[Event "2024 Club Championship"] [Site "Ashby"] [Date "2024.08.22"] [Round "3"] [White "Roberts, Neil"] [Black "Vann, Richard"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1258"] [BlackElo "1917"] [ECO "B02"] [Opening "Alekhine: Maroczy Variation"] 1.e4 Nf6 {The Alekhin! My new opening against 1 e4.} 2.d3 d5 {Was tempted to play 2...e5 transposing to a Philidor reversed.} 3.e5 Nfd7 4.Nf3 e6 5.d4 {But now it looks just like a French, and I'm making things up as I go along.} c5 6.c3 Be7 7.Be3 b6 8.Bb5 a6 9.Ba4 b5 10.Bc2 Nc6 {It's now becoming obvious that White will attack on the kingside, and Black on the queenside.} 11.a3 Bb7 12.Qc1 Rc8 13.Nbd2 Qb6 {Slightly better may have been Qc7, threatening 14...cxd4 and some mischief on the c-file.} 14.O-O cxd4 15.cxd4 b4 16.Qb1 {Gets out of a possible pin on the c-file, and attacks h7.} h6 {The position is equal. I am delaying castling because there might be a vicious attack on my king.} 17.Re1 Na5 18.a4 b3 19.Bd3 {It's still equal, but the pawn on b3 is a thorn in White's side. Although my bishops aren't doing much, the squares b4, c4, and c2 may become available to my knights.} O-O {Castling at last. White would like to play f4-f5-f6, but it would take some time. From here we both pursue our strategies, ie kingside attack v queenside attack. There is potential danger for both of us.} 20.h3 Nb8 {A strange retreat move. The knight aims to get to b4 and then c2!} 21.Nh2 {Better is 21 Rc1 to contest the c-file, keeping the position equal. In conclusion, it was a well-fought game and equal after 20 moves. Then the black knights were allowed too much rope and sneaked in.} Nbc6 22.Ndf3 Nb4 23.Ng4 {It's not obvious, but Bd2 is slightly better, with the aim of chopping the knight on a5. We'll soon see why it's not a sleepy "dim on the rim" piece at all.} Nc2 24.Bxc2 bxc2 25.Qc1 Nb3 {After a short forcing sequence, suddenly the knight on b3 is winning the white queen. To have played 25 Qa2 seems good, but still 23...Nb3 and the rook on a1 has nowhere to go.} 26.Nxh6+ {A Desperado! But there's no mate, and still the queen is lost.} gxh6 27.Bxh6 Nxc1 28.Bxf8 Bxf8 29.Raxc1 Bh6 {Now if Ra1 then c1=Q and it's definitely all over, so Neil resigned here.} {#R} 0-1