7 October 2019 - Central League Division 2

Updated 9 October 2019

Stirling B		v		Stirling C
Brad Duthie David McAlister Dave Hewitt John Blake Richard Warcup	1494 1567 1547 1531 1463	½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	1425 1398 1389 1413 1284	Martyn Roe Aaron Nobile Tom Wallace Tony Pitson Gordon Allcock
		3½ - 1½

Dave Hewitt has annotated his game, describing it as "the first really lively one I've had for a while, after a series of quiet encounters."

[Event "Central League Division 2"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.10.07"] [Round "?"] [White "Wallace, Tom "] [Black "Hewitt, Dave"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C00"] [Annotator "Hewitt"] [PlyCount "44"] [EventDate "2019.10.07"] [SourceVersionDate "2019.10.08"] {[%evp 0,44,16,28,55,-4,-9,-6,-6,-49,-49,-86,-40,-57,-47,-119,-81,-54,-17,-10, 21,-23,-38,-49,-34,-63,-31,-45,-53,-71,-47,-276,-198,-198,0,-1652,-1706,-2169, -2209,-2375,-2876,-2491,-29990,-29991,-29992,-29995,-2290]} {My game against Tom was an interesting scrap which, as often in suddenly unstable positions, included a defensive resource (for White) which we both missed and which would potentially have led to equality. The first crucial point came at move 15. Before that it was pretty quiet - Tom got behind in development but I didn't manage to take the initiative.} 1. e4 e6 2. b3 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. h3 Be7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. c4 Re8 {This was a rudimentary trap, as something such as 8 Bb2 allows 8 ...Bb4#, not that Tom was ever going to fall for that (and I felt slightly bad/rude about setting it up at the time, as 8 ...c5 would have been better long-term).} 8. Be2 c6 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Re1 Ne4 11. a3 Ndf6 12. Bd3 Bf5 13. c5 h6 14. Bf4 Nh5 15. Bxh6 {I'd expected 15 Bh2 (which, like Be3 or Be5, gives White a slight edge according to the computer), but after quite a long think Tom opted to liven things up with 15 Bxh6. This doesn't work, and the machine reckons I should just have taken the piece, but I'd been eyeing-up an f2 sac of my own and now, with the dark-squared Bishop having gone elsewhere, it proved too tempting to resist, hence} Nxf2 16. Kxf2 ({Tom had to take this - if the Queen moves, eg} 16. Qd2 {then} Nxd3 {wins without much fuss but there now came the second key moment.}) 16... Bh4+ {Instead of this check, I should have taken one of the pieces - 16 ...Bxd3 or ...gxh6, with a solid advantage. However, 16 ...Bh4+ looked obvious and I played it without much analysis.} 17. Nxh4 {After this capture it's just lost - once the Queen comes in with check it's too strong and everything collapses quickly, as the Bd3 drops with check and can't be recaptured because of 19 ...Rxe1#.} ({But after 16 ...Bh4+, Tom had scope to play the calm} 17. Kg1 {the point being that after } Bxe1 {White has} 18. Bg5 {and then after} f6 {the loose Bf5 (which I'd been worried about throughout the combination) drops, viz.} 19. Bxf5 fxg5 20. Nxe1 { and White is OK. Complicated stuff, but instructive given that there's so often a moment like this within an attack when the defender can fend things off.}) 17... Qxh4+ 18. Kf1 Bxd3+ 19. Re2 Bxe2+ 20. Qxe2 Ng3+ 21. Kg1 Nxe2+ 22. Kh2 Qxh6 {White resigned.} ({At the end - which is horrible for White, as suddenly all of black's pieces are on the right squares - I thought I'd missed a mate, not that it mattered by then, and indeed I had} 22... Qg3+ 23. Kh1 Qe1+ 24. Kh2 Qg1#) 0-1