I Played a Beautiful Game Yesterday...

[BrendanJNorman]

It was only a blitz 5 2 (I haven't played a real LTC tournament for ten years) game against 1900ish Chinese player, but the game is still pretty nice for its positional lessons (color complexes and loose pawn moves exploitation) and its tactical ideas.

I hope someone finds it interesting.

[pgn][Event "Chess AllianceRanked game"]
[Site "26330928445745893"]
[Date "2019.09.25"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Brendan"]
[Black "xuexichess"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteId "40539"]
[BlackId "36347"]
[TimeControl "5+2"]
[Termination "White Checkmate"]
[WhiteElo "2111"]
[BlackElo "1898"]
[ECO "D02"]
[Opening "Queen's pawn game"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 Nf6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 dxc4 6. O-O c6 7. Ne5 b5 8. a4
Nd5 9. axb5 cxb5 10. Nc3 f6 11. Nxd5 exd5 12. e4 fxe5 13. Qh5 Kf8 14. exd5 g6
15. Bh6 Kg8 16. Qxe5 Bf6 17. d6 Bxe5 18. Bd5 Be6 19. Bxe6# 1-0
[/pgn]

[Jack Lad]

Hi Brendan
Here is your game with added variations, not sure if that is much use but it is sometimes beneficial to see where errors were made. Nice to see a Catalan - the last time I saw that opening was in the epic Karpov v Kasparov World Chess Championship 1984‎.

[pgn][Event "Chess AllianceRanked game"]
[Site "26330928445745893"]
[Date "2019.09.25"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Brendan"]
[Black "xuexichess"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteId "40539"]
[BlackId "36347"]
[TimeControl "5+2"]
[Termination "White Checkmate"]
[WhiteElo "2111"]
[BlackElo "1898"]
[ECO "D02"]
[Opening "Queen's pawn game"]
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 Nf6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 dxc4 6. O-O c6 (6. .. O-O 7. Qc2 b5 8. a4 b4 9. Nbd2 Bb7 10. Rd1 Nbd7 11. Nxc4 c5) 7. Ne5 b5 8. a4 Nd5 9. axb5 cxb5 10. Nc3 f6 (10. .. Bb7 11. Nxb5 O-O 12. Nxc4 Bc6 13. Nba3 Nf6 14. f3 a5 15. e4 Bb7 16. Be3 Nc6 17. Rf2 Ba6 18. Ne5 Rc8 19. Nc2 Bb7 20. Na3 Nxe5 21. dxe5 Nd7 22. Rd2 Bc6) 11. Nxd5 (11. e4 Nxc3 12. Qh5+ g6 13. Nxg6 hxg6 14. Qxh8+ Kd7 15. Qxd8+ Kxd8 16. bxc3 Bb7) 11. .. exd5 12. e4 fxe5 13. Qh5+ (13. exd5 O-O 14. dxe5 Bb7 15. d6 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Nd7 17. Qd5+ Kh8 18. dxe7 Qxe7 19. Be3 Rfd8 20. f4 Nf6 21. Qf3 Nd5) 13. .. Kf8 (13. .. g6 14. Qe2 Bb7 15. exd5 e4 16. Bxe4 Bxd5 17. Bg5 Nc6 18. Ra6 O-O 19. Bxe7 Nxe7 20. Bxd5+ Qxd5 21. Qxe7 Rf7 22. Qe3 Rd8 23. Rd1 Rf3 24. Qe7 Rd7) 14. exd5 g6 15. Bh6+ Kg8 16. Qxe5 Bf6 17. d6 Bxe5 18. Bd5+ Be6 19. Bxe6# 1-0[/pgn]

I also played a game today which might be of interest:
[pgn]1. e4 d5 2. d4 dxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. f3 exf3 5. Nxf3 e6 6. Be3 a6 7. Ne5 Nbd7 8. Qf3 Bd6 9. Nc4 Be7 10. Bd3 O-O 11. O-O c6 12. Ne5 Nb6 13. Qg3 Nbd5 14. Bh6 Nh5 15. Rxf7 (15. Qh3 Ndf6) 15. .. Rxf7 16. Bxh7+ Kxh7 (16. .. Kf8 17. Qh3 Nhf4 18. Bxf4 Nxf4 19. Qe3) 17. Qg6+ 1-0[/pgn]
This was a BDG in which I played a risky move with 15. Rxf7. Qh3 was better here but I guessed Black might take the bishop on move 16 and indeed he did so instead of the correct Kf8! which would have given him a slight advantage.