Swale Club Championship - Final Group - Round One
Thursday 17 May 2018
White: A. Gillard (107) - Black: K. Nevols (157)
So we were into the final group, and I had finished with nine wins, two draws and one loss - one point behind the leader. Four more games now and a chance to catch up.
1. e4 d5
The old faithful. As we have seen, my opponent is a dangerous attacking player who likes to sacrifice pieces, so I decided to be solid and try to outplay him.
2. exd5 Qxd5
3. Nc3 Qa5
4. d4 Nf6
5. Nf3 Bf5
6. Bd2 c6
7. Ne4!?
White plays the system which doubles Black's pawns and does not allow the strongpoint of d5 to be set up (by pawns on c6 and e6). On the other hand, the pawn which is about to appear on d6 does a good job of keeping the White kings' knight at bay.
7. ... Qc7
8. Nxf6 exf6
9. Bc4 Bd6
10. c3 O-O
11. O-O Nd7
The plan is to gradually get space in the centre and take the e-file. White's queen's bishop is a little short of black squares.
12. a4 Nb6
13. Ba2 Rfe8
I briefly considered 13. ... Be6 to try to straighten the pawns out but 14. Bxe6 fxe6 and White will get an initiative with a choice of a5 or Qb3.
14. Be3 Nd5
15. Qd2 Nxe3
The computer likes 15. .. Be4 or even 15. ... g5!? but I liked the idea of half blocking the e-file and giving me a target to attack.
16. fxe3 Re7
17. c4 c5
I liked this move. After 18. d5 the pawn is well blockaded and I can continue with 18. ... Rae8 adding some pressure.
18. dxc5 Bxc5
19. Nd4 Bg6
20. b4 Bd6
I felt that I must be better here. The bishops are well placed although in different directions, the queen and bishop form a good battery towards the king, and the White e-pawn is lonely and backward.
21. Nf3?
A mistake. White needed to play 21. g3 which Black could meet with 21. ... Be5
21. .... Rd8
22. Qc3 Be4
Not seeing the strong 22. ... a5!. If 23. bxa5 then Rxe3! followed by Bc5 with great pressure , or 23. b5 Rxe3 24. Qb2 Ba3! and the white queen is running out of squares. Anything else and simply 23. ... Bxb4. I did not see any of that.
The point of 22. ... Be4 is obviously to take on f3 and then h2 but this move blocks the e-file. For that reason, 22. .. Bh5 would have been an improvement.
23. Rad1 Bxf3
24. Rxd6?!
You see what I mean about my comment at the start. This was quite a shock, especially as by now I only had 11 minutes left for 11 moves. After I calmed down, I saw it was not a problem.
24. .... Rxd6
25. Rxf3
I had planned to meet 25. gxf3 with 25. ... Red7 coming down the d-file. But now I am going to pick up the h-pawn anyway.
25. ..... Rd1+
26. Rf1 Rxf1+
27. Kxf1 Qxh2
28. Qd3 Qe5
Centralising to keep an eye on the back rank.
29. Bb1 g6
30. Ke2 Re6
To avoid any Qd8+ threat and also to secure it's position while the black Queen can go wandering about.
31. c5 Qb2+
With the white b-pawn about to go, White decided to resign.
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