[Event "Rugby C v Coventry A"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.3.22"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Mark Page"]
[Black "Nigel Stanley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "195"]
[BlackELO "ungraded"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 {I was surprised by this move
by White. Clearly White wishes to speed up his development and centralise his
rooks, but the queen is exposed on d4, as we will see later.} 5... Nc6 6. Bb5
Bd7 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. exd5 cxd5 9. O-O Nf6 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Ne5 O-O 12. Nxd7
Qxd7 {I was more than comfortable with my position as Black here. In moving
from f3, white's knight has left the h2 pawn exposed and weakened his control
of d4. Black is now equal in terms of development and can counter-attack
swiftly, using the open files on the queenside. Moving the bishop to c5 will
be useful.} 13. Rad1 Rfc8 14. Rfe1 {This might look good for white, but it
weakens the pawn on f2.} 14... Rab8 {White now has to defend the pawn on b2.}
15. Bc1 Bc5 {Black is now on the attack. Another possibility instead of Bc5
was Rb4.} 16. Qd3 Rb4 {This prevents Ne4, and threatens to move to c4 or d4.}
17. a3 Rc4! {Black now has a powerful attack down the c-file. Black is also
threatening Bxa3. If bxa3, RxNc3.} 18. Ne2 {Perhaps trying to prevent Rd4. A
simple move now by Black might win the game: Rxc2. White cannot, of course,
re-capture the the queen, because of Bxf2+. I saw this, but for a bit of fun
I decide to launch another attack on f2 and h2, thinking I could win more
quickly that way. This was a mistake. If the white rook ends up on f2 (as it
will) and the white knight moves to g3 (as it will), the rook on f2 will be
defending the c2 square. I missed this by going to get a drink and thinking I
had an easy win here. So I should have taken the pawn, but instead played
Ng4.} 18... Ng4 19. Rf1 Qc7 20. Ng3 Rxc2? {Too late now ! This should have
happened a couple of moves ago. This now loses a piece. White was in time
trouble, and for a long time thought he could not re-capture on c2, until he
realised that it is now safe to do so.} 21. Qxc2 Bxf2+ 22. Rxf2 Qxc2 23. Rxc2
Rxc2 {So black has lost a bishop for two pawns, by taking too late on c2. But
the game is now lost as well. White has a queenside pawn majority, and his
extra bishop will win. I played on for a few more moves but knew that the
game was now lost.} 24. Nf1 Nf2 25. Ne3 Re2 26. Kf1 Rxe3 27. Kxf2 Rb3 28. Ke2
f6 29. Rd3 {Perhaps black should keep the rooks on, but I wanted to get home
by now - I think black is lost anyway.} 29... Rxd3 30. Kxd3 e5 31. b4 Kf7 32.
a4 Ke7 33. Ba3 Kd7 34. b5 Kc7 35. Bf8 {Black resigns. But here was a game
which I could have won by keeping it simple when I was on top, rather than
adding complications.} 1-0
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.3.22"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Mark Page"]
[Black "Nigel Stanley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "195"]
[BlackELO "ungraded"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 {I was surprised by this move
by White. Clearly White wishes to speed up his development and centralise his
rooks, but the queen is exposed on d4, as we will see later.} 5... Nc6 6. Bb5
Bd7 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. exd5 cxd5 9. O-O Nf6 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Ne5 O-O 12. Nxd7
Qxd7 {I was more than comfortable with my position as Black here. In moving
from f3, white's knight has left the h2 pawn exposed and weakened his control
of d4. Black is now equal in terms of development and can counter-attack
swiftly, using the open files on the queenside. Moving the bishop to c5 will
be useful.} 13. Rad1 Rfc8 14. Rfe1 {This might look good for white, but it
weakens the pawn on f2.} 14... Rab8 {White now has to defend the pawn on b2.}
15. Bc1 Bc5 {Black is now on the attack. Another possibility instead of Bc5
was Rb4.} 16. Qd3 Rb4 {This prevents Ne4, and threatens to move to c4 or d4.}
17. a3 Rc4! {Black now has a powerful attack down the c-file. Black is also
threatening Bxa3. If bxa3, RxNc3.} 18. Ne2 {Perhaps trying to prevent Rd4. A
simple move now by Black might win the game: Rxc2. White cannot, of course,
re-capture the the queen, because of Bxf2+. I saw this, but for a bit of fun
I decide to launch another attack on f2 and h2, thinking I could win more
quickly that way. This was a mistake. If the white rook ends up on f2 (as it
will) and the white knight moves to g3 (as it will), the rook on f2 will be
defending the c2 square. I missed this by going to get a drink and thinking I
had an easy win here. So I should have taken the pawn, but instead played
Ng4.} 18... Ng4 19. Rf1 Qc7 20. Ng3 Rxc2? {Too late now ! This should have
happened a couple of moves ago. This now loses a piece. White was in time
trouble, and for a long time thought he could not re-capture on c2, until he
realised that it is now safe to do so.} 21. Qxc2 Bxf2+ 22. Rxf2 Qxc2 23. Rxc2
Rxc2 {So black has lost a bishop for two pawns, by taking too late on c2. But
the game is now lost as well. White has a queenside pawn majority, and his
extra bishop will win. I played on for a few more moves but knew that the
game was now lost.} 24. Nf1 Nf2 25. Ne3 Re2 26. Kf1 Rxe3 27. Kxf2 Rb3 28. Ke2
f6 29. Rd3 {Perhaps black should keep the rooks on, but I wanted to get home
by now - I think black is lost anyway.} 29... Rxd3 30. Kxd3 e5 31. b4 Kf7 32.
a4 Ke7 33. Ba3 Kd7 34. b5 Kc7 35. Bf8 {Black resigns. But here was a game
which I could have won by keeping it simple when I was on top, rather than
adding complications.} 1-0