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