15-11-23 Grangemouth A v Stirling A

Grangemouth A		v		Stirling A
Alan Bell John McLay Graham Hamilton David Wallace Alan Petrie	1949 1948 1936 1776 1572	½ - ½ 1 - 0 ½ - ½ ½ - ½ 1 - 0	1755 1771 1703 1632 1520	William Spiers Jim Shemilt Graham Anderson Steve Smith Brad Duthie
		3½ - 1½

Below is my game from board 3, where I had Black against Graham H. It got very complicated in parts, and for the benefit of the juniors (who think this term is hilarious), it includes a majestic Bishop.

[Event "Grangemouth A v Stirling A"] [Site "Grangemouth CC"] [Date "2023.11.15"] [Round ""] [White "Hamilton, G"] [Black "Anderson, G"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 Be7 4. e5 Nd5 5. Bd2 d6 6. c4 Nb6 7. Qg4 dxe5 8. dxe5 g6 { Stockfish prefers g5. } 9. Nf3 N8d7 10. Nc3 Nc5 { Heading for d3. } 11. O-O-O Nd3+ 12. Bxd3 Qxd3 { Now that I'm here, I'm not so convinced it's good. The pawn on c4 is hanging - 13 b3 falls to 13 ... Ba3#. } 13. Nb5 { All of the black holes around f6/g7/h6 make this tricky for Black. The next move is an attempt to block White's black squared bishop from getting to them. } 13... h5 14. Qf4 Bd8 { 14 ... 0-0 falls to 15 Bb4 Qxc4+ 16 Qxc4 Nxc4 17 Bxe7 } 15. Ba5 { Analysis after the game found 15 Bc3 - which prevents 15 ... Qxc4 being check. } 15... Qxc4+ 16. Qxc4 Nxc4 17. Bxc7 Bd7 18. Nd6+ Nxd6 19. Bxd6 Be7 { 19 ... Bc6 looks good, but my first priority was to get rid of the strong-looking Bishop on d6. } 20. Kb1 Bxd6 21. Rxd6 Bc6 22. Rhd1 Bd5 { The rook on d6 is now trapped. } 23. Ne1 Ke7 24. f3 { This just seemed like a wasted move. My reply isn't much better... } 24... f6 25. f4 fxe5 26. fxe5 Rhf8 { Stockfish recommends Rad8 instead, but I still think I can win this rook. } 27. Nd3 Rf5 28. Nc5 Rxe5 { 28 ... b6 puts the Knight back in its box } 29. Rd7+ Kf6 30. Nxb7 Rb8 31. Nd6 Re2 32. b3 a5 33. Rf1+ Kg5 34. Nf7+ Kg4 35. Ra7 Rxg2 36. Rxa5 Rxh2 37. Ra4+ Kg3 { Draw agreed, although Stockfish has Black as at least +2 here. } 1/2-1/2