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