GREAT GAME!

Incidentally, please do your best to ignore the accompanying natterings from the Silicon Kid. As I've said before, it would be nice to be able to shut the engine commentary off when presenting a game here (hint-hint to The Powers That Be). :) It's like having some loudmouthed, kibitzing jerk pontificating about your game from the next table...and the fact that said jerk has a 4000 rating (unlike us flesh-and-blood types) only makes it all the more burdensome. ("WRONG!...WRONG!..." Good grief.)

At any rate, a game like this isn't just some sort of mathematical formula. It's a fight!--full of imaginative conceptions, boggling vars and hairy/miraculous escapes. Though it may not score very high on the "Accuracyometer," I'll take such a game any day over some tedious slog of a win.

11 Ba3 Okay, so maybe I should have played 9... c6 followed by 10... Qc7.

13... Nb8 I figured the knight would have more opportunities on c6 (or maybe a6) than on f8.

16... h4 This cramps his kingside...but it also takes a square away from my queen.

20... Rc8 I took a long time over this (as with a lot of the moves in this game!). I want to play ...g5/g4, but after hg Bxg4; Bxg4 Nxg4 I will be susceptible to Nc7 (or possibly Nxd6). So I decided to bolster my queenside a bit (as well as preventing Nc7 directly).

22 Bb2 White now threatens to take on a5, since he can back up the knight with the bishop (if I try ... Qd8).

23... Ne5 Possibly I had 23... Qd8 24 Bc3 Nxd5. But I decided to go with my original intention.

27 Bxg4 My first crisis. I'd imagined that I could continue the attack with 27... Nfxg4, but then comes 28 Qxe4 (which I admittedly overlooked). I spent another lengthy session trying to get 28... f5 (or some such) to work, but finally decided it didn't.

28 Bxc8 As usual, my opponent sidesteps the quicksand deftly. If 28 Kxg2 Nfxg4 29 Qxe4 there was 29... Qg5, after which the White queen could be lost in two ways: 30 Qf4 Nxe3++, or 30 Bxe5 Nf6+. Yes, he does have 30 f4, but I assumed that after 30... Nxe3++ I would be doing alright.

30 Bxe5 Another crisis. I'd thought that after 30... Qxe5 31 Nc6 Qh2 32 Ne7+ Kf8 33 Nxc8 Ng4 I would have enough for a draw; but I eventually came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be sufficient. So I had to recapture with the pawn.

33... Qh2 Played with the next move in mind. This time the whole business did seem to work...and if he tries here 34 Nd6 Rf8 either capture on f7 has its questionable aspects, as my rook now will have an open file on which to prowl.

34 Nc6 Here I very much wanted to play 34... Ng4. But how about 35 Ne7+? There then comes 35... Kf8 36 Nxc8 Qg1+ 37 Kd2 Qxf2+ 38 Kc1 Qf1+ 39 Qd1 Qxc4+ (of course White always has a perpetual available--but what if he decides to go for more?) 40 Kd2 Qd3+ 41 Ke1 Qxe3+ 42 Qe2 Qg1+ 43 Qf1...

And I found myself in a bit of a quandary. If 43... Qe3+ 44 Kd1 he just goes waltzing off toward the queenside like usual (44... Nf2+ 45 Kc2). But I didn't want to give up on the idea! I kept looking at 43... Qg3+, which certainly does win the queen after 44 Kd1--and after 44 Kd2 Bh6+ as well (either that or the king--44 Ke2 Qe3+ mates next move). But I couldn't figure out what to do after 44 Ke2...until (finally) I noticed 44... Qd3+, picking off the rook. :) So the sac was on!

35 Qe2 But he just refuses the offer! So it was back to the drawing board...hopefully. :)

35... Ra8 This move didn't take a whole lot of time to find...since I don't have that much else here. But I am at least threatening 36... Rxa2 (37 Qxa2 Qg1+ and 38... Qxf2+ winning the queen).

36 a3 And once again, he calmly defends! Now it would be nice if I had 36... Rxa3 37 Nxa3 Qh1+ 38 Qf1 Bc3+ 39 Ke2 Qf3#...except of course that he can just play 38 Kd2 (since the knight is now defending the rook). Drat!

37... Kh8 I had in mind here 38 Nxf5 Rf8 39 Qxg4 Rxf5 40 Qxf5 Qg1+ 41 Kd2 Qxb1, when Black still has hopes of salvaging it (as in the amusing variation 42 Qd1 Qd3+ 43 Ke1 Qxc4 44 d6 Qxb5 45 d7 Bc3+). But White simply evacuates his king from the war zone.

38... Ne5 Just hoping that he might do me the favor of opening the f-file (39 Nxf5 Rf8). :)

39 Kc3 A tragedy! His intention was of course 39 Kc2 (which indeed should ultimately have proven victorious).

I felt terrible that such a game should end with a mouse slip...and so I told him I would be happy to take a draw. And thus we split the point.