[Event "Combined Banks & Insurance Chess League"] [Site "?"] [Date "2001.11.21"] [Round "3.1"] [White "Paish, A.G.C.."] [Black "Berry, S.H.."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C50"] [Annotator "Tony Paish"] [PlyCount "94"] [EventType "team-tourn"] [EventRounds "9"] [SourceVersionDate "2021.12.29"] [WhiteTeam "ABI/Zurich"] [BlackTeam "JTW/Cornhill"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"] [BlackTeamCountry "ENG"] 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Nf3 d6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 g6 {An unusual defence, which I cannot find in any if my openings books, but which appears quite sound.} 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 Nf6 8. f3 {In the postmortem, we looked at 8.f4, to prevent ... Ne5, concluding that, after 8...Ng4 9.Bg1, it was rather double-edged.} O-O 9. Qd2 Ne5 10. Bb3 {Safer would have been 10 Be2.} c5 $1 11. Nde2 c4 12. f4 { Forced, for if 12.Ba4, then 12...a6, and the bishop is trapped next move.} cxb3 13. fxe5 dxe5 14. axb3 Qxd2+ 15. Bxd2 {[#] The dust has settled. Black has gained the two bishops and the better pawn structure, but White has potential pressure along the half-open a and f files.} Bd7 16. O-O Bc6 17. Ng3 a6 { To free the rook from the defence of a7, but weakening his Q-side black squares.} 18. Bg5 Nd7 19. Be7 Rfe8 20. Bd6 Nf8 21. Na4 $1 Rad8 {In view of what follows, Black might have been advised to play ...Bxa4 on this or the next move, but was probably reluctant to give up his bishop pair.} 22. Rad1 Ne6 {An apparently good square for the knight, controlling d4 and f4.} 23. Nb6 $1 { My opponent suddenly realised the problems arising from his Q-side Black square weakness, and thought for a considerable time here. He might later have bailed out with ...Bf8, but White can then establish a dominating knight on d5. } h5 24. h4 f6 25. c3 {A waiting move; ...Nd4 is not currently a threat because of Bc7 winning the exchange.} Bh6 {Preparing a K-side initiative and setting a trap. If now 26 Rxf6 Nf4 trapping the rook, which will be attacked next move by ...Kg7 or ...Bg7, forcing White to give up the exchange.} 26. Rfe1 Kg7 27. Kf2 Nf4 28. c4 Kf7 29. Kf1 Ke6 {[#] The period of phoney war is over, as Black seeks a resolution in the centre.} 30. Bc7 Rd4 {Otherwise he surrenders control of the d-file.} 31. Rxd4 exd4 32. Nd5 Nd3 $2 {Black had to try 32...Bxd5 33.exd5+ Kd7 34 Rxe8 Kxe8, after which 35 Ne2! looks strong, as Black's d-pawn must subsequently fall (admittedly, in exchange for White's b2 pawn), after which all the winning chances will be with White.} 33. Rd1 { Black's d-pawn is now lost, since after 33...Nc5 34.b4 Nb3 (or 34...Na4 35.b3) 35.Rd3.} Nxb2 {But this is worse still, as the Black knight becomes trapped.} 34. Rxd4 Bxd5 35. Rxd5 Rc8 36. Ba5 Bf4 37. Ne2 Be5 38. Nd4+ Bxd4 39. Rxd4 b5 40. Bc3 bxc4 41. Bxb2 c3 {Or 41...cxb3 42.Rb4.} 42. Bc1 Rb8 43. b4 a5 44. bxa5 Rb1 45. Rd1 c2 46. Re1 Ra1 47. Bd2 Ra2 {After this point, because of time pressure neither player was any longer recording the moves. Black resigned about 15 moves later.} 1-0