[Event "BCC Championship (Reserves)"] [Site "BCC"] [Date "2016.04.07"] [Round "1"] [White "Tom Oppenheim"] [Black "Jasan Barnett"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1120"] [ECO "B05"] [Opening "Alekhine: Modern, 5.Be2"] {JB: After only playing Tom in Rapid and Blitz tournaments previously, (both were poor games on my behalf), I was looking forward to seeing if I could fare better this time.} 1.e4 Nf6 {Permitted to play Alekhine (Black's favourite opening)} 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 {Able to play my first three moves quickly (time problem occurs often for black) as this particular three move opening I can now play without thinking.} 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Be2 Bxf3 {Briefly considered Bf5 followed by Nb4 to try a type of "fried liver" on the c2 pawn instead of the traditional f2 pawn but decided it would probably be stopped easily. Perhaps too keen to take the knight while the bishop was not threatened yet? JW: Having already developed the bishop to g4 it would be a waste of time redeploying it to f5. Also exchanging it unprovoked here isn't a particularly good move. Instead black should just get on with developing. g6/e6 to get the DSB out and castle comes to mind} 6.Bxf3 c6 7.Bxd5 cxd5 {Two pawns stacked on top of each other probably means I have slightly lost this opening? JW: with the d and e pawns in tension the pawns wont even be doubled for long anyway. Black is fine here} 8.exd6 Qxd6 {Position improved with the doubled pawns gone?} 9.O-O Nc6 10.Be3 e5 {JW: This allows white to give black an isolated pawn. That's not always a bad thing, but in this particular instance playing e6 seems a better option. it also allows white to open up the position before black has castled} 11.dxe5 Qxe5 {Wondering if Nxe5 would have been better. (Better to have a knight pinned to the king rather than the queen)} 12.Re1 {If the bishop moves away I will be in trouble.} O-O-O {Here I was pleased that I had got out of trouble and also protected the d5 pawn with two pieces} 13.c3 Bd6 {I think this was the move where I thought for ages. (Too long probably as I got into moderate time trouble later). I was worried that this move would result in Qg4+ and a double attack on the King and the g7 pawn. I decided that my Qh2+ counter would dissuade a queen move.} 14.g3 {I was correct. The queen move never came.} Kb8 {Just to make sure the queen move double attack can't happen. JW: this is actually a blunder that loses the queen. Now white can play Bxa7+ followed by Rxe5} 15.Nd2 {Actually, maybe it was my next move where I used up a lot of the clock, as I saw Nf3 coming and my queen running for cover} Rhe8 {JW: White can still get blacks queen with Bxa7+} 16.Nf3 {There it is...} Qf5 17.Nd4 Qd7 18.Nb5 {Saw that the next move might be Qd4 with a triple attack on the a7 pawn, only being defended by two pieces} b6 {The d5 pawn is now hanging, but I decided that Qxd5 followed by Re5 would send White's queen ducking for cover} 19.Nxd6 Qxd6 {Black feeling a little better right now...} 20.Rc1 Re6 21.a3 Kb7 22.b4 d4 {d5 pawn attacked by three pieces and defended by three pieces. An exchange would mean equal material for the endgame} 23.cxd4 Nxd4 24.Bxd4 Rxe1+ {I went for the queen + rook endgame rather than the rook + rook endgame. Maybe I should have gone for Qxd4 instead? (because my king only had protection from 2 pawns rather than white's 3. I discussed this decision with James Watson afterwards in the best way I could as I am not skilled at giving precise positions verbally :) He understood what I was getting at but he would need to see the position first. So, here is the position, James! :) JW: This is best. Qxd4 would actually end up losing material. 1. because of 24...Qxd4 25.Qxd4 Rxe1+ 26.Rxe1 Rxd4 27.Re7+forking the king and f7. But even more importantly white doesn't have to exchange queens. 24...Qxd4 25.Qf3+ Kb8 (...Qd5?? 26.Qxf7+ wins a rook) 26.Qxf7, which works because white can meet ...Qd2 with Qc7+ or 25...Kh8 with Qf3+ and Red1} 25.Qxe1 Qxd4 26.b5! {In my opinion this was the best move of the game as my king can't move forward anymore and the queen now wants to come down to e7 to fork the king and f7 pawn JW: indeed this is a good idea} Rd7 {After what happens next, maybe I should have done f6 next. As a aside, Black also offered a draw somewhere around this position (I can't remember if it was this move or some moves before). It was rightfully refused. JW: this is a slight inaccuracy because it allows Qe8. If black just moves the queen along the d file or plays a move like Kb8 it will be difficult for white to make meaningful progress. I'd favor 26...Qd2 if I was trying to draw with black} 27.Qe8! {I didn't think the Queen would go all the way to the bottom.} Rc7 28.Rxc7+ Kxc7 29.Qxf7+ {1 pawn down now.} Qd7 30.Qc4+ Kd6 {I wanted to get a queen exchange with a centrally placed king here.} 31.a4 Qc7 {In my analysis with Chessmaster 10th ed. afterwards, this move put the game out of reach. It suggested g6 or Ke7. I simulated Chessmaster playing out the game against a player similar to White's rating, and Chessmaster won by playing Ke7 (although the analysis engine suggested g6 the first time?) I tried to play out this ending myself against an opponent with a rating of 1120. I played the g6 move and lost. I then dropped the rating to something around 1070 and played Kd7 instead and won. Anyway, I feel I learnt a lot more about pawn endgames as a result of the research I did after this game. I'll be interested to see how I go in an endgame like this next time.} 32.Qd4+ Ke6 33.Qe4+ {Another pawn gone :(} Qe5 34.Qxh7 Qe1+ 35.Kg2 Qe5 {I figured doing Qa5 wouldn't have helped...} 36.Qg8+ Kf6 37.Qa8 Qc7 {JW: incidentally black didn't actually need to defend a7. For example Kf5 instead and if white took a7 black would have a perpetual} 38.Qf3+ Kg6?? {Game over. The king can't stay on the 6th rank here as a queen exchange will be forced} 39.Qc6+ {Black resigns. Tom thought the game was a close one, in brief discussions afterwards. It was definitely my best performance against him so far, so I am happy with that. Good game, Tom!} {#r} 1-0