1. e4 b6 2. Nc3 Bb7 3. Nf3 e6 4. Be2 Bb4 5. d3 Ne7 6. O-O Bxc3 7. bxc3 O-O 8. Nd2 e5 9. f4 exf4 10. Rxf4 d5 11. Bb2 Ng6 12. Rf2 dxe4 13. Nxe4 Bxe4 14. dxe4 Qe7

Usually I'm happy to have the Bishop pair in return for bad structure but my pawns are pretty wretched here.

15. Qd5 Nd7 16. Raf1 Nde5 17. Qb3 Rad8 18. a4 Qe6?! 19. Rxf7! Qxf7 20. Rxf7 Rxf7 21. Bc1 Kh8 22. g3 Rdf8 23. Be3 h6 24. a5 Nc6 25. axb6 axb6 26. c4 Na5 27. Qb5 Nb7 28. c5 Nxc5 29. Bxc5 bxc5 30. Qxc5 Kh7 31. e5 Re7 32. Bd3 Rfe8 33. Qc6! Re6 34. Qe4! Kh8

My opponent was in desperate time trouble here and I lashed out my next move. After the game analyzing with Colm and David we thought 35. Bc4 wins but Fritz found 35... Rf6! which we had overlooked.

35. h4 Nf8

I had overlooked how good this is.

36. Qb7 c6 37. Bc4 R6e7 38. Qxc6 Rxe5 39. Qd6 Nh7 40. Bf7 Re1+ 41. Kf2 R8e2+

Draw I am a bit better at the end and perhaps should play on but it wouldn't have been without risk.

1/2-1/2

Annotator(s): Peter Cafolla, Irish Championship Games Round 1, LCU blog, July 7, 2012 (via the Wayback Machine).

Source(s): Tournament web site.

Event information: Tournament report.

Download pgn.