C18 French: 3.Nc3 Bb4: Main line: 7.h4 and 7.Qg4 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qc7 7.Qg4 f5)

This one was played in the third round of a rapid chess tournament that was held at the FIDE Online Arena on March 28th 2015. This third game brought me my second win in the tournament and as it was a consecutive win, I was starting to do well after the bad start. Up to the move 33...Bf5 nothing terrible happened for either player. My 34th move, Bh5, was bad because bishop does not help in the attack in any way, it is actually just in the way at h5 and in the meantime my opponent could have created some play on the queenside. Unfortunately for my opponent, chamo47 was not able to find the correct plan of a5, followed by b4, which would have opened lines for my opponent and weakened the pawn on d4.

Chamo47 played 34...Qb8 and instead of being lost, I was fighting for a draw once again. My next blunder saw the light of day when I played 45.Kg3 and I was in a lost position once again. The game went on with the moves 45...Rc7 46.Bd2 and then my opponent took a step into the wrong direction by placing his or hers knight to a4. The much better square for the knight was c4 and chamo47 would have stayed on the path of victory. I should be in trouble in the game continuation as well, but draw was a lot more likely after 46...Na4 than it would have been after 36...Nc4.

I was not able to get fully back into the game, but when I played 49.Kf2, I went from a slightly worse position to being in a lost position.

While my opponent did not play the most accurate moves during the remainder of the game, chamo47 should have won the game, had the time not decided the game in my favor.

[Event "Tournament 28376646"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.03.28"] [Round "3"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "chamo47"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C18"] [WhiteElo "1727"] [BlackElo "1679"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "105"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Qc7 {French Defense: Winawer Variation. Classical Variation} (6... Ne7 7. Nf3 {French Defense: Winawer Variation. Positional Variation} (7. Qg4 Qc7 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 cxd4 10. Kd1 {French Defense: Winawer Variation. Poisoned Pawn Variation Paoli Variation} (10. Ne2 {French Defense: Winawer Variation. Poisoned Pawn Variation Main Line}))) 7. Qg4 f5 {C18 French: 3.Nc3 Bb4: Main line: 7.h4 and 7. Qg4} 8. Qd1 (8. Qh3 Ne7 9. Kd1 O-O 10. Nf3 b6 11. Rg1 Qd7 12. g4 Ba6 13. Bxa6 Nxa6 14. gxf5 Nxf5 15. Nh4 cxd4 16. cxd4 Qa4 17. Nxf5 Rxf5 18. Qg4 g6 19. Rb1 Rc8 20. Rb3 Qc4 21. Rb2 Nc7 22. Rb4 Qc6 {Zavadsky, P (2330)-Priehoda,V (2400) Hlohovec 1995 0-1 (59)}) 8... Nc6 (8... Ne7 9. Nf3 O-O 10. Be2 b6 11. a4 Nbc6 12. O-O cxd4 13. cxd4 Bb7 14. Ba3 h6 15. c4 Rfd8 16. c5 Rac8 17. Qd3 Na5 18. Nd2 Ng6 19. g3 bxc5 20. Bxc5 Nxe5 21. Qe3 Nf7 22. Bxa7 Ng5 23. Rfb1 { Babrauskas,D (2001)-Pidluznij,G (1352) Kaunas 2016 1-0 (45)}) 9. Nf3 Nge7 10. Bd2 $146 (10. Be2 Bd7 11. O-O O-O-O 12. a4 cxd4 13. cxd4 Kb8 14. Ba3 Nc8 15. Ng5 h6 16. Nf7 g5 17. c4 dxc4 18. Nxh8 Rxh8 19. Bxc4 h5 20. Rc1 h4 21. d5 exd5 22. Bxd5 Rh6 23. Re1 {1-0 (23) Illescas Cordoba, M (2595)-Plo Palacian,S (1849) ajedrez.educaterra.com 2003}) (10. Be2 h6 $11) 10... Bd7 11. Be2 O-O 12. O-O a6 {Prevents intrusion on b5} (12... Be8 13. a4 $11) 13. Bg5 (13. Re1 b5 $11) 13... cxd4 14. cxd4 Rac8 15. g3 h6 16. Be3 Na5 17. Bd3 Nc4 18. Bc1 Ba4 19. Ra2 Be8 (19... Qb6 20. Bd2 $15) 20. Nd2 $11 Nxd2 21. Bxd2 Nc6 {The idea is Ne7-c6-a5-c4} 22. c3 {Controls b4+d4} Na5 23. Qe2 Nc4 {Praise the knight!} 24. Bc1 b5 (24... Qa5 25. Qe1 $11) 25. f4 $11 Qa5 {The isolated pawn on a3 becomes a target. Black threatens to win material: Qa5xc3} 26. Qe1 Bh5 27. Bc2 Be8 28. Bd1 Rc7 29. Rg2 Bg6 (29... Nxa3 $2 {doesn't lead to the expected results} 30. Ra2 b4 31. cxb4 $18) 30. g4 fxg4 31. Bxg4 Qb6 32. Qh4 Kh7 33. Rg3 Bf5 34. Bh5 $2 (34. Bxf5+ Rxf5 35. Kh1 Qc6 $11) 34... Qb8 (34... a5 $142 {would have given Black a clear advantage} 35. Rgf3 b4 36. axb4 axb4 37. cxb4 g6 $19) 35. Bg4 $15 Bxg4 (35... Qe8 36. Kh1 $15) 36. Qxg4 $11 Qe8 37. Rf2 (37. f5 exf5 38. Rxf5 Kh8 $11) 37... Rf5 38. Rfg2 Qf7 39. h4 Re7 (39... Qe7 40. Kh2 $15) 40. Qd1 Qh5 41. Qxh5 Rxh5 42. Rg4 Rf7 43. Ra2 (43. Rg6 Rxh4 44. Rxe6 Rh3 $11) 43... Rhf5 (43... g6 44. Kf2 $15) 44. Kg2 (44. Rag2 $5 $11 {should be examined more closely}) 44... Nb6 45. Kg3 $2 (45. Kf1 $142 $15 {would keep White in the game}) 45... Rc7 46. Bd2 (46. Kh2 Rxc3 47. Rag2 $19) 46... Na4 $4 {hands over the advantage to the opponent} (46... Nc4 $142 {makes it even easier for Black} 47. Kh3 Nxd2 48. Rxd2 Rxc3+ 49. Rg3 Rc1 $19) 47. Rc2 (47. Kg2 Rc4 (47... Nxc3 $6 48. Rc2 b4 49. axb4 $11) 48. Rg3 Nb6 $15) 47... Rf8 (47... h5 $5 48. Rg5 Rxg5+ 49. fxg5 Nb6 $17) 48. Kf3 Rfc8 (48... h5 $142 49. Rg2 Nb6 $17) 49. Kf2 $2 (49. h5 $5 $15 ) 49... Nxc3 (49... a5 50. c4 Rxc4 51. Rxc4 Rxc4 52. Bxa5 Rxd4 53. h5 $19) 50. Bxc3 $17 Rxc3 51. Rxc3 Rxc3 52. Rg3 $4 {causes even greater problems} (52. h5 $142 Rd3 53. Rg6 Rxd4 54. Ke3 Re4+ 55. Kf3 $17) 52... Rxg3 53. Kxg3 (53. Kxg3 Kg6 54. Kf2 Kf5 55. Kf3 h5 56. Kg2 Kxf4 57. Kf2 a5 58. Ke2 g5 59. hxg5 Kxg5 60. Ke3 h4 61. Ke2 h3 62. Kf3 b4 63. axb4 axb4 64. Ke2 h2 65. Kd1 h1=Q+ 66. Kc2 Qf3 67. Kb2 b3 68. Ka3 Qc3 69. Ka4 b2 70. Kb5 b1=Q+ 71. Ka4 Qca1#) 1-0