After an interesting battle drama struck in this position  32...Qxc3! A nice shot  33.dxc3? I am not sure how much time Russell had, although at the start of the game it was Scott who was burning time. In any case, Russell didn't see the remarkable computer resource (33.Rxd3! =+ after which white is still very much alive ) 33...d2 0-1

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4

4...e6? Falling into a well known trap  5.g4! Of course, the bishop is doomed  5...Be4 6.f3 f5 7.fxe4 fxe4 8.g5 Ne7 9.Bh3 Nf5 10.Bxf5 exf5 11.Ne2 c5 12.Nbc3 1-0

1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Bg5 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.e3 O-O 6.f4 b6 7.Qf3 d5 8.cxd5 Bb7 9.Bxf6 Rxf6 10.Bc4 Nd7 11.Qe2 Rg6 12.Nf3 Kh8 13.dxe6 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 Nf6 15.O-O Rb8 16.Bd3 All my centre pawns have fallen off and I am hopelessly lost  16...c5 17.d5 Rh6 18.Bxf5 g6 19.Bh3 b5 20.Rad1 Ne8 21.Ne4 c4 22.Ng5 Nd6 23.Nf7+ Nxf7 24.exf7 Bf6 25.f5 g5 26.d6 Bxb2 27.d7 Kg7 28.Rf2 Bc3 29.Qd5 Rf6 30.e4 Rxf7

I was absurdly optimistic at this point, I've reduced the deficit to one pawn and my opponent seems to have lost his way after earlier inspired play. But now Alok rediscovers his inspiration, he still has a bunch of connected passed centre pawns and he rams them down my throat  31.e5 Rf8 32.f6+ Kh8 33.Qe6 Ba5 (33...Bb4 Was a little better ) 34.Qe7 Bb6 I still hadn't seen the threat!  35.Qg7# Whoops, for once I wasn't allowing my opponent to mate me, it was just a nasty surprise! 1-0

White seems on the verge of winning a second pawn, but actually black's active pieces mean he is fine  39...Ng4! 40.Rc1 (40.Rxd4? Rd1! wins the bishop ) 40...Ne3 41.Re1 Nxf1 42.Kxf1 Rxd3 43.Kf2 Ke7 44.Re2 1/2-1/2

1.Nf3 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.g3 e5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.dxe5 Nxe5 7.Nxe5 Bxe5 8.Bg2 Ne7 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bd2 c6 11.O-O Be6 12.Qa4

An interesting, unbalanced middlegame is in prospect, White hasn't yet relinquished the advantage of the first move.  12...Qd7 I was encouraged by this, it suggests black is considering a bad plan.  13.Rfd1! This is a common pattern in these English positions. The idea of moving the rook so the bishop can retreat to h1 is well known, less well known is that it is often greatly beneficial to white if d1 (rather than the routine e1) is available for the rook.   13...Bh3 14.Bh1 h5? While the previous two moves were reasonable, I am sure this is too much. A wing attack like this when the centre is wide open, white's development is good, and black's king has no ideal home violates too many principles of chess.  15.Ne4! The key to active play. I wasn't worried about the b pawn and Anthony wisely isn't tempted by it  15...Qc7 (15...Bxb2 16.Rab1 Bg7 17.Rxb7 for example is immediately fatal ) 16.Ba5 b6 17.Bb4 Rd8 18.Qa3 The comp prefers f4 immediately  18...Nc8? (18...d5! My previous move unnecessarily allowed this defensive resource ) 19.f4! Now I am winning  19...d5 20.Ng5 One of the bishops has to go  20...Bg4 21.fxe5 c5 22.Bxd5 Giving up the extra piece in return for a crushing attack and several extra pawns. During this phase of the game Houdini tells me I am at least 5 Houdini points to the good.  22...cxb4 23.Qxb4 Qc5+ 24.Qxc5 bxc5

The time has come the walrus said, to talk of many things. Up until here I have been slapping NZ's number one player all over the board and having great fun. But all good things come to an end.  25.Bxf7+? Under normal circumstances this would be good enough to win, but the trouble was I was now out of time and Anthony starts to demonstrate his extraordinary resilience and wriggling ability. (25.Nxf7! Is much better, it wins more material and leads to a simplified position where Anthony's swindling ability will be diminished.Somehow I talked myself out of it because after  25...Rxd5 26.Nxh8 I was worried my knight might be trapped. Actually it won't be and I am now so far ahead materially I could even let it go in favourable circumstances  ) 25...Ke7 26.e6 I realised my intended Bxg6 would allow ...Rg8, and somehow my hand played this lame move without my mind playing any role  26...Bxe2 27.Rd5 Rxd5 28.cxd5 Rd8 29.Kf2 Rxd5! My advantage has shrunk to tiny dimensions. Realistically I am never going to beat Anthony at blitz from here.  30.Kxe2 Rxg5 31.Rd1 Nd6 32.Rd3 Re5+ 33.Re3 Rg5 34.Ra3 Nb5 35.Rd3 Nd4+ 36.Kd2 Rf5 37.Bxg6 Realising my chance for glory was gone, I made a rather pathetic draw offer here. Anthony was kind enough to respond verbally "no, it's just getting interesting". Needless to say, that's not how I felt!  37...Rf2+ Houdini now rates the game as 0.00  38.Kc3?? It's a pity I can't use three question marks  38...Rc2# This is the first position in the game where Houdini prefers Black! 0-1

1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 c5 3.e3 Nc6 4.Bb5 Qc7 5.Qf3 a6 6.Bxc6+ Qxc6 7.Nh3 Nf6 8.Bxf6 Qxf6 9.Qxf6 gxf6 10.Nf4 e6 11.Nc3 b5 12.O-O Bb7 13.d4 cxd4 14.exd4 Rc8 15.Nce2 Rxc2 16.Rfc1 Rxc1+ 17.Rxc1 Bd6 18.Nd3 Ke7 19.Nc5 Bc8 20.f4 b4 21.a3 bxa3 22.Ra1 e5 23.Rxa3 exd4 24.b4 Bg4 25.Nxd4 Rc8 26.h3 Bd7

Alan has been competing well and is only marginally worse objectively  27.Rxa6? Rxc5! Whoops! 0-1

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Be6 7.Bg5 Ne4 8.cxd5 Bxd5 9.Be3 Qa5 10.Qc1 e6 11.a3 Rc8 12.Be2 Be7 13.O-O Nxc3 14.bxc3 O-O 15.Qb2 Bf6 16.Rac1 e5 17.dxe5 Nxe5 18.Nd4 Nc4 19.Bxc4 Rxc4 20.Rfd1 Ra4 21.Ra1 Rc8 22.Rdc1 h6 23.h3 a6 24.Bd2 Rac4 25.Rab1 b5 26.Ra1 Qc7 27.Be3

A nice example of complete domination, it turns out Black is winning far more than just a pawn.  27...Rxc3 28.Qxc3 Qxc3 29.Rxc3 Rxc3 30.Nf5 Be6 31.Nd4 Rd3 32.Nxe6 Bxa1 33.Nc5 Rxa3 34.Bd2 Bd4 35.Bb4 Ra1+ 36.Kh2 Bxc5 37.Bxc5 a5 38.Kg3 Rc1 39.Bd6 Rc6 40.Be7 a4 41.Kf3 a3 42.Bb4 a2 0-1