[Event "BDCL 1"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.03.01"] [Round "?"] [White "Laker, Len"] [Black "Fuller, David"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C11"] [Annotator "David Fuller"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "Southbourne A"] [BlackTeam "Poole A"] {I always find Len a difficult player to play against: he thinks much quicker than I do and always ends up with loads more time than me. He plays bridge where playing quickly and confidently is crucial.} 1. e4 e6 {I wanted to avoid Len's Grand Prix Attack which all previous games between us have followed.} 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Nf3 c5 6. Bf4 Nc6 7. Bb5 Be7 8. O-O Nxd4 9. Nxd4 cxd4 10. Qxd4 O-O {Slightly unusual White setup I thought, but I couldn't see anything wrong with it. Clocks: 58/47.} 11. Qe3 f6 {Standard stuff. After the f6 exchange it is all about whether Black can get the d and e pawns moving or not.} 12. exf6 Nxf6 13. Rad1 {Fritz liked everything thus far but prefered another line here starting with Ng4 and some complicated stuff involving Qxb2. I preferred the simple stuff with clocks running fast and Len moving fast.} Bd6 14. Bg3 {Another line would be to exchange and fix the e6 pawn with f4. Similar evaluation from Fritz.} a6 {Chasing Bb5 to a better square? I wanted to get Bc8 to c6.} 15. Be2 Qc7 16. Rd3 {This time Fritz assesses the Bxd6 then f4 line as +0.50.} Bd7 17. Rfd1 Rae8 18. Bf3 Bxg3 19. hxg3 Bc6 {Nothing too much has happened over the last few moves and it is about even here I think. Not sure how either side can improve their position. In fact lazy Fritz is showing all lines 0.00. Clocks: 52/32.} 20. Rd4 {I had been wondering whether to just get on with e5 here, but couldn't quite get my head around all the variations with Bxd5 or Nxd5 and perhaps a good exchange sac for a pawn or two. In the end I tried to keep everything together with Qf7 and a cowardly draw offer. Probably a good decision with Clocks: 47/23.} Qf7 21. Rh4 {But this does allow e5 with no mess.} e5 22. Qd2 {And so now Black's position looks harmonious. N/ B/Q are in the right places and so just the rooks need to go onto the d/e files and push the pawns. After thinking too long about an immediate d4 or e4, I played...} Rd8 23. Re1 Rfe8 24. a3 {Clocks 37/14, gulp.} e4 25. Bd1 {This doesn't look wrong, but the d1 square is needed for the knight soon. Be2 is better, although still difficult.} d4 26. Ne2 e3 27. fxe3 dxe3 28. Qc1 Rd2 {Looking very bad for White now. Most moves should work. But Clocks: 36/04. Len played the rest of his moves immediately keeping the pressure on.} 29. Rd4 Ng4 {Simple threat Qf2+/g2#} 30. Rf1 Qh5 ({There is this nice line now which I didn't see:} 30... Qf2+ 31. Rxf2 exf2+ 32. Kf1 Rxd4 33. c3 Rxd1+ 34. Qxd1 Ne3+ 35. Kxf2 Nxd1+) 31. Rxg4 Qxg4 ({Another nice line which I was never going to see let alone play with a couple of minutes left:} 31... Qd5 32. Re4 Qxe4 33. Rf3 Red8 34. Nc3 Rxd1+ 35. Nxd1 e2 36. Ne3 Rd1+ 37. Qxd1 Qxe3+ 38. Rxe3 exd1=Q+) 32. Rf4 Qd7 {Threat: Rxd1+} 33. Rf1 {I had an idea here about a Rh1/Qh3/g2 combination I remembered seeing somewhere, hence the following rook lift.} Re6 ({I thought Qd5 was no good here because of Nf4, but: } 33... Qd5 34. Nf4 Rxg2+ 35. Kh1 Rg1+ 36. Kxg1 Qh1#) 34. c3 Rh6 {Again Qd5 wins easily.} 35. Nf4 {[#] This allows the surprising double rook sac for a nice finish.} ({After the game we looked at Bb3+ (not the cheapo Kh8, Rf8# for White!) but:} 35. Bb3+ Bd5 36. Bxd5+ Qxd5 37. Nf4 Qc5 38. b4 Qb6 {... keeps all the threats in place and wins.}) 35... Rxg2+ 36. Nxg2 Rh1+ 37. Kxh1 Qh3+ 38. Kg1 Qxg2# {Afterwards, we felt that White had done little wrong except to allow the e5 push. Len thought he had pushed too hard with Rh4, perhaps encouraged by my draw offer.} 0-1