Monday evening (there's another game of 5-a-side passing me by) and we're away at SASCA A. I played against SASCA C with the D team earlier in the season, so at least I knew where to go this time and could ignore the pleadings of my satnav to 'perform a U-turn'. But Board 3 for the B team, against a strong SASCA side .. well, I figured I would just enjoy the experience. Then Andy emailed me and said if he won the toss he would play Black (i.e. so would I) and 'hope you're OK with that.' Great, cheers.
1.e4
c6
2.d4
d5
3.e5
Bf5
4.Nf3
I tend to favour Bd3 here - to get rid of Black's annoying bishop on f5 which proves particularly irritating for Martin in this game
4...e6
5.c3
Nd7
6.Be2
c5
7.0-0
h6
8.Be3
a6
9.Nbd2
Rc8
10.b3
cxd4
I wanted to prevent Martin playing b4 here, where it all gets very complicated and doesn't look so good for me. So the d4 pawn had to come off.
11.Bxd4
Bc5
I don't like the bishop on d4 now - would rather exchange it off if possible. However, Martin's next move changes all that.
12.Rc1
Seems natural, but is actually a blunder that loses the exchange. It's hard to look at my previous move and see the next one - in the context of the game over the board it's rare to make two moves of the same piece consecutively at this relatively early stage, paticularly along the same diagonal.
12...Ba3
Martin and I looked at this after the game and I think we reached a consensus that it might be better to give up the rook for the white-squared bishop here with 13. Rb1 as most of my pawns are on white squares and this could prove important in the endgame.
13.Ra1
Bb2
14.c4
Bxa1
15.Qxa1
Now the queen is side-lined and although there's a little pressure along the a1-h8 diagonal, my e-pawn prevents that from amounting to anything.
15...Ne7
Preparing to recapture with my knight on d5 if White opts to release the tension. However, Martin said he had no intention of doing so and giving me the open c-file.
16.Nh4
Bh7
17.Nhf3
g5
I took a while on this move because it commits my king to the centre. However I don't think castling king-side does anything for me - and my king seems safe enough. All diagonal entry points are covered so Martin's bishops offer no threat.
18.h3
Nf8
A long-winded plan to get my knight to f4 ... but I have the time as Martin's pieces are tied up
19.Ne1
Nf5
20.Bb2
Ng6
21.g3
Nge7
I looked at Ngh4 here for a bit - we had a look after the game and decided it was unsound; Martin has too many pieces ready to spring to the defence of his King. As it is, I think I retreated the wrong knight here.
22.Ndf3
Rg8
23.Nd4
Nxd4
24.Bxd4
Nf5
25.Bb2
As you were, but it is my move and one more defender has gone.
25...Qb6
Threatening Nxg3, forking bishop and rook.
26.Kg2
Ne7
Thinking I should get my bishop involved a bit more.
27.Bd4
Qc6
Another sneaky threat - 28. ...xc4+
28.Kg1
Bf5
29.Kh2
h5
A pawn sac to hopefully open up the kingside.
30.cxd5
Qxd5
31.Bxh5
Now 31. ... Rh8 doesn't work because of 32. f4 so...
31...g4
32.hxg4
Bxg4
33.Bxg4
Rxg4
34.Bb2
Kd7
Here I relaxed a little - too soon (again). I felt the threat of Rh8+ was overwhelming. Unfortunately not, and the rook ends up out on a limb after it comes to h8.
35.Ng2
Rh8+
36.Kg1
A classic position where in days gone by I might play 36. ... Qc6?, or worse, 36. ... Qd2?? Luckily I'm a more mature player now (read 'older')
36...Ke8
[36...Qc6
37.Qd1+
Kc8
38.Qxg4
; 36...Qd2
37.Rd1
]
37.Rd1
Qf3
I figured this would keep Martin's queen close to his rook. Now if I could just double my rooks somehow. But it's not going to be easy and at this point it looked like we were in for a long drawn out endgame. I can't get my knight into the game because it has to cover c8. And I can't co-ordinate my rooks and queen effectively.
38.Qc1
Re4
39.Bd4
Nc6
I didn't like the look of 40. Bb6, threatening Rd8#. And my knight still covers c8 from here.
40.Bc3
Re2
41.Rd2
Whoops. Up to this point, Martin had defended stoically. I had vague threats of Qh5 and maybe even nicking my pawn back on a2 but I was spending a lot of time thinking for very little benefit. Luckily, Martin does my hard work for me :-)
41...Qxf2#
0-1