An interesting game from the Bedford tournament 2013.

Thinking back over four decades of chess in and around Bedford, there are probably a few of his own games which "that Hickman bloke" will wish to annotate, now that he (allegedly) has time on his hands. But this interesting struggle is one which I watched rather than taking part. It was played in round 5 of the tournament which took place in Bedford in the summer of 2013.

Adrian Matthews of Leighton Buzzard was unlucky not to score the full point against a strong (ELO 1968) opponent – but also, Black displayed some good practical technique at the crucial moment.

     [Event " e2e4.org.uk  Bedford U2000"]   [Site "?"]   [Date "2013.09.22"]   [Round "5"]   [White "Matthews, Adrian "]   [Black "Bowman, Richard "]   [Result "1/2-1/2"]   [ECO "B02"]   [WhiteElo "1879"]   [BlackElo "1968"]   [Annotator "Hickman,Neil"]   [PlyCount "96"]   [EventDate "2013.??.??"]     1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nxd5 4. Bc4 c6 5. Qf3 Nf6 6. h3 {All 'book' to here; it's worth a move for White to keep Black minor pieces out of g4. White has a slight advantage but nothing terribly significant as yet.} Nbd7 7. d4 Nb6 8. Bb3 g6 9. Nge2 Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Bf4 Nbd5 12. Nxd5 Nxd5 13. Be5 Be6 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. c4 Nf6 16. Rfd1 Qa5 17. Nf4 Bf5 18. Qe3 $1 ({White is on the alert. Continuing with routine development by} 18. Rac1 {would allow Black to equalise straight away by hitting back in the centre with} e5 $1) 18... Rfe8 {Now Fritz wants to play 19 c5 which a human player would instinctively reject because of the hole created   on d4. Instead Adrian plays} 19. g4 $5 {Setting Black an awkward little problem...} Bd7 $2 ({...with which he fails to deal. It was necessary to counterattack with} 19... e5 $1 {when after} 20. dxe5 ({the tempting} 20. gxf5 {doesn't prove comfortable after} exf4 21. Qxf4 Re2 22. fxg6 hxg6 $17) 20...Rxe5 21. Qg3 Bc8 {the position is level}) 20. Qe5 $1 {Adrian seizes the opportunity. Two moves ago the position was pretty level. Now White is winning - but Black has plenty of opportunity to make trouble, and manages to do so.} Qb6 $2 (20... Qd8 {(defending the d7 bishop) would have limited the damage}) 21. g5 a5 22. d5 $1 {The knight can wait. Adrian plays this part of the game really forcefully} a4 23. Bc2 Kg8 24. gxf6 exf6 25. Qd4 $4 {There was no reason not to grab the f6 pawn; and in fact the move played should lose. I suspect that like most of us have done from time to time, Adrian was thinking - I have won material, getting the queens off is the best way to win. In fact...} c5 $4 ({...had Black found} 25... Re1+ $1 26. Kg2 Qxd4 27. Rxd4 Rxa1 {it would have been Black with the luxury of wondering how to exploit his extra material.}) 26. Qc3 Qd6 27. Qf3 Re5 28. Re1 Rae8 29. Kf1 b5 30. b3 Kg7 31. Bd3 bxc4 32. bxc4 a3 33. Rab1 Bf5 $4 {This really is an absurd move. The very best Black can hope for is swapping most of the heavy pieces off, with a losing endgame} 34. Bxf5 Rxe1+ 35. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 36. Kxe1 Qe5+ 37. Qe4 (37. Kd2 gxf5 38. Nh5+ Kf8 39. Qc3 {seems to squelch Black's counterplay, but offering the exchange of queens with two extra pieces is reasonable enough}) 37... Qa1+ 38. Qb1 Qc3+ 39. Kf1 gxf5 40. Qxf5 Qxc4+ 41. Kg2 Qxa2 $1 {Excellent practical play by Black. This move does in fact leave White with a forced win, but White has to find that win - and with the clock ticking he fails to do so. And the pawn lurking on the sixth rank is going to prey on White's nerves...} 42. Nh5+ Kh6 $1 {This way it's mate in 13 rather than mate in 5!} 43. Nxf6 Qc4 {White to play and win} 44. Qxh7+ $2 ({Often, it is a good policy to drag an enemy king into the open to checkmate him - but by} 44. Qh5+ Kg7 45. Qg5+ Kf8 46. d6 $1 {(crucially depriving the king of the escape square on e7, while his own pawn blocks f7) White could have forced a rapid mate. As I have learned to my cost on numerous occasions, Adrian's no patzer, but this underlines the good sense behind the cynical saying 'Patzer sees a check; gives a check'.  When king-hunting, cutting off the king's escape route often achieves more than giving check. But in the heat of the game, 'When I give check I am afraid of nobody,' as one player proudly (and misguidedly) told Alexander Kotov, according to his book 'Think like a Grandmaster'.}) 44... Kg5 45. Ne4+ ({Better } 45. Qg7+ Kf5 46. Qxf7 {when after the ominous} a2 {White has} 47. Ng4+ Ke4 48. Qg6+ Kd4 49. Qf6+ {taking control of the queening square. Much easier to find in the calm of the study than under the pressure of the tournament hall,   of course.}) 45... Kf4 46. Qh4+ Ke5 47. Qe7+ Kf4 48. Qh4+ (48. Ng3 {renewing the mate threat would still win, but it's understandable that Adrian doesn't want to take any risks with that nasty little pawn two squares from becoming a queen.}) 48... Ke5 1/2-1/2