[Event "Koelle 2017"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017-10-26"]
[White "Bas van Riel"]
[Black "Rodney Jacobs"]
[WhiteElo "1832"]
[BlackElo "1704"]
[Result "1-0"]

{500MB, Bas-PC} 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 {(BvR) Rodney's move came as a surprise, as I was not aware that he had played this opening (Russian, Steinitz variation) before. So, my preparation went already out of the window at move 3, and I was completely 'on my own'from hereon. I don't know much about this opening either. (RJ) I didn't have much time to prepare, so decided to play the Petroff's, which I used to play about 30 years ago.} 3.d4 {(BvR) Rather than the (standard) Russian opening, 3.Nxe5, d6;4.Nf3, Nxe4; 5.Bd3, d5 variation I opted for the rather obscure 3.d4 continuation (Steinitz), to throw Rodney.out of his prep. (RJ) in fact I expected this line, which I used to play a lot.} exd4 4.e5 Ne4 5.Qxd4 d5 6.exd6 Nxd6 {(BvR) According to book so far. But here I started to think for about 10 minutes, to try and find a plan. The longer I thought, the more I got fascinated about the move 7.Bg5..} 7.Bg5?! {It looks very unnatural, but 7...Be7 would be a mistake (7...Qxg7 etc) and 7..Qd7 looks bad because it blocks the devlopment of black's bishop. When I finally decided that black's only move would be 7...f6, compromising his king-position, I took the plunge and played Bg5. Unfortunately, during our analysis after the game (too late), Rodney found the strong move 7...Nc6! with all sorts of complications. it looked much better than 7..f6, but my engine (Fritz 13) 'told' me that both moves were very equal. (RJ) Bg5 is the third most popular move, after Nc3 and Bd3. When Bas sank deep in thought for a long time, for some reason I half expected Bg5, although I had never seen it before.} f6 {(RJ) I looked at Nc6 for a long time, but could not work out the complications, so opted for the simpler f6. Chessbase shows f6 as the most popular move (49%), with Nc6 second with 33%. In principle you would have thought that Nc6 should be a better move than f6, which is non-developing and which weakens the white squares around Black's king. Both my programs prefer Nc6. Stockfish 7 gives White's best response as 8.Qe3ch. It shows that Black in fact has nothing to fear from 8. Bxd8  Nxd4  9. Nxd4 Kxd8  10. Nd2  Bd7.} 8.Bf4 {(RJ) The move given by Chessbase, and recommended by Stockfish 7.} Nc6 {(RJ) Best, according to Chessbase.} 9.Qd2 {(RJ) Also best.} Be7? {(RJ) It's odd that such a logical looking move can be such a mistake. But it is. Chessbase gives Bg4. Both my programs recommend Qe7ch!, interestingly, then giving Black about a .5 edge.} 10.Nc3 {(RJ) Simplest and best.} O-O {(RJ) Not an outright error, but more accurate is Be6, covering the white holes in Black's kingside.} 11.O-O-O a6 {(BvR) A precious waste of a move, as black's white squares (d5 and e6) are dangerously weak, and he should complete the development of his pieces first , eg 11,,,Be6. (RJ) My engines say, yes, Be6 is better, but there's not a lot in it.} 12.Nd5 {(BvR) Black will now lose the pawn on c7: 13.Nxc7, Qxc7; 14.Bxd6, etc. (RJ) it was only at this point that I realised the real threat was Nxc7.} Ne5? {(RJ) Yes, this is a bad mistake. Correct is Re8 or Be6. But I was pretty disheartened at the turn of events.} 13.Nxe5 fxe5 14.Bxe5 Ne4? {(BvR) A big mistake} 15.Nxe7+ {(BvR) Rodney resigned immediately, because he will lose his knight after 15..Qxe7;16.Qd5+.. and 17.Qxe4. An interesting opening experiment, which all of a sudden went pear-shaped for Rodney. (RJ) Yes, a very powerful, sharp game by Bas, ruthlessly punishing my inaccuracies. It is very impressive just how hard Bas works at the board, even in apparently simple positions. A real lesson for me, namely to play openings that suit my style. I hate being pinned down in a defensive, cramped position and on that basis I should not play openings like the Petroff.} {#r}