Annotated chess game

I think those bishop moves were a waste of time. Black now has time to consolidate his material advantage. I think ne5 should have came first.

Incorrect. White is inducing weaknesses.

Dean still has a material edge, but there's a number of problems he has to solve to consolidate. He needs to find good squares for his knights, break the pin on the Nf6, and do something about his bizarre pawn structure. Hang in there grader!

Dean should easily be able to solve all those problems. b5 will enable Nd7 to be played, whilst Qe6, Qd6 or the more adventurous Qa3 will eliminate any lingering doubts about the pin. This is pretty simple stuff, but Dean doesn't need to do anything fancy to win, as long as he gets the basics right it should be in the bag.

Specifically, Black's idea is 16.<W moves> b5 17.Bc2 Nbd7 etc. Sure, the c6-square is a weak point, but it will be very hard for White to exploit it with the e5-square covered.

Also interesting is the more aggressive Ne5, with the idea of Bxf6, and if black recaptures with the queen, the pawn on c6 goes!

I considered Ne5, and for some reason let it go.... I think I was trying to avoid piece exchanges as much as possible due to being down in material. I did not see the potential to win a pawn.

Deans now fully developed and has no weaknesses in his formation; victory for Grader now seems highly unlikely.

Dean clearly overlooked your next move, as the mate threat is very strong!

I was rubbing my hands like a little kid at christmas who _knows_ there is a Daisy® BB gun under the tree..

After 10 minutes of staring at this position, as Black I'd take the Bishop. Now white HAS to defend e1 or kick the Queen away, unless White's attack has something extra I'm not seeing. Sure, things will be a little uncomfortable for Black, but is Qh7+ enough compensation for White being down a full Rook after Qxh4 and after with back-rank weaknesses of his own to worry about? One possibility I see for Black: 25...Qxh4 Qh7+ Kf8 Rg3 Ke7. Black can now defend g7 with Rg8, and White's Rook is stuck on g3 having to prevent Qe1#.

25...Qxh4 26.Qh7+ Kf8 27.Qh8+ Qe7 28.Qxg7 looks dangerous, but 28...Qg5! threatens queen and rook and leaves white with no time to play 29.e6. What had you prepared for 25...Qxh4? It seems to me that accepting the sacrifice would killed whites influence on the dark squares.

I'm with moppa on this one: 25...Qxh4 takes out an important attacking unit: the one covering those central dark squares the king would like to wriggle through. White doesn't seem to have time to refine his attack, neither, as, e.g. 26.Rg3 Nf8 defends all the useful points of entry. Indeed, if Black did see something deadly against 25...Qxh4, 25...Nf8 might have been a reasonable alternative.

I was actually looking at 25. e5 Qxh4 26. Qh7+ Kf8 27. Rf3 with the thought of getting my bishop to g6 (But "thinking" lost me a rook earlier, so don't pay too much attention)

You mean Bb3, but the key is that you're going after his KING, not his queen!

Yes, B-b3.

But 27.Bb3 is not exactly irrelevant to an attack on the King. After almost any Q move, 28.Rf3 will be very awkward to face, with Bxf7ch threatened.

Is Black's position so desperate that he has to make this weakening move? #A# How about shutting down the h2-g8 diagonal by 27...c5!? #B# If he was feeling really desperate, how about altering the nature of the game by 27...cxd4 28.cxd4!? Rac8 preparing to give back the exchange to reduce White's attack? 29.Bb3 Rc1ch 30.Kf2 Qc6 31.Rf3 Re6 32.Qd2 (not yet 32.Bxe6? when Black might play 32...Rc2 33.Bxf7ch Kh8 34.Qxc2 Qxc2 ch 35.Kf1 Qd1ch 36.Be1 Qxd4 37.Bc3 Qd7; or maybe just 32...fxe6); Instead of recapturing, White might try this: 27...cxd4 28.Qd3 g6 {OK it is urgent now...} 29.cxd4 Qc6 30.Rf3 Nf8 31.Rf6 Qd7 32.Bb3 The Trojans are at the ships! It don't look good for Black... 32...Ne6! 33.Rxg6ch fxg6 34.Qxg6ch Kf8 (34...Qg7 is too dangerous: 35.Bxe6ch Rxe6 36.Qxe6ch with an ending favourable to White after the queens come off) 35.Qf6ch Kg8 with a perpetual. #C# I did think a piece sac in the centre might slow White down, but there's a sting in the tail of the complications, worse luck! 27...cxd4 27.cxd4 Nxe5!? 28.dxe5 Qxe5 29.Qxe5 Rxe5, but 30.Bxf6 spoils the party: 30...Re1ch 31.Kf2 Rae8 32.Rxg7ch Kf8 33.Rh7! wins