[Event "Drag them out 2014"] [Site "St. John's, mun UC"] [Date "2014.08.10"] [Round "4"] [White "Martin, Steve"] [Black "Dervisevic, Nihad"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Mills,Morgon"] [UTCDate "2021.08.25"] [UTCTime "17:13:11"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "B01"] [Opening "Scandinavian Defense: Mieses-Kotroc Variation"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/MVQsHZRu/ooZpvIhv"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 { Steve: "The queens came off a bit early in a Scandinavian and I felt I should be a bit better with my development lead. I think I overestimated my chances. Maybe I had a little pressure on his position, but he was still super solid and I couldn't really find any good targets." } 2... Qxd5 3. Nf3 c6 4. d4 Bf5 5. c4 Qe4+ 6. Be2 Qc2 7. Qxc2 Bxc2 8. Bf4 e6 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. Rc1 Bg6 11. O-O Be7 12. d5 exd5 13. cxd5 O-O (13... cxd5 { White is still better here, but 14.d6 must not be allowed. } 14. Nb5 Na6 15. Nc7+ Nxc7 16. Rxc7 a6 17. Rxb7 Ne4) 14. d6 Bd8 15. Ne5 Nbd7 16. Nc4 { "Probably silly," says Steve in hindsight. My suggestion would be to take off the bishop on g6, to retain good piece coordination, claim the bishop pair, and slightly mess up Black's pawns. Still, even though Nc4 is a bit awkward, White must still be much better. } 16... Re8 17. Rfe1 Bf5 { From here on Black is superficially pretty solid, but he has little to do, whereas there are pawn levers available for White all the way through. But an advantage is only an advantage if pressed, and Steve waits too long to go for the kill. } 18. Bf3 Bb6 19. Nxb6 axb6 20. Re7 Kf8 21. Rce1 Be6 22. Rxe8+ Kxe8 23. g4 h6 24. h4 Nc5 25. Re3 Kf8 26. g5 hxg5 27. hxg5 Nfd7 28. b4 Na4 29. a3 (29. Nxa4 Rxa4 30. a3 { Intending 31.g6 and penetrating with the rook on e7, or if Black fixes his rook with 30...Ra8, then 31.b5 is a threat too, since the bishop is hitting at b7. White has to open some lines for the bishop pair and active rook, that's the main thing. }) 29... Nxc3 30. Rxc3 b5 31. Be4 { Unfortunately, from here on the clocks took precedence. According to Steve: "There are probably 12 or so moves after the final position. I was under 5 minutes so I stopped recording the moves. Basically, I started blundering, lost my d6 pawn, and got mated on h1 by his bishop and rook. But credit to Nihad for playing so quickly and finding good moves." That's why long time controls are best! } 0-1