3 May 2016

B29 Sicilian: 2.Nf3 Nf6 (Nimzowitsch Variation) (1.e4 e6 2.d4 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.c4 Nb6 5.Nf3 c5)

B29 Sicilian: 2.Nf3 Nf6 (Nimzowitsch Variation) (1.e4 e6 2.d4 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.c4 Nb6 5.Nf3 c5)

This is the 500th opening variation that has appeared in this blog!! When I have reached this kind of milestones, I have usually looked at some statisitics about those opening variations. I will do that also in this post. The most common opening variation out of those 500 is still A20 English Opening: King's English Variation. General with 51 games. I have no doubt that it will remain the most common for a very long time. Those 51 games are only about 3.6% of all the chess games in the blog, so it is a very rare thing that I would play the same opening variation consistently. The highest win rate in variations that I have played at least 10 times in the games that appear in this blog I have in the C41 Philidor Defense in which I have won all my 10 games. My lowest win rate in the same category is C16 French Defense: Winawer Variation. Advance Variation General in which my winning percentage after 11 games is 27.27%. My highest losing percentage is in the opening variation called C34 King's Gambit: Accepted. Fischer Defense, it is 47.62% in variations that I have played at least 10 times. I have played C34 King's Gambit: Accepted. Fischer Defense in 21 games that are in the blog. It is no wonder then, why I like to avoid that whenever possible.

Before I go into the game below, I need to mention some changes that have happened today in actually every page in Blogger. There used to be a choice whether or not you want to have your blog or other page in Blogger to have HTTPS version. Now they changed it so that there is no longer a choice to do that. This means that you can view this blog's HTTP or HTTPS version. The problem with the latter is that it does not show any of the games properly. It does show the puzzles though in the HTTPS version. When I did try this HTTPS availability thing before it came as mandatory, I also noticed that every time I would make a post, it would notify me of mixed content. Which means that some of the site functionality does not work in HTTPS. That made me seriously consider changing the location of this blog to somewhere else other than Blogger because if I continue doing this blog here, I have no way to make the blog also properly work in HTTPS. Well, the easy solution to make this blog also work in HTTPS would be to remove all the content that uses game replayers. Or if I had the knowledge to make one myself, it might also be a solution to the problem, but unfortunately I do not have such skills. Then again I could ignore the mixed content because the blog works in HTTP the same way it has done previously.

The game below was played in a team match called Natalia Pogonina! vs Space Angels Celebrate. The match is played on 33 boards between We love Natalia Pogonina! and Space Angels Calculating Thermodynamic Shift In Andromeda's Cluster Of Infinite Bright Stars. I played on board 7 for Space Angels Calculating Thermodynamic Shift In Andromeda's Cluster Of Infinite Bright Stars and won both of my games against hlornik. The current score in the match is 9 - 42 in favor of Space Angels Calculating Thermodynamic Shift In Andromeda's Cluster Of Infinite Bright Stars, so this has been really one-sided match. We had higher rated players on every board, so the result is not that surprising. I would prefer to play in a more evenly fought match and maybe in the future I will avoid these kind of matches were the match is likely to be one-sided. However, I would not mind playing for the team that has the lower rated players, because then it would be much more challenging for me to play.

The move 2...Nf6 is interesting, I assume its purpose is similar like in the Alekhine Defense and try to get the white pawns overextended and therefore weak. I continued with 3.e5 because that is what I would play if this was Alekhine Defense. Unlike in the Alekhine, the pawns are on d4 and e6 already. This game could have been over much quicker, but for some reason I did not see that after the huge blunder 9...Qe7, I could have just played 10.Bb5+, followed up with castles and the threat of Re1 should win the game. However, hlornik blunders again with 12...Bd6, which makes my job a little bit easier again. I played the knight b5 move in order to force my opponent to move his king. When it had gone to d7 to protect the bishop on d6 and block the path for the other bishop, I was happy and returned to c3 with my knight in order to protect the pawn on d5. Of course I should have just played my bishop to e3 and if hlornik takes that pawn on d5 with the knight, then play O-O-O and I should win with ease. The game continuation was not as beneficial until hlornik blundered again with 15...Na6. This time I was more alert and was able to find Bb5+ winning the exchange. After that it was just downhill for my opponent. I have added one analysed game to these two posts: Chess960 SP391 and C64 Spanish Game: Classical Variation. I have also added three mate in two and two mate in four puzzles today.

[Event "Natalia Pogonina! vs Space Angels Celebr"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.03.20"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "hlornik"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B29"] [WhiteElo "1836"] [BlackElo "1441"] [Annotator "Stockfish 7 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 Nf6 {French Defense: Mediterranean Defense} 3. e5 (3. Bg5 { Trompowsky Attack: Classical Defense, Big Center Variation}) (3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 (4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 {French Defense: Steinitz Variation, Boleslavsky Variation}) 4... dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 {French Defense: Classical Variation, Burn Variation, Morozevich Line}) 3... Nd5 4. c4 Nb6 5. Nf3 c5 {B29 Sicilian: 2.Nf3 Nf6 (Nimzowitsch Variation)} 6. d5 exd5 7. cxd5 d6 8. Nc3 dxe5 9. Nxe5 {Black king safety dropped.} Qe7 {?? N} (9... Bd6 10. Bb5+ (10. Nf3 O-O 11. Bd3 Re8+ 12. Be3 Bf4 13. O-O Bxe3 14. fxe3 Rxe3 15. Qd2 Re8 16. Ng5 f5 17. Bxf5 Bxf5 18. Rxf5 Nc6 19. Nf7 Qd7 20. Qg5 Nd8 21. Nh6+ Kh8 22. Raf1 Ne6 23. Qh4 gxh6 24. Rf7 Ng5 {Russell, C-Bjorksten,L Seattle 1992 1-0 (34) }) 10... Bd7 (10... N8d7 11. Bf4 Bxe5 12. Bxe5 O-O 13. Bf4 Re8+ 14. Be3 a6 15. Be2 Nf6 16. d6 c4 17. Qd4 Nbd7 18. Bxc4 Ne5 19. Be2 Bg4 20. Bxg4 Nexg4 21. O-O Nxe3 22. fxe3 Re6 23. Rad1 Qd7 24. Na4 Re4 25. Nc5 {Feher,G (2325)-Sipka,Z (2200) Eger 1988 1-0 (48)}) 11. Nxd7 N8xd7 12. Qe2+ Qe7 13. Qxe7+ Bxe7 14. O-O O-O-O 15. Re1 Rhe8 16. Bf4 a6 17. Be2 g5 18. Be3 {1/2-1/2 (18) Botello,G (2028) -Silva Pena,J (1997) Bogota 2009}) (9... Bd6 10. Bb5+ N8d7 11. Bf4 Bxe5 12. Bxe5 {=}) 10. Qe2 {Black has a cramped position. Black's piece can't move: f8} (10. Bb5+ {makes sure everything is clear} N8d7 11. O-O Qxe5 12. Re1 {+-}) 10... f6 {+/= Black threatens to win material: f6xe5} 11. Nf3 Qxe2+ 12. Bxe2 { Black has a cramped position} Bd6 {Blocks the pawn on d5} (12... Na6 $5 { is noteworthy} 13. Bf4 Bf5 {+/=}) 13. Nb5 {+/-} Kd7 (13... Ke7 14. Ng5 $1 { registering a claim to victory} Rd8 {+/-}) 14. Nc3 (14. Be3 {!? +/-}) 14... Re8 (14... Na6 15. Be3 {+/=}) 15. Be3 {White has a strong king attack} Na6 (15... Ke7 {!? +/= should be investigated more closely}) 16. Bb5+ {+/-} Kd8 17. Bxe8 Kxe8 18. O-O Bg4 19. Nd2 Nb4 (19... Be5 {!? +/-}) 20. Nde4 {+-} Be5 21. Bxc5 N6xd5 (21... Nd3 22. Bd6 Bxc3 23. bxc3 {+-}) 22. Nxd5 Nd3 (22... Nxd5 23. Bd6 f5 24. Bxe5 fxe4 {+-}) 23. Ba3 (23. f4 {makes it even easier for White} Bb8 24. Nf2 Nxc5 25. Nxg4 Kf7 {+-}) 23... f5 (23... Be2 {does not solve anything} 24. Rfb1 Rd8 25. Ne3 {+-}) 24. Nec3 Rc8 (24... Kf7 {doesn't do any good} 25. f3 Bd4+ 26. Kh1 {+-}) 25. Ne3 (25. f3 {and the rest is a matter of technique} Bh5 26. Rfd1 Bd4+ 27. Kf1 Bxc3 28. Rxd3 Bf6 {+-}) 25... Bxc3 26. Nxg4 fxg4 (26... Nxb2 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 27. Ne3 Nc4 28. Nxc4 Rxc4 29. Rab1 {+-}) 27. bxc3 Rxc3 28. Bd6 h5 (28... Rc6 {doesn't change anything anymore} 29. Bb8 a5 30. f3 {+-}) 29. Rab1 b6 (29... Kd7 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 30. Bb8 {+-}) 30. Rb3 Rxb3 31. axb3 (31. axb3 Kd7 32. Bf8 {+-}) 1-0

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