[Event "Portishead v Clifton C"] [White "Ackland,Peter"] [Black "James Britton,Curtis"] [Site ""] [Round ""] [Annotator ""] [Result "0-1"] [Date "2023.11.27"] [PlyCount "60"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 Nc6 4. Bxc4 e5 5. a3 Nf6 6. O-O g6 $6 (6... Bc5 {is natural and strong as} 7. b4 {loses athe e4 pawn to } Bd4 )7. Nc3 {White misses his chance. After 7.Ng5 he is winning.} Bg7 8. d3 O-O 9. b4 Ne8 ({Heading for d6 which is a plan but rather slow. Black's trump in this position is the outpost on d4 so better is} 9... Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Nd4 )10. Qb3 Nd6 (10... Bg4 )11. Bg5 Bf6 {a difficult decision. Personally I'd prefer not to exchange a fianchettoed bishop although Qd7 looks clumsy} 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. Nd5 Qd8 14. Rad1 $2 {White overlooks Curtis' threat! } b5 $1 {Well spotted Curtis!} 15. Bxb5 Nxb5 16. Qc4 Nbd4 {Curtis is now not only a piece for a pawn up but has absolute control of the d4 outpost} 17. Nxd4 Nxd4 18. f4 Bg4 19. Rd2 Ne6 $6 {defending the c7 pawn but this is way too loose and after white's next the f6 square is very weak. Simply 19...c6 is winning} 20. fxe5 Rc8 (20... Qg5 {hitting the Rd2 was more to the point} )21. Nf6+ Kh8 22. Nxg4 $2 {Looks obvious but this fails for tactical reasons. John Nunn coined the term LPDO - Loose Pieces Drop Off - always watch out for undefended pieces because, directly or indirectly they often allow a combination! Here white has an undefended rook on d2 and } Qg5 $1 {The tables turn again!} 23. Rdf2 Qxg4 24. Rxf7 Rxf7 25. Rxf7 Rf8 $6 ({now white is back in the game} 25... Ng5 $1 {so that after } 26. Rxc7 Nh3+ 27. Kh1 Qd1# )26. Rxf8+ Nxf8 27. Qf7 $13 (27. Qxc7 Qd1+ {is good for black} )(27. h3 {might offer white the better chances due to the powerful central pawns and the vulnerability of the black King} )Qd1+ 28. Kf2 Qd2+ 29. Kf3 $2 (29. Kg1 {and white is probably okay} )Qxd3+ 30. Kf4 $4 Qf1+ 0-1