C55 Two Knights: 4.d3, 4.d4 exd4 5.e5 and Max Lange Attack (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Be7 4.d3 Nf6 5.Nbd2 O-O 6.c3 d5 7.Bb3)

This game was originally shared in the post C50 Italian Game: Hungarian Defense. That post has been renamed to C55 Two Knights: 4.d3, 4.d4 exd4 5.e5 and Max Lange Attack (8...Bf6). The info about the team match is out of date since it was typed when I orginally shared the game. This game is taken from a team match called Art of Chess vs VIP ChessQueen. It was played between Art of Chess and VIP Paul Morphy Chess on 46 boards. I played board 5 for VIP CHESS and won both my games on time. During the same day, February 19th 2015, I won four games against this same opponent on time. It is always annoying to win these correspondence games on time as the games seem really unfinished, especially when the situation on the board does not correspond with the result. The match ended with a score 58 - 34 in favor of the home team Art of Chess. This match started December 1st 2014, finished on April 29th, 2015 and players who signed up for the match had to be rated under 2000.

This game followed the first game in the post C55 Two Knights: 4.d3, 4.d4 exd4 5.e5 and Max Lange Attack (8...Bf6) only up to the move 3...Be7. In that first game leduar played 4.c3. In this game JogadorAmador played 4.d3. There is nothing really wrong with either move, but 4.d3 is slightly better. The first position of interest can be seen below. In that position I chose to play the move 11...Bd6. It was a bad move after which I was clearly worse or at least quite close to it.

A few moves later I made an even clearer mistake by playing 15...g6 in the position below. The game continued with the moves 16.Bh6 Rfe8 17.Ng5. Then I made the worst move of the game so far, 17...Nd8?? After that I should have been in a lost position. However, there was only one move that could have taken the winning advantage and that move was 18.f4. JogadorAmador played 18.a4 instead and I was let off the hook a bit.

JogadorAmador's 18th move did keep the advantage in side of my opponent and that did not change during the remainder of the game. I only won because my opponent did not make his 23rd move and lost on time.

Game number two. This game was played in the "atadros's mini-tournament V". 11 players participated in this mini-tournament and I was 9th in the final standings. I was only able to gather 5.5 points in 20 games, so this was really bad mini-tournament from my point of view. In this game I faced atadros, the player who created this mini-tournament. Atadros was on 4th place in the final standings and my opponent was able to gather 13.5 points. The mini-tournament was won by a player called desaparicidos (2080). The winner gathered 17.5 points out of the possible 20 points.

The same moves were seen in this game as they were seen in the first game in this post up to the move 7...Bg4. Only the move order was slightly different. The move order was the same only up to the move 3...Be7, but when in game two the move order was 4.d3 Nf6 5.Nbd2 O-O 6.c3 d5 7.Bb3 Bg4, in this game the move order was 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 O-O 6.Bb3 d5 7.Nbd2 Bg4. In the first game JogadorAmador played 8.O-O and in this newer game atadros chose to play 8.Qe2. It is not really an improvement to the older move, actually it might be somewhat worse. However, there is no significant difference between the two, so 8.Qe2 is also a decent move. Atadros was the first one to make a mistake in this game. It was a bad idea for my opponent to castle long in the position below.

My reply, 13...a6, was designed to protect the advance of my b-pawn. It was a bit slow plan and it was a better idea to move my knight to a5. It is according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT Black's best move against 13.O-O-O and the only move that would have given me a clear advantage. The move I played in the game did not give me much. A few moves later atadros made a huge blunder that could have lost the game. In the position below atadros played 18.g5??

I had the possible line to victory in my grasp, but I let it go, because I could not see the continuation starting from 18...bxc3. I played the inaccurate move 18...hxg5 instead and my opponent was back in the game again. Atadros replied by taking the pawn on g5 with the knight and the position was about even. Then I blundered and played 19...Qc8, after which it was my turn to be on the losing side of the board. For some reason my opponent played 20.Rc1 instead of the obvious looking and winning move 20.Qc4. After both players had missed their chance to get a winning advantage, the game continued quite evenly until it was my turn to get the winning advantage again in the position below. Atadros made a huge mistake by playing 24.Ng3??

I was able to find the best move 24...Bxc3 and things looked to be going my way again. Unfortunately for me, I was not able to play accurately all the way to the end and when we reached the position below, I threw my advantage away with the move 28...Nxf3. Even after my sloppy move 28...Nxf3, I should be slightly favored, but it would be unlikely that I would actually win the game.

Only a couple of moves later I made the game losing blunder when I played 30...Qe7 in the next position. In order to keep my small advantage, I should have played 30...c5. It was perhaps my best chance to keep me on the better side of the board.

Atadros answered with the move 31.Rg1 and no matter what I do, I should be quite lost. I did my best to prevent the inevitable defeat, but I accepted my loss in the position after 37.Ka3 and resigned.

[Event "Art of Chess vs VIP ChessQueen - Board"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.12.01"] [Round "?"] [White "JogadorAmador"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C55"] [WhiteElo "1490"] [BlackElo "1876"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "44"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7 {Italian Game: Hungarian Defense} 4. d3 (4. d4 exd4 5. c3 Nf6 6. e5 Ne4 {Italian Game: Hungarian Defense. Tartakower Variation }) 4... Nf6 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. c3 d5 7. Bb3 {C55 Two Knights: 4.d3, 4.d4 exd4 5.e5 and Max Lange Attack} Bg4 8. O-O (8. h3 Bh5 9. Qe2 dxe4 10. dxe4 Bg6 11. Nh4 Bxe4 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. Nf5 Nf6 14. O-O Re8 15. Qc4 Rf8 16. Qb5 Qd7 17. Nxe7+ Qxe7 18. Qxb7 Na5 19. Qf3 Nxb3 20. axb3 Rfd8 21. Ra5 Qe6 22. b4 e4 {Vardi,S (1945)-Gottfried,J (1653) Jerusalem 2015 1-0 (37)}) 8... Qd7 $146 (8... dxe4 9. dxe4 Nd7 10. h3 (10. Qe2 Nc5 11. Bc2 Qd6 12. b4 Nd7 13. h3 Bh5 14. Bb3 Nb6 15. Rd1 Rad8 16. g4 Qg6 17. Nh2 Rd6 18. Kh1 Bxg4 19. hxg4 Rfd8 20. Ndf3 Nc4 21. Rxd6 Nxd6 22. Bd5 Nc8 23. b5 Na5 24. Nxe5 Qf6 {Huynh Mai Phuong,D-Bui T Mai,T Can Tho 2001 1-0 (41)}) 10... Bh5 11. Qe2 Kh8 12. Rd1 Qe8 13. Nf1 Nc5 14. Ng3 Nxb3 15. axb3 Bg6 16. Be3 f6 17. b4 b6 18. Rd2 a5 19. b5 Na7 20. c4 Bb4 21. Rdd1 Nc8 22. Rac1 Nd6 23. Nd2 {Woolley,J (2082) -Hanley,C (2388) Halifax 2005 0-1 (42)}) (8... d4 9. h3 Bh5 10. Qe2 b5 11. g4 Nxg4 12. hxg4 Bxg4 13. Bd5 Rb8 14. Qe1 Bg5 15. Nh2 Bh3 16. Ndf3 Bxc1 17. Qxc1 Ne7 18. Bb3 Ng6 19. Qg5 Bxf1 20. Rxf1 dxc3 21. bxc3 Qxd3 22. Qf5 c5 23. Bd5 {Mamikonian,T (2283)-Pap,M (2500) Rethymno 2012 0-1 (55)}) (8... Re8 9. Re1 Bf8 10. h3 Bh5 11. exd5 Nxd5 12. d4 f6 13. Qc2 Bg6 14. Qd1 exd4 15. Rxe8 Bxe8 16. cxd4 Bf7 17. Nf1 Qd7 18. Ne3 Rd8 19. Nxd5 Bxd5 20. Be3 {1/2-1/2 (20) Adamowicz, K (2131)-Olsarova,K (2192) Kemer 2009}) (8... dxe4 9. dxe4 Qd6 10. Ba4 $11) 9. Qe2 (9. h3 dxe4 10. dxe4 Bh5 $14) 9... dxe4 10. dxe4 a6 11. Nc4 Bd6 12. Bg5 Nh5 (12... Ne8 13. Rfd1 $14) 13. h3 {White threatens to win material: h3xg4} Be6 14. Rad1 Bxc4 (14... h6 15. Bc1 Nf6 16. Nfxe5 Nxe5 17. Nxe5 $14) 15. Qxc4 (15. Bxc4 h6 16. Be3 $16) 15... g6 $2 (15... Na5 16. Nxe5 {Deflection: d6} Qe8 17. Qxf7+ Rxf7 18. Bxf7+ Qxf7 19. Nxf7 Kxf7 20. Bh4 $14) 16. Bh6 (16. Qd5 Qe8 $16) 16... Rfe8 17. Ng5 Nd8 $4 {cause more grief} (17... Re7 $16) 18. a4 (18. f4 $142 {secures the point} exf4 19. g4 $18) 18... Qe7 (18... b5 19. axb5 axb5 20. Qe2 $14) 19. Rd2 Nf4 20. Rfd1 Nfe6 (20... Nde6 21. Nf3 $16) 21. Nxe6 Nxe6 22. a5 Qf6 (22... Qf6 23. Be3 Red8 $16) 0-1 [Event "atadros's mini-tournament V"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.05.31"] [Round "?"] [White "atadros"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C55"] [WhiteElo "1967"] [BlackElo "1808"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7 {Italian Game: Hungarian Defense} 4. c3 (4. d4 exd4 5. c3 Nf6 6. e5 Ne4 {Italian Game: Hungarian Defense, Tartakower Variation }) 4... Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. Bb3 d5 7. Nbd2 {C55 Two Knights: 4.d3, 4.d4 exd4 5.e5 and Max Lange Attack} Bg4 8. Qe2 (8. h3 Bh5 9. g4 (9. O-O Qd7 10. Re1 Rad8 11. Qe2 Rfe8 12. Nf1 Bg6 13. Ng3 h6 14. Nh4 Bh7 15. Nhf5 Bc5 16. Qf3 Ne7 17. Nxh6+ Kf8 18. Nh5 Qe6 19. Nxf6 Qxf6 20. Qxf6 gxf6 21. Ng4 Kg7 22. Bh6+ Kg6 23. Bc2 d4 {Nguyen,H (1640)-Rosenhain,R (1766) Willingen 2015 1-0 (42)}) 9... Bg6 10. Qe2 Bc5 11. Bc2 a5 12. Nf1 a4 13. Ng3 b5 14. a3 Re8 15. Bg5 h6 16. Bd2 Na5 17. g5 Nh5 18. Nxh5 Bxh5 19. Rg1 Nb3 20. Bxb3 axb3 21. gxh6 g6 22. Rg5 Ra6 {Grbac,B (2125)-Fercec,N (2450) Porec 2015 0-1 (32)}) 8... dxe4 9. dxe4 Bc5 $146 { Black has a king attack} (9... Kh8 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Nxf3 Nd7 12. O-O Nc5 13. Bd5 Bd6 14. Ng5 Qf6 15. Qh5 Qg6 16. Nxf7+ Rxf7 17. Qxg6 hxg6 18. Bxf7 Kh7 19. Bd5 Nd7 20. Be3 Nf6 21. Bxc6 bxc6 22. f3 a5 23. c4 c5 24. Rfd1 {Sukandar,I (2275) -Lee,W (2033) Macau 2007 1-0}) (9... Nh5 10. g3 Bc5 11. h3 Be6 12. Nc4 Qf6 13. Ne3 Bxe3 14. Bxe3 Bxb3 15. axb3 Qe7 16. b4 Rfe8 17. O-O Nf6 18. Qc2 Qe6 19. Kg2 a6 20. Nd2 Rad8 21. Rfd1 h6 22. b3 Rd7 23. Nc4 Red8 24. Rxd7 {Mucha,M (1976) -Bukowska,K (1887) Szczyrk 2014 1/2-1/2 (38)}) 10. Nf1 {Black has an active position} Qe7 {White king safety improved} 11. Bg5 h6 {Black threatens to win material: h6xg5} 12. Bd2 (12. Bh4 Rad8 $11) 12... Rad8 13. O-O-O $2 (13. Ng3 a6 $11) 13... a6 (13... Na5 $5 $17) 14. h3 Be6 15. Bxe6 Qxe6 ({Inferior is} 15... fxe6 16. g4 $14) 16. Kb1 b5 17. g4 b4 (17... Qc4 $142 18. Qxc4 bxc4 $15) 18. g5 $4 {not a good decision, because now the opponent is right back in the game} ( 18. Ng3 bxc3 19. Bxc3 Nd4 20. Bxd4 Bxd4 21. Nxd4 Rxd4 22. Rxd4 exd4 $11) 18... hxg5 (18... bxc3 $142 {and the rest is a matter of technique} 19. Rc1 Nb4 $19) 19. Nxg5 $14 Qc8 $2 (19... Qe7 20. Ng3 g6 21. h4 bxc3 22. Bxc3 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 $11) 20. Rc1 $4 {Loses material. a transit from better to worse} (20. Qc4 $142 {White has a promising position} Bxf2 21. Qxc6 $18) 20... Qb7 $11 {Black has an active position} 21. Ng3 bxc3 22. Bxc3 Bd4 23. Nh5 (23. Nf5 Rd7 $11) 23... Rd6 $15 24. Ng3 $4 (24. Nxf6+ $142 {is just about the only chance} Rxf6 25. Nf3 $15) 24... Bxc3 $19 25. Rxc3 Nd4 26. Qe3 (26. Qc4 Rb6 27. b3 Nb5 $19) 26... Rb6 (26... Rb8 $142 {might be the shorter path} 27. b3 a5 28. Nxf7 Kxf7 $19) 27. Qc1 (27. b3 c5 28. Kc1 $19 (28. Rxc5 $4 Nxb3 29. Rc3 Nd2+ 30. Kc2 Rb2+ 31. Kd1 Rxa2 $19)) 27... c6 (27... Rb8 $142 {secures the win} 28. b3 Nxb3 29. axb3 Rxb3+ 30. Kc2 Rxc3+ 31. Kxc3 Qb4+ 32. Kd3 Qd4+ 33. Ke2 Rb2+ 34. Qxb2 Qxb2+ 35. Ke3 $19) 28. Nf3 $4 {causes further problems for White} (28. Rh2 Rb8 29. f3 Ne8 $17) 28... Nxf3 (28... Rb8 $142 {makes sure everything is clear} 29. Ka1 Rxb2 30. Nxd4 exd4 $19) 29. Rxf3 $15 Rb8 30. b3 Qe7 $4 {Black lets it slip away} ( 30... c5 $142 {was possible} 31. Rg1 Nxe4 $15) 31. Rg1 $18 Qe6 (31... Kf8 { what else?} 32. Nf5 Qb4 $18) 32. Nf5 g6 33. Qh6 Ne8 34. Rg4 Qd7 (34... Rxb3+ { doesn't change the outcome of the game} 35. axb3 Rxb3+ 36. Rxb3 Qxb3+ 37. Kc1 Qa3+ 38. Kd1 Qd3+ 39. Ke1 Qb1+ 40. Ke2 Qc2+ 41. Kf1 Qd1+ 42. Kg2 Qxg4+ 43. hxg4 gxf5 44. Qxc6 Kf8 45. Qc5+ Kg8 46. Qe7 fxe4 47. Qxe8+ Kg7 48. Qxe5+ Kg6 49. Qxe4+ Kh6 50. f4 a5 51. g5+ Kg7 52. f5 a4 53. f6+ Kh8 54. Qe8+ Kh7 55. Qxf7+ Kh8 56. Qg7#) 35. Rh4 Qd1+ (35... Rxb3+ {does not solve anything} 36. axb3 Qd1+ 37. Kb2 Qd2+ 38. Qxd2 Rb7 39. Qd8 Rb8 40. Qxb8 gxf5 41. Qxe8+ Kg7 42. Qh8+ Kg6 43. Rg3#) 36. Kb2 Qe2+ (36... Rxb3+ {cannot change destiny} 37. axb3 Qd2+ 38. Qxd2 Rb7 39. Qd8 Rb8 40. Qxb8 gxf5 41. Qxe8+ Kg7 42. Qh8+ Kg6 43. Rg3#) 37. Ka3 (37. Ka3 Qb2+ 38. Kxb2 Rxb3+ 39. axb3 Rxb3+ 40. Rxb3 f6 41. Qxg6+ Ng7 42. Qxg7# ) 1-0

C41 Philidor Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Bc4 Bg7 6.O-O Ne7 7.Bg5 Nbc6 8.c3)

This game was previously found in the post C41 Philidor Defense: Larsen Variation. That post was renamed to C41 Philidor Defence (5...Bg7), in order to be consistent with the way I am currently naming my posts. This game was played in the "paweljaniak's mini-tournament I". This was probably the best mini-tournament I have played at GameKnot. I was second in the final standings and I gathered 8.5 points in 12 games. Well, I actually only played 11 games since one of my opponents withdrew from the tournament. It was the only game that was never played. My opponent in this game, chief_huerta, finished 7th in this mini-tournament and was able to gather 2.5 points in 12 games.

This game followed the first game I shared in the post C41 Philidor Defence (6...Nc6) up to the move 6.O-O. In that game a player called veca played 6...Nc6, while chief_huerta played 6...Ne7 in this game. I think the first turning point of the game came when chief_huerta played 13...cxd5 in the position below.

I responded with 14.exd5 and according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT I should have been clearly better. Chief_huerta replied with e5 and I continued with 15.Ne4, which threw away some of my advantage. The best move was 15.Bxe7. Then my opponent played the huge blunder 15...Rf8 and it could have been the losing move. I did not continue with the most accurate moves, but it was only after my 33rd move Qf3 that all my advantage had disappeared. The next position is where I played 33.Qf3.

Chief_huerta played 33...Qe6 in reply and I continued by playing 34.Bd2. Then chief_huerta played 34...Be7 and I was clearly better again. When we reached the position after 35...Nf6, which you can see below, I moved my knight to the wrong square and it allowed my opponent to get back into the game again.

Chief_huerta then took another step in the wrong direction with the move 36...Nh7. It was the start of the final downhill for my opponent. The remainder of the game went clearly in my favor and chief_huerta resigned after my 50th move a4.

[Event "paweljaniak's mini-tournament I"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.05.23"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "chief_huerta"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "1782"] [BlackElo "1635"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "99"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 g6 {Philidor Defense: Larsen Variation} ( 4... Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Nf3 Nc6 9. Bg5 Be6 10. Re1 { Philidor Defense: Berger Variation}) 5. Bc4 Bg7 6. O-O Ne7 7. Bg5 (7. Nc3 O-O ( 7... Nbc6 8. Be3 b6 9. Nxc6 Nxc6 10. Bxf7+ Kxf7 11. Qd5+ Be6 12. Qxc6 Rf8 13. f4 Kg8 14. f5 gxf5 15. exf5 Bf7 16. Rf3 Kh8 17. f6 Bxf6 18. Raf1 Be8 19. Qc4 Bg6 20. Rxf6 Rxf6 21. Rxf6 Qxf6 22. Bd4 {Antipov,V (1863)-Polekhin,D (1597) Kaluga 2016 1-0}) 8. Bg5 h6 (8... c6 9. a4 Nd7 10. Qd2 Nb6 11. Bb3 Bd7 12. a5 Nbc8 13. f4 Qb6 {1-0 (13) Rau,J-Bornschein,K Stuttgart 1993}) 9. Bh4 g5 (9... Nbc6 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Qd3 Kh7 12. f4 f6 13. f5 gxf5 14. exf5 d5 15. Bb3 Bd7 16. Rae1 Nc8 17. Qg3 Nd6 18. Qg6+ Kh8 19. Rf3 Nf7 20. Rg3 Ng5 21. Bxg5 fxg5 22. Rf1 Rf6 23. Qh5 Rxf5 24. Rxf5 {Gosciniak,M-Sharova,A Peniscola 2002 0-1 (37)}) 10. Bg3 Nbc6 11. Nxc6 Nxc6 12. f4 gxf4 13. Bxf4 Be6 14. Bb3 Kh7 15. Ne2 Qh4 16. c3 Rae8 17. Ng3 Be5 18. Qd2 Rg8 19. Rf2 Rg4 20. Raf1 Reg8 21. Bd1 Bxf4 { Naiditsch,A (2487)-Appel,R (2481) Essen 2001 1/2-1/2 (45)}) 7... Nbc6 $146 ( 7... O-O 8. c3 Qe8 9. Nd2 Nbc6 10. Ne2 Bg4 11. f3 Be6 12. Bd3 Ne5 13. Bc2 Nc4 14. Nxc4 Bxc4 15. f4 f6 16. Bh4 Qb5 17. Nd4 Qb6 18. Rf2 Nc6 19. Nb3 Bh6 20. Kh1 Rae8 21. Rf3 Qb5 22. a4 {Burakovsky,M (2068)-Gyorffi,Z Eger 2003 1-0 (53)}) 8. c3 {C41 Philidor Defence} Nxd4 9. cxd4 Be6 (9... h6 10. Bf4 $14) 10. Bxe6 (10. d5 f6 11. Be3 Bf7 $16) 10... fxe6 $14 11. Nc3 c6 {Covers b5+d5} (11... Qd7 12. Rc1 O-O 13. Ne2 $11) 12. Qd2 {Black has a cramped position} (12. Ne2 h6 13. Be3 Qd7 $14) 12... Qd7 $14 13. d5 (13. a4 $14) 13... cxd5 (13... exd5 $142 $5 { and Black could well hope to play on} 14. exd5 O-O $11) 14. exd5 $16 e5 15. Ne4 (15. Bxe7 $142 Qxe7 16. Rac1 $16) 15... Rf8 $4 (15... Nf5 $142 $5 $14 {should be considered}) 16. Rac1 (16. Qb4 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} O-O-O 17. Nxd6+ Qxd6 18. Qxd6 (18. Bxe7 $6 {is the less attractive alternative} Qxb4 19. Bxb4 Rf4 $14) 18... Rxd6 19. Bxe7 Rxd5 20. Bxf8 Bxf8 21. Rfd1 $18) 16... Kf7 17. Rc3 Rac8 18. Rfc1 Rxc3 19. Rxc3 (19. Qxc3 Rc8 20. Qf3+ Kg8 21. Rxc8+ Nxc8 22. Nf6+ Bxf6 23. Qxf6 $18 (23. Bxf6 $143 Qf5 24. Qxf5 gxf5 $17)) 19... Rc8 $4 (19... Nf5 20. Qc2 Kg8 21. Rc7 $16) 20. Rxc8 (20. Nxd6+ $142 {and White has reached his goal} Qxd6 21. Bxe7 $18) 20... Nxc8 $16 21. Qb4 h6 (21... Bf8 22. h3 Be7 23. Be3 $16) 22. Be3 b6 23. Qd2 Qf5 $2 (23... h5 $142 $16) 24. f3 $18 g5 (24... h5 25. Qc1 Ke8 $18) 25. Qb4 $4 {weakening the position} (25. Qc1 $142 $5 {and White can already relax} Kf8 26. h4 gxh4 27. Bxh6 b5 $18) 25... Bf8 (25... Ke7 $5 $16) 26. Qc4 $18 Qd7 27. Bd2 (27. h4 gxh4 28. Bxh6 Bxh6 29. Qxc8 Be3+ 30. Kh1 Qxc8 31. Nxd6+ Ke7 32. Nxc8+ Kd7 33. Nxa7 $16) 27... g4 $4 {further deteriorates the position} (27... b5 28. Qd3 $16) 28. Qd3 (28. fxg4 $142 { nails it down} Kg7 29. g5 h5 $18) 28... Ne7 $2 (28... Ke7 29. Be1 Kf7 30. b4 $16) 29. Bb4 $4 {not a good decision, because now the opponent is right back in the game} (29. fxg4 $142 {might be the shorter path} Qxg4 30. Nxd6+ Kg7 31. Ne4 Qd1+ 32. Kf2 $18) 29... Nc8 (29... Ng6 30. g3 $16) 30. Qf1 (30. Qe2 Qa4 31. a3 a5 $16) 30... Kg7 31. Bc3 Ne7 32. fxg4 Nxd5 {Black has a new protected passed pawn: e5} 33. Qf3 Qe6 34. Bd2 Be7 (34... Ne7 35. h4 $14) 35. h3 (35. Ng3 Nf4 36. Nf5+ Kf7 $16) 35... Nf6 (35... Kg8 $142 $16) 36. Nc3 {White has a king attack} (36. Ng3 Bf8 $16) 36... Nh7 $4 {allows the opponent back into the game} (36... d5 $142 {and Black can hope to live} 37. g5 hxg5 38. Bxg5 d4 $11) 37. Qb7 $16 Kg6 38. Qxa7 (38. Nd5 $142 Bg5 39. Bxg5 Nxg5 40. Qa8 $18) 38... Bd8 $4 {another step towards the grave} (38... d5 $142 $16) 39. Qb8 $18 Qg8 (39... Qd7 {the only chance to get some counterplay} 40. Be3 d5 41. Bxb6 Bxb6+ 42. Qxb6+ Nf6 $18) 40. Be3 Nf6 (40... Qf8 {hardly improves anything} 41. a4 Ng5 42. Bxb6 Bxb6+ 43. Qxb6 $18) 41. Qxd6 Qe8 42. Bxb6 Bxb6+ (42... Be7 {is the last straw} 43. Qd3+ Kg7 $18) 43. Qxb6 Qf7 (43... Kf7 {praying for a miracle} 44. a4 Qd7 $18) 44. Ne4 Kg7 (44... Qxa2 {is no salvation} 45. Qxf6+ Kh7 46. Qxe5 Qa7+ 47. Kh2 Kg8 48. b4 Kf7 49. b5 Kg8 50. b6 Qxb6 51. Qe8+ Kh7 52. Qe7+ Kh8 53. Qf8+ Kh7 54. Nf6+ Kg6 55. Nd5 Qb7 56. Ne7+ Qxe7 57. Qxe7 h5 58. Kg3 h4+ 59. Kf3 Kh6 60. Qf7 Kg5 61. Qg7#) 45. Qxf6+ Qxf6 46. Nxf6 Kxf6 47. Kf2 e4 (47... Ke6 { does not improve anything} 48. Ke3 Kd5 49. h4 Kd6 50. Ke4 Ke7 51. Kxe5 Kd7 52. g5 hxg5 53. hxg5 Ke7 54. b4 Kf8 55. b5 Ke7 56. g6 Kf8 57. b6 Kg7 58. b7 Kxg6 59. b8=Q Kf7 60. Qh8 Ke7 61. Qg7+ Ke8 62. Kd6 Kd8 63. Qd7#) 48. Ke3 Ke5 49. b4 (49. h4 h5 50. gxh5 Kf6 51. b4 Ke5 52. b5 Kd5 53. h6 Ke6 54. h7 Kd5 55. h8=Q Kd6 56. Kxe4 Kc5 57. Qd4+ Kxb5 58. Kd5 Ka6 59. Qb2 Ka5 60. Kc5 Ka4 61. Qb4#) 49... Kd5 (49... Ke6 {cannot change destiny} 50. b5 Kd5 51. h4 Kc5 52. g5 hxg5 53. hxg5 Kxb5 54. g6 Kc5 55. Kxe4 Kb4 56. g7 Kc5 57. g8=Q Kc6 58. Qe6+ Kc7 59. Ke5 Kd8 60. Qc6 Ke7 61. Qc7+ Kf8 62. Kf6 Kg8 63. Qg7#) 50. a4 (50. a4 Ke6 51. h4 Ke5 52. a5 Kd5 53. g5 h5 54. g6 Ke6 55. Kxe4 Ke7 56. a6 Ke6 57. a7 Kf6 58. a8=Q Kxg6 59. Qg8+ Kf6 60. Kd5 Ke7 61. Qg7+ Ke8 62. Kd6 Kd8 63. Qd7#) (50. h4 Kd6 51. Kxe4 Ke7 52. h5 Kd6 53. g5 hxg5 54. h6 g4 55. h7 g3 56. b5 Kc5 57. h8=Q Kb4 58. Qd4+ Ka3 59. b6 Kxa2 60. b7 Kb3 61. b8=Q+ Ka2 62. Qbb2#) 1-0

C41 Philidor Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Bc4 Bg7 6.O-O Nc6)

It seems that only one of my opponents has favored this line. I can't say that for certain yet, as I have so many games still to go through, but so far it is the case. The game below was played on the first round of the 2014 October Long Haul Split I tournament that is played at Red Hot Pawn. The tournament started with 24 players and they were divided into two groups of 12. Group 1 was won by caissad4, who was clearly the highest rated player of that group. Caissad4 managed to get 59 points out of the possible 66. I won group 2 with the same amount of points as caissad4 and we played on round 2. I thought that the second round would be very evenly fought before it started because the rating difference between these two players was not that great. That being said, caissad4 was higher rated than me at the time and has a peak rating much higher than me at Red Hot Pawn. By considering only the ratings, caissad4 was the favorite on the second round. If the results of our 9 completed games before round was considered, then I was the favorite on the second round because I had won 5, drawn 3 and lost 1 out of those games. The second round ended in a tie between us two, so third round was needed to decide the winner of the tournament. On the third round I got a draw and a loss against caissad4 and therefore caissad4 won the tournament and I had to accept my second place.

This game followed a few games previously shared in this blog up to the move 5...Bg7, but then it followed a different move order, but reached the same position as was seen in the first game in the post C41 Philidor Defence (5...Bg7) after the move 8.Be3. It was the last same position seen and the games went on a completely different path from Black's 8th move on. In the first game the move order after 5...Bg7 was as follows 6.c3 Ne7 7.O-O Nbc6 8.Be3. In this game the move order was 6.O-O Nc6 7.c3 Nge7 8.Be3. The game started to go seriously downhill for veca when my opponent played 15...b5 in the position below.

I replied to the move played in the game with 16.Qe2, which was an okay move, but not as good as 16.axb5 which was the best reply. Veca then played 16...Ne7 and then I let my opponent off the hook with the move 17.axb5. I should have played 17.Nxe7+ instead. The position after my 17th move can be seen below.

It was in this position that the game deciding blunder was seen. Veca played the awful move 17...axb5, which lost a piece because of the continuation 18.Rxa8 Qxa8 19.Nxe7+. The game was easy after I got the decisive material advantage. The game ended in checkmate when I played 60.Qa1#.

[Event "Long Haul Split"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.10.24"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "veca"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "1879"] [BlackElo "1435"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "119"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 g6 {Philidor Defense: Larsen Variation} ( 4... Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Nf3 Nc6 9. Bg5 Be6 10. Re1 { Philidor Defense: Berger Variation}) 5. Bc4 Bg7 6. O-O Nc6 {C41 Philidor Defence} 7. c3 Nge7 8. Be3 (8. Re1 O-O 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 Nxd4 11. cxd4 g5 12. Bg3 Nc6 13. e5 Bf5 14. Nc3 Nb4 15. Qf3 Bg6 16. Rad1 Rb8 17. exd6 cxd6 18. Nb5 a6 19. Nxd6 Nc2 20. Re4 Bxe4 21. Qxe4 Nb4 22. Nxf7 Rxf7 {Rantanen,Y (2420) -Littlewood,P (2345) Oslo 1978 1-0}) 8... O-O 9. Nd2 (9. Na3 a6 10. h3 Na5 11. Be2 c5 12. Nb3 Nxb3 13. axb3 f5 14. f3 b6 15. Nc4 d5 16. Bg5 Bf6 17. Bxf6 Rxf6 18. Ne3 fxe4 19. fxe4 Rxf1+ 20. Qxf1 Qd6 21. Nxd5 Nxd5 22. exd5 Kg7 23. Bxa6 Bxa6 {Mroziak,M (2178) -Chudinovskih,A (2263) Karvina 2012 1-0 (31)}) 9... a6 10. a4 $146 (10. f4 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 12. cxd4 d5 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. Qb3 Nb6 15. d5 Bf5 16. Nf3 Qd6 17. Nd2 Rfe8 18. Rac1 Rad8 19. Nf3 Qxf4 20. d6 Nxc4 21. Rxc4 Qxd6 22. Qxb7 Qb6+ 23. Qxb6 cxb6 24. a3 Bd3 {Arnold,K-Herman,A Germany 1993 0-1}) 10... Ne5 (10... Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bxd4 12. cxd4 $11) 11. Ba2 c5 { Black threatens to win material: c5xd4} 12. Ne2 {The idea is Nd4-e2-f4-d5} (12. Nc2 Be6 $14) 12... Be6 13. Nf4 Bxa2 14. Rxa2 N7c6 15. Nd5 {A beautiful square!} b5 (15... Ne7 $5 $11 {might be a viable alternative}) 16. Qe2 Ne7 17. axb5 (17. Nxe7+ $142 Qxe7 18. axb5 axb5 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Qxb5 $16) 17... axb5 $4 { simply marches past the door to victory.} (17... Nxd5 $142 {was possible} 18. exd5 axb5 19. Rxa8 Qxa8 $11) 18. Rxa8 $18 Qxa8 19. Nxe7+ Kh8 20. f4 Nc6 21. Nxc6 (21. Nd5 $142 $5 {and White can already relax} Rb8 22. Qg4 h5 $18) 21... Qxc6 22. f5 f6 (22... Rd8 $18 {desperation}) 23. fxg6 hxg6 24. Rf3 (24. Qg4 { keeps an even firmer grip} g5 25. Qh3+ Kg8 26. Qe6+ Rf7 $18) 24... c4 (24... Rd8 {cannot change destiny} 25. Rg3 Qe8 26. Qd3 $18) 25. Bd4 (25. Rg3 {makes it even easier for White} Qe8 26. Qg4 Kg8 $18) 25... d5 (25... Kg8 {is not the saving move} 26. Qf2 $18) 26. exd5 Qxd5 27. Qe7 Qf7 28. Qxf7 (28. Qc5 $142 $5 { might be the shorter path} Qb7 29. Qd6 Kg8 $18) 28... Rxf7 29. Ne4 f5 30. Bxg7+ Kxg7 31. Nd6 Rd7 32. Nxb5 Rb7 33. Nd6 Rxb2 34. Nxc4 Rc2 (34... Rb5 {does not win a prize} 35. Rd3 $18) 35. Ne5 Kf6 36. Nc6 g5 (36... Rc1+ {a last effort to resist the inevitable} 37. Kf2 Kf7 $18) 37. Nd4 Rc1+ 38. Kf2 f4 (38... Kg6 { a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 39. Nxf5 Rc2+ 40. Kg3 $18) 39. g3 Ra1 40. gxf4 gxf4 (40... Ra4 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 41. Kg3 gxf4+ 42. Rxf4+ Kg6 43. h4 Ra1 44. c4 Rc1 45. Kg4 Rg1+ 46. Kf3 Rc1 47. Ne2 Rc2 48. Ke3 Ra2 49. c5 Ra5 50. c6 Ra8 51. Ke4 Kh5 52. Nd4 Re8+ 53. Kd5 Rd8+ 54. Kc5 Rc8 55. Ne6 Rb8 56. c7 Ra8 57. Kc6 Rc8 58. Kd7 Ra8 59. c8=Q Rxc8 60. Kxc8 Kh6 61. Kd8 Kh5 62. Ke7 Kg6 63. h5+ Kh6 64. Rf5 Kh7 65. Rf8 Kh6 66. Rh8#) 41. Rxf4+ $18 Ke5 42. Rf3 Ra2+ 43. Kg3 Ra3 (43... Ra8 {does not improve anything} 44. h4 Rg8+ 45. Kh3 Rh8 46. Rf5+ Ke4 47. h5 Kd3 48. Rf3+ Ke4 49. Kg4 Ke5 50. Re3+ Kd5 51. Kg5 Rg8+ 52. Kf4 Rg1 53. Rh3 Rf1+ 54. Nf3 Ra1 55. h6 Ra8 56. h7 Rf8+ 57. Ke3 Rh8 58. Ng5 Kc4 59. Nf7 Re8+ 60. Kd2 Rb8 61. h8=Q Rxh8 62. Rxh8 Kd5 63. Rh6 Kc5 64. Rg6 Kd5 65. Kd3 Kc5 66. Rd6 Kb5 67. Kd4 Ka4 68. Kc4 Ka3 69. Rd2 Ka4 70. Ra2#) 44. h4 Ra8 (44... Ra6 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 45. h5 Rh6 46. Kg4 Rh8 47. Re3+ Kd5 48. Rh3 Rg8+ 49. Kf5 Rf8+ 50. Kg6 Rg8+ 51. Kf7 Ra8 52. h6 Ra7+ 53. Kf6 Ra6+ 54. Kg5 Ra8 55. h7 Rh8 56. Kg6 Kc4 57. Kg7 Ra8 58. h8=Q Rxh8 59. Rxh8 Kxc3 60. Ne6 Kb2 61. Rh3 Ka1 62. Nd4 Kb1 63. Rb3+ Ka1 64. Kg6 Ka2 65. Kf6 Ka1 66. Ke5 Ka2 67. Ke4 Ka1 68. Kd3 Ka2 69. Kc2 Ka1 70. Ra3#) 45. h5 Rh8 (45... Rc8 {hardly improves anything} 46. h6 Rh8 47. Rf5+ Ke4 48. Rh5 Ra8 49. Nf3 Kd3 50. h7 Rh8 51. Ne5+ Kc2 52. Nf7 Rb8 53. h8=Q Rxh8 54. Rxh8 Kxc3 55. Kf3 Kd4 56. Rh5 Kd3 57. Nd6 Kd4 58. Ke2 Kc3 59. Ke3 Kb2 60. Kd3 Kb3 61. Rb5+ Ka2 62. Kc3 Ka1 63. Kc2 Ka2 64. Ra5#) 46. Kh4 Ke4 (46... Kd5 {is no salvation} 47. Kg5 Rg8+ 48. Kf6 Rh8 49. Rh3 Rf8+ 50. Kg7 Ra8 51. h6 Ra7+ 52. Kf6 Ra6+ 53. Kf5 Ra8 54. h7 Rh8 55. Kf6 Kc4 56. Kf7 Kc5 57. Kg7 Ra8 58. h8=Q Rxh8 59. Rxh8 Kc4 60. Kf6 Kxc3 61. Ke5 Kc4 62. Rc8+ Kd3 63. Nf5 Ke2 64. Ke4 Kf2 65. Rc2+ Kf1 66. Ke3 Kg1 67. Kf3 Kh1 68. Ng3+ Kg1 69. Rg2#) 47. Kg5 Rg8+ 48. Kh6 (48. Kf6 Ra8 49. Rh3 Rf8+ 50. Kg7 Rf1 51. h6 Rg1+ 52. Kf7 Rf1+ 53. Ke7 Ra1 54. h7 Ra7+ 55. Kd6 Ra6+ 56. Nc6 Ra8 57. h8=Q Rxh8 58. Rxh8 Kd3 59. Rh3+ Kc2 60. Nd4+ Kd2 61. Kd5 Kd1 62. Ke4 Kd2 63. Rf3 Kc1 64. Kd3 Kb1 65. Rf1+ Kb2 66. Rh1 Ka3 67. Rh2 Ka4 68. Ra2#) 48... Rh8+ (48... Rg4 {does not save the day} 49. Kh7 Rg1 50. h6 Ra1 51. Kh8 Ra8+ 52. Kg7 Ra7+ 53. Kg6 Ra1 54. Rh3 Rg1+ 55. Kf7 Rf1+ 56. Ke7 Ra1 57. h7 Ra7+ 58. Kf6 Ra6+ 59. Ne6 Ra8 60. h8=R Rxh8 61. Rxh8 Kd3 62. Ke5 Kxc3 63. Rh3+ Kb2 64. Nd4 Kb1 65. Rb3+ Ka1 66. Kf4 Ka2 67. Ke4 Ka1 68. Kd3 Ka2 69. Kc2 Ka1 70. Ra3#) 49. Kg6 Rd8 (49... Rg8+ {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 50. Kf7 Rh8 51. Rh3 Rh6 52. Kg7 Ra6 53. h6 Ra7+ 54. Kf6 Rh7 55. Kg6 Rh8 56. h7 Ke5 57. Kg7 Ra8 58. h8=Q Rxh8 59. Rxh8 Ke4 60. Kf6 Kd3 61. Rh3+ Ke4 62. Ke6 Kf4 63. Rf3+ Ke4 64. Rg3 Kf4 65. Nf5 Ke4 66. c4 Kf4 67. Kf6 Ke4 68. Kg5 Ke5 69. Re3#) 50. h6 Rxd4 (50... Rg8+ {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 51. Kf7 Rg1 52. Rh3 Rf1+ 53. Ke7 Ra1 54. h7 Ra7+ 55. Ke6 Ra6+ 56. Nc6 Ra8 57. h8=Q Rxh8 58. Rxh8 Kd3 59. Rh3+ Kc2 60. Nd4+ Kb2 61. Kd5 Kb1 62. Kc4 Kc1 63. Rh2 Kb1 64. Kb3 Kc1 65. c4 Kd1 66. Nf3 Kc1 67. Rh1#) 51. cxd4 $1 {Mate attack.} Kxf3 (51... Kxd4 52. h7 {Mate attack}) (51... -- $140 52. Rh3 { Mate threat}) 52. d5 (52. h7 Kf4 53. d5 Ke5 54. h8=Q+ Kxd5 55. Qc3 Kd6 56. Kf6 Kd5 57. Qb4 Kc6 58. Ke6 Kc7 59. Qb5 Kc8 60. Kd6 Kd8 61. Qd7#) 52... Ke3 (52... Ke4 {cannot change destiny} 53. h7 Kxd5 54. h8=Q Kc4 55. Qb2 Kd5 56. Qc3 Kd6 57. Kf5 Kd5 58. Qb4 Kc6 59. Ke6 Kc7 60. Qb5 Kc8 61. Kd6 Kd8 62. Qd7#) 53. d6 Kd3 (53... Kd4 {is not the saving move} 54. d7 Kc3 55. h7 Kb2 56. h8=Q+ Kc1 57. Qc3+ Kb1 58. d8=Q Ka2 59. Qda5+ Kb1 60. Qaa1#) 54. d7 Kc4 (54... Kd2 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 55. h7 Kc1 56. d8=Q Kc2 57. h8=Q Kb3 58. Qd1+ Kb4 59. Qhd4+ Ka3 60. Q1a4#) 55. d8=Q Kc5 (55... Kb4 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 56. h7 Kc5 57. h8=Q Kc4 58. Qhd4+ Kb3 59. Q8b6+ Ka2 60. Qbb2#) 56. h7 Kc6 ( 56... Kc4 {cannot undo what has already been done} 57. h8=Q Kb3 58. Qb6+ Kc2 59. Qhb2+ Kd3 60. Q6d4#) 57. h8=Q Kc5 (57... Kb5 {cannot change what is in store for White} 58. Qhd4 Kc6 59. Q8b6#) 58. Qc3+ Kb5 59. Qb8+ (59. Qda5#) 59... Ka6 (59... Ka4 {doesn't change anything anymore} 60. Qa1#) 60. Qa1# 1-0

C41 Philidor Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.Qb3 Qe7)

The things typed after this sentence were typed when I originally shared this game. This was played at ChessRex.com. This was a correspondence game and both players were able to use 7 days for each move. The interesting thing is, I had faced the position after 10.Bd2 in a game I had played a couple of months before this game in a team match that was played over the board. Not only that but I also faced the same position in another game at ChessRex.com. In all three games the move order was exactly the same. When I reached the position after 7...Qe7, I was annoyed that I had not analysed the over the board game because I had thought about two moves here, 8.Qxb7 and 8.Bxf7+. Despite having thought about those possibilities, I did play 8.Qxb7 in all three games though I did consider Bxf7+ maybe better, but I was not confident enough to play it, mostly due to the fact that I do not trust my calculation skills. I did check those possibilities with Stockfish 6 64 BMI2 now and it first thought that Bxf7+ is better, but after some time it decided that Qxb7 is clearly the better move. Like I have previously typed, the move 6...Nf6 is the losing move of the game. The rating shown in the notation is my current rating there after two games. That is also the only rating you get there, it does not matter if you play chess, chess960 or the times you are using for the game, the rating is still the same. It is the only site where I have played that uses only one rating for players. It is certainly something that makes it stand out from other sites. The first time I noticed only one rating for players, I had to ask about the rating thing in the lobby, because I could not believe it. I actually embrace these different ways to do things, it is refreshing to me.

Game number two. This game had a very similar start as the previous game in this post. I was rather surprised of that fact, but also because these two games followed a game I had played in a over the board team match couple of months before these two games started. These two games that were played at ChessRex were quite easy because of that earlier thought process I had done during that team match. Of course all these games did deviate from each other at some point, but I think it was this second game that followed more closely to the over the board game.

[Event "game id 36879"] [Site "http://ChessRex.com"] [Date "2015.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "EXTREME"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "1536"] [BlackElo "1316"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 {Philidor Defense} Bg4 (3... Bd7 {Philidor Defense: Philidor Gambit}) (3... exd4 4. Bc4 {Philidor Defense: Morphy Gambit}) 4. dxe5 Bxf3 (4... Nd7 {Philidor Defense: Alapin-Blackburne Gambit}) 5. Qxf3 dxe5 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Qb3 Qe7 {C41 Philidor Defence} 8. Qxb7 Qb4+ 9. Qxb4 Bxb4+ 10. Bd2 Nxe4 $4 $146 {shortens the misery for Black} (10... Bxd2+ 11. Nxd2 Nbd7 (11... Ke7 12. f3 Rd8 13. O-O-O Nc6 14. c3 Rab8 15. Kc2 Nd7 16. Bd5 Na5 17. b4 Nb7 18. Nc4 f6 19. Rd2 Nb6 20. Ne3 Nd6 21. Rhd1 Na4 22. Bb3 Nb6 23. c4 Ne8 24. Nf5+ { 1-0 (24) Andreev, E (2482)-Bracha,P (1894) Bardejov 2014}) 12. O-O Rb8 13. b3 Ke7 14. Rfd1 Rhd8 15. f3 Rb6 16. Be2 Rd6 17. Nc4 Rxd1+ 18. Rxd1 Ne8 19. Na5 Nb8 20. Rxd8 Kxd8 21. Kf2 Nd6 22. Nc4 f6 23. Nxd6 cxd6 24. Bb5 Kc7 25. Ke3 { Soares,J (1838)-Mathow,H (1813) Macae 2015 1-0 (44)}) (10... c5 11. a3 Bxd2+ 12. Nxd2 O-O 13. O-O Nbd7 14. f3 Rad8 15. Rfd1 Nb6 16. Be2 Nfd7 17. Nc4 Rfe8 18. Nxb6 Nxb6 19. Bb5 Rf8 20. b3 f6 21. Bc6 h6 22. Bd5+ Kh7 23. Rd2 Rd6 24. Rad1 Kh8 25. Bb7 {Liebert, U-Funke,E Zwickau 1955 1-0 (45)}) (10... Bxd2+ $142 11. Nxd2 a5 $18) 11. Bxb4 $18 a5 12. Ba3 Nd6 13. Bd5 (13. Bxd6 {makes it even easier for White} cxd6 14. Nc3 Nc6 $18) 13... c6 14. Bxc6+ $1 {forces the win} Nxc6 15. Bxd6 Rd8 16. Ba3 (16. Bc5 $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} Rc8 17. c3 Nd4 18. Bxd4 exd4 $18) 16... Rc8 (16... Nd4 {is still a small chance} 17. c4 Nc2+ 18. Ke2 Nxa1 $18) 17. Nc3 Nd4 (17... f6 {does not solve anything} 18. O-O-O $18) 18. O-O-O Kd7 (18... f6 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 19. f4 $1 {Deflection: d4} Kf7 20. fxe5 fxe5 21. Rhf1+ Ke6 22. Kb1 $18) 19. Nb5 (19. Rhe1 $142 {and the result of the game is clear: White will win} Kc6 20. Rxe5 $18) 19... Rxc2+ 20. Kb1 Rxf2 (20... Re2 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 21. Rhf1 f6 22. Nc3 $18) 21. Nxd4 (21. Rhe1 $142 $5 {and White can already relax} Kc6 22. Nxd4+ exd4 23. Rxd4 Rf6 24. Rc1+ Kb6 25. Bc5+ Kb7 26. Rd7+ Kc8 $18) 21... exd4 22. Rxd4+ (22. Rhe1 $142 {might be the shorter path} Kc7 23. Rxd4 $18) 22... Kc8 (22... Ke6 $18 {otherwise it's curtains at once}) 23. Rc1+ Kb7 24. Rd7+ (24. Rd7+ Ka8 25. Rc6 Rf6 26. Bd6 Rxd6 27. Rcxd6 Kb8 28. Rb6+ Ka8 29. Rbb7 h5 30. Ra7+ Kb8 31. Rdb7+ Kc8 32. Rxf7 Kb8 33. Rxg7 a4 34. Rgb7+ Kc8 35. Rh7 Rxh7 36. Rxh7 Kd8 37. Kc2 h4 38. Kc3 h3 39. g4 Ke8 40. Rb7 a3 41. bxa3 Kf8 42. Kc2 Kg8 43. a4 Kh8 44. a5 Kg8 45. a6 Kh8 46. a7 Kg8 47. a8=Q#) 1-0 [Event "game id 36874"] [Site "http://ChessRex.com"] [Date "2015.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "AWOLNATION"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "1552"] [BlackElo "1527"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 {Philidor Defense} Bg4 (3... exd4 4. Nxd4 (4. c3 { Philidor Defense: Bird Gambit}) 4... g6 {Philidor Defense: Larsen Variation} ( 4... Nf6 {Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation})) 4. dxe5 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 dxe5 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Qb3 Qe7 {C41 Philidor Defence} 8. Qxb7 Qb4+ 9. Qxb4 Bxb4+ 10. Bd2 Bxd2+ 11. Nxd2 O-O (11... Ke7 12. f3 Rd8 13. O-O-O Nc6 14. c3 Rab8 15. Kc2 Nd7 16. Bd5 Na5 17. b4 Nb7 18. Nc4 f6 19. Rd2 Nb6 20. Ne3 Nd6 21. Rhd1 Na4 22. Bb3 Nb6 23. c4 Ne8 24. Nf5+ {1-0 (24) Andreev,E (2482)-Bracha,P (1894) Bardejov 2014}) (11... Nbd7 12. O-O Rb8 13. b3 Ke7 14. Rfd1 Rhd8 15. f3 Rb6 16. Be2 Rd6 17. Nc4 Rxd1+ 18. Rxd1 Ne8 19. Na5 Nb8 20. Rxd8 Kxd8 21. Kf2 Nd6 22. Nc4 f6 23. Nxd6 cxd6 24. Bb5 Kc7 25. Ke3 Kb6 26. c4 {Soares,J (1838)-Mathow,H (1813) Macae 2015 1-0 (44)}) 12. f3 Nc6 13. O-O-O $146 (13. c3 Rab8 14. O-O-O Na5 15. Be2 h6 16. Nc4 Nxc4 17. Bxc4 Rb6 18. Rd2 Rc6 19. Bb3 a5 20. Rhd1 a4 21. Bxa4 Ra6 22. Bb3 c5 23. Rd8 Ne8 24. R1d7 Rf6 25. Bc4 g6 26. a4 Ng7 27. a5 Nh5 { Kunte,A (2517)-Akshay,V (1766) Jalgaon 2010 1-0 (37)}) 13... Na5 14. Bd3 c5 ( 14... Rfd8 15. Nf1 $18) 15. Nc4 (15. Rhe1 Rac8 16. Re3 Rc7 $18) 15... Nxc4 16. Bxc4 Rab8 (16... Rfd8 17. Rxd8+ Rxd8 18. Re1 $18) 17. Rd6 Rb4 (17... Rfc8 18. Rhd1 h5 19. Ra6 $18) 18. b3 Rb7 19. Rhd1 Ne8 (19... h5 {cannot undo what has already been done} 20. Rc6 $18) 20. R6d5 (20. Rd7 {and White can already relax} Rb6 21. a4 a5 $18) 20... Re7 (20... Nf6 {is no salvation} 21. Rxe5 Rc7 22. g4 $18) 21. Rxc5 (21. Rd7 $142 {seems even better} Rxd7 22. Rxd7 a5 $18) 21... Rc7 (21... Nf6 {does not win a prize} 22. Rd6 $18) 22. Rxe5 (22. Rxc7 $142 { secures victory} Nxc7 23. Rd7 Rc8 24. Bxf7+ Kf8 $18) 22... Kh8 (22... Nf6 $18 { there is nothing better in the position}) 23. Rd8 (23. Rd8 g6 24. Rexe8 Rxe8 25. Rxe8+ Kg7 26. Kd2 $18) 1-0

B00 Queen's Fianchetto Defence, Nimzowitsch Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.Be2 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.d5 Ne7)

I may need to think about the way I name I posts again because the stuff I put between () signs may not be accurate to all games that end up in the post due to move order. The only reason I put anything there at all is that I need to differentiate between games that follow theory different amount of moves, but the name of the opening played in the game would still be the same. Maybe I should have put all the games featuring the B00 Queen's Fianchetto Defence, Nimzowitsch Defence, for instance, in the same post and then only typed about the theoretical difference of the games, but somehow I still prefer the way I do these posts now.

The game below was played in a team match called The Simpsons New Match. It was played on 50 boards between "SIMPSONS" and Chess Champ. I played on board 7 for Chess Champ and I was able to win both of my games against Ruferto1944. I think this game was the last one to finish in this match, it was not the first time that my game was the last one to end and it most likely will not be the last time, considering how much time I use for each move, most of it does not go into the actual thinking of one particular position, but instead many positions at the same time need solving. And I need to sleep at some point too... My time per move is 1 day and 20 hours currently at Chess.com, so I have made my moves a bit quicker on average than in the past when the time I use per move was over 2 days on average. My hastened moves have also reflected negatively on my rating because it just keeps going steadily down. It is not the only reason for it, but it is a major contributor to the results.

The move 3...Bg4 I have seen quite a few times and this was the second time that I chose to play 4.Be2 in response. In the first game to feature the position after 4.Be2 Arayn played 4...h5. Ruferto1944 played 4...Nf6 in this game, which is obviously a better alternative. Ruferto1944 made some inaccuracies, which when added together, resulted in a clear advantage for me when my opponent played 9...Qd7 in the position below.

The game continued with the moves 10.Bg5 Bg7. Then I played 11.Be2, which gave some of my advantage away. With his 12th move Ruferto1944 took another wrong path. My opponent played 12...a6 in the position below. In reply I played 13.Qg3, throwing some of my advantage away once again.

The game continued with mistakes done by both players and shifted quite a lot until we reached the position you can see below. I was on only slightly better side of the board, but because Ruferto1944 played 29...Ne3, I had another chance to get a clear advantage.

I was accurate enough to not only get a clear advantage, but also prevent my opponent to get back into the game. Then on his 34th move Ruferto1944 made the blunder that quickly ended the game because 34...Kh6 allowed a mate in two moves.

[Event "The Simpsons New Match - Board 7"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.06.07"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Ruferto1944"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B00"] [WhiteElo "1874"] [BlackElo "1642"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 {Philidor Defense} Bg4 (3... Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. Ng5 (6. O-O O-O 7. Qe2 c6 8. a4 exd4 {Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Sozin Variation}) 6... O-O 7. Bxf7+ Rxf7 8. Ne6 {Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Forcing Line}) 4. Be2 (4. dxe5 Nd7 {Philidor Defense: Alapin-Blackburne Gambit}) 4... Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. d5 Ne7 {B00 Queen's Fianchetto Defence, Nimzowitsch Defence} 7. O-O g6 $146 (7... Ng6 8. Ne1 (8. Be3 a6 9. Nd2 Bd7 10. a4 Be7 11. a5 O-O 12. Nb3 h6 13. f3 Nh5 14. g3 Bh3 15. Re1 Bg5 16. Bf2 Nf6 17. Na4 Nh7 18. c4 f5 19. c5 fxe4 20. cxd6 e3 21. dxc7 exf2+ 22. Kxf2 Qxc7 {Bobrov,V (1925)-Liberman,E (2213) Samara 2012 0-1}) (8. h3 Bd7 9. Bg5 Be7 10. Bb5 Bxb5 11. Nxb5 Nxe4 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Re1 Qd7 14. Qe2 Nf6 15. Qc4 c6 16. dxc6 bxc6 17. Nc3 O-O 18. Ne4 Nh5 19. Rad1 Qc7 20. Rxd6 Qa5 21. Rxc6 Nh4 22. Qc3 Nxf3+ {Pokorna,J (1100)-Vlkova,A (1250) Kouty nad Desnou 2011 1/2-1/2 (57)}) 8... Bd7 9. Nd3 (9. Be3 Be7 10. Qd3 O-O 11. Nd1 c5 12. c4 Ng4 13. Bxg4 Bxg4 14. f3 Bd7 15. Rb1 a5 16. b3 f5 17. Kh1 Bg5 18. a3 Nf4 19. Qd2 b5 20. Nf2 h6 21. g3 Ng6 22. f4 exf4 23. gxf4 Bh4 {Kurukulasuriya,P (2092)-Eid,F (2390) Al Ain 2008 0-1 (41)}) 9... Be7 10. f4 exf4 11. Nxf4 Ne5 12. Nd3 Nfg4 13. h3 Nxd3 14. cxd3 Ne5 15. d4 Ng6 16. Bg4 O-O 17. Be3 a6 18. Bxd7 Qxd7 19. Qh5 Rae8 20. Rf3 Bd8 21. Raf1 c6 22. Kh1 {Scacco, M (2090)-Marzano,C (2225) Bratto 2003 0-1 (48)}) 8. h3 Bxf3 (8... Bd7 9. a4 $14) 9. Bxf3 $14 {White has the pair of bishops} ({Less advisable is} 9. gxf3 Nh5 $15) 9... Qd7 10. Bg5 { White threatens to win material: Bg5xf6} Bg7 11. Be2 O-O 12. Qd3 (12. Qd2 Ne8 $14) 12... a6 {Prevents intrusion on b5} (12... h6 13. Be3 $14) 13. Qg3 (13. f4 exf4 14. Rxf4 $14) 13... Nc8 $2 (13... Ne8 14. h4 $11) 14. Qh4 (14. f4 $142 $5 Ne8 15. f5 $16) 14... Ne8 $14 15. Bh6 f5 16. Bxg7 Qxg7 17. exf5 (17. f4 $11) 17... Rxf5 {Black has a cramped position} (17... gxf5 18. Qg3 $11) 18. Qb4 (18. Bg4 g5 19. Qg3 Rf4 $14) 18... b5 (18... Nb6 $142 $5 $11 {should be investigated more closely}) 19. a4 bxa4 $2 (19... Rf4 20. Qa5 bxa4 21. Bg4 $16) 20. Rxa4 $4 {White has let it slip away} (20. Qb7 $142 {and White has triumphed } Nb6 21. Nxa4 $18) 20... Nb6 21. Rxa6 Rxa6 22. Bxa6 Nf6 23. Bb7 (23. Bd3 Rf4 24. Qb3 e4 $16) 23... Qf7 {Now all is on d5} 24. Qb5 (24. b3 Kg7 $14) 24... Kg7 (24... Rf4 $5 $14) 25. f3 $16 Rf4 26. Rd1 (26. b3 $142 $5 $16) 26... Rd4 { Increases the pressure on d5} 27. Rxd4 exd4 28. Ne2 {White threatens to win material: Ne2xd4} Nbxd5 29. Nxd4 Ne3 $2 (29... c5 $142 $5 {is an interesting alternative} 30. Ne2 Qe7 $11) 30. Bc6 Qa2 (30... Qe7 31. Qe2 $16) 31. Kf2 (31. Qe2 Nf5 32. Nxf5+ gxf5 33. Qe7+ Qf7 34. Qxf7+ Kxf7 $18) 31... Nd1+ $16 32. Ke2 Nxb2 33. Qb3 Qa1 34. Ne6+ Kh6 $4 {causes even greater problems} (34... Kh8 $142 $16) 35. Qe3+ g5 (35... Kh5 {doesn't improve anything} 36. Qg5#) 36. Qxg5# 1-0

C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nc6 4.c3 exd4 5.cxd4)

I did update the tournament info to reflect the current situation and round one is still in progress. Soon it will be three year anniversary for round one... This game was played on round one of the 2014 September Glacial Super Casual I tournament that is held at Red Hot Pawn. There were 64 players who started this tournament and they were divided into groups of 8 players. I am playing in group 7 and I currently lead the group, having only lost one game so far. I have only one game left to finish on round one and I feel confident about my chances to win the group. And I should win it, being the clearly highest rated player in the group. It has been the case since the start of the tournament even though my rating has plummeted again. There is still one player who can take the win out of my grasp. I have gathered 36 points so far, a player who is currently second, Timothy Collins (1663), has gathered 30 points and third place went to dooser2004 (1678), who gathered 23 points. Timothy Collins is the only person in the group who can still take the win from me and my only game in progress is against him. A couple of other games are still in progress, so it is not only my game that is delaying the tournament.

In this game my opponent tried the move 3...Nc6, something that no opponent of mine has played before in the games previously seen in this blog. It might be the best try of my opponents so far. That being said, it is not a move that could be recommended. My opponent, Chippy Minton, was able to maintain a rather decent position against me until it came time to reply to my 9th move O-O. The position can be seen below.

Chippy Minton played 9...Bxc3. It was a mistake to give up the bishop pair without any provocation. A better alternative for my opponent would have been 9...O-O. I maintained the advantage quite easily, but it was only due to my opponent's huge blunder on move 15 that I was able to finish the game with the move 16.Qh7#. Otherwise the game could have continued a lot longer.

[Event "Glacial Super Casual"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.09.13"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Chippy Minton"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C44"] [WhiteElo "1811"] [BlackElo "1347"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "31"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 {Philidor Defense} Nc6 (3... exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 { Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation}) (3... Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. Bxf7+ {Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Bishop Sacrifice} (6. dxe5 dxe5 7. Bxf7+ {Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Delayed Bishop Sacrifice})) 4. c3 exd4 5. cxd4 {C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit} d5 (5... Be7 6. Nc3 (6. Bb5 Bd7 7. O-O a6 8. Ba4 b5 9. Bb3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. dxc5 dxc5 12. Nc3 Be6 13. Bf4 Nf6 14. Qxd8+ Bxd8 15. Ng5 Bc4 16. Rfe1 h6 17. Nh3 Be6 18. Bd6 Rc8 19. Nf4 g5 20. Nxe6 fxe6 {Lorenc,T-Cenek,M Czechia 1996 1-0 (34)}) 6... Nf6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. h3 Re8 9. O-O h6 10. Be3 Bf8 11. Rc1 Bd7 12. a3 Be7 13. Bb1 Nh7 14. Qd3 Nf8 15. Rfd1 a6 16. Bf4 Rc8 17. Nd5 Be6 18. Ne3 Bd7 19. Bg3 Bf6 20. Rd2 {Hoen,R (2300) -Kaderi,M Skopje 1972 1-0 (34)}) 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. e5 Be6 $146 (7... Nge7 8. Bd3 O-O 9. O-O h6 10. Qc2 Bg4 11. Be3 Qd7 12. Nh4 f5 13. f4 g5 14. fxg5 hxg5 15. Nf3 f4 16. Bf2 Bxf3 17. gxf3 Qh3 18. Be1 Nxd4 19. Qg2 Qxg2+ 20. Kxg2 c5 21. Ne2 Ndc6 22. Bxb4 {De Amicis,D (1875) -Meekers,G Lommel 1992 0-1 (40)}) 8. Bb5 Nge7 {White has an active position} 9. O-O Bxc3 (9... O-O 10. h3 $14) 10. bxc3 $16 a6 11. Ba4 b5 12. Bc2 h6 (12... Bg4 13. Ba3 $16) 13. Nh4 Qd7 14. Ba3 Bg4 (14... Na5 15. Bc5 Nc4 16. a4 $16) 15. Qd3 (15. f3 $142 $5 Bf5 16. Nxf5 Nxf5 17. Re1 $18) 15... O-O $4 {leads to further unpleasantness} (15... g5 $142 16. Nf3 Bf5 $16) 16. Qh7# 1-0

C41 Philidor Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.Be2)

The tournament info is a bit out of date, since it was typed when I originally shared this game. I could have updated it to the current situation, but I decided not to do that. This game is from the 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen III tournament that started August 11th 2014. As there were no rating restrictions to join this tournament, the lowest rated player is rated 922 and the highest is rated 2065. Seven players are under 1400, there are ten players between 1400 and 1700 and the rest three are between 1827 and 1913. When I look at the tournament results so far, it would be interesting to see that I fight for the third place against the currently fourth lowest rated player in the tournament if I was not aware that he had a much better rating when he played these games. Well, enough that he managed to get 97 points, I think he may have lost some games on time as most of his latest games have been lost on time. I have currently the third highest rating in the tournament, 1861, so I am quite close where I ought to be considering the rating situation.

I have faced the move 3...Bg4 quite a few times. I should have, of course, continued like I had done before and play 4.dxe5. For some reason I decided to play 4.Be2 in this game. 4.Be2 is not a bad move by any means, but I think I prefer 4.dxe5 and the positions that might arise after it. The reply to 4.Be2 was 4...h5, which was the starting point for my opponent's downfall. Arayn should have played 4...Nf6 to stay in the game. I was not always able to find the strongest moves, but I was able to keep the advantage on my side to the rest of the game and even increase my advantage. The game ended in mate on move 33.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Arayn"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "1871"] [BlackElo "1164"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 {Philidor Defense} Bg4 (3... Nd7 4. Nc3 (4. Bc4 c6 ( 4... Nb6 {Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation. Sharp Variation}) 5. O-O Be7 6. dxe5 {Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation. Steiner Variation}) 4... Ngf6 5. Be2 (5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O h6 {Philidor Defense: Lion Variation. Lion's Claw II}) 5... Be7 6. O-O c6 {Philidor Defense: Lion Variation. Lion's Claw I}) 4. Be2 { C41 Philidor Defence} (4. dxe5 Nd7 {Philidor Defense: Alapin-Blackburne Gambit} ) 4... h5 $146 (4... Nf6 5. Bg5 Be7 6. dxe5 dxe5 7. Bxf6 Bxf6 8. Qxd8+ Bxd8 9. Nxe5 Bxe2 10. Kxe2 O-O 11. Ke3 f6 12. Nd3 Nd7 13. f3 c5 14. Rd1 Bb6 15. Ke2 Rfe8 16. c4 a5 17. Nc3 Nf8 18. Nd5 Ra6 19. Rd2 {Neumann,A-Nikolic,R Warsaw 1959 0-1 (39)}) (4... Bxf3 5. Bxf3 exd4 (5... Nc6 6. c3 Nf6 7. O-O Be7 8. d5 Nb8 9. Qb3 Qc8 10. Be3 O-O 11. Nd2 c6 12. c4 b6 13. Qd1 Nbd7 14. b4 c5 15. a3 a5 16. b5 Kh8 17. Be2 Rg8 18. f4 h6 19. Qc2 g6 20. h3 {Parakrama,A-Maouloud,M Buenos Aires 1978 1-0 (52)}) 6. Qxd4 Nc6 7. Qc4 Nf6 8. e5 Nxe5 9. Qa4+ c6 10. O-O Nxf3+ 11. gxf3 Nd5 12. Re1+ Be7 13. c4 Nf6 14. Bg5 O-O 15. b4 d5 16. b5 cxb5 17. Qxb5 h6 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. Rd1 {Bourbeau,R-Banks,D Lansing 1995 0-1 (36)}) (4... Nd7 5. O-O Ngf6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Be3 O-O 8. a4 Ne8 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Nxe5 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 dxe5 12. Rfd1 Nd6 13. Rd5 f5 14. exf5 Rxf5 15. Bc5 Qd7 16. Rad1 Qe6 17. Bxd6 cxd6 18. Ne4 Raf8 19. f3 {James,S-Merchiers,K Groningen 1980 1/2-1/2 (45)}) (4... Nf6 5. O-O $14) 5. dxe5 $16 dxe5 $2 (5... Bxf3 $142 6. Bxf3 dxe5 7. Bxh5 Nc6 $16) 6. Qxd8+ $18 Kxd8 7. Nxe5 Be6 8. O-O c6 9. Bf4 (9. Rd1+ Ke8 $18) 9... Nd7 10. Nc3 (10. Nf3 $142 $18) 10... b5 $4 {but even a better move would not have saved the game} (10... Nxe5 $142 11. Bxe5 Nf6 $16) 11. Nxc6+ $18 Kc8 12. Nxb5 Kb7 (12... g5 {doesn't improve anything} 13. Bxg5 a6 14. Nbd4 $18) 13. Ncd4 (13. Na5+ $142 {and White wins} Kc8 14. Nc7 $18) 13... Rc8 (13... a6 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 14. Rfd1 Ngf6 15. Nc3 $18) 14. Nd6+ (14. Rfd1 $142 {and White has it in the bag} Ngf6 15. Bf3 Nb6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 $18) 14... Bxd6 15. Bxd6 Rc6 (15... Bc4 {what else?} 16. Bxc4 Rxc4 $18) 16. Nxc6 Kxc6 17. Rfd1 f6 (17... Ngf6 {the last chance for counterplay} 18. Rd4 Nxe4 $18) 18. a4 Nh6 19. Bb5+ (19. Ra3 Kb7 20. Rc3 Nf7 21. Rc7+ Kb8 22. Rxd7+ Nxd6 23. R7xd6 Bc8 $18) 19... Kb6 (19... Kb7 {doesn't change anything anymore} 20. Bf4 Ne5 21. Bxe5 fxe5 22. Rd6 $18) 20. Rd3 (20. Bf4 $142 {and White takes home the point} Nc5 21. Be3 Kb7 22. Bxc5 Nf7 $18) 20... a6 (20... Nf7 {cannot undo what has already been done} 21. Rad1 Nb8 22. Rc3 $18) 21. Bxd7 (21. Bf4 $142 {and White can celebrate victory} axb5 22. Rd6+ Kb7 23. Rxe6 g5 $18) 21... Bxd7 22. b4 (22. Bf8 $1 {might be the shorter path} Kc7 23. Bxg7 Rh7 24. Rc3+ Bc6 25. Bxh6 Rxh6 $18) 22... Re8 23. f3 g5 (23... Nf7 {is not the saving move} 24. Bc5+ Kc7 25. Bb6+ Kc8 26. Rc3+ Kb8 27. Rc7 $18) 24. c4 g4 (24... Nf7 { doesn't change the outcome of the game} 25. c5+ Ka7 26. Bb8+ Kxb8 27. Rxd7 $18) 25. Bc5+ Kc7 26. b5 (26. Bb6+ {keeps an even firmer grip} Kc8 27. b5 Nf7 28. bxa6 Bc6 $18) 26... gxf3 (26... Nf7 {cannot change what is in store for White} 27. Bb6+ $1 {Deflection: d7} Kc8 28. bxa6 gxf3 29. Rb1 $18) 27. gxf3 axb5 ( 27... Nf7 {there is nothing better in the position} 28. Bb6+ $1 {Deflection: d7 } Kc8 29. bxa6 Bc6 $18) 28. axb5 f5 (28... Rg8+ {does not win a prize} 29. Kf2 Bc8 30. Ra7+ Bb7 31. Bd6+ Kc8 32. c5 Nf7 33. Bf4 Ne5 34. Bxe5 fxe5 35. c6 Rg7 36. b6 h4 37. Rd6 Re7 38. Rf6 Bxc6 39. Rxc6+ Kd8 40. b7 Rd7 41. b8=Q+ Ke7 42. Rxd7+ Kxd7 43. Qb7+ Ke8 44. Rc8#) 29. Ra7+ Kc8 (29... Kb8 {cannot change destiny} 30. Rdxd7 Rg8+ 31. Kh1 f4 32. Bd6+ Kc8 33. Rac7+ Kb8 34. Rc6+ Ka8 35. Ra6#) 30. Rdxd7 Kb8 (30... Rg8+ {doesn't improve anything} 31. Kh1 Kb8 32. Bd6+ Kc8 33. Rac7+ Kb8 34. Rc6+ Ka8 35. Ra6#) 31. Bd6+ Kc8 32. Rh7 (32. Rdc7+ Kb8 33. Rh7+ Kc8 34. Ra8#) 32... Ng8 (32... Rg8+ {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 33. Kf2 Nf7 34. Rhxf7 Rg2+ 35. Kxg2 f4 36. Ra8#) 33. Ra8# 1-0

C41 Philidor Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f6)

This game was played in a tournament called 2014 September Grand Seven Fourteen III and it is held at Red Hot Pawn. In this 21 player tournament there are still seven players that can win it and I am one of the lucky ones still included in the fight for the win. There is unfortunately large rating scale in this tournament as the lowest rated player is rated 881 at the moment and the highest rated player is rated 1938. Well, even if there is a huge rating difference between these two players, it does not mean that this tournament would be clear as to who wins and who will hold the last place at the end of the tournament. That is because there are also players close their rating who can make things more interesting. The game below is just one example of those huge rating differences in this tournament that are unfortunately occuring. I don't think games where there is this huge rating gap between players is all that beneficial to either player. Then again, accidents do happen and I think I lost to a player who was rated 800 or so points lower rated than me because I missed the mate in one threat he did...

This game deviated from the games that I have previously seen in my games when my opponent played 3...f6. The other two tries in that position were in the previous games 3...h6 and 3...Bg4. The latter option is better than 3...h6 or the move jayvi tried in this game, 3...f6, but the best option for Black might be 3...exd4. The third move of my opponent already gave me a clear advantage. In the position below my opponent played 4...Ne7, which could have been the losing move.

I replied with the inccurate move 5.O-O and while it was not the best move, I still remained on the clearly better side of the board. The best reply was 5.dxe5. Jayvi's position continued to go downhill with the move 5...d5, after which the game is quite lost for my opponent. The game did not last long after this and my opponent resigned after my 10th move Nd4.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.09.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "jayvi"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "1871"] [BlackElo "925"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "19"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 {Philidor Defense} f6 {C41 Philidor Defence} (3... f5 4. Nc3 {Philidor Defense: Philidor Countergambit. Zukertort Variation}) (3... exd4 4. Qxd4 Bd7 {Philidor Defense: Boden Variation}) (3... Nd7 4. Bc4 c6 5. c3 {Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation. Delmar Variation} (5. Nc3 {Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation. Schlechter Variation})) 4. Bc4 Ne7 5. O-O (5. dxe5 dxe5 6. Bf7+ Kxf7 7. Qxd8 Na6 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. Qd1 Bc5 10. Be3 Rd8 11. Qe2 Nd4 12. Bxd4 exd4 13. Nb1 Re8 14. Nbd2 f5 15. e5 Bd6 16. O-O-O Be7 17. Nxd4 Bg5 18. Qh5+ Kf8 19. Qxg5 Nc5 {Kappe,B (2013)-Farmani Anosheh,M Germany 2009 1-0}) (5. c3 b6 6. Qb3 d5 7. exd5 Nf5 8. dxe5 fxe5 9. O-O Bb7 10. Re1 Nd7 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. Rxe5+ Ne7 13. Bb5+ c6 14. dxc6 Rb8 15. c7+ Bc6 16. Bxc6+ Qd7 17. cxb8=Q# { 1-0 (17) Mitrovic, R (1986)-Lazic,M Valjevo 2016}) 5... d5 $4 $146 {terrible, but what else could Black do to save the game?} (5... c6 6. dxe5 fxe5 7. Ng5 d5 8. Qf3 Qd7 9. Qf7+ Kd8 10. Rd1 Ng6 11. exd5 Kc7 12. Ne6+ Kb6 13. Qf3 c5 14. Qb3+ {1-0 (14) Zwanenbeek,I-Hartog,J Haarlem 1987}) (5... Ng6 6. Nc3 Bg4 7. Be3 Nd7 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 Nb6 10. Bb3 Qd7 11. a4 Qe7 12. a5 Nd7 13. Nd5 Qd8 14. Qf5 Be7 15. f4 c6 16. Nxe7 Qxe7 17. a6 b6 18. Qg4 O-O-O 19. f5 Ngf8 20. Qe2 { Milanovic, J-Kozomara,D Prijedor 2015 1-0}) (5... h6 6. c3 b6 7. Qb3 Bg4 8. Bb5+ c6 9. Be2 h5 10. h3 Bd7 11. Be3 Ng6 12. Rd1 Qe7 13. d5 cxd5 14. Qxd5 Bc6 15. Qc4 b5 16. Qd3 a6 17. c4 b4 18. Qc2 a5 19. Nbd2 Qd7 20. c5 {Deventer,D (1354) -Marangoz,A Olpe 2005 1-0 (51)}) (5... Nbc6 $142 $16) 6. exd5 $18 Nxd5 ( 6... Nd7 {is the last straw} 7. dxe5 Nxe5 8. Nxe5 fxe5 9. Qh5+ Ng6 $18) 7. dxe5 Be6 (7... Be7 {does not win a prize} 8. Bxd5 c6 9. exf6 gxf6 10. Bc4 Qxd1 11. Rxd1 $18) 8. exf6 gxf6 (8... Nc6 {does not solve anything} 9. Ng5 Nxf6 10. Nxe6 Qxd1 11. Rxd1 $18) 9. Re1 Kf7 (9... Ne7 {is still a small chance} 10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. Bxe6 Ng6 $18) 10. Nd4 (10. Nd4 h5 11. Nxe6 $18) 1-0

C41 Philidor Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.Qb3)

This game was played at Red Hot Pawn in a tournament called 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen II. The tournament is all versus all 21 player tournament and you play two games against everyone else and all games are played simultaneously. I am currently the second highest rated player in the tournament and I am also currently second in the standings and some small hope is left for me to win the tournament.

It seems that I had found the move 7.Qb3 already in this game, but I had not played it in some of the games that started later than this game. While it did not change the result, it is still important to play the best moves if possible. I was basically in a winning position after 7.Qb3 and remained in a winning position the remainder of the game. However, while I had a possibility to end the game in the position below, I was unable to do so.

I missed the mate in one, 20.Qd5#, which is somewhat embarrassing. I continued playing a bit sloppy chess, but finally I was able to find the mate and end the game on move 27. A correction to the post was made September 27th, 2017. I noticed that the first game and the second game did not have exactly the same opening, one move was different and I only noticed it today, I am sorry about my mistake.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Arayn"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "1871"] [BlackElo "1199"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 {Philidor Defense} Bg4 (3... Bd7 {Philidor Defense: Philidor Gambit}) 4. dxe5 Bxf3 (4... Nd7 {Philidor Defense: Alapin-Blackburne Gambit}) 5. Qxf3 dxe5 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Qb3 {C41 Philidor Defence} Be7 8. Bxf7+ Kf8 9. Bc4 (9. Qxb7 Nbd7 10. Bd5 Rb8 11. Qxa7 Bc5 12. Qa6 Rb6 13. Qe2 Rd6 14. Bb3 Qa8 15. Nd2 Bb6 16. Nc4 Rd4 17. Nxb6 Qa5+ 18. c3 Nxb6 19. f3 Rd6 20. O-O Ke7 21. f4 Nbd7 22. Qc4 Qb6+ 23. Kh1 Rf8 {Putzbach,G (2260)-Linke,K Pinneberg 1996 1-0 (35)}) (9. O-O Nbd7 10. Rd1 Nxe4 11. Be6 Bd6 12. Qf3+ Qf6 13. Bxd7 Qxf3 14. gxf3 Nf6 15. Bf5 g6 16. Bh6+ Ke7 17. Be4 c6 18. Bg7 Rhd8 19. Bxf6+ Kxf6 20. Nc3 h5 21. Rd3 Bc7 22. Rad1 Rxd3 23. Rxd3 Rh8 {Sirera Ripoll,J (1750)-Villanes Hernandez,S Madrid 2014 1-0 (53)}) 9... b6 $146 (9... Nbd7 10. Qf3 Qe8 11. Nc3 c6 12. O-O h5 13. Bg5 Qg6 14. h4 b5 15. Be6 Ke8 16. Rad1 Nc5 17. Bf5 Qf7 18. b4 Ne6 19. Qg3 Ng4 20. Bxe7 Kxe7 21. Rd3 Rad8 22. Rfd1 Qf6 23. f3 Nh6 24. Bxe6 { Fatalibekova, E-Antropova,O Soviet Union 1967 1/2-1/2 (59)}) (9... Nc6 10. O-O Na5 11. Qc3 $18) 10. O-O Nxe4 (10... Nc6 11. Qg3 h5 $18) 11. Bd5 (11. Qf3+ { keeps an even firmer grip} Nf6 12. Qxa8 Nbd7 $18) 11... Nc5 (11... Na6 { is no salvation} 12. Qf3+ Nf6 13. Bxa8 $18) 12. Qf3+ (12. Bxa8 $6 {is a weaker possibility} Nxb3 13. axb3 a5 $11) 12... Bf6 13. Bxa8 Nbd7 (13... Ne6 {doesn't change anything anymore} 14. c3 $18) 14. Nc3 e4 (14... Ne6 {cannot undo what has already been done} 15. Ne2 $18) 15. Bxe4 Nxe4 (15... Ne5 {cannot change what is in store for White} 16. Qh3 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 $18) 16. Nxe4 Kg8 17. Nxf6+ ( 17. Qb3+ $142 {makes it even easier for White} Kf8 18. Nxf6 Qxf6 19. Rd1 $18) 17... gxf6 18. Bh6 Kf7 19. Qh5+ (19. Rfe1 Nf8 20. Rad1 Ne6 21. Qh5+ Ke7 22. Bf8+ Kxf8 23. Rxd8+ Nxd8 24. Re8+ Kg7 25. Re7+ Nf7 26. Rxf7+ Kg8 27. Rxf6 b5 28. Qf7#) 19... Kg8 (19... Ke7 {does not save the day} 20. Rfe1+ Ne5 21. Rxe5+ fxe5 22. Qxe5+ Kd7 23. Qd5+ Kc8 24. Qa8+ Kd7 25. Rd1+ Ke7 26. Bg5+ Ke6 27. Bxd8 Rxd8 28. Qxd8 b5 29. Qxc7 b4 30. Rd6+ Kf5 31. Qc5+ Ke4 32. Rd4#) 20. Rfe1 (20. Qd5#) 20... Ne5 21. Rad1 Qe7 (21... Qf8 {cannot change destiny} 22. Rd7 b5 23. Rg7+ Qxg7 24. Qe8+ Qf8 25. Qxf8#) 22. f4 (22. Rxe5 fxe5 23. Qf5 e4 24. Rd8+ Qf8 25. Rxf8#) 22... Qc5+ (22... c6 {does not help much} 23. fxe5 f5 24. Qxf5 Qc5+ 25. Kh1 Qd6 26. exd6 b5 27. Re8#) 23. Kh1 Ng6 (23... Qf8 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 24. fxe5 b5 25. exf6 b4 26. Qd5+ Qf7 27. Re8#) 24. f5 (24. Rd8+ Kf7 25. Rd7+ Qe7 26. Rexe7+ Kg8 27. Qd5#) 24... Qxc2 (24... Qf8 {hardly improves anything} 25. fxg6 c6 26. g7 Qe7 27. Rxe7 b5 28. Rd8#) 25. fxg6 hxg6 ( 25... Qxd1 {is not the saving move} 26. Rxd1 b5 27. Qd5#) 26. Rd8+ Kf7 27. Qd5# 1-0

C41 Philidor Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6)

This game was played in a team match called Diamonds vs Space Angels---Open 3day/move, 1-10 boards. The match was played between Diamond Members & Staff and Space Angels Miami Beach Pier Walkabout in Andromeda's Cluster Of Infinite Bright Stars. The latter team name changes almost every time I see it... Only the Space Angel and the last part starting with Andromeda's is consistent on the team name. This was played on eight boards and I was playing board 4 for the Diamond Members & Staff. The match ended in our victory 11 - 5! I managed to win both my games.

The game might have started to go a bit wrong for my opponent with the move 3...Bg4, but the fourth move by Egoigwe gave me a clear advantage. The position below has been taken after my 6th move Bc4. I have reached this same position a few times since this game was played and in those games I have been mainly able to find the best reply to 6...Nf6, the move my opponent played in this game.

When this game was played, I did not find the move 7.Qb3 and instead played 7.O-O. While I remain on the better side of the board even after 7.O-O, I would have been close to a winning position after 7.Qb3. I was able to keep the advantage clearly on my side and even increase my advantage along the way, thanks to the bad moves by my opponent and sometimes accurate moves that I made.

[Event "Diamonds vs Space Angels---Open 3day/mo"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.10.24"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Egoigwe"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "1882"] [BlackElo "1619"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 {Philidor Defense} Bg4 (3... exd4 4. Nxd4 g6 { Philidor Defense: Larsen Variation}) 4. dxe5 Bxf3 (4... Nd7 {Philidor Defense: Alapin-Blackburne Gambit}) 5. Qxf3 dxe5 6. Bc4 Nf6 {C41 Philidor Defence} 7. O-O Nc6 (7... Bd6 8. Bg5 O-O 9. Nc3 h6 10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. Qxf6 gxf6 12. Nd5 Kg7 13. Ne3 Nc6 14. Nf5+ Kh7 15. Rad1 Rad8 16. Rd3 Ne7 17. Rxd6 Rxd6 18. Nxe7 Rd2 19. Bd3 c5 20. b3 b5 21. Nd5 Kg7 22. Bxb5 {Lercel,M (2160) -Wilmanowicz,S Wroclaw 2013 1-0 (41)}) 8. c3 (8. Qb3 Qd7 9. Nc3 Bd6 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Bxf7+ Kd8 12. Rad1 Nd4 13. Qxb7 Rc8 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Bb3 Re8 16. Kh1 Be7 17. Nd5 c6 18. Qxd7+ Kxd7 19. Nxe7 Kxe7 20. Ba4 Rf8 21. c3 Ne2 22. Rd2 Nf4 {Pena Mora,C (1628) -Herrera,M (1638) Ortega 2015 1-0 (37)}) 8... Na5 $146 (8... Bd6 9. Bg5 Qe7 10. Nd2 O-O-O 11. b4 Bxb4 12. cxb4 Rxd2 13. Bxd2 Nxb4 14. Bxb4 Qxb4 15. Bxf7 Nxe4 16. Bd5 Nd2 17. Qf5+ Kb8 18. Rfb1 Nxb1 19. Rxb1 g6 20. Qd3 Qd6 21. Rxb7+ Kc8 22. Qb3 Rd8 23. Rb5 {Sepulveda,N (2072)-Ruiz,S Santiago de Chile 2002 1-0 (43)} ) (8... Be7 9. Re1 $16) 9. Bb5+ c6 10. Be2 b5 (10... b6 11. Rd1 Qc7 12. Bh6 $16 ) 11. Bg5 (11. b4 $5 Nb7 12. a4 bxa4 $18) 11... Be7 12. Nd2 h6 (12... O-O $5 $14) 13. Be3 $16 Nb7 (13... O-O $142 $5 $16) 14. Qg3 $18 Kf8 (14... O-O 15. Bxh6 (15. Qxe5 $6 Re8 $16) 15... Ne8 16. Be3 $18) 15. Qxe5 Bd6 16. Qf5 g6 17. Qh3 h5 (17... Qe7 18. Bd4 (18. Bxh6+ $6 Kg8 19. Qe3 Re8 $16) 18... Bf4 19. Nf3 $18) 18. f4 (18. a4 $5 {and White can already relax} bxa4 19. Rxa4 Qd7 20. Qxd7 Nxd7 $18) 18... Bc5 19. Rad1 $4 {throwing away the advantage} (19. Nb3 { seems even better} Bxe3+ 20. Qxe3 Qb6 $18) 19... Qe7 $4 (19... Qb6 $142 $1 20. Bxc5+ Nxc5 $16) 20. e5 $18 Nd5 21. Bxc5 Qxc5+ (21... Nxc5 22. Qf3 Ne6 23. Bxb5 Qc5+ 24. Rf2 Qxb5 25. c4 $18) 22. Kh1 Ne3 (22... Qe3 23. Bf3 Rd8 $18) 23. Ne4 Qb6 24. Nf6 Kg7 25. Nd7 Qa5 26. Qxe3 Qxa2 27. b4 (27. f5 Rae8 28. e6 Rxe6 29. Qd4+ Kg8 30. Nf6+ Rxf6 31. Qxf6 gxf5 32. Qg5+ Kf8 33. Rd7 Qe6 34. Rxb7 Qd6 35. Qxf5 Qe7 36. Qxf7+ Qxf7 37. Rfxf7+ Ke8 38. Rg7 Kf8 39. Rgc7 b4 40. Rc8#) 27... Nd8 28. Nc5 (28. f5 h4 29. Nc5 h3 30. gxh3 Qc2 31. Qg5 Rh6 32. Rd7 Kg8 33. Bd3 Rh5 34. Rxd8+ Rxd8 35. Qxd8+ Kg7 36. Ne6+ fxe6 37. Qe7+ Kg8 38. Qe8+ Kh7 39. fxg6+ Kh6 40. Qf8+ Kg5 41. Qf4#) 28... Qc2 29. Bf3 Qf5 30. Rd6 Rc8 31. Qd4 (31. Be4 Qg4 32. e6 Rg8 33. f5 g5 34. Rd7 h4 35. exf7 Rf8 36. Qd4+ Kh7 37. Ne6 Nxe6 38. fxe6+ Qxe4 39. Qxe4+ Kg7 40. Rf5 Kg6 41. Qg4 h3 42. Rxg5+ Kh7 43. Qxh3#) 31... Re8 32. Rc1 (32. Rf6 Ne6 33. Qd7 Qxf6 34. exf6+ Kxf6 35. Re1 Ra8 36. g4 hxg4 37. Bxg4 Rad8 38. Rxe6+ Kg7 39. Rxe8 Rxd7 40. Nxd7 a6 41. Re7 Kg8 42. Be6 fxe6 43. Kg1 a5 44. bxa5 b4 45. a6 b3 46. a7 b2 47. a8=Q#) 32... Ne6 33. Nxe6+ Rxe6 34. Rxe6 Qxe6 35. Qxa7 Qf5 (35... Rd8 {doesn't do any good} 36. Qb6 Rc8 37. Rd1 $18) 36. Qd4 Kg8 (36... Qe6 {does not improve anything} 37. Ra1 $18) 37. Rd1 Qe6 38. Qd7 Kg7 (38... Qxd7 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 39. Rxd7 Kg7 40. g3 $18) 39. Qxe6 fxe6 40. g3 c5 41. Rd7+ Kf8 42. Rb7 (42. Bb7 Re8 43. bxc5 Re7 44. Rxe7 Kxe7 45. Be4 Kf7 46. Bxg6+ Ke7 47. f5 exf5 48. Bxf5 h4 49. c6 Kd8 50. e6 hxg3 51. hxg3 b4 52. cxb4 Ke7 53. c7 Kf6 54. c8=Q Kxf5 55. e7+ Ke4 56. Qc2+ Ke3 57. e8=Q+ Kf3 58. Qg2+ Kg4 59. Qg6#) 42... Rd8 43. Be4 Rd1+ 44. Kg2 Rc1 45. Rxb5 cxb4 46. cxb4 (46. cxb4 h4 47. gxh4 Kg7 48. Rb7+ Kh6 49. Rb6 Re1 50. Kf3 Rf1+ 51. Ke3 Re1+ 52. Kd3 Kg7 53. Rxe6 Kf7 54. Rxg6 Ke7 55. f5 Rd1+ 56. Kc3 Rc1+ 57. Kd4 Rd1+ 58. Bd3 Ra1 59. Rg7+ Kf8 60. f6 Re1 61. Bf5 Rd1+ 62. Kc5 Rc1+ 63. Kb6 Rg1 64. Rxg1 Kf7 65. Rg7+ Kf8 66. e6 Ke8 67. Rg8#) 1-0

C07 French Tarrasch: 3...c5, 4.Ngf3 and 4.exd5 Qxd5 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Ndf3 cxd4 6.Qxd4)

This game was played in a team match called Chess Match Championship 1200+. The match was played on 76 boards between Chess lovers & CHESScom-International_EUROPE and Kopaonik. I played on board 18 for Kopaonik and I was able to win both of my games against chesszardoz. The final result of the match was 67 - 85 in favor of Kopaonik! While it was nice to be on the side of the winners, not all aspects of the match are so nice. The reason for it is that there were a lot of players in the match that have their accounts closed due to violation of the fair play policy. There were 9 of those in our opponent's roster. We were unable to avoid this thing and one player in our roster also has the Closed: Fair Play badge next to the username.

This game deviated from a previously shared game in this blog, in the post C07 French Tarrasch: 3...c5, 4.Ngf3 and 4.exd5 Qxd5 (7...Qd8) when I played 5.Ndf3. In that game my opponent played 5.dxc5. Both moves lead to a game that is evenly fought. No clear advantage was seen in the game until chesszardoz played 27...Ke8. I did get to the wrong side of the board with the move 13.Bb5 and I was slightly worse for awhile, but I was able to stay in the game long enough to my opponent play his 27th move in the position below.

The best and actually the only move that would have kept my opponent on an equal footing was 27...Bd5. Other moves were the source of serious trouble for my opponent. Actually the move chesszardoz played was the second best move in the position. I replied with the obvious and accurate move 28.Nf5. Then my opponent played 28...Rd7 and after that I allowed my opponent back into the game again with the move 29.Nxh6. The advantage shifted a bit back and forth and the last time my opponent threw away the game was in the position below after my 30th move, Nf5.

Chesszardoz should have played 30...Bc5, but instead he went for the move 30...Bf8. The rest of the game went in my favor, but I missed an easy win in the position below. During the game I could not think of a better move than 50.b3, but obviously I should have played 50.Rxb5!

Taking the pawn on b5 would have forced the trade of rooks, which would have made my job of winning the game a lot easier than it was in the game continuation.

[Event "Chess Match Championship 1200+ - Board"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.02.06"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "chesszardoz"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C07"] [WhiteElo "1834"] [BlackElo "1804"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "119"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 {French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Chistyakov Defense} 5. Ndf3 (5. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nb3 Nc6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 a6 {French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Chistyakov Defense, Modern Line}) 5... cxd4 6. Qxd4 {C07 French Tarrasch: 3...c5, 4.Ngf3 and 4. exd5 Qxd5} Nf6 7. Bd3 (7. Bc4 Qxd4 (7... Nc6 8. Qxd5 exd5 9. Bb5 Bc5 10. Ne2 O-O 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Nfd4 Ba6 13. c3 Rfe8 14. Be3 Ng4 15. Kd2 Nxe3 16. fxe3 Rab8 17. Rab1 Bb7 18. Nf4 a5 19. Rhe1 Re4 20. g3 Rbe8 21. Nd3 Ba7 22. b4 { Vojdani,B (1634)-Naumann,F (1462) Dortmund 2011 1-0 (53)}) 8. Nxd4 Nc6 9. Nb5 Bb4+ 10. c3 Ba5 11. Be3 O-O 12. Nf3 a6 13. Nbd4 {1/2-1/2 (13) Ilkin, A (2200) -Matveev,V (2234) Odintsovo 2008}) 7... Nc6 8. Qxd5 Nxd5 9. c3 $146 {Covers b4} (9. c4 Bb4+ 10. Kf1 Nf6 11. Bf4 Bd7 12. Ne2 Rc8 13. a3 Be7 14. Nc3 Nh5 15. Be3 h6 16. Rd1 g5 17. h3 Nf4 18. Bc2 Ng6 19. Nb5 a6 20. Nd6+ Bxd6 21. Rxd6 Nge5 22. Nxe5 Nxe5 23. b3 Ke7 {Peray,S (2064)-Rosenfeld,I (2017) France 2000 1-0 (40)}) 9... Be7 10. Ne2 e5 11. h3 {Prevents intrusion on g4} h6 {Controls g5} 12. O-O Be6 {Black has an active position} 13. Bb5 f6 {Consolidates g5} 14. Ng3 Rc8 ( 14... Kf7 15. Ba4 $15) 15. Re1 (15. Nh4 Kf7 $15) 15... Kf7 $15 {Black loses the right to castle} 16. Bd2 Rhd8 17. Ba4 a6 (17... Nb6 18. Bb3 $17) 18. a3 { Secures b4} b5 19. Bc2 Nf4 (19... Na5 $142 $5 $17) 20. Bxf4 $11 exf4 21. Ne2 g5 22. Rad1 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Rd8 24. Nfd4 Nxd4 {Black forks: c2+e2} 25. Nxd4 Bc8 26. Re1 (26. b4 $11) 26... Bb7 (26... Bc5 27. Rd1 $11) 27. Bb3+ (27. Bd1 Bd5 $14) 27... Ke8 (27... Bd5 $142 $5 $11 {is worthy of consideration}) 28. Nf5 $16 Rd7 29. Nxh6 ({Weaker is} 29. Nxe7 Rxe7 30. Rxe7+ Kxe7 $11) 29... Kd8 30. Nf5 (30. Ng8 $16) 30... Bf8 (30... Bc5 $5 $14) 31. Nd4 $16 Be7 $2 (31... Re7 $142 $5 32. Rd1 Kc8 $16) 32. Be6 $18 Rc7 33. Bg4 Bc8 34. Bf3 (34. Bxc8 $142 $5 Kxc8 35. Re6 $18) 34... Bd7 35. Bd5 (35. Kf1 Ke8 $16) 35... Bd6 (35... Bc5 $5 36. Nb3 Bb6 $16) 36. Be6 Be5 37. Bxd7 Kxd7 38. Rd1 Ke8 39. Nf3 Ke7 40. Kf1 Ke6 41. Ke2 a5 ( 41... Rc8 42. Nd4+ Kf7 43. Nb3 $16) 42. Nd4+ $18 Bxd4 43. Rxd4 Ke5 44. Kd3 Rb7 45. f3 Rb6 46. Rd8 a4 47. Re8+ Kd5 48. Re4 Rc6 $2 (48... Rb8 49. Rb4 Kc5 50. c4 bxc4+ 51. Rxc4+ Kd6 52. Rb4 $18) 49. Rb4 Rc5 $4 {terrible, but the game is lost in any case} (49... Kc5 50. c4 Rd6+ 51. Kc3 bxc4 52. Rxc4+ Kb5 53. Rb4+ Ka5 54. Rd4 Rc6+ 55. Rc4 $18) 50. b3 (50. Rxb5 Rxb5 51. c4+ Kc5 52. cxb5 Kxb5 53. Kd4 Kb6 54. Kc4 Ka5 55. Kc5 Ka6 56. Kd6 Kb5 57. Kd5 f5 58. Kd4 Kc6 59. Ke5 Kc5 60. Kxf5 Kd6 61. Kxg5 Kc6 62. Kxf4 Kd5 63. g4 Kc6 64. h4 Kd7 65. Kf5 Kd6 66. g5 Kc5 67. g6 Kd6 68. h5 Kc5 69. g7 Kd6 70. g8=Q Kc5 71. h6 Kd6 72. Qe6+ Kc7 73. h7 Kb7 74. h8=Q Ka7 75. Qh7+ Kb8 76. Qe8#) 50... axb3 51. Rxb3 Ke5 52. Rb4 f5 $2 (52... Rd5+ $142 53. Rd4 Rc5 $18) 53. c4 $18 bxc4+ 54. Rxc4 Rb5 ( 54... Rd5+ 55. Kc2 $18) 55. Rb4 Rc5 (55... Rd5+ 56. Kc3 Ke6 57. Rb6+ Kd7 58. a4 $18) 56. Rb2 (56. a4 {seems even better} Ke6 57. Rb5 Rc1 $18) 56... Kd5 (56... Ra5 57. Ra2 $18) 57. Ra2 (57. a4 $142 $5 {makes it even easier for White} Ke6 58. Ra2 Ra5 $18) 57... Ra5 58. a4 Kc5 59. Kc3 Ra6 $4 {Black crumbles in face of a dire situation} (59... Kc6 $142 $18) 60. a5 1-0

C01 French: Exchange Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.Bg5 Be7 6.Nc3 O-O 7.Nge2)

This game was played in the "atadros's mini-tournament V". I was 9th in the final standings of the mini-tournament with 5.5 points. Considering that I played 20 games, the amount of points I gathered is not impressive. My opponent in this game, negotium, was 5th in the final standings with 11 points.

I have seen the move 5...h6 previously played, but in this game negotium played 5...Be7. Both moves should be playable, one is not significantly better or worse than the other. While this game ended in a draw, it did have points at which one of the players could have directed the game towards a win. Probably the first clear mistake was played by me in the position below in which I played 33.Bb1.

The correct move was 33.Qe2. After my 33rd move, negotium could have taken a clear advantage, starting with the move 33...Rd8. In the game negotium played the less accurate move 33...Qf4, which let me off the hook a bit. I played another bad move in reply, 34.Rc4. After that I was clearly worse once again. 34.Rd1 was a better option. My opponent's advantage did not last long, already in the position below where negotium played 35...Qf6, the advantage had disappeared.

The game was fought quite evenly until I blundered with the move 40.Kh1 in the position below. Negotium found the strongest reply 40...Rd8 and I was clearly worse. Then I played 41.h3 and I was in a losing position or at least very close to one.

41.h4 was probably a better move, but I would have been in trouble regardless. Negotium replied to 41.h3 with the move 41...Nd3 and I was back in the game again. I was able to hold the position equal for the rest of the game and draw was agreed upon after 47...Qa1+.

[Event "atadros's mini-tournament V"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.07.24"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "negotium"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C01"] [WhiteElo "1801"] [BlackElo "1925"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "94"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 {French Defense: Exchange Variation} exd5 4. Bd3 (4. c4 {French Defense: Exchange Variation. Monte Carlo Variation}) (4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bg5 {French Defense: Exchange Variation. Svenonius Variation}) 4... Nf6 5. Bg5 Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Nge2 {C01 French: Exchange Variation} c6 8. O-O Bg4 9. f3 (9. Qd2 Nbd7 10. Ng3 {1/2-1/2 (10) Winants,L (2535)-Zueger,B (2433) Kusadasi 2006}) (9. h3 Bh5 10. Qd2 Bg6 11. Nf4 Bxd3 12. Nxd3 Nbd7 13. Rfe1 Bd6 14. Bf4 Nb6 15. Bxd6 Qxd6 16. Ne5 a6 17. Rad1 h6 18. Re3 Nfd7 19. Rg3 Nxe5 20. dxe5 Qxe5 21. Re1 Qf6 22. Rf3 Qh4 23. Rf4 Qg5 {Mominova,L (1923)-Nakhbayeva,G (2339) Osh 2013 0-1 (43)}) 9... Bh5 10. Nf4 Bg6 11. Nxg6 $146 (11. Bxg6 hxg6 12. Re1 Nbd7 13. Re2 Bd6 14. Nd3 Qc7 15. g3 Qb6 16. Be3 Rfe8 17. Qd2 Nf8 18. Na4 Qc7 19. Nac5 b6 20. Nb3 Ne6 21. Rae1 c5 22. Ne5 Nxd4 23. Bxd4 cxd4 24. f4 Ne4 25. Qxd4 Bxe5 {Gruenwald,E (1989) -Tereick,B (2090) Willingen 2004 0-1 (60)}) 11... hxg6 {White has the pair of bishops} 12. Ne2 Nbd7 13. Qe1 Qb6 14. b3 Rfe8 15. Qh4 c5 16. c3 Nf8 (16... cxd4 17. Nxd4 (17. Qxd4 $4 Bc5 18. Rf2 Ne5 $19) 17... Rac8 18. Rac1 $15) 17. Kh1 (17. Be3 a6 $11) 17... Ne6 18. Be3 Rac8 19. Rac1 a5 ( 19... c4 20. Bb1 $15) 20. Qf2 {Black king safety improved} (20. dxc5 Bxc5 21. Bxc5 Nxc5 $11) 20... a4 {Black threatens to win material: a4xb3} (20... c4 21. Bc2 $15) 21. Rb1 (21. bxa4 c4 22. Rb1 Qa6 $11) 21... a3 22. c4 (22. g4 cxd4 23. cxd4 Nh7 $11) 22... Qa5 (22... cxd4 $5 23. Bxd4 Nxd4 24. Qxd4 Bc5 $17) 23. Rfd1 $11 b6 24. Bd2 {White threatens to win material: Bd2xa5} Qa7 25. Bc3 (25. cxd5 Nxd5 26. dxc5 Bxc5 $11) 25... Qc7 (25... cxd4 26. Bxd4 Bc5 27. Bxc5 Nxc5 28. Qd4 $17) 26. Rbc1 (26. dxc5 Nxc5 27. cxd5 Nxd3 28. Rxd3 Bd6 $11) 26... cxd4 ( 26... Qb8 27. Qf1 $15) 27. Nxd4 $11 ({Not} 27. Bxd4 Nxd4 28. Qxd4 Bc5 $17) 27... Nxd4 28. Bxd4 Bc5 29. Bxc5 bxc5 (29... Qxc5 30. Qxc5 bxc5 31. Bf1 $11) 30. cxd5 Nxd5 31. Re1 Rxe1+ 32. Qxe1 Nb4 {Black threatens to win material: Nb4xd3. Black forks: d3+a2. Black can be proud of that piece} 33. Bb1 (33. Qe2 Qf4 34. Re1 Nxd3 35. Qxd3 Qb4 $11) 33... Qf4 (33... Rd8 34. Qe3 $17) 34. Rc4 $2 (34. Rd1 $142 $5 $11 {looks like a viable alternative}) 34... Qd6 $17 35. Re4 Qf6 (35... Rd8 $5 $17) 36. Kg1 (36. h4 Kf8 $11) 36... Kf8 {Black king safety dropped} (36... Rd8 $5 $15 {is worth looking at}) 37. Rh4 $11 {White has a mate threat} Kg8 38. Re4 {Twofold repetition} Qb2 (38... Rd8 39. h4 $15) 39. Re2 $11 Qd4+ 40. Kh1 $2 (40. Kf1 $142 $11 {would keep White in the game}) 40... Rd8 $17 41. h3 (41. h4 $142 Qd1 42. Kh2 $17) 41... Nd3 $4 {forfeits the advantage} (41... Qd1 $142 {Black has a promising position} 42. Re8+ Kh7 $19) 42. Bxd3 $11 Qxd3 43. Qf2 g5 44. Rc2 {White threatens to win material: Rc2xc5} Qd4 45. Qe2 Qa1+ 46. Kh2 Qd4 47. Kh1 Qa1+ 1/2-1/2

C01 French: Exchange Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.Bg5)

Previously one of my opponents has played the move 4.Nf3 and I have played the move 4.Be2. Even though the game where I played the move 4.Be2 was successful for me, I chose to play 4.Bd3 in this game. All of the three options are perfectly playable and none of them actually decided the game. The game was played quite well by both players until I took my first step towards the loss in the position below.

I played 13.dxc5 and ended up in some small trouble. In order to keep the position equal, I should have played 13.Na3, 13.Bb5 or 13.Rc1. The game continued with the following moves 13...bxc5 14.Na3 Ne5. In that position I moved my bishop to f5, which was my second unfortunate step towards the loss. Foogie1 played 15...Bxf5 and had a clear advantage. Foogie1's pieces were all well placed, maybe apart from the rook on a8. My knight on a3 was placed badly, it could not easily get into the game. Also my pawn on b2 was rather weak and easily attackable. While my position was rather difficult, it was not lost until I played 17.Qg3 in the position below.

Instead of 17.Qg3, I should have played 17.Qd6, but even there, the position does not look promising for me. I played a few more moves, but had to accept my defeat after the move 23...Nfh3+.

[Event "atadros's mini-tournament V"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.05.13"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "foogie1"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C01"] [WhiteElo "1804"] [BlackElo "2258"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "46"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 {French Defense: Exchange Variation} exd5 4. Bd3 (4. c4 {French Defense: Exchange Variation, Monte Carlo Variation}) (4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bg5 {French Defense: Exchange Variation, Svenonius Variation}) 4... Nf6 5. Bg5 {C01 French: Exchange Variation} h6 6. Bf4 (6. Bh4 Be7 7. Nf3 O-O 8. O-O Nc6 9. c3 Ne4 10. Bxe7 Nxe7 11. Nbd2 Nd6 12. Qc2 Bf5 13. Rae1 Bxd3 14. Qxd3 Qd7 15. Ne5 Qf5 16. Re2 Qxd3 17. Nxd3 Rfe8 18. Rfe1 Kf8 19. f3 Ng6 20. Ne5 Nf4 { Simacek,P (2477)-Markowski,T (2577) Poronin 2012 1/2-1/2 (42)}) (6. Qe2+ Be7 7. Bxf6 gxf6 8. Nf3 Nc6 9. Nbd2 Nb4 10. a3 Nxd3+ 11. Qxd3 Qd6 12. O-O-O Qf4 13. Rhe1 Kf8 14. Qe3 Qxe3 15. Rxe3 Bd7 16. Rde1 Bd6 17. g3 Be6 18. Nh4 Kg7 19. f4 Rhe8 20. Nf5+ Kf8 {Ferreira,L (1683) -Berbel,E (1855) Batatais 2014 1-0 (36)}) 6... Bd6 7. Qd2 Bxf4 $146 (7... Nc6 8. Bb5 O-O 9. c3 Ne4 10. Qc1 Re8 11. Ne2 a6 12. Bd3 b5 13. O-O b4 14. Be3 Qh4 15. g3 Qd8 16. Nd2 Bh3 17. Rd1 Qf6 18. Nf4 Bxf4 19. Bxf4 bxc3 20. bxc3 Nxd2 21. Qxd2 Qd8 22. Rab1 {Beltz,F-Leim,C Guben 1996 0-1 (33)}) 8. Qxf4 O-O {Black castles and improves king safety} 9. Ne2 b6 10. O-O c5 11. c3 Re8 12. Ng3 Nc6 13. dxc5 (13. Na3 Bd7 $11) 13... bxc5 $15 14. Na3 Ne5 15. Bf5 (15. Bc2 $5 $15) 15... Bxf5 16. Nxf5 Ng6 17. Qg3 $2 (17. Qd6 $142 $17) 17... Rb8 $19 18. b3 Re5 19. Qf3 Ne4 20. Rfd1 $4 {an oversight. But White was lost anyway.} (20. Rfe1 Qf6 21. Ng3 Qxf3 22. gxf3 Nxc3 23. Rec1 $19) 20... Ng5 21. Qd3 (21. Nxh6+ {doesn't improve anything} gxh6 22. Qg3 Ne4 $19) 21... Nf4 22. Qb1 (22. Qf1 {the only chance to get some counterplay} Rxf5 23. f3 $19) 22... Qf6 23. Ne3 Nfh3+ $1 {Clearance: f4} (23... Nfh3+ 24. Kh1 Nxf2+ 25. Kg1 Ngh3+ 26. gxh3 Nxh3+ 27. Kh1 Qf3+ 28. Ng2 Re2 29. Qh7+ Kxh7 30. b4 Qxg2#) 0-1

C01 French: Exchange Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Be2 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bd6 6.O-O O-O 7.Bg5)

Continuing the changes with my previously shared games and after they have all been changed, new chess games will appear. This will take a long time, unfortunately. This game was played in a team match called Match Name: TMCL 2016 Sub-Div. B4 R3. It was played on 203 boards between I like beer and Chess and Baker Street Irregulars. I played on board 19 for Baker Street Irregulars and in addition to this win, I lost my other game against jtibon. The final score in the match is 190.5 - 215.5 in favor of Baker Street Irregulars.

I have played this way with black up to the move 3...exd5 and one of my opponents continued with the move 4.Nf3. In this game I was controlling the white pieces and I chose to play 4.Be2. Both moves should be good enough to play in the future, but I would prefer to play 4.Nf3 in the future. I ended up on the slightly worse side of the board already with the move 11.Ng4, but it was on the position below that the game started to steer away from the draw that would have been likely, had the game been played accurately to the end. I played 19.f4, which could have cost me the game, had my opponent replied with 19...Re3.

Jtibon played 19...Be4 instead and the position was slightly better for me after the reply 20.Ng3. My opponent blundered a second time in a row and played 20...c5?? Jtibon's 20th move turned out to be the mistake that cost my opponent the game. The rest of the game was just a matter of technique.

[Event "Match Name: TMCL 2016 Sub-Div. B4 R3 -"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.03.15"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "jtibon"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C01"] [WhiteElo "1830"] [BlackElo "1797"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 {French Defense: Exchange Variation} exd5 4. Be2 (4. c4 {French Defense: Exchange Variation, Monte Carlo Variation}) (4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bg5 {French Defense: Exchange Variation, Svenonius Variation}) 4... Nf6 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. O-O O-O 7. Bg5 {C01 French: Exchange Variation} Re8 8. Nc3 (8. Nbd2 Bg4 9. h3 Bh5 10. c4 c6 11. Rc1 Nbd7 12. Re1 Qc7 13. c5 Bf4 14. Bxf4 Qxf4 15. Qc2 Re6 16. Bd3 Rae8 17. Rxe6 Rxe6 18. b4 a6 19. a4 Ne4 20. b5 axb5 21. axb5 Ndf6 22. bxc6 bxc6 {Chauar, N-Leao,F (1801) Sao Paulo 2016 0-1 (46)}) 8... c6 9. h3 $146 {Consolidates g4} (9. Re1 Bf5 (9... h6 10. Bh4 Bf5 11. Qd2 Nbd7 12. a3 Qc7 13. Kh1 Ne4 14. Qd1 g5 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. Bc4 exf3 17. Qxf3 Bg6 18. Bg3 Nb6 19. Ba2 Rad8 20. c4 Bxg3 21. fxg3 Rxe1+ 22. Rxe1 Rxd4 23. Qf6 Qd8 {0-1 (23) Hebel, A-Szneider,K (2022) Wisla 2007}) 10. Qd2 Nbd7 11. Nh4 Bg6 12. Nxg6 fxg6 13. Bg4 Bxh2+ 14. Kh1 Bd6 15. Rxe8+ Qxe8 16. Re1 Qf8 17. Bxd7 Nxd7 18. Qe3 Nf6 19. Qe6+ Kh8 20. Bxf6 gxf6 21. Qd7 Rd8 22. Qxb7 Qh6+ 23. Kg1 Qh2+ {Ulunque Villazon,S (1585)-Biehl,O (1669) Germany 2013 0-1}) (9. a3 Nbd7 10. Re1 Nf8 11. Bd3 Rxe1+ 12. Qxe1 Ne6 13. Bh4 Nf4 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15. Qe8+ Bf8 16. Ne5 Nxg2 17. Nxf7 Nf4 18. Ne4 dxe4 19. Bxe4 Bf5 20. Qxa8 Bxe4 21. Ne5 Nh3+ {0-1 (21) Weller,T (1881) -Solomon,S (2378) Brisbane 2012}) (9. Qd2 Bf5 10. Bd3 Bg4 11. Be2 Nbd7 12. Rae1 Qc7 13. h3 Bh5 14. Nh4 Bxe2 15. Rxe2 Rxe2 16. Qxe2 Re8 17. Qd2 h6 18. Bxf6 Nxf6 19. Nf5 Bb4 20. f3 c5 21. Kh1 Qd7 22. g4 Qe6 23. Kg1 cxd4 {Merlini,L (1456) -Marrone,V (1838) Monza 2005 0-1}) 9... Be6 (9... h6 10. Be3 $15) 10. Ne5 $11 { White has an active position} Bf5 11. Ng4 Nbd7 12. Bf3 Qc7 (12... h6 13. Bh4 $15) 13. Nxf6+ $11 Nxf6 ({Instead of} 13... gxf6 14. Bh4 $14) 14. Bxf6 gxf6 { Black has the pair of bishops} 15. Bg4 {White threatens to win material: Bg4xf5 } Bg6 16. Ne2 Re7 17. c3 {Covers b4} Rae8 18. Qd2 Kg7 19. f4 $2 (19. b3 $142 $15) 19... Be4 $4 {letting the wind out of his own sails} (19... Re3 $142 $19 { Black had this great chance}) 20. Ng3 $14 c5 $4 (20... Bg6 $142 $14 {would save the game}) 21. Nh5+ $18 Kh8 22. Nxf6 (22. f5 $142 {and White has triumphed } Rd7 23. Nxf6 Bf8 24. Nxe8 Qd8 $18) 22... Rd8 (22... Rg8 23. Nxg8 Kxg8 24. dxc5 Bxc5+ 25. Kh2 $18) 23. Rae1 (23. f5 $142 {and White can already relax} Bh2+ 24. Kh1 $18) 23... Kg7 (23... Qb6 24. Qf2 Rg8 $18) 24. Nh5+ (24. f5 $142 { and White wins} Bh2+ 25. Kh1 $18) 24... Kh8 25. f5 Bh2+ $2 (25... f6 $142 $16) 26. Kh1 $18 Bg3 (26... f6 27. Nxf6 Bg3 $18) 27. Qh6 $1 {Mate threat} f6 (27... -- $140 28. Qg7# {Mate threat}) 28. Qxf6+ (28. Qxf6+ Kg8 29. Nxg3 $18) 1-0

B83 Sicilian Scheveningen 6.Be2, lines without ...a6 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O Be7 8.Be3 O-O 9.Qd2)

This was previously shared in the post B83 Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Modern Variation #3. The remainder of the post is taken from the original post, with the exception of the diagrams and the name of the opening has been added to the game, the original classification of the opening can also be seen in the game. This game was played in the atadros's mini-tournament V at GameKnot. The mini-tournament consisted of 11 players and I was 9th in the final standings with 5.5 points, so things did not go all that well in the 20 games I played in this mini-tournament. My opponent, rayfisher, only managed to get one point, from the two draws he managed to get and he was on last place in the final standings. The mini-tournament was won by a player called desaparicidos (2080). The winner was able to gather 17.5 points, which consisted of 17 wins and 1 draw. I, on the other hand, won 2 games and played 7 draws, which is a very rare thing for me.

I have seen the move 8...Bd7 played against me before, but in this game rayfisher went for the move 8...O-O. Out of the two moves 8...O-O might be the more accurate one. The first critical error came in the position below when my opponent played 13...b5. Rayfisher's 13th move was a really bad one and it could have lost the game.

I honestly do not know what I was thinking about when I replied to rayfisher's 13th move, because I played 14.a4 instead of the obvious 14.Nxb5. I messed up my winning chance and ended up in a position that was roughly even. My next chance to take the game firmly in my grasp came after my opponent played 21...Bxd5 in the position below. In order to stay in the game rayfisher's only chance was to play 21...exd5. I had maybe three good moves to play in reply, 22.Qg4, 22.c4 and 22.Qg3 but I did not play any of them. All of those three moves would have been good enough to take the winning advantage. I played the move 22.Bd4 and gave my opponent another chance to hold on.

Rayfisher then played 22...Qc7, which was a mistake and with a correct reply I could have been on the clearly better side of the board. 22...dxe5 and 22...a5 were better alternatives for rayfisher. I was not able to find the best move, so I threw the advantage away again with the move 23.Bd3. Rayfisher took another wrong path in the position below with the move 26...e5. Once again I threw my advantage away, this time with the move 27.Bc3. 27.Qf5 was probably the best move.

My 27th move was only good enough for a draw, but luckily for me, rayfisher played 27...Bf7 in reply, which allowed me to play 28.Qf5 and get the winning advantage. For the first time in the game I was able to take the advantage and keep it for awhile. I did not play all that accurate moves, but when we reached the position below, I played 36.b3 allowing my opponent to get back into the game again. I should have played 36.Bxf5 instead. Rayfisher's next move was a bit sloppy and I could have taken a clear advantage, had I answered 36...Raf8 with 37.Bxf5 or 37.h3.

My 37th move Rfe1 was only good enough to get a drawish position. The game continued to played evenly until my opponent blundered again in the position below with the move 47...h5?? The path towards was a narrow one, only by playing 47...g5 rayfisher could have kept the equality in the position. Rayfisher's 47th move could have been another losing move and while my reply at first was good enough for a winning advantage, I was not able to keep it until the end.

Actually, only my reply 48.d5 was a step into the right direction, but then my reply 49.Ra1 to 48...a3 threw away all my advantage. The next position of interest came after my 50th move in the position below. Rayfisher blundered in the position and played 50...Ra7?? I obviously did not see tactics in this game, but I should have seen the move 51.Rxa2! The point of it is that I would have won a pawn because if 51...Qxa2, I would have taken on f6 with check.

In the game I played 51.Rf2 and the game looked to be going towards a draw again. The draw was agreed upon after 54.Qxf2.

[Event "atadros's mini-tournament V"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.05.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "rayfisher"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B83"] [WhiteElo "1766"] [BlackElo "1800"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "107"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be2 e6 {Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Modern Variation (#3)} 7. O-O Be7 8. Be3 O-O 9. Qd2 {B83 Sicilian Scheveningen: 6.Be2, lines without ...a6} (9. f4 Bd7 10. Nb3 {Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Modern Variation (#2)}) 9... Nxd4 10. Qxd4 (10. Bxd4 b6 (10... a6) 11. f4 Bb7 12. Bd3 e5 13. fxe5 dxe5 14. Bxe5 Nxe4 15. Nxe4 Bxe4 16. Rad1 Bc5+ 17. Kh1 Bxd3 18. Qxd3 Qxd3 19. Rxd3 Rfe8 20. Bc3 Re2 21. Rd2 Rxd2 22. Bxd2 Rd8 23. Bc3 f5 24. g3 Rd5 {Berg,E (2610) -Solodovnichenko,Y (2564) Maastricht 2009 1/2-1/2 (62)}) 10... a6 11. Qb6 $146 (11. Rfd1 Qc7 12. Rac1 b5 13. a4 e5 14. Qd3 b4 15. Na2 Qb7 16. Bg5 Be6 17. c4 bxc3 18. Nxc3 Bb3 19. Rd2 Rfc8 20. Re1 h6 21. Be3 Rc6 22. Bd1 Bc4 23. Qb1 Bd8 24. Nd5 Ba5 25. b4 Bxd5 {Margraf,D (2239)-Bruemmel,A (2106) Germany 2012 0-1 (74)}) 11... Qe8 {Black has a cramped position} 12. Rad1 Nd7 {Black threatens to win material: Nd7xb6} 13. Qa5 b5 $4 (13... Rb8 14. Bf4 e5 15. Be3 $11) 14. a4 $4 {a weak move, ruining a winning position} (14. Nxb5 $142 {ends the debate } Qd8 15. Qxd8 Rxd8 16. Nxd6 $18) 14... bxa4 $11 15. Nxa4 {White has new hanging pawns: b2+c2. Black has a cramped position} Qd8 {Black threatens to win material: Qd8xa5} 16. Qh5 {Black king safety dropped} (16. Qxd8 Rxd8 17. Bf4 Ne5 $11) 16... Nf6 {Black threatens to win material: Nf6xh5. Black forks: h5+e4} 17. Qh4 {Black has a cramped position} (17. Qf3 $5 {should be examined more closely} Qc7 18. Bd3 $11) 17... Bd7 $17 {Black threatens to win material: Bd7xa4} 18. Nc3 {Black has a cramped position} Bc6 (18... Nd5 19. Qg3 Nxe3 20. Qxe3 $15) 19. Qf4 h6 (19... Qc7 $5 $15 {should be investigated more closely}) 20. e5 $14 Nd5 21. Nxd5 Bxd5 $4 (21... exd5 22. c4 $14) 22. Bd4 $4 {releasing the pressure on the opponent} (22. c4 $142 {seems even better} Bg5 23. Qg4 Bxe3 24. cxd5 $18) 22... Qc7 (22... Rc8 23. exd6 Bxd6 24. Qg4 $14) 23. Bd3 (23. Qg3 $142 $5 g6 24. c4 $16) 23... f6 $14 24. exd6 {White forks: c7+e7} (24. exf6 Bxf6 25. Qg4 Bxd4 26. Qxd4 Qb7 $14) 24... Bxd6 $11 25. Qh4 a5 26. Qh5 e5 $2 ( 26... Rfd8 27. Rfe1 f5 28. Ra1 $11) 27. Bc3 (27. Qf5 $142 Rfd8 28. c4 $16) 27... Bf7 $4 (27... Rfd8 $142 $11 {had to be tried to avoid defeat}) 28. Qf5 $18 g6 29. Qxf6 Be8 $4 {the position was bad, and this mistake simply hastens the end} (29... Be7 30. Qxe5 Qxe5 31. Bxe5 Bc5 $18) 30. Qe6+ (30. Qxd6 $1 { makes it even easier for White} Qxd6 31. Bc4+ Bf7 32. Bxf7+ Kxf7 33. Rxd6 Rfd8 $18) 30... Kg7 (30... Bf7 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 31. Qg4 h5 32. Qg5 $18) 31. f4 (31. Be4 {might be the shorter path} Rf6 32. Qxd6 Rxd6 33. Bxe5+ Kf7 34. Rxd6 Qe7 35. Bd5+ Kf8 36. Rf6+ Qxf6 37. Bxf6 Ra7 $18) 31... Rf6 (31... Qc6 {doesn't do any good} 32. Kh1 Bc7 33. Qe7+ Rf7 $18) 32. Qg4 (32. Qxf6+ $142 $1 {secures the win} Kxf6 33. fxe5+ Ke7 34. exd6+ Qxd6 35. Be4 Qxd1 36. Rxd1 $18 (36. Bxa8 {succumbs to} Qd6 $15)) 32... Bd7 $2 (32... Bc5+ 33. Kh1 Bd4 34. Bxd4 exd4 $18) 33. Qh4 (33. Qg3 $142 {secures the point} Raf8 34. Rfe1 $18) 33... Bf5 $2 (33... Raf8 $5 $16) 34. fxe5 (34. Bxf5 Rxf5 35. g4 Bc5+ 36. Kg2 Qc6+ 37. Kh3 Rf7 38. Bxe5+ Kg8 $18) 34... Bxe5 35. Bxe5 Qxe5 36. b3 (36. Bxf5 Qc5+ 37. Kh1 Rxf5 38. Rd7+ Kg8 39. Rxf5 Qxf5 40. Qc4+ Kf8 $18) 36... Raf8 ( 36... Bxd3 37. Qxf6+ Qxf6 38. Rxf6 Kxf6 39. Rxd3 a4 40. bxa4 Rxa4 $14) 37. Rfe1 (37. Bxf5 $142 Rxf5 38. Rxf5 Qxf5 39. Qd4+ Qf6 40. Qc5 $16) 37... Qc5+ $11 38. Kh1 Bxd3 39. cxd3 Qc2 40. h3 Qxb3 41. d4 Qc4 42. Qe4 a4 43. Qe5 Qb4 (43... Kg8 44. d5 $11) 44. Rf1 (44. d5 Qf4 $11) 44... Qb6 45. Rb1 Qa6 46. Rf3 R8f7 47. Rbf1 h5 $4 {what a pity, victory was in sight} (47... g5 $142 $11 {was a good chance to save the game}) 48. d5 (48. Rxf6 Qxf6 49. Rxf6 Rxf6 50. d5 Kf7 51. Kg1 Rf5 52. Qe6+ Kg7 53. d6 Rf8 54. d7 g5 55. Qe7+ Kg8 56. d8=R Rxd8 57. Qxd8+ Kf7 58. Qxg5 a3 59. Qxh5+ Ke6 60. h4 a2 61. Qe2+ Kd5 62. Qxa2+ Kd4 63. h5 Kc3 64. h6 Kd4 65. h7 Kc3 66. h8=Q+ Kd3 67. Qd8+ Ke4 68. Qe6+ Kf4 69. Qh4#) 48... a3 (48... Qd6 {cannot undo what has already been done} 49. Qxd6 Rxd6 50. Rxf7+ Kh6 51. Rd1 Kg5 52. Ra7 Kf4 53. Rxa4+ Kg5 54. Rc4 Kf5 55. Rc3 h4 56. Kh2 g5 57. Rc6 Rd7 58. g4+ hxg3+ 59. Kxg3 Rd8 60. Re6 Rxd5 61. Rxd5+ Kxe6 62. Rxg5 Kf7 63. h4 Ke6 64. h5 Kf7 65. Kg4 Ke6 66. h6 Kf7 67. h7 Ke6 68. h8=Q Kf7 69. Qh6 Ke8 70. Rg7 Kf8 71. Qh8#) 49. Ra1 (49. Rxf6 Rxf6 50. Qe7+ Kh6 51. Rxf6 Qc8 52. Qf7 Qf5 53. Rxf5 gxf5 54. d6 a2 55. Qxa2 f4 56. Qe6+ Kg7 57. d7 f3 58. d8=Q fxg2+ 59. Kxg2 h4 60. Qdg8#) 49... a2 $11 50. Qb2 {White threatens to win material: Qb2xa2} Ra7 $4 {gives the opponent new chances} (50... Qb6 51. Qxb6 Rxb6 52. Rxf7+ Kxf7 53. Rxa2 Rb1+ 54. Kh2 $11) 51. Rf2 $4 {allows the opponent back into the game} (51. Rxa2 $142 $1 {a pity that White didn't try this} Qxa2 52. Qxf6+ Kh7 53. Qg5 Qb1+ 54. Kh2 $18) 51... Qd6 (51... Qb6 52. Qxb6 Rxb6 53. Rfxa2 Rxa2 54. Rxa2 Rb1+ 55. Kh2 $11) 52. Rxa2 (52. Raf1 Ra6 $11) 52... Rxa2 $11 {Black has a mate threat} 53. Qxa2 Rxf2 54. Qxf2 1/2-1/2