[Event "Spielvogel 2021"] [Site "Ballarat Chess Club"] [Date "2021.02.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Oppenheim,Tom"] [Black "Stewart, Scott"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1076"] [BlackElo "1707"] [ECO "B54"] [Opening "Sicilian: Open, 2...d6, 4...a6"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.h3 e6 {Already I am out of book, not familiar with h3 I went for a more flexible mini-centre, wait and see how things develop.} 7.Bd3 Be7 8.O-O Qc7 9.Be3 b5 {Placing a claim on c4 and opening the long diagonal for deployment of the Light Squared Bishop.} 10.a3 {I think a4 would be better than a3. directly contesting Black's control of c4. the passive a3 holding off the move .10...b4. is not really doing much, Black is not threatening to win the e4 pawn by chasing away the c3 knight. Black is happy to keep the pawn on b5 holding the key c4 square .} Bb7 11.f4 Nbd7 12.f5 e5 13.Nf3 Nb6 {I thought I was ready to play d5, probably I should castle sooner rather than later as well.} 14.Qd2 {White really needs to get their king off the g1 a7 diagonal,. Possibly consider KS pawn expansion and deployment of his pieces to the King Side. Kh1, Ke1} d5 15.Bg5 {Stockfish says this was a blunder though I missed it in the game.} Rd8 (15...Bc5+ 16.Kh2 Nxe4 17.Bxe4 dxe4 18.Nh4 f6 19.Be3 Nc4 {winning a piece, but easy to miss :)}) 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Qe2 Nc4 {Better was O-O here, with correct play White can return the game to equality} 18.Nxd5 (18.Bxc4 dxc4 (18...Qc5+ 19.Kh2 dxc4 {and Black is only slightly better})) 18...Bxd5 19.exd5 Nxb2 20.Be4 Nc4 21.Rfd1 O-O 22.Rd3 {White is still best served getting his King off the g1 a7 diagonal, thought his position is much worse now. Black's pieces are better placed and his pawns have no weaknesses.} Rfe8 23.Ra2 Nb6 24.Nd2 Nxd5 25.Qf3 Nf4 26.Rxd8 Rxd8 27.Nf1 Qc4 {The rook is gone, undefended pieces have a tendency to drop off the boardand combined with the check available on the a7 g1 diagonal there is no saving the rook} 28.Ne3 Qxa2 29.Ng4 Qa1+ 30.Kh2 Rd1 31.g3 Rd2+ {All in all not a bad game at all from my lower rated opponent.} {#R} 0-1