A00 Irregular Openings (1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 Bxb4 3.Bxe5 Nf6 4.c4 Nc6)

The game below was played in a team match called The Simpsons New Match. It was played between "SIMPSONS" and Chess Champ. I played on board 7 for Chess Champ and won both my games. This match was played on 50 boards and the match ended with a score 45 - 55 in favor of Chess Champ. There was quite many timeouts in this match which was unfortunate but maybe in a team match of this size it can't be avoided.

Like so many times before in my games, the player who first got the chance to get a winning advantage was not the one who ended up winning the game. Nothing all that dire happened to either player until I moved my knight to b7 on move 15. Had my opponent followed it up with 16.Bb5, Ruferto1944 might have been on his way to victory.

Ruferto1944 played 16.c6, which allowed my knight to land on a good square d6 in my reply. The move 16.c6 was bad because it hindered the options of my opponent to gain an advantage and allowed me to improve the position of my knight. The game continued with the moves 17.f3 Kh8 and then Ruferto1944 played 18.g4, which was the start of my opponent's downfall.

I found the best reply 18...Ng8 and then Ruferto1944 played the game losing blunder 19.e4. Moving the pawn to e4 loses material by force. I was able to see the material winning simple combination 19...Bxc3 20.Bxc3 dxe4. The remainder of the game my technique to win the game was reasonably good, apart from 22...Nf6, which gave more chances for my opponent to hold the game, which he was unable to do.

Game number two. This was my sixth consecutive challenge game at the FIDE Online Arena and even after this I had not lost a single one! I won four and drew two games in that six game period. The game featured only small mistakes for the first 16 moves, but the combined effort of them only added up to clear advantage for my opponent when I played 16...Qf6.

Had my opponent responded with 17.Rc1, the game would have continued to be clearly favorable for arkuntolga. My opponent played 17.Bb5 in the game and position should be about even. The move 17.Bb5 allowed me to win a pawn by playing 17...Bxc5, because after 18.dxc5 I will take on b2 with my queen. However, arkuntolga should be fully compensated for the pawn. My opponent needed to take on c5 in order to keep the position even, other moves led into trouble, like the move 18.Bxc6 that my opponent played in the game. Taking on c6 was a horrible blunder because I could have replied with 18...Bd6+, save my bishop and then take on c6. Unfortunately I did not play the in-between move, but instead took on c6 immediately and the position was even once again. For some reason my opponent did not want to take on c5, but moved his or her knight to e5 instead. It gave me another opportunity to move my bishop to d6 and obtain a clear advantage and this time I used my chance. Everything looked good to me until I played 32...g6 and the game quickly ended in a draw.

The move 32...g6 missed the perpetual check that my opponent was able to deliver.

[Event "The Simpsons New Match - Board 7"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.10.11"] [Round "?"] [White "Ruferto1944"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "1681"] [BlackElo "1905"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] {[%evp 10,80,0,0,18,19,16,27,26,19,53,29,27,27,37,35,56,17,35,15,25,33,143,0,0, 0,6,-92,-93,-178,-192,-176,-127,-212,-172,-170,-66,-165,-162,-401,-290,-476, -464,-695,-684,-699,-637,-680,-627,-641,-618,-569,-546,-706,-657,-709,-607, -874,-769,-755,-756,-1242,-1270,-1257,-1254,-1287,-1272,-1285,-1267,-1075,-987, -29981,-29980]} 1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 Bxb4 3. Bxe5 Nf6 4. c4 Nc6 {A00 Irregular Openings} 5. Bb2 O-O 6. Nf3 {LiveBook: 13 Games} d6 7. e3 Bg4 (7... Re8 8. Be2 Ne5 9. Qb3 Ba5 10. Nc3 c6 11. d4 Nxf3+ 12. Bxf3 Ne4 13. Rd1 Nxc3 14. Bxc3 Bxc3+ 15. Qxc3 d5 16. cxd5 cxd5 17. O-O Be6 18. Qb3 Qd7 {1/2-1/2 (18) Beaton,K (2120) -Henderson,J (2170) Edinburgh 1999}) 8. Be2 {The position is equal.} Re8 9. O-O Qe7 (9... d5 10. d4 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Bh5 12. a3 Bd6 13. Nbd2 Ne4 14. Nxe4 Rxe4 15. Bd5 Bxh2+ 16. Kxh2 Qxd5 17. Rc1 Qd6+ 18. Kg1 Qh6 19. Rc5 Rh4 20. Rxh5 Rxh5 21. g3 Rh1+ 22. Kg2 Qh3# {0-1 (22) Castro Estrella,J (1417)-Cabrera Marmol,M (1826) Barcelona 2017}) 10. a3 $146 (10. Nc3 Rad8 (10... Ne5 11. Nxe5 Bxe2 12. Nxe2 dxe5 13. d3 Rad8 14. Ng3 Qe6 15. Qb3 Bd6 16. Rac1 b6 17. Rfd1 h5 18. e4 Bc5 19. h3 g6 20. Ba3 Bd4 21. Ne2 c5 22. Nc3 g5 23. Nb5 Rd7 24. Bb2 h4 25. Nxd4 { Reimer,K (1559)-Wild,H (1755) Kaiserslautern 2006 1/2-1/2 (41)}) 11. Re1 Ba5 12. a3 Ne5 13. Nxe5 Bxe2 14. Qxe2 dxe5 15. e4 c6 16. a4 Bb4 17. Red1 Bc5 18. Rab1 Rd7 19. a5 Red8 20. Na4 Bd4 21. Bxd4 Rxd4 22. d3 R8d7 23. Nb2 g6 24. f3 Nh5 {Zelanti,M (1487)-Kranch,K (1770) Berlin 2012 1-0 (71)}) 10... Ba5 11. Nc3 Be6 12. d4 {[#] And now d5 would win.} d5 13. c5 b6 14. Qa4 Nd8 15. Ne5 Nb7 { 1.43/22} (15... c6 $14 {0.33/26}) {[%tqu "En","","","","e2b5","", 10]} 16. c6 { 0.00/27} ({Better is} 16. Bb5 $1 $16 {1.43/22}) 16... Nd6 $11 17. f3 Kh8 18. g4 {-0.92/25} (18. Ba6 $11 {0.06/29 remains equal.}) 18... Ng8 $17 19. e4 { -1.78/25} (19. Qc2 $17 {-0.93/27}) 19... Bxc3 $19 20. Bxc3 dxe4 {-1.27/27} ( 20... f6 $19 {-1.76/23} 21. Nd3 dxe4) 21. Bb4 {-2.12/24} (21. d5 $17 {-1.27/27 might work better.} Bxd5 22. Qd4 exf3 23. Bxf3 Bxf3 24. Rae1) 21... exf3 22. Bxf3 Nf6 {-0.66/26} (22... a5 $19 {-1.70/24} 23. Be1 b5) {[%tqu "En","","", "", "a1e1","",10]} 23. g5 {-1.65/24} (23. Rae1 $1 $15 {-0.66/26} Qd8 24. Bxd6 Qxd6 25. g5) 23... Nd5 24. h4 $2 {-4.01/25 [#]} (24. Bd2 {-1.62/26}) 24... Nxb4 25. axb4 $2 {-4.76/25} (25. Qxb4 {-2.90/27 was forced.} f6 26. Nd7) 25... Nf5 26. b5 {-6.95/24} (26. Qc2 $142 {-4.64/27} Ne3 27. Qd2 Nxf1 28. Rxf1) 26... Nxh4 27. Qc2 Qxg5+ 28. Bg2 f6 29. Nf3 Nxf3+ 30. Rxf3 Qxb5 31. Bh3 Bd5 32. Rf2 Re7 33. Bd7 a5 34. Rh2 Be4 35. Qf2 Qg5+ 36. Rg2 Bxg2 37. Qxg2 Qxg2+ 38. Kxg2 g6 39. d5 Rxd7 40. Rd1 Re7 {Accuracy: White = 33%, Black = 31%.} 0-1 [Event "Challenge 29072018"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.04.18"] [Round "1"] [White "arkuntolga"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "1688"] [BlackElo "1703"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] {[%evp 10,71,0,0,22,20,16,32,29,40,33,44,54,22,41,-14,17,0,52,63,53,53,48,50, 79,0,0,-109,0,-127,-128,-155,-180,-189,-191,-186,-186,-182,-187,-187,-132,-220, -182,-186,-178,-182,-177,-187,-191,-182,-183,-214,-130,-122,-129,-130,0,0,0,0, 0,0,0,0]} 1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 Bxb4 3. Bxe5 Nf6 4. c4 Nc6 {A00 Irregular Openings} 5. Bb2 O-O 6. Nf3 {LiveBook: 13 Games} d6 7. e3 Bg4 (7... Re8 8. Be2 Ne5 9. Qb3 Ba5 10. Nc3 c6 11. d4 Nxf3+ 12. Bxf3 Ne4 13. Rd1 Nxc3 14. Bxc3 Bxc3+ 15. Qxc3 d5 16. cxd5 cxd5 17. O-O Be6 18. Qb3 Qd7 {1/2-1/2 (18) Beaton,K (2120) -Henderson,J (2170) Edinburgh 1999}) 8. Be2 Re8 9. O-O Ne4 $146 (9... d5 10. d4 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Bh5 12. a3 Bd6 13. Nbd2 Ne4 14. Nxe4 Rxe4 15. Bd5 Bxh2+ 16. Kxh2 Qxd5 17. Rc1 Qd6+ 18. Kg1 Qh6 19. Rc5 Rh4 20. Rxh5 Rxh5 21. g3 Rh1+ 22. Kg2 Qh3# {0-1 (22) Castro Estrella,J (1417)-Cabrera Marmol,M (1826) Barcelona 2017} ) (9... Qe7 10. Nc3 Rad8 11. Re1 Ba5 12. a3 Ne5 13. Nxe5 Bxe2 14. Qxe2 dxe5 15. e4 c6 16. a4 Bb4 17. Red1 Bc5 18. Rab1 Rd7 19. a5 Red8 20. Na4 Bd4 21. Bxd4 Rxd4 22. d3 R8d7 23. Nb2 g6 24. f3 {Zelanti,M (1487)-Kranch,K (1770) Berlin 2012 1-0 (71)}) (9... Ne5 10. Qb3 Bxf3 11. gxf3 Bc5 12. d4 Ned7 13. dxc5 Nxc5 14. Qc2 Nfd7 15. f4 Qh4 16. Nd2 Nf6 17. Qf5 Nfe4 18. Nxe4 Nxe4 19. f3 Nc5 20. Bd4 Ne6 21. Rf2 g6 22. Qf6 Qh6 23. Qh8# {1-0 (23) Lunin,M (2077)-Parshikov,N Zhukovsky 2011}) 10. h3 Be6 11. d4 {[#] d5 is the strong threat.} d5 12. c5 { -0.14/25} (12. a3 $14 {0.41/26} Ba5 13. Bd3) 12... Ng5 13. Nbd2 Qf6 {0.52/25} ( {Black should try} 13... Bxd2 $11 {0.00/27} 14. Qxd2 (14. Nxd2 Nxh3+ 15. gxh3 Bxh3 $11) 14... Ne4) 14. Nxg5 $14 Qxg5 15. Nf3 Qg6 {With the idea ...Bxh3.} 16. Kh2 Qf6 17. Bb5 {0.00/27} (17. Rc1 $16 {0.79/24}) {[%tqu "En","","","","b4c5", "",10]} 17... Bxc5 $1 $11 {[%mdl 512]} 18. Bxc6 {-1.09/28} (18. dxc5 $11 { 0.00/27} Qxb2 19. Qa4) 18... bxc6 {0.00/29} (18... Bd6+ $17 {-1.09/28} 19. Ne5 bxc6) 19. Ne5 {-1.27/25} (19. dxc5 $11 {0.00/29} Qxb2 20. Qa4) 19... Bd6 $17 20. Kh1 c5 {[%mdl 32]} 21. Ng4 Bxg4 22. Qxg4 c4 23. Bc3 Rab8 24. Kg1 Bb4 { -1.32/30} ({Better is} 24... c6 $19 {-1.87/24} 25. Rab1 Qe7) 25. Rfc1 {-2.20/25 } (25. Bxb4 $17 {-1.32/30} Rxb4 26. Rfb1 Rxb1+ 27. Rxb1) 25... Qe6 26. Qd1 Bxc3 27. Rxc3 Rb2 28. Rc2 Reb8 29. Rxb2 Rxb2 $19 {[%mdl 4096] Endgame KQR-KQR} 30. Rb1 Qb6 31. Rxb2 Qxb2 32. Qa4 {[#]} g6 {0.00/42} (32... Qb1+ $17 {-1.30/26} 33. Kh2 Qb8) 33. Qe8+ $11 {The position is equal.} Kg7 {Hoping for ...Qb7.} 34. Qe5+ Kg8 35. Qe8+ Kg7 {Threatens to win with ...Qb7.} 36. Qe5+ {Accuracy: White = 47%, Black = 29%.} 1/2-1/2