December Toledo Swiss

Round 1, Charisee Woods(1531)-chessart(1800)

1 e4 c5 2 c3 d5

For my money the strongest move, though other moves score just as well or slightly better.

3 ed Qxd5 4 Nf3 Nf6 5 d3(?)

Normal is 5 d4.

5...g6

This leaves the database.

6 Bf4 Bg7 7 Be2 0-0 8 Qd2 Nc6 9 Na3 Nh5 10 Bg3 NxB 11 hg Bf5 12 Nc2 Rfd8 13 Ne3 Qd7 14 Rd1 b5 15 NxB QxN 16 Ng5 h6 17 Ne4 b4 18 g4 Qe5 19 f4 Qd5 20 Bf3 Qxa2 21 Nxc5 bc 22 bc QxQ 23 RxQ Bxc3 24 BxN Rc8 25 Nb7 Rxd3 26 Be4 RxR 27 Kf1 Bd4 28 Ke1 Be3 29 Rxh6 Re1#
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In round two I played a 12-year old Expert! After beating me he went on to beat a Master, and then in the 4th round lost to the other Master in the tournament.

Round 2, chessart(1800)-Justin Sun Liang(2057)

1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 cd cd 4 Nc3 Nc6 5 Bf4 Nf6 6 e3 a6

The point here is to prevent white's Bb5, threatening to trade B for N and  leave black with a bad bishop. After 6...Bg4, an amusing miniature runs  1. d4   Nf6 2. c4   c6 3. Nc3  d5 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Bf4  Nc6
6. e3   Bg4 7. Qb3  Qd7 8. h3   Na5 9. Qb5  Qxb5 10. Nxb5 Bh5 11. g4 1-0.

Another sample game, this time with 6...Bf5 rather than 6...Bg4, runs 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Bf4 Nc6 5. e3 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bf5 7. Qb3 Na5 8. Qa4+ Bd7 9. Qc2 e6 10. Bd3 Rc8 11. Nf3 b5 12. a3 Be7 13. Ne5 Nc4 14. Qe2 O-O 15. O-O Nxa3 16. Nxd7 Qxd7 17. Nxb5 Nc4 18. Nxa7 Ra8 19. b3 Bd6 20. bxc4 Bxf4 21. Nb5 Rxa1 22. Rxa1 dxc4 23. Bxc4 Bb8 24. g3 Ne4 25. Bd3 Nd6 26. Nc3 g6 27. Na4 Qe7 28. Nc5 Rd8 29. Qb2 e5 30. Na6 Ba7 31. Nb4 Qb7 32. Rxa7 Qxa7 33. Nc6 Qa8 34. Nxd8 e4 35. Nb7 exd3 36. Nxd6 Qc6 1-0

 7 a3?

Normal is 7 Bd3, which leaves white with a healthy advantage. My move allows black to develop his bad bishop.

7...Bf5 8 Bd3 BxB 9 QxB Na5

Normal is 9...e6. Black's move is not in the database.

10 b4 Nc4 11 Nf3 e6 12 0-90   Bd6 13 BxB NxB 14 Rfc1 0-0 15 Nd2 Rc8 16 Na4 Nc4 17 NxN?

Getting too careless. I should have asked myself why he was letting me win a pawn. The computer likes 17 Nc5, after which I retain a small advantage.

17...dc 18 RxP? RxR 19 QxR b5 20 Qc6 ba 21 Qxa6 Qd7 22 Rc1 Nd5 23 b5 Rb8 24 Qxa4 h6 25 Rc5 Nc7 26 Qa7 Rxb5 27 h3 Rb1+ 28 Kh2 Qd6+ 29 g3 Ne8 30 Qa8 Rb8 31 Qa7 Qb6 32 Qa4 Nf6 33 Qc2 Qa6 34 a4 g6 35 a5 Kg7 36 Kg2 Rb5 37 RxR QxR 38 Qc5 QxQ 39 dc Nd5 40 a6 Kf6 41 Kf3! Ke5 41 a7 Nc7 0-1
 
Round 3, Alan Bui(1573)-chessart(1800)

1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 c5 3 c3 e6 4 Bf4 d5?

A serious mistake, as it lets white play the Colle-type attack which he seeks. All other reasonable moves give black a huge advantage. The strongest is 4...b6, which has black winning twice as often as white. A sample game runs 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 b6 5. Nbd2 Be7 6. h3 Bb7 7. c3 O-O 8. Bd3 Nc6 9. O-O d6 10. Qe2 cxd4 11. exd4 Qd7 12. Rfe1 Rfe8 13. Ne4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 g6 15. Rad1 Bf8 16. Qb5 d5 17. Bb1 Bg7 18. a4 Qc8 19. Qe2 Ba6 20. Qe3 Na5 21. Bh6 Nc4 22. Qc1 Bh8 23. Ne5 Nd6 24. Ng4 f6 25. h4 Qd7 26. Qf4 Nf5 27. Bxf5 exf5 28. Ne3 Re4 29. Qg3 Rae8 30. f3 R4e7 31. b3 Bg7 32. Bxg7 Kxg7 33. Nc2 Be2 34. Rd2 Qc8 35. Qf2 Ba6 36. Rxe7+ Rxe7 37. Nb4 Bb7 38. Rd3 f4 39. Qd2 a5 40. Nc2 Ba6 41. c4 dxc4 42. bxc4 Qxc4 0-1  The point is not that black got a great game out of the opening, but that he got a playable middlegame, which should always be black's goal.

f e3 Bd6 6 Bg3 0-0 7 Bd3 h6?

 Here again, 7...b6 yields good results.

8 Nbd2 Qc7 9 Ne5 Nfd7 10 f4 f6 11 Ng6 Re8 12 Qh5 and 1-0 in 20 moves