[Event "Holiday Inn South Normanton"]
[Site "23rd 4NCL Congress"]
[Date "2019.10.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Arkell, Keith"]
[Black "Redacted"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[Annotator "Keith"]
[EventDate "2019.10.05"]

{Gone are the days when a GM could turn up for a Weekend Open and start off by
duffing up a couple of 170s while on autopilot. Here I began with Black
against an extremely competent 197 graded player - Alan Agnew from Leicester.
With the aid of the clock I won a tough scrap, netting me just 0.8 of a FIDE
rating point!  Then in round 2 just what you don't want: a gifted 15-year old
already graded 199. And 40+ years on the circuit has taught me that today's
190s are far stronger than they were back in the '80s ( and, incidentally,
ditto re 170s).} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7
7. Bc3 {7 Bg2 is more common here, but my idea is to meet 7...c6 with 8 Nbd2
d5 9 Ne5 Nfd7 with 10 Nd3, when my c-pawn is adequately protected.} O-O {
Back in 1997 Mickey Adams went for the 2 Bishops, with 7...Ne4, but I stood
better all game:  Arkell,Keith C (2545) - Adams,Michael (2665) [A46] 4NCL 96/
97.   1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bc3 Ne4 8.Bg2
Nxc3 9.Nxc3 c6 10.d5 0-0 11.0-0 exd5 12.cxd5 c5 13.Re1 Bf6 14.Rc1 d6 15.
Nd2 Nd7 16.Nc4 Bxc3 17.Rxc3 f5 18.Bh3 Qc7 19.e4 b5 20.Nd2 b4 21.Rf3 fxe4 22.
Nxe4 Rxf3 23.Qxf3 Rf8 24.Qh5 Bd3 25.Bf5 g6 26.Bxg6 hxg6 27.Qxg6+ Kh8 28.Qh6+
Kg8 29.Qg6+ Kh8 30.Qh6+ Kg8 31.Qg5+ Kh8 32.Qh5+ Kg8 33.Qg6+  1/2-1/2} 8. Bg2 d5
9. Ne5 Bb7 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Nd2 Qc8 {I felt that this plan was a little
laborious, whereas the natural 11...c5 should be fine for Black.} 12. Rc1 {
I was tempted to play something neutral such as 12 e3 to meet 12...dcx4 with
13 Nc6 with a clear advantage, but my move is aimed against ...c5.} dxc4 13.
Nxd7 {I wasn't convinced by 13 Nc6 Ba3 14 Bb2 Bxc6 15 Bxa3 Bxg2 16 Kxg2 c5,
although I might have a small edge with 17 Nxc4, but instead I settled for a
position with more pawns in the centre.} Nxd7 14. bxc4 Bxg2 15. Kxg2 Qb7+ 16.
e4 c5 {I was surprised by this, expecting something like 16...Rad8 .Instead
16...f5 only weakens Black's position after eg 17 Qf3 or 17 Re1.} 17. d5 exd5
18. exd5 {18 cxd5 is also very nice for White, but it is interesting how
sometimes your decisions can be influenced by past experiences. Another game
against Mickey Adams, this time from 30 years ago, went like this:   Arkell,
Keith C (2450) - Adams,Michael (2505) [E15] BCF-ch, 1989   1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.
Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2 Ba6 7.b3 c6 8.Bg2 d5 9.Ne5 0-0 10.0-0
Nfd7 11.Nd3 dxc4 12.Nb4 Bb7 13.bxc4 Qc8 14.Nd3 c5 15.d5 exd5 16.cxd5 Re8 17.
Nc3 Na6 18.Nb5 Qb8 19.Nb2 Nf6 20.Nc4 Ne4 21.Bxe4 Rxe4 22.Ncd6 Re7 23.e4 Nc7 24.
Nf5 Rd7 25.Nbd6 f6 26.Nxb7 Qxb7 27.Rfe1 Ne8 28.f4 Nd6 29.Nxd6 Rxd6 30.Rad1
Rad8 31.g4 b5 32.Qe3 c4 33.Re2 b4 34.Qc5 c3 35.Kf2 Rb6 36.Qc4 a5 37.e5 fxe5 38.
fxe5 Rc8 39.Qd4 a4 40.d6 c2 41.Rc1 b3 42.axb3 axb3 43.Qb2 Rf8+ 44.Kg1 Rb4 45.
h3 Qf3 46.Rg2 Qe3+  0-1} Bf6 19. Ne4 Bxc3 20. Rxc3 {My advantage is almost
decisive already. I have the more active pieces and better pawn structure.}
Rab8 21. a4 a6 22. Re1 Rfd8 23. Qh5 {I toyed with 23 Nd6 Qc7 24 Nxf7!? Kxf7 25
Qh5+ but wasn't completely convinced.} Nf8 24. a5 {It wasn't easy to decide
between this and continuing the build-up with 24 Rce3.} b5 {Other moves leave
Black's pawn structure in tatters.} 25. Nxc5 Qc8 {I'll emerge at least a pawn
up wherever he puts the Queen, eg 25...Qa8 26 Re7 Ng6 27 Rc7 bxc4 28 Nd7! or
25...Qc7 ( the move I expected) 26 Nxa6 Qxa5 27 Nxb8 Qxc3 28 Re3 Qxc4 Nc6 with
the decisive Ne7+ and then Qxf7 to follow.} 26. Nd3 Rd6 {I hadn't seen this
move, planning to meet 27 c5 with 27...Rh6 when Black obtains counterplay, but
I soon found a decisive antidote:} 27. Ne5 Rb7 28. Qf3 bxc4 29. Rxc4 Qa8 30.
Nc6 Rf6 31. Rf4 Nd7 32. Ne7+ Kh8 33. Rxf6 Nxf6 34. d6 Qb8 35. Rc1 1-0