[Event "BCC 2018 A"]
[Site "Mechanics Institute"]
[Date "2018-05-03"]
[White "Robert Bailey"]
[Black "Kevin Perrin"]
[WhiteElo "1481"]
[BlackElo "1526"]
[Result "1-0"]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 {Kevin and I have played at least one other French Winawer that I could remember; I spent a good portion of time early on trying to recall the improvement from a Country Victorian Championship game I discovered after analysing our game from 2005.} c5 5.a3 cxd4 6.axb4 dxc3 7.Nf3! {Previously, I remembered playing bxc3 and not enjoying the position so much after Qc7. This was in the CVC in 2005! I think the text is an improvement and the pawn sacrifice felt natural.} cxb2 8.Bxb2 Ne7 9.Bd3 h6 10.O-O O-O 11.Qe2 a5?! 12.bxa5 Rxa5 13.Ba3 Nbc6 14.Bb5 {Not particularly good, but direct and aiming to win material. I thought Re8 was the best response and Fritz 11 appears to agree.} Bd7? {Perhaps losing the thread. White now wins the exchange for the lost pawn.} 15.Bxc6 Rxa3 16.Rxa3 Bxc6 17.Nd4 Qb6 18.Rd1?! {I'm not that happy with this move - I thought for awhile about simply trading the knight for the bishop, but also started looking at king-side attacking prospects with the caveman like rook lift Rg3. Qd3 is an alternative. I rejected the obvious c3 due to previously mentioned neanderthallic rook lift idea!} Ng6 19.Rg3?! {Qe3 looks like a better alternative.} Ne7? {This retreat surprised me. I started to get concerned about Ra8 here with some back rank threats and potential Qxd4 ideas.} 20.Qg4 {I spent some time trying to make Nxe6 work but didn't like the opening of the f file as a source of counter-play .} g6 21.Qh4 Nf5? {Maybe Ra8 is the best try. After Rh3, h5! Perhaps white can go g4 after that.} 22.Nxf5 exf5 23.Qxh6 {I hadn't calculated all of the possible mating nets, but here Kevin resigned. A couple of my moves weren't fully convincing, but I did enjoy revisiting this old line of the Winawer and am happy to get a win in this closely contested championship.} {#r}