Richardson semi-final – Jeremy's draw [Event "Richardson Cup semi-final"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.02.09"] [Round "?"] [White "Jeremy Hamm, Nomads"] [Black "Gunnar Mallon, Ecclesall"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r1br2k1/pp2q1p1/4p2p/3pP3/P1pP4/2P3P1/2PQB2P/R4RK1 w - - 0 20"] [PlyCount "22"] {19 moves into a French Winawar against Gunnar, I was happy with my position – active pieces and a ‘good’ versus a ‘bad’ bishop.} 20. Bh5 Bd7 $1 ({Active defence – eg forcing me to consider a possible …Be8 after my Rf7. Worse is} 20... Rf8 21. Rxf8+ Qxf8 22. Rf1 {with a very strong position for White.}) 21. Rf7 Qg5 22. Qxg5 hxg5 23. Raf1 {I was of course concerned about the passed a pawn Black would have after capturing the pawn on a4 – but I had to play this.} Bxa4 (23... Be8 { is no good:} 24. Rf8+ Kh7 25. Rxe8 Rxe8 26. Bxe8 Rxe8 27. Rf7) 24. Rxb7 Rd7 ({ I was expecting} 24... Bxc2 {but} 25. Bf7+ Kh7 26. Bxe6 a5 27. g4 { is strong, threatening both Rf3-h3 and Rff7.}) 25. Rf7 $2 ({ As Chris pointed out after the game, missing} 25. Bf7+ $1 Kh7 26. Rb4 $1 Bxc2 27. Bxe6 Rdd8 28. Ra1 $1 ({safer than} 28. Rf7 a5 29. Rbb7 Ra6)) 25... Rxb7 { Finding a win is much more difficult now.} 26. Rxb7 Rf8 $5 ({More accurate is} 26... Be8 {– eg} 27. Bxe8 Rxe8 28. Rxa7 Kf8 {and Black should be able to hold.} ) 27. Bg4 $2 (27. Re7 $1 {keeps my winning chances alive, forcing the win of the e6 pawn. Unfortunately I was too obsessed with capturing the pawn on a7. One possible continuation:} Bxc2 28. Rxe6 Bf5 29. Rd6 g4 30. e6 g6 31. Rxd5 gxh5 32. e7 Re8 33. Rxf5 Rxe7 34. Rc5) 27... Re8 28. Rxa7 Bxc2 { Now, though my pieces still look good(!), I’m unable to make progress.} 29. Kf2 g6 30. Ke3 Bf5 {Draw agreed. Interesting game.} 1/2-1/2 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
Interesting game and commentary. Thanks Jeremy. 🙂