30 Apr 2018

D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.e3 Be7 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nd2 O-O)

D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.e3 Be7 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nd2 O-O)

This was my second game of the day on December 12th, 2015 and also my second game in a row against Andrea Martelli. Our first encounter I lost and this game was going in that direction as well, only a huge blunder near the end of the game turned my agony into a celebration. The first inaccuracy of the game was played by me in my 14th move. I played 14...f5, so that I can defend my kingside along the seventh rank. It does weaken my pawns on e6 and g6 a bit, but I did not consider that to be all that dangerous in the current position. On move 20 my opponent played perhaps the worst move up to that point, because after that I could have gained a small advantage. I did not seize the advantage, but instead allowed my opponent to take it back. I am quite often generous like that...

That small advantage turned into a clearer one when I played 24...b5. That was the starting point of my biggest struggles during this game. I got into a position that should have been completely lost to me, but it only takes one innocent looking blunder to change the outcome of the game. In this game, that move was 36.Kh1, after this, there was no turning back and I was able to take advantage of my chance to be the winner of the game.

[Event "Challenge 35877046"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.12.12"] [Round "1"] [White "Martelli, Andrea"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D00"] [WhiteElo "1940"] [BlackElo "1792"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "82"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e3 Be7 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nd2 O-O {D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines} 6. f4 c5 7. c3 Nc6 (7... Nbd7 8. Ngf3 b6 9. Ne5 Bb7 10. Qf3 h6 11. Bxf6 Nxf6 12. O-O-O b5 13. g4 b4 14. cxb4 cxd4 15. exd4 Bxb4 16. Kb1 Bxd2 17. Rxd2 Ne4 18. Rc2 Qa5 19. Qe3 Rfc8 20. Rhc1 Qd8 21. f5 Rxc2 22. Rxc2 {Kryakvin,D (2580) -Hingouet,M (2174) Vandoeuvre 2018 1-0 (42)}) 8. Ngf3 {LiveBook: 4 Games. The position is equal.} Nd7 $146 (8... cxd4 9. exd4 Nd7 (9... Qb6 10. Rb1 a5 11. Ne5 h6 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Ndf3 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Bxe5 15. fxe5 f5 16. O-O Bd7 17. Rf2 Bb5 18. Qb3 {1-0 (18) Hammar,U (2229)-Wiker,B (2047) Sweden 2011}) 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O f5 12. Re1 Qd6 13. Ne5 Nf6 14. Re3 Ne4 15. Rh3 Nxe5 16. fxe5 Qe7 17. Nf3 g5 18. Bxe4 g4 19. Bxf5 exf5 20. Rh6 gxf3 21. Qxf3 Be6 22. Qg3+ Kh8 23. Qg6 {Bueno Perez,L-Avgoustianos,A Tjentiste 1975 1/2-1/2 (49)}) (8... Bd7 9. a3 Rc8 10. O-O g6 11. Bh6 Re8 12. Ne5 Nh5 13. b4 cxd4 14. cxd4 Bf8 15. Bg5 Be7 16. g4 Ng7 17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. Ndf3 f6 19. Nxc6 Bxc6 20. Qb3 a6 21. a4 Rf8 22. Rfc1 Bd7 23. Rc5 {Harshkou,M (2233)-Slavin,G (2300) Eilat 2012 0-1 (85)}) 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. O-O b6 11. Ne5 Bb7 12. Nxd7 Qxd7 13. Qh5 $40 {[#] White is up to no good.} g6 14. Qh6 f5 15. Bb5 Qe7 16. Bxc6 Bxc6 17. Nf3 Bb5 18. Rf2 Bd3 19. Ne5 Be4 20. g4 {-0.57/28} (20. h4 $11 {0.19/27}) 20... Rfc8 {0.88/26} (20... fxg4 $15 {-0.57/28 keeps the upper hand.} 21. Nxg4 Rf5) 21. g5 $16 Qg7 22. Qxg7+ { 0.24/27} ({Better is} 22. a3 $16 {0.72/26}) 22... Kxg7 $11 23. h4 cxd4 24. exd4 b5 {1.45/25} (24... Rc7 $14 {0.40/31}) 25. Nd7 Rc6 {1.92/26} (25... b4 $16 { 1.10/29 might work better.}) 26. Nc5 $1 $18 Rb8 27. b4 $1 h6 $2 {4.86/25 [#]} ( 27... Re8 {2.40/31} 28. a4 bxa4 29. Rxa4 Re7) 28. a4 hxg5 {13.01/27} (28... bxa4 $142 {4.70/28} 29. Rxa4 a6) 29. axb5 Rxb5 30. Rxa7+ Kh6 31. hxg5+ { 15.08/29} (31. fxg5+ $142 {#5/67} Kh5 32. Rf4 Rc7 33. Rxc7 Rb7 34. Rxb7 Bc2 35. Rh7#) 31... Kh5 32. Kh2 Kg4 33. Ra1 {7.16/32} (33. Nd7 $142 {#10/33} Bf3 34. Ne5+ Kxf4 35. Rxf3+ Kxg5 36. Rg3+ Kf4 37. Nd3+ Ke4 38. Rh7) 33... Rb8 34. Rg1+ Kh4 35. Nxe4 fxe4 {Endgame KRR-KRR} 36. Kh1 $4 {-4.08/34} (36. Rc2 $18 { 7.10/32 avoids the disaster. Intending Kh1 and mate.} Rbc8 37. Rg3) 36... Rxc3 $19 37. Rh2+ $2 {-11.42/34} (37. Rb2 {-3.00/26}) 37... Rh3 {Black is clearly winning.} 38. Rb1 Rxh2+ 39. Kxh2 Kg4 40. b5 Kxf4 41. b6 Rb7 {Precision: White = 57%, Black = 19%.} 0-1

While I would like to think that my game inspired the game below because it was played before the Stefanova - Gunina game, it most definitely was not the case. When I removed the rating restrictions while searching the position after 5...O-O from my reference database, the earliest game that featured the position was played in 1975.

[Event "Hancheng Silk Road blitz 1st"] [Site "Hancheng"] [Date "2016.07.21"] [Round "9"] [White "Stefanova, Antoaneta"] [Black "Gunina, Valentina"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "2512"] [BlackElo "2520"] [PlyCount "106"] [EventDate "2016.07.21"] [EventType "tourn (blitz)"] [EventRounds "10"] [EventCountry "CHN"] [EventCategory "12"] [SourceTitle "Mega2016 Update 43"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2016.07.29"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. Nd2 d5 4. e3 Be7 5. Bd3 O-O 6. c3 b6 7. Ngf3 Bb7 8. Qb1 h6 9. Bh4 c5 10. Ne5 Nbd7 11. f4 cxd4 12. exd4 Nxe5 13. fxe5 Ne4 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Nf3 f6 16. exf6 Rxf6 17. O-O Raf8 18. Qc2 Rf4 19. Qe2 Qf6 20. Ne5 Qg5 21. Bxe4 dxe4 22. Rxf4 Rxf4 23. Rf1 Rxf1+ 24. Kxf1 Qf4+ 25. Kg1 Bd5 26. c4 Bb7 27. h3 e3 28. Qf1 Qe4 29. Qe2 Qxd4 30. Ng4 Qd2 31. Qxd2 exd2 32. Ne3 Kf7 33. Kf2 Kf6 34. Ke2 Ke5 35. Kxd2 Kf4 36. Kd3 Be4+ 37. Ke2 Kg3 38. b4 h5 39. a4 Kf4 40. Kd2 g5 41. c5 bxc5 42. bxc5 a5 43. Ke2 Bc6 44. Kf2 Bxa4 45. Nc4 Ke4 46. Nxa5 Kd5 47. Nb7 Bc6 48. Nd8 Be8 49. c6 Bxc6 50. Nf7 g4 51. hxg4 hxg4 52. Nh6 Kd4 53. Nxg4 e5 1/2-1/2

27 Apr 2018

E12 Queen's Indian: Unusual White 4th moves, 4.a3, 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.a3 and 4.Nc3 Bb7 (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.Nf3 Be7 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5 6.O-O Nbd7 7.c4 dxc4 8.Bxc4 b6 9.Nc3 Bb7 10.Rc1 c5)

E12 Queen's Indian: Unusual White 4th moves, 4.a3, 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.a3 and 4.Nc3 Bb7 (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.Nf3 Be7 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5 6.O-O Nbd7 7.c4 dxc4 8.Bxc4 b6 9.Nc3 Bb7 10.Rc1 c5)

The game below was played in a team match called TM C.L. 2016 Div. C RO: Kopaonik vs. 300 Spartans. The match was played on 109 boards and I played on board 22 for Kopaonik. For some reason I have been able to play well when I have played for Kopaonik and so it was in this match as well because I won both of my games. The final score of the match was 125 - 93 in favor of Kopaonik. The statistics below have been taken from the LiveBook.

[Event "TM C.L. 2016 Div. C RO: Kopaonik vs. 300"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.09.30"] [Round "?"] [White "savatage27"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E12"] [WhiteElo "1818"] [BlackElo "1878"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. Nf3 Be7 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. O-O Nbd7 7. c4 dxc4 8. Bxc4 b6 9. Nc3 Bb7 10. Rc1 c5 {E12 Queen's Indian: Unusual White 4th moves, 4. a3, 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.a3 and 4.Nc3 Bb7. LiveBook: 8 Games} 11. dxc5 Nxc5 12. Qxd8 Rfxd8 (12... Raxd8 13. Nd4 h6 14. Bh4 Rfe8 15. Rc2 Nfe4 16. Bxe7 Rxe7 17. Nxe4 Bxe4 18. Rcc1 a6 19. a3 b5 20. Bxb5 Rd5 21. Bc6 Nd3 22. Bxd5 Bxd5 23. Rc2 Be4 24. f3 Bg6 25. Rd2 Rb7 26. b4 a5 27. e4 {Raduta Gib,S (1344)-Stamatie,M (1001) Calimanesti 2014 1-0 (40)}) 13. Rfd1 {Black is slightly better.} h6 $146 14. Bh4 Rac8 15. Rxd8+ Rxd8 16. Rd1 Rxd1+ 17. Nxd1 Nce4 $36 {Black has the initiative.} 18. a3 g5 19. Bg3 $1 Nxg3 20. hxg3 Ne4 21. Kf1 $2 {-3.36/30 [#]} ( 21. Nd4 $15 {-0.39/32}) 21... Bf6 $2 {-0.68/31} (21... g4 $1 $19 {-3.36/30} 22. Ke2 gxf3+ 23. gxf3 Nd6) 22. Nd4 $2 {-6.27/26} (22. Be2 $15 {-0.68/31}) 22... Nd2+ $19 23. Ke2 Nxc4 24. a4 Kf8 25. b3 Ne5 26. f3 Nc6 27. Nxc6 Bxc6 28. Nf2 Bd5 29. b4 Bc3 30. Nd3 Bc4 31. b5 Bxd3+ 32. Kxd3 {Endgame KB-KP} Be1 33. g4 Ke7 34. e4 Kd6 {Black mates.} 35. Kd4 Bf2+ 36. Kc4 Ke5 37. Kd3 Kf4 38. Ke2 Bc5 { Precision: White = 22%, Black = 68%.} 0-1

Another set of reference games can be seen below where the move order might be different, but all of them reach the same position as my game reached after my 10th move.

[Event "CUB-ch"] [Site "Cuba"] [Date "1988.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Hernandez Onna, Roman"] [Black "Gomez, Adalberto"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E12"] [WhiteElo "2430"] [BlackElo "2370"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "1988.10.??"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "10"] [EventCountry "CUB"] [SourceTitle "TD"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1994.03.01"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 b6 7. Be2 Bb7 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Rc1 dxc4 10. Bxc4 c5 11. Qe2 Ne8 12. Bf4 Nd6 13. Bd3 cxd4 14. exd4 Nf6 15. Ne5 Nf5 16. Bxf5 exf5 17. Qd3 Nd5 18. Bd2 g6 19. Bh6 Re8 20. Qg3 Bh4 21. Qh3 Bg5 22. Bxg5 Qxg5 23. Nxf7 Qf6 24. Nxd5 Bxd5 25. Ne5 Bxa2 26. Rc7 Re7 27. Rfc1 Bd5 28. Qh6 Rae8 29. h4 Qg7 30. Rxe7 Qxe7 31. h5 g5 32. b4 a5 33. bxa5 bxa5 34. Rc5 Rd8 35. Qa6 Bb7 36. Qc4+ Kf8 37. Rc7 Rxd4 38. Rxe7 Rxc4 39. Rxb7 Rc1+ 40. Kh2 a4 41. Rxh7 1-0 [Event "Toronto Labour Day op"] [Site "Toronto"] [Date "1993.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Leveille, Francois"] [Black "Johnstone, Glenn"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E12"] [WhiteElo "2345"] [BlackElo "2305"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "1993.??.??"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "6"] [EventCountry "CAN"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2004"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2003.11.25"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 O-O 7. Rc1 b6 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Bb7 10. O-O c5 11. Qe2 Nd5 12. Bxd5 Bxd5 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Rfd1 Bb7 15. e4 Rfd8 16. dxc5 Nxc5 17. b4 Ba6 18. b5 Bb7 19. Qe3 Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1 Rd8 21. Rxd8+ Qxd8 22. Ne1 h6 23. f3 a6 24. a4 axb5 25. axb5 Bc8 26. Nc2 Bd7 27. Qd2 Qa8 28. Qd4 Qa5 29. Qc4 Kf8 30. Kf2 f6 31. Ke3 Ke7 32. f4 g5 33. g3 gxf4+ 34. gxf4 Qa8 35. Nd4 Qa1 36. Nce2 Qh1 37. Nf3 Qb1 38. e5 Bxb5 39. exf6+ Kf8 40. Qd4 Qb3+ 41. Nc3 Be8 42. f5 Kf7 43. Ne5+ Kxf6 44. Kf4 Qc2 45. Qd8+ Kg7 46. Qe7+ 1-0 [Event "BCF-chT3 0304 (4NCL)"] [Site "West Bromwich"] [Date "2004.05.30"] [Round "8.1"] [White "Hebden, Mark"] [Black "Pokorna, Regina"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E12"] [WhiteElo "2544"] [BlackElo "2390"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2003.11.23"] [EventType "team"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2005"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2004.11.15"] [WhiteTeam "Hilsmark Kingfisher"] [BlackTeam "Wood Green III"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"] [BlackTeamCountry "ENG"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Rc1 dxc4 10. Bxc4 c5 11. Qe2 Rc8 12. Ba6 Bxa6 13. Qxa6 Nd5 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Nxd5 exd5 16. Qxa7 Ra8 17. Qb7 Qd6 18. e4 dxe4 19. Qxe4 Rxa2 20. Qc2 h6 21. Rfd1 Qf6 22. Qb3 Raa8 23. Qb5 Rad8 24. b4 cxd4 25. Rc6 Qf4 26. h3 Nf6 27. Rc4 Rd6 28. Rcxd4 Rxd4 29. Rxd4 Qc1+ 30. Kh2 Qc7+ 31. Qe5 Qb7 32. Nd2 Re8 33. Qf4 b5 34. Nb3 Qb6 35. Nc5 Rd8 36. f3 Rxd4 37. Qxd4 Qc6 38. Kg1 Qd5 39. Qxd5 1/2-1/2 [Event "World Youth Stars 3rd"] [Site "Kirishi"] [Date "2005.05.16"] [Round "3"] [White "Kuzubov, Yuriy"] [Black "Negi, Parimarjan"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E12"] [WhiteElo "2558"] [BlackElo "2349"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2005.05.14"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [EventCategory "10"] [SourceTitle "CBM 107"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2005.08.01"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 Be7 4. c4 b6 5. Nc3 Bb7 6. e3 O-O 7. Be2 d5 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Rc1 dxc4 10. Bxc4 c5 11. Qe2 Ne4 12. Nxe4 Bxe4 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Rfd1 Rfd8 15. Bb5 Rac8 16. dxc5 Rxc5 17. Nd4 Nf8 18. f3 Bb7 19. Ba6 Bxa6 20. Qxa6 Qc7 21. Qf1 Rc8 22. Rxc5 Qxc5 23. Qe1 g6 24. Nb3 Qc7 25. h4 h5 26. Nd4 Qc5 27. a4 a6 28. Nb3 Qe5 29. Qe2 Qg3 30. Qf2 Qxf2+ 31. Kxf2 Rc2+ 32. Rd2 Rc4 33. Rd4 Rc2+ 34. Rd2 1/2-1/2

26 Apr 2018

A45 Trompowsky Attack (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.e4 Nxe4 5.Bxe7)

A45 Trompowsky Attack (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.e4 Nxe4 5.Bxe7)

This was played in a team match called May Madness Open Starts 1 May 15 1201 AM PST). The match was played between Obsessive Chess Disorder. and KNIGHTS of the REALM. I played on board 5 for OCD and lost both of my games against BryantPark despite being given some chances to win, for example, I could have won the game below if I had understood that 26...Rhc8 still has winning chances. Somehow I did not even thought about that move all that long and chose to play 26...Rab8? instead which gives my opponent a slight advantage. While that move should not lose the game, it does put me in a more difficult position. Other members of OCD were doing much better than I on their games and we won the match with a score 38.5 - 33.5!

[Event "May Madness Open Starts 1 May 15 1201 AM"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.07.30"] [Round "?"] [White "BryantPark"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "1947"] [BlackElo "1864"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. e4 Nxe4 5. Bxe7 {A45 Trompowsky Attack} Nxc3 6. Bxd8 Nxd1 7. Bxc7 Nxb2 8. Bd6 {[#] aiming for a4.The position is equal.} Na4 9. Nf3 (9. c4 Nc6 10. Nf3 Ne7 11. Bd3 Nb2 12. Be2 Nf5 13. Ba3 Na4 14. Kd2 Nb6 15. Rab1 f6 16. g4 Ne7 17. Bd6 Nc6 18. Rb5 Nd8 19. Ra5 h5 20. Rg1 Nc6 21. Ra3 hxg4 22. Rxg4 Kf7 23. Bc7 Nxc4+ {Hodgson,J (2535) -Gluckman,D (2330) London 1992 1-0 (33)}) (9. Kd2 Nc6 10. Bb5 Nb6 11. Nf3 a6 12. Bd3 Na5 13. Ne5 Nc6 14. c4 f6 15. Nf3 Na4 16. Rab1 g5 17. h3 Kf7 18. c5 e5 19. Bc2 b5 20. cxb6 Ke6 21. dxe5 fxe5 22. Bxa4 Kxd6 23. b7 Bxb7 {Balogh,D (1973)-Vass,L (1851) Hungary 2009 1-0 (33)}) 9... Nc6 10. Kd2 a6 11. Bd3 $146 {-0.45/26} (11. c4 $11 { 0.00/26} Ne7 12. Rb1 b5 13. cxb5 Nd5 14. bxa6 Nac3 15. Rb8 Ne4+ 16. Kc1 Rxb8 17. Bxb8 O-O 18. Bb5 Bxa6 19. Bxa6 Rxb8 20. Re1 Ndc3 21. Kc2 Ra8 22. Bc4 d5 23. Bb3 Nxa2 24. Ne5 Nb4+ 25. Kb1 f6 26. Nf3 {Uwira,O (2134)-Spatz,H (2024) Frankfurt 2001 0-1 (34)}) 11... b5 $15 12. Rhe1 {-0.77/26} (12. Rhb1 $15 { -0.33/29 was preferrable.}) 12... Bb7 $17 13. c3 {-1.30/27} (13. Rab1 $142 { -0.77/28}) 13... Ne7 14. Re3 {-2.29/27} (14. Bc2 $17 {-1.22/27 was necessary.}) 14... Rc8 $19 15. Rc1 Nd5 16. Ne5 {-3.65/24} (16. Ree1 $142 {-2.46/29} Naxc3 17. a3) 16... Nxe3 17. fxe3 f6 ({Weaker is} 17... Bxg2 18. Rg1 $17) 18. Nf3 Nb6 19. Bc5 Nd5 20. a4 bxa4 21. Rb1 Bc6 22. Bxa6 {-3.35/25} (22. c4 $142 {-2.28/28} Ne7 23. e4) 22... Ra8 23. Bc4 Kf7 24. e4 {-4.42/27} (24. Rf1 {-2.81/28 keeps fighting.}) 24... Nf4 25. g3 Ng6 26. d5 Rab8 $2 {0.05/30 [#]} ({Much less strong is} 26... Ra5 27. Bb6 $19) (26... Rhc8 $19 {-2.67/24 Hoping for . .. Bxd5.} 27. dxe6+ dxe6) 27. Rxb8 $11 Rxb8 28. dxc6 dxc6 29. Kc2 Ne7 $2 {3.06/26} (29... Re8 $1 $11 {0.12/30}) 30. Nd4 $18 Ra8 31. Nxe6 Ra5 32. Nd4+ {Precision: White = 38%, Black = 42%.} 1-0

The game below is the highest rated reference game I was able to find in my database. I am actually a bit surprised that this line has been played between that high rated people.

[Event "Lloyds Bank op 16th"] [Site "London"] [Date "1992.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Hodgson, Julian M"] [Black "Gluckman, David"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "2535"] [BlackElo "2330"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "1992.08.??"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "10"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "CBM 031 ext"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1993.01.01"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 Be7 4. Nc3 Nxe4 5. Bxe7 Nxc3 6. Bxd8 Nxd1 7. Bxc7 Nxb2 8. Bd6 Na4 9. c4 Nc6 10. Nf3 Ne7 11. Bd3 Nb2 12. Be2 Nf5 13. Ba3 Na4 14. Kd2 Nb6 15. Rab1 f6 16. g4 Ne7 17. Bd6 Nc6 18. Rb5 Nd8 19. Ra5 h5 20. Rg1 Nc6 21. Ra3 hxg4 22. Rxg4 Kf7 23. Bc7 Nxc4+ 24. Bxc4 d5 25. Bb3 b5 26. Rg1 a5 27. Bc2 g5 28. Bd6 Bd7 29. h4 b4 30. Re3 a4 31. hxg5 Na5 32. Bd3 b3 33. gxf6 1-0

25 Apr 2018

E21 Nimzo-Indian: 4.Nf3 (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 b6 5.g3 Bb7 6.Bg2 O-O 7.O-O c5)

E21 Nimzo-Indian: 4.Nf3 (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 b6 5.g3 Bb7 6.Bg2 O-O 7.O-O c5)

The game below was played in a team match called Open Challenge Thunderstorm. This match was originally played between Thunderstorm and The Indian Warriors on seven boards. I played on board 1 for Thunderstorm but the team I represented changed its name to the band of cats. We were leading this match 7 - 6 before this game ended, so this game finally decided the outcome of the match. Because I played some bad moves in this game, we had to accept the draw from this match.

[Event "Open Challenge Thunderstorm - Board 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.07.15"] [Round "?"] [White "aayala"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E21"] [WhiteElo "1790"] [BlackElo "1908"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. g3 Bb7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O c5 { E21 Nimzo-Indian: 4.Nf3} 8. dxc5 Bxc5 {LiveBook: 8 Games} (8... bxc5 9. Na4 Na6 10. Bf4 d5 11. Ne5 Qe7 12. Qb3 dxc4 13. Nxc4 Bxg2 14. Kxg2 e5 15. Bxe5 Ng4 16. Bd6 Qe4+ 17. Kg1 Rfd8 18. Rad1 Qe6 19. f3 Nf6 20. e4 Rd7 21. e5 Nd5 22. a3 Rb7 23. Qc2 {Dziuba,M (2536)-Sygulski,P (2189) Chotowa 2007 1-0}) 9. b3 Na6 $146 ( 9... d5 10. Ne5 (10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Bb2 Nd7 12. Nxd5 Bxd5 13. Ne1 Bxg2 14. Nxg2 Qe7 15. e4 Rfd8 16. Qe2 a5 17. Rad1 a4 18. Ne3 axb3 19. axb3 Ra2 20. Rd2 Bb4 21. Rc2 Nc5 22. Nc4 b5 23. Ne5 Qb7 24. f3 f6 {Harika,D (2329)-Shabalov,A (2623) playchess.com INT 2004 1/2-1/2 (43)}) 10... Nbd7 11. Nxd7 Qxd7 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Bb2 Rad8 14. Na4 Be7 15. Bd4 Ne4 16. Nb2 Rfe8 17. Nd3 Bf6 18. Bxf6 Nxf6 19. Rc1 d4 20. Bxb7 Qxb7 21. Nb4 Ne4 22. Nc6 Rd6 23. Nxd4 Red8 24. e3 {Soponyai, T-McDonald,J Bratislava 1993 0-1}) 10. Bb2 {White has an edge.} Nc7 11. Na4 Be7 12. Rc1 d5 13. Ne5 Qd6 {1.09/24} (13... Rc8 $14 {0.46/25}) 14. c5 $16 bxc5 15. Nxc5 Bc8 16. e4 $36 {White is on the roll.} Rd8 $2 {4.80/24} (16... Nxe4 $16 { 1.19/28 is tougher.} 17. Nxe4 dxe4) 17. f4 $2 {0.00/31} ({White must play} 17. Nxf7 $1 $18 {4.80/24} Kxf7 18. e5) 17... Qb6 $11 18. Bd4 {[#] Hoping for Na4.} Nb5 {1.04/25} (18... dxe4 $11 {0.00/31} 19. Ncd7 Qb7 20. Nxf6+ Bxf6) 19. Bf2 $1 $16 Qa5 $2 {4.36/24} (19... Bb7 $16 {1.02/29 is more resistant.}) 20. Nc6 $18 Qc7 21. Nxd8 Qxd8 22. e5 Nd7 23. Nxd7 {2.66/26} (23. Nxe6 $142 $1 {4.49/24} fxe6 24. Bxd5 $1) 23... Bxd7 24. a4 Nc7 25. Qd2 a5 $2 {5.59/25 [#]} (25... Qb8 {2.15/27 is a better chance.} 26. Qa5 Ne8) 26. Bb6 {White is clearly winning.} Bb4 27. Qc2 Rc8 28. Bxc7 {Accuracy: White = 71%, Black = 12%.} 1-0

Based on these reference games, among very strong players this line is not playable for Black. However, I do not think that the position should be lost to Black after 7...c5. I think because White has more space and it is likely that Black loses the bishop pair at some point, White should be favored in the position, but Black should still be in the game.

[Event "HUN-chT 0607"] [Site "Hungary"] [Date "2006.12.17"] [Round "4"] [White "Pinter, Jozsef"] [Black "Polgar, Judit"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E21"] [WhiteElo "2513"] [BlackElo "2710"] [PlyCount "113"] [EventDate "2006.11.12"] [EventType "team"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "HUN"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2008"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2007.11.25"] [WhiteTeam "Postas/MTK"] [BlackTeam "Nagykanizsa"] [WhiteTeamCountry "HUN"] [BlackTeamCountry "HUN"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 b6 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O O-O 8. Bf4 d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Ne5 Nbd7 11. Rc1 Qe7 12. Nxd7 Qxd7 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. Be5 Rad8 15. Bd4 Be7 16. Qb3 Ne4 17. Rfd1 Qf5 18. Qc2 Qe6 19. e3 h5 20. Qa4 a6 21. Qb3 Rd6 22. Nxe4 dxe4 23. Qxe6 Rxe6 24. Rc7 Ba8 25. Ra7 b5 26. Bh3 f5 27. Bxf5 Rxf5 28. Rxa8+ Kf7 29. Ra7 g5 30. Rc1 Kg6 31. Rac7 a5 32. b3 g4 33. Ra7 Bd8 34. Rc8 Rd6 35. Rg7+ Kh6 36. Rg8 Bf6 37. Bxf6 Rdxf6 38. Rh8+ Kg7 39. Rcg8+ Kf7 40. Rf8+ Ke6 41. Rxf6+ Kxf6 42. Rf8+ Ke6 43. Re8+ Kd5 44. Ra8 Kc5 45. Rxa5 Kb4 46. Ra6 Re5 47. a4 Kc3 48. Rc6+ Kxb3 49. axb5 Rxb5 50. Re6 Kc3 51. Rxe4 Kd3 52. Rf4 Ke2 53. Kg2 Re5 54. h3 Rg5 55. e4 Rg8 56. hxg4 hxg4 57. e5 1-0 [Event "Thessaloniki Kalamaria op"] [Site "Thessaloniki"] [Date "2007.09.01"] [Round "9"] [White "Gelashvili, Tamaz"] [Black "Graf, Alexander"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E21"] [WhiteElo "2604"] [BlackElo "2595"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "2007.08.25"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "GRE"] [SourceTitle "CBM 120 ext"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2007.11.01"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 b6 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O O-O 8. d5 Bxc3 9. bxc3 Ne4 10. Qd3 f5 11. Nd2 Nd6 12. e4 Na6 13. e5 Nf7 14. f4 Rb8 15. a4 Nc7 16. d6 Na6 17. Bxb7 Rxb7 18. Nb3 Nb8 19. Be3 Nc6 20. Qe2 Kh8 21. h3 Rb8 22. Nd2 Na5 23. Kh2 Qc8 24. Rg1 Qc6 25. g4 Rg8 26. Rg2 Rbf8 27. Qd3 Qc8 28. Rag1 Nc6 29. Nf3 Qd8 30. gxf5 exf5 31. Ng5 Nxg5 32. Rxg5 g6 33. Bf2 Qe8 34. R5g2 h6 35. Qd5 Kh7 36. Bh4 g5 37. fxg5 Qxe5+ 38. Kh1 Qxc3 39. Be1 Qd4 40. g6+ Kg7 41. Re2 Qf6 42. Re7+ Nxe7 43. dxe7 Qxe7 44. Bc3+ Rf6 45. Re1 Qd8 46. Qf7+ 1-0 [Event "Wch Blitz 5th"] [Site "Moscow"] [Date "2009.11.18"] [Round "37"] [White "Karpov, Anatoly"] [Black "Polgar, Judit"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E21"] [WhiteElo "2619"] [BlackElo "2680"] [PlyCount "117"] [EventDate "2009.11.16"] [EventType "tourn (blitz)"] [EventRounds "42"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [EventCategory "19"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2010"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2009.11.30"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 b6 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O O-O 8. d5 Bxc3 9. bxc3 Re8 10. Nh4 e5 11. e4 d6 12. Qd3 Nbd7 13. Bh3 Nf8 14. a4 Ng6 15. Ng2 a5 16. Ne3 Ne7 17. Kg2 Bc8 18. Bxc8 Qxc8 19. Rb1 Rb8 20. f3 Qd7 21. Qc2 Rf8 22. Bd2 Ne8 23. f4 f5 24. fxe5 dxe5 25. exf5 Nd6 26. g4 Nxc4 27. Nxc4 Qxd5+ 28. Kg3 Qxc4 29. Qb3 Qxb3 30. Rxb3 Rfd8 31. Bg5 Rd3+ 32. Rf3 Rxf3+ 33. Kxf3 Nd5 34. Ke4 c4 35. Ra3 Nf6+ 36. Bxf6 gxf6 37. Kd5 Re8 38. Ra2 e4 39. Re2 e3 40. Kd4 h5 41. h3 hxg4 42. hxg4 b5 43. axb5 a4 44. Kxc4 a3 45. Kb3 Ra8 46. Ka2 Ra5 47. Rxe3 Rxb5 48. Kxa3 Kg7 49. c4 Rb1 50. c5 Kh6 51. Ka4 Kg5 52. Re4 Rc1 53. Kb5 Rb1+ 54. Kc6 Rc1 55. Kb6 Rb1+ 56. Kc7 Rc1 57. c6 Kh4 58. Rb4 Kg3 59. Kb7 1-0 [Event "Asia-chT Tata Steel"] [Site "Kolkata"] [Date "2009.12.26"] [Round "5"] [White "Harikrishna, Penteala"] [Black "Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E21"] [WhiteElo "2672"] [BlackElo "2603"] [PlyCount "135"] [EventDate "2009.12.22"] [EventType "team"] [EventRounds "7"] [EventCountry "IND"] [SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2010.01.05"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. g3 c5 5. Nf3 b6 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nb5 cxd4 9. Bf4 Nc6 10. Nd6 Bxd6 11. Bxd6 Re8 12. Nxd4 Na5 13. b3 Bxg2 14. Kxg2 Ne4 15. Nb5 Nb7 16. Bf4 e5 17. Be3 a6 18. Qd5 axb5 19. Qxe4 Na5 20. Rfd1 bxc4 21. b4 Nc6 22. Qxc4 b5 23. Qe4 Ra6 24. Rd2 Qa8 25. Bc5 Nd4 26. Qxa8 Raxa8 27. Bxd4 exd4 28. Kf1 Ra7 29. Rxd4 Kf8 30. Rd5 Rb8 31. Rc1 Rbb7 32. Rc2 Ra4 33. Rb2 Ke7 34. Rc5 g6 35. Ke1 Rba7 36. Rcc2 R7a6 37. h4 h5 38. Kd1 Re6 39. Rc5 Rea6 40. Rxb5 Rxa2 41. Kc2 R2a3 42. Re5+ Kd6 43. Re4 Kc7 44. e3 Rd6 45. Rf4 f5 46. b5 Kb6 47. Rc4 Ra8 48. Rc3 Rd5 49. Rd3 Rc5+ 50. Kd2 d5 51. Ke2 Ra5 52. Kf3 Raxb5 53. Rbd2 Kc6 54. Kf4 Kd6 55. Ra3 Rc4+ 56. Kg5 Ke5 57. f3 Rb6 58. Ra8 Rc3 59. Re8+ Re6 60. f4+ Kd6 61. Rd8+ Kc7 62. R8xd5 Rcxe3 63. R5d3 Rxd3 64. Rxd3 Rc6 65. Kh6 Ra6 66. Kg7 Rb6 67. Kf7 Rc6 68. Re3 1-0 [Event "Bundesliga 1213"] [Site "Germany"] [Date "2013.04.06"] [Round "14.7"] [White "Naumann, Alexander"] [Black "Feygin, Michael"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E20"] [WhiteElo "2535"] [BlackElo "2538"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2012.10.20"] [EventType "team-tourn"] [EventRounds "15"] [EventCountry "GER"] [SourceTitle "CBM 154"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2013.05.15"] [WhiteTeam "Solingen"] [BlackTeam "Muelheim"] [WhiteTeamCountry "GER"] [BlackTeamCountry "GER"] 1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 b6 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O O-O 8. d5 Bxc3 9. bxc3 d6 10. Nh4 e5 11. e4 Bc8 12. Qd3 a6 13. a4 Ra7 14. h3 Ne8 15. Nf5 Rb7 16. Ne3 g6 17. Kh2 Re7 18. Bd2 Ng7 19. Ng4 Bxg4 20. hxg4 f6 21. f4 Nd7 22. Rae1 Ref7 23. f5 g5 24. Bf3 Ne8 25. Ra1 1/2-1/2

24 Apr 2018

B33 Sicilian: Pelikan and Sveshnikov Variations (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.a4 a6 7.N5a3 Nf6 8.Nc3 Be7 9.Bc4 O-O 10.O-O)

B33 Sicilian: Pelikan and Sveshnikov Variations (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.a4 a6 7.N5a3 Nf6 8.Nc3 Be7 9.Bc4 O-O 10.O-O)

This was played in the fourth round of the WORLD OPEN RAPID tournament that was held at the FIDE Online Arena on April 11th 2015. This was my second win in a row after losing five games in a row, so things seemed a little bit brighter at this point in time. There was one more round after this but the game below was the last one for me because in that last round game my opponent decided not to make any moves.

[Event "Tournament 28843065"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.04.11"] [Round "4"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "elgaxton"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B33"] [WhiteElo "1835"] [BlackElo "1723"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "129"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. a4 a6 7. N5a3 Nf6 8. Nc3 Be7 9. Bc4 O-O 10. O-O {B33 Sicilian: Pelikan and Sveshnikov Variations. LiveBook: 20 Games} Rb8 (10... h6 11. Re1 Be6 12. Nd5 Bxd5 13. Bxd5 Nxd5 14. Qxd5 Qd7 15. c3 Qe6 16. Nc4 Rad8 17. Rd1 Qxd5 18. Rxd5 f5 19. Be3 fxe4 20. Bb6 Rd7 21. Rad1 Rf6 22. Nd2 Bf8 23. Nxe4 Rg6 24. Bc5 {1-0 (24) Bologan,V (2585) -Moldovan,D (2450) Calimanesti 1992}) (10... Nd4 11. Qd3 Nd7 12. Be3 Ne6 13. Qd2 Kh8 14. Rfd1 Ng5 15. Bd3 Nc5 16. Nc4 Bg4 17. Bxc5 dxc5 18. Be2 Qxd2 19. Rxd2 Bxe2 20. Rxe2 Bf6 21. Rd1 Ne6 22. Nd5 Nd4 23. Red2 Bg5 24. Nde3 b5 25. Nb6 {Brylev,I (2169)-Dambaev,B (1909) Russia 2014 1-0 (41)}) 11. Be3 $146 (11. Bg5 Be6 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Nd5 Bg5 14. b3 Ne7 15. Qd3 Ng6 16. g3 Kh8 17. Rad1 f5 18. Ne3 fxe4 19. Qxe4 Rf6 {1-0 (19) Rincon Gonzalez,D (1986)-Montilla,J (1883) Merida 2010}) (11. Re1 Qc7 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. exd5 Nd4 14. c3 Nf5 15. Bd3 g6 16. Nc2 Re8 17. Ne3 Nxe3 18. Bxe3 f5 19. f4 exf4 20. Bxf4 Qc5+ 21. Be3 Qxd5 22. b3 Qc6 23. Bc4+ Kg7 24. Bd4+ Kf8 25. Qd2 g5 {Osorio Pando,I-Montilla,J (1883) Merida 2010 1/2-1/2 (50)}) 11... Be6 12. Qd2 $2 {-1.89/26 [#]} (12. Bb3 $11 { 0.21/27 and White is okay.}) 12... Bxc4 $1 $19 {Black is clearly better.} 13. Nxc4 b5 $1 14. axb5 axb5 15. Ra6 bxc4 $2 {0.11/29 [#]} (15... Qc8 $19 {-1.88/25 } 16. Rxc6 Qxc6) 16. Rxc6 $11 Rxb2 17. Rxc4 Qb8 18. f3 Rc8 19. Rxc8+ Qxc8 20. Rb1 Qb8 21. Qc1 (21. Rxb2 {feels hotter.} Qxb2 22. g3 Qa1+ 23. Kg2 Qa6 24. Qd1) 21... Rxb1 22. Qxb1 Qxb1+ 23. Nxb1 {Endgame KBN-KBN} d5 24. exd5 Nxd5 25. Bd2 Bc5+ 26. Kh1 Kf8 27. Nc3 Nb4 28. Ne4 Be7 $1 29. c3 Nd3 30. Kg1 f5 31. Ng5 h6 32. Ne6+ Kf7 33. Nc7 Bd6 34. Nd5 {-0.62/28} ({White should try} 34. Nb5 $1 $11 {-0.08/34} Ke6 35. Kf1) 34... Ke6 $1 $15 35. Ne3 Bc5 {-0.13/32} (35... f4 $15 { -0.62/29} 36. Nc4 Bc5+ 37. Kf1 Kd5) 36. Kf1 $11 g5 37. g3 f4 38. Ng2 {-0.63/30} (38. Nc2 $1 $11 {-0.15/32 is superior.}) 38... Kd5 $15 39. Ke2 Kc4 40. Ne1 { -1.04/33} (40. h4 $15 {-0.63/36}) 40... Nb2 {-0.63/36} (40... Nf2 $17 {-1.04/33 } 41. gxf4 gxf4) 41. g4 {-1.43/31} ({White should play} 41. Nc2 $15 {-0.63/36}) 41... Na4 {-0.62/41} (41... Bd6 $17 {-1.43/31} 42. Ng2 Na4) 42. Nd3 Bd6 43. Nf2 Nxc3+ $2 {7.54/32} (43... Nc5 $15 {-0.67/40}) 44. Bxc3 $18 Kxc3 $15 {KB-KN} 45. Ne4+ {White mates.} Kd4 46. Nxd6 {KN-KP} Kd5 47. Nf5 e4 48. Nxh6 {KN-K3P} Ke5 49. Nf7+ Kf6 50. Nd6 e3 51. Ne4+ Kg6 52. Kd3 Kh6 53. Nc3 Kg6 54. Ke4 Kf6 55. Kd5 Ke7 56. Ke5 Kd7 57. Kf5 Kd6 58. Kxg5 Kc5 59. Kxf4 {KN-KP} Kd4 60. Ne2+ Kd3 61. Ng3 e2 62. Nxe2 $1 Kxe2 63. g5 Kf2 64. h4 Kg2 65. h5 {Accuracy: White = 44%, Black = 47%.} 1-0

Here are some of the latest and highest rated games that I was able to find in my reference database that reached the position after 10.O-O.

[Event "Alushta Autumn 2nd"] [Site "Alushta"] [Date "2001.09.??"] [Round "8"] [White "Kovchan, Alexander"] [Black "Yagupov, Igor"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B33"] [WhiteElo "2483"] [BlackElo "2444"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2001.09.22"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "14"] [EventCountry "UKR"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2002"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2001.11.25"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. a4 Be7 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 Nf6 9. Bc4 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. Qe1 Ne8 12. Nd5 Bg5 13. Bxg5 Qxg5 14. Qe3 Qd8 15. f3 Be6 16. Rad1 Rc8 17. Rf2 Ne7 18. Rfd2 Nxd5 19. Bxd5 Bxd5 20. Rxd5 Rc6 21. R5d3 Qa5 22. Qa7 Rc7 23. Rb3 b5 24. Rxb5 Qxa4 25. Rb7 Qc6 26. Rxc7 Nxc7 27. Rd3 Nb5 28. Qf2 Nd4 29. c3 Nb3 30. Rd5 f5 31. Qc2 Rb8 32. h3 Na1 33. Qd1 fxe4 34. fxe4 Qb6+ 35. Kh2 Qxb2 36. Rxd6 h6 37. Nc4 Qxc3 38. Qd5+ Kh7 39. Rd7 Rf8 40. Nxe5 Nc2 41. Qd6 1-0 [Event "Warsaw AIG Life rapid 7th"] [Site "Warsaw"] [Date "2007.12.15"] [Round "7"] [White "Zinchenko, Yaroslav"] [Black "Moiseenko, Alexander"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B33"] [WhiteElo "2491"] [BlackElo "2646"] [PlyCount "160"] [EventDate "2007.12.15"] [EventType "swiss (rapid)"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "POL"] [SourceTitle "CBM 121 Extra"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2008.01.10"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. a4 Be7 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 Nf6 9. Bc4 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. Qd3 Rc8 12. Bg5 Nh5 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. g3 Kh8 15. f3 Bh3 16. Rf2 f5 17. Rd1 Rc6 18. Bb3 Ng6 19. Kh1 f4 20. g4 Qh4 21. Kg1 Nf6 22. Be6 h5 23. gxh5 Bxe6 24. hxg6 Nh5 25. Rg2 Bh3 26. Qe2 Bxg2 27. Qxg2 Nf6 28. Kf1 Rfc8 29. Ke2 Kg8 30. Rd2 Kf8 31. Kd1 Ke7 32. a5 Rh8 33. Na2 Qh5 34. Nb4 Rcc8 35. Kc1 Rh6 36. Qf2 Rxg6 37. Qb6 Nd7 38. Nd5+ Ke8 39. Qf2 Qg5 40. b3 Qg1+ 41. Kb2 Qxf2 42. Rxf2 Nf6 43. Nb6 Rd8 44. Rd2 Nd7 45. Nbc4 Nb8 46. Nb6 Nd7 47. Nd5 Nc5 48. Nc4 Ne6 49. c3 Rh6 50. Ndb6 Ng5 51. Rd3 Rxh2+ 52. Ka3 Nf7 53. Nd5 Rh3 54. Nc7+ Ke7 55. Nd5+ Kf8 56. Nc7 Rc8 57. Nd5 g5 58. Nf6 Kg7 59. Ng4 Rc6 60. Kb4 Nh6 61. Nf2 Rh2 62. Nd1 Nf7 63. Nb6 g4 64. fxg4 Ng5 65. Nd5 Nxe4 66. Ne7 Rc7 67. Nf5+ Kf6 68. c4 Kg5 69. Nc3 Nxc3 70. Kxc3 Kxg4 71. Nxd6 Rh3 72. Ne8 Rc6 73. b4 Rxd3+ 74. Kxd3 Kf3 75. b5 axb5 76. cxb5 Rc5 77. a6 bxa6 78. bxa6 e4+ 79. Kd4 Ra5 80. Nc7 e3 0-1 [Event "Wch U16"] [Site "Porto Carras"] [Date "2015.11.01"] [Round "7"] [White "Fawzy, Adham"] [Black "Shtembuliak, Evgeny"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "2483"] [BlackElo "2416"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2015.10.25"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "GRE"] [SourceTitle "Mega2015 Update 51"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2015.11.12"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. a4 Be7 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 Nf6 9. Bc4 O-O 10. O-O Be6 11. Bg5 Nd7 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14. Bxd5 Nf6 15. Nc4 Qc7 16. Ne3 Ne7 17. c3 Rac8 18. Ra3 b5 19. axb5 axb5 20. Ra6 Qc5 21. Qd2 Nfxd5 22. Nxd5 Nxd5 23. exd5 Rfd8 24. h3 h6 25. Rd1 Qc4 26. Rb6 Qb3 27. Rc6 Ra8 28. Qe2 b4 29. c4 Ra2 30. Rd2 Ra1+ 31. Kh2 Rc1 32. Qg4 Qa4 33. Rd3 Qa7 34. Rg3 g6 35. Qh4 Kg7 36. Qxd8 Qxf2 37. Rxg6+ Kxg6 38. Qg8+ Kf6 39. Rxd6+ 1-0

23 Apr 2018

B33 Sicilian: Pelikan and Sveshnikov Variations (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.a4 a6 7.N5a3 Nf6 8.Nc3 Be7 9.Be2 O-O 10.O-O h6 11.Be3)

B33 Sicilian: Pelikan and Sveshnikov Variations (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.a4 a6 7.N5a3 Nf6 8.Nc3 Be7 9.Be2 O-O 10.O-O h6 11.Be3)

The game below was played in the first round of the WORLD OPEN RAPID tournament that was held at the FIDE Online Arena on April 12th 2015. It is always good to start with a win in which I am never really on the losing side. I did many inaccurate moves but they never handed the advantage to my opponent. There are no reference games in a different publishing tool this time since there were no high rated games that reached the position after 11.Be3. I did find three games on my reference database, but the ratings of the players were not shown there, so I did not choose to put them to this post.

[Event "Tournament 28876694"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.04.12"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "oceano"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B33"] [WhiteElo "1667"] [BlackElo "1870"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. a4 a6 7. N5a3 Nf6 8. Nc3 Be7 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O h6 $146 (10... Rb8 11. Be3 Be6 12. f3 h6 13. Qd2 d5 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Nxd5 Qxd5 16. Qxd5 Bxd5 17. Rfd1 Be6 18. Nc4 Nd4 19. Bxd4 exd4 20. Bd3 Rfc8 21. Nd2 Bc5 22. Kf1 f5 23. Re1 Kf7 24. Nc4 Bb4 25. Ne5+ { Stellwagen,R (1855)-Holzschuh,S (1990) Burg Stargard 2002 0-1 (51)}) (10... Be6 11. Bg5 (11. Be3 Rc8 12. Nc4 Bxc4 13. Bxc4 Na5 14. Bd3 Nc4 15. Bc1 Nb6 16. a5 Na8 17. f4 Nc7 18. Be3 exf4 19. Bxf4 Ne6 20. e5 Nxf4 21. exf6 {1-0 (21) Spreer, L (1686)-Gross,R (1794) Leipzig 2013}) 11... Nd4 12. Bd3 Rc8 13. Ne2 Qb6 14. Nxd4 Qxd4 15. Qd2 d5 16. c3 Qc5 17. exd5 Bxd5 18. c4 Be6 19. Be3 Qc7 20. Qc2 g6 21. h3 Nh5 22. Rfc1 f5 23. Be2 f4 24. Bd2 Rcd8 25. c5 {Leshchenko,V (2145) -Troshohenko,P (2311) Kiev 2004 0-1 (43)}) 11. Be3 {B33 Sicilian: Pelikan and Sveshnikov Variations} Be6 12. Bc4 Bxc4 {0.78/29} (12... Rc8 $11 {-0.01/29 keeps the balance.}) 13. Nxc4 $16 Rc8 {White is better.} 14. Nb6 Rc7 15. Nbd5 { [#] Bb6 is the strong threat.} Nxd5 {1.22/26} (15... Rc8 $142 {0.76/28}) 16. Nxd5 ({Of course not} 16. exd5 $6 Nd4 $11) 16... Rd7 17. Nb6 Rc7 18. Nd5 { Black must now prevent Bb6.} Rd7 $1 19. Qg4 {[#] aiming for Bxh6.} Nd4 {2.54/23 } (19... Bg5 $16 {1.05/27 was called for.}) 20. Rac1 {1.14/29} (20. Bxh6 $18 { 2.54/23 is more deadly.} Ne6 21. Be3) 20... f5 21. exf5 (21. Qd1 {is more complex.} Nc6 22. exf5 Bg5 23. Qd3 Rdf7 24. g4) 21... Nxf5 22. Bb6 $40 { White has strong attack.} Qe8 23. Rfe1 Bg5 24. Rcd1 Qg6 $2 {3.60/25} (24... Rdf7 $16 {0.75/28}) 25. Ne3 $2 {0.41/29} ({Much less strong is} 25. h4 Nxh4 26. Qxd7 Bd8 $18) (25. f4 $18 {3.60/25}) 25... Nxe3 $14 26. Bxe3 Rdf7 $2 {4.77/25} (26... Qf5 $14 {0.40/30} 27. Qxf5 Rxf5) 27. h4 $18 Qxc2 {Threatens to win with ...Bxe3.} 28. hxg5 Rxf2 {8.44/25} (28... Qg6 $142 {4.78/28} 29. Qb4 Rd7) 29. Bxf2 Rxf2 30. gxh6 {White mates.} g6 31. Rxd6 Rxg2+ 32. Qxg2 Qc5+ 33. Kh1 Qxd6 34. Qxb7 Qd2 35. Qg7# {Accuracy: White = 33%, Black = 25%.} 1-0

20 Apr 2018

B32 Sicilian: Löwenthal and Kalashnikov Variations (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.c4 Be7 7.N1c3 a6 8.Na3 Be6 9.Be3 Nf6 10.Be2 O-O 11.O-O Rc8)

B32 Sicilian: Löwenthal and Kalashnikov Variations (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.c4 Be7 7.N1c3 a6 8.Na3 Be6 9.Be3 Nf6 10.Be2 O-O 11.O-O Rc8)

The game below was played in a team match called ANGELS COUNTING BRILLIANT STARS 1600 and above. It was played on three boards between Angels Academy For Brilliant Angels and DORU-66 & HIS BEST FRIENDS. I played on board 1 for DORU-66 & HIS BEST FRIENDS. This game might be one of the best games I have played in a long time. Even though far from a perfect game, I was able to play in a good level in my opinion as I did not do any really horrible moves. The other game I played against Malcan was one where I got crushed without all that much counterplay on my part. The match ended with a score 4 - 2 in favor of Angels Academy For Brilliant Angels. It took a very long time for me to win against a player who is rated 2000+, but maybe this can happen more regularly in the future. That has been my plan for a very long time, but it has not worked so well in practice, so far anyway.

[Event "ANGELS COUNTING BRILLIANT STARS 1600 an"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.09.02"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Malcan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "1834"] [BlackElo "2013"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Be7 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 Be6 9. Be3 Nf6 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O Rc8 {B32 Sicilian: Löwenthal and Kalashnikov Variations. LiveBook: 91 Games} 12. Kh1 (12. f3 Nh5 13. Nd5 Bg5 14. Bb6 Qd7 15. g3 Bd8 16. Be3 g6 17. Qd2 f5 18. exf5 gxf5 19. Nb6 Bxb6 20. Bxb6 Qg7 21. Rf2 Rf6 22. Rg2 Kh8 23. f4 Bf7 24. Nc2 Rg8 25. Bf3 exf4 {1/2-1/2 (25) Filipenko,A (2380)-Sveshnikov,E (2535) Leningrad 1987}) 12... Na5 13. b3 $146 ( 13. Nd5 Nd7 14. Qd2 Nc6 15. Nxe7+ Qxe7 16. Rfd1 Nf6 17. f3 Ne8 18. Rac1 Rd8 19. Bb6 Rd7 20. Nc2 f5 21. exf5 Bxf5 22. Ne3 Be6 23. Rc3 Qh4 24. b3 Ne7 25. Rd3 Nf5 26. Kg1 Ne7 27. Bf1 Qh5 {Vazquez,R (2485)-Permuy Lorenzo,C (2305) La Coruna 1998 1-0 (48)}) 13... Nc6 14. Nc2 {White has an edge.} h6 15. f4 {0.11/27} ({ Better is} 15. f3 $14 {0.66/25}) 15... exf4 $11 16. Bxf4 Ne5 (16... b5 $5) 17. Qd2 {-0.33/24} (17. Nd4 $14 {0.45/24}) 17... Nfd7 {0.29/25} (17... b5 $1 $15 { -0.33/24}) 18. Nd4 g5 {1.62/25} ({Black should try} 18... Bg5 $14 {0.36/27}) 19. Bg3 Nf6 20. Nf5 Bxf5 21. Rxf5 Rc5 22. Qd4 $2 {0.61/27 [#]} (22. Bf2 $18 { 2.18/23} Rc6 23. Bd4) 22... Nfd7 $2 {2.30/25} (22... Nc6 $1 $14 {0.61/27} 23. Qf2 Rxf5 24. Qxf5 Nd4) 23. Nd5 $18 f6 24. Rd1 Rc6 25. Ne3 Qe8 26. Rff1 Qf7 27. Nf5 Kh7 28. Qe3 Rd8 29. Rd5 Bf8 30. Rfd1 Nb6 {2.29/23} (30... Rdc8 {1.65/24 was called for.} 31. Nxd6 Bxd6) 31. R5d2 Nc8 $2 {4.11/24 [#]} (31... Nbd7 { 1.94/26} 32. Nxd6 Bxd6) 32. Bxe5 fxe5 33. Qh3 Qf6 {5.87/26} (33... Ne7 $142 { 4.04/27} 34. Nxd6 Qf6) 34. Bg4 b5 35. cxb5 axb5 36. Qd3 b4 37. Ng3 Na7 $2 { 10.30/25} (37... Rc3 {3.96/28}) 38. Bf5+ $2 {3.86/30} (38. Rf1 {10.30/25} Qg7 39. Rdf2) 38... Kh8 39. Rf1 Rc3 40. Qa6 Qe7 41. Rdf2 Nc6 {5.49/27} (41... Bg7 $142 {3.83/30} 42. Bg6 Qe6) 42. Bg6 Nb8 $2 {9.18/26} (42... Bg7 {3.85/28} 43. Rf7 Qe6) 43. Qb5 Nc6 44. Qd5 Nd4 45. Rf7 Qe6 46. Qb7 {14.31/30 Accuracy: White = 48%, Black = 23%.} ({Inferior is} 46. Rxf8+ Rxf8 47. Rxf8+ Kg7 $11) (46. Rh7+ $142 {#8/51} Kg8 47. Nh5 Be7 48. Rxe7 Rc7 49. Rxe6 Kh8 50. Rxd6 Rcd7 51. Rxd7 Ne6 52. Rxd8+ Nxd8 53. Qxd8#) 1-0

Here are some of the latest and highest rated games from my reference database.

[Event "Istanbul ol (Men) 34th"] [Site "Istanbul"] [Date "2000.11.06"] [Round "9.1"] [White "Leko, Peter"] [Black "Nataf, Igor Alexandre"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "2743"] [BlackElo "2526"] [PlyCount "147"] [EventDate "2000.10.28"] [EventType "team-swiss"] [EventRounds "14"] [EventCountry "TUR"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2001"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2000.11.22"] [WhiteTeam "Hungary"] [BlackTeam "France"] [WhiteTeamCountry "HUN"] [BlackTeamCountry "FRA"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Be7 7. Bd3 Nf6 8. N1c3 a6 9. Na3 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. Be2 Be6 12. Be3 Rc8 13. Rc1 h6 14. Qd2 Ng4 15. Bxg4 Bxg4 16. Nc2 Be6 17. b3 f5 18. exf5 Rxf5 19. Rfd1 Qe8 20. Ne4 Rd8 21. Bb6 Rd7 22. Ne3 Rf4 23. f3 Qg6 24. Kh1 Bf8 25. Nd5 Rff7 26. b4 Ne7 27. Re1 Nc8 28. Bf2 Kh8 29. a4 Ne7 30. Nb6 Rd8 31. Nxd6 Kg8 32. c5 Nf5 33. Qc2 Bxd6 34. cxd6 Rxd6 35. Rxe5 Nh4 36. Qxg6 Nxg6 37. Re4 Nf4 38. Bc5 Rd2 39. Be3 Re2 40. Rxf4 Rxe3 41. Rxf7 Kxf7 42. Rc7+ Kg8 43. Kg1 Rb3 44. Re7 Bf5 45. Nd5 b5 46. a5 Bd3 47. Rd7 Bc4 48. Ne7+ Kf8 49. Nc6 Rb2 50. h4 h5 51. g4 hxg4 52. fxg4 Be6 53. Rd4 Rc2 54. Ne5 Ke7 55. h5 Kf6 56. Nf3 Rb2 57. Rf4+ Ke7 58. g5 Bd5 59. Nh4 Kd6 60. h6 gxh6 61. gxh6 Bg8 62. Ng6 Bh7 63. Nf8 Ke5 64. Rh4 Rb1+ 65. Kf2 Rb2+ 66. Ke1 Rb1+ 67. Kd2 Rb2+ 68. Kc3 Rc2+ 69. Kb3 Rc7 70. Nxh7 Rxh7 71. Kc3 Kf6 72. Kd4 Kg6 73. Kd5 Rc7 74. h7 1-0 [Event "POL-chT"] [Site "Lubniewice"] [Date "2002.09.08"] [Round "9"] [White "Acs, Peter"] [Black "Miton, Kamil"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "2560"] [BlackElo "2517"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2002.08.31"] [EventType "team"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "POL"] [SourceTitle "CBM 090 ext"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2002.11.07"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Be7 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 Nf6 9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. Be2 Be6 12. Be3 Rc8 13. Rc1 Ne8 14. Nd5 Bg5 15. Rc3 Bxe3 16. fxe3 Ne7 17. Qd2 Bxd5 18. cxd5 Rxc3 19. Qxc3 b5 20. Nb1 f5 21. Nd2 Nf6 22. Bf3 Qb6 23. Qd3 f4 24. Re1 g5 25. Bd1 Ng6 26. g3 g4 27. Qc3 f3 28. Kf2 Ne7 29. Bc2 Rc8 30. Qd3 Qa5 31. Bb1 Qb4 32. Nb3 Rc4 33. a3 Nxe4+ 34. Qxe4 Qxb3 35. Qxh7+ Kf8 36. Qh6+ Ke8 37. Bg6+ Kd7 0-1 [Event "Baku Presidents Cup"] [Site "Baku"] [Date "2010.04.29"] [Round "2"] [White "Polgar, Judit"] [Black "Radjabov, Teimour"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "2682"] [BlackElo "2740"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2010.04.29"] [EventType "tourn (rapid)"] [EventRounds "7"] [EventCountry "AZE"] [EventCategory "18"] [SourceTitle "CBM 136 Extra"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2010.07.02"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Be7 7. Be2 Nf6 8. N1c3 a6 9. Na3 Be6 10. Be3 O-O 11. O-O Rc8 12. Rc1 h6 13. Qd2 Ng4 14. Bxg4 Bxg4 15. Nd5 Bg5 16. Nc2 Be6 17. Rfd1 Bxe3 18. Ndxe3 Qh4 19. f3 Rfd8 20. a4 Qg5 21. b4 Ne7 22. Ne1 Nc6 23. N1c2 Ne7 24. Ne1 Nc6 25. N1c2 1/2-1/2 [Event "Saint Louis Showdown 60m"] [Site "Saint Louis"] [Date "2016.11.11"] [Round "3"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "2779"] [BlackElo "2823"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2016.11.10"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "6"] [EventCountry "USA"] [EventCategory "22"] [SourceTitle "Mega2016 Update 59"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2016.11.18"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Be7 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 Be6 9. Be2 Rc8 10. O-O Nf6 11. Be3 O-O 12. Qd2 Nd7 13. Rac1 Nc5 14. f3 Nd4 15. Bxd4 exd4 16. Qxd4 Qb6 17. Rc2 Bf6 18. Qe3 Qb4 19. Qd2 Na4 20. Nd5 Qc5+ 21. Kh1 Bxd5 22. cxd5 Qd4 23. Nc4 b5 24. Nxd6 Rxc2 25. Qxc2 g6 26. f4 Nxb2 27. e5 Be7 28. Qe4 Qxe4 29. Nxe4 Rc8 30. f5 gxf5 31. Ng3 Rc2 32. Bh5 Nd3 33. Nxf5 Nf2+ 34. Kg1 Bc5 35. e6 Nh3+ 36. Kh1 Nf2+ 37. Kg1 1/2-1/2

19 Apr 2018

B33 Sicilian: Pelikan and Sveshnikov Variations (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.a4 a6 7.N5a3 Be7 8.Nc3 Nf6 9.Bc4 O-O 10.O-O Be6)

B33 Sicilian: Pelikan and Sveshnikov Variations (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.a4 a6 7.N5a3 Be7 8.Nc3 Nf6 9.Bc4 O-O 10.O-O Be6)

The game below was played on the first round of the 2015 December Quartets I 1800+ tournament that was played at Red Hot Pawn. This draw was the last game I played in group 3 and in the tournament, because I was not able to advance to the second round. I was only able to win two games and both of those wins were due to a timeout, so the point I got from this draw is the only one I feel I earned because this one was a hard fought game. This might also be the best draw I received this year. Due to this draw my rating increased to new heights, to a new peak rating at the time, 1969. Group 3 consisted of four players and I was third in the final standings with 7 points. My opponent, Pattrick06, finished on second place with 10 points. The group was won by TheBigKat (2449), who won all of his or her games and advanced to the second round. TheBigKat is the sixth highest rated player on the site at the time I am typing this post.

I have never really felt comfortable in playing the Sicilian Defense with either color, but I think this good draw boosted my confidence a bit. The move 6.a4 is not the most common continuation, but when I have played it, I usually do quite well. Probably the two most common moves on move six are 6.c4 and 6.N1c3, but I prefer a4 because it better suits my play style than those two moves. I basically want to stop the move b5 and reserve the c4-square either to my bishop or to my knight, depending on what my opponent plays. I think both players continued the game logically until my opponent played the mysterious looking 19...Ra8. Maybe the idea was to play a5 next move, but I stopped that by playing a5 myself. I was quite okay with my position after 20.a5, even though my bishop on c4 and the knight on a3 were rather awkwardly placed.

After Pattrick06 played 23...Kg7, I thought that I should get my knight to the game and played Nc4 after seeing that if my opponent replies with Nxd5, then I can play Nxd6 and I should be doing okay there. Pattrick06 did not take on d5, but instead moved the knight to d7, after which I thought it best to move my knight to e3 where it is better placed than on c4, at least in my opinion. Playing the knight to e3 wins also a tempo, because the bishop needs to move from f5 or be captured by the knight. After I played 26.Ba4, I though that I should be on the better side of the board, but I was not sure about the best plan to improve my position. I played 27.Kg1 because I thought that I should get the king out of the corner and prevent any possible back rank tricks. Not that my opponent threatened any tricks at that moment. After the reply 27...f5, I played 28.c4 because I did not think of anything else to do. C4 is as far as the pawn will go as long as the square c5 is so firmly in the control of my opponent's pieces. The problem with the move c4 is that the pawn is now much weaker because it can't be defended as easily as when it was on c2.

I think after the move 30...Rc7, it was my opponent who started to apply pressure on my position and not the other way around. I was certainly in some trouble, but I think that after the light-squared bishops had been traded off, the position looked a bit more like a draw. I think around that point I offered a draw, which my opponent declined. It was also the only time I did offer a draw in this game if I recall correctly. The thing I noticed after the light-squared bishops were off the board that I wanted to keep the other bishops on the board because I felt that my opponent has better chances to invade into my position if those remaining bishops are taken off the board. I also avoided making pawn moves almost at all cost, because those would have only weakened my pawn structure and made targets for my opponent to attack into. I was really happy to see 45...b5 played because it frees me to do something in the position rather than just sit around. The move 45...b5 also loses a pawn, but not the game, I end up in perpetual check like in the game continuation.

[Event "Quartets"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2015.12.21"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Pattrick06"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B33"] [WhiteElo "1969"] [BlackElo "2299"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "106"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. a4 a6 7. N5a3 Be7 8. Nc3 Nf6 9. Bc4 O-O 10. O-O Be6 {B33 Sicilian: Pelikan and Sveshnikov Variations. LiveBook: 32 Games} 11. f3 Nb4 (11... Qb6+ 12. Kh1 Qc5 (12... Rad8 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14. Bxd5 Kh8 15. Nc4 Qc7 16. Ne3 Ne8 17. c3 g6 18. Ba2 f5 19. Nd5 Qd7 20. Nb6 Qc7 21. Nd5 Qc8 22. Nb6 Qb8 23. exf5 gxf5 24. Nd5 Nf6 25. Bh6 Nxd5 26. Bxd5 Rf6 27. Be3 {Szulc,F (1615)-Badyra,W (1681) Walbrzych 2013 1-0 (80)}) 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14. Bxd5 Nxd5 15. Qxd5 Qxd5 16. exd5 Nd4 17. Be3 Rac8 18. Rf2 g6 19. Rd1 Bf6 20. Rd3 Rfe8 21. b3 b5 22. axb5 axb5 23. b4 Ra8 24. Bxd4 exd4 25. g3 Re1+ 26. Kg2 {Votava,J (2425)-Valet,R (2190) Berlin 1993 1-0 (72)}) 12. Nd5 Nbxd5 13. exd5 {Black is slightly better.} Qb6+ $146 (13... Bd7 14. c3 Nh5 15. Re1 f5 16. Be3 Rf6 17. Bf1 f4 18. Bf2 Rh6 19. Nc4 Bh4 20. Qd2 Qg5 21. Nb6 Rd8 22. Nxd7 Rxd7 23. Bxh4 Qxh4 24. c4 Ng3 25. h3 Nf5 26. Bd3 Ne3 27. Rxe3 fxe3 28. Qxe3 { Rudolph,A (2247)-Duppel,T (2212) Germany 2004 0-1 (63)}) 14. Kh1 Bf5 15. b3 Rfe8 16. Re1 Rac8 17. Be3 Qa5 18. Qd2 Qxd2 19. Bxd2 Ra8 20. a5 Rac8 21. Rac1 h6 22. b4 g5 23. Bb3 Kg7 24. Nc4 Nd7 25. Ne3 Bg6 26. Ba4 Red8 27. Kg1 f5 28. c4 f4 29. Ng4 Nf6 30. Nf2 Rc7 31. Rc3 {-0.18/26} (31. Bb3 $142 {0.28/28}) 31... Rdc8 $11 {Hoping for ...Nxd5!} 32. Rec1 e4 33. fxe4 Nxe4 34. Nxe4 Bxe4 35. Bc2 Bg6 36. Bxg6 Kxg6 37. Be1 Bf6 38. R3c2 Kf5 39. Bf2 Re8 40. Kf1 Rd7 41. Bb6 Bd8 42. Bd4 Re4 43. Bf2 Rc7 44. Bb6 Rc8 $1 45. Bf2 b5 $2 {4.68/29 [#]} (45... Bf6 $17 { -0.90/29 and life is bright.}) 46. axb6 $2 {1.49/29} (46. cxb5 $1 $18 {4.68/29 and the rest is easy.} Rxc2 47. Rxc2 axb5 48. a6) 46... Rb8 $16 47. Ra1 { 0.37/27} (47. c5 $16 {1.31/26} Rxb4 48. Re2) 47... Bxb6 $14 48. Rxa6 (48. Be1 { keeps more tension.} Be3 49. Rxa6 Ke5 50. h3 h5 51. Bc3+) 48... Bxf2 $1 { The position is equal.} 49. Kxf2 Rxb4 50. Rxd6 Rbxc4 51. Rxc4 Rxc4 52. Rxh6 { KR-KR} Rc2+ 53. Kf1 Rc1+ {Accuracy: White = 48%, Black = 55%.} 1/2-1/2

The draw percentage seems to be 100% in the reference games that I took from my database and where the players were rated 2500+.

[Event "RUS-ch"] [Site "Elista"] [Date "1996.??.??"] [Round "4"] [White "Rublevsky, Sergei"] [Black "Sveshnikov, Evgeny"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B33"] [WhiteElo "2645"] [BlackElo "2535"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "1996.10.15"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [SourceTitle "CBM 056"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1997.02.01"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. a4 Be7 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 Be6 9. Bc4 Nf6 10. O-O O-O 11. Bg5 Nxe4 12. Nxe4 Bxc4 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. Nxc4 d5 15. Qh5 dxc4 16. Qxe5 Ng6 17. Qf5 Qb6 18. a5 Qc6 19. f3 b6 20. Rfd1 bxa5 21. Qxa5 Rab8 22. Rd6 Qb5 23. Qxb5 Rxb5 24. Ra2 a5 25. Ra6 Rfb8 26. R2xa5 Rxa5 27. Rxa5 f5 28. Nd6 Rxb2 29. Ra8+ Nf8 30. c3 Rc2 31. Nb5 Kf7 32. Ra7+ Kf6 33. Rc7 Ne6 34. Rc6 Rc1+ 35. Kf2 Ke5 36. Na3 Rxc3 37. Nxc4+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "EU-ch 9th"] [Site "Plovdiv"] [Date "2008.04.25"] [Round "5"] [White "Zhigalko, Andrey"] [Black "Solak, Dragan"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B33"] [WhiteElo "2545"] [BlackElo "2630"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2008.04.21"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "BUL"] [SourceTitle "CBM 124"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2008.05.28"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. a4 Be6 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 Be7 9. Bc4 Nf6 10. O-O O-O 11. Bg5 Rc8 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Nd5 Bg5 14. c3 Kh8 15. Qe2 Ne7 16. Rfd1 Ng6 17. g3 Qe8 18. h4 Bd8 19. Ne3 Bb6 20. h5 Bxe3 21. fxe3 Qxa4 22. b3 Bxc4 23. Nxc4 Qxb3 24. Nxd6 Rxc3 25. hxg6 Rxe3 26. Nxf7+ Kg8 27. gxh7+ Kxh7 28. Qh5+ Kg8 29. Nh6+ gxh6 30. Qg6+ Kh8 31. Qxh6+ Kg8 32. Qg5+ Kh8 33. Qxe5+ Kg8 34. Qg5+ Kh8 35. Qh6+ Kg8 36. Qg6+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "RUS Cup final"] [Site "St Petersburg"] [Date "2009.11.04"] [Round "1.2"] [White "Chuprov, Dmitry"] [Black "Khismatullin, Denis"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B33"] [WhiteElo "2558"] [BlackElo "2643"] [PlyCount "120"] [EventDate "2009.11.03"] [EventType "k.o."] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2010"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2009.11.30"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. a4 a6 8. Na3 Be6 9. Bc4 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Bg5 Nxe4 12. Nxe4 Bxc4 13. Nxc4 d5 14. Nxe5 dxe4 15. Nxc6 bxc6 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 17. Qe2 c5 18. Rad1 Qe6 19. Rd2 Rad8 20. Rfd1 Rxd2 21. Qxd2 h6 22. h3 Re8 23. Qc3 Rc8 24. Re1 Qd5 25. Qe3 f5 26. Qe2 c4 27. Rd1 Qc6 28. a5 Qb5 29. c3 Qxa5 30. Rd7 Qe5 31. Qd2 Kh7 32. Rd5 Qe6 33. Qd4 Rc7 34. Rd6 Qe7 35. Qd5 Qf7 36. Qd2 a5 37. Rd8 Rb7 38. g3 Qe6 39. Rd6 e3 40. fxe3 Qe5 41. Kf2 Rxb2 42. Rxh6+ Kxh6 43. Qxb2 Qd5 44. g4 fxg4 45. hxg4 Kg5 46. Qb8 Qd2+ 47. Kf3 Qd1+ 48. Kf2 Qd2+ 49. Kf3 Qd5+ 50. Kg3 Kf6 51. Qf8+ Ke6 52. Qg8+ Kd6 53. Qd8+ Ke6 54. Qe8+ Kf6 55. Qf8+ Ke6 56. Qe8+ Kf6 57. Qf8+ Ke6 58. Qg8+ Kd6 59. Qd8+ Ke6 60. Qg8+ Kd6 1/2-1/2

18 Apr 2018

C45 Scotch Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.Nd2)

C45 Scotch Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.Nd2)

Like the game I shared yesterday, this one was also played at the 2016 November Octet I 1870+ tournament that was held at Red Hot Pawn. My opponent in this game, 7copeland, was 2nd in the final standings with 34 points. 7copeland was 8 points behind the winner of the tournament mihai52 (2393). I lost both my games against 7copeland, whose rating at the moment of me typing this is 2302. My current rating at Red Hot Pawn is 1783.

[Event "Octet"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2016.11.21"] [Round "1"] [White "7copeland"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C45"] [WhiteElo "2256"] [BlackElo "1892"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8. Nd2 {C45 Scotch Game} d6 {0.21/23 LiveBook: 6 Games} (8... g6 $15 {-0.54/22}) 9. Nf3 (9. Nc4 Nb6 10. Na5 Qxe5 11. Nxc6 Qxe2+ 12. Bxe2 Bb7 13. Bf3 Kd7 14. Ne5+ dxe5 15. Bxb7 Rb8 16. Bf3 f5 17. O-O Bd6 18. Rd1 Na4 19. Be2 Nxb2 20. Rd5 Rb7 21. Ra5 Rhb8 22. Bd2 g6 23. Re1 e4 {Strikovic,A (2559)-Johannessen,L (2507) Porto 2012 0-1 (38)}) (9. exd6 Qxe2+ 10. Bxe2 cxd6 11. O-O Be7 12. Bf3 Be6 13. c4 Nb4 14. a3 Nc2 15. Bxc6+ Kd8 16. Bxa8 Nxa1 17. Be4 Kd7 18. b4 Bf6 19. Bd3 Rc8 20. Rd1 Ke7 21. h3 h6 22. Ne4 Be5 23. c5 Nb3 {Maurizzi,M (2018) -Thorfinnsson,B (2400) chess.com INT 2018 0-1 (42)}) 9... Bg4 10. c4 Nb6 $146 { The position is equal.} (10... Bxf3 11. gxf3 Nb6 12. f4 Nd7 13. Bg2 Nb8 14. O-O f5 15. Qc2 Qf7 16. Qb3 Nd7 17. Bxc6 Rd8 18. Re1 dxe5 19. Rxe5+ Be7 20. Qb5 Qg6+ 21. Kh1 Rf8 22. Bd2 Rf6 23. Bb4 {1-0 (23) Mateus,M (2128)-Rua,N (1952) Porto Boyaca 2012}) 11. exd6 cxd6 12. Be3 Qe4 {0.43/24} (12... g6 $1 $11 {0.00/25}) 13. Bf4 Bxf3 14. gxf3 Qxe2+ 15. Bxe2 Be7 16. O-O-O {0.07/30} (16. O-O $14 { 0.49/25}) 16... Rd8 17. Rhe1 O-O {0.92/23} (17... d5 $11 {0.08/25}) 18. Bf1 $36 {White is really pushing.} Rfe8 {1.38/28} (18... Nc8 $142 {0.82/28}) 19. Bxd6 $1 Bxd6 (19... Rxd6 20. Rxd6) 20. Rxe8+ Rxe8 21. Rxd6 {Endgame KRB-KRN} c5 22. Kd2 {0.86/32} (22. b4 $1 $18 {1.61/26}) 22... Kf8 23. Rc6 Rc8 24. Rxc8+ Nxc8 { KB-KN} 25. Kc3 Ke7 {1.55/26} (25... a5 $142 {1.10/36} 26. a3 Ke7) 26. Bh3 Nd6 27. b4 cxb4+ 28. Kxb4 Kd8 29. c5 Ne8 30. Kb5 Kc7 31. Bf1 Kb7 32. Bd3 Nc7+ 33. Kc4 Kc6 {2.92/29} (33... g6 $142 {1.82/41} 34. Be4+ Kc8) 34. Bxh7 $18 Na6 35. Be4+ Kc7 $2 {4.70/34 [#]} (35... Kd7 {2.92/36} 36. f4 Kc7) 36. Bd5 f6 37. f4 Nb8 $2 {13.23/28} (37... Kd7 {2.92/37} 38. Be4 Kd8) 38. f5 Nd7 39. f4 a6 40. a4 Nb8 41. a5 {White mates.} Kd7 42. h4 Kc7 43. Ba8 Nd7 44. Kd5 Nf8 45. c6 { Precision: White = 68%, Black = 38%.} 1-0

Some of the latest and highest rated games from my reference database can be seen below.

[Event "Moscow-ch blitz 69th"] [Site "Moscow"] [Date "2015.09.06"] [Round "18"] [White "Mozharov, Mikhail"] [Black "Morozevich, Alexander"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C45"] [WhiteElo "2573"] [BlackElo "2711"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2015.09.06"] [EventType "tourn (blitz)"] [EventRounds "19"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [EventCategory "15"] [SourceTitle "Mega2015 Update 42"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2015.09.11"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8. Nd2 g6 9. Nf3 Bg7 10. c4 Nb6 11. b3 a5 12. Qe3 a4 13. Rb1 axb3 14. axb3 O-O 15. Be2 c5 16. O-O Bb7 17. Bb2 Rfe8 18. Rfe1 d5 19. cxd5 Nxd5 20. Qe4 Reb8 21. Qg4 Bc8 22. Qg3 Bf5 23. Ra1 Rxa1 24. Bxa1 Nb4 25. Bc4 Nc2 26. Rc1 h6 27. Bc3 Rd8 28. h3 Nd4 29. Re1 Be6 30. Qf4 Nxb3 31. Bxe6 Qxe6 32. Re4 Rd3 33. Be1 Nd4 34. Nxd4 cxd4 35. Qc1 Qd5 36. Re2 c5 37. e6 fxe6 38. Qf4 c4 39. Bb4 Rb3 40. Be7 d3 0-1 [Event "CHN-IND Summit 2nd"] [Site "Liaocheng"] [Date "2017.03.06"] [Round "2.1"] [White "Wei, Yi"] [Black "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C45"] [WhiteElo "2725"] [BlackElo "2644"] [PlyCount "118"] [EventDate "2017.03.05"] [EventType "team-schev"] [EventRounds "4"] [EventCountry "CHN"] [SourceTitle "Mega2017 Update 21"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2017.03.17"] [WhiteTeam "China"] [BlackTeam "India"] [WhiteTeamCountry "CHN"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8. Nd2 g6 9. c4 Ba6 10. Nf3 Nb6 11. b3 Bg7 12. Bg5 Qa3 13. Bc1 Qe7 14. Bg5 Qa3 15. Qd2 d6 16. Bf6 Bxf6 17. exf6 O-O-O 18. Be2 Rhe8 19. O-O d5 20. Ng5 dxc4 21. Qf4 Nd5 22. Qg4+ Rd7 23. Bxc4 Nxf6 24. Qf3 Bxc4 25. Qxc6 Bd5 26. Qxf6 h6 27. Nf3 Qd6 28. Qc3 Qc6 29. Qxc6 Bxc6 30. Rfd1 Bxf3 31. gxf3 Re2 32. Rxd7 Kxd7 33. Rd1+ Kc6 34. Rc1+ Kb6 35. a3 a5 36. Rc3 Ra2 37. a4 Rd2 38. Rc4 c5 39. Re4 Rd3 40. Re8 Rxf3 41. Rb8+ Kc6 42. Rb5 Kd5 43. Kg2 Rc3 44. h4 Kd4 45. f3 Ke3 46. Rxa5 Kf4 47. Ra6 f5 48. Rxg6 Rxb3 49. Rxh6 Rb2+ 50. Kh3 Kxf3 51. Rc6 Rb1 52. Kh2 Rb2+ 53. Kh3 Rb1 54. Kh2 Kg4 55. Rxc5 f4 56. Rc3 Rb2+ 57. Kg1 Rb1+ 58. Kg2 Rb2+ 59. Kg1 Rb1+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "Gashimov Memorial"] [Site "Shamkir"] [Date "2017.04.21"] [Round "1"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C45"] [WhiteElo "2822"] [BlackElo "2772"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2017.04.21"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "AZE"] [EventCategory "21"] [SourceTitle "Mega2017 Update 28"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2017.05.05"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8. Nd2 a5 9. c4 Nb6 10. b3 a4 11. Bb2 axb3 12. axb3 Rxa1+ 13. Bxa1 Qa3 14. Qd1 Bb4 15. Bd3 Qa5 16. Ke2 d6 17. Qc2 dxe5 18. Bb2 Qc5 19. Nf3 Bg4 20. Bxh7 Nd7 21. Bf5 Bxf3+ 22. Kxf3 g6 23. Bxd7+ Kxd7 24. Qe4 Re8 25. Ke2 Kc8 26. Rd1 f5 27. Qh4 Qe7 28. Qg3 g5 29. Bc3 Bc5 30. Bd2 f4 31. Qh3+ Kb7 32. b4 Bd4 33. Qd3 Rd8 34. b5 Qe6 35. bxc6+ Kxc6 36. f3 Rb8 37. Be1 g4 38. Rd2 gxf3+ 39. Qxf3+ e4 0-1 [Event "GRE CupT final"] [Site "Rio Achaia"] [Date "2017.07.02"] [Round "5"] [White "Kotronias, Vasilios"] [Black "Parligras, Mircea Emilian"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C45"] [WhiteElo "2500"] [BlackElo "2615"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2017.07.01"] [EventType "team-k.o."] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "GRE"] [SourceTitle "Mega2017 Update 37"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2017.07.06"] [WhiteTeam "Thomas Georgiou SO"] [BlackTeam "Florinas LP"] [WhiteTeamCountry "GRE"] [BlackTeamCountry "GRE"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8. Nd2 g6 9. c4 Ba6 10. Nf3 Rb8 11. a3 Bg7 12. Bg5 f6 13. exf6 Qxe2+ 14. Bxe2 Nxf6 15. Bd3 O-O 16. O-O-O Ng4 17. Rd2 Rb3 18. Bc2 Bxb2+ 19. Kd1 Rxa3 20. Bb1 Bc3 21. Ra2 Rxa2 22. Bxa2 Nxf2+ 23. Kc2 Nxh1 24. Kxc3 Kg7 25. Be3 d6 26. Bd4+ Kg8 27. c5+ d5 28. Ne5 Bb5 29. Ng4 h5 30. Nf6+ Kf7 31. Bb1 Ke7 0-1 [Event "Wch Blitz"] [Site "Riadh"] [Date "2017.12.30"] [Round "15"] [White "Howell, David"] [Black "Eljanov, Pavel"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C45"] [WhiteElo "2676"] [BlackElo "2711"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2017.12.29"] [EventType "swiss (blitz)"] [EventRounds "21"] [EventCountry "SAU"] [SourceTitle "Mega2018 Update 11"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2018.01.05"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8. Nd2 g6 9. c4 Nb6 10. Ne4 Bg7 11. Bg5 Qb4+ 12. Qd2 Qxd2+ 13. Kxd2 Bxe5 14. Nf6+ Bxf6 15. Re1+ Kf8 16. Bxf6 Rg8 17. Bd8 d5 18. c5 Nc4+ 19. Kc3 Be6 20. Bxc7 Rc8 21. Bf4 Kg7 22. b3 Na3 23. Ba6 Nb5+ 24. Kb2 g5 25. Bg3 Rcd8 26. a4 Bc8 27. Bxc8 1-0

17 Apr 2018

C53 Giuoco Piano sidelines (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 a6)

C53 Giuoco Piano sidelines (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 a6)

Today's game was played in a tournament called 2016 November Octet I 1870+ at Red Hot Pawn. My opponent in this game, WackyWeasel, was able to gather 9 points in 14 games and was 7th in the final standings of the tournament. I was able to get 14 points in those 14 games and I was 6th in the final standings. In these tournaments you will get 3 points for a win and 1 point for a draw. I won both my games against WackyWeasel.

[Event "Octet"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2016.11.21"] [Round "1"] [White "WackyWeasel"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C53"] [WhiteElo "1898"] [BlackElo "1896"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "118"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 a6 {C53 Giuoco Piano sidelines} 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 ({Much weaker is} 6. Nxd4 $6 Ne5 $11) 6... Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Qe7 {1.43/26} ({ Better is} 7... Bxd2+ $1 $14 {0.66/26} 8. Nbxd2 d6 (8... b5 9. Bb3 h6 10. Rc1 Bb7 11. a3 Nge7 12. Ba2 O-O 13. Qc2 d5 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. O-O Nf4 16. Nb3 Nb4 17. axb4 Bxf3 18. Qf5 Ne2+ 19. Kh1 Nxc1 20. Nxc1 Bb7 21. Nd3 Qg5 22. Qxg5 hxg5 23. Nc5 {Schiopu,O (1294)-Otetea,I (1478) Baile Felix 2017 1/2-1/2 (69)})) 8. O-O $16 {White is clearly better.} Bxd2 9. Qxd2 $146 (9. Nbxd2 Na5 10. Rc1 b5 11. Bb3 c6 12. Rc3 Nh6 13. Re1 O-O 14. Qc2 d6 15. a3 Bd7 16. Ba2 Rae8 17. Rce3 Kh8 18. Bb1 g6 19. d5 Ng4 20. Qc3+ Qf6 21. Qxa5 Nxe3 22. Rxe3 Qxb2 23. Qc3+ Qxc3 {Leonhardt,S-Fuchsluger,H Karlsruhe 2003 1-0 (63)}) 9... d6 10. h3 { 1.01/28} (10. Nc3 $142 {1.56/25}) 10... Nf6 11. Nc3 {aiming for e5.} O-O 12. Rfe1 h6 {1.35/26} (12... Qd8 $142 {0.90/25}) 13. Rad1 b5 {1.57/24} (13... Qd8 $142 {1.16/28}) 14. Nd5 Qd8 {2.66/27} (14... Nxd5 $16 {1.21/29 keeps fighting.} 15. Bxd5 (15. exd5 Qf6 $14) 15... Bb7) 15. Qf4 $4 {-2.76/24 [#]} (15. Nxf6+ $1 $18 {2.66/27 was the only winning move.} Qxf6 16. Bd5) 15... bxc4 $19 16. Nxf6+ Qxf6 17. Qxf6 gxf6 18. Rc1 Na5 19. Nd2 Bd7 20. Nxc4 Nxc4 21. Rxc4 c6 22. b3 Rfe8 23. f3 d5 24. Rcc1 dxe4 25. fxe4 Rab8 26. Rc4 Rb5 27. Kf2 f5 28. e5 Kf8 29. Kg3 Ke7 30. Kf4 Ke6 31. g4 fxg4 32. hxg4 Kd5 33. Rec1 {-5.30/26} (33. Rh1 { -3.72/28 was necessary.} Rh8 34. Rh2) 33... Rg8 34. Rh1 Rxg4+ 35. Ke3 Rg6 36. Rf1 Ke6 37. Rc2 f6 38. exf6 Rxf6 39. Rh1 Rbf5 40. Rch2 Rf3+ 41. Ke2 Kd5 42. Rxh6 Kxd4 $2 {0.00/41} ({Black should try} 42... Rf2+ $19 {-6.40/24} 43. Kd1 Rxh6 44. Rxh6 Rxa2) 43. Rxf6 Rxf6 {Endgame KRB-KR} 44. Rh4+ $2 {-6.06/27} (44. Rd1+ $11 {0.00/35} Ke4 45. Rxd7) 44... Kc3 45. Ra4 Bc8 46. Ke3 Re6+ 47. Kf4 Kd3 48. Rb4 {-7.51/30} (48. Rc4 $142 {-4.25/30}) 48... c5 49. Rb8 Re4+ 50. Kf3 Re8 {[#] ...Bg4+! is the strong threat.} 51. Rb6 Kc3 52. a4 Rd8 53. a5 Re8 { Black mates.} 54. Kf4 Re6 55. Rb8 Bd7 56. Kf3 Bb5 57. Rc8 Rc6 58. Rxc6 Bxc6+ 59. Ke3 Kxb3 {Precision: White = 42%, Black = 67%.} 0-1

Here are the three highest rated reference games that I was able to find in my database.

[Event "Oberliga Wuert 0001"] [Site "Wuerttemberg"] [Date "2000.11.12"] [Round "2.1"] [White "Gheng, Josef"] [Black "Bauer, Peter"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C53"] [WhiteElo "2378"] [BlackElo "2244"] [PlyCount "98"] [EventDate "2000.10.15"] [EventType "team"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "GER"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2002"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2001.11.25"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 a6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. O-O b5 9. Bd3 d5 10. Bg5 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Ne7 12. e5 Ne4 13. Bxe4 dxe4 14. Nd2 Bf5 15. Re1 Qd5 16. Bxe7 Kxe7 17. Qh5 Bg6 18. Qh4+ Kf8 19. Nb3 h5 20. Re3 Rh6 21. Nc5 b4 22. Qf4 Kg8 23. h4 bxc3 24. Nb3 c2 25. Rc3 a5 26. Rc5 Qd7 27. Rxc2 a4 28. Nd2 Qxd4 29. Rac1 Rd8 30. Nf1 e3 31. Qxd4 Rxd4 32. fxe3 Rxh4 33. Rxc7 Bd3 34. Nd2 Rb4 35. Ra7 Rb2 36. Nf3 Rg6 37. Rc8+ Kh7 38. Raa8 Rgxg2+ 39. Kh1 Be4 40. Rh8+ Kg6 41. Nh4+ Kg5 42. Nxg2 Rxg2 43. Rxa4 Rg4+ 44. Kh2 h4 45. Rf8 Rg2+ 46. Kh3 Rg3+ 47. Kh2 Rg2+ 48. Kh3 Rg3+ 49. Kh2 Rg2+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "Sarajevo op-B 44th"] [Site "Sarajevo"] [Date "2014.06.04"] [Round "7"] [White "Kahrovic, Mersid"] [Black "Kozarcanin, Sead"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C68"] [WhiteElo "2284"] [BlackElo "2048"] [PlyCount "105"] [EventDate "2014.05.30"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "BIH"] [SourceTitle "Mega2014 Update 24"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2014.06.14"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. c3 Nf6 6. Qe2 d6 7. d3 h6 8. b4 Bb6 9. h3 O-O 10. g4 Nh7 11. Nbd2 Be6 12. Nf1 d5 13. Bb3 dxe4 14. dxe4 Qf6 15. Ng3 Bxb3 16. axb3 Ne7 17. Nf5 Nxf5 18. gxf5 Qc6 19. Qc4 Nf6 20. Qxc6 bxc6 21. Nd2 c5 22. bxc5 Bxc5 23. Ra5 Bd6 24. f3 Rfb8 25. Kd1 Rb5 26. Ra4 Nd7 27. Kc2 Nc5 28. Ra2 a5 29. b4 Na6 30. bxa5 Nb8 31. Nc4 Nc6 32. Bd2 Ra6 33. Rha1 f6 34. Be3 Bc5 35. Bd2 Kf7 36. Rb2 Rxb2+ 37. Kxb2 Ke8 38. Kb3 Bb6 39. Nxb6 cxb6 40. Kc4 Rxa5 41. Rxa5 bxa5 42. Kb5 Kd7 43. Be3 h5 44. Bc5 a4 45. Kxa4 Ke8 46. Kb5 Nd8 47. h4 Kf7 48. Bb6 Ke8 49. Bxd8 Kxd8 50. c4 Kc7 51. c5 Kb7 52. c6+ Kc7 53. Kc5 1-0 [Event "Basel op"] [Site "Basel"] [Date "2018.01.02"] [Round "1"] [White "Dekan, Hans"] [Black "Beukema, Stefan"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C68"] [WhiteElo "2138"] [BlackElo "2403"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2018.01.02"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "SUI"] [SourceTitle "Mega2018 Update 12"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2018.01.12"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. c3 Nf6 6. O-O Nxe4 7. Bd5 Nf6 8. Bxc6 dxc6 9. Nxe5 Be6 10. d4 Bd6 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bh4 g5 13. Bg3 Ne4 14. Re1 Nxg3 15. hxg3 Qe7 16. Qe2 h5 17. Ng6 fxg6 18. Qxe6 Qxe6 19. Rxe6+ Kf7 20. Re4 h4 21. gxh4 Rae8 22. Nd2 gxh4 23. Rae1 Rxe4 24. Rxe4 g5 25. Nc4 Kf6 26. Ne3 a5 27. Ng4+ Kf5 28. f3 a4 29. Ne3+ Kg6 30. Nc4 Bf4 31. Ne5+ Kf5 32. Nd3 Bd6 33. c4 b6 34. Nf2 c5 35. d5 Be5 36. Nd3 Bd4+ 37. Kh2 b5 38. cxb5 Rd8 39. Re7 Rxd5 40. Rxc7 Be3 41. Kh3 Rxd3 42. b6 Rd6 43. b7 Rb6 44. Rf7+ Ke6 45. Rf8 0-1

16 Apr 2018

D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines (1.d4 Nf6 2.e3 d5)

D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines (1.d4 Nf6 2.e3 d5)

This game was played in a clan challenge at Red Hot Pawn, which was played between The White Hats and Star Trek on 2 boards. I played on board 1 for The White Hats and in addition to this loss, I drew my other game against krislewis63. Since the draw was not counted for the final result, the clan challenge finished with a score of 1 - 2 in favor of Star Trek.

[Event "Clan challenge"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2016.12.04"] [Round "?"] [White "krislewis63"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D00"] [WhiteElo "2106"] [BlackElo "1878"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 d5 {D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines} 3. f3 (3. Ne2 Bf5 4. Ng3 Bg6 5. h4 h6 6. Bd3 Bxd3 7. Qxd3 Nbd7 8. Nc3 c6 9. e4 e5 10. exd5 exd4 11. dxc6 bxc6 12. Qxd4 Bc5 13. Qc4 O-O 14. Kf1 Rb8 15. a3 Re8 16. Bf4 Bxf2 17. Bxb8 Qxb8 { Nemety,L (2235)-Lamoureux,C (2430) Paris 1994 0-1}) 3... e6 (3... Bd7 4. Nc3 e6 5. Qd3 c5 6. Bd2 Bd6 7. Nb5 Be7 8. e4 c4 9. Qe3 dxe4 10. Nc3 Qc7 11. fxe4 Ng4 12. Qh3 e5 13. Qg3 Bd6 14. d5 Bc5 15. Nb5 Bxb5 16. Qxg4 O-O 17. Bh6 g6 18. Bxf8 {Boyer,F (1200)-Cazal,J (1070) St Denis 2015 0-1 (33)}) 4. e4 $146 (4. a3 c5 5. c3 Bd7 6. Nd2 Nc6 7. b4 cxd4 8. exd4 Rc8 9. Ne2 Bd6 10. g3 Ne7 11. Bh3 O-O 12. Nb3 Ba4 13. Bg5 Ng6 14. Qd3 Bxb3 15. Bxf6 Qxf6 16. Rb1 Bc4 17. Qe3 Bxe2 18. Qxe2 Rxc3 {Tsoukas,T-Avsitidiysky,A Limassol 2009 0-1 (41)}) 4... dxe4 5. c3 exf3 6. Nxf3 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Qe2 {Black is better.} b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Ne5 Nbd7 11. Bg5 h6 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 ({Reject} 12... Qxd7 $6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Rxf6 $1 $11) 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Nd2 c5 15. Nb3 cxd4 16. Nxd4 Qc5 17. Rad1 e5 {0.09/27} ( 17... Qg5 $17 {-1.01/25} 18. Ba6 Bxa6 19. Qxa6 Nf6) 18. b4 $11 Qxc3 19. Nf5 $1 {[#] Black must now prevent Rc1.} Qxb4 $2 {5.68/27} (19... e4 $1 $11 {0.09/28 and Black has nothing to worry.} 20. Bxe4 Bxe4 21. Qxe4 Nf6) 20. Bc4 $1 $18 Qc5+ 21. Kh1 {Hoping for Qg4.} Rad8 22. Qg4 $1 {White mates.} g5 23. Qh5 Be4 24. Qg6+ {Precision: White = 77%, Black = 37%.} 1-0

There were only these two games by Bojan Kurajica to be found in my reference database, when I looked for games that reached the position after 2...d5 and where the players had a minimum rating of 2500.

[Event "Turin ol (Men) 37th"] [Site "Turin"] [Date "2006.05.27"] [Round "6"] [White "Kurajica, Bojan"] [Black "Winants, Luc"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D10"] [WhiteElo "2548"] [BlackElo "2530"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2006.05.21"] [EventType "team-swiss"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "ITA"] [SourceTitle "CBM 113"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2006.07.31"] [WhiteTeam "Bosna&Herzegovina"] [BlackTeam "Belgium"] [WhiteTeamCountry "BIH"] [BlackTeamCountry "BEL"] 1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Bd3 Bg4 5. Qb3 Qc7 6. Nc3 e6 7. Bd2 Nbd7 8. h3 Bh5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. f4 Bg6 11. f5 Bh5 12. Kf1 O-O-O 13. g4 Bxg4 14. hxg4 Nxg4 15. Nge2 Ndf6 16. Rc1 Re8 17. Rh3 Qd7 18. Ke1 Kb8 19. Na4 Ne4 20. Bxe4 Rxe4 21. Ng3 Re8 22. e4 Bd6 23. e5 f6 24. e6 g6 25. Ne2 Qg7 26. Rxc6 1-0 [Event "Guernsey op 34th"] [Site "Guernsey"] [Date "2008.10.23"] [Round "5"] [White "Kurajica, Bojan"] [Black "Hillarp Persson, Tiger"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D11"] [WhiteElo "2540"] [BlackElo "2543"] [PlyCount "38"] [EventDate "2008.10.19"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "7"] [EventCountry "GCI"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2009"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2008.11.26"] 1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Qb3 Qc7 7. Nc3 Bxf3 8. gxf3 e6 9. e4 Nc6 10. Bf4 Qd7 11. O-O-O Be7 12. Rg1 g6 13. Bh6 O-O-O 14. Kb1 Kb8 15. Bf4+ Ka8 16. Nb5 Rc8 17. Be5 Rhd8 18. Bh3 Na5 19. Qa4 a6 1/2-1/2

13 Apr 2018

D23 Queen's Gambit Accepted: 3.Nf3 Nf6 sidelines (1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 d5 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Bd6 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 O-O 8.e4 Be7 9.O-O Nbd7 10.Qc2)

D23 Queen's Gambit Accepted: 3.Nf3 Nf6 sidelines (1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 d5 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Bd6 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 O-O 8.e4 Be7 9.O-O Nbd7 10.Qc2)

In this game I faced one of the highest rated players that I have ever played against. This game was played in a tournament called 2016 November Octet I 1870+. My opponent in this game, mihai52, won all of her or his games in the tournament and was therefore able to gather 42 points in 14 games. I did much worse and I was only able to gather 14 points, which meant that I was 6th in the final standings.

[Event "Octet"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2016.11.21"] [Round "1"] [White "mihai52"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D23"] [WhiteElo "2417"] [BlackElo "1882"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 d5 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Bd6 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 O-O 8. e4 Be7 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Qc2 $146 {D23 Queen's Gambit Accepted: 3.Nf3 Nf6 sidelines} (10. Qe2 b6 11. Rd1 Bb7 12. Bg5 Ne8 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Rac1 Nd6 15. Bd3 e5 16. Bb1 exd4 17. Nxd4 c5 18. Ndb5 Nxb5 19. Nxb5 Ne5 20. f4 Ng6 21. Nd6 Nxf4 22. Qg4 Ng6 23. Nf5 Qe5 24. Rc3 Bc8 {Ludvik,T (1713)-Taragelova,M (1492) Kouty nad Desnou 2014 0-1 (69)}) (10. e5 Nd5 11. Nxd5 exd5 12. Bb3 Re8 13. Be3 Nf8 14. Ne1 f5 15. f4 Be6 16. Rc1 Nd7 17. Kh1 Kh8 18. Nd3 Rf8 19. Qd2 Qb6 20. Bd1 Kg8 21. Rf3 Bf7 22. Rh3 Be6 23. Rf3 Kh8 24. b4 a5 {Burkov,G (2149)-Tsybikova,D Dubna 2007 1-0 (58)}) (10. a4 b6 11. Bf4 Bb7 12. Qe2 Nh5 13. Be3 Nhf6 14. Rfd1 Qc8 15. h3 Rd8 16. Bg5 Re8 17. Rac1 c5 18. Bd3 Qb8 19. Bb1 cxd4 20. Nxd4 h6 21. Be3 Nc5 22. Qc2 Ncxe4 23. Ncb5 Rc8 24. Qe2 a6 {Solli,O (1642)-Kirkebo,B (1441) Oslo 2015 0-1 (64)}) 10... Nb6 {1.33/22} (10... Re8 $142 {0.89/27}) 11. Be2 Bd7 12. a4 a5 {White is better.} 13. Rd1 Rc8 14. Ne5 Qc7 {1.41/26} ({Better is} 14... Be8 {0.83/27}) 15. Nd3 $16 Qb8 16. h3 c5 $2 {2.93/24 [#]} (16... Rfd8 $16 {1.36/27} 17. Qb3 Na8) 17. Bf4 $18 ({Less strong is} 17. Nxc5 e5 $16) ({ Don't do} 17. dxc5 $6 Na8 $18) 17... Qa8 18. dxc5 ({Don't take} 18. Nxc5 $6 Bc6 $18) 18... Bxc5 19. Nxc5 Rxc5 20. Be3 Rc6 21. Bb5 Rfc8 {5.90/26} (21... Qc8 { 3.99/27 keeps fighting.} 22. Bxc6 Qxc6) 22. Bxc6 {White is clearly winning.} Rxc6 23. Bxb6 Rxb6 24. e5 {Precision: White = 68%, Black = 26%.} 1-0

The game below is the highest rated game found in my database that reached the position after 10.Qc2.

[Event "Hilversum op-A"] [Site "Hilversum"] [Date "2010.07.03"] [Round "8"] [White "Landa, Konstantin"] [Black "Nyzhnyk, Illya"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D23"] [WhiteElo "2655"] [BlackElo "2544"] [PlyCount "52"] [EventDate "2010.06.26"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "NED"] [SourceTitle "CBM 137 Extra"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2010.09.01"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Qa4+ Nbd7 5. Nc3 e6 6. e4 Be7 7. Bxc4 O-O 8. Qc2 c6 9. O-O Re8 10. Bf4 Nf8 11. h3 b5 12. Bd3 a6 13. a3 Bb7 14. b4 a5 15. Rab1 Ng6 16. Be3 Nd7 17. Rfd1 axb4 18. axb4 Qb8 19. e5 Nb6 20. Ne4 Nd5 21. Nc5 Ra3 22. Rb3 Rxb3 23. Qxb3 Bxc5 24. bxc5 Qa7 25. Ng5 Ra8 26. Rb1 Qa4 1/2-1/2

12 Apr 2018

C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O d6 5.h3 Nf6 6.d3 h6 7.Nc3 O-O 8.a3 a5)

C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O d6 5.h3 Nf6 6.d3 h6 7.Nc3 O-O 8.a3 a5)

Today's game was played in a clan challenge at Red Hot Pawn. The challenge was played between Wycombe Wanderers and The White Hats on 3 boards. I played on board 1 and like I mentioned in my previous post when I shared my other game against Smiffy from this same challenge, the clan challenge was won by Wycombe Wanderers with a score of 5 - 0. The game below was the only game that did not end in our loss.

[Event "Clan challenge"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2016.12.04"] [Round "?"] [White "Smiffy"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "1864"] [BlackElo "1883"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. h3 Nf6 6. d3 h6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. a3 a5 {C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo} 9. Qe1 $146 (9. Be3 Bb6 (9... Bxe3 10. fxe3 Be6 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. Qe1 Qe8 13. Nb5 Rc8 14. Qh4 Ne7 15. c4 Qd7 16. g4 c6 17. Nc3 Ng6 18. Qg3 Ne8 19. h4 Qe7 20. h5 Nh8 21. c5 dxc5 22. Qxe5 Nf7 23. Qg3 Qd6 24. Qxd6 {Reiche, A-Groth,D Berlin 1996 1-0 (61)}) 10. d4 exd4 11. Nxd4 Ne5 12. Ba2 Qe7 13. Nf5 Bxf5 14. Bxb6 Bxe4 15. Nxe4 Nxe4 16. Be3 Qh4 17. f4 Nd7 18. Qf3 Rae8 19. c3 Ndf6 20. Rad1 Qg3 21. Qe2 Nxc3 22. bxc3 Qxe3+ 23. Qxe3 Rxe3 {Butler-Rynd,J Dublin 1865 0-1}) (9. Bd2 Be6 10. Bb5 Nd4 11. Nxd4 Bxd4 12. Qf3 c6 13. Ba4 b5 14. Bb3 Re8 15. a4 b4 16. Nd1 Bxb3 17. cxb3 Rc8 18. Qg3 g5 19. Rb1 Kf8 20. Ne3 Bxe3 21. Bxe3 c5 22. Rfe1 Ke7 23. h4 gxh4 {Schmitt, A (2350)-Schneider,J Wolfstein 1994 1/2-1/2 (39)}) (9. Ne2 d5 (9... Ba7 10. Ng3 Rb8 11. b4 axb4 12. axb4 b5 13. Bd5 Bd4 14. Nxd4 Nxd4 15. c3 Ne6 16. Be3 c5 17. Bxe6 Bxe6 18. bxc5 dxc5 19. Bxc5 Re8 20. Qc2 Rc8 21. Bb4 Qd7 22. Qe2 Rb8 23. Rfd1 Bb3 24. Rd2 {Jusciak,U-Schmidberger,S Jedesheim 1991 1-0 (48)}) 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Ng3 Nde7 12. Ne4 Bb6 13. Bd2 Nf5 14. Qc1 Ncd4 15. Nxd4 Nxd4 16. Qd1 Qh4 17. Kh2 Ne6 18. Qf3 Nd4 19. Qd1 Kh8 20. f4 Qe7 21. fxe5 Qxe5+ 22. Bf4 Qe7 23. Qh5 Kh7 {Espunes Gonzalez,J-Gil Matilla,C Valladolid 1973 0-1 (61)}) 9... Nd4 10. Nxd4 Bxd4 11. Be3 Bxe3 12. Qxe3 c6 {...d5 is the strong threat.} 13. Kh1 $2 {-2.10/25 [#]} (13. f4 $11 {0.15/27 and White stays safe.}) 13... Be6 $2 {0.00/26} (13... d5 $1 $19 {-2.10/25} 14. exd5 cxd5 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. Qxe5 Nb6) 14. f4 {-1.47/27} (14. Bxe6 $11 {0.00/26 remains equal.} fxe6 15. f4) 14... exf4 {-0.31/29} (14... d5 $1 $17 {-1.47/27 Strongly threatening ...exf4.} 15. fxe5 Nh7 16. exd5 cxd5 17. Bxd5 Bxd5) 15. Qxf4 d5 (15... Nh5 {with more complications.} 16. Qf3 Qh4 17. Kh2 Bxc4 18. dxc4 Rae8) 16. exd5 {The position is equal.} Nxd5 17. Nxd5 Bxd5 18. Bxd5 Qxd5 19. Rae1 Rfe8 20. Re3 Rxe3 21. Qxe3 b5 22. Qe7 a4 23. Re1 {Precision: White = 44%, Black = 34%.} 1/2-1/2

Here is the highest rated reference game that I could find in my database and that did not end in a quick draw.

[Event "Rio de Janeiro Caiafa Memorial"] [Site "Rio de Janeiro"] [Date "2008.06.05"] [Round "11"] [White "Goncalves, Reboreto Maximiano"] [Black "Cunha, Eduardo Arruda"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2227"] [BlackElo "2227"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2008.05.31"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "BRA"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2010"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2009.11.30"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. a3 Nf6 5. Nc3 O-O 6. O-O a5 7. d3 h6 8. h3 d6 9. Nd5 Nxd5 10. Bxd5 Ne7 11. Ba2 b5 12. b4 axb4 13. axb4 Bxb4 14. Bxf7+ Kxf7 15. Rxa8 Ng6 16. Be3 Qd7 17. c3 Bc5 18. d4 exd4 19. cxd4 Bb6 20. Qb3+ Ke7 21. Nh2 Qc6 22. Raa1 Qxe4 23. Rae1 Be6 24. d5 Nh4 25. f3 Qg6 26. Ng4 Bxg4 27. Bxb6+ Kd8 28. Bxc7+ Kxc7 29. hxg4 Qf6 30. Qxb5 Ng6 31. Rc1+ Kd8 32. Qb8+ 1-0

11 Apr 2018

B76 Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack, 9.g4 and 9.O-O-O (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Qd2 Nf6 8.f3 O-O 9.O-O-O Bd7 10.g4)

B76 Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack, 9.g4 and 9.O-O-O (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Qd2 Nf6 8.f3 O-O 9.O-O-O Bd7 10.g4)

The game I am sharing today was played in a clan challenge at Red Hot Pawn between Wycombe Wanderers and The White Hats on three boards. I played on board 1 for The White Hats. In addition to this loss, I was able to drew my other game against Smiffy. It was the only draw in the challenge and unfortunately also the only game we did not lose. This meant that the final result was 5 - 0 in favor of Wycombe Wanderers.

[Event "Clan challenge"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2016.12.04"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Smiffy"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B76"] [WhiteElo "1884"] [BlackElo "1863"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "44"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. Qd2 Nf6 8. f3 O-O 9. O-O-O Bd7 10. g4 {B76 Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack, 9.g4 and 9.O-O-O } Rc8 {LiveBook: 130 Games} 11. Nb3 Ne5 12. Qf2 {-0.36/25} (12. Be2 $14 { 0.36/26}) 12... a6 {0.40/25} (12... Rxc3 $15 {-0.36/25} 13. bxc3 Nxf3) 13. Bb6 Qe8 14. h4 $146 (14. Na5 Bc6 15. h4 h5 16. gxh5 Nxh5 17. Bh3 Bd7 18. f4 Nc4 19. Nxc4 Rxc4 20. Bf1 Rc6 21. Be2 Nxf4 22. Bd4 Nxe2+ 23. Qxe2 f5 24. Bxg7 Kxg7 25. Rdg1 fxe4 26. h5 Bf5 27. hxg6 Rh8 28. Rh7+ Kf6 {Gligoric,S-Tomovic,V Novi Sad 1945 1-0 (31)}) 14... Ba4 {0.96/21} (14... Be6 $11 {0.07/26 remains equal.}) 15. Nxa4 {0.37/28} (15. Bd4 $1 $16 {0.96/21}) 15... Qxa4 $14 16. Kb1 Nc4 { 0.80/23} (16... h5 $14 {0.37/25 is superior.}) 17. Bd4 (17. Bxc4 {with more complications.} Qxc4 18. h5 h6 19. Bd4 g5 20. Rd3) 17... Qc6 {1.21/22} ({ Black should play} 17... h5 {0.74/24}) 18. h5 e5 19. Bc3 b5 20. hxg6 {0.69/28} ({White should try} 20. h6 $16 {1.30/27} Bh8 21. Bxc4 bxc4 22. Na5) 20... fxg6 21. Bb4 $2 {-1.60/25 [#]} (21. Qh2 $1 $14 {0.70/27 stays ahead.}) 21... Nxe4 $1 $17 22. Qh4 $2 {-10.45/23} (22. Qh2 $17 {-1.50/27} Ng5 23. Bxc4+ Qxc4 24. Bc3) (22. fxe4 Rxf2) 22... Na3+ $1 {Precision: White = 15%, Black = 34%.} 0-1

Here are some of the latest and highest rated games from my reference database that reached the position after 10.g4.

[Event "Villa Martelli Mercosur Cup"] [Site "Villa Martelli"] [Date "2008.07.30"] [Round "2"] [White "Valerga, Diego"] [Black "Rodriguez Vila, Andres"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B76"] [WhiteElo "2502"] [BlackElo "2531"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "2008.07.29"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "ARG"] [EventCategory "8"] [SourceTitle "CBM 125 Extra"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2008.09.01"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O Bd7 10. g4 Ne5 11. g5 Nh5 12. f4 Ng4 13. Bg1 e5 14. fxe5 Nxe5 15. Be2 Bh3 16. Bxh5 gxh5 17. Nd5 Bg4 18. Nf5 Nf3 19. Qe3 Qa5 20. Kb1 Ne5 21. Nh6+ Kh8 22. Nxg4 hxg4 23. Qe2 Nc6 24. Be3 Rae8 25. Qxg4 Qa4 26. Bc1 Rxe4 27. Qf3 Ne5 28. Qb3 Qc6 29. Rhe1 Rh4 30. Qg3 Rc8 31. Qxh4 Qxc2+ 32. Ka1 Nf3 33. Qb4 Be5 34. a3 Nxe1 35. Rxe1 Qf2 36. Qxb7 Rc2 37. Rd1 Qf3 38. Qb8+ Kg7 39. Ne7 Rxc1+ 40. Rxc1 Qxa3+ 41. Kb1 Qd3+ 42. Rc2 Qf1+ 43. Rc1 Qd3+ 44. Ka2 Qa6+ 45. Kb3 Qd3+ 46. Kb4 Qe4+ 47. Ka3 Qd3+ 48. Rc3 Qa6+ 49. Kb3 1-0 [Event "Dresden ol (Men) 38th"] [Site "Dresden"] [Date "2008.11.22"] [Round "9"] [White "Short, Nigel D"] [Black "Le Quang, Liem"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B76"] [WhiteElo "2642"] [BlackElo "2583"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2008.11.13"] [EventType "team-swiss"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "GER"] [SourceTitle "CBM 128"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2009.01.28"] [WhiteTeam "England"] [BlackTeam "Vietnam"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"] [BlackTeamCountry "VIE"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O Bd7 10. g4 Rc8 11. h4 Ne5 12. Kb1 h5 13. gxh5 Nxh5 14. Rg1 Rxc3 15. bxc3 Qa5 16. Nb3 Qa4 17. Be2 Bb5 18. f4 Bxe2 19. Qxe2 Nc4 20. Bc1 Rc8 21. f5 Qb5 22. Rg2 Nf6 23. h5 gxh5 24. Rdg1 Kf8 25. Qd1 Nxe4 26. Rxg7 Nxc3+ 27. Ka1 Ke8 28. Qxh5 Ne5 29. Rg8+ Kd7 30. Rxc8 Kxc8 31. Bb2 Qc4 32. f6 e6 33. Qh3 Ne2 34. Rg8+ Kd7 35. Bxe5 Qxc2 36. Qh1 1-0 [Event "EGY-chT 1112"] [Site "Egypt"] [Date "2012.07.18"] [Round "10.1"] [White "Amin, Bassem"] [Black "Adly, Ahmed"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B76"] [WhiteElo "2612"] [BlackElo "2596"] [PlyCount "131"] [EventDate "2011.11.04"] [EventType "team-swiss"] [EventRounds "12"] [EventCountry "EGY"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2014"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2013.11.19"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O Bd7 10. g4 Qa5 11. Kb1 Rfc8 12. h4 h5 13. gxh5 Nxh5 14. Rg1 Nxd4 15. Bxd4 Bxd4 16. Qxd4 Qc5 17. e5 Qxd4 18. Rxd4 Bc6 19. exd6 exd6 20. Bc4 Kg7 21. f4 Rh8 22. f5 Nf6 23. Bd3 Be8 24. Ne2 d5 25. fxg6 fxg6 26. Nf4 Kh6 27. Rg5 Ne4 28. Bxe4 dxe4 29. Rxe4 Rd8 30. b4 Rd6 31. b5 a6 32. a4 axb5 33. axb5 Bd7 34. Kb2 Rc8 35. Re3 Rc4 36. Ng2 Bf5 37. Rc3 Rb4+ 38. Rb3 Re4 39. Re3 Rdd4 40. Rxe4 Rxe4 41. Kb3 Bh3 42. c4 Be6 43. Rc5 Rg4 44. Ne3 Rxh4 45. Re5 Bh3 46. Re7 Rd4 47. Kb4 g5 48. Rxb7 Re4 49. Nd5 Be6 50. Kc5 g4 51. Rh7+ Kg6 52. b6 g3 53. Rh1 Bc8 54. Rg1 Ba6 55. Rxg3+ Kf5 56. Rc3 Ke5 57. Re3 Rxe3 58. Nxe3 Bb7 59. Nd5 Ke6 60. Kb5 Kd7 61. Nb4 Bf3 62. c5 Be2+ 63. Ka5 Bc4 64. c6+ Kc8 65. b7+ Kc7 66. Na6+ 1-0 [Event "Belgrade Chess Informant Rapid/Blitz"] [Site "Belgrade"] [Date "2014.08.22"] [Round "5"] [White "Shankland, Samuel L"] [Black "Indjic, Aleksandar"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B75"] [WhiteElo "2624"] [BlackElo "2539"] [PlyCount "126"] [EventDate "2014.08.22"] [EventType "tourn (rapid)"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "YUG"] [EventCategory "14"] [SourceTitle "Mega2014 Update 35"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2014.08.30"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 Bd7 9. O-O-O O-O 10. g4 Bxg4 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. fxg4 Nxg4 13. Bg5 Rb8 14. Bc4 Ne5 15. Bb3 Nf3 16. Qe3 Nxg5 17. Qxg5 a5 18. Rhf1 Rb4 19. a3 Rb7 20. Rd3 Qb8 21. Rh3 e6 22. Rf4 d5 23. exd5 cxd5 24. Rfh4 h5 25. Rg3 Qe5 26. Qxe5 Bxe5 27. Rg2 Kh7 28. Rh3 Rc8 29. Nd1 Kh6 30. Nf2 a4 31. Ng4+ Kg7 32. Nxe5 axb3 33. Rc3 Rxc3 34. bxc3 Kf6 35. Nd3 bxc2 36. Kxc2 Ra7 37. Kb3 e5 38. a4 e4 39. Nb4 Ke6 40. Rd2 Ra5 41. Nc2 f5 42. Nd4+ Kf6 43. Nc6 Rc5 44. Nb4 Ke6 45. Ra2 Ra5 46. Nc6 Ra6 47. Nd4+ Ke5 48. a5 f4 49. Kb4 f3 50. Kb5 Ra8 51. a6 g5 52. a7 g4 53. Kc5 e3 54. Ra6 Ke4 55. Re6+ Kd3 56. Kb6 Kxc3 57. Nxf3 d4 58. Ne1 Kd2 59. Ng2 e2 60. Kb7 Rf8 61. a8=Q Rxa8 62. Kxa8 h4 63. h3 gxh3 1-0 [Event "FRA-chT Top 12"] [Site "Montpellier"] [Date "2015.06.09"] [Round "11.2"] [White "Sasikiran, Krishnan"] [Black "Feller, Sebastien"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B76"] [WhiteElo "2642"] [BlackElo "2626"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "2015.05.30"] [EventType "team-tourn"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "FRA"] [SourceTitle "Mega2015 Update 29"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2015.06.13"] [WhiteTeam "Grasse Echecs"] [BlackTeam "Evry Grand Roque"] [WhiteTeamCountry "FRA"] [BlackTeamCountry "FRA"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O Bd7 10. g4 Rc8 11. Kb1 Ne5 12. h4 Qa5 13. Nd5 Qxd2 14. Nxe7+ Kh8 15. Bxd2 Rce8 16. g5 Nxe4 17. fxe4 Rxe7 18. Bb4 Bg4 19. Bxd6 Rd7 20. Bxf8 Bxd1 21. Bxg7+ Kxg7 22. c3 Bf3 23. Nxf3 Nxf3 24. Be2 Nd2+ 25. Kc2 Nxe4 26. Bf3 Ng3 27. Re1 h6 28. b4 Nf5 29. Bg4 hxg5 30. hxg5 f6 31. gxf6+ Kxf6 32. a4 Kg5 33. Bh3 Rh7 34. Bxf5 gxf5 35. Kd3 Rd7+ 36. Ke2 Re7+ 37. Kf2 Rxe1 38. Kxe1 Kf4 39. Ke2 Ke4 40. a5 f4 41. c4 Kd4 42. a6 bxa6 43. c5 Kd5 44. Kf3 a5 45. bxa5 Kxc5 46. Kxf4 1/2-1/2

10 Apr 2018

B57 Classical Sicilian: Sozin with 6...Qb6 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Nb3 Nc6 7.Bc4)

B57 Classical Sicilian: Sozin with 6...Qb6 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Nb3 Nc6 7.Bc4)

This was a 14 Day Timeout Ladder Game played at Red Hot Pawn. I have taken part in the 3, 7, 14 and 21 Day Timeout Ladders at Red Hot Pawn, and I recently activated my participation in them after taking some time off from them. At the moment I type this, my position in the 14 Day Timeout Ladder is 294 and there are 346 players currently in the ladder. I usually try to challenge the player furthest away up the ladder from me and sometimes it means challenging a player whose rating is much lower than me, like the case was with this game.

[Event "Ladder"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2016.12.20"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "shadowplay"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B57"] [WhiteElo "1903"] [BlackElo "1204"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Nb3 Nc6 7. Bc4 {B57 Classical Sicilian: Sozin with 6...Qb6} a6 8. a4 (8. O-O {is interesting.} Be7 9. Be3 O-O 10. f3 Be6 11. Nd5) 8... Be6 9. Bxe6 fxe6 {The position is equal.} 10. O-O Be7 11. Be3 O-O 12. f3 d5 $146 {[#] Threatens to win with ...d4.} ( 12... Ne8 13. Ne2 Bg5 14. Qd2 Bxe3+ 15. Qxe3 Rc8 16. c3 Ne7 17. Nd2 Ng6 18. Rfd1 Rc7 19. Rac1 Qh4 20. c4 Qf6 21. Nf1 Ne7 22. Qd3 a5 23. b3 Rd7 24. Nfg3 g6 25. Nc3 Nc7 26. Nb5 Rfd8 27. Nxc7 {Oyaga Valencia,J (1747)-Ruiz Escobar,R (1935) Pamplona 2009 0-1 (69)}) 13. Bf2 d4 14. Ne2 b6 {0.46/25} (14... Nb4 $11 {0.00/29}) 15. Nec1 Nb4 {0.87/25} (15... Rc8 $11 {0.18/27 keeps the balance.}) 16. Nd3 {0.09/27} (16. c3 $16 {0.87/25} dxc3 17. bxc3) 16... a5 {1.15/25} ( 16... Nxd3 $11 {0.09/27} 17. Qxd3 Nh5) 17. Nxe5 $16 Qd6 {2.62/26} (17... Qc7 $16 {1.14/26 was called for.}) 18. Bxd4 $18 Nc6 19. Nxc6 $1 Qxc6 20. Qe2 Rad8 21. Rfd1 Nh5 22. Qf2 Qc7 $2 {4.10/25 [#]} (22... Nf6 {2.44/26} 23. Qe2 (23. Bxb6 Nxe4 24. Qe3 Bg5 $16) 23... Nd7) 23. Bxb6 Bc5 {10.61/25} (23... Rxd1+ $142 {4.35/25} 24. Rxd1 Qc6 25. Nxa5 Qxa4) 24. Bxc7 Bxf2+ 25. Kxf2 Ra8 26. Bxa5 Nf4 27. Rd7 Rfe8 28. Bc3 Nh5 29. a5 e5 30. a6 Nf6 31. Rb7 h6 32. a7 Kh7 33. Na5 Red8 34. Nc6 Rdc8 35. Nxe5 Ne8 36. Nd7 Nd6 37. Rb8 Kh8 38. Rxc8+ Nxc8 39. Bd4 Kh7 40. Bc5 {White mates.} Nxa7 41. Rxa7 Rd8 42. b4 {Precision: White = 44%, Black = 12%.} 1-0

The game below was the highest rated game that I was able to find in my reference database.

[Event "Bratto op 21st"] [Site "Bratto"] [Date "2001.08.26"] [Round "5"] [White "Dervishi, Erald"] [Black "Drazic, Sinisa"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B83"] [WhiteElo "2491"] [BlackElo "2480"] [PlyCount "48"] [EventDate "2001.08.22"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ITA"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2002"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2001.11.25"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bc4 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Bxe6 fxe6 9. O-O Be7 10. Be3 O-O 11. Qe2 Rc8 12. Rad1 Qe8 13. f3 Qf7 14. Nb5 d5 15. exd5 Nxd5 16. c4 Nxe3 17. Qxe3 Qf4 18. Qxf4 exf4 19. Rfe1 e5 20. Rd7 Bb4 21. Red1 g6 22. Nc7 Nb8 23. Nd5 Nxd7 24. Nxb4 Rxc4 0-1

9 Apr 2018

C42 Petroff Defence: 3.Nxe5 and unusual White 3rd moves (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Qe7 4.Nf3 Qxe4+ 5.Qe2)

C42 Petroff Defence: 3.Nxe5 and unusual White 3rd moves (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Qe7 4.Nf3 Qxe4+ 5.Qe2)

This was finally the game that secured me the title of Arena International Master! The fact that I won, makes it an even better occasion. Also the fact that I was able to bring my rating back over 1800 and keep it there for the last few games made me grin a bit. The next goal would be to get my rating over 2000 and keep it there for 50 rapid games or 100 blitz games or 150 bullet games, so that I would get the Arena Grand Master title. If I were interested in getting that title that is and currently I have no desire to even try to get it.

The first mistake of the game seems to be 16...Nd6, before that both players have made some inaccuracies, but nothing too serious. The game does fizzle out a bit in the following moves towards equality, but on move 24 Metod Simicak makes a huge blunder that could have given me a winning advantage, but for some reason I did not play 25.g4. I may have thought about it, but maybe rejected it due to some inaccurate thoughts that I had at the time. For instance, I may have thought that after g4, my opponent plays Ne3 threatening my rook and somehow manages to save both of his pieces while I have weakened my kingside pawns. Even though my move is not the best, it is enough to give me some advantage that I am able to convert into a full point later on.

By the way, I have deleted three of my older posts as I have noticed that with the way I am naming the openings these days, certain posts had to be combined as one.

[Event "Challenge 35882979"] [Site "online arena"] [Date "2015.12.12"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "simicak, metod"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1801"] [BlackElo "1713"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s)"] [PlyCount "117"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Qe7 4. Nf3 Qxe4+ 5. Qe2 {C42 Petroff Defence: 3. Nxe5 and unusual White 3rd moves} Bb4 $146 (5... d5 6. Nc3 Qxe2+ 7. Bxe2 c6 8. O-O Bd6 9. Re1 O-O 10. d4 Bf5 11. Bd3 Bxd3 12. cxd3 Nbd7 13. Bg5 Rfe8 14. Kf1 { 1/2-1/2 (14) Byvshev,V-Tolush,A Leningrad 1956}) (5... Qxe2+ 6. Bxe2 Nc6 7. d4 {1/2-1/2 (7) Seres,L (2445)-Ianov,V (2360) Szeged 1998} (7. c3 d5 8. d4 h6 9. Be3 Ne4 10. Nbd2 Bf5 11. O-O Nxd2 12. Nxd2 O-O-O {1/2-1/2 (12) Spassov, L-Bahchevanski,H Varna 1965})) (5... Bc5 6. d4 Qxe2+ 7. Bxe2 Bb6 8. Bg5 Ne4 9. Be3 d6 10. Nbd2 Bf5 11. O-O-O c5 12. Rhe1 Nc6 13. Bb5 O-O 14. Nh4 Nxd2 15. Nxf5 Ne4 16. f3 Nxd4 17. Bxd4 cxd4 18. Rxe4 g6 19. Nxd6 Rad8 20. Nc4 {Gutierrez Barrientos,P-Lanza Fernandez,D Langres Sama de 2000 1-0 (53)}) (5... Be7 6. Qxe4 Nxe4 7. Bc4 O-O 8. O-O Nf6 9. Nc3 c6 10. Re1 Bb4 11. d4 d5 12. Bd3 Bg4 13. Ne5 Be6 14. a3 Ba5 15. h3 Nbd7 16. f4 Bb6 17. Be3 g6 18. b4 Nxe5 19. fxe5 Nh5 20. Na4 {Fakhroo,I-Masango,M Dubai 1986 1/2-1/2}) 6. Qxe4+ Nxe4 7. c3 Ba5 8. Bd3 {White is slightly better.} d5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bc2 Bb6 11. d4 Bg4 12. Ne5 Bh5 13. Re1 c5 14. Be3 cxd4 15. Bxd4 Bxd4 16. cxd4 Nd6 17. Bb3 (17. Nc3 { keeps more tension.} Nc6 18. Nxd5 Nxd4 19. Bd1 Bg6 20. Ne7+) 17... Nc6 18. Nxc6 {0.16/29} (18. g4 $16 {0.79/25}) 18... bxc6 $11 19. Nc3 a5 20. Ba4 Ra6 21. Re7 Nf5 22. Rc7 Nxd4 23. f3 $36 {White is more active.} f6 {0.48/28} (23... Rb8 $11 {0.00/31}) 24. Rd1 $14 Nf5 {1.93/24} ({Better is} 24... Ne6 $14 {0.52/30} 25. Rxc6 Rxc6 26. Bxc6 d4) 25. Rxc6 {0.95/32} (25. g4 $18 {1.93/24 and White stays clearly on top.} d4 26. Bb3+ (26. gxf5 dxc3 27. Rdd7 Kh8 $16) 26... Kh8 27. Ne4 (27. gxh5 dxc3 28. bxc3 a4 $16)) 25... Rxc6 $16 26. Bxc6 d4 27. Nb5 Rd8 28. g4 Ne3 {1.49/28} ({Black should try} 28... Ne7 {0.84/29}) 29. Rxd4 Rxd4 30. Nxd4 { Endgame KBN-KBN} Bf7 31. b3 Nd1 {2.05/31} (31... Nd5 $16 {1.59/32} 32. a3 g6) 32. Kf1 Nc3 33. a3 Nb1 34. b4 Nxa3 $2 {4.60/30 [#]} (34... Nd2+ {2.06/33} 35. Ke1 Nc4 36. bxa5 Nxa5) 35. bxa5 $18 Bc4+ 36. Kf2 Kf7 {7.84/29} (36... Ba6 $142 {4.43/36} 37. Bd5+ Kf8 38. Ne6+ Ke7 39. Nxg7 Nc4 40. Nf5+ Kd7) 37. Bb7 Be6 38. a6 Nc4 39. a7 Nb6 40. a8=Q Nxa8 41. Bxa8 Bd7 42. Ke3 g6 43. Bd5+ Kg7 44. Kf4 h5 45. gxh5 {White mates.} g5+ 46. Kg3 Be8 47. Kg4 Bd7+ 48. Be6 Ba4 49. Nf5+ Kh7 50. Bf7 Bd1 51. Bg6+ Kg8 52. h6 Kh8 53. Nd6 f5+ 54. Bxf5 Be2 55. Bg6 Bd1 56. Nf7+ Kg8 57. Nxg5 Bxf3+ 58. Kxf3 Kh8 59. Kf4 {Accuracy: White = 60%, Black = 22%.} 1-0

Here are two of the highest rated games that I was able to find in my reference database that did not end in a short draw.

[Event "Donskoj"] [Site "Donskoj"] [Date "2002.??.??"] [Round "2"] [White "Bakutin, Aleksey"] [Black "Afromeev, Vladimir"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "2220"] [BlackElo "2542"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2002.11.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "14"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [EventCategory "6"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2004"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2003.11.25"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Qe7 4. Nf3 Qxe4+ 5. Qe2 Qxe2+ 6. Bxe2 d5 7. d4 Bf5 8. Bf4 Bxc2 9. Bxc7 Bb4+ 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Rc1 Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 Bg6 13. Ne5 Nbd7 14. Nxg6 hxg6 15. O-O Rac8 16. Bg3 Ne4 17. c4 Nxg3 18. hxg3 dxc4 19. Bxc4 Nb6 20. Bb3 Rfd8 21. d5 Kf8 22. Rxc8 Nxc8 23. Rc1 Nd6 24. Rc7 Re8 25. Kf1 Re7 26. Rxe7 Kxe7 27. Ke2 Nb5 28. Kd3 Kd6 29. Kc4 Nc7 30. Kd4 Nb5+ 31. Kc4 Nc7 1/2-1/2 [Event "Bogoroditsk 07"] [Site "Bogoroditsk"] [Date "2013.07.03"] [Round "1"] [White "Gurin, Anatolij"] [Black "Kurilin, Alexander"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C01"] [WhiteElo "2310"] [BlackElo "2281"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2013.07.03"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [EventCategory "2"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2014"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2013.11.19"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Qe7 4. Nf3 Qxe4+ 5. Qe2 Qxe2+ 6. Bxe2 d5 7. d4 Bd6 8. O-O O-O 9. Nc3 c6 10. Bg5 Nh5 11. Rfe1 h6 12. Bd2 Nf4 13. Bxf4 Bxf4 14. Bd3 Be6 15. Ne2 Bd6 16. Ng3 Nd7 17. Nf5 Bxf5 18. Bxf5 Nb6 19. c3 Rfe8 20. Bc2 Nc4 21. b3 Na3 22. Bd3 Nb5 23. Bxb5 cxb5 24. Kf1 Kf8 25. Rac1 Rac8 26. g3 g6 27. Rxe8+ Rxe8 28. Re1 Rc8 29. Re3 b4 30. cxb4 Bxb4 31. Re5 Rd8 32. Ne1 Bxe1 33. Kxe1 f6 34. Re3 Re8 35. Rxe8+ Kxe8 36. Kd2 b5 37. b4 f5 38. Ke3 Kd7 39. h4 g5 40. hxg5 hxg5 41. f4 g4 42. Kd3 Kd6 43. a3 1/2-1/2