B46 Sicilian: Taimanov, 5.Nc3 a6 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O Be7 8.Be3 O-O)

This is taken from the fourth round of the 15 minute tournament that was played March 21st 2015 at the FIDE Online Arena. This was also the last round game and I ended the tournament with a score of three wins and one loss. The game started to go clearly wrong for vincenzo48 already on move 9. The problem with the move is that I could have replied with e5 and the knight would have needed to move to maybe d5 and I could have doubled vincenzo48's pawns. The only other option would have been to move the knight to e8, but that would have been a really horrible square for the knight.

I had unfortunately too passive mind set once again and played 10.a3, in order to prevent b4. After that the position ought to be even. The equality remained until I played the sloppy move 29.Qf6. I did end up on the worse side of the board after that. My opponent replied correctly with 29...Qc5+ and then I went from being slightly worse to being clearly worse with the move 30.Kg2. My best option was to move my king to h1.

In the game vincenzo48 played 30...Rdd6, which allowed me to get back into the game. The best move for my opponent seems to be 30...e5, because that way vincenzo48 would have been able to get a protected passed pawn. The game continued evenly after that up to the move 32.Kh3. Both players then blundered, first my opponent with the move 32...Rd7 and then me with the move 33.Qg5. While neither move was bad enough to lose the game, they were enough to shift the advantage from one side to the other, with my 33rd move even clearly to the side of my opponent.

The game continued with the moves 33...Kg7 34.Re5 and then for the last time my opponent blundered and moved the queen to d6. Moving the the queen to c4, a2 or b3 would have kept vincenzo48 clearly fighting for the win. With that one unfortunate queen move the game continued to be played equally to its completion. The only reason I was the winner is due to the fact that my opponent ran out of time a few moves later.

Game number two. This game is taken from the 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen II tournament and it was played at Red Hot Pawn. This was the first tournament I have ever won at RHP and currently it is also the only one I have been able to win! Even though I ended up winning this game, it was me who ended up being on the clearly worse side of the board when I played 16.f3. Apsol did not find the strongest reply, 16...d5, which was also the starting point for the path towards a clear advantage. Apsol chose the move 16...Nc4, after which my opponent has only a slight advantage.

The next turning point came when apsol played 19...exd5 and the balance shifted slightly in my favor. A few moves later my opponent made the huge game losing blunder 22...Qc8 and after that it was very easy game for me to win.

I did obviously find the fork on e7, but apsol did not resign yet, my opponent continued for a couple of moves before he or she resigned after 25.Rfe1.

[Event "Tournament 28099658"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.03.21"] [Round "4"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "vincenzo48"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B46"] [WhiteElo "1831"] [BlackElo "1505"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 {Sicilian Defense: Old Sicilian. Normal} 5. Nc3 a6 (5... e5 6. Ndb5 (6. Nb3 {Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation. Schlechter Variation}) 6... d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 {Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation. Sveshnikov Variation Novosibirsk Variation} (10... f5 11. Bxb5 {Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation. Sveshnikov Variation Peresypkin's Sacrifice})) 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. Be3 O-O {B46 Sicilian: Taimanov, 5.Nc3 a6} 9. f4 b5 (9... d5 10. e5 Nd7 11. Kh1 (11. Rf3 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 b5 13. Bd3 f5 14. Rh3 Nc5 15. Qh5 h6 16. Qg6 Kh8 17. Rg3 Rg8 18. Rh3 Rf8 19. Rg3 Rg8 20. Qh5 Qe8 21. Qh3 Qf7 22. Be2 Bd7 23. Bh5 g6 24. Bf3 Kh7 25. Re1 Rac8 {Toth,L (1727)-Hadrik,C (1949) Hungary 2016 1-0}) 11... Nxd4 12. Bxd4 Bc5 13. Bxc5 Nxc5 14. Qd4 Qb6 15. Rab1 Nd7 16. Qd3 f6 17. exf6 Nxf6 18. Bf3 Bd7 19. Rfe1 Qc7 20. Re5 Rac8 21. Rbe1 b5 22. a3 Qc4 23. f5 Qxd3 24. cxd3 {Moiseev,V (2480)-Milanesi,B Oberwart 1991 1/2-1/2 (50)}) 10. a3 Bb7 $146 (10... Bc5 11. Bf2 Qb6 12. Nxc6 Bxf2+ 13. Rxf2 dxc6 14. e5 Rd8 15. Qf1 Nd5 16. Nxd5 Rxd5 17. Bd3 a5 18. Kh1 g6 19. Rf3 Bb7 20. Rg3 b4 21. Bc4 Rd2 22. Bb3 Rad8 23. axb4 Rf2 24. Qg1 Rdd2 25. Rf3 {Bratkovic,J (1941)-Gratton,D (1733) Nova Gorica 2013 1/2-1/2}) 11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. Bd3 d5 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. Nxd5 Bxd5 15. Qh5 g6 {Prevents intrusion on f5} 16. Qg4 f5 {Black threatens to win material: f5xg4} (16... Bf6 17. Rab1 $15) 17. Qe2 $11 Rc8 18. c3 {Consolidates b4} Qd6 19. Bd4 Qc6 20. Rf2 Bc5 21. Qe5 Bxd4 {Black forks: f2+e5} 22. Qxd4 Rfd8 23. Qe3 Bc4 24. Bxc4 Qxc4 25. Re1 Rc6 26. Rfe2 Rd3 27. Qe5 Rdd6 28. g3 Rd5 { Black threatens to win material: Rd5xe5} 29. Qf6 {Attacks the backward pawn on e6} (29. Qb8+ $5 {deserves consideration} Rc8 30. Qb7 $11) 29... Qc5+ $17 30. Kg2 (30. Kh1 e5 31. Qg5 $15) 30... Rdd6 (30... e5 $142 $5 31. Qg5 e4 $17) 31. Qe7 Qd5+ 32. Kh3 Rd7 (32... Rb6 $142 $11) 33. Qg5 $4 {White is ruining his position} (33. Qe8+ $142 Kg7 34. Re5 $16) 33... Kg7 $17 34. Re5 Qd6 (34... Qc4 $142 $5 35. Qh4 h6 $19) 35. g4 {White threatens to win material: g4xf5} h6 { Black threatens to win material: h6xg5} 36. Qh4 Qd3+ (36... Qd2 37. R1e3 Qd1 38. gxf5 Qf1+ 39. Kg3 gxf5 40. Qh3 Qxh3+ 41. Kxh3 $15) 37. R5e3 $11 {White threatens to win material: Re3xd3} Qd6 38. gxf5 exf5 39. Re7+ (39. Re7+ Rxe7 40. Rxe7+ Kf8 41. Re3 $11) 1-0 [Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "apsol"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B46"] [WhiteElo "1871"] [BlackElo "1650"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 {Sicilian Defense: Four Knights Variation} 6. Be2 (6. Ndb5 Bc5 {Sicilian Defense: Four Knights Variation, Cobra Variation}) (6. Nxc6 {Sicilian Defense: Four Knights Variation, Exchange Variation}) 6... Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Be3 a6 {B46 Sicilian: Taimanov, 5.Nc3 a6} 9. h3 $146 {Black has a cramped position. Black's piece can't move: c8} (9. a3 d6 (9... b5 10. Nxc6 dxc6 11. Qxd8 Rxd8 12. Bb6 Rd7 13. Rfd1 Rb8 14. Ba5 Rbb7 15. b4 Rxd1+ 16. Rxd1 Rd7 17. e5 Nd5 18. Ne4 f5 19. exf6 Nxf6 20. Rxd7 Bxd7 21. Bf3 h6 22. h3 Nd5 23. Kf1 Kf7 24. Ke2 {Genzor,M (1643) -Uhrecky,U (1664) Slovakia 2015 1/2-1/2 (34)}) 10. Nf3 h6 11. Qd2 e5 12. h3 Be6 13. Nd5 Nxe4 14. Nxe7+ Nxe7 15. Qb4 Bd5 16. c4 a5 17. Qa4 Bc6 18. Qc2 Nf5 19. Rad1 Nxe3 20. fxe3 Qe7 21. Bd3 f5 22. Nd2 Ng3 23. Rf2 Qg5 {Aedo,L (1554)-Lopez, R (1805) La Florida 2003 0-1}) (9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. f4 d5 11. exd5 cxd5 12. Bd4 Qc7 13. Kh1 Bb7 14. Bd3 Rac8 15. Rf3 Ne4 16. Bxe4 dxe4 17. Rg3 f6 18. Qg4 Rf7 19. Qxe6 Qd6 20. Qb3 Qb4 21. Re3 Qxb3 22. cxb3 Bd6 23. g3 Rd7 {Knight,S (2104) -Ivanov,S (2261) Caleta 2010 0-1 (42)}) (9. Kh1 Qc7 10. Qe1 b5 11. Bd3 Ng4 12. Nf3 Bb7 13. h3 Nxe3 14. Qxe3 Bf6 15. Qd2 Rac8 16. Rac1 Rfd8 17. Rfe1 h6 18. Nd1 Ne5 19. Nxe5 Bxe5 20. Re2 d5 21. Qe1 Bf4 22. Ne3 dxe4 23. Bxe4 Bxe4 {Goulart, C-Farhat,S S Sebastiao do Paraiso 2001 1-0}) (9. f4 d5 10. exd5 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 exd5 12. Rad1 Bf5 13. Rd2 Ne4 14. Nxe4 Bxe4 15. Bf3 Bf6 16. Qb4 Bxf3 17. Rxf3 Qc7 18. Bd4 Bxd4+ 19. Qxd4 Rad8 20. Qc3 Qb6+ 21. Qd4 Qc7 22. Rc3 Qe7 23. Re3 Qf6 {Simo,J (2049)-Kobzak,G (1662) Hungary 2002 1-0 (46)}) 9... Qc7 {White has an active position} 10. Nb3 {White has a very active position} b5 {White has an active position} 11. a3 {White has a very active position} Bb7 {White has an active position} (11... Ne5 12. f4 Nc4 13. Bxc4 bxc4 14. Nd2 $11) 12. Qd2 { White has a very active position} (12. f4 b4 13. axb4 Nxb4 $11) 12... Rad8 ( 12... Ne5 13. Qd4 $15) 13. Nc5 Bc8 14. Rad1 (14. Nb3 d6 $11) 14... Ne5 $15 15. Nb3 {Black has a cramped position} Bb7 (15... Nc4 16. Bxc4 bxc4 17. Nd4 $17) 16. f3 {Covers g4} (16. Qd4 d5 17. Qb6 Qxb6 18. Bxb6 Rc8 $11) 16... Nc4 17. Bxc4 bxc4 18. Nd4 d5 19. exd5 exd5 {Black has an active position.} (19... Nxd5 $142 20. Nxd5 Rxd5 $17 (20... exd5 $6 21. Nf5 $11)) 20. Nf5 $14 Bc5 21. Bxc5 Qxc5+ 22. Qd4 Qc8 $4 (22... Qxd4+ $142 {was much better} 23. Nxd4 Rfe8 $14) 23. Ne7+ $18 Kh8 24. Nxc8 Rxc8 25. Rfe1 1-0