[Event "BCCC2015"] [Site "Ballarat Library"] [Date "2015.08.25"] [Round "11"] [White "James Watson"] [Black "Bas van Riel"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1425"] [BlackElo "1787"] [ECO "E15"] [Opening "Queen's Indian: 4.g3 Bb7"] {584MB, Fritz11.ctg} 1.d4 {The deciding and last game of the 2015 Ballarat Club Championship (the 50th). We are both equal and leading on 9.5 points from 10 games before the start of this game.} Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 d5 6.cxd5 Bxd5 7.Nc3 Be7 8.Nxd5 exd5 9.Qa4+ Qd7 10.Qc2 O-O 11.O-O c5 12.Ne5 Qe6 13.Nd3 Nc6 14.Nf4 Nxd4 15.Qd3 Qd6 16.Be3 Nc6 17.Nxd5 Nxd5 18.Qxd5 Qxd5 19.Bxd5 Rac8 20.Rac1 Nb4 { black offered a draw at this moment. Fritz assesses the position as very equal. } 21.Bc4 Bf6 22.a3 Nc6 {James suggested 22...,Bxb2; 23.axb4, Bxc1; 24.Rxc1, cxb4 with two pawns for the exchange. During the postmortem of the game we analysed this option at length. We concluded that it would have been very favourable for black. Fritz, however, did not like this continuation though.} 23.Rb1 Bd4 24.Bc1 Rfd8 25.Bg5 Re8 26.Rfd1 h6 27.Bd2 Red8 28.Be1 Bf6 29.e3? {a mistake which cost white a pawn} Rxd1 30.Rxd1 Bxb2 31.a4 Rd8 32.Bd5? {a mistake for 2 reasons: 1) 32.Rxd8, Nxd8 with some chances for white to hold on to a draw; 2) see text at the next move;} Bf6? {Both players didn't notice that white's previous move Bd5 was a mistake: 32.Bd5, c4! 33.Rb1, Rxd5; 34.Rxb2, Rd1; 35.Kf1, Ne5; 36.Re2, Nd3 and blacks c-pawn will can't be stopped} 33.f4? {Only 33.e4 would have had a chance to hold the draw, but again black misses 'the point'....} Kf8? { 35. Bd4! would have been a nice combination netting black another pawn. Here white had 5 minutes left on his clock and black 15 minutes.} 34.g4 Ne7 {Both overlooked again the Bd4 combination. Nevertheless, white decided to spit the dummy and resign. A bit prematurely...} 35.Bb3 {White resigned here. The following moves could be a possible continuation of the game as shown by the Fritz chess computer program, if James had not resigned. James has played a fantastic tournament. He was very close to winning the championship if not for a few mistakes near the end of our game. It was for most of the time very equal, and I feel quite lucky that he made more (little) mistakes than I did at the end. I am sure that James will win the Championship very soon!} (35.Bb3 Rxd1 36.Bxd1 Nd5 37.Bd2 Bc3 38.Bc1 a6 39.e4 Nb4 40.Kf1 Na2 41.Ba3 Bd4 42.Ke1 Nc3 43.Bc2 b5 44.axb5 axb5 45.Bb2 Na4 46.Bc1) {#R} 0-1