D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 g6)

The game I am sharing today was played in a team match called Khamûl the Nazgûl at Chess.com. It was played on 17 boards between Lord Of The Rings and Cafe Jasmin - Open 24/7. I played on board 3 for Lord Of The Rings and I was able to win both of my games against my lower rated opponent. Lord Of The Rings was able to win the match with a score of 24.5 - 9.5. The first sign of trouble for nikdelhossein was when my opponent played 7.O-O. Unfortunately I did not find the move 7...Nxe5, which would have given me the initiative. The game might have continued 8.dxe5 Ng4 and now 9.f4 should not be played in view of very nasty move Qb6+. Therefore the move 9.e4 is much better.

I simply castled in the game, which should not have posed problems for my opponent, but nikdelhossein took another wrong turn with the move 8.a4. It was a better idea to just play 8.f4, so that if I were to take on e5, my opponent could take back with the f-pawn. I then took on e5 and when my opponent took back, I retreated with my knight to d7, which was not at all the correct idea. I needed to play 9...Ng4 in order to seize the advantage. My knight retreat equalized the position, but things started to go wrong again for nikdelhossein with the move 11.e6.

Moving the pawn to e6 loses the pawn by force, there is no way to protect the pawn sufficiently and therefore nikdelhossein should have gone for the counterattack with 12.e4 in reply to 11...Nc5. My opponent played 12.b4 instead and allowed me to take the pawn on e6 without any real resistance. I was not able to keep my advantage for a long time, since already with my 13th move d4, I threw most of my advantage away. Nikdelhossein should have played 14.Ne2 in order to take advantage of my mistake, but my opponent chose to play 14.exd4 instead and I replied by taking the pawn on d4 with my queen.

It forced the queen trade and everything seemed to go my way. For a few moves I was able to indeed play quite good moves, but then on move 20 I made a huge blunder cxb5. It would have allowed the knight to jump to d5 and my opponent would have had able counterplay for the lost material. Luckily for me, nikdelhossein played 21.Bxd6, which was much more easily dealt with than 21.Nd5 would have been. Up to the move 25.Kf1 I was on a clearly better side of the board, but then I played 25...a6 and the game was closer to a draw than one of the players winning the game again.

I played 25...a6, so that I could move my rook from a8, but alas it allowed the knight fork at c7, and my opponent could have won the pawn back from d5. For some reason nikdelhossein did not want to take back material, but moved the knight to e6 after Rac8. Both moves should be playable, but I would have gone for the material had I been the one controlling the white pieces. The game went downhill again for my opponent when nikdelhossein played 28.Nxg7.

A few moves later I messed up again and moved my king to f6 on move 31. I moved my king to f6 in order to protect my d-pawn. The problem with my move was that nikdelhossein could have replied with 32.Rb4 and the pressure against my b-pawn makes my progress in the position really difficult and my opponent does have enough compensation for the material at that point.

Nikdelhossein played 32.c4 in the game, which was the first of two consecutive blunders that my opponent made and caused my opponent's loss. For some reason the engine likes the move 32...Ke7 in reply and considers the position to be won for me. To me, it seemed more logical to go to e6 with the king and support the d-pawn. Then my opponent exchanged pawns, which was my opponent's final mistake, from which there was no coming back. My opponent continued the resistance up to the move 53...h3, after which nikdelhossein resigned.

[Event "Khamûl the Nazgûl - Board 3"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.04.16"] [Round "?"] [White "nikdelhossein"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D00"] [WhiteElo "1611"] [BlackElo "1820"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s)"] [PlyCount "106"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nc3 g6 {D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines} 4. Ne5 Bg7 5. g3 (5. h4 h5 6. Bf4 c5 7. Qd2 Qa5 8. O-O-O cxd4 9. Qxd4 O-O 10. f3 Be6 11. Qa4 Qc5 12. Qb5 Qc8 13. e3 a6 14. Qb4 Re8 15. Na4 Nc6 16. Qa3 Nxe5 17. Bxe5 Nd7 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Qc3+ Qxc3 {Ryba,A (2149)-Joshi,S (2387) Parsippany 2011 1/2-1/2 (35)}) 5... Nbd7 $146 (5... b6 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O Nbd7 8. Bf4 O-O 9. Qd2 e6 10. Bg5 Qc8 11. Bh6 a6 12. a4 c5 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15. Qe3 Qd6 16. Rfd1 Rac8 17. h3 Qb8 18. a5 cxd4 19. Rxd4 b5 20. Rh4 {Radnoti,B (2275)-Rezsek,G Hungary 1991 1/2-1/2}) (5... c5 6. Bg2 cxd4 7. Qxd4 Nfd7 8. f4 Nxe5 9. fxe5 e6 10. e4 O-O 11. exd5 Nc6 12. Qc5 Nxe5 13. d6 b6 14. Qc7 Ba6 15. Qxd8 Raxd8 16. Bg5 f6 17. Bf4 Rxd6 18. Bxe5 fxe5 19. Ne4 Rd4 20. c3 {Campos,J (2255) -Bronstein,L (2390) Buenos Aires 1990 0-1}) 6. Bg2 c6 {Covers b5} 7. O-O (7. f4 a5 $11) 7... O-O ( 7... Nxe5 8. dxe5 Ng4 9. e4 $17) 8. a4 (8. f4 $142 $5 $11 {is an interesting idea}) 8... Nxe5 $17 9. dxe5 Nd7 (9... Ng4 $142 $5 $17) 10. f4 $11 f6 11. e6 ( 11. e4 $142 $5 {is interesting} dxe4 12. exf6 Qb6+ 13. Kh1 Nxf6 14. Qe2 $11) 11... Nc5 $17 12. b4 (12. e4 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Bxe4 f5 $17) 12... Nxe6 13. e3 d4 (13... f5 14. Qe1 $17) 14. exd4 (14. Ne2 $142 $5 $15 {must definitely be considered}) 14... Qxd4+ $17 15. Qxd4 Nxd4 16. Be4 (16. Rf2 Bf5 17. Ra2 Be6 $17 ) 16... Bf5 (16... f5 $142 $5 17. Bd3 Nxc2 18. Bxc2 Bxc3 19. Bb3+ Kg7 20. Rb1 $19) 17. Bxf5 $17 Nxf5 18. Re1 (18. Ne4 Rfd8 $17) 18... Kf7 (18... Nd4 $142 19. Rxe7 Nxc2 $17) 19. Ba3 $2 (19. Ra2 a5 20. Ne4 axb4 $19) 19... Nd6 (19... Nd4 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} 20. Rec1 f5 $19) 20. b5 cxb5 (20... f5 $5 21. Bxd6 exd6 $19) 21. Bxd6 (21. Nd5 $5 {is worthy of consideration} Rfe8 22. Bxd6 exd6 23. Rxe8 Rxe8 24. axb5 $11) 21... exd6 $17 22. Nxb5 Rfd8 23. Rad1 d5 24. Re2 f5 25. Kf1 a6 {Black threatens to win material: a6xb5} (25... Rd7 $5 $17) 26. Nc7 $15 {White threatens to win material: Nc7xa8. White forks: a8+d5} Rac8 {Black threatens to win material: Rc8xc7} 27. Ne6 {White threatens to win material: Ne6xd8} Rd7 28. Nxg7 (28. Ng5+ $5 {is an interesting alternative} Kg8 29. Rde1 $15) 28... Kxg7 $17 29. Rd4 (29. Red2 b6 $17) 29... Rc4 30. Red2 Rxd4 31. Rxd4 Kf6 (31... b6 $17) 32. c4 $2 (32. Rb4 $142 $5 $11 {has some apparent merit}) 32... Ke6 (32... Ke7 $142 $17) 33. cxd5+ $4 {solves nothing} (33. a5 $142 $17) 33... Rxd5 $19 34. Rb4 (34. Rc4 {doesn't do any good} b5 35. axb5 axb5 $19) 34... b5 35. axb5 axb5 36. Ke2 Kd6 37. Ke3 (37. Rb2 {otherwise it's curtains at once} Kc5 38. Rc2+ Kb6 39. Rb2 $19) 37... Kc5 38. Rb3 (38. Rb1 { the last chance for counterplay} b4 39. h3 $19) 38... Kc4 39. Ra3 (39. Rb1 { hoping against hope} Rd3+ 40. Ke2 $19) 39... b4 40. Ra7 Kc3 (40... b3 41. Rb7 Rb5 42. Rc7+ Kb4 43. Rc1 b2 44. Rd1 Kc3 45. Rd3+ Kc4 46. Rd4+ Kc5 47. Rd1 b1=Q 48. Rxb1 Rxb1 49. Ke2 Kd4 50. h3 Rb2+ 51. Kd1 Kd3 52. Ke1 h6 53. g4 h5 54. h4 hxg4 55. h5 gxh5 56. Kf1 g3 57. Kg1 h4 58. Kf1 h3 59. Ke1 Rb1#) 41. Rxh7 Rc5 42. Rb7 (42. Rg7 {does not save the day} Rc6 43. Rd7 b3 44. Rd3+ Kc2 45. Rd2+ Kc1 46. Rd4 b2 47. Rb4 b1=Q 48. Rxb1+ Kxb1 49. Kd4 Re6 50. Kd3 Re1 51. h3 Rg1 52. Kd4 Rxg3 53. h4 Kc2 54. Ke5 Kd3 55. Kd6 Ke4 56. Kc5 Rf3 57. Kc6 Rxf4 58. h5 gxh5 59. Kc5 h4 60. Kc6 Rf2 61. Kb5 h3 62. Kc5 h2 63. Kd6 h1=Q 64. Kc6 Rc2+ 65. Kd7 Qh7+ 66. Kd6 Qc7+ 67. Ke6 Rc6#) 42... b3 43. Rd7 (43. g4 {does not solve anything} Rc4 44. gxf5 gxf5 45. Rd7 Re4+ 46. Kf3 b2 47. Rd1 Ra4 48. Rb1 Ra1 49. Rxb2 Kxb2 50. Kg3 Kc3 51. Kf2 Ra6 52. Kg3 Rh6 53. Kg2 Kd3 54. Kg3 Rh7 55. Kg2 Ke2 56. Kg3 Kf1 57. h3 Rh5 58. h4 Ke2 59. Kg2 Rxh4 60. Kg3 Rg4+ 61. Kh2 Kf2 62. Kh3 Rxf4 63. Kh2 Rh4#) 43... b2 44. Rb7 Kc2 45. Kd4 Rc6 (45... Rc3 46. Rxb2+ Kxb2 47. Ke5 Rc6 48. Kd4 Re6 49. Kd5 Re2 50. h3 Rh2 51. g4 Rxh3 52. gxf5 Rh5 53. Ke5 Rxf5+ 54. Ke4 Kc2 55. Ke3 Kc3 56. Ke4 Kd2 57. Kd4 Rxf4+ 58. Ke5 g5 59. Ke6 g4 60. Kd5 g3 61. Ke6 Ke3 62. Kd5 g2 63. Ke6 g1=Q 64. Ke5 Qg5+ 65. Ke6 Rf6+ 66. Ke7 Qg7+ 67. Ke8 Rf8#) 46. Kd5 Ra6 47. Ke5 (47. Rc7+ {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} Kb1 48. h3 Ka1 49. Rb7 b1=Q 50. Rxb1+ Kxb1 51. Ke5 Ra3 52. g4 Rxh3 53. g5 Ra3 54. Kf6 Ra6+ 55. Ke5 Kc2 56. Kd4 Kd2 57. Kc5 Ra4 58. Kd6 Rxf4 59. Kc5 Ke3 60. Kd6 Re4 61. Kc5 f4 62. Kd6 f3 63. Kc5 f2 64. Kd6 f1=Q 65. Kc6 Qa6+ 66. Kd7 Rh4 67. Ke8 Rh7 68. Kf8 Qa8#) 47... b1=Q 48. Rxb1 Kxb1 49. h4 (49. Kd4 {is not much help} Kc2 50. h3 Re6 51. Kd5 Re3 52. g4 Rxh3 53. gxf5 Rh5 54. Kd4 Rxf5 55. Ke3 Kc3 56. Ke4 Kd2 57. Kd4 Rxf4+ 58. Ke5 g5 59. Ke6 Kc3 60. Kd5 Rf1 61. Ke6 g4 62. Kd5 g3 63. Ke6 g2 64. Kd5 g1=Q 65. Ke6 Qg6+ 66. Kd5 Rf5+ 67. Ke4 Qe6#) 49... Ra3 50. h5 (50. Ke6 {hardly improves anything} Rxg3 51. Ke5 Rg4 52. Kf6 Kc2 53. Ke5 Rxh4 54. Kf6 Rxf4 55. Kxg6 Rf1 56. Kg5 Kd3 57. Kf6 f4 58. Ke5 Ke3 59. Kf6 f3 60. Ke5 f2 61. Kf6 Rb1 62. Ke5 f1=Q 63. Ke6 Qa6+ 64. Kd5 Rb5+ 65. Kc4 Qc6#) 50... gxh5 51. Kxf5 Rxg3 52. Ke4 (52. Kf6 { does not help much} h4 53. f5 h3 54. Ke5 h2 55. f6 h1=Q 56. f7 Qh5+ 57. Kd6 Qxf7 58. Kc5 Rg5+ 59. Kd4 Qf4+ 60. Kd3 Rg2 61. Kc3 Rg3#) 52... h4 53. f5 h3 ( 53... h3 54. f6 h2 55. Kf4 Rd3 56. f7 h1=Q 57. f8=Q Qf1+ 58. Ke4 Qe2+ 59. Kf5 Rf3+ 60. Kg6 Qg2+ 61. Kh7 Rxf8 62. Kh6 Rh8#) 0-1