[Event "Shropshire League Division 1"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.11.01"] [Round "?"] [White "Kitchen, Peter"] [Black "Clark, Matthew"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E01"] [WhiteElo "163"] [BlackElo "159"] [Annotator "Peter Kitchen"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2014.09.27"] [WhiteTeam "Shrewsbury B"] [BlackTeam "Telepost A"] 1. Nf3 d5 {I hadn't expected Matthew to play this, so I was out of preparation already!} 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 c6 5. Bg2 g6 {A pretty unusual idea - usually black puts his bishop on e7 or b4. I do have to be aware and look after my d-pawn (which is one of the reasons I ended up fianchettoing my own dark squared bishop).} 6. O-O Bg7 7. Qc2 O-O 8. Rd1 Nbd7 9. b3 Re8 10. Bb2 Nf8 {This encouraged me to play Nc3 rather than Nbd2 - it also gives me more control over the e5 square.} 11. Nc3 b6 12. e4 dxe4 13. Nxe4 {This is fine, especially as with the knight on f8 my queen won't be hassled should it come to 34. But I'm annoyed I took seven minutes over this (trying to decide between this and more ambitious Nfg5). My move is plenty good enough for a nice edge, keep it simple!} Nxe4 14. Qxe4 Bb7 15. Ne5 Qc7 16. b4 {I spent 12 minutes over this move - and this time it was time well spent. I had to find a way to increase the pressure on the weak c6 pawn - fix it as a target if possible. Now Nxc6 is a genuine threat.} Rab8 {Now I win the pawn. Chessbase suggests ...Rac8. Nigel Ferrington suggested ...Bxe5, but I would retain an edge with the bishop pair and black's dark squares around his king would be weak. It would have been a very difficult move to play.} 17. Nxc6 Rbc8 18. b5 Ba8 19. Qc2 {Clearing queen off diagonal and casting an eye towards the a4 square and the weak a7 pawn. Matthew now decides he can no longer tolerate such a strong knight on c6. For those who constantly rib me (justifiably) for my poor time management, after Matthew's next I had a 17-minute advantage on the clock...} Bxc6 20. bxc6 {Much stronger than Bxc6. This passed pawn now totally dominates the ineffective knight on f8.} Qd6 21. Qa4 Qc7 22. Ba3 { I started to waver a little around here, unsure how best to continue building the pressure. I was sorely tempted by d5, but Chessbase reckons this would have been stronger on the previous move (when I didn't consider it....)} Red8 23. Bb2 Rd6 24. Qb3 {Rab1 is perhaps more accurate.} Rxc6 {Conceding the exchange looks like capitulation, but just sitting there wasn't appetising as d5 was coming. Chessbase actually thinks Matthew's move is the best one.} 25. Bxc6 Qxc6 26. d5 {Perhaps Rac1 is safer (it doesn't let black get a pawn back) but I had seen a way to simplify with the right pieces coming off the board. I'll be left with a rook versus an immobile knight and with a powerful passed d-pawn.} Qxc4 27. Qxc4 Rxc4 28. Bxg7 Kxg7 29. d6 Nd7 30. Rac1 Rc5 31. Rxc5 bxc5 32. Rb1 Kf8 33. Rb7 Ke8 34. Rxa7 {Now I have two passed pawns - the game is up. I also had nearly four minutes more on the clock - I had nearly 11 minutes left to Matthew's seven.} f5 35. a4 Nb6 36. a5 Nc8 37. Ra8 {This is where I gave the watching Mark and Jim kittens by not playing the obvious d7ch. Both are winning. I did actually miss d7 - but only because I saw that Ra8 led to a win too.} Kd7 38. Rxc8 Kxc8 39. a6 {The king can't stop both passed pawns.} c4 40. a7 Kb7 41. d7 Kxa7 42. d8=Q {I felt it was kind of fitting that it was the d-pawn, which helped establish central control so early in the game, that marched through the heart of black's position to queen.} 1-0