B73 Sicilian Dragon: Classical System without 9.Nb3 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 g6 7.O-O Bg7 8.Be3 O-O 9.Qd2 Nc6)

This was played on the first round of the 1800+ 7 Days tournament. I was on 6th place in the final standings of the group. My opponent, coronaguy, finished on 5th place, one point ahead of me. The tournament's third round is still going on, but to me it is not that interesting since I was already eliminated from the tournament on round one.

For the first 21 moves there were only some small mistakes from both sides and it was only my 22nd move that was a really horrible move. I played 22.Nb4 in the game, which attacked the pawn on a6, but had my opponent just replied with 22...a5, my knight would have needed to move again and maybe I would have traded knights at that point. If that would have indeed happened, my position would have been basically the same that it was after my 21st move, except my knight had disappeared from the board, but my opponent would have moved the pawn to a5 and the rook would have changed its location to c6 while the knight from c6 had also disappeared. Therefore my 22nd move seems to be just waste of time.

The game continued to be played in a clearly favorable way for my opponent with the moves 22...fxe4 23.Qxe4, but then coronaguy played 23...Nxb4, allowing me to get back into the game. The move 23...Ne7 seems to be the preferred choice of Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT at depth 37. The game deciding blunder was seen on the board when I played the incredibly silly move 28.Rfe1.

I obviously was not paying all that much attention to the board when I moved my rook from f1 to e1, because had I looked the whole board before making my move, I would have seen how awful idea moving the rook actually is. Or maybe I thought that the game continuation 28...Rfxf2 29.Qa7+ Bf7 30.Qxf2 Rxf2 31.Kxf2 would be good for me. I had two rooks and a knight against a queen, a bishop and a pawn. If you just count the points that the material should have, the material is actually even. That being said, I was completely lost because I was going to also lose my pawn on b4. I tried my best to blockade the central pawns, but my opponent was able to demonstrate the strength of the pawns and finally after the move 55...Ke3, I decided it was pointless to carry on playing the game, so I resigned.

Game number 2. This is from the fourth round game of a 15 minute tournament that was played at the FIDE Online Arena. From these four rounds I gathered three wins and one loss. There were five rounds in this tournament but for me the final round game was not played because my opponent forfeited the game on move one. I played 1.e4 in that game and my opponent lost his/her connection and did not come back. In these 15 minute games if the player has not come back within two minutes, they lose the game. I think in one of the tournaments that I played at the FIDE Online Arena, my opponent did not make a move even though she was online. Not sure what the reason for it was but it was also forfeited after two minutes. The game below is one of the very rare easy games that I have played in some months.

[Event "1800+ 7 Days - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.05.19"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "coronaguy"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B73"] [WhiteElo "1872"] [BlackElo "1865"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "110"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation} g6 (6... e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O Be6 { Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Modern Line} (8... O-O {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Traditional Line})) 7. O-O Bg7 8. Be3 O-O 9. Qd2 Nc6 {B73 Sicilian Dragon: Classical System without 9.Nb3} 10. Nb3 (10. Rad1 Ng4 11. Bxg4 Bxg4 12. f3 Be6 13. Nd5 Rc8 14. Nxe6 fxe6 15. Nb6 Rc7 16. c4 Ne5 17. Qb4 Rc6 18. a4 Qc7 19. b3 Nd7 20. a5 Nxb6 21. Bxb6 Qc8 22. Qd2 Qe8 23. Qd3 Qf7 24. f4 Bb2 {Psakhis,L (2560)-Ubilava,E (2500) Belgrade 1988 1-0 (50)}) 10... b5 (10... Qc7 11. f3 e6 12. Rad1 Ne8 13. Na4 b5 14. Nb6 Rb8 15. Nxc8 Rxc8 16. c3 Ne5 17. Bf2 Nc4 18. Qc1 Nf6 19. Rd3 Nd7 20. f4 Nc5 21. Nxc5 dxc5 22. Rfd1 Nb6 23. Rd6 Rfe8 24. Bf3 Bf8 25. R6d3 { Mendes,R (1854)-Fantinati, N Sao Paulo 2014 1-0 (42)}) 11. a3 Ng4 $146 (11... Bd7 12. f4 Ne8 13. f5 Qc8 14. fxg6 fxg6 15. Rxf8+ Bxf8 16. Bh6 {1/2-1/2 (16) Van Gemen,F-Brouwer,L Arnhem 1996}) (11... Bb7 12. Bh6 Rc8 (12... Re8 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. f4 e5 15. Rad1 Qb6+ 16. Kh1 Rad8 17. f5 Rd7 18. fxg6 hxg6 19. Rxf6 Nd4 20. Rdf1 Nf5 21. Qg5 Ne3 22. R1f2 Nxc2 23. Bh5 Qe3 24. Qg4 Rde7 25. Bxg6 Qe1+ 26. Rf1 Qxf1+ 27. Rxf1 {Vu,K-Pham Le Phuong,T Dong Thap 2004 1-0 (35)}) 13. Rfd1 Qc7 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Rac1 Ne5 16. f3 Rfd8 17. h3 e6 18. Qe3 Nc4 19. Bxc4 bxc4 20. Nd2 d5 21. exd5 Nxd5 22. Nxd5 Bxd5 23. c3 Rb8 24. Rb1 Rb5 25. Nf1 Rdb8 26. Qf2 {Beltran Roman,A-Minana Menor,A Alzira 1995 0-1 (40)}) (11... Ne5 12. Rad1 $11) 12. Bf4 {White has a very active position} Nge5 13. Bh6 Nc4 14. Bxc4 bxc4 15. Nc1 (15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Nd4 Qb6 17. Nxc6 Qxc6 $11) 15... Rb8 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 {Black king safety dropped} 17. N1e2 (17. Rb1 Qa5 $11) 17... Rxb2 18. Nd5 (18. Rab1 Rxb1 19. Rxb1 Qa5 $11) 18... e5 {Black has a new backward pawn: d6} ( 18... Qa5 $5 19. Nec3 Rb7 $17) 19. Qc3 {White threatens to win material: Qc3xb2. White forks: b2+c4} Rb5 20. Qxc4 (20. Ne3 Rc5 $15) 20... Rc5 (20... Ne7 21. Qd3 $15) 21. Qd3 $15 f5 22. Nb4 $2 {Attacks the isolated pawn on a6} (22. exf5 $5 Bxf5 23. Qxa6 Bxc2 24. Ne3 $15) 22... fxe4 (22... Ne7 23. c4 $17) 23. Qxe4 Nxb4 (23... Na5 $142 $5 $17) 24. axb4 $11 Bf5 {Black threatens to win material: Bf5xe4} 25. Qb7+ {White forks: a6} Rf7 {Black threatens to win material: Rf7xb7} (25... Qc7 26. Qxc7+ Rxc7 27. c3 $11) 26. Qxa6 Rxc2 {White has a new passed pawn: b4. Black has a new passed pawn: d6} 27. Ng3 Be6 28. Rfe1 $4 {White lets it slip away} (28. Ne4 $142 {saving the game} Rd7 29. Rfd1 $11) 28... Rfxf2 (28... Bc4 {makes it even easier for Black} 29. b5 Rfxf2 30. Qa7+ Kg8 31. Qxf2 Rxf2 32. Kxf2 Qb6+ 33. Re3 $19) 29. Qa7+ (29. Re2 {does not save the day} Rfxe2 30. Nxe2 Qb8 $19) 29... Bf7 30. Qxf2 Rxf2 31. Kxf2 Qb6+ 32. Re3 Qxb4 33. Rd1 (33. Rae1 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} Qb6 $19) 33... d5 {Black prepares the advance e4} 34. Rde1 e4 35. R1e2 (35. Kg1 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} Qc5 $19) 35... Be6 (35... Be8 {and Black can already relax} 36. Nxe4 dxe4 37. Rxe4 Qc5+ 38. R4e3 $19) 36. Re1 (36. Nxe4 { is not the saving move} dxe4 37. Rxe4 Qb6+ 38. R4e3 Qd4 $19) 36... h5 (36... Qc5 $142 {and Black can already relax} 37. Kg1 h5 $19) 37. Ne2 (37. Kg1 { does not help much} Qc5 $19) 37... Bf5 (37... Qd2 $142 {secures the point} 38. Ra1 Bg4 39. Ra7+ Kh6 $19) 38. Rd1 Qc5 39. Nd4 Kf6 40. Rd2 h4 41. h3 (41. Nb3 { does not win a prize} Qd6 42. Kg1 Bd7 $19) 41... Bd7 42. Rd1 (42. Nb3 {doesn't change anything anymore} Qd6 43. Kg1 Qb6 $19) 42... g5 (42... Ba4 {seems even better} 43. Rd2 g5 44. Re1 $19) 43. Rd2 (43. Nb3 {hardly improves anything} Qd6 44. Kg1 Qb6 $19) 43... g4 44. hxg4 Bxg4 45. Rb3 (45. Nb3 {praying for a miracle } Qc7 46. Kg1 $19) 45... Kg5 46. Re3 Kf4 (46... Qb4 47. Nb3 Qf8+ 48. Kg1 Qf4 49. Re1 e3 50. Ra2 Qg3 51. Rae2 Bxe2 52. Rxe2 Qf4 53. Nc5 Qe5 54. Nd3 Qe4 55. Nf2 Qb1+ 56. Kh2 d4 57. Nh3+ Kg4 58. Nf2+ exf2 59. Rxf2 Qe4 60. Rf7 Qe5+ 61. Kg1 h3 62. Rf3 Qe1+ 63. Kh2 hxg2 64. Rg3+ Qxg3+ 65. Kg1 Qe3+ 66. Kxg2 Qd2+ 67. Kf1 Kf3 68. Kg1 Qg2#) 47. Rb3 (47. Ne2+ Kf5 48. Nd4+ Ke5 49. Ne2 Qf8+ 50. Kg1 $19) 47... Qc1 48. Ne2+ (48. Re2 {does not solve anything} Qd1 49. Rb4 Qd3 50. Nf3 Bxf3 51. gxf3 Qxf3+ 52. Ke1 Qc3+ 53. Kd1 Qxb4 54. Kc1 e3 55. Ra2 Kf3 56. Kc2 e2 57. Ra1 Ke3 58. Rb1 e1=Q 59. Rxe1+ Qxe1 60. Kb3 Kd3 61. Ka3 Qb1 62. Ka4 Kc4 63. Ka3 Qa1#) 48... Bxe2 49. Rxe2 d4 50. Reb2 (50. g3+ {is no salvation} hxg3+ 51. Rxg3 d3 52. Rg4+ Kxg4 53. Rxe4+ Kg5 54. Kf3 d2 55. Rd4 d1=Q+ 56. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 57. Ke4 Kf6 58. Ke3 Ke5 59. Kf2 Kf4 60. Kg2 Qd2+ 61. Kf1 Kf3 62. Kg1 Qg2# ) 50... Qd1 {Black intends d3} (50... d3 51. g3+ hxg3+ 52. Kg2 d2 53. Rb8 d1=Q 54. Rf8+ Ke3 55. Rb3+ Qxb3 56. Rf1 Qa2+ 57. Kxg3 Qxf1 58. Kh4 Qf4+ 59. Kh5 Qaf7#) 51. g3+ hxg3+ 52. Rxg3 Qh1 53. Rgb3 (53. Rg8 {doesn't improve anything} Qh2+ 54. Rg2 e3+ 55. Kf1 Qh1+ 56. Rg1 Qf3+ 57. Ke1 Qc6 58. Rf1+ Ke4 59. Kd1 d3 60. Rb4+ Ke5 61. Rb5+ Qxb5 62. Kc1 d2+ 63. Kc2 Qxf1 64. Kc3 d1=Q 65. Kb2 Qb1+ 66. Kc3 Qfc1#) 53... d3 54. Rb4 (54. Rxd3 {is not much help} Qh2+ 55. Ke1 Qxb2 56. Rd2 Qb4 57. Ke2 e3 58. Rd8 Qb2+ 59. Kd1 Qb1+ 60. Ke2 Qc2+ 61. Ke1 Qf2+ 62. Kd1 e2+ 63. Kc2 e1=Q+ 64. Rd2 Qfxd2+ 65. Kb3 Qc3+ 66. Ka2 Qea1#) 54... Qf3+ 55. Ke1 Ke3 (55... Ke3 56. Rxe4+ Kxe4 57. Kd2 Qe3+ 58. Kd1 Qa7 59. Rb4+ Ke3 60. Re4+ Kxe4 61. Kd2 Qd4 62. Kc1 d2+ 63. Kb1 d1=Q+ 64. Ka2 Q4a1#) 0-1 [Event "Tournament 28102454"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.03.20"] [Round "4"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "bruno52"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B73"] [WhiteElo "1819"] [BlackElo "1448"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "37"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 (2... d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 (5... Nc6 6. Be3 g6 7. Be2 {1/2-1/2 (44) Chrz,M (1652)-De Castro de Leon,J (1766) Tenerife 2015} ) 6. Be3 (6. Be2 g6 7. O-O Bg7 8. Be3 O-O 9. Qd2 {1-0 (50) Psakhis,L (2560) -Ubilava,E (2500) Belgrade 1988}) 6... Nc6 7. Be2 g6 8. O-O Bg7 9. Qd2 { 1-0 (44) Dang,T-Pham,H Vung Tau 2005}) 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Be2 d6 8. O-O (8. Qd2 O-O {1/2-1/2 (44) Chrz,M (1652)-De Castro de Leon, J (1766) Tenerife 2015}) 8... O-O 9. Qd2 {B73 Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation. Classical Variation Battery Variation} a6 {0.78/18 B73 Sicilian Dragon: Classical System without 9.Nb3} (9... d5 $11 {-0.09/24 keeps the balance.}) 10. Kh1 {-0.03/22} (10. f3 $16 {0.78/18}) (10. Rad1 Ng4 11. Bxg4 Bxg4 12. f3 Be6 13. Nd5 Rc8 14. Nxe6 fxe6 15. Nb6 Rc7 16. c4 Ne5 17. Qb4 Rc6 18. a4 Qc7 19. b3 Nd7 20. a5 Nxb6 21. Bxb6 Qc8 22. Qd2 Qe8 23. Qd3 Qf7 24. f4 Bb2 {Psakhis,L (2560)-Ubilava,E (2500) Belgrade 1988 1-0 (50)}) 10... Qb6 $2 { 2.79/22 [#]} (10... Nxd4 $11 {-0.03/22 and Black has nothing to worry.} 11. Bxd4 b5) (10... Qc7 11. a4 Rd8 12. f4 Na5 13. f5 Nc4 14. Bxc4 Qxc4 15. Rad1 Bd7 16. Rf3 b5 17. fxg6 hxg6 18. b3 Qc8 19. Bh6 Bg4 20. Bxg7 Bxf3 21. Qh6 Nh7 22. Nxf3 Qg4 23. Nd5 Ra7 24. Nf4 g5 25. h3 {Chrz,M (1652)-De Castro de Leon,J (1766) Tenerife 2015 1/2-1/2 (44)}) 11. Ne6 $1 Nxe4 $146 {4.77/21} (11... Qa5 { 2.14/23 is a better defense.}) (11... Bxe6 12. Bxb6) (11... Qxb2 12. Nxf8 Bxf8 13. Rab1 Qa3 14. f4 Bg7 15. Rb3 Qa5 16. Bb6 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Qxa2 18. Nc3 Bxc3 19. Qxc3 Bf5 20. Bd3 Bxd3 21. Qxd3 Qa4 22. f5 Ne5 23. Qh3 Qc4 24. Rc1 Rc8 25. fxg6 Nxg6 26. Bd4 {Dang,T-Pham,H Vung Tau 2005 1-0 (44)}) 12. Nxe4 $18 ({And not} 12. Bxb6 Nxd2 13. Nxf8 Nxf1 $17) 12... Qxb2 13. Rab1 Qe5 14. Nxf8 {1.83/21} ( 14. Nxg7 $142 {3.12/21 Strongly threatening Bf3.} Qxe4 15. Bh6) 14... Qxe4 15. Nxg6 fxg6 {2.70/19} (15... hxg6 $142 {1.67/21} 16. c4 Bf6) 16. Bf3 Qa4 17. Rfe1 Qxa2 $2 {10.52/20 [#]} (17... Qa5 {2.45/23} 18. Bxc6 Qxd2 19. Bxd2 bxc6 20. Rxe7 Bf5) 18. Bd5+ Kf8 19. Bxa2 1-0

B84 Sicilian Scheveningen: 6.Be2 a6, lines without early Be3 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 b5 7.a3 Bb7 8.Bd3 e6 9.O-O Nbd7)

The game below was played in a team match called 2015.08.28 ~~~ TCP - * The WOLF *. It was played on 31 boards between TURK CHESS PLAYERS and * The WOLF *. I played on board 3 for * The WOLF *. I was not able to help the team with any points, which was a disappointment for me. The match ended with a score of 36 - 26 in favor of TURK CHESS PLAYERS. I have thought about taking some time off completely from correspondence games for quite some time now, but unfortunately that might not happen so easily any time soon, due to the very long time controls of some games. Well, the easy way would be just to resign all my current games, but that is something I will never do, because I think I should play the games up to the deciding point.

On my 14th move I played Nd1, which is a rather odd move, the reason behind the move is lost to me after all this time. No matter what it was, it was a poor decision. The knight was already rather well placed and it would be a really slow process to get it somewhere better. The knight move weakened my control over d5, but even if I had not moved my knight, my opponent would have likely been able to play d5 anyway.

Dekara replied with 14...d5, which was the best answer to my silly knight retreat. Already I was in huge trouble, but not maybe lost until my 17th move Bg3. It may seem like a good idea to pin the knight, but it also left the knight on d4 undefended. The knight did not have good squares to go to from d4 if attacked and my opponent might have been able to make use of that fact to his or her advantage.

Dekara got out of the pin by taking the bishop on e2 with a check. It was not the best idea because with accurate play I was able to get back into the game, at least for a few moves. The game looked like it would be heading for a draw until it was time for me to blunder again and play 27.Nd3. I am not sure why I did not just trade the knights. Maybe I thought that the knight on e4 is not really doing anything important there and maybe it is just in the way of my opponent's other pieces, like the bishop and the queen.

Dekara should have replied with the annoying pin 27...Qb6, but instead my opponent moved the rook from a8 to e8. It is actually more dangerous looking move to me than what the chess engine suggests, but actually it is only dangerous if it is not met with the move 28.Nc2. All other moves seem to lead to a more or less lost position for White. I played the horrible 28.Nf4, which allowed dekara to pin the knight, which my opponent did and my possibilities of holding the game seemed to evaporate. The game continued with the moves 29.Rfe1 Nf6 and the 29th move by dekara was a mistake that gave me another chance to survive.

How could have I missed such a simple move like moving the queen to f2 is rather unbelievable, but somehow I was just more concerned of not letting the knight to jump to g4 and played h3 (The queen move would have solved the problem with Ng4 too...). Dekara then played the sloppy 30...Re4, which did give me my last chance to maybe fight on and get a draw, but I was blind to the Qf2 opportunity once again and played the move that finally decided the game in my opponent's favor, 31.g3. I continued the game up to the move 32...Nd5, after which I resigned.

[Event "2015.08.28 ~~~ TCP - * The WOLF * - Boa"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.08.28"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "dekara"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B84"] [WhiteElo "1862"] [BlackElo "1938"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "64"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation} b5 (6... e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O Be6 { Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Modern Line} (8... O-O {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Traditional Line})) 7. a3 Bb7 8. Bd3 e6 9. O-O Nbd7 {B84 Sicilian Scheveningen: 6.Be2 a6, lines without early Be3} 10. f3 (10. f4 g6 11. Qe2 Bg7 12. Be3 O-O 13. Kh1 Rc8 14. Bg1 e5 15. Nb3 exf4 16. Rxf4 Nh5 17. Rff1 Be5 18. Qg4 Ndf6 19. Qf3 Qd7 20. Rad1 Ng4 21. Nd5 Bxd5 22. exd5 Bxb2 23. Nd4 Ne5 24. Qe2 Rce8 {Parkanyi, A (2365) -Sax,G (2560) Hungary 1996 1-0 (32)}) 10... Nc5 $146 (10... Be7 11. Be3 (11. Qe1 O-O 12. Qg3 Rc8 13. Bh6 Ne8 14. Be3 Nc5 15. Rfd1 Qc7 16. h4 Kh8 17. h5 Bf6 18. Qh3 Qe7 19. g4 Nc7 20. Qg3 Bxd4 21. Bxd4 e5 22. Be3 N7e6 23. Be2 g5 24. Rac1 Nf4 25. Bxf4 gxf4 {Hoffmann,G-Chandler,P (2145) Kassel 1995 0-1 (43)}) 11... O-O 12. Qe1 (12. a4 b4 13. Na2 a5 14. Bb5 Nb8 15. c3 d5 16. e5 Ne8 17. cxb4 axb4 18. Qd2 b3 19. Nxb3 Bc6 20. Nc3 Bb4 21. Nd4 Bxc3 22. Qxc3 Bxb5 23. Nxb5 Nd7 24. Rfc1 f6 25. f4 fxe5 26. fxe5 Rf5 {Menneveux,J (1500)-Gallaud,S (1640) Bethune 2004 1-0}) 12... Ne5 13. Qg3 Rc8 14. f4 Neg4 15. Nb3 Nxe3 16. Qxe3 Ng4 17. Qg3 h5 18. Kh1 Bh4 19. Qf3 Qb6 20. Nd1 d5 21. Nd2 dxe4 22. Bxe4 Rxc2 23. Bxb7 Rxd2 24. Be4 g6 25. b3 {Miskovic,B (2007)-Kusina,J (2092) Split 2011 1/2-1/2}) (10... d5 11. exd5 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 Bxd5 13. a4 $11) 11. Be2 Qc7 12. Be3 Be7 13. Qe1 O-O 14. Nd1 $2 (14. Qg3 $142 $11 {and White has air to breath}) 14... d5 $17 15. exd5 Nxd5 16. Bf2 Nf4 17. Bg3 (17. Nc3 $17) 17... Nxe2+ (17... Rfd8 $142 {would have given Black a clear advantage} 18. c3 Bg5 $19) 18. Qxe2 $17 Bd6 (18... Qd7 19. c3 $15) 19. Bxd6 $15 {White forks: f8+c7} Qxd6 20. c3 e5 {Black threatens to win material: e5xd4} 21. Nf5 {White threatens to win material: Nf5xd6} Qe6 {Black plans e4} 22. Nde3 g6 23. Nh6+ Kg7 24. Nhg4 f5 {Black prepares e4. Black threatens to win material: f5xg4} 25. Nf2 e4 26. fxe4 Nxe4 {The black knight is well posted..} 27. Nd3 $2 (27. Nxe4 $5 Bxe4 28. Rfe1 $11) 27... Rae8 (27... Qb6 $142 28. a4 bxa4 29. Rxa4 Rad8 $17) 28. Nf4 $4 (28. Nc2 $142 $15 {the rescuing straw}) 28... Qb6 $19 29. Rfe1 (29. Kh1 {cannot change what is in store for White} g5 30. Nh5+ Kh8 31. Nxf5 $19) 29... Nf6 (29... g5 $5 {might be the shorter path} 30. Nh5+ Kh8 31. Rf1 $19) 30. h3 $4 {Consolidates g4} (30. Qf2 Kf7 31. Ng4 Qxf2+ 32. Nxf2 Rxe1+ 33. Rxe1 Re8 34. Rxe8 Kxe8 $11) 30... Re4 (30... Kh8 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} 31. Qd2 g5 $19) 31. g3 $4 (31. Qf2 $142 {the only rescuing move} Qc6 32. Nd3 $15) 31... Rfe8 $19 32. Nfg2 Nd5 (32... Nd5 33. Qd2 Nxe3 34. Rxe3 Rxe3 35. Nxe3 Rxe3 36. Qd4+ Qxd4 37. cxd4 Rxg3+ 38. Kf2 Rg2+ 39. Ke3 Rxb2 $19) 0-1

B95 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Bg5 e6, unusual White 7th moves (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O Qc7 8.Bg5 Be7)

The game below was played in a team match called OCD vs THE POWER OF CHESS: The Fair Match. The match was played on 53 boards between Obsessive Chess Disorder and THE POWER OF CHESS. I played on board 8 for OCD and managed to win both of my games, though it was by no means easy, I was actually losing the game below, but then my opponent stepped into a forced mate. If there is luck in chess, I experienced it during this game. The match ended with a score 45.5 - 60.5 is in favor of THE POWER OF CHESS. For the first 16 moves were played rather evenly, but then I made a poor choice with the move 17.exd5. Taking on d5 only improves my opponent's pieces and it would have been a better idea to play e5 and keep the light-squared bishop on b7 hitting the same colored pawn on d5. In the game continuation my opponent's pieces are much more active than mine.

The game continued with the moves 17...Nfxd5 18.Nxd5 and then my opponent blocked the scope of the light-squared bishop once again with the knight with the move 18...Nxd5. It removed some of the possibilities that my opponent would have had, had Judoman played the much better move 18...Bxd5. Taking with the bishop would have generated some pressure towards g2, but more importantly it would have also made the pawn on c2 overloaded and I would have needed to react to it, giving my opponent the initiative. The game was played relatively well by both players after that until I made the very foolish move 31.h3??

Playing 31.h3 was bad because the square g3 was weakened, so that my opponent was able to play 31...Bg3. At that moment I was quite lost, but I continued to fight on and it could have been rewarded on move 44 when my opponent blundered with the move Rf5. My path towards a draw could have started with the move 45.Rxf5, but I played the much more risky 45.Rd7, which seemed to me a more promising option.

Judoman replied with 45...R5f7 and I could have traded rooks again and the game might have been going towards a drawn again. I declined the trade of rooks once again and placed my rook to d6, which attacked the pawn on h6. My plan worked out, because it enabled the possibility for my opponent to blunder and blunder Judoman did.

Judoman protected the pawn by placing the king to h7, which threw the game away. With perfect play it would have been a forced mate in maybe eleven moves, but due to some inaccurate moves, the end became quicker and my opponent resigned after my 49th move Rg7+, which was the first move in a forced mate in three.

[Event "OCD vs THE POWER OF CHESS: The Fair Mat"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.07.03"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Judoman"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B95"] [WhiteElo "1871"] [BlackElo "1739"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation} e6 (6... e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O Be6 { Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Modern Line} (8... O-O {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Traditional Line})) 7. O-O Qc7 8. Bg5 Be7 {B95 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Bg5 e6, unusual White 7th moves} 9. Kh1 h6 (9... Nbd7 10. Qd3 (10. f4 b5 11. Bf3 Bb7 12. a3 O-O 13. f5 e5 14. Nb3 Rfd8 15. Qe1 h6 16. Be3 Nb6 17. Rd1 Rac8 18. g4 d5 19. Bxb6 Qxb6 20. exd5 e4 21. Bg2 Nxd5 22. Qxe4 Rc4 23. Nxd5 Rxd5 24. Qxe7 Rxd1 {Saka,I-Durukan,I (1850) Antalya 2013 1-0 (46)}) 10... b6 11. f4 Bb7 12. Bf3 h6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Ndb5 axb5 15. Nxb5 Qc6 16. Nxd6+ Ke7 17. Nxb7 Bxb2 18. Rad1 Qc7 19. Qb3 Ba3 20. e5 Bc5 21. Nd6 Ra3 22. Qc4 Ra5 23. Rd3 Rb8 24. Nb5 {Horak,J (2241)-Vaculik,M (2260) Czechia 2006 1/2-1/2 (52)}) 10. Be3 O-O $146 (10... Nc6 11. Nxc6 Qxc6 12. f3 O-O 13. Bd3 Rd8 14. Qe2 b5 15. a3 Bb7 16. Rad1 Rac8 17. Qf2 Ba8 18. Ne2 d5 19. exd5 Nxd5 20. Bc1 Qc7 21. Qg3 Qxg3 {1/2-1/2 (21) Gavriljanchuk,D-Ivanov, R Zelenograd 1997}) (10... b5 11. f4 Bb7 12. Bf3 $11) 11. f4 {Black has a cramped position} Nc6 12. Qe1 b5 (12... d5 13. e5 Nxd4 14. Bxd4 $11) 13. a3 { Covers b4} (13. Nxc6 $5 {is interesting} Qxc6 14. Bf3 $14) 13... Bb7 14. Nb3 b4 15. axb4 Nxb4 16. Bd3 d5 17. exd5 (17. e5 $142 $5 {looks like a viable alternative} Ne4 18. Nd4 $11) 17... Nfxd5 $17 18. Nxd5 (18. Na5 $142 $17) 18... Nxd5 (18... Bxd5 $142 {and the scales tip in favour of Black} 19. Qe2 Nxd3 20. Qxd3 Qb7 $17) 19. Bd2 $11 {White has an active position} Bd6 {Black threatens to win material: Bd6xf4} (19... Rab8 20. Ra4 $11) 20. Qe4 {White has a mate threat} (20. Na5 Rab8 21. Nxb7 Qxb7 $14) 20... Nf6 $11 {Black threatens to win material: Nf6xe4} 21. Qd4 {White has an active position} (21. Qe2 e5 22. Na5 exf4 23. Nxb7 Qxb7 $11) 21... Qc6 {Black has a mate threat} (21... e5 22. fxe5 Bxe5 23. Qc5 $11) 22. Qf2 Ne4 23. Bxe4 Qxe4 24. Be3 (24. Na5 Bc5 25. Qg3 Bd4 26. Nxb7 Qxb7 $11) 24... Rac8 (24... Rfc8 25. c3 $15) 25. c3 $15 {Prevents intrusion on b4} f5 {Black has a new backward pawn: e6} (25... Rfd8 26. Kg1 $15 ) 26. Nd2 Qc6 27. Nf3 Qc7 28. Nd4 {White threatens to win material: Nd4xe6} Bd5 (28... Rce8 29. Qh4 $11) 29. Rfe1 (29. Rxa6 Qd7 30. Rd1 Bb8 $14) 29... e5 30. fxe5 Bxe5 31. h3 $4 {White is ruining his position} (31. Nf3 $142 {was a good chance to save the game} Rfe8 32. Rxa6 $11) 31... Bg3 (31... f4 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} 32. Bd2 f3 33. Nxf3 $19) 32. Qf1 (32. Qd2 {doesn't change anything anymore} Bxe1 33. Rxe1 f4 $19) 32... Bxe1 (32... f4 $142 {finishes off the opponent} 33. Bd2 Bxe1 34. Bxe1 $19) 33. Rxe1 f4 34. Bc1 (34. Bf2 { cannot change destiny} Bc4 35. Qg1 Rb8 $19) 34... Rf6 (34... f3 35. gxf3 Qg3 $19) 35. Qf2 (35. Nf3 {does not win a prize} g5 $19) 35... Rcf8 36. Nf3 Re6 ( 36... Rg6 37. Rd1 Bxf3 38. Qxf3 $19) 37. Rd1 (37. Rxe6 {is not the saving move} Bxe6 38. Qd4 Qb7 39. Bxf4 Bxh3 $19) 37... Bxf3 38. Qxf3 Rg6 (38... Qe5 $142 { might be the shorter path} 39. c4 Qe2 40. h4 Qxf3 41. gxf3 $19) 39. Rd4 Rgf6 40. b3 g5 (40... Qb6 {and Black can already relax} 41. b4 Rd6 42. Rxf4 $19) 41. c4 Qa5 (41... Re6 $5 {seems even better} 42. Re4 Qc6 43. Rxe6 Qxe6 44. Kh2 $19) 42. Kh2 (42. Re4 Qf5 43. Bb2 Re6 $19) 42... Qe5 (42... Re8 $142 $5 43. Rd2 $19) 43. Rd5 Qe1 (43... Qc7 $142 $17) 44. Bb2 $2 (44. Bd2 $142 Qg3+ 45. Qxg3 fxg3+ 46. Kxg3 $17) 44... Rf5 $4 {allows the opponent back into the game} (44... Qg3+ $142 {Black has a promising position} 45. Qxg3 fxg3+ 46. Kxg3 Rb6 $19) 45. Rd7 (45. Rxf5 Rxf5 46. Qb7 Kf8 47. Ba3+ Kg8 48. Qc8+ Kg7 49. Qxf5 Qg3+ 50. Kg1 Qe1+ 51. Kh2 Qg3+ 52. Kg1 Qe1+ 53. Kh2 $11) 45... R5f7 {Black threatens to win material: Rf7xd7} (45... Re8 46. Bd4 Qg3+ 47. Qxg3 fxg3+ 48. Kxg3 $19) 46. Rd6 (46. Rxf7 $142 Rxf7 47. Qa8+ Rf8 48. Qd5+ Rf7 49. Qa8+ Rf8 50. Qxa6 Qg3+ 51. Kh1 Qe1+ 52. Kh2 $11) 46... Kh7 $4 {a weak move, ruining a winning position} ( 46... Qg3+ $142 47. Qxg3 fxg3+ 48. Kxg3 Rb7 $17) 47. Qd3+ Rf5 48. Rd7+ Kg6 ( 48... Kg8 {does not save the day} 49. Rg7+ Kh8 50. Rxg5+ Re5 51. Bxe5+ Qxe5 52. Rxe5 Kg7 53. Re6 f3 54. Qg6+ Kh8 55. Qxh6+ Kg8 56. Qg5+ Kf7 57. Qg6#) 49. Rg7+ (49. Rg7+ Kh5 50. Qf3+ Kh4 51. Qg4#) 1-0

B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Bg5 Nbd7 9.O-O Be7)

My second game against ACM MystOdyssey and my second win. This game was the fifth challenge game after the last tournament game I have played at the FIDE Online Arena and out of those five games I managed to win four and drew one, so no losses at that point in time! The game started to go wrong for MystOdyssey when my opponent played 13...Bc5. While I was already up a pawn, it was only after 13...Bc5 that my opponent lost the compensation for the material. I continued correctly with the move 14.Bxc5 and after my opponent took back with the knight, I should have played 15.a4 and I could have kept my extra pawn.

In the game I played 15.Nf3, which gave the initiative to my opponent starting with the move 15...b5. After that the compensation for the material should be quite clear. The next bad decision was seen on the board when MystOdyssey chose to take my knight on e2 with the bishop on move 20. MystOdyssey should have kept the pin on my knight, because it would have tied my pieces a bit. After the trade on e2, I do not really have any problems anymore. MystOdyssey then made a huge blunder and played 21...Qxd5?? My next move could have ended the game, had I played 22.Ne7+ that is and won the queen. It would have been a good point in time for my opponent to resign.

Once upon a time I might have been very embarrassed to show this game and especially this moment of the game when I played 22.Nxb4, instead of the simply winning 22.Ne7+, but these days it is just funny to me how bad moves I have played and I am not bothered at all with sharing these moments. MystOdyssey then moved the queen to e5 and then I made a huge blunder and took the a-pawn with my knight. The problem with the move was found by my opponent because MystOdyssey played 23...Qd6 and trapped my knight.

While I had two pawns for the knight at that point, it was nowhere near enough of a compensation and I should have been quite lost. I did not resign and thought that maybe I can get some counterplay going with my queenside pawns. For quite some time my position did not become significantly better, but on move 34 MystOdyssey made the mistake I had been waiting for, my opponent played 34...Nxe1.

Taking the rook with the knight was a horrible idea because it gave me precious time to push my a-pawn up the board without the fear of getting checked. When my pawn reached a7, it was me who had a winning advantage. I did not let my opponent back into the game and won the game a few moves later.

Game number two. This one was played in a team match called OCD and the Realm Rematch! It was played on 53 boards between ♞KNIGHTS of the REALM♞ and Obsessive Chess Disorder!! I played on board 10 for OCD and I faced International Master Bakr Hafez. The match ended with a score 48.5 - 57.5 in favor of OCD!! While I may have been in some trouble before, it was only after the move 20.Bd3 that the draw started to slip away from my grasp.

The game continued with the moves 20...b4 21.axb4 axb4 22.Ne2 Bxd3 23.cxd3 d5. My opponent did not play the most accurate moves and he gave me a chance to hold the draw with accurate play, had I replied correctly to the move 23...d5 that is. I should have played 24.f4, but I chose the move 24.Rc1 instead. I wanted to try to control the c-file, but this was not the best idea in that position. The final nail in my coffin was the move 29.Bh2, after which the game was hopelessly lost.

I continued my struggle for some time, but I resigned after 42...Re2 because at that point I had to admit that there is no way I can draw this game anymore.

[Event "Challenge 28997578"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.04.15"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "MystOdyssey"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "1695"] [BlackElo "1604"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "75"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Opocensky Variation} e5 7. Nb3 Be6 (7... Be7 8. O-O O-O { Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Opocensky Variation, Traditional Line}) 8. Bg5 (8. O-O Be7 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Opocensky Variation, Modern Line}) 8... Nbd7 9. O-O Be7 {B92 Sicilian Najdorf 6.Be2} 10. Nd2 (10. Nd5 Bxd5 11. exd5 O-O 12. c4 Qc7 13. Be3 a5 14. Nd2 Rfe8 15. Nb1 Ne4 16. f3 Nec5 17. Nc3 h6 18. Nb5 Qb6 19. Kh1 Bg5 20. Bg1 Bf6 21. Qc2 Re7 22. Rab1 Ra6 { 1/2-1/2 (22) Saskowski,J (2265) -Kuczynski,R (2500) Katowice 1992}) 10... O-O $146 {Black has a cramped position} (10... Rc8 11. Kh1 (11. Re1 O-O 12. Nf1 Qb6 (12... h6 13. Bxf6 Nxf6 14. Ne3 b5 15. f3 Qb6 16. Bf1 b4 17. Ncd5 Nxd5 18. exd5 Bg5 19. dxe6 Bxe3+ 20. Kh1 fxe6 21. Qd3 Bd4 22. Rab1 a5 23. c3 Bc5 24. Qe4 Rf4 25. Qg6 Rf6 26. Qe4 Rf5 27. c4 {Polonsky,P (2103)-Bochkov,A (1969) Rybinsk 2008 0-1 (57)}) 13. Rb1 Bc4 14. Bxc4 Rxc4 15. Ne3 Rc6 16. Bxf6 Nxf6 17. Ncd5 Qd8 18. f3 Qd7 19. b3 b5 20. Qe2 Rfc8 21. Nb4 Rb6 22. Red1 a5 23. Nbd5 Nxd5 24. Nxd5 Rbb8 25. Rd3 Bf8 {Papandreou,G (1893)-Loukeris,A Ermioni Argolidas 2005 1-0 (47)}) 11... h6 12. Bxf6 Nxf6 13. f4 Qc7 14. f5 Bd7 15. a4 Bc6 16. Bc4 O-O 17. b4 b5 18. axb5 axb5 19. Bb3 Qb6 20. Qf3 Qd4 21. Qd3 Qxb4 22. Rf3 Qc5 23. Rg3 Rfd8 24. Nf1 b4 25. Na4 {Feliz Segura,R (1895)-Polanco Nunez,Y (2205) Santo Domingo 2016 0-1 (31)}) 11. Bc4 d5 (11... Rc8 $5 {has some apparent merit } 12. Bb3 b5 $11) 12. exd5 Bf5 13. Be3 Bc5 (13... b5 14. Bb3 $11) 14. Bxc5 $16 Nxc5 15. Nf3 (15. a4 $142 $5 $16) 15... b5 $11 {Black prepares e4} 16. Bb3 ({ Inferior is} 16. Nxe5 bxc4 17. Nxc4 Nce4 $17) 16... Nxb3 (16... Bg4 17. Qd2 b4 18. Na4 Nxb3 19. axb3 (19. cxb3 $143 Bxf3 20. gxf3 Qd6 $17) 19... Bxf3 20. gxf3 $11) 17. cxb3 b4 18. Ne2 (18. Na4 Bg4 (18... Qxd5 $143 19. Qxd5 Nxd5 20. Nxe5 $16) 19. h3 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 Qxd5 $14 (20... Nxd5 $2 21. Rfd1 e4 22. Qf5 $18)) 18... e4 {Black threatens to win material: e4xf3} 19. Nfd4 {White threatens to win material: Nd4xf5} Bg4 (19... Qxd5 $5 20. Nxf5 Qxf5 $11) 20. Nc6 $14 Bxe2 $2 (20... Qd6 $142 $5 $14 {might be a viable alternative}) 21. Qxe2 $16 Qxd5 $4 { the pressure is too much, Black crumbles.} (21... Qd6 22. Rac1 a5 $16) 22. Nxb4 {White forks: d5+a6} (22. Ne7+ $142 {and White has prevailed} Kh8 23. Nxd5 Nxd5 24. Qxe4 $18) 22... Qe5 23. Nxa6 $4 {hands over the advantage to the opponent} (23. Rfd1 $142 $16) 23... Qd6 $19 24. b4 Qxa6 (24... Rxa6 $142 25. Rfd1 Qb6 $19 ) 25. Qe3 $2 (25. Qxa6 $142 Rxa6 26. a4 $17) 25... Rfe8 26. a4 Nd5 27. Qb3 { White intends b5} (27. Qd2 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} Qd3 28. Rfd1 Qxd2 29. Rxd2 Nxb4 $19) 27... Qd3 28. Qxd3 (28. Qa3 {is no salvation} Qxa3 29. bxa3 Rxa4 $19) 28... exd3 29. b5 Nb4 30. Rfd1 Rad8 (30... Re2 {keeps an even firmer grip} 31. b6 Nc2 32. Rab1 $19) 31. a5 (31. Kf1 d2 32. g3 $19) 31... d2 32. a6 ( 32. Rab1 {the only chance to get some counterplay} Nc2 33. g3 $19) 32... Nc2 33. Rab1 Re1+ 34. Rxe1 Nxe1 (34... dxe1=Q+ $142 {and Black takes home the point } 35. Rxe1 Nxe1 $19) 35. a7 $18 Nc2 36. Rd1 Nb4 37. Rxd2 $3 {Deflection: a8.} Nd5 (37... Rxd2 38. a8=Q+ {Mate attack Deflection}) (37... -- $140 38. Rxd8# { Mate threat}) 38. Rxd5 $1 {Deflection: a8} (38. Rxd5 Rc8 39. f3 Rc1+ 40. Kf2 Rc2+ 41. Ke3 Rc8 42. b6 f6 43. b7 Re8+ 44. Kf2 Kf7 45. b8=Q f5 46. Rxf5+ Ke7 47. Qb7+ Kd6 48. Rd5+ Ke6 49. Qd7+ Kf6 50. Qf5+ Ke7 51. Rd7#) 1-0 [Event "OCD and the Realm Rematch! - Board 10"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.11.13"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Hafez_Bakr"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "1823"] [BlackElo "1843"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Opocensky Variation} e5 7. Nb3 Be6 (7... Be7 8. O-O O-O { Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Opocensky Variation, Traditional Line}) 8. Bg5 (8. O-O Be7 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Opocensky Variation, Modern Line}) 8... Nbd7 9. O-O Be7 {B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2} 10. Nd2 { Black has a cramped position} (10. Nd5 Bxd5 11. exd5 O-O 12. c4 Qc7 13. Be3 a5 14. Nd2 Rfe8 15. Nb1 Ne4 16. f3 Nec5 17. Nc3 h6 18. Nb5 Qb6 19. Kh1 Bg5 20. Bg1 Bf6 21. Qc2 Re7 22. Rab1 Ra6 {1/2-1/2 (22) Saskowski,J (2265)-Kuczynski,R (2500) Katowice 1992}) 10... O-O $146 (10... Rc8 11. Kh1 (11. Re1 O-O 12. Nf1 Qb6 (12... h6 13. Bxf6 Nxf6 14. Ne3 b5 15. f3 Qb6 16. Bf1 b4 17. Ncd5 Nxd5 18. exd5 Bg5 19. dxe6 Bxe3+ 20. Kh1 fxe6 21. Qd3 Bd4 22. Rab1 a5 23. c3 Bc5 24. Qe4 Rf4 25. Qg6 Rf6 26. Qe4 Rf5 27. c4 {Polonsky,P (2103)-Bochkov,A (1969) Rybinsk 2008 0-1 (57)}) 13. Rb1 Bc4 14. Bxc4 Rxc4 15. Ne3 Rc6 16. Bxf6 Nxf6 17. Ncd5 Qd8 18. f3 Qd7 19. b3 b5 20. Qe2 Rfc8 21. Nb4 Rb6 22. Red1 a5 23. Nbd5 Nxd5 24. Nxd5 Rbb8 25. Rd3 Bf8 {Papandreou,G (1893)-Loukeris,A Ermioni Argolidas 2005 1-0 (47)}) 11... h6 12. Bxf6 Nxf6 13. f4 Qc7 14. f5 Bd7 15. a4 Bc6 16. Bc4 O-O 17. b4 b5 18. axb5 axb5 19. Bb3 Qb6 20. Qf3 Qd4 21. Qd3 Qxb4 22. Rf3 Qc5 23. Rg3 Rfd8 24. Nf1 b4 25. Na4 {Feliz Segura,R (1895)-Polanco Nunez,Y (2205) Santo Domingo 2016 0-1 (31)}) 11. Nc4 {Attacks the backward pawn on d6. White threatens to win material: Nc4xd6} Qc7 12. Ne3 Rfd8 13. Kh1 {White has an active position} (13. Ncd5 Bxd5 14. Bxf6 Nxf6 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. Qxd5 Rac8 $14) 13... h6 {Black threatens to win material: h6xg5} (13... Rac8 14. Kg1 $11) 14. Bh4 {White has an active position} (14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Ncd5 Qc5 $14) 14... Nb6 ( 14... Re8 15. Kg1 $11) 15. Bg3 (15. a4 $5 $14 {is worth looking at}) 15... Rac8 16. Qd2 (16. Bd3 d5 17. Nexd5 Nfxd5 18. exd5 Nxd5 19. Nxd5 Rxd5 $11) 16... Nc4 (16... d5 17. exd5 Nfxd5 18. Ncxd5 Nxd5 19. Nxd5 Bxd5 20. Bd3 $17) 17. Nxc4 ( 17. Bxc4 Bxc4 18. Rfe1 b5 $11) 17... Bxc4 $15 18. Rad1 b5 19. a3 a5 20. Bd3 ( 20. Nxb5 Bxb5 21. Bxb5 Nxe4 $17) 20... b4 $17 21. axb4 axb4 22. Ne2 Bxd3 (22... d5 23. exd5 Rxd5 24. Qe1 $17) 23. cxd3 d5 (23... Qc2 24. f4 $17) 24. Rc1 (24. f4 Qc2 25. fxe5 Qxd2 26. Rxd2 Nh5 27. exd5 Bg5 $15) 24... Qb8 25. Qe3 (25. exd5 $5 Rxd5 26. d4 $17) 25... dxe4 26. dxe4 Rxc1 (26... Qb5 27. h3 $17) 27. Rxc1 Qd6 (27... Nh5 28. Qf3 g6 29. Ng1 $17) 28. h3 {Covers g4} (28. Ng1 Qd2 29. Bxe5 Nxe4 30. Qxd2 Rxd2 $15) 28... Nh5 $17 29. Bh2 $4 {another step towards the grave} (29. Ra1 $142 $17) 29... Bg5 $19 30. f4 Nxf4 31. Rf1 (31. Nxf4 exf4 32. e5 $19) 31... Nxg2 $1 {Discovered attack: f4, Bg5xe3} 32. Qf3 (32. Kxg2 Bxe3 { Discovered attack}) 32... Nf4 $1 {the end of the story} 33. Nxf4 (33. Nxf4 exf4 {Passed pawn}) (33. Bxf4 exf4 {Passed pawn}) 33... exf4 ({Inferior is} 33... Bxf4 34. Bxf4 exf4 35. e5 $19) 34. Bxf4 (34. h4 {praying for a miracle} Bxh4 35. Qxf4 $19) 34... Bxf4 35. Qxf4 Qxf4 36. Rxf4 Rd2 37. Rf5 (37. b3 {otherwise it's curtains at once} Rd3 38. Kh2 Rxb3 39. Rf5 $19) 37... Rxb2 38. Rb5 b3 ( 38... Kf8 $5 {seems even better} 39. Rb6 $19) 39. Rb4 Kh7 40. Rb6 f6 41. Rb5 Kg6 42. Kg1 Re2 (42... Re2 43. Rxb3 Rxe4 $19) 0-1

B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Be3 Be7 9.f3)

The game below was played in the fifth round of a rapid chess tournament that was held at the FIDE Online Arena on April 8th 2015. After a horrible start for the tournament, two losses against much lower rated players, I finally got my first win on round three and after that I kept on winning and ended the tournament with a score of 3 out of 5. This last round game was against a player rated over 1500, while all my other opponents were below 1500. I am quite happy with the last three rounds of the tournament because I did not make all that many bad moves, I could be happy about the second round too if I had not made that one unfortunate move with the king. The first position of interest was seen on the board after the move 11.Nxd5. BlackMadKing played 11...Qxd5, which could have created some problems for my opponent, had I continued accurately that is.

The problem with the move 11...Qxd5 was that it allowed the continuation 12.Qxd5 Bxd5 13.O-O-O, which unfortunately for me, did not happen in the game. I would have had a major lead in development, which would have also given me a nice initiative. I played 12.Bd3 for some reason and avoided the trade of queens. It seems like such an obvious waste of time now and something that gives my opponent time that he would not have, had I gone with the previously mentioned line. The game losing blunder was played by my opponent on move 16. BlackMadKing moved his pawn to b5 in the position below and the result of the game was quite clear.

The game continuation 17.Na5 Qc7 18.Nc6 Rde8 19.Nxe7+ Rxe7 20.Qh4 shows quite well why 16...b5 was such a horrible move. That being said, 20.Bxh7+ might be even stronger. While it may have been basically over at this point, the struggle continued up to the move 53.Kd5 and then my opponent resigned.

[Event "Tournament 28743201"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.04.08"] [Round "5"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "BlackMadKing"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "1861"] [BlackElo "1549"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "105"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation} e5 7. Nb3 Be6 (7... Be7 8. O-O O-O { Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Traditional Line}) 8. Be3 (8. O-O Be7 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Modern Line}) 8... Be7 9. f3 {B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2} d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Qxd5 (11... Bxd5 12. c4 Bc6 13. Qxd8+ Bxd8 14. Bc5 Bc7 15. Rd1 a5 16. Bd6 Bxd6 17. Rxd6 Ke7 18. Rd2 Nd7 19. Kf2 f6 20. Nc1 Nc5 21. b3 Ne6 22. Bd3 g6 23. Rhd1 f5 24. Ne2 h5 25. h4 Kf6 26. Bc2 {Selkovski,Z (2010)-Lazov,T (2223) Struga 2015 1-0 (58)}) 12. Bd3 {White king safety improved} O-O $146 (12... Nc6 13. Qe2 Nb4 14. Be4 Qc4 15. Na5 Qxe2+ 16. Kxe2 Bd5 17. Bxd5 Nxd5 18. Bf2 Nf4+ 19. Kf1 Rc8 20. g3 Ne6 21. c3 O-O 22. Rd1 Rfd8 23. Ke2 b5 24. Bb6 Rxd1 25. Rxd1 Bc5 26. Bxc5 Nxc5 27. Nc6 {Lapinskaite,S-Butkyte,V Vilnius 2000 1/2-1/2 (32)}) 13. O-O {White castles and improves king safety} Nd7 14. Qe2 Rad8 (14... Qc6 $5 $11 {is worth consideration}) 15. Be4 $14 {White threatens to win material: Be4xd5} Qc4 {Black threatens to win material: Qc4xe2} 16. Qf2 (16. Qxc4 $142 Bxc4 17. Rfd1 $14) 16... b5 $4 {letting the wind out of his own sails} (16... f5 $142 {would be a reprieve} 17. Bd3 Qc6 $15) 17. Na5 $18 Qc7 18. Nc6 Rde8 ( 18... Bd6 19. Nxd8 Rxd8 $18) 19. Nxe7+ $18 Rxe7 20. Qh4 Nf6 21. Bg5 Nxe4 22. Bxe7 (22. fxe4 {is much worse} Rd7 $17) 22... Re8 23. Qxe4 ({Instead of} 23. fxe4 Rxe7 24. c3 h6 $16) 23... Qxe7 (23... Rxe7 24. a4 Qc5+ 25. Kh1 $18) 24. Qxe5 Qb4 (24... Qa7+ {doesn't do any good} 25. Kh1 $18) 25. a3 Qc4 26. c3 a5 { Black plans b4} (26... Qc6 {is not much help} 27. Rfe1 $18) 27. Rfe1 (27. a4 $142 $5 {makes it even easier for White} bxa4 28. Qxa5 a3 29. Qxa3 h5 $18) 27... Qb3 28. Qe2 b4 (28... Qd5 $18 {desperation}) 29. axb4 axb4 30. cxb4 (30. Qb5 $142 $5 {seems even better} Rf8 31. Qxb4 Qc2 $18) 30... Qxb4 31. Qc2 (31. Qe4 $5 {might be the shorter path} Qxb2 32. Ra8 Qb5 $18) 31... Rb8 32. Re2 h6 33. Qc3 Qc4 (33... Qb6+ {does not solve anything} 34. Kh1 $18) 34. Qxc4 Bxc4 35. Rd2 (35. Re4 $5 {and White can already relax} Bb3 $18) 35... Be6 36. Rad1 Kh7 37. Ra1 Kg6 $4 {not a good decision, because now the opponent is right back in the game} (37... Kg8 38. h4 g6 $18) 38. Ra4 $18 Bb3 (38... Rb3 { hardly improves anything} 39. h4 $18) 39. Rad4 Rb7 40. Kf2 Kf6 41. Ke3 g6 ( 41... Kg6 {cannot change what is in store for White} 42. R2d3 $18) 42. Kd3 Ba2 (42... h5 {does not improve anything} 43. Kc3 Be6 44. b4 $18) 43. b4 Bb3 (43... Be6 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 44. Rb2 Rb5 45. Rd6 $18) 44. Rb2 Be6 (44... Ba4 {doesn't improve anything} 45. Rd5 Bb5+ 46. Kd4 $18) 45. b5 Rb6 46. Kc3 Ke5 47. f4+ Kf6 48. Kb4 Ke7 (48... Rb8 {cannot undo what has already been done} 49. Ka5 $18) 49. Kc5 Rb7 (49... Rb8 {what else?} 50. b6 Rc8+ 51. Kb5 Rb8 $18) 50. b6 Rb8 51. b7 Bc8 52. bxc8=Q $1 {Mate threat.} Rxc8+ (52... Rxc8+ 53. Kd5 {Combination}) (52... -- $140 53. Qxb8 {Mate threat}) 53. Kd5 (53. Kd5 Kf6 54. Rb7 $18) 1-0

B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Bg5 Be7 9.O-O O-O 10.Kh1 Nc6 11.f4 exf4 12.Bxf4 Rc8 13.Qe1)

The game below was played in a team match called Stairway to heaven. This match was played between Hammer Of The Gods and Mermaids and Pirates Playing Chess For The Fun Of It. It was played on 13 boards and I played on board 4 for Hammer Of The Gods, which is a group for the fans of Led Zeppelin. I may not be the biggest Led Zeppelin fan but I do like some of their songs. We did end up winning the match with a score of 14.5 - 11.5. I won both of my games against Texwilson in this match, which was also my first appearance representing this team. The first blunder of the game was made by my opponent on move 16 when Texwilson played Nf6.

I replied with 17.Qh3, which is a good move, but 17.e5 might be even stronger. My journey towards the win started with my 17th move, but it was not a perfect one as I made a sloppy move 19.Be3, but otherwise it was smooth sailing for me to the end.

[Event "Stairway to heaven - Board 4"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.04.26"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Texwilson"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "1965"] [BlackElo "1647"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "75"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation} e5 7. Nb3 Be6 (7... Be7 8. O-O O-O { Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Traditional Line}) 8. Bg5 (8. O-O Be7 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Modern Line}) 8... Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Kh1 Nc6 11. f4 exf4 12. Bxf4 Rc8 13. Qe1 {B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2} Bxb3 (13... Nd7 14. Rd1 Nde5 15. Qg3 Bh4 16. Qe3 Bf6 17. a3 Re8 18. Qf2 Qc7 19. Qg3 Kh8 20. Rd2 Rcd8 21. Bg5 Bxg5 22. Qxg5 Qb6 23. Na4 Qa7 24. Nc3 b5 25. Rfd1 Qb8 26. Nd4 Nxd4 27. Rxd4 Bc4 28. b3 {Olafsson, F (2545)-Quinteros, M (2515) Buenos Aires 1980 1/2-1/2 (50)}) 14. axb3 { White has the pair of bishops} Nd4 $146 {Black threatens to win material: Nd4xc2} (14... Nb4 15. Rc1 Nd7 16. Qg3 Bh4 17. Qh3 Ne5 18. Rcd1 Qe7 19. Bxe5 dxe5 20. Rd7 Qg5 21. g3 Qe3 22. Qxh4 Rxc3 23. Rdxf7 {1-0 (23) Tako,H (2045) -Tamas,G (2148) Hungary 2007}) 15. Bd3 {Black has a cramped position} Nd7 16. Qg3 {White has a very active position} Nf6 $2 (16... Rc6 $142 $5 $14 {should be investigated more closely}) 17. Qh3 (17. e5 dxe5 18. Bxe5 Nc6 $18) 17... g6 18. Rad1 Ne6 19. Be3 (19. Bh6 Re8 20. Bc4 Rc5 21. Bxe6 Rh5 22. Bxf7+ Kxf7 $18) 19... Nd7 (19... h5 20. Bh6 Ng7 21. Be2 $16) 20. Bc4 $18 Nec5 $4 {shortens the misery for Black} (20... Ng7 $142 $18) 21. Bh6 (21. Rxf7 $142 {makes it even easier for White} Rxf7 22. Bxf7+ Kxf7 23. Qxh7+ Ke6 24. Qxg6+ Nf6 25. b4 $18) 21... Nf6 (21... Ne5 {hoping against hope} 22. Bxf8 Bxf8 23. Bxf7+ Nxf7 24. Rxf7 Kxf7 25. Qxh7+ Ke8 $18) 22. Bxf8 (22. e5 $142 {and White wins} Qd7 23. exf6 Qxh3 24. gxh3 Bd8 25. Rxd6 Bc7 $18) 22... Qxf8 23. Rde1 (23. Nd5 $142 { makes sure everything is clear} Ncd7 24. Rxf6 Bxf6 25. Qxd7 Bg5 $18) 23... b5 $4 {a blunder in a bad position} (23... Ncd7 24. Nd5 Rc5 25. c3 $18 (25. Nxe7+ $6 Qxe7 26. Qg3 Kg7 $16)) 24. Bd5 (24. Nd5 $5 {might be the shorter path} Ncd7 25. Rxf6 Bxf6 26. Qxd7 Bg5 $18) 24... b4 $4 {sad, but how else could Black save the game?} (24... Ncd7 25. b4 $18) 25. Nb1 (25. Bxf7+ $142 {it becomes clear that White will call all the shots} Kxf7 26. Nd5 $18) 25... a5 26. Nd2 Ncd7 27. Nc4 Rc5 28. Rf2 Ne5 $2 (28... Qe8 $18) 29. Nxe5 dxe5 30. Bc4 (30. Ref1 {keeps an even firmer grip} Kg7 31. g4 h6 $18) 30... Qa8 $2 (30... h5 31. Ref1 Kg7 32. Qf3 $18) 31. Qh4 (31. Bxf7+ $142 $5 {and White can already relax} Kg7 32. Bc4 Qc8 $18) 31... Kg7 32. Ref1 (32. Bxf7 $142 {seems even better} Rc8 $18) 32... Qd8 (32... Qc6 33. Rf3 $18) 33. Qh3 (33. g4 $142 {and White can celebrate victory} h6 34. g5 hxg5 35. Qxg5 $18) 33... Qd4 34. Qf3 Qxb2 $4 { the final mistake, not that it matters anymore} (34... h5 $18) 35. g4 h6 36. h4 Qd4 (36... Qc3 {a last effort to resist the inevitable} 37. Qxc3 bxc3 $18) 37. g5 hxg5 38. hxg5 (38. hxg5 Rc6 39. Bd5 Rd6 40. Qh3 Rxd5 41. gxf6+ Bxf6 42. exd5 Qxd5+ 43. Qg2 Qd4 44. Rxf6 Qh4+ 45. Kg1 Qxf6 46. Rxf6 Kxf6 47. Qd5 Ke7 48. Kf2 e4 49. Ke3 a4 50. bxa4 b3 51. cxb3 Kf6 52. Kxe4 Ke7 53. Qe5+ Kf8 54. Qf6 g5 55. a5 g4 56. a6 g3 57. a7 Ke8 58. a8=Q+ Kd7 59. Qac6#) 1-0

B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Bg5 Be7 9.O-O O-O 10.Bxf6 Bxf6)

This was played in tedjj's mini-tournament XLIII at GameKnot. I was on sixth place in the final standings of the tournament and I was able to gather 12 points in 20 games. The game below I ended up on winning on time because apparently my opponent could not decide what to do in that final position. The move I would have expected him to play was 26...Rd4, which I thought would be the best option for black. I guess the position is quite close to even but Black has more active pieces, at least for the moment. During the game I thought I was slightly worse and it was difficult for me to come up with decent moves. No matter how difficult a position is, one should still make a move to at least have some chance in the game and I will keep moving in my games until I see that resistance is futile. The game really did not feature any huge mistakes, only some small, relatively meaningless mistakes were seen, but I am not going to go deeper into those positions.

[Event "tedjj's mini-tournament XLIII"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2015.07.15"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "bourne007"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "1758"] [BlackElo "1735"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation} e5 7. Nb3 Be6 (7... Be7 8. O-O O-O { Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Traditional Line}) 8. Bg5 (8. O-O Be7 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Modern Line}) 8... Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 {B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2} 11. Nd5 Nd7 (11... Bg5 12. a4 Nc6 13. a5 Rc8 14. Bg4 Bh6 15. c3 Ne7 16. Nb6 Rc6 17. Bf3 g6 18. Nc1 Nc8 19. Nxc8 Rxc8 20. Nd3 Rc7 21. Nb4 Rc5 22. Qa4 Qe7 23. Rfd1 Kh8 24. Nd3 Rc7 25. Qb4 f5 26. Ne1 {Tomorhuyag,N (2360)-Vera Gonzalez Quevedo,R (2485) Novi Sad 1990 0-1 (42)}) 12. c4 (12. Qd3 Be7 13. Rfd1 Bxd5 14. Qxd5 Qc7 15. Qd3 Nf6 16. Nd2 Qc6 17. Bf3 Rac8 18. c3 g6 19. Nf1 Qb6 20. Qe2 Rfd8 21. Ne3 Bf8 22. Nd5 Nxd5 23. Rxd5 Rc5 24. Rad1 Rxd5 25. Rxd5 Rc8 26. Qd2 Be7 {Righi,E (2097) -Kelires,A (2223) Monaco 2013 1/2-1/2 (33)}) 12... Bg5 13. Qd3 $146 (13. Nd2 Rc8 14. Nb1 b5 15. b3 Bxd5 16. Qxd5 bxc4 17. bxc4 Qb6 18. Nc3 Qb2 19. Qd3 Nc5 20. Qf3 Ne6 21. Rab1 Qc2 22. Qd3 Qxd3 23. Bxd3 Nf4 24. Rfd1 Nxd3 25. Rxd3 Rxc4 26. g3 Rfc8 27. h4 Bd8 {Kambli,P (1710)-Paragua,M (2521) Mumbai 2012 0-1 (44)}) 13... a5 14. a4 {White has an active position} Nf6 15. Rfd1 (15. Nxf6+ Qxf6 16. Nc1 Qg6 $11) 15... Nxd5 16. cxd5 Bd7 17. Nd2 Bxd2 ( 17... f5 18. Qa3 Bxd2 19. Rxd2 $15) 18. Qxd2 $11 f5 {Black threatens to win material: f5xe4} 19. Bf3 (19. exf5 Bxf5 20. Rdc1 Qb6 $11) 19... fxe4 20. Bxe4 Bf5 21. Bxf5 Rxf5 22. Ra3 Qf6 23. Rb3 {White threatens to win material: Rb3xb7} Rf8 24. Rf1 Rf4 {Black threatens to win material: Rf4xa4} 25. Rxb7 Rxa4 26. Ra7 1-0

B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Be3 O-O 9.O-O Be6 10.f4 exf4 11.Bxf4 Nbd7 12.Kh1 Ne5)

The first game in this post was played at the Queen Alice Internet Chess Club. It is always nice to play at a site where your rating goes quite easily higher than you are used to seeing your rating at. My rating at Queen Alice Internet Chess Club is at the moment 2214, which is a lot higher rating than I have been able to get at any other correspondence chess site. If my memory serves me right, the only games I have played there have had a time control where you need to make your move within 7 days. For some reason that time control has worked out well for me. I do not know what my so called true rating should be, but it likely is not one that starts with a 2. Some people think that a player's real rating is what they have been able to get at over the board games. In my opinion, the rating you have is only relevant in the context the rating has been achieved at.

The game was played quite well by both players until the only real blunder of the game was played by me on move 24. It is a ridiculous mistake but when I ended up in this position I had no idea how should I continue and my other option was 24.c3 but I did not like that either all that much. I should have played that of course instead of playing like an idiot. Luckily as my opponent was still provisional, my rating did not drop from this loss.

I should have probably resigned already after the reply 24...Nxf3, but I continued my agony for a few moves and only resigned after the move 27...Rfe8.

[Event "Challenge"] [Site "http://www.queenalice.com/gam"] [Date "2015.04.14"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Jerzy"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "2199"] [BlackElo "2189"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation} e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3 (8. O-O Be6 { Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Modern Line} (8... O-O {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Traditional Line})) 8... O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. f4 exf4 11. Bxf4 Nbd7 12. Kh1 Ne5 {B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2} 13. Nd4 Qd7 14. Nxe6 (14. Bxe5 dxe5 15. Nxe6 Qxe6 16. Bf3 Rfd8 17. Nd5 Nxd5 18. exd5 Qd6 19. Be4 g6 20. c4 Rac8 21. b3 b5 22. Bd3 b4 23. Qe2 f5 24. Rad1 a5 25. Bb1 Rf8 26. Rde1 Bf6 27. Qf3 Bg7 28. Qg3 Kh8 {Swapnil,P (1369)-Harshad,S (1526) India 2016 1/2-1/2 (31)}) 14... Qxe6 15. Qd4 (15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. Qxd5 {1/2-1/2 (16) Krasnici, H (2249)-Breier,A (2308) Berlin 2000}) 15... Nc6 $146 {Attacking the isolated pawn on e4} (15... Rac8 16. Rae1 Rc5 17. b4 Nc6 18. Qd2 Rxc3 19. Qxc3 Nxe4 20. Qe3 d5 21. a3 a5 22. b5 Bc5 23. Qc1 Nf2+ 24. Rxf2 Bxf2 25. bxc6 bxc6 26. Rd1 Qxe2 27. Bd2 a4 28. Be1 Qf1# {0-1 (28) Hovanecz,L (2235)-Mincsovics,M (2139) Hungary 2000}) 16. Qc4 Qxc4 17. Bxc4 { White has an active position} Ne5 {Black threatens to win material: Ne5xc4. A comfortable square for the black knight} (17... Rac8 18. Rad1 $11) 18. Bb3 { White has an active position} Nh5 (18... Rac8 19. Rae1 $11) 19. Nd5 Bd8 20. Be3 (20. Bxe5 dxe5 21. Rad1 b5 $16) 20... Nf6 $14 21. Nxf6+ Bxf6 22. Rad1 {White threatens to win material: Rd1xd6} Rac8 23. Bd4 b5 24. Rf3 $4 {throwing away the advantage} (24. c3 $142 $14 {would hold out}) 24... Nxf3 $19 25. Bxf6 (25. gxf3 Bxd4 26. Rxd4 a5 $19) 25... Ne5 26. Bg5 (26. Bxe5 dxe5 27. c3 $19) 26... Nc4 27. Bc1 (27. h3 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} h6 28. Bf4 Rfd8 $19) 27... Rfe8 0-1

B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 b5 7.a3)

This was played in the fourth and final round of the WORLD OPEN RAPID tournament that was held at the FIDE Online Arena on March 18th 2015. The loss in this game meant that I finished the tournament with two wins and two losses, so not that good of a result but it could have been worse. Admittedly, the games I lost were against stronger players, so in that regard this was quite expected result. While it was me who lost the game, it was not me who first ended up going towards a loss, though only briefly. When my opponent played 11...Rc8, it was a small mistake that increased my advantage from small to a clear one.

Interestingly the best reply to 11...Rc8 is 12.Kh1, according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT at depth 36. Moving the king to h1 seems like a useful move to me, but I am not so sure if it is really the strongest move in the position. It does get the king off from the weakened diagonal g1-a7. I played 12.Ncd5 in the game because I wanted to improve the position of my knight and also control the square b6. It just started a couple of exchanges and I ended up having a pawn on d5, which was not what I wanted from the position. The game was fought evenly until my opponent played 29...Rb8.

Moving the rook to b8 is clearly worse than 29...Qb6 because in the game continuation I could have played 30.b4, both protecting the pawn and attacking the queen on c5. Had the queen moved to b6, it would have attacked both the bishop on a6 and the pawn on b2, and I would have been on the defensive, at least for awhile. In the game continuation I could have been the one on the offensive, but I chose to play the much more passive move 30.Rb1 instead. A few moves later I made a horrible move, 33.Kg1, after which I should have been completely lost.

My move was so terrible because the continuation 33...Qe3+ 34.Qxe3 Rxb1+ was possible and I would be down a rook. Luckily for me, Kadusic1963 missed his or hers chance to basically win the game and chose to move the bishop to d8 instead. I then finally traded rooks on b2, which should made the game easier to play for me, but it was with my 35th move Kf1 that I started my final decline towards a loss. My opponent did not play accurately the remainder of the game and one sloppy move on move 38 could have given me a chance, however small, to hold the game. I blundered immediately by playing 39.Bc6 and I continued the struggle all the way to the move 45...Qb4#.

[Event "Tournament 28038750"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.03.18"] [Round "4"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Kadusic1963"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "1819"] [BlackElo "1933"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "90"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation} b5 (6... e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O Be6 { Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Modern Line} (8... O-O {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Traditional Line})) 7. a3 {B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2} Bb7 8. f3 e5 (8... Nbd7 9. O-O e6 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Qe1 Qb6 12. Qf2 h6 13. Be3 Qc7 14. Bd3 Rc8 15. Rac1 Ne5 16. Nde2 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Qxc4 18. Ng3 b4 19. axb4 Qxb4 20. Rb1 O-O 21. Bd2 Qc5 22. Qxc5 Rxc5 23. Be3 {Belli,A (1511)-Alessandro, S (1666) Gallarate 2015 0-1}) 9. Nf5 (9. Nb3 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Bxd5 12. Be3 Be7 13. O-O O-O 14. Rc1 Bc4 15. Bd3 Nc6 16. Qe2 Bxd3 17. cxd3 Nd4 18. Qf2 Nxf3+ 19. Qxf3 Qxd3 20. Rc3 Qd7 21. Rd1 Qe6 22. Bc5 Bxc5+ 23. Rxc5 e4 {Sedliacek,P (2090)-Sulko,J (2080) Slovakia 2004 0-1 (39)}) 9... g6 10. Ne3 Nbd7 11. O-O $146 (11. Ned5 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 Nb6 13. Nxb6 Qxb6 14. Qd3 Be7 15. Be3 Qc6 16. O-O O-O 17. c4 bxc4 18. Qxc4 Qxc4 19. Bxc4 Rac8 20. Rac1 Kg7 21. Rf2 f5 22. exf5 d5 23. Bd3 Rxc1+ 24. Bxc1 Bc5 25. fxg6 hxg6 {Mast,H (1741) -Beutelhoff,J (2129) Germany 2011 0-1 (54)}) 11... Rc8 12. Ncd5 (12. Kh1 $5 $16) 12... Bxd5 $11 13. Nxd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 f5 (14... Qb6+ 15. Kh1 $11) 15. Be3 $14 Bg7 16. c3 (16. a4 Rb8 $14) 16... O-O {Black prepares the advance f4} (16... Nb6 17. Rc1 $11) 17. Qd2 (17. a4 $5 $14 {deserves consideration}) 17... Nc5 18. Rad1 Qc7 19. Kh1 f4 {Black wins space} (19... Nb3 20. Qe1 $11) 20. Bxc5 $11 Qxc5 {Opposite coloured bishops appeared} 21. Qd3 Rc7 22. Qe4 Qa7 23. Rd2 Qa8 24. Rfd1 Qc8 25. Rc2 Rc5 (25... Qb7 26. b4 $11) 26. c4 bxc4 27. Rxc4 (27. Bxc4 $5 Qf5 28. Qxf5 gxf5 29. b4 $14) 27... Rxc4 $11 28. Bxc4 Qc5 29. Bxa6 Rb8 (29... Qb6 30. Qe2 e4 $11) 30. Rb1 $4 {forfeits the advantage} (30. b4 $142 Qb6 31. b5 $16) 30... Rxb2 $15 {Deflection: c1} 31. a4 (31. Rxb2 Qc1+ {Mate attack Deflection}) 31... Qa3 (31... Bf6 32. Qd3 $15) 32. Bb5 {A beautiful square!} Bf6 33. Kg1 $4 {forfeits the clear win} (33. Rxb2 Qxb2 34. g3 fxg3 35. hxg3 Kg7 $11) 33... Bd8 (33... Qe3+ $142 {and the result of the game is clear: Black will win} 34. Qxe3 Rxb1+ (34... fxe3 35. Rxb2 Bd8 36. Bd3 $18) 35. Kf2 fxe3+ 36. Kxe3 Rb2 $19) 34. Rxb2 $15 Qxb2 {Black has a mate threat} 35. Kf1 $2 (35. Qd3 $142 $15 {is a viable option}) 35... Bb6 $19 36. Qe2 $4 {the position was bad, and this mistake simply hastens the end} (36. Qe1 Qd4 37. Ke2 $19) 36... Qd4 37. Ke1 (37. Qc2 {does not help much} Qg1+ 38. Ke2 Qxg2+ 39. Kd1 Qxf3+ 40. Qe2 Qh1+ 41. Qe1 Qxh2 42. Qc3 $19) 37... Qg1+ ( 37... Ba5+ 38. Kf1 Qa1+ 39. Kf2 Bb6+ 40. Qe3 Qa2+ 41. Ke1 fxe3 42. Be2 Qd2+ 43. Kf1 Qc1+ 44. Bd1 Qxd1#) 38. Kd2 $19 Qxh2 (38... Qb1 $142 39. Qd1 Qb2+ 40. Qc2 Ba5+ 41. Kd1 Qd4+ 42. Kc1 Qa1+ 43. Qb1 Bd2+ 44. Kc2 Qc3+ 45. Kd1 Be3 $19) 39. Bc6 $2 (39. Kc2 $142 $17) 39... Qg1 $19 40. Kc2 Qc5+ 41. Kb3 Kg7 42. Qa6 $4 { simply worsens the situation} (42. Bb5 $19) 42... Qe3+ 43. Kb4 (43. Kc2 { the last chance for counterplay} Qf2+ 44. Kb3 $19) 43... Bc5+ 44. Ka5 (44. Kc4 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} Qe2+ 45. Kb3 Qd1+ 46. Kc3 Bd4+ 47. Kb4 Qd2+ 48. Kb5 Qb2+ 49. Kc4 Qc3+ 50. Kb5 Qc5#) 44... Qc3+ 45. Kb5 Qb4# 0-1

B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 b5 7.Bf3)

This game was played in a tournament called AUTO-OPEN-3254. After this game my rating went to its peak rating at the time, 2181. The first step towards a loss for my opponent was played by attachui when he or she played 15...Na4. While it was a bad move, it was not like my opponent should have lost because of that move. I then replied with the move 16.b3, which was not the best move and it was only good enough for an equal position. I should have continued by playing 16.Nxf6+ and I could have been on my way to win a pawn.

Attachui then played 16...Nc5 ending up in some trouble once again. The correct move was 16...Bxd5. The game continued clearly in my favor until I made the sloppy move 24.Nc7. My move seems like a harmless try to trade of pieces when I am up in material, but actually it could have given my opponent some counterplay and with it some compensation for the lost material.

Attachui should have answered by playing 24...Rc8, so that when I take on e6, the rook would already be creating pressure on the pawn on c2. Unfortunately for my opponent, attachui chose the more passive move 24...Re7 and the downhill started once more, but this time it did not stop, but instead became worse over time. The position was still not completely lost after attachui's 24th move, but my opponent's 26th move Nb7, the position looked already quite lost for Black. The battle was far from over, the game ended only after my 67th move h6.

[Event "AUTO-OPEN-3254"] [Site "http://www.queenalice.com/gam"] [Date "2014.05.16"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "attachui"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "2169"] [BlackElo "2185"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "133"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation} b5 (6... e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O Be6 { Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Modern Line} (8... O-O {Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Opocensky Variation Traditional Line})) 7. Bf3 {B92 Sicilian Najdorf: 6.Be2} e5 8. Nde2 Bb7 9. Bg5 (9. Ng3 Nbd7 10. O-O b4 (10... Rc8 11. Bg5 Qc7 12. a3 Qc4 13. Re1 Be7 14. Nf5 Qc5 15. Nxg7+ Kf8 16. Bh6 Kg8 17. Nf5 Bf8 18. Bxf8 Nxf8 19. Ne7+ Kg7 20. Nxc8 Qxc8 21. Qxd6 Ne6 22. Qxe5 Re8 23. Nd5 Bxd5 24. exd5 Nf8 25. Qg5+ {Prasobhu,P (1703)-Behrendt,M (1638) Kiel 2016 1-0 (40)}) 11. Nb1 Nc5 12. Re1 g6 13. a3 a5 14. Nd2 h5 15. h3 Be7 16. b3 O-O 17. Bb2 Qc7 18. Re3 h4 19. Ngf1 Nh7 20. Re1 Bg5 21. Nc4 Rad8 22. Nfd2 Bf4 23. axb4 axb4 {Hardicsay, P (2350)-Yewdokimov,O Werfen 1989 1-0 (41)}) 9... Be7 {Black has a cramped position} 10. O-O $146 (10. Ng3 b4 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Nd5 a5 13. O-O g6 14. Nxf6+ Qxf6 15. Qd2 O-O 16. Rfd1 Rd8 17. c3 bxc3 18. bxc3 Na6 19. Rab1 Nc5 20. Rb6 Ra6 21. Rb2 Ba8 22. Rb5 Rc8 23. Rdb1 Qd8 24. h3 Bc6 {Hegner,P (1645)-Smits, O (1905) Marburg 2006 1/2-1/2}) 10... h6 (10... Nbd7 11. Ng3 h6 12. Bxf6 Nxf6 13. Nh5 Nxh5 14. Bxh5 $11) 11. Bxf6 $14 Bxf6 { Black has the pair of bishops} 12. Nd5 {A beautiful square!} Nd7 13. Ng3 { White has an active position} (13. a4 bxa4 14. Rxa4 O-O $14) 13... O-O (13... g6 14. a4 $11) 14. Nf5 $14 Nc5 15. Re1 (15. Nxf6+ Qxf6 16. Qxd6 Qxd6 17. Nxd6 Bc6 $14) 15... Na4 (15... Bg5 16. g3 g6 17. Nfe3 $11) 16. b3 (16. Nxf6+ Qxf6 17. Qxd6 Nxb2 18. Qxf6 gxf6 19. Nxh6+ Kh7 $16) 16... Nc5 (16... Bxd5 $142 $5 { must definitely be considered} 17. Qxd5 Nc3 18. Qxd6 Qxd6 19. Nxd6 Bg5 $11) 17. Nxf6+ $16 Qxf6 18. Qxd6 (18. Nxd6 $4 Rfd8 $19) 18... Qxd6 19. Nxd6 Bc6 (19... Rfd8 20. Rad1 Bc6 21. Bg4 $16) 20. Nf5 $16 Rae8 (20... Ra7 21. Rad1 $16) 21. Rad1 Bd7 $2 (21... Kh7 22. Re3 Ba8 23. Nd6 $16) 22. Ne3 (22. Rd5 $5 Bxf5 23. exf5 e4 $18) 22... Be6 23. Nd5 Kh8 24. Nc7 {White threatens to win material: Nc7xe8} (24. Re3 $5 Rb8 $16) 24... Re7 (24... Rc8 25. Nxe6 Nxe6 26. Rc1 $14) 25. Nxe6 $16 Rxe6 (25... Nxe6 $5 26. Bg4 Rc8 $16) 26. Rd5 Nb7 (26... Rc6 27. Rxe5 Ne6 28. Rc1 $16) 27. Red1 (27. Rd7 Rb6 28. Red1 f6 $18) 27... g6 (27... Rc6 $142 $5 28. b4 Rxc2 $18) 28. Be2 $18 f5 $2 (28... Kg7 $18) 29. exf5 gxf5 30. c4 e4 (30... bxc4 {there is nothing better in the position} 31. Bxc4 e4 32. Rxf5 Rxf5 33. Bxe6 Rf6 $18) 31. cxb5 axb5 32. Bxb5 e3 (32... f4 {does not improve anything} 33. a4 $18) 33. fxe3 Rxe3 34. Kf2 (34. b4 $142 $5 {seems even better} Rb8 35. a4 Rb3 $18) 34... Rc3 (34... Re4 {doesn't improve anything } 35. a3 $18) 35. Bc4 (35. b4 {makes it even easier for White} Ra3 36. R1d2 Rf6 $18) 35... Rc2+ (35... Rc8 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 36. Bd3 Ra8 37. Rd2 $18) 36. R1d2 Rxd2+ 37. Rxd2 Nc5 (37... Ra8 {is not the saving move} 38. Ke3 $18) 38. Kf3 Ne4 (38... Ra8 {is not much help} 39. Rd5 Rc8 40. Kf4 $18) 39. Rd7 h5 (39... Ra8 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 40. a4 $18) 40. Kf4 Nc3 ( 40... Nf6 {what else?} 41. Re7 Rd8 42. Kxf5 Nd5 $18) 41. a4 Rc8 42. Kxf5 (42. a5 h4 43. a6 Na4 44. Re7 Nb6 45. Be6 Ra8 46. Kxf5 Nc8 47. Re8+ Kg7 48. Rg8+ Kh6 49. Rxc8 Rxa6 50. Kf6 Ra7 51. Rg8 Rb7 52. Rg6+ Kh7 53. Rg4 Kh8 54. Rd4 h3 55. Rd8+ Kh7 56. Bf5+ Kh6 57. Rh8+ Rh7 58. Rxh7#) 42... Nxa4 $18 43. Kg6 Rc6+ 44. Kxh5 Nb6 45. Rd4 Nd7 (45... Kg7 {is not much help} 46. Rg4+ Kf8 47. h4 $18) 46. Kg5 (46. Rxd7 Rh6+ 47. Kg5 Rg6+ 48. Kf4 Rg4+ 49. Ke5 Rg5+ 50. Kd6 Rxg2 51. Be6 Rg5 52. Rf7 Rg2 53. Ke7 Rxh2 54. b4 Rh1 55. b5 Rh2 56. Kf6 Rh6+ 57. Kf5 Rh1 58. Kg6 Rg1+ 59. Kf6 Rf1+ 60. Bf5 Rg1 61. Rf8+ Rg8 62. Rxg8+ Kxg8 63. b6 Kh8 64. b7 Kg8 65. b8=Q#) 46... Ne5 47. Kf4 Ng6+ 48. Ke3 Rb6 49. Kd3 Ne5+ (49... Kg7 { doesn't get the cat off the tree} 50. h4 $18) 50. Kc3 Rg6 (50... Kg7 {cannot change what is in store for White} 51. b4 $18) 51. Rd2 (51. Rd8+ $142 {seems even better} Kh7 52. Bd5 $18) 51... Ng4 (51... Kg7 {a last effort to resist the inevitable} 52. b4 Rc6 $18) 52. Rd8+ Kg7 53. Rg8+ Kf6 54. Rxg6+ Kxg6 55. Be2 Ne3 (55... Nf6 {does not improve anything} 56. Bf3 Nd7 57. b4 Kf7 58. h4 Ke7 59. h5 Ne5 60. b5 Nd7 61. Kc4 Ne5+ 62. Kd5 Nd7 63. Kc6 Ne5+ 64. Kc7 Nc4 65. b6 Na5 66. b7 Nxb7 67. Bxb7 Kf8 68. Kd6 Kg8 69. g4 Kf7 70. g5 Kg7 71. Be4 Kh8 72. h6 Kg8 73. g6 Kh8 74. Ke7 Kg8 75. Bd3 Kh8 76. Kf6 Kg8 77. h7+ Kh8 78. g7#) 56. Bf3 Kf6 (56... Nf1 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 57. b4 Kf6 58. b5 Ke5 59. h4 Ng3 60. b6 Kd6 61. h5 Nf5 62. g4 Nh6 63. g5 Nf7 64. g6 Nh6 65. g7 Kd7 66. b7 Kc7 67. Bd5 Kb8 68. Kb4 Ng8 69. Bxg8 Kxb7 70. Bd5+ Kb6 71. g8=Q Kc7 72. Kc5 Kd7 73. Be6+ Ke7 74. Qf7+ Kd8 75. Qd7#) 57. b4 Ke5 (57... Ke7 {cannot undo what has already been done} 58. b5 Nf5 59. b6 Kd8 60. Kc4 Ne7 61. Kc5 Kc8 62. h4 Kb8 63. Be4 Ng8 64. g4 Nf6 65. Bf5 Kb7 66. h5 Ng8 67. g5 Ne7 68. Be4+ Ka6 69. h6 Nc8 70. h7 Nxb6 71. h8=Q Na4+ 72. Kb4 Nb6 73. Qa1+ Na4 74. Qxa4+ Kb6 75. Qa5#) 58. b5 Kd6 59. Kb4 Kc7 (59... Nc2+ {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 60. Ka5 Na1 61. b6 Nb3+ 62. Ka6 Nc5+ 63. Ka7 Ke5 64. b7 Nxb7 65. Kxb7 Kd4 66. h4 Ke5 67. g4 Kd4 68. g5 Ke5 69. Be4 Kd4 70. h5 Kc3 71. h6 Kd2 72. h7 Ke3 73. h8=Q Kxe4 74. g6 Kf3 75. g7 Ke2 76. g8=Q Kd2 77. Qb2+ Ke3 78. Qg3+ Ke4 79. Qbe5#) 60. Kc5 Nf5 61. g4 Ng7 (61... Nh6 {does not save the day} 62. b6+ Kd7 63. g5 Nf7 64. g6 Nh6 65. g7 Ng8 66. Bg4+ Ke8 67. b7 Kf7 68. b8=Q Kxg7 69. Qe5+ Kg6 70. Bf5+ Kf7 71. Be6+ Ke8 72. Bxg8+ Kd7 73. Qg7+ Ke8 74. Kd6 Kd8 75. Qd7#) 62. b6+ Kb8 (62... Kc8 {is not the saving move} 63. Kd6 Ne8+ 64. Ke7 Nc7 65. h4 Nb5 66. h5 Nd4 67. Be4 Ne2 68. h6 Nf4 69. Kd6 Ng6 70. Bxg6 Kb7 71. Kc5 Ka6 72. h7 Ka5 73. h8=Q Ka4 74. Bc2+ Ka3 75. Qa1#) 63. h4 (63. Kd6 Ne8+ 64. Ke5 Kc8 65. Bc6 Nc7 66. bxc7 Kxc7 67. Kd5 Kb6 68. g5 Ka6 69. g6 Ka7 70. g7 Kb6 71. g8=Q Kc7 72. Qh7+ Kb6 73. Qb7+ Ka5 74. Qb5#) 63... Ne6+ 64. Kd5 (64. Kd6 Nd4 65. Bc6 Nc2 66. Kc5 Kc8 67. h5 Kd8 68. h6 Ke7 69. h7 Kf6 70. h8=Q+ Kg5 71. b7 Ne1 72. b8=Q Nd3+ 73. Kb6 Kxg4 74. Qg7+ Kf5 75. Qbf8+ Ke6 76. Qff6#) 64... Nf8 65. h5 (65. Kd6 Nd7 66. h5 Nxb6 67. h6 Nc4+ 68. Ke6 Kc7 69. h7 Nd2 70. h8=Q Nxf3 71. Qc3+ Kb6 72. Kd6 Kb5 73. Qb3+ Ka6 74. Qa4+ Kb7 75. Qb4+ Ka6 76. Kc7 Ne1 77. Qa4#) 65... Nd7 (65... Nh7 {does not solve anything} 66. h6 Ng5 67. Be4 Nf7 68. h7 Kb7 69. Ke6+ Kxb6 70. Kxf7 Kc5 71. h8=Q Kc4 72. Qb2 Kc5 73. Qc3+ Kb5 74. Bd3+ Kb6 75. Qc8 Ka5 76. Qc5+ Ka4 77. Bc2#) 66. Ke6 (66. Kd6 Nxb6 67. h6 Nc4+ 68. Ke6 Nd2 69. h7 Kc7 70. h8=Q Nxf3 71. Qc3+ Kb6 72. Kd6 Kb5 73. Qb3+ Ka6 74. Qxf3 Ka5 75. Qb3 Ka6 76. Kc6 Ka5 77. Qb5#) 66... Nxb6 (66... Nf8+ {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 67. Kf5 Kc8 68. g5 Kd8 69. g6 Ke7 70. g7 Ne6 71. g8=Q Nd4+ 72. Kg4 Kf6 73. b7 Nf5 74. Qf8+ Ke5 75. b8=Q+ Kd4 76. Qb2+ Kd3 77. Qxf5+ Kc4 78. Be2#) 67. h6 (67. h6 Na4 68. h7 Ka7 69. h8=Q Kb6 70. Qd4+ Ka5 71. Bc6 Nc3 72. Qxc3+ Kb6 73. Kd6 Ka7 74. Qa5+ Kb8 75. Qa8#) 1-0

C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7)

The game I am sharing today was played on the first round of the 2014 September Glacial Super Casual I tournament. The second round of the tournament started less than a month ago at Red Hot Pawn. I think it was one of my games that was the last one to finish on round one, I am not sure how long it was the last group deciding game to be in progress, but I think it was like that for months. The game lasted over three years and it is easily the longest game I have ever played. My opponent eventually lost on time, so in a way it was a shame, but I think I should have won that game eventually anyway. I ended up winning my group, so I advanced to the second round.

The first odd decision from my opponent was to play 5.Be3 after moving the bishop to g5 on the previous move. Moving the bishop the second time is a waste of time. While I was in the better side of the board after that my advantage was not anywhere near winning until my opponent made the huge blunder 8.h3.

It gave me an opportunity to play 8...d4 and trap the bishop. Unfortunately I just played 8...Be6 instead, not at all looking the possibilities and just developed a piece. Chippy Minton made a second terrible move in a row, 9.O-O, which allowed me a chance to play d4 once again. I was not going to miss my chance to win material a second time and the game was decided with my 9th move d4. The rest of the game was smooth sailing to me, but it took me awhile to get the win, my opponent only resigned after my 35th move, Nb4.

[Event "Glacial Super Casual"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.09.13"] [Round "1"] [White "Chippy Minton"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C44"] [WhiteElo "1426"] [BlackElo "1943"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "70"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 {King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation} 3. d3 (3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c4 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (#3)} ( 5. Nc3 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense}) (5. O-O { Spanish Game: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense})) 3... Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 { C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit} 5. Be3 $146 (5. Nbd2 d5 6. exd5 Nxd5 7. Bxe7 Qxe7 8. c4 Nf6 9. h3 O-O 10. Be2 Bf5 11. O-O Rad8 12. Re1 Rfe8 13. Nh4 Be6 14. Bf1 Nd7 15. Nhf3 f6 16. Ne4 Nc5 17. Nxc5 Qxc5 18. Qc2 Bf5 19. Rad1 Re7 { Braunecker,U-Deventer,B Speyer 1986 1/2-1/2}) (5. c3 d5 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Be2 Be6 8. O-O Re8 9. a3 Nd7 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. Ne1 Nf6 12. Nc2 Rad8 13. Qe1 Qc5 14. Kh1 a5 15. Rc1 Qb6 16. b4 axb4 17. cxb4 Ra8 18. exd5 Bxd5 19. Nc4 Bxc4 {Chalus, K-Hosticka,F (2235) Czechia 1997 0-1 (90)}) (5. g3 d6 6. Bg2 Be6 7. d4 Nxe4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. d5 Bg4 10. dxc6 bxc6 11. Nbd2 d5 12. O-O Rb8 13. Qc1 Ng5 14. Nxg5 Qxg5 15. b3 O-O 16. Nf3 Qf5 17. Qg5 Qxg5 18. Nxg5 h6 19. Nf3 Rfe8 {Navas Duran, A-Pastrana Blanco,J (1685) Malaga 2001 1/2-1/2 (52)}) (5. Bxf6 Bxf6 6. Nc3 (6. Nbd2 d5 7. Be2 Be6 8. O-O O-O 9. h3 Qd7 10. Nh2 Rad8 11. Bg4 Nd4 12. f4 exf4 13. Rxf4 dxe4 14. Nxe4 Be5 15. Nc5 Qd5 16. Nxe6 Nxe6 17. Bf3 Qc5+ 18. Kh1 Bxf4 19. Ng4 Rd6 20. Qf1 Qg5 {Mihelich, J-Worthey,R Flint 1992 0-1 (69)}) 6... g6 7. Be2 d6 8. O-O Be6 9. a3 Qd7 10. Qd2 h6 11. h3 Bg7 12. Rab1 f5 13. exf5 gxf5 14. Nh4 Rg8 15. Bf3 O-O-O 16. Bxc6 Qxc6 17. Nf3 Bf6 18. Kh1 Rxg2 19. Kxg2 Rg8+ { Genske,S-Janknecht,E Bremen 1992 0-1}) (5. Nc3 d6 $11) 5... O-O 6. Be2 d5 { Black threatens to win material: d5xe4} 7. Nbd2 h6 8. h3 $4 {Secures g4} (8. c3 a5 $15) 8... Be6 $4 {White has a cramped position. throws away a nice position} (8... d4 {might be the shorter path} 9. Bxh6 gxh6 10. Nh2 $19) 9. O-O $4 (9. c3 $142 $11 {was necessary}) 9... d4 $19 10. Bxh6 (10. c3 dxe3 11. fxe3 Bc5 $19) 10... gxh6 11. a3 Kh7 12. b3 (12. Nh2 {cannot change what is in store for White } Rg8 13. Kh1 Bd6 $19) 12... Rg8 13. a4 (13. Kh1 $19 {is one last hope}) 13... Bxh3 14. Nh4 (14. Ne1 {does not solve anything} Qd7 15. Bf3 Rg6 $19) 14... Nxe4 $1 {Discovered attack: f6, Be7xh4} 15. Nxe4 (15. Nxe4 Bxh4 {Discovered attack}) (15. dxe4 Bxh4 {Discovered attack}) 15... Bxh4 16. Bf3 Qf8 (16... f5 $142 { might be the shorter path} 17. Kh2 Bg4 18. g3 $19) 17. Kh2 Be6 18. g3 (18. Rh1 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} f5 19. Kg1 Be7 $19) 18... Be7 19. Bh5 (19. a5 {doesn't change anything anymore} a6 $19) 19... Qg7 (19... f5 $142 $5 { keeps an even firmer grip} 20. Nd2 e4 21. a5 $19) 20. Rg1 Bg4 (20... f5 $142 $5 {and Black can already relax} 21. Nd2 e4 22. Qe2 $19) 21. Bxg4 Qxg4 22. Qxg4 ( 22. Nd2 {doesn't do any good} Qe6 $19) 22... Rxg4 23. f3 Rg6 24. Kg2 (24. Nd2 { doesn't get the bull off the ice} Rag8 $19) 24... Rag8 25. g4 f5 26. Nf2 fxg4 27. fxg4 Bh4 (27... Nb4 $142 {seems even better} 28. Rh1 Rc6 $19) 28. Kf1 (28. Rad1 {does not save the day} Nb4 29. Rd2 Nd5 $19) 28... Bxf2 (28... Rf8 $142 { secures victory} 29. Rg2 Rgf6 $19) 29. Kxf2 Rxg4 30. Rxg4 Rxg4 31. Kf3 (31. a5 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} a6 $19) 31... h5 32. Rh1 Kg6 33. Kf2 Kg5 34. Rg1 Rxg1 35. Kxg1 Nb4 (35... Nb4 36. a5 Kg4 37. a6 bxa6 38. Kf1 h4 39. c3 dxc3 40. Ke2 c2 41. Kd2 h3 42. d4 h2 43. dxe5 h1=Q 44. Kc3 c1=Q+ 45. Kxb4 Qd2+ 46. Ka3 Qa1#) 0-1

C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d3 Nf6 4.Be2 Be7 5.c3)

This is from the third round of the WORLD OPEN RAPID tournament that was played at FIDE Online Arena March 14th 2015. This was my third consecutive win on the tournament and only one game remained to be played. At this time I was really happy of the way that things had gone. When my opponent played 9.c4, the first blunder of the game saw the light of day. Ferrante's 8th move was not good either, but after 9.c4 my opponent started to be in serious trouble. After a few more moves I was able to win a pawn and I seemed to be going towards a win.

The huge mistake from my opponent on move 16, Bc5, could have meant an easy win for me, had I replied with 16...Rxb3 that is. I played 16...e4 in the game, which is a good move, but much worse than taking on b3.

I remained to be on the clearly better side of the board until I played 22...b6. At that point in the game I was still up a pawn, but my pawn structure at the kingside was ruined and I had doubled pawns on the f-file. Ferrante should have played 23.Na6 in reply and the game could have been heading towards a draw. Instead, ferrante played 23.Ne4, which attacked the pawn on f6, which I should have protected, but did not. I ended up only trading pawns when I could have been more greedy and try to win one.

A few moves later I lost a pawn and the position was equal once again. The equality did not last long as I did get some play with the move 26...Nd3. The problem for ferrante was that if he or she defends the pawn on f2, the pawn on b3 will likely fall. In the game my opponent played 27.Rf1 and defended the pawn on f2, but the pawn on b3 is much more important one to keep if possible.

Ferrante tried his or hers best to keep the material equality, but after my 30th move Nc5, it became obvious that I will win a pawn and likely the game as well. The rest of the game went smoothly for me and it ended after 56...Rg1 in my favor.

[Event "Tournament 27899239"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.03.14"] [Round "3"] [White "ferrante"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C44"] [WhiteElo "1749"] [BlackElo "1821"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "112"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 {King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation} 3. d3 (3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 Bd7 (5... f5 6. exf5 Bxf5 7. O-O {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Modern Steinitz Defense}) 6. d4 g6 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Modern Steinitz Defense Fianchetto Variation} (6... Nge7 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Modern Steinitz Defense})) 3... Nf6 4. Be2 Be7 5. c3 {C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit} d5 6. exd5 (6. Qc2 O-O 7. Bg5 Be6 8. Nbd2 Qd7 9. O-O Rfe8 10. b4 a6 11. a3 h6 12. Bh4 Nh7 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Rfe1 dxe4 15. dxe4 Ng5 16. Nf1 Nxf3+ 17. Bxf3 Qf6 18. Ne3 Ne7 19. Rad1 Rad8 20. Rxd8 Rxd8 {Prohaszka, P (2294) -Fordan,T (2215) Budapest 2005 1/2-1/2 (32)}) 6... Qxd5 $146 {White has a cramped position} (6... Nxd5 7. O-O O-O 8. Nbd2 (8. Re1 Re8 9. Nbd2 Nf4 10. Ne4 Nxe2+ 11. Qxe2 Bg4 12. h3 Bh5 13. Qe3 f5 14. Ned2 Bg5 15. Qe2 Bf6 16. Nb3 e4 17. dxe4 Rxe4 18. Qd2 Rxe1+ 19. Qxe1 Qd6 20. Bg5 Bxg5 21. Nxg5 Re8 22. Qf1 Qe7 {Ludwig,M-Flessa,H Zuerich 1983 1-0 (43)}) 8... a5 9. Nc4 Bf6 10. Ne3 Re8 11. Nxd5 Qxd5 12. Bg5 Qd6 13. Qa4 Bxg5 14. Nxg5 Qg6 15. Qh4 h6 16. Ne4 b6 17. Bh5 Qe6 18. f4 g6 19. Nf6+ Kg7 20. Nxe8+ Qxe8 21. Bf3 {Moravek,I (1782) -Savina,M (1719) Slovakia 2007 1-0 (44)}) 7. Nbd2 Bf5 (7... O-O $11) 8. Nb3 (8. Nc4 e4 9. Ne3 Qd7 $11) 8... Rd8 (8... a5 9. O-O a4 $17) 9. c4 $2 (9. d4 $142 { and White has air to breath} exd4 10. Nbxd4 $11) 9... Qd7 $17 10. O-O Bxd3 11. Bxd3 Qxd3 12. Qxd3 Rxd3 13. Be3 O-O 14. Rad1 Rfd8 15. Rxd3 Rxd3 16. Bc5 $4 { shortens the misery for White} (16. Rc1 a5 $19) 16... e4 (16... Rxb3 $142 { and Black wins} 17. Bxe7 Rxb2 18. Bxf6 gxf6 $19) 17. Bxe7 $17 exf3 (17... Nxe7 18. Ne5 Rd6 19. f3 $17) 18. Bxf6 fxg2 (18... gxf6 19. Nc5 fxg2 20. Kxg2 $17) 19. Kxg2 gxf6 20. Nc5 Rd2 21. Rb1 Rc2 22. b3 b6 {Black threatens to win material: b6xc5} 23. Ne4 (23. Na6 Rxa2 24. Nxc7 Ne5 $17) 23... Rxa2 (23... Kg7 $142 $5 24. Rd1 f5 $19) 24. Nxf6+ $15 Kh8 25. Nd5 {White threatens to win material: Nd5xc7} Ne5 (25... Na5 26. Nxc7 Ra3 27. Rd1 $15) 26. Nxc7 $11 Nd3 { Black threatens to win material: Nd3xf2} 27. Rf1 (27. Kf3 $142 $5 $11 {is interesting}) 27... Rb2 $17 28. Nb5 (28. Kf3 Rxb3 29. Ke4 Kg7 $17) 28... a5 29. Nd4 Kg7 30. Kg3 (30. Kf3 $5 Nc5 31. Rd1 $19) 30... Nc5 $19 31. Kf3 (31. Kf4 Kf6 $19) 31... Nxb3 32. Rg1+ Kf6 33. Nxb3 (33. Ke4 {is no salvation} a4 34. Nb5 Rxf2 $19) 33... Rxb3+ 34. Ke4 Rb2 (34... a4 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} 35. Rg8 a3 36. h4 $19) 35. Rg2 $2 (35. Ra1 Rxf2 36. Rb1 Re2+ 37. Kd5 $19) 35... a4 36. Kd4 (36. Rg3 {no good, but what else?} Re2+ 37. Kd4 Rxf2 38. Ra3 Rf4+ 39. Kd5 Rf5+ 40. Kd6 $19) 36... a3 37. Kc3 Re2 38. Rg1 Rxf2 39. Ra1 a2 40. h4 Kg6 41. Kb4 Kh5 42. Kb5 Rb2+ 43. Kc6 f5 44. Kd5 Kg4 45. c5 (45. Kd4 {does not help much} f4 46. Kc3 Rg2 47. Kb3 f3 48. c5 bxc5 49. Rf1 Re2 50. h5 f2 51. Rc1 Re1 52. Rc4+ Kf3 53. Rc3+ Ke4 54. Rc4+ Kd5 55. Rc2 a1=Q 56. Rd2+ Kc6 57. h6 Rb1+ 58. Kc2 Rc1+ 59. Kd3 Qd4+ 60. Ke2 f1=Q#) 45... bxc5 46. Kxc5 (46. Rg1+ { cannot change destiny} Kxh4 47. Ra1 Kg3 48. Rg1+ Rg2 49. Rf1 f4 50. Ke4 Re2+ 51. Kd3 f3 52. Rd1 Rb2 53. Rg1+ Kf4 54. Ra1 f2 55. Rf1 Kg3 56. Ke3 Rb3+ 57. Kd2 Rb1 58. Kc2 Rxf1 59. Kd3 Rd1+ 60. Kc4 a1=Q 61. Kxc5 Qc3+ 62. Kb6 Rb1+ 63. Ka7 Qa1#) 46... h5 (46... f4 47. Rg1+ Kf5 48. Ra1 f3 49. h5 f2 50. Rf1 Ke4 51. Rd1 Rb1 52. Rd4+ Ke3 53. Rd8 Rc1+ 54. Kb4 a1=Q 55. Re8+ Kf3 56. Rf8+ Kg3 57. Rg8+ Kh4 58. Kb3 Rc3+ 59. Kb4 Qb2+ 60. Ka5 Ra3#) 47. Kc4 (47. Rg1+ {doesn't do any good} Kxh4 48. Rh1+ Kg3 49. Rg1+ Rg2 50. Ra1 f4 51. Kc4 f3 52. Kd5 f2 53. Kd6 Rg1 54. Rxa2 f1=Q 55. Ra3+ Kh4 56. Ra4+ Rg4 57. Rxg4+ hxg4 58. Kc5 g3 59. Kb4 g2 60. Kb3 g1=Q 61. Kc3 Qc5+ 62. Kb2 Qcc1+ 63. Kb3 Qfc4#) 47... Kxh4 (47... f4 48. Rg1+ Kxh4 49. Rh1+ Kg3 50. Rg1+ Rg2 51. Ra1 f3 52. Kd5 f2 53. Kd6 Rg1 54. Rxa2 f1=Q 55. Ra3+ Kh4 56. Ra4+ Rg4 57. Rxg4+ hxg4 58. Kc5 g3 59. Kb4 g2 60. Kb3 g1=Q 61. Kc3 Qc5+ 62. Kb2 Qcc1+ 63. Kb3 Qfc4#) 48. Kc3 (48. Kd5 {does not win a prize} f4 49. Ke4 Kg3 50. Rg1+ Kf2 51. Ra1 f3 52. Kd3 Kg3 53. Kc3 Rb1 54. Rxa2 f2 55. Rxf2 Kxf2 56. Kd4 h4 57. Kc3 h3 58. Kc2 Rb7 59. Kd3 h2 60. Kc3 h1=Q 61. Kd4 Qc6 62. Ke5 Rb5+ 63. Kd4 Rd5+ 64. Ke4 Qc4#) 48... Rf2 49. Kd3 (49. Kb3 {doesn't improve anything} Kh3 50. Rg1 f4 51. Ka3 Kh2 52. Ra1 h4 53. Kb3 h3 54. Ka3 Kg2 55. Rxa2 Rxa2+ 56. Kxa2 f3 57. Kb3 f2 58. Kb4 f1=Q 59. Kc5 Qf5+ 60. Kb4 h2 61. Kb3 h1=Q 62. Ka3 Qd3+ 63. Ka4 Qhb1 64. Ka5 Qa3#) 49... Kg3 50. Ke3 (50. Rg1+ {hardly improves anything} Kf3 51. Ra1 h4 52. Rc1 h3 53. Ra1 Kg2 54. Rc1 h2 55. Ke3 h1=Q 56. Rxh1 f4+ 57. Ke4 Kxh1 58. Kd3 a1=Q 59. Ke4 Re2+ 60. Kd3 Qd1+ 61. Kc4 Rc2+ 62. Kb3 Qb1+ 63. Ka4 Ra2#) 50... f4+ (50... Kg2 51. Re1 h4 52. Ra1 h3 53. Rc1 h2 54. Ra1 f4+ 55. Ke4 h1=Q 56. Rxh1 Kxh1 57. Kd3 a1=Q 58. Ke4 Re2+ 59. Kd3 Qd1+ 60. Kc4 Rc2+ 61. Kb3 Qb1+ 62. Ka4 Ra2#) 51. Kd3 f3 (51... h4 52. Kc4 Kg2 53. Kb3 h3 54. Rxa2 Rxa2 55. Kxa2 f3 56. Kb2 f2 57. Kb3 h2 58. Kc3 f1=Q 59. Kb4 h1=Q 60. Kc5 Qh5+ 61. Kd4 Qfd1+ 62. Kc3 Qa5+ 63. Kb2 Qaa1#) 52. Rg1+ (52. Kc4 {doesn't change anything anymore} Rg2 53. Kd5 f2 54. Ke6 Rg1 55. Rxa2 f1=Q 56. Ra3+ Kh4 57. Ra4+ Rg4 58. Rxg4+ hxg4 59. Kd5 g3 60. Ke6 g2 61. Kd5 g1=Q 62. Ke6 Qc5 63. Kd7 Qff5+ 64. Ke8 Qcf8#) 52... Rg2 53. Ra1 (53. Rf1 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} f2 54. Ke3 Rg1 55. Rxf2 a1=Q 56. Rf3+ Kg4 57. Rf4+ Kg5 58. Ke4 Re1+ 59. Kd3 Kxf4 60. Kc4 Rc1+ 61. Kb3 Rc3+ 62. Kb4 Qb2+ 63. Ka5 Ra3#) 53... h4 (53... f2 54. Kd4 Rg1 55. Rxa2 f1=Q 56. Rc2 Qf6+ 57. Kd3 Rd1+ 58. Kc4 Qd4+ 59. Kb5 Rb1+ 60. Rb2 Rxb2+ 61. Kc6 Rb6+ 62. Kc7 Qd6+ 63. Kc8 Rb8#) 54. Ke3 (54. Kc4 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} h3 55. Kc5 h2 56. Rd1 Rg1 57. Rd8 Rc1+ 58. Kd6 Rd1+ 59. Kc5 Rxd8 60. Kb5 h1=Q 61. Kc6 Qc1+ 62. Kb6 Rb8+ 63. Ka7 Qc7+ 64. Ka6 a1=Q#) 54... h3 55. Kd3 h2 56. Ke3 (56. Kd4 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} Rg1 57. Rxa2 h1=Q 58. Ra8 Rd1+ 59. Kc3 Qe1+ 60. Kb3 Qe3+ 61. Kb4 Qd4+ 62. Ka5 Qc3+ 63. Ka4 Ra1+ 64. Kb5 Rb1+ 65. Ka4 Qb4#) 56... Rg1 (56... Rg1 57. Rxa2 h1=Q 58. Kd4 Rd1+ 59. Kc3 f2 60. Kb4 Qe4+ 61. Ka5 Rd5+ 62. Kb6 Qe6+ 63. Kc7 Rd7+ 64. Kc8 Qe8#) 0-1

C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6)

The game you see below was played in the first round of a tournament called 2014 August Banded Quartets I 1700-1800. Despite the name of the tournament, in my group there were five players. It was the only group to have that many, other groups were four player groups, more suitable according to the name of the tournament. I was able to win my group and advance to the second round where I no longer managed to win the group and the tournament at the same time. The winner of the tournament, chessicle, won all his games on round two. I was on shared third place in the final standings.

While the position looked a bit bad for White before, it was only when my opponent played 12.Qe2 that me winning the game was the most likely outcome. Unfortunately I did not find the strongest move, 12...e4, instead I moved my bishop to d6. If you look at the notation of the game, there is an example variation starting with the move 12...e4. Moving the bishop to d6 did protect the pawn on e5, but it also lost the possible discovered attacks against the undefended knight on h4.

The game continued to be played in a slightly favorable manner for me with the moves 13.Nd2 Rad8 and then KingDavid403 played 14.Ne4, slipping more towards a loss again. 14.Re1 was a better choice. I gave one more chance for my opponent to stay in the game when I played 16...g6.

I am not sure why I played 16...g6 to be honest, maybe I wanted the possibility to follow it up with the move f5. My opponent played 17.Bh6 in reply and I just choose to move my rook to e8. I could have played f5 in response, but it does seem a bit too risky of a move.

KingDavid403 then played the game losing blunder 18.Nf5. I played the obvious reply 18...Be6 and my opponent was hopelessly lost. KingDavid403 continued the struggle up to the move 39...Kxh3 and resigned in a position where I was up a bishop and three pawns.

[Event "Banded Quartets"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.16"] [Round "1"] [White "KingDavid403"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C44"] [WhiteElo "1690"] [BlackElo "1871"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 {C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit} 3. h3 (3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Bb4 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Alapin's Defense Deferred} (4... Bc5 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Classical Defense Deferred}) (4... d6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. d4 f6 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Modern Steinitz Defense})) 3... Nf6 4. d3 Be7 (4... d5 5. Nbd2 (5. Qe2 d4 6. Bd2 Nb4 7. Bxb4 Bxb4+ 8. c3 dxc3 9. bxc3 Bd6 10. Qc2 c5 11. Nbd2 O-O 12. Nc4 Be6 13. Ncxe5 Qc7 14. Nc4 Bxc4 15. dxc4 Nxe4 16. Be2 Rfe8 17. O-O Nf6 18. Bd3 Re7 19. Rae1 Rae8 {Bukhari,M (1737) -Sulimani, Y (1760) Al Ain 2015 1/2-1/2}) 5... Bc5 6. Be2 O-O 7. c3 a5 8. a4 Be6 9. Qc2 Qe7 10. Nf1 Rad8 11. g4 dxe4 12. dxe4 Nxe4 13. Qxe4 Bd5 14. Qc2 e4 15. Ng5 h6 16. h4 hxg5 17. Bxg5 f6 18. Be3 Ne5 19. O-O-O {Radvanyi,T (2130) -Vass,V (2150) Budapest 2000 1/2-1/2 (41)}) 5. Be2 O-O $146 (5... d5 6. Nc3 dxe4 7. dxe4 Qxd1+ 8. Bxd1 O-O 9. O-O h6 10. Re1 Be6 11. Be2 Rad8 12. Bd3 Nh5 13. Be3 Nf4 14. Bxa7 Nxd3 15. cxd3 Nxa7 16. Nxe5 Bf6 17. f4 Bxe5 18. fxe5 Rxd3 19. Rad1 Rxd1 20. Rxd1 {Liashenko,M-Opanasjuk,M Evpatoria 2007 0-1 (55)}) 6. c3 {Covers b4} d5 7. exd5 (7. Nbd2 Qd6 $11) 7... Qxd5 {Black has a very active position} 8. O-O {White has a cramped position} Bf5 9. Nh4 {White threatens to win material: Nh4xf5} Be6 {White has a cramped position} 10. Bf3 {White threatens to win material: Bf3xd5} Qd7 11. Bxc6 {White forks: d7+b7} Qxc6 { Black has the pair of bishops} 12. Qe2 (12. Nf3 Nd7 $17) 12... Bd6 {White has a cramped position} (12... e4 $142 $5 13. Re1 Nd7 14. Qxe4 Qxe4 15. Rxe4 Nc5 $19) 13. Nd2 $15 Rad8 14. Ne4 (14. Re1 $5 $15) 14... Nxe4 $17 15. Qxe4 Bd5 { Black threatens to win material: Bd5xe4} (15... Qd7 16. Re1 c6 17. d4 $17) 16. Qg4 g6 (16... Rfe8 $5 $17) 17. Bh6 $15 {White threatens to win material: Bh6xf8 } Rfe8 18. Nf5 $4 (18. c4 $142 {was much better} Be6 19. Qg5 $15) 18... Be6 $19 19. Qg5 (19. Qe2 {doesn't change anything anymore} Bxf5 20. Rad1 Qa6 $19) 19... Bxf5 20. Qf6 (20. Rad1 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} Be7 21. Qe3 Bc5 $19) 20... Bf8 21. Qxc6 bxc6 22. Bxf8 Kxf8 23. Rfe1 (23. f3 {does not improve anything} Rxd3 24. Rad1 Red8 25. Rxd3 Rxd3 $19) 23... Rxd3 24. Rad1 Rxd1 25. Rxd1 Rb8 26. b3 (26. Rd2 {does not win a prize} Ke7 $19) 26... Ke7 27. f3 (27. g4 {does not help much} Be6 $19) 27... Rd8 28. Re1 Kf6 29. g4 (29. Re2 { hardly improves anything} h5 $19) 29... Be6 30. Re2 (30. Kg2 {does not save the day} Rd2+ 31. Kg3 Rxa2 $19) 30... Rd3 31. c4 Rxf3 32. Kg2 Rd3 33. Rf2+ Kg5 34. Kh2 e4 35. Kg2 Kh4 36. Re2 f5 37. gxf5 gxf5 38. Rf2 Rg3+ (38... Rxh3 39. Rf4+ Kg5 40. Kxh3 Kxf4 41. Kg2 e3 42. a3 Ke4 43. a4 f4 44. b4 f3+ 45. Kf1 Bxc4+ 46. Kg1 f2+ 47. Kh2 f1=Q 48. Kg3 Qf2+ 49. Kg4 Qf4+ 50. Kh5 Be2#) 39. Kf1 $19 Kxh3 (39... Kxh3 40. Ke1 Rg1+ 41. Kd2 Rg2 42. Rxg2 Kxg2 43. Ke3 Kg3 44. a3 f4+ 45. Kxe4 f3 46. Ke5 Bh3 47. Kf6 f2 48. Ke7 f1=Q 49. b4 Qf4 50. a4 Qd6+ 51. Kf7 Be6+ 52. Kf6 Bxc4+ 53. Kg7 Qg6+ 54. Kh8 Qg8#) 0-1

C47 Scotch Four Knights and Four Knights with 4.g3 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.a3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.d4)

The blog that continues to evolve and never stays the same forever, even the old posts change over time, features again a game I played at Red Hot Pawn. Up to the move 14...Nb6 both players made reasonable moves and neither side gained a significant advantage. Then on move 15 chessandcoffee moved his or hers rook to b1 in order to get the rook away from the same diagonal as the bishop on f6. Maybe a move like Na4 worried my opponent.

It admittedly may look bad for White, but replying simply with Bd4 would solve the problem with Na4. Moving the rook to b1 did not really solve anything, but it created another problem for my opponent, it left the pawn on a3 undefended, which made the move 15...Nc4 an annoying move for White to face. I did find the knight fork in the game and it was easy cruising after that because chessandcoffee had to first take the knight from c4 with his or hers bishop and when I captured it with my counterpart, the White king had to remain in the center for the time being. In fact, when my opponent finally castled on move 20, it cost him or her a pawn in the process. While the move 19.Ne2 was the final blunder that guaranteed the loss, the position looked very dire for my opponent even without that move. We played a few more moves, but my opponent finally ended the suffering and resigned after my 25th move Kf8.

[Event "Corr game 15.11.2010-5.12.2010"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2010.11.15"] [Round "?"] [White "chessandcoffee"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C47"] [WhiteElo "1538"] [BlackElo "1831"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "50"] [EventDate "2010.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 {King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation} 3. a3 (3. Bb5 a6 (3... a5 {Spanish Game: Bulgarian Variation}) 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 Bc5 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Graz Variation} (5... Na5 6. Bxf7+ {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Norwegian Variation Nightingale Gambit})) 3... Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. d4 { C47 Scotch Four Knights and Four Knights with 4.g3} exd4 6. Nxd4 d6 7. Nxc6 (7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O Re8 9. f4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Bg4 11. Bd3 Be6 12. Qf2 c6 13. h3 g6 14. f5 Bc8 15. Bg5 gxf5 16. exf5 d5 17. Rae1 d4 18. Rxe7 Qxe7 19. Qh4 {1-0 (19) Terbe,J (2191)-Lewtak,D (2356) Krakow 2017}) 7... bxc6 8. h3 $146 {Secures g4} (8. Bd3 O-O 9. O-O d5 (9... a5 10. Qe2 Nd7 11. f4 Bf6 12. Be3 Rb8 13. Rab1 Re8 14. Qd2 Bb7 15. Rbd1 c5 16. e5 dxe5 17. Bb5 c6 18. Ba4 Nf8 19. Qf2 Qc8 20. Ne4 exf4 21. Nxf6+ gxf6 22. Bxf4 Ba6 23. Bxb8 Bxf1 24. Rxf1 {Ivanov,S (2356)-Lehti, J (2243) Helsinki 2008 1-0 (35)}) (9... Re8 10. h3 a5 11. f4 d5 12. e5 Nd7 13. Na4 Nb6 14. Nxb6 Bc5+ 15. Kh1 cxb6 16. Bd2 Ba6 17. Bxa6 Rxa6 18. Qf3 Ra7 19. Rae1 f5 20. b4 axb4 21. axb4 Bf8 22. Ra1 Ree7 23. Qd3 g6 24. Be3 {Marholev,D (2449)-Janev,T (2297) Plovdiv 2009 1-0 (41)}) 10. Kh1 Rb8 11. Rb1 Bc5 12. Bg5 Qd6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. exd5 cxd5 15. Nxd5 Qh4 16. Qf3 Bd6 17. h3 Re8 18. Ne3 h5 19. Bc4 Re7 20. b4 Qd4 21. Rfd1 Qe5 22. Kg1 Qh2+ {Ewert,H (1678)-Schmidek,E (1957) Oberhof 2013 0-1 (48)}) (8. Bc4 O-O 9. O-O a5 10. Re1 Nd7 11. Rb1 Bf6 12. Bd2 a4 13. Na2 Nb6 14. Bd3 Be6 15. Nb4 Qd7 16. Qf3 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Bxc4 18. Bc3 Bxc3 19. Qxc3 Bb5 20. e5 Rae8 21. Rbd1 Re6 22. exd6 cxd6 {Egorov,E (2381) -Aleksandrov,A (2615) Pavlodar 2015 1/2-1/2 (50)}) 8... O-O 9. Bd3 Nd7 10. Be3 Ne5 11. Be2 Be6 12. b3 {Controls c4} (12. O-O Nc4 13. Bxc4 Bxc4 $11) 12... Nd7 (12... f5 13. exf5 Bxf5 14. O-O $11) 13. b4 {Black has a cramped position} (13. O-O a5 $14) 13... Bf6 {Black threatens to win material: Bf6xc3} 14. Qd2 { Black has a cramped position} Nb6 {White has an active position} 15. Rb1 (15. O-O $5 $11 {is noteworthy}) 15... Nc4 $17 16. Bxc4 Bxc4 17. Bd4 (17. Ne2 Qe7 $17) 17... Re8 18. Bxf6 (18. Kd1 a5 $17) 18... Qxf6 19. Ne2 $4 {the pressure is too much, White crumbles} (19. f4 $142 Rad8 20. Kf2 $19) 19... Rxe4 $19 20. O-O Rxe2 21. Qd1 (21. Qc1 {is not much help} Qg6 22. Qf4 Re4 $19) 21... Qc3 ( 21... Rae8 $142 $5 {and Black can already relax} 22. Rc1 $19) 22. Re1 Rae8 23. Rxe2 Rxe2 24. Qf1 (24. f3 {is not the saving move} Rxc2 25. Qe1 Qxe1+ 26. Rxe1 Kf8 $19) 24... Rxc2 25. Re1 (25. Qe1 {the only chance to get some counterplay} Qxe1+ 26. Rxe1 $19) 25... Kf8 (25... Kf8 26. Re3 Bxf1 27. Rxc3 Rxc3 28. a4 Bc4 29. f3 d5 30. Kf2 d4 31. b5 d3 32. Kg3 d2 33. b6 cxb6 34. Kh4 d1=Q 35. Kg4 Qd6 36. a5 Be6+ 37. Kh4 Qf4+ 38. g4 bxa5 39. Kh5 Qh6#) 0-1

C01 French: Exchange Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Bd6 5.Be2 Ne7 6.O-O O-O)

The third round of the tournament called 2014 October Long Haul Split I finally decided the winner of the tournament. This is my only good game from that round, well I made some small mistakes, but nothing that could be called a blunder. The Exchange Variation of the French is not particularly interesting to me, but sometimes I play it against higher rated opponents, against whom I do not like to play the sharper variations. My 14th move, Qe2, was a small mistake.

The idea behind the move 14.Qe2 was to follow it up with 15.Re1 and take the e-file under my control. Caissad4 could have then taken my bishop from h4 and get the bishop pair, but my opponent was more concerned about development and played 14...Bd7. Admittedly, the bishop could not have been taken to safety on my next move, so if my opponent really wanted to take the bishop, he or she could do so later. I then moved my rook to e1 as planned and then we continued to play a few more moves, but agreed to a draw after 18...Nxh4. At the moment when the draw offer was made, I had already lost my other game, so only winning this game would have made sure that I still fought for the win of the tournament and a 4th round would have been needed. However, already at this point I was not that interested in playing chess and the idea of prolonging this tournament did not seem like something I would like, so I accepted the offer. My position was not actually promising either and I probably thought that I may lose this game as well if I continue playing it.

[Event "Long Haul Split"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2016.07.03"] [Round "3"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "caissad4"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C01"] [WhiteElo "1941"] [BlackElo "2110"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "36"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 {French Defense: Exchange Variation} exd5 4. Nf3 (4. c4 {French Defense: Exchange Variation. Monte Carlo Variation}) (4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bg5 {French Defense: Exchange Variation. Svenonius Variation}) 4... Bd6 5. Be2 Ne7 6. O-O O-O {C01 French: Exchange Variation} 7. Bg5 f6 8. Bh4 (8. Be3 Nf5 9. Bc1 Nc6 10. c3 Nce7 11. Nbd2 Ng6 12. Nb3 b6 13. Bd2 a5 14. a4 Ngh4 15. c4 Ba6 16. Nxh4 Nxh4 17. c5 Bxe2 18. Qxe2 bxc5 19. dxc5 Be5 20. Bxa5 Qe8 21. Qg4 Ng6 22. Bc3 Bxc3 {Jevtic, V-Ljubisavljevic,Z (2179) Novi Sad 2014 1/2-1/2}) 8... Nf5 (8... Be6 9. Nbd2 Nbc6 10. c3 Ng6 11. Bg3 Nf4 12. Re1 Nxe2+ 13. Rxe2 Bf7 { 1/2-1/2 (13) Chaves,J (2030)-Boudy Bueno,J (2325) Cuba 1993}) 9. Nc3 c6 10. Bd3 $146 (10. Qd2 Qc7 11. Bg3 Nxg3 12. hxg3 Be6 13. Bd3 Nd7 14. Ne2 Rfe8 15. Nf4 Nf8 16. Rfe1 Bf7 17. Rxe8 Rxe8 18. Re1 Rxe1+ 19. Nxe1 {1/2-1/2 (19) Siponen, Y-Sahlberg,E Finland 1999}) 10... Na6 11. a3 {Controls b4} Re8 12. Re1 Rxe1+ 13. Qxe1 Nc7 {White has an active position} 14. Qe2 Bd7 15. Re1 Qf8 16. Nd1 Re8 {Black threatens to win material: Re8xe2} 17. Qd2 Rxe1+ 18. Qxe1 Nxh4 1/2-1/2