[Event "WCC - B Division Championship"] [Site "Fitchburg State U."] [Date "2018.06.27"] [Round "7"] [White "Ralph McNeilage"] [Black "Michael David"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1649"] [BlackElo "1514"] [ECO ""] [CurrentPosition "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"] 1.d4 d6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.e4 Bg7 5.Nf3 { After White's 5th move there are 107,000 Chessbase games with the same config. } 5...c6 { Black's more obscure move the Chessbase games to 1,244. I like this move to make Qa5 an early option. } 6.Be2 O-O 7.Be3 { Only 229 games are in Chessbase, most notably a game from 8 months earlier in October 2017; Magnus Carlsen (2832) - G Gusienov (2645). } 7...a6 8.Qd2 { The Queen-Bishop battery form a 150-like-attack targeting Bh6 } 8...Ng4 { Without the h-pawn deployed to h3, the battery can be interrupted with Ng4 } 9.Bg5 f6 { After White's ninth move there is only 1 Chessbase game; Cavades, J (1562) - Rocha, S (2378), however Rocha played 9...h6 to chase the White Bishop versus my less accurate f6 } 10.Bh4 Qa5 { I finally follow c5 with Qa5 eyeing the open 5th rank to quickly change a Queen-side attack to a King-side assault } 11.h3 Nh6 12.a3 Nf7 13.b4 Qc7 { I give up on my Qh5 ambitions and ready for a central pawn push on c5 or e5 } 14.Bg3 Nd7 15.c5 e5 { White initiates the pawn confrontation on c5, so I am happy to target a more central e5 } 16.cxd6 Qxd6 17.Bc4 { White has favorable development and space with this effective absolute pin on f7 } 17...Qe7 18.d5 { This was pivotal as White blocked its pin and allowed Black to get both Knights involved in chasing the White Bishop back to the A-file in a Texas-two-step, losing tempe for White } 18...Nd6 19.Bb3 c5 20.bxc5 Nxc5 21.Ba2 Bd7 22.O-O Rac8 23.Rfc1 Kh8 24.Qe2 Bh6 { Placing the Black Bishop on the 2nd longest diagonal made it much more active and setup Black's Queen-side attack } 25.Rc2 Qe8 26.Nh2 { It was clear the White Knight was positioning to unseat the Black Bishop on h6; it was 2 moves away so Black went on the flanking Queen-side attack } 26...Nb5 27.Nxb5 Bxb5 28.Qe1 Bd3 29.Rc3 Qb5 30.f3 { If White would have played Ng4 here it would have forced the Black Bishop to retreat to g7 or face an exchange that eliminated its effective support role } 30...Qb2 { This powerful Queen move keeps White Rooks from working together and gives Black a variety of attacking combinations } 31.Nf1 Bd2 { While this move appears to give Black a favorable exchange 32. Qxd2 traps the Black Queen as follows: 32...Qxa1 33. Rc1 Nxe4 34. Rxa1 Nxd2 and White is slightly better afterwards } 32.Nxd2 Qxc3 { Black cleanly wins the exchange } 33.Bf2 Na4 34.Qd1 Nb2 { Returning the Queen to b2 would've been a far stronger position; after some more jockeying around Black finds that advantage } 35.Qe1 Bb5 36.Bb6 Nd3 37.Qd1 Nf4 38.g3 Ne2+ 39.Kg2 Nd4 40.Nb3 Qb2+ 41.Kg1 Rc2 { With the Black Rook joining the Black Queen on the 2nd rank there's a quick Mate enabled by limiting the King to only the G&H files, thanks to the Black Bishop covering f1; forcing the White Queen to sacrifice itself } 42.Qxc2 Nxc2 43.d6 Nxa1 44.Nc5 Rc8 45.Be6 Ra8 46.Bd7 Qd4+ 47.Kg2 Qxd6 48.Bxb5 Qxb6 49.Nd7 Qxb5 50.Nxf6 { After the last White runner-pawn is eliminated it's mop-up time. There's an efficient Mate in 3 from here with Qe2+ followed by bringing the Black Rook to the first rank } 50...Rd8 51.Ng4 Rd2+ 52.Nf2 Qb2 53.h4 Rxf2+ 54.Kh3 Nb3 55.Kg4 Nc5 56.a4 Qb6 57.a5 Qe6+ 58.Kg5 Kg7 59.h5 h6+ 60.Kh4 Rh2# 0-1