[Event "BCCC2019"]
[Site "Mechanics Institute"]
[Date "2019-04-25"]
[White "Rodney Jacobs"]
[Black "Ruari Coffey"]
[WhiteElo "1613"]
[BlackElo "1644"]
[Result "0-1"]

1.e4 e6 {In an attempt to through Rodney completely off of any preparation, I decided to play the french despite not particularly enjoying the positional issue of the light-squared bishop. (R.C)} 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.Bd3 {Deviates from what I had prepared but still played with the intention to transition into the prepared line. (R.C)} c5 5.e5 Nfd7 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ndf3 {Ne2 is the more common move, with ideas of protecting e5 with f4, only then playing Ndf3. (R.C)} Qb6 {According to stockfish, Qa5 maintains equality by forcing white to play Bd2, only then playing Qb6 attacking b2. (R.C)} 8.Ne2 cxd4 9.cxd4 Bb4+ 10.Kf1 {A move I didn't think would be played but quite happy it was. My long term plan is to play f6 and open the f-file. White's rook is going to take a little while to come out if black maintains initiative. (R.C) Yes, in retrospect, just Bd2. I, mistakenly, thought the bishop at B4 would just look silly, sitting in mid air and in fact blocking the movement of Black's knight and queen. I also felt I could quickly and easily castle by hand. But still the engines don't mind Kf1 too much. (RJ)} f6 11.Be3 {I was more worried with Nf4 and how I would then defend d6 or how to press on with the central attack. (R.C)} (11.Nf4 fxe5 12.Nxe6 g6 13.dxe5 Ndxe5 14.Be3 Qa5 {This is the weird line that stockfish chooses and is almost equal. Probably not the line two humans would play. (R.C)}) 11...fxe5 $15 12.dxe5 Bc5 {Stockfish gives -0.7 to black. (R.C) Stockfish is rubbish don't know why you an Rodney use it the one l have is much stronger that is fritz16 the number 3 in the world [jb]} 13.Bxc5 Nxc5 $17 {Now -1.6, possibly due to the dis-coordination of white's pieces.  (R.C) blacks is winning hands down [jb]} 14.h4 Bd7 {Apparently, black can castle kingside and retain an advantage but I wasn't too fond of ideas such as Bxh7 with the knight coming to g5. (R.C)} 15.Rh3 O-O-O {Sharpening the game with the kings being on the opposite sides of the board. (R.C)} 16.Rb1 Nb4 17.Bc2 $15 Kb8 $37 {Not allowing any pins or exchanges to come with check. Also a useful move in general when white has no dark-squared bishop. (R.C) white needs to defend precisely. by fritz16 [jb]} 18.a4 $17 {Most likely just to open the a-file for the rook however, if black is able to consolidate, white has just lost a pawn for nothing. (R.C) I simply overlooked Nxc2. (RJ)} Nxc2 19.Qxc2 Bxa4 20.Qd2 Ne4 21.Qe1 {Ned4 was also playable here. (R.C)} Rhf8 22.Ned4 h6 23.Ra1 Bd7 $19 24.h5 {At this point, Rodney's time was about 30 minutes while I still had about 60. I felt that my plan of playing the french worked but still couldn't find the best way to proceed with an attack. (R.C) The idea of this move was to stop the b5 break (RJ)} Rc8 25.b3 $17 Rc3 26.Kg1 Rd3 27.Rd1 Rxd1 {Missing the better move Nxf2. (R.C)} (27...Nxf2 {Wins a pawn and completely busts open whites kingside. (R.C)} 28.Rxd3 (28.Kxf2 Qxd4+ 29.Kf1 Rxd1) (28.Qxf2 Rxd1+) 28...Nxd3 29.Qe3 Nc5 {And black would stand much better being two pawns up. (R.C)}) 28.Qxd1 Qb4 {I was unable to decide between this or Qa5 but decided my queen could be used on the kingside. (R.C)} 29.Rh4 Qe7 {I was seeing ghosts, thinking that I lose my rook or bishop after Rxe4, not realising that my queen will still cover the d6 square and that there is not direct way to attack the bishop after the e-file opens. (R.C)} 30.Rh3 Be8 31.Qe1 Qa3? {A blunder, nice and simple. the e6 pawn is no longer defended and white's knights will enjoy occupying d4 and e6. (R.C)} 32.b4? {Not taking the chance but going for a different idea. I was very lucky in this case. (R.C) Yes, just should have taken the pawn. But I was very frustrated with my rook being out of play and jumpedd at the chance to do something about it. (RJ)} Bd7 33.Ng5 Qb2 34.Nxe4 Qxd4 {Dxe4 is also perfectly playable as the queen can't recapture due to Qxf2. My idea with this however was to lure away the knight onto a seemingly good outpost where it can't defend from my attacking pieces and only really restricts the rook somewhat. (R.C) Stockfish 8 indicates that this move throws away much (but not all) of Black's advantage. (RJ)} 35.Nd6! Qb2 36.Rg3 d4 {Stockfish evaluates this as even after Rd3, though I thought that with Rodney being under time pressure, is more liable to make an error. (R.C)} 37.Rxg7 {The engines show that White doesn't have this luxury. He has to be more modest andd play Rd3. (RJ)} Bc8 38.Rg3 {Again I should have realised that I should be defending, not attacking, and played f3. But it's complicated, and having constantly to solve problems set by Ruari put meant I was now almost in time trouble. (RJ)(RJ)} Bd7 39.Rg7 Bc6 {After seeing that a threefold repetition would occur, I felt I needed to brave my bishop away from my king. (R.C)} 40.b5 Bd5 {And all is well with the defence. (R.C)} 41.Rg3 Qc2 42.Ra3? {Looking for the counter attack but misses blacks winning move. Probably intending to meet d3 with Qe3 winning back a pawn or going for some type of mate. (R.C) According to Stockfish 8, this clanger takes White from -.45 to -12.5. I had pinned my hopes on Qe3. But I am iskating on thin ice anyway.(RJ)} Rg8! {All three of blacks pieces are aiming at the king while white's pieces aren't coordinated nor able to defend the position. Despite looking quite obvious, it took 10 minutes for me to finally decide on this move instead of d3. (R.C)} 43.g3 d3 44.Qe3 {Loses on the spot as the white bishop slices all the way to h1. Better was Qf1 but is only resisting the enevitable. (R.C)} Qd1+ {A very tough game to play as both sides, with threats coming from all over the board. Thanks for the game Rodney. (R.C) Ruari pretty much made the running the whole way. In the end I was just grateful ours was the last game to finish and not the first, as I had been thinking early on. My feelilng that Ruari is the one to watch this year was confirmed. (RJ) good game by you both l am hoping you smash rob love band come on Ruari Coffey you can do it lol} {#R}