Game of the Week 7

       1.Nf3 g6 2.g3 Bg7 3.Bg2 d5 4.O-O c6 5.d3 e6 6.Nbd2 Nf6 7.Re1 O-O 8.Rb1  {Andy said he did not know what is going on in the opening. Always good to bamboozle your opponent but if it would help if I knew what I was doing. I cannot understand why I did not play e4 ending up with a Kings Indian Attack which I have been working on all year. Instead I thought I could play a ‘scorched earth policy’ on the queenside moving all my pieces out of the way of Andy’s fianchettoed bishop}  8...Nbd7 9.c4 Qc7 10.b4 dxc4 11.Nxc4 b6 12.Qc2 Ba6 13.Bf4 Qd8  {So now that I have tied up Andy quite nicely I start to play rubbish to even things up. Nd4 was needed next}  14.Nce5 Bb7 15.Nxc6 Bxc6 16.Qxc6 Rc8 17.Qa4 Nd5  {Honestly, you do not expect such evil moves from from someone with such a genial personality as Andy. The knight is heading for c3, where it goes on a safari hunt of my big pieces, threatening a queen and rook fork and knight takes e2 check winning at least a pawn. So much for the scorched earth plan}  18.Bd2 Bc3 19.Rbc1  {Qa3 was better}  19...Rc7 20.Qb3 Qc8 21.Kf1 Bxd2 22.Rxc7 Qxc7 23.Nxd2 N7f6 24.Ne4 Nxe4 25.Bxe4 Nf6 26.Bf3 Rc8 27.Rb1 Nd7 28.d4 Qc4 29.Qb2  {Andy virtually told me I had to take the queen and he was right}  29...Qc3 30.e3 Qd3+ 31.Kg2 Rc2 32.Qa1 Qd2  {All going horribly wrong now. We all know the feeling. But luckily Andy did not spot Qxe3 which is gruesome}  33.Rf1 Rxa2 34.Qb1 Rb2 35.Qe4 Qxb4 36.Qa8+ Kg7 37.Qxa7 Nf6 38.Qc7 Rb1 39.Rxb1 Qxb1  {Pretty much back to where we were at the beginning}  40.Qe5 Qf5 41.Qxf5 gxf5 42.Bc6 Ng8 43.f3 Ne7 44.Bb5 Nd5 45.Kf2 Nc3 46.Bd3 Kf6 47.e4  {Maybe needed to be more patient here with Ke1. Have these people who say do not hurry in the endgame ever seen a chess clock?}  47...fxe4 48.Bxe4 h6 49.Bc2 e5 50.Ke3 Nd5+ 51.Ke4 Nc3+ 52.Kd3 Nd5 53.dxe5+  {Too impatient. Bb3 kept up the pressure}  53...Kxe5 54.f4+ Kd6 55.Bb3 f6 56.g4  {Ke4 was more to the point}  56...Nc7 57.h4  {Ke4 was still more to the point}  57...Ne6 58.Bxe6  {Reg was sighing at this point as surely we could all go home now}  58...Kxe6 59.Kd4 b5 60.Kc5 b4 61.Kxb4 Kd5 62.g5  {Talk about not knowing how to play a pawn endgame f5 and if black goes after the pawns he loses the race}  62...fxg5 63.fxg5 Ke6 64.gxh6 Kf6 65.h5 Kf7 66.Kc4 Kg8 67.Kd5 1/2-1/2