64 square madness that some of us call chess...: D02 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 sidelines, including 2...Nf6 3.g3 and 2...Nf6 3.Bf4 (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 d5 3.Nf3 g6 4.e3 Bg7 5.Bd3 O-O 6.c3)

D02 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 sidelines, including 2...Nf6 3.g3 and 2...Nf6 3.Bf4 (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 d5 3.Nf3 g6 4.e3 Bg7 5.Bd3 O-O 6.c3)

This was played in a team match called Open Challenge Kartik City. It was played between Kartik City and Philippine Critical Movers on 32 boards. I played on board 10 for Kartik City and lost both my games. We also lost the match with a score of 22 - 42, so it was not even a close match. The first really odd and bad decisions from me was to play Kh8 on move 10. It is rather sad that I could not come up with a better move than Kh8, which seems to be just a waste of a move. I have to admit though that even now it would be somewhat hard for me to come up with a useful move in that position, but I would probably play something else than Kh8 if I were to reach that same position again.

The Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT's recommendation on move 10 is a5 at depth 35.

Because I basically gave a free move to my opponent, DChris should have been doing quite well at this point in the game and indeed my opponent's position should be favored after 11.Rg1 even if it was not the strongest move. Moves like 11.Ne5 and 11.O-O-O make a lot of sense, castling long helps the a-rook to join the attack on the kingside and the knight on e5 targets the undefended pawn on f7. Had the knight jumped to e5, I would have probably moved my king back to g8, because Nxe5 seems quite bad in view of dxe5 and my knight from f6 would need to retreat to g8. A few moves later I played 13...b5, which could have been the move that lost me the game, had my opponent not made some bad moves later on in the game.

My best chance according to the engine was 13...Nxe5 at depth 31.

I thought that I need to make some counterplay on the queenside, since my opponent would be likely to castle there and therefore I chose the move b5. However, it did not even threaten b4 immediately due to the continuation Nxc6 Bxc6 cxb4. I was quite lost or in serious trouble up to my 19th move fxg6, but then DChris played 20.dxc5, which gave me my last chance to get back into the game. I simply took back on c5 with my queen, which was a good enough reply to fight on for a possible draw if the engine is to be believed.

DChris should have just played 20.Rh1 and use semi-open h-file to his or hers for attacking purposes.

My final mistake was seen when I played 23...Nxe5, which was also my last move of the game.

23...Rf6 was much better than what I did.

I resigned after the reply 24.Bxe5, but 24.Qxe6+ was an even better move and would have also ended the game. Due to the Qxe6+ possibility, I had to play 23...Rf6 in order to defend my position. It would have both attacked the queen and defended my bishop and avoided the mate, which was threatened at h7.

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Move	N	Result	Elo

Replay and check the LiveBook here

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 d5 3.Nf3 g6 4.e3 Bg7 5.Bd3 0-0 6.c3 D02 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 sidelines, including 2...Nf6 3.g3 and 2...Nf6 3.Bf4 Bg4 7.Nbd2 Re8N 7...c6 8.Qc2 e6 9.h3 Bf5 10.g4 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 Nbd7 12.0-0-0 c5 13.Rdg1 c4 14.Qc2 b5 15.h4 a5 16.h5 b4 17.e4 bxc3 18.bxc3 dxe4 19.Nxe4 Nxe4 20.Qxe4 Nf6 21.Qc2 1/2-1/2 (21) Siebenborn,B (1890)-Rickers,B (1524) Leck 2014 Mega2017 Update 13 [Krüger,Wolfgang] 7...Nbd7 8.h3 8.0-0 c5 9.Re1 c4 10.Bc2 Bxf3 11.Qxf3 b5 12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Bxe4 Rc8 15.Bc6 Nb6 16.Bxb5 Nd5 17.Be5 f6 18.Bg3 Nb6 19.a4 Nd7 20.Qe2 Re8 21.Bxc4+ e6 22.Bxe6+ Kh8 Teshima,C (1800)-Costa,I (1712) Sao Paulo 2015 1-0 (39) 8...Bxf3 9.Nxf3 c6 10.0-0 Re8 11.Bh2 Qb6 12.Qe2 e6 13.a4 a5 14.Rfb1 Ne4 15.Bxe4 dxe4 16.Ng5 f5 17.Qc4 Qa6 18.Qa2 Nf8 19.Bd6 h6 20.Bxf8 hxg5 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.b4 Gvetadze,S (2361)-Klinova,M (2312) Kocaeli 2014 1-0 (34) 8.h3 White threatens to win material: h3xg4 Bd7 8...Bxf3 9.Nxf3 c5 10.0-0= 9.Qc2 9.0-0 Bf5 10.Bxf5 gxf5 9...Nc6 9...c5!?= 10.g4 Kh8 10...a5 11.Bg3 11.Rg1 11.0-0-0 a5± 11...a6 Prevents intrusion on b5 11...a5 12.Ne5 Be6 13.h4± 12.Ne5 Rf8 13.Ndf3 13.0-0-0± 13...b5? 13...Nxe5 14.Nxe5 Bb5± 14.h4+- Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Be6? 15...Kg8 16.h5! leaving no more doubts c5 17.dxc5 Be8+- 16.h5! sealing the opponent's fate Kg8 16...gxh5 17.gxh5 Nxh5 18.Bxh7 Overloading Deflection 17.Ke2 17.f3 makes sure everything is clear Nd7 18.Qh2 Bxe5 19.dxe5+- 19.Bxe5?! Nxe5 20.dxe5 g5± 17...Qc8 17...c5!? 18.h6 Bh8 18.f3+- c5 19.hxg6 19.Rh1!?+- 19...fxg6± 20.dxc5 20.Rh1 cxd4 21.cxd4 Qxc2+ 22.Bxc2 Nd7± 20...Qxc5 20...Nd7 21.Rh1 Nxe5 22.Bxe5 Bxe5 23.Bxg6= 21.Rh1 Nd7 22.Bxg6 hxg6 23.Qxg6 Instead of 23.Nxg6 Rf6 24.Bg5 d4 25.Bxf6 d3+ 26.Kxd3 Bc4+ 26...Nxf6?! 27.Ke2= 26...Bxf6 is much worse 27.Ke2± 27.Kd2 Nxf6 23...Nxe5?? the position is going down the drain 23...Rf6 24.Qh7+ Kf8 24.Bxe5 24.Bxe5 Rf6 25.Bxf6 exf6 26.Rag1± 1–0

White	EloW	Black	EloB	Res

DChris

1871

Vierjoki,T

1836

1–0

Here are 8 reference games that reached the position after 6.c3 and where the players were a lot stronger than me.