[Event "BCCCA2022"]
[Site "Mechanics Institute"]
[Date "2022-06-23"]
[White "Bas van Riel"]
[Black "Paul Dao"]
[WhiteElo "1643"]
[BlackElo "1645"]
[Result "0.5-0.5"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bg5 O-O 6.e3 c6 7.Bd3 h6 8.Bh4 Nbd7 9.O-O Ne8 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.e4 Nc7 12.Re1 Qb4? 13.Qe2? {a silly response to black's mistake: 13.a3, Qxb2; 14.Na4.. looses the queen, and after 13...Qe7; 14. exd5, cxd5; 15.c5 it will be hard to activate black's bishop. (+1.8)} dxc4 14.Bxc4 Nb6 15.Bd3 c5?! {is a ? as blacks position goes down from -1.0 to -1.6 after 16.a3, Qa5; 17.e5} 16.dxc5? {see earlier comment.} Qxc5 17.Rac1 Qe7 18.g3? {18.g3? I wanted to play e5 intending to move Nc3-e4-d6, but wanted to first prevent 18.e5, Nd5; 19. e5, Nf4. Not realising that by changing the move order, it allowed black to play e5 instead, activating his bishop and equalising the position.} e5! 19.Nd5 Ncxd5 20.exd5 Nxd5 21.Qxe5 {Other (slightly) better and complicated options were 21. Qd3, Nf6; 22.Qxe5 or 21.Bc4, Rd8; 22.Rcd1, Be6;} Qxe5 22.Rxe5 Nb4 23.Be4 f5 24.Bb1 Nc6 25.Ree1?! Bd7 26.a3 Rae8 {a complicated situation, requiring a lot of calculation.} 27.Nh4?! Nd4 28.Rxe8 Rxe8 29.Rd1 {29...Bc6!} g5? 30.Ba2+ Be6 {It took Paul about 20 minutes to respond to the check} 31.Bxe6+ Rxe6 32.Rxd4 gxh4 33.Rd8+? {The endgame after 33. Rxh4 would be winning: white has the better pawn structure and is a pawn up. After the rook swap, it will be a draw.} Kf7 34.Rd7+ Re7 35.Rxe7+ Kxe7 36.gxh4 Kd6 37.Kg2 Ke5 38.Kf3 h5 39.Ke3 f4+ 40.Kd3 b5 41.b3 Kd5 42.f3 {Well played, Paul. A challenging, interesting and enjoyable game.} {#d}