[Event "Tuesday Night Marathon"] [Site "Mechanics Institute"] [Date "2014.7.1"] [Round "6"] [White "Peter Sherwood"] [Black "Nagle"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteELO "1797"] [BlackELO "1402"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 O-O 7. c3 {prepping d4} 7... b5 8. Bc2 {unusual move? maybe good for White since this gives me no shortage of trouble as the game evolves. better than the f8-a2 diagonal?} 8... Bb7 9. d4 d6 10. Nbd2 exd4 {right idea? i didn't know. i just wanted more space for my pieces.} 11. cxd4 Re8 {allowing Bf8 later? I saw this in a few high-level Ruy games I'd gone over. Maybe a bizarre idea development wise.} 12. Nf1 {Had also seen this before in those games. Prepping Ng3} 12... d5 {Good lord. I thought I might get somewhere with a plan of Nb4, c5, break open the center. Instead I just lock up my poor b7 bishop for most of the game. I don't know what the right idea was here, and that really interests me. I don't think this was it.} 13. e5 {Played without a thought. } 13... Nd7 14. Ng3 Nb6 {Where is the piece going? c4? Having trouble finding a good ideal square for my this piece. At this point I wished I'd done more opening prep., since I knew it'd be a Ruy game. I can't figure out Black's plan.} 15. Nf5 Bf8 {Crazy? Dunno. Alternatives I saw were Bb4, but this accelerates Re3 and doesn't seem a stable post, or just letting him take. I thought fairly open board, try to keep the bishops.} 16. Ng5 {I really didn't see where this was going.} 16... f6 {Good move? Bad move? I don't know. I completely missed White's next move. I just thought, hey! It'll give me some space.} 17. Nxh7 {UH OH. I did not see this coming. I am now aware that both of his bishops, both of his knights, and his queen are pointing at my king, and meanwhile three of my pieces are stuck queenside. This seems pretty bad.} 17... Ne7 {Try to reduce the number of attacking pieces. Down to ... 4. sad face.} 18. Nxe7+ Bxe7 {How to recapture? I think this was wrong. Now he has Bg6 and I lose the exchange. } 19. e6 {This is difficult for me, but was it White's best move? My intuition would be to just shuttle all his pieces over to the open kingside and just start squeezing. } 19... Bd6 {I think maybe one day I can use the open h file. Who knows.} 20. Qh5 Qe7 {forced? I dunno. Qf7+ looked grim, as did say Qg6 followed by Bh6. I figured my plan was to trade queens as fast as I could and hope I didn't lose too much or get mated on the way.} 21. Ng5 {Definitely can't take it. after f x g5, White has B x g5 forcing the queen to f8 and leaving mate on h7. Still, I was surprised white didn't go for the Qg6 / Bh6 plan, especially with my dark squared bishop off of f8. } 21... g6 {Also forced? I need to cover h7 somehow.} 22. Qxg6+ {This feels merciful. After Bxg6 I again felt like I was at least losing the exchange.} 22... Qg7 23. Nh7 Qxg6 {Thank god. I felt greatly relieved to have gotten the queens off the board. I'm 2 pawns down, but somehow I feel like I made progress. Maybe delusional, but a helpful delusion!} 24. Bxg6 Re7 {If Nxf6, then I can play Kg7, which I think wins material? After the game my opponent said he missed that. Also, I have 2 minutes here while he has 30+, which remains until we hit move 30.} 25. f4 Rxh7 26. Bxh7+ Kxh7 27. f5 {sigh. that looks bad.} 27... Kg7 {clearing the h file for the rook.} 28. Bd2 Re8 {...but first I wanted to play Nc8 - Ne7, and just make sure I could stop that pawn from advancing any further.} 29. g4 Nc8 30. Rad1 Rh8 31. Re2 Ne7 32. Rf1 {guarding the f pawn while going for g5. Somehow I thought this foreshadowed g5 with the threat of gxf6, with the rook supporting f5, forking king and knight, but I missed that the rook was blocked by f5.} 32... Rh4 {I thought I might have something clever here by prompting him to play Rg2, and then after ...c5 and say, dxc5, ...Bxc5, Kh1, ...d4! and I pin the g2 Rook to the King. So I get him to play Rg2.} 33. Rg2 c5 34. Be3 {So here I feel like I could take (...cxd4), but I just feel like with two rooks on the board, there's no way I can hold the position down, and he's going to get in and finally be able to release the e pawn. So, I commit a sin towards my light square bishop and play c4.} 34... c4 35. Bf4 {I considered Bb4, but after a3, where is the piece going? I guess b6 was a home I didn't consider. Also, I've spent most of my 30 minutes from time control (its 47 to 12 minutes here) and I feel like my brain could benefit from just simplifying (so I can actually calculate.)} 35... Bxf4 36. Rxf4 Kf8 {Wanted to get the king off the g file. Also thought maybe Nxf5 had something, but then I realized he can just take with the f4 rook. } 37. Rgf2 Rh3 {Threatening to get into the position.} 38. R2f3 Rxf3 {I take it. The simplifying when down on time instinct. It doesn't seem terrible for me. } 39. Rxf3 Kg7 {Who knows what the king is doing. I guess making sure the incoming h / g pawns don't get too far.} 40. h4 Bc6 {Trying to get this poor piece active, either via ...Be8 or by moving pawns on the queenside.} 41. Kf2 a5 42. Ke3 b4 {This comes in handy later. I was just trying to free my bishop and wasn't thinking about queening.} 43. Kf4 Ba4 44. g5 {so many white pawns on the kingside...} 44... Bc2 {Considered ...Nxf5 here. I saw that after KxN, I had Bc2, and thought I could force the King to g4, and play ...Bd1 trapping the rook. But I wasn't convinced I could keep it, after gxf6 and a possible rook check. Looking at it now, White can just play Kf4 and is fine. Bc2 seemed simpler.} 45. Ke3 Nxf5+ {I can't tell if removing the e7 blockade is crazy, but I feel like I have to get rid of some kingside pawns.} 46. Rxf5 {This seems like a mistake in hindsight. He must have thought he could promote here.} 46... Bxf5 47. e7 {To my astonishment, I find I'm up a piece and down one pawn here. It's just a matter of stopping the promotion threats.} 47... Bd7 {I considered ...Kf7, but I wasn't convinced it would hold, whereas ...Bd7 seemed safe.} 48. Kf4 fxg5+ {simplifying instinct. so many pawns. Also, if he can protect f6 and play gxf6, that seems horrible.} 49. Kxg5 {here I am stunned to realize this looks like a won endgame for black. I am surprised to find how helpful the queenside pawn moves were, given that I had just been trying to free my light squared bishop.} 49... c3 50. h5 cxb2 51. h6+ Kh7 52. Kf6 b1=Q 53. Kf7 Qf5# {the last few moves I had 10 seconds on the clock, and was playing on increment, but once I saw that I could promote the c pawn I felt like things looked pretty good. so they did!} 0-1

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