1. Nf3 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 f5 4. d4 Nf6 5. g3 O-O 6. Bg2 d6 7. O-O Qe8

After a slightly unusual move order we reached one of the main lines of the Leningrad Dutch.

8. d5 Na6 9. Nd4 Bd7 10. a3

10. Rb1 is more common.

10... c6 11. dxc6 bxc6

This is all theory so far. White should play b4 here.

12. f4?

That weakens the white king and blocks the way of the bishop. White is hindering e5, but it was not threatening yet, as Black would have had problems with the pawns on d6 and c6.

12. b4!.

12... Nc5

12... Rc8! looks better, delivering the queen from her defending task, so she can move to f7, attacking the c4 pawn. 13. b4 (13. Qa4 Nc5 14. Qxa7 Qd8! I did not see that during the game. This move just takes away the escape squares from the white queen) 13... Qf7! 14. Qd3 c5.

13. Kh1 a5 14. Be3 Rb8

Black has a lot of possibilities here; it is hard to say which is the best. I opted for the rook move, because it is the most principled: putting the rook on the semi-open file!

14... Ng4.

14... Rd8.

14... e5.

15. Rb1 Ng4 16. Bg1 e5 17. fxe5 Nxe5 18. b3 Kh8?!

18... Qe7 looks better, connecting the rooks and activating the queen.

19. Qc2 Ng4 20. e4

Here I fell back into my old bad habit of not looking for candidate moves. Somehow I immediately assumed that I had no other choice than fxe4, so I started to calculate this line, but I saw that Black cannot have any advantage after 21. Rxf8+ Qxf8 22. Nxe4, thanks to the awful position of the queen. It took me 10 minutes to step back and ask myself: is fxe4 really the only alternative here?

20... Qe5!

No, it isn't! This move is the only way to keep some advantage, according to the engine. The point is that after 21. exf5 Black has the strong reply Ne3.

20... fxe4 21. Rxf8+ Qxf8 22. Nxe4.

21. Nde2?!

21. b4 axb4 22. axb4 Ne6.

21. exf5 Ne3.

21... fxe4 22. Rxf8+?! Rxf8 23. Bd4?

With a draw offer, but after that White is already lost.

23... Qh5 24. Bxg7+ Kxg7 25. h4 Ne3!

25... e3.

25... Nf2+ 26. Kg1 e3.

26. Qd2 Nxg2 27. Qd4+ Kg8 28. Kxg2 Qf3+ 29. Kh2 Bg4 30. Ng1 Qf2+

30... Qd3.

31. Qxf2 Rxf2+ 32. Kh1 Rc2 33. Nd1 Bxd1

The safest way, simplifying to a won endgame.

33... Bf3+.

33... Ra2.

34. Rxd1 Nd3 35. Rb1 Nf2+ 36. Kg2 Ng4+ 37. Kf1 d5 38. cxd5 cxd5 39. b4 axb4 40. axb4 d4 41. b5 d3 42. b6

42. Nh3 Ne3+ (42... Nh2+ 43. Kg1 Nf3+ 44. Kf1 e3) 43. Kg1 d2.

42... Rf2+ 43. Ke1 d2+ 44. Kd1 Ne3#

0-1

Annotator(s): Gábor Horváth (see source).

Source(s): https://belfastchess.blogspot.com/2014/12/blog-post.html.

Event information: My game from Lindores - Bangor, Belfast Chess blog, December 12, 2014.