C56 Two Knights: 4.d4 exd4 5.0-0 Nxe4 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O d6 5.c3 Nf6 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb6)

This one was played in a team match called mini semi open match LBF 206 - 2100 rating. It was played between La Belle France and Hungarian Chess Group. I played on board 2 for La Belle France. The last game of the match was my other game against eperjam. It was very important for me to win that game because due to it we were able to draw the match. The final score in this seven board match was 7 - 7. It was not easy being the match deciding player, especially when my opponent offered me a draw in both of these games and at the time I thought I had chances to win this game. It turns out that I should have agreed to a draw in the game you see below. Had I understood some of the positions better, I might have won this game. While the first dubious move might be 8...h6, it was was not bad enough to decide the game in favor of my opponent. A much more serious mistake was played by eperjam on move 12, when my opponent moved the queen to d3.

The move 12.Qd3 was bad because it enabled the possibility for me to win the pawn on e4, starting with the move 12...Nxe4. The idea behind it is that in the continuation 13.Nxe4 Bf5 14.Nfd2 d5 Black wins the piece back and ends up having an extra pawn. I missed my chance and played 12...Bh5, most likely thinking of relocating the bishop to g6. However, when eperjam replied with 13.Nd2, I thought it best to trade the bishops. It was not the best idea because eperjam could take back with the knight and everything was protected sufficiently. A few moves later I received another possibility to get a clear advantage when eperjam played 17.d5.

It would have enabled me to play the idea that is seen in the notation of the game 17...b5 18.Nd2 Bxe3+ 19.Qxe3 Nxd5. I could have won a pawn had I gone for that variation, but unfortunately I started with the move 17...Bxe3+, which is clearly worse than 17...b5, since in the game continuation eperjam was able to take on e3 with the knight and avoid all problems. The next blunder, 26.Nd4, gave me a chance to get a winning advantage, but I failed to seize it.

Like a fool I played 26...Qb7 and the game was heading towards a draw again. I needed to play 26...Nd3+ and I could have been on my way to victory. The game continued with the moves 27.h3 Nd3+ and then eperjam made his or hers second to last blunder 28.Rxd3. I happily took back with the pawn and I was up the exchange. At the moment everything seemed to be going my way, but with my 30th move Nd7 I already threw away the win and the game was fought equally again until eperjam moved the queen from c1 to c3 on move 32. A much better move would have been 32.Ng4.

I answered the move 32.Qc3 by moving my knight to b8 with the idea of trading knights. It was unfortunately the starting point for my loss, eperjam played correctly 33.Ng4 in reply and I was in clear trouble. I may not have been losing after 33.Ng4, but I certainly was losing when I replied with 33...Nd7. I tried my best to resist the inevitable loss, but in the end my efforts were fruitless and I had to accept the defeat after 52.d6.

[Event "mini semi open match LBF 206 - 2100 rat"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.11.16"] [Round "?"] [White "eperjam"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C56"] [WhiteElo "1870"] [BlackElo "1844"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s)"] [PlyCount "103"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. c3 Nf6 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 Bb6 { C56 Two Knights: 4.d4 exd4 5.0-0 Nxe4} 8. Nc3 h6 9. Be3 (9. h3 O-O 10. e5 dxe5 11. dxe5 Qxd1 12. Rxd1 Na5 13. Bd3 Nh7 14. Nd5 Be6 15. Nxb6 axb6 16. Bf4 Nc6 17. a3 Rfd8 18. Be4 Bb3 19. Rxd8+ Rxd8 20. e6 Bxe6 21. Bxc7 Rd7 22. Bxb6 Nf6 23. Bxc6 bxc6 {Rutkauskas,G (1873)-Valiunas,E Lithuania 2014 1-0 (41)}) 9... O-O 10. a3 (10. Qd2 Ba5 11. Bd3 Ng4 12. a3 Nxe3 13. fxe3 Bxc3 14. bxc3 f5 15. exf5 Bxf5 16. e4 Bh7 17. Rae1 Kh8 18. Re3 Qd7 19. Rfe1 Rae8 20. Bb5 Qe7 21. d5 Ne5 22. Nd4 a6 23. Bd3 Rf6 24. Ne6 Rxe6 {Pal,F (2025)-Mizik,Z (1983) Hungary 2005 1/2-1/2 (63)}) 10... Bg4 11. Be2 $146 (11. Kh1 Qd7 12. Rg1 Rae8 13. Qd3 Bh5 14. g4 Nxg4 15. Nh4 Kh8 16. Rg3 Nxe3 17. fxe3 Nd8 18. Rag1 g6 19. Nd5 Qe6 20. e5 dxe5 21. Nf4 Qf6 22. Nhxg6+ fxg6 23. Nxg6+ Bxg6 24. Rxg6 Qf3+ 25. R1g2 Qh5 {Leonhardt,P-Meiners,W Hilversum 1903 1-0}) 11... Re8 12. Qd3 (12. d5 Bxe3 13. dxc6 Bb6 14. cxb7 Rb8 $11) 12... Bh5 {White has a very active position} ( 12... Nxe4 13. h3 Bf5 14. Qd1 $17) 13. Nd2 (13. d5 Bxf3 14. gxf3 $11) 13... Bxe2 {Black forks: f1+d3} (13... Bg6 $142 $17) 14. Nxe2 $14 a6 15. f3 { Prevents intrusion on g4} Qe7 16. Nc4 (16. b4 $5 $14 {is interesting}) 16... Ba7 $11 17. d5 {White gets more space} (17. Nd2 Bb6 18. b4 $16) 17... Bxe3+ $4 {forfeits the advantage} (17... b5 $142 18. Nd2 Bxe3+ 19. Qxe3 Nxd5 $17) 18. Nxe3 $16 ({Less advisable is} 18. Qxe3 Nxd5 {Deflection: e4} 19. Qb3 b5 $15) 18... Ne5 19. Qb3 (19. Qd2 Rad8 $14) 19... c6 $11 20. Rfd1 Rab8 21. Nd4 (21. a4 g6 $11) 21... g6 {Secures f5} 22. Rac1 c5 {Black threatens to win material: c5xd4} 23. Ne2 b5 24. Qc2 Rec8 (24... Nh5 25. Nf1 $15) 25. Kf2 (25. Qd2 h5 $11) 25... c4 $15 {Black wins space} 26. Nd4 $2 (26. Rb1 $15) 26... Qb7 $4 {Black loses the upper hand} (26... Nd3+ $142 $5 27. Rxd3 cxd3 28. Qxc8+ Rxc8 29. Rxc8+ Kh7 $19) 27. h3 {Controls g4} (27. Qc3 $5 {is an interesting alternative} Nfd7 28. Kf1 $11) 27... Nd3+ $15 28. Rxd3 $2 (28. Kg1 $142 {and White hangs on} Qb6 29. Qc3 $15) 28... cxd3 $19 29. Qd2 Rxc1 30. Qxc1 Nd7 $4 {weakening the position} (30... Qb6 $142 {would have given Black a clear advantage} 31. Qc3 b4 32. axb4 Qxb4 $19) 31. Nc6 $11 {White threatens to win material: Nc6xb8. White can be proud of that piece} Re8 32. Qc3 (32. Ng4 $142 h5 33. Nh6+ Kg7 34. Nf5+ gxf5 35. Qg5+ Kh8 36. Qxh5+ Kg7 37. Qg5+ Kh8 38. Qh6+ Kg8 39. Qg5+ Kh7 40. Qh5+ Kg8 41. Qg5+ Kh7 42. Qxf5+ Kh6 43. Qf4+ Kg6 44. Qf5+ Kg7 45. Qg5+ Kh8 46. Qh5+ Kg7 47. Qg5+ Kh8 48. Qh6+ Kg8 49. Qg5+ Kh7 50. Qh4+ Kg6 51. Qg3+ Kh7 52. Qh4+ Kg6 53. Qg4+ Kh7 54. Qf5+ Kh6 55. Qf4+ Kg7 56. Qg5+ $11) 32... Nb8 $4 {letting the wind out of his own sails} (32... Ne5 $142 $17) 33. Ng4 $16 Nd7 $4 { causes further problems for White} (33... Qb6+ $142 34. Kg3 Nd7 35. Nxh6+ Kh7 36. Nxf7 Qe3 $16) 34. Nxh6+ $18 Kh7 35. Nxf7 Qc7 (35... Qb6+ 36. Qd4 Qxd4+ 37. Nxd4 Rc8 $18) 36. Ng5+ Kh6 37. Qd2 (37. Ne6 $142 $5 {keeps an even firmer grip} Qb6+ 38. Kg3 Ne5 39. Nxe5 dxe5 40. Qxe5 Qb7 $18) 37... Qb6+ (37... Kg7 { a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 38. Qxd3 Nf8 39. Qd4+ Kg8 40. f4 $18) 38. Kg3 Kg7 39. Qxd3 Nc5 (39... Nf6 {there is nothing else anyway} 40. Qc3 Qc5 41. Ne6+ Rxe6 42. Qxc5 dxc5 43. dxe6 Ng8 $18) 40. Qd4+ Kh6 (40... Re5 { doesn't improve anything} 41. Ne6+ Kf6 42. Nxe5 dxe5 43. Qxc5 Qxc5 44. Nxc5 b4 45. axb4 Ke7 46. b5 axb5 47. b4 Kf6 48. Kg4 Kf7 49. d6 Ke8 50. Kg5 Kd8 51. d7 Ke7 52. Kxg6 Kd8 53. Kf6 Kc7 54. Ke7 Kc6 55. h4 Kb6 56. d8=Q+ Ka7 57. Qd7+ Kb8 58. Qb7#) 41. h4 (41. e5 dxe5 42. Nxe5 Ne4+ 43. Qxe4 Kg7 44. Qh4 Rh8 45. Ne6+ Qxe6 46. Qxh8+ Kxh8 47. dxe6 Kg7 48. e7 Kf6 49. e8=Q g5 50. f4 gxf4+ 51. Kxf4 Kg7 52. Qf7+ Kh8 53. Ng6#) 41... Nd7 (41... Nxe4+ {is not much help} 42. Nxe4 Qxd4 43. Nxd4 $18) 42. Qxb6 (42. Nf7+ $142 {secures the win} Kh7 43. Qd2 $18) 42... Nxb6 43. Nf7+ Kg7 44. Nxd6 Ra8 (44... Rh8 {does not help much} 45. Kg4 $18) 45. b3 Nd7 (45... Kh7 {cannot change destiny} 46. Kg4 $18) 46. e5 Nc5 ( 46... Nb6 {no good, but what else?} 47. Ne7 Ra7 48. Ne8+ Kf8 $18) 47. b4 (47. e6 a5 48. e7 Nd7 $18) 47... Nd7 48. e6 Nf6 49. e7 Rg8 50. Nd4 Ne8 51. Nxe8+ Rxe8 52. d6 (52. d6 Kf6 53. d7 Kxe7 54. dxe8=Q+ Kxe8 55. Kg4 Ke7 56. Kg5 Kd6 57. Kxg6 Kd5 58. Nf5 a5 59. bxa5 b4 60. axb4 Kc6 61. h5 Kb5 62. h6 Ka4 63. h7 Ka3 64. h8=Q Kxb4 65. a6 Kb5 66. a7 Kb4 67. a8=Q Kb3 68. Qd5+ Kb4 69. Qb2+ Ka4 70. Qa8#) 1-0