[Event "Nottingham Chess Congress (Major)"] [Site "Nottingham"] [Date "1993.04.25"] [Round "6"] [White "Cast, Julian"] [Black "Hudson, Julian"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B00"] [WhiteElo "1863"] [BlackElo "2013"] [Annotator "Annotations by Julian Hudson"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "6"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.05.17"] 1. e4 Nc6 {At the time, I played the Nimzovitsch Defence having read My System, and it was a rare defence and I did not expect most players to have a good idea of how to play against it.} 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 {I have to take to avoid locking up and ending up with a French style defence.} 4. d5 Ne5 5. Bf4 Ng6 6. Bg3 {All theory up to this point.} a6 {This is prophylactic and slow but it keeps the Knight and Bishop of b5.} 7. Bc4 {White is developing freely. It's awkward for Black because of White's d5 pawn the Bishop threat on the diagonal.} f5 {A book move but risky because the e6 square is not covered but Black threatens the Bishop.} 8. Nh3 Nf6 {Happy to develop the Knight on it's natural square.} 9. Qe2 b5 10. Bb3 b4 11. Qc4 $1 {White has Queen and Bishop on the same diagonal. White has obviously analysed the tactics to sacfrice the Knight.} bxc3 {I have to take the Knight to keep me in the game.} 12. O-O-O cxb2+ 13. Kb1 $5 {A common approach to use the pawn as a shield. At the moment, there is no way for me to take advantage that he hasn't taken the pawn.} Bd7 14. Ng5 {Black is now clearly better (Fritz).} (14. d6 e6 15. dxc7 Qe7 16. Rxd7 Nxd7 17. Qc6 (17. c8=Q+ Rxc8 18. Qxc8+ Kf7 19. Bxe6+ Kxe6 20. Rd1) 17... Rc8) 14... Bb5 15. Qc3 f4 16. d6 exd6 {The Bishop is not going anywhere, so I can take the pawn and hit the Queen.} 17. Ne6 fxg3 $5 {I just calculated that I had enough for the Queen sacrifice!} 18. Nxd8 Kxd8 19. hxg3 Be7 20. f3 Kd7 {I wanted to connect my Rooks but not happy about the King sitting in the middle of the board.} 21. Rhe1 Bc6 $2 {This is a horrible square for the Bishop along with the King on d7. I'm trying to protect a pawn when I should be trying to solidify.} {White realises he has to do something and has to push on. He's a tactical player.} 22. fxe4 Nxe4 (22... Ng4 $1 {A missed opportunity. This was my inexperience as a new competitive chess player at the time.}) 23. Be6+ $1 Kxe6 24. Qxc6 Ne5 25. Rxe4 $1 {The Knight is still pinned.} Bf6 26. Qd5+ Ke7 27. g4 h6 {Desperately trying to create a fortress.} 28. c4 Rhd8 29. c5 Rab8 {I was beginning to see pictures of a mate because the Knight, Bishop and Rook are getting poised. Time is getting low on the clock.} 30. cxd6+ cxd6 (30... Rxd6 31. Qc5 {Pinning the Rook.}) 31. Rd2 Rb5 32. Qc6 Rc5 {I'm attacking the Queen and threatening check on c1. I'm looking at complicated combinations.} 33. Qxa6 Kf7 34. Qa7+ Rd7 $3 {This is a forcing move and gives me a tempo.} 35. Qa4 Rc1+ $3 {I'd been labouring for this!} 36. Kxb2 Nd3+ {Double check and protecting the Rook.} 37. Ka3 Rc3+ 38. Qb3+ Rxb3+ 39. Kxb3 (39. axb3 {This is still losing but he could play on.}) 39... Nc5+ {I was surprised I had this Knight move until it transpired. White Resigned.} 0-1