Roberts, Mike (2042) v Pye, David E (2117)
Catford Cosmonauts 2 v Wessex Some Stars B
Board 2
4NCL Online, Division 3 Semi-Final
01-Dec-2020
After 7....Nh6, there's a battle to avoid black attacking and rounding up the e-pawn. Qa4/Bb5 was designed to stop this and also take advantage of the Black Queens Bishop being cut off from the queenside
8. Qa4 Kf7
8...Kf7 was probably a step in the wrong direction and Black never gets a chance to get his Rook out and get the King to safety. e6 becomes weak when the White Knight reaches d4.
9. Bb5 Nb8 10. Nb3 c6 11. Be2 Be7?! 12. Nbd4 Bg6?!
The White plan to transfer the Queen to the kingside (f4/g3) at the right time is now always hanging in the air. Black should possibly be trying to get his Queenside pawns moving or manoeuvre his Knight to e4 to gain some counterplay. 11...Be7 doesn't fit either plan and maybe c5 was a better try than 12...Bg6
13. h4 c5 14. Ng5+ Bxg5 15. Bxg5 Qb6?! 16. Nb5 Kg8?
With the e5 pawn safe for white and Black's black Bishop swapped off, the d6 square becomes an enticing outpost. 16...Kg8 was the final mistake when Black needed to try getting the Rook to f8 before escaping with the King. Even that would have meant losing the Bishop with h5, g4, then f3 trapping it and there wouldn't be a lot of compensation for the piece
17. Bxh6 gxh6 18. Qf4
18 Qf4 was accurate. There may have been some temptation to go Qg4, but h5 cuts white's advantage considerably. After Qg5, there's a chance for Black to play Nc6 and then swap queens with Qd8. White remains a pawn up and still +3, but there's some work to do.
18.. a6 19. h5 Bf5 20. g4 Be4 21. Nd6 Qc7 22. Rg1 Nc6 23. g5 Qg7?!
White's attack starts to play itself, combining a mate threat on f7 with opening the g file.
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24 gxh6 is a cute finish (and the most accurate finish), letting Black take both rooks, but mating on f7
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24. gxh6! Qxg1+ 25. Kd2 Qxf2 26. Qxf2 { Black resigns. } 1-0
(24… Qxg1+ 25. Kd2 Qxa1 26. Qf7#)
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Thanks to Mike for his annotations