The Irish Chess Union

[Event "Ennis Open 2007"] [Site "Ennis IRL"] [Date "2007.04.15"] [Round "4"] [White "Turner, Matthew"] [Black "McPhillips, Karl"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A25"] [ICUid "28340"] 1. c4 Nc6 2. g3 { Karl seems to always play Nc6 on move 1 and I had considered playing a Chigorin, which seems to give White a safe advantage, but I decided to stick to the old reliable English } 2... e5 3. Bg2 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e3 d6 6. Nge2 h5 { An attempt to mix it up. I don't want to respond with h4 because I will probably want to play f4 later and this will leave g4 horribly weak. I could just ignore 6...h5 and play 7. d4 h4 8. d5 N(g)e7 9. e4 when we have some strange King's Indian set up where I suspect white is doing quite well. However, I tried to keep flexibility with 7. h3 } 7. h3 Nh6 8. d3 O-O 9. Rb1 Be6 10. b4 Qd7 11. b5 Nd8 12. Bd2 { I like this move because it maintains my options. It means for example that if later I play f4 and Black captures I can take back with the Knight. I am not sure what Black should do now although it might be worth playing a6 to hold of any serious decisions for some time. An unusual idea is f6 so that later the knights can use both f5 and f7 } 12... f5 13. f4 e4 14. Qc2 c6 { I had expected 14...exd3 15. Qxd3 Qf7 when 16. Nd5 c6 is horrible for White and 16 Bd5 looks a little suspicious. However 16. Rb4 seems to maintain the advantage. } 15. O-O d5 16. bxc6 bxc6 17. Na4 Nb7 ({ I was happy to see this move because the Knight looks very vulnerable. } 17... exd3 ({ I thought the critical line was } 17... dxc4 18. dxe4 Qd3 19. Nd4 $1 Bxd4 20. Qxd3 cxd3 21. exd4 fxe4 { which is as they say unclear! }) 18. Qxd3 dxc4 19. Qxd7 Bxd7 20. Bc3 { looks good for White }) 18. Bc3 dxc4 19. dxe4 fxe4 20. Qxe4 { I think Karl must have missed that after Bf5 I can just take c4 with check and now Black's position looks dire. } 20... Nd6 21. Qxg6 Bf5 22. Qxg7+ ({ In fact I had intended } 22. Qg5 { here, but as I began to analyse } 22... Bxb1 23. Bxc6 Ne4 24. Bxe4 Bxe4 25. Nc5 { things seemed to be getting unnecessarily complicated and I tried for a simpler option. }) 22... Qxg7 23. Bxg7 Kxg7 24. Rbc1 Bd3 25. Rfe1 Nhf5 26. Kf2 Rae8 27. Nec3 Kh6 28. g4 hxg4 29. hxg4 Ne7 30. Nc5 Rb8 { I had missed this move and I suddenly began to see checkmates with the Rook coming to b2 and a Knight sacrificing itself on f5. To play it safe I decided the King should go to g1 (rather than g3 where Nf5 would be check). Therefore I didn't want my Rook to be trapped out of the game on h1, so I went for R(e)d1. } 31. Red1 Rb2+ 32. Kg1 Nef5 { A great move. Suddenly there are lots of ways to get into trouble. 33.gxf5 is death after Rg8 and 33.g5+ means the Knight will always be a thorn in the side on f5 } 33. Nxd3 Rxg2+ 34. Kxg2 Nxe3+ 35. Kg3 Nxd1 36. Rxd1 cxd3 37. Rxd3 Nc4 { Now we can see why 35. Kg3 was important, had the King gone to f3 there would be an annoying check threatened now. } 38. Rd4 Ne3 39. Rd6+ Kg7 40. Rd7+ Kh6 { 40...Rf7 may have been a better option - Knight and pawn endings are always tricky, but it is not an appetizing prospect for Black } 41. Kf3 Nc4 42. Rc7 Ne5+ 43. Kg3 Rf7 44. Rc8 Rd7 45. fxe5 Rd3+ 46. Kf4 Rxc3 47. Kf5 { Quite an embarrassing move to end on. 47.e6 would have lead to White having an extra queen, but I guess Kf5 was more thematic and was enough to secure a resignation. } 1-0