It's Tuesday, so this must be the B team. In a week that will see me playing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, first up was University A - no satnav required, but no car parking spaces anywhere and I ended up parking in an eerily deserted pay and display and legging it up the hill to the venue. I was on board 5, Andy was on board 1, so it seemed inevitable I would be Black - a pleasant surprise then to find Omar with the black pieces when I arrived!
1.e4
c5
I think anyone following my adventures this year can guess the next move...
2.b4
d6
Unexpected... I don't want to exchange yet as I can't bring a pawn to d4 if I do.
3.c3
g6
4.bxc5
dxc5
5.d4
Bg7
6.Bb2
e6
I was happy to see this move - Omar has blocked in his white-squared bishop and if it comes to d7 I might be able to put pressure on b7. Also, I've now got e5 up my sleeve, which will take away f6 from the knight, take the black-squared bishop out of the game somewhat, and support a nice little outpost on d6.
7.Nf3
a6
I feel as though I have the space here...and allowing b5 and c4, potentially, might cause me some grief later - so I opted to prevent this pawn push.
8.a4
cxd4
9.cxd4
Kingside majority vs Queenside majority... but I still feel as if I have all the space on the Queenside.
9...Nf6
10.Bd3
0-0
11.e5
Played with a gain of tempo - I expect the knight to come to d5 but I don't feel as if it's worrying me there. Omar's queenside is totally undeveloped so I'm happy to kick one of his pieces.
11...Nd5
12.h4
Fritz doesn't like this... but the fianchettoed king is just too big a target for me.
12...h6
[12...Nf4
looks stronger]
13.Nbd2
I hadn't seen Nf4 the previous move, but I fully expected it here. However, after Bf1 my position seems to hold and I will be able to kick the knight away.
13...Qa5
This felt wrong to me - the queen is cut off from the kingside, where all the action could well be about to start, and the pin on my knight achieves very little as I simply castle out of it. After this move, I felt that I started to get on top and dominate the position. So first thing's first, break the pin...
14.0-0
Bd7
15.Nc4
Nc4 is semi-themati c in the Wing-Gambit. If it gets there, it's normally via a3 (and generally a little earlier as well!). D6 here I come!!
15...Qd8
16.Ba3
Time to start restricting the space available for Omar's pieces.
16...Ne7
17.Nd6
Bc6
18.Nd2
Fritz suggested h5 - but I wanted to get f4 in first to really try and peel away some of the kingside pawns. In fact, f4 followed by h5 were moves I was looking to play for pretty much the whole rest of the game but never actually got chance to.
18...Qc7
19.Rc1
Pinning the bishop.
19...Rd8
20.Be4
Nd5
21.Qf3
The pressure mounts
21...Qd7
[21...Nd7
22.Bxd5
exd5
23.Qxd5
Bxd5
24.Rxc7
]
22.N2c4
I'm now eyeing up b6. If necessary, I'll bring in my pawn, bishop and queen's rook to ramp up the pressure.
22...Qc7
I considered repeating here - as I was down to my last 15 minutes and maybe 7 or 8 minutes behind on the clock in total. But Omar might have found something better than Nd2 Qd7 so I thought better of it. [22...Bxa4?
23.Bxd5
exd5
24.Nb6
]
23.Qb3
Again, looking at f4 and h5... whilst hitting b6 with another piece.
23...Nd7
24.a5
I really wanted to get at b6, preferably with my black-squared bishop. I also thought this might induce Omar's next move and sure enough...
24...b5
25.axb6
+5 from Fritz! I had seen enough to work out I had chances to pick up the a-pawn here but still the complications are tricky, and with this many minor pieces in close proximity to both queens, there's plenty of scope to walk into a fork, a pin or a skewer...
25...N7xb6
26.Nxb6
Gaining a piece, albeit possibly temporarily.
26...Rab8
Speaking to Kieran after the game, he was keen to see Nxd5 here - I had considered it, but with my bishop on a3 hanging I preferred to simply pick up the pawn. Fritz recommends something completely different - Rxc6!, which, to put it mildy, is complicated. ...!
27.Qc4
I've lost some of my advantage - but Omar is defending and has to find all the right moves. [27.Nxd5
Rxb3
28.Nxc7
Bxe4
29.Nxe4
Rxa3
30.Rfd1
The dust has settled and I'm a piece up - I'd seen most of this, but obviously lost count of the number of pieces I would have at the end of it!; 27.Rxc6!
Qxc6
28.Nxd5
exd5
29.Qxd5
Qxd5
30.Bxd5
Which gives me the bishop pair, a passed pawn on d4 and two pieces and two pawns for a rook (trying to save the f-pawn leads to all sorts of trouble). 30...Rd7?
31.e6!
]
27...Rxb6
28.Bc5
Omar said after the game that he was 90% ready to play Rb5 here, when capturing the rook immediately runs into a bishop skewer (Nxb5 Bxb5 picking up the f1 rook)
28...Rbb8
He went with the 10%.... [28...Rb5
29.Nxb5
Bxb5
]
29.Qxa6
I was down to my last 5 minutes now, some 10 minutes behind on the clock - fortunately with only 1 move left to make now.
29...Qd7
30.Qa7
Giving me the option of almost being able to force the Queens off if I want.
30...Ba8
And that's the time control. I felt there was still some life left in this game - my f1 rook isn't really involved, my bishop on e4 is slightly vulnerable and my Queen isn't doing a great deal. So I opted to cause some more trouble down the b-file.
31.Rb1
Rxb1
32.Bxb1
I didn't like the look of recapturing with the rook.... [32.Rxb1
Qxa7
33.Bxa7
Nc3
34.Re1
Bxe4
35.Nxe4
Nxe4
36.Rxe4
]
32...Nc7
Walking into another pin.
33.Bb6
Qc6
It's easy to get carried away and miss things, even when you feel you're totally dominating a game. Fortunately, I'd seen this and all Omar has done is walked into a skewer.
34.Be4
I'm winning a piece here - expecting to pick up the knight but instead....
34...Nd5
35.Bxd8
And Omar resigned. Another successful outing for the Wing Gambit, and a very hard but enjoyable game to play. But the drama was actually only just beginning to unfold... 1-0