A50 Queen's Fianchetto Defence (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 b6) (1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 e5 3.d5 Nce7 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Ng6 6.Be3)

This post was mostly typed when I originally shared this game. One of the problems with the posts I have published is that I rely too much for the opinion of the engine. This was typed in a way that is more concerned about what I think about the game, which quite often may be something different than what an engine would do in a given position. Also the diagrams I added are not from positions where a clear mistake was made by one of the players.

The game below was played on the third round of the Sarah's Mini Cooper Tournament (No 52). This win enabled me to finish on 2nd place in group 4 and that secured my place on round 4. Had this game ended in any other way, I would have been eliminated from the tournament. The group was won by erimus, who won all of his 8 games on this round. I was on second place with 4.5 points and a player called quequeg was third also with 4.5 points. Normally only two of the best players will advance from each group, but because we tied on points, both me and quequeg joined erimus on the next round, though not in the same group. My opponent in the game below Lordkeynes finished fourth in the group with 3 points. On round 4 I was 2nd in the final standings, but because the player who finished first had cheated, I was the first one from the group to advance to the final round. I ended up being 2nd in the final standings and got the custom trophy, which looked like a Mini Cooper! Erimus won the tournament with 7.5 points out of the possible 8, I gathered 6 points, the only two games I lost were against erimus.

The first critical moment in the game in my opinion came when my opponent played 8...Ng4. I needed to make a choice here, should I move the bishop or just ignore the threat to the bishop. I ignored it because if I move the bishop, then Qh4 stops me from castling. Even though the dark-squared bishop is my better bishop and the one that I would like to keep, I thought that moving it would be worse. I could have gone for 9.Qd2 and if my opponent takes the bishop with the knight, I could have kept my pawn structure intact by taking back with the queen. I did not go for that either, but instead castled and was okay with the possibility that my opponent could double my pawns. At least I would have had an open file to work with after that. For some reason Lordkeynes played 9...Bxc3 without me even needing to provoke that move with a3. I think trading the bishop to the knight is a mistake because I think it only helped me a bit. After I took back with my knight, Lordkeynes played d6 and protected his knight on g4 with the bishop. I am not sure if he considered to take on e3 at all, but I think he should have at least considered it. The reason for that is that I was able to move my bishop to d2 on the next move. I thought that my dark-squared bishop is too important to be traded off the board by the knight. With the move 12.g3 I intended to prevent the move Qh4, which might have been a bit annoying. Then on my 13th move I played Be2 because I wanted to improve the position of my bishop. At d3 it felt like a big pawn.

I think the game continued quite evenly, perhaps in my small advantage up to the move 19.Qd3. My opponent's next move I am not so sure about and it might be a mistake. Lordkeynes played 19...cxd5, which makes the d6-pawn very weak. If Lordkeynes had left the pawn to c6, then I might have continued with Rad1 and had ideas to take on c6 myself and try to add pressure to the d6-pawn until it crumbles. Maybe the best idea is to play 19...c5 and close the center because it would make it more difficult for me to make progress in the position. I might then play f4 at some point and try to open lines there. In the game continuation I should be on the better side of the board because the d6-pawn seems quite weak while I do not have similar weaknesses in my position. It was far from a clear path to victory at that point and Lordkeynes did have some play in the position even still. After 23...f5, I basically had to take on f5 or have a weak pawn on e4 after 23.f3 fxe4 24.fxe4. I also did not like the looks of 23.Qd3 f4, so I decided to take on f5. I would have liked to maintain a pawn on e4 in order to control d5 better, but unfortunately it was not possible.

After Lordkeynes played 24...Nxf5, I should have maybe played 25.Qd5+ and after the king moves play Bd2, because in the game continuation after 25.Rad1, Lordkeynes could have played Nxe3+ and the game would have been more even after that in my opinion. However, Lordkeynes played 25...Rcd8 that gave me time to play 26.Qd5+ Kh8 27.Bd2 and now I have better chances to pressure the pawn on d6, which I am able to take for free by playing 40.cxd6. I think one of the key mistakes of the game up to that point were 19...cxd5 and the fact that my opponent did not take the dark-squared bishop when he had the chance. I did not play the ramaining moves perfectly, I did mess up on move 47, for instance, I should have played 47.Rd5 instead of 47.Rdd3. It was not a huge mistake and I was able to make that move on my next move because my opponent was a bit tied up to defense and could not really do anything dangerous to me. After I won the second pawn, the game should be easy enough to win. However, the best way to win in my opinion was to play 52.Re3, even though it loses the d6-pawn. After the trade of rooks, I am able to get the h-pawn and be up two pawns once again. Admittedly there were some technical difficulties still to be had after that and only with carefully preventing any counterplay from my opponent was I able to get the full point.

[Event "Sarah's Mini Cooper Tournament (No 52)"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.01.08"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Lordkeynes"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A50"] [WhiteElo "1865"] [BlackElo "1686"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "147"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e5 3. d5 {Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Linksspringer Variation} (3. dxe5 Nxe5 4. f4 (4. Nc3 {Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Keres Attack}) 4... Nc6 {Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Riemann Defense} (4... Ng6 {Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Main Line})) 3... Nce7 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Ng6 6. Be3 {A50 Queen's Fianchetto Defence (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 b6)} Bb4 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Nge2 (8. f3 d6 (8... Nh5 9. Nge2 Nhf4 10. Nxf4 exf4 11. Bd4 c5 12. Bf2 Bxc3+ 13. bxc3 d6 14. O-O Qa5 15. Qd2 b6 16. Bc2 f5 17. Rfe1 Qa6 18. e5 Nxe5 19. Qxf4 Bd7 20. Bg3 Rae8 21. Qh4 Qa3 22. Bxe5 dxe5 23. Bb3 {Molvig,J (1892)-Schultz Pedersen,J (2235) Helsingor 2014 0-1 (41)}) 9. Nge2 Nh5 10. Qd2 c6 11. a3 Bc5 12. Bxc5 dxc5 13. O-O-O Nhf4 14. g3 Nh3 15. Ng1 cxd5 16. exd5 a6 17. Ne4 b5 18. Nxh3 Bxh3 19. Ng5 Bd7 20. h4 bxc4 21. Bc2 h6 22. f4 exf4 {Ladines,S (2200)-Bulcourf, C (2260) Argentina 1994 1-0 (33)}) 8... Ng4 {Black has a cramped position. Black's piece can't move: c8} 9. O-O $146 (9. Qd2 Nxe3 10. Qxe3 d6 11. h4 f5 12. h5 f4 13. Qd2 Nh4 14. O-O-O f3 15. gxf3 Nxf3 16. Qc2 Bc5 17. Kb1 Bd7 18. Ng3 Qf6 19. Nf5 Nd4 20. Qc1 Nxf5 21. exf5 Bxf5 22. Ne4 Bxe4 23. Bxe4 Qxf2 {Aranaz Portugues,J (2130) -Newrkla,A (1962) San Sebastian 2011 1-0 (38)}) 9... Bxc3 (9... Qh4 $5 10. h3 Nxe3 11. fxe3 Qg5 $15) 10. Nxc3 $11 d6 {Controls c5} (10... Qh4 11. h3 Nxe3 12. fxe3 $11) 11. Bd2 Bd7 (11... Nf4 12. Be2 f5 13. exf5 Nxe2+ 14. Qxe2 Bxf5 15. h3 $11) 12. g3 (12. f3 Nf6 $16) 12... a6 {Covers b5} (12... Nf4 13. Qf3 (13. Bxf4 $143 exf4 14. Be2 Ne5 $15) 13... Nxd3 14. Qxd3 $11) 13. Be2 {White threatens to win material: Be2xg4} Nf6 14. Bf3 c6 {Consolidates b5} (14... Bh3 15. Bg2 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 $11) 15. Bg5 (15. dxc6 bxc6 16. Qe2 Qe7 $16) 15... h6 $14 { Black threatens to win material: h6xg5} 16. Be3 Bh3 17. Bg2 Bxg2 {Black forks: f1+e4} 18. Kxg2 {White king safety dropped} Rc8 19. Qd3 (19. Qb3 Qd7 20. f3 Ne7 $11) 19... cxd5 $11 20. Nxd5 ({Instead of} 20. exd5 Qc7 $17) 20... Nxd5 21. Qxd5 Qc7 22. b3 Ne7 {Black threatens to win material: Ne7xd5} 23. Qd2 f5 24. exf5 Nxf5 {White king safety dropped} 25. Rad1 Rcd8 26. Qd5+ Kh8 27. Bd2 Qc6 ( 27... b5 28. cxb5 axb5 29. a4 bxa4 30. Ba5 $11) 28. Ba5 (28. Qxc6 bxc6 29. Rfe1 Rde8 $14) 28... Rd7 (28... Rc8 29. a4 $14) 29. Kg1 (29. Qxc6 bxc6 30. Rfe1 Re8 $16) 29... Qxd5 (29... Rdf7 $5 $11 {deserves consideration}) 30. Rxd5 $16 { Menacing} (30. cxd5 $6 Ne7 $11) 30... Nd4 31. Bb6 {White threatens to win material: Bb6xd4} Ne2+ 32. Kg2 Nc3 33. Rd2 (33. Rd3 Nxa2 34. Ba5 e4 $16) 33... Ne4 {Black threatens to win material: Ne4xd2} 34. Rd3 Rf6 (34... Rc8 35. f4 Re8 36. fxe5 Rxe5 37. Bd4 $14) 35. f3 Ng5 36. Bc5 $4 {gives the opponent new chances} (36. h4 Nf7 $16) 36... Nf7 (36... e4 $142 {and Black hangs on} 37. Rdd1 exf3+ 38. Kh1 Ne4 $15) 37. Rfd1 $16 g5 38. Ba3 Kg8 (38... b6 $5 $16) 39. c5 Kf8 40. cxd6 b5 $2 (40... Ke8 $142 $5 $16) 41. Bc5 (41. Rc1 {might be the shorter path} a5 42. Rc8+ Nd8 $18) 41... Nd8 (41... a5 42. Rd5 $18) 42. b4 Re6 (42... Ke8 {hardly improves anything} 43. Ra3 $18) 43. Kf2 (43. Ra3 $5 { and White can already relax} e4 44. Rxa6 exf3+ 45. Kxf3 Kg7 $18) 43... Nc6 ( 43... Nb7 44. Ke3 $18) 44. Ra3 Nb8 45. Ke3 Ke8 (45... Kf7 46. Ke4 Rd8 47. g4 $18) 46. Ke4 Rf7 (46... Rd8 {cannot change destiny} 47. Ba7 Nd7 48. Rxa6 $18) 47. Rdd3 (47. Rc1 $142 $5 {makes it even easier for White} Rff6 $18) 47... Kd7 48. Rd5 (48. Rdc3 {seems even better} h5 $18) 48... Rf8 $2 (48... Ref6 49. Rd2 $18) 49. Rxe5 (49. Ra5 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} Ref6 50. a4 bxa4 $18) 49... Rxe5+ 50. Kxe5 Re8+ $4 {terrible, but what else could Black do to save the game?} (50... Nc6+ 51. Ke4 a5 52. bxa5 Re8+ 53. Kd3 b4 $18) 51. Kf5 Re6 ( 51... Rg8 $18 {the last chance for counterplay}) 52. Re3 Rxe3 53. Bxe3 Kxd6 54. Kg6 Nc6 55. Bc5+ Ke5 (55... Kd5 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 56. Kxh6 Ne5 57. h3 Nxf3 58. Be3 $18) 56. Kxh6 Kf5 57. Kh5 (57. g4+ $142 {and White takes home the point} Kf6 $18) 57... Ne5 58. g4+ Ke6 59. Be3 Nxf3 60. h3 Kf6 61. Kh6 Kf7 62. Bxg5 Nd4 63. Be3 Ne2 64. g5 (64. Kh7 Ng3 65. g5 Nh5 66. g6+ Ke7 67. g7 Kd7 68. Bg5 Nxg7 69. Kxg7 Ke6 70. h4 Kf5 71. Kh6 Ke6 72. Kg6 a5 73. h5 axb4 74. h6 b3 75. axb3 Kd5 76. h7 Ke4 77. h8=Q Kf3 78. Qe8 Kf2 79. Qxb5 Ke1 80. Be3 Kd1 81. Qd3+ Ke1 82. Qd2+ Kf1 83. Qf2#) 64... Kg8 (64... Ng3 {is not the saving move} 65. Kh7 Nf5 66. g6+ Kf6 67. h4 Nxe3 68. g7 Ke5 69. g8=Q Nd5 70. Qg5+ Ke6 71. h5 Ne7 72. Kg7 Nf5+ 73. Kf8 a5 74. h6 Nxh6 75. Qxh6+ Kd5 76. bxa5 b4 77. a6 b3 78. a7 b2 79. a8=Q+ Kc5 80. Qe3+ Kb4 81. Qd4+ Kb5 82. Qaa4#) 65. Kg6 Nc3 66. a3 Nd5 67. Bd2 Ne7+ 68. Kf6 Nd5+ 69. Ke5 (69. Ke6 Nc7+ 70. Kd7 Nd5 71. Kc6 Ne7+ 72. Kb6 Kf7 73. Kxa6 Nf5 74. Kxb5 Nd4+ 75. Kb6 Nf3 76. Bc1 Ne5 77. a4 Nc4+ 78. Kc7 Ke6 79. a5 Nd6 80. a6 Nb5+ 81. Kb6 Nd6 82. Kc5 Nc8 83. b5 Ke5 84. b6 Nd6 85. b7 Ne4+ 86. Kc6 Nd2 87. Bxd2 Kd4 88. a7 Kd3 89. a8=Q Kc2 90. b8=Q Kd3 91. Qf4 Kc2 92. Qa2+ Kd3 93. Qac4#) 69... Ne7 $18 70. Kd6 Nf5+ 71. Kc5 Kf7 72. Kb6 Nd4 73. Kxa6 Kg6 (73... Nf3 {doesn't change anything anymore} 74. Be3 Ne1 75. Bd4 Ke6 76. Kxb5 Nf3 77. Bf6 Nd2 78. a4 Kd5 79. a5 Nc4 80. a6 Nd6+ 81. Kb6 Nc4+ 82. Kb7 Nd6+ 83. Kb8 Nb5 84. a7 Nxa7 85. Kxa7 Kc4 86. g6 Kd5 87. g7 Ke6 88. g8=Q+ Kxf6 89. b5 Ke5 90. b6 Kd4 91. b7 Kc3 92. b8=Q Kd4 93. Qf4+ Kc3 94. Qgc4+ Kb2 95. Qfc1#) 74. Kb6 (74. Kb6 Kh5 75. Be3 Nc2 76. Bc1 Nd4 77. Bb2 Nf5 78. Kxb5 Nd6+ 79. Kc5 Ne4+ 80. Kc6 Kg6 81. b5 Nd2 82. Kd5 Nb3 83. Bc3 Nc1 84. b6 Kf5 85. b7 Nd3 86. Bd2 Nf4+ 87. Bxf4 Kxf4 88. b8=Q+ Ke3 89. g6 Kd2 90. g7 Kc3 91. g8=Q Kc2 92. Qg2+ Kc1 93. Qf4+ Kb1 94. Qff1#) (74. Bc3 Nc2 75. Bb2 Ne3 76. Kxb5 Nd1 77. Bd4 Kxg5 78. a4 Kh4 79. a5 Kxh3 80. a6 Kg4 81. a7 Kf4 82. a8=Q Ne3 83. Bxe3+ Kxe3 84. Kc4 Kf4 85. b5 Ke3 86. b6 Kf2 87. b7 Ke3 88. b8=Q Kd2 89. Qh2+ Ke3 90. Qe8+ Kf3 91. Qee2#) 1-0