D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines (1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.a3 c5 5.e3 Nc6)

The game below was played in the 2014 September Octet I 1700-1800 tournament that was held at Red Hot Pawn. I was 2nd in the final standings of this eight player tournament. I was 9 points behind, AttilaTheHorn (1684), the player who won the tournament. The first clear turning point of the game was seen when I played 10...Bd7. It was a silly move that lost a pawn because when my opponent played 11.dxc5, I could not take back with my bishop due to the reply 12.b4 and I would have been a piece down.

I did not have any compensation for the pawn at first and things looked a bit grim for me until rabarber played 14.g4 and gave back the pawn. After that it was mostly downhill for my opponent.

That being said, it was not winning for me until rabarber chose to play the awful 21.h5. It would have allowed me to win a pawn, had I played 21...Bxf4. Capturing the bishop would be inadvisable in view of the continuation 22.exf4 Qg1+ 23.Kd2 or 23.Ke2 and 23...Qg2+ winning the rook on h3. Unfortunately I missed my golden opportunity and played the far more uneventful 21...f5. It still kept my on the better side of the board, but I would need to work harder to win the game.

Rabarber then played 22.gxf5, which opened the g-file for a possible attack towards my king. I should have replied with either 22...Bxf4 or even 22...Rxf5, but for some reason I preferred to play 22...exf5 and open the e-file. It does make some sense to open the file in front of the enemy king, but according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT at depth 29, it was not as strong as the aforementioned moves and actually gave a chance for my opponent to save the game. Fight for the draw could have started with the move 23.c4. Alas, rabarber moved his or hers queen to g2 my opponent's position went down the drain. It was mistake from which rabarber could not recover from and I ended up winning the game due to my opponent's resignation after 39...Rxb4 in a position where I was up three pawns.

[Event "Octet"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.09.10"] [Round "1"] [White "rabarber"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D00"] [WhiteElo "1516"] [BlackElo "1814"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 {Queen Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation} 3. Nc3 (3. Bg5 g6 (3... Ne4 {Queen Pawn Game: Torre Attack. Gossip Variation}) 4. e3 Bg7 5. Nbd2 O-O {Queen Pawn Game: Torre Attack. Gruenfeld Variation Main Line}) (3. c4 b5 { Queen Pawn Game: Zilbermints Countergambit}) 3... e6 4. a3 c5 5. e3 Nc6 { D00 1 d4 d5: Unusual lines} 6. Bb5 Qb6 (6... Bd7 7. O-O Bd6 8. Bxc6 bxc6 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Ne5 O-O 11. Nxd7 Qxd7 12. Qe1 e5 13. h3 e4 14. Qd1 Qf5 15. Ne2 Bd6 16. f4 exf3 17. Rxf3 Qe5 18. Ng3 Ne4 19. Nf1 Bc5 20. c3 f5 21. g3 { Blagojevic,S (1928)-Popovic,M (2142) Cetinje 2013 0-1 (34)}) (6... Bd6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Ne5 Bd7 9. Nxd7 Qxd7 10. O-O O-O 11. b4 Bb6 12. Bb2 Bc7 13. Ne2 Qd6 14. Ng3 Ne4 15. Qg4 f6 16. Bd3 Nxg3 17. fxg3 Ne5 18. Bxe5 Qxe5 19. Rae1 f5 20. Qd4 a6 21. Qxe5 {Jencopala,A (1000) -Vadila,O (1270) Stara Lubovna 2014 0-1 (60)}) 7. Ne5 $146 (7. Qe2 a6 8. Bxc6+ bxc6 9. O-O cxd4 10. Nxd4 Bd6 11. Qd3 a5 12. e4 Ba6 13. Qd1 Bxf1 14. Na4 Qc7 15. Kxf1 Nxe4 16. Be3 Rb8 17. f3 Nf6 18. Qd2 O-O 19. g3 Qd7 20. Nb3 e5 21. Bc5 Bxc5 {Olea,A-Athanario,D Buenos Aires 2003 0-1 (41)}) (7. O-O Qc7 $11) 7... a6 (7... Bd6 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. O-O $17) 8. Bxc6+ $11 bxc6 {Black has the pair of bishops} 9. Na4 {White threatens to win material: Na4xb6} (9. b3 Qc7 $11) 9... Qa5+ 10. c3 Bd7 (10... c4 $142 $11 {and Black hangs on}) 11. dxc5 $16 Qc7 12. f4 Be7 13. Nb6 Rb8 14. g4 $4 {with this move White loses his initiative} (14. b4 $142 $16) 14... Bxc5 $17 15. Nbxd7 Nxd7 16. Nxd7 Qxd7 (16... Kxd7 $6 17. b4 Bd6 18. O-O $11) 17. h4 (17. b4 $5 Be7 18. O-O $17) 17... Qa7 18. Rh3 O-O (18... a5 19. h5 $17) 19. Qc2 (19. b4 Bd6 $17) 19... Qb6 (19... Bd6 20. Rh1 $17) 20. b4 Bd6 21. h5 $2 (21. Kf1 c5 $17) 21... f5 ( 21... Bxf4 $142 {with excellent chances for Black} 22. h6 g6 $19 (22... gxh6 $6 23. Bd2 $19) (22... Bxh6 $143 23. g5 $16)) 22. gxf5 $17 exf5 (22... Bxf4 23. fxe6 Bh6 24. Qg2 $15) 23. Qg2 (23. c4 $5 c5 24. Bb2 $15) 23... Rbe8 $17 24. Qf3 (24. Rf3 Be7 $17) 24... Qc7 (24... Re4 25. Kf1 $17) 25. Kf2 Re4 26. Bd2 Be7 27. Rg1 Bf6 28. Qg2 (28. Rb1 Rc4 $17) 28... Rc4 29. Rc1 Qb6 30. Qg3 (30. Kg3 Qb8 $17) 30... Re8 (30... a5 31. Rhh1 $17) 31. h6 (31. Qf3 a5 $17) 31... g6 $19 32. Rh5 (32. Qf3 a5 $19) 32... Kf7 33. Rh3 Ree4 34. Kg2 Qb5 35. Rhh1 Qa4 36. Ra1 ( 36. Qe1 Qxa3 37. Rf1 $19) 36... Bxc3 37. Bxc3 Rxc3 38. Rhe1 Rxa3 39. Rac1 (39. Rxa3 {there is nothing better in the position} Qxa3 40. Re2 Qxb4 41. Qf2 $19) 39... Rxb4 (39... Rxb4 40. Re2 d4 $19) 0-1

This time I could only find one game that reached the position after 5...Nc6 and where both players had ratings over 2200.

[Event "HUN-chT2 Erkel 0506"] [Site "Hungary"] [Date "2006.02.12"] [Round "7"] [White "Kadas, Gabor"] [Black "Nogrady, Vilmos"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D00"] [WhiteElo "2224"] [BlackElo "2276"] [PlyCount "50"] [EventDate "2005.10.16"] [EventType "team"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "HUN"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2009"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2008.11.26"] [WhiteTeam "Ujszasz"] [BlackTeam "Foti"] [WhiteTeamCountry "HUN"] [BlackTeamCountry "HUN"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. a3 c5 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Be2 Be7 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. b4 Be7 9. Bb2 Bd7 10. Bd3 Rc8 11. Ne2 a6 12. Rc1 b5 13. O-O Qc7 14. Ned4 Nxd4 15. exd4 Bc6 16. Ne5 Bb7 17. Qf3 Bd6 18. Qh3 Ne4 19. Rfe1 h5 20. f3 Bxe5 21. dxe5 Nd2 22. Qg3 Kd7 23. Red1 Nc4 24. Bd4 Rcg8 25. Bxc4 bxc4 1-0