[Event "BCCC 2018"]
[Site "Mechanics Institute"]
[Date "2018-05-31"]
[White "Jamie Brotheridge"]
[Black "Robert Bailey"]
[WhiteElo "1604"]
[BlackElo "1481"]
[Result "0-1"]

1.e4 {JB's choice of e4 surprised me; I was expecting him to repeat his winning English from 2017 where I found it tough to equalise. (RB)} c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 {Bd7 is mainline, but I was playing to win and wanted to keep the bishop on. (RB)} 4.Nc3 a6 5.Be2 Ngf6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 g6 8.h3 {bishop g5 is worth a try (jb)} Bg7 9.Be3 {bishop g5 might have given some fight (jb)} O-O 10.O-O Qc7 11.a4 b6?! {I don't like this move e6 might be better (jb) I thought it was fine and Fritz 11 appears to agree. (RB) It's cautious, but the c8 bishop has to do something. The immediate Nc5 is good too.} 12.f4 {should have try Knight d5 bull (jb)  I was waiting for JB to plonk the knight on d5. (RB)} Bb7 13.Bf3 Rac8 {Instead, e5 looks plausible, with the idea of installing a knight on that square after the pawn capture. (RB)} 14.Nde2 {a stupid move (jb)} Nc5 15.Ng3 {oh my god another stupid move (jb)} Rfd8 {In our analysis afterwards, JB pointed out black's h5 idea to chase the g3 knight which I missed. Fritz likes the move too. (RB)} 16.Rc1 Bc6 {We were a bit sceptical whether this was best, but it appears fine by Fritz. (RB)} 17.Qe2 Qb7 {JB also pointed out that he preferred Nfd7 here. Fritz also agrees! (RB)} 18.Bf2 e6? {Trying to keep the knight out of d5 but missing White's tempo gaining 19th move. I also miscalculated that I could take the pawn on a4.} 19.b4 Ncd7 20.b5 axb5?? {make it easy for your opponent (jb) Yes, this was an awful blunder. Bxb5 was possible and I should have seen that! (RB)} 21.axb5 {the king is dead! (jb)} Bxe4 {I was very close to resigning after this but felt somehow that I needed to keep trying to extend the game. (RB)} 22.Ncxe4 Nxe4 23.Nxe4 Qc7?! {Queen b8 is a better try (jb)} 24.c4 d5 25.cxd5 Qxc1 26.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 27.Kh2 exd5?! {e5 was worth trying (jb)} 28.Nd6?! {Knight g5 is better I think (jb)} Nf6 29.Qe3? {(BvR) Why not try to keep the knight? eg.29.Qd2, keep attacking the rook until you can move the queen to a3 or b4} Rc5 30.Qa3?? {oh tragedy Knight b7 is the right way to continue yes I was going to do that' but I didn't want the rook Knight b7 easy win (jb)} Rc3?? {hahaha lol what do you think I am stupid! (jb) Hey, I thought it was a creative attempt to keep you on your toes. Fritz wants me to take the knight, but I couldn't contemplate trading in such a position.  (RB)} 31.Qa7?? {oh my god anther stupid move I give a piece away for nothing and I was winning this game l should be shot lol .bishop b6 l still think I'm losing (jb) Qb4 instead. Yes, as Bas pointed out afterwards, Qb4 gives white a strong advantage. (RB)} Rxd6 {bishop b6 l still think I'm losing (jb)} 32.Qb8+? {(BvR) Better Bxb6 followed by Bd4 and a easy win for white (passed pawn etc)} Bf8 {I thought l was winning a rook but I wasn't l must have been seeing ghost (jb)} 33.Bxb6?? {F5 why? (jb) giving away the second piece} Nd7 34.Qb7 Nxb6 {after not winning this game I should give up (jb) Don't be too hard on yourself JB. This was a pretty crazy long game with strange material imbalances. Mistakes from both sides made for a memorably bizarre roller-coaster ride. (RB)} {#R}