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Malvern v Worcester County League match
played at Worcester on December 3rd.
BCCL Division 1 2015-2016
Malvern v Halesowen County League match
played on October 6th at Halesowen.
Notes by Lee Davis.
This was my debut game for Malvern and my first game in the Worcestershire League for 35 years.1.d4 " After 1.P-K4 White's games is in its last throes" - Gyula Breyer 1...g6 2.g3 Bg7 3.Bg2 d6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0 6.c4 Nc6 7.Nc3 a6 Blacks idea here is to play ... Rb8 and ..b5 to nibble way at White's big centre. The most common response is 8.h3 to deny g4 to the black knight and push on with the e-pawn. I have had success with 8.h3 but recently I have been trying a more direct approach championed by attacking players such a Mamedyarov and Radjabov 8.e4 Black can stick to his principles with 8... Rb8 or pose white some problems with 8.. Bg4. My opponent chose a more direct challenge to the centre... [8.h3 Rb8 9.e4 b5 10.e5 dxe5 11.dxe5 Qxd1 12.Rxd1 Nd7 13.e6 fxe6 14.cxb5 axb5 15.Bf4 ... and black's fractured position compensates for white's pawn sac.] 8...e5 9.d5 Ne7 In recent months I have become convinced by the strength of relocating the king's knight to d3 where it guards f4 and supports the strategically important c5 push (not least because of the pressure it will exert on e5. Now the best move is Ne1 straight away but I became obsessed with the idea that black could play 10.. b5, I would have to exchange pawns before playing Nd3 and then black could embarrass my rook on f1 after ... Ba6. It is vital to keep the white rook on f1. However the importance of flexible thinking is shown by the varaition 10.Ne1 b5 11.cxb5 axb5 12.Nc2! when white holds back black's queenside development and can consider playing b4, using the knight to deny black the a3 square and after h3 anchor his bishop on the important e3 square. Instead I panicked and played the timewasting and anti-positional... 10.a4 [10.Ne1 b5 11.cxb5 axb5 12.Nc2=] 10...Nd7 11.Ne1 f5 12.Nd3 but at least the white knight gets to the d3 square in time to stop black's ... f4 12...Nf6 13.f3 followed by Be3 is probably the correct way to play this now. Instead I became uncharacteristically adventurous...13.f4 ... now and for the rest of the middle game white has trouble developing his bishop on the natural e3 square. It is worth mentioning that some players of the black pieces have a tendenecy to play ... h6 earlier in this opening to prevent white playing Bg5. I think this both weakening and time wasting: rarely does developing the bishop on g5 help white in such positions - the bishop must guard the b6-g1 diagonal and support white's plan of pushing c5. [13.f3]13...Nxe4 14.Nxe4 fxe4 15.Bxe4 Bh3 Black's best move and I thought I was in trouble now (my opponent disagreed). My rather rash f4 move has given black the opportunity to get the Indian Bishop into the game - which is always bad news for white. Probably the best move now is 16.Re1 to guard the e3 square after 16... exf4 17.Nxf4 but it is hard to resist the 'safety first' move 16.Bg2 16.Bg2 now I expected 16...Bxg2 17.Kxg2 Nf5 practically forcing 18.Re1 16...Qd7 this allowed me to re-instate my plan of keeping black's indian bishop out of the game.17.fxe5 dxe5 There are a lot of candidate moves now and I think I spent a long time on my next move. Most of my thinking was around playing Nf2 to guard e4 and the white squares around my king. I needed to understand whether to do this either before or after exchanges on h3 or fi or f8 (!!). But then I started analysing the aggressive way of getting the knight to e4 without worrying so much about the white squares... 18.Nc5! attacking the queen with the knight may seem to be the most obvious move but I think this was white's best move in the game and needed a lot of analysis and careful evaluation 18...Rxf1+ 19.Qxf119.Bxf1 was playable and possibly the best move but I couldn't be sure how I stood after 19...Qg4 20.Be2 20...Qd4+ and 19...Qd6 20.Nxb7 Qb6+ 21.c5 Qxb7 22.Bxh3 Nf5 23.Bxf5 gxf5 was a bit beyond my event horizon [19.Bxf1+/- Qd6 (19...Qg4 20.Be2 Qd4+ 21.Qxd4 exd4 22.Bf4 is I think better for white)20.Nxb7 Qb6+ 21.c5 Qxb7 22.Bxh3 Nf5 23.Bxf5 gxf5 24.d6 cxd6 25.Qxd6 White is a pawn up but his lack of development and exposed king does not make life easy.] 19...Bxg2 20.Kxg2 .. rather routine thinking on my part. 20.Nxd7 was the more ambitious choice and although I looked at it I did not do so with enough rigour. [20.Nxd7 Bxf1 21.Kxf1 b6 22.Bg5 Nf5 23.a5+/-] 20...Qg4 I think I missed this rather straightforward attacking move. Black now has opportunities to combine queen and knight with their usual devastating effect. The most important thing I must do now is keep the black rook away from the attack. An attack from two pieces can be survived, but attacks from 3 pieces are often fatal. 21.Ne6 Nf5 22.Ra3 It is somewaht ironic that the timewasting a4 move which got me into this mess in the first place has exposed the resource by which I can defend the third rank - which is critical to white being able to hold off the attack. Now I expected 22... Nh4+ 22...Nd4 [22...Nh4+ 23.Kg1 e4 24.Bf4 Nf3+ 25.Kg2 ... and although the black pieces look threatening, white can push the queen away with h3 before surrounding black's e pawn] 23.Nxd4 Qxd4 24.Qd3 I expected 24... e4 here and black's bishop is fully in the game 24...Qg4[24...e4 25.Qxd4 Bxd4 26.Be3 Be5=] 25.h3 Qf5 Had I been black I would have prefered 25..Qd7. The endgame looks to favour white's more active pieces, whereas the still slightly exposed white king should suggest to black that keeping the queens on gives him some practical chances. 26.Qxf5 gxf5 27.Rb3?! Here I rushed things a bit - always a mistake in endgame play. Fixing black's pawn with 27.a5 was the correct plan. 27...b6 Having missed a5 last move I must now be a little dramatic in order to break up black's pawn structure... 28.a5 bxa5 29.Rb7 forcing black to play a passive move 29...Rc8 ...and now I should play 30.g4 in order to get my King to the e4 square - after which white would have a full clamp on the position.30.Ra7? [30.g4+/= f4 (30...fxg4 31.hxg4 Bf8 32.Kf3 c6 33.Be3+/=) 31.Bd2 a4 32.Kf3=] 30...e4 opening up the long diaginal for the indian bishop. The position is now equal. 31.Rxa6 Rb8 black offered a draw here. Had I realised he was graded 194 I would probably have taken it !! - but I thought I still had something to play for. 32.Rxa5 Bxb2 33.Bf4 Bc3?! Black's first endgame inaccuracy. d4 is the right active square for the bishop and would secure the draw. [33...Bd4 34.Bxc7 Rb2+ 35.Kf1 e3 36.Ra3 Rb1+ 37.Ke2 Rb2+=]34.Ra2 Rb7 ..more passive play - caused by black's inaccurate 33rd move. Now simply 35.c5 would win for white, but it was almost automatic for me to put the rook behind the pawn I was going to push - particularly with a gain in tempo. 35.Rc2?! This gives black an opportunity to make amends for his error an put the bishop on d4 - after which the win would not be easy. [35.c5+- Rb5 36.d6 cxd6 37.Bxd6 Kf7 38.c6 Ba5 39.c7+-] 35...Bf6? ..again missing the best defence. [35...Bd4 36.c5 Ra7 .. and black can hold the pawns with ... Bb6] 36.c5 Bd8 37.Ra2 Kf7 38.c6 Rb6 38... Rb8 is better but white is breaking through now. White just needs to calculate that he can deal with black's e3 threat. 39.Ra7 Rb2+ 40.Kf1 There is no perpetual check. 40...Bf6 41.Rxc7+ Kg6 if 41... Ke8 42.Rxh7 is also enough to win. 42.Rb7 Rc2 43.c7 Bd4 44.d6 e3 45.Bxe3! The most efficient way to put a stop to black's counterplay. 45...Bxe3 46.d7and black resigned in the face of this rather pretty final position (... pretty for white anyway) 1-0
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