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