Stannington B at home - my opponents in the first game I played for Nomads and sure enough my opponent tonight was Ken Kay again. Last time round, I fluked a win when he overlooked a hard-to-see mate in two. Hopefully it won't be as hairy this time...
1.e4
d6
2.d4
Nf6
3.Nc3
g6
4.Bc4
Bg7
5.Be3
0-0
6.Qd2
Re8
7.0-0-0
Opposite side castling... with the intention of a pawn storm on Ken's fianchettoed kingside.
7...c6
8.f3
b5
9.Bb3
a5
10.a3
b4
Ken spent a lot of time on this move - as far as I could see, provided I didn't make any stupid blunders then this wins me a pawn, and also frees up d2 to allow my King to escape any threats on a1.
11.axb4
axb4
12.Na2
Be6
At this point I could see Ken's plan - but I was able to see enough moves ahead to work out that ultimately I would win the exchange here if he went through with it.
13.Qxb4
Obviously not the more 'natural' 13. Nxb4??? (can you have 3 ??? ?) Ra1# [13.Nxb4
Ra1#
]
13...Rxa2
Here comes the exchange - on the face of it R+P for B+N. But I think 13. Rxa2 deserves a '?'
14.Bxa2
Bxa2
15.b3
Now there is nowhere for the bishop to go. Ken can thrash around for a bit here, but ultimately that bishop is coming off so he might be as well to capture on b3 and at least get a pawn for his trouble.
15...Nbd7
16.Kb2
Qa8
17.Ra1
c5
A good try. 18. xc5?? Nd5+ and my queen is lost. However, my pawn on d4 is not actually threatened here as the c5 pawn is the only piece directly brought to bear on it so I can use a move to shift my queen.
18.Qa3
[18.dxc5
Nd5+
]
18...Qb7
19.Rxa2
Not 19. Kxa2? Ra8 [19.Kxa2
Ra8
]
19...Nb6
Threatening Nc4+ picking up the queen because of the pin on the pawn on b3.
20.Qa6
Offering the exchange whilst also covering c4.
20...Qc6
21.Qd3
Not 21. d5? Nfxd5+
21...Nfd7
22.Ne2
I considered 22. c3 here but just felt I'd like to have my other rook in the game sooner rather than later - and the cover I now have on d4 means I am free to move either my bishop or queen if required.
22...Rc8
Ken has a few vague threats here, pushing the c-pawn and exposing my king. However, his knights are only good defensively - they can't get to the square one of them would like to be on (i.e. b4) without a series of moves, which would be too slow and would allow me to activate my other rook and sort out my queenside.
23.c4
Seemed like the best way to stop 23. ... c4 - stick my own pawn there first. It also frees up c2 for my king, which would then in turn remove the pin on my pawn on d4.
23...Rb8
Another threat (ish) - 24. ... Na4+ 25. Rxa4 Qxa4 winning back the exchange. But my previous move has freed up c2 - so I can remove both the actual pin (on d4) and the threatened pin (on b3) with one move.
24.Kc2
Qb7
25.Rb1
cxd4
26.Bxd4
Better than taking with the knight - I'm thinking Ken wants to bring a knight to c5 so here he either exchanges off the bishops (at which point I can rest easier in the corner where my rooks tread carefully) or I can trade off the knight when it arrives on c5 with my bishop.
26...Nc5
27.Bxc5
dxc5
28.Nc3
e6
29.Nb5
Qe7
30.Qd6
Ken resigned here. At this point, he was short on time - after the queens are exchanged (anything else and Ra7 looks powerful for me) there's a lot of play left in the game but an exchange and a pawn up, with 45 mins to 20 mins on the clock, I should have enough to force the win. 1-0