[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.09.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Whitehouse, P."]
[Black "Shapland, D."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A48"]
[Annotator "Shapland,David"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2013.10.01"]
[WhiteTeam "Brighouse"]
[BlackTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]

1. d4 Nf6 {I must admit to feeling a little apprehensive about this first game
of the season in Calderdale. My grade has been plummeting like a stone for the
last 18 months, despite the fact that I feel like I've been playing decent
chess, and I opened my new season last week with a painful defeat from a
dominant position in the Bradford League. That said, Brighouse has generally
been a very happy hunting ground for me over the years. I think I've only lost
two games at their place and the rest have all been wins (at least four that I
can think of). I was also comfortable that I knew what to prepare myself for
as soon as I understood I'd be playing Paul. I expected a London System to
appear on the board. A few years ago this would not have been a happy prospect
for me, I used to hate facing these systems, but lots of blitz games and
several long play games against Matthew Parsons' London have helped me feel
much more comfortable facing it.} 2. Bf4 d6 {This is my chosen line against
the London. It's principled. Black simply reinforces the diagonal that White
is hoping to probe with his early bishop move. Often in this line Black will
gain a tempo because the bishop will be forced to relocate to a better square
as it usually ends up biting on granite in this line. The down side to this
move order is that White can (and probably should) easily transpose into other
systems. A few year's ago Huddersfield's Chris Booth transposed into a Pirc
here by playing Nc3 and e4.} 3. e3 {Paul declines to change his plans and
maintains his London set up. Tellingly, the last two times I've played against
Matthew's London he's opted for 3.c4. For example} (3. c4 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 {and
this transposed to a Benoni/King's Indian type structure. This has yielded me
two playable positions from the opening but I only managed to hold one for a
draw.}) 3... g6 4. Bd3 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. c3 {It wasn't too late to play c4.
After this move Black has equalised and will have chances to put pressure on
White with thematic King's Indian ideas of advancing the e and f pawns
meanwhile White won't have the queen's side play he usually has because his
pawn is on c3 and not on c4.} Nc6 7. O-O Nd7 {Perhaps this is premature. Fritz
instead thinks that the immediate} (7... Qe8 {is best and now} 8. Bg5 e5 9.
Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Nbd2 {but this looks like it realeases the tension a little
early for my liking.}) 8. Bg5 {So here is the lost tempo. White is tring to
prevent the e5 break but he can't do that indefinitely.} Qe8 {Preparing the
break once again. Fritz liked the more circumspect line} (8... h6 9. Bh4 Nf6
10. Nbd2 Be6 {when Black looks very solid and compact but this isn't
particularly ambitious.}) 9. Nbd2 {According to the engine this move should
give White an edge and therefore it casts doubt on Black's last few moves.} e5
{Well, this was what I'd been aiming for all along. The idea is to follow up
with f5 and then put pressure on the White king.} 10. d5 (10. Qb3 $1 {
Accordsing to the engine this is the critical move as White aims trys to hold
up f5. After} Kh8 11. Bh4 f5 12. Ng5 Nf6 13. d5 Nd8 {Which is the kind of
thing I would have gone in for Fritz assess that White is about half a pawn to
the good but I'd have been happy enough with this position. I think Black has
potential here.}) 10... Ne7 11. e4 {Paul trys to close the centre but in fact
this move only encourages me to proceed as planned.} Nc5 12. Bc2 f5 {The
logical follow up. This looks very like a King's Indian for Black now. The
best part is that normally Black would expect a counter attack to come from
White on the queen's side but here, because White played c3 instead of c4, the
pressure is going to be that little bit slower} 13. Bxe7 {I was happy enough
to see this exchange take place. Instead of this Fritz gives a very
'computer-like' line in the form of} (13. exf5 Bxf5 14. b4 Nd3 15. Nh4 Nf4 16.
Nxf5 Nxf5 17. Ne4 {which it assesses as being equal.}) 13... Qxe7 14. Qe2 {
Fritz says this move is ok so it's not for me to criticise. However, I just
thought White had to exchange on f5 here because, once the Black pawn gets to
f4, the attack seems to gather a momentum all of its own and seems very easy
for Black to play risk free and White has nothing on the queen's side. I'd
anticipated} (14. exf5 Bxf5 15. Re1) 14... f4 15. b4 {What else deos White
have? I wasn't unhappy relocating the knight from c5. I wanted it on the
king's side anyway.} Nd7 16. Bb3 g5 {Why not? White's pieces are the target
for a classic pawn storm.} 17. h3 h5 {Of course! Sometimes it's hard to force
yourself to move all the pawns infront of your king forwards to attack but
with the centre closed it's a much easier decision.} 18. Nh2 Nf6 19. f3 $2 {
According to Fritz this is the critical mistake. Instead it wants White to
play the strange move} (19. Nhf3 {although after} g4 20. hxg4 hxg4 21. Ng5 f3
22. gxf3 gxf3 23. Ngxf3 Nh5 {This appears to be totally overwhelming. am I
missing something?}) 19... Bh6 {Almost any move is good for Black here. The
idea behind this move was to vacate the g7 square for the queen and to prepare
to activate my bad bishop if the h6-c1 diagonal gets opened.} 20. Rf2 Qg7 {
Preparing another pawn advance which White is powerless to prevent} 21. Kh1 g4
{The direct approach. It's interesting that Fritz, whilst not castigating this
move is not interested in prosecuting a king's side attack for Black here at
all but instead wants to play on the queen's side in a bid to achieve world
domination!} (21... a5 22. Nc4 axb4 23. cxb4 {and only now does the silicone
monster suggest 23...g4}) 22. hxg4 hxg4 23. fxg4 Bxg4 24. Nxg4 Nxg4 25. Nf3 $2
{I think Paul considered his position to be more desperate than it actually
was and he gives up the exchange needlessly. Instead a tougher defence would
have been} (25. Rf3 Qg6 26. Rh3 Ne3 {when Black still very much has the better
of it but the game is certainly not over}) 25... Nxf2+ 26. Qxf2 Qg3 {This
seemed simplest to me as White has to decline the queen exchange for both
strategic and tactical reasons. Strategically he is material down and so
really needs to keep the queens on if he is to have any chance of surviving.
Tactically, if he exchanges I think he gets into hot water pretty quickly} 27.
Qf1 (27. Qxg3+ fxg3 28. Kg1 Be3+ 29. Kf1 {or else he's getting mated on the
h-file} Bd2 {winning a pawn whereafter the rest is quite easy}) 27... Rf7 28.
a3 {Desperate to get his last piece into the game, Paul tries to deploy the
rook on a2 to defend the king position from there. Unfortunately, g2 is not
where the axe is going to fall} Rh7 29. Ra2 Kg7 {Simply threatening to mate
him down the h-file. It's all a bit lugubrious for Black but White's position
is so desolate he still has no time to defend himself adequately} 30. Kg1 Rah8
31. Qb5 {Finally, White goes in for some counterplay on the queen's side.
Unfortunately for him it's too little, too late. Now he needed to exchange
queens to survive after} (31. Qf2 Qg4 32. Qh4 Qxh4 33. Nxh4 Bg5 34. Nf5+ Kg6
35. Kf2 {and White is just about alive although his condition is terminal})
31... Kf6 {Defending d7 and ensuring the White knight has no crafty checks!}
32. Rf2 Bg5 33. Kf1 Rh1+ 34. Ke2 Bh4 {The end is nigh} 35. Nxh4 {Loses in one
move instead of the altrernative which looks like some form of suicide chess} (
35. Rf1 Qxg2+ 36. Kd1 Rxf1+ 37. Qxf1 Qxf1+ 38. Kc2 Qxf3) 35... Qe3# {A much
needed confidence boosting victory for me and I think I've now found my own
system against the London!} 0-1

[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.09.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Breen, D."]
[Black "Bak, A."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "168"]
[BlackElo "170"]
[Annotator "Andrew Bak"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Brighouse"]
[BlackTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. d4 {I have had little experience playing this
setup as Black so was making things up as I went along!} Bg4 5. c3 Nf6 (5...
Bxf3 {I probably ought to have chopped this off whilst I had the chance - this
bishop quickly became stranded on the Kside.}) 6. O-O e6 7. Nbd2 (7. Ne5 Nxe5
8. dxe5 Nd7 9. h3 Bh5 10. f4 f5 11. c4 Nb6 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Qa4+ Qd7 14. Qxd7+
Kxd7 15. e4 Nb4 16. Nc3 c4 17. exf5 Bc5+ 18. Kh2 exf5 19. Bd2 Rab8 20. b3 b5
21. Nd5 Nd3 22. Bf3 Bxf3 23. Rxf3 Rhc8 24. g4 fxg4 25. hxg4 Nf2 26. g5 Ke6 27.
Nc3 b4 28. f5+ Kd7 29. e6+ Kc6 30. Nd1 Ng4+ 31. Kh3 Ne5 32. Rf4 Rd8 33. Be1
Rd3+ 34. Kg2 c3 35. Nf2 Rd6 36. Ne4 Nd3 37. Rf1 Rd5 38. f6 gxf6 39. gxf6 Nxe1+
40. Raxe1 Rg8+ 41. Ng3 Rd2+ 42. Kf3 Rd3+ 43. Kf4 Rdxg3 44. e7 Bd6+ 45. Ke4 Kd7
46. Kd5 R3g5+ 47. Kd4 Rc8 48. Kd3 Rd5+ 49. Kc2 Rd2+ 50. Kb1 a5 51. Re3 Rb2+ 52.
Ka1 a4 53. bxa4 b3 54. axb3 Rxb3 55. f7 Bxe7 56. Rd3+ Kc6 57. Rc1 Kb6 58. a5+
Kxa5 59. Rd7 Ra8 60. Rc2 Kb6+ 61. Ra2 c2 {0-1 (61) Harvey,M (2206)-Jaunooby,A 
(2130) Sheffield 2011}) 7... cxd4 8. Nxd4 $146 (8. cxd4 Bd6 9. b3 Qb6 10. Bb2
O-O 11. h3 Bh5 12. e3 Rfc8 13. Qe2 Nb4 14. a3 Bxf3 15. Bxf3 Nc2 16. Ra2 Rc7 17.
Qd3 Qa5 18. Qe2 Rac8 19. Nc4 dxc4 20. Qxc2 Nd5 21. bxc4 Rxc4 22. Qb3 Qc7 23.
Kg2 a5 24. Raa1 a4 25. Qd3 b5 26. Rfc1 Bf8 27. e4 Nb6 28. Rab1 Qd7 29. Qe3 Rxc1
30. Bxc1 Nc4 31. Qd3 Ne5 32. Qe3 Nxf3 33. Kxf3 e5 34. dxe5 Qxh3 35. Bb2 Bc5 36.
Bd4 Bxd4 37. Qxd4 h5 38. Rxb5 Qh1+ 39. Kf4 g5+ 40. Kxg5 Qf3 41. Qd7 Rf8 42. Qf5
Qxa3 43. Rb6 Re8 44. Rf6 Qc1+ 45. f4 Qg1 46. Kh6 Qa7 47. Qh7+ Kf8 48. Qg7+ {
1-0 (48) Aoyama,E (1915)-Aranha Filho,A (2292) Maringa BRA 2012}) 8... Nxd4 9.
cxd4 Qb6 10. Nb3 Be7 11. f3 Bh5 12. Be3 O-O 13. Bf2 Rfc8 14. Qd2 (14. e4 dxe4
15. d5 Qd6 $17) 14... Bb4 {I spent a very long time on this move.} (14... Qb4
15. Qxb4 Bxb4 16. Rac1 {I didn't think this endgame offered me much as his
bishops would come to life and by bishop on h5 wouldn't be that well placed.})
15. Qf4 {Creating threats against the backrank and c7, whilst also starting to
round up and trap the h5 bishop.} Rc2 16. e4 (16. Rac1 Bd6 17. Qxd6 $5 (17. Qe3
{This of course is more sane.}) 17... Qxd6 18. Rxc2 {looked like an
interesting way to unbalance the position.}) 16... Rxb2 {In for a penny, in
for a pound!} (16... dxe4 17. fxe4 Ng4 {Is similar to the game except I
haven't grabbed the b2 pawn!}) 17. h4 {Threatening g4 and h5.} dxe4 18. fxe4
Ng4 19. Bh3 (19. Qg5 Nxf2 20. Rxf2 Rxb3 $5 {This is what I was intending on
playing during the game.} (20... Rxf2 {This move is much simpler.}) 21. axb3
Qxd4 22. Rc1 {I hadn't seen this defence during the game} (22. Raf1 Be2) (22.
Qxh5 Qxa1+) 22... Bd1 23. Qf4 Be1 {It's amazing what the computer can come up
with sometimes!} 24. Qxf7+ Kh8 $15) 19... Nxf2 20. Rxf2 Rxf2 21. Qxf2 Rc8 22.
Rf1 {At this point I knew we were already 1-0 up thanks to Nick, I saw that
Josh was winning and I thought Dave was also doing well put his position still
looked complicated. Therefore I saw a forced drawing line and went for it to
ensure that we would at least not lose the match. During the game, I
objectively thought that I ought to be better but White does have a lot of
play and I didn't want to get into a situation where all three results were
possible. Cold hard Fritz says I am +2.2 here!} Rc3 23. Bg4 Qc7 (23... Bg6 {I
didn't even consider this, I might have played on if I had seen it.} 24. h5 Qc7
25. hxg6 Rxg3+ 26. Kh1 Rxg4 $17) 24. Bxh5 Rxg3+ 25. Kh1 {Both my games so far
for Hebden Bridge have been draws - I can't imagine that streak continuing for
too much longer!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "cragg vale"]
[Date "2013.09.30"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Broadbent, R."]
[Black "Leatherbarrow, A."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[Annotator "Leatherbarrow,Andy"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Brighouse"]
[BlackTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]
[TimeControl "300+10"]

1. e4 d5 2. Nc3 d4 {I've never played this before and have always taken with 2.
..dxe4. Last years game with Robert in this line was a draw, but wanted to try
the alternative.} 3. Nce2 e5 4. Ng3 f6 {Memory failure here. I need to play
Be6 first before f6} 5. Bc4 Bd6 {Not the best, Fritz gives 5...Nc6} 6. Bxg8
Rxg8 7. Qh5+ g6 8. Qxh7 Be6 9. h4 Qd7 {I did think about Nc6 here with a view
to Nb4 or Bf8 to follow hassling the queen.} 10. Qxd7+ Nxd7 11. d3 O-O-O {I
have several tempi for the pawn and hoped to generate some counterplay.
However, I took a few wrong turns here and there but at least I learnt a lot
about the position and its themes. Robert played well and kept the pawn to
gain the win.} 12. h5 gxh5 13. Rxh5 Rdf8 14. N1e2 Bg4 15. Rh2 Rh8 16. Rxh8 Rxh8
17. f3 Be6 18. Bd2 f5 19. exf5 Bxf5 20. Kf2 Be6 21. a3 Be7 22. Rh1 Rg8 {
Thought for a long time about RxR and in the end that is better I think} 23.
Ne4 c5 24. c4 dxc3 25. N2xc3 a6 26. Be3 c4 27. dxc4 Bxc4 28. Rc1 Kb8 29. Rd1
Nf6 30. Nxf6 Bxf6 31. Ne4 Be7 32. Bc5 Bxc5+ 33. Nxc5 Bb5 34. Nd7+ Bxd7 35. Rxd7
Re8 36. Ke3 1-0

[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "Sicilian Defence"]
[Date "2013.09.30"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Bendall, B."]
[Black "Sykes, N."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B21"]
[Annotator "Sykes, Nick"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Brighouse"]
[BlackTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]

1. e4 c5 {Choices, choices. I actually thought for a while on whether to play
the 1...e6 or 1...e5} 2. f4 {This was what I had expected} d5 {Probably the
post principled response} (2... Nc6 3. Nf3 g6 4. a3 Bg7 5. Bc4 e6 6. O-O Nge7
7. Re1 O-O 8. e5 d5 9. exd6 Qxd6 {was seen in A Gonzalez-N Sykes 0-1 (31)}) 3.
e5 $6 (3. exd5 Nf6 4. Bb5+ Bd7 5. Bxd7+ Qxd7 6. c4 e6 {is the main line of the
2.f4 Grand Prix Attack}) 3... Nc6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. h3 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 e6 {I always
feel that Black has a favourable French type of position where he has got rid
of his 'bad' bishop and the closed nature of the game will favour the knights}
7. c3 Nh6 8. Bb5 $6 {I really don't understand why Bruce played this move, I
can't see what it achieves?} Qb6 {Hitting the bishop and preventing White
playing d4, also the Queen is quite menacing on the a7-g1 diagonal especially
if White considers castling K-side!} 9. Ba4 Be7 10. Na3 Nf5 11. g3 O-O $6 (
11... O-O-O $1 {is better}) 12. Bc2 Nh6 $6 {I was very disappointed with my
last two moves and really should have seen this coming. I really didn't fancy
losing the knight for the bishop, compromising my pawn structure} (12... Rfd8
13. Bxf5 exf5 $17 {and Black is still better}) 13. h4 {This suprised me, I
couldn't see what Bruce was up to here?} (13. Qd3 g6 {was what I was expecting
here when the position is only a bit better for Black}) 13... f5 $1 {Either
securing the g4 square for the h6 knight or opening up the K-side to attack
the White king. White's problem in this game is the fact he is still playing 2
pieces down with his king in the middle of the board, while Black is fully
devloped} 14. b3 {maybe trying to activate the bishop on the b2 square? This
is very slow however} Ng4 {Naturally, Black has a clear advantage here
according to HIARCS, I also felt very comfortable in this position} 15. Bxf5 $2
{For one awful moment I thought oh my word what have I missed here, after a
closer look I concluded that this is just bad, the bishop sacrifice does win 2
pawns but it is not enough when White still has 2 pieces still on their
original squares} exf5 16. Qxd5+ Kh8 17. Nc4 Qd8 18. Qe6 $4 (18. Qxd8 Raxd8 {
is White's best option but even here Black is clearly winning}) 18... Qd3 {
White is going to suffer badly for leaving his king in the middle of the
board!!} 19. Rg1 Qf3 20. Rf1 {Preventing Qf2+, but Black has many other threats
} Qxg3+ 21. Kd1 Rad8 (21... Qd3 $1 {wins the f1 rook}) 22. Nd6 Bxd6 {Maybe
there are stronger moves but Black can afford to play almost anything sensible
and still win} 23. exd6 Nf2+ 24. Rxf2 Qxf2 {Now White is simply a whole rook
down} 25. d7 Qxf4 26. Kc2 Qe4+ {Simple and effective Black exchanges queen's
and then the d7 pawn will go, the rest should be simple} 0-1

[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.09.30"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Brocklehurst, M."]
[Black "Blinkhorn, J."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C55"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Brighouse"]
[BlackTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]
[TimeControl "900"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bc4 Nxe4 5. Nxe4 d5 6. d3 dxc4 7. O-O Bg4 8.
h3 Bh5 9. g4 Bg6 10. Nfg5 Be7 11. f4 Qd4+ 12. Rf2 Bxe4 13. Nxe4 Bh4 14. c3 Qxd3
15. Rd2 Qxe4 16. Re2 Qd3 17. Qf1 O-O-O 18. Bd2 Qg3+ 19. Rg2 Qxh3 20. Be1 Rd3
21. fxe5 Qe3+ 22. Kh1 Qh3+ 23. Kg1 Rhd8 24. Bxh4 Qxh4 25. Qf5+ Kb8 26. Rf1 Rh3
27. Qh5 0-1

