[Event "Crossroads Invitational Arena"] [Site "lichess.org"] [Date "2020.03.21"] [Round "?"] [White "jreadey"] [Black "Paul H."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A39"] [WhiteElo "2227"] [BlackElo "2089"] [Annotator "lichess.org"] [PlyCount "79"] [EventDate "2020.??.??"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2013.12.29"] [SourceQuality "1"] [TimeControl "180+2"] {[%evp 0,79,23,-16,-5,-27,15,20,8,-10,21,10,10,15,14,17,6,33,28,23,19,-11,14,3, 18,28,41,34,49,49,50,37,69,57,51,36,49,27,46,46,50,50,50,18,5,0,20,22,55,15, 187,185,252,269,268,276,349,306,306,272,232,246,258,99,105,104,102,54,55,141, 166,136,172,167,516,549,712,812,1283,1084,1407,1531]} 1. c4 {My opponent likes to play the English. It's an opening I am not very familiar with.} Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. Nc3 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 {A38 English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Full Symmetry Line} 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 O-O 8. O-O Nxd4 9. Qxd4 d6 10. Qd3 Rb8 11. Rd1 Be6 12. b3 {[#] It is tough to find a meaningful move here. The position is dead equal. I considered a6 or Bf5 but ultimately I decided on redeploying the knight to a better square.} Nd7 $146 13. Be3 Nc5 14. Qd2 Re8 { Protecting the e-pawn which is usually subject to attack via Nd5. This also prepares Qa5.} (14... Qa5 $5 {A better move. Nd5 doesn't quite work here because the a1 rook is hanging.} 15. Rac1 (15. Nd5 Qxd2 16. Nxe7+ Kh8 17. Bxd2 Rfe8 $11)) 15. Bh6 a5 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Qd4+ f6 18. Nd5 Bf7 19. Rac1 b5 20. cxb5 Rxb5 21. Nc3 Rb4 22. Qd2 {The position is equal. Development is more or less completed for both sides. Black will attack on the queenside. White will use his centralized rooks to dominate the center and await further developments.} Qb8 23. Nd5 Rb5 24. Rc3 Nd7 $4 {And like that, I'm lost. The bigger question is: why did I make this move? Repositioning the knight doesn't make a lot of sense.} (24... a4 25. bxa4 Nxa4 26. Rc2 Rc5 27. Rxc5 Nxc5 $11) 25. Nc7 Ne5 26. Nxe8+ Qxe8 27. Rdc1 Qb8 28. Rc8 Qb6 29. h3 a4 30. bxa4 Rb2 31. Qe3 $2 (31. a5 $18) 31... Qxe3 32. fxe3 Rxe2 $2 {The e-pawn is not the one that will queen any time soon.} (32... Rxa2 33. R8c7 Kf8 34. Rc8+ Kg7 35. R8c7 $18) 33. R1c2 Rxe3 34. R8c3 Re1+ 35. Kf2 Rd1 36. a5 Nd3+ 37. Ke2 Nb4 38. Kxd1 Nxc2 39. Kxc2 Bxa2 40. a6 {Black resigns.} 1-0