[Event "BCC Championship"] [Site "BCC"] [Date "2016.06.16"] [Round "11"] [White "Michael Tausz"] [Black "Bas Van Riel"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1433"] [BlackElo "1884"] [ECO "B40"] [Opening "Sicilian: Open, 2...e6"] 1.e4 {MT: Thanks for annotations and engine analyses (RJ and JB!). I just add a few thoughts.} c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.Nxc3 Nc6 6.Bc4 d6 7.O-O Be7 8.Qe2 a6 9.Rd1 Qc7 10.Bf4 Nf6 11.Rac1 Qb8 {The most popular move on Chessbase here is O-O. (RJ)} 12.h3?! {Stockfish 7 indicates 12. e5 is very strong. It's also the most played move here on Chessbase.(RJ) MT: h3 is lame. I do not know why I missed e5, as this is a move to look out for here, and I played it later in a less favourable situation. I add the ?! to the textmove as I think it is not in the spirit of the play.} O-O {The move played on Chessbase is Nd7, presumably with a view to Ne5. (RJ)} 13.Rc2 b5 14.Bb3 Bb7 {MT: In the analysis after the game, BvR thought Black should have followed up with Na4. Seems indeed inconvenient for White, as the nice bishop will go and isolated double pawns remain.} 15.Rcd2 Rd8 16.e5 {MT: In the meantime I had realised I missed it before, and thought this is another opportunity.} dxe5 17.Rxd8+ Bxd8 18.Bxe5? {Nxe5 is better (RJ) MT: I speculated with the knight ending up on e5 after the exchanges and looking at f7. But I got lucky that the opportunity came to pass.} Nxe5 $19 19.Nxe5 {An interesting position. The computer gives Black a 1.47 advantage. But White has more space and a potentially nasty kingside attack. (RJ). MT: I felt that White was somewhat behind because too many pieces came off and he is still one pawn down, but apparently it was worse than I thought.} Bc7?? {19.....Bb6 was a good option. The point is that 20. Nxf7 is then met by Qg3! winning. Or 19....Qc7 (RJ) 19....Bb6! seems to consolidate black's advantage. 20.Nxf7, will be refuted by 20..Qg3! and wins (BvR) MT: double "??" seem a bit harsh, but I did not reckon with Bb6 which would be indeed very uncomfortable for White.} 20.Nxf7! {knight takes f7 good move +-2.07 white is winning jb. A bold sac! Obviously based on judgment, as the continuation is by no means obvious to calculate. (RJ) MT: Well, I had speculated with this sac already before, because e6 anf f7 seemed weak. I tried to calculate but obviously overlooked lots of things, At this stage I thought (actually tried to calculate as well as I could!) that in the worst case I can get the piece (Bc7 or b7 or Nf6) back and remain a pawn up. It was more complicated than I thought! Also a consideration was that I had sacked a knight against PL, and that did not turn out so well. Still, had to be done!} Kxf7 {Qe8 was a little better. (RJ) MT: After the game, JW asked why Black took the Knight at all. On my suggestion that this is the honourable thing to do, JW called it "19th century chess" :-)} 21.Qxe6+ Kg6 {MT: So far, so clear.} 22.Rd4 {The engines indicate Rd7 was stronger. it threatens mate in 4 by Rxg7ch! (RJ) MT: I took quite some time to check Rd7 (and get back Bc7 or b7), but thought after Rd4 there are more possible threats. Not quite right as it turns out.} h5?? {Stockfish 7 indicates has only a small edge after 17.....Bh2 ch! 18. Kh1 Qe5 19. Qf7ch Kh6 20. Kg5 Re8.......not a line a human is likely to see! (RJ) MT: I sure did not.} 23.Bc2+ $18 Kh6 24.Qf7? {24. Qe3ch g5 25. Qe6 (RJ) MT: Yep, should have seen that. I mistakenly thought that Bf4 is stopping it, but Rxf4 would just decide.} Qe8! {The engines call it even here(RJ) MT: At this point, I still thought White has the piece back and may remain a pawn up...} 25.Qxc7 Qe1+ 26.Kh2 Qxf2 27.Qxb7 Qxd4? {The critical mistake. Stockfish 7 gives 27......Re8! (activating his worst placed piece and threatening Qxd4 as well as Re1) 28.Rd1 Qxc2 29. Qf3 Qxb2 30. Rd6 b4 31. Rxf6ch gxf6 32. Qxf6ch with a perpetual. (RJ) MT: I think both players did not see it and thought the game had tipped already in White's favour.} 28.Qxa8 Qf4+ 29.g3 Qd2+ 30.Qg2 {MT: I counted on this, but missed the alternative for Black at move 27.} Qd4 31.Ne4 {A great game by Michael. (RJ) MT: Thanks, but I got lucky more than once.} {#r} 1-0