[Event "online chess.com"] [Site "?"] [Date "2022.08.02"] [Round "?"] [White "Burriss, Nick"] [Black "German, Guest"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B40"] [Annotator "McCarthy,Damian"] [PlyCount "77"] {With annotations provided by Nick} 1. e4 e6 2. d3 {My stock-in-trade response to the French Defence and Sicilian Defence with 2...e6} c5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Nf6 5. Bg2 Qc7 {Be7 or d6 or d5 are all preferable} 6. O-O Be7 7. Nc3 a6 8. Re1 d6 9. Bf4 O-O {This is okay, but 9........Nd7 adding to the pressure on the e5 square, or ........Nh5 harassing the Bishop are more to the point} 10. e5 dxe5 {Again this is okay, but 10. .......Ne8 was more accurate} 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. Bxe5 Qb6 (12... Bd6 {Bd6 was the right move. Black can live with} 13. Bxf6 gxf6 {after which White has only a slight advantage and Black has the Bishop pair as compensation}) 13. Ne4 ({According to the engine} 13. d4 {is best, after which} Qxb2 (13... cxd4 14. Bxd4 Qxb2 $2 15. Nd5 Qa3 16. Re3 $18 {is winning for White}) 14. Na4 Qb4 15. Nxc5 $16 {gives White an advantage}) 13... Nxe4 14. Bxe4 f6 15. Bc3 Bd7 16. Qh5 {Giving Black the opportunity to go badly wrong} f5 {Which he doesn't take!} (16... g6 $2 17. Bxg6 {wins after} Rf7 (17... hxg6 18. Qxg6+ Kh8 19. Re4 {mates by force})) 17. Bg2 Bf6 18. Rab1 Bc6 {At this point I paused to hatch a winning plan. Having decided that my advantage amounted to the weakness of Black's backward e-pawn on the open and, equally importantly the potential weakness of the square e5. So I started by turning the potential weakness into a concrete one} 19. Bxf6 Rxf6 20. Bxc6 {Trading off Black's best piece and a potential defender of his weak pawn seemed logical} Qxc6 21. Re5 { Occupying the weak square and preparing to pile up on the weak pawn. However 21. b3 depriving the Black Queen of the square a4 was more precise.} g6 { Creating a further weakness whilst driving the Queen away to a better square} 22. Qg5 $6 {My idea was to retreat the Queen via g5 where it threatens the Rook to e3 where it eyes both the pawns on e6 and c5 which have been on those squares since move 2. The engine 'agrees' with my thinking, except it suggests 22. Qh4 intending Qc4 and Rbe1 as a more accurate way of doing so} Kg7 23. Qe3 b6 24. b3 {Sometimes you just cannot win with engines. I played this move (recommended by the engine a couple of moves ago) to prevent .......Qa4 by Black and prepare a4 threatening a5. But the engine much prefers 24. Re1 and after 24.......Re8, 25. d4 cxd4; 26. Qxd4 Kg8 (not 26.......Qxc2??; 27. Rxe6! is curtains for Black) 27. c4 with a clear advantage.} Rd8 25. Re1 Rd6 { was a much more resilient defence} (25... Re8 {Rc8 was better, but still losing }) 26. a4 Kf7 {a5 preventing 27. a5 by White was required} 27. a5 {Affording Black no second chance and at this point I thought I could see how to win this game per force.} bxa5 {I thought he might try to confuse matters with 27...,f4; whereupon either 28. gxf4 or Qe4 are good enough. Now it's fairly easy (except I have only got about 4 minutes left on my clock).} 28. Qxc5 Qxc5 29. Rxc5 { Good enough, but 28. Rxc5 was correct.} e5 30. Rcxe5 Rfe6 31. Rxe6 Rxe6 32. Rxe6 Kxe6 33. f4 $1 {Yet again, even at this stage controlling the e5 square matters.} Kd5 34. Kf2 Kd4 35. Ke2 Kc3 36. Kd1 h6 37. h4 h5 38. Kc1 Kd4 39. Kd2 {Black resigns} 1-0