[Event "Kenya Chess League 2025"] [White "McLigeyo,Robert Oluka"] [Black "Gilruth,Peter"] [Site ""] [Round "2"] [Annotator "PGilruth"] [Result "1-0"] [Date "2025.03.29"] [WhiteElo "2030"] [BlackElo "1980"] [PlyCount "89"] {Our new Team A's first test against a strong KCB team.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bg7 6. d3 e5 7. Nbd2 Ne7 8. a4 O-O 9. Nc4 f6 10. a5 Rb8 11. Be3 b6 12. axb6 axb6 13. Nfd2 Be6 ({my engine showed me} 13... Nd5 $1 $11 {which I never considered!} )14. f4 Qc7 {too passive, but White keeps an edge after 14...exf4} 15. fxe5 fxe5 16. Rxf8+ Rxf8 (16... Bxf8 {was an option to protect c5 for an eventual ...b4.} )17. Ra6 Nc8 18. b4 {While I was chewing up time on my clock, my opponent hadn't used but 5 minutes. A bad sign to see that your opponent is better prepared than you!! He stated that he had 1000's of blitz games with these moves. Sigh....} cxb4 19. Nxb6 Nxb6 20. Rxb6 Rb8 ({the engine found} 20... Bh6 {I didn't!} )21. Ra6 Bc8 22. Ra7 Rb7 23. Ra8 Rb8 24. Qa1 Rxa8 25. Qxa8 Qb7 $2 {a blunder which leads to a lost game. I believe that White's pressure made me cough up a pawn. Either 25...Bf8 or 25...Kf7 gives Black chances to hold the game.} 26. Qxb7 Bxb7 27. Bc5 {I had only seen 27.Nc4. I knew I was losing and I tried unsuccessfully to direct the game to an opposite colour Bs ending.} Bh6 (27... Bf8 28. Bxf8 Kxf8 29. Nc4 Ke7 30. Nxe5 c5 31. Kf2 Ke6 32. Nf3 $16 {although losing,this line would have given me better chances to draw with one pawn down.} )28. Nc4 Ba6 29. Nxe5 Bg7 30. Nc4 Bc3 31. Kf2 Kf7 32. Ke3 Ke6 33. Bd4 Be1 34. g3 h5 35. Ne5 c5 36. Bb2 h4 37. g4 c4 38. dxc4 Bc3 39. Bxc3 bxc3 40. Kd4 Bb7 41. Nxg6 Kf6 42. Nxh4 Kg5 43. Nf5 Kxg4 44. Nd6 Bc6 45. Kxc3 1-0