2018-11-06 - Meadows, Michael 1-0 James, Chris

[Event "Bristol League - Downend A vs Bath A"] [Site "Downend Cricket Club"] [Date "2018.11.6"] [Board "4"] [White "Meadows, Michael"] [Black "James, Chris"] [Result "1-0"] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 {How exciting!} 3.Bc4 ( 3.Nxe5 {The main line, though I'm not convinced white gets a great deal for an evening league game.} Qf6 4.d4 d6 5.Nc4 fxe4 6.Nc3 Qg6 ) 3...fxe4 4.Nxe5 d5 5.Qh5+ g6 6.Nxg6 hxg6 {White was blitzing out the opening and I was down about 20 minutes.} 7.Qxh8 ( 7.Qxg6+ {Another theoretical line, but I don't know it and if I have to suffer an onslaught, I wanted the material.} Kd7 ( 7...Ke7? 8.d3 {White starts to mount an attack.} ) 8.Bxd5 Qf6 9.Qxe4 Qe7 {Four pawns for the piece.}) 7...Kf7 8.Qd4 Be6 9.Be2 Nc6 10.Qe3 Bh6 11.Qg3 {Apparently it's all theory up to here.} ( 11.f4 d4 12.Qg3 ( 12.Qxe4 Bd5 {Ouch.}) 12...Nb4 13.Na3 d3 14.cxd3 exd3 15.Bd1 {Much like the game, white has the material but no development and will struggle to fix that.}) 11...Nge7 12.Qh4 Qh8 13.Qg3 Rd8 14.f3!? ( 14.h4 {An obviously engine line to maintain white's edge.} Nf5 15.Qxc7+ Rd7 16.Qh2 ) 14...Nf5 15.Qf2 Bg7 ( 15...e3! 16.dxe3 d4 17.e4 Be3 18.Qf1 Bxc1 19.exf5 Bxf5 {Black is properly in the game again.}) ( 15...Bf4 {My concern.} 16.fxe4 Bg3 17.hxg3 Qxh1+ 18.Bf1 dxe4 19.g4 Bc4 20.gxf5 e3 21.Qf4 ( 21.dxe3 Bxf1 22.fxg6+ Kxg6 23.Qg3+ ( 23.Qxf1 Rd1+ {White's position is a mess of pitfalls.}) ) ) 16.c3 {Even though it doesn't prevent black's next move I think this is necessary.} Nb4! 17.Na3 ( 17.fxe4! {I wasn't brave enough to go for this.} Nc2+ 18.Kd1 Nxa1 19.exf5 gxf5 20.d4 ) 17...Nd3+ 18.Bxd3 exd3 19.g4!? {In felt this was needed.} Bf6 20.Qf1 Nd6 21.Qxd3 Re8 22.O-O ( 22.Kd1 {Maybe slightly safer for the king, but who could resist the flamboyance?}) 22...Qh3 23.Rf2 Bh4 ( 23...Bxg4! {I knew I was allowing this, but thought I could get the queens off and maintain the material advantage. It's just really good for black.} 24.Qf1 Qxf1+ 25.Rxf1 Bh3 26.Rd1 Re2 ) 24.Qf1 Bxf2+ 25.Qxf2 Kg8 26.Qg3 Qh7 {White now has time to untangle and get developing.} 27.d4 Qf7 28.Bf4 Rf8 29.Bxd6 cxd6 30.Rf1 a6 31.Nc2 b5 32.Ne3 Qc7 33.f4 Kg7 34.f5 Bc8 35.Nxd5 Qc6 36.f6+ Kf7 37.Qh4! {A little bit of snazz.} Qd7 ( 37...Qxd5 38.Qh7+ Ke6 39.Qe7# ) 38.Qh7+ Ke8 ( 38...Ke6 39.Nf4+ Kxf6 40.Qxg6+ Ke7 41.Nd5+ Kd8 42.Rxf8+ Qe8 43.Qxe8# ) 39.Re1+ Kd8 40.Qe7 (40.Qe7+ Qxe7 41.fxe7+ Ke8 42.Nc7+ Kf7 43.exf8=Q+ Kxf8 44.Re8+) 1-0

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