[Event "BCC Championship"] [Site "BCC"] [Date "2016.04.28"] [Round "4"] [White "Ben Naughton"] [Black "Robert Bailey"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1421"] [BlackElo "1569"] [ECO "B50"] [Opening "Sicilian: 2.Nf3 d6"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c4 {This came as a surprise as I was intending to play a regular Najdorf based upon Ben's previous games in the sicilian against the dragon. In all honesty, I have had difficulty with similar Maroczy bind themes in the past, so the choice was a good one.} Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 g6 {Switching to a dragon structure; perhaps an earlier e5 is the better approach, I'll have to research it some more!} 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.Bd4 Nf6 9.f3 O-O 10.Bd3 c5 11.Bc3 Rb8 {Only pseudo-active really, but I was struggling now to find concrete plans. Ben does very well to nullify many of my ideas in the position.} 12.Qd2 Qb6 13.b3 Bb7 14.O-O Rfe8 {Going for a flawed plan of slowly inching forward with e6 and d5, dreaming of the discovery of c4+. Not going to happen!} 15.Na3 e6 16.Qb2 {A nice move by Ben which I'd overlooked. Rad1 aiming at the weak d6 pawn looks feasible as well. After I close the diagonal, some messy chess ensues.} e5 17.Qd2 Qc6 18.Rfc1 {I like Rad1 for white here; black is very aware of the d6 weakness and the gaping hole on d5 which practically beckons the white knight to go from c2, e3 and into the previously mentioned (un)happy place.} Nh5 {Aiming to install a "Jacobsean Knight" on f4 (in Rod's honour!) but also going for another flawed plan of the f5 pawn break. White stops the first threat.} 19.g3 Bc8 {A bit dodgy looking! Again, I'm struggling to find other concrete ideas that make sense in this position.} 20.Nc2 f5?! 21.Ne3 {exf5 seems to give white an edge. After Bxf5, Bxf5, gxf5, white can go Ne3 and into d5 the following move. I saw this line but was anticipating some compensation in the f4 push and open g file.} f4 22.Nf1 fxg3 23.Nxg3 {Maybe hxg is better, guarding f4 and stopping my knight's plan in its tracks.} Nf4 24.Ne2 Bh6 {Saying peek-a-boo to white's queen! But more importantly, envisaging winning the exchange.} 25.Nxf4 Bxf4 26.Qg2 {I spent a long portion of time here attempting to weigh up the positional consequences of taking the exchange given that white has the dark squared bishop and the potential to control the squares around my king.} Bxc1 27.Rxc1 Rf8 28.Kf2 Be6 29.Qg5 Qd7 {The immediate doubling of rooks may be a better plan.} 30.Rg1 Qf7 31.Rg3 Qf6 {Seeking to simplify} 32.Qh6 {White adamantly says no!} Rb7 33.Bd2 Rbf7 34.Be2 Qe7 35.Qe3 Qh4 {This phase of the game was quite subtle as I was probing for targets and further simplification. In so doing, I used far too much time poking around until I found the idea of going for the e4 pawn.} 36.Kg2 Qe7 37.Be1 Rf4 38.Bf2 Bd7 39.Kf1 Bc6 40.Rg2 Qe6 41.Kg1 Qf6 {Attractive and enticing to play, but not very good. Bg3 now looks like it would slow down the primitive initiative and force a long line with Rxf3, Bxf3 and a queen exchange where black ends up only a pawn up.} 42.Rg3? {Removing a key defender from f2, allowing black's only tactical idea in the position to come to fruition. Ben had played very well and defended stubbornly to this point and I was now down to around 5 minutes where accuracy was essential.} Bxe4 43.Kg2 Bb7 44.Be1 e4 45.Kf2 exf3 46.Bc3 fxe2+ 47.Kxe2 Rf2+ 48.Kd1 Qf5 49.Qd3 Rf1+ {The end of a very tense final phase where I had to work very hard to keep the advantage. It's always tricky when you've got to play someone for the very first time in a championship as there are many variables at play. This theme will continue with games with Jeremy and Michael still to come. Thanks again to Ben for the game, look forward to many more.} {#R} 0-1