1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 O-O 7.O-O b6 8.b3 Bb7 9.Bb2 c5 10.Qe2 a6 (10...Bd6 11.cxd5 exd5 12.Ba6 Bc6 is the book continuation ) 11.Rac1 dxc4 From now I started worrying about losing control of the d5 square  12.bxc4 Qc7 13.Ng5 h6 14.Nge4 Nxe4 15.Nxe4 Nf6 Not the best, I move it back next go  16.f3 Nd7 ( I was concerned about 16...Rad8 17.Nxf6+ Bxf6 18.dxc5? Bxb2 19.cxb6 Qxb6? (19...Qe5! ) 20.Rb1 but black does not have to take on b6 ) 17.Bb1 f5 An ugly move, weakening several squares around the king, but I felt I had to remove that knight  18.Nc3 Bf6 19.Rfd1 Rfe8 20.Qd3 moving the queen away from the same file as the rook and hoping to set up some threats along the diagonal to the king, but d5 may have been better  20...Rad8 21.Ne2

understandable, but Alan had not seen my next move.  21...Bxf3! I thought a long time about this. In the end I just did it because it is the "principled" move, as they say. It has the advantage of making white have to think.  22.gxf3 Ne5 23.dxe5 ( White understandably chooses not to go for 23.Qc2 Nxf3+ 24.Kf2 Qxh2+ 25.Kxf3 g5 when he is in a lot of trouble, e.g.   26.Rg1 g4+ 27.Rxg4+ fxg4+ 28.Ke4 Qh5 29.Kd3 cxd4 30.exd4 Qh3+ 31.Kd2 Bg5+ +- etc ) 23...Rxd3 24.Rxd3 Bxe5 25.Bxe5 Qxe5

So after the dust has settled, material is theoretically even, but I like my position because of my nicely placed queen, the lack of coordination of white's pieces, and the slightly exposed position of his king.  26.Rcd1 g5 (26...b5 to improve the safety of the queenside pawns is also a good plan ) 27.Ng3?! (27.a4! puts up a decent fight ) 27...Kf7 28.Kf2 Re7 ( A bit of a waste of time -  28...b5 is better ) ( or  28...h5 ) 29.R3d2 h5 30.Bd3 (30.h4! ) 30...h4 now white is getting squashed  31.Nf1 Rd7 32.Be2 Rxd2 I was very happy not to be facing 2 rooks working together.  33.Rxd2 Ke7 White sort of seems to give up at this point, shuffling his rook around and not achieving anything, rather than trying to activate his pieces.  34.Rd1 Qb2 35.Rd2 Qb4 36.Rd1 Qa5 37.Rd2 b5 finally!  38.cxb5 axb5 39.Rb2 c4 the correct pawn advance  40.Bd1 b4 41.Rc2 white is in serious trouble now  41...b3 42.axb3 cxb3 43.Re2 (43.Rb2 Qa2! ) 43...Qc3 44.Nd2 b2 45.Nb1 Qc1 46.Bc2 And now there is new target to attack  46...Qh1 47.Bd3 Qxh2+ 48.Ke1? Mate in 2, but white was lost anyway (48.Kf1 Qh1+ 49.Kf2 g4 50.fxg4 fxg4 ) 48...Qg1+ 49.Kd2 Qc1# 0-1

1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 dxc4 4.Qa4+ Of course, Black has no problems in this opening, but I figured that Brian would be just the sort of player to take the pawn and hold on to it for dear life, so I decided to get it back straight away.   4...Bd7 5.Qxc4 Bc6 6.Nf3 Nd7 7.d3 Bd6 8.Nc3 White should just castle or move the Queen here.   8...Ne5 9.Qb3 A gutless move, the result of closed thinking. White should go in for 9. Nxe5 Bxg2 10.Rg1 Bd5 11.Qa4+ c6 12.Nc4 where White is at least fighting. The text just hands the advantage to Black.   9...Ne7 10.O-O Nxf3+ 11.exf3 Here taking on f3 with the Bishop limited some damage, but I wanted my g2 Bishop...perhaps too much?   11...O-O 12.Ne4 Nf5

Of course. d4 is a gaping hole. The software says that Be3 is not bad, but all I could see after that were a lot of weak pawns.   13.Qc3 Be7 14.Bf4 Nd4 Obviously Black has the advantage here and this move is tempting, but I was expecting Qd5 followed by a Rook on d8, followed some time afterwards by shaking Brian's hand after a slow death!  15.Rfe1 Bf6 Another move that is tempting but I thought a little 'fishy.' Again, something like Qd7 may be better.   16.Qd2 Rc8 Wow, I didn't expect that. Obviously there were some tactics around Nxf6 and then taking the c7 pawn, but in the meantime Black takes on f3 and starts to look at my King. Finally I felt I could take a breath.   17.Rac1 e5 Yep, he's really worried about that, but the software says White is ok now.   18.Be3 Be7 19.Bxd4 Oh dear. Having shown a bit of fight, I now again make a move that results from negative thinking. 19.f4, 19.Qc3 or even 19.Qa5 were possible, but all I could think was that that knight had to go.   19...exd4 Surely he had to take with the Queen. For the first real time in the game, I thought I had a chance to battle.   20.Nc5 There may be better moves, but this knight becomes rather annoying.   20...Re8 21.Nb3 h6 22.Na5 Bd5 23.Nc4 Bf6 I was expecting 23...b5.   24.b3 Qd7 25.Qd1

I'm quite proud of finding this move, which is an attempt to get to f1 and maybe on a good day get some light-squared play after a bishop exchange.   25...Rxe1+ 26.Qxe1 Re8 27.Qf1 Be7 Again, 27...b5 is the move here. When Brian played this I sensed that the worst was behind me. The clocks of both players became a significant factor.   28.f4 Bd8 Well, I've been given my chance, and with less than 3 minutes on my clock I take it.   29.Ne5 Qd6 30.Bxd5 Qxd5 31.Nc4 c6 32.Re1 Rxe1 33.Qxe1 Bf6 The third time in the game that Black has played this move, and this time it presented White with his one clear-cut chance in the game. After 34.Qxe8+ Kh7 35.Qe4+! White is actually better, as his King covers the d pawn and his knight is very good. But...but....short of time, I saw a path to a draw...and took it.   34.Qe8+ Kh7 35.Ne5 Bxe5 36.fxe5 c5 37.f4 h5 38.Qe7 a5 39.Qg5 Qf3 40.Qf5+ Kg8 41.Qc8+ Kh7 42.Qf5+ Kg8 43.Qc8+ Kh7 1/2-1/2

1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 c5 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.e5 Ng4 8.e6 Bxb5 9.exf7+ Kd7 10.Nxb5 Qa5+ 11.Nc3 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Nc6 14.Qc4 Qb6 15.Qe2 h5 16.h3 Nh6

17.Be3! Bill: This looks like some brilliant home-prep by Ian, Bd2 is invariably played here, both in master practice and by Welly club members trying to take Anthony down in this hackneyed line that he willingly plays. The point is that the comp loves both bishop moves, but Anthony has heaps of experience dealing with only one of them   17...Qxb2 18.Kd2 Nb4?? 19.Qb5+ Ke6 20.Rhc1 Rhc8 21.Bd4 Nf5 8 points up :(  22.Rab1? (22.f8=Q! Rxf8 23.Rab1 Nxd4 (23...Qa3 24.Rxb4 ) 24.Qc4+ ) 22...Nxd4 23.Qxb4 Qxb4 24.Rxb4 Nc6 25.Rxb7 Kxf7 26.Ne4 Kf8 27.Rf1 Na5 28.Rb4 Nc4+ 29.Kd3 d5 30.Ng5 Rc6 31.f5 Rac8 32.Ne6+ Kg8 33.Nd4 Rf6 34.Rb7? e5 35.Nb3? ( After the game Russell and Nic took great pleasure in pointing out  35.fxg6! Rxf1 36.Ne6 which is a forced draw in every variation! I have to admit it's pretty nifty! ) 35...gxf5 36.Rxa7 f4 37.Na5 Ne3 38.Rf2 Nf5 39.c4 e4+ 40.Kc2 Ne3+ white resigns 0-1