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