64 square madness that some of us call chess...: B16 Caro-Kann: Bronstein-Larsen Variation (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ gxf6 6.Nf3 Bg4)

B16 Caro-Kann: Bronstein-Larsen Variation (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ gxf6 6.Nf3 Bg4)

This was played in the atadros's mini-tournament V, which was held at GameKnot. I was on 9th place in the final standings and I won only two out of the twenty games that played in the tournament, drew 7 games and lost all other games. Danyfox was on 10th place in the final standings of this tournament that consists of 11 players. This tournament was played with high-stakes, the entry cost was higher than normal, but also the winnings were increased.

The balance shifted a bit during the first 7 moves of the game, but maybe the first critical position arose after danyfox played 8...Qc7. The queen move was a rather passive one and only prepared castling to the queenside. After that move danyfox still had worse pawn structure and he or she was behind in development. Both of these things should mean that my opponent was in serious trouble. In fact the engine thinks at depth 33 that the position should be winning for me, but only had I gone with the move 9.dxe5. In the very brief line shown in the notation of the game, the engine had suggested that 9...Nd7 would be better than just simply taking back the pawn. Maybe the idea there is that hasty development is more important than keeping the material even. What does happen if the pawn is taken with the f-pawn? Well, then there are two moves that continue to be winning according to Stockfish 9 64 POPCNT at depth 33, 10.O-O and 10.Ng5. In the case that 10.O-O would be played, the game might continue 10...Nd7 11.Ng5 Bxe2 12.Qxe2 h6 and even though the pawn structure still favors White and Black is behind in development, I would not be that confident about my winning chances because the material is even and there does not seem to be an easy way to take advantage of the lead in development.

Stockfish 9 64 POPCNT prefers the move 8...Qa5+ at depth 35.

The move 10.Ng5 might lead to similar lines as 10.O-O, only the move order is a bit different. However, I might show one possible line regardless 10.Ng5 Bxe2 11.Qxe2 Qe7 12.O-O-O Nd7. Somehow this line seems a bit more promising to me than the one that started with 10.O-O and I would be more confidently playing towards a win. I played 9.Qd2 in the game and merely prepared to castle to the queenside. I probably did not want to take on e5 because it would help my opponent to fix his or hers pawn structure. Both players continued to play some sloppy moves, but not until my opponent played 13...Bc8, did the final downhill start for danyfox.

Equality could have been maintained with the move 13.Rd5, according to the engine at depth 42.

The losing move was 16...Bxb2+, but it has a clear idea behind it, the bishop can't be taken. If I had taken the bishop, my opponent would have played Nc4+ after which I would have resigned because I would have lost my queen. I did experience some technical difficulties during the remainder of the game, but nothing serious enough that would have jeopardized my win.

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Move	N	Result	Elo

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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ gxf6 6.Nf3 Bg4 B16 Caro-Kann: Bronstein-Larsen Variation 7.Be3 e5N 7...Qb6 8.Be2 8.b3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Qb4+ 10.Bd2 Qxd4 11.Rd1 Nd7 12.Bc3 Qc5 13.Bc4 Nb6 14.Bd4 Qa5+ 15.Bc3 Qc5 16.Bd4 Qa5+ 17.Bc3 1/2-1/2 (17) Luberanski,J (1444)-Jiruse,J (2043) Marianske Lazne 2017 8...Nd7 9.0-0 Qxb2 10.Rb1 Qxa2 11.Rxb7 Nb6 12.Qa1 Qxa1 13.Rxa1 Nc8 14.d5 Bd7 15.dxc6 Bxc6 16.Rc7 Bd7 17.Nd4 Kd8 18.Rb7 Nd6 19.Raxa7 Rxa7 20.Rxa7 e5 21.Nb3 Nc8 22.Ra6 Yates,F-Scott,R Hastings 1920 1-0 7...Na6 8.Bc4 e6 9.h3 Bh5 10.Qd2 Bxf3 11.gxf3 Nc7 12.0-0-0 Nd5 13.Bh6 Qd6 14.Bxf8 Kxf8 15.Kb1 Ke7 16.Rhg1 Rhg8 17.Rg4 Qb4 18.Qd3 f5 19.Rh4 Rg7 20.Bb3 Rd8 21.c4 Nf6 22.a3 Moen,O (2245)-Vranesic,Z (2375) La Valetta 1980 0-1 (45) 7...Nd7 8.Bc4 e6 9.Qd2 Nb6 10.Bb3 Nd5 11.0-0-0 a5 12.a3 a4 13.Ba2 h5 14.c4 Nxe3 15.fxe3 Qa5 16.Qd3 0-0-0 17.Kb1 h4 18.h3 Bh5 19.Ka1 Be7 20.Rd2 f5 21.Rc1 Rhg8 22.c5 Dubinin,P-Flohr, S Moscow 1944 0-1 (33) 7...e6 8.h3 Bh5 9.Bd3 Qd5 10.a3 Bxf3 11.Qxf3 Qxf3 12.gxf3 Nd7 13.Rd1 Bd6 14.Rg1 h5 15.c4 Ke7 16.Ke2 Rag8 17.f4 f5 18.c5 Bc7 19.b4 a6 20.a4 Nf6 21.Kf3 Rxg1 22.Rxg1 Ramirez,P-Vasconcellos,A La Paz 1962 1/2-1/2 7...Nd7 8.a3 8.Be2 Qc7? 8...Nd7 9.c3± 9.Qd2 9.dxe5!? Nd7 10.exf6± 9...Nd7± 10.0-0-0 0-0-0 11.Qc3 White has an active position 11.h3 Bh5 11...Nb6 11...e4 12.Ng1 Be6 13.f3 exf3 14.Bxf3 Bxa2 15.Ne2= 12.Qa5?? hands over the advantage to the opponent 12.dxe5 Nd5 13.Qd4 Nxe3 14.Qxe3 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 Qxe5 16.Bg4+ Kc7 17.Rxd8 Qxe3+ 18.fxe3 Kxd8 19.Rd1+ Kc7 20.Rd7+ Kb6 21.Rxf7 Bc5 12...Kb8?? Black has let it slip away 12...e4!? is worth looking at 13.Ng1 Be6 13.h3 White threatens to win material: h3xg4 13.dxe5 Rxd1+ 14.Rxd1 fxe5± 13...Bc8 13...Rd5!? should be investigated more closely 14.Qe1 Bf5= 14.dxe5± Bg7 14...Re8 15.exf6 Bd6 16.Rhe1± 15.exf6 Bxf6 16.g3 Bxb2+?? but even a better move would not have saved the game 16...Ka8 17.b3 Rhe8± 17.Kb1+- Bf6 17...Ka8 otherwise it's curtains at once 18.Bxb6 Qxb6 19.Qxb6 axb6 20.Kxb2 Kb8+- 18.Bf4 Qxf4 19.gxf4 Rde8 20.Bd3 20.Ne5 seems even better Bxe5 21.fxe5 Re7+- 20...Nd5 21.Rdf1 21.Rde1 might be the shorter path Bc3 22.Rxe8 Rxe8+- 22...Bxa5?? a tasty morsel with a slight problem... 23.Rxh8 Kc7 24.Rxh7+- 21...Nxf4 21...Be7 cannot undo what has already been done 22.Qd2+- 22.Bc4 22.Qd2 and White can already relax Nxd3 23.Qxd3 Ka8+- 22...Ne2 22...Re4 does not improve anything 23.Nd2 Rd4 24.Bxf7+- 23.Bxe2 Rxe2 24.h4 24.Qb4 keeps an even firmer grip Bd8 25.Nd4+- 24...Bg4 24...Re4 does not solve anything 25.Qa3 c5 26.Qxc5+- 25.Qa3 25.Qb4 and White has prevailed Rhe8 26.Qf4+ Be5 27.Qxg4 Bc3 28.Qf4+ Ka8+- 25...Rd8 25...Ka8 cannot change destiny 26.Qd6 Re6 27.Qf4 Bxf3 28.Qxf3+- 26.Rd1 Re6 26...Kc8 is still a small chance 27.Rxd8+ Bxd8+- 27.Rxd8+ Bxd8 28.Qd3 28.Ng5 makes it even easier for White c5 29.Qg3+ Bc7 30.Qxg4 Rb6+ 31.Kc1 a5+- 28...Bf6 29.Ng5 Re5 30.Qg3 30.Qd6+ Kc8 31.Qxf6 Rd5 32.Nxf7 h5 33.f3 Bf5 34.Nd6+ Kd7 35.Nxf5 Kc7 36.Ka1 a6 37.Qe7+ Rd7 38.Qe5+ Kb6 39.Ne7 Rd1+ 40.Rxd1 c5 41.Qd6+ Ka5 42.Qxc5+ b5 43.Nc6+ Ka4 44.Qb4# 30...Bh5 31.Re1 31.Re1 Bg6 32.Rxe5 Bxe5 33.Qxe5+ Kc8 34.h5 Bxh5 35.Nxh7 b6 36.Qxh5 Kc7 37.Qe5+ Kb7 38.Nf6 b5 39.Qd6 b4 40.Nd7 b3 41.Qb8+ Ka6 42.cxb3 c5 43.Nxc5+ Ka5 44.b4# 31.Nxh7 Bh8 32.Re1 f6 33.Nxf6 Bxf6 34.Rxe5 Bxe5 35.Qxe5+ Kc8 36.Qxh5 Kc7 37.Qf7+ Kb6 38.h5 a6 39.h6 a5 40.h7 a4 41.h8Q a3 42.Qb8 Kc5 43.Qe5+ Kb6 44.Qfc7+ Ka7 45.Qca5# 1–0

White	EloW	Black	EloB	Res

Vierjoki,T

1759

danyfox

1826

1–0

Here are some of the games I found in my reference database that reached the position after 6...Bg4. By the way, my 7th move 7.Be3 is the 3rd most common move in that position, according to my database, it had been played 103 times, while the most common move 7.Be2 had been played 887 times and the second most common move 7.c3 had been played in 160 games. At the moment my reference database contains 6786973 games, but I am planning on creating what I call a gigantic database that would contain all the games that I can download from lichess.org, FICS etc. It would contain close to 300 million games...