An Offbeat Stonewall-esque Setup vs d4 and LSB Fianchetto.

Disclaimer: I am not a master or even an expert on chess. I am just a guy that enjoys playing competitively. I play my own style, which is generally unprincipled and (according to most), impractical. I also never play the Catalan or KIA with white, so no prep was involved in the creation of this game. For reference, my Lichess database is set for Blitz and longer time controls, 1600+ rating, with no time limit. Thanks for reading.

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 e6 3. g3 Bd6 4. Bg2 Nd7
Huh. Seems odd, but look to be solid. He's really going to load up on c5 and e5, which should be his future pawn breaks.

5. O-O f5 6. c4 c6
I stopped at f5 and here to just kind of consider the position. This isn't a typical setup--Lichess database has this position occurring 5% of the time after 4. Bg2 is played. I really considered c5 here, just completely locking the center and strapping in for a long, drawn out, maneuvering game of "who can formulate the best pawn break." However, I didn't really see a plan beyond that besides just pushing my a and b pawns, so I shied away from it. I decided my next two moves (in some order) would probably be Nc3 and cxd5; I needed development and I wanted to see what happened when I tested his pawn structure. I really liked how weak his dark squares were!

7. cxd5?! cxd5 8. Nc3 a6 9. Qa4 Nf6
(I spent 7.2 minutes here)
Taking in the center is an inaccuracy (not according to Stockfish) because it just doesn't necessarily accomplish anything yet. Later in the game, I found myself bemoaning the decision to use a tempo on this move. In hindsight, I should have just developed the knight and held the tension in the center. I told my opponent what I wanted to do too early, I think. Master's database has all developmental moves after 6. ... c6, which makes complete sense. If I develop with Nc3 first, I think I can even consider c5 and b4 as an idea, looking to break on the b file while really cramping black's development. He's very clearly trying to generate play down the f file and along the dark squares on the king's side, so waiting to make a committal pawn move with a central pawn would likely have made things easier for me regarding the defense of my position.

Nevertheless, he has so many holes in his position! Having this much opportunity seems like it should make things easier, but this has long been a challenge for me; if I see a tasty snack, I want to eat it! I've been burned many times by my gluttony, and I've learned from it. So, I have to calculate each and every possibility that I see, and here I saw the following:

Bg5 - the most obvious, and maybe the most "principled" move. I develop to a square where the bishop is doing something. However, I felt like this move did not stop him from castling, which is what I was trying to accomplish. This move would likely be part of my upcoming series of moves, but it would not be the initial move.

Ne5 - a very natural move to a square where the knight typically wants to go in any middlegame. The knight sits in the center of the board on a protected square, making life difficult for black. Furthermore, if black wants to take it, they will either have to do so immediately (and creating the imbalance I wanted) or will have to wait one move to castle and risk the fact that I might defend e5 with a pawn or another piece, which would force black to then move either the bishop or knight before trading knights on e5 because of the resulting fork after dxe5, or just take with the bishop anyways to get rid of the knight. If my opponent doesn't take and doesn't castle, I can then play Bg5, and his position is going to be under a TON of pressure! Strong choice.

Ng5 - This move I really wanted to play. It was subtle enough to where it was possible that my opponent may not appreciate it, but also weird enough to where my opponent would likely carefully evaluate it. The clear threat with this move is Nxe6, forever destroying his presence in the center. The problem with this move was (at least in my opinion), it is easily defended. After Qe7, what am I doing? He'll probably castle soon, and despite my knight forcing his queen to babysit e6, he could probably play h6 or Ng4 (after castling) with a discovered attack on the knight. This didn't strengthen Nb5 at all, and if I played this move, I could no longer play Bg5, which was annoying.

Bf4 - Simplification was not really on my radar. I saw this possibility and thought it would be fine, but quickly disregarded it.

Nb5 - I liked this move! It was very cute--utilizing a tactic that wasn't super apparent while threatening to trade minor pieces on d6, creating a massively advantageous imbalance. It stopped him from castling because he had to do something with the bishop. He also cannot play Nb6 because then Nxd6+ is a double check, and the bishop is still free because I have Qb4 to follow after the king moves! I didn't know what he would play after this move.

10. Nb5 Bb8!
(10 minutes spent)
My opponent spent 6.8 minutes to find the only move that saves him. Credit to him--I didn't even see this Bb8 move. I thought he was done. Now Nb6 was 100% on my radar, but I had one last hope to play Nd6, which was Bf4.

Lichess database has Nc3 played twice and Bd2 (refuted by Nb6). Black has two wins and a draw after those moves.

11. Bf4 Bxf4 12. gxf4 O-O
(Five minutes spent)
Sigh. I now have to implement f4 into my pawn structure and respond to his attack on my now weakened king. I didn't think I had Nd6 anymore because of Nb6, forcing my queen to a3 and allowing Nc4 with his light-squared bishop finally getting a chance to develop. Even if this wasn't his idea, I felt like there were too many chances for black to win tempi on my queen with a full piece hanging in the balance to risk playing Nd6, so I retreated.

13. Na3 Ne4 14. Ne5 Nxe5
(Nineteen!!! minutes spent by my opponent on these two moves)
And now I'm less worried about the clock disparity. I played Na3 because I wanted to play Nc2 in the future. Ne4 was way too annoying to do nothing about, so I had to respond immediately. Ne5 allowed me to kick his knight out with a pawn and opened the third rank for my heavy pieces to use in the future.

The decision I had to make here was not one without a plan; I really did not like the prospects of weakening the diagonal my king was on; I felt that if I recaptured the knight with the d pawn, the move f3 would be worse than if I recaptured the knight with the f pawn. Further, the pawn on f4 came from the g file, and transferring a pawn from the g file to the e file has to be good, right?

15. fxe5 Bd7 16. Qd1 Qh4 17. Qd3
(8 mins spent by my opponent)
I spent 6.7 minutes because I wanted to play f3, but that doesn't quite trap the knight. However, if I played Qd3, I can play for a queen trade while keeping the idea of a knight trap alive.

17. ... g5 (he traps his knight) 18. f3 Ng3 19. hxg3 Qxg3 20. f4 gxf4 21. Qxg3+ fxg3
I blitzed out e3 in this position because that was my plan; regrouping on the dark squares and building my position around those pawns. While I was reviewing the game, I realized I should have taken a minute or so to consider this. After the fact, I really like Bf3, with the plan of Kf2, allowing the rooks to communicate to the h file. There are master's games where this is the idea, and its pretty formidable.

Of course, after showing this position to my NM friend Daniel, he immediately found Rf3 and said "gg".

22. e3 Rf7 23. Nc2 Rg7 24. Ne1 h5
And I didn't think I had time for anything other than Rf4. I wanted to play Rc1, but allowing h4 looked so irresponsible. Of course stockfish disagrees, saying Rc1 is about even with Rf4, but idk...

25. Rc1 h4 26. Rf4 Rh7 27. Bh3 Rc8 28. Rxc8+ Bxc8 29. Kg2 b5 30. Nf3 Rc7
This does NOT look like something I want to deal with. So instead...

25. Rf4 Kf7 26. Nd3 Rh8
I thought Rh4 was an only move because again, allowing h4 just seemed so irresponsible. Computer again disagrees, but I would not have found the line to refute his attack; I would have found Bf3, but I think I would have blundered after that.

27. Rh4 Rg4 28. Rxg4 fxg4 29. Rf1+ Kg6 30. Nc5 Bc8 31. Rf6+ Kg5 32. Nxe6+ Bxe6 33. Rxe6 h4
After Nc5, a knight for bishop trade was inevitable.
And after h4, I took about two minutes to come to the realization that the proper defense of my king would involve a bishop sacrifice for all of his pawns in front of his king, a rook trade, and pushing my passed pawns to victory. I wasn't sure of how he was going to force me to do what he wanted; I thought the bishop sacrifice was too damaging to his attack. I basically had to play a very dangerous game of "stopping my opponent from winning a tempo". If he wins a tempo, he gets to crush my king with his oncoming pawns. I love a good race!

34. Bxd5! Rc8 35. Rf6! h3
Bxd5 and Rf6 were the ideas! But then this h3 move comes, and I thought this was easy, until he played Rc2! If he wasn't in time trouble, I probably would have lost. Before moving on, can you find the best move in that position?

The lesson to be learned here is that defensive moves are ranked by importance in the interest of time. I had time to play Rf1, as it only would happen if he played Rc1+. However, I had no answer for what would happen if he played Rc2, nor did I consider him playing Rc2. A rook on the seventh is oftentimes just as dangerous as a rook threatening back-rank mates. For this reason, I should have considered both of his threats, and maybe I would have found the only move in the position, Be4!

36. Rf1?? Rc2!
Oh god...HURRY CREATE A THREAT

37. e6??
OKAY I THINK IM GOOD

37. ... g2!
OH GOD Rf2 IS MATE

38. Re1!
NO MATE

38. ... g3!
PULL THE EMERGENCY LEVER! SAC THE BISHOP!

39. Bxg2! Rxg2+ 40. Kh1
UGH I BLUNDERED A DRAW

40. ... Rf2 41. Kg1??
NOT GOOD ENOUGH, I'LL BLUNDER MATE INSTEAD!
I had to play e7 here for the draw.

41. ... Kf6 42. d5 h2+ 43. Kh1
And if my opponent wasn't in time trouble, I would have resigned. g2+ is absolutely CRUSHING. Luckily for me, he didn't play that, and played Ke5 instead.

43. ... Ke5 44. e7 g2+ 45. Kxh2 g1=Q+ 1-0