S. Thompson (1472) - P. Moss (1560) [E61]

OXL vs Wantage 3, 14 Dec 2010


1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Bd3 c5 7. O-O Bg4 8. d5 Nbd7 9. Rb1 Probably not a necessary move 9... Ne5 Threatening either to disrupt White's pawn structure or to remove the c4 pawn 10. Be2 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 Nxc4 12. Be2 I wasn't sure here whether to transfer Knight to join other pieces on K side or place it on b6. I elected for the latter. 12... Nb6 13. e4 e6 14. Bf3 e5 15. Be3 Ne8 16. Qd2 f5 The classic move at this stage to open up the position and start the K side attack 17. Bg5 Qd7 18. Bh6 Both of White's Bishops are looking short of good squares 18... f4 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Qe2 Nf6 21. b3 g5 22. h3 Rh8 23. Bh5 Rag8 24. Qf3 Kf8 25. g3 This wasn't the right choice - White hadn't seen Black's next move. I've found that the big push on K side often encourages White to move either the g or h pawns when often leaving them on the second rank would have been the better idea. 25... Qxh3 spells doom for White 26. Nb5 Nc8 27. Nc7 Qxh5 28. Ne6+ Ke7 29. Qd3 Ng4 30. Kg2 Qh2+ f3+ would have been slightly better here 31. Kf3 h5 31... fxg3 32. Kxg4 Qg2 33. Rh1 h5+ 34. Rxh5 Rxh5 35. Kxh5 Qh3# would have been a nice finish; unfortunately I didn't see it... 32. Rh1 Qxf2# 0-1 [PM]