[Event "WDCL Div 1"] [Site "?"] [Date "2022.04.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Slater, Bryan"] [Black "Burriss, Nick"] [Result "*"] [ECO "D85"] [Annotator "Nick Burriss"] [PlyCount "50"] [WhiteTeam "Culcheth A"] [BlackTeam "Culcheth B"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8. Bb5+ Nc6 9. O-O O-O 10. Bxc6 bxc6 {So far pretty standard stuff. Black’s pressure against White’s pawn on d4 – thematic in so many Grunfeld lines – offsets the damage to his own pawn structure. So how should White proceed?} 11. e5 {Tempting though it is to blunt Black’s KB, this is not the best. Either 11. Be3, bolstering the d-pawn, or 11. Ba3 attacking the pawn on c5 and eyeing the pawn on e7 are preferable.} Qa5 {Attacking one of the d4 defenders.} 12. Bd2 Bg4 {Attacking and pinning another} 13. Re1 Rfd8 14. c4 {A mistake weakening the d4 pawn which will soon perish.} Qc7 {Played only after a good deal of thought – and not a bad choice. Definitely better than 14……..Qa3 which was my other candidate move. But best of all according to the engine would have been 14…….Qa6, which I hardly even considered.} 15. Qb3 { This move has the merits of breaking the pin and removing the Queen from the same file as Black’s Rook whilst retaining the option of recapturing on f3 without doubling pawns. But, it’s still a dubious alternative to the more direct 15. h3.} Bxf3 16. Qxf3 e6 {Played to prevent White from complicating matters with 17. e6 himself. There is no rush to capture the d-pawn} 17. d5 cxd5 18. cxd5 Rxd5 {Again the clearest way to a winning advantage. Bryan is very much at home with complications, so it follows that I should keep it boringly simple.} 19. Bc3 Rad8 {Removing the pin on the other Rook and threatening to win a second pawn.} 20. Rad1 $2 {Exchanging pieces when down in material is usually a bad idea as it eases Blacks task in achieving a two pawns up ending.} Rxd1 21. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 22. Qxd1 Bxe5 23. Bxe5 Qxe5 24. h3 Qd4 25. Qf3 c4 {White resigns} *