[Event "WDCL Div 1"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.12.23"] [Round "?"] [White "O'Rourke, Ben"] [Black "Maudsley, Keith"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B23"] [Annotator "Damian"] [PlyCount "78"] [WhiteTeam "Winwick A"] [BlackTeam "Culcheth A"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bb5 Nd4 6. Nxd4 {A more positional line of the Grand Prix in the style of our own Tom Vout! More popular for white here is to allow the trade on b5 with 0-0. But with accurate play Black should be fine against either line.} cxd4 7. Ne2 a6 8. Bc4 {this allows black to gain a further tempo with b5.} (8. Bd3 {is a stronger line here for white, where black will open the centre with c3 as again Tom Vout has demonstrated many times for Culcheth}) 8... e6 9. a3 Ne7 10. d3 b5 11. Ba2 {The strategic theme of this game will now be whether this bishop becomes a fine attacking piece or will it just be biting on the granite of e6. White will need to play with great urgency now to avoid being worse.} Bb7 12. O-O Rc8 13. Bd2 Qb6 14. Kh1 O-O 15. Rc1 {I think this is quite an instructive moment, it is not immediately obvious that d5 is a good move here as after white responds e5 the bishop is blocked off on b7, the point is however that after Nf5 white does not have a free hand to attack on the kingside with g4 as thanks to the Queen being on b6 the knight has a lovely square on e3 to hop into. Without this resource i'd have been reluctant to play d5 as black.} d5 16. Bb4 (16. e5 { would not be good because} Nf5 17. g4 Ne3 18. Bxe3 dxe3 {with an edge for black }) 16... Rfe8 17. Bxe7 {Seemingly played in order to be able to push e5 without having to worry about a knight coming to e3. Still it is hard to forsee white breaking through on the kingside without this dark squared bishop so it would seem he must now be content with a more passive type of play aiming to hold the draw.} Rxe7 18. e5 b4 {Black begins his queenside play, objectively the computer calls the position neartly equal, but from a practical point of view Black is playign for two results with Whites kingside play having ground to a halt. Still you need two weaknesses to win a game of chess so white can hope to defend, albeit a miserable task.} 19. a4 a5 20. Qe1 f6 {attempting to activate the bishop and introduce a potential second front.} 21. Qg3 Rf7 22. Bb3 fxe5 23. fxe5 Rcf8 24. Kg1 Bh6 25. Rxf7 Rxf7 26. Re1 { an awful blunder, missing the forking square on f2. A shame as the position is quite interesting, the bishop on b3 is entombed but it is not easy for it's b7 counterpart to influence the game either, perhaps later there could have been some potential for a Bc6-e8-g6 manouver in the endgame.} (26. Rd1 Be3+ 27. Kh1 Qc7 28. h3 Rf5 29. Ng1 Qxe5 {was a potential continuation had the game continued without white's blunder}) 26... Be3+ 27. Kh1 Bf2 {A full rook down White could resign here, the players play on for a few further moves however.} 28. Qg4 Bxe1 29. Nf4 Bd2 30. g3 Bxf4 31. gxf4 Rf5 32. h4 Qd8 33. Kg2 Qe7 34. Kg3 Qf7 35. Qf3 h6 36. Qg4 Kh7 37. Qf3 g5 38. hxg5 hxg5 39. Qh1+ Kg7 {white resigns} 0-1