[Event "Summer Cup"]
[Site "Wellington Chess Club"]
[Date "2015.02.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Al Nichols"]
[Black "Bill Forster"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1850"]
[BlackElo "2081"]
[ECO "B27"]

{So far my tournament has been about par. A scratchy win against Nathan Rose in
round 1 (See Ian's site for Nathan's notes). A nice win against Andrew Brockway
in round 2, with some nice strategy and tactics and only one smallish (and
unpunished) flaw. Then a reasonable, although ultimately losing effort against
Nic Croad in round 3. My round 4 draw is reasonable, but Al is an aggressive
attacking player and he will be out to tear my head off with the White pieces.
How should I avoid a grisly fate?.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6 {The O'Kelly version.
This move has a few things going for it. Firstly it cuts out all the annoying
Bb5 systems. Secondly, the normal Open Sicilian move 3.d4 is not as effective
as usual. Thirdly, it is rather unfamiliar to many players, and consequently
3.d4 is the favourite move in the database!} 3. c4 $1 {Played instantly, Al
shows good knowledge. In truth I don't know much about this Maroczy option (I
am lazy and was counting on points 2 and 3). I decided to avoid g6 with an
attempt to transpose to an accelerated dragon Maroczy as I haven't had much
success with that. Maybe I'll just play some chess and see how I do... (this
happens to me a lot. Why did I buy all those opening books again?)} 3... Nc6 4.
Nc3 e6 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nf6 7. Be2 Bb4 8. f3 {#Diagram It seemed to me that
White's play has been a little slow and passive and that there should be a way
to exploit that.} 8... d5 $1 {The classic Sicilian equaliser, a little unusual
here since Black hasn't castled yet, but White has no way to exploit the
omission. In Maroczys in particular it is important to grab the chance to play
...d5 (or ...b5) when it arises. The position before 8...d5 is a rare position
in my database, it's only been reached 9 times, with good results for Black -
although ironically 8...d5 has not been a successful option. Houdini approves
though and that'll do me.} 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. cxd5 {For the next couple of moves
it was interesting to think about the mutual assured destruction variations in
which both sides eat there way down the long dark diagonal. White starts first
but Black overtakes him because one of his captures comes with check.}  ( {If
you play down the variation} 10. e5 d4 11. exf6 dxc3 12. Qxd8+ Kxd8 13. fxg7
cxb2+ 14. Kf2 bxa1=Q 15. gxh8=Q+ Qxh8 {though you'll see there are a lot of
mistakes in this fantasy sequence} ) 10... exd5 ( {I certainly considered the
natural move} 10... cxd5 $4 {before noticing it dropped a piece to} 11. Qa4+
{could this little blindness wobble presage my future blunder?} ) 11. exd5
{This is the first new move in the game}  ( {Palacios de la Prida(2250) -
Andreu(2455) Palma de Mallorca 1992 instead continued} 11. O-O d4 12. Na4 O-O
13. Qc2 Bb7 14. a3 Be7 15. b4 a5 16. Nc5 axb4 $1 17. Bg5 Qb6 18. axb4 Qxb4 19.
Nxb7 Qxb7 20. Rab1 Qd7 21. Bd3 Ra5 22. f4 Rfa8 23. Bxf6 Bxf6 24. e5 Ra2 25.
Bxh7+ Kh8 26. Qf5 Qxf5 27. Bxf5 Be7 28. Rb7 Bc5 29. Rfb1 g6 30. Be4 d3+ 31. Kh1
d2 32. Bf3 Rc2 33. Rd1 Rc1 34. Rb1 Be3 35. g3 Ra2 36. Kg2 Rxb1 {0-1 an
impressive game from Black} ) 11... Nxd5 {Black's active pieces mean he has a
shade the better of equality perhaps} 12. Qd3 $2 {This ugly move is a blunder.}
12... O-O $2 {I played this quickly and didn't take full advantage - in fact I
could have won significant material by capturing the c3 pawn with the knight
first, since the White queen gets exchanged off and so isn't defending, eg }  (
{eg} 12... Nxc3 13. Qe3+ Qe7 14. Qxe7+ Kxe7 15. bxc3 Bxc3+ 16. Kf2 Bxa1 17.
Ba3+ Kf6 18. Rxa1 {with a winning position for Black} ) 13. O-O Re8 14. Nxd5
cxd5 15. Bd2 $2 {#Diagram Black's pressure draws another weak move. I took my
time here sensing there was an immediate win in the position. After 10 or 15
minutes, I finally saw it} 15... Bc5+ 16. Kh1 a5 $1 {The awkwardly placed Queen
and bishops should cost White material here, there's no good answer to the
threat of ...Ba6} 17. Qb5 $1 {Resourceful, this is the best of a bad bunch.}  (
{I was counting on the fact that if White tries to tempo on the c5 bishop by
say} 17. Qc2 Rxe2 18. Qxc5 {Black picks up the other loose piece} 18... Rxd2
{However White avoids this by keeping the Be2 protected and additionally
prepares the manoeuvre Bd3 and Qb3 to stay alive } ) 17... Qd6 $4 {#Diagram I
spent even longer on 17...Qd6, unable to believe there was no win. In the end I
selected a line that I thought won an important pawn, and decided that would
have to do.}  ( {Naturally the computer quickly finds} 17... Bb4 $1 {renewing a
double threat that persists even after} 18. Bxb4 Ba6 $1 {Zwichenzug} 19. Qa4
Bxe2 {since effectively a pair of bishops has been exchanged and now Black has
simultaneous threats to the Rf1 and the Bb4 } ) 18. Bd3 $4 {The game continued
in exactly the way I planned as I played 17...Qd6.} 18... Ba6 19. Qb3 Rab8 20.
Qc2 Bxd3 21. Qxd3 Rxb2 {Looking ahead to this point I thought my booty would be
secure as Bxa5 is unwise since it would let the other rook penetrate as well.
That's true although I hope I would have noticed that e3 was the right
penetration square , not e2} 22. Rfe1 (22. Bxa5 Re3 $1 23. Qf5 Qa6 24. Bc7 Qe2
{with an overwhelming position} ) 22... Reb8 $2 {#Diagram Another mistake,
allowing White to win the exchange with Bc3 followed by the skewer Be5. BUT, I
CAN'T KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE ANY MORE. DID YOU NOTICE THE ?? ANNOTATIONS FOR
17...Qd6?? AND 18.Bd3?? ?  In the game both players were so concerned with
White's attempt to unravel that we both missed the fact that I had simply left
my rook on e8 en-prise. Of course I noticed immediately I let go of the Queen
on d6. (It's funny how often that happens). I considered resigning immediately,
but decided it was more sensible to keep a poker face and hope for a miracle.
Fortunately I only had to keep this up for a minute or so. An embarrassing
detail is that Nic Croad wandered by and caught me red handed trying to
instantly reply 18...Ba6 in nonchalant fashion like a man who knew that 18.Bd3
was an obvious forced move. It might be a good time to talk a little about the
psychology of a situation like this. I think a really mentally tough competitor
would actually enjoy a let-off like this and would relish the opportunity to
ruthlessly make the transgressor pay. Think some flinty Australian batsman (a
Steve Waugh type) after a dropped catch. Or a Magnus Carlsen after Vishy Anand
missed the opportunity to punish his recent World Championship blunder. But I
am not cut from this cloth. Instead I couldn't resist the feeling that the game
was now rendered slightly pointless, and a relaxed approach was therefore
appropriate. } 23. Reb1 $2 {Missing Bd2-c3-e5} 23... Qa6 $4 ( {I so nearly
played the obvious and sensible} 23... Rxb1+ 24. Rxb1 Rxb1+ 25. Qxb1 Bb4 {and
Black should win without too much trouble since in Queen endings passed pawns
and king safety are all important. Instead I suddenly spotted what I thought
was an opportunity to win quickly by deflecting the White queen from the weak
back rank. In my casual mood I played it without really thinking it through.} )
24. Rxb2 $1 {Naturally I realised there were several flaws (including this big
one) in my idea as soon as I released the Queen, and this time Al doesn't let
me off. } 24... Qxd3 25. Rxb8+ Bf8 {Black is dead lost because this Bishop is
condemned to death on this square.} 26. Bxa5 g6 27. Bb4 Qd4 28. Rxf8+ Kg7 29.
Rb1 {Al plays the final phase confidently and effectively. No more miracles for
me.} 29... Qd3 30. Re1 Qc4 31. a3 d4 32. h3 d3 33. Rd8 Qc2 34. g4 h5 35. g5 Qf2
36. Bc3+ f6 37. Re7# 1-0

[Event "Summer Cup"]
[Site "Wellington Chess Club"]
[Date "2015.02.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Ben Thomas"]
[Black "Philip Rossiter"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 d5 {This game was played on my anniversary, and given that my partner is
Danish, and that I couldn't play the Danish Gambit, I thought the Scandinavian
Defence would be appropriate. } 2. e5 {But my opponent doesn't want any of
that. } 2... c5 3. d4 e6 {Yes, I know. I should play cxd4 then Bf5 at the right
moment, but I decided to go in to a French, since I knew it. } 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3
Qb6 6. Bd3 {Oh bugger, the trappy Milner-Barry. } 6... Bd7 (6... cxd4 {is the
main line. } ) 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. O-O a5 9. Nbd2 {I found out later that this is
actually theory! } 9... Qc7 {But this isn't. }  (9... f6 {has been played here.
} 10. exf6 Nxf6 11. Nb3 e5 {is unclear. } ) 10. Nb3 Ba7 {I thought this was
better than either }  (10... b6 {or }  (10... Be7 { The software thinks they
are all about the same. } ) ) 11. Bf4 Nge7 12. Nbd4 Nxd4 13. cxd4 Ng6 $6 {White
has a significant edge here. }  (13... Nc6 {or }  (13... Qb6 {were better I
think. } ) ) 14. Bg5 {Maybe }  (14. Rc1 {was a bit better. } ) 14... O-O
{Again, maybe }  (14... Qb6) 15. h4 {#Diagram Oh dear, I really was starting to
not like this. } 15... Bc6 16. Qc2 $6 {It is here I think, that White really
missed his chance. I was expecting 15.h5, and was busy calculating things like
}  (16. h5 Ne7 17. h6 g6 18. Rc1 Nf5 19. Bxf5 exf5 20. Qd2 {and had a sinking
feeling about all of it. } ) 16... h6 {At the time I just thought that this
move was both provocative and the best move I had. The software agrees. } 17.
Bxg6 $6 {White had to retreat the Bishop, after which he may still have a
slight edge. } 17... fxg6 18. Be3 {I breathed a huge sigh of relief here. White
perhaps realised too late that }  (18. Qxg6 {runs in to } 18... Rxf3 $1 19.
gxf3 hxg5 20. Qxe6+ Qf7 21. Qxf7+ Kxf7 {which is very good for Black. Now I was
feeling OK, as Black now has no problems. } ) 18... Qf7 19. Rfc1 {I found this
a bit curious, as the game went, the Rooks end up playing no further part in
the game. } 19... Qf5 20. Qd2 $6 {I thought White had to swap Queens, after
which I was confident Black could not lose in the endgame with two Bishops. } 
20... Qg4 {#Diagram Whereas now I started to think about winning. How quickly
the game has turned, as it is now Black who has the edge. } 21. Qd1 Rf7 {I
thought about other moves, but really, from now on there was only one
thought ...attack!  Notice how the Bishops, that have appeared to be spectators,
start putting pressure on White's position. } 22. Nd2 $6 {I didn't get to ask
Ben whether this was an intended pawn sac or not. In any case after }  (22. Rc3
Raf8 23. Bc1 Rf5 {followed by Bb6-d8 I rather prefer Black. } ) 22... Qxh4 23.
Nb3 Raf8 {Now the threats become tangible, eg ...Rxf2 immediately. } 24. Qe1 Rf5
25. g3 {I thought White might play 24.f3 here, but Black just exchanges Queens
and gets himself organised for a favourable endgame. After the move played
Black's attack gains momentum. } 25... Qg4 26. Qd1 {Oh, so White wants to
exchange Queens now. } 26... Rf3 {No! } 27. Qe1 (27. Rc3 {was an alternative,
but really it's all hopeless now. I was running short of time, but really there
was only one more move to find } ) 27... h5 {#Diagram The rest is easy. Black's
attack is so strong that he can surrender the exchange. } 28. Nd2 h4 29. Nxf3
Rxf3 30. Kg2 Qe4 31. Kg1 hxg3 32. Rxc6 {A help to Black's attack had been that
if the King tried to run, then there was a nasty check on b5 ...not that it makes
any difference to eliminate this bishop now. } 32... bxc6 33. Qd2 gxf2+ 34.
Bxf2 Qg4+ 35. Kf1 Bxd4 {And before I had even pressed the clock Ben extended
his hand and was very gracious. } 0-1

