Bradshaw, Craig(1356)
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Ferris, Oliver(1450)
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1.d4...1.e41....d52.Bf4Nc6?!Oliver was inspired by Jobava's London System (available on the Chessable website: https://www.chessable.com/ the-jobava-london-system/course/28333/), so decided to try the same setup White executes as Black. Although this is not the best move in this position, it is not a common move and would have certainly taken White by surprise. Sometimes the surprise element is more important when playing chess openings.2...c5!3.e3(3.dxc5?!because Black can aim for e5 and recapture the pawn naturally with the dark-squared bishop.Nc64.Nf3e6(4...f6))Nc64.c3Qb65.Qb3(5.Qc2Nf66.Nd2Here Black can try g6 or bringing the light-squared bishop all the way to g4.)c46.Qc2e5!?The point of this move is to mess up White's solid structure and get some fast and dangerous development.(6...Bf5!?is also an option. White has to drop back to c1 because taking the bishop leaves b2 en prix.)(6...Nf6The most natural move is also fine.)7.dxe5(7.Bxe5?Nxe58.dxe5Bf5!Black has full compensation.)Bf58.Qc1g5!9.Bxg5(9.Bg3?just invites Black to attack even more.h510.h4gxh411.Rxh4Nge7)Nxe510.Nd2f6!(10...Bg71/2-1/2 (54) Djordjevic,V (2347)-Delchev,A (2567) Paracin 2019)11.Bf4Ne7Black's development advantage and menacing knights fully compensate for the pawn loss.3.e3Bf54.Bd3...4.Nf3e65.a3preparing c4.now the knight on c6 is slightly misplaced. Black would ideally like to push their c-pawn to c6 or c5, and then decide what to do with the knight, e.g., whether it goes to d7 or the more central c6 square.Nf66.c41-0 (29) Kasparov,G (2812)-Behne,M Moenchengladbach 2016.4....Qd75.Nc3f6??Oliver clearly wanted to play e5, gaining space in the centre of the board. Unfortunately this move also weakens Black's king, so a better option would have been to just develop the knight to f6, followed by e6, etc.6.Bb5?...White missed their chance and from now on Black did a fantastic job at playing actively and fighting for extra space.6.Qh5+!At first this doesn't look so good because ofg6but White has a tactical intermezzo, winning material.7.Bxf5!Qxf58.Qxf5gxf59.Nxd5+−6....O-O-O7.Nf3a68.Ba4h59.h4Nh6?!"Knights on the edge fall of the hedge". This move isn't that bad, but Black will need an extra tempo to ensure the knight on the rim is working hard again, e.g., to f7 supporting a potential e5 break in order to get back into the game.9...e6with the idea of Bd6 and Nge7 would have been a more solid approach.10.a3e611.Qe2...a bit slow.11.b4!White could have started attacking straight away, taking advantage of the fact that Black doesn't have too many queenside defenders.11....Bd612.b4...now it's too late for the attack and Oliver quickly took advantage of White's weakenesses.12....Bxf413.exf4Qd613...Bg4pinning White's knight and allowing the offside knight to enter the game again via the f5 square, was also an option.14.b5axb515.Nxb5??...15.Qxb5was the only way for White to hold on, but Black could continue confidently into the middlegame/ endgame, because of White's broken structure.Na716.Qa5Qb617.Qxb6cxb615....Qxf416.c3e5Boom! Black's opens things up.17.Kf1...17.O-Oallowse4and the h4 pawn is falling.17....exd418.Nfxd4Nxd419.Nxd4Bg420.f3Bd720...Nf5!21.Nxf5Bxf5-+and White's position and King are pretty hopeless.21.Bxd7+Rxd722.a4g5another active and bold move, although Black could have brought the knight in again to f5. Simplifying the position is usually a good idea when one is up in terms of material.22...Nf523.Nxf5Qxf5-+23.a5Nf524.Ne6??...A losing blunder.24.Nxf5Qxf5Now White has some counterplay on the queenside and the position is very unclear.25.Kf2connecting the rooks.24....Ng3+A nice Zwischenzug and it's Black who will come out on top.25.Kf2Nxe226.Nxf4Nxf427.a6Rdd828.a7Kd729.hxg5fxg530.Rhd1h431.Rh1Ra832.Rh2Kc633.Rhh1b634.Ra3Kb735.Rha1Nd3+36.Ke3Ne537.Kd4Nc6+38.Kxd5Rxa739.Rxa7+Nxa740.c4c6+41.Ke5h342.gxh3Rxh343.Ke4Rh4+44.Kd3g445.f4Nc846.f5Nd647.f6b548.c5Rh3+49.Ke2Rh2+50.Ke3Nf751.Kf4Rh652.Kxg4Rxf653.Rd1Ne5+54.Kg5Rf755.Rd6Rd756.Kf5Rxd657.cxd6Nf7(and around this point White resigned.) An excellent first victory for Oliver who showed a lot of maturity and great concentration to fend off any potential counterattacking play from White, especially considering it was a third round game on Saturday night when everyone had already played around 6 hours-worth of chess!58.Ke6Nxd659.Kxd6b40-1 White resigns.0-1