(292) de Coverly,Roger (2113) - Gregory,Keith D (2032) [B06]
4NCL/Div3/SLO2 vs. WES2 West Bromwich ENG (2.3), 10.11.2002
[Annotations by Charlie Linford]
1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.Nc3 c6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 a5 6.Bd3 a4!? A curious treatment of white's 150 Attack setup - black advances the a-pawn as far as it will go, simultaneously dissuading white from castling queenside and freeing the a5 square for his queen. 7.Nf3 Qa5 8.a3 Bg4 9.Be2 Nd7 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 h5?! After this move it is difficult to see where black will castle, and as white's e4-d4 pawn front makes life in the centre tricky, not castling doesn't appear to be an option either. Black does have an answer, but it doesn't seem satisfactory to me. 12.0-0-0 Ngf6 13.Kb1 Kf8?! Diagram
Whether or not this move works, it appears to be asking a great deal of the black position, and it also flagrantly encourages white's next. 14.g4 Qc7 15.g5 Ne8 16.Be2 Kg8 17.f4 e6 18.f5! A good energetic treatment by the Buckinghamshire player. Curling himself up into a ball doesn't seem to have worked for his Wessex opponent. 18...Rh7 19.Bd3 e5 A closing of the centre is the only means by which black will survive the onslaught, but white is in no mood to extract the full point positionally. 20.Bc4 d5?! An inspired try (necessity is of course the mother of invention - what else was there?), but white's position is just too strong. 21.fxg6 fxg6 22.exd5 Nd6 23.Ba2 c5? Consistent, but walking into a real haymaker blow - 23...Kh8 was the lesser of all the evils. 24.dxc5 Nxc5 25.Nb5! Diagram The black blockade is blown apart, and the advance of the d-pawn spells disaster for the black king. 25...Qb6 26.Nxd6 Qxd6 27.Bxc5 Qxc5 28.d6+ Kh8 29.Bf7 1-0
