1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nxd4 exd4 5. O-O h5 6. d3 Bc5 7. Nd2 c6 8. Bc4 d5 9. exd5 cxd5 10. Nb3 Bb6 11. Bb5+ Kf8 12. Re1 Be6 13. a4 a6 14. a5 Ba7 15. Ba4 Ne7 16. Qd2 Qd6 17. Qf4 Qxf4 18. Bxf4 Nf5 19. g3 Bb8 20. Bg5 Bd6 21. h3 Bb4 22. Re2 Rc8 23. Bf4 Rg8 24. Be5 g5 25. Kg2 Rg6 26. Rd1 Kg8

'White now began an almost endless series of manoeuvres with his rook, which I countered by bringing my king up to h6/h7 and waiting. All my other pieces are optimally placed and White's only way to make anything happen is to capture on d4, exchanging knights and giving up the a-pawn. There were numerous double repetitions but my opponent was careful to avoid a third one, until eventually it got to the stage where any sensible move was very soon going to allow me to claim a draw. Throughout this phase, my computers continued to assess White's position as preferable but also to believe that the meaningless rook shuffles were stronger than the capture of the d-pawn. My opponent finally played Nxd4 at move fifty-three! However, I was soon able to establish another stable defence and offered a draw at move seventy-three. This was silently declined but two moves later my opponent blundered away a pawn. Unfortunately, it was possible for him to reach a completely drawn endgame by careful play thereafter, because it really would have served him right to lose the game.'

27. Ra1 Kh7 28. Rb1 Rh6 29. Kh2 Kg8 30. Kg2 Kh7 31. Rf1 Rg6 32. Rh1 Rh6 33. Rc1 Rg6 34. Rh1 Rh6 35. Rd1 Rg6 36. Rf1 Rh6 37. Nxd4 Nxd4 38. Bxd4 Bxa5 39. c3 Bc7 40. Rfe1 Rg6 41. Bd1 h4 42. g4 Kh6 43. Bc2 Bd6 44. Ba4 Bb8 45. Ra1 Bd6 46. Re3 Rgg8 47. Bb6 Bf4 48. Ree1 Rg6 49. Bd4 Bb8 50. Re3 Bf4 51. Re2 Bd6 52. Re3 Bf4 53. Ree1 Bb8 54. Bd1 Rgg8 55. Bc2 Rc6 56. Ba4 b5 57. Bd1 Rgc8 58. Bf3 Bc7 59. c4 bxc4 60. dxc4 Rxc4 61. Red1 a5 62. Be2 Rb4 63. Bc3 Rb3 64. Bf3 Rd8 65. Bxa5 Bxa5 66. Rxa5 d4 67. Ra4 d3 68. Rd2 Rdb8 69. Ra5

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Annotator(s): Tim Harding (see source).

Source(s): Tim Harding, Adventures in the Aviary: Bird's Defence (Kibitzer 199), ChessCafe.com, December 12, 2012 (to 26B); Tim Harding, via email (full score).

Event information: crosstable, ICCF web pages.