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16... Nxd4
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Black stalls. |
 
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17. Bxd4 Bxd4 18. Qxd4
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Black manages to drag my queen into a bit of a corner. It will take me a couple of moves to get her back into the hunt. |
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18... c5 19. Qd2
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This is perhaps my (second) biggest mistake of the game. Qd1 would have left me in a stronger attacking position. Both Qd1 and Qd2 have their problems, but I think Qd1 would have served me better. |
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19... Ng6
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And this is why. Black does a great job of sewing up my options for checking with my queen. That knight is perfectly in the way. |
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20. f4
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The only way to dislodge it is with a pawn. |
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20... b4
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Black is hoping that his passed b pawn is going to pay dividends. Meanwhile, I'm trying to scheme about how to use my empty a file to gain the upper hand. |
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21. f5
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I bump the knight. |
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21... Ne5 22. f6
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And then sacrifice the pawn to get it out of the way and to open up the black king even further. |
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22... h6
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Black sees the danger in gxf6 and instead moves the h pawn to defend against 23. fxg7 Kxg7 24. Qg5 . |
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23. Ra6
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Finally I have the chance to bring my rook into play. I very purposefully enable the rook/rook fork as part of a greater plan. I knew black wouldn't be able to resist. |
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23... Bb5
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Black goes for the fork. |
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24. fxg7+
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First I draw out the king. |
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24... Kxg7 25. Ra7+
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Then I break the fork with a Zwischenzug. |
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25... Bd7
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Nd7 was also viable, but Bd7 leaves more flexibility. |
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26. Be6
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I immediately take advantage of the trapped bishop, while opening up Qxd6. |
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26... Qe7
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Black surprised me with this move. I thought I had determine that it wasn't a threat, but when he made it, I had no ready response. My only choice was to trade bishops and pin the knight. |
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27. Bxd7 Nxd7 28. Qf4
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I bring my queen into line to harrass the king, the d pawn, and the knight. At this point I'm hoping to get either Qg4 , Rxd7 or e5, Qg3 , Qd3 , Rxd7. My only advantage at the moment is positional, so I have to make hay while the sun is shining. |
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28... Rhd8
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Black saw the danger at d7 and defended it. At the same time, he opened up h8 as a bolt hole for his king. (h8 is the safest place for the king at this point.) |
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29. Qg4+
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I follow through with the check. Now that d7 was well guarded, though, I had to change plans a little. After Kh8, my plan was to charge the king with Qg6, threatening the h pawn. Black is then left with few options. Qh4 to defend the pawn gets Rf7, setting the mate. Rg8 results in trading off the queens, black losing the knight, and my rooks making the black king dance.
After Kh7, Qh5 lines me up to Rf7, forking the black king and queen. Qe6 or Qe8 prevents the fork, but still leaves Rf7 , Qxh6 , Qg7 . Lastly, Kh8 also prevents the fork and the previous mate line, but returns us to the other scenarios above. |
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29... Kh8 30. Qg6 Qg5 31. Qf7
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This move was a bad idea. The queen rook alignment is a risk that black exploits. |
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