Doyle, Hugh (2044) — O'Mahoney, Keegan (1803)

Irish Intervarsity Championship 2016, Cork IRL, 2016, ½-½

Annotator: O'Mahoney, Keegan

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Start positionPrevious MoveNext MoveEnd positionPlay movesStop playing
1. c4 Hugh and I have played many games where he's played the English (mostly friendlies) and almost always struggle. Usually I choose a different line each time, without really knowing it. This time, I wanted something aggressive to give myself a chance at least. 1...  c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 e5 6. O-O Nge7 7. d3 Not 100% sure if this is the correct move order, but it's pretty close at least 7...  O-O 8. a3 d6 9. Rb1 a5 10. Ne1 f5 So I got the kind of position I wanted with chances to attack his king. 11. Nc2 f4 Preventing Ne3-d5 and continuting with my plan. 12. Bd2 g5 Objectively, my play probably hasn't been the best and I am worse, but I certainly have practical chances, especially in a rapid game 13. b4 axb4 14. axb4 Qe8 Preparing to enter with the queen to h5. If I get a chance, Rf6-h6 then becomes the plan 15. Ne4 I'd seen this but figured I'd give up a pawn to get my attack going. Again, Qe8 was not good objectively and the computer loves Ne4 and white's position 15...  Qh5 16. Nxd6 Bh3 I had originally thought about playing Rf6 here, but figured I didn't want to give up my bishop for Hugh's knight, when it could potentially be an important attacking piece. I would much prefer to trade it for Hugh's defensive bishop 17. Ne4 Preventing the potentially dangeorus Rf6. Incredibly, we had actually been following the game Moreto Quintana - Fernandez Cardoso up until this point, unknown to either myself or Hugh. White played f3 in that game, and black subsequently won 17...  g4 There's no turning back now. Ideas of f3, or Bxg2 and then f3+ 18. f3 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 While I'm certainly not lost here, I think my next move is a mistake 19...  Qh3+ Probably better is cxb4, butas a human, it's quite natural to want to continue your attack ( 19... cxb4 20. Bxb4 ( 20. Nxb4 Nd4 Brings another piece into the game ) 20... Nxb4 21. Rxb4 Nf5 22. Kg1 fxg3 23. hxg3 Nxg3 A nice line suggested by the computer 24. Nxg3 Qh3 25. Rf2 Surprisingly the only move for an advantage ( 25. Ne4 g3 26. Nxg3 Qxg3+ 27. Kh1 Rf5 ) ( 25. Qe1 Is only good enough for a draw 25... gxf3 26. Rxf3 Rxf3 27. exf3 Ra2 28. Qf2 Rxc2 29. Qxc2 Qxg3+ 30. Kf1 Qxf3+ 31. Qf2 Qd1+ 32. Qe1 Qf3+ 33. Kg1 e4 34. Rb5 Qg4+ 35. Kh2 Bh6 ) 25... gxf3 ( 25... Qxg3+ Taking the knight immediately is good for white 26. Rg2 Qh3 27. Rxb7 Ra6 28. Rxg4 ) 26. exf3 ( 26. Rxf3 Rxf3 27. exf3 Qxg3+ 28. Kf1 Qh3+ 29. Kf2 Qh2+ 30. Ke1 Qh1+ 31. Kd2 Bh6+ 32. Ke2 Qg2+ 33. Ke1 Ra2 ) 26... Qxg3+ 27. Rg2 Qxf3 And the game goes on ) 20. Kg1 Nf5 Another mistake, but I had planned this when I played Qh3. The problem was that I had missed Hugh's response ( 20... gxf3 21. exf3 ) 21. Nf2 An obvious move, but a good one. I felt things had gone wrong at this point and indeed I am now completely lost 21...  Qh6 Best 22. Nxg4 fxg4 was much better ( 22. fxg4 Nfd4 23. Nxd4 Nxd4 24. bxc5 My attack is dwindling and white has too many pawns ) 22...  Qg6 23. e4 Nxg3 A nice idea that keeps me in the game. fxe3 was probably the other playable move. In each case though, I am still near lost. Certainly, Nxg3 is more direct ( 23... fxe3 24. Ngxe3 Rfd8 ) 24. hxg3 h5 The point 25. Nf2 If Nh2 the knight is actually trapped after fxg3, however that might actually be best! ( 25. Nh2 fxg3 26. bxc5 Rf7 27. Kg2 gxh2+ 28. Kxh2 Qf6 And again, the game goes on but white has a clear advantage ) 25...  Qxg3+ 26. Kh1 Qh4+ 27. Kg2 And now it's just a draw. I considered Rf6 here, but after Rh1 his king runs away 1/2-1/2

Thanks to Chess Tempo for the Pgn Game player.

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