C60 Spanish Game: Unusual Black 3rd moves and 3...g6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nge7 4.O-O g6 5.d4)

For the unforeseeable future I am posting games that I have not posted before. When I have gone through my older posts and changed the names of the posts according to the way I am naming them now, I will get back to posting my previously shared games in case that the games in the older posts would no longer be categorized the same way as the other games in that post. So, now for the game I am sharing today. It was played on the first round of the EXPECT NO MERCY - NAZARETH TOUR!!! I managed to get 6.5 points in 8 games, due to which I won the group with a half a point difference. This game was especially important because my opponent in this game, csabiu, was second in the final standings of group 7. Only the winner advanced to the second round, so I was the only one to advance to the second round that is currently in progress. On round two I am on second place in the standings and I have finished 3 out of the 8 games that I need to play on this round.

This game featured only one critical moment and it was seen after my 7th move Be2. Csabiu moved the knight to a5, which was maybe the worst square for the piece. The reason for it was that the knight had no safe squares to which it could go. I took advantage of that fact and threatened the knight with my b-pawn.

Csabiu's best move might have been to move the knight back to c6, because in that case my opponent would have at least been able to get something in exchange for the knight. In the game csabiu played 8...d6 and did not even try to get a pawn for the knight. This meant that the rest of the game was really easy for me to play. Only a bit later did my opponent get a free pawn, but it did not really improve csabiu's chances and after my 22nd move Rab1 csabiu resigned.

[Event "EXPECT NO MERCY - NAZARETH TOUR!!! - Rou"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.05.24"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "csabiu"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C60"] [WhiteElo "1827"] [BlackElo "1656"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s)"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 4. O-O g6 5. d4 {C60 Spanish Game: Unusual Black 3rd moves and 3...g6} Bg7 6. d5 a6 (6... Nb8 7. d6 Nec6 8. Bg5 f6 9. Be3 b6 10. Nc3 cxd6 11. Qxd6 Qe7 12. Qd2 O-O 13. Nd5 Qd8 14. Rfd1 Kh8 15. Bh6 a6 16. Be2 Ne7 17. Bc4 Nxd5 18. Bxd5 Bxh6 19. Qxh6 Ra7 20. Nh4 Qe8 21. Nxg6+ { Groenegress, W (2220)-Fritsch,J (1787) Bad Wiessee 2003 1-0}) 7. Be2 $146 (7. Ba4 Na7 8. d6 cxd6 9. Qxd6 Nb5 10. Bxb5 axb5 11. Nxe5 Ra6 12. Qc5 Re6 13. Nf3 Rc6 14. Qxb5 Rxc2 15. Qb3 Qc7 16. Na3 Re2 17. Nb5 Qb8 18. Qd3 Bxb2 19. Bxb2 Rxb2 20. Nd6+ Kf8 21. Qd4 {1-0 (21) Romero Funieles,R (1747)-Febrero Perez,L (1545) Barcelona 2016}) ({Worse is} 7. dxc6 axb5 8. cxd7+ Bxd7 $11) 7... Na5 $4 (7... Nd4 $142 $14 {would hold out}) 8. b4 $18 d6 (8... Nac6 9. dxc6 Nxc6 $18) 9. bxa5 c6 10. Qd2 (10. dxc6 {and White can already relax} Nxc6 11. Be3 Qxa5 $18) 10... O-O (10... cxd5 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 11. exd5 O-O 12. c4 $18) 11. Na3 (11. c4 {might be the shorter path} c5 $18) 11... cxd5 12. exd5 e4 13. Nd4 Nf5 (13... Nxd5 {does not solve anything} 14. Nc4 $18) 14. Bb2 Nxd4 15. Bxd4 Bxd4 16. Qxd4 Qxa5 17. Nc4 Qb4 (17... Qc7 {does not save the day} 18. a4 $18) 18. Rfb1 Qc5 19. Qxc5 dxc5 20. Nb6 Ra7 (20... Rb8 {does not help much} 21. c4 $18) 21. Rb3 a5 (21... Rd8 {does not improve anything} 22. Rc3 Bf5 23. g4 $18) 22. Rab1 1-0

Here are the top three games that I could find in my reference database that reached the position after 5.d4.

[Event "Moscow-4teams"] [Site "Moscow"] [Date "1981.02.25"] [Round "3.1"] [White "Romanishin, Oleg M"] [Black "Smyslov, Vassily"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C60"] [WhiteElo "2585"] [BlackElo "2545"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "1981.02.22"] [EventType "team"] [EventRounds "6"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [SourceTitle "MCL"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1999.07.01"] [WhiteTeam "Soviet Union II"] [BlackTeam "Soviet Union Seniors"] [WhiteTeamCountry "URS"] [BlackTeamCountry "URS"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 4. O-O g6 5. d4 exd4 6. Bg5 Bg7 7. c3 h6 8. Bd2 d5 9. Nxd4 dxe4 10. Qa4 O-O 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Be2 f5 13. Rd1 Qe8 14. Be3 Nd5 15. Bd4 Nb6 16. Qa5 f4 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Nd2 Rf5 19. Qb4 c5 20. Qa3 Bb7 21. c4 Qe5 22. f3 e3 23. Nb1 Rf6 24. Nc3 Bc6 25. Nd5 Bxd5 26. cxd5 Nxd5 27. Qxc5 c6 28. Rd4 Qd6 29. Rc1 Qxc5 30. Rxc5 Rb8 31. b3 h5 32. h4 Re8 33. Kf1 Kh6 34. Ke1 Rb8 35. Ra4 Rb7 36. Rac4 Rb6 37. Ra5 Rf7 38. Rac5 Ne7 39. Ra4 Nd5 40. Bc4 Rd7 1/2-1/2 [Event "EU-ch Internet Gr-E 3rd"] [Site "playchess.com INT"] [Date "2006.01.22"] [Round "1.2"] [White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Black "Pavasovic, Dusko"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C60"] [WhiteElo "2506"] [BlackElo "2535"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2006.01.22"] [EventType "tourn (blitz)"] [EventRounds "12"] [EventCountry "GER"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2007"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2006.11.23"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 4. O-O g6 5. d4 exd4 6. c3 Bg7 7. cxd4 a6 8. Ba4 O-O 9. Bg5 b5 10. Bb3 h6 11. Bh4 d6 12. h3 g5 13. Bg3 Na5 14. Nc3 Kh8 15. Bc2 f5 16. Re1 f4 17. Bh2 c5 18. e5 cxd4 19. Ne4 dxe5 20. Nfxg5 Bf5 21. Qh5 Bg6 22. Qe2 hxg5 23. Nxg5 Bxc2 24. Qxc2 Nf5 25. Ne6 Qd7 26. Nxf8 Rxf8 27. Rad1 Nc4 28. b3 Nb6 29. Qe4 Nd5 30. Qf3 Qf7 31. Rd3 Nc3 32. Qc6 e4 33. Rd2 e3 34. Rc2 Nh4 35. fxe3 fxe3 36. Bg3 Nf5 37. Bf4 d3 38. Rxc3 d2 39. Rb1 Nd4 40. Qc7 Ne2+ 0-1 [Event "EU-ch Internet Gr-E 3rd"] [Site "playchess.com INT"] [Date "2006.01.22"] [Round "1.3"] [White "Macieja, Bartlomiej"] [Black "Pavasovic, Dusko"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C60"] [WhiteElo "2585"] [BlackElo "2535"] [PlyCount "114"] [EventDate "2006.01.22"] [EventType "tourn (blitz)"] [EventRounds "12"] [EventCountry "GER"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2007"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2006.11.23"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 4. O-O g6 5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Nc3 d6 9. Qd2 Bd7 10. Bxc6 Nxc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bh6 Bxh6 13. Qxh6 Qf6 14. Qd2 Qe5 15. Rae1 Be6 16. f4 Qc5+ 17. Kh1 f6 18. f5 Bc4 19. Rf3 g5 20. Rh3 Rae8 21. Ree3 Qe5 22. Nd1 Bf7 23. Qe2 Re7 24. Nc3 Be8 25. Qa6 Qd4 26. Qe2 a5 27. Rhg3 Rg7 28. Rd3 Qe5 29. Rde3 c5 30. Qc4+ Bf7 31. Qe2 Kh8 32. Rgf3 Be8 33. Rf1 Bc6 34. Re1 Re7 35. Kg1 Rfe8 36. Qd2 Qd4 37. Qd3 Kg7 38. Kf1 Qb4 39. b3 a4 40. Nxa4 Bb5 41. c4 Bxa4 42. bxa4 Qxa4 43. Qb3 Qa8 44. Qc2 Qc6 45. h4 h6 46. Kf2 Ra8 47. R1e2 Ra4 48. Rg3 Qa6 49. Qd2 Qxc4 50. hxg5 hxg5 51. e5 dxe5 52. Rxg5+ fxg5 53. Qxg5+ Kf8 54. Qh6+ Rg7 55. f6 Qf4+ 56. Kg1 Qxh6 57. fxg7+ Qxg7 0-1