Live From The Field - Bedford Chess Club

This one can be subtitled Young Codgers at Work, I suppose. Among the games that I have perpetrated in the past I found the following affair which, from a safe distance, I will share. Bedfordshire held a rapidplay congress in 1985. Having lost my first game badly and pulled myself together reasonably convincingly in round 2, my third opponent was one P Gill. What ensued was not pretty.

  [Event "Bedfordshire Congress"]  [Site "?"]  [Date "1985.10.06"]  [Round "3"]  [White "Gill, P S."]  [Black "Hickman, N."]  [Result "1-0"]  [ECO "C43"]  [Annotator "Hickman,Neil"]  [PlyCount "33"]    1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 {Around this time Peter had been singing the praises of the Petroff and I thought I'd try him with his own favourite weapon. Bad idea.} 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Nxe5 d5 5. Bd3 Bd6 6. O-O O-O 7. c4 c6 8. Nc3 Nf6 $2 ({Something like} 8... Nxc3 9. bxc3 Nd7 10. f4 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Qc7 {is playable for Black.}) 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 dxc4 11. Nxc4 g5 {"Neil has a somewhat reckless style" observed Peter on one occasion, not specifically in connection with this game. Quite.} 12. Nxd6 Qxd6 13. Bg3 Qd8 14. Be5 {Having been recklessly (sic) presented with the two bishops, Peter demonstrates that he knows exactly what to do with them.} Nbd7 15. Re1 Nb6 $2 (15... Nxe5 16. dxe5 Nd5 17. Ne4 Nf4 {keeps Black in the game, just.}) 16. Qf3 Nfd5 $4 17. Qh5 {Ouch.} 1-0