(1) Boustred,N (116) - Anandajeyarajah,S (100) [C05]
27th Blackpool Chess Conference (5), 09.03.2003
[Chris Rice]

The following game would probably have never seen the light of day if Weekend Chess did not exist. The game swings widely and is riddled with mistakes, but it's more exciting than any Grandmaster games I've seen lately!

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ngf3 cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 9.Bd3 Qb6 10.Bb1 Bb4
[10...Nxd4 capturing the d-pawn is extremely risky, but it may be just about playable 11.Nxd4 Qxd4 12.Qh5+ Ke7 or; 10...fxe5 11.fxe5 Nxd4 12.Nxd4 Qxd4 13.Qh5+ Kd8 ]

11.Kf2?
a3 looked fine when Black does not really have anything better than 11...Be7.

11...fxe5
Obviously it was also possible to play 11...Nxd4 which is equally as effective as the text.

12.fxe5 Ncxe5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5
Perhaps even better is 13...Qxd4+ which gives White no chances at all.

14.Qh5+ Nf7 15.Nf3 g6 16.Bxg6 hxg6 17.Qxg6 Be7 18.Rd1 Bd7?
Played on autopilot I suspect, which lets White back into the game. 18...Kf8! would have avoided the problems Black now faces.

19.Ne5 Rf8 20.Bh6 0-0-0!
A very practical solution, White now has many ways to play but none of them are good enough.

21.Bxf8
[A better try would have been 21.Rac1+ Kb8 22.Nxd7+ Rxd7 23.Bxf8 Bxf8 24.Kg1 although its fairly clear that Black has a slight advantage here as well.]

21...Nxe5?
[Better here is 21...Qxb2+ not so much to capture the pawn but to prevent the White queen check at c2. Then after 22.Kg1 Nxe5 23.Rac1+ Kb8 24.Qg3 Rxf8 25.Qxe5+ Ka8 Black is clearly winning.]

22.Qc2+ Kb8??
[22...Qc6! holds the position together.]

23.Bxe7 Ng4+ 24.Kg3?
This game is becoming an epic! Much safer was 24 Kg1 and that should be that.

24...Rg8!
Again the game hangs in the balance.

25.Kf3 Nxh2+ 26.Kf4??
What on earth was Black thinking here? It looks like he was in a complete panic, which I guess given the way the game has been going is quite understandable. I think he could have taken a draw with 26.Kf2 and I can't see anything better than 26...Ng4+ 27.Kf3 Nh2+ but then again, maybe White was playing for the win. If so, that was a big mistake.

26...e5+! 27.Ke3 exd4+
[27...Qh6+ was even better, but the text will do nicely.]

28.Kf2 d3+ 29.Qc5 Qxb2+ 30.Ke3 Qe2+ 31.Kd4 Rg4+ 32.Kc3 Qc2#
What a fantastic game! 0-1