[Event "Bridestones Holme Brew Chess Challenge"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.07.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Parsons, M."]
[Black "Leatherbarrow, A."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A33"]
[Annotator "Shapland,David"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g3 Bb4 7. Bg2 a6 8. O-O
O-O 9. Na4 $1 Qc7 10. a3 Be7 11. c5 Nxd4 12. Qxd4 d6 13. cxd6 Bxd6 14. Be3 Rd8
15. Rac1 Qe7 16. Qh4 Nd5 17. Qxe7 Bxe7 18. Bxd5 exd5 19. Nb6 Rb8 20. Bf4 Bh3
21. Bxb8 Rxb8 22. Rfd1 1-0

[Event "Bridestones Holme Brew Chess Challenge"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.07.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Shapland, D."]
[Black "Leonard, P."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D70"]
[WhiteElo "148"]
[BlackElo "157"]
[Annotator "Pete Leonard and Dave Shapland"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]

1. d4 {"So, Dave doesn't want to play Alekhine's Defence" - Pete "In fact my
choice of opening was motivated not so much by "not fancying" the Alekhine but
rather by a game I'd seen earlier this summer between Matthew Sadler and the
current British Champion Jonathan Hawkins at the 4NCL. Sadler had chosen to
play the so-called "Anti-Grunfeld" with 3.f3 and I liked some of the ideas
that I saw in that game. It just looked like fun" - Dave} Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 {
"Angling for a Samisch", my book on the Grunfeld says - Pete. "Of course the
last thing I was hoping for was for Pete to transpose into the King's Indian
Samisch Variation after 3...d6. I fully expected him to persist with the
Grunfeld and why not, Black doesn't necessarily have anything to fear in this
system" - Dave} d5 {"I didn't have the courage to trust my memory and play} (
3... e5 4. dxe5 Nh5 {e.g.} 5. f4 Qh4+ 6. g3 Nxg3 7. Nf3 Qh6 8. Rg1 Nxf1 9. Rxf1
Nc6 {- Pete. "This line may well be 'disruptive' but I'm not sure it's all
that great for Black. My brief research convinced me that the mainline is
perfectly reputable" - Dave}) 4. cxd5 Qxd5 $6 {"My queen does get a bit
exposed by this, I should have played} (4... Nxd5 5. e4 Nb6 {which is somewhat
like an Alekhine, as Dave said, and in which Fritz 12 prefers Black slightly"
- Pete} 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O {"This seems to be the
'tabiya' postion for the Anti-Grunfeld. Currently it's quite popular at the
very highest level. Anand even played it against Gelfand in the World
Championship last year. At this point Black has some choices in the form of 9..
.e5, 9...f5 or 9...Qd6 (which was Hawkins choice in the aforementioned game).
One of the reasons I quite fancied this variation is that this position is a
little bit remeniscent of the Sicilian Dragon where Black has played d5. Of
course there are some critical differences but White's set up is similar and
the strategic ideas are similar too. White is angling to play h4-h5 but he
also has the option of central play by advancing with d5 or e5 depending on
how Black sets up. The latter plan is not an option White usually gets in the
Dragon because he has a pawn on c2 and not d4. Anyway, I had hoped Pete knew
enough about the theory of this line to get us to this position. Evidently he
didn't. Now I had to figure out how to take advantage of his early queen
sortie" - Dave}) 5. e4 Qa5+ 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 {"One of the points I'd picked
up when studying the mainline of the Anti-Grunfeld waa that, if Black doesn't
put his knight on b6 then White should take advantage by placing his bishop on
this square. In the mainline where Black does play Nb6 then often the
white-squared bishop stay at home for a period of time" - Dave} c6 {"Better 7..
.c5 or 7...O-O" - Pete "Yes, based on the fact that White won't advance in the
centre unless provoked 7...c5 would have been better than this move which
restains White's centre but doesn't challenge it. Instead then} (7... c5 8.
Nge2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O {and White maintains a modest advantage" - Dave}) 8. Bd2 {
"I took a while over this move. I knew that the system I was playing usually
involved White playing Be3-Qd2-0-0-0-Nge2 or Nh3 but because of Pete's early
queen excursion this move seemed justified instead. The position here on the
queen's side bears some similarities to a Scandinavian. White might get a
troublesome discovered attack on the Black queen" - Dave} Qb6 {"Sensible. Part
of my idea was that if Pete played a 'natural' move like} (8... O-O {then I
can cause him some deal of positional discomfort after} 9. e5 Ne8 {There isn't
really another square for the knight as where would the queen's knight go
after 9...Nfd7?} 10. Nge2 Na6 11. O-O {and White is much better here as Black
is very uncoordinated" - Dave}) 9. Nge2 {"In this line, however, White is
clearly better" - Pete} O-O {"Is it worth mentioning that grabbing the
'poisoned' b2 pawn is not a good idea?" - Dave} (9... Qxb2 10. e5 Nfd7 11. Rb1
Qa3 12. Rb3 Qa5 13. Nf4 {and let's just say that White has plenty of
compensation for the pawn!" - Dave}) 10. Be3 {"10.0-0 was also well worth
considering. However, I didn't want to rule out castling long. I spent a while
on this move because I first of all wanted to check that the unprotected
bishops weren't vulnerable, secondly ensure that I wasn't just wasting a tempo
by moving the dark squared bishop again and thirdly, I'd seen Black's natural
plan of e5-Rd8 and I wanted to ensure this move would help me to meet that
idea" - Dave} e5 {"Risky, though Fritz doesn't hate this move. Why didn't I
simply play} (10... Qxb2 {- Pete} 11. a3 Qb6 12. Qd2 {"Threatening to play d5
so the queen has to retreat all the way home" - Dave} (12. O-O Nbd7 13. Qd2 Qc7
14. e5 Ne8 {"Also looks good for White" - Dave}) 12... Qd8 13. O-O {"I think
White has enough for his pawn here. Half Black's army is still at home whereas
Whites are already deployed" - Dave}) 11. Qd2 {"So, I've reached the set up I
was aiming for anyway. Now the b2 pawn is protected, I've cleared the way for
castling long and I'm also ready to eliminate the Black king's bishop with Bh6
at some point" - Dave} Rd8 $2 {"This is unsound; better was"} (11... Qb4 12.
dxe5 Qxc4 13. exf6 Bxf6 {- Pete} 14. Rc1 Qb4 15. Nf4 {"To restrict the Black
queen's bishop as much as possible" - Dave} Rd8 16. Qc2 {"This is more like it
for Black, it will clearly be harder for White to claim an advantage here" -
Dave}) 12. dxe5 {"Of course I had to calculate carefully that this variation
worked. There seemed to be a fairly logical sequence of forced moves that I
managed to work through at this point 12...Rxd2 13.Bxb6 Rxb2 14.Bd4 Ne8 15.Bb3
c5 16.Bxc5 Bxe5 17.0-0-0 Bxc3 18.Nxc3 Rxg2 19.Rd8 Bd7 and figured that 20.Nb5
or Nd5 would quickly put too much pressure on the Black position" - Dave} Rxd2
$2 {"Pete gives this move a '?' but I'm not sure Black had anything better
than to swallow the pill. For example after} (12... Qc7 {then} 13. Bd4 Ne8 14.
Qg5 {and White's advantage is significant" - Dave}) 13. Bxb6 Rxb2 {"Black may
as well grab the pawn. The altewrnative was to let the exchange go
immediately" - Dave} (13... Rxe2+ 14. Kxe2 axb6 15. exf6 Bxf6 {"Though of
course, White is still much better in this line as well" - Dave}) 14. Bd4 {
"Even better was"} (14. O-O-O $1 Nfd7 (14... Rxb6 {"After this move I'd
overlooked that} 15. Rd8+ Bf8 16. Rxc8 {is totally crushing" - Dave}) 15. Kxb2
axb6 16. f4 $18 {- Pete}) 14... Ne8 {"Marginally preferable to 14...Nfd7 which
makes it even harder for Black to develop his queen's side and leaves the back
rank vulnerable" - Dave} 15. Bb3 {"The point of White's play after 12.dxe5.
Black can only free the rook at a very high price positionally" - Dave} c5 {
"Striving for complications to rescue my rook. Better to have developed my
queen's side:" - Pete} (15... Be6 16. Nd1 {"I'd have played} (16. Na4 {
instead" - Dave} Rxb3 17. axb3 Nd7 18. Kf2) 16... Rxb3 17. axb3 Nd7 18. Rxa7
Rxa7 19. Bxa7 Bxb3 $18) 16. Bxc5 Bxe5 17. O-O-O $1 {"A surprising move. Pete
seemed taken aback but I was sure he'd have seen it before hand. One kibbitzer
was so surprised by this that he broke the spectators vow of silence to blurt
'You can't castle through check!' I pointed out that I hadn't and he had to
look again" - Dave} Rxb3 {"Pete's turn to surprise me! This is a sensible
choice but I'd single-mindedly only calculated what happened after 17... Bxc3"
- Dave "Accepting my loss; I thought that...} (17... Bxc3 18. Nxc3 Rxg2 19. Rd8
Bd7 20. Bd6 {... looked terrible, which it is" - Pete "In fact I'd only
considered} (20. Nd5 {but that is well met by} Kg7 21. Bd4+ Kf8 {and White is
winning but it's not as decisive" - Dave})) 18. axb3 Nc6 {"At last, I've moved
a queen's side piece!" - Pete "So, after that long forcing sequence the
opening was over. Even though it hadn't gone down quite the direction I was
hoping for it had gone as well as I could expect. White should win the game
from here but there is still work to do. Work that I now did my very best to
overcomplicate!" - Dave} 19. f4 Bg7 20. Nd5 $6 {"I was most certainly guilty
of trying to guild the lily during this next phase of the game. I guess I was
thinking that I still had a positional as well as a material advantage so why
not try to use it to end the game quickly. There's no mate here but perhaps I
could restrict Black's space and movement to such an extent that more material
could be won. In any case this seemed like a fine outpost for the knight.
Instead though, simply organising exchanges would have been more than
sufficient to get to the correct outcome. So how about} (20. Nd4 Nxd4 21. Bxd4
Nf6 22. Rd2 {and it looks pretty straight forward as Black is still so far
behind in development" - Dave}) 20... Bg4 21. Rd2 Rc8 22. Kb1 Nf6 {"Or} (22...
Nc7 23. Rc1 Nxd5 24. exd5 Na5 {with the d-pawn threatening to gallop home" -
Dave}) 23. Nec3 Re8 24. h3 $2 {"Greatly diminishing my advantage by asking for
the moon on a stick! Instead I should have simplified and consolidated with"} (
24. Nxf6+ Bxf6 25. Nd5 Bd8 (25... Bg7 26. e5) 26. Re1 g5 27. g3 Re6 {- Dave})
24... Bc8 {"Missing} (24... Nxe4 25. Nxe4 Bf5 26. Re1 Bxe4+ 27. Ka2 f5 {and my
position has improved markedly. I looked at possible pins on the f5-b1
diagonal, but just not at this time" - Pete}) 25. e5 Bf5+ 26. Kb2 Nd7 {"Trying
to get some pressure with my bishops; I didn't think.. .} (26... Ne4 27. Nxe4
Bxe4 {...was going anywhere" - Dave}) 27. Bd6 {"By this stage of the game I'd
become overly obsessed with lodging my pieces in ridiculously advanced
positions and assuming that victory would follow in swift succession. I wonder
if something oddly psychological was going on because time and again in this
game both players 'believed' White's initiative to the extent that relatively
straightforward equalising measure for Black were overlooked. In this instance
I would have been better served by retreating my bishop" - Dave} (27. Bf2 Rc8
28. Rhd1 {"And White retains a very significant advantage" - Dave}) 27... h5
28. Nc7 Rc8 29. Rg1 {"Instead of this Fritz suggests} (29. N3d5 g5 30. Rc1 Kh7
31. Rxc6 bxc6 32. Ne7 {with an overwhelming advantage" - Dave}) 29... h4 {"I
didn't think of"} (29... g5 30. fxg5 Ndxe5 {- Pete}) 30. Re1 Nf8 31. N7d5 (31.
N3d5 Ne6 32. Be7 $2 {"If this position had appeared on the board I don't think
I'd have played this last move" - Dave} (32. Nxe6 fxe6 33. Ne7+ Nxe7 34. Bxe7 {
"And White is winning" - Dave}) 32... Nxf4 $2 {"How did we both miss} (32...
Nxc7 33. Nxc7 Nxe7 {and the tables have been turned" - Pete}) 33. Bxh4 Nd3+ 34.
Rxd3 Bxd3 35. Re3 {"Fritz gives"} Bf5 (35... Bf1 36. g3 Rxc7 37. Nxc7 Bxe5+ 38.
Rxe5 Nxe5 39. Bf6 Nd7 40. Bd4 Bxh3 41. Bxa7 f6 $17) 36. g4 Be6 37. Bf6 Kh7 {-
Pete}) 31... Ne6 {"I did wonder about 31...Nd7, covering f6, to see what he'd
do next" - Pete "I think I was considering 32.N3b5" - Dave} 32. Be7 $2 {"I
see! He's after my h-pawn, but this gives me a chance" - Pete} Nxf4 {"Of
course. In one move White has lost all of his advantage and the game is pretty
much equal" - Dave} 33. Bxh4 {"There's no good way to avoid giving back the
exchange so now I have to rely on my initiative and space advantage, which is
pretty much none existant, to create some pressure" - Dave} Nd3+ 34. Rxd3 Bxd3
{"Equality has been restored, so now where did I go wrong?" - Pete} 35. Re3 Bf5
36. g4 Be6 37. Bf6 {"Fritz prefers 37.Nf6+ or Ne7+. Evidently this move gives
Black pretty much his only chance of the game to claim an advantage - a
fleeting window" - Dave} Kh7 {Finally getting out of possible knight forks.
However, I took far too much time thinking about 37...Bh6 or even 37... Bf8
and didn't even consider} (37... Bxd5 38. Nxd5 Re8 39. Kc2 Kf8 {Grabbing the e
pawn doesn't work:} (39... Nxe5 40. Ne7+ Kf8 41. Bxg7+ Kxg7 42. Rxe5 Kf8 43.
Nxg6+ fxg6 {though this looks drawn, which would have satisfied me" - Pete}))
38. Bxg7 Kxg7 39. Nf4 Re8 {"So he'll lose the e-pawn if he takes the bishop" -
Pete} 40. Nb5 {"Objectively, Fritz thinks Black is minutely better. I guess
that's due to his better pawn structure and bishop and knight against two
knights. However, subjectively I felt like I still had an initiative here and
perhaps morally, having had an advantage for so long in this game, maybe that
state of affairs was still lingering in both player's heads. Sometimes changes
in circumstances and the assessment of the game can be hard to adjust to" -
Dave} Re7 41. Kc3 a6 {"Fritz suggests"} (41... g5 42. Nd3 b6 {- Pete}) 42. Nd4
Nxd4 $6 {"Helping White; just retreat the bishop:} (42... Bd7 43. Nf3 Bc8 44.
Kc4 b6 {and my position appears secure" - Pete}) 43. Kxd4 Rc7 $6 {"I shouldn't
have allowed him to weaken my pawns like this; better"} (43... g5 44. Nxe6+
Rxe6 45. Rc3 Rb6 46. Rc7 Kf8 47. Kc4 a5 48. Rc5 Rb4+ 49. Kc3 b6 $11 {- Pete})
44. Nxe6+ fxe6 45. Rc3 $2 {Brinkmanship? King and pawn endings are totally
concrete and the assessment likewise. Did Pete have the confidence to go for a
pawn ending that I couldn't assess in the little time I had left when he had
less time left on his clock himself?" - Dave} Rf7 $2 {"Obviously not!" - Dave
"Oh no! We neither of us saw that Black, not White, is better after"} (45...
Rxc3 46. Kxc3 g5 47. Kd4 b6 {- Pete "Can Black win this? Possibly. The break
through isn't going to happen on the king's side though so maybe Kc4-b4-b5 is
good enough to draw as the Black king can't infiltrate..." - Dave} 48. Kc4 Kf7
49. b4 Ke7 50. b5 a5 {"And isn't this just a draw?" - Dave}) 46. Ke4 Kh6 47. h4
$6 {"Another inaccuracy. Correct was" - Dave} (47. Rd3 Kg5 48. Rd6 Rf4+ 49. Kd3
Rf3+ 50. Kc4 Rxh3 51. Rxe6 {"And it's a draw" - Dave}) 47... Kg7 $2 {"An
error-strewn endgame; I had well less than five minutes left and am grateful
to Dave for providing the remaining moves} (47... g5 48. hxg5+ {"Is the best
White can do} (48. h5 $2 Rf4+ 49. Kd3 Rxg4 50. Rc8 (50. Rc7 $2 Rb4 $19) 50...
Kxh5 51. Re8 Rb4 52. Rxe6 Rxb3+ {and suddenly Black is winning" - Pete}) 48...
Kxg5 49. Rc8 Rf4+ 50. Kd3 Kxg4 {and White will struggle to hold this now" -
Dave}) 48. Rf3 Rd7 $2 {"Why didn't I simply exchange rooks and play 49...b6?
How's he going to break in? If I'm going to move the rook, 48...Rc7 at least
allows it to protect the e pawn from c6" - Pete} 49. Rd3 $6 {"Better, as Pete
pointed out afterwards was"} (49. Rf6 Re7 50. Kf4 a5 51. Kg5 b5 52. Rxg6+ Kh7
53. Rf6 a4 54. bxa4 bxa4 55. Rf3 $16 {- Dave}) 49... Rc7 $2 {"Pretty much the
decisive error in a horror show of an ending. In fairness, it's hard for
either player to be spot on in these kinds of endings when you are both
blitzing and fatigued" - Dave} (49... Rxd3 50. Kxd3 b6 {"And White's king
can't stray too far away from the queen's side" - Pete "This is the same
ending as given in an earlier note. It looks like a draw as neither king can
break in" - Dave}) 50. Rd6 Kf7 $2 51. Kd4 $6 (51. Kf4 Re7 52. Kg5 Kg7 53. h5
gxh5 54. gxh5 $18 {- Pete}) 51... Ke7 $2 {"My king should be attending to the
king's side" - Pete} 52. h5 gxh5 53. gxh5 Rc1 54. Rb6 Rd1+ 55. Ke4 Rh1 56.
Rxb7+ Kd8 $2 {"I should definitely have headed for the h pawn, which my rook
is not going to win" - Pete} (56... Kf8 57. Rh7 Rh4+ 58. Ke3 a5 {"Would have
held out for longer; I'd probably have lost on time instead!" - Pete}) 57. Rh7
{"The rest, as they say is a matter of technique. Though I can't say I've
demonstrated any good technique in this game since winning material in the
opening!" - Dave} a5 58. h6 Rh4+ 59. Kd3 (59. Kf3 Ke8 60. Kg3 Rh1 61. Kg4 Kf8
62. Kg5 Kg8 63. Ra7 $18 {- Pete}) 59... a4 $4 {"Making it much easier though I
think Black was lost anyway" - Dave} (59... Ke8 60. Kc3 Kf8 61. Ra7 Rxh6 62.
Rxa5 Rh4 63. b4 Re4 64. Rc5 Re3+ 65. Kc4 {"And the b pawn will win it in the
end" - Pete}) 60. bxa4 Rxa4 {"Or just resign now" - Pete} 61. Rg7 Rh4 62. h7 {
"Well, I made it harder for myself than I need have. I was pleased with my
play in the opening and at the very end of the end game. The rest was pretty
unedifying but credit to Pete for scrapping so hard to stay in the game when
it looked like his number was up!" - Dave} 1-0

