E12 Queen's Indian: Unusual White 4th moves, 4.a3, 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.a3 and 4.Nc3 Bb7 (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bg5 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Bd3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 b6 9.O-O Bb7)

This was played in the first round of Rilton Cup Open in 2003. My first tournament abroad and I managed to start with a win, so all looked good at this time. This was played in a time when I had increased my rating over 300 points in a year and almost every time I played in a team match or in a tournament I was able to get my rating higher. Only in one team match during that year, I lost and therefore stained my otherwise positive score. This ended up being slightly positive tournament for me as ratings are concerned, but as I did not play on all the rounds, it was a bit of a shame to go all the way to Stockholm to play a tournament and not to play on all the rounds.

[Event "Rilton Cup Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2003.12.27"] [Round "1"] [White "Breznica, Burim"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E12"] [WhiteElo "1798"] [BlackElo "1612"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "2003.12.30"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4 b6 9. O-O Bb7 {E12 Queen's Indian: Unusual White 4th moves, 4.a3, 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.a3 and 4.Nc3 Bb7. LiveBook: 15 Games} 10. Bd3 Rc8 (10... c5 11. Rc1 (11. Qe2 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Nc5 13. Bc2 Ba6 14. Ndb5 Qd7 15. Rfd1 Qc6 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. a4 Bb7 18. f3 Ba6 19. Rd6 Qb7 20. Rad1 Rad8 21. Qe1 Be7 22. Qg3 g6 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Rxd8+ Bxd8 25. Nd6 Bc7 {Carucci,B (1463)-Chighine,R (1434) Ozieri 2014 1-0}) 11... Rc8 12. Qe2 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 c4 14. Bb1 a6 15. a4 Re8 16. Rcd1 Qc7 17. e4 Qb7 18. Rfe1 e5 19. d5 Bd6 20. Rc1 Bb4 21. Re2 h6 22. Bd2 Rc5 23. Qh3 Nf8 24. Na2 Bxd2 25. Rxd2 {Almeida,C (1950) -Rodrigues da Silva,E (2225) Joao Pessoa 2010 0-1 (72)}) 11. Ne5 $146 (11. Rc1 Nd5 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Nxd5 Bxd5 14. Ba6 Ra8 15. Rxc7 Qd6 16. Rc3 Rab8 17. Bd3 e5 18. dxe5 Nxe5 19. Nxe5 Qxe5 20. a3 Qg5 21. e4 Be6 22. f4 Qh6 23. Qf3 Rfd8 24. Qg3 Bc8 25. f5 Bb7 { Neldner,U (1535)-Tovmasian,N (1390) Winterberg 2002 1-0 (54)}) (11. e4 c5 12. e5 Nd5 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. h4 Nf4 15. Bc2 cxd4 16. Qxd4 Rxc3 17. Bxh7+ Kxh7 18. Qxf4 Rxf3 19. gxf3 f6 20. Rfd1 Nxe5 21. Rac1 Nxf3+ 22. Kf1 f5 23. Rc7 Ba6+ 24. Kg2 Nxh4+ 25. Kg3 Qe8 {Hamel,O (1998)-Saifan,J (2050) Dos Hermanas 2003 1-0}) 11... c5 12. Qc2 {The position is equal.} h6 13. Bh4 cxd4 14. exd4 Nd5 15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. Nxd5 Bxd5 17. Qe2 Nf6 18. a3 Rfd8 19. Rad1 Bb7 20. h3 Nd5 21. Qe4 $2 { -2.04/25} (21. f4 $11 {-0.20/27}) 21... f5 $1 $19 22. Qe1 Nf4 $1 {[#] And now . ..Qg5 would win.} 23. g3 Nxh3+ 24. Kh2 Ng5 ({And not} 24... Rxd4 25. Kxh3 Qg5 26. f3 $11) 25. f4 Nh7 ({Stronger than} 25... Rxd4 26. fxg5 hxg5 27. Nf3 $11) 26. Qe3 Nf6 27. Be2 {-2.41/25} (27. Rfe1 {-1.76/29 is a better defense.}) 27... Rc2 28. Rd2 Rdc8 29. Ng6 $2 {-5.72/27} (29. Bd1 {-2.19/27 is tougher.} Rc1 30. Kg1) 29... Qe8 30. Nh4 Ne4 31. Rxc2 Rxc2 32. Kg1 Rxe2 33. Qxe2 Nxg3 34. Qe5 Nxf1 35. Kxf1 Qc8 36. b4 g5 37. Ng6 {[#] Strongly threatening Ne7+.} Kh7 38. Qf6 Qc1+ {Black mates.} 39. Kf2 Qd2+ 40. Kf1 Ba6+ 41. Kg1 Qe1+ 42. Kh2 Qf2+ { Precision: White = 37%, Black = 72%.} 0-1

I was only able to find this game from my reference database when I searched for games where the position after 9...Bb7 had been reached and where both players were rated over 2500.

[Event "URS-ch53"] [Site "Kiev"] [Date "1986.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Dolmatov, Sergey"] [Black "Balashov, Yuri S"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E12"] [WhiteElo "2515"] [BlackElo "2515"] [PlyCount "58"] [EventDate "1986.04.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "17"] [EventCountry "UKR"] [EventCategory "10"] [SourceTitle "URS-ch"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1999.07.01"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4 b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Qe2 Ne4 11. Nxe4 Bxe4 12. Bf4 Bd6 13. Bxd6 cxd6 14. Rfc1 Rc8 15. Bd3 Bb7 16. Ba6 Bxa6 17. Qxa6 Rc7 18. Qf1 Nf6 19. Rxc7 Qxc7 20. Rc1 Qd7 21. Qc4 Rd8 22. h3 Kf8 23. Qc2 h6 24. e4 Kg8 25. Nd2 Kf8 26. Nf1 Ng8 27. Ne3 Ne7 28. Qc7 Qxc7 29. Rxc7 a5 1/2-1/2