[Event "Wimborne D v Ringwood B"] [Site "?"] [Date "2022.11.09"] [Round "?"] [White "Clancy, Martin"] [Black "Bassinder, John"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B01"] [Annotator "Martin"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2019.03.01"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Nxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 (5. Nf3 {is the correspondence players' choice}) 5... Nc6 (5... e5 6. dxe5 Qxd1+ 7. Nxd1 $14) 6. d5 (6. Nf3 e6 $16 (6... Bg4 7. d5 Ne5 8. Be2 $16)) 6... Ne5 {I'd originally intended Qd4, but realised it would be met by Nc6!} 7. Bf4 ({Stockfish gives} 7. Qe2 Ng6 8. h4 $16 {as best}) 7... Ng6 8. Bg3 (8. Be3 e6 9. h4 {gives rise to a more unbalanced position e.g.} exd5 10. Nf3 Bd6 11. h5 Ne5 12. h6 g6 13. Bg5 O-O {though it is not clear that this is an improvement for White}) 8... Bd7 $2 {This is a bit slow.} (8... e6 {looks safer} 9. Nf3 exd5 10. cxd5 Bd6 $11) 9. Qb3 Nh5 $2 {This makes a bad situation worse. Black had a couple of better alternatives.} (9... h5 10. h4 e5 11. dxe6 Bxe6 $16) (9... e6 10. dxe6 Bxe6 11. Nf3 $16) 10. Qxb7 (10. O-O-O Qc8 11. Nf3 a5 $18 {is even stronger but I was seduced by the follow up to taking the pawn.}) 10... Nxg3 (10... Rb8 11. Qxa7 Nxg3 12. hxg3 Rxb2 {was an alternative for Black after which White is still clearly better but Black can certainly fight on}) 11. Nb5 (11. hxg3 { directly was stronger} Qb8 (11... Rb8 12. Qxa7 Rxb2 {transposes to 10...Rb8}) ( 11... Ne5 12. Nf3 Nxf3+ 13. gxf3 Qb8 14. Qxb8+ Rxb8 15. O-O-O g6 $16) 12. Qb3 Qxb3 13. axb3 e6 14. dxe6 Bxe6 $16) 11... Nxh1 $2 {Discussing it afterwards with my opponent he wanted an interesting game and felt the material was a good punt for the queen. Had it been possible to keep all his bits and get his king to safety he could well have been right.} (11... Rc8 {was a much better defence} 12. hxg3 e5 {and Black is starting to get his pieces active with the prospect of being strong on the dark squares e.g.} 13. O-O-O (13. dxe6 Bb4+ 14. Nc3 Bxc3+ 15. bxc3 Qe7 16. Be2 Qxe6 {should give Black excellent chances to hold a draw}) 13... a6 14. Qxa6 Bc5 {leaves Black with a lot of compensation for his two pawns. With perfect play this may be winning for White but that requires great accuracy and in a practical game Black would have plenty of chances.}) 12. Nxc7+ $18 Qxc7 13. Qxc7 e6 14. dxe6 Bb4+ {White has to find the "only" move for a while, but they are there to find.} 15. Ke2 Bxe6 (15... fxe6 16. Qb7 Nf4+ 17. Kf3 O-O $18 18. g3 Ng6+ 19. Kg2 Ne5 {is actually best which we found in analysis after the game, though White should still go on to win}) 16. Qc6+ Ke7 17. Qb7+ Kf6 18. Qxb4 Rhe8 ({I was a bit fretful about} 18... Rad8 {before Rhe8 but Ke1 is enough.}) 19. Qc3+ Ne5 20. f4 Bxc4+ 21. Ke3 Kf5 22. fxe5 Rxe5+ 23. Qxe5+ {White has enough material to allow him to cash in the queen to stop the action.} Kxe5 24. Bxc4 1-0