C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 h6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Qf6)

This game was played in a team match called TMCL 2016 Div C R4 OCD v World Friendship. The match was played on 57 boards between Obsessive Chess Disorder and World Friendship. I played on board 22 for OCD and won both my games against Susi. Obsessive Chess Disorder won the match with a score of 79.5 - 34.5. The last move of the opening 5...Qf6 is something that players should avoid of playing, since White can get a clear advantage because of it. Had I replied with 6.Nb5, it would have punished my opponent for the early queen movement. I usually just like to develop my pieces as quickly as possible and not move my pieces multiple times in the opening. However, I should remember in the future not to play 6.Be3, like I did in the game and instead jump with the knight to b5 if I end up in this position again.

Susi then moved the d-pawn forward one square, which was a huge blunder, since it complicates the development of the kingside pieces in a big way. It would have been a much better idea to develop the bishop to c5 first, so that the pieces would not be in the way of each other and piece development would be easy. Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT actually thinks that the game should be lost for Black after 6...d6. Alas, I was not able to play the most accurate moves and I made moves like 9.Nde2 and 12.Qe2 that enabled my opponent to get back into the game.

Susi was not able use the chance I gave him, he castled long when he should have played 12...g6 in preparation of fianchettoing the bishop and castling onto the kingside. I did not find the best follow up either, I just played 13.a3 with the idea of b4, b5. It was maybe a bit slow way of doing things and placing either of my knights to d5 was a much better idea. Susi then had the option to play 13...g5 and kick my knight away from f4 to h5 or d5. From h5 it would have prevented the development of the bishop, which was probably something I would have wanted to do. However, the knight on h5 would not have done anything else at h5 and would be also a bit out of play. My opponent chose to play 13...Kb8, which started the downfall, but it was not the losing move. The losing move Susi played against 14.b4 and it was 14...Na7. It was very important for my opponent to get some play in the position and not just try to defend against the onslaught. Susi's best chance for that play would have come in the form of 14...g5. It would have attacked the knight on f4 and had it gone to d5, then the bishop could have been developed finally to g7, where it would have controlled the long diagonal.

[Event "TMCL 2016 Div C R4 OCD v World Friendshi"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.04.15"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Susi"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "1814"] [BlackElo "1712"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s)"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 h6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Qf6 {C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo} 6. Be3 d6 $2 $146 (6... Ne5 7. Bb3 Bb4+ 8. c3 Ba5 9. f4 Ng6 10. O-O d6 11. e5 Qe7 12. e6 fxe6 13. Qh5 Qf6 14. Qxa5 b6 15. Qb5+ Bd7 16. Qh5 N8e7 17. Nd2 d5 18. N2f3 c5 19. Ne2 O-O-O 20. Ne5 Be8 21. Nxg6 {Haidinger, E (1690)-Galic,S (1883) Croatia 2016 1-0 (58)}) (6... Bc5 7. c3 Ne5 (7... b6 8. O-O Bb7 9. Nxc6 Qxc6 10. Bd5 Qb5 11. Bxb7 Rb8 12. Bd5 Qxb2 13. Qb3 Qxb3 14. axb3 c6 15. Bc4 Bxe3 16. fxe3 Nf6 17. Rxa7 O-O 18. e5 Ng4 19. Rxd7 Nxe5 20. Rd4 b5 21. Be2 Ra8 22. c4 {Rigonati,E (1802)-Ferreira de Souza,R (1800) Sao Bernardo do Campo 2012 1-0}) 8. Be2 Qg6 9. O-O Nf6 10. Nd2 O-O 11. Nf5 Bd6 12. f4 Neg4 13. Bd4 h5 14. h3 Nh6 15. Nxh6+ Qxh6 16. e5 Nd5 17. exd6 Nxf4 18. dxc7 Qg5 19. Rxf4 Qxf4 20. Bxh5 d5 21. Qe2 {Velicka,P (2430)-Blatny,P (2560) Czechia 1997 1-0 (34)}) (6... a6 7. Nc3 Bb4 8. O-O Bxc3 9. bxc3 b5 10. Bb3 Nge7 11. f4 Bb7 12. Qe2 O-O-O 13. Rad1 d6 14. Qg4+ Kb8 15. Qe2 Na7 16. Qd3 c5 17. c4 cxd4 18. Bxd4 Qg6 19. f5 Qg4 20. Rde1 Rde8 21. cxb5 {Garrido,E-Gonzalez,E Santiago de Chile 1994 1-0 (33)}) (6... Bc5 $142 {and Black is still in the game} 7. c3 Nge7 $11) 7. Nc3 $18 a6 8. O-O Nge7 9. Nde2 (9. f4 $142 $5 $18) 9... Be6 $16 10. Bxe6 Qxe6 (10... fxe6 11. b4 g6 12. a4 Nxb4 13. Rb1 $16) 11. Nf4 Qd7 12. Qe2 {White has a very active position} (12. Re1 g5 13. Bd4 Ne5 $16) 12... O-O-O (12... g6 $14) 13. a3 {Black has a cramped position. Black's piece can't move: f8} (13. Nfd5 $5 Nxd5 14. Nxd5 $16 (14. exd5 $6 Ne5 $14)) 13... Kb8 (13... g5 $142 $5 {might be a viable alternative} 14. Nh5 f5 $11) 14. b4 $16 Na7 $2 (14... g5 $142 15. Nfd5 Bg7 $16) 15. a4 $18 {White plans b5} c6 $2 ( 15... Nac8 16. Rab1 $18) 16. Bxa7+ (16. b5 $142 {and the result of the game is clear: White will win} a5 17. Bb6 $18) 16... Kxa7 17. b5 c5 (17... g5 18. Nh5 d5 19. bxa6 bxa6 20. Nb5+ Ka8 $18) 18. bxa6 b6 (18... bxa6 {a last effort to resist the inevitable} 19. Rfb1 Qc8 $18) 19. Nb5+ Ka8 20. Rfd1 (20. Qc4 $142 { and White can already relax} d5 21. Nxd5 Nxd5 22. Rfd1 $18) 20... Nc8 (20... Qc6 {there is nothing else anyway} 21. Qc4 g5 $18) 21. Nd5 Qc6 22. a5 c4 23. Nd4 (23. axb6 Nxb6 24. Qe3 Kb8 25. Nxb6 d5 26. Rdb1 dxe4 27. Qf4+ Bd6 28. a7+ Kb7 29. a8=Q+ Rxa8 30. Nxd6+ Qxd6 31. Nxa8+ Kc6 32. Ra6+ Kd7 33. Qxd6+ Ke8 34. Nc7#) 23... Qc5 $18 24. axb6 (24. Qf3 Be7 25. e5 Ka7 26. exd6 Bxd6 27. Nc7 Bxh2+ 28. Kh1 Qxc7 29. Nb5+ Kxa6 30. Nxc7+ Bxc7 31. axb6+ Kb5 32. Rd5+ Rxd5 33. Qxd5+ Kxb6 34. Rb1+ Ka6 35. Qb7+ Ka5 36. Qb5#) 24... Nxb6 25. Nxb6+ Qxb6 26. Qxc4 d5 27. exd5 Bc5 28. Rab1 Qd6 (28... Qc7 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 29. Nc6 Bb6 30. Qb5 Rb8 31. Nxb8 Rxb8 32. d6 Qc5 33. a7 Rb7 34. Qe8+ Kxa7 35. d7 Qxf2+ 36. Kh1 Qc5 37. Rxb6 Qxb6 38. Ra1+ Qa6 39. Qa8+ Kb6 40. Qxa6+ Kc7 41. d8=Q+ Kxd8 42. Qxb7 h5 43. Ra8#) 29. Nc6 (29. Nb5 Bb6 30. Nxd6 Rxd6 31. a7 h5 32. Rxb6 Rxb6 33. d6 h4 34. Qd5+ Kxa7 35. Ra1+ Ra6 36. Qc5+ Ka8 37. Rxa6+ Kb7 38. Ra7+ Kb8 39. Qc7#) 29... Rd7 (29... Rb8 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 30. Nxb8 Rxb8 31. Rxb8+ Kxb8 32. Qb5+ Bb6 33. Rb1 Ka7 34. Qxb6+ Qxb6 35. Rxb6 Kxb6 36. d6 g5 37. c4 g4 38. a7 Kxa7 39. d7 Kb7 40. d8=Q Kc6 41. Qd5+ Kb6 42. c5+ Kb5 43. c6+ Kb6 44. Qd7 g3 45. c7 h5 46. c8=Q gxf2+ 47. Kxf2 h4 48. Qdb7+ Ka5 49. Qca8#) 30. Rb5 (30. Qb5 Qc7 31. Qxc5 h5 32. Rb7 Qxh2+ 33. Kxh2 Rxb7 34. axb7+ Kxb7 35. Rb1+ Kc7 36. Qe7+ Kc8 37. Rb8#) 30... Ba7 (30... Qxc6 { does not win a prize} 31. Rxc5 Qd6 32. Rc6 Qb8 33. d6 Rhd8 34. Qd5 Ka7 35. Qd4+ Ka8 36. Rb6 h5 37. Rxb8+ Rxb8 38. Qc5 Rb2 39. Re1 h4 40. Re8+ Rb8 41. Qc6+ Ka7 42. Rxb8 Kxb8 43. Qxd7 h3 44. Qb7#) 31. Rdb1 Qf6 (31... Rc8 {cannot undo what has already been done} 32. Rb7 Rxc6 33. dxc6 Qd1+ 34. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 35. Qf1 Rxf1+ 36. Kxf1 Bb8 37. c7 Bxc7 38. Rxc7 g5 39. c4 g4 40. Rb7 g3 41. fxg3 h5 42. c5 h4 43. c6 h3 44. c7 hxg2+ 45. Kg1 f6 46. c8=Q#) 32. Nxa7 Rxa7 (32... Kxa7 { doesn't improve anything} 33. Qc5+ Ka8 34. Rb6 h5 35. Rxf6 Rb8 36. Qc6+ Ka7 37. Qxd7+ Ka8 38. Rxb8+ Kxb8 39. Qb7#) 33. Rb6 (33. Rb6 Re7 34. Rxf6 Rb8 35. Rxb8+ Ka7 36. Qc5+ Kxb8 37. Qxe7 Kc8 38. Qe8+ Kc7 39. Rc6#) (33. d6 Qe7 34. dxe7 Rxe7 35. Qc6+ Ka7 36. Rb7+ Rxb7 37. Qxb7#) 1-0