[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.12.09"]
[Round "6.5"]
[White "Leonard, P."]
[Black "Nicholson, J."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B05"]
[WhiteElo "156"]
[BlackElo "103"]
[Annotator "Leonard,Pete"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]
[BlackTeam "Halifax 'A'"]

1. e4 Nf6 {It's always slightly disconcerting to face one's favourite defence;
having said that, I'm not about to play Matthew Parsons' London System against
him.} 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4 {"This used to be the main line here" says
Timothy Taylor...} 5. h3 {...but 5.Be2 is the best response. My move turns out
well...} Be6 $6 6. Be2 $6 {...though I fail to make the best use of John's
dubious reply. Of course, Fritz 14 chooses} (6. c4 Nb6 7. exd6 $16 {Whichever
way Black recaptures, White is better, as the bishop is misplaced and makes ...
Nc6 unplayable.}) 6... dxe5 7. dxe5 {Fritz prefers 7.Nxd4, but I'm inclined
towards "the White pawn wedge".} Nc6 8. O-O a6 $6 {Bb5 was no part of my plans;
this pawn merely serves to trap his knight, a couple of moves later.} 9. c4 {
I had a bit of a think about this (which I should have played earlier). I
decided it was right; I want to complete my development and his knight is too
well placed.} Ndb4 $6 {9...Nb6 would have been wiser, only +/= instead of +/-.}
10. a3 {I had another think, and decided I could trap this knight. Fritz sees
further, and prefers my alternative move:} (10. Qb3 $16 {White is ahead, after
either} Bf5 {or} (10... a5 11. a3 a4 12. Qc3 Na6 13. Qe3 {Half of Black's
pieces are misplaced. Much worse is}) (10... b5 $2 11. Rd1 Qb8 12. a3 Bxc4 13.
Bxc4 bxc4 14. Qa4 Qb5 15. axb4 $18) 11. Rd1 Qc8 12. a3 Nc2 13. Ra2 Ne1 14. Nxe1
Bxb1 15. Ra1 {Black may not have lost material, but his development is lagging
sadly behind White's.}) 10... Bf5 $2 {After this point, the game is mine to
lose. However, as Matthew says, you don't win many games by resigning. He can
extricate himself (I thought I'd analysed this sufficiently) by} (10... Qxd1
11. Rxd1 Nc2 12. Ra2 Bf5 {I'd only considered} (12... Rd8 {attempting to
retreat the knight to d4. However} 13. Rxd8+ Kxd8 {13...Nxd8? 14.Bd3 wins the
knight immediately.} 14. b4 Bf5 {Better than} (14... N2d4 15. Nxd4 Nxd4 16. Rd2
$18) 15. g4 Bg6 16. b5 axb5 17. cxb5 N6d4 18. Nxd4 Nxd4 19. Rd2 Bxb1 20. Rxd4+
Kc8 {The dust has settled and material is even, but White keeps a strong
advantage by 21.Ra4 +-.}) 13. b4 Ne1 14. Nxe1 Bxb1 15. Rad2 Bf5 16. Nf3 $14 {
White is better, but not by a great deal.}) 11. axb4 Qxd1 12. Rxd1 Bc2 {Better
to take the b pawn.} 13. Rd2 Be4 {Another retreat square would have avoided my
Nc3 with tempo.} 14. b5 {I know, I should really develop some pieces, but
Fritz is happy with my decision to keep pressing him.} Nb4 15. Nc3 Bg6 16. Nd5
{Aiming for simplicity, this virtually forces the exchange of one his two
active pieces. Fritz has the nice idea of} (16. e6 {which sometimes occurs
very much earlier against Alekhine's Defence. It suffocates Black's position:}
f6 (16... fxe6 17. Ne5) 17. Nh4 {His king's bishop may never see the light of
day.}) 16... Nxd5 17. Rxd5 {Fritz prefers 17.cxd5, more quickly activating
White's light-squared bishop. The engine even proposes 17.axb6, of which more
below.} e6 18. Rd1 {Fritz is too clever for me:} (18. bxa6 Rxa6 (18... exd5 $2
19. axb7 Rxa1 20. b8=Q+ Kd7 21. cxd5 Rxc1+ 22. Kh2 {and the threat of 23.Bb5+
and 24.Qe8# forces Black to lose more material.}) 19. Rxa6 bxa6 20. Ra5) 18...
Bc5 19. Bd2 {Fritz prefers 19.Nd4, but this offered a simple way forward.} O-O
20. b4 Be7 21. bxa6 Rxa6 22. Rxa6 bxa6 23. Ra1 Ra8 {There's no point; the a
pawn is lost.} 24. b5 Bc5 25. Rxa6 Rd8 26. Ba5 Rc8 27. Rc6 Ba7 {Putting this
bishop in danger.} 28. Rxc7 Rxc7 29. Bxc7 Be4 30. b6 Bxb6 31. Bxb6 h6 {His
king might have tried to help stop the c pawn.} 32. Nd4 {This and the king's
bishop have done nothing since move 6!} Kh7 33. Bf3 {I was now determined not
to allow his bishop to sacrifice itself for the pawn.} Bd3 34. c5 Ba6 35. c6
Kg6 36. Be2 Bc8 37. Nb5 Ba6 38. Bc4 Kh7 39. Nd6 Bxc4 40. Nxc4 {John had had
enough; Fritz reckons it's mate in 8.} 1-0

[Event "Calderdale Handicap League"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.12.16"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Edwards, C."]
[Black "Leonard, P."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "130"]
[BlackElo "156"]
[Annotator "Leonard,Pete"]
[PlyCount "32"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Belgrave"]
[BlackTeam "Hebden Bridge"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 {If I had a fiver for everyone who bottled out of facing
Alekhine's Defence...} e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Bc5 {After the game, Chris said he
thought this was unsound. It's one of those situations where Fritz 14's
Openings Book gives it a !? and it occurs only 90 times out of 1616 games on
its database. However, Fritz the engine makes the move its first choice, at = 
(0.00).} 5. d3 {Chris said he'd considered} (5. Nxe5 {which Fritz considers
equal to 5.d3.} Nxe5 6. d4 a6 7. Be2 Bd6 8. f4 Nc6 9. e5 Bb4 10. exf6 Qxf6 $11)
5... d6 6. Qe2 {This isn't actually bad in itself, but why didn't he simply
castle?} O-O 7. Bg5 Be6 {Best was to take advantage of White's misplaced queen,
by} (7... Nd4 8. Nxd4 Bxd4 $15 {White can no longer play} 9. Nd5 $2 c6 10.
Nxf6+ gxf6 11. Bh6 Bxb2 12. Rb1 Bc3+ 13. Kf1 Re8 14. Qf3 Kh8 15. Bc4 Qe7 $17)
8. Nd5 {He could still have castled (I thought he was delaying in order to
castle queen's side), but actually this move is Fritz's choice.} Bxd5 9. exd5
Nb4 10. c4 $2 {This is where it goes wrong for him, because of his failure to
castle (my previous move would have been poor, if he had).} (10. Bc4 c6 11.
dxc6 bxc6 {Black's knight can retreat to d5, with only the tiniest edge.})
10... c6 11. dxc6 bxc6 12. Ba4 Qa5 $19 13. O-O {At last! Together with 13.
Bxf6 first, this was his best move.} Qxa4 14. b3 {14.d4 or 14.Bxf6 were a
little better.} Qa6 $2 {With what I thought was a clever trap, if he pursued
the knight. However, I missed the obvious} (14... Qa3 15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. Nh4
Rae8 17. Qd2 Re6 $17 {Followed by 18...Kh8 and 19...Rg8, and White's attack is
over.}) 15. a3 {15.Bxf6 would have reduced my advantage to almost zero.} Nxd3
16. Qxd3 e4 {This was my "clever" idea, but I realised, while Chris was
thinking about it, that 17.Qc3 exf3 was not so clever, after 18.Bxf6 gxf6 19.
Qxf6 and now, if Black isn't careful, he could end up being mated, never mind
a draw by perpetual check. Fritz has a number of ways out for Black, including
19...h6 as, if White mistakenly takes this, Black has 20...Bd4 and the bishop
joins the defence. I was thinking more in terms of 19...Rfe8 20. Qg5+ Kf8 21.
Qh6+ but now, if Black's king tries to escape, by 21...Ke7, Fritz sees 22.b4,
when Black must give back the piece, with 22...Qxc4 (a small advantage to
White), as 22...Bb6? 23.c5 is beginning to look nasty. Fritz's solution to
this problem is 18...Qc8, with the threat of 19...Qg4, so 19.b4 Qg4 20.Qxf3
Qxf3 21.gxf3 gxf6 22.bxc5 dxc5. Black has an extra pawn, but I can't see
anyone winning this! I'd decided that I wasn't going to take the knight on f3,
and was thinking about 17...Nd7 (Fritz prefers 17...Ng4) instead, when Chris
astounded me by resigning! Very much a confirmation of Matthew Parsons' adage
that not many games are won by this means. I think Chris thought he'd
blundered a second piece to go with the first (though he'd won that one back).
I wasn't complaining; this makes two quick wins for me in as many weeks.} 0-1

[Event "Calderdale League 1"]
[Site "Sicilian Najdorf"]
[Date "2019.12.09"]
[Round "8.3"]
[White "Shapland, D."]
[Black "Velosa, C."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Annotator "Shapland,Dave"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2019.12.26"]
[WhiteTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]
[BlackTeam "Halifax 'A'"]

1. e4 b6 {Carlos is always a tricky opponent. He always manages to find
interesting ways to get active play and cause you practical problems. There is
no point in telling yourself 'this opening variation is sub-standard, I should
be able to get a clear advantage from the early moves, because it's never that
straightforward. I opted for a fairly standard and solid set up here for White.
It's tried and tested but maybe it's time for me to try and do something
different against Carlos's pet line.} 2. d4 Bb7 3. Bd3 e6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Qe2 d5
$5 {Interesting. Carlos has opted for the more popular...} (5... c5 6. c3 Be7 {
... type stuff against me in the past.}) 6. e5 Ne4 {Pretty much as expected.
Carlos has indeed found an interesting way to mix things up. I suspect I
played the next phase of the game a bit too quickly and slightly on auto-pilot
when I should have setlled into a decent think here to try and figure out the
best way to exploit this early advance.} 7. c3 {This allows Carlos to cause
further mishief. Perhaps completing development with something like...} (7. O-O
Nc6 8. Nbd2 Nxd2 9. Bxd2 Be7 10. c3 {... with a stable space advantage, would
have been better although I suspect Carlos might have played the game move
against 7.0-0 too!}) 7... f5 {Another intersting move! Carlos is asking me to
make a critical decision. If I take the f-pawn en passant then the position
will open up with neither side fully developed. If I don't take it the
position will close and the nature of the game will change significantly.
Instinctively I prefer playing open positions so...} 8. exf6 gxf6 {Commital! I
had expected maybe 8...Qxf6 which still leaves him the option of castling
short. Now I realised that I could be subjected to a fierce attack if I went
short myself. Instead I chose to prepare for long-castling.} 9. Bf4 Bd6 10.
Bxd6 Qxd6 {It should probably be mentioned that Fritz likes White's position
very much. Of course that's no practical help when you are actually playing
the game. I suspected such an engine assessment at the time but that doesn't
help you figure out the correct way of refuting your opponent's approach!} 11.
Nbd2 Nxd2 12. Qxd2 {With this move my notional advantage dissipates
significantly. Correct was to take with the knight (or even the king in order
to allow the queen to give a check on h5 before Black can castle. If I'd spent
a bit longer thinking about the position instead of playing on auto-pilot, I'd
have spotted this. For example...} (12. Nxd2 Nc6 13. Qh5+ Kd7 14. O-O-O {...
and White has preserved his advantage.}) 12... Nd7 13. O-O-O O-O-O {Formally
the opening is over. It's clear that Black has some dynamic possibilities in
the centre of the board and can open the position up with confidence that
he'll be able to fight for equality. White's task is rather more difficult. He
has a perfectly solid and sensible set up but there's no dynamism in his set
up. It's hard to see how to improve his position at all.} 14. Rhe1 {Fritz
preferred 14.Kb1, 14.Nh4 or 14.g3.} c5 $5 {Yet another interesting shot. I'd
expected 14...e5 and, indeed, the engine says that is a better move. This one
is probably more tricky to meet in some ways. I'd have been happy to exchange
my d-pawn for Carlos' e-pawn, but I'm less inclined to give him a dominant
central pawn pass be exchanging on c5.} 15. Kb1 Kb8 16. g3 {My last few moves
have all been a bit too slow. I've gifted Carlos the initiative. Intrinsically,
there's nothing wrong with my position but he's having all the fun. I could
have gone on the offensive with a move I did consider with...} (16. Qh6 {One
possible continuation might be...} Rde8 17. Re3 c4 18. Bc2 Rhg8 19. g3 Re7 20.
Nh4 {Threatening to play 21.Nf5! White is clearly rather better here.}) 16...
e5 17. dxe5 {17.Nh4 at once was the only way to preserve an advantage
according to Fritz. I didn't like the idea of allowing him to close the centre
with 17...e4 though.} Nxe5 18. Qf4 {I think Carlos had overlooked this move.
The position is just level now.} Nxd3 19. Qxd6+ Rxd6 20. Rxd3 Rhd8 21. Nh4 {My
idea now was to try and play against Carlos's weak king's side pawns. Black's
plan I imagined should be to try and set himself up for a bishop versus knight
ending where he can create a passed queen's side pawn.} Bc8 {With a tactical
threat. The problem is Black should be playing positionally. I was much more
worried about him continuing to play with the initiative and going...} (21...
d4 22. cxd4 Rxd4 23. Rxd4 Rxd4 24. Kc1 Kc7 {... and I think Black is
marginally better here but it's probably only symbolic.}) 22. Rde3 d4 23. cxd4
Rxd4 {This is not so different from the line above except that there is an
extra pair of rooks on and that negates Black's small positional edge.} 24. Re7
$2 {This is hubristic. I kind of felt that it was when I played it but
couldn't see any other way of continuing to play for a win. I think that, by
this point, Carlos may have already offered me a draw. I'd said 'No' mainly
because I wanted to see how the other boards in the match developed rather
than because I though I was winning. Once you've said 'No' you feel somewhat
obliged to play ambitiously. This is risky here though.} Rd2 25. R7e2 R2d5 {I
breathed a sigh of relief here as I'd spotted and was afraid of...} (25... Ba6
$1 {Black secures a clear advantage after this with fairly forcing moves such
as...} 26. Rxd2 Rxd2 27. Re8+ Kc7 28. Re7+ Kc6 29. Kc1 Rxf2 30. Rxh7 Bd3 31.
Rxa7 Rc2+ 32. Kd1 Rxb2 {... and it's clear that Black is much better here.
White's knight on the rim is surely looking dim!}) 26. Kc1 $1 {Vital. This now
prevents the idea in the previous note because Black can't land a rook on the
seventh rank.} Ba6 {Too late!} 27. Re6 f5 28. Re8 Kc7 {I'd spotted a little
idea here that I thought would give me a small and lasting edge in a knight
versus bishop ending that I could play on and on with little to no risk of
losing. I was almost correct!} 29. Rxd8 {In fact better was...} (29. R1e7+ R8d7
30. Rxd7+ Rxd7 31. Ra8 {... and if anyone has an advantage here, it's White.})
(29. a3 {This would have been a sneaky move. We'll see in a few moves time why.
Now, if Black allows the idea I went for in the game I think White might be
winning.}) 29... Kxd8 30. Rd1 Rxd1+ 31. Kxd1 {This was my big idea. I'd seen
that the f5 pawn would be vulnerable. Unfortunately I'd missed a small detail.}
Bd3 {This was what I'd been hoping for. I thought I could win the f-pawn here.}
32. Kd2 Be4 {It was only at this point that I realise that my intended
continuation didn't quite work. Let's imagine that I had been able to insert
the a3 move. Then we'd see 33.a3 Be4 34.Ke3 Ke7 35.Kf4 Ke6 36.g4 Bb1 and there
is no pawn on a2 to attack so after I grab the f-pawn I will be a clear pawn
up. Is it enough to win? 37.Nxf5 b5 38.Ne3 I haven't spent enought time
analysing this position to know whether or not White can win this. Certainly
he can play and play here and Fritz like his chances.} 33. a3 {Trying to set
up the same idea as above but now the natural moves mean Black won't get
trapped.} Kd7 34. Ke3 Ke6 35. Kf4 Bc2 {I haven't had time to play g4 before
the bishop can move off the e4 square.} 36. Ng2 Kf6 37. Ne3 {This felt like
the right location for the knight.} Bb1 $2 {It turns out that this move is a
mistake.} 38. h4 {I examined the variation that would have been much more
promising for me here but didn't grasp the central idea. White should play...}
(38. Nd5+ Ke6 39. Nc7+ Kd7 {It looks like the White knight is being chased
downa blind alley but in fact it is acting as a decoy to draw the Black king
away from the centre of the board.} 40. Nb5 a6 41. Nc3 Bd3 42. Ke5 {... and,
critically, the White king has now reach e5. White might now be able to circle
back with his knight to collect that f-pawn.}) 38... Bd3 39. h5 {I didn't want
to allow Carlos the chance to play h5 himself.} b5 {Carlos strikes on the
correct plan. Black needs to activate his queen's side pawns and try to create
his own passer.} 40. Nd5+ Ke6 41. Ne3 {Now 41. Nc7+ is no better than dropping
back to e3.} Kf6 {At this point the game is pretty much dead. With the match
still in the balance though, I pressed on.} 42. f3 a5 43. g4 fxg4 44. fxg4 a4
45. g5+ {There was a final chance to play for a win in this position with...} (
45. Nd5+ Ke6 46. Nc3 Ke7 47. Ke3 Bf1 48. Ne4 {... and White is picking up a
pawn because 49...c4 would be met by 50.Nc3 winning the b-pawn.}) 45... Ke6 46.
Nd1 b4 47. Ne3 $2 {At this moment, with Stavros having just defeated Richard
Porter to get us to 2.5 points in the match I returned Carlos' earlier offer
of a draw as I could no longer see viable way to proceed playing for a win and
wanted to settle the match in our favour. After a bit of thought Carlos
accepted. Ironically, and unbeknownst to us both, this is the one moment in
the whole game that Black is winning. Almost as soon as we'd agreed a truce
Stavros pointed out that Black has 47... c4! here, and should be winning.}
1/2-1/2

