[Event "Hamilton Russell"] [Date "2018.03.13"] [White "Lee, Peter"] [Black "Eckersley-Waites, Tom"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B33"] [Opening "Sicilian: Open, 2...Nc6"] {Comments by Tom Eckersley-Waites.} 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.a4 a6 {The main line starts 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 and either the immediate Nd5 or capturing on f6 first. 7.a4 is more positional.} 8.Na3 Be7 9.Be2 Be6 {I was reasonably happy to see Be2, if only because my vague recollections of lines where black plays …Bg4 to force f3 - which would suggest that the e2 square might not be the right one for the B. But if it goes to c4, there's a bit of congestion with the N on a3 and it can be hard to get organised.} 10.Nc4 Rc8 11.Bg5 Nd4 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 {I spent some time looking at 12…Bxc4 and at 12…Nxe2 - it's not often that there's so many choices of pieces to take!} 13.Ne3 Bg5 {13…Qb6! is surprisingly strong here. The idea is much the same but white's Nd5 ideas don't work with the c2 pawn so weak. I barely considered in in the game as …Bg5 was so natural - and, as will become clear, I had underestimated Peter's Nd5 moves.} 14.Bd3 Qb6?! {White can't avoid …Bxe3, but it's not clear that this is such a positional threat as the pawns cover some useful squares. I had thought that …Qb6 prepared to take on e3 and that Nd5 didn't work, but things are not so clear.} 15.Ncd5 Bxd5 16.Nxd5 Qxb2 17.c3?! Rxc3? {17.0-0! is essential, and something that I completely overlooked - I can't then play 17…Nxc2 as 18.Rb1 Qa2 19.Qg4! hits g5 and c8 and wins on the spot. 17…Rxc3 is very sloppy. I need to play 17…Bd2+! which I had seen but I failed to appreciate how important it was to get the move order right. 17…Bd2+ 18.Kf1 (forced - the bishop is immune as the a1 rook is hanging) and now 18…Rxc3 is virtually winning despite the exchange deficit - an important point is that 19.Rb1 Qxb1! and 20…Rc1 is a simple 2-pawn advantage, although it won't be a trivial conversion with the strong Ns and opposite coloured bishops.} 18.O-O! Rc5 {Peter's move is very strong. The more I looked at my position, the less I liked it - my material advantage will be very short-lived.} 19.Rb1 Qa2 20.Rxb7 O-O 21.Bxa6 Rxd5!? {I didn't think this was objectively very sound, but I wanted to mix things up a bit rather than watch his a-pawn queen over the next 30 moves.} 22.exd5 Qxd5 23.Qb1 Bf4 {23…Qc6 24.Qb6 Qxa4 25.Qxd6 Nf5 26.Qd3 e4 27.Qb5 Qxb5 with a grovel was an alternative - I've no idea if white's advantage should be sufficient here.} 24.Rb8! g6 {24.Bd3? e4! 25.Bxe4 Bxh2+! followed by …Qh5+ and …Ne2 mate was the kind of thing that got me rather excited around here, but of course Peter's move is much better.} 25.Rxf8+ Kxf8 26.Bb7 Qa5 27.Qa2 e4 28.Bd5 f5 29.Rb1 Kg7 {Peter has played the last few moves very well and I am probably lost at this point. However…} 30.h4? {This is too loosening. Suddenly I have lots of worrying-looking threats again - and even if a computer finds it easy to finish this off as white it is rather harder for a human, especially when short of time.} e3 31.fxe3 Bxe3+ 32.Kh2 {Rather than turn it into a lottery with 1 min vs 2 mins on the clock, Peter offered a draw. We could both consider ourselves to have had lucky escapes here!} {#d} 1/2-1/2