16 May 2019 - Swale Club Championship - Final Group - Round Two

Swale Club Chess Championship - Final Group - Round Two

Thursday 16 May 2019

White: Keith Hyde (156) Black: Keith Nevols (163)

Dutch Defence

I have never beaten my club mate here. In seven games, my record is three draws and four losses. But, for the first time, I came close.

1. d4 f5

2. Nf3 Nf6

3. Bf4 e6

4. e3 b6

A slightly different move order to our last game with these colours where I played 4. .. Be7.

5. Nbd2 Bb7

6. Bd3 Be7

7. h3 

We have now transposed to our earlier game from March 2018 where here I played 7. .. O-O and White played 8. g4! and got a strong attack which eventually broke through. Aware of this, I decided to delay castling and continue developing.

7. .....  Ne4

8. g4 

White repeats his attack from last time, 8. .. O-O would transpose again and we then played 9. gxf5 exf5 10. Rg1 Kh8 - although 10. .. d5 would have been an improvement.

Black could now play 8. .. Nxd2 which forces White to recapture with the king, 9. Kxd2, although he would be safe there.

8. .. d6

9. gxf5 exf5

10. Rg1 

10. d5! is a good pawn sacrifice to exploit Black's delay in castling. After 10. .. Bxd5 11. Nxe4 fxe4 (11. .. Bxe4 12. Bxe4 fxe4 13. Qd5 and the king in the centre becomes a liability) 12. Bb5+ Bc6 13. Nd4 Bxb5 14. Qh5+! g6 15. Qxb5+ Qd7 16. Qd5 and White will regain the pawn with a better position.

So after 10. d5, maybe Black should decline the pawn with 10. .. Nxd2 11. Qxd2 O-O (the move Black was trying to avoid) but then 12. c4! followed by Nd4 and Black is getting squeezed.

10. …. g6

10. .. Bf6 is better. Now 11. d5 remains good.

11. Qe2 Nd7

12. O-O-O Ndf6

I was pleased to get this extra security for the knight on e4. However, White has another opportunity to play d5. For example, 13. d5! Bxd5 14. Nxe4 Bxe4 15. Bc4 with ideas of Be6 or Ne5, or … 14. .. fxe4 15. Bb5+ c6 16. Rxd5! cxb5 17. Ne5!.

13. Ng5 Nxg5

14. Bxg5 Ne4

15. Bf4 Qd7

16. f3?! 

I was pleased to see this move, as I could now complete my development and White's kingside looks a little loose. My strategy of keeping the king in the centre against g4 was not successful and I made a note to go back to the drawing board. 

16. Bb5 c6 17. Bc4 and Black does not really want to play 17. .. d5 opening the diagonal, and granting the e5 square, for the White bishop.

16. …. Nxd2

17. Rxd2 O-O-O

Hurrah! Now the engine says we are equal, although I was not sure how to attack from here.

18. Ba6 Qa4

19. Bxb7+ 

I was not sorry to see the back of that white bishop but White can bring up an attack against the king's new home.

19.      Kxb7

20. Rd3! 

With the threat of Ra3.

20. ......  Qb5

20. … Qc4 is more accurate because now White could play 21. a4!, or even 20.... a5.

21. Qd2 Bf6

22. Bg5 

Forcing off the other bishop.

22. ...  Bxg5

23. Rxg5 

White is now threatening e4. I did not like 23. .. d5 because I thought at some stage White could play e4 to dissolve the centre and have the advantage with his more active pieces. 

The engine recommends 23. .. Rhg8!? to meet 24. e4 with 24. .. Rde8 25. exf5 gxf5 26. Rxg8 Rxg8. I did not see this but instead decided to try to prevent a White e4 and make the White central pawns a target.

23. … Qc6

24. d5? 

This aggressive move is a mistake as it gifts Black a pawn. Defending the f3 pawn with Qf2 or Qe2 is better.

24. ...   Qc4

White's last move has opened up the fourth rank for the Black queen to move over and attack the kingside. This hits the a2 pawn and will also move over to h4 to collect the h3 pawn.

25. Qc3 Qh4

25. …. Qxa2?? loses at once to 26. Qc6+ Kb8 27. Ra3 and the black queen is trapped.

26. f4 Qxb3

I'm a pawn up!

27. Qc6+ Kb8

28. a4! 

This is not the best move - 28. Qc3 retreating the queen is a good defence - but is a good practical and psychological move. 

By now, I was short of time and trying to calculate if I could win. The prospect of a5-a6, or a5xb6, was quite concerning. I considered 28. .. a5, and there is nothing wrong with that, and assumed White would follow with 29. b4. 

28. .....  Qf1+

29. Rd1 

And now Black should play 29. .. Qf3 meeting 30. a5 with 30. .. Qxe3+ 31. Kb1 Qc5 or 30. Qc3 with 30. .. Rhe8 31. Re1/Rd3 Re4 and Rde8 to come. The white rook on g5 is out of the game and Black's central pressure could become overwhelming.

29. …...…. Qa6?

But Black bottles it, giving White a chance to gather his defences.

30. Rg2 Rde8

31. Rg3 Re4

31. …. Qe2 could have exploited the lack of co-ordination in White's defences. 32. Qc3 Qf2 33. Rdg1 a5 and then the h-pawn can run, or 32. a5 bxa5!? (33. e4 Rxe4 34. Rb3+ Rb4)

32. b3 Rhe8?

Missing the last chance .. 32. .. Qe2 and then either 33. a5 Qa6 34. axb6 Qa3+! 35. Kd2 cxb6 or 33. Qc3 Rhe8, or even 33. Rh1 Rxe3 34. Rxg6 Qf2 and Black is still better.

33. Rh1! 

White gets the right idea, giving up the e-pawn for a counter attack down the h-file.

33. ….  Rxe3

If 33. .. R8e7 34. Rxg6 hxg6 35. Rxh8+ Re8 36. Rxe8+ Rxe8 37. Qxe8+ Qf1+ and Black might have enough to draw. If 33. … R4e7 then simply 34. Rxh7.

34. Rxh7 



34. …........Qb7??

Black blunders!! He should have played 34. .. Re1+. 

Now 35. Rxe3 wins!! (35. …. Rxe3 36. Rh8+)

35. Rxg6?? 

…. and White misses it. An amazing turn of events in mutual time trouble.

35. ……. Qxc6

36. dxc6 Rc3

And here the players agreed a draw.

The draw was a fair result. On the one hand, I was sure that I had come close to a win, but then ended up being relieved with half a point.