27 Feb 2017

A06 Réti Opening: 1.Nf3 d5 (1.Nf3 Nf6 2.b3 g6 3.Bb2 Bg7 4.e3 d5)

A06 Réti Opening: 1.Nf3 d5 (1.Nf3 Nf6 2.b3 g6 3.Bb2 Bg7 4.e3 d5)

This is one of the openings determined by Deep Fritz 14 in which the name of the opening is the same, but where the amount of theoretical moves differs from other games where it also says the opening to be A06 Réti Opening: 1.Nf3 d5. I am not sure if I should put all of those games in the same post or not. I have put only the games that have the same amount of theoretical moves in the same post and the exact same moves Deep Fritz 14 thinks to be theory in brackets in the title of the post. And yes this game has also been previously shared in this post. There will not be probably new chess games appearing to the blog before I gone through all the chess games already shared in the blog and have made the necessary changes to them. However, I could add new Chess960 games from time to time. I can't really promise a steady flow of blog posts or videos to my YouTube channel, this is all a big mess at the moment and sorting things out will take time. It has already taken way too long to my liking, which in turn makes it feel overwhelming and frustrating at times. I apologize for the long breaks between content and I thank you for your patience.

This was played in the "atadros's mini-tournament V". Out of the 20 games I played in the mini-tournament I was able to win only 2, I drew 7 and lost 11 games. The 5.5 points I was able to gather were only enough for me to be 9th in the final standings. My opponent in this game, danyfox, won 4 games, drew 2 games and lost 14 games. With 5 points danyfox was 10th in the final standings.

I was quite close to a clear advantage couple of times before danyfox's 17th move in the position below, but the first severe mistake was that 17th move Qc4. The best move for danyfox was 17.Nf3. 17.Qc4 could have been the losing move and at first I chose the correct move 17...Na5. In that position I should have a winning advantage according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT.

The game went on clearly in my favor, though I did some inaccurate moves, until we reached the position below. In that position I threw my winning chances away by playing 31...Kf8.

I had a few good moves to play instead, for instance, I could have played 31...Bf8, 31...Rxc8 and 31...Rde7. Danyfox found the best move 32.e5 in reply and the game reached equality. We played a few more moves, but we agreed to a draw after 35.f4.

[Event "atadros's mini-tournament V"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.08.13"] [Round "?"] [White "danyfox"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A06"] [WhiteElo "1708"] [BlackElo "1789"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] {[%evp 9,69,-17,4,-32,-16,-47,-41,-62,-14,-71,-42,-58,-35,-43,-11,-49,-43,-81, -35,-38,-37,-41,-37,-49,-44,-248,-251,-242,-243,-290,-270,-283,-211,-305,-229, -227,-220,-233,-218,-269,-253,-227,-117,-116,-117,-117,-117,-115,-133,-117,-95, -178,-180,-223,-9,-9,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. b3 {A04 Zukertort Opening: Nimzo-Larsen Variation} g6 3. Bb2 Bg7 4. e3 d5 {A06 Réti Opening: 1.Nf3 d5} 5. a3 O-O 6. d3 c5 7. Nbd2 Nc6 8. Be2 {Black is slightly better.} b6 {-0.14/27} ( 8... d4 $15 {-0.62/23 is superior.}) 9. h3 $146 {-0.71/22} (9. d4 $11 {-0.14/27 }) (9. c4 e6 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. h3 Rc8 12. g4 d4 13. e4 e5 14. Rg1 Qd6 15. h4 Rcd8 16. O-O-O Rd7 17. Rg2 Re8 18. Rdg1 Ne7 19. h5 Red8 20. Nh4 Nxe4 21. Nxe4 Bxe4 22. f3 Bb7 23. hxg6 Nxg6 {Piazza,G (1540)-De Vecchis,L (1380) Pinerolo 2009 1-0 (67)}) 9... Bb7 10. O-O Re8 11. c4 e6 12. Rc1 e5 13. Qc2 Qd6 {-0.35/27} ({ Black should try} 13... d4 $17 {-0.81/24} 14. Rfe1 Qd7) 14. cxd5 $15 Nxd5 15. Ne4 Qd7 16. Nfg5 Qe7 {aiming for ...f5. [%tqu "En","","","","g5f3","",10]} 17. Qc4 $2 {-2.48/26 [#]} (17. Nf3 $1 $15 {-0.44/25}) 17... Na5 $1 $19 18. Qc2 f5 19. Rfd1 fxe4 20. Nxe4 Nf6 21. b4 {-3.05/22} (21. Bc3 $142 {-2.11/28}) 21... cxb4 22. axb4 Qxb4 23. Bc3 Qb3 {And now ...Nxe4 would win.} 24. Nd6 Qxc2 25. Rxc2 Re7 {-1.17/29} (25... Re6 $19 {-2.27/24} 26. Nxb7 Nxb7) 26. Bxa5 $17 bxa5 27. Nxb7 Rxb7 28. Bf3 {[%tqu "En","","","","e5e4","",10]} e4 $1 29. dxe4 { [%mdl 32] [#] Hoping for e5.} Rd7 {Strongly threatening ... Rxd1+.} 30. Rdc1 { -1.78/27} (30. Ra1 $17 {-0.95/30} Re8 31. Rxa5 Nxe4 32. Rca2) 30... Re8 $19 31. Rc8 {-2.23/27} (31. Rc5 $142 {-1.80/28}) 31... Kf8 $2 {-0.09/29} (31... Bf8 $19 {-2.23/27 White must now prevent ...a4.} 32. Rxe8 Nxe8) 32. e5 $1 $11 {The position is equal.} Rxc8 33. Rxc8+ Ne8 {[%tqu "En","","","","f3c6","",10]} 34. Bc6 $1 Re7 35. f4 {Accuracy: White = 26%, Black = 41%.} 1/2-1/2

A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Opening (1.e3 e5 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 Bd6)

A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Opening (1.e3 e5 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 Bd6)

This is once again a game that was previously shared in the blog and where the name of the opening has been corrected. I have also added some commentary to this post that did not accompany the originally shared game. The game below was played in the first round of the 2014 October Glacial Super Casual Banded I 1650+ tournament that is held at Red Hot Pawn. In this game I got completely outplayed by my opponent. It is quite rare that I lose this fast these days but I guess when I face players who have much better understanding of chess than I do, these losses seem to happen even now. Well, actually I think the reason for me losing these types of games is that I am put into unfamiliar positions, where I just do not seem to find the correct way to do things. At this point in the tournament I still have theoretical chances to win the first round group but those chances are not as good as they are with three other players. This is because my maximum possible score is the fourth highest in group 1 at the moment. I even have a higher maximum possible score than jankrb, the player who I faced in this game and who is also the highest rated player in the group. The leader of group 1 is a player called takinitez007 (1882), in second place is caissad4 (1994) and jankrb (2151) is currently on third place. I am on 9th place at the moment, one reason for that is that my games do not progress all that fast.

The first real mistake of the game was played by my opponent in the diagram position below. The move 4.f4 that jankrb played, was perhaps designed to bring some aggression towards the pawn on e5 and with the idea of improving the scope of the bishop on b2. At first glance it would seem that I can't really take the pawn on f4, because it would be replied with Bxg7 and my rook on h8 would be doomed. That being said, I should have taken the pawn on f4. Had jankrb replied with 5.Bxg7, then I could have played 5...Qh4+ and jankrb would have been in serious trouble.

I played 4...Qe7, which is the safe move and it is only good enough for an equal position. In the next diagram position I moved my pawn from c7 to c6. It was a novelty and a very bad one at that. The reason why 6...c6 was so bad that it made the development of my pieces very difficult, especially when I hung on to the material. The game went quickly downhill for me from that point on.

Jankrb was able to take advantage of my mistake and did not allow me to get back into the game again. The only way to punish me from my mistake was to play 7.cxd5 and had I understood the danger in the position, I would have played 7...Ngf6 in reply and sacrificed a pawn. However, I mostly try to keep the material balance in my games and very rarely do I sacrifice material, even if it would give me an easier way to develop my pieces. I continued to play the game until my opponent played 16.Qc3, at which point I thought I had enough and resigned. In that final position I would either lose too much material or get mated.

[Event "Glacial Super Casual Banded"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.11.03"] [Round "1"] [White "jankrb"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A01"] [WhiteElo "2132"] [BlackElo "1848"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "31"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] {[%evp 9,31,-53,-36,-33,88,93,133,139,154,150,246,260,227,244,251,240,310,287, 479,348,334,345,1543,1231]} 1. e3 {A00 Van't Kruijs Opening} e5 2. b3 d5 3. Bb2 Bd6 {A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Opening} 4. f4 Qe7 5. Nf3 Nd7 6. c4 c6 {0.88/24} ( 6... Ngf6 $15 {-0.33/27 keeps the upper hand.}) 7. cxd5 $16 cxd5 8. Bb5 { White is clearly better.} f6 9. O-O $146 (9. fxe5 fxe5 10. Bxd7+ Bxd7 11. Nxe5 Nf6 12. Nxd7 Kxd7 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. Qg4+ Kd8 15. Nc3 Rf8 16. O-O-O a5 17. Rhf1 Qxf1 18. Rxf1 Rxf1+ 19. Kc2 Rf7 20. Qg5+ Ke8 21. Qxd5 Bxh2 22. Qe4+ Kd8 23. Qxh7 Bd6 {Kukk,S (2178)-Rosenthal,N (2169) chess.com INT 2018 1-0 (44)}) 9... Nh6 {2.46/24} (9... e4 $16 {1.50/27 is a better defense.}) 10. fxe5 $18 fxe5 11. Nc3 O-O 12. Nxd5 Qe8 13. Qc2 Nf7 $2 {4.79/23} (13... Qh5 {2.87/27 was necessary.} 14. Be2 Nf6 15. Nxf6+ Rxf6) 14. Nc7 Bxc7 15. Qxc7 {[#] Strongly threatening Nxe5!} e4 $2 {15.43/26} (15... Qd8 {3.45/28} 16. Rac1 Nf6 17. Qxd8 Rxd8) 16. Qc3 1-0 [Event "rated blitz match"] [Site "Free Internet Chess Server"] [Date "2008.08.11"] [Round "?"] [White "nicedommie"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A01"] [WhiteElo "1629"] [BlackElo "1594"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2008.??.??"] 1. e3 {A00 Van't Kruijs Opening} e5 2. b3 d5 3. Bb2 Bd6 {A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Opening} 4. Nf3 Qe7 5. Be2 (5. c4 d4 6. exd4 (6. Be2 c5 7. exd4 exd4 8. O-O Nf6 9. b4 Nc6 10. bxc5 Bxc5 11. d3 O-O 12. Nbd2 Re8 13. Re1 Bg4 14. a3 b6 15. Nb3 Qd6 16. h3 Bf5 17. Qd2 h6 18. Nxc5 bxc5 19. Bf1 Rab8 20. Rxe8+ Nxe8 {Gonzalez Rodriguez,J (2255)-Demuth,A (2521) Barcelona 2017 0-1 (33) }) 6... exd4+ 7. Qe2 c5 8. Qxe7+ Nxe7 9. Bd3 Nbc6 10. a3 Bg4 11. Ng5 Ne5 12. Be4 h6 {0-1 (12) Fries Nielsen,N (2345)-Farago,I (2515) Esbjerg 1981}) 5... c5 $146 {0.38/25} (5... c6 $17 {-0.74/23}) (5... Nf6 6. Nc3 (6. c4 c6 7. O-O O-O 8. d4 e4 9. Ne5 Nbd7 10. Qc2 (10. Nxd7 Bxd7 11. Nc3 a6 12. Na4 Rad8 13. Rc1 Bb8 14. Nc5 Bc8 15. Rc2 h5 16. Bxh5 g6 17. Be2 Kg7 18. Bc1 Rh8 19. g3 b6 20. Na4 Qe6 21. f4 Rxh2 22. Rf2 Rh3 23. Rg2 Rdh8 24. Kf2 Rh1 {Anguas Fanlo,S (1901) -Huesmann,T (2263) Pamplona 2001 0-1}) 10... Nxe5 11. dxe5 Bxe5 12. Ba3 Bd6 13. Bb2 Bg4 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15. Bxg4 Qxa1 16. f4 exf3 17. Nc3 Bxh2+ 18. Kf2 Bg3+ 19. Kxg3 Qxf1 20. Bxf3 dxc4 {Lee,X-Ladva,O (2337) Al Ain 2013 0-1}) 6... a6 7. d3 c5 8. Na4 Nbd7 9. c4 d4 10. Bc1 b5 11. Nb2 Bb7 12. Bd2 O-O 13. e4 Bc8 14. Qc1 Re8 15. Bg5 Qf8 16. O-O h6 17. Bh4 Nh7 18. Bg3 g5 19. h4 f6 20. Nh2 {Khosravi, M-Dolatabadi,G (1789) Arad 2013 1-0 (47)}) 6. O-O {-1.05/25} (6. Nc3 $1 $14 { 0.38/25 stays ahead.}) 6... Nc6 {-0.44/28} (6... Nf6 $17 {-1.05/25}) 7. d3 { -0.92/23} (7. d4 $15 {-0.44/28 was preferrable.}) 7... Nf6 8. Nbd2 {-1.23/23} ( 8. e4 $15 {-0.54/25}) 8... O-O {-0.59/27} (8... Bc7 $17 {-1.23/23}) 9. e4 { -1.26/23} (9. c4 $15 {-0.59/27}) 9... Be6 {-0.12/28} (9... Rd8 $17 {-1.26/23}) 10. c4 $2 {-1.64/25} (10. Ng5 $11 {-0.12/28}) 10... dxe4 {-0.85/26} (10... d4 $19 {-1.64/25} 11. h3 Rae8) 11. Nxe4 {-1.48/24} (11. Ng5 $142 {-0.85/26}) 11... Bc7 {-0.59/26} (11... Nxe4 $17 {-1.48/24} 12. dxe4 f6) 12. Ba3 {-1.65/23} (12. Ng3 $1 $15 {-0.59/26}) 12... b6 {-1.11/27} (12... Nd7 $19 {-1.65/23} 13. Bb2 h6 ) 13. Qc2 {-2.00/23} (13. Bb2 $17 {-1.11/27 might work better.}) 13... Nd4 $2 { -0.11/28} ({Black should play} 13... Nh5 $19 {-2.00/23} 14. g3 Nf6) 14. Nxd4 $11 exd4 15. Nxf6+ {-1.05/25} (15. f4 $1 $11 {-0.18/28}) 15... Qxf6 $17 16. Bf3 $2 {-7.73/24 [#]} (16. b4 $15 {-0.66/29}) 16... Qh6 $2 {-0.09/28} (16... Qf4 $1 $19 {-7.73/24} 17. g3 Qxf3) 17. g3 $11 Rad8 {0.00/29} (17... Rae8 $15 {-0.51/26 }) 18. Bc1 {-1.05/23 [#]} (18. b4 $11 {0.00/29 keeps the balance.}) 18... Qf6 { -0.04/29} (18... Qg6 $1 $17 {-1.05/23}) 19. Bg2 {-1.29/24} (19. Qd1 $11 { -0.04/29}) 19... Rfe8 {-0.43/28} (19... Bf5 $17 {-1.29/24} 20. b4 cxb4) 20. Bd2 $15 Bg4 {-0.31/28} ({Black should try} 20... h5 $17 {-0.74/26}) 21. Rae1 Be2 { 0.13/29 [#]} (21... h6 $15 {-0.68/26}) 22. Qc1 $2 {-1.99/27} (22. Bg5 $1 $11 { 0.13/29 and White stays safe.} Qxg5 23. Rxe2) 22... Bxf1 $19 ({Much less strong is} 22... Bxd3 23. Bg5 $17) 23. Rxf1 {intending Bg5.} Re2 $2 {0.00/33} ( {Better is} 23... Qg6 $19 {-2.23/25} 24. Be4 Qg4) 24. Bg5 $11 Qd6 {Strongly threatening ...Rb8.} 25. Bxd8 Qxd8 26. Re1 Qe7 ({But not} 26... Rxa2 $2 27. Bc6 $18) 27. Kf1 Rxe1+ 28. Qxe1 Qd8 29. Qe4 g6 30. Qb7 Qb8 31. Qxb8+ {Accuracy: White = 7%, Black = 25%.} 1/2-1/2 [Event "rated blitz match"] [Site "Free Internet Chess Server"] [Date "2008.09.16"] [Round "?"] [White "shinkibo"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A01"] [WhiteElo "1362"] [BlackElo "1535"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "137"] [EventDate "2008.??.??"] 1. e3 {A00 Van't Kruijs Opening} e5 2. b3 d5 3. Bb2 Bd6 {A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Opening} 4. Qf3 $146 (4. Nf3 Qe7 (4... Bg4 5. Be2 Nd7 6. a4 Ngf6 7. Na3 c6 8. c4 a6 9. Qc2 e4 10. Nd4 Ne5 11. O-O c5 12. f4 cxd4 13. fxe5 Bxe5 14. Bxg4 Bxh2+ 15. Kxh2 Nxg4+ 16. Kg3 Qg5 17. Kh3 Qh5+ 18. Kg3 Qh2+ 19. Kxg4 {Katzki-Oestreich,R Rheda 1961 0-1}) 5. c4 d4 (5... c6 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Nb5 Nc6 9. Nxd6+ Qxd6 10. Bb5 e4 11. Ne5 O-O 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Rc1 Bb7 14. O-O Nd7 15. f4 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 Qe7 17. Bd4 Rfe8 18. Qg4 f6 19. Rc5 a6 20. Rfc1 {Bird,H-Lee,F Belfast 1892 1/2-1/2 (60)}) 6. Be2 (6. exd4 exd4+ 7. Qe2 c5 8. Qxe7+ Nxe7 9. Bd3 Nbc6 10. a3 Bg4 11. Ng5 Ne5 12. Be4 h6 {0-1 (12) Fries Nielsen,N (2345)-Farago,I (2515) Esbjerg 1981}) 6... c5 7. O-O Nh6 8. d3 O-O 9. Na3 Nc6 10. Nc2 f5 11. Nd2 Bd7 12. Bf3 Rae8 13. Re1 Qg5 14. Bd5+ Kh8 15. Nf3 Qh5 16. exd4 cxd4 17. Qd2 f4 18. Re2 Nf5 {Owen,J-Wisker,J London 1872 1-0 (39)} ) (4. f4 Qe7 5. fxe5 Bxe5 6. Bxe5 Qxe5 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Nf3 Qe7 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O c6 11. Qe1 Bf5 12. Bd3 Bxd3 13. cxd3 Nbd7 14. Qh4 Rae8 15. Nd4 Ne5 16. Nf5 Qe6 17. Qg5 Ng6 18. Rf2 Nd7 {Wunder,H-Proske,H Schney 1994 1-0}) 4... c5 5. Qxd5 Nf6 {1.47/20} (5... Nc6 $14 {0.70/24}) 6. Qf3 {0.37/24} (6. Bb5+ $16 {1.47/20} Kf8 7. Qd3) 6... Bg4 $2 {2.59/19} (6... Nc6 $14 {0.37/24}) 7. Qg3 $2 {0.91/26} (7. Qxb7 $18 {2.59/19 is more deadly.} Nbd7 8. Qc6) 7... e4 {2.26/25} (7... Nc6 $16 {0.91/26}) 8. Qh4 {1.18/27} (8. Bb5+ $18 {2.26/25} Nc6 9. Be5) 8... Nbd7 { 1.76/22} (8... Nc6 $16 {1.18/27}) 9. Be2 {1.32/25} (9. h3 $18 {1.76/22} Bf5 10. g4) 9... Be6 {2.20/21} (9... Bf5 $16 {1.32/25 was necessary.}) 10. Nc3 $18 O-O {2.33/23} (10... Be5 $142 {1.61/25} 11. O-O-O a5) 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Qxe4 b6 13. a4 g6 14. Bc4 {1.96/28} (14. Nf3 $142 {3.32/22}) 14... Bf5 15. Qf3 Bxc2 16. Rc1 Bf5 17. g4 $1 Be6 18. Bxe6 fxe6 {[#]} 19. Qe4 $1 $36 {Keeping Black busy.} Qe7 20. Nf3 Nf6 {2.15/24} (20... Qf7 $142 {1.69/28}) 21. Qd3 $2 {-0.20/29} (21. Bxf6 $18 {2.15/24} Qxf6 22. Ke2) 21... Nxg4 {0.81/26} (21... Qb7 $1 $11 { -0.20/29} 22. Qxd6 Qxf3) 22. Qc3 {0.33/28} (22. Rc4 $16 {0.81/26} Rxf3 23. Rxg4 ) 22... Qf6 23. Qxf6 Nxf6 24. Ng5 {And now Bxf6 would win.} Rae8 $2 {3.34/24 [#]} (24... e5 $14 {0.37/25}) 25. Ke2 $2 {0.00/28} ({Only move:} 25. Bxf6 $1 $18 {3.34/24} Rxf6 26. Ne4) 25... Ng4 {1.45/25} (25... e5 $1 $11 {0.00/28 remains equal.}) 26. h3 $2 {-0.55/33} (26. f3 $16 {1.45/25} Be5 27. Bxe5 Nxe5 28. h4) 26... Nxf2 {0.00/30} (26... Rxf2+ $15 {-0.55/33} 27. Ke1 Bg3) 27. Rhf1 $11 h6 28. Rxf2 hxg5 {0.41/29} (28... Rxf2+ $11 {0.00/32 feels stronger.} 29. Kxf2 hxg5) 29. Rxf8+ {0.00/31} (29. Rg2 $1 $14 {0.41/29}) 29... Rxf8 {Endgame KRB-KRB} 30. Rg1 Rf5 31. Rg4 Kf7 32. h4 $2 {-1.75/29} (32. d3 $11 {0.00/35 and White has nothing to worry.}) 32... gxh4 $19 33. Rxh4 Rh5 34. Rg4 Be5 {-0.67/33 } (34... g5 $19 {-1.64/27} 35. Rg1 Kg6) 35. d4 $2 {-2.50/26} (35. Bxe5 $15 { -0.67/33} Rxe5 36. a5) 35... cxd4 $2 {-0.77/32} (35... Rh2+ $19 {-2.50/26} 36. Kd3 Rxb2) 36. exd4 {-1.84/31} (36. Bxd4 $17 {-0.77/32 was forced.} Bxd4 37. Rxd4) 36... Bf6 37. Kd3 Ke7 $2 {0.00/32} ({Black should try} 37... g5 $19 { -1.98/29} 38. Re4 Be7) 38. Rxg6 $11 Rd5 39. Rg4 e5 $2 {3.67/30} (39... Rf5 $11 {0.00/35}) 40. b4 $2 {0.00/36} ({Better is} 40. Ke4 $18 {3.67/30} Ke6 41. dxe5) 40... exd4 {The position is equal.} 41. Bxd4 a5 42. bxa5 bxa5 43. Kc4 Rd7 44. Bxf6+ Kxf6 {KR-KR} 45. Rh4 Re7 46. Rh5 Re4+ 47. Kb5 Rb4+ 48. Kxa5 Rb1 49. Rh6+ (49. Rb5 {is interesting.} Rd1 50. Ka6 Ke6 51. a5 Rd8 52. Rc5) 49... Ke7 50. Ka6 (50. Rb6 {with more complications.} Rc1 51. Rg6 Kd7 52. Kb5 Kc7 53. Kb4) 50... Kd7 51. Ka7 Kc7 52. Rh7+ Kc8 53. a5 Ra1 54. a6 Rb1 55. Rb7 Ra1 56. Rb8+ Kc7 57. Rb7+ Kc8 58. Kb6 Rb1+ 59. Kc6 Rc1+ 60. Kb6 Rb1+ 61. Ka7 Ra1 62. Rb6 Kc7 63. Rb7+ Kc8 64. Rh7 Rc1 65. Rh8+ Kc7 66. Rh7+ Kc8 67. Rb7 Ra1 68. Kb6 { Strongly threatening Rc7+.} Rb1+ 69. Ka7 {Accuracy: White = 27%, Black = 47%. } 1-0

20 Feb 2017

C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4)

C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4)

This game was played in the "paweljaniak's mini-tournament I". I was 2nd in the final standings with 8.5 points. My opponent in this game, zanoni, finished 6th and was able to gather 2.5 points in 12 games. There were 7 players in total in this mini-tournament. Zanoni's 4th move was a blunder that could have cost my opponent the game. I am not sure what I thought during this game because I replied to the move 4...a6 by moving my bishop to e2. Had I played the correct move 5.Bxc6, I could have continued towards an easy game.

Due to my sloppy move the game continued to be fought evenly. I did get another chance to take the clear advantage in the position below when zanoni played 10...Ne5. The moves 10...g6 and 10...Be7 were better alternatives for my opponent. I did not find the strongest move, but the move 11.Qg3 is enough to get a clear advantage. 11.f4 seems to be the move the engine likes the best. Then zanoni played the horrible move 11...h6 and my opponent was in serious trouble.

I should have played f4 again, but I let my opponent off the hook a bit with the move 12.Bf4. So instead of playing the move that could have been the reason why I win, I played a move that lost most of my advantage. The game looked to be going well for me until we reached the position you can see below. While I knew that I can't win a piece with 17.f5 because of the intermediate move 17...Ne5, I could not think of a better move, so I played 17.f5. What I did not realise at the time is that 17.e5 would have blocked the e5 square from the knight and really threatened the move f5 on the next move. It would have also threatened to win a pawn on d6, so it would have been my best choice of all the moves.

With my 17th move all my advantage disappeared. I continued to try and find good moves and I started to get back on the favorable side of the board a few moves later when zanoni made two consecutive mistakes, first 21...Bxf4 in the position below and then 22...f6 in reply to 22.Qxf4. After the first move I should have a small advantage and after the second move I should have a clear advantage, or at least quite close to one. The only move that could have kept my advantage was 23.Qd2, which I did not play because I thought I can create an attack towards the king by lifting the rook to f4 and getting it to the h-file.

It was not the right idea and my opponent was able to defend quite easily. A few moves later I was able to win a pawn, but at that point my rook at h4 was out of play and my opponent had full compensation for the pawn. Actually, quite quickly after I had won the pawn, my position started to fall apart. In the position below I played 29.Rxd8, which was, all things considered, a bad move. It gives up the control of the d-file for my opponent, something that I would not normally do. However, at the time I thought that I had nothing better. The only better move seems to be 29.Rd3.

I had a small disadvantage for the following moves 29...Rxd8 30.Qe3 Bxa2. Then on my 31st move played g4 in desperation, in order to give room for my king and threaten Nxa2. The immediate Nxa2 was, of course, out of the question. I did get one final chance to hold the game when my opponent played 43...Bh5 in the position below. Actually, maybe already a move earlier 42...Qxg4 took some of the pressure off and I might have survived with accurate play.

That being said when I replied with the move 44.Qb7, it was all over for me. In order to rescue the game, I would have needed to play 44.Qc3 and continue accurately after that. I did continue my struggle, but when I faced a forced mate, I resigned after the move 49...Qd2+.

[Event "paweljaniak's mini-tournament I"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.05.09"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "zanoni"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C62"] [WhiteElo "1772"] [BlackElo "1700"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "98"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense} 4. d4 {C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence} a6 (4... Bd7 5. Nc3 (5. c4 {Spanish Game: Old Steinitz Defense: Semi-Duras Variation}) 5... Nf6 6. Bxc6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack}) (4... exd4 5. O-O {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Center Gambit}) 5. Be2 (5. Bc4 Bg4 6. Bxf7+ Kxf7 7. Ng5+ Qxg5 8. f3 Qg6 9. fxg4 Qxe4+ 10. Kf1 Nxd4 11. Nc3 Qg6 {1/2-1/2 (11) Nemec,J-Vemola, S Brno 2013}) 5... exd4 $146 (5... Bg4 6. c3 (6. dxe5 Bxf3 7. Bxf3 Nxe5 8. Be3 Qf6 9. Be2 c5 10. Nc3 Ne7 11. O-O g6 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. Qxd5 Rb8 14. f4 Nc6 15. e5 Qe6 16. Qxe6+ fxe6 17. exd6 Bxd6 18. c3 O-O 19. Rad1 Rbd8 20. Rxd6 Rxd6 { Chermashentsev,V (1825)-Kornev,S (1620) Voronezh 2013 1/2-1/2 (32)}) 6... Nf6 7. d5 Ne7 8. h3 Bd7 9. Nbd2 Ng6 10. g3 Be7 11. Qc2 b5 12. c4 Qc8 13. Bf1 c5 14. Bg2 Bd8 15. h4 h6 16. h5 Nf8 17. b3 N8h7 18. Nf1 Bg4 19. Ne3 Ba5+ 20. Bd2 { Hotze,K (1539)-Kock,R (1401) Pinneberg 2012 1-0}) 6. Nxd4 Nxd4 7. Qxd4 Be6 { Black has a cramped position} 8. O-O Ne7 9. Nc3 {Black has a cramped position. Black's piece can't move: f8} Nc6 {Black threatens to win material: Nc6xd4} 10. Qe3 Ne5 (10... g6 $5 $14) 11. Qg3 (11. f4 Nc6 $16) 11... h6 (11... h5 12. f4 h4 13. Qe1 $16) 12. Bf4 {White threatens to win material: Bf4xe5} (12. f4 $5 Nc6 $18) 12... Ng6 (12... h5 13. h3 $16) 13. Bd2 $16 c6 (13... Be7 14. f4 Bh4 15. Qe3 $16) 14. Kh1 (14. f4 $5 Bd7 15. Bh5 Qh4 16. Qxh4 Nxh4 $18) 14... Be7 $16 15. f4 Bh4 16. Qd3 O-O 17. f5 {White threatens to win material: f5xe6. White forks: e6+g6} (17. e5 $142 $5 $16) 17... Ne5 $11 {Black threatens to win material: Ne5xd3. A sound move} 18. Qh3 {White has an active position} Bd7 19. Bf4 {Black has a cramped position} Bg5 20. Rad1 {White threatens to win material: Rd1xd6} Qe7 21. Qg3 Bxf4 (21... Bh4 22. Qe3 Rad8 23. Na4 $11) 22. Qxf4 $14 f6 23. Qg3 (23. Qd2 $142 $5 $16) 23... Be8 $11 24. Rf4 Rc8 25. Rh4 Nf7 (25... Kh8 $5 $15) 26. Bc4 $11 {Black has a cramped position} Kh8 27. Bxf7 Bxf7 28. Rxd6 Rcd8 29. Rxd8 Rxd8 30. Qe3 Bxa2 (30... b5 $142 31. a3 a5 $17) 31. g4 $2 (31. b3 $142 {and White can hope to survive} Qe5 32. g3 $11) 31... Bf7 $19 32. Rh3 b5 33. Rf3 (33. Kg2 $142 $5 $17) 33... Qe5 $19 34. b3 (34. Qf4 Qxf4 35. Rxf4 Rd2 $19) 34... b4 35. Ne2 c5 (35... Qb2 $142 {makes it even easier for Black} 36. Kg1 Qxc2 37. e5 fxe5 38. f6 $19) 36. Ng3 $2 (36. Nf4 Rd4 37. Nd3 Qxe4 38. Qxe4 Rxe4 39. Kg1 $19) 36... c4 37. Qb6 (37. h4 a5 38. Rf1 cxb3 39. cxb3 $19) 37... Rd1+ 38. Kg2 cxb3 (38... Rd2+ {seems even better} 39. Rf2 Rxf2+ 40. Kxf2 cxb3 41. cxb3 $19) 39. cxb3 Rd2+ 40. Rf2 Rxf2+ 41. Kxf2 Qf4+ (41... a5 42. Qe3 Qb2+ 43. Ne2 Qxb3 44. Qxb3 Bxb3 45. Ke1 $19) 42. Kg2 $2 (42. Ke2 Qxg4+ 43. Ke3 $19) 42... Qxg4 (42... Qd2+ $142 {it becomes clear that Black will call all the shots} 43. Kh3 Bxb3 $19) 43. Qxb4 $15 Bh5 44. Qb7 $4 (44. Qc3 $142 $11 {this is the best bet to save the position}) 44... Qf3+ 45. Kg1 (45. Kh3 { does not win a prize} Bg4+ 46. Kh4 Qf4 47. Qc8+ Kh7 48. Qc1 Qxc1 49. Kxg4 Qd1+ 50. Kf4 Qxb3 51. e5 a5 52. Nf1 a4 53. exf6 Qc4+ 54. Ke3 Qxf1 55. f7 Qxf5 56. h3 a3 57. h4 Qxf7 58. h5 a2 59. Ke2 a1=Q 60. Kd3 Qf5+ 61. Kd2 Qb2+ 62. Ke3 Qbf2#) 45... Qe3+ 46. Kf1 (46. Kg2 {is no salvation} Bf3+ 47. Kf1 Bg4 48. e5 Bh3+ 49. Qg2 Qf3+ 50. Ke1 Qxg2 51. e6 Qxh2 52. b4 Qxg3+ 53. Kd2 Bxf5 54. e7 Qe5 55. b5 axb5 56. e8=Q+ Qxe8 57. Kd1 Qe4 58. Kd2 Qd3+ 59. Ke1 Qe3+ 60. Kd1 Qf2 61. Kc1 Qc2#) 46... Bg4 47. Kg2 (47. Qa8+ {does not improve anything} Kh7 48. e5 Bh3+ 49. Qg2 Qf3+ 50. Ke1 Qxg2 51. exf6 Bg4 52. h3 Qxg3+ 53. Kd2 Bxf5 54. Ke2 gxf6 55. b4 Qxh3 56. b5 axb5 57. Kd1 Qd3+ 58. Ke1 Qe3+ 59. Kd1 Qf2 60. Kc1 Qc2#) 47... Qf3+ (47... Qd2+ 48. Kg1 Bh3 49. Qc8+ Kh7 50. Qg8+ Kxg8 51. b4 Qg2#) 48. Kg1 $19 Qd1+ 49. Kf2 Qd2+ (49... Qd2+ 50. Ne2 Qxe2+ 51. Kg1 Qe3+ 52. Kg2 Bh3+ 53. Kh1 Qc1#) 0-1

C66 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7 6.Nc3 Be7 7.O-O Nf6 8.Re1 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 O-O 10.Bg5 Bxb5 11.Nxb5 a6 12.Nc3)

C66 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7 6.Nc3 Be7 7.O-O Nf6 8.Re1 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 O-O 10.Bg5 Bxb5 11.Nxb5 a6 12.Nc3)

This was played in a team match called Open Challenge ♕♖ChEsS MaTeS♕♖. It is played between ♕♖ChEsS MaTeS♕♖ and Philippine Critical Movers on 26 boards. I played on board 4 for ♕♖ChEsS MaTeS♕♖ and my score was one win and one loss. This game I won on time, but the position was already a forced win for me, so there was no doubt about the winner anymore. There were a lot of timeouts in this match, the winner has been decided 24 times on time, so nearly half of the games, which is too high percentage on timeouts in my opinion. And the match is not even over yet, so who knows what will happen on the remaining games. The winner of the match has already been decided and it will be ♕♖ChEsS MaTeS♕♖ as soon as the remaining games end, the score at the moment is 32 - 18.

The first position of interest is the one seen below. In that position pauljohn2013 played 16...c5. Before I had only a small advantage, but after I was clearly to be favored in the position. Pauljohn2013 should have played either 16...f6 or 16...g6.

Some of my advantage was lost in the position below. I played 20.Nf4, planning to maneuver the knight to a better attacking position and maybe increase the pressure on the pawn on d6. I should have played either 20.h4 or 20.Qe2. The idea behind 20.h4 is to weaken the pawn structure in front of my opponent's king. 20.Qe2 has a different approach. It is designed to give the knight opportunity to maneuver to f5 via e3. At that point the knight would be ideally placed. It would threaten the d-pawn and increase the pressure towards g7. It would also threaten a fork on h6.

The next blunder was played by me in the position below. I played 23.f3 in order to protect the pawn on e4. The problem with the move is that I can't really defend the pawn and my queen and rook are no longer protecting each other. The reason why the pawn is lost would have become clear had my opponent played 23...f5. Instead of the move 23.f3 I should played either 23.h3 or 23.Qd3.

For some reason pauljohn2013 did not play the move 23...f5 and I was saved for the time being. My opponent played 23...Ne5 and the game continued rather evenly after that for some time. The next critical moment of the game came when we reached the position below. Pauljohn2013 played 32...Ra1+, this move started to get my opponent in trouble again, but it was his next move 33...Rb1 that could have been the losing move of the game or quite close to it. Instead of finding the strongest move or even one of the decent replies, I threw my advantage away with the move 34.f5.

34.Rd5 seems to be the strongest move that Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT can find, but it also thinks that 34.b4 should be good enough for a winning advantage. I continued my struggle to find good moves and I made things even harder for me when, in the position below, I played 41.Rh4. A few moves before I could have played for the win, but after I played my 41st move, it was difficult task for me to even get a draw. I was clearly worse and it seemed that I have messed up another game.

Then pauljohn2013 moved his rook to a2 instead of b1 and I could have been close to draw again, had I played 42.Nd3. I moved my knight to g4 instead, thinking that I can still make something out of my attack. It was a bad decision and pauljohn2013 replied with the correct move 42...Nf7. I answered with the move 43.Qd3 and then I was already in a lost position. I did not resign, I fought against the odds and I got my reward in the position below. Pauljohn2013 has the winning advantage in that position, but with one horrible move, 50...g6, the tables turned and it was me who was winning again.

The best move would have been 50...Re1 for my opponent. While I did not find the crushing move 51.Nxf6+, I found the second best move 51.fxg6 and I was on the better side of the board after that. My advantage was very short-lived because to my opponent's next move, 51...hxg6, I replied with 52.Nf4. I still should have played Nxf6+ as it was the only way for me to keep the advantage. The game could have been played evenly after my 52nd move, but pauljohn2013 made a huge blunder 52...f5, which turned out to be the losing move.

[Event "Open Challenge ??ChEsS MaTeS?? -"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2015.07.11"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "pauljohn2013"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C66"] [WhiteElo "1881"] [BlackElo "1909"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "115"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense} 4. d4 exd4 (4... Bd7 5. Nc3 (5. c4 {Spanish Game: Old Steinitz Defense: Semi-Duras Variation}) 5... Nf6 6. Bxc6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack}) 5. Nxd4 (5. O-O {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Center Gambit}) 5... Bd7 6. Nc3 Be7 7. O-O Nf6 8. Re1 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 O-O 10. Bg5 Bxb5 11. Nxb5 a6 12. Nc3 {C66 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence} Nd7 (12... Rb8 13. Rad1 Re8 14. Qc4 b5 15. Qd4 b4 16. Ne2 Nxe4 17. Bxe7 Rxe7 18. Nf4 Nf6 19. Nd3 Rxe1+ 20. Rxe1 h6 21. Qa7 Rb6 22. h3 Qb8 23. Qxb8+ Rxb8 24. Re7 Rb7 25. Kf1 Kf8 26. Re3 a5 27. Nf4 {Miralles,N (2061)-Lopez,A Trinidad 2010 0-1 (47)}) 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Nd5 Qd8 15. Re3 $146 (15. Rad1 Ne5 16. f4 Nc6 17. Qc3 Ne7 18. e5 Nxd5 19. Rxd5 Qb8 20. exd6 cxd6 21. Re7 Re8 22. Rxe8+ Qxe8 23. Rxd6 h6 24. Qd2 Rc8 25. c3 Qe4 26. Rd7 Re8 27. h3 h5 28. b3 h4 29. Rd8 Qe7 {Martin del Campo,J (2395)-Smith,A (2205) Thessaloniki 1988 1-0 (39)}) (15. Rad1 Re8 $14) 15... Ne5 (15... Re8 16. Rd3 $14) 16. Rg3 $14 c5 (16... g6 17. Rd1 $14) 17. Qe3 f6 18. b3 b5 19. Rd1 Rf7 20. Nf4 Qe7 21. Rd5 {Menacing} Nc6 22. c3 {Controls b4+d4} Re8 23. f3 (23. h3 b4 $14) 23... Ne5 (23... f5 $142 $5 24. Rd1 fxe4 25. fxe4 Qxe4 26. Qxe4 Rxe4 $17) 24. Qd2 $11 Rd8 25. Nd3 Rc8 26. Nf4 Rc6 (26... Rd8 27. h4 $14) 27. Nh3 (27. Ne2 Rf8 $14) 27... Ng6 (27... c4 28. Nf2 $11) 28. Rh5 (28. f4 c4 29. f5 Nf8 $14) 28... a5 (28... c4 29. b4 $11) 29. Nf2 (29. Nf4 Nxf4 30. Qxf4 g6 $14) 29... a4 {This push gains space} (29... b4 30. f4 $11) 30. f4 axb3 31. axb3 Ra6 32. h3 Ra1+ (32... Qb7 33. Rd5 $14) 33. Kh2 $16 Rb1 (33... Qa7 34. Qxd6 Qc7 35. Qxc7 Rxc7 $16) 34. f5 (34. Rd3 $142 $5 Nf8 35. Rxd6 Rxb3 36. Rhd5 $16) 34... Nf8 $11 35. Qc2 { White threatens to win material: Qc2xb1} Ra1 36. Ng4 Kh8 37. c4 b4 {Black gains space} 38. Qd3 (38. Rh4 Qe8 $11) 38... Nd7 (38... Re1 39. Nf2 $15) 39. Qd5 Rf8 40. Nf2 (40. Rh4 Rb8 $11) 40... Ne5 (40... Rb1 41. Qd2 $15) 41. Rh4 ( 41. Nd3 Nxd3 42. Rxd3 Qe5+ 43. Qxe5 dxe5 $11 (43... fxe5 $2 44. Rxd6 h6 45. Re6 $18)) 41... Ra2 {Black threatens to win material: Ra2xf2} (41... Rb1 42. Nd3 Rxb3 43. Nxe5 Rxg3 44. Nc6 $17) 42. Ng4 (42. Nd3 $142 $5 $11 {must be considered}) 42... Nf7 $17 43. Qd3 $2 (43. Ne3 $142 $5 Qe5 44. Rhg4 Qxd5 45. Nxd5 $17) 43... Ng5 $19 44. Ne3 $2 (44. Re3 $142 $19) 44... Qe5 45. Nd5 (45. Qd1 {is no salvation} Rfa8 46. Qf1 Nxe4 47. Rxe4 Qxe4 $19) 45... Rf2 46. Kg1 Ra2 (46... Rd2 $142 $1 {and Black has prevailed} 47. Qxd2 Qxg3 $19) 47. Nf4 ( 47. Kh2 $142 $5 $11 {is the best option White has}) 47... Kg8 48. Rhg4 (48. Qd5+ $142 Qxd5 49. exd5 $19) 48... Rf7 $4 {releasing the pressure on the opponent} (48... Nxe4 $142 49. Re3 Ra1+ 50. Kh2 Rh1+ 51. Kxh1 Nf2+ 52. Kg1 Nxd3 53. Rxe5 Nxe5 $19) 49. Nh5 $4 {a transit from better to worse} (49. Qd5 $142 $11 {had to be tried to avoid defeat}) 49... Ra1+ $19 50. Kh2 g6 $4 {ruins a clearly superior position} (50... Re1 $142 {and Black can celebrate victory} 51. Qd2 Qa1 $19) 51. fxg6 (51. Nxf6+ $142 $5 Rxf6 52. Rxg5 $18) 51... hxg6 $16 52. Nf4 (52. Nxf6+ $142 Qxf6 53. Rxg5 $16) 52... f5 $4 {throws away the game} ( 52... Re1 53. h4 Qa1 $11 (53... Rxe4 $4 {Black will choke on that pawn} 54. Nxg6 Rxg4 55. Nxe5 Rxh4+ 56. Rh3 Rxh3+ 57. gxh3 dxe5 58. Qd5 $18)) 53. Rxg5 Qxf4 (53... Rg7 {hardly improves anything} 54. Nxg6 Qd4 55. Ne7+ Kf8 56. Qxd4 cxd4 57. Rxg7 Ra7 58. e5 Rxe7 59. Rg8+ Kf7 60. exd6 Re6 61. R3g7+ Kf6 62. d7 Rd6 63. Rg6+ Ke7 64. R8g7+ Kf8 65. Rxd6 Kxg7 66. d8=Q d3 67. Qc7+ Kh8 68. Rd8#) 54. Rxg6+ Kf8 55. exf5 (55. Qd5 Raa7 56. Qe6 Qxg3+ 57. Rxg3 fxe4 58. Qxd6+ Rae7 59. Qh6+ Ke8 60. Rg8+ Kd7 61. Qd2+ Kc6 62. Qd5+ Kb6 63. Qd6+ Ka7 64. Qb8+ Ka6 65. Rg6+ Rf6 66. Rxf6+ Re6 67. Rxe6+ Ka5 68. Qb5#) 55... Ra6 56. Qd5 Rxf5 ( 56... Qxf5 {is not the saving move} 57. Rg8+ Ke7 58. Re3+ Qe5+ 59. Rxe5+ dxe5 60. Qb7+ Kf6 61. Qxa6+ Kf5 62. Qg6+ Kf4 63. Qxf7+ Ke3 64. Rd8 e4 65. Kg3 Ke2 66. Qf2#) 57. Rg8+ Ke7 58. Qb7+ (58. Qb7+ Ke6 59. Re8+ Kf6 60. Qe7#) 1-0

C68 Spanish Game: Exchange Variation, sidelines (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 a6 5.Bxc6+ bxc6 6.dxe5)

C68 Spanish Game: Exchange Variation, sidelines (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 a6 5.Bxc6+ bxc6 6.dxe5)

This is one of those games that could have ended in a rather embarrassing way for me... For one move only I offered the win for my opponent, this I only realized in the after game analysis. I have no idea anymore why I played 32.Qd3?? as that move should have lost the game as my opponent just takes the rook on a1 with a check, oops... Luckily my opponent did not take it but if he had, I would have probably just resigned immediately. If I would at least bother to check the situation and look at the whole board, I would not make these awful moves again. I guess it is due to the huge confidence I have in my chess playing abilities that I think I only need to look only part of the board as I should have enough experience by now to see quite quickly what is important in a position. Of course that could not be more wrong, I am still far, far away from the level of play where I could do that. This game was played in a tournament called 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen II. Maybe I need to fit some tactics training to my daily schedule and maybe see if that helps, maybe also go outside for a walk more to get some fresh air... ;-)

The second game below was played in the first round of a Ruy Lopez tournament held at Chess.com. This has been so far one of my best tournaments there because I have won all the 15 games that have finished. There are seven games left for me to finish in this first round. I am currently in third place with 15 points or should I say I am a shared leader of the group #1, because all the top three players have 15 points. The only reason I am in third place is because my tie break is worse than those that the first two players have. The three best players of each group will advance to the second round and even though it seems at the moment that I am likely to advance to the next round, it is still not all that certain. If I were to lose all my remaining games, I would not be able to advance from this group. The opponent I faced in this game, djsniper800, is the current leader of our group and he has four games left to finish. The second place holder is a player called bzalasky and he has only two games left to finish.

4...a6 is a novelty in my games, but it is not a novelty in my reference database. It is a bad move and it should give me a clear advantage. The reason for my advantage is that I can play 5.Bxc6, like I did in the game. The move 5.Bxc6 destroyed my opponent's pawn structure and I also won a pawn. My opponent never recovered from this early blunder and I ended up winning the game after the move 28.Rb1 because my opponent resigned. At that point I was up the exchange and a pawn.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "golfnaturl"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C68"] [WhiteElo "1832"] [BlackElo "1262"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 {C44 Scotch Game} (3. Bb5 d6 {1-0 (21) Dongak, O-Ondar,A Kyzyl 2007}) 3... d6 4. Bb5 a6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. dxe5 {C68 Spanish Game: Exchange Variation, sidelines} d5 {2.15/19} (6... Ne7 $16 {1.50/22 was worth a try.} 7. exd6 cxd6) 7. exd5 cxd5 8. O-O Bc5 {1.94/21} (8... Ne7 $16 { 1.37/21} 9. Nc3 c6) 9. Bg5 {1.12/19} (9. c4 $18 {1.94/21}) (9. Nc3 Ne7 10. Nd4 c6 11. Be3 Bb6 12. Bg5 Bxd4 13. Qxd4 h6 14. Bh4 g5 15. e6 O-O 16. exf7+ Rxf7 17. Bg3 Nf5 18. Qd3 Nxg3 19. fxg3 Rf6 20. Rxf6 Qxf6 21. Nxd5 Qd6 22. Ne3 Qxd3 23. cxd3 Be6 {Sanz Uson,M (2070)-Bermudez Valles,J (1345) Madrid 2018 1-0 (44)} ) 9... Be7 $146 {2.11/20} (9... Ne7 $16 {1.12/19} 10. c4 c6 11. Nc3 Be6 12. Qa4 O-O 13. Rad1 Qb6 14. Qc2 dxc4 15. Ne4 h6 16. Bxh6 Nf5 17. Bc1 Nd4 18. Nxd4 Bxd4 19. Ng5 g6 20. Qe4 c5 21. Qh4 {1-0 (21) Dongak,O-Ondar,A Kyzyl 2007}) 10. Bxe7 Nxe7 11. Nc3 {0.93/19} (11. Qd4 $18 {1.84/19}) 11... Bg4 {1.99/20} (11... c5 $16 {0.93/19}) 12. Qd3 {1.33/22} (12. h3 $18 {1.99/20} Bh5 13. b4) 12... O-O $16 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 ({Stronger than} 14. gxf3 Ng6 $11) 14... d4 15. Ne4 { 0.82/23} (15. Rad1 $142 {1.55/18}) 15... Nd5 $2 {2.58/19 [#]} (15... Qd5 $16 { 0.82/23}) 16. a3 Qb8 {2.75/21} (16... Re8 $142 {1.75/24}) 17. b3 {1.45/22} (17. Ng5 $18 {2.75/21}) 17... Re8 $2 {4.50/19} (17... Qb6 $16 {1.45/22 is a better chance.} 18. Rad1 c5) 18. Ng5 $1 $18 h6 19. Qxf7+ ({Weaker is} 19. Qxd5 hxg5 20. Qxd4 c5 $18) 19... Kh8 20. Qxd5 {[#] Hoping for Nf7+.} hxg5 21. Qxd4 c6 22. Rfe1 Qc7 23. Qd6 Qa5 24. e6 Rad8 25. Qxc6 Re7 26. a4 Qf5 27. Qxa6 Rde8 28. Qc4 Rxe6 29. Rxe6 Rxe6 {Endgame KQR-KQR} 30. a5 Rf6 31. f3 Qe5 32. Qd3 $4 {-4.31/21 } (32. Qa4 $18 {8.27/22}) 32... Qc5+ $4 {8.44/22} (32... Qxa1+ $19 {-4.31/21} 33. Kf2 Qxa5) 33. Kf1 Rd6 34. Qc4 Qf5 35. a6 Qd7 36. a7 Rd1+ 37. Rxd1 Qxd1+ { KQ-KQ} 38. Kf2 Qd8 39. Qe2 {77.09/26} (39. Qb4 $142 {#23/29} Kh7 40. Qe4+ Kh6 41. a8=Q Qd2+ 42. Kg3 Qd6+ 43. Kg4 Qd7+ 44. Qf5) 39... Qb6+ 40. Qe3 Qa6 41. Qe8+ {White mates.} Kh7 42. a8=Q Qb6+ 43. Qe3 Qf6 44. Qee4+ Kh6 45. Qh8# { Accuracy: White = 10%, Black = 13%.} 1-0 [Event "Ruy Lopez - Round 1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.10.10"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "djsniper800"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C68"] [WhiteElo "1954"] [BlackElo "1694"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {Thematic Game - This is the starting position.} d6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense} 4. d4 a6 (4... exd4 5. O-O {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Center Gambit}) (4... Bd7 5. Nc3 (5. c4 {Spanish Game: Old Steinitz Defense: Semi-Duras Variation}) 5... Nf6 6. Bxc6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack}) 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. dxe5 {C68 Spanish Game: Exchange Variation, sidelines} d5 7. exd5 cxd5 8. O-O Bc5 (8... g6 9. Bg5 Be7 10. Bxe7 Nxe7 11. Re1 O-O 12. Nc3 c6 13. Qd2 Rb8 14. b3 Re8 15. Rad1 Bg4 16. Qf4 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 d4 18. Ne4 Nd5 19. c4 dxc3 20. Nf6+ Kf8 21. Nxe8 Kxe8 22. e6 f5 23. Qd3 {Moseler,T (1621)-Porstendoerfer,E (1060) Wiesbaden 2015 1-0 (34)}) 9. Nc3 Ne7 10. Bf4 $146 (10. Bg5 c6 (10... Be6 11. Nd4 Bxd4 12. Qxd4 c6 13. Qc5 Rc8 14. Ne2 Rc7 15. Nd4 Qd7 16. Qb6 c5 17. Nxe6 Qxe6 18. Qxc7 {1-0 (18) Villavicencio Sanchez,P (1782)-Montilla Bejarano, C (1094) Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2014}) 11. Na4 Ba7 12. c4 Be6 13. c5 a5 14. Nd4 Bd7 15. Qe2 Qc8 16. f4 O-O {1-0 (16) Carnino,L (1849)-Martino,G Turin 2008}) (10. Re1 O-O 11. a3 d4 12. Ne2 Bg4 13. Nexd4 Bxd4 14. Qxd4 Bxf3 15. Qxd8 Raxd8 16. gxf3 Ng6 17. f4 Rd4 18. Kg2 Nxf4+ 19. Bxf4 Rxf4 20. Rad1 Rc4 21. Re2 Rc6 22. Rd7 Re8 23. f4 h6 24. Red2 g6 {De los Santos Honrubia,M-Fos Santacreu,J Ronda 1997 1-0 (41)}) (10. Re1 Bb4 $16) 10... Be6 11. Nd4 Bxd4 12. Qxd4 O-O 13. Rad1 c6 14. Rfe1 Rb8 15. b3 Qa5 16. Na4 (16. Be3 Rfe8 $16) 16... h6 (16... Rfc8 17. Bd2 c5 18. Bxa5 cxd4 19. Re2 $16) 17. Qc5 (17. Bd2 Qd8 $16) 17... Qc7 (17... Qxc5 18. Nxc5 Rb5 19. Nxe6 (19. Nxa6 $143 Ra5 20. Nb4 c5 $14) 19... fxe6 20. Be3 $16) 18. Qc3 Ng6 19. Bg3 (19. Be3 Rfe8 $18) 19... Rb5 $16 20. Nc5 {White threatens to win material: Nc5xa6} (20. f4 $142 $16) 20... Bc8 $4 {cause more grief} (20... Qa5 $142 21. Qd4 Ne7 22. Nxe6 fxe6 $16) 21. a4 (21. e6 {and White can already relax} Qa5 22. Qd4 Qb4 23. Qxb4 Rxb4 $18) 21... Qa5 (21... Rxc5 22. Qxc5 Be6 23. f3 $18) 22. Qxa5 Rxa5 23. b4 Rxc5 24. bxc5 Bf5 25. c4 (25. Re2 $142 $18 {makes it even easier for White}) 25... Bc2 $4 {the position was bad, and this mistake simply hastens the end} (25... dxc4 $142 26. f3 Ra8 $16) 26. Rd2 $18 Bb3 (26... Bxa4 { is not much help} 27. cxd5 cxd5 28. e6 $18) 27. cxd5 Bxd5 28. Rb1 1-0

C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7)

C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7)

This was played in the 2014 September Grand Seven Fourteen III tournament that is still in progress at Red Hot Pawn. I am currently in fourth place in this tournament but it is wide open what place I am going to finish in. I know one thing for certain and it is that I can't win the tournament. I could still finish on second place though in theory at least. The player who first took a path towards difficulties was kopsov. In the position below kopsov played a second mistake in a row. The move 7...a6 played in the position below gave me the opportunity to take a clear advantage. Kopsov should have moved the pawn on c7 one square forward instead.

I replied with the best move 8.Bxd7 and I was clearly better for a few moves. With my 11th move h3 I lost some of my advantage and I only had a small advantage after that. Kopsov's reply 11...h6 allowed me to seize the clear advantage once again. I replied with the move 12.Nf5, which was good enough to do the job. Kopsov then protected the g-pawn with awkward looking move 12...Rh7. I had a winning advantage in the position below, but I threw all it away because I played 13.b4. The best move according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT is 13.f4.

The move I played in the game allowed kopsov the opportunity to play 13...Nxe4 because 14.Nxe4 is replied with 14...Qxf5. In the game kopsov just reacted to my play on the queenside with the move 13...b5?? I replied with the move 14.a4 and even though it was not the best answer, I had a winning advantage afterwards. In reply kopsov played 14...Nxe4, the move that my opponent should have played a move earlier. It might have still been kopsov's best move. My next move was far from the best one, I took the bishop on e7 and the position fizzled out, making the game evenly fought again. The next blunder was played in the position below by kopsov. Kopsov's 17th move Nc4 allowed some tactics that caused serious problems for my opponent.

I saw a tactic in the position, but not the strongest one. I played 18.Qd3, which threatened the rook at h7 and the move Rxa4. The double threat won material, but 18.Nxc7+ would have been even better way to continue the game. The idea behind Nxc7+ is that after Qxc7, White would play Qd5 threatening the rook at a8 and the check at e4. If Black castles long, then Qf5+ wins the rook. Had the game continued like that I would have been up the exchange. I remained on the better side of the board until we reached the position below, in which I threw my advantage away with the move 34.Nd5.

I had a few choices of moves that would have kept my advantage, for instance, 34.c3, 34.c4 or 34.Nf5. The game was probably more difficult for me to play at this point than it was to play for my opponent. A few moves later in the position below I finally made a hude blunder that lost the game.

I had a great idea... I played 39.Bc3+, so that I could trade rooks. I resigned after I saw what my opponent moved in reply. I even saw that he can take the the bishop with a check at some point but somehow forgot it again and just blundered the game away.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.09.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "kopsov"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C62"] [WhiteElo "1887"] [BlackElo "1922"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense} 4. d4 exd4 (4... Bd7 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bxc6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack}) 5. Nxd4 (5. O-O {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Center Gambit}) 5... Bd7 { C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence} 6. Be3 Ne5 (6... Nf6 7. Nxc6 Bxc6 8. Bxc6+ bxc6 9. Qf3 Qd7 10. c4 Qe6 11. Nd2 Nd7 12. O-O Be7 13. Qe2 O-O 14. f4 f5 15. exf5 Rxf5 16. Qf3 Rff8 17. Rae1 Qf5 18. Qxc6 Rac8 19. Bxa7 Bf6 20. b4 Bc3 21. Re7 {Kalinin,V (2064) -Fedotov,D Cheliabinsk 2010 1-0 (33)}) (6... a6 7. Ba4 b5 8. Bb3 Na5 9. Qf3 Nxb3 10. axb3 h6 11. Nc3 Nf6 12. e5 dxe5 13. Ndxb5 e4 14. Nxc7+ Qxc7 15. Nxe4 Rc8 16. Nxf6+ gxf6 17. Qxf6 Rh7 18. Qf3 Bb4+ 19. Kf1 Qxc2 20. Rc1 Qd3+ 21. Kg1 {Nguyen,L (1463)-Tran, C (1514) Ho Chi Minh City 2014 1-0 (60)}) 7. Qe2 $146 (7. Bxd7+ Qxd7 8. Qe2 (8. Nd2 Nf6 9. h3 g6 10. f4 Nc6 11. Qf3 Bg7 12. Nc4 O-O 13. O-O-O Qe8 14. e5 dxe5 15. Nxc6 e4 16. Qe2 Qxc6 17. Ne5 Qe6 18. Kb1 a6 19. g4 Nd5 20. Bc1 Bxe5 21. Qxe4 Bxf4 22. Qxd5 Qxd5 {Norkunas,D (1754)-Drungiliene,L Palanga 2012 1/2-1/2 (66)}) 8... Be7 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. O-O-O O-O-O 11. f4 Nc6 12. e5 dxe5 13. Nxc6 Qxc6 14. fxe5 Nd5 15. Bd4 Nxc3 16. Bxc3 Kb8 17. g3 Rhe8 18. Qh5 Qc4 19. Kb1 h6 20. e6 Qxe6 21. Bxg7 Bf8 {Mullerova,K (1319)-Blechova,L (1416) Kouty nad Desnou 2010 1/2-1/2}) (7. Be2 Nf6 8. Bg5 Be7 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. c3 O-O 11. O-O Re8 12. Nd2 c6 13. Rb1 Qc7 14. f4 Ng6 15. Bg4 Rad8 16. Bxd7 Rxd7 17. Qg4 Nf8 18. Kh1 Ne6 19. Nf5 Kh8 20. Rf3 Bd8 21. Rg3 f6 { Maillard, G-Levacher,A Nice 1938 1-0 (47)}) (7. Nc3 c6 8. Be2 b5 $16) 7... a6 ( 7... c6 $142 $5 {is noteworthy} 8. Ba4 Nf6 $11) 8. Bxd7+ $16 Qxd7 9. Nc3 Be7 ( 9... Ne7 10. f4 N5c6 11. O-O-O $14) 10. O-O Nf6 11. h3 h6 {Covers g5} 12. Nf5 Rh7 (12... O-O $142 $16) 13. b4 $4 {gives the opponent new chances} (13. f4 $142 Nc6 14. Bf2 $18) 13... b5 $4 (13... Nxe4 $142 {is the best chance} 14. Nxe4 Qxf5 $11) 14. a4 (14. f4 $5 {might be the shorter path} Nc4 15. Bd4 Bd8 $18) 14... Nxe4 15. Nxe7 $4 {spoils everything} (15. Nxe4 $142 {secures victory } Qxf5 16. Ng3 $18) 15... Nxc3 $11 {Black forks: a4+e2} 16. Qd2 Nxa4 ({Not} 16... Qxe7 17. Qxc3 Rd8 18. axb5 axb5 19. f4 $18) ({Worse is} 16... bxa4 17. Bf4 Qxe7 18. Qxc3 $16) 17. Nd5 (17. f4 $142 Qxe7 18. fxe5 dxe5 19. Qd5 $11) 17... Nc4 $4 {Black is ruining his position} (17... Rh8 18. Bd4 c6 19. Rxa4 cxd5 $11 (19... bxa4 $2 20. Nb6 Qd8 21. Nxa8 Qxa8 22. f4 $18)) 18. Qd3 Rh8 19. Rxa4 bxa4 $4 {an oversight. But Black was lost anyway.} (19... c6 $142 20. Raa1 cxd5 21. Qxd5 Qc8 $18) 20. Qxc4 $18 Kd8 (20... Kf8 {doesn't do any good} 21. Bd4 f6 22. Nf4 $18) 21. Ra1 (21. Bd4 $142 $5 {keeps an even firmer grip} f6 22. Re1 Rf8 $18) 21... Rc8 (21... Re8 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 22. Rxa4 $3 {Deflection: c7} Re5 23. Ra5 $18) 22. Qxa6 Re8 23. Rxa4 Qe6 (23... Re5 { cannot change destiny} 24. c4 Ke8 25. Qb7 $18) 24. Qc6 (24. Qb7 $142 {and White takes home the point} Qd7 25. b5 $18) 24... Qd7 25. Qxd7+ Kxd7 26. Ra7 Kd8 27. b5 Re4 (27... Re5 {does not improve anything} 28. Nxc7 $1 {White should return material} Rxc7 29. Bb6 Rxb5 30. Bxc7+ (30. Rxc7 $6 Rb1+ 31. Kh2 Rxb6 32. Rxf7 g5 $18) 30... Kd7 31. Bb6+ Ke6 32. Bd4 Rb1+ 33. Kh2 $18) 28. b6 ( 28. Nxc7 $142 {secures the point} Rb8 29. b6 Rxe3 30. fxe3 Rxb6 $18) 28... cxb6 29. Bxb6+ Ke8 30. Ne3 (30. Bc7 {makes it even easier for White} Rc4 31. Bxd6 Rd8 $18) 30... Rc6 (30... Re7 31. Ra6 g6 32. Bd4 $18) 31. Ra8+ Ke7 (31... Kd7 32. Rd8+ Ke7 $18) 32. Bd8+ (32. f3 $142 {and White wins} Re5 33. Bd4 Rxe3 34. Bxe3 Rxc2 35. Rg8 $18) 32... Kd7 33. Ba5 Ra4 34. Nd5 (34. c3 $142 g6 35. g3 $16 ) 34... Ra1+ 35. Kh2 {White has a king attack} Rxc2 36. Ra7+ Ke6 37. Nf4+ Ke5 { Black threatens to win material: Ke5xf4} 38. Kg3 Raa2 (38... Ra3+ $5 {might be a viable alternative} 39. f3 g5 40. Re7+ Kf6 41. Nd5+ Kg6 $11) 39. Bc3+ $4 { a weak move, ruining a winning position} (39. Re7+ $142 Kf6 40. Bd8 $16) 39... Rxc3+ (39... Rxc3+ 40. Kh2 Rxa7 41. Nh5 Ra2 42. f4+ Ke4 43. Ng3+ Ke3 44. h4 Rcc2 45. Nf1+ Kxf4 46. Kg1 Rxg2+ 47. Kh1 Kf3 48. h5 Kf2 49. Nd2 Ra1+ 50. Nf1 Rxf1#) 0-1

C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7 6.O-O Nf6 7.Nc3 Be7 8.Be3 Nxd4 9.Bxd7+ Qxd7 10.Qxd4)

C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7 6.O-O Nf6 7.Nc3 Be7 8.Be3 Nxd4 9.Bxd7+ Qxd7 10.Qxd4)

This game was played in the 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen II tournament that is held at Red Hot Pawn. I am currently leading this tournament and I have gathered 109 points so far, my lead to my rival for the win, caissad4, is 5 points. My only game left in this tournament is against him and by winning that game, I have secured my first win in a tournament at Red Hot Pawn. I have never been this close to winning a tournament there, so I need to focus on my last game and not to blunder it away. The game below was not an easy game to play even though the analysis done by the program would suggest that I was never in real trouble. There are usually situations in chess where I am not really sure about the best plan to continue the game, this usually puts me in deep thought and a place where I do not want to make a move because it might be not the best move after all. Of course at some point I have to make a move in order not to lose on time but only at that point I accept the consequences of my moves that might not always be to my liking.

The point at which kirbythecat started to lose his grip on the game can be seen in the position below.

Kirbythecat played 16...Qxd5 and replied with the accurate 17.Rxd5 and I was able to get a clear advantage. The reason why taking back on d5 with the rook is that in that way I could create pressure against the backward pawn on d6 which forced my opponent to be on the defensive. Had I taken back with the pawn, the pawn structure would have been symmetrical and it would have been difficult for me to play for the win, actually the position would have been roughly even. The problems only increased for my opponent in the remainder of the game and I never let go of my advantage.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "kirbythecat"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C62"] [WhiteElo "1914"] [BlackElo "1778"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "133"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense} 4. d4 exd4 (4... Bd7 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bxc6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack}) 5. Nxd4 (5. O-O {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Center Gambit}) 5... Bd7 6. O-O Nf6 7. Nc3 Be7 8. Be3 Nxd4 9. Bxd7+ Qxd7 10. Qxd4 {C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence} O-O 11. h3 {Black has a cramped position} (11. Rad1 Ng4 12. Nd5 Nxe3 13. Nxe7+ Qxe7 14. Qxe3 Rfe8 15. f3 Qe6 16. a3 f5 17. Rd4 Rad8 18. Re1 c5 19. Ra4 a6 20. Kf2 Kf8 21. exf5 Qf6 22. Re4 Rxe4 23. Qxe4 d5 24. Qe6 Qd4+ 25. Kg3 Qf6 {Rodriguez Patino,I (1211) -Mora,M (1900) Bogota 2015 1-0}) 11... c5 $146 { Black threatens to win material: c5xd4} (11... Rfe8 12. Rad1 c5 13. Qd3 Qc6 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. Qxd5 Rad8 16. Bf4 Rd7 17. e5 Red8 18. Qxc6 bxc6 19. exd6 Bxd6 20. Bxd6 Rxd6 21. Rxd6 Rxd6 22. Rc1 Kf8 23. Kf1 Ke7 24. Ke2 Ke6 25. Rd1 Rd5 26. Rd3 {Hahner, A-Lange,E Bad Schandau 1995 1/2-1/2 (40)}) (11... h6 12. f4 Rfd8 13. b4 c5 14. bxc5 dxc5 15. Qxd7 Rxd7 16. g4 a6 17. a4 Rad8 18. Rf2 Bf8 19. Kg2 g6 20. Rb1 c4 21. Kh2 Bg7 22. e5 Ne8 23. Kg2 Rc8 24. Rb6 f5 25. Rxg6 fxg4 26. hxg4 {Radchenko,M-Pasemko, V Kiev 2003 1-0 (44)}) (11... Rfd8 12. Rad1 $11) 12. Qd2 (12. Qd3 b5 $14) 12... Rfd8 13. Rad1 Qc6 14. f3 {Prevents intrusion on g4} b5 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. Qxd5 ({Inferior is} 16. exd5 Qd7 $11) 16... Qxd5 (16... Qc8 17. c3 $14) 17. Rxd5 $16 (17. exd5 $6 Bf6 $11) 17... Kf8 18. Rfd1 Ke8 (18... Rac8 19. Bf4 $16) 19. Bf4 a6 (19... Bf6 $5 20. c3 b4 21. Bxd6 bxc3 $16) 20. Bxd6 $18 Bxd6 21. Rxd6 Rxd6 22. Rxd6 Ke7 23. Rd5 c4 24. Kf2 Ke6 (24... Rc8 25. Ke3 $18) 25. Ke3 Rc8 26. c3 Rf8 27. Kd4 Rc8 28. f4 f6 29. g4 {[%cal Yf4f5] White prepares the advance f5} g6 (29... Ke7 $18) 30. f5+ gxf5 31. exf5+ Ke7 32. Ke4 (32. a4 bxa4 33. Ra5 Rb8 34. Rxa4 Rxb2 35. Rxa6 Rb7 36. Kxc4 Rd7 $18) 32... Rc7 $2 (32... h5 $142 $18) 33. Kf4 Kf7 (33... Rb7 {does not save the day} 34. Rd4 a5 35. Ke4 $18) 34. Rd6 Ra7 35. Ke4 (35. h4 {and White can already relax} h6 $18) 35... Re7+ 36. Kf3 Ra7 (36... a5 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 37. Rb6 $18) 37. h4 h6 38. Kf4 a5 (38... Ke7 {there is nothing better in the position} 39. Rc6 Kf7 $18) 39. Rb6 b4 40. cxb4 axb4 (40... a4 {doesn't improve anything} 41. Rc6 $18) 41. Rxb4 Rxa2 42. Ke4 Kg7 (42... Ra8 {is one last hope} 43. Rxc4 Re8+ 44. Kd3 Rb8 $18) 43. h5 Kf7 44. Kd5 Ke7 45. Kxc4 (45. Rb7+ {might be the shorter path} Kd8 46. Kxc4 Kc8 $18) 45... Ra1 46. Kb5 Kd6 47. Rc4 Rb1 48. b4 Kd5 49. Rc5+ Ke4 50. Rc4+ Ke5 $4 {throws away a nice position} (50... Kd5 51. Rc8 Kd4 $18) 51. Rc6 (51. Kc5 Ra1 52. b5 Ra8 53. b6 Rc8+ 54. Kb5 Rb8 55. Rc6 Kf4 56. Rxf6 Kg5 57. Rg6+ Kh4 58. Kc6 Rc8+ 59. Kd7 Rb8 60. Kc7 Re8 61. b7 Re7+ 62. Kb8 Re1 63. Ka7 Re7 64. Ka8 Re1 65. Ra6 Re8+ 66. b8=Q Rxb8+ 67. Kxb8 Kg3 68. f6 Kxg4 69. f7 Kf4 70. Re6 Kf5 71. Re2 Kg5 72. f8=Q Kg4 73. Rg2+ Kxh5 74. Qf5+ Kh4 75. Qg4#) 51... Rg1 52. Re6+ Kf4 53. Rxf6 Rxg4 54. Rxh6 Kxf5 (54... Ke5 {cannot undo what has already been done} 55. Kc5 Rg3 56. b5 Rc3+ 57. Kb6 Rc8 58. Kb7 Rg8 59. b6 Rg1 60. Rc6 Kxf5 61. h6 Ra1 62. Kc7 Re1 63. b7 Re7+ 64. Kb6 Re8 65. h7 Kg4 66. Ka7 Rh8 67. b8=Q Rxh7+ 68. Ka6 Rf7 69. Qg8+ Kf3 70. Qxf7+ Ke3 71. Qe7+ Kd3 72. Rd6+ Kc2 73. Qe3 Kb1 74. Rd2 Ka1 75. Qe1#) 55. Kc5 Rg1 56. Kb6 (56. Rc6 Re1 57. b5 Re5+ 58. Kb6 Ke4 59. h6 Re7 60. Ka6 Kd5 61. Rg6 Re3 62. b6 Ra3+ 63. Kb7 Ke5 64. h7 Rh3 65. Rg7 Kf6 66. Rd7 Kg6 67. Kc7 Rxh7 68. Rxh7 Kxh7 69. b7 Kg6 70. b8=Q Kf5 71. Qb4 Kg6 72. Qg4+ Kf7 73. Kc6 Kf8 74. Kd6 Kf7 75. Qg5 Kf8 76. Ke6 Ke8 77. Qe7#) 56... Rb1 57. b5 Kg5 (57... Kg4 {does not help much} 58. Rh8 Rf1 59. Ka6 Ra1+ 60. Kb7 Rb1 61. b6 Kg5 62. Ka7 Ra1+ 63. Kb8 Rb1 64. b7 Ra1 65. Kc7 Rc1+ 66. Kd7 Rd1+ 67. Ke6 Re1+ 68. Kd5 Rd1+ 69. Ke4 Re1+ 70. Kd3 Rd1+ 71. Kc2 Rd5 72. b8=Q Kg4 73. Rg8+ Kf5 74. Rf8+ Kg4 75. Qf4+ Kh3 76. Qf3+ Kh2 77. Qf2+ Kh3 78. Rf3+ Kg4 79. Qg2+ Kxh5 80. Rh3#) 58. Rh8 Kf6 (58... Rf1 {does not win a prize} 59. Ka6 Ra1+ 60. Kb7 Rb1 61. b6 Kg4 62. Kc7 Rc1+ 63. Kb8 Ra1 64. b7 Rb1 65. Kc7 Rc1+ 66. Kd6 Rd1+ 67. Ke5 Re1+ 68. Kd4 Rd1+ 69. Kc3 Rb1 70. b8=Q Rxb8 71. Rxb8 Kxh5 72. Rg8 Kh6 73. Kd3 Kh7 74. Rg3 Kh8 75. Kd4 Kh7 76. Ke5 Kh8 77. Ke6 Kh7 78. Kf6 Kh8 79. Kf7 Kh7 80. Rh3#) 59. Kc6 (59. h6 Kg6 60. Ka6 Ra1+ 61. Kb7 Rb1 62. b6 Rb3 63. Kc7 Rc3+ 64. Kb8 Rd3 65. b7 Rd1 66. Ka7 Ra1+ 67. Kb6 Rb1+ 68. Kc6 Rc1+ 69. Kd5 Rd1+ 70. Ke4 Re1+ 71. Kd3 Rd1+ 72. Kc2 Ra1 73. b8=Q Ra2+ 74. Kb3 Re2 75. Qg3+ Kf5 76. Qf3+ Ke5 77. Qxe2+ Kf4 78. Rf8+ Kg5 79. Qg2+ Kh4 80. h7 Kh5 81. h8=Q#) 59... Rc1+ (59... Kg7 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} 60. Rc8 Kf7 61. b6 Rc1+ 62. Kb7 Ra1 63. Kb8 Kf6 64. b7 Re1 65. Rc5 Rg1 66. Ka7 Rg7 67. Ra5 Rh7 68. Ka8 Rh8+ 69. b8=Q Rxb8+ 70. Kxb8 Kg7 71. Kc8 Kf6 72. Kd7 Kf7 73. h6 Kf6 74. h7 Kg7 75. Ke6 Kxh7 76. Kf6 Kh8 77. Kf7 Kh7 78. Rh5#) 60. Kb7 Kg7 (60... Rc5 { does not solve anything} 61. b6 Kg7 62. Rc8 Rxh5 63. Rc6 Kf7 64. Kc7 Re5 65. b7 Re7+ 66. Kb8 Re1 67. Ka7 Rb1 68. Rh6 Kg7 69. Rb6 Ra1+ 70. Ra6 Rxa6+ 71. Kxa6 Kf6 72. b8=Q Kf5 73. Kb5 Kg5 74. Qe5+ Kg4 75. Kc4 Kf3 76. Kd4 Kf2 77. Qf4+ Kg2 78. Qg4+ Kh1 79. Ke3 Kh2 80. Kf2 Kh1 81. Qg1#) 61. Rc8 Rb1 62. b6 Kh6 (62... Kf7 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 63. Rc5 Ke7 64. Kc7 Rd1 65. b7 Rd7+ 66. Kb6 Rd6+ 67. Ka7 Rd7 68. Ka8 Rd8+ 69. b8=Q Rxb8+ 70. Kxb8 Kd6 71. Ra5 Ke7 72. Kc7 Kf8 73. Kd7 Kf7 74. h6 Kf6 75. h7 Kg7 76. Rh5 Kf6 77. h8=Q+ Kf7 78. Qh7+ Kf8 79. Rf5#) 63. Rc5 Rb2 (63... Rd1 {doesn't change anything anymore} 64. Ra5 Kh7 65. Ka7 Rd7+ 66. b7 Kh6 67. Ka8 Rd8+ 68. b8=Q Rxb8+ 69. Kxb8 Kh7 70. Ra6 Kh8 71. Rg6 Kh7 72. Kc8 Kh8 73. Kc7 Kh7 74. Kd6 Kh8 75. Ke6 Kh7 76. Kf7 Kh8 77. Rh6#) 64. Kc7 (64. Ra5 Rb1 65. Ka7 Rf1 66. b7 Rf7 67. Ka8 Kh7 68. b8=Q Rf8 69. Ra7+ Kg8 70. Qxf8+ Kxf8 71. Kb8 Kg8 72. Kc8 Kh8 73. Kd8 Kg8 74. Ke8 Kh8 75. Kf7 Kh7 76. Ra6 Kh8 77. Rh6#) 64... Rg2 (64... Rf2 { cannot change what is in store for White} 65. b7 Rf7+ 66. Kb6 Rf8 67. Rc8 Rf1 68. b8=Q Rb1+ 69. Kc5 Rxb8 70. Rxb8 Kg5 71. Rg8+ Kxh5 72. Kd6 Kh6 73. Ke5 Kh5 74. Kf4 Kh6 75. Kf5 Kh7 76. Rg6 Kh8 77. Kf6 Kh7 78. Kf7 Kh8 79. Rh6#) 65. b7 Rg7+ 66. Kb6 (66. Kc6 Rg8 67. Kd6 Rd8+ 68. Kc7 Re8 69. b8=Q Rxb8 70. Kxb8 Kh7 71. Rc6 Kh8 72. Rg6 Kh7 73. Kb7 Kh8 74. Kc8 Kh7 75. Kd7 Kh8 76. Ke7 Kh7 77. Kf7 Kh8 78. Rh6#) 66... Rg8 67. Ka7 (67. Ka7 Rg7 68. Ra5 Kh7 69. Ka8 Rg1 70. b8=Q Rg8 71. Ra6 Rxb8+ 72. Kxb8 Kh8 73. Rg6 Kh7 74. Kc7 Kh8 75. Kc8 Kh7 76. Kd7 Kh8 77. Ke6 Kh7 78. Kf7 Kh8 79. Rh6#) 1-0

C66 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.O-O Bd7 5.c3 Nf6 6.Re1 Be7)

C66 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.O-O Bd7 5.c3 Nf6 6.Re1 Be7)

Basically every post that I have shared and will share today will contain games that have been shared before in the blog in a different post. This was played in the first round of the 2014 October Split II tournament. I am the current leader in group 1 but there are couple of games left that can throw me off from the first place. In the game below I played quite badly for a couple of moves starting with the move 13.Qxg7?? The position below is the one where I played my 13th move.

I should have played 13.f4, 13.Bc2 or 13.a4 instead of 13.Qxg7. At first neolithic found the strongest reply 13...Rg8, but after I played 14.Qh6, my opponent missed the Nf3+ possibility on move 14 and played 14...c4. I could have started to get myself out of the pit I had dug myself into at that point, but I blundered with the move 15.Bc2. My best chance was to play 15.Bd1, so that my bishop could have covered the f3 square and prevented the move Nf3+. For some reason neolithic missed the move Nf3+ again. I have to remind people reading this that this was a correspondence game and one might think that this kind of an easy tactic should be seen with these time controls. Neolithic replied with 15...Qb6 and threw the game away. Neolithic's 15th move was the starting point for my opponent's final downfall.

[Event "Split"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.10.24"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "neolithic"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C66"] [WhiteElo "1914"] [BlackElo "1401"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense} 4. O-O (4. d4 Bd7 (4... exd4 5. O-O {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Center Gambit}) 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bxc6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack}) 4... Bd7 5. c3 Nf6 6. Re1 Be7 {C66 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence} 7. d4 a6 8. Ba4 b5 9. Bb3 (9. Bc2 Bg4 10. Be3 O-O 11. Nbd2 d5 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Qb1 Nxe3 14. fxe3 f5 15. dxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 Qxd2 17. Nxg4 fxg4 18. Bxh7+ Kh8 19. Qc2 Rad8 20. Rad1 Qxc2 21. Bxc2 Rxd1 22. Rxd1 Bc5 23. Rd3 g3 {Hernandez,G (2502)-Cerdan Herraez, M Mislata 2004 1-0 (37)}) 9... Bg4 10. dxe5 $146 (10. Be3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Na5 12. Bc2 Re8 13. h3 Bh5 14. dxe5 Nd7 15. exd6 Bxd6 16. Qe2 c5 17. Rad1 Qc7 18. g4 Bg6 19. Nh4 Nf8 20. Nf5 Be5 21. Nf3 Bf6 22. Rd5 Ne6 23. e5 Bd8 24. Red1 Nc4 { Rocha,V (2014)-De Macedo,L (1660) Natal 2014 1-0 (35)}) (10. Qd3 O-O 11. Re3 exd4 12. Nxd4 Ne5 13. Qc2 d5 14. exd5 Qd6 15. h3 Bh5 16. Rg3 Nxd5 17. Nf5 Qc5 18. Bxd5 Rad8 19. Nxe7+ Qxe7 20. Bg5 Nf3+ 21. Bxf3 Qe1+ 22. Kh2 Bg6 23. Qe2 Rd1 24. Qxd1 Qxf2 {Attwell,G-Ermel, K Cape Town 2002 1-0 (33)}) (10. d5 Na5 11. Bc2 O-O 12. Nbd2 h6 13. Nf1 Nh7 14. h3 Bh5 15. Ng3 Bg6 16. b3 c5 17. b4 cxb4 18. cxb4 Nc4 19. Bb3 Rc8 20. a4 Ng5 21. Nxg5 Bxg5 22. axb5 axb5 23. Qe2 Bh4 24. Qg4 Bxg3 {Jaquin,X (1670)-Morel,J (1670) Paris 2003 1-0 (37)}) (10. Be3 O-O $14) 10... Bxf3 {Black forks: d1+e4} (10... Nxe5 $5 {is worth looking at} 11. Nbd2 O-O $11) 11. Qxf3 $14 Nxe5 12. Qg3 {White threatens to win material: Qg3xg7} c5 {Black has a new backward pawn: d6} 13. Qxg7 $4 {ignoring the path to victory} (13. f4 $142 {this is the best bet to save the position} Ng6 14. Qf3 $14) 13... Rg8 $19 14. Qh6 c4 {Black threatens to win material: c4xb3} (14... Nf3+ $142 { makes it even easier for Black} 15. Kf1 Nxe1 16. Kxe1 Rxg2 $19) 15. Bc2 $4 (15. Bd1 $142 Nd3 16. Rf1 $17) 15... Qb6 (15... Nf3+ $142 $1 {ends the debate} 16. Kf1 Rxg2 $19) 16. Be3 $16 Qc7 (16... Nf3+ 17. Kf1 Nxe1 18. Bxb6 (18. Kxe1 $6 Qc6 19. Kf1 Ng4 $11) 18... Nxc2 19. Qc1 Nxa1 20. Nd2 $16) 17. Qf4 O-O-O (17... Ng6 18. Qg3 $16) 18. Kh1 (18. a4 Qd7 19. Nd2 Nfg4 $18) 18... Rg4 $2 (18... Kb8 $142 $5 19. f3 d5 $16) 19. Qf5+ $18 Kb8 20. Nd2 $4 {allows the opponent back into the game} (20. f4 Nd3 21. Bxd3 cxd3 $18) 20... Rdg8 $2 (20... Rh4 21. a4 Rh5 22. Qf4 $14) 21. f4 {White threatens to win material: f4xe5} (21. g3 $142 R4g6 22. f3 $18) 21... Nc6 $4 (21... Rxg2 $142 {saving the game} 22. Rg1 Rxg1+ 23. Rxg1 Rxg1+ 24. Kxg1 Nc6 $16) 22. g3 (22. Bd1 {keeps an even firmer grip} Rxg2 23. a4 b4 $18) 22... h5 (22... R4g6 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 23. a4 b4 24. Bd1 $18 (24. Nxc4 $6 Rh6 25. Nb6 Rxg3 $18)) 23. Bd1 R4g7 24. Bf3 h4 (24... Ng4 {doesn't improve anything} 25. Bxg4 hxg4 26. a4 $18) 25. Bf2 (25. a4 $142 {secures the point} b4 26. cxb4 $18) 25... hxg3 26. Bxg3 ( 26. hxg3 $142 {seems even better} Qd7 27. a4 $18) 26... b4 $4 {but even a better move would not have saved the game} (26... Rh8 $142 27. Nf1 Nd7 $18) 27. Nxc4 (27. e5 $142 {and White can already relax} dxe5 28. fxe5 Nh7 29. Nxc4 Rxg3 30. hxg3 Ng5 $18) 27... Ng4 (27... Rxg3 {does not save the day} 28. hxg3 Rxg3 29. e5 Nxe5 30. fxe5 Qxc4 31. Re2 $18) 28. Rac1 (28. Rad1 $142 {makes it even easier for White} Qb7 $18) 28... Nh6 (28... Bh4 29. Bxh4 Ne7 30. Qa5 Qxa5 31. Nxa5 Nxh2 32. Kxh2 $18 (32. Bxe7 $6 {succumbs to} Nxf3 33. Bg5 Nxg5 34. fxg5 Rxg5 35. Nc6+ Kc7 $11)) 29. Qd5 Ng4 (29... Rxg3 {does not solve anything} 30. hxg3 Rxg3 31. e5 $18) 30. cxb4 (30. e5 Rh8 31. Re2 Ngxe5 32. Rxe5 dxe5 33. Nxe5 Rh6 34. cxb4 Rd6 35. Nxc6+ Qxc6 36. Qxc6 Rxc6 37. Rxc6 a5 38. bxa5 Bd8 39. b4 f6 40. Bf2 f5 41. a6 Rd7 42. b5 Ra7 43. Rg6 Rc7 44. b6 Rc1+ 45. Kg2 Kc8 46. a7 Bf6 47. a8=Q+ Kd7 48. Rxf6 Rg1+ 49. Bxg1 Ke7 50. Qf8+ Kd7 51. Bc6#) 30... Nxb4 (30... Nf6 {is not much help} 31. Qd2 Qd8 32. Qf2 $18) 31. Qd2 Nxa2 (31... Qc5 {is no salvation} 32. Bxg4 Rxg4 $18) 32. Ra1 (32. Na5 $142 {and White has prevailed} Nxc1 33. Rxc1 $18) 32... Qxc4 33. Qa5 Nb4 $4 {shortens the misery for Black} (33... Bd8 34. Qxa2 Qxa2 35. Rxa2 Rh7 36. Bxg4 Rxg4 $18) 34. Qb6+ ( 34. Qb6+ Ka8 35. Rxa6+ Nxa6 36. Ra1 $18) 1-0

C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7)

C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7)

And the reposting of games continues with this game. This was played in a tournament called 2014 August Grand Seven Fourteen III and it is an ongoing tournament at Red Hot Pawn at least when I type this May 2nd 2015. Two players are still fighting for the win of the tournament and I am not one of them. The highest I can get is fourth place at this point. Even though both players made some mistakes during this game, I was never in a real danger of losing this game.

Jersey Bob's move 5...Na5 was not a good move. The knight on a5 is out of play and it gave me the opportunity to win the pawn on e5, but I did not use my chance, but instead moved my bishop to d3. The position below is taken after 5.c3.

I was able to take the clear advantage even with the reply I chose. The position drifted more towards a loss for my opponent when Jersey Bob played 8...b6 in the position below. The only move that would have kept my opponent only clearly worse was probably 8...Nc6. After the move played in the game I should have a winning advantage.

My advantage did not last for that many moves, when we reached the position below after 14...Nc6 I played 15.Nf5 in reply and most of my advantage disappeared. In order to keep my advantage, I should have played 15.Nxc6. My 15th move would have allowed Jersey Bob to play Nb4 and fork my queen and bishop. I should have been more protective of my bishop pair. However, I was on the slightly better side of the board even after the move 15.Nf5.

Luckily for me, Jersey Bob took the knight on f5 instead of moving the knight to b4, which meant that I was on the clearly better side again. The game continued with the moves 16.Bxf5 Nd4 and then I threw most of my advantage away again with the move 17.Qd3. The final mistake for my opponent came in the position below, which is taken after my 20th move Nd5.

Jersey Bob should have played either 20...Bd8 or 20...Re8 in order to stay in the game. The latter option being the more preferable one. The move played in the game, 20...Qd8, was a huge blunder, after which my opponent should be clearly lost. While I could not make the most accurate moves in the remainder of the game, I did not give any real chances for Jersey Bob to change the outcome of the game.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.08.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Jersey Bob"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C62"] [WhiteElo "1895"] [BlackElo "1261"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense} 4. d4 Bd7 { C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence} (4... exd4 5. O-O {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Center Gambit}) 5. c3 (5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bxc6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack}) 5... Na5 $146 (5... Be7 6. Be3 a6 7. Bd3 Nf6 8. d5 Nb8 9. c4 c5 10. Nc3 h6 11. h3 Nh7 12. Qd2 Bg5 13. Nxg5 Nxg5 14. f4 exf4 15. Bxf4 Qe7 16. O-O O-O 17. Rae1 f6 18. Re3 Be8 19. Rg3 Kh8 20. h4 {Mackenzie, G-Cohnfeld,A New York 1880 1-0 (45)}) (5... exd4 6. cxd4 Be7 7. Nc3 a6 8. Ba4 Na7 9. Bb3 Nb5 10. O-O Nxc3 11. bxc3 Nf6 12. Ng5 O-O 13. e5 Nd5 14. Nxf7 Rxf7 15. Bxd5 dxe5 16. dxe5 Bc6 17. Bxf7+ Kxf7 18. Qh5+ Kg8 19. Qg4 Qd7 20. e6 { Mchedlishvili,M (2586)-Bochkarev,Y (2076) Jerusalem 2015 1-0 (40)}) (5... h6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. d5 Na5 8. Bd3 c6 9. c4 c5 10. h3 Qb6 11. Bc1 Nh5 12. Nc3 Nf4 13. Bf1 f5 14. g3 Ng6 15. Nh2 f4 16. Qh5 O-O-O 17. Qxg6 Qb4 18. Qh5 Nxc4 19. Qe2 b5 20. Qc2 {Lanaspa Ballesteros,F (1490) -Diogo,H Famalicao 2015 1-0 (36)}) (5... a6 6. Bd3 exd4 7. Nxd4 Be7 8. O-O Ne5 9. Be2 Nf6 10. Nd2 O-O 11. f4 Nc6 12. N2f3 Nxe4 13. Bd3 Nc5 14. Bxh7+ Kxh7 15. Ng5+ Bxg5 16. Qh5+ Bh6 17. f5 f6 18. Qg6+ Kh8 19. Bxh6 Qe7 20. Bf4 {Zimmermann, L (1393)-Sauret,S (1481) Germany 2015 0-1 (36)}) (5... Nf6 6. Bd3 $14) 6. Bd3 exd4 7. cxd4 h6 (7... c5 $5 $16) 8. O-O b6 (8... Nc6 $16) 9. Nc3 $18 Nf6 $2 (9... Be7 $18) 10. Re1 Be7 11. e5 dxe5 ( 11... Ng8 {doesn't do any good} 12. b4 Nc6 13. e6 fxe6 14. d5 $18) 12. dxe5 Nh7 (12... O-O {does not help much} 13. Bb1 Bc6 14. Qc2 $18 (14. exf6 $6 Qxd1 15. Rxd1 Bxf6 $18)) 13. Qc2 (13. Bxh7 {makes it even easier for White} Rxh7 14. e6 Bxe6 $18) 13... Ng5 $4 {shortens the misery for Black} (13... Nf8 14. Rd1 Ne6 15. a3 $18) 14. Nd4 (14. Bxg5 $142 {and White wins} hxg5 15. Rad1 Be6 16. Bb5+ c6 17. Rxd8+ Rxd8 $18) 14... Nc6 $4 {terrible, but what else could Black do to save the game?} (14... Ne6 $142 15. Nf5 Nc6 $18) 15. Nf5 (15. Nxc6 $142 { and White can celebrate victory} Bxc6 16. Bxg5 hxg5 17. Nb5 $18) 15... Bxf5 $2 (15... Nb4 $142 $5 {should be examined more closely} 16. Qe2 Nxd3 17. Qxd3 Bxf5 18. Qxf5 Qd7 19. Qxd7+ Kxd7 $14) 16. Bxf5 $16 Nd4 17. Qd3 (17. Qa4+ $142 $5 Kf8 18. Rd1 $18) 17... Nxf5 $14 18. Qxf5 O-O (18... Qd7 19. Qxd7+ Kxd7 20. Rd1+ Kc8 21. Be3 $14) 19. Be3 {Black has a cramped position} Qc8 {Black threatens to win material: Qc8xf5} 20. Nd5 {White threatens to win material: Nd5xe7} Qd8 $4 (20... Re8 $142 {was necessary} 21. Qc2 Qg4 $14) 21. Rad1 $18 Kh8 (21... Re8 { doesn't improve anything} 22. f4 Nh7 23. Nxb6 cxb6 24. Rxd8 Raxd8 25. Qc2 $18) 22. Bxg5 Bxg5 23. f4 g6 (23... Be7 24. Nf6 Bxf6 25. Rxd8 (25. exf6 $6 Qxf6 26. Qxf6 gxf6 $11) 25... Bxd8 26. Qd7 $18) 24. Qg4 (24. Qh3 Qc8 25. e6 c6 26. Qc3+ Kh7 27. Nf6+ Bxf6 28. Qxf6 fxe6 29. Qe7+ Kg8 30. Rxe6 Qe8 31. Qd6 Rd8 32. Rxe8 Rxd6 33. Rxf8+ Kxf8 34. Rxd6 b5 35. Rxc6 Kf7 36. Ra6 g5 37. fxg5 hxg5 38. Rxa7+ Ke6 39. Rb7 b4 40. Rxb4 Kd5 41. a4 Kc5 42. Rb8 Kc6 43. a5 Kc7 44. Rb3 g4 45. a6 g3 46. a7 gxh2+ 47. Kxh2 Kd6 48. a8=Q Kc5 49. Qd8 Kc6 50. Rb6+ Kc5 51. Qd6+ Kc4 52. Rb4#) 24... h5 (24... Be7 {a last effort to resist the inevitable} 25. Qh3 Kg7 $18) 25. Qxg5 Qxg5 26. fxg5 c5 27. e6 fxe6 28. Rxe6 Kg7 (28... Rad8 { does not win a prize} 29. Rxg6 h4 30. Rh6+ Kg7 31. Rxh4 $18) 29. Rf1 (29. Ne7 Rad8 30. Rxg6+ Kf7 $18) 29... Rxf1+ 30. Kxf1 Rf8+ 31. Ke2 Rf5 32. Ne3 Rxg5 ( 32... Rf7 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 33. h4 $18) 33. Kf3 (33. h4 $142 {and White has it in the bag} Kf7 34. Re4 $18) 33... h4 (33... Kf7 {is not much help} 34. Re4 c4 35. Rxc4 $18) 34. Kf4 Rh5 35. Re7+ Kf6 36. Rxa7 Rh8 (36... b5 {does not improve anything} 37. Rb7 c4 38. Ng4+ Ke6 39. Rb6+ Ke7 40. Rxg6 $18) 37. Nd5+ Ke6 38. Nxb6 Rf8+ 39. Ke3 Rg8 (39... Rf1 {does not save the day} 40. Ra6 Kf5 41. Nc4 $18) 40. Nc4 (40. Ra6 {makes it even easier for White} Kd6 41. Nc4+ Kc7 $18) 40... Rd8 (40... Kd5 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} 41. Kd3 Kc6 42. Ra6+ Kb7 43. Rf6 $18) 41. Ra6+ Kd5 (41... Kf5 {is one last hope} 42. Nd6+ Kg4 $18) 42. b3 (42. Kd3 h3 43. gxh3 g5 44. Rf6 g4 45. hxg4 Rd7 46. Nb6+ Ke5+ 47. Nxd7+ Kd5 48. b3 c4+ 49. bxc4#) 42... Re8+ 43. Kd3 Re6 44. Rxe6 Kxe6 45. Ke4 (45. Ke4 g5 46. a4 Kd7 47. Kd5 g4 48. Kxc5 g3 49. hxg3 h3 50. gxh3 Ke8 51. a5 Kd7 52. a6 Ke8 53. a7 Kd7 54. a8=Q Ke7 55. Qc6 Kf8 56. Ne5 Ke7 57. Qd6+ Ke8 58. Qd7+ Kf8 59. Qf7#) 1-0

C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 e5 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7 6.O-O Be7)

C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 e5 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7 6.O-O Be7)

This is another game that has been changed into another post, in order to better describe the opening played in it. More of these coming today. This game was played in much quicker pace than I am currently able to do. Then again I had probably over 250 games less to play at the same time than I do now.

The most critical position of the game came after the move 7.Nf5. That position can be seen below.

Panici should have played either 7...Bxf5 or 7...Bf6, but my opponent chose to play the huge blunder 7...Nf6 instead. After that the outcome of the game was pretty much decided. However, the game ended in resignation of my opponent only after the move 28...Qxh5.

[Event "Corr game 30.4.2014-10.5.2014"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.04.30"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "panici"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C62"] [WhiteElo "1863"] [BlackElo "1479"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 e5 3. Bb5 d6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense} 4. d4 exd4 (4... Bd7 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bxc6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack}) 5. Nxd4 (5. O-O {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Center Gambit}) 5... Bd7 6. O-O Be7 {C62 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence} 7. Nf5 {White threatens to win material: Nf5xg7} (7. Nc3 Nxd4 8. Bxd7+ Qxd7 9. Qxd4 Bf6 10. Qd3 Ne7 11. Be3 O-O 12. Rad1 Bxc3 13. Qxc3 Qc6 14. Bd4 Qxc3 15. Bxc3 Nc6 16. g4 Rfe8 17. f3 b5 18. Rf2 b4 19. Be1 a5 20. Kg2 Ne5 21. Kg3 g5 {Magyar,O (2340)-Kadar,G (2285) Hungary 1995 1/2-1/2 (32)}) 7... Nf6 $4 $146 {weakening the position} (7... Bf6 8. Nc3 g6 9. Ne3 Nge7 10. Ned5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Ne7 12. Bxd7+ Qxd7 13. Ne4 Bg7 14. Bh6 O-O 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Qd4+ f6 17. c4 h6 18. Rae1 Ng8 19. Re2 Rf7 20. Rfe1 b6 21. Qc3 Raf8 22. b4 {Gerasimovitch,E (2080)-Skrkar,N Mallorca 2004 1-0 (47)} ) (7... Bxf5 8. exf5 Bf6 (8... Nf6 9. Qf3 Qd7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Bg5 a6 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Rfe1 d5 14. Re2 h6 15. Bh4 Rfe8 16. Rae1 Kf8 17. Qd3 Qd6 18. Bg3 Qd7 19. Bh4 Qd6 20. a3 a5 21. a4 Qb4 22. Bg3 Qxb2 23. Bxc7 {Ries,B (2087)-Becker,W (1397) Dresden 2003 1-0 (54)}) 9. Nc3 Nge7 10. Ne4 Nxf5 11. Nxf6+ Qxf6 12. Re1+ Nfe7 13. Bxc6+ bxc6 14. Qe2 h6 15. b3 O-O 16. Bxh6 Rfe8 17. Bd2 Nf5 18. Qf3 Nd4 19. Qxf6 gxf6 20. c3 Ne6 21. Re2 Re7 22. Rae1 {Alkhaldi,B (1934)-Al Muneer,M Kuwait 2013 1-0 (75)}) (7... Bxf5 $142 {and Black can hope to live} 8. exf5 Nf6 $11) 8. Nxg7+ $16 Kf8 9. Bh6 Kg8 10. Nf5 Ne5 $4 {Black crumbles in face of a dire situation} (10... Bxf5 11. exf5 Ne5 $18) 11. Bxd7 Qxd7 12. f3 Ne8 (12... c6 {cannot change destiny} 13. Nc3 $18) 13. Qe1 (13. f4 $142 {might be the shorter path} Ng6 14. Nxe7+ Qxe7 $18) 13... Bf8 14. Qg3+ Ng6 15. Qh3 f6 16. Nc3 Ng7 (16... Rd8 {is no salvation} 17. Nd5 $18) 17. Nd5 (17. Bxg7 $142 {secures victory} Qd8 18. Bxf8 Qxf8 19. Nd5 $18) 17... Qf7 18. Nxg7 (18. Bxg7 $142 { might be the shorter path} Bxg7 19. f4 Re8 $18) 18... Bxg7 19. Bxg7 (19. f4 $142 $18 {secures the win}) 19... Kxg7 20. Ne3 h5 (20... Rhf8 21. b3 $18) 21. b3 Ne5 $6 {Black seems to have resigned himself to defeat.} (21... Rae8 22. Nf5+ Kg8 23. Rae1 $18) 22. Rad1 Rac8 (22... Rh7 23. f4 Ng4 24. Nf5+ Kh8 25. Nh4 $18) 23. f4 (23. Nf5+ $142 {keeps an even firmer grip} Kh7 24. f4 $18) 23... Nd7 (23... Ng4 {cannot undo what has already been done} 24. Nf5+ Kg8 25. Qg3 $18) 24. Rd5 (24. e5 $142 {and White can already relax} Nb6 25. Nf5+ Kh7 26. exf6 $18) 24... Rh6 (24... Rce8 {the only chance to get some counterplay} 25. e5 $1 {Deflection: d6} Rh7 $18) 25. Nf5+ Kh7 26. Nxh6 Kxh6 27. g4 Rg8 28. Rxh5+ Qxh5 1-0

C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.c3 Nf6 6.Qe2)

C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.c3 Nf6 6.Qe2)

This game has been shared in the blog before, but having more understanding of the openings, I had to switch this game to this post. I am still not an expert of opening theory, but I have better tools at my disposal these days to learn more about openings. If I were to play this game again, I would not lose on time or resign in the position this game finished. One of those things happened over five years ago but I have no recollection which one it was.

The point at which my position started to go downhill can be seen below. I played 16.Bxf4 and while it may seem at first a better move than 16.Rxf4, it apparently is not. To me it would seem that the rook is more vulnerable to attacks on f4 than the bishop. The problem with the bishop move is that it can't move after the reply 16...Nh5 because of the fork my opponent could get on g3 otherwise. In the game my opponent played 16...Nh5 and I did move my bishop to e3... At that point I was in a losing position.

My 17th move was the final nail in the coffin and I could not recover from the the two consecutive blunders and the game ended quite quickly after that. The move 20...Be6 being the last move played in the game.

[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2009.05.19"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "flightrisk"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C44"] [WhiteElo "1729"] [BlackElo "1670"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "40"] [EventDate "2009.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense} 4. d4 Bd7 (4... exd4 5. O-O {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Center Gambit}) 5. c3 (5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bxc6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack}) 5... Nf6 6. Qe2 { C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit} a6 7. Ba4 b5 {Black threatens to win material: b5xa4} 8. Bc2 $146 (8. Bb3 Be7 9. O-O (9. h3 O-O 10. O-O Re8 11. Ng5 Rf8 12. f4 exd4 13. e5 dxe5 14. fxe5 Bc5 15. Qe1 dxc3+ 16. Kh1 Bd4 17. Qh4 Bxe5 18. Rxf6 h6 19. Rxh6 gxh6 20. Qxh6 Bf5 21. Nxc3 Qd3 22. Nf3 Bxc3 23. bxc3 Qxc3 {Stojanovic,M (2245)-Sekulic,V (2315) Bijeljina Dvorovi 1994 1-0 (31)}) 9... O-O 10. Rd1 (10. Nbd2 h6 11. Re1 Re8 12. d5 Na5 13. Bc2 c6 14. b4 Nc4 15. Nxc4 bxc4 16. Qxc4 cxd5 17. exd5 Bb5 18. Qh4 Nxd5 19. Qg3 Nxc3 20. Bxh6 Bf6 21. Bg5 Ne2+ 22. Rxe2 Bxe2 23. Bxf6 Qxf6 24. Ng5 e4 {Valentine,B (1969)-Hunt,M (2068) England 2016 0-1 (66)}) 10... Qc8 11. Nbd2 Re8 12. Nf1 exd4 13. cxd4 Bf8 14. Ng3 Na5 15. Bc2 c5 16. dxc5 Qxc5 17. Bg5 Ng4 18. Rac1 Nc4 19. Bd3 Nge5 20. Bxc4 Nxf3+ 21. Qxf3 bxc4 22. Be3 Qe5 {Hou,Y (2673)-Zhao,X (2514) Beijing 2014 1/2-1/ 2 (88)}) 8... g6 9. O-O Bg7 10. h3 {Controls g4} (10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 dxe5 $11) 10... O-O $11 11. Be3 Qe7 (11... exd4 12. Nxd4 Re8 13. Nd2 $11) 12. Nbd2 a5 (12... Rfb8 13. Rfd1 $11) 13. Rae1 (13. d5 $5 Na7 14. a4 $14) 13... a4 $11 { Black gets more space} 14. Nh2 ({Worse is} 14. Qxb5 exd4 15. Bg5 h6 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. cxd4 Rfb8 $17) 14... Na5 15. f4 (15. Bg5 h6 16. Bh4 g5 $11) 15... exf4 (15... Nh5 16. dxe5 Ng3 17. Qf2 Nxf1 18. exd6 cxd6 19. Nhxf1 $11) 16. Bxf4 (16. Rxf4 $142 $5 {should be considered} Nc4 17. Nxc4 bxc4 18. Qf2 $11) 16... Nh5 $17 17. Be3 $2 (17. Ng4 $142 $5 Nxf4 18. Rxf4 $15) 17... Ng3 $19 18. Qf2 Nxf1 19. Nhxf1 (19. Qxf1 $142 f5 20. Nhf3 $19) 19... c6 (19... f5 $142 {a shame that Black overlooked this excellent chance} 20. exf5 Bxf5 21. Bxf5 Rxf5 $19 ( 21... gxf5 $6 22. Bf4 Qf7 23. a3 $17)) 20. Ng3 (20. Bf4 $5 $17) 20... Be6 $19 0-1

C66 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.O-O Nf6 6.Re1 Be7 7.c3 exd4 8.cxd4)

C66 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.O-O Nf6 6.Re1 Be7 7.c3 exd4 8.cxd4)

This game has been shared in this post before, I had to move it this to a new post, due to the new knowledge of opening theory I have acquired. Even after looking up on how I should play a certain opening, I still play in every game whatever I feel like the most logical move is to me at that moment. This usually leads to automatic play in my part and I play the same stuff over and over again even if it may not be the best moves in the position. Maybe I am just too stubborn to learn new ways to play.

In the position below my opponent played 7...exd4. It is a mistake, because I was able to get a good control of the center and easy development due to it. 7...O-O would have been a better move.

While the position of theironking was a difficult one, with accurate play my opponent could have hung on in the game. It only took a small inaccuracy on move 9 by theironking to switch the evaluation of the position from a small advantage to a clear advantage in my favor. That being said, I replied with 10.Ba4 and I was only on the slightly better side of the board. The position below is taken after 10.Ba4.

Theironking played 10...b5 in response and things started to go wrong for my opponent with that move once again. The best move according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT is 10...Bg4. I then went to c2 with my bishop and it was answered with the move 11...Nb4. I found the best reply 12.Bb1 and I should be close to winning, at least according to the engine evaluation. The game continued with the moves 12...c5 13.a3. My 13th move was a step in the wrong direction and quite a lot of the advantage I had, I lost. The moves 13.d5 and 13.e5 would have been better alternatives to the move I played in the game. Then theironking made another mistake 13...Nc6 and I could have been going towards a win once again, but I immediately threw my chance away with the move 14.Qd3. I should be slightly better even after my 14th move, but had I played 14.e5, for example, I would have been clearly better. I remained on the better side of the board until I blundered in the position below and played 18.gxf3??

I was clearly favored in the position before my 18th move, maybe even winning, but I was clearly worse after that move. The best move for me would have been 18.dxc6. The position drifted from it being clearly better to my opponent to being winning for my opponent when I played 28.Kf4 in the position below.

Luckily for me, theironking did not find the strongest move, 28...f5, but my opponent did move the f-pawn one square forward. The problem with the move 28...f6 is that it is quite passive and does not meet the requirements of the position. I continued with my plan and played 29.Ke3 and tried to win the d-pawn. Theironking continued with the move 29.d2 and I should have replied with 30.Nb1 in order to have a drawn position. I wanted to win the game still, so I played 30.Ne2 in order to exchange the knights, so that I can win the pawn and free my rook on a2. The problem is that my position close to being lost after 30.Ne2. Had my position not been lost after that it certainly was lost after my 31st move Nc3? I continued to being in serious trouble until we reached the position below where theironking played 43...a5.

The move that theironking should have played was 43...Rh8. I did not take the offered pawn on b5 because I probably thought that my opponent can get a pawn back on the queenside and I did not want to allow it. Therefore I played 44.Kd3, with the intention of getting my king to help on the queenside. Then theironking threw the game away with the move 44...fxe4+, but in order to take advantage of the blunder, I should have played 45.Nxe4+. I ended up playing 45.fxe4 and the position is roughly even after that. Theironking's position went from evenly fought to a losing one with the next two moves, 45...Rb8 and 46...Rcc8 in reply to 46.Nxb5. The rest of the game went firmly in my favor and my opponent resigned after 70.d7.

[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2011.05.19"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "theironking"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C66"] [WhiteElo "1666"] [BlackElo "1655"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "139"] [EventDate "2011.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense} 4. d4 Bd7 (4... exd4 5. O-O {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Center Gambit}) 5. O-O (5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bxc6 {Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack}) 5... Nf6 6. Re1 Be7 7. c3 exd4 8. cxd4 {C66 Spanish Game: Steinitz Defence} O-O 9. Nc3 a6 10. Ba4 b5 11. Bc2 Nb4 (11... Bg4 12. Be3 h6 (12... Nd7 13. a3 Bf6 14. Qd3 g6 15. Nd2 Nb6 16. h3 Bd7 17. b3 Bg5 18. Nf3 Bxe3 19. Qxe3 Qf6 20. Rad1 Rfe8 21. Qh6 Qg7 22. Qg5 h6 23. Qf4 Re7 24. Nd5 Nxd5 25. exd5 Rxe1+ 26. Rxe1 Na7 27. Re7 { Priese,A (1565) -Weiler,G (1511) Dresden 2012 1/2-1/2 (59)}) 13. Rc1 Re8 14. Qd2 Bxf3 15. gxf3 Nd7 16. Kh1 Bh4 17. Rg1 Kh8 18. Bxh6 Rg8 19. Bxg7+ Rxg7 20. Rxg7 Kxg7 21. Rg1+ Bg5 22. Rxg5+ Kf8 23. Rh5 Qf6 24. Qh6+ Qxh6 25. Rxh6 Ke7 26. Nd5+ {Gjergji,R (2055)-Martinez,N Istanbul 2000 1-0}) 12. Bb1 c5 13. a3 Nc6 14. Qd3 $146 {White has an active position} (14. e5 dxe5 15. dxe5 Ne8 16. Qc2 g6 17. Bh6 Ng7 18. Ne4 Bf5 19. Qc3 Nd4 20. Nxc5 Bxc5 21. Qxc5 Nb3 22. Qc3 Be6 23. Be4 Rc8 24. Rad1 Rxc3 25. Rxd8 Rxd8 26. bxc3 Rc8 27. Bb7 Rxc3 28. Bxa6 Nf5 { Cop,M-Skoda,P Komarno 1999 1-0 (37)}) (14. e5 $5 dxe5 15. dxe5 $16) 14... c4 { Black threatens to win material: c4xd3} (14... cxd4 15. Nxd4 Nxd4 16. Qxd4 $11) 15. Qc2 $14 Ne8 (15... g6 16. Bh6 Re8 17. Qd2 $14) 16. Bf4 Bg4 17. d5 Bxf3 ( 17... Na5 $142 18. Nd4 Bd7 $16) 18. gxf3 $4 {White is ruining his position} ( 18. dxc6 $142 Bh5 19. Nd5 $16) 18... Bg5 19. Qd2 (19. Bg3 Ne5 20. Qe2 Qf6 $17) 19... Nd4 20. Qe3 Bxf4 21. Qxf4 Qf6 22. Qxf6 Nxf6 (22... gxf6 $6 23. Re3 $15) 23. Kg2 Nh5 24. Rd1 Nb3 25. Ra2 Nf4+ 26. Kg3 Nd3 27. Bxd3 cxd3 28. Kf4 (28. Rxd3 Nc1 29. Rd1 Nxa2 30. Nxa2 $17) 28... f6 $4 {Black loses the upper hand} ( 28... Rac8 $142 $19 {and Black is on the road to success}) 29. Ke3 $15 d2 ( 29... f5 $142 30. Kxd3 fxe4+ 31. Kc2 Na5 32. Nxe4 Rxf3 $15) 30. Ne2 $4 { letting the wind out of his own sails} (30. Nb1 $142 {is a viable option} Nc1 31. Ra1 $11) 30... Rac8 $17 31. Nc3 $2 (31. Nd4 $142 Rc1 32. Rxd2 Nxd2 33. Kxd2 $19) 31... Rc7 (31... f5 {seems even better} 32. Raa1 Nxa1 33. Rxa1 $19) 32. Rxd2 (32. Raa1 Nxa1 33. Rxa1 f5 $19) 32... Nxd2 33. Kxd2 f5 34. Ke3 Rc5 (34... fxe4 $142 {secures the point} 35. f4 Rcf7 $19) 35. Ra1 $17 Rfc8 36. Kf4 (36. h4 $5 $17) 36... g6 $19 37. Rg1 (37. h4 Kg7 $19) 37... Rc4 38. h4 $2 (38. Ke3 Kf7 39. Rb1 Kf6 $19) 38... Rf8 (38... b4 $142 {makes it even easier for Black} 39. axb4 Rxb4 $19) 39. Ke3 Kg7 40. h5 (40. f4 Kf6 $19) 40... Kf6 (40... b4 41. Nb1 bxa3 42. bxa3 f4+ 43. Kd3 $19) 41. hxg6 (41. Kd3 $5 gxh5 42. b3 Rc5 $19) 41... hxg6 $19 42. f4 Re8 43. f3 a5 $4 {releasing the pressure on the opponent} ( 43... Rh8 $142 $19 {with excellent chances for Black}) 44. Kd3 (44. Nxb5 Rb8 45. Kd3 Rxe4 46. fxe4 Rxb5 $14) 44... fxe4+ (44... Rc5 45. Rh1 $15) 45. fxe4 ( 45. Nxe4+ Ke7 46. b3 Rc7 47. Rxg6 Rf8 $16) 45... Rb8 (45... Rc5 $5 $11 { might be a viable alternative}) 46. Nxb5 $16 {Remove defender: b5} Rcc8 $4 { another bit of territory lost} (46... Rxb5 47. Kxc4 {Remove defender}) 47. Nxd6 $18 Rb3+ (47... Rc5 {hardly improves anything} 48. e5+ Ke7 49. Kd4 $18) 48. Kd4 Rg8 (48... Rc2 {no good, but what else?} 49. e5+ Kg7 $18) 49. e5+ Ke7 50. Rg2 a4 51. Nc4 (51. f5 Rd8 52. fxg6 Rf3 53. g7 Rg8 54. Ke4 Rh3 55. Nf5+ Kf7 56. e6+ Kf6 57. Rf2 Kg5 58. Ke5 Kg4 59. d6 Rb3 60. e7 Rb7 61. Ke6 Ra8 62. d7 Rxd7 63. Kxd7 Ra7+ 64. Ke8 Ra8+ 65. Kf7 Kg5 66. g8=Q+ Rxg8 67. Kxg8 Kg6 68. e8=Q+ Kg5 69. Qe3+ Kg4 70. Qg3+ Kh5 71. Rh2#) 51... Rf3 (51... Rh3 {doesn't do any good} 52. f5 $1 {Deflection: g6} Rh4+ 53. Kd3 $18) 52. Ke4 Rf1 53. Nb6 (53. d6+ Kf7 54. Kd5 Re1 55. e6+ Kf6 $18) 53... Rf8 (53... Re1+ {is still a small chance} 54. Kd4 Rf1 $18) 54. d6+ Kd8 (54... Kf7 {is not the saving move} 55. Nxa4 Rd8 56. Nc5 $18) 55. Rg4 (55. Rc2 Ke8 56. Kd5 $18) 55... Rf2 (55... Ke8 {doesn't get the bull off the ice} 56. Nxa4 Kd7 57. Nc5+ Kc6 58. Nd3 $18) 56. Nxa4 Kd7 ( 56... Ke8 {cannot change destiny} 57. b4 Kf7 58. Nc5 $18) 57. Nc5+ Kc6 58. Nd3 Re2+ 59. Kf3 Rd2 60. Ke3 Rd1 61. Rxg6 Rh8 62. Rg3 Rb8 63. Rf3 Kd5 64. f5 Rxd3+ 65. Kxd3 Rb3+ (65... Kxe5 {does not win a prize} 66. f6 Rf8 67. f7 Ke6 68. Kd4 Kxd6 69. Rf6+ Ke7 70. Ke5 Rb8 71. f8=Q+ Rxf8 72. Rxf8 Kxf8 73. Kd6 Kg8 74. a4 Kf7 75. a5 Kf6 76. a6 Kf5 77. a7 Ke4 78. a8=Q+ Kf4 79. Qg2 Ke3 80. Ke5 Kd3 81. Qe4+ Kd2 82. Kd4 Kc1 83. Kc3 Kd1 84. Qe7 Kc1 85. Qe1#) 66. Ke2 Rxb2+ 67. Kf1 Kxe5 (67... Ke4 {cannot change what is in store for White} 68. Rf2 Rb1+ 69. Kg2 Kxe5 70. f6 Rb8 71. f7 Rf8 72. d7 Ke6 73. Rd2 Rd8 74. f8=Q Rxf8 75. d8=Q Rxd8 76. Rxd8 Kf7 77. a4 Ke6 78. a5 Kf7 79. Kg3 Ke6 80. a6 Kf7 81. a7 Ke6 82. a8=Q Ke7 83. Qd5 Kf6 84. Qc6+ Ke5 85. Rd5+ Ke4 86. Qe6#) 68. f6 Rb8 (68... Rb1+ { doesn't change the outcome of the game} 69. Kg2 Rb2+ 70. Kg3 Rb8 71. f7 Rf8 72. d7 Ke6 73. Rd3 Rd8 74. f8=R Rxf8 75. d8=Q Rxd8 76. Rxd8 Kf7 77. a4 Ke6 78. a5 Kf7 79. a6 Kg6 80. Rd2 Kf5 81. a7 Ke4 82. a8=Q+ Ke5 83. Qc6 Kf5 84. Rd5+ Ke4 85. Qe6#) 69. f7 Rf8 70. d7 (70. d7 Ke6 71. d8=Q Rxd8 72. f8=Q Rxf8 73. Rxf8 Kd6 74. a4 Kc7 75. Rf2 Kb6 76. Ke2 Ka5 77. Kd3 Kb6 78. Kd4 Kc6 79. a5 Kb5 80. Kd5 Kb4 81. a6 Kb3 82. a7 Kb4 83. a8=Q Kb3 84. Kc5 Kc3 85. Qf3#) 1-0