[Event "Mitchell Memorial 2008"] [Site "Memphis,TN"] [Date "2008.12.12"] [Round "2"] [White "Thompson, K."] [Black "Langford, J."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "1561"] [Annotator ",Pylant"] [PlyCount "139"] [EventDate "2008.??.??"] 1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 d6 {d6 is a signal for white queenside expansion.} 3. c4 b6 4. e3 Bb7 5. Nf3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nc3 O-O 9. d4 {White challenges the center.} Qe7 10. b5 {White begins playing the light squares to force black to exchange his light squares bishop and also to fix black's pawns on the dark squares taking space away from black's dark squares bishop. Fixing the center will increase the value of the knights and decrease the value of the bishops.} Nbd7 11. a4 {White is expecting a6. Black will open the a-file. This is a common technique by white practiced by Spassky.} a6 12. Re1 axb5 13. axb5 Rxa1 14. Bxa1 Bxf3 (14... Re8) 15. Bxf3 Qe6 16. d5 {This creates a target for black's knight at c5. I didn't want to vacate the protection of the square, but pushing d5 will allow me to fix the center.} Qe7 17. e4 h5 18. Bb2 Nc5 { Black takes c5 as expected. Bc1-g5xNf6 or Bc1-e3xNc5 will be a goo exchang. The center is closed and black has two knight. This will create an opposite colored bishops ending that is drawish.} 19. Bc1 Nh7 20. Be3 Ng5 {Diagram # Taking the knight on g5 would force development of black's queen.} 21. Bxc5 Nxf3+ {This was a poor decision. The center is fixed.} 22. Qxf3 dxc5 23. Ra1 Qd7 (23... Bh6 24. Ra7 Qd6) 24. Qg3 Rc8 25. Ra7 Qd8 26. Ne2 Ra8 27. Qa3 (27. Ra6) 27... Rxa7 28. Qxa7 f5 29. f3 (29. exf5 gxf5 30. Ng3 f4 31. Ne4) 29... fxe4 30. fxe4 Bh6 31. Qa3 Kf7 32. Qf3+ (32. Qh3) 32... Qf6 33. Kf2 Qxf3+ 34. Kxf3 Kf6 35. Nc3 (35. d6 cxd6 36. Nc3 Bf8 37. Nd5+ Ke6 38. Nxb6 Be7 39. Nd5 Bd8 40. b6 Kd7 41. b7 Bc7 42. g4 Bb8 (42... hxg4+ 43. Kxg4 Kc6 44. Ne7+ Kxb7 45. Nxg6 Ba5 46. h4 Bd2 47. h5 Kc7 48. Nh4 Kd7 49. Nf5 d5 50. exd5 e4 51. h6 e3 52. Kf3 Ke8 53. Nxe3 Kf8 54. Ke4 Ke7 55. Nf5+ Kf7 56. d6 Kg6 57. d7 Bg5 58. Ke5 Bd8 59. Kd5 Bb6 60. Kc6 Bd8 61. Kxc5 Bc7 62. Kc6 Bd8 63. Kd6 Ba5 64. c5 Bd8 65. c6 Bb6 66. c7 Bxc7+ 67. Kxc7) (42... h4 43. g5 Bb8 44. Kg4 Bc7 45. Kxh4 Bb8 46. Kg4 Bc7 47. h4 Bb8 48. h5 Ke8 49. hxg6 Kf8 50. Kh5 Kg7 51. Ne3 Kf8 52. Kh6 Ke7 53. g7 Kd7 54. g8=Q Kc7 55. Qc8+) 43. Kg3 Kc6 44. Ne7+ Kxb7 45. Nxg6 d5 46. gxh5 dxc4 47. Kf2 Bc7 48. h6 Bd8 49. h7 Bf6 50. h8=B (50. h8=Q Bxh8 51. Nxh8 Kc6 52. Nf7 Kb5 53. Nxe5 c3 54. h4 c2 55. Nd3 c4 56. Nc1 Ka4 57. h5 Ka3 58. h6 Kb2 59. Ne2 c1=Q 60. Nxc1 Kxc1 61. h7 c3 62. h8=Q Kb2 63. Qxc3+ Kxc3 64. e5 Kd4 65. e6)) 35... Bf8 36. h4 g5 37. hxg5+ Kxg5 38. g3 Be7 39. Na4 Kg6 40. Kg2 Kg5 41. Kf3 Kg6 42. Nb2 h4 43. Kg4 hxg3 44. Kxg3 Kh5 45. Nd3 Bf6 46. Kf3 Kg5 47. Nf2 Bg7 48. Ng4 Kh4 49. Ne3 Kg5 $4 {Diagram #} 50. Nf5 $2 (50. d6 $3 cxd6 51. Nd5 Kg6 52. Nxb6 Bf6 53. Nd5 Bd8 54. b6 Bxb6 55. Nxb6 Kf7 56. Nc8 Ke6 57. Kg4 Kd7 58. Nxd6 Kxd6 59. Kf5 Ke7 60. Kxe5 Kd7 61. Kd5 Ke7 62. Kxc5 Ke6 63. Kb6 Kd6 64. c5+ Kd7 65. Kb7) 50... Bf6 51. d6 cxd6 52. Nxd6 Kg6 53. Kg4 Bd8 54. Nc8 Kf6 55. Kh5 Ke6 $4 56. Kg6 Bc7 57. Na7 Bd6 (57... Bd8 58. Kg7 Kd7 59. Kf7 Bg5 60. Nc6 Kd6 61. Ke8 Bf6 62. Nb8 Bh4 63. Nd7 Kc7 64. Nxe5 Kd6 65. Nd7 Bg3 66. Nxb6 Be1 67. Nd5 Ba5 68. b6 Bxb6 69. Nxb6) 58. Nc6 Bc7 59. Kg7 Bd6 60. Nd8+ Ke7 61. Nf7 Ke6 {Diagram # I calculated Ng5-f3 variation and saw it won, so I did not see the faster win with Nxd6. After I found a win I quit looking at other cadidate moves.} 62. Ng5+ (62. Nxd6 $3 Kxd6 63. Kf6 Kd7 64. Kxe5 Ke7 65. Kd5 Kf7 66. Kd6 Kf8 67. Kd7) 62... Ke7 63. Kg6 Bc7 64. Kf5 Ke8 65. Nf3 Ke7 66. Nxe5 Bxe5 67. Kxe5 Kd7 68. Kf6 Ke8 69. Ke6 Kd8 70. Kf7 1-0