B07 Pirc Defence: Miscellaneous Systems (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bc4 Bg7 5.h3)

This game was previously located in my post B07 Pirc Defence: Kholmov System, but the way I am naming the variations these days, I had to move this game here and rename that post to B07 Pirc Defence: Miscellaneous Systems (7...e5). The comments that were in the original post I did not alter for this new post, but I switched the old static positions into living diagrams. This game was played in a team match called Christmas Tortoise Challenge. The match is played between Tortoise Chess Club and La Belle France on 25 boards. I played on board 5 for La Belle France and lost both of my games against jimmyrbellew. I am glad that other members of our team have been better able to get points than me and actually we have secured the win in the match already. The current score in the match is 12 - 36 in favor of La Belle France. Only the two games on board 14 are still in progress.

I have also played 5.Qe2, but in this game I went for the move 5.h3. Both moves should lead to an even position. The first clear mistake of the game was played by my opponent on move 11. Jimmyrbellew played 11...Bh8 in the position below. The move 11...e5 seems to me like the most natural option.

The move played in the game allowed me to play 12.e5, unfortunately I did not play it and chose to play 12.Ne2 instead. The position should be roughly even after my 12th move. The next big mistake was played by me in the position you can see below. I played 18.Bb3, which gives my opponent a clear advantage.

A few moves later on move 24 I blundered and played Qg4 and ended up in a lost position. You can see the position before 24.Qg4 below.

I was going downhill for awhile, but then after my 28th move Nh2 my opponent made a huge blunder by playing 28...e5 in the position below. This was one of my best chances to get a winning advantage, but I missed my chance and played 29.Ng4. In order to get the winning advantage, I should have played 29.dxe5.

We should have been on equal footing after my 29th move. I got another chance to get a clear, maybe close to winning advantage after 31...Nf4 in the position below. I should have replied with 32.dxe5 or 32.Ne4, but I played the horrible 32.Red1 instead. Blunders kept coming, first 32...Be2, then one decent move in between 33.Rd2, but then another blunder 33...Bb5.

At this moment the game seemed to go my way. Unfortunately I was not up to the task of converting my advantage into a win and when reaching the position below, I played 39.Rdd1, which threw all my advantage away.

The final positional downhill started for me after the move 42...Be2. I played 43.Re1, which may seem like a decent move at first glance, but there was only one good move in that position and the move Re1 was not it.

The problem with the move 43.Re1 is that my opponent can play 43...Bxf3 and my kingside pawn structure is ruined and my king ends up in huge trouble. Jimmyrbellew played well the rest of the game and did not give me any more chances to get back into the game.

[Event "Christmas Tortoise Challenge - Board 5"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.12.25"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "jimmyrbellew"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B07"] [WhiteElo "1823"] [BlackElo "1667"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "98"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bc4 {Pirc Defense: Kholmov System} (4. Be3 c6 5. Qd2 Bg4 {Pirc Defense: 150 Attack, Inner Doll Defense}) (4. Bg5 {Pirc Defense: Byrne Variation}) 4... Bg7 5. h3 {B07 Pirc Defence: Miscellaneous Systems} (5. f4 {Pirc Defense: Austrian Attack, Ljubojevic Variation}) 5... a6 (5... O-O 6. Be3 Na6 7. Qf3 c5 8. Bxa6 bxa6 9. e5 dxe5 10. dxe5 Nd7 11. Qxa8 Qb6 12. O-O-O Bb7 13. Nd5 Bxa8 14. Nxb6 Nxb6 15. f4 Rc8 16. Ne2 Bxg2 17. Rh2 Nd5 18. Bd2 Bf3 19. Rf2 Bh5 20. Ba5 {Sotolongo,N (2186)-Gonzalez Mesa,D (2090) Matanzas 1999 1-0 (36)}) 6. Nf3 (6. f4 b5 7. Bb3 Bb7 8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Nd5 10. Qf3 e6 11. Nge2 O-O 12. Nf4 c6 13. Ne4 Nd7 14. Nd6 Rb8 15. O-O Qb6 16. Nxd5 cxd5 17. Be3 f6 18. Qg4 f5 19. Qg5 {1/2-1/2 (19) Balek,F-Arend,M (1850) Klatovy 2013}) 6... c6 $146 {Prevents intrusion on b5} (6... b5 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. e5 Nd5 9. Nxd5 Bxd5 10. O-O Nd7 11. Re1 O-O 12. Bf4 Nb6 13. b3 c5 14. c3 cxd4 15. cxd4 dxe5 16. dxe5 Bb7 17. Rc1 Rc8 18. Qe2 Nd5 19. Bd2 e6 20. Red1 Rxc1 21. Rxc1 {Mares,I (1897)-Kansky,J (1865) Nachod 2011 1-0 (58)}) (6... b5 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. e5 $11) 7. O-O $14 O-O (7... b5 8. Bd3 $14) 8. Bg5 {Black has a cramped position} (8. Bb3 $5 $16) 8... b5 $11 {Black threatens to win material: b5xc4} 9. Bd3 Nbd7 10. Qd2 (10. e5 dxe5 11. dxe5 Ne8 $11) 10... Re8 (10... e5 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Rfd1 $11) 11. Bh6 (11. e5 dxe5 12. dxe5 Nd5 13. Nxd5 cxd5 $14) 11... Bh8 (11... e5 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. Nxe5 dxe5 14. Be3 $11) 12. Ne2 {Black has a cramped position} (12. e5 Nd5 13. e6 fxe6 $16) 12... Qc7 13. c4 (13. a4 $142 $5 $14 {should not be overlooked}) 13... bxc4 $15 14. Bxc4 Nxe4 15. Qf4 Nef6 16. Ng5 e6 17. Ng3 Nb6 (17... Qb8 18. Bb3 d5 19. Qxb8 Rxb8 20. Rfc1 $17) 18. Bb3 $2 (18. N3e4 Nxe4 19. Nxe4 Qe7 $15 (19... Nxc4 $4 {[%emt 0:00:03] leads to instant death in} 20. Nf6+ Bxf6 21. Qxf6 a5 22. Qg7#)) 18... Nbd5 {Black threatens to win material: Nd5xf4} (18... Nfd5 19. Qd2 $17) 19. Qf3 (19. Qh4 a5 20. N5e4 Bg7 $17) 19... a5 20. Rac1 Qd7 {Black has a cramped position} (20... a4 21. Bc4 $17) 21. Rfe1 (21. Ba4 Bb7 22. Rfd1 $17) 21... Bg7 (21... a4 $142 $5 22. Bc4 Bb7 $17) 22. Bxg7 $15 Kxg7 23. Bxd5 $2 (23. N3e4 Rf8 $15) 23... Nxd5 ( 23... cxd5 24. Qe3 $17) 24. Qg4 $2 (24. N5e4 $142 $5 $17) 24... h6 $19 25. Nf3 Nf6 (25... f5 $142 $5 26. Qh4 Rb8 $19) 26. Qf4 $17 Nd5 {Black threatens to win material: Nd5xf4} 27. Qd2 (27. Qg4 f5 28. Qh4 $19) 27... Ba6 $17 28. Nh2 e5 $4 {gives the opponent counterplay} (28... Nb4 $142 $5 29. Rc3 f5 $17 (29... Nxa2 $6 30. Ng4 Rh8 31. Rf3 $11)) 29. Ng4 $4 {White threatens to win material: Ng4xh6. gives the opponent new chances} (29. dxe5 $142 {White has a promising position} h5 30. Nf3 $18) 29... h5 $11 {Black threatens to win material: h5xg4} 30. Qh6+ $4 {there were better ways to keep up the pressure} (30. Nxh5+ gxh5 31. Qg5+ Kf8 32. dxe5 hxg4 33. Qh6+ Ke7 34. Qg5+ Ke6 35. Qh6+ Ke7 36. Qh4+ Kf8 37. Qh8+ Ke7 38. Qh4+ Kf8 39. Qh8+ Ke7 40. Qh4+ $11) 30... Kg8 31. Nh2 Nf4 $4 { allows the opponent back into the game} (31... exd4 $142 32. Nxh5 gxh5 33. Qg5+ Kh7 34. Qxh5+ Kg8 35. Qg5+ Kh7 36. Qh5+ Kg8 37. Qg5+ Kh7 38. Qh5+ $11) 32. Red1 $4 {throwing away the advantage} (32. Ne4 Nd5 33. dxe5 dxe5 $18) 32... Be2 $4 { releasing the pressure on the opponent} (32... Ne2+ $142 33. Nxe2 Bxe2 $17) 33. Rd2 $16 Bb5 $4 {shortens the misery for Black} (33... Bd3 $142 34. Nf3 h4 35. dxe5 dxe5 $16) 34. dxe5 $18 Nd5 35. exd6 (35. Nf3 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} dxe5 36. Ne4 $18) 35... Re6 $4 {terrible, but the game is lost in any case} (35... h4 $142 36. Qxh4 Qxd6 $18) 36. Nf3 $18 Nf6 37. Qf4 (37. Ng5 $142 { secures the win} Re5 38. f4 Rxg5 39. Qxg5 $18) 37... Nd5 38. Qd4 (38. Rxd5 $142 $5 cxd5 39. Rc7 $18) 38... Qxd6 $16 39. Rdd1 (39. a4 Ba6 40. Ne4 Qe7 $16) 39... Qe7 (39... a4 40. Qd2 $11) 40. a4 $14 {White threatens to win material: a4xb5} Ba6 41. Qd2 (41. h4 $5 $14) 41... h4 $11 42. Nf1 Be2 {Black threatens to win material: Be2xd1} 43. Re1 (43. Nd4 $142 $5 {must definitely be considered} Bxd1 44. Nxe6 Bxa4 45. Qd4 Qxe6 46. Qxa4 $11) 43... Bxf3 $17 44. gxf3 $4 {strolling merrily down the path to disaster} (44. Rxe6 $142 Qxe6 45. gxf3 Qxh3 46. Rc4 $17) 44... Nf4 $3 $19 {Deflection: e1} 45. Kh2 (45. Qxf4 Qb4 {Decoy Double attack} (45... Rxe1 {Deflection})) 45... Qg5 46. Ne3 Rd8 47. Qc2 Nd3 48. Rg1 ( 48. Rcd1 {desperation} Nxe1 49. Rxe1 $19) 48... Qf4+ 49. Kg2 Rxe3 (49... Rxe3 50. Kf1 Qxf3 51. Rg4 Rd4 52. Kg1 Rxg4+ 53. hxg4 Nxc1 54. fxe3 Ne2+ 55. Qxe2 Qxe2 56. b3 h3 57. b4 Qg2#) 0-1