My own tournament effectively came to an end when I made a horrendous positional mistake against Joe. I was frustrated when Joe played without ambition or conviction but by exchanging a lot of pieces early on he kept my advantage to slight. Still a draw should have been preferred to losing. After the game it was easy to see that my choice of opening was wrong despite having no problems in the opening. I should have opted for a more complicated game.

1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 c6 4. e3 f5 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. O-O Bd6 7. b3 Qe7 8. a4 a5 9. Ba3 Bxa3 10. Nxa3 O-O 11. Nb1 Na6 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Bxa6 Rxa6 14. Nbd2

14. Ne5?! Ng4! 15. Nxg4 fxg4 when Black has a clear advantage due to his kingside space and control of e4 in conjunction with his queenside bind and ideas like Bf5-e4+Qh4 Rf6-h6.

14... Bd7

It might have been better to play 14... Be6 and follow up with Rc8 b6-c5 when Black has a slight plus. More space and options.

15. Ne5 Be8 16. f4 Bh5 17. Qc2 Ng4 18. Nxg4 fxg4??

This is positional suicide. It would be good if Black could control e4 and f5 but as this is not possible it is fair to say Black is now lost. Instead 18... Bxg4 would have been slightly better for Black for the reasons stated earlier, e.g.

18... Bxg4 19. Rfe1 Qb4! 20. Nf1 Bh5 21. Ng3 Be8 22. Ne2 Bd7 23. Kf2 b6 24. Nc1 Rc8 25. Nd3 Qd6 26. Rec1 c5 27. Ne5 Be6 28. Qb2 Ra7 29. Qa3 Rac7 Black has more space and his bishop is no longer bad. White's only really good piece is his knight but he has no breaks to aim for.

[RR Contra these notes, 18... fxg4 and 18... Bxg4 are each about equal.]

19. Rae1 Qd7

[RR ?!; better 19... Qb4=. Black should aim to impede an e4 break.]

20. f5 Raa8 21. Rf4! Rae8 22. Nf1 g5?

This only speeds up the win that was inevitable for White as now there is another weakness to worry about.

[RR The solid 22... Bf7 leaves Black close to equality.

The more forcing 22... Bg6!? 23. Ng3 h5 also seems fully satisfactory, e.g. 24. Ref1 h4 25. fxg6 Rxf4 26. Rxf4 hxg3 27. hxg3 Rxe3 28. Qf2 Re8 29. Rxg4=.]

23. Rf2 Re7

[RR ?; better 23... Qd6.]

24. Ng3

[RR .]

24... Be8 25. Qd2 Rg7 26. e4 dxe4 27. Nxe4 Qd8 28. Nc5

There is no hope for Black in this position and resignation was a serious option, but I was just coming to terms with the fact that my hopes of winning the tournament were now history.

28... Bd7 29. Nxb7 Qb8 30. f6 Rg6 31. Nc5 Qd6 32. Re7 Bc8 33. f7+ Kg7 34. Re8 g3 35. hxg3 Bg4 36. Rxf8 Kxf8 37. Qxa5 Bf5 38. Qa8+ Kxf7 39. Rxf5+ Kg7 40. Qa7+ Kh6 41. Ne4 Qd8 42. Qc5 Re6 43. Re5 Rg6 44. Rxg5

1-0

Annotator(s): Colm Daly, Irish Chess Journal, vol. 9, no. 4, August-September 1997, pp. 14-15.

Event information: Tournament report.