[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.11.30"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Allan, J."]
[Black "Broadbent, R."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B08"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2015.12.01"]
[WhiteTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]
[BlackTeam "Brighouse"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 g6 5. Bc4 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. h3 Nxe4 8.
Bxf7+ Rxf7 9. Nxe4 e5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 Bxe5 12. Ng5 Rf5 13. f4 Bg7 14. g4
Ra5 15. Qe1 c6 16. Bd2 Rb5 17. Bc3 h6 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Qc3+ Qf6 20. Qxf6+ Kxf6
21. Ne4+ Ke7 22. b3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.11.30"]
[Round "6.2"]
[White "Leonard, P."]
[Black "Hudson, N."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C25"]
[WhiteElo "160"]
[BlackElo "140"]
[Annotator "Leonard,Pete"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]
[BlackTeam "Brighouse"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nc3 {John Emms, in Attacking with 1.e4, recommends this response
to Nimsowitsch's Defence, "as the natural...} e5 3. Bc4 {"...transposes to the
Bishop's Opening."} d6 4. d3 {Emms offers the alternative of} (4. f4 $5 {"for
the more adventurous"...} exf4 5. d4 Qh4+ 6. Kf1 Bg4 7. Qd3 {I'm not sure that
this is for me!}) 4... Na5 5. f4 {Emms gives this too a !? but his main move is
} (5. Bb3 Nxb3 6. axb3 {followed by f2-f4. I didn't see that I needed to move
the bishop, if it was going to be exchanged anyway. I also rejected 5.Bb5+ c6
6.Ba4 b5, as this doesn't keep the bishop, and I felt that advancing the pawns
was more likely to be a benefit to Black than White.}) 5... Nxc4 6. dxc4 Be6 7.
Qe2 {Fritz 14 prefers 7.Qd3 or 7.b3; I fancied getting a rook on d1, opposing
his queen.} exf4 8. Bxf4 g6 {I felt that this was rather loosening; I liked
the look of some of those black squares on his king's side.} 9. O-O-O {Fritz
doesn't think much of this. I thought that he was in no position to start a
queen's side pawn storm, and that my king was usefully covering the b2 pawn,
enabling my knight to move from c3 and avoid tripled pawns.} Bh6 {I'd expected}
(9... Bg7 {thinking that I'd play} 10. e5 {Fritz actually accepts the tripled
pawns} (10. c5 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Nf6 12. cxd6 cxd6 13. Bxd6 Qa5 14. Bb4 {and it's
hard to say whose king is the more vulnerable.}) 10... Bxe5 11. Bxe5 {But this
isn't so clever, because of 11...Qg5+; I wonder whether I should have spotted}
(11. Nd5 Bxf4+ 12. Nxf4 Qd7 13. Re1 O-O-O 14. Nxe6 Re8 15. Qf2 fxe6 16. Qxa7
Qc6 17. Nf3 Qxc4 18. b3 Qc3 19. Qa8+ Kd7 20. Qxb7 {White recovers the pawn,
but Black is better centralised.})) 10. Bxh6 Nxh6 {This knight is misplaced
and causes him some difficulties.} 11. Nf3 Qe7 {Fritz prefers} (11... O-O 12.
c5 Qe7 13. cxd6 cxd6 14. Qd2 Ng4 15. h3 Ne5 16. Qxd6 Qxd6 17. Rxd6 $16) 12. h3
{Not bad, as it restricts both his minor pieces, but Fritz prefers} (12. e5 {
e.g.} O-O (12... dxe5 $2 13. Qxe5 f6 14. Qf4 g5 15. Qe4 Bc8 16. Nd5 Qxe4 17.
Nxf6+ Kf7 18. Nxe4 g4 19. Nh4 $18 {Black's king is exposed and he's in danger
of losing a second pawn.}) 13. exd6 cxd6 $16 {White consolidates a
nice-looking position, by Rhe1, Kb1, b3 and h3.}) 12... c6 $2 {Preventing (we
both thought) Nd5 but at too great a cost (or it should have been). Fritz
prefers} (12... f6 13. Nd4 O-O 14. Rhf1 c6 15. Nd5 Bxd5 (15... cxd5 $2 16. exd5
{looks horrible for Black.}) 16. cxd5 cxd5 17. Qd2 Nf7 18. exd5 Ne5 $14 {and
Black's position looks defensible, though White's outpost on e6 will be a
nuisance.}) 13. Qd2 {Again, not bad, but even better is} (13. Qe3 Ng8 14. e5 d5
15. cxd5 Bxd5 16. Nxd5 cxd5 {and White is spoiled for choice; Fritz appears to
be settling for} 17. e6 Qxe6 (17... f5 18. g4 Nf6 19. gxf5 {is no better.}) (
17... fxe6 18. Ng5 O-O-O {or 19.Nxe6 prevents the king's escape.} 19. Nxe6 Nf6
{If he moves the rook, White wins the other with 20.Qc3+.} 20. Rhf1 Ne4 21.
Nxd8 Rxd8 22. c4 dxc4 23. Rde1 Re8 24. Rf4 Nc5 25. Qxe7 Rxe7 26. Rxe7 Nd3+ 27.
Kd2 Nxf4 28. Rxh7 {and Black's knight has no chance against White's rook on
the seventh.}) 18. Qc3 Qf6 19. Rde1+ Kf8 20. Ne5 $18) 13... Ng8 14. Qd4 $6 {I
did consider} (14. Rhe1 {but didn't fully appreciate its potential:} Nf6 15.
Nd5 $1 {the pawn on c6 is *not* guarding d5!} cxd5 16. exd5 O-O 17. dxe6 fxe6
18. Qxd6 Rae8 19. Qxe7 Rxe7 20. Rd6 $18) 14... Nf6 15. Ng5 $6 {What was the
rush? Simply} (15. b3 {wins a pawn:} Rd8 16. Qxa7 O-O 17. Rhe1 $16) 15... O-O {
Fritz prefers the more risky looking} (15... O-O-O 16. Rhf1 (16. Qxa7 $2 Bxc4
17. Kb1 $11) 16... Nd7 17. Nxe6 Qxe6 18. b3 Kc7 19. Qxa7 Qe5 20. Qd4 Qxd4 21.
Rxd4 $14 {White's a pawn up, but Black's knight will be well posted on e5.})
16. Qxd6 {Finally! The simple and obvious move.} Qxd6 17. Rxd6 Rfd8 {Fritz
prefers} (17... Ne8 18. Rd4 c5 19. Rd2 Bxc4 20. e5) 18. Rhd1 $6 {I even
thought of} (18. c5 {which removes the c pawn from attack, so why didn't I
play it?} Ne8 19. Rxd8 Rxd8 20. Nxe6 fxe6 21. e5 {and White's knight is
heading for d6.} Nc7 22. Ne4 Nd5 23. Nd6 $16) 18... Rxd6 19. Rxd6 Ne8 20. Rd4
c5 21. Rd2 Bxc4 22. b3 {After the game, Nick Sykes asked why I'd not played} (
22. Rd7 {In fact, Fritz rates this and my move equally well; it's my
ignominious retreat on my next move that's the error.} h6 23. b3 Nf6 (23...
hxg5 24. bxc4 g4 25. hxg4 Nf6 (25... b6 26. e5 {is worse; White's active
pieces more than compensate for the doubled and isolated pawns.}) 26. Rxb7 Nxg4
) 24. Rxb7 Ba6 25. Rxf7 Ne8 26. Re7 hxg5 27. Re6 Bb7 28. Rxg6+ Kf7 29. Rxg5 $16
{Four pawns for the piece should be enough.}) 22... h6 23. Nf3 $2 (23. bxc4
hxg5 24. Rd7 b6 25. e5 {Already he's under pressure; if his rook moves, he
loses the a pawn, and if he moves that Rb7 wins the b pawn.} Ng7 26. Ne4 Ne6
27. Kb2 {White's king can join in, but if Black tries} Kf8 28. Nd6 Nd8 29. Kc3
$18 {has put him even more on the defensive.}) 23... Be6 24. Nd5 {Now I've
next to no advantage left, though I could have tried to restrict his knight, by
} (24. e5 Kg7 25. Ne4 b6 26. c4 f5 27. exf6+ Nxf6 28. Nd6 Nh5 29. Nb5 Rf8 30.
Ne5 (30. Nxa7 Bxh3) 30... Rf1+ 31. Kb2 Nf4 {(0.00) Black's pieces are arguably
more active than White's; the bishop may soon make its presence felt.}) 24...
Kg7 25. Nf4 Kf6 26. Kb2 Ke7 27. Nxe6 {I offered a draw, which Nick was more
than happy to accept! I need to improve my endgame technique, not to mention
sharpening up my middle-game awareness. I should have seen that the doubled c
pawns, after 23.bxc4 hxg5, were far less significant than my active and his
passive pieces. A curate's egg of a game.} (27. Ne5 {was more active.} Nf6 28.
Nd5+ Bxd5 29. exd5 Re8 $11 {(0.01) this time.}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.11.30"]
[Round "6.3"]
[White "Shapland, D."]
[Black "Whitehouse, P."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B20"]
[Annotator "David Shapland"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]
[BlackTeam "Brighouse"]

1. e4 c5 2. a3 $5 {Purely a practical decision. I know that Paul plays the Kan
Sicilian and I could have prepared to face that. Instead I chose this offbeat
line that I'd essayed once before against Nick Sykes in last Summer's
Calderdale Congress. It only got me a draw but it was a very interesting and
highly bizarre game. I just decided on this occasion to try and catch my
opponent by surprise. It certainly seemd to work on this occasion.} a6 {Rather
than tackling White's idea head on with something like 2...e6 or 2...Nc6, Paul
opts to develop himself as he normally would. Presumabley with the idea of
making my a3 move look like a lost tempo later on. I wasn't going to allow
that of course.} 3. b4 {3.Nf3 is fine for White, but where's the fun in that?}
e6 4. Bb2 {this is the drawback with playing e6 on move three instead of move
two. Now Black can't take twice on b4 because g7 will hang.} cxb4 5. axb4 b5 $2
{It's funny that this error should occur. In a video I watched on this line by
Simon Williams he mentions that he often found his opponent overlooked that
the a-file was half open when he played this variation. Already I can add one
more opponent to this number in only my second game in the line.} 6. Bxb5 Bb7
7. Bd3 {Ugly, but necessary to hang on to the booty. Now the position starts
to get really weird!} Nc6 8. c3 {This is an ugly move but I figured 'why not
keep the pawn?' In such an outlandish position there is no wonder Fritz
recommends something completely different and rather eccentric-looking here...}
(8. Nf3 {Fair enough, but White is just giving back the pawn.} Nxb4 9. Bd4 $5 {
Never in a month of Sundays would I have considered this move I don't think.
It seems to be motivated by the prevention of 9...Bc5 and also allowing the
queen's knight to come to c3. Fritz now gives...} Ne7 10. O-O Nec6 11. Be3 Be7
12. Nc3 {With a modest advantage to White.}) 8... Ne5 9. Qe2 $6 {I was getting
a bit anxious about not being developed and so I sought a continuation that
involved getting something else into the game. The engine shows this up to be
wrong but it's a very 'human' decision to play as did and of course the
refutation of the move is not easy to find for a biological brain. Instead
Fritz gives...} (9. Bc2 a5 10. b5 Qg5 11. g3) 9... Qc7 {Well motivated, and as
I mentioned above, the continuation that would have offered Balck and
advantage is pretty surreal...} (9... Qg5 10. g3 Nxd3+ 11. Qxd3 f5 $1 {A truly
bizarre position!} 12. f3 fxe4 13. fxe4 Qg6 14. Nf3 Bxe4 15. Qe3 Nf6 {... and
Black has a small advantage now that he's evend up the material.}) 10. Bxa6 {
Again, 10.Bc2 was a better move, and I did consider that, but again I thought
'why not take the pawn?' I couldn't see a refutation. Can you?} Rxa6 11. Rxa6
Nc4 {Right idea, but a slightly innaccurate execution and it costs my opponent
the exchange. Best was...} (11... Qc4 12. Qxc4 Nxc4 13. Ra2 Bxe4 14. d3 $1 {
White gives back the exchange to preserve an advantage.} Bxg2 {Of course 14...
Bxd3 15.Nd2 gets Black no where.} 15. dxc4 Bxh1 16. Nd2 {... and we have
another position that looks like it's been dreamt up by a problem composer.
Look at Black's king's side. Completely undeveloped and it's move 16!! White
might have an advantage here owing to his passed b-pawn but who on earth would
know how to play this position accurately?}) 12. Ra2 {After this White just
has a solid advantage that should be enough to win. There are a few twists and
turn to come though.} Bxb4 $2 {Trying to mix it, but there is another tactical
twist Black has overlooked.} 13. cxb4 Nxb2 14. Nc3 $1 {White gives back one of
his pawns and keeps the exchange. Of course my opponent was hoping for...} (14.
Rxb2 $4 Qc1+ 15. Qd1 Qxb2 16. Nc3 Qxb4 {... and Black regains the lost
material with a perfectly playable game.}) 14... Nc4 15. Nf3 {As soon as I
played this move I spotted the simple and thematic combination that would have
won the game on the spot...} (15. Nb5 $1 Qc6 16. Qxc4 $1 Qxc4 17. Nd6+ Ke7 18.
Nxc4 Bxe4 19. Nf3 {White is just a whole rook up.}) 15... Nd6 {Paul thought
for quite a long time before making this move. I'm not sure if he'd spotted
the tactic I just mentioned above. By this time I had seen it and was sitting
preying he'd play 15...Nf6 which would have left the same idea on again for me.
As the game move is not really very natural I must surmise that Paul saw it so
kudos to him for saving himself on this occasion.} 16. O-O {Despite not having
been able to play the Nb5 idea, Fritx still awards White a huge three pawns
advantage.} Ne7 17. e5 {Having amassed a huge advantage (although at the time
I must say it didn't feel so enormous in this next stage of the game I
proceeded to fritter it away. The idea behind this move was to try and embed
my queen's knight on d6 before Black could castle. I'd spotted a way to do
this and assumed it must be good but in fact the engine doesn't even feature
it in it's top three moves in this position! I did consider and reject both 17.
Rfa1 and 17.Ra7 but the engine's top move only occupied my thoughts for a
short moment.} (17. b5 {Simply advancing the passed pawn as quickly as
possible. Fair enough. I suppose in the game I was looking for something a
little more forcing. Maybe I was trying too hard.} O-O 18. Rb1 Qc5 19. b6)
17... Ndf5 18. g4 {A logical follow up. This was the point of my last move.
The Black knight is forced back to h6 and now I can land my knight on d6 with
check after gaining a tempo on the Black queen.} Nh6 19. Nb5 Qc6 20. Nd6+ Kf8
21. Nxb7 {Shame I had to swap it off straight away, although in fact I did
over look a strong alternative...} (21. Rfa1 g5 22. Nxb7 Qxb7 23. Nxg5 {With
an overwhelming advantage.}) 21... Qxb7 22. Rfa1 {(In fairness, we have almost
transposed to the line given above. Now Black just needs to play 22...g5 ...}
g6 {With this move order the game move is preferable to g5.} 23. h3 {This
looks like the wrong pawn move. Better was...} (23. b5 {Keeping the advanced
passed pawn and if Black grabs the g-pawn then comes...} Nxg4 24. Ra7 Qd5 25.
R1a4 Nh6 26. Rd4 {... and White is breaking through to the Black king.}) 23...
Qxb4 24. Ra4 Qb2 25. Ra8+ {I spent a long time thinking here. I could see all
the right ideas, the weak back rank, the vulnerable knight on h6, the
potential incision point for my queen on f6, but I couldn't find the way to
bring all these elementns together into a combination. Of course Fritz shows
me the way...} (25. Qe4 $1 {Preparing for Qf4 but, more surprisingly, also
setting up Rb1 which will trap the Black queen! I hadn't seen that idea. The
queen has to retreat.} Qb6 {Giving White the tempo he needs to attack the
knight whilst it remains unprotected.} 26. Qf4 Nhg8 {Protecting f6 but now...}
27. Ng5 {... and Black is totally busted. f7 is a massive problem and the back
rank is also terminally weak. Computers really are the best tactics trainers.})
25... Kg7 {Only now did I notice that 26.Rxh8 would be a terrible mistake on
account of the intermezzo 26...Qxa1+!} 26. R1a7 Rxa8 27. Rxa8 Qb7 28. Ra3 {I
was pleased with this move. The rook protects the knight on f3 which is the
linch pin of my defence. This also liberates my queen for active service.} Nd5
29. Qa6 {This is also correct according to Fritz.} Qb1+ 30. Kh2 Qd1 31. Qd6 {
Also accurate. The idea is to play Ra8 and if Black takes the knight then Qf8
is mate. So Black has to defend for a moment more.} Ng8 {Look at how miserable
this knight is. It could grovel out to e7 and c6 at some stage but it will
take forever.} 32. Qxd7 {More accurate was...} (32. Ra8 Nde7 33. Kg3 $1 {
Protecting the knight again. That knight defends all the key entry points in
my position... g1, d2 and e4.} Qb3 34. Qxd7 {Only now this and Black is almost
paralysed. His queen can moce freely but has no targets.}) 32... Qf1 {Even at
this point I wasn't worried about my king. He seemed safe on g3. What I'd
missed was that after Nf4 comes Ne2+.} 33. Qa7 {White has to defend f2} Nf4 34.
Kg3 Ne2+ {This forces White into a king walk if he wants to play for the win.
I had to calculate manically to check that I could get away with marching the
king up to h4. Of course if he goes back to h2 then it will be a draw be
repitition. After everything that had gone before I wanted to try anything I
could to avoid that.} 35. Kh4 Nf4 {This was Paul's single window of
oppportunity in the whole game. He could have secured an advantage with...} (
35... h6 $1 {...forcing White in turn to find...} 36. Ng5 {White must prevent
Black playing g5 himself, even at the cost of a knight.} (36. Qe3 Ne7 {Without
giving up a big piece of material White can't stop the plan of Nd5 and Ndf4
with g5 mate to follow.}) 36... hxg5+ 37. Kxg5 {The White king is walking on a
tightrope but the knight has not sacrificed himself for nothing...} Qe1 38. Rd3
Nc1 39. Re3 Qxd2 {... and of course Black must be better here but there is
still much work to do and the advantage is certainly not decisive yet.}) 36.
Ng5 {Now I was confident that I could win because the threat of Qxf7+ is
immediate. Black can only defend with a trick of his own.} Ne7 {The knight is
invulnerable of course because the queen doesn't capture with check and so now
the Black threat to f2 ties the queen down. Therefore...} 37. Rf3 $1 {The rook
is protected by the knight, it holds f2 and h3 and it also pins the Black
knight on f4 to a deadly checkl on f7. Now it really is all over.} Ng2+ {This
allows a forced win but the game was up anyway for example after...} (37... h6
38. Qxe7 hxg5+ 39. Kxg5 Nxh3+ 40. Kh4 g5+ 41. Kh5 Nf4+ 42. Kxg5 Nh3+ 43. Kh4 {
... is mating sometime soon.}) 38. Kg3 Nf4 {Hoping for some sort of perpetual
check I guess.} 39. Rxf4 Qg1+ 40. Kf3 Qh1+ {If Qd1+ then Kg2 and Black runs
out of checks.} 41. Ke2 1-0

[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.11.30"]
[Round "6.4"]
[White "Leatherbarrow, A."]
[Black "Pryke, T."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C41"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2015.12.01"]
[WhiteTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]
[BlackTeam "Brighouse"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bd7 5. c4 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8. Ndb5
Bxb5 9. cxb5 Bh6 10. Qd2 Bxe3 11. Qxe3 Nd7 12. Rd1 Qb8 13. Qd2 Ke7 14. Bc4 Ngf6
15. O-O Ne5 16. Nd5+ Nxd5 17. Bxd5 Qc7 18. f4 Nd7 19. Qc2 Rad8 20. Qb3 f6 21.
Bf7 Rdf8 22. Qe6+ Kd8 23. Rd2 Rxf7 24. Qxf7 Kc8 25. Qe6 Kb8 26. Rfd1 c4 27.
Rxd6 Nc5 28. Qxf6 Re8 29. Rd8+ 1-0

[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.11.30"]
[Round "6.5"]
[White "Syrett, M."]
[Black "Grandage, R."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C30"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]
[BlackTeam "Brighouse"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 d6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 h6 5. Bc4 b6 6. O-O Ba6 7. Qe2 Bxc4 8. Qxc4
Be7 9. d4 exf4 10. Bxf4 O-O 11. Rad1 Qc8 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. Qxd5 c6 14. Qh5 Qe6
15. e5 d5 16. Bc1 Qg6 17. Qh3 Na6 18. a3 Nc7 19. Nh4 Bxh4 20. Qxh4 Ne6 21. Rd3
Qh7 22. Rdf3 g5 23. Qf2 Rae8 24. Rf6 Re7 25. Qe3 Kg7 26. c3 Kg8 27. Qh3 Kg7 28.
Qg3 c5 29. Be3 c4 30. h4 Kh8 31. Qh2 Rg8 32. hxg5 Rg6 33. Rxg6 fxg6 34. Qxh6
Qxh6 35. gxh6 Kh7 36. Rf6 g5 37. Kf2 Nd8 38. Bxg5 Rf7 39. Rxf7+ Nxf7 40. e6 Nd6
41. e7 Kg6 42. Bf4 Ne8 43. g4 a6 44. g5 b5 45. Be5 Kh7 46. Kg3 Kg6 47. Kg4 Kh7
48. Kf5 Kg8 49. Kg6 Nf6 50. h7+ Nxh7 51. e8=Q+ Nf8+ 1-0

