[Event "Scarborough Inter"] [Site "?"] [Date "2024.10.??"] [Round "3"] [White "Pearce, Neville"] [Black "Burriss, Nick"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B23"] [Annotator "McCarthy,Damian"] [PlyCount "66"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. f4 b5 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 b4 (5... e6 {was more prudent.}) 6. Nce2 (6. Nd5 {was better, exploiting my inaccuracy last move.}) 6... Nf6 7. d3 e6 8. Nf3 d6 9. O-O Be7 10. f5 $2 {Thematic, but premature. h3 intending g4 was preferable} exf5 11. exf5 Nc6 {Better to castle without delay and play Re8 and develop the Knight to d7.} 12. Kh1 {Another inaccuracy, h3+ intending g4 was more to the point.} O-O 13. Be3 Ng4 $6 {What Daniel Naroditsky would call one-move-itis Re8, or Qd7 or a5 were all better choices.} 14. Bg1 Qc7 15. h3 Nge5 16. Nf4 Nxf3 {It's easy to see why he didnt capture with the queen, but he should have.} 17. Bxf3 Nd4 {After I played this I immediately had second thoughts, but its ok and starts to shake things up a bit, Bf6 first was safer.} 18. Bxd4 cxd4 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. Bxd5 Rac8 21. Rf2 Rfe8 (21... Bf6 {preventing white's next is again safer but my choice is ok.}) 22. f6 Bxf6 23. Qg4 {The storm clouds are gathering, time for some cool reflection, in my case about 15 minutes of it!} Re5 $5 {The accuracy of my move remains stubbornly inversely proportional to the amount of time I spend thinking of them. Kf8 was much better.} 24. Rxf6 Rxd5 25. Raf1 $2 ({He absolutely had to follow up with} 25. Rxf7 Kxf7 26. Rf1+ Kg8 27. Qe6+ {and its about equal.}) 25... Rf8 {Continuing to stumble in defence, Qc6 would have sealed a sizeable advantage for Black.} 26. R6f2 Qe7 27. Kh2 a5 {Not forgetting the Qside in all the excitement.} 28. Rf4 Re5 {Trying to drum up counterplay along the e-file but 28...,Qc7 intending Rc5 was a better plan.} 29. R1f2 h5 {Now it's White's turn to find correct defensive moves for once, the first is obvious enough.} 30. Qf3 g6 31. g4 $2 {But this is a serious mistake which plays into my hands.} Re3 32. Qg2 h4 {Not the best hxg4 was more accurate but I played it quickly and White was getting short of time. There is something to be said for maximising the oppertunity for your opponent to go wrong.} 33. Rxd4 $2 {Right on cue that's exactly what he does!} Qe5+ {resigns... but possibly slightly premature because my initial idea of playing 34...,g5 after he had played Rd-f4 was flawed because of the ripose 35.d4. The correct sequence (after 34.Rdf4) would have been, 34...d5 and if 35.Kh1 Re1+ 36.Rf1 Rxf1+ 37.Rxf1 Qxb2 38.Qxd5 Qxc2 with a definate advantage but there is still some chess to be played.} 0-1