[Event "RJM Memorial 2023"] [Site "Villa Marina, Douglas, Isle o"] [Date "2023.12.02"] [Round "3"] [White "Creswell, Charlie"] [Black "Hendrix, Wyatt"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D19"] [Annotator "Hendrix,Wyatt"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "2023.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2 Bg6 10. Bd3 {This is rather innocuous, but not necessarily bad or anything} (10. Ne5 {Has been the main move here}) (10. Rd1 {Has also been tried }) 10... Bh5 {Black can play other ways as well, for example 10...Bxd3 or 10... c5 are both working. This however keeps things slightly more lively.} 11. Bd2 $2 {This is just incorrect. The bishop hasn't gone anywhere useful and white will now have to make an awkward recapture whenever he moves the c3 knight.} ( 11. Rd1 {is better, then after something like} Qe7 {white can play} 12. e4 { and the c1 bishop will likely find a more active home on the opened diagonal}) 11... Nbd7 (11... c5 $1 {was suggested by the engine, and makes a lot of sense. Without the rook on d1 this break is even easier to achieve. Now black gets to develop the knight actively to c6 and already has quite some advantage here.} 12. Rfd1 Nc6 {is much better for black, there is lots of pressure on the d4 pawn and} 13. dxc5 $6 {is met by} Ne5 $17) 12. Ne4 {Perhaps white could fiddle around with moves like Bc2, Bb1, or h3 first but it doesn't really slove the problems. White has awkwardly placed pieces and needs time to unravel.} Bxd2 13. Qxd2 $6 {Conceptually I think this is a little dubious. The kingside weaknesses will matter a bit and white just doesn't really get a ton for it. White isn't that much worse but it's already black who's playing for an edge now.} (13. Nexd2 {was a better way to play, but black still has an advantage here.} e5 {is very natural, exploiting the pin.} 14. Bc2 Re8 $15 {Black has an edge, with ideas of both ...exd4 and ...e4.}) 13... Nxe4 $6 (13... Bxf3 $1 14. gxf3 {was also interesting, but here I thought that without generating any kingside activity white could move the knight and use f3 to support e3-e4. I also figured that if I played ...Nxe4 here it would either be a transposition (so I haven't gained anything) or white has an option of taking on e4 with the f-pawn. However, I could play like this but not push f7-f5, starting an attack by playing ...Kh8, ...Rg8, and ...g5 etc instead, where I won't have so many weaknesses (e6 pawn etc).} Nxe4 15. Bxe4 Qh4 {and black is solidly better. He has no weaknesses and a clear plan as outlined above.}) 14. Bxe4 f5 15. Bc2 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Qh4 {This version, compared to 13...Bxf3, is objectively closer to equal, but of course black is for choice here} 17. Kh1 (17. f4 $4 {with the idea of defending along the 2nd rank fails to} Qg4+ 18. Kh1 Qf3+ 19. Kg1 Rf6 20. Rfc1 Qh3 $1 21. f3 (21. Kh1 Rg6 22. Rg1 Qf3+) 21... Rg6+ 22. Kf2 (22. Kh1 Qxf3+ 23. Qg2 Qxg2#) 22... Qxh2+ $19) (17. Qe2 Rf6 18. f4 Rh6 19. f3 Nf6 $15) 17... Qh5 $5 {I wanted to tie one of the white pieces to the defense of f3, however it does cost me a couple of tempi to do this as after Bd1 I will have to follow up with ...f4} 18. Bd1 (18. Qe2 $2 {Is just wrong, it's too much to keep the queen tied like this and black has a pleasent advantage after a variety of moves.}) 18... f4 19. e4 $6 {I'm not entirely sure about this. The e4 and d4 pawns are nice, but white is also taking on a bad pawn structure on the kingside forever (otherwise white may have been able to force an ...fxe3 exchange by bringing a rook to g4 etc). It's also clear to me that black is breaking aprt the center pretty easily by striking with ...c5 or ...e5. Still, white does introduce the concept of defending f3 along the third rank so it makes some sense.} (19. Rg1 Rad8 {with the idea of ...e5 or ...c5}) 19... c5 $1 (19... Rad8 {I also thought about}) 20. Be2 $6 {This I was pretty sure just burned a tempo for not quite enough.} cxd4 (20... Rad8 {is also good}) 21. Qxd4 Ne5 $15 {Black should have an edge now was my feeling during the game, but the position is still a little risky and not one I'd want to play with little time on the clock (which unfortunately was starting to be the case).} 22. Qc3 { After this move my opponent offered a draw.} Rac8 23. Qb3 Rc2 $5 {It wasn't clear to me that I was that much better here, and I was getting a little concerned about my time so I felt this was prudent. A draw was also not a bad result, and I was hesitant to take on too much risk as I felt a bit off-form this tournament. However, objectively black has a bit of an edge here after a different 23rd move} (23... Qf7 $1 24. Rfd1 h6 (24... Qe7) 25. Rac1 Kh7 $15 { Black remains statically better as the knight on e5 is a good piece and white has more weaknesses.}) 24. Qxc2 (24. Qxe6+ $4 Kh8 25. Bd1 Rc6 $1 26. Qb3 (26. Qe7 Re8 $19) 26... Rh6 $19) 24... Nxf3 25. Bxf3 Qxf3+ 26. Kg1 Qg4+ 27. Kh1 Qf3+ 1/2-1/2