Not a good start as I arrived late for the game, to find that I had been 'promoted' by Captain Joe to Board 3. (Not sure that I am ready to leave the security of board 4 yet).
I was pleased with myself up to move 7, but missed a couple of opportunities and made life hard for myself from 14 on by moving my queen into a spot where she could do me no good. I also neglected to anticipate the threat of the two rooks lining up. So lessons learned here. Jon Cox went through it afterwards and pointed out some ways to improve but happy to receive advice from others also.
[Event "Divisional Cup"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2009.12.8"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Ravi Sian"]
[Black "Chris Pegler"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. h3 {Hm. Wonder what this is about?} 4...
Bf5 5. a3 {And on the other side too. } 5... e6 6. Bg5 {He's pinning my knight
...} 6... Be7 {So bishop breaks the pin} 7. e3 Ne4 {Threatens knight and
bishop with the idea that if knight takes then pawn will take back and eye up
the other knight while the bishops square off. } 8. h4 Bxg5 9. hxg5 {This now
opens up the h file for his rook. } 9... Nxg5 10. Bb5 {Now that is annoying
...} 10... O-O 11. Rh5 Nxf3+ {This was a missed opportunity. As Jon Cox
pointed out Bg4 would have been a much better move. I agree. Part of the
problem was that I missed that he could take with the queen as well as the
pawn. } 12. Qxf3 {which he now does. } 12... Ne7 13. O-O-O c6 {I am for some
reason looking to developing my queen on the queen side of the board when I
should be worrying about his two rooks. Although this does ...} 14. Bd3 {chase
back his queen. } 14... Qa5 {This was my worst move I reckon. It effectively
takes my queen out for the rest of the game. } 15. Bxf5 exf5 {Could have taken
with the knight and still had that defended? Would that have been better?}
16. Rdh1 h6 {With the two rooks lined up this looks like my 'only move' says
Cox.} 17. Qg3 g6 {Ng6 would have been better (again says Cox and he is right
isn't he?)} 18. Rxh6 g5 {Now this was according to my chess mentor Cox the
'wrong move'. It was around here that my opponent suggested that the
honourable thing is sometimes to resign. Ever stubbon I press on. } 19. Qxg5+
Ng6 20. Qf6 Qd8 {At last my queen returns. But far too late ...} 21. Rh8+
Nxh8 22. Qxh8# {Now I think that he could have done that part quicker. But
then it was not a perfect game from either side. } 1-0
