64 square madness that some of us call chess...: C54 Giuoco Piano: 4.c3 Nf6, main lines with 5.d4 and 5.d3 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 h6 6.c3 O-O)

C54 Giuoco Piano: 4.c3 Nf6, main lines with 5.d4 and 5.d3 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 h6 6.c3 O-O)

This was played on the first round of a tournament that was played at Helsinki in January 2006. I started the tournament with a loss and continued losing for the next three rounds, only in the last game did I manage to win a game... This was the first tournament I played after sharing the win in group C in a tournament that was played at Turku in December on the previous year. Now I played in group B and only managed to get 1 out of the possible 5 points. I was second last in the final standings of group B. It did not take long for me to mess things up in this game, already on move 10 I played the horrible Nb8. One might say that my problems started a bit earlier with 7...d5, because that move enabled the game continuation where I lost a pawn. However, it might not have been that dangerous by itself, because I had some compensation for the pawn in view of faster development.

I had to keep the knight in play by moving it to a5. I could not afford to play the passive 10...Nb8.

Or rather it would have been an adequate compensation, had I not retreated with my knight to b8 and given up the lead on development. My opponent took the free pawn and then I played the move 11...Bf6, which made my position even worse and at that moment I was already on a losing position. While neither player played the most accurate moves, there really never was any reasonable doubt about the winner of the game. I continued my fruitless efforts up to the move 47.Rh7, after which I decided it was time to resign.

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Move	N	Result	Elo

Replay and check the LiveBook here

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 h6 6.c3 0-0 C54 Giuoco Piano: 4.c3 Nf6, main lines with 5.d4 and 5.d3 7.a4 d5 7...a5 8.d4 exd4 9.cxd4 Bb6 10.e5 Ne8 11.d5 Ne7 12.Be3 d6 13.Bxb6 cxb6 14.Nc3 Bg4 15.exd6 Nxd6 16.Be2 Rc8 17.Ra3 Rc5 18.Qd4 Bf5 19.Rd1 Qc7 20.Bd3 Re8 21.Raa1 Bxd3 22.Qxd3 Glud,J (2147)-Lehtovirta,V Finland 2002 1-0 (64) 8.exd5 Nxd5 White has a cramped position 9.b4N White threatens to win material: b4xc5 9.Bb5 Bg4 10.Nbd2 a6 11.Bxc6 bxc6 12.Qc2 Re8 13.h3 Bh5 14.Re1 Bd6 15.Nh2 f5 16.c4 Nf6 17.Ndf1 c5 18.Ng3 Bg6 19.Bd2 e4 20.dxe4 fxe4 21.Be3 Bxg3 22.fxg3 Qd3 23.Qe2 1/2-1/2 (23) Taragel,M (1366)-Zelnik,S (1208) Liptovsky Mikulas 2016 9.Re1 Re8 10.Nbd2 Nf4 11.Ne4 Bb6 12.b4 Qd7 13.Bxf4 exf4 14.a5 Bxf2+ 15.Kxf2 b6 16.axb6 cxb6 17.Qd2 Qf5 18.Nf6+ Qxf6 19.Rxe8+ Kh7 20.Rae1 Bb7 21.Rxa8 Bxa8 22.d4 Ne7 23.Bd3+ Ng6 Smith,V-Babic,G Istanbul 2000 1-0 (32) 9...Be7 Black has an active position 10.b5 White threatens to win material: b5xc6 Nb8 10...Na5!?= looks like a viable alternative 11.Nxe5± Bf6? 11...c6 12.d4± 12.d4 12.Ba3 Bxe5 13.Bxf8 Bxh2+ 14.Kxh2 Qxf8 15.Bxd5 Qd6+ 16.Kg1 Qxd5+- 12...Bf5? 12...Be6!?± 13.Ba3 13.f4!? a6 14.Qh5 g6+- 13...Re8 14.Qf3 Be6 15.Re1 15.Nd3 Be7+- 15...c6 15...Nb6 16.Bd3 Bxe5 17.dxe5± 16.Nd2 Qc7 16...Bxe5 17.dxe5 Nd7 18.Bf1+- 17.Ng4 17.Ne4 Nd7 18.Bd6 Qc8+- 17...Be7? 17...Nd7!? 18.bxc6 bxc6 19.Nxf6+ N7xf6± 18.Bxe7 Rxe7 19.Ne5 19.Bxd5!? Bxd5 20.Rxe7 Qxe7+- 19...Nd7± 20.bxc6 bxc6 21.Nb3 N7f6 21...Rae8!?± 22.Nc5+- Rd8 22...Rae8 23.h3+- 23.Nxe6 23.a5 Rde8 24.Nxe6 Rxe6+- 23...Rxe6 24.g3 24.a5 Ne8+- 24...c5? 24...a5 25.Rab1+- 25.Rac1 25.Rab1 might be the shorter path a6+- 25...Qa5? 25...Re7 26.h4 Nb6 27.Bb5+- 26.Bb5 26.Rb1 and White can already relax a6+- 26...Qb6 26...Qc7 27.Kg2+- 27.c4 Nc7?? the final mistake, not that it matters anymore 27...Nb4 28.d5 Re7+- 28.d5 Red6 28...Rxe5 doesn't change the outcome of the game 29.Rxe5 a6 30.Bc6+- 29.Nc6 Rf8 30.a5 Qb7 31.Ne7+ Kh8 32.Nf5 32.Bc6 seems even better Qb4 33.Qf4 Rfd8+- 32...Nxb5 33.cxb5 Rxd5 33...Qxd5 34.Qxd5 Rxd5+- 34.Rxc5! Deflection: d5. Qd7 34...Rxc5 35.Qxb7 Deflection Pinning 35.Rxd5 Qxd5 36.Qxd5 Nxd5 37.Re5 Nc7 38.Nd6 Rb8 38...Ne6 a fruitless try to alter the course of the game 39.b6 axb6 40.axb6+- 39.Nxf7+ 39.Rc5 nails it down Nxb5 40.Rxb5+- 39...Kg8 39...Kh7 cannot change destiny 40.Nd6 Rd8 41.Nf5+- 40.Nd6 Kf8 40...Rd8 there is nothing better in the position 41.Rc5 Rd7+- 41.Rc5 Ke7 41...Ne6 otherwise it's curtains at once 42.Rc8+ Rxc8 43.Nxc8 Ke8+- 42.Rxc7+ Kxd6 43.Rxa7 Rxb5 44.Rxg7 h5 45.a6 Ra5 46.a7 Ke6 47.Rh7 47.Rh7 Kf6 48.Kg2+- 1–0

White	EloW	Black	EloB	Res

Koivistoinen,T

1884

Vierjoki,T

1760

1–0

Here are some reference games that have reached the position after 6...O-O. I have taken them from a database that contains over 6.8 million games at the moment and I have only included games where both players had ratings 2500 or over. Only three games were found and all were drawn.