C47 Scotch Four Knights and Four Knights with 4.g3 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.Qxd8+ Kxd8)

Today I finally hit the 300 games in progress milestone. That may change to something else quite quickly though, I saw in one of my games a huge blunder again... Made by me, unfortunately it was in a team match, had it been in a tournament game that may have not mattered that much as I would have been the only one affected by that move. Now also the team I represent may have to face one loss on my board. Well, I may have time to make things better on the second game when it starts. Then again the game where I made that blunder is still ongoing, so if I manage to same kind of luck as in my over the board game, I still have a chance. I doubt that there will be that much I can do but as it is a team match, I will try to fight on as long as there is some play left. The game below is another quite unevenly matched one but maybe some of you can learn from it still. I have updated mate in one, four and five pages today and added a new page for mate in 13 moves puzzles.

[Event "Corr game 29.11.2010-2.1.2011"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2010.11.29"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "brajensen75d"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C47"] [WhiteElo "1831"] [BlackElo "714"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2010.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 (2... Nc6 3. d4 (3. Nc3) 3... exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 {1-0 (35) Qian,J (855)-Shi,Y (1327) Montreal 2010}) 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 exd4 {C47 Four Knights Game: Scotch Variation. Accepted} 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 dxc6 7. Qxd8+ Kxd8 {C47 Scotch Four Knights and Four Knights with 4.g3} 8. Bg5 {0.03/22} (8. Bd2 $16 {0.88/19}) 8... h6 {0.95/18} (8... Bxc3+ $11 {0.03/22 keeps the balance.} 9. bxc3 h6 10. O-O-O+ Bd7 11. Bxf6+ gxf6) 9. Bxf6+ {0.12/19} (9. Bd2 $1 $16 {0.95/18}) 9... gxf6 $11 10. Kd2 $146 {The position is equal.} (10. O-O-O+ Ke7 11. Bc4 (11. Bd3 h5 (11... Be6 12. Ne2 a5 13. a3 Bc5 14. Rhf1 Rhg8 15. Ng3 h5 16. h4 Bd6 17. Nf5+ Bxf5 18. exf5 Rxg2 19. Be4 Rg4 20. Rde1 { 1/2-1/2 (20) Burshaide,L-Kabuye,E (2360) Novi Sad 1990}) 12. Rhe1 Be6 13. h3 h4 14. e5 f5 15. Rd2 Rad8 16. a3 Ba5 17. b4 Bb6 18. Na4 Bd4 19. Bf1 Rd5 20. Rde2 b5 21. c4 Rd7 22. cxb5 cxb5 23. Nc5 Bxc5 24. bxc5 c6 25. Re3 Rd5 {Ferron Garcia,C (2305)-Munoz Pantoja,M (2404) Mataro 2005 0-1 (48)}) (11. Ne2 Be6 12. Ng3 Bd6 13. Bd3 a5 14. Kb1 a4 15. Rhe1 Rhe8 16. Re3 Bc5 17. Re2 a3 18. b3 Bd4 19. Ba6 Rxa6 20. Rxd4 c5 21. Rd1 Rd6 22. Red2 Red8 23. Kc1 Kf8 24. h3 Kg7 25. f4 Kf8 {Aydincelebi,K (2096)-Inan,T (1340) Izmir 2016 1-0 (53)}) 11... Be6 12. Bb3 Rad8 13. a3 Bxb3 14. axb4 Rxd1+ 15. Nxd1 Bc4 16. Ne3 Be6 17. f4 Rg8 18. f5 Bd7 19. c4 Kd6 20. Rd1+ Ke7 21. Kc2 h5 22. Kc3 b6 23. Kd2 a6 24. Ke2 Bc8 { Qian,J (855)-Shi,Y (1327) Montreal 2010 1-0 (35)}) 10... f5 {0.21/22} (10... Bc5 $15 {-0.42/20}) 11. exf5 Bxc3+ {1.08/20} (11... Bxf5 $11 {-0.12/22 remains equal.} 12. a3 Be7) 12. Kxc3 $16 Bxf5 13. Bc4 b5 {1.57/19} (13... Ke7 $14 { 0.65/22}) 14. Bxf7 Rf8 15. Rad1+ Bd7 $2 {7.63/19 [#]} (15... Ke7 $16 {1.50/24}) 16. Be6 $18 Ke7 17. Bxd7 Rad8 18. Rhe1+ Kf6 19. Bxc6 Rxd1 20. Rxd1 {Endgame KRB-KR} Rb8 21. Rd7 Rb6 22. Rxc7 Kg5 23. Bf3 b4+ 24. Kb3 a5 25. Rc5+ Kf4 26. Rxa5 h5 27. Ra4 h4 28. Rxb4+ Rxb4+ 29. Kxb4 {Accuracy: White = 56%, Black = 2%.} 1-0

C22 Centre Game (1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qe3 g6)

I think that most of the times I have faced the Center Game, it is this particular variation my opponents have played. There have not been that many occasions when my games go into this opening but I remember that one of the opponents I faced over the board at our club played this quite frequently against me. As those were 5 minute blitz games I have no notation restored of those games. This game I am showing you now was played over five years ago at Red Hot Pawn. This was my fifth game after my comeback to correspondence chess and also my fifth win. It does seem like a great result but when you think that most of my opponents were a lot lower rated than I was, it just turns to a result that was expected. I have added 3 puzzles to mate in one, one to mate in two and one to mate in three pages. On January 8th 2015 happened something that I only now realized, the number of analysed games in this blog went over 300!! Currently there are 309 analysed games and 560 unique puzzles featured in this blog and more are updated each day.

[Event "Corr game 15.11.2010-1.1.2011"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2010.11.15"] [Round "?"] [White "ChessCh1mp"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C22"] [WhiteElo "1504"] [BlackElo "1831"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "88"] [EventDate "2010.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3 {C22 Center Game: Paulsen Attack Variation} g6 {C22 Centre Game} 5. Bb5 (5. Bd2 Bg7 6. Bc3 Nf6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8. Nc3 O-O 9. Nf3 d5 10. e5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 Qxe5 12. Qxe5 Bxe5 13. Nxd5 Bxb2 14. Rb1 Re8+ 15. Be2 Be5 16. O-O c6 17. Ne3 Re7 18. Rfd1 Be6 19. Bc4 b5 {Munoz Pantoja, M-Berzinsh,R (2395) Bratislava 1993 0-1 (39)}) 5... Bg7 {-0.10/21} (5... Nf6 $15 {-0.51/20 is superior.}) 6. Bxc6 {-0.74/16} (6. Ne2 $11 {-0.10/21}) 6... dxc6 {-0.05/21} (6... bxc6 $17 {-0.74/16} 7. Nf3 Ne7) 7. Nf3 $146 {-0.64/19} ( 7. Nc3 $11 {-0.05/21} Be6 8. Bd2 Bh6 9. f4 Qe7 10. O-O-O O-O-O 11. Kb1 Nf6 12. e5 Nd5 13. Qxa7 Nxc3+ 14. bxc3 Rd5 15. Qa8+ Kd7 16. Qxh8 Rb5+ 17. Ka1 Qa3 18. Bc1+ Ke7 19. Bxa3+ c5 20. Qd8# {1-0 (20) Thomas,T (1244)-Kolkov,A (1642) Dos Hermanas 2004}) 7... Nf6 {-0.16/21} (7... h6 $15 {-0.64/19}) 8. Qb3 $2 { -2.49/18 [#]} (8. O-O $11 {-0.16/21}) 8... O-O $2 {-0.83/21} (8... Nxe4 $19 { -2.49/18 is more deadly.} 9. O-O O-O) 9. Bg5 {-1.75/22} (9. Nbd2 $17 {-0.83/21} ) 9... Qe8 $19 10. O-O {-1.83/20} (10. e5 $17 {-1.31/22}) 10... Qxe4 {-1.11/23} (10... Nxe4 $19 {-1.83/20} 11. Re1 Qe6) 11. Re1 $17 Qd5 $1 $36 {Black is on the roll.} 12. Qe3 {-1.96/19} (12. c4 $17 {-0.92/23} Qa5 13. Nbd2) 12... Bg4 { -1.37/23} ({Better is} 12... Bf5 $19 {-1.96/19} 13. Nc3 Qa5) 13. Nc3 Qa5 { -1.04/21} (13... Qe6 $142 {-1.57/20} 14. Qxe6 Bxe6) 14. Qe5 $2 {-2.70/20 [#]} ( 14. Qf4 $17 {-1.04/21} Qf5 15. h3 Qxf4 16. Bxf4 Bxf3 17. gxf3) 14... Nd5 $19 15. Qe4 Bxf3 16. Qxf3 Nxc3 17. Bd2 Qd5 18. Bxc3 Qxf3 19. gxf3 Bxc3 20. bxc3 { Endgame KRR-KRR} Rfe8 21. Re3 {-3.17/22} (21. Kg2 {-2.25/26 was necessary.}) 21... Kf8 22. f4 {-3.70/22} (22. Kf1 {-2.45/23 is a better defense.}) 22... f5 {-2.13/26} (22... Rxe3 $142 {-3.70/22} 23. fxe3 Rd8) 23. Rd1 Rad8 24. Rxe8+ { -3.31/21} (24. Rdd3 {-2.25/26 might work better.}) 24... Kxe8 {KR-KR} ({ Weaker is} 24... Rxe8 25. Kg2 $17) 25. Re1+ Kf7 26. Re3 Rd2 27. Rd3 {-4.66/22} (27. Rh3 $142 {-3.25/26} h5 28. Rd3 Rxc2 29. Rd7+ Ke6 30. Rxc7) 27... Rxd3 28. cxd3 {KP-KP} Ke6 29. c4 $2 {-6.91/22} (29. Kf1 {-3.49/26}) 29... b5 30. a3 Kd6 31. Kg2 Kc5 32. Kf3 bxc4 33. dxc4 Kxc4 34. Ke3 Kc3 {-26.74/28} (34... c5 $142 { -64.05/28} 35. h4 Kc3) 35. a4 a5 {Black mates.} 36. f3 c5 37. h3 c4 38. h4 h5 39. Ke2 Kc2 40. Ke3 c3 41. Kd4 Kd2 42. Ke5 c2 43. Kf6 c1=Q 44. Kxg6 Ke3 { Accuracy: White = 14%, Black = 70%.} 0-1