C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O)

This is one of those games where the difference in playing strength is a bit too much to be all that comfortable for either player. This is one of the forty games that I played in the 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen II tournament. In this game, I played the opening part rather quickly and did not really even look at the position all that much. It was because I had so many games to make moves in during the opening phase of the game, so I just blitzed the moves and for some reason I thought that this was Spanish and therefore I moved my knight to e7, like I have done so many times before. After I had made that move, I noticed that the bishop was at c4 and not at b5, so I had not went with a move that I would normally play in that position. Moves I would consider playing instead are Nf6, d6 and maybe a6. E7 is definitely worse square for the knight than f6, but it should not mean a lost position yet for Black. Despite the large rating difference in my favor, it was me that messed up quite badly for the first time in the game when I played 9...Qxe7.

This could have been a rather embarrassing game, had my opponent actually played 10.Ng6 in reply and used his or hers golden opportunity to get a clear advantage against an opponent several hundred points stronger. Golfnaturl moved the queen simply to h5, which did protect the attacked knight at h4, but not much else since the queen can't really do much at h5. For the second time in a row, I ignored the possibility of Ng6 and moved my knight to d4. Even though my 10th move was somewhat bad, it was not the worst move in the position. Again golfnaturl had the chance to play Ng6 and make my life difficult. Luckily for me, golfnaturl played a passive move 11.Rac1 and I had an opportunity to get back to the game. I had then very good chance to take advantage of golfnaturl's badly placed pieces starting with the move 11...b5, but like a fool I played 11...c6, which does not seem to make much sense in the position. It would seem that I really wanted my opponent to play Ng6, but for some reason or other golfnaturl did not play it. Golfnaturl chose the disaster of a move 12.Rfe1 instead.

I finally got away from Ng6 possibilities by playing 12...Be6, which was a reasonable move, but a lot weaker than the moves 12...Kh7 or 12...b5. Golfnaturl then took the bishop with its counterpart and I decided to take back with my knight. I probably did not think all that long back with the pawn since by then I had to notice the possibility for a knight fork. However, it turns out that I should have taken with the pawn and that Ng6 in that position is really bad. I would have just pinned the knight with Qe8 and golfnaturl would have been in huge trouble. The game started to finally be lost for my opponent with the move 18.Qg4.

I did find the apparently the strongest move in reply 18...g6 and the rest of the game was just matter of technique. While it is true that the material was at this point even, positionally golfnaturl was lost.

Game number two and second in a row against golfnaturl. This one is taken from the 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen III tournament. Interestingly I made the same uncharacteristic move 4...Nge7 also in this game. These two games started the same, so it is likely that first few moves of these two games were also played around the same time. The game below might not be played perfectly by me and I actually messed up in the opening quite badly, but after that I did manage to play accurate enough way to get the full point. Golfnaturl tried the move 5.Ng5 in this game instead of the move 5.Nc3 that my opponent played in the first game. 5.Ng5 is the right way to try and take advantage of the horrible knight move. The game continued with the moves 5...d5 6.exd5 and then I made a blunder that could have lost me the game, 6...Nxd5.

Golfnaturl played in the game 7.Qf3, which is not so strong, since I could have taken the knight on g5 with my queen. My opponent would have then taken back on d5 with the bishop and the position would have been roughly even. I played the inferior 7...Be6 and my opponent could have doubled my pawns on the e-file with 8.Nxe6 while also preventing me from castling kingside because the queen controls f8 in that position. Golfnaturl played 8.d3 instead, which is considered a novelty according to my reference database. In the position after 13.Nd2 I had the brilliant move 13...Ne3, which could have lead to a quicker win.

I went for the other knight fork, 13...Ne5, which was also a decent move with the idea of trading pieces when up in material. The rest of the game went rather effortlessly in my favor, but it was only completely won after the blunder 18.Qe4. The queen is placed on a bad square, because I was able to play 18...Qf5, which forced the queen trade.

When the queens were off the board, there was no real counterplay for my opponent, who had not even finished developing all of the pieces yet. The remainder of the game was rather easy to play, but golfnaturl struggled up to the move 48...h2, after which my opponent resigned.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "golfnaturl"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "1294"] [BlackElo "1844"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s)"] [PlyCount "88"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O {C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo} Nge7 5. Nc3 O-O (5... d6 6. a3 a6 7. h3 Nd4 8. Ng5 Ne6 9. Nxe6 fxe6 10. d3 O-O 11. Be3 b6 12. b4 Bd4 13. Bxd4 exd4 14. Ne2 c5 15. Qd2 d5 16. exd5 Nxd5 17. bxc5 bxc5 18. c3 e5 19. cxd4 cxd4 20. f4 {Testa,M-Alvarez,J (2345) Santiago de Chile 1994 1-0 (71)}) 6. d3 a6 $146 {Covers b5} (6... d6 7. a3 (7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 (8. Bd2 Ng6 9. Nd5 Nh4 10. b3 Bd7 11. b4 Bb6 12. b5 Nd4 13. Nxd4 Qf6 14. Nxf6+ gxf6 15. Nf3 Bg4 16. Bxh6 Rfd8 17. h3 Be6 18. Bxe6 fxe6 19. Nxh4 d5 20. Qg4+ Kf7 21. Qg6+ Ke7 22. Qg7+ Kd6 {Plaettner,S-Schiffner,A Sebnitz 2002 1-0 (45)}) 8... Be6 9. Bxe6 fxe6 10. Re1 Nd4 11. Nxd4 Bxd4 12. Qd2 Bxc3 13. Qxc3 c6 14. Rad1 Qd7 15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. d4 exd4 17. Qxd4 e5 18. Qe3 a6 19. h4 Rad8 20. Qh3 Qf6 21. Qg3 Qf4 {Paraschiv,A (1001)-Stan,V (1001) Calimanesti 2015 0-1 (57)}) (7. h3 Be6 8. Bxe6 fxe6 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. Qe2 Nd4 12. Nxd4 Bxd4 13. Qd2 Rf7 14. Rab1 c6 15. Nd1 Raf8 16. Ne3 Qg5 17. c3 Bb6 18. a3 Qh4 19. b4 Rf6 20. Rb2 Rg6 21. Qe2 Qxh3 {Rasinar,L-Adam,A Eforie Nord 2001 0-1 (50)}) 7... Ng6 8. Re1 Nd4 9. b4 Bb6 10. h3 Be6 11. Nd5 Bxd5 12. Bxd5 c6 13. Ba2 Qf6 14. Kf1 Nh4 15. Bg5 Qg6 16. Bxh4 Kh8 17. c3 Nxf3 18. Qxf3 f5 19. exf5 Rxf5 20. Qg4 Qxg4 21. hxg4 {Burton,C (1234)-Bakker,D (1168) Germany 2005 1-0 (34)}) 7. Bg5 d6 8. Nh4 h6 9. Bxe7 {White forks: f8+d8} (9. Qh5 $142 b5 10. Bb3 $11) 9... Qxe7 $4 {forfeits the advantage} (9... Nxe7 10. Qh5 $15) 10. Qh5 $4 { Loses material. hands over the advantage to the opponent} (10. Ng6 $1 Qg5 11. Nxf8 $14) 10... Nd4 {Black threatens to win material: Nd4xc2} (10... Qg5 $142 11. Qxg5 hxg5 $17) 11. Rac1 $4 {throwing away the advantage} (11. Ng6 Qg5 12. Qxg5 hxg5 13. Nxf8 Kxf8 $14) 11... c6 $4 {Loses material. Black has let it slip away} (11... b5 12. Ng6 Qd8 13. Bd5 $19) 12. Rfe1 $4 {gives the opponent counterplay} (12. Ng6 $142 {would allow White to play on} Qf6 13. Nxf8 Kxf8 14. Kh1 $16) 12... Be6 (12... Kh7 $142 $5 13. Nf5 Nxf5 14. exf5 g6 $19) 13. Bxe6 $17 Nxe6 (13... fxe6 14. Re3 $17) 14. Na4 Ba7 15. Nf5 {White threatens to win material: Nf5xe7} Qd8 16. Qg4 Kh7 17. Qh3 (17. Qh4 Qxh4 18. Nxh4 g6 $15) 17... Nf4 {Black threatens to win material: Nf4xh3} (17... Qg5 $142 $17) 18. Qg4 $2 ( 18. Qh4 $142 $15 {and White is still in the game}) 18... g6 $19 19. Ng3 Qf6 ( 19... h5 $142 20. Qf3 Ne6 $19) 20. Qd7 $4 {White falls apart} (20. Ne2 $142 Bxf2+ $1 {Double attack: c1/f2} 21. Kxf2 Nxd3+ 22. Ke3 Nxe1 23. Rxe1 $19) 20... Rab8 (20... h5 $142 {and Black can already relax} 21. Rf1 h4 22. Kh1 $19) 21. Nc3 (21. Qg4 {does not solve anything} h5 22. Qf3 Nh3+ 23. Kf1 Qxf3 24. gxf3 Bxf2 $19) 21... h5 (21... Ne6 {makes it even easier for Black} 22. Rf1 Rfd8 23. Nd5 cxd5 24. Qa4 dxe4 25. Qxe4 $19) 22. Re3 (22. Rf1 Rfd8 23. Nxh5 gxh5 (23... Rxd7 $4 {Black will choke on that} 24. Nxf6+ Kg7 25. Nxd7 $18) (23... Nxh5 $143 24. Qg4 $19) 24. Qf5+ Qxf5 25. exf5 Bd4 $19) 22... Bb6 23. Rf3 Rfd8 24. Nxh5 gxh5 (24... Rxd7 $4 {a tasty morsel with a slight problem...} 25. Nxf6+ Kg7 26. Nxd7 $18) (24... Nxh5 $6 25. Qxf7+ Qxf7 26. Rxf7+ Kg8 27. Rf3 $19) 25. Qf5+ Qxf5 26. exf5 Bd4 (26... Rg8 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} 27. Kh1 d5 $19) 27. Ne4 (27. Kf1 $19 {is one last hope}) 27... Ne2+ 28. Kf1 Nxc1 29. Nf6+ Kh6 30. Rh3 Kg5 31. Nxh5 Kxf5 (31... Rh8 $142 $5 {seems even better} 32. Ng3 Rxh3 33. Ne4+ Kxf5 34. gxh3 $19) 32. Ng7+ Kg6 33. Rg3+ Kf6 34. c3 Bb6 35. Nh5+ Ke7 36. Rg7 Nxd3 37. b4 Rh8 38. Rg5 Nxf2 39. Ng3 Rxh2 40. Nh5 Rh8 41. Ng7 Kf6 42. Rg3 (42. Rh5 {is not the saving move} R8xh5 43. Nxh5+ Rxh5 44. c4 Rh1+ 45. Ke2 Bd4 46. a3 e4 47. Kd2 Rb1 48. c5 Rb2+ 49. Ke1 Nd3+ 50. Kf1 Rb1+ 51. Ke2 Bc3 52. g3 Re1#) 42... Ne4 43. Rg4 (43. Rd3 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} Kxg7 44. c4 Rh1+ 45. Ke2 R8h2 46. Rf3 Rxg2+ 47. Kd3 d5 48. cxd5 cxd5 49. Rg3+ Rxg3+ 50. Kc2 Rh2+ 51. Kb1 Rg1#) 43... Nxc3 44. a3 (44. Ne8+ {does not save the day} Ke7 45. Ke1 Be3 46. Rh4 Rh1+ 47. Rxh1 Rxh1#) 44... Rh1# 0-1 [Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "golfnaturl"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "1262"] [BlackElo "1832"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s)"] [PlyCount "96"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O {C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo} Nge7 5. Ng5 d5 6. exd5 Nxd5 7. Qf3 Be6 8. d3 $146 (8. Nxe6 fxe6 9. Bb5 Qd7 10. Qh5+ g6 11. Bxc6 gxh5 12. Bxd7+ Kxd7 13. d3 Raf8 14. Nd2 Rhg8 15. Ne4 Bb6 16. h4 Nf4 17. g3 Ne2+ 18. Kg2 Nxc1 19. Raxc1 a5 20. Rce1 Rf5 21. f3 h6 22. Kh3 Rgf8 {Zallio,L (2044)-Silva,G (1863) Salvador 2009 1-0 (52)}) 8... O-O {Black has a very active position} 9. Qh5 (9. c3 h6 10. Nxe6 fxe6 $14) 9... h6 (9... Bf5 $142 $5 $11 {is worthy of consideration}) 10. Nxe6 $14 fxe6 11. Qg4 { White threatens to win material: Qg4xe6} (11. Nc3 Kh8 $16) 11... Rf6 (11... Qf6 $142 12. Nc3 Bxf2+ 13. Kh1 Kh8 14. Bxd5 exd5 $11) 12. d4 $4 {allows the opponent back into the game} (12. Nc3 $142 Nxc3 13. Bxe6+ (13. bxc3 $143 Qe7 $14) 13... Kh8 14. bxc3 $16) 12... exd4 $15 13. Nd2 $2 (13. Qe2 $5 $15 { is worth looking at}) 13... Ne5 (13... Ne3 14. Qh5 Nxf1 15. Kxf1 $17) 14. Qe2 Nxc4 15. Nxc4 Qf8 (15... Nb4 16. b3 $17) 16. Ne5 Rd8 17. Ng4 Rg6 (17... Rf5 $142 $17) 18. Qe4 $4 {White loses the upper hand} (18. Ne5 Rf6 19. Ng4 $17) 18... Qf5 $19 19. Qxf5 exf5 20. Ne5 Re6 21. Re1 $4 {terrible, but the game is lost in any case} (21. Nd3 $142 Bd6 22. Re1 $19) 21... Rde8 (21... Bb4 $142 { makes it even easier for Black} 22. Re2 f4 $19) 22. Bf4 (22. f4 {otherwise it's curtains at once} Nb4 23. Rd1 d3+ 24. Kf1 dxc2 25. Rd2 $19) 22... Nxf4 23. Nf3 Rxe1+ (23... Re2 {might be the shorter path} 24. Rxe2 Rxe2 25. Ne1 $19) 24. Nxe1 (24. Rxe1 {is no salvation} Re4 $19) 24... Re2 25. c4 (25. Rb1 {praying for a miracle} d3 26. Nxd3 Nxd3 27. cxd3 Rxf2 28. Kh1 $19) 25... Rxb2 26. g3 Nh3+ 27. Kg2 Nxf2 28. h4 Nd3+ (28... Ng4+ 29. Kf1 Nh2+ 30. Kg1 d3+ 31. Kh1 Ng4 32. Nf3 Rf2 33. Rd1 Rxf3 34. Rd2 Rxg3 35. Rd1 Rh3+ 36. Kg2 Rh2+ 37. Kf1 Rf2+ 38. Ke1 Re2+ 39. Kf1 Nh2#) 29. Kh1 Nxe1 30. Rxe1 Bd6 31. a4 Kf7 32. Rd1 c5 33. Rf1 Kf6 34. g4 f4 35. Rg1 (35. a5 {does not win a prize} g5 36. a6 gxh4 37. g5+ hxg5 38. Kg1 b6 39. Rf2 Rxf2 40. Kxf2 h3 41. Ke1 h2 42. Kd1 d3 43. Kc1 h1=Q+ 44. Kb2 Be5+ 45. Kb3 Qb1+ 46. Ka3 Qb2+ 47. Ka4 Qb4#) 35... f3 (35... Re2 36. Rb1 Ke5 37. Rf1 Ke4 38. a5 d3 39. a6 f3 40. axb7 d2 41. Kg1 Rg2+ 42. Kh1 Rh2+ 43. Kg1 f2+ 44. Rxf2 d1=Q+ 45. Rf1 Qxg4#) 36. Rf1 f2 37. Kg2 Ke5 (37... g5 38. hxg5+ Kxg5 39. Kf3 Rc2 40. Rh1 d3 41. Rh5+ Kg6 42. Rh1 Bf4 43. Rd1 Re2 44. g5 Re1 45. Kxf2 Rxd1 46. gxh6 d2 47. h7 Kxh7 48. a5 Re1 49. Kf3 Rf1+ 50. Kg4 d1=Q+ 51. Kf5 Bc7+ 52. Ke4 Qf3#) 38. Rxf2 (38. Kf3 {cannot change what is in store for White} Rc2 39. Rh1 d3 40. Rd1 Kd4 41. a5 Re2 42. Rf1 Re4 43. Rxf2 Rf4+ 44. Kg2 Rxf2+ 45. Kxf2 Kc3 46. g5 d2 47. gxh6 d1=Q 48. hxg7 Qd2+ 49. Kf3 Kd3 50. Kg4 Qf4+ 51. Kh5 Qf5+ 52. Kh6 Bf4#) 38... Rxf2+ 39. Kxf2 Kf4 (39... Ke4 40. Ke2 d3+ 41. Kd1 Ke3 42. Ke1 h5 43. a5 hxg4 44. Kd1 g3 45. h5 g2 46. Kc1 g1=Q+ 47. Kb2 Be5+ 48. Kb3 Qb1+ 49. Ka3 Qb2+ 50. Ka4 Qb4#) 40. a5 (40. Ke2 {hardly improves anything} Kxg4 41. a5 Bf4 42. h5 Kg3 43. a6 bxa6 44. Kd3 Kf3 45. Kc2 Ke2 46. Kb1 d3 47. Ka1 d2 48. Kb1 d1=Q+ 49. Kb2 Bc1+ 50. Ka1 Qd4+ 51. Kb1 Qb2#) 40... Kxg4 (40... d3 41. g5 h5 42. a6 b6 43. g6 Be5 44. Ke1 Ke3 45. Kd1 d2 46. Kc2 Ke2 47. Kb1 d1=Q+ 48. Ka2 Qc2+ 49. Ka3 Qc3+ 50. Ka2 Qb2#) 41. h5 (41. Ke2 { doesn't get the bull off the ice} Bf4 42. h5 Kg3 43. a6 bxa6 44. Kd3 Kf3 45. Kc2 Ke2 46. Kb1 d3 47. Ka1 d2 48. Kb1 d1=Q+ 49. Kb2 Bc1+ 50. Ka1 Qd2 51. Kb1 Qb2#) 41... Kxh5 (41... Bf4 42. a6 bxa6 43. Ke2 Kg3 44. Kd3 Kf3 45. Kc2 Ke2 46. Kb1 d3 47. Ka1 d2 48. Kb1 d1=Q+ 49. Kb2 Be3 50. Ka2 Qc2+ 51. Ka1 Bd4#) 42. a6 ( 42. Ke2 {cannot change destiny} g5 43. a6 g4 44. axb7 g3 45. b8=Q Bxb8 46. Kd3 g2 47. Ke4 g1=Q 48. Kd5 d3 49. Ke6 Qg6+ 50. Kd7 Be5 51. Ke7 d2 52. Kd7 d1=Q+ 53. Kc8 Qc6#) 42... bxa6 43. Ke2 (43. Kf3 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} g5 44. Ke2 g4 45. Kf2 g3+ 46. Kf3 d3 47. Ke4 d2 48. Kd5 d1=Q+ 49. Ke6 g2 50. Kd7 Bf4+ 51. Kc6 g1=Q 52. Kb7 Qg7+ 53. Kxa6 Qa4#) 43... Kg4 44. Kd3 (44. Kf2 {does not improve anything} Bg3+ 45. Ke2 Bf4 46. Kd3 Kf3 47. Kc2 Ke2 48. Kb1 d3 49. Ka1 d2 50. Kb1 d1=Q+ 51. Kb2 Bc1+ 52. Ka1 Qd4+ 53. Kb1 Qb2#) 44... h5 45. Ke2 (45. Kc2 {doesn't do any good} Bf4 46. Kb1 h4 47. Ka1 h3 48. Kb1 h2 49. Kb2 h1=Q 50. Kc2 d3+ 51. Kb2 Qc1+ 52. Kb3 Qc2+ 53. Ka3 Bc1#) 45... h4 46. Kf2 (46. Kd3 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} Kf4 47. Kc2 h3 48. Kb1 h2 49. Ka1 h1=Q+ 50. Ka2 Qc1 51. Kb3 Qb1+ 52. Ka3 d3 53. Ka4 Qa2#) 46... h3 47. Kg1 ( 47. Ke2 {does not help much} h2 48. Kd1 h1=Q+ 49. Kc2 Bf4 50. Kb2 Qb7+ 51. Ka1 Bc1 52. Ka2 Qb2#) 47... Kf3 (47... Bg3 48. Kf1 d3 49. Kg1 d2 50. Kf1 d1=Q#) 48. Kf1 h2 (48... h2 49. Ke1 Bf4 50. Kd1 d3 51. Ke1 h1=Q#) (48... Bf4 49. Ke1 h2 50. Kd1 d3 51. Ke1 h1=Q#) 0-1