Bb3 Nf6 14. Rfe1 O-O 15. Rac1 Ne7 16. Qxc7 Rfd8 17. e5 dxe5 18. Rxe5 Bxf3 19. Rxe7 Qxc7 20. Rcxc7 Bh5 21. g4 Bg6 22. Nf3 { Schock,K (1363) -Maier,M (1173) Deizisau 2002 1/2-1/2 (61)}) (7... Bxf3 8. Qxf3 exd4 9. e5 Qd7 10. exd6 cxd6 11. Qe4+ Nge7 12. cxd4 d5 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. Qe3 Bd6 15. Nc3 O-O 16. Qf3 Ng6 17. Ne2 Rfe8 18. Nf4 Nxf4 19. Bxf4 Bxf4 20. Qxf4 Re4 21. Qd2 Rae8 22. Rfe1 {Szwajkowska,K (1321)-Godek,M (1373) Solina 2012 1/ 2-1/2 (50)}) (7... Bxf3 $142 8. gxf3 Bb6 $18) 8. d5 a6 9. Ba4 (9. dxc6 $6 { is the less attractive alternative} axb5 10. cxb7 Rb8 $14) 9... Nge7 10. dxc6 bxc6 11. Bg5 (11. Nbd2 {seems even better} O-O $18) 11... f6 12. Bh4 O-O 13. Qd3 Bg6 14. Nbd2 d5 15. Qe2 Kh8 16. Rad1 Qc8 (16... Rb8 17. g4 $18 (17. Qxa6 { is a useless try} Ra8 18. Qe2 Rxa4 $17)) 17. Bc2 (17. Nxe5 {makes it even easier for White} Qe8 18. Nxg6+ Nxg6 $18) 17... Bf7 (17... Qd7 18. c4 $18) 18. Nb3 (18. Nxe5 $142 {secures victory} Be6 19. Nef3 $18) 18... Ng6 19. Bg3 Be6 ( 19... a5 20. Rfe1 $18) 20. Kh2 (20. c4 {might be the shorter path} dxc4 21. Nbd2 c3 22. bxc3 a5 $18) 20... a5 21. a4 Qe8 22. Nbd2 Nf4 (22... Qe7 23. Nh4 Nxh4 24. Bxh4 $18) 23. Bxf4 exf4 24. exd5 (24. Rfe1 {keeps an even firmer grip} Bf7 $18) 24... cxd5 25. Qd3 Qh5 26. Nd4 Bf7 27. N2f3 c5 28. Nb5 g5 29. Ng1 (29. Qd2 $5 {and White can already relax} Rad8 $18) 29... Rad8 30. Qe2 (30. Rfe1 { keeps an even firmer grip} d4 31. Qf3 Qxf3 32. Nxf3 Kg8 $18) 30... Qh6 (30... Qxe2 31. Nxe2 Rfe8 32. Ng1 $18) 31. Bf5 Bh5 (31... Rfe8 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 32. Qc2 $18) 32. Bg4 (32. Qe6 $142 $5 {and White can already relax } Rb8 33. Nf3 d4 34. cxd4 cxd4 35. Nbxd4 Qg7 $18) 32... Bxg4 33. Qxg4 f5 34. Qe2 Rfe8 35. Qc2 Re5 (35... Qf6 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 36. Rfe1 Re4 37. Rxe4 dxe4 38. Ne2 $18) 36. Rfe1 Rde8 (36... Rxe1 {what else?} 37. Rxe1 Qf6 $18) 37. Rxe5 Rxe5 38. Nf3 Re4 39. Rxd5 g4 40. Ng1 (40. Rxf5 $142 { makes it even easier for White} g3+ 41. fxg3 fxg3+ 42. Kxg3 Qg6+ 43. Ng5 Qxf5 44. Nxe4 Qe5+ 45. Kg4 Qe6+ 46. Kf3 Qf5+ 47. Ke2 Qg6 $18) 40... c4 (40... g3+ { hardly improves anything} 41. Kh1 c4 42. Nd4 $18) 41. Nd4 g3+ (41... Qg6 { does not win a prize} 42. Rxf5 g3+ 43. Kh1 $18) 42. fxg3 fxg3+ 43. Kh1 Qe3 44. Rxf5 Qe1 (44... Rf4 {doesn't change anything anymore} 45. Rxf4 Qxf4 46. Ngf3 $18) 45. Rf7 (45. Rf1 Qe3 46. Rf8+ Kg7 47. Nf5+ Kxf8 48. Nxe3 Rxe3 49. Qxh7 Re6 $18) 45... Kg8 46. Rf3 h5 (46... Re5 {a last effort to resist the inevitable} 47. b3 Rg5 $18) 47. Nde2 Bxg1 48. Rxg3+ Rg4 49. hxg4 Bf2+ 50. Kh2 Bxg3+ 51. Nxg3 h4 (51... hxg4 {doesn't do any good} 52. Qg6+ Kf8 53. Qxg4 Qe7 54. Qf4+ Kg8 55. Nf5 Qe2 56. Qg4+ Qxg4 57. Nh6+ Kg7 58. Nxg4 Kg6 59. Ne5+ Kf5 60. Nc6 Ke4 61. Nxa5 Kd3 62. g4 Kc2 63. Nxc4 Kb1 64. g5 Ka2 65. g6 Kb3 66. a5 Kxc4 67. a6 Kb3 68. a7 Ka2 69. g7 Ka1 70. a8=Q+ Kb1 71. g8=Q Kc2 72. Qa4+ Kb1 73. Qd1+ Kxb2 74. Qgb3#) 52. Qg6+ Kf8 53. Nf5 (53. Qd6+ Qe7 54. Qxe7+ Kxe7 55. Nf5+ Kf8 56. Kh3 Kf7 57. Kxh4 Ke6 58. Nd4+ Kd5 59. g5 Ke5 60. Kh5 Kd6 61. g6 Ke7 62. Kg5 Ke8 63. g7 Kf7 64. Nf5 Ke6 65. g8=Q+ Kd7 66. Qxc4 Ke8 67. Kf6 Kd7 68. Ne7 Ke8 69. Qc8#) 53... Qe5+ 54. Kh3 (54. Kh3 Qxc3+ 55. Kxh4 Qe1+ 56. Kh5 Qh1+ 57. Nh4 c3 58. bxc3 Ke7 59. g5 Qd1+ 60. g4 Qxa4 61. Nf5+ Kd8 62. Qb6+ Kd7 63. Qb7+ Ke6 64. g6 Ke5 65. Qe7+ Kd5 66. g7 Kc4 67. g8=Q+ Kxc3 68. Qe1+ Kb2 69. Qg7+ Qd4 70. Qxd4+ Kb3 71. Qec3+ Ka2 72. Qb2#) 1-0