22-02-2023 Grangemouth B v Stirling B

Grangemouth B		v		Stirling B
Alan Petrie Daniel Kitaev Ian Mason Bill Gray Nicholas Kitaev	1711 1633 1626 1543	0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 1 - 0 0 - 1	1670 1513 1489 1562 1487	Graham Anderson Nathanael Loch Bill Cook Dave Hewitt Sean Flanagan
		2½ - 2½

The first of two games from this match - this is the board 1 game, where I had White against Alan Petrie.

[Event "Grangemouth B v Stirling B"] [Site "Grangemouth CC"] [Date "2023.02.23"] [Round "-"] [White "Anderson, G"] [Black "Petrie, A"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Bd3 e6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. e5 Nd5 6. a3 c5 7. c3 Nc6 { It's here I started thinking about c4. 8 c4 Nc7 or e7 9 d5 exd5 10 cxd5 Nxd5 11 Bc4 Nce7 and I can't see that this is worth a pawn. } 8. O-O f5 { I'm still not entirely sure that the c4 plan is solid, but with the pawn on f5 at least I don't lose a pawn. } 9. c4 Nc7 10. d5 exd5 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. Bxf5 Nde7 { Alan thought afterwards that Nce7 may have been better. Stockfish is undecided. } 13. Bg5 Qc7 14. Bh3 h6 15. Bh4 g5 16. Bg3 O-O-O 17. Nc3 Ba6 { I'm still trying to work out how to make e6 work, and how to reply to d6. Should I just ignore the rook attack? Stockfish is screaming Qa4. } 18. Re1 Kb7 19. Ne4 Rg8 20. Nd6+ Ka8 21. Qa4 Bd3 22. Rad1 Bh7 { I've been trying to work out the best time to play e6 - Stockfish says now. I, on the other hand, still can't work out to reply after d6. } 23. Nf7 g4 24. Bxg4 Rxg4 25. Qxg4 Bf5 { Stockfish still recommends e6 for White. } 26. Qa4 Re8 27. e6 { Black resigns. There aren't many good option here. Qb7 or Qc8 falls to Nd6 and the loss of the scond rook, still with the threat of exd7. Stockfish recommends b5 Qxb5 Qb6 Qxb6 axb6 exd7 which loses a bishop. } 1-0

Thanks to Sean for the game below from board 5, where he had White against young Nicholas.

[Event "Grangemouth b v Stirling B"] [Site "Grangemouth CC"] [Date "2023.02.22"] [Round "-"] [White "Flanagan, S"] [Black "Kitaev, N"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A08"] [Opening "King's Indian Attack: Sicilian Variation"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 g6 4. d4 Bg7 5. O-O cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nc6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. c4 e6 9. Nc3 Ne7 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Bf4 { I was trying to tempt e5 here with a view to Nxd5 - the engine likes this but thinks after e5 Bg5 is even stronger } 11... Ba6?? (11... e5 12. Nxd5 (12. Bg5 f6 13. Nxd5 fxg5 14. Nxe7) 12... exf4 (12... Nxd5 13. Bxd5 Rb8 14. Bc6+ Bd7 15. Bg5 f6 16. Bxd7+ Qxd7 17. Be3 Rxb2) 13. Nxe7 Qxe7 14. Bxa8) 12. Qa4+ { [%eval 7.82] } 12... Qd7 13. Qxa6 O-O 14. Bd6 Rac8 15. Qa3 Rfe8 16. Bxe7 Rxe7 17. Rac1 Rb8 18. Rfd1 Ree8 19. b3 Rec8 20. Na4 Qb5 21. e3 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 Qe2 23. Qd6 Rf8 24. Qa3 Qd2 25. b4 d4 26. exd4 Bxd4 27. Rf1 Rb8 28. Nc5 Bb2?! (28... Qxb4 29. Qxb4 Rxb4 30. Nb3 Bb6 31. Rc1 h5 32. Bf1 h4 33. Rc4 hxg3 34. hxg3 Rxb3 35. axb3) 29. Qxa7 Qxb4 30. Nd3 { Lots of alternative moves here - nearly played Na6 to win the rook - but the simplest ending looked to be to get rid of the dark squared bishop and then just push the pawn due to my time trouble. With that off the board and the bishop on g2 supporting I couldn't see a way black could stop a promotion without sacking } (30. Na6 Qb6 31. Qxb8+ Qxb8 32. Nxb8) 30... Qb5 31. Nxb2 Qxb2 32. a4 Rf8 33. a5 Qa3 34. a6 { Black resigns. } 1-0