Thursday 8 June 2017
White: K. Nevols (134) - Black: T. Owens (167)
The last game of the season - against the club champion.
This game took place on the day of the 2017 general election and, as a candidate in a safe Conservative seat where you know you will lose your deposit, there is not much you can do in the evening - hence I went ahead with the game and planned to move on to the count afterwards.
1. e4 d6
2. d4 Nf6
3. Nc3
Inviting 3. .. g6 and into the Pirc defence
3. .... Nbd7
But this was not expected.
4. Bg5
Probably too committal. 4. Nf3 keeps options open.
4. .... h6
5. Bh4 c6
I was tempted to play 6. f4 here and blast away at the centre. Black could play 6. ... Qb6 (and I did not notice that 7. a3 prevents 7. ... Qxb2 because 8. Na4 then traps the queen). I was more conscious of the big space in front my king still a long way from castling. My opponent is a dangerous attacking player and I wanted to get the king into safety as soon as possible.
6. Nf3 Qa5
7. Qd2?
7. Bd3 is better but I wanted to move that bishop to c4 and the a2-g8 diagonal. Black now grabs the initiative.
7. ... e5
8. Bc4 b5
9. dxe5 dxe5
10. Bd3
I had overlooked that 10. Bb3 would lose the e-pawn to b4, g5, g4. So back it went to a worse square.
10. ... Bb7?
Black misses a chance to put White under severe pressure with 10. .. b4 11. Ne2 g5 12. Bg3 g4 13. Nh4 Nc5 and Black is advancing. I might have tried 11. Nb1 and then 11. .. g5 12. Bg3 g4 13. Nh4 Nc5 but this is not much different.
11. Bg3
11. .. b4 is still good but now lacks the follow-up punch of g5.
11. ... Nh5
12. O-O Nxg3
13. hxg3 Qc7
Now I thought the position was equal. I had to move the rook out from the corner to allow me to drop the knight back to b1.
14. Rad1 b4
15. Nb1 Be7
16. Qe2 Nc5
At last the Black knight occupies this square it had been gazing at - but I can move the bishop now and reshuffle some pieces.
17. Bc4 a5
18. Nbd2 O-O
19. Nb3 Na4
20. Rb1 Nb6
21. Bd3 c5
And now I was uncomfortable again. Black's pieces were moving around with ease whereas mine seemed to be getting into each others way. I could not see how I could work up an initiative like this!
22. Nbd2 Rfd8
23. Nc4 Bf6
24. Nxb6 Qxb6
25. Rfd1 Qc7
Better might be 25. .. Qc6 as now my bishop is freed from defending the e-pawn and can move to a better square.
26. Bc4 Qe7
27. Bd5 Bxd5
And with this move Black offered a draw. I had not yet decided whether to re-take with the pawn or the rook but I felt I was still worse and, as it was the last game of the season, with Black graded far higher than me, I took the even result. A dull game to end with.
Thus ended the 2016-2017 season - a very good one for me with a score of Played 41 Won 25 Draw 12 Lost 4, and I was unbeaten for Swale Chess Club and for Kent Under-140s.
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