[Event "4NCL Congress Open"]
[Site "The Old Swan, Harrogate"]
[Date "2023.01.21"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Davies, Nigel R (2422)"]
[Black "Burrows, Martin P (2183)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2422"]
[BlackElo "2183"]
[EventDate "????.??.??"]
[ECO "A46"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[Annotator "Nigel Davies"]
[Board "1"]
[Opening "Torre Attack: Classical Defense, Nimzowitsch Variation"]
[UTCDate "2023.01.21"]
[UTCTime "17:39:45"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]

{Having been to to the Harrogate 4NCL Congress as a chess parent, it made an
interesting change to go there as a player. As usual with 4NCL Congresses, the
event was superbly organized and the playing conditions were great.





As far as the chess was concerned, I do seem to be getting rid of the years of
caked on rust, managing to finish equal first. This was my best game:} 1.d4 Nf6 
2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 {I've tried the Torre Attack in a few games recently, also
against 2...g6.} 3...h6 4.Bh4 d6 5.Nbd2 g5 6.Bg3 Nh5 7.e4 Bg7 8.c3 O-O 9.Ng1 $5 
( {This appears to be a new move, though this has been tried against Black's
other 8th moves; I wanted to force Black to capture on g3 so as to have the open
h-file. A high level internet game varied at this point with} 9.Bd3 Nd7 10.Nc4 
Qe7 11.Nfd2 Nxg3 12.hxg3 c5 {when both sides had chances in Dmitry Andreikin
2743 - Alexander Grischuk 2747, ICC Open Final 2016, ICC INT (3.6), 2016.} ) 
9...Nxg3 10.hxg3 c5 11.dxc5 dxc5 $6 {This obvious move leaves Black struggling
to get counterplay.} ( 11...d5 $1 {was better, with complex play.} ) 12.f4 ( 
12.e5 {was probably even better, but I didn't consider this move.} ) 12...b6 
13.Qh5 gxf4 {I felt that Black should delay or avoid this move because he loses
defensive possibilities based on ...f7-f5 and ...g5-g4. Even so, it might have
been playable in conjunction with 15...Qg6.} 14.gxf4 Qf6 15.Nh3 Bb7 ( 15...Qg6 
{was the best try, though Black's position still seems quite difficult after} 
16.Qh4 {.} ) 16.O-O-O Rd8 17.Bc4 {The pressure against e6 effectively rules out
defensive possibilities based on ...Qg6. Meanwhile White just wants to set his
attack in motion with g2-g4 or e4-e5, and this prompted the following exchange
sacrifice.} 17...Rxd2 18.Rxd2 Bxe4 19.Re1 {Simple and strong. Black confessed to
having missed that 19...Bg6 is answered by 20.Qf3.} 19...Bb7 20.f5 $1 e5 21.Rd6 
$1 Qe7 ( 21...Qxd6 {allows mate in two via} 22.Qxf7+ Kh7 23.Qg8# {.} ) 22.Rg6 ( 
{Not bad, but an even faster way was via} 22.f6 Bxf6 23.Qg6+ Bg7 24.Rxe5 $1 
{etc..} ) 22...Nd7 23.Qxh6 Qf8 24.Ng5 Nf6 25.Rh1 {A picturesque finish, for
those who like that kind of thing. Black is helpless against the threat of
26.Qh8#.} 1-0

