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