D01 Veresov Opening (1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 O-O 6.Bd3 Nbd7)

This was played on the first round of the Smaller Tournament at Chess.com. I managed to win group 4 on round one with a half point difference. I was able to gather 6.5 points in 8 games. Only the group winner advanced to the next round, so I was the only one going to round two from my group. On second round I played in group 1 and I was only able to gather 4.5 points in 8 games, which was only good enough for 3rd place in the group, which meant that I was eliminated on that round. This game is only 10 moves long and does not contain any really horrible moves. There certainly is room for improvement and instead of moves like 7.a3 and 9.h3 that do not seem to improve billy23xx's position other moves should be considered. In both cases O-O seems like the better way to go.

I may have been a bit better on the final position of the game, but nothing serious had happened yet. Had my opponent not lost on time, I would have had no real winning chances, had both players played accurately to the end. Due to the rating difference of over 600 points in my favor, it would have been likely that my opponent would have messed up at some point in a way that I would have been able to take advantage of, but that was not, of course, by any means guaranteed outcome of the game.

[Event "Smaller Tournament - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.04.11"] [Round "?"] [White "billy23xx"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D01"] [WhiteElo "1205"] [BlackElo "1874"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "20"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 {Queen Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation} 3. Nc3 (3. Bg5 e6 (3... g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. Nbd2 O-O {Queen Pawn Game: Torre Attack. Gruenfeld Variation Main Line}) (3... Ne4 {Queen Pawn Game: Torre Attack. Gossip Variation}) 4. e3 c5 5. c3 Qb6 {Queen Pawn Game: Torre Attack. Breyer Variation }) 3... e6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 Nbd7 {D01 Veresov Opening} 7. a3 $146 { Consolidates b4} (7. Ne5 Nxe5 8. dxe5 Nd7 9. Bf4 c5 10. Qh5 g6 11. Qg4 f5 12. Qg3 Kh8 13. h4 Rg8 14. O-O-O a6 15. Bg5 Bxg5 16. hxg5 b5 17. Ne2 Qc7 18. f4 Rg7 19. c3 Bb7 20. Rh6 Nf8 21. Qh4 Rd8 {Raizman, M-Gudmundsson,G Hastings 1946 0-1 (53)}) (7. O-O c5 8. Qe1 c4 9. Be2 a6 10. a4 b6 11. Nd2 Bb7 12. f4 b5 13. Qh4 b4 14. Nd1 Re8 15. g4 h6 16. Bxf6 Nxf6 17. Qh3 Nh7 18. Nf3 Bd6 19. Qg2 g5 20. Ne5 Rb8 21. Bf3 a5 {Kovacevic,V (2495) -Damjanovic,M (2430) Karlovac 1977 1/ 2-1/2 (44)}) (7. Ne2 c5 8. c3 b6 9. Rc1 (9. Ng3 Bb7 10. Qc2 Qc8 11. Ne5 h6 12. h4 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Ng4 14. Bf4 Qc7 15. Nh5 d4 16. Rh3 dxe3 17. Rg3 exf2+ 18. Ke2 Nxe5 19. Rxg7+ Kh8 20. Bc4 f5 21. Qc1 Bd5 22. Bxd5 exd5 23. Kf1 Rf6 {Woelk, S-Kinnmark,O Grossenbrode 1970 1-0}) 9... Bb7 10. Bxf6 Nxf6 11. Ne5 Ne4 12. Nf4 cxd4 13. exd4 Bg5 14. Qg4 Bxf4 15. Qxf4 Qf6 16. Qe3 Qe7 17. O-O f6 18. Nf3 Rac8 19. Nd2 Nxd2 20. Qxd2 e5 21. Bf5 Rc7 {Mittelstaedt,M-Kuenzner,E (2190) Wildflecken 1988 1/2-1/2 (32)}) 7... c5 8. b3 b6 9. h3 {Black has a cramped position} Bb7 10. O-O Ne4 (10... Ne4 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 $15) 0-1

Hmm, this time it seems that all the reference games are relatively old. The first one is from 1977 and the newest is from 1988.

[Event "Karlovac"] [Site "Karlovac"] [Date "1977.09.13"] [Round "2"] [White "Kovacevic, Vlatko"] [Black "Damjanovic, Mato"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D01"] [WhiteElo "2495"] [BlackElo "2430"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "1977.09.12"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "YUG"] [EventCategory "5"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2004"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2003.11.25"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. O-O c5 8. Qe1 c4 9. Be2 a6 10. a4 b6 11. Nd2 Bb7 12. f4 b5 13. Qh4 b4 14. Nd1 Re8 15. g4 h6 16. Bxf6 Nxf6 17. Qh3 Nh7 18. Nf3 Bd6 19. Qg2 g5 20. Ne5 Rb8 21. Bf3 a5 22. c3 f6 23. Ng6 Kg7 24. f5 Bc7 25. Nf2 bxc3 26. bxc3 Bc6 27. e4 Rb2 28. Rae1 Bd7 29. Qh3 dxe4 30. Bxe4 e5 31. dxe5 fxe5 32. Rd1 Bb6 33. Bc6 Rxf2 34. Rxd7+ Qxd7 35. Bxd7 Rf3+ 36. Kg2 Rxh3 37. Kxh3 Rd8 38. Rb1 Rxd7 39. Rxb6 Rd3+ 40. Kg2 Nf6 41. Nxe5 Rxc3 42. h3 Rc2+ 43. Kf1 c3 44. Rb7+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "Kiel"] [Site "Kiel"] [Date "1979.??.??"] [Round "11"] [White "Wockenfuss, Klaus"] [Black "Schmidt, Wlodzimierz"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D03"] [WhiteElo "2385"] [BlackElo "2430"] [PlyCount "39"] [EventDate "1979.??.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "GER"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2003"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2002.11.25"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bg5 Nbd7 4. Nf3 e6 5. e3 Be7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O b6 8. Ne5 Bb7 9. f4 Ne4 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Bc4 Rad8 13. Qe2 c5 14. c3 Nxe5 15. fxe5 Bd5 16. Rf4 f6 17. exf6 Rxf6 18. Raf1 Rdf8 19. g3 Rxf4 20. Rxf4 1/2-1/2 [Event "Imperia op 25th"] [Site "Imperia"] [Date "1983.09.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Hort, Vlastimil"] [Black "Bruno, Fabio"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D01"] [WhiteElo "2595"] [BlackElo "2325"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "1983.09.03"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ITA"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2014"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2013.11.19"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bg5 Nbd7 4. Nf3 e6 5. e3 Be7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. Ne2 b6 8. O-O a5 9. Rc1 c5 10. c4 Bb7 11. Nc3 Ne4 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. cxd5 Nxc3 14. bxc3 exd5 15. Rb1 c4 16. Bf5 Ra6 17. Qa4 Nb8 18. Rfe1 g6 19. Bh3 Bc6 20. Qc2 b5 21. Ne5 b4 22. e4 dxe4 23. cxb4 axb4 24. Qxc4 Rd8 25. Nxc6 Rxc6 26. Qxb4 Qxb4 27. Rxb4 Rc2 28. d5 Na6 29. Rbxe4 Rxd5 30. g3 Nc5 31. R4e2 Rxe2 32. Rxe2 Rd1+ 33. Bf1 Ra1 34. Kg2 Kg7 35. Rc2 Ne4 36. Bb5 f5 37. h4 Kf6 38. Bc4 Ke5 39. f3 Nf6 40. Bb3 Kd4 41. Rc6 Nh5 42. Rd6+ Ke3 43. Bc4 1-0 [Event "YUG-chT 40th"] [Site "Brezovica"] [Date "1988.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Lalic, Nedim"] [Black "Robovic, Saudin"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D01"] [WhiteElo "2340"] [BlackElo "2300"] [PlyCount "79"] [EventDate "1988.??.??"] [EventType "team"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "YUG"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2009"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2008.11.26"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bg5 Nbd7 4. Nf3 e6 5. e3 Be7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Re1 b6 9. e4 dxe4 10. Nxe4 Bb7 11. dxc5 bxc5 12. Nxf6+ Bxf6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. Nd2 Rab8 15. b3 Rfd8 16. Qe2 Qd4 17. Rad1 Nf6 18. Nc4 Qh4 19. Ne5 Nd5 20. Qg4 Qxg4 21. Nxg4 Nb4 22. Ne3 Nxa2 23. Ra1 Nb4 24. Rxa7 Nxd3 25. Rd1 Nb4 26. Rxd8+ Rxd8 27. Rxb7 Nxc2 28. Rc7 Nxe3 29. fxe3 g6 30. Rxc5 Rd3 31. Kf2 Rxb3 32. Rc2 Kg7 33. Kf3 g5 34. h3 h5 35. g3 Kg6 36. Rc6 Rb2 37. Rc8 Rh2 38. Rg8+ Kf6 39. Rh8 g4+ 40. Kf4 0-1