[Event "207th GK tournament"] [Site "?"] [Date "2021.11.16"] [Round "?"] [White "Paul H."] [Black "outshaider87"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C35"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "2021.??.??"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2013.12.29"] [SourceQuality "1"] [TimeControl "1/172800:0"] {[%evp 0,59,27,10,28,3,2,-33,-11,9,47,53,50,46,25,18,37,-10,-9,4,38,18,27,25, 69,52,50,45,47,40,74,42,37,32,61,18,70,-30,128,84,89,77,77,76,69,80,72,62,62, 27,40,45,60,40,55,7,366,466,587,590,711,749]} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Be7 { The Cunningham Variation of the King's Gambit. This is a rare continuation but tough to crack. Black's idea is to give check on h4, forcing the king to f1. This prevents castling and stops White's h1 rook from getting developed. The downside is that Black's pieces are awkwardly placed and his position often comes under fire.} 4. Bc4 Bh4+ 5. Kf1 Be7 {Black spent two moves to prevent White from castling. Now he retreats his bishop back to e7 and continues normally.} (5... d5 6. Bxd5 Nf6 7. Bb3 (7. Nxh4 $1 Nxd5 8. exd5 Qxh4 9. Qe2+ Kf8 10. d3 f6 11. Bd2 Bf5 12. Bb4+ Kf7 13. Qe7+ Kg6 14. Be1 Qg4 15. Nc3 Bd7 $16 ) 7... Bg4 8. d3 O-O 9. Qd2 Nh5 10. Nc3 Nc6 11. Nxh4 Qxh4 12. Qf2 Qd8 13. Bxf4 Be6 14. Re1 Nxf4 15. Qxf4 Bxb3 16. axb3 Nd4 17. Qf2 f5 18. e5 Qd7 19. h4 f4 20. e6 Nxe6 21. Re4 Rae8 22. Rh3 f3 23. Rxf3 Rxf3 24. gxf3 Rf8 25. Ne2 Qc6 26. Qe3 Nc5 27. Nd4 Qd7 28. Re5 Qh3+ 29. Ke2 b6 30. b4 Na4 31. Re7 Qh2+ 32. Kd1 Qxh4 33. Qe6+ Kh8 34. Re8 Qf4 35. Qe7 {Short,N (2655)-Kasparov,G (2805) London 1993 1/2-1/2}) 6. d4 {Seizing the center.} Nf6 {This looks like it walks into e5 but Black is actually doing fine here.} 7. e5 Ne4 {[#]} ({Another idea is} 7... Nh5 {is often seen in the KGA. The knight stubbornly defends f4 and is difficult to dislodge.} 8. Ng5 Bxg5 9. Qxh5 g6 10. Qf3 d5 {Sacrificing a pawn for some initiative.} 11. Qxd5 O-O 12. Nd2 Be6 13. Qxd8 Bxc4+ 14. Nxc4 Rxd8 15. c3 $11) 8. Bxf4 $146 (8. Bd5 Ng5 9. Bxf4 O-O 10. Nc3 Nc6 {1/2-1/2 (10) Sharpe, S (2180)-Zowain,L (2074) ICCF email 2014}) (8. Bd5 Ng5 9. Nxg5 Bxg5 10. h4 Be7 11. Qh5 O-O 12. Bxf4 $11) 8... d5 9. exd6 {Bd3 would be too passive. White has to fight for control of the center.} cxd6 $5 {At first this looked strange. Why would Black damage his structure? The answer is that he can now still p [lay d5 to secure his knight.} 10. Nc3 (10. Bd3 d5 11. Nc3 f5 $11) (10. Bd5 Nf6 11. Nc3 Nc6 12. Kf2 Bg4 $11) 10... Nxc3 11. bxc3 $15 {This creates a structural weakness on c3 that is difficult to defend - as we will see.} Bf5 12. Kf2 {I spent a lot of time on this move. Getting the h1 rook in the game is important and this seemed like the best way to do it. Stockfish agrees.} O-O 13. Re1 Nc6 14. Rb1 {Threatening Rb7 but this allows d5.} Na5 (14... d5 15. Bd3 Qd7 16. Kg1 Rac8 $15) 15. Bd5 {Placing the bishop here is annoying as it pressures by and is difficult to dislodge.} Rc8 {[%csl Rc3][%CAl Gc8c3] Beginning the build-up on the weak c3 pawn.} 16. Qd2 Rc7 {[%csl Rc2,Yd2,Gg1] [%CAl Rf5c2,Rc2f2,Rc7c2,Gf2g1] Black has ideas of doubling up on the c-file. I need to be careful as the c2 pawn is also under pressure and a future Rc2 will win the queen.} 17. Rb4 (17. Kg1 {is the safest move here. It gets the king away from the Rc2 threat.} Qd7 18. Re2 $11) 17... Qc8 $6 18. c4 (18. Rb5 b6 19. Rxe7 {similar to what happened in the game.} Rxe7 20. Bxd6 $14) 18... a6 $4 ( 18... Rd8 19. Rxe7 Rxe7 20. Bg5 Red7 21. Bxd8 Rxd8 22. Qf4 Be6 $15) 19. Rb2 $2 (19. Rxe7 Rxe7 20. Bxd6 Ree8 21. c5 $18) 19... Nc6 20. Bxc6 (20. c5 Rd8 (20... Rd7 $2 21. Bxc6 bxc6 22. Rxe7 Rxe7 23. Bxd6 $16) 21. c4 $16) 20... bxc6 21. Rxe7 Rxe7 22. Bxd6 Ree8 23. Bxf8 Kxf8 {This ending looks very balanced. I had a hard time coming up with a plan. I liked h3 to stop Bg4 but that looked too passive.} 24. Qb4+ (24. c5 {Locking down the dark squares was the first idea I considered but I rejected it bue to Be6-d5 ideas. This was a miscalculation as I can still play a well-timed c4 to dislodge the bishop.} f6 {Stopping Ne5.} 25. c4 Qc7 $14) (24. Qf4 f6 (24... Qe6 25. h3 f6 (25... Qe2+ 26. Kg3 Qe6 27. Rb6 $4)) 25. c3 Kg8 26. Kg1 $14) 24... Kg8 25. Qd6 Be4 ({Making luft with} 25... h5 {makes sense.} 26. Ne5 Bg4 27. Qxc6 Qf5+ 28. Nf3 Re6 29. Qd5 Qf4 $11) 26. Qf4 h6 27. Ne5 Qc7 $4 {Black's only major miscalculation and it proves to be fatal.} 28. Qxe4 f6 29. Qxc6 Qxc6 30. Nxc6 {Black resigns.} 1-0