Horsham Club Quickplay Knockout 2016-17: Mansson – Higgs

   [Event "Horsham Club Quickplay Knockout"]  [Site "Horsham"]  [Date "2017.5.30"]  [Round "5.1"]  [White "Mansson, James C"]  [Black "Higgs, Anthony RJ"]  [Result "1/2-1/2"]  [Eco "B00"]  [Annotator ""]  [Source ""]   1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.Be3 e6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Be2 d5 7.exd5 {I decided on this exchange rather than e5, because I was afraid of ...Ne4. However that may not be that good, and the retreat to d7 better.} ( 7.e5 Ne4 {?} {!} ( 7...Nd7 {is better, with an unclear position.} ) 8.Nxe4 dxe4 9.Nd2 Bxe2 10.Qxe2 {and now taking the pawn with} Nxd4 {is met by} {?} {!} 11.Bxd4 Qxd4 12.Qb5+ Qd7 13.Qxb7 Qd5 14.Qxc7 {and White is clearly better.} ) Nxd5 8.Nxd5 exd5 9.O-O {This is a rather dull position with a pawn structure reminiscent of the Petroff.} Bd6 10.h3 Bh5 11.Ne5 Bxe2 12.Qxe2 O-O ( 12...Nxe5 {?} 13.dxe5 Bxe5 {?} 14.Bd4 $20) ( 12...Bxe5 13.dxe5 Nxe5 {?} 14.Bd4 $20) 13.Nxc6 ( 13.f4 {!} {?} ) bxc6 14.Qf3 {White looks for a kingside attack, but lacks the pieces to do so. Meanwhile, Black has counterplay on both flanks.} Rb8 15.b3 f5 16.Bf4 Qf6 17.c3 Rfe8 18.Rfe1 Re4 {Black threatened to seize control of the e-file with ...Rbe8, so the exchange of bishop then rook seems advisable here.} 19.Bxd6 cxd6 20.Rxe4 fxe4 ( 20...dxe4 {was also worth considering.} ) 21.Qxf6 gxf6 {The endgame is unclear.} 22.Rc1 c5 23.Rd1 Rd8 ( 23...c4 {seemed most natural.} 24.b4 a5 25.bxa5 {!?} {is interesting. The passed a-pawn is a sufficient distraction to stop the Black rook penetrating.} ) 24.c4 dxc4 25.bxc4 ( 25.dxc5 cxb3 26.axb3 ) d5 {?} {!} ( 25...Rb8 ) 26.dxc5 d4 27.c6 d3 28.Kf1 ( 28.f3 {!} e3 29.c7 Re8 ( 29...Rc8 30.Rxd3 Rxc7 31.Rxe3 Rxc4 32.Ra3 ) 30.c8=Q Rxc8 31.Rxd3 Rxc4 32.Rxe3 Ra4 33.Re2 {and White has winning chances.} ) Rc8 29.f3 f5 30.g4 ( 30.Kf2 ) Rxc6 31.gxf5 Rxc4 32.fxe4 Rxe4 33.Rxd3 Rf4+ {Black offered a draw which White accepted.} 34.Z0 ( 34.Ke2 Rxf5 35.Rd8+ Kg7 36.Rd7+ Rf7 37.Rxf7+ Kxf7 $10{leads to a drawn endgame.} ) 1/2-1/2   [Event "Horsham Club Quickplay Knockout"]  [Site "Horsham"]  [Date "2017.5.30"]  [Round "5.2"]  [White "Higgs, Anthony RJ"]  [Black "Mansson, James C"]  [Result "0-1"]  [Eco "A48"]  [Annotator ""]  [Source ""]   1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 g6 {White hopes to improve on the standard London System by delaying Nf3, but against ...g6 there is no particular value in this.} {!} 3.h3 Bg7 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 cxd4 7.cxd4 Nc6 8.Nc3 d6 9.Nf3 Nb4 {!} {?} 10.Bb1 Nbd5 11.Bh2 {?!} {This allows Black to create a weak pawn on c3 and weak square on c4.} ( 11.Nxd5 Nxd5 12.Bg3 Bd7 13.O-O Rc8 {is fine for Black, but there are not the same targets to aim for.} ) Nxc3 12.bxc3 Be6 13.O-O Bc4 ( 13...Rc8 14.Qd2 Qc7 15.Rc1 Qc6 {may be even stronger.} ) 14.Bd3 Qc7 15.Qe2 Rfc8 16.Rfc1 Ne4 17.Nd2 Nxd2 18.Qxd2 Bxd3 19.Qxd3 Qc4 20.Qxc4 Rxc4 {Black clearly has the better chances in this endgame, due to the White weaknesses.} 21.Rab1 b6 22.Rb4 Rac8 23.Rxc4 Rxc4 24.Kf1 e5 {!} {This chips away at the White pawn structure, which was forming a barrier against the Black bishop.} 25.dxe5 dxe5 26.Ke2 e4 27.Kd2 f5 28.Bb8 a6 ( 28...Ra4 {!?} {may be stronger.} ) 29.Ba7 Rc6 30.c4 Kf7 31.c5 b5 32.Bb6 Ke6 33.Ke2 Bf8 34.Rd1 {?} {This drops a pawn, leading to a lost endgame.} Bxc5 35.Bxc5 ( 35.Rc1 Rxb6 36.Rxc5 Kd6 {is not really any better.} ) Rxc5 {and Black went on to win with his extra pawn.} 0-1