[Event "Herts League"] [Site "?"] [Date "2021.11.09"] [Round "?"] [White "Ward, Ieuan"] [Black "Swanson, Stephen"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E63"] [WhiteElo "2290"] [BlackElo "2187"] [Annotator "mactobo"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2020.03.28"] [SourceVersionDate "2020.03.28"] {[%evp 0,80,61,14,83,29,35,39,39,23,55,44,45,33,68,46,32,33,45,38,42,40,38,18, 36,33,49,40,64,39,50,61,51,56,56,64,64,50,67,39,43,43,43,43,50,71,41,43,65,67, 44,44,44,33,118,105,110,125,124,99,109,118,122,122,115,121,139,139,147,123,87, 60,118,46,74,145,142,142,521,0,0,0,0]} 1. d4 d6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. d5 Ne5 6. Nxe5 dxe5 (6... Bxe5 {...is probably a better continuation}) 7. g3 Nf6 8. Bg2 O-O 9. O-O {White has scored well from this position but maybe the immediate Bd7 followed by Qc8 and c6 is the best option.} a6 (9... Bd7) 10. Qc2 Rb8 11. Rd1 Bd7 12. b4 Qc8 13. a4 {White has built up some queenside initiative and Black is a bit cramped. Here, 13.c5 might be a better try.} c5 $5 {Black can't sit and wait.} 14. dxc6 (14. Qb3) 14... Bxc6 (14... bxc6 $5 { was a real alternative which the engines prefer, following up with Bh3.}) 15. e4 Bd7 16. Bg5 Bg4 17. f3 (17. Nd5 $5 Bxd1 18. Nxe7+ Kh8 19. Rxd1 $14) 17... Be6 18. c5 (18. Nd5 $5 Nxd5 19. exd5 Bf5 20. Qb3 Re8 $14) 18... a5 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. exd5 axb4 $11 21. Rab1 Rd8 22. Qc4 {Black has just about equalised but I had spotted the following idea a couple of moves ago and wanted to do something active.} Nxd5 $6 (22... Bf8 23. Rbc1 h6 24. Be3 Ra8 25. Qb3 e6 26. d6 Nd5 $13) 23. Rxd5 Rxd5 24. Qxd5 Qf5 {The move I had been relying on to free my position and I thought I would be OK, but this was over-optimistic.} 25. Rxb4 Qxg5 26. f4 $14 e6 $2 {Trying to introduce a bit of chaos.....and partly driven by the large advantage I had built up on the clock. White had less than 5 minutes left while I had over 20.} (26... Qg4 {is a better try but White still has a good edge here.} 27. c6 Qe2 28. Rb1 Qc2 29. Be4 Qc3 $16) 27. fxg5 exd5 28. c6 $18 {Yes, this is the move that had been worrying me for a while and White is just winning.} e4 29. cxb7 $6 (29. Bh3 $1 {is even better.}) 29... Bc3 30. Rb5 Kf8 31. Kf1 Ke7 32. a5 Kd6 33. a6 Bd4 {I'd continued to play fairly quickly and White now had less than 2 minutes, plus the 10 second per move increment.} 34. Ra5 $6 (34. Rb1 Ba7 35. Rc1) 34... Ba7 35. Bh3 $6 (35. Ra1 $5) 35... Re8 $6 {....and here we are at the old time-control and White is better, though it's no longer the 1-0 that it looked like a few moves ago. If White had sealed in this position, would I have played on - probably, but with low expectations. However, this is the 21st century now, so we keep going.....} (35... f6 $5 36. gxf6 Rf8 $14) 36. Ra2 $16 d4 (36... Re7) 37. Rc2 Re5 38. Rc8 Ra5 $2 {I knew I should keep pushing the pawns to generate uncertainty and risk for my opponent but spent too much time looking at d3 first and succumbed to playing this tame alternative....which just loses....my engine immediately swings to +14 after this!} (38... e3 39. Bg4 $16 (39. Ra8 $4 e2+ $19) 39... d3 40. Rd8+ Kc6 41. Rxd3 Rxg5 42. Rc3+ Kb6 43. Be2 $16) (38... d3 39. Ra8 e3 40. Rxa7 e2+ 41. Kg2 e1=Q 42. b8=Q+ $18) 39. b8=Q+ $4 {...and swings back to 0.00 after White's automatic and time-pressured response.} ({instead} 39. Ra8 $18 Rxa6 40. Rxa7 Rb6 41. Ra6 $1 {...and it's all over for Black.}) 39... Bxb8 40. Rxb8 Rxa6 $11 {The dust has settled and while contemplating the fact that he no longer had any advantage left, White lost on time!!} 0-1 [Event "Herts League"] [Site "?"] [Date "2021.12.08"] [Round "?"] [White "Swanson, Stephen"] [Black "Ward, Jeremy"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C29"] [WhiteElo "2185"] [BlackElo "2170"] [Annotator "mactobo"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2020.03.28"] [SourceVersionDate "2020.03.28"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. Qf3 f5 6. d3 Nxc3 7. bxc3 d4 8. Qf2 c5 9. Nf3 Nc6 10. g3 (10. c4 $5) 10... Qa5 11. Bd2 dxc3 12. Bf4 Be7 13. Bg2 O-O 14. O-O h6 15. h4 $6 (15. Rfb1 g5 16. Be3) 15... Be6 $17 {White's unusual opening choice has not turned out well and Black is clearly better.} 16. Kh2 Rad8 17. a3 Rd7 (17... Qa4 $5) 18. Rfe1 b5 19. h5 Nd4 20. Reb1 Qb6 21. Nxd4 cxd4 22. Bf3 {White's only positive here is the control of the long diagonal.} a5 (22... Bd5 $5) 23. Qg2 b4 24. axb4 axb4 25. Ra4 Ra7 26. Rxa7 Qxa7 27. Bd5 Qd7 28. Bxe6+ Qxe6 29. Qb7 {Black is still much better but at least White now has a bit of activity.} Rd8 (29... Qf7 $5) 30. Kh3 $6 (30. Ra1 $5) 30... Bf8 ( 30... Qf7 $1) 31. Qf3 Rb8 $19 32. Rb3 Rb6 33. Qf2 Qd5 (33... Ra6) 34. Rb1 Bc5 35. Re1 b3 36. cxb3 Qxb3 37. Qf3 Qe6 38. Ra1 {Despite all of White's shuffling of the pieces and of finally taking control of the open file, I'm still quite lost but, by now, Black had lost his time advantage on the clock and we were both down to a couple of minutes plus the 10s increment.} Qc6 $6 {Certainly not best, according to the engines, which recommend Kf7, but what human is going to bring their king closer to the action at this stage? Kh7 or Bf8 look like sensible alternatives to me.} 39. Qf1 $5 {The engines don't like this move, preferring the queen exchange with Qxc6, but that position didn't offer anything to me. The clock is running, so keep the pieces on the board!} Rb2 40. Bc1 {Jeremy had missed this move, judging by his reaction, but no need to panic. I thought that Rb8 was the safest response - and the engines agree - but I'm sure he wanted to keep the pressure on the 7th rank so played....} Rc2 $2 41. Qxf5 $17 {Yes, Black is still better but, despite appearances, there is no mate arising from Qg2+ or Qh1+ so Black has to think of something else to do.} Re2 $6 {Surprisingly, the engines now claim the position is equal and that instead 42....Qg2+ 43.Kg4 Rf2 was the way to go.} 42. Bf4 {.....and I offered a draw. The engines prefer Bxh6, but I didn't look at it..... thankfully!} (42. Bxh6 Qg2+ 43. Kg4 Rf2 (43... gxh6 44. Qe6+ Kg7 45. Qg6+ Kf8 46. Qxh6+ $16) 44. Bf4 Qf3+ 45. Kh3 $11 (45. Kg5 $4 Be7+ 46. Kg6 Qc6+ 47. e6 Rxf4 48. gxf4 (48. Qxf4 Qxe6+) 48... Qg2+ $19)) 42... Qd5 {....draw refused.... .} 43. Qc8+ Kh7 $4 {....clearly rattled and running very short of thinking time, Jeremy makes the final horrible blunder.} (43... Bf8 $11 44. Ra8 Qf7 45. Kg4) 44. Ra8 Bf8 45. Qf5+ {...and Black resigned as it's mate in 3 to follow.} 1-0