A07 Réti Opening: New York and Capablanca Systems (1.g3 e5 2.Bg2 Nf6 3.d3 d5 4.Nc3 Be6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.O-O Be7 7.Bg5 O-O)

At Chess.com there is a tournament in progress called "EXPECT NO MERCY - NAZARETH TOUR!!!", from which this game is taken. This is from the first round of the tournament, which is nearly complete, there is only one game left to finish, before the second round can begin. I managed to win my group, which means I will take part on round 2, the only player from my group that will do so, since only the winner advances from one round to another. My opponent in the game below, csabiu, was on second place in the final standings of group 7 with 6 points, half a point behind me. Starting with the move 13.Kh1, csabiu's position went downhill for two consecutive moves.

I replied with 13...Bxh4 because it ruined the pawn structure on the kingside and I thought that is worth of giving up the bishop pair. I seem to have been correct the judgement since Stockfish also likes the move. Csabiu's next move 14.gxh4 was the second mistake in a row, it was better to take on h3 first. In the game continuation I should have then played 14...Bxg2+, but instead I went for the move 14...Qg4, which threatened mate, but it was easily dealt with 15.Rg1. The game continued in a roughly even manner until my opponent played 19.Rg2.

With the move played in the game my opponent went from a slightly favorable position to one where csabiu were clearly worse. For example, the game might have continued 19...dxc3 20.Bxc3 Rad8 and the weak central pawns should put csabiu on the defensive. I went for the wrong move order unfortunately, I played 19...Rad8, which would have allowed my opponent to take on d4 and the position would have been equal. Csabiu moved the knight to g1 on move 20 instead, which was perhaps the worst move of the game up to that point because I could have been able to get a winning advantage starting with 20...dxc3. I do not know why I did not play it, even though I had clearly planned on doing it after Rad8. There really was no threat along the g-file, so I can't remember my reasoning why I played 20...Kh8. It was an okay move and I should be in the favorable side of the board, but it would have made my job of winning the game much easier, had I just taken on c3. Because I allowed my opponent some breathing room, csabiu was able to play 21.Nf3 and attack my queen. I moved the queen to h3 thinking that I can use the diagonal c8-h3 for retreating the queen safely. It was not the right idea, however, I should have just moved the queen to h5.

Csabiu's reply 22.Rg3 was first of two consecutive bad moves made by my opponent. I then had two good squares for the queen, h5 and e6, I chose the latter. It was answered by the terrible move 23.Qf1 and I was given another chance to get a winning advantage starting with 23...dxc3. Unfortunately I was too defensively minded once again and overprotected the g7 pawn with my rook. Even after that my position should be quite good when compared to that of my opponent. Everything went on more or less my way after that up to the move 32.Nh4.

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to play 32...Qg5 and I completely missed the annoyance factor caused by 33.Ng6+. It would have won the pawn back and the position would have been evenly fought, had my opponent just played 34.Nxf4 after I moved my king to g8. I guess csabiu thought that he or she can actually win the game in the game continuation 34.Rxe8+ Rxe8 35.Qd5+ and it would have been true had I not been able to just take the queen on d5 with its counterpart. In fact the move 34.Rxe8+ should have meant a loss for csabiu, but I was able to mess up this game with two consecutive bad moves, first one being 36...Re2 and the second 37...Rd2.

The game ended to a perpetual check that I allowed when I played 38...Rxd3.

[Event "EXPECT NO MERCY - NAZARETH TOUR!!! - Ro"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.01.07"] [Round "?"] [White "csabiu"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A07"] [WhiteElo "1654"] [BlackElo "1814"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] {[%evp 17,87,-20,-14,-22,-23,-22,5,-4,33,-59,-65,-90,57,0,0,0,0,0,40,-41,93, -113,0,-246,-71,-80,-17,-86,-89,-204,-106,-144,-113,-136,-65,-76,-54,-129,-64, -74,-72,-144,-133,-197,-191,-184,-192,-322,-31,-25,-25,-349,-356,-457,-451, -432,-59,-85,-37,-29,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. g3 {A00 Hungarian Opening} e5 2. Bg2 Nf6 3. d3 d5 {[%mdl 32]} 4. Nc3 Be6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. O-O Be7 7. Bg5 O-O { A07 Réti Opening: New York and Capablanca Systems} 8. e4 d4 9. Ne2 Qd7 { LiveBook: 3 Games} (9... h6 10. Bd2 Qd6 11. Ne1 Nd7 12. f4 f5 13. h3 fxe4 14. dxe4 a5 15. Nd3 Bc4 16. b3 Bf7 17. Kh1 Bf6 18. Qe1 Nc5 19. Nec1 Nd7 20. Ne2 Nc5 {1/2-1/2 (20) Hickl,J (2500)-Hort,V (2580) Dortmund 1989}) 10. Nh4 $146 (10. Bd2 Bh3 11. Bxh3 Qxh3 12. Ng5 Qh5 13. f4 Ng4 14. Nf3 f5 15. exf5 Rxf5 16. Kg2 Raf8 17. c3 Kh8 18. h3 Ne3+ 19. Bxe3 dxe3 20. Qb3 exf4 21. Nxf4 Rxf4 22. gxf4 Qg6+ 23. Kh1 e2 24. Rg1 Qh5 {Movsziszian,K (2464)-Aabling Thomsen,J (2341) San Sebastian 2016 1/2-1/2 (31)}) (10. Kh1 Bh3 11. Nfg1 Bxg2+ 12. Kxg2 Ng4 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. h3 Nf6 15. f4 exf4 16. Nxf4 Qb5 17. Rb1 Rad8 18. Nf3 c5 19. g4 c4 20. g5 Nd7 21. h4 Ne5 22. Nxe5 Qxe5 23. Nh5 Ng6 24. Qg4 cxd3 {Grabner,J-Kunschek,H Vienna 1998 0-1 (40)}) (10. Bc1 Bg4 11. Nd2 Nh5 12. a3 a5 13. f3 Bh3 14. Rf2 Ra6 15. Qf1 Bxg2 16. Qxg2 Nd8 17. Nc4 Qe6 18. a4 g6 19. g4 Ng7 20. f4 exf4 21. Bxf4 c5 22. Bd2 Nc6 23. Nf4 Qd7 24. Raf1 Nb4 {Petran,P (2410)-Karsa,L (2390) Hungary 1994 1-0}) 10... h6 11. Bd2 Bh3 12. a3 Nh7 13. Kh1 {-0.59/21} (13. Bxh3 $14 {0.33/27} Qxh3 14. Nf5) {[%tqu "En","","","","e7h4","",10]} 13... Bxh4 $1 $15 14. gxh4 {[%tqu "En","","","","h3g2","",10]} Qg4 {0.57/26} (14... Bxg2+ $1 $17 {-0.90/26} 15. Kxg2 f5) 15. Rg1 {0.00/30} (15. Bxh3 $14 {0.57/26} Qxh3 16. Ng3) 15... Qxh4 $11 16. Bxh3 Qxh3 17. Rg3 Qh4 18. c3 {-0.41/25} (18. Qg1 $14 { 0.40/27}) 18... Nf6 {0.93/27} (18... dxc3 $15 {-0.41/25 stays ahead.} 19. Nxc3 Kh8) 19. Rg2 $2 {-1.13/23 [#]} (19. Qf1 $16 {0.93/27 and life is bright.}) { [%tqu "En","","","","d4c3","",10]} 19... Rad8 {0.00/28} ({Black should try} 19... dxc3 $1 $17 {-1.13/23} 20. Nxc3 Nd4) 20. Ng1 $2 {-2.46/25} (20. cxd4 $11 {0.00/28 and White is okay.} exd4 21. Ng3) 20... Kh8 $2 {-0.71/26} (20... dxc3 $19 {-2.46/25 and Black stays clearly on top.} 21. Bxc3 {[%tqu "En","","","", "f6e4","",10]} Nxe4 $1 {[%mdl 512]}) 21. Nf3 Qh3 {-0.17/27} (21... Qh5 $17 { -0.80/23} 22. cxd4 Nxd4 23. Nxd4 Rxd4) 22. Rg3 {-0.86/25} (22. cxd4 $11 { -0.17/27 keeps the balance.} exd4 23. Ng1) 22... Qe6 $17 {[#] And now ...dxc3 would win.} 23. Qf1 {-2.04/23} (23. cxd4 $17 {-0.89/26} Nxd4 24. Bb4) 23... Rg8 {-1.06/26} (23... dxc3 $19 {-2.04/23} 24. bxc3 Ne7) 24. Rh3 Nh7 25. c4 f5 { -0.65/28} (25... g5 $17 {-1.36/25} 26. b4 f5 27. exf5 Qxf5) 26. exf5 $15 Qxf5 { [%tqu "En","","","","f1g2","",10]} 27. b4 {-1.29/23} (27. Qg2 $1 $15 {-0.54/27} Rd6 28. Rg1) {[%tqu "En","","","", "g7g5","",10]} 27... Ne7 {-0.64/29} (27... g5 $1 $17 {-1.29/23 ...g4 is the strong threat.} 28. Ng1 Rg6) 28. Re1 Ng6 $36 { [%mdl 2048] Keeping White busy.} 29. Re4 {-1.44/25} ({White should play} 29. Rg3 {-0.72/26}) 29... Rge8 30. Qg2 {-1.97/24} (30. Nh4 $17 {-1.33/28 might work better.} Nxh4 31. Rexh4) {[%tqu "En","","","", "g6f4","",10]} 30... Nf4 $1 $19 31. Bxf4 exf4 32. Nh4 {-3.22/25} (32. Nxd4 {-1.92/28 was the only defense.} Qd7 33. Nf3) 32... Qg5 $2 {-0.31/30} (32... Rxe4 $19 {-3.22/25} 33. dxe4 Qf7 34. Ng6+ Kg8) 33. Ng6+ $15 Kg8 34. Rxe8+ $4 {-3.49/29 [%mdl 8192]} (34. Nxf4 $11 {-0.25/29 and White stays safe.} Qf5 35. Rxe8+ Rxe8 36. Qg3) 34... Rxe8 $19 35. Qd5+ Qxd5+ 36. cxd5 {[%mdl 4096] Endgame KRN-KRN} Re2 $2 {-0.59/30} (36... Ng5 $19 {-4.32/30} 37. Rh5 Re1+ 38. Kg2 f3+ 39. Kg3 Rg1+ 40. Kf4 Rg2 41. Rxg5 Rxg5 42. Ne7+ Kf7) 37. Rf3 Rd2 {-0.37/30} (37... Nf6 $17 {-0.85/25} 38. Kg2 Rd2 39. Rxf4 Rxd3) 38. Rxf4 $15 Rxd3 39. Ne7+ {The position is equal.} (39. d6 $5 Rd1+ 40. Kg2 cxd6 41. Ne7+ Kh8 42. Ng6+ Kg8 43. Ne7+ Kh8 44. Ng6+ Kg8 $11) 39... Kh8 40. Ng6+ Kg8 {White must now prevent . ..Nf6.} 41. Ne7+ Kh8 42. Ng6+ Kg8 {Hoping for ...Nf6.} 43. Ne7+ Kh8 44. Ng6+ {Accuracy: White = 17%, Black = 15%.} 1/2-1/2