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.

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.

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.

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

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.

[Event "Open Challenge Kartik City - Board 10"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.05.28"] [Round "?"] [White "DChris"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "1871"] [BlackElo "1836"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s)"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 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} Bg4 7. Nbd2 Re8 $146 (7... c6 8. Qc2 e6 9. h3 Bf5 10. g4 Bxd3 11. Qxd3 Nbd7 12. O-O-O 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. O-O 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. O-O 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. O-O $11) 9. Qc2 (9. O-O Bf5 10. Bxf5 gxf5 $14) 9... Nc6 (9... c5 $5 $11) 10. g4 Kh8 (10... a5 11. Bg3 $14) 11. Rg1 (11. O-O-O a5 $16) 11... a6 {Prevents intrusion on b5} ( 11... a5 12. Ne5 Be6 13. h4 $16) 12. Ne5 Rf8 13. Ndf3 (13. O-O-O $16) 13... b5 $2 (13... Nxe5 $142 14. Nxe5 Bb5 $16) 14. h4 $18 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Be6 $2 (15... Kg8 16. h5 $1 {leaving no more doubts} c5 17. dxc5 Be8 $18) 16. h5 $1 {sealing the opponent's fate} Kg8 (16... gxh5 17. gxh5 Nxh5 18. Bxh7 {Overloading Deflection}) 17. Ke2 (17. f3 $142 {makes sure everything is clear} Nd7 18. Qh2 Bxe5 19. dxe5 $18 (19. Bxe5 $6 Nxe5 20. dxe5 g5 $16)) 17... Qc8 (17... c5 $5 18. h6 Bh8 $14) 18. f3 $18 c5 19. hxg6 (19. Rh1 $142 $5 $18) 19... fxg6 $16 20. dxc5 (20. Rh1 cxd4 21. cxd4 Qxc2+ 22. Bxc2 Nd7 $16) 20... Qxc5 (20... Nd7 21. Rh1 Nxe5 22. Bxe5 Bxe5 23. Bxg6 $11) 21. Rh1 Nd7 22. Bxg6 hxg6 23. Qxg6 ({ Instead of} 23. Nxg6 Rf6 24. Bg5 d4 25. Bxf6 d3+ 26. Kxd3 Bc4+ (26... Nxf6 $6 27. Ke2 $11) (26... Bxf6 {is much worse} 27. Ke2 $16) 27. Kd2 Nxf6 $17) 23... Nxe5 $4 {the position is going down the drain} (23... Rf6 $142 24. Qh7+ Kf8 $14 ) 24. Bxe5 (24. Bxe5 Rf6 25. Bxf6 exf6 26. Rag1 $16) 1-0

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

[Event "POL-chT"] [Site "Jachranka"] [Date "1987.??.??"] [Round "4"] [White "Sapis, Witalis"] [Black "Szymczak, Zbigniew"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2370"] [BlackElo "2390"] [PlyCount "60"] [EventDate "1987.??.??"] [EventType "team"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "POL"] [SourceTitle "EXT 1997"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1996.11.15"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. Bd3 O-O 6. c3 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. a4 a5 9. Na3 Nbd7 10. h3 Ne4 11. Qc2 e6 12. Nb5 c6 13. Na3 f5 14. c4 Qe7 15. Rac1 h6 16. Bh2 g5 17. Ne1 Kh8 18. f3 Nef6 19. Qf2 Nh5 20. g4 Nhf6 21. Qg3 Qb4 22. Qg2 Qe7 23. Nec2 e5 24. Bxf5 Ba6 25. b3 e4 26. f4 Nh7 27. Rf2 Ndf6 28. cxd5 cxd5 29. Nb5 Bxb5 30. axb5 Ne8 0-1 [Event "CSR-ch U18"] [Site "Pardubice"] [Date "1991.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Jirovsky, Milos"] [Black "Pribyl, Martin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A48"] [WhiteElo "2305"] [BlackElo "2315"] [PlyCount "141"] [EventDate "1991.??.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "CZE"] [EventCategory "2"] [SourceTitle "EXT 1997"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1996.11.15"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. c3 d5 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 c5 7. O-O Nc6 8. h3 b6 9. Nbd2 Bb7 10. Qe2 Nd7 11. Rfd1 e5 12. dxe5 Ndxe5 13. Ba6 Qc8 14. Bxb7 Qxb7 15. Nxe5 Nxe5 16. Nf3 Rfe8 17. Nxe5 Bxe5 18. Qf3 Bxf4 19. Qxf4 Qc6 20. Rd2 Re6 21. Rad1 Rf6 22. Qh6 Rd8 23. c4 Rfd6 24. Qf4 b5 25. b3 bxc4 26. bxc4 Qa4 27. cxd5 Qxf4 28. exf4 c4 29. Rc1 Rxd5 30. Rxd5 Rxd5 31. Rxc4 Rd1+ 32. Kh2 Rd2 33. Ra4 Rxf2 34. Kg3 Rf1 35. Rxa7 Kg7 36. Rb7 Ra1 37. Rb2 h5 38. Kf3 Kf6 39. Ke4 Re1+ 40. Kd5 Kf5 41. a4 Kxf4 42. Ra2 Kg3 43. a5 Re8 44. a6 f5 45. a7 Ra8 46. Ke5 h4 47. Kf6 f4 48. Kg5 f3 49. gxf3 Kxf3 50. Kxh4 Kf4 51. Ra4+ Kf5 52. Kg3 Kg5 53. Ra5+ Kf6 54. Kg4 Kg7 55. Kg5 Kh7 56. Ra6 Kg7 57. Rxg6+ Kf7 58. Ra6 Rg8+ 59. Kf5 Ra8 60. h4 Kg7 61. h5 Kh7 62. h6 Kh8 63. Ke5 Kh7 64. Kd5 Rf8 65. Rd6 Rf5+ 66. Kc6 Ra5 67. Kb7 Rb5+ 68. Rb6 Rc5 69. Ka6 Rc1 70. Rb7+ Kxh6 71. Rb6+ 1-0 [Event "RUS-chT (club)"] [Site "Novokuznetsk"] [Date "1999.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Yankin, Vadim"] [Black "Ibragimov, Alibek"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2340"] [BlackElo "2422"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "1999.??.??"] [EventType "team"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2001"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2000.11.22"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. c3 d5 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 c5 7. Nbd2 Nc6 8. O-O Nd7 9. Re1 e5 10. dxe5 Ndxe5 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. Bxe5 Bxe5 13. e4 dxe4 14. Bxe4 Qc7 15. Nf3 Bg7 16. Bd5 Bf5 17. Qb3 Rad8 18. Rad1 b6 19. h3 Bf6 20. Nh2 h5 21. Nf1 Kg7 22. Ne3 Bc8 23. Bf3 Be6 24. Bd5 Bc8 25. Bf3 Qb8 26. Nd5 Be6 27. c4 Bd4 28. a4 Qd6 29. Qc2 Rfe8 30. Qd2 Bf5 31. b4 Re5 32. Rxe5 Bxe5 33. b5 Bd4 34. a5 bxa5 35. Qxa5 Re8 36. Qd2 Be6 37. Re1 Rd8 38. Qg5 Bxd5 1/2-1/2 [Event "Erlangen op 17th"] [Site "Erlangen"] [Date "2002.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Okrajek, Alexander"] [Black "Zezulkin, Jurij"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A48"] [WhiteElo "2279"] [BlackElo "2524"] [PlyCount "86"] [EventDate "2002.??.??"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "GER"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2005"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2004.11.15"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. c3 Bg7 4. Bf4 O-O 5. e3 d5 6. Bd3 c5 7. Nbd2 b6 8. O-O Bb7 9. h3 Nc6 10. Ne5 Nd7 11. Nxd7 Qxd7 12. Nf3 Rad8 13. Bb5 f6 14. Qa4 Qc8 15. Rfd1 e5 16. dxe5 fxe5 17. Bg5 e4 18. Nh2 Rd7 19. Rd2 a6 20. Bxc6 Bxc6 21. Qd1 h6 22. Bh4 Kh7 23. Bg3 h5 24. Qb3 b5 25. Rad1 Rf5 26. Nf1 Qd8 27. Bh2 h4 28. Kh1 a5 29. a3 Qb6 30. a4 b4 31. c4 d4 32. exd4 cxd4 33. Bg1 Qd8 34. Nh2 Bh6 35. Ng4 Bxd2 36. Rxd2 e3 37. fxe3 d3 38. Qd1 Qa8 39. b3 Rdf7 40. Qa1 Qb8 41. Qd4 Rf3 42. e4 Rxh3+ 43. gxh3 Qf4 0-1 [Event "Muensterland op 19th"] [Site "Senden"] [Date "2002.10.13"] [Round "2"] [White "Menk, Rolf"] [Black "Landa, Konstantin"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2206"] [BlackElo "2632"] [PlyCount "100"] [EventDate "2002.10.12"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "GER"] [SourceTitle "CBM 090 ext"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2002.11.07"] 1. d4 d5 2. c3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 Nf6 5. Bd3 O-O 6. Nf3 b6 7. Qe2 Bb7 8. Nbd2 Nbd7 9. h3 Ne4 10. O-O c5 11. Rad1 Qc8 12. Rfe1 h6 13. Ne5 Ndf6 14. f3 Nd6 15. Ng4 Nxg4 16. hxg4 Qe6 17. Qf2 Rad8 18. Qh4 Kh7 19. Bxh6 Bxh6 20. g5 Rh8 21. gxh6 Qf6 22. Qxf6 exf6 23. Kf2 Kxh6 24. Rh1+ Kg7 25. Rxh8 Rxh8 26. e4 cxd4 27. cxd4 Rc8 28. e5 Nc4 29. Nxc4 dxc4 30. exf6+ Kxf6 31. Be4 Rc7 32. Bxb7 Rxb7 33. Ke3 Ke6 34. Kd2 Kd5 35. Kc3 Re7 36. Rd2 a5 37. b3 Re3+ 38. Kc2 b5 39. bxc4+ bxc4 40. a4 Ra3 41. Kc1 Rxa4 42. Re2 Kxd4 43. Re7 Kc3 44. Re3+ Kb4 45. Re7 Kb3 46. Kb1 c3 47. Rb7+ Rb4 48. Rxf7 a4 49. Rf6 a3 50. Ra6 a2+ 0-1 [Event "Pune CC Knockout"] [Site "Pune"] [Date "2006.10.31"] [Round "2.1"] [White "Sudhakar, Babu N"] [Black "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2290"] [BlackElo "2573"] [PlyCount "35"] [EventDate "2006.10.30"] [EventType "k.o. (rapid)"] [EventRounds "6"] [EventCountry "IND"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2007"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2006.11.23"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. c3 O-O 6. Bd3 c5 7. O-O Nc6 8. Nbd2 Nd7 9. Bg5 Qb6 10. Qb3 Qxb3 11. axb3 e5 12. dxe5 Ndxe5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Bc2 Nc6 15. h3 Be6 16. Rfd1 Rac8 17. Bh4 h6 18. Ra5 0-1 [Event "LTU-ch sf"] [Site "Vilnius"] [Date "2009.02.17"] [Round "7"] [White "Narmontas, Matas"] [Black "Labuckas, Aidas"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2363"] [BlackElo "2323"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2009.02.13"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "LTU"] [SourceTitle "CBM 128 Extra"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2009.03.05"] 1. d4 d5 2. c3 Nf6 3. Nf3 g6 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 c6 7. Nbd2 Nbd7 8. h4 h5 9. Ng5 Qe8 10. Bc7 a6 11. Qe2 Ra7 12. f3 b5 13. Be5 Qd8 14. g4 hxg4 15. h5 gxh5 16. fxg4 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Bxg4 18. exf6 Bxe2 19. Bh7+ Kh8 20. fxg7+ Kxg7 21. Kxe2 e6 22. Rxh5 Kf6 23. Rf1+ Ke7 24. Bg8 Ke8 25. Bxf7+ Raxf7 26. Rxf7 Qa5 27. Rb7 Qa4 28. Rb8+ Ke7 29. Rh7+ Kf6 30. Rxf8+ Kxg5 31. Rg7+ Kh6 32. Rg1 1-0 [Event "TUR-chT"] [Site "Kigali"] [Date "2014.08.18"] [Round "1.5"] [White "Gvetadze, Sopio"] [Black "Klinova, Masha"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A04"] [WhiteElo "2361"] [BlackElo "2312"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2014.08.18"] [EventType "team-tourn"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "RWA"] [SourceTitle "Mega2014 Update 36"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2014.09.08"] [WhiteTeam "Tarsus Zeka"] [BlackTeam "Istanbul Teknik Universitesi"] [WhiteTeamCountry "TUR"] [BlackTeamCountry "TUR"] 1. Nf3 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. c3 d5 4. Bf4 Nf6 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 Bg4 7. Nbd2 Nbd7 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Nxf3 c6 10. O-O 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 axb4 23. Rxb4 Re7 24. c4 Qa5 25. Qb2 Qc7 26. Rb1 Ra7 27. d5+ Kf7 28. Qh8 cxd5 29. cxd5 Qd7 30. d6 Qxd6 31. Rd4 Qc6 32. Rd8 Re8 33. Rd7+ Re7 34. Qh7+ 1-0