Andrew Hards vs Kier Morton [Event "Stannington A vs Nomads A"] [Date "2016.03.22"] [Round "?"] [White "Andrew Hards"] [Black "Kier Morton"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C00"] {My umpteenth meeting with Kier – honours even to date I think with one win each and several draws, none of them dull!} 1. e4 e6 { Not faced a French in a while.} 2. Nf3 d5 3. e5 c5 4. b4 c4 5. c3 b5 6. a4 bxa4 7. Rxa4 Bd7 8. Ra1 {Well this is unusual!} g6 9. d3 cxd3 10. Bxd3 Bg7 11. O-O Nc6 12. Re1 Nge7 13. b5 Na5 14. Qa4 Nb7 15. Be3 {Fritz has me worked up to over +1 at this point. All I can think is that Kier’s pieces are struggling for squares whilst mine are all active apart from the knight on b1)} a5 16. Qa3 O-O 17. Bg5 f6 18. exf6 Bxf6 19. Bh6 Re8 { I was concerned about a rolling centre here.} 20. g4 Nc8 21. Bf4 Qe7 22. Qxe7 Rxe7 23. g5 Bg7 24. Ne5 Nc5 25. Bf1 {The position is now roughly equal… but I still felt my pieces were more active and threatening the holes in Kier’s position more than his threatened mine.} Nb6 26. Nd2 a4 27. Ra3 { Getting the rook off the long diagonal and supporting c3.} Rae8 28. Ndf3 Bc8 29. Be3 {Winning the pawn on a4.} Ncd7 30. Nxd7 Nxd7 31. c4 dxc4 32. Bxc4 Bb7 33. Be2 Rc8 34. Rxa4 Rc2 35. Nd4 Rb2 36. Ra7 Nb8 { Horrible position for the knight and Kier’s queenside is in serious bother now. } 37. Nc6 {Not often that one forks knight and rook… with a knight. There are no moves here that don’t lose material.} Bxc6 38. Rxe7 Bxb5 39. Bxb5 Rxb5 40. Rxe6 Nd7 41. Bf4 Nc5 42. Re8+ {Here Kier resigned – he can hold on, at least for a few more moves with 42. .. Bf8 43. Bd6 Nd7 but after 44. R1e7 Rxg5+ 45. Kf1 more material loss is inevitable.} 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
Kier Morton vs Andrew Hards 12th November, Richardson Cup Rd 2 – Nomads II vs Stannington {This is our third meeting – and I’ve been black in every game. Kier won the first one, and the second one was pretty harmless all the way through to a dull draw.} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 { This is different – the first two games had been the advance variation.} cxd5 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Nf3 O-O 8. c5 a6 {Better to challenge the advanced pawn straight away – b6 should have been played.} 9. Bd3 Nc6 10. a3 h6 11. Bh4 b6 12. b4 b5 13. O-O Nd7 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Re1 Qf6 16. Bc2 Bb7 17. Qd3 g6 18. Reb1 Kg7 19. a4 bxa4 20. Bxa4 Rfc8 { My queenside looks like a draughts board.} 21. b5 { I thought this was letting me back into the game a little.} axb5 22. Bxb5 Rxa1 23. Rxa1 { I was looking at the sac on d4 – Fritz considers it best play in this position. } Qd8 (23... Nxd4 24. Qxd4 Nxc5 25. Ne2 Qxd4 26. Nexd4 Kf6) 24. Qb1 Rb8 { I think this is a minor error – basically a wasted move on my part.} (24... e5 $1 {Not played because of my lack of support for the d-pawn.} 25. Bxc6 Bxc6 26. dxe5 Nxc5 27. Ne2) 25. Ra2 Qf6 {e5 still worked here} 26. Bxc6 Bxc6 27. Rb2 Rxb2 28. Qxb2 {Hmm. That queen is unprotected…} e5 29. Ne2 e4 {Kier had abou t two minutes left when he made his thirtieth move. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, it is a mistake that gives me an advantage for the first time in the game.} 30. Ne1 (30. Ne5 Nxe5 31. dxe5 Qe7 32. Qc3 $11) 30... Nxc5 31. Qc3 {I’m well ahead on the clock – 10 minutes or so. With Kier down to his last 10, I’ve got to make sure I don’t screw up and if I can prevent perpetual tricks, the extra pawn should eventually prevail.} Nd7 32. Nc2 Bb5 33. Ng3 Qb6 34. h3 f5 35. Qb4 Kf7 {The queen is not coming in there.} 36. Nf1 Qc6 { Geoff said afterwards I should have captured the knight here and swapped down into a knight+5 vs knight+4 ending. I didn’t really fancy that, figuring it would take an age to my king active, so opted to keep bits on the board. Fritz is ambivalent.} (36... Bxf1 37. Qxb6 Nxb6 38. Kxf1) 37. Qb2 f4 38. Nd2 Nb6 39. Qa2 Kf6 { Keen to avoid the same trick being played on me, but it’s inaccurate.} (39... Ba4 40. Nb4 Qb5 41. Qb2 Nc4 42. Nxc4 Qxc4) 40. Nb4 Qd6 41. Qb2 Nc4 42. Nxc4 Bxc4 {The exchange helps me here.} 43. Qc3 h5 44. Nc2 Qe6 45. Na3 Bd3 { It takes Kier two moves to attack my bishop or the pawn on d5 – but only one move for me to defend them. So each time he shuffles his knight, I gain a tempo.} 46. Nc2 g5 (46... Bxc2 47. Qxc2 e3) 47. Nb4 Bc4 48. Nc2 h4 49. Na3 Bd3 50. Nc2 Be2 {Trying to be clever on f3.} 51. Qc5 Bd3 $2 {A disastrous blunder that I only get away with because Kier is so short of time. Up to now, my endgame play has been pretty good and very similar to the computer moves but this lets White draw with best play it seems.} 52. Nb4 Bc4 53. Nc6 e3 { Kier’s flag fell here. This is dead drawn now. For example…} 54. Qf8+ Kg6 55. Ne7+ Kh7 56. Nf5 exf2+ 57. Kxf2 Qg6 58. Qe7+ Kg8 59. Qd8+ Kf7 60. Qe7+ Kg8 61. Qd8+ Kh7 62. Qe7+ Kh8 63. Qf8+ Kh7 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.