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1. c4
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When I was learning to play chess, my father used to say "Sit on your hands during the endgame." to prevent the kind of thoughtless blunder I made in this one...I still do sit on my hands OTB (time permitting!). Now, if only I could sit on my mouse! |
 
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1... c6
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Transposing to Slav after 2.d4 d5, which I'm happy with. I seem to transpose to QGD or Slav whenever I play 1.c4. I actually like to play all the wierd english symmetrical lines, but I usually mess them up. |
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2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 g6
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I'm not familiar with this, and I expected 4...e6. The trade off 4...g6 involves seems to be a weakening of king defence in exchange for more pressure on d4, I guess... |
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5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Bf4 a6
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I didn't think this combined well with 4...g6 either - I'm unlikely to play Nb5 at any stage now...although I may be missing the main aim of it. |
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7. e3 Bg7 8. Bd3 O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. Qb3 b5
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Did 6...a6 prepare for this? I thought it overextended him a little, and created some QS weakness. |
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11. Rac1 Bb7 12. Rfd1 Rc8 13. h3 Qb6 14. Nxb5
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I thought the knight would be worth these two pawns in the long run. I now think that 14. Na4 Qa5 15. Nc5 is better. At least the sac looks tough, though, right? In my defence, my opponent, cavendish, seems to play slow, long-term games worse than fast shootouts...but I think this is probably a case of 14. Nxb5? rather than the 14. Nxb5?! I was aiming at. |
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14... axb5 15. Qxb5 Qxb5 16. Bxb5 Na5
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A piece up, I thought he'd want to exchange more pieces. I wasn't unhappy, though, because I thought the a and b pawns were going to prove very difficult to stop , and therefore the more QS play, the better. |
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17. b4
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17. Rxc1 simplified the position on the QS more than I wanted... |
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17... Nc4 18. Bxc4
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I thought I'd be able to expunge the passed pawn pretty quickly...wrong! |
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18... dxc4 19. Ne5 Bd5 20. b5 Ne4 21. f3
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By now, I was a bit worried about the c-pawn...so I thought I'd better chase off the cover for c3. |
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21... Bxe5 22. Bxe5
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I thought long and hard about 22.fxe4, but I couldn't see it ending well - 22. fxe4 Bxf4 23. exf4 Bxe4 being the likely result... |
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22... Nd6 23. e4 Be6 24. Bxd6 exd6 25. a4 d5 26. a5 Rca8 27. Rca1 Rfb8 28. Rdb1 c3 29. b6 dxe4 30. fxe4 Bc4 31. Kf2
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I did consider 31. Rc1, but I didn't much like 31. Rc1 Bd3 32. Rxc3 Bxe4 |
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31... Bd3 32. Rbe1 c2 33. Ke3 Ba6 34. Rec1 Rbc8 35. Ra3
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35. Ra2 is probably better, with hindsight. I was worried about 35...Bd3, but it's not a serious problem because 36.b7 has the rooks forked. |
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35... Rc4 36. Ra2 Rac8 37. Rb2 Bb7 38. Ra2 Ba6 39. Rb2 Rc4c3+ 40. Kf4
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Because 40. Kd2 Rd3 41. Ke4 Rxd4 |
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40... Bb7 41. Ra2 Re8 42. d5 Rc4 43. Kg3 Ba6 44. Raxc2 Rxc2
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Finally, something goes in my favour! I'm pretty sure 44...Rcxe4 is better here. He's still a piece ahead, so any piece swap is a good one for him, but a lot of the pressure comes off with this swap. |
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45. Rxc2 Rxe4 46. Rc7 Re5
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The central pawns hadn't ever been my threat here. I think he'd have been better playing 46...Ra4 or 46...Kf8 |
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47. Ra7
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I was rather pleased to spot this. I'd planned for 47. b7 and gaining the bishop - then I saw 47. Ra7 Bc4 48. b7 or 47. Ra7 Rxd5 Rxa6 (with or without Rg5 Kh2) I patted myself on the back. Mentally, I added ! to my notation. |
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47... Bc8
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Not what I'd expected...but not a problem, right? |
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48. b7
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??. It's frightful. Sorry. Clearly, 48. Ra8, pinning the bishop and gaining a queen, had to come here...I've no excuse...I think my thought process went "He moves bishop, play b7"...so I saw a bishop move, and played b7. Sit on those hands! |
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48... Bxb7 49. Rxb7 Rxd5 50. a6 Kg7 51. a7 Ra5 52. Kf4
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Thanks to luck I don't deserve, I still have just enough time to get over there and finish it. |
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