C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.a3)

This is from the first round of a 15 minute tournament that was played at the FIDE Online Arena on March 23rd 2015. At this point in the tournament everything seemed to go well. I really can't ask for more if I win after a good game. Sure there were some inaccuracies but nothing that severe that would have given good chances for my opponent. Even though the game started to go down the drain for my opponent as early as move 10, the last move of the game did not come until I checkmated my opponent on move 44. Dias castled on move 10, ignoring the possibility of the move 10...dxe4. It would not have won material, had dias just replied with 11.Bxf6 and went for the continuation 11...gxf6 12.dxe4 Qxd1 13.Rxd1, but dias would have been behind in development and I would have had the better placed pieces.

Alas for dias, he or she chose to take back on e4 immediately, which lost a pawn because I first traded queens and then took on e4 with my knight. At that moment I was up a pawn and had the initiative, while my opponent still had problems developing his or hers pieces. All these things added up, I had a winning advantage. Converting my advantage to a win was relatively easy even if it took quite a lot of moves.

[Event "Tournament 28205545"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.03.23"] [Round "1"] [White "dias"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "1549"] [BlackElo "1823"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s)"] [PlyCount "88"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. a3 {C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo} d6 5. c3 Nf6 (5... Bg4 6. h3 Bh5 7. O-O (7. d3 Qf6 8. Nbd2 Nge7 9. b4 Bb6 10. O-O Ng6 11. g4 Nf4 12. Kh2 Qg6 13. Nh4 Qf6 14. Ndf3 g5 15. Nf5 Bg6 16. Be3 h5 17. Rg1 hxg4 18. Rxg4 Rxh3+ 19. Kg1 Qh8 20. Ng3 Qh5 21. Rxg5 Qh6 { Knauer,M (1572)-Stephan,T (1076) Schney 2017 1/2-1/2 (31)}) 7... Nf6 8. d3 h6 9. Qe2 O-O 10. Be3 Bxe3 11. Qxe3 Re8 12. Nbd2 d5 13. Ba2 dxe4 14. dxe4 Qe7 15. Nh4 Kh8 16. Nf5 Qf8 17. g4 Bg6 18. Nf3 Rad8 19. g5 Nh5 20. Kh2 {Srch,J (2215) -Kunschek,H Vienna 1991 0-1}) 6. d3 a6 $146 {Covers b5} (6... Qe7 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 a6 9. O-O g5 10. Bg3 Bg4 11. Nbd2 Nh5 12. Kh1 Nf4 13. Qc2 Qf6 14. Ne1 h5 15. f3 Bd7 16. Bf2 Bxf2 17. Rxf2 Kf8 18. Nf1 Kg7 19. Ne3 Ne7 20. Rd1 c6 21. d4 {Feijoeiro, A-Boino,C Portugal 1993 0-1 (40)}) (6... O-O 7. Bg5 h6 8. Be3 Bxe3 9. fxe3 a6 10. Nbd2 Qe7 11. Bd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 Nb8 13. e4 Nd7 14. Qc2 Nb6 15. O-O-O c5 16. Rdg1 Nd7 17. h3 b5 18. g4 g6 19. c4 Rb8 20. Rh2 Nb6 21. h4 { Vukotic,L-Lukic,L (1720) Podgorica 2014 1/2-1/2 (47)}) 7. Ba2 O-O 8. Bg5 Be6 9. b3 {Prevents intrusion on c4} (9. Bxe6 fxe6 10. O-O h6 $11) 9... d5 {Black threatens to win material: d5xe4} 10. O-O (10. exd5 $142 $5 {deserves consideration} Bxd5 11. b4 $11) 10... dxe4 $17 11. dxe4 $2 (11. Bxf6 $142 $5 gxf6 12. dxe4 Qxd1 13. Rxd1 $17) 11... Qxd1 $19 12. Rxd1 Nxe4 13. b4 $2 (13. Bh4 $19) 13... Bxf2+ 14. Kf1 Bb6 15. c4 (15. Re1 {what else?} Nxg5 16. Nxg5 $19 ) 15... Nxg5 16. Nxg5 Bg4 (16... Bd4 {makes it even easier for Black} 17. Nd2 Bxa1 18. Rxa1 $19) 17. Rd2 (17. Nc3 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} Bd4 18. Nd5 Bxa1 19. Rxa1 Rad8 $19) 17... Be3 18. Rd3 (18. Ne4 {hardly improves anything} Bxd2 19. Nbxd2 Rfd8 $19) 18... Bxg5 19. Rg3 (19. Nc3 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} a5 20. b5 Nd4 $19) 19... f5 20. h3 Bf4 21. Rd3 Bh5 22. Nd2 (22. Nc3 {is not the saving move} Nd4 $19) 22... Rad8 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Nf3 e4 25. Nh4 g6 26. g4 fxg4 27. hxg4 Bxg4 28. Ng2 Bg5 29. Re1 Bf3 30. Ne3 Bxe3 ( 30... Rd2 31. Bb3 Ne5 32. c5+ Kf8 33. Kg1 Nd3 34. Bd1 Bxe3+ 35. Rxe3 Rxd1+ 36. Kh2 Rh1+ 37. Kg3 Rg1+ 38. Kh2 Rg2+ 39. Kh3 Nf2+ 40. Kh4 g5#) 31. Rxe3 Rd1+ 32. Re1 Rxe1+ 33. Kxe1 Kg7 34. Kf2 (34. Kd2 {cannot undo what has already been done } h5 35. Ke3 Ne5 36. Bb1 Nxc4+ 37. Kf4 Kf6 38. Bxe4 Bxe4 39. Kxe4 Nxa3 40. Kf3 Nc2 41. b5 axb5 42. Ke2 h4 43. Kf3 b4 44. Ke2 h3 45. Kf2 b3 46. Kg3 b2 47. Kxh3 b1=Q 48. Kg2 Qe1 49. Kf3 Qf1+ 50. Kg4 Qg2+ 51. Kh4 g5+ 52. Kh5 Qh3#) 34... Kf6 35. Ke3 (35. c5 {does not save the day} Ne5 36. c6 bxc6 37. b5 axb5 38. a4 h5 39. a5 h4 40. a6 e3+ 41. Kxe3 h3 42. a7 c5 43. a8=Q Bxa8 44. Bb1 h2 45. Bd3 h1=Q 46. Kd2 Nxd3 47. Kxd3 Qd1+ 48. Ke3 Qe1+ 49. Kf4 g5+ 50. Kg4 Qh4#) 35... Ke5 (35... Ne7 36. c5 Nf5+ 37. Kd2 g5 38. c6 bxc6 39. Bc4 e3+ 40. Kc2 g4 41. Bf1 g3 42. Kd3 e2 43. Bxe2 g2 44. Bxf3 g1=Q 45. Bh5 Qe3+ 46. Kc2 Nd4+ 47. Kd1 Kg5 48. Bf3 Nxf3 49. Kc2 Nd4+ 50. Kb1 Qb3+ 51. Ka1 Nc2#) 36. c5 (36. b5 { does not help much} axb5 37. cxb5 Nd4 38. a4 Nf5+ 39. Kf2 Kf4 40. Ke1 e3 41. Bc4 h5 42. b6 cxb6 43. a5 Nd4 44. a6 Nc2+ 45. Kf1 bxa6 46. Bxa6 h4 47. Kg1 Kg3 48. Bf1 h3 49. Bxh3 Kxh3 50. Kf1 e2+ 51. Kf2 e1=Q+ 52. Kxf3 Qe3#) 36... g5 37. Bg8 (37. a4 {does not improve anything} Nxb4 38. c6 Nxc6 39. a5 h5 40. Bc4 h4 41. Bf1 g4 42. Kf2 Kf4 43. Be2 h3 44. Bd1 h2 45. Bxf3 gxf3 46. Ke1 h1=Q+ 47. Kd2 Qb1 48. Kc3 f2 49. Kc4 Qd3+ 50. Kc5 Qd4#) 37... h5 38. Bf7 (38. Bc4 { is not much help} h4 39. Bf1 g4 40. Kd2 h3 41. b5 axb5 42. a4 bxa4 43. Be2 h2 44. Bd1 h1=Q 45. Bxa4 e3+ 46. Kc2 Qa1 47. Kd3 Be4+ 48. Kc4 Qxa4+ 49. Kc3 Qb4#) 38... h4 39. Kf2 (39. Be6 {cannot change destiny} Kxe6 40. b5 axb5 41. a4 bxa4 42. Kd2 h3 43. Kc1 h2 44. Kb1 h1=Q+ 45. Kb2 Qg2+ 46. Kc3 e3 47. Kc4 Qc2+ 48. Kb5 Qb3#) 39... Kf4 (39... Nd4 40. Kg1 g4 41. Kf2 g3+ 42. Ke3 g2 43. b5 g1=Q+ 44. Kd2 Qd1+ 45. Kc3 Qc1+ 46. Kb4 Qd2+ 47. Kc4 axb5#) 40. Be6 (40. Ke1 { is no salvation} h3 41. Bh5 Bxh5 42. Kd2 h2 43. b5 h1=Q 44. bxc6 Qd1+ 45. Kc3 Qc1+ 46. Kb3 Bf7+ 47. Kb4 Qc4+ 48. Ka5 Qb5#) 40... e3+ 41. Kg1 (41. Kf1 { does not win a prize} Nd4 42. a4 Nxe6 43. a5 Kg3 44. b5 h3 45. b6 h2 46. c6 h1=Q#) 41... Nd4 42. Bh3 (42. Bc4 {cannot change what is in store for White} Kg3 43. Kf1 h3 44. a4 h2 45. Ke1 h1=Q+ 46. Bf1 Nc2#) 42... e2 43. Kf2 Nc2 44. a4 (44. Bf1 {doesn't do any good} e1=Q+ 45. Kg1 Qg3+ 46. Bg2 Qxg2#) 44... e1=Q# 0-1