[Event "Blackpool Congress-Intermediate"] [Site "?"] [Date "2023.02.16"] [Round "?"] [White "Horne, George"] [Black "Walters, Philip"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D52"] [WhiteElo "1753"] [BlackElo "1745"] [Annotator "Llewellyn,Alan"] [PlyCount "75"] [EventDate "2023.02.16"] [SourceVersionDate "2023.02.16"] {[%evp 0,75,26,24,37,38,38,-14,-14,-14,30,11,8,8,22,3,4,2,2,-15,20,8,18,-17, -23,-23,12,-29,-8,-39,-14,-49,7,-46,12,12,12,6,102,102,102,102,93,78,134,97, 100,90,181,256,256,105,105,180,295,295,1006,142,306,288,296,199,149,149,188, 186,186,164,244,94,111,111,949,949,1014,1058,1016,1157]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 d5 4. Nc3 c6 {entering the Semi-Slav} 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5 $5 7. Bxf6 Nxf6 8. c5 $6 $15 (8. a3 $11) 8... Ne4 (8... b6 $15) 9. Qc2 Nxc3 10. bxc3 b6 11. cxb6 axb6 12. Bd3 g6 $6 $11 {Moving the Bishop onto the long diagonal is a retrograde step as the bishop is needed to defend the key c5 square, and is biteing on granite of the d4 c3 pawns, when fianchettoed.} (12... c5 $5 $15) 13. O-O Bg7 14. a4 $3 {a George move reminiscant of Petrosian at his best, the aim is to target the b6 pawn...} O-O 15. Rfb1 f6 16. Nd2 Ba6 $4 $18 17. Bxa6 $4 $11 {Missing a tactic that was hard to see...} (17. Bxg6 $3 hxg6 18. Nb3 Bd3 19. Qxd3 Qa7 20. Qxg6 $18) 17... Qxa6 18. c4 e5 $2 $16 {d5 now is too weak} 19. cxd5 $1 cxd5 20. Qc6 $1 exd4 21. exd4 f5 $2 $18 (21... Qd3 $16) 22. Rxb6 Qd3 23. Nf3 Rad8 $4 $18 (23... Kh8 $18) 24. Rb7 $5 Rb8 25. Re1 (25. Rab1 $4 Qxb1+ 26. Rxb1 Rxb1+ 27. Qc1 Rxc1+ 28. Ne1 Rxe1#) 25... Rxb7 26. Qxb7 Rf7 $6 $18 ( 26... Qc4 $1 $18) 27. Qxd5 Qc3 28. Qe6 Bh6 (28... Bf6 $142 $18) 29. d5 $1 Kg7 $6 $18 30. Qe5+ Qxe5 31. Nxe5 Re7 32. d6 Re6 33. d7 Bg5 34. Nf3 $3 Rxe1+ 35. Nxe1 Kf7 $2 $18 (35... Bd8 {Philips last chance}) 36. a5 Bd8 37. a6 Bb6 38. a7 {and if 38...Bxa7 then 39.d8=Q gets the Queen anyway.} 1-0