D35 Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 O-O 7.Bd3 b6)

This line is playable up to the move 7.Bd3. Even though I did not get punished from my 7th move, b6, I should remember in the future why the move is so bad. The reason why my move was so bad can be seen in the variation 8.Bxf6 (removing the defender of both d5 and h7) Bxf6 9.Qh5 (threatens both mate on h7 and the pawn on d5). It is interesting that this rather simple idea was missed by my opponent even though he or she is quite strong. I guess it is possible that my opponent did not want to win so easily and gave me a chance to fight on. Skw123 played 8.Rc1 in the game and the position was roughly even again.

The next turn for the worse from my point of view happened when I played 11...c5. Skw123 could have then played 12.Qf5 in order to target the pawn on d5, but I could have just replied with 12...g6 and kick the queen maybe to h3. While the engine thinks that after 11...c5 the position is clearly favorable to White, it is not so clear to me why that is. One reason for that may be that is the fact that the material is even and there is no clear attack for White in my opinion. White does have better placed pieces and it may be enough for the advantage, but converting that advantage to a win seems quite difficult.

The game continued with the moves 12.Rfd1 c4 and then skw123 played the passive 13.Qb1, after which the position does not seem so good for my opponent again. A much better try was to play 13.Qf5, because at least in that case skw123 would have had the initiative. I then moved my pawn to a6, in order to control the square b5 and maybe prepare the eventual move b5, followed by b4. It was perhaps not the best move, but even with that move the game continued in only slightly favorable way to skw123. During the rest of the game I managed to avoid serious mistakes and we agreed to a draw after 42.Nxh7. Probably the best chance for my opponent to win the game then was after my 7th move because after the continuation mentioned above, I would have likely resigned soon after 9.Qh5.

This game was played on the first round of the 1800+ 7 Days tournament at Chess.com. I was 6th in the final standings of group 5, I managed to get only 5.5 points in 14 games. It meant that I was eliminated from the tournament and could not advance to round two. My opponent in this game, skw123, was able to get 11 points in 14 games and was 2nd in the final standings of the group.

[Event "1800+ 7 Days - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.04.30"] [Round "?"] [White "skw123"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D35"] [WhiteElo "2226"] [BlackElo "1849"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s)"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 b6 { D35 Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation} 8. Rc1 Ba6 $146 (8... c5 9. dxc5 bxc5 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Nxd5 Bb7 (11... Bxb2 12. Rc2 Ba3 13. Qh5 g6 14. Qe5 f6 15. Qc3 Be6 16. Nxf6+ Qxf6 17. Qxa3 Nd7 18. Nf3 Bg4 19. Be4 Rae8 20. Bd5+ Kh8 21. O-O Nb6 22. e4 Nd7 23. Rc3 h5 24. Qc1 Kg7 25. h3 Bxf3 26. Rxf3 { Martic,Z (2316)-Radulovic,B (2302) Vinkovci 2008 0-1 (40)}) 12. Be4 Qa5+ 13. b4 Qa6 14. Qf3 Bxd5 15. Bxd5 Nd7 16. Bxa8 Ne5 17. Qe2 Nd3+ 18. Kf1 Rxa8 19. bxc5 Qa3 20. Rb1 Nxc5 21. Qc4 Rd8 22. Nf3 h6 23. g3 {Vetrov,G (2043)-Radulescu,V (1830) Prague 2012 1-0 (50)}) (8... Be6 9. Nge2 Nbd7 10. O-O h6 11. Bh4 c5 12. Bb1 Re8 13. Qc2 Rc8 14. dxc5 bxc5 15. Rfd1 Nf8 16. Qd2 Qb6 17. b3 Red8 18. Na4 Qa6 19. Bxf6 gxf6 20. Ng3 Ng6 21. h3 Bd7 22. Nc3 Bc6 23. Nh5 {Chashchev,S (2310) -Volokushin,D Soukhumi 2007 0-1 (49)}) (8... h6 9. Bf4 $14) 9. Nf3 (9. Bxa6 Nxa6 10. Qa4 Nb8 $14) 9... Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Nbd7 11. O-O c5 (11... c6 12. Bf4 $14) 12. Rfd1 c4 {Black gets more space} 13. Qb1 (13. Qf5 g6 14. Qh3 Qc7 $16) 13... a6 {Controls b5} (13... h6 14. Bh4 g5 15. Bg3 $14) 14. Ne5 (14. Qf5 h6 15. Bf4 Nb8 $14) 14... Qc7 $14 15. Qf5 Rad8 16. Qf3 (16. a4 Qb7 $14) 16... Nxe5 (16... b5 $5 $15 {has some apparent merit}) 17. dxe5 $14 Qxe5 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. Rxd5 (19. Nxd5 b5 20. b3 cxb3 21. axb3 Rd6 $11) 19... Rxd5 20. Qxd5 b5 21. Qxe5 Bxe5 22. Rd1 Ra8 23. f4 {White threatens to win material: f4xe5} Bc7 24. Kf2 Rd8 25. Rxd8+ Bxd8 {A minor pieces endgame occured} 26. Nd5 Kf8 27. e4 Ke8 28. Ke3 Kd7 29. Kd4 Kc6 30. a4 Ba5 31. axb5+ axb5 32. Ne7+ Kb6 33. e5 {White gains space} Bd2 34. g3 {Secures f4} Bc1 {Black threatens to win material: Bc1xb2} 35. Kc3 Kc5 36. b4+ cxb3 37. Kxb3 Bd2 38. Nf5 {White threatens to win material: Nf5xg7} g6 {Black threatens to win material: g6xf5} 39. Nh6 {White threatens to win material: Nh6xf7} Be3 40. Nxf7 {White has a new protected passed pawn: e5} Bg1 {Black threatens to win material: Bg1xh2} 41. Ng5 {White threatens to win material: Ng5xh7} Bxh2 42. Nxh7 1/2-1/2

Well, it does make me feel a bit better about my 7th move when I searched my reference database and found players who are much stronger than me and also made the mistake 7...b6.

[Event "COL-ch"] [Site "Medellin"] [Date "2001.??.??"] [Round "2"] [White "Echavarria, Johann"] [Black "Clavijo, Jorge Mario"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D35"] [WhiteElo "2364"] [BlackElo "2375"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2001.??.??"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "COL"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2002"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2001.11.25"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 b6 8. Bxf6 Bxf6 9. Qh5 g6 10. Qxd5 c6 11. Qxd8 Rxd8 12. Be4 Re8 13. Nge2 Ba6 14. Bf3 Rc8 15. Rc1 Nd7 16. Ne4 Be7 17. Nd2 Rc7 18. Rxc6 Rac8 19. Rxc7 Rxc7 20. Nc3 b5 21. Kd1 Nb6 22. Nd5 Nxd5 23. Bxd5 b4 24. b3 Bd3 25. Bc4 1-0 [Event "Porto San Giorgio op 15th"] [Site "Porto San Giorgio"] [Date "2003.08.28"] [Round "8"] [White "Georgiev, Vladimir"] [Black "Orlov, Andrey"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D35"] [WhiteElo "2566"] [BlackElo "2391"] [PlyCount "155"] [EventDate "2003.08.21"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ITA"] [SourceTitle "CBM 095 ext"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2003.09.04"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 b6 8. Nge2 Bb7 9. Qc2 h6 10. Bh4 c5 11. Rd1 Nc6 12. Bf5 c4 13. a3 Na5 14. O-O Qe8 15. f3 g6 16. Bh3 Nh7 17. Bf2 Ng5 18. Nf4 Nxh3+ 19. Nxh3 Bf6 20. e4 dxe4 21. fxe4 Bg7 22. Rfe1 Bc8 23. Nf4 Bg4 24. Nfe2 Rd8 25. h3 Bc8 26. Ng3 Bb7 27. e5 Qe6 28. Nge4 Kh7 29. Bh4 Rd7 30. Nd6 Bd5 31. Qa4 Rc7 32. Qb5 Ba8 33. d5 Qd7 34. Qxd7 Rxd7 35. e6 Rxd6 36. Be7 Bxc3 37. Bxd6 Bxe1 38. Bxf8 fxe6 39. dxe6 Bh4 40. e7 Bc6 41. Rd8 h5 42. e8=Q Bxe8 43. Rxe8 Bf6 44. Bb4 Bxb2 45. Re7+ Kg8 46. Bxa5 bxa5 47. a4 c3 48. Rc7 c2 49. Rxc2 Bd4+ 50. Kf1 Kg7 51. Rc6 Kh6 52. Rd6 Bb6 53. Rd5 Kg7 54. Ke2 Kf6 55. Kd3 Ke6 56. Ke4 Kf6 57. g4 hxg4 58. hxg4 Ke6 59. Re5+ Kf6 60. Kd5 Bc7 61. g5+ Kf7 62. Re6 Bd8 63. Ra6 Bxg5 64. Rxa7+ Ke8 65. Rxa5 Kd7 66. Rb5 Kc7 67. Rb3 Bh4 68. a5 Bf2 69. Ke5 Kc6 70. Kf6 Kc7 71. Kxg6 Kc6 72. Kf5 Bg1 73. Ke6 Bc5 74. a6 Bb6 75. Rb1 Kc7 76. Kd5 Be3 77. Rb7+ Kc8 78. Kc6 1-0 [Event "USA-chT Amateur West"] [Site "San Pedro"] [Date "2006.02.19"] [Round "3"] [White "Hummel, Patrick"] [Black "Peters, Jack"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D35"] [WhiteElo "2364"] [BlackElo "2448"] [PlyCount "123"] [EventDate "2006.02.18"] [EventType "team"] [EventRounds "6"] [EventCountry "USA"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2014"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2013.11.19"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 b6 8. Bxf6 Bxf6 9. Qh5 g6 10. Qxd5 c6 11. Qxd8 Rxd8 12. Nge2 Bb7 13. Be4 Nd7 14. O-O Rac8 15. Rfd1 Ba6 16. Bd3 Bxd3 17. Rxd3 c5 18. Nd5 cxd4 19. Nxf6+ Nxf6 20. Rxd4 Rxd4 21. Nxd4 Kf8 22. Kf1 Rc5 23. Ke2 b5 24. Rd1 Ke7 25. Nb3 Rc2+ 26. Rd2 Rc4 27. Nd4 a6 28. Rc2 Nd5 29. Rxc4 bxc4 30. a3 Kd6 31. Kd2 Kc5 32. Ne2 f5 33. f3 Nf6 34. Nf4 a5 35. h3 Kd6 36. Kc3 g5 37. Ne2 Kc5 38. g4 fxg4 39. hxg4 h5 40. gxh5 Nxh5 41. Kc2 Nf6 42. Ng3 Kd5 43. Kc3 Kc5 44. Kd2 Kd5 45. e4+ Ke5 46. Ke3 Nd7 47. Nf5 Nc5 48. Ne7 Kd6 49. Nd5 Na4 50. Kd4 Nxb2 51. Ne3 c3 52. Kxc3 Na4+ 53. Kd4 Kc6 54. Nc4 Kb5 55. Nd6+ Kc6 56. Nf7 Nb6 57. Nxg5 Kb5 58. e5 Ka4 59. e6 Nc8 60. f4 Ne7 61. Ke5 Ng6+ 62. Kd6 1-0 [Event "Vinkovci Treber Memorial 5th"] [Site "Vinkovci"] [Date "2008.09.07"] [Round "4"] [White "Martic, Zlatko"] [Black "Radulovic, Bojan"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D35"] [WhiteElo "2316"] [BlackElo "2302"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2008.09.05"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "CRO"] [SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2008.11.05"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 b6 8. Rc1 c5 9. dxc5 bxc5 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Nxd5 Bxb2 12. Rc2 Ba3 13. Qh5 g6 14. Qe5 f6 15. Qc3 Be6 16. Nxf6+ Qxf6 17. Qxa3 Nd7 18. Nf3 Bg4 19. Be4 Rae8 20. Bd5+ Kh8 21. O-O Nb6 22. e4 Nd7 23. Rc3 h5 24. Qc1 Kg7 25. h3 Bxf3 26. Rxf3 Qd6 27. Ra3 a6 28. Qc4 Rf6 29. Rc1 Ref8 30. Rc2 Rc8 31. Rb3 Rc7 32. Qc3 Kh7 33. Rd2 Qf4 34. g3 Qg5 35. h4 Qg4 36. e5 Rf8 37. Rb7 Rxb7 38. Bxb7 Qf5 39. Bxa6 Nxe5 40. Kg2 Qe4+ 0-1 [Event "CFO-chT"] [Site "Elets"] [Date "2008.12.21"] [Round "7"] [White "Gladyszev, Oleg"] [Black "Popov, Valerij"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D35"] [WhiteElo "2448"] [BlackElo "2542"] [PlyCount "101"] [EventDate "2008.12.17"] [EventType "team-tourn"] [EventRounds "7"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2011"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2010.11.26"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 b6 8. Bxf6 Bxf6 9. Qh5 g6 10. Qxd5 Qxd5 11. Nxd5 Bd8 12. Be4 c6 13. Nb4 Bb7 14. Rc1 a5 15. Nxc6 Nxc6 16. Bxc6 Rc8 17. d5 Bf6 18. Ne2 Bxc6 19. dxc6 Bxb2 20. Rb1 Ba3 21. Rxb6 Bb4+ 22. Kd1 Rfd8+ 23. Kc1 Rd2 24. Rxb4 Rxe2 25. Rb2 Rxc6+ 26. Kb1 Rxb2+ 27. Kxb2 Rf6 28. f3 Re6 29. Re1 g5 30. Re2 Kf8 31. Kc3 Ke7 32. e4 Rc6+ 33. Kd4 Rb6 34. Kc3 Rc6+ 35. Kb3 Rc5 36. Rc2 Re5 37. Kc4 g4 38. Kd4 Rh5 39. fxg4 Rxh2 40. Ke5 Rh6 41. Rc7+ Kf8 42. Ra7 Rh2 43. Kf6 Rh6+ 44. Kf5 Rh2 45. Rxa5 Rxg2 46. a4 Kg7 47. Kf4 Ra2 48. Rg5+ Kf8 49. a5 Ra1 50. Rc5 Kg7 51. Ke5 1-0 [Event "Teplice op 8th"] [Site "Teplice"] [Date "2013.06.21"] [Round "7"] [White "Luch, Michal"] [Black "Tuma, Jan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D35"] [WhiteElo "2432"] [BlackElo "2303"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2013.06.15"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "CZE"] [SourceTitle "CBM 155 Extra"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2013.08.26"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 b6 8. Bxf6 Bxf6 9. Qh5 g6 10. Qxd5 Qxd5 11. Nxd5 Bd8 12. Nxc7 Bxc7 13. Be4 Nc6 14. Bxc6 Rb8 15. Ne2 Ba6 16. Nc3 Rbd8 17. Bb5 Bb7 18. O-O f5 19. Rad1 Kg7 20. Rfe1 a6 21. Be2 b5 22. Bf3 Bc8 23. a3 Be6 24. g3 Ba5 25. b4 Bc7 26. Rc1 Bb8 27. Nd1 1-0