Game 102 - Swale Club Championship 2017-18 - Round Ten

Swale Club Championship - Round Ten

Thursday 29 March 2018

White: K. Hyde (166) - Black: K. Nevols (157)

An important match against the club's highest graded player, former club champion, and the strong favourite to win the title.

1. Nf3 f5
2. d4 Nf6
3. Bf4 e6
4. e3 Be7

So we get a form of the Dutch where White is delaying c4.

5. h3

At the time, I did not understand this but it is the beginning of a good plan.

5. ....  b6
6. Nbd2 Bb7
7. Bd3 O-O

So far, so equal. I just had one piece to develop before my intention to go on to the attack.



8. g4!?

A startling pawn move and White uses the delay in castling to go on the attack.

8. .. fxg4 9. hxg4 Nxg4 10. Bxh7+was obviously out .. and I did not like the thought of 9. .... h6 10. g5 - nor 9. ... g6 10. Bh6.

The computer recommends 8. ..Nd5 and then 9. gxf5 Nxf4 10. exf4 exf5 placing Black marginally better. Instead I decided to block the centre diagonal

8. ....  Ne4
9. gxf5 exf5
10. Rg1 Kh8

And back to our computer friend which recommends 10. .. d5 - more in the spirit of the opening and preparing Nd7-f6.

11. Qe2

White prepares to castle queenside and bring the other rook into the game.

11. .....  a5?

The beginning of a bad plan. I wanted to develop the knight but went completely the wrong way about it. Black should play either 11. .. d5 or 11. .. Bd6.

12. O-O-O Na6?

The knight is out but on a completely useless square. b4 is easily covered and the dim knight stays on the rim for the rest of the game.

13. c3 Bf6
14. h4 d6
15. Ng5 Qe8
16. f3?!

A slight mistake, or perhaps a pawn sacrifice, from White. 16. Bb5 c6 17. Bd3 keeps White's edge.



Black could now play 16. ... Nxd2 17. Rxd2 h6 18. Nh3 Bxh4 winning a pawn. But White still has compensation with the more active pieces and now a half-open file against the king.

Note how the queen-bishop lined up against a6 manages to paralyse the whole Black queenside. Neither the rook nor bishop can move.

16. ..   Bxg5
17. hxg5 Nxd2
18. Rxd2 Qc6

I foresaw the following sequence

19. g6 hxg6
20. Qh2+

20. e4! - which neither of us saw - is very strong.

20. .....  Kg8
21. Rxg6 Qxf3?

Grabbing a pawn - but 21. ..Nb4 is better, exploiting the pin down the c-file and, at last, getting the knight into the game, maybe with Ba6 to follow. White is still better though.



Here 22. Bc4+! wins at once. 22. .. d5 is forced and then after 23. Bd3!, the Black queen is trapped and there is no good answer to the threat of Rg3.

22. Rdg2 Rf7
23. Qg1 Kf8

Doing a runner. I was hoping that if I could exchange some pieces off then I might have a chance to grovel to safety. However the game is already lost. I could now see a sequence but White wins a piece.

24. Rxg7 Rxg7
25. Rxg7 Qh1
26. Rg8+ Ke7

Now I expected 27. Qxh1 Bxh1 28. Rxa8 Bxa8 29. Bxa6 but White had a long think instead. I could not see why.

27. Bg5+ Ke6
28. Bc4+ Kd7
29. Bb5+ Ke6
30. Bc4+ Kd7

A slight moment of hope - as I could not see how I could be checkmated. But, darn it ...

31. Qxh1 Bxh1
32. Rxa8 Resigns

A very good attack by White on the kingside using his pieces very effectively while Black's could not get into the game - one of them never moved and another got stuck on a6.