[Event "LRCA league 2023/24 - Ashby 4 Vs Market Harborough 4"] [Site "Ashby ivanhoe club"] [Date "2023.11.30"] [White "Cherrington, Josh"] [Black "Curran, David P"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1475"] [BlackElo "1616"] [ECO "B22"] [Opening "Sicilian: Alapin, 2...e6 3.d4"] {Note that the ratings shown are ECF ratings at the time of play. This game between myself and David turned out to be a somewhat closed and positional game, from a "French style alapin sicilian", quickly opening up near the end.} 1.e4 c5 2.c3 {The alapin sicilian is my favourite line to play, as it's easy to learn the thematics behind it, and somewhat easy to play if black doesn't know how to handle it.} e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.cxd4 d5 5.e5 {The structure is now that of an advanced French defence.} Bd7 6.Nc3 a6 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.Bd3 Nge7 9.Be3 Ng6?! {This move is not bad, as black has been forced into playing such by the pawn on e5 blocking the knight's traditional development.} 10.a3 Be7 11.O-O?! {I decide not to delay casting any longer as my kingside defence is more than adequate.} O-O 12.Ne2 Nh4 13.Nxh4 {This trade is good for white, as it leaves the Bishop misplaced and makes it a target.} Bxh4 14.f4 {Here I am trying to create an attack.} f5 {Black closes the F file down, as en-passant would not benefit white here.} 15.Rc1 Be8 16.Kh1 {This is a safe square for the king.} Bh5 17.Qd2 Bxe2? {This trade is somewhat good for white, as white has much better piece placement at the kingside.} 18.Bxe2!? {Taking with the Bishop was not the best move. This leaves the queen blocked out of my future attack potentially.} Kh8?! 19.Rf3 {This rook lift tries to begin an aggressive advance.} Qd7 20.Rh3 {The Bishop must retreat.} Bd8 21.g4 g6 {This is a mistake as the g-file will be soon forced open / half open. This makes way for White's pieces to attack Black's king.} 22.Rg1?! Rg8? {This is a mistake according to chess.com, however front a human perspective, it looks fine until you see why it is inaccurate. Such is demonstrated in the game.} 23.gxf5 gxf5 24.Rxg8+ {This lures Black's king to an open file for white to win a tempo after Kxg8.} Kxg8 25.Bh5! {The Bishop joins the attack.} Ne7?? {Ne7 is somewhat of a bad error as it allows White's queen to the kingside to soon harass the black king.} 26.Qg2+! Kh8 27.Bf7 Bb6!? {This move allows mate in 4 after Qg5.} 28.Qg5! Qb5? {My opponent said that he concentrated on a more advanced checkmating sequence so overlooked mate in 1.} 29.Qf6# {White delivers checkmate, in a game played with >90% accuracy from white, according to chess.com's game review. Black also played a very good game, however white was a bit more forcing and ahead with a developing attack.} 1-0