[Event "Spielvogel 2021"] [Site "Mechanics Institute"] [Date "2021.03.04"] [Round "4"] [White "Stewart, Scott"] [Black "Coffey, Ruari"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1707"] [BlackElo "1701"] [ECO "C42"] [Opening "Russian Game: Classical"] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 {In previous games, Scott had outplayed me in my current opening repertoire so an addition needed to be added. The Petroff seemed like a good place to start OTB. (R.C)} 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 {More common is d3 to kick the knight before d4 but white chooses a slightly more tricky line. (R.C)} d5 6.Bd3 Bg4 7.h3 Bh5 8.g4 Bg6 9.Ne5 Qf6 10.Qe2 Qe6 {This manoeuvre was played to allow the development of the dark squared bishop but there is potential for the discovered attacks after moves like f3 after Nxg6. Luckily, this was solved for me later (R.C)} 11.Bf4 Nd6 12.Nc3 Bxd3 13.Nxd3 Qxe2+ 14.Kxe2 {white's king is now in the centre and will be the focus of blacks attack. The king could walk to g2 later after Re1 or via f3. (R.C)} Nc6 15.Be3 {keeping solid before trying any tricks. white hopes to cover their weaknesses and then target blacks. (R.C)} O-O-O 16.Nxd5 Nb5 17.c4 Nbxd4+ 18.Bxd4 Nxd4+ 19.Kd2 c6 20.Ne3 Ne6 {Trying to find better squares for the knight and open the rooks sight. maybe g6 was also playable just to help develop the bishop/ (R.C)} 21.Ke2 Bd6 22.Rad1 g6 23.Kf3 h5 24.Kg2 Bf4 {Misses a better idea, in my opinion. Bc7 threatening Rxd4 followed by Nf4+, provides more problems for white and with the kingside opening soon, the king will definitely feel a draught. (R.C)} 25.Nxf4 Nxf4+ 26.Kf3 Ne6 27.Rxd8+ Kxd8 28.Rd1+ Ke7 {with fewer pieces of the board, the king becomes more active. With just a rook and knight on each side. the kings aren't in so much danger anymore so need to be used. (R.C)} 29.Kg3 hxg4 30.Nxg4 Rh5 {keeping the rook and trying to switch it to attack the queenside pawns. (R.C)} 31.f4 Ra5 32.Ne5 {white is going for the black king by infiltrating on the 7th. (R.C)} Nf8 33.a3 f6 34.Nd3 Nd7 35.c5 {Enticing what looks to be a free pawn but b4 will provide the counterplay. Oh well (R.C)} Ra4 36.Rc1 Rd4 37.Rc3 Ke6 38.b4 Kf5 39.Nb2 Rxf4 40.Nc4 Ne5 {The idea is to sac the b-pawn and prevent a perpetual check on f7-d6. (R.C)} 41.Nd6+ Kg5 42.Nxb7 Rd4 43.Nd6 f5 44.b5! {I thought this unplayable but the more I looked the more I realised by pieces, though close, were too slow. Thus the c-pawn became an annoyance to deal with. (R.C)} f4+ 45.Kf2 Kf6 46.bxc6 Nxc6 47.Kf3 {White offered a draw. I felt that with the placement of my pieces I can enter a winning pawn endgame with some minor pieces/rooks. (R.C)} Ke5 48.Nf7+ Kd5 49.Ng5 Ne5+ 50.Ke2 Kc6 {A switcheroo of pieces to stop the pawn seemed needed. Once the c-pawn is gone, the game looked like it would be easier to manage. (R.C)} 51.Ne6 Re4+ 52.Kf2 Nf7 {Discovered attack on the knight but only to a few squares seemed like it works. (R.C)} 53.Nf8 g5 54.Kf3 Re8 {Hoping to trap the knight. (R.C)} 55.Ng6 Ne5+ {Trading white's trickiest piece and going into a rook+pawn endgame} 56.Nxe5+ Rxe5 57.h4 {breaking black's pawn structure and is probably white's best try. (R.C)} gxh4 58.Kxf4 Rxc5 59.Rh3 Rc4+ 60.Ke5 Kc5 61.Rb3 a5 62.Rb8 Rg4 63.Rh8 Kb5 64.Kd5 Ka4 65.Ra8 Rg5+ 66.Kc4 Rh5 {And black's position is winning. Both pawns are protected and black's king is free to roam about for the moment. (R.C)} 67.Rd8 h3 68.Rd1 h2 69.Rh1 Rh4+ {Unnecessary. Rh3 and white has not too many moves. (R.C)} 70.Kc3 {For a very brief moment, I was going to take the pawn but then realised that would be mate so... (R.C)} Rh3+ 71.Kb2 Rb3+ 72.Kc1 {I missed this. (R.C)} Rh3 73.Kb2 Kb5 74.Kb1 Kc4 75.Kb2 Kd3 {My plan is to just march my king over to g2 and force the rook away. a4 was probably a move beforehand but oh well. (R.C)} 76.Kb3 Ke2+ 77.Kc4 Kf2 78.a4 Kg2 {and the rook is forced away. White is one tempo too slow and will not be able to take the black a-pawn in time. Overall, a fun game. (R.C)} {#R} 0-1