[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.04.04"]
[Round "13.1"]
[White "Breen, D."]
[Black "Shapland, D."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C82"]
[Annotator "Shapland,Dave"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2016.04.05"]
[WhiteTeam "Brighouse"]
[BlackTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 {Of course I've played 3... Nd4 and 3... Bc5
here in the past. I always feel a bit of trepidation playing this move. Will
White opt for the mainlines or the Exchange Variation which is harmless enough
but can be terribly dull?} 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Nxe4 7. d4 {A final
sigh of relief from me as Dennis chooses not to play 7.Re1 which again is
nothing to fear but pretty sterile.} d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Bc5 10. Bf4 {This is
not the recommendation of the opening books. 10.Nbd2 is seen most frequently
and 10.Qd3, 10.Qe2 and 10.Bc2 are all playable. After the game move I was of
course left wondering, 'What's wrong with this?' Sadly I couldn't find the
solution over the board and just played a 'normal' move.} O-O {Missing my
golden opportunity in the opening. It's not like me to overlook the chance to
play...} (10... g5 $1 {After this Black just gets a great position. e.g.} 11.
Be3 Bxe3 12. fxe3 g4 13. Nd4 Nxe5 14. Nd2 Nxd2 15. Qxd2 Qg5 {... with an extra
pawn and a nice active position.}) 11. Nd4 $5 {Dennis has managed to arrive at
a pretty original position from a very orthodox opening line just two moves
ago. Both of us were thinking for ourselves at this stage. However, in this
position the engine prefers...} (11. Nbd2 Qe7 12. Qe2 f5 {... and awards White
a modest advantage.}) 11... Qd7 {Keeping the tension in the position. I
figured that I'd be happy for White to exchange on e6 or c6 after this move.
It must be said that there were so many plausible options here that it was
hard to calcualte and assess the merits of each. Such is the nature of open
positions like this and I'm certainly not complaining. this is the ind of game
I revel in. So it would appear, does Dennis!} 12. f3 {I must confess that I
had completely overlooked this option although as soon as Dennis played it I
realised that it was the point of his previous move. Where is the Black knight
to go? I guess that the reason I didn't see it coming was because this move
opens the diagonal between the White king and the Black bishop and so it just
doesn't seem like a sensible choice. This move seems to open up tactical
possibilities for Black. I had a long think here before I found a way forward.}
f6 $1 {The only response and a thematic move for Black in this variation.
Black prepares to meet 13.fxe4 with fxe5 forking Whites bishop and knight and
regaining the material.} 13. Kh1 {Reinstating the threat to the knight on e4
as now White can preceed fxe4 with Nxe6 whereupon Black's capture on e5 does
not come with a fork.} Bxd4 {Again the only move.} 14. fxe4 {Black should be
doing well after this but no better was...} (14. cxd4 fxe5 15. Bxe5 Nd6 16.
Bxd6 Qxd6 {And Black stands a little better on account of his better structure
and development.}) 14... Bg4 $2 {I admit that I was struggling to calculate
all the variations accurately here. It appeared that I was in danger of losing
a piece but I had not correctly understood that after...} (14... fxe5 $1 15.
cxd4 exf4 16. Nc3 {Reinstating the pawn fork threat of his own, but it's too
late.} Ne7 17. e5 {... and black is quite a bit better now.}) 15. exd5 {This
is good enough to give Dennis a clear advantage with accurate play but he
could have done even better and won a piece with the precise continuation...} (
15. Bxd5+ $1 Qxd5 16. Qxg4 Qf7 17. e6 Qe7 18. cxd4 {... with an overwhelming
advantage.}) 15... Bxd1 16. dxc6+ Bxb3 17. cxd7 Bc4 {This was the move I'd
been pinning my hopes on when I selected my 14th move. i figured it would give
me time to rescue the dark squared bishop too. As we'll see, both players
missed a better way for White to play next move. Fritz gives a truly
mind-boggling variation, the kind only an engine can truly penetrate after...}
(17... fxe5 18. cxd4 Bc4 19. dxe5 $1 Bxf1 20. e6 $3 {Giving up a whole rook to
march the pawns up the board.} Rxf4 21. e7 Rff8 {Black has to give the
material back but White is in no hurry.} 22. Nc3 Bc4 23. Rd1 Rfd8 {... and
amazingly, the engine assesses this position as level afterall that silliness!}
) 18. Rd1 {Dennis played this natural move very quckly and why not? Well, hard
to find though it was, he had...} (18. Nd2 $1 {When it turns out Black can't
take the rook.} Bxe5 (18... Bxf1 $4 {... would now be a big mistake after...}
19. e6 $1 {and those connected passed pawns are the winning element for White.}
) 19. Nxc4 bxc4 {... and this position is 'only' equal. Black should now be
able to pick off the pawn on d7 but he has structural weaknesses on the
queen's side and probably won't be able to convert his king's side pawn
majority.}) 18... Bxe5 {At this point I brethed a massive sigh of relief
because I'd survived the dangerous complications and felt like I still had
some winning chances. The engine suggests this position is equal.} 19. Be3 $2 {
A bad decision. I suppose Dennis didn't want to exchange off his active bishop
when his queen's knight and rook were still at home. However, now Black is
able to preserve the two bishops and will be able to collect the isolated
d-pawn in due course. Is a single pawn advantage enough to win the game.
Perhaps not but it justifys Black playing on and on without any real risk of
losing. For better or worse White has to exchange the bishops.} (19. Bxe5 fxe5
20. Nd2 Be2 21. Re1 Bg4 {... and we'll end up with a very even position where
the only imbalance is Black's bishop against White's knight.}) 19... Bd6 {
Fritz prefers 19...Be6 or ...Rfd8 at once. I did consider those but didn't
necessarily want to allow the exchange of a pair rooks when I won the d-pawn.}
20. Nd2 Bd5 {20...Be2 may have been slightly more accurate but I was sticking
to my plan as I realised there may be a long haul ahead and didn't want to
spend any more time on my clock than was necessary.} 21. Rac1 $6 {Once again
Dennis shows his true colours. He doesn't want to sit passively and defend.
He's going for active play. The problem is that he's going to have to open the
position and that will suit Black's bishop better then White's knight and
bishop. Better here was...} (21. Nb3 Be6 22. Nc5 Bxc5 23. Bxc5 Rfd8 24. Be7
Rxd7 25. Rxd7 Bxd7 26. Rd1 {... when Black's advantage seems so small as to be
almost non-existant. He may have the extra pawn but with opposite coloured
bishops present that counts for nothing much at all.}) 21... Bc6 {White has
caught up with his development but I fgured the pawn and bishop pair was worth
more.} 22. c4 Bxd7 23. c5 {23.Nf3 threatening 24.c5 was probably more precise.}
Be5 24. Nf3 {I saw that I needed to be careful here. If White can exchange his
knight for the bishop on e5 we will once again see opposite coloured bishops.
Granted with both pairs of rooks on there is still plenty of play but I wasn't
going to give Dennis the opportunity if I could help it.} Bg4 25. b4 Rfe8 26.
Re1 {The exchange on e5 is on again so I'd calculated...} Bb2 $1 {It looks
like the bishop might get into hot water here but in fact it doesn't.} 27. Rb1
Bc3 28. Bd2 {Pretty much forced as...} (28. Re2 Rad8 29. Kg1 Bf5 30. Rb3 Bd3 {
... is winning for Black.}) 28... Bxd2 29. Nxd2 Rad8 {I saw no reason to force
the exchanges. Let Dennis calculate whether or not they would be to his
advantage. With the Black bishop up against the White knight and an extra
Black pawn the answer would almost certainly be 'probably not'.} 30. Nf3 Kf7
31. Rf1 {Again Dennis goes for tricks but for once I wasn't seeing any ghosts.}
Re3 32. Rfd1 $2 Rdd3 $2 {Over looking an immediate kill.} (32... Rxd1+ 33. Rxd1
Rxf3 34. gxf3 Bxf3+) 33. Rxd3 {Dennis had seen it and remidied his error at
once.} Rxd3 34. Rf1 Bxf3 35. gxf3 Rd2 {Possibly I've prolonged this ending but
I was still very confident that I had enough here. The White king is
absolutely restricted and White has more weaknesses than I do and a pawn less.
Now, how was my rook and pawn ending technique? Err, rusty!} 36. Ra1 Rf2 37. a4
Rxf3 {Again, I refused to be spooked.} 38. axb5 axb5 39. Ra7 Rb3 40. Rxc7+ Kg6
41. Rb7 Rxb4 {This last sequence was all pretty much forced.} 42. c6 {Kg2
might have been better as it gets the king out immediately.} Rb2 {... now
White will be forced to exchange the remaining queen's side pawns.} 43. c7 Rc2
44. Rxb5 Rxc7 45. Kg2 {We're into the final phase of this game. 3 vs 1 king's
side pawns. This still needs some precision.} Rc3 {I decided to keep the White
king as restricted as I possibly could.} 46. h4 Re3 {This in order to be able
to block the White rook attacking from the side in certain circumstances.} 47.
Kf2 Rh3 48. Rb4 Kh5 49. Rb7 Kh6 50. Rb4 g5 {Forcing White to exchange pawns as
otherwise Rxh4 next move is simple.} 51. Rb6 {No different is...} (51. hxg5+
fxg5) 51... Rxh4 52. Rxf6+ Kg7 53. Rb6 Rf4+ {Returning to the file next to the
passed pawns so that the rook can be interposed as necessary.} 54. Kg3 h5 55.
Kh3 Rf6 56. Rb8 Re6 57. Rb3 Kf6 58. Rf3+ Kg6 59. Rb3 h4 60. Rb8 Re3+ {Finally
Black can force the White king back and advance the pawns again.} 61. Kh2 Kf5
62. Rf8+ Kg4 {Putting the king in front of the pawns means that now in some
lines Black has mating threats.} 63. Rf2 h3 64. Rb2 Kh4 65. Rb1 g4 66. Kh1 g3
67. Rf1 {A last trick before dying...} g2+ 68. Kh2 {... and Dennis resigned
before I had chance to play 68... gxf1=N+! as he'd forgotten that I could
under promote to avoid stalemate.} 0-1

[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "French Defence"]
[Date "2016.04.04"]
[Round "13.2"]
[White "Broadbent, R."]
[Black "Sykes, N."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[Annotator "Nick Sykes"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Brighouse"]
[BlackTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]

1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 {This transposes into a line of the Classical
French, however as prefer to play the Winawer to the Classical I should have
prefered} (3... d4 4. Ne2 c5 5. c3 ({or} 5. Ng3 a6 6. a4 Nc6 7. Bc4 Bd6 8. d3
Nf6 $10) 5... Nf6 6. cxd4 cxd4 7. Nexd4 Nxe4 8. Nxe6 Bxe6 9. Qa4+ Nc6 10. Qxe4
Qd5 11. Bd3 O-O-O $44) 4. e5 Nfd7 5. d4 c5 6. dxc5 Nc6 7. Bf4 Bxc5 8. Bd3 f6 (
8... a6 9. O-O b5 10. Qe2 Bb7 11. a3 Rc8 12. Rae1 Be7 13. Nb1 Nc5 14. Nbd2 Nxd3
15. cxd3 b4 {was played in Robert Broadbent - Nick Sykes (Brighouse v HB B)
11th April 2005}) (8... O-O $2 {Gives rise to the classic 'Greek Gift'
sacrifice} 9. Bxh7+ Kxh7 10. Ng5+ $16) 9. exf6 Nxf6 10. O-O O-O 11. Bg3 {The
main line is...} (11. Ne5 Bd7 12. Qe2 Qe7 13. Rae1 Rae8 14. a3 a6 15. Bg3 Bd4
16. Nd1 {and was seen in Alastair Wright - Chris Booth (HB A v Hudd A) 12th
Jan 2008}) 11... Bd7 12. Qe2 Rc8 13. Rad1 Kh8 {I was aiming to play ...Nd4 and
didn't want any Bxh7+ hits} 14. Bb5 Nh5 15. Ne5 $2 {This is a mistake from
Robert} (15. Na4 Bb4 16. c3 Be7 $10) 15... Nxg3 16. hxg3 Nxe5 {I almost played.
..} (16... Nd4 $2 {but of course White simply plays} 17. Rxd4 Bxd4 18. Nxd7 $18
) 17. Qxe5 Rf5 $6 {it looks tempting to hit the queen, but it's not the best.
Robert pointed out after the game that...} (17... Bxb5 $1 18. Nxb5 Qb6 19. Qe2
a6 20. Nc3 Qxb2 21. Na4 Qf6 $19 {and Black has a decisive advantage here
according to HIARCS}) 18. Qe2 Bxb5 19. Qxb5 Qc7 $6 {I wanted to threaten
taking on g3, but again it's not the most accurate. Much better was...} (19...
Qf6 $1 20. Qxb7 {then} (20. Rd2 Qh6 21. g4 Bd6 22. Rfd1 {not much better is...}
(22. g3 Bxg3 23. fxg3 Rxf1+ 24. Kxf1 Qxd2) 22... Qh2+ 23. Kf1 Qh1+ 24. Ke2 Re5+
25. Kd3 Qxg2 26. Re2 Qf3+ 27. Kd2 Qf4+ 28. Re3 d4 29. Qd3 Qxf2+ 30. Kc1 Qxe3+
31. Qxe3 Rxe3) 20... Rf8 21. Qb5 Bxf2+ 22. Rxf2 Rxf2 23. Qd3 Qe5 {and Black is
again winning easily}) 20. Qd3 Rcf8 21. Rd2 Qf7 {The crushing...} (21... Rf3 $3
22. gxf3 (22. Qxf3 Rxf3 23. gxf3 Qxg3+ 24. Kh1 Qxf3+ 25. Kg1 Qg4+ 26. Kh1 Qh3+
27. Kg1 Qg3+ 28. Kh1 Qh4+ 29. Kg2 Qg5+ 30. Kh3 Qxd2 {wins for Black}) ({the
best move for White is} 22. Qb5 {but} a6 23. Qa4 Rxg3 {is still winning for
Black}) 22... Qxg3+ 23. Kh1 Qh3+ 24. Kg1 Rf6 {is mating}) 22. Nd1 Qg6 23. c3
Qh6 24. g4 Rf4 (24... R5f6) 25. Ne3 Bd6 (25... Rxf2 $1 26. Rfxf2 Qxe3 27. Qe2
Qxe2 28. Rdxe2 Rxf2 29. Rxf2 Kg8 {should win for Black too}) 26. g3 Rf3 27. Qe2
R3f6 $2 (27... Bc5 $1 28. Rd4 (28. Nf5 $2 R8xf5 29. gxf5 Rxg3#) (28. Rd3 Qh3
29. a4 R3f6 30. g5 Rf3 31. a5 a6 32. c4 Rxg3+ 33. fxg3 Qxg3+ 34. Qg2 Bxe3+ 35.
Rxe3 Rxf1+ 36. Kxf1 Qxe3 {and Black is two pawns up} 37. cxd5 Qc1+ 38. Ke2
Qxb2+ 39. Kf3 Qxg2+ 40. Kxg2 exd5) 28... Bxd4 29. cxd4 Qh3 $19) 28. f4 Qg6 $6 (
28... g5 $17) 29. g5 R6f7 30. Ng2 Bc5+ 31. Kh2 Rd7 (31... Re7 $10) 32. Re1 Rd6
$6 (32... Re7 $10) 33. Nh4 Qe8 {after White's next move it's all one way
traffic :-(} (33... Qf7 $10) 34. b4 Bb6 35. c4 Rd8 {Not much better is...} (
35... Bc7 36. Rxd5 Rb6 37. b5) 36. cxd5 exd5 37. Qxe8 Rfxe8 38. Rxe8+ Rxe8 39.
Rxd5 Re2+ 40. Kh3 Rxa2 41. Rd7 Kg8 $4 (41... g6 42. Rxb7 Rf2 $16) 42. Rxb7 Rb2
43. Nf5 g6 44. Ne7+ Kh8 45. Nd5 Bf2 $2 (45... Bd4 {saves mate but still it is
still lost} 46. Nf6 Bxf6 47. gxf6 Kg8 48. Rg7+ Kf8 49. Rxh7 Rxb4 50. Rxa7) 46.
Nf6 {What to say!! Myself and Robert both agreed that during the game we felt
White was completely lost on many occasions and he was! I have just missed
another golden chance to win a nice game. Please any suggestions on how I can
get better I will listen with open ears!!!} 1-0

[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.03.21"]
[Round "12.2"]
[White "Gornall, S."]
[Black "Shapland, D."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[Annotator "Shapland,Dave"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.22"]
[WhiteTeam "Halifax 'A'"]
[BlackTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. Nf3 c5 {Hoping for some sort of transposition into a
Sicilian should White play e4. This isn't Scott's style.} 4. e3 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O
6. O-O b6 7. Rb1 cxd4 8. exd4 Bb7 9. Ne5 d5 10. Bf4 Nbd7 11. Qd2 Rc8 12. Rbc1
Ne4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 {Now at least their is a structural imbalance that can try
to work with.} 14. Rfd1 Nf6 15. c3 Nd5 16. Bh6 f5 {This was what I'd been
angling for. Black can create pressure on the king's side.} 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18.
Qg5 e6 19. Qxd8 Rfxd8 {I wasn't unhappy to exchange queens. Black still has
more potential in the position than White in my view. Fritz says the position
is level.} 20. Bb5 Rc7 21. g3 Kf6 22. Re1 g5 23. Bf1 $6 {A slight error. White
should probably improve his position on the queen's side first with 23.a4} Ne7
24. Bg2 Ng6 {At this point the engine awards Black a clear advantage.} 25. Red1
Rdc8 {Forcing the exchange of knights on g6 and with that, opening the h-file.}
26. Nxg6 hxg6 27. Rf1 Rh8 {This should be winning for Black.} 28. f3 Rch7 $2 {
A terrible blunder as it turns out. This is one of those instances where
playing the natural looking move is just wrong! I had missed that after 29.
fxe4 Rxh2 White has 30.e5+! winning the bishop. Better therefore (and I did
analyse this but rejected it because I thought doubling the rooks was also
winning) was} (28... e3 29. f4 gxf4 30. Bxb7 Rxb7 31. gxf4 g5 32. fxg5+ Kxg5
33. Rf3 f4 {... and Black has connected passed pawns. This should be winning.})
29. fxe4 Ba6 $2 {Giving up my opposition on the long diagonal is a key mistake
and it hands the advantage back to White. I should have just dropped the king
back to e7 or even g7.} 30. e5+ Ke7 31. Rf2 Rxh2 32. Rcc2 R2h7 33. c4 Rc8 34.
b3 Rf7 {Now I've also abondoned the h-file! this isn't critical yet but it
soon will be.} 35. d5 Rff8 36. Bh1 Rc5 $2 {After this dreadful move Scott
takes over the h-file this soon proves decisive.} 37. Rh2 exd5 38. Bxd5 Rfc8
39. Rh7+ {I'd simply underestimated how strong this was going to be.} Kf8 40.
Rd2 R5c7 41. Rdh2 Rg7 42. Rh8+ Ke7 43. R2h7 Rxh8 44. Rxh8 {Black can't avoid
losing a great deal more material. the king can't get off the seventh rank and
so White will next play Ra8 and if now 44... Bb7 then 45. Rb8 is equally
decisive. A really bad loss for me. Serves me right for trying to win a
position that objectively was no better than a draw. Scott took full advantage
and converted his chance very nicely.} 1-0

[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "Four Knights Game"]
[Date "2016.03.21"]
[Round "12.3"]
[White "Webster, V."]
[Black "Sykes, N."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C47"]
[Annotator "Nick Sykes"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Halifax 'B'"]
[BlackTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 {Not the most interesting :-(} Nf6 4. d4 (4. Bb5 {
Is classified as the Spanish Four Knights and in my opinion is slightly less
dull than the Scotch Four Knights played in this game}) 4... exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 (
5... Bc5 {is also possible but not much more intersting than the move played})
6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bg5 (7. Bd3 d5 8. exd5 cxd5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bg5 c6 {is main
line in the Scotch Four Knights}) 7... h6 8. Bd2 Qe7 9. Bd3 Bxc3 10. Bxc3 Nxe4
11. O-O Nxc3 12. bxc3 O-O 13. Re1 {moves 8-13 are pretty much the best moves
by both White and Black} Qc5 (13... Qg5 {it's unclear whether this is any
better than what was played}) 14. Re3 d5 15. Qe2 Be6 16. Re1 Rae8 {HIARCS
gives this as about +1.00 for Black} 17. Bf5 Kh8 ({HIARCS suggests} 17... d4
18. Re5 Qxc3 19. Bxe6 fxe6 20. Rxe6 Rxe6 21. Qxe6+ Kh8 {which creates a bit
more imbalance than the game continuation}) 18. Qd2 ({obviously not} 18. Bxe6
$2 fxe6 19. Rxe6 Rxe6 20. Qxe6 Qxf2+ {mating}) 18... Qd6 (18... Qa5 {is given
by HIARCS but is not better by much}) 19. Bh3 Bd7 20. Rxe8 Rxe8 (20... Bxe8 {
is possibly better as it prevents White's 22nd move}) 21. Rxe8+ Bxe8 22. Qe3
Bd7 (22... Qf8 23. Qxa7 Qe7 {is still a bit better for Black according to
HIARCS}) 23. Bxd7 Qxd7 24. Qxa7 Qg4 25. Qb8+ Kh7 26. Qb1 Qc4 27. Qb3 Qe2 28.
Qb1 Qc4 29. Qb3 Qe2 {Here I repeated as I was a bit concerend about the passed
a-pawn. A strange game.......I equalised easily (after White's inaccurate 7th
move). But accoridng to HIARCS I was never more than about +1.00 and even at
the end it reckons I am +0.56 up. Analysing the game apart from 17â Rd4, it's
not obvious how Black can massively improve his play (even then 17â Rd4 is not
much better). The nature of the opening is such that Black can eualise easily,
but his chances to outplay a weaker opponent is not as great as in other
openings which give rise to more imbalance. At GM level this is of course
great for Black, but at this level can be a problem, as I felt I played a
pretrty good game, but the choice of opeining meant it offered littlew chances
to outplay my opponent.........Lots to ponder!} 1/2-1/2

