Andrew Hards vs Peter Hulse {We were both a little bit weaker for this match – an end of season affair and for the second match in succession I faced the opposing captain. Peter and I have shared a few draws in our time so a good chance of another here I imagined.} 1. e4 c5 2. a3 Nc6 3. b4 e5 {I think the standard ‘line’ here is to play f4 but I didn’t fancy that for some reason.} 4. b5 Nd4 5. c3 Ne6 { Having made all pawn moves for the first five, I could already feel Chris’ disapproval on board 2…} 6. Nf3 d6 7. d4 cxd4 8. cxd4 exd4 9. Nxd4 Nf6 10. f3 {Totally missing a wild variation here (although I did see it at this point and wondered if it was playable. Fritz isn’t convinced though).} Be7 { Peter took the easy option here and said afterwards he regretted doing so.} ( 10... Nxe4 11. Nxe6 $2 (11. fxe4 Qh4+ 12. Ke2 Qxe4+ 13. Be3 Nf4+ 14. Kd2 Nxg2 15. Qf3 Qxf3 16. Nxf3 Nxe3 17. Kxe3 {A piece for three pawns.}) 11... Bxe6 12. fxe4 Qh4+ 13. Kd2 Qf2+ 14. Kd3 (14. Qe2 Qd4+ 15. Ke1 Qxa1) 14... Rc8 15. Qd2 Bc4+ 16. Kc2 Bxf1+ 17. Nc3 Qxg2 18. Qxg2 Bxg2 19. Re1 { 3 pawn islands, 2 pawns down, king exposed… this looks very good for Black.}) 11. Nf5 { Sure, I’ll make 8 pawn moves and 3 knight moves in the first 11. Why not?} O-O 12. Bc4 Nc5 13. Nxe7+ Qxe7 14. Nc3 Be6 15. Nd5 Bxd5 16. Bxd5 { I’d missed the move order that Peter played.} Qe5 17. Ra2 { In some lines I need the rook on e2 to block a check.} Nxd5 18. Qxd5 Qxd5 19. exd5 Nd3+ 20. Ke2 Nxc1+ 21. Rxc1 Rfe8+ 22. Kd3 Re5 23. Kd4 {This just seemed to help me centralise my king. I thought I had chances here – more space on the queenside, 1st and 2nd ranks covered, and a central king.} Rae8 24. Rac2 g6 {No more back rank tricks.} 25. Rc8 Kf8 26. R1c7 Rxc8 27. Rxc8+ Re8 28. Rc7 Re7 {Pretty sure I could have repeated here. Fritz actually recommends the rook trade – scoring my position slightly better. I was unconvinced – the queenside can be choked off and it’s unlikely I’ll be able to make any headway on the kingside.} 29. Rc4 { A calculated gamble – I thought I could queen a pawn faster.} Re2 30. Ra4 Rb2 31. Rxa7 Rxb5 32. Kc4 Rb1 33. Ra5 Rc1+ 34. Kb5 Rb1+ 35. Ka4 {Not ideal but I wanted to play Rb5 then move my king around to b6. The plan is too slow though I think as Peter’s king can get to c7 in time.} Rd1 36. Rb5 Rd2 37. Ka5 Rxg2 38. Rxb7 Rxh2 39. Rd7 h5 40. Rxd6 {Yeah… well this doesn’t look as good for me with a computer as it did when I was playing over the board. I *thought* I would be able to promote one of the pawns but with my king off side it’s not so easy.} h4 41. Rc6 Ke7 42. Kb6 { Rd2 here is exceedingly problematic!} Ra2 43. Kc7 Rd2 44. d6+ { Scary as it looks, the king has to come to e6 here.} Ke8 (44... Ke6 45. d7+ $2 (45. a4 h3 46. Rc1 f5 47. a5 h2 48. a6 h1=Q 49. Rxh1 Rc2+ 50. Kd8 Kxd6 51. Rg1 Ra2 52. Rxg6+) 45... Ke7 {And the d pawn is lost.}) 45. a4 { Waste of a move – I then realised what I ought to have played.} h3 46. Rc1 h2 47. Re1+ Kf8 48. Rh1 Rc2+ 49. Kd8 Ra2 50. d7 Rxa4 51. Rxh2 Ra7 { Now it’s all over.} 52. Re2 Ra8+ 53. Kc7 Ra7+ 54. Kc8 {Peter resigned because of… 54. … Ra8+ 55. Kb7 Rd8 56. Kc7 and the rook is lost.} 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
Pete Micklethwaite vs Andrew Hards (Round 3) [Event "Barnsley A vs Nomads A"] [Site "Hewlett-Packard"] [Date "2017.04.06"] [Round "?"] [White "Pete Micklethwaite"] [Black "Andrew Hards"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A06"] [Annotator ",ahards@hotmail.com"] [PlyCount "42"] {Our third meeting in the league… Pete has been White every time and the two previous encounters ended in pretty dull (and quick) draws. This time around would things be different?} 1. Nf3 {Probably not 🙂} c6 2. c4 d5 3. b3 e6 4. Bb2 Nf6 5. e3 Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O Re8 8. d4 Nbd7 9. Nbd2 Nf8 10. Ne5 Ne4 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Nxe4 dxe4 13. Qc2 f6 {Weakening my kingside – I had to be wary of tricks and tactics along the a2-g8 diagonal but at the moment Be6 staves off any checks.} 14. Nc4 Bd6 15. Rfd1 f5 16. Qc3 ({Pete spent a long time weighing up this move before rejecting it – but it was probably the best chance of opening up the position.} 16. d5 c5 17. Qc3 Re7 18. Ba3 b6 19. b4 cxb4 20. Bxb4 Bxb4 21. Qxb4 {Looks promising for White with Black’s pieces nearly all stuck on the back rank.}) 16... Be7 17. Bh5 Ng6 18. Bxg6 hxg6 19. Ne5 Kh7 20. Qc4 Qd5 21. Qxd5 cxd5 {And a draw was agreed. Fritz scores me ever so slightly ahead here – I suspect because I have the bishop pair – but I don’t see a plan for either player. My d-pawn is backward but Pete doesn’t have a white-squared bishop and I can easily keep his rooks out of my position. By the same token, his pawn structure doesn’t really have any weaknesses – my only threat might be to exchange off the rooks and try to advance king and pawns on the kingside with his bishop stuck behind the pawn chain but g2-g3 likely puts a stop to any of that nonsense!} 1/2-1/2 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
H Feather vs R Shaw [Event "Darnall vs Nomads D"] [Site "Away"] [Date "2017.03.04"] [Round "-"] [White "H Feather"] [Black "R Shaw"] [Result "*"] 1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 Nc6 4. c3 e6 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Bg3 Bxg3 { Weakening white’s pawn structure } 7. hxg3 O-O 8. Bd3 b6 9. Ne5 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Ne4 11. Qh5 h6 12. f3 Nxg3 13. Qh3 Nxh1 14. Qxh1 Qg5 15. Kf2 f6 16. f4 Qg4 17. exf6 Rxf6 18. Nd2 Bb7 19. Nf3 Rf5 { Traded R for B to prevent 20 N e5, which would have trapped my queen. } 20. Bxf5 Qxf5 21. Nd4 Qe4 22. Qh3 Re8 23. Qf3 Qxf3+ 24. Nxf3 c5 25. Ne5 Rf8 26. Rh1 Kh7 27. Kf3 Rf5 28. Ng4 h5 29. Rh4 a5 30. a3 Kg8 31. Ne5 Kh7 { Here white offered a draw, which I accepted. } * You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
R Shaw vs R Lindsay [Event "Nomads D vs Darnall"] [Site "Home"] [Date "2017.03.16"] [Round "-"] [White "-"] [Black "-"] [Result "*"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. Bc4 e6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. O-O Ne7 6. Ng5 O-O 7. Qf3 Nbc6 8. d5 Ne5 9. Qb3 Nxc4 10. Qxc4 h6 { Here, I considered Nxe6, trading the knight for pawns } 11. Nf3 c6 12. dxe6 Bxe6 13. Qd3 d5 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Re1 Bf5 16. Qc4 Qd6 17. Nc3 Nxc3 18. bxc3 Rae8 19. Bf4 Rxe1+ 20. Rxe1 Qd8 21. Qb4 b6 22. Qe7 { Offering to swap queens. I felt that while my pawns were slightly weaker the resulting position was still likely to be a draw. } 22... a5 23. Qxd8 Rxd8 24. Nd4 Bxd4 25. cxd4 g5 26. Bc7 Rxd4 27. Bxb6 Ra4 28. Re5 Rxa2 29. Rxa5 { Not RxB, because of the back rank mate. } 29... Rxa5 30. Bxa5 Bxc2 31. f3 Kg7 32. Bb4 Kg6 33. Kf2 f5 34. Ke3 Ba4 35. Kd4 Kf6 36. Kc5 Ke6 37. g3 h5 38. h4 gxh4 39. gxh4 Ke5 40. Bd2 { Here, a draw was agreed. Black has a slight advantage, but not sufficient to force a win. } * You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
Jamie Hillman -v- Aram Ter-Gevorkian 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 cxd6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Bd3 Bg7 8. Nge2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O d5 11. c5 Nc4 12. Bxc4 dxc4 13. Qa4 Na5 14. Rfd1 Bd7 15. Qb4 b6 16. d5 bxc5 17. Bxc5 Re8 18. Nd4 Bg4 19. f3 Bf5 20. Nxf5 gxf5 21. d6 e5 22. Nd5 Rb8 23. Ne7 Kh8 24. Qa3 e4 25. d7 Rg8 26. Nxg8 Rxb2 27. Bd4 Kxg8 28. Qxb2 f6 29. Bxf6 c3 30. Qxc3 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
Steve Withington vs Oliver Graham [Site "Worksop"] [Event "Worksop A vs Nomads B"] [Date "2017.03.06"] [White "Steve Withington"] [Black "Oliver Graham"] [Result "1-0"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. e4 dxe4 4. Bg5 Bf5 5. f3 exf3 6. Qxf3 Bc8 7. O-O-O c6 8. h3 e6 9. Bc4 Be7 10. Nge2 Nbd7 11. Rhf1 Nb6 12. Bb3 O-O 13. Nf4 a5 14. a3 a4 15. Ba2 Bd7 16. Qg3 Nh5 17. Nxh5 Bxg5+ 18. Kb1 g6 19. Ne4 Bh4 20. Nhf6+ Bxf6 21. Nxf6+ Kh8 22. Qh4 h5 23. Qg5 Kg7 24. Nxh5+ Kh7 25. Nf6+ Kg7 26. Qe5 Kh6 27. Rf4 g5 28. Rg4 Rg8 29. Nxg8+ Qxg8 30. h4 f5 31. Qf6+ Qg6 32. hxg5+ Kh5 33. Rh1+ Kxg4 34. Qxg6 f4 35. Bxe6+ Bxe6 36. Qxe6+ Kxg5 37. Rh6 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
Robert vs B Redhead, Clay Cross 28-2-17 [Event "Clay Cross vs Nomads C"] [Site "Away"] [Date "2017.02.28"] [Round "-"] [White "Robert Shaw"] [Black "Brian Redhead"] [Result "0-1"] 1. e4 c5 2. Bc4 e6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d3 a6 5. a4 d6 6. O-O Nf6 7. Nc3 Bd7 8. Re1 Be7 9. e5 Ng4 10. Ng5 Ngxe5 11. f4 Nxc4 12. dxc4 Bxg5 13. fxg5 Nd4 14. Ne2 e5 15. c3 Nf5 16. g4 Nh4 17. Qxd6 { overlooked the impending fork} 17... Nf3+ 18. Kf1 Nxe1 19. Kxe1 Qe7 20. Qb6 Bc6 21. Ng3 g6 22. h4 Rd8 23. Be3 Rd3 24. Bxc5 Qd7 25. Qa7 Qd8 26. Kf2 Rf3+ 27. Kg2 Qd2+ 28. Kh3 Rxg3+ {Here, I resigned. My only legal move is KxR, but then Qg2 is mate} * You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
Phil Morgan vs Steve Withington [Site "Clay Cross"] [Event "Clay Cross vs Nomads C"] [Date "2017.02.28"] [White "Phil Morgan"] [Black "Steve Withington"] [Result "0-1"] 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 f5 {The Calabrese Counter Gambit. I’ve checked and there is no Broccoli Gambit.} 3. d3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c6 5. O-O d5 6. exd5 cxd5 7. Bb5+ Bd7 8. Bxd7+ Nbxd7 9. Re1 Bd6 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Bg5 Qc7 12. Nb5 Qb6 13. Nxd6 Qxd6 14. c3 {I’d been wondering if he’d play c4} h6 15. Bxf6 Rxf6 16. a4 e4 17. dxe4 fxe4 18. Nd4 Raf8 19. Re2 Ne5 20. h3 Nd3 21. f3 Nf4 22. Rf2 {I was really struggling to see a way through here, and time was slipping away. I eventually decided to put the knight back to d3 and try something else} Nd3 23. Re2 Qg3 24. Rd2 exf3 25. Nxf3 Rxf3 26. Qb3 Rf1+ 27. Rxf1 Rxf1+ {White resigns <div class="rpbui-chessgame-diagramAnchor"> []</div> } 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
Nigel Redmond vs Steve Withington [Site "The Latvian Club, Bradford"] [Event "Bradford B vs Sheffield D"] [Date "2017.02.04"] [White "Nigel Redmond"] [Black "Steve Withington"] [Result "0-1"] 1. d4 e5 2. e3 exd4 3. exd4 d5 4. Bd3 Nf6 5. Nd2 Bd6 6. Ngf3 Nc6 7. c3 Bg4 8. O-O Ne7 9. Re1 c6 10. Qc2 Bh5 11. Ne5 Qc7 12. f4 Bxe5 13. fxe5 Nd7 14. Nf1 O-O-O 15. Bg5 f6 16. exf6 gxf6 17. Bh4 {My plan was to castle queenside and hopefully get a good attack going on the kingside. But my king now has few squares and there are dangerous pins and threats to my queen from two good bishops} Rde8 18. Bg3 Qd8 19. Qa4 Qb6 20. Qa3 c5 21. Rac1 c4 22. Bc2 Nc6 23. Bf5 {Now things were getting really complicated} Ne5 24. b3 Bg4 25. Bxg4 Nxg4 26. Kh1 h5 27. h3 h4 28. Bh2 Nf2+ 29. Kg1 Ne4 30. bxc4 dxc4 31. Ne3 Rhg8 32. Nxc4 Qe6 {Oh dear, I’m in trouble now. Still, I have threats and my opponent must play accurately} 33. Nd6+ Kd8 34. Nxb7+ Kc8 35. Nd6+ Kd8 36. Rxe4 Qxe4 37. Nxe4 Rxe4 38. Qxa7 Ke7 39. Qb7 Re2 40. Qd5 Rg5 41. Bd6+ Ke8 42. Qa8+ {White makes his 42nd move with a minute to spare and hope is fading} Kf7 43. Rb1 Kg6 44. Qg8+ Kf5 45. Rf1+ Ke4 46. Qe6+ Ne5 {I can’t be checked now} 47. dxe5 {Bxe5 would have been better, a costly mistake made under pressure} Rgxg2+ 48. Kh1 Rh2+ 49. Kg1 Reg2# {Just call me Houdini} 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
Steve Gibbs vs Steve Withington [Date "2017.02.01"] [Round "3"] [White "Steve Gibbs"] [Black "Steve Withington"] [Result "0.5-0.5"] {The Sheffield Individual Championship is a fantastic opportunity to get to play stronger players who you might not face in the league.} 1. d4 e5 2. d5 {Englund gambit declined} f5 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. Nf3 e4 6. Nd4 g6 7. e3 c5 8. dxc6 dxc6 9. a3 c5 10. Nde2 Qxd1+ 11. Nxd1 {With the queens swapped off I felt I had gained some tempo and space} Bg7 12. Nf4 O-O 13. Nc3 Nc6 14. Bd2 Bd7 15. Be2 Ne5 16. O-O-O Rad8 17. h3 Bc6 18. Nfd5 Rfe8 19. Nxf6+ Bxf6 20. Kc2 Nd3 21. Rhf1 b5 22. b3 Re7 23. f3 bxc4 24. bxc4 Bxc3 25. Kxc3 Red7 {I offered a draw at this point. While I felt I was in a better position I couldn’t see an obvious way to press the advantage, and was afraid that the my opponent might turn things around in a difficult endgame.} * You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
