Hello. Today I want to share the battle of round 4 from a 5 Round Swiss Tournament, played this summer in Hamburg, Germany. I started very well in this tournament with 2,5 / 3. My enemy was a unrated kid, but also got a score of 2,5 so far. These are often very hard battles. I was rated with an Fide Elo of 1375 at this time and was playing with the black pieces:
- e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Nb3 Nf6 7. Be3 O-O 8. Be2 d6 9. O-O Be6 10. f3 a5 11. Nd4 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 a4 13. a3 Qa5 14. Be3 Rfc8 15. Qe1 Bc4 16. Bd2 Qb6+ 17. Qf2 Qxb2 18. Bxc4 Rxc4 19. Ra2 Nxe4 20. fxe4 Qxa2 21. Nxa2 Bd4 22. Be3 Bxe3 23. Qxe3 Rxc2 24. Nb4 1-0
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7
I found some games played by my enemy in the database, where he played the Maroczy Bind with 5. c4 against the Accelerated Dragon. I prepared for this, but things are different now :-)
6. Nb3 Nf6 7. Be3 O-O 8. Be2 d6
Now we have a typical dragon set-up.
9. O-O Be6 10. f3 a5
I was trying to create some counterplay on the queenside.
11. Nd4 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 a4 13. a3 Qa5 14. Be3 Rfc8 15. Qe1 Bc4
I think this was the wrong plan! I should keep my light-square bishop and do not exchange him, because my one is far better than the bishop from my opponent!
16. Bd2 Qb6+ 17. Qf2
For some reason, my opponent did not take my bishop - good for me :-) I played the check on b6 to double attack the king and the pawn on b2. But now, I played the loosing move:
17...Qxb2
I calculated a lot here and was sure, that I can escape with my queen. But there is just one winning move for White - can you find it?
18.Bxc4
So far, I though everything was okay. I calculated this line to this point:
18...Rxc4 19. Ra2 Nxe4 20. fxe4 Qxa2 21. Nxa2 Bd4
Ouch, now I realised that I missed something: The bishop on d2 can go between and the game is over. Just a couple more moves until I resigned.
22. Be3 Bxe3 23. Qxe3 Rxc2 24. Nb4
What a hard loss. I was sure that I calculated everything and that my queen can escape. But for some reason, I missed the last bishop move. Well played and calculated by my opponent, especially the 18.Bxc4 move was very nice to find.
You can see the full game here on lichess.
Did you liked the game? Feel free to share your thought below :)
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