Monday 5 February 2018
White: J. Hart-Dyke (140) - Black: K. Nevols (157)
One week later we were back in Cranbrook - same venue, different competition, same opponent, different colours.
And a very different game.
1. d4 f5
2. c4 Nf6
3. Nc3 e6
4. a3!?
Unexpected but White has a clever plan.
4. ... Be7
5. Nf3 d6
6. Qc2
And this is it. White is trying to play e4 and places the queen on c2 to assist this. Often the queen then gets harassed by a knight going from c6 to b4, which in turn also hits a pawn on d5 should White advance there. The early a3 stops this and the queen can sit contently on c2.
I have to admit that this unsettled me and I thought long and hard here on how to meet 6. .. O-O 7. e4. I did not like 7. .. fxe4 8. Nxe4 as White could later have some pressure down the e-file. The real 'Dutch move' would be 7. .. e5 where a general exchange of pawns might open up the position with White's king still in the centre but a pawn up.
After 7. ... e5 White's best is 8. exf5 and Black can then choose between 8. .. e4 9. Nxe4 Bxf5 or 8. .. exd4 9. Nxd4 Nc6 10. Nxc6 bxc6 - neither of which looks promising. The computer recommends 8. .. Qe8 but just 9. Be2 seems to consolidate for White.
Instead I decided to develop a piece into the centre - the idea being to meet e4 with e5. Also to sacrifice a pawn temporarily to block White's central initiative.
6. ..... Nc6
7. d5 Ne5
8. Nd4 c5
9. Nxe6 Bxe6
10. dxe6 O-O
This was the position I had foreseen after 6. .. Nc6. Although a pawn down I thought I would have time to mop up that pawn on e6 and perhaps get an initiative going with the knights.
White could now play 11. Nd5 but Black has an interesting reply 11. .. b5!? with 12. Nxf6+ Rxf6 13. cxb5 d5 or 12. b3 bxc4 13. bxc4 Rb8.
11. Bf4
A slightly weaker move than 11. Nd5 which now allows me to gain some initiative.
11. ... Ng6
12. e3 Nh5
After a long think, which left me only 25 minutes for 23 moves - and my opponent had 29 minutes so neither of us were playing particular quickly.
13. g3 Nhxf4
14. exf4 Qc8
15. Be2?
White decides to give the pawn back but I think both of us overlooked 15. Qe2 Rf6 16. Bg2 and I can't take the pawn on e6 because of Bd5. So 16. .. Kf8 17. Bd5 and White has an overwhelming position.
15. .... Qxe6
It was a relief to get this back in the bag.
16. O-O Bf6
Now with 21 minutes left but both of us speed up. (Well, we had to!). White has the better position because of Black's weak pawn on d6.
17. Bf3!
Grabbing the h1-a8 diagonal, controlling the d5 square, and preparing to take the e-file. What more could you want from a move?
17. Qd7
18. Rad1 Bxc3
19. Qxc3 Ne7
I wanted to get my knight to the c6 square and perhaps d4. Also the knight is doing nothing from its present location.
20. Qe3 Rac8
21. Rfe1
21. ....Rfe8?
A mistake. Black should play 21. .. Rf7 which looks ugly but stays on the board. Or 21. .. Rc7 which is a crafty defence based on 22. Qe6+ Qxe6 23. Rxe6 Nc8. I did not see either of these moves as it made sense to keep the rooks connected. Sometimes the most natural move is not the right one.
White wins a pawn by force.
22. Qe6+ Qxe6
23. Rxe6 Nc6
24. Rxe8+ Rxe8
25. Rxd6
Although I am a pawn down, this is somewhat negated by the fact that White has doubled f-pawns, so I still had some chances of a draw. Black could play 25. .. Rd8 with 26. Rxd8+ Nxd8 or 26. Rd5 Rxd5 27. Bxd5+/cxd5. In each case, White has the better chances.
Instead I decide to keep the rooks on and see if I could exchange some pawns - but end up losing another one.
25. ... Re1+?
26. Kg2 Rb1
27. Bxc6 bxc6
28. Rxc6 Rxb2
29. Rxc5 Rc2
30. Rxf5 Rxc4
31. Ra5 Rc7
And this was the position I had foreseen when playing 25. .. Re1+. White is two pawns up but my rook seems well placed for defence.
32. Kf3 Rc3+
After I played this I began kicking myself - as 32. .. Re7 seemed obvious to prevent the king coming over to the queenside. But White has 33. Rd5 or 33. Re5 and is still better.
33. Ke4 Rc7
34. Kd5 Rc2
A bit of a risk. Giving up the a-pawn to go after the kingside pawns. But I could not just sit still.
35. Rxa7 Rxf2
36. Ke6 Re2+
Obviously 36. ... Rxh2??? walks into 37. Ra8 mate.
37. Kf5 Rxh2
OK, so that's one back. White would be advised to advance the a-pawn and, with the king, shepherd the kingside pawns forward. My king is hopelessly placed.
38. g4 Rc2
39. g5 Rc5+
40. Ke6 Rc8
Forced. I need to get my rook behind his king again.
41. a4 Re8+
42. Kf5 g6+
43. Kg4 Re1
44. Kf3 Rh1
45. a5 h5
I felt uncomfortable with this but it got another pair of pawns off the board.
46. gxh6 Rxh6
47. a6 can be played to exploit the edge in time but while he was thinking I thought that 47. Ra6 wins with 47. .. Kg7 48. f5 Rh3+ 49. Kg4 followed by Rxg6+. 47. .. Kf7 would be better and 48. f5 Rh5! 49. fxg6+ Kg7 50. Kg4 Rd5! This would remind me of a Kasparov v Short game 1993 where Kasparov, two pawns against none, nearly allowed what the commentators said was 'a theoretical draw'. I don't know if I could have held it.
47. Re7?
Inwardly I breathed a sigh of relief.
47. .... Rh5
48. Re5 Rh7
49. Kg4 Ra7
50. f5 gxf5+
With less than five minutes on my clock, I stopped writing down the moves. Now we were down to just the a-pawn but I raced my king over to the queenside and my rook on the b-file managed to trap the White king on the a-file. We moved backwards and forwards a few times before conceding that the game is a draw. A fortunate escape.
This was my only game for Swale in the Fuller Cup - and the team got to the final where they drew the match but lost on board count. Thanks to this draw - the team were undefeated, as they were to remain so all season.
Weald of Kent v Swale
James Hart Dyke (140) 1/2-1/2 Keith Nevols (157)
David Warrick (107) 1/2-1/2 Andrew Gillard (107)
Clive Oram (106) 1-0 Anthony Fletcher (88)
Ian Latuskie (62) 0-1 Barry Sawyer (83)
Weald of Kent 2-2 Swale
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