C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O d6 5.h3 Nf6 6.d3 O-O 7.a3)

This one is from my first team match that was played at GameKnot. It was played between les cavalier fous and Grand, Efficacious, Noble, Invincible, Unique, Splendid Army. I played on board two for the latter in this match. We won the match with a score of 1 - 3. Not only did the team name change during the match but also a complete disintegration of the team itself. There is only the team captain left in the team for some reason. I only noticed that I was no longer part of the team when someone from another team send me a message and tried to get me in to their team. GameKnot does not allow players to represent multiple teams, only one is allowed. After I received that message, I checked my team status which was nonexistent. I was surprised by this as I did not receive any notification at all that I did not belong to any team anymore. The game could have ended in a bit better way for me if I had noticed the idea suggested in the analysis on move 41 to play 41...Qb7 instead of the immediate capture of the rook on d5. I should take a moment to consider all my possibilities when playing and not just make an automatic move. To me, the first interesting moment of the game came after the move 9...Be6. Gauxu exchanged bishops, which resulted in doubled paws for me. I was happy about the outcome because it opened the f-file for my rook, so it did not have to move to make it an active piece.

While I prefer to control the black pieces in the position after 10...fxe6, the position may be roughly even. Also the pawn on e6 might be slightly weak. The game continued with the moves 11.Nbd2 Qe8 and then gauxu played 12.c3, which prepared the pawn advantage d3 to d4. I then moved my knight to h5, so that I could land with the knight to f4, which would be a good square for the knight, especially if accompanied by a queen that is on g6. After my 15th move I actually had that position. It was replied by the simple pawn advance 16.g3 and my knight retreated back to h5. In the next diagram you can see the position after my 16th move. In that position gauxu made the horrible move 17.Nh4. Had I found the brilliant move 17...Rxf2+, the game could have ended quite quickly in my favor.

It is rather embarrassing that I did not see the move, it is not that hard to see. Alas, I just reacted to the threat against my queen directly by moving it away. A few moves later my opponent just gave up a pawn with the move 20.b5. I took the pawn with 20...axb5 and now 21.Qxb5 is not playable in view of 21...Nxe4 and White's position would just fall apart. Gauxu most likely realized the problem with the queen taking back and chose to move the e-pawn to e5 instead and in the game continuation my opponent actually managed to get the pawn back.

The game featured many more mistakes from both sides, first of them being my mistake on move 29, when I played h6. It could have already meant a loss for me, had my opponent went for the knight sacrifice 30.Nf6+. It was the first time during the game when I was on a losing position. This was clearly gauxu's best chance to win the game.

My final chance to get a winning advantage was seen when gauxu moved the king to g2 on move 40. The idea behind 40...c5 was to either win the knight on d2 or win the exchange if 41.Rxd5. Gauxu did choose to play 41.Rxd5 and it indeed was my opponent's best fighting chance.

In the game I took the rook immediately like a fool with 41...exd5. What I did not understand at the time was that had I first pinned the rook with 41...Qb7, I would have been up a full exchange and winning the game might have been a simple task, especially if I could also exchange the queens. In the game gauxu was able to get a perpetual check and draw was agreed upon.

[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2015.02.19"] [Round "?"] [White "gauxu"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "1726"] [BlackElo "1715"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s)"] [PlyCount "90"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. h3 Nf6 6. d3 O-O 7. a3 {C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo} (7. a4 a6 8. c3 Ba7 9. Bb3 h6 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. Bc2 b5 12. Re1 b4 13. Nf1 Rb8 14. d4 bxc3 15. bxc3 exd4 16. cxd4 d5 17. e5 Ne4 18. Ng3 f5 19. exf6 Qxf6 20. Nxe4 dxe4 21. Rxe4 g5 {Rathnakaran,K (2437) -Singh,D (2326) New Delhi 2008 1-0 (34)}) 7... a6 (7... Be6 8. b4 Bb6 9. Ba2 a6 10. Be3 Nd7 11. Nc3 Nd4 12. Na4 Nb5 13. Nxb6 cxb6 14. Bxe6 fxe6 15. c4 Nc7 16. Rc1 Qe8 17. a4 b5 18. a5 bxc4 19. dxc4 d5 20. cxd5 Nb5 21. Qb3 exd5 22. Qxd5+ { Wannawichian,S (1383)-Rangkaew,K (1439) Bangkok 2016 1-0 (51)}) 8. b4 $146 { White threatens to win material: b4xc5} (8. Be3 Ba7 9. Nbd2 Kh8 10. c3 d5 11. exd5 Nxd5 12. Qe2 f6 13. Rad1 Re8 14. Nh4 g5 15. Bxa7 Nf4 16. Qe3 Rxa7 17. Nhf3 b5 18. Qc5 bxc4 19. Qxc6 cxd3 20. Ne4 Re6 21. Qc4 Rb6 22. Ne1 Qg8 {Janssen,E (1679)-Leentjens,G (1781) Groningen 2002 1-0 (45)}) 8... Ba7 9. Bb2 Be6 10. Bxe6 fxe6 {Black has new doubled pawns: e5+e6} 11. Nbd2 Qe8 12. c3 {Controls d4 } (12. Bc3 Nh5 13. Kh2 Bd4 14. Nxd4 exd4 $11) 12... Nh5 13. d4 (13. Kh2 Qg6 14. Nh4 Qf6 $15) 13... exd4 (13... Nf4 $142 $5 14. Kh2 exd4 15. cxd4 Qh5 $17) 14. cxd4 $15 Nf4 15. Kh2 (15. g3 $142 Nxh3+ 16. Kg2 Nf4+ 17. gxf4 Qg6+ 18. Kh1 Rxf4 19. d5 exd5 20. Nh2 $11) 15... Qg6 {Black has a mate threat} (15... Qh5 $142 $17) 16. g3 $11 {White threatens to win material: g3xf4} Nh5 17. Nh4 $4 { lets it slip away} (17. Qb3 Kh8 $11) 17... Qf7 (17... Rxf2+ $142 $1 {secures the win} 18. Rxf2 Qxg3+ 19. Kh1 Qxf2 20. Qxh5 Qxd2 $19) 18. Nhf3 $11 Nf6 19. Qe2 {White prepares the advance e5} Rae8 20. b5 (20. Kg2 $142 $5 $14 {must be considered}) 20... axb5 $15 21. e5 dxe5 22. dxe5 Nd5 23. Qxb5 Bb6 24. a4 Ra8 25. Rac1 (25. Qd3 Qh5 $17) 25... Ra5 (25... Qh5 26. Kg2 $17) 26. Qb3 $17 Rfa8 ( 26... Ra6 27. Rce1 $17) 27. Rc4 Qd7 {White has an active position} (27... R5a6 28. Rg4 h5 $11) 28. Ne4 $11 Nce7 {Attacks the isolani on a4} 29. Ra1 {White has a very active position} h6 $4 {weakening the position} (29... Rf8 $142 $11) 30. Bd4 $4 {White lets it slip away} (30. Nf6+ $142 {a shame that White overlooked this excellent chance} gxf6 31. exf6 $18) 30... Bxd4 $17 31. Rxd4 b5 32. Nc3 $2 (32. Rc1 Nf5 (32... Rxa4 $6 33. Nc5 Qc6 34. Nxa4 Qxc1 35. Qxb5 $11) 33. Rd2 bxa4 $17) 32... c6 (32... c5 33. Rdd1 bxa4 34. Qa3 $19) 33. Rad1 (33. Ne4 Nf5 34. Rd2 $17) 33... Qb7 $4 {gives the opponent new chances} (33... Qa7 $5 34. Nxd5 exd5 35. R1d2 $19) 34. Nxd5 $2 (34. R1d2 $142 $5 $11 {is worth looking at}) 34... Nxd5 35. axb5 $4 {White has lost his nerve... understandable when you consider his position} (35. R4d2 Qe7 $17) 35... Rxb5 ( 35... Ra3 $142 $5 {makes it even easier for Black} 36. Qc2 Rxf3 37. bxc6 $19) 36. Qd3 $2 (36. Qc4 $142 Rf8 37. R4d3 $17) 36... Ra2 $4 {Black threatens to win material: Ra2xf2. what a pity, victory was in sight} (36... Rf8 $142 { and the result of the game is clear: Black will win} 37. Nd2 Rxf2+ 38. Kg1 Rf8 $19) 37. Kg1 (37. Rd2 Rbb2 $11) 37... Rbb2 (37... c5 38. Qg6 Qf7 39. Qxf7+ Kxf7 40. Rc4 $15) 38. Rd2 $11 Rxd2 {Black forks: f2+d3} 39. Nxd2 Qb2 40. Kg2 $4 { forfeits the advantage} (40. Kh2 $142 $11 {would be a reprieve}) 40... c5 $19 41. Rxd5 exd5 $4 {a transit from better to worse} (41... Qb7 $142 {Black would have gained the upper hand} 42. Ne4 Qxd5 (42... exd5 $6 43. Nxc5 Qc6 44. Qc3 $19) 43. Qxd5 exd5 44. Nxc5 Kf7 $19) 42. Qxd5+ $11 {White forks: c5} Kh8 43. Qd8+ Kh7 44. Qd3+ Kg8 45. Qd8+ Kh7 1/2-1/2