[Event "WDCL Div 1"] [Site "?"] [Date "2022.10.19"] [Round "?"] [White "McCarthy, Damian"] [Black "Slater, Bryan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B60"] [Annotator "Damian"] [PlyCount "75"] [SourceVersionDate "2007.11.01"] [WhiteTeam "Culcheth A"] [BlackTeam "Culcheth B"] {[%evp 0,29,16,28,44,54,43,48,48,27,72,37,43,38,61,62,116,123,114,83,82,87,75, 76,94,94,104,94,110,128,115,63]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 d6 5. Nc3 Nf6 {We have reached a Classical Sicilian variation.} 6. Bg5 Nxd4 (6... e6 {or Bd7 are the normal resposes here,}) 7. Qxd4 e5 $2 {The trouble with this move is that Black is now pretty much forced into a bad bishop v knight scenario} 8. Bb5+ Bd7 9. Bxd7+ Qxd7 10. Qd3 Be7 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 {A structure which is always tough to defend for Black if they have no way of contesting the Knight on d5. If for example the light squared bishop was still on the board sitting on e6 say the situation would be entirely different. For now Black's Bishop is also doing the job of a big pawn. This was why I think e5 was incorrect as it allowed Bb5+ leading to this.} 12. O-O-O Be7 13. Nd5 Rd8 14. h4 {To stop any Bg5 idea's} O-O 15. Ne3 $6 {Again to stop any f5 idea's, this move was far from stockfish's first choice but I didn't see why I should allow any counterplay such as f5.} Rc8 16. Kb1 Rfd8 {Black has done a good job of solidly defending his weakness on d6, the problem is his entire army is tied down to defending this weakness. For my own part it was not obvious how to proceed on the kingside. I can take my time in finding the right plan because Black is so tied down but I was very wary about pushing pawn's willy nilly as if the bishop on e7 finds its way outside of the pawn chain then Black's problems could be over.} 17. Rd2 Qc6 18. Nf5 Kf8 19. g3 g6 {Whilst this does evict the knight from f5, it does create two hook's for white's attack on f5 and h5.} 20. Ne3 b5 ({if} 20... f5 {I would have played} 21. f3 { black cannot capture on e4 without opening the f file to his king}) 21. Rhd1 Rd7 22. f4 {Finally! Seeing no further ways to improve the position I decided to begin the attack with this move.} exf4 23. gxf4 Rcd8 (23... Bf6 24. Nd5 Bg7 25. f5 {might have been similar to what happens in the game}) 24. h5 ({Perhaps } 24. Qd4 {was more precise}) 24... Bf6 25. Nd5 Bh8 26. f5 g5 27. f6 Qc4 28. Qf3 ({It's more natural to keep the Queens on when attacking, but I did wonder about;} 28. h6 Qxd3 29. cxd3 Re8 30. Rg2 {but I noticed} Re5 {and it did not seem to be immediately winning, therefore I decided to keep the queens on.}) 28... h6 29. Qf5 Kg8 30. Rg2 (30. Ne7+ {immediately was what I had planned before playing Qf3-Qf5, but not it came to it I brifly wondered if doubling rooks to play Rxg5 might be even cleaner.}) 30... Rb7 {I then after playing Rb2 to sacrifice on g5, proceeded to chicken out and go back to the line I originally intended! The rook sac on g5 does work as well! but fortunately Ne7+ was also good enough.} 31. Ne7+ (31. Rxg5+ hxg5 32. Qxg5+ Kh7 33. Qf5+ Kh6 {I couldn't quite see the finish after this, despite strongly suspecting there must be one! but Stockfish finds it easily..} 34. Rg1 Rg8 35. Rxg8 {back at the board position looking at this from afar I didn't see that my queen is actually preventing the back rank mate, so Rxg8 is therefore winning.}) 31... Rxe7 32. fxe7 Re8 33. Qd7 {The rook sac on g5 still works now as well!} (33. Rxg5+ hxg5 34. Qxg5+ Kh7 35. Qf5+ Kg8 36. Rg1+ Bg7 37. Qf6) 33... Qc8 34. Rxd6 Qxd7 35. Rxd7 Kh7 36. Rf2 f6 37. Rf5 g4 38. Rf4 {Black resigned here as the bishop on h8 is blocked in and the Rook on e8 also cannot move.} 1-0