[Event "George Davison Shield"] [Site "?"] [Date "2024.10.02"] [Round "?"] [White "Gardiner-Johnson, Alfie"] [Black "Galashan, Bill"] [Result "*"] [ECO "C55"] [Annotator "McCarthy,Damian"] [PlyCount "85"] [WhiteTeam "Stockton Heath"] [BlackTeam "Culcheth"] {[%evp 0,85,19,21,34,18,5,12,24,5,45,5,32,8,82,76,98,83,106,51,93,39,140,39,42,48,44,20,33,-7,-18,-18,-8,-19,-11,-1,0,0,0,0,20,-3,13,-10,12,14,21,20,16,10,13,0,29,34,34,37,51,39,47,45,93,98,98,100,114,108,153,152,199,202,223,227,359,414,429,462,529,561,574,574,587,584,714,638,760,956,1326,29970]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. O-O Bxc3 {Bill tries to grab the e4 pawn here but at the cost of development time.} 6. dxc3 Nxe4 7. Re1 (7. Qd5 Nd6 8. Nxe5 {was another possibility but Re1 is probably better}) 7... Nd6 {This hit's the bishop but rather get's in the way of Black's other natural developing moves such as d6 to develop the c8 bishop and connect rooks.} 8. Nxe5 $1 {Threatening a variety of double attacks.} O-O {[%csl Ye8,Gf8,Gg8,Yh8][%CAl Ge8g8,Gh8f8]} 9. Nxc6 $4 {This however solves alot of Black's problems.} (9. Bd3 {would have been better, asking Black how he is going to get the rest of his queenside pieces into the game.}) 9... bxc6 $2 {The old motto is, take towards the centre, which Bill does, but he definately should play dxc6 here to bring the c8 bishop into the game.} 10. Qg4 Qf6 11. Bd2 (11. Bd3 {Again would have set serious problems for Black}) 11... Nxc4 12. Qxc4 d5 13. Qd4 {Now the position has simplified and is close to level.} Qg6 14. Qd3 $2 Bf5 15. Qg3 Bxc2 16. Qxg6 fxg6 17. Re7 {despite losing the c2 pawn, with an active rook on e7 and opposite bishops White is not in much danger of being worse. Black really doesn't have much option but to head for exchanges with Rf7, if all the rooks come off we will have an opposite coloured Bishop endgame which is known to be the most drawish in chess. Often drawn even 2 pawns down if you can set up a blockade on the square colour that you have a Bishop of.} Rf7 18. Rae1 Raf8 19. f3 Bf5 20. Re8 Bd7 21. R8e7 Rxe7 22. Rxe7 Rf7 23. Rxf7 Kxf7 24. Bf4 Ke6 25. Bxc7 a6 {We have reached the aforementioned Bishop endgame, Alfie begin's by bringing his king towards the centre.} 26. Kf2 c5 27. Ke3 Bc6 28. Bb6 Kd6 29. b4 {A good try! If White has any hope to win he must get his King into the Black dark squares.} c4 $4 {This move allows The White King to enter on d4 which is going to get VERY dangerous.} (29... cxb4 30. cxb4 Bb5 {would have maintained equality.}) 30. Bd4 Ke6 31. Bxg7 h5 {[%csl Gh5]} 32. Kd4 {There is now no stopping the King entering on c5 as Kd6 is met by Bf8+} Kf5 33. Kc5 Bb7 34. Kb6 Bc8 35. a4 Bd7 {[%csl Ra4]} 36. Kxa6 {The final nail in the coffin, after Bxa4 there will be no stopping White's b pawn without giving up the Bishop.} Bxa4 37. b5 Bxb5+ 38. Kxb5 Ke6 39. Kc5 g5 40. g3 g4 41. fxg4 hxg4 42. Bh8 {Zugzwang! Black's King has to move away.} Kf5 43. Kxd5 {Black resigns.} *