64 square madness that some of us call chess...: E20 Nimzo-Indian: 4.g3 and 4.f3 (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 b6)

E20 Nimzo-Indian: 4.g3 and 4.f3 (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 b6)

This game was played in a team match called TMCL 2016 Div C R4 OCD v World Friendship. It was played on 57 boards and I played on board 22 for Obsessive Chess Disorder. I helped the team to win the match by winning both of my games against Susi. The final score of the match was 79.5 - 34.5 in favor of Obsessive Chess Disorder. The first time that a clear mistake was seen during this game was when Susi played 18.Qc2. It was bad because of the continuation 18...dxc4 19.bxc4 Bxf3 20.gxf3 cxd4 21.exd4 (this same line is seen in the game notation). In that line after 21.exd4, White is left with doubled isolated pawns on the f-file, isolated pawns on the a-file and on the h-file and total of five pawn islands against Black's two. Due to the pawn weaknesses Black should be clearly better.

18.dxc5 would have been the way to go.

Alas, I did not go for the move 18...dxc4, but instead simply protected my h-pawn by pushing it to h6. After this passive move the position should be about even. The second clear mistake was seen when Susi played 21.Bb4. With that move Susi allowed me to win a pawn, had I moved my queen to c6, so that Susi could not have taken on d4 with the knight due to the mate on g2. For some reason I moved the queen to c7, which was much less effective square for the queen. I should have been somewhat better even after 21...Qc7, but it allowed Susi to take on d4 with the knight and get the pawn back safely.

Susi needed to take back on d4 with the knight, in order to stop Qc6 and maintain material equality.

Luckily for me, Susi played 22.exd4 instead and his position started to completely fell apart. I then took the knight on f3 with my bishop, because it removed the defender of the pawn on d4, so that when Susi replied with 23.Bxf3, I could finally be up a pawn because I was able to take the undefended d-pawn with my remaining bishop. The rest of the game was quite easy for me to play and while I did some inaccurate moves, I always remained at least in a clearly favorable position and eventually after my 39th move Qd3+, my opponent resigned.

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Move	N	Result	Elo

Replay and check the LiveBook here

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 b6 E20 Nimzo-Indian: 4.g3 and 4.f3 5.a3 Be7 6.Nf3 6.e4 0-0 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.Qc2 Nc6 9.Nf3 h6 10.h3 d6 11.Be3 Nd7 12.0-0 Bf6 13.b4 Ne7 14.Rab1 Ng6 15.Ne2 Qc8 16.Ng3 Nh4 17.Nh2 c5 18.bxc5 bxc5 19.d5 Bd4 20.Bd2 Qc7 Kljako,D (2263)-Jovanic,O (2432) Zadar 2002 1/2-1/ 2 (40) 6...Bb7 7.e3 7.Qc2 c5 8.0-0-0 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nc6 10.Nb3 Rc8 11.Na1 Na5 12.b4 Nxc4 13.Qa4 Nxd2 14.Kxd2 Qc7 15.Qb3 Qf4+ 16.Ke1 0-0 17.e3 Qc7 18.Nb5 Qb8 19.f3 a6 20.Nd4 Nd5 21.Rd3 Rc1+ Plata,Y (1766)-Rincon Rincon,J (1633) Santander 2013 0-1 7...0-0 8.Be2N 8.Bd3 d5 9.0-0 Nbd7 10.Rb1 c5 11.b4 cxd4 12.exd4 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Rc8 14.Be2 Qc7 15.Rc1 Qb8 16.h3 h6 17.Qb3 Nd5 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 19.Bc4 Rxc4 20.Rxc4 b5 21.Re1 bxc4 22.Qe3 0-1 (22) Pelic,S (2036)-Jovanic,O (2477) Umag 2005 8...d5 9.0-0 c5 10.b3 Nbd7 10...cxd4 11.Nxd4 dxc4 12.Bxc4 11.Re1 Ne4 12.Bf1 12.cxd5 exd5 13.Nxe4 dxe4= 12...Nxc3 12...cxd4!? 13.exd4 Ndf6 13.Bxc3= Bf6 14.Rb1 14.cxd5 Bxd5 15.b4 Rc8= 14...Re8 14...dxc4 15.bxc4 Qc7 16.Rc1= 15.Be2 15.cxd5 exd5 16.Qd2 Rc8= 15...Qc7 16.Rc1 Rac8 17.Bd3 17.cxd5 exd5 18.Bb2 Nf8= 17...Qd6 18.Qc2 18.dxc5 Nxc5 ≤18...Rxc5 19.Bb4± 19.Bxf6 Nxd3 20.Qxd3 gxf6= 18...h6 18...dxc4 19.bxc4 Bxf3 20.gxf3 cxd4 21.exd4 19.Be2 19.dxc5!? is worthy of consideration Qxc5 20.Bxf6 Nxf6 21.b4= 19...dxc4 20.bxc4 cxd4 20...Bxf3 21.Bxf3 cxd4 22.Bxd4 Bxd4 23.exd4 Qxa3 21.Bb4? 21.Nxd4 Be5 22.h3 Qe7 21...Qc7 21...Qc6 22.exd4 Bxd4 23.Bf1 22.exd4 22.Nxd4!? should be investigated more closely Nc5 23.Nb5 22...Bxf3 23.Bxf3 Bxd4 24.Red1 Bc5 25.Be2 Nf6 26.Rf1 26.g3 h5 26...Red8-+ 27.Rcd1 Qe7 28.h3? 28.Qb1 28...Bxb4-+ 29.axb4 Qxb4 30.Rb1 30.Rd3 Nd5! Deflection: c4 31.Rb3 Qc5-+ 30...Qc5 31.Ra1 31.Rfc1 doesn't get the bull off the ice Rd4-+ 31...a5 31...b5!? makes it even easier for Black 32.Rfc1 b4 33.Bf3-+ 32.Rfb1 Rd6 33.Rb5 33.Rb2-+ 33...Qxb5! Deflection: c4 34.Rb1 34.cxb5 Rxc2 Clearance Deflection Pinning 34...Qc5 35.Kf1 b5! Deflection: c4 36.Rc1 36.Rxb5 Qxb5 37.cxb5 Rxc2 Clearance Deflection Pinning 36.cxb5 Qb6 Discovered attack 36...Qxc2 Deflection Pinning 36...bxc4 37.Bf3 Qb4 38.Rb1 Qd2 39.Qa4 Qd3+ 39...Qd3+ 40.Kg1 Qxb1+ 41.Kh2 c3 42.g3 c2 43.Qf4 c1Q 44.Qxc1 Rxc1 45.g4 Rd2 46.h4 Rxf2+ 47.Kg3 Rg1+ 48.Kh3 Rxf3+ 49.Kh2 Nxg4# 0–1

White	EloW	Black	EloB	Res

Susi

1714

Vierjoki,T

1832

0–1

Six of the latest games from my reference games that reached the position after 4...b6 can be seen below.