E38 Nimzo-Indian Classical, 4...c5 (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.e3 O-O 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.a3)

This is from the second round of the 2014 October Long Haul Split I tournament, like the game I shared yesterday. When I got the Portable Game Notation or pgn of this game, I was still higher rated than my opponent, but at the moment caissad4 is rated 2376 and I have gone almost 300 points down, my rating at Red Hot Pawn is 1662 now. I just have not been all that interested with chess past few months and therefore played in a rather fast pace, which can be seen in the horrible games I have played lately. It will take a long time before those games can be seen in this blog. This is actually one of the best games I have played because I did not do any big mistakes. The game started go wrong for my opponent already on move 12, when caissad4 played 12.Qa2.

The queen was played to a2 in order to protect the pawn on c4, but the pawn seems to be lost regardless of what White does, had I gone after it that is. I did not find the strongest move 12...Ne4, even though it seems like a very obvious move to make to me now. I played a good enough response 12...Qc7 and then caissad4 played the horrible blunder of a move, 13.Bd2, which is almost like resigning the game. The remainder of the game I played really well and never allowed my opponent to get any other result from the game than loss.

[Event "Long Haul Split"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2016.01.23"] [Round "2"] [White "caissad4"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E38"] [WhiteElo "1814"] [BlackElo "1945"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "64"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 {Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Berlin Variation} 5. e3 (5. dxc5 Bxc3+ {Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Berlin Variation, Steiner Variation} (5... O-O 6. a3 Bxc5 7. Nf3 b6 8. Bf4 {Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Berlin Variation, Macieja System})) 5... O-O 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. a3 {E38 Nimzo-Indian Classical, 4...c5 } Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 b6 9. Be2 $146 (9. Bd3 d6 (9... Ba6 10. O-O Na5 11. Nd2 cxd4 12. cxd4 d5 13. cxd5 Rc8 14. Qb1 Bxd3 15. Qxd3 Nxd5 16. Bb2 Qd7 17. Rac1 h6 18. f4 Rxc1 19. Rxc1 Rc8 20. Rf1 Qa4 21. e4 Qc2 22. Qxc2 Rxc2 23. exd5 Rxb2 24. Nf3 {Rempeli,A (1966)-Meier,G (2671) playchess.com INT 2012 0-1 (38)}) (9... d5 10. O-O Na5 11. Ne5 Ba6 12. cxd5 c4 13. Be2 exd5 14. a4 Nb3 15. Rb1 Qd6 16. g4 Rac8 17. f4 Rc7 18. g5 Nxc1 19. Rfxc1 Nd7 20. Ng4 Qg6 21. Qxg6 hxg6 22. Bf3 Bb7 23. Kg2 f6 24. h4 {Tran,L (2076)-Pham,T (2168) Ho Chi Minh City 2015 1-0 (53)}) 10. O-O e5 (10... Ba6 11. e4 e5 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bh4 Qe7 15. h3 Qe6 16. Rad1 Rfd8 17. Rfe1 Na5 18. Bg3 Bxc4 19. Nxe5 Bb3 20. Qe2 Bxd1 21. Rxd1 c4 22. Bc2 b5 23. Re1 Nb3 24. Nf3 Nc5 25. Nd4 {Onut,S (2171)-Baciu,A (2126) Bucharest 2003 1-0 (39)}) 11. d5 Na5 12. e4 Ba6 13. Qe2 Nb3 14. Rb1 Nxc1 15. Rbxc1 Qd7 16. Nd2 Ng4 17. f4 f6 18. f5 Nh6 19. Rf3 Rf7 20. Rh3 Re7 21. Qh5 Qe8 22. Qh4 Qf7 23. g4 Kf8 {Puga Senar,F-Iraola Iraola,U (1996) Donostia 2004 0-1 (38)}) 9... Ba6 (9... Na5 10. e4 Bb7 11. Ng5 $15) 10. O-O Na5 11. dxc5 bxc5 (11... Bxc4 $142 12. Bxc4 Nxc4 $15) 12. Qa2 $2 (12. e4 $5 $11 {looks like a viable alternative}) 12... Qc7 (12... Ne4 $142 13. Qc2 f5 $17) 13. Bd2 $2 (13. Nd2 $142 $17) 13... d5 $19 14. Rfe1 (14. Qc2 Bxc4 15. Bxc4 Nxc4 $19 (15... dxc4 $6 16. e4 $17)) 14... Bxc4 15. Bxc4 Nxc4 (15... dxc4 $6 16. e4 $17) 16. Re2 (16. Reb1 Ne4 17. Be1 Rfb8 $19) 16... Rab8 17. Be1 Rb6 18. Rb1 (18. h3 {is not the saving move} Rfb8 19. Qc2 Nb2 $19) 18... Rxb1 (18... Rfb8 {and Black can already relax} 19. Rxb6 Rxb6 20. Ng5 $19) 19. Qxb1 Nxa3 (19... Ne4 {makes it even easier for Black} 20. Qc1 $19) 20. Qa1 (20. Qa2 Nc4 21. Nd2 Nxd2 22. Qxd2 a5 $19) 20... Nc4 21. Ra2 (21. Nd2 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} Nxd2 22. Bxd2 Ng4 $19) 21... a5 22. h3 Ra8 23. Qd1 (23. Nd2 {hardly improves anything} Nxd2 24. Bxd2 c4 $19) 23... Qb6 (23... Ne4 $142 {might be the shorter path} 24. Qc2 $19) 24. Qc1 (24. Nd2 {does not solve anything} Nxd2 25. Qxd2 Ne4 $19) 24... Ne4 25. Qc2 Qb5 {Black prepares a4} (25... Rb8 $142 { seems even better} 26. Ra1 $19) 26. g3 (26. Nd2 {desperation} Ncxd2 27. Bxd2 $19) 26... a4 27. Kg2 (27. Nd2 {does not improve anything} Ncxd2 28. Bxd2 Qe2 $19) 27... a3 28. Kg1 (28. Bd2 $19 {otherwise it's curtains at once}) 28... Rb8 29. Kg2 Qb1 30. Qxb1 Rxb1 31. Kf1 Rb2 32. Ra1 a2 (32... a2 33. Rxa2 Rxa2 $19) 0-1