[Event "BCF-chT 1415 (4NCL)"] [Site "England"] [Date "2015.03.28"] [Round "7.125"] [White "Lam, Paul GM"] [Black "Palliser, Richard"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2123"] [WhiteTeam "Warwick Select"] [BlackElo "2444"] [BlackTeam "White Rose"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "B53"] [Opening "Sicilian Defense: Chekhover Variation"] [Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/StopHS2"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/FwLN8DHI/Kp4ptvty"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 { Paul's old favourite. If its good enough to account for a strong IM, its no wonder its proved rather too good for me - on more than one occasion! } 4... Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. O-O e5 8. Qd3 Qc7 9. c4 Ne7 10. Nc3 Ng6 11. b3 Be7 12. Ne2 O-O 13. Ng3 Rfd8 14. Qc3 { Keep your eye on the White queen - it doesn't seem to be doing much at the moment, but it will soon become the star of the show. } 14... f6 15. h4 Qb7 16. h5 Nh8 17. Nh4 g6 18. f4 Be8 19. Ngf5!! { Spectators should have showered the board with gold coins at this point. It requires tremendous nerve and confidence in your judgment to play a move like this when its not possible to calculate to a definite conclusion. } 19... gxf5 20. Qg3+ Kf7 21. Nxf5 Bf8 22. fxe5 dxe5 23. Nh6+ Bxh6 24. Bxh6 Qe7 25. Bg7 Rd3 { Complete desperation } 26. Qxd3?! { Paul allows himself to be distracted. He could have won here with } (26. Qg5! Rd6 27. Bxh8 Bd7 28. Bxf6 Rxf6 29. Rxf6+ Qxf6 30. Rf1 $18) 26... Kxg7 27. Qg3+ Kf8 28. Qh4 Rd8 29. Rxf6+ Nf7 30. Raf1 Rd6 31. h6 Rxf6 32. Rxf6 Qc5+ 33. Rf2 Qe3 34. Qf6 Qxe4 35. Qd6+ Kg8 36. Qe7 { 1-0 White wins. } { Mate is unavoidable. A real tour de force. } 1-0