C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O d6 5.c3)

The game below was played on the second round of a weekend tournament that was played at Hämeenlinna over eight years ago. This was my first loss of the tournament and it also later turned out to be the only loss I suffered in this tournament that lasted five rounds. On the first round I had won a game against a player who was rated 1418. On the last three rounds I was able to get one win and two draws.

The first four moves from both players were good enough to keep the game balanced, but then I on move 5, I blundered. I am not sure why I thought back then that Be6 would be a good move to play. These days I would play 5...Nf6 instead of 5...Be6.

My positional downhill continued with 9...Nge7, which is a bit too passive move. I should have played my knight to f6 where it is more active. However, my opponent did not find the best move, so I was able to breath a little bit easier. 10.Bg5 is not really a bad move, but it is not as good as 10.d5. I immediately made a bad move as a reply to Bg5, 10...O-O, and the position clearly favored my opponent again. I needed to play either 10...h6 or 10...Qd7 in order to keep the position roughly even.

However, with the move 11.a4, the position evened out again. Both players kept playing badly and the advantage shifted a bit until the position was equal again after 13.Ne2. The game went on without any huge mistakes until I played 28...Ra6.

I completely ignored the possibility of 29.Nxe5, which my opponent played in the game. While that was a good move, even after that I should have been able to keep my chances for a draw alive. However, I was not paying enough attention and played the horrible blunder 32...Nc5 in response to Re1, which meant that I allowed a mate in two that my opponent saw and was able to deliver it as well, because I did not resign even though I saw the mate after I moved the knight.

Even if I had moved my knight to f6, my position was close to being unsalvageable and it would have been rather difficult to get even a draw.

[Event "HämSK"] [Site "Saaristen koulu"] [Date "2008.06.07"] [Round "2"] [White "Laitinen, Jarmo"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "1772"] [BlackElo "1691"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s)"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2008.06.07"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. c3 {C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo} Be6 6. Bxe6 fxe6 7. d4 exd4 8. cxd4 Bb6 9. Nc3 (9. d5 exd5 10. exd5 Nce7 11. Ng5 Qd7 12. Ne6 Nf5 13. Re1 Nge7 14. g4 Nh4 15. Bg5 Nhg6 16. Nxg7+ Kf7 17. Ne6 Ne5 18. Rxe5 dxe5 19. Qf3+ Ke8 20. Nc3 Rg8 21. Re1 Qd6 22. Ne4 Qb4 23. Nf6+ Kf7 {Crosa Coll,M (2415)-Coutinho,S (2208) Brasilia 2005 1-0 (31)}) (9. Bg5 Nce7 10. Nc3 Nf6 11. Qb3 Qd7 12. a4 c6 13. a5 Bd8 14. Rfd1 d5 15. Ne5 Qd6 16. exd5 exd5 17. Re1 O-O 18. Bf4 Nh5 19. Ne4 Qe6 20. Bg5 Qf5 21. g4 Qe6 22. gxh5 Kh8 23. Ng3 Qd6 {Alev,G (1640)-Cevik,B Konya 2016 1-0}) 9... Nge7 $146 (9... Nf6 10. d5 exd5 11. exd5 Ne7 12. Qe2 Qd7 13. Ng5 O-O 14. Ne6 Rfe8 15. Qf3 Ba5 16. Nf4 Bxc3 17. bxc3 Rf8 18. c4 b5 19. cxb5 Qxb5 20. Ne6 Rfc8 21. Bh6 Qxd5 22. Qxd5 Nexd5 23. Bxg7 Kf7 24. Bxf6 {Tschammer,K (1605)-Roehr,T (1389) Oberhof 2013 1-0 (33)}) (9... Nf6 $142 10. d5 exd5 11. exd5 Ne5 $16) 10. Bg5 {Black has a cramped position} (10. d5 exd5 11. exd5 Ne5 $18) 10... O-O $2 (10... h6 11. Bh4 O-O 12. Na4 $11) 11. a4 (11. d5 Nb4 12. dxe6 h6 $16) 11... a6 $2 {Controls b5} (11... h6 12. Bh4 Qd7 $11) 12. Qb3 $4 {White threatens to win material: Qb3xe6. forfeits the advantage} (12. d5 Ne5 13. Nxe5 dxe5 14. dxe6 Qxd1 15. Raxd1 $16 (15. Rfxd1 $6 Bxf2+ 16. Kh1 Nc6 $14)) 12... Qd7 {White has an active position} (12... Rxf3 $5 13. gxf3 Nxd4 $15) 13. Ne2 {White has a very active position} (13. d5 exd5 14. Bxe7 Nxe7 $14 (14... Qxe7 $4 15. Nxd5 Qe8 16. Nf6+ Kh8 17. Nxe8 Raxe8 18. Ng5 $18)) 13... Ng6 14. Rad1 Rae8 {White has an active position} 15. Ng3 Qf7 16. Be3 h6 {Prevents intrusion on g5} 17. Ne2 e5 18. Qxf7+ Rxf7 19. d5 {White gains space} Bxe3 20. fxe3 {White has new doubled pawns: e3+e4.} Nb4 21. Ng3 (21. a5 Rb8 $11) 21... Ref8 (21... a5 22. Nd2 $17) 22. Nf5 (22. a5 Ne7 $11) 22... Ne7 {Black threatens to win material: Ne7xf5} (22... a5 23. g4 $15) 23. N3h4 (23. Nxe7+ Rxe7 24. a5 Ref7 $11) 23... Nxf5 24. exf5 a5 25. e4 Na6 26. Ng6 {White threatens to win material: Ng6xf8. The white knight is well posted.} Ra8 27. Rc1 Nc5 {Black threatens to win material: Nc5xa4. Black forks: a4+e4} 28. Rc4 Ra6 (28... Nb3 $142 $5 {must definitely be considered} 29. Rf2 Nd4 $11) 29. Nxe5 $1 $16 {Deflection: c5} Re7 (29... dxe5 30. Rxc5 {Overloading Deflection}) 30. Ng6 Rxe4 31. Rxe4 Nxe4 32. Re1 {White threatens to win material: Re1xe4} Nc5 $4 (32... Nf6 $142 $14) 33. Re8+ Kf7 34. Rf8# 1-0

Here are few of the latest reference games from strong players that I could find from my reference database. Three of these were played in a blitz tournament and one in a rapid tournament.

[Event "EU-ch blitz"] [Site "Katowice"] [Date "2017.12.15"] [Round "19"] [White "Andriasian, Zaven"] [Black "Fressinet, Laurent"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2585"] [BlackElo "2662"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "2017.12.15"] [EventType "swiss (blitz)"] [EventRounds "22"] [EventCountry "POL"] [SourceTitle "Mega2017 Update 61"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2017.12.22"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. c3 Nf6 6. d3 a6 7. Bb3 O-O 8. Nbd2 Be6 9. h3 Bxb3 10. axb3 d5 11. b4 Ba7 12. Qe2 dxe4 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. dxe4 Qe7 15. Rd1 Rfd8 16. Rd5 f6 17. Be3 Bxe3 18. Qxe3 Qf7 19. Rad1 Rxd5 20. exd5 Ne7 21. c4 Nf5 22. Qe4 Nd6 23. Qe2 Rd8 24. b3 Qf8 25. Qc2 Qf7 26. Qe2 Qf8 27. Qc2 Qf7 28. Qe2 1/2-1/2 [Event "GEO-chT Club"] [Site "Tbilisi"] [Date "2017.11.29"] [Round "1.3"] [White "Shanava, Konstantine"] [Black "Gelashvili, Tamaz"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2512"] [BlackElo "2556"] [PlyCount "127"] [EventDate "2017.11.29"] [EventType "team-tourn"] [EventRounds "7"] [EventCountry "GEO"] [SourceTitle "Mega2017 Update 59"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2017.12.08"] [WhiteTeam "Batumi Nona"] [BlackTeam "Rustavi"] [WhiteTeamCountry "GEO"] [BlackTeamCountry "GEO"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. c3 Nf6 6. d4 Bb6 7. h3 O-O 8. Re1 Nxe4 9. Rxe4 d5 10. Bg5 Qd7 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. Bxd5 Qxd5 13. Rxe5 Qc6 14. Bf4 Qg6 15. Nd2 c6 16. Re3 Qf5 17. Rf3 Qd5 18. Rg3 Bf5 19. Qh5 Rfe8 20. Nc4 Bg6 21. Qxd5 cxd5 22. Ne3 Rad8 23. Rg5 Be4 24. Re5 Rxe5 25. Bxe5 f6 26. Bg3 Kf7 27. Re1 Bg6 28. f3 Rd7 29. Bb8 a5 30. g4 a4 31. Kf2 Ba5 32. h4 Bd3 33. Rd1 Ba6 34. Ke1 g6 35. Kd2 Rd8 36. Bf4 b5 37. a3 Bc8 38. g5 Be6 39. gxf6 h5 40. Be5 Rg8 41. Rg1 Bd8 42. Rg5 Re8 43. Ng2 Bxf6 44. Bxf6 Kxf6 45. Nf4 Bf5 46. Nxd5+ Kf7 47. Ne3 Bd7 48. Ke2 Bf5 49. Kf2 Bd3 50. f4 Re6 51. Kf3 Kf6 52. Re5 Kf7 53. Nd1 Bc4 54. Nf2 Rd6 55. Ne4 Bd5 56. Ke3 Rd8 57. Ng3 Bc4 58. Ke4 Rd6 59. d5 Rf6 60. Ke3 Rd6 61. Kd4 Rf6 62. f5 Rd6 63. Ne4 Rd8 64. f6 1-0 [Event "Wch Blitz"] [Site "Doha"] [Date "2016.12.29"] [Round "5"] [White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Black "Cheparinov, Ivan"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2767"] [BlackElo "2689"] [PlyCount "148"] [EventDate "2016.12.29"] [EventType "swiss (blitz)"] [EventRounds "21"] [EventCountry "QAT"] [SourceTitle "Mega2017 Update 11"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2017.01.05"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. c3 Nf6 6. d3 h6 7. a4 a5 8. h3 O-O 9. Re1 Bb6 10. Nbd2 Ne7 11. Nf1 Ng6 12. Ng3 c6 13. Bb3 d5 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Qc2 Re8 16. Bd2 Be6 17. Rad1 Qd6 18. Bc4 Rad8 19. Qb3 Qc7 20. Bc1 Ndf4 21. Bxe6 Nxe6 22. Qc4 Rd5 23. Qg4 Red8 24. Nf5 Rxd3 25. Rxd3 Rxd3 26. h4 h5 27. Qxh5 e4 28. Ng5 Nxg5 29. Qxg5 Qd8 30. h5 Qxg5 31. Bxg5 Ne5 32. Rxe4 f6 33. Be3 Rd1+ 34. Kh2 Bxe3 35. Nxe3 Rd2 36. f4 Nd3 37. Nf5 Nc5 38. Re3 Kf8 39. Ne7 Rxb2 40. Ng6+ Kg8 41. Re8+ Kf7 42. Re7+ Kg8 43. f5 Kh7 44. Kh3 Kh6 45. Nf4 Rc2 46. Kg4 Rxc3 47. Re8 Kh7 48. h6 gxh6 49. Re7+ Kg8 50. Kh5 Rc4 51. g3 Re4 52. Rc7 Kf8 53. Kxh6 Nxa4 54. Ne6+ Ke8 55. Kg6 Nb6 56. Rxb7 Nd5 57. Ng7+ Kd8 58. Ra7 Rg4+ 59. Kf7 Rxg3 60. Ne6+ Kc8 61. Nd4 Rc3 62. Ke6 Kb8 63. Rxa5 Kb7 64. Kd6 Rc4 65. Ne6 Kb6 66. Ra8 Kb7 67. Ra1 Kb6 68. Rb1+ Rb4 69. Rc1 Ne3 70. Rxc6+ Kb5 71. Rc5+ Ka4 72. Ng7 Rb5 73. Rxb5 Kxb5 74. Ke6 Nxf5 1/2-1/2 [Event "Wch Blitz"] [Site "Doha"] [Date "2016.12.30"] [Round "13"] [White "Bok, Benjamin"] [Black "Cheparinov, Ivan"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2598"] [BlackElo "2689"] [PlyCount "92"] [EventDate "2016.12.29"] [EventType "swiss (blitz)"] [EventRounds "21"] [EventCountry "QAT"] [SourceTitle "Mega2017 Update 11"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2017.01.05"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. c3 Nf6 6. d3 h6 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 a5 9. Nbd2 a4 10. Bb5 Bd7 11. Nf1 Ne7 12. Bxd7 Qxd7 13. d4 Bb6 14. Ng3 Qb5 15. Rb1 Ng6 16. Be3 Rfe8 17. Qc2 d5 18. dxe5 Nxe5 19. Nxe5 Rxe5 20. Bd4 Re6 21. e5 Nd7 22. f4 Rae8 23. Kh1 c5 24. f5 R6e7 25. f6 Re6 26. Nf5 cxd4 27. Nxg7 Nxe5 28. Nxe6 Rxe6 29. Qf5 Qe8 30. cxd4 Ng6 31. Qf2 Re4 32. Rbd1 Qe6 33. Rxe4 dxe4 34. d5 Qxd5 35. Qe2 Qe6 36. Qd2 Qxf6 37. Qxh6 Bc7 38. Qe3 Qe5 39. Kg1 Qe6 40. Kf1 Bb6 41. Qg3 Qf6+ 42. Ke1 Qxb2 43. h4 Qc2 44. Rd2 Ba5 45. Qg5 Qxd2+ 46. Qxd2 Bxd2+ 0-1 [Event "Corsica Masters KO 20th"] [Site "Bastia"] [Date "2016.10.27"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Hou, Yifan"] [Black "Azarov, Sergei"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2649"] [BlackElo "2577"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2016.10.27"] [EventType "k.o. (rapid)"] [EventRounds "4"] [EventCountry "FRA"] [SourceTitle "Mega2016 Update 57"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2016.11.04"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. c3 Nf6 6. d3 a6 7. a4 Ba7 8. Re1 h6 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. h3 Be6 11. b4 d5 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Ne4 Re8 14. Bd2 Nf6 15. Qb3 Nxe4 16. dxe4 Qf6 17. Kh2 Rad8 18. Bd5 Bxd5 19. exd5 e4 20. dxc6 exf3 21. Rxe8+ Rxe8 22. Be3 Bxe3 23. fxe3 Qe5+ 24. Kh1 fxg2+ 25. Kxg2 Qg5+ 26. Kh2 Rxe3 27. Qc2 Qe5+ 28. Kg1 Re2 29. Qxe2 Qxe2 30. cxb7 Qe3+ 31. Kh2 Qf2+ 0-1 [Event "Douglas IoM op"] [Site "Douglas"] [Date "2016.10.03"] [Round "3"] [White "Harika, Dronavalli"] [Black "Adams, Michael"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2528"] [BlackElo "2745"] [PlyCount "106"] [EventDate "2016.10.01"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "Mega2016 Update 54"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2016.10.14"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. c3 Nf6 6. d3 h6 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 a5 9. Bb3 Re8 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. Ba4 Qb8 12. d4 exd4 13. cxd4 b5 14. dxc5 bxa4 15. cxd6 cxd6 16. Nb1 d5 17. exd5 Bxd5 18. Rxe8+ Qxe8 19. Be3 Rc8 20. Nc3 Bxf3 21. Qxf3 a3 22. Qe2 Qe5 23. Rd1 Ne7 24. Qd2 Nf5 25. Bf4 Qc5 26. Rc1 axb2 27. Qxb2 Qd4 28. Qd2 Ne4 29. Nxe4 Rxc1+ 30. Qxc1 Qxe4 31. Bg3 a4 32. Kh2 Kh7 33. a3 Nd4 34. Qf4 Qxf4 35. Bxf4 Kg6 36. g4 Kf6 37. Bd6 h5 38. f4 Ke6 39. Bf8 hxg4 40. hxg4 g6 41. Kg3 Kd5 42. g5 Kc4 43. Kg4 Kb3 44. f5 gxf5+ 45. Kg3 f4+ 46. Kg4 f3 47. Kg3 Kc4 48. Kf2 Kd3 49. Bc5 Ne6 50. Be3 Ke4 51. Bc1 Nf4 52. Bd2 Nh3+ 53. Kg3 f2 0-1