Never give up

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.playtheimmortalgame.com"]
[Date "2011.12.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Shallow Blue"]
[Black "nlslav"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1428"]
[BlackElo "1390"]
[EndDate "2012.03.08"]
[WhiteRating "1428"]
[BlackRating "1390"]
[GameId "8894718"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Bd6
{This isn't exactly the best move in the King's Knight: it blocks Black's own central position. With proper counter-play (i.e., not mine) White should be able to storm all over Black.}
3. Nc3 h6
{Just time-wasting. Nothing was going to g5 for some time. The only reason for playing this move is that it gets White out of book.}
4. Bc4 Nf6 5. O-O a6 {More loss of time.} 6. d4 Nc6 7. d5 Na5 8. b3
{My turn to make a bad pawn move. I could've just moved the bishop. Yes, it loses time, but so did Black's Na5. And this allows Black to mess up my pawn structure.}
8... Nxc4 9. bxc4 Bb4 10. Bb2 d6 11. a3
{And again I mimic my opponent's bad moves. This was quite unnecessary. My e pawn was under threat, and this does nothing to remove that.}
11... Bxc3 12. Bxc3 Nxe4
{See? And now I need to waste more time saving my bishop.} 13. Bb2 b6 14. Rb1 a5
{Neither of us, I think, has come out of the opening shining with glory. Black has a pawn, but I have the better king safety. My plan now is to make use of the latter.}
15. Nd2 {(This was not the way - Nxd2 would now have foiled my plans - but...)}
15... Nc5 16. f4
{(...as Black did not do that, I take the opportunity to crash into his kingside.)}
16... f6 {And Black obliges by giving me an open road to his king.} 17. fxe5
{Wrong order. An immediate Qh5+ would have been better. Black could have castled and merely lost his pawn. We'd have been back to material equality, with my attack on his kingside continuing with less vigour than in the game.}
17... dxe5 {But he prefers the pawn, and allows me to get in...} 18. Qh5+
{...this, which I should've done earlier but which is still good now.} 18... Kf8
19. Rf3
{Argh! True blunder number one. Lesson learned (hey, a man must be allowed to hope...) from this game: penned pawns can net you another pawn.
Bxe5 would have been just fine, because f6 can't take back whether the rook is on f1 or on f3. Now, though, Black gets the chance to protect those pawns.}
19... Qd6 20. Rg3
{And again. Same blunder, but worse: now Bxe5 is no longer on.} 20... Na4 21.
Bc1 Bd7 22. Ne4 {Still going for an all-out assault on the king...} 22... Qe7
23. Bd2
{...so why didn't I get on with it? I do not know.

Nxf6 would have been fine. ...Qxf6 would not have been a good response because of Rf3 (back where it belongs), but what I think I did not spot is that ...gxf6 would've allowed Bxh6 with check and a mating attack.}
23... Be8 24. Qf3 Rd8 25. Qf2
{Nothing much has come of my attack, I'm still a pawn down, and now I'm wasting time.}
25... Bf7 26. Rgb3 Bg6 27. Qf3
{Blunder number two. Don't let your big guns get lured into knight forks. I predict that I will <i>not</i> learn that lesson for a long time to come.}
27... Bxe4 28. Qxe4 Nc5 29. Qg4 Nxb3 30. Rxb3
{Better players would have given up now. Against a better player, I might have given up. But I'm playing against someone of my own calibre, so there's a chance that I may yet get a shot in somewhere.}
30... Rb8 31. Be1 g5 32. Bg3 h5 33. Qf5
{Still going for that weakened kingside, you see. It's not likely to succeed, but it's a reason to keep playing.}
33... Kf7 34. Re3 Kg7 35. Kf2 {Another bad move, because...} 35... Rbe8
{...h4 would've nabbed my bishop (my king just blocked its escape), but it's now time for my opponent to blunder back.}
36. Kf3 Rh6 37. Bf2 Rg6 38. h4 g4+ 39. Kg3 Kh6 40. Re1 Rh8 41. Be3+ Kg7 42. Bd4
{It's a cheap shot. The bishop cannot be taken because the queen would fall.}
42... Qxa3+
{It was <i>too</i> cheap a shot. The pawn falls with check and the bishop is now in danger.}
43. c3
{Not the best way to break the check, but it proved, later on, to be my best chance. Fighting honourably is no longer an option.}
43... exd4 44. Qd7+ Kh6 45. Kf4 Qd6+
{This is what I wanted! Yes, fewer pieces means fewer chances of swindles, but that queen was his most dangerous bit.}
46. Qxd6 cxd6
{Also, his own position is now more blocked: more ways for me to defend.} 47.
cxd4 Rg7
{Right, let's take stock and make plans.

He is a rook up and has a dangerous passed pawn on the queenside. My king is in the centre and near his position.

Plan A: try and tie down his rooks to defending his position, then use my free-roving one to take his pawns.
Plan B: free up my own centre pawns, to create threats - even a paper tiger can still frighten someone looking for real predators.
Plan C: if I can't force my opponent into blundering away one of his rooks by plan A and B, try and set up a stalemate trap. My king is already quite near his rooks.}
48. Re6 Rd8 49. Rxf6+ Rg6 50. Rf7
{Of course I don't want to swap rooks - plan A is working too well!} 50... Rb8
51. g3
{Preparation for plan C. Also, give my esteemed opponent a chance to help me with plan A (or even B).}
51... b5 52. cxb5 Rxb5 53. Ke4
{At this point, I also entertained options of maybe walking my king over to the queenside and using it to attack from the rear (some masters claim that a fighting king is worth a whole rook, and his is doing sweet Fanny Adams), but nothing came from that.}
53... a4 {Thank you! Plan A is going stormingly.} 54. Ra7 Rb3 55. Rxa4 Rxg3
{I just knew that he wouldn't be able to resist that pawn. He could, instead, have gone for the mate.}
56. Kf4 Rh3 {And again!} 57. Ra7
{Plan A having been completed (with some concessions on the kingside), I'm now going for plan B. This has no chance of success, unless Black blunders, but he's of my own echelon - and we <i>do</i> blunder.}
57... Rxh4 58. Kf5 {Plan B won't work. Going straight for plan C now...} 58...
g3 {...thank you.} 59. Rh7+ {Thank you very much indeed.} 59... Kxh7
{I did not deserve to draw this game. For the middle game, my opponent very much deserved to win it. Unfortunately for him, he lost his bottle in the endgame, and I knew exactly which cheap shot I was going for.}
1/2-1/2

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.playtheimmortalgame.com"]
[Date "2011.12.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Shallow Blue"]
[Black "nlslav"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "?"]
[WhiteElo "1428"]
[BlackElo "1390"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bd6 {
This isn't exactly the best move in the King's Knight: it blocks Black's own
central position. With proper counter-play (i.e., not mine) White should be able to storm all over Black.}
3.Nc3 h6 {Just time-wasting. Nothing was going to g5 for some time. The only reason for
playing this move is that it gets White out of book.} 4.Bc4 Nf6
5.O-O a6 {More loss of time.} 6.d4 Nc6 7.d5 Na5 8.b3 {
My turn to make a bad pawn move. I could've just moved the bishop. Yes, it
loses time, but so did Black's Na5. And this allows Black to mess up my pawn structure.}
Nxc4 9.bxc4 Bb4 10.Bb2 d6 11.a3 {
And again I mimic my opponent's bad moves. This was quite unnecessary. My e
pawn was under threat, and this does nothing to remove that.}
Bxc3 12.Bxc3 Nxe4 {See? And now I need to waste more time saving my bishop.}
13.Bb2 b6 14.Rb1 a5 {
Neither of us, I think, has come out of the opening shining with glory. Black
has a pawn, but I have the better king safety. My plan now is to make use of the latter.}
15.Nd2 {(This was not the way - Nxd2 would now have foiled my plans - but...)}
Nc5 16.f4 {(...as Black did not do that, I take the opportunity to crash into his kingside.)}
f6 {And Black obliges by giving me an open road to his king.}
17.fxe5 {Wrong order. An immediate Qh5+ would have been better. Black could have castled
and merely lost his pawn. We'd have been back to material equality, with my
attack on his kingside continuing with less vigour than in the game.}
dxe5 {But he prefers the pawn, and allows me to get in...} 18.Qh5+
{...this, which I should've done earlier but which is still good now.}
Kf8 19.Rf3 {
Argh! True blunder number one. Lesson learned (hey, a man must be allowed to
hope...) from this game: penned pawns can net you another pawn. Bxe5 would have
been just fine, because f6 can't take back whether the rook is on f1 or on f3.
Now, though, Black gets the chance to protect those pawns.} Qd6
20.Rg3 {And again. Same blunder, but worse: now Bxe5 is no longer on.}
Na4 21.Bc1 Bd7 22.Ne4 {Still going for an all-out assault on the king...}
Qe7 23.Bd2 {
...so why didn't I get on with it? I do not know. Nxf6 would have been fine.
...Qxf6 would not have been a good response because of Rf3 (back where it
belongs), but what I think I did not spot is that ...gxf6 would've allowed Bxh6 with check and a mating attack.}
Be8 24.Qf3 Rd8 25.Qf2 {Nothing much has come of my attack, I'm still a pawn down, and now I'm wasting time.}
Bf7 26.Rgb3 Bg6 27.Qf3 {
Blunder number two. Don't let your big guns get lured into knight forks. I
predict that I will <i>not</i> learn that lesson for a long time to come.}
Bxe4 28.Qxe4 Nc5 29.Qg4 Nxb3 30.Rxb3 {
Better players would have given up now. Against a better player, I might have
given up. But I'm playing against someone of my own calibre, so there's a chance that I may yet get a shot in somewhere.}
Rb8 31.Be1 g5 32.Bg3 h5 33.Qf5 {Still going for that weakened kingside, you see. It's not likely to succeed, but it's a reason to keep playing.}
Kf7 34.Re3 Kg7 35.Kf2 {Another bad move, because...} Rbe8 {...h4 would've nabbed my bishop (my king just blocked its escape), but it's now time for my opponent to blunder back.}
36.Kf3 Rh6 37.Bf2 Rg6 38.h4 g4+ 39.Kg3 Kh6 40.Re1 Rh8 41.Be3+
Kg7 42.Bd4 {It's a cheap shot. The bishop cannot be taken because the queen would fall.}
Qxa3+ {It was <i>too</i> cheap a shot. The pawn falls with check and the bishop is now in danger.}
43.c3 {Not the best way to break the check, but it proved, later on, to be my best
chance. Fighting honourably is no longer an option.} exd4 44.Qd7+
Kh6 45.Kf4 Qd6+ {This is what I wanted! Yes, fewer pieces means fewer chances of swindles, but that queen was his most dangerous bit.}
46.Qxd6 cxd6 {Also, his own position is now more blocked: more ways for me to defend.}
47.cxd4 Rg7 {
Right, let's take stock and make plans. He is a rook up and has a dangerous
passed pawn on the queenside. My king is in the centre and near his position.
Plan A: try and tie down his rooks to defending his position, then use my
free-roving one to take his pawns. Plan B: free up my own centre pawns, to
create threats - even a paper tiger can still frighten someone looking for real
predators. Plan C: if I can't force my opponent into blundering away one of his
rooks by plan A and B, try and set up a stalemate trap. My king is already quite near his rooks.}
48.Re6 Rd8 49.Rxf6+ Rg6 50.Rf7 {Of course I don't want to swap rooks - plan A is working too well!}
Rb8 51.g3 {Preparation for plan C. Also, give my esteemed opponent a chance to help me with plan A (or even B).}
b5 52.cxb5 Rxb5 53.Ke4 {
At this point, I also entertained options of maybe walking my king over to the
queenside and using it to attack from the rear (some masters claim that a
fighting king is worth a whole rook, and his is doing sweet Fanny Adams), but nothing came from that.}
a4 {Thank you! Plan A is going stormingly.} 54.Ra7 Rb3 55.Rxa4
Rxg3 {I just knew that he wouldn't be able to resist that pawn. He could, instead, have gone for the mate.}
56.Kf4 Rh3 {And again!} 57.Ra7 {
Plan A having been completed (with some concessions on the kingside), I'm now
going for plan B. This has no chance of success, unless Black blunders, but he's of my own echelon - and we <i>do</i> blunder.}
Rxh4 58.Kf5 {Plan B won't work. Going straight for plan C now...}
g3 {...thank you.} 59.Rh7+ {Thank you very much indeed.} Kxh7
{I did not deserve to draw this game. For the middle game, my opponent very much
deserved to win it. Unfortunately for him, he lost his bottle in the endgame,
and I knew exactly which cheap shot I was going for.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.playtheimmortalgame.com"]
[Date "2011.12.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Shallow Blue"]
[Black "nlslav"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "?"]
[WhiteElo "1428"]
[BlackElo "1390"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bd6 {This isn't exactly the best move in the King's Knight: it blocks Black's own central position. With proper counter-play (i.e., not mine) White should be able to storm all over Black.} 3.Nc3 h6 {Just time-wasting. Nothing was going to g5 for some time. The only reason for playing this move is that it gets White out of book.} 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.O-O a6 {More loss of time.} 6.d4 Nc6 7.d5 Na5 8.b3 {My turn to make a bad pawn move. I could've just moved the bishop. Yes, it loses time, but so did Black's Na5. And this allows Black to mess up my pawn structure.} Nxc4 9.bxc4 Bb4 10.Bb2 d6 11.a3 {And again I mimic my opponent's bad moves. This was quite unnecessary. My e pawn was under threat, and this does nothing to remove that.}
Bxc3 12.Bxc3 Nxe4 {See? And now I need to waste more time saving my bishop.}
13.Bb2 b6 14.Rb1 a5 {Neither of us, I think, has come out of the opening shining with glory. Black has a pawn, but I have the better king safety. My plan now is to make use of the latter.} 15.Nd2 {(This was not the way - Nxd2 would now have foiled my plans - but...)} Nc5 16.f4 {(...as Black did not do that, I take the opportunity to crash into his kingside.)} f6 {And Black obliges by giving me an open road to his king.} 17.fxe5 {Wrong order. An immediate Qh5+ would have been better. Black could have castled and merely lost his pawn. We'd have been back to material equality, with my attack on his kingside continuing with less vigour than in the game.} dxe5 {But he prefers the pawn, and allows me to get in...} 18.Qh5+
{...this, which I should've done earlier but which is still good now.} Kf8 19.Rf3 {Argh! True blunder number one. Lesson learned (hey, a man must be allowed to
hope...) from this game: penned pawns can net you another pawn. Bxe5 would have
been just fine, because f6 can't take back whether the rook is on f1 or on f3.
Now, though, Black gets the chance to protect those pawns.} Qd6 20.Rg3 {And again. Same blunder, but worse: now Bxe5 is no longer on.} Na4 21.Bc1 Bd7 22.Ne4 {Still going for an all-out assault on the king...} Qe7 23.Bd2 {...so why didn't I get on with it? I do not know. Nxf6 would have been fine. ...Qxf6 would not have been a good response because of Rf3 (back where it belongs), but what I think I did not spot is that ...gxf6 would've allowed Bxh6 with check and a mating attack.}
Be8 24.Qf3 Rd8 25.Qf2 {Nothing much has come of my attack, I'm still a pawn down, and now I'm wasting time.} Bf7 26.Rgb3 Bg6 27.Qf3 {Blunder number two. Don't let your big guns get lured into knight forks. I predict that I will <i>not</i> learn that lesson for a long time to come.} Bxe4 28.Qxe4 Nc5 29.Qg4 Nxb3 30.Rxb3 {Better players would have given up now. Against a better player, I might have
given up. But I'm playing against someone of my own calibre, so there's a chance that I may yet get a shot in somewhere.} Rb8 31.Be1 g5 32.Bg3 h5 33.Qf5 {Still going for that weakened kingside, you see. It's not likely to succeed, but it's a reason to keep playing.} Kf7 34.Re3 Kg7 35.Kf2 {Another bad move, because...} Rbe8 {...h4 would've nabbed my bishop (my king just blocked its escape), but it's now time for my opponent to blunder back.} 36.Kf3 Rh6 37.Bf2 Rg6 38.h4 g4+ 39.Kg3 Kh6 40.Re1 Rh8 41.Be3+ Kg7 42.Bd4 {It's a cheap shot. The bishop cannot be taken because the queen would fall.} Qxa3+ {It was <i>too</i> cheap a shot. The pawn falls with check and the bishop is now in danger.} 43.c3 {Not the best way to break the check, but it proved, later on, to be my best chance. Fighting honourably is no longer an option.} exd4 44.Qd7+ Kh6 45.Kf4 Qd6+ {This is what I wanted! Yes, fewer pieces means fewer chances of swindles, but that queen was his most dangerous bit.} 46.Qxd6 cxd6 {Also, his own position is now more blocked: more ways for me to defend.} 47.cxd4 Rg7 {Right, let's take stock and make plans. He is a rook up and has a dangerous passed pawn on the queenside. My king is in the centre and near his position. Plan A: try and tie down his rooks to defending his position, then use my free-roving one to take his pawns. Plan B: free up my own centre pawns, to create threats - even a paper tiger can still frighten someone looking for real predators. Plan C: if I can't force my opponent into blundering away one of his rooks by plan A and B, try and set up a stalemate trap. My king is already quite near his rooks.} 48.Re6 Rd8 49.Rxf6+ Rg6 50.Rf7 {Of course I don't want to swap rooks - plan A is working too well!} Rb8 51.g3 {Preparation for plan C. Also, give my esteemed opponent a chance to help me with plan A (or even B).}
b5 52.cxb5 Rxb5 53.Ke4 {At this point, I also entertained options of maybe walking my king over to the queenside and using it to attack from the rear (some masters claim that a fighting king is worth a whole rook, and his is doing sweet Fanny Adams), but nothing came from that.} a4 {Thank you! Plan A is going stormingly.} 54.Ra7 Rb3 55.Rxa4 Rxg3 {I just knew that he wouldn't be able to resist that pawn. He could, instead, have gone for the mate.} 56.Kf4 Rh3 {And again!} 57.Ra7 {
Plan A having been completed (with some concessions on the kingside), I'm now
going for plan B. This has no chance of success, unless Black blunders, but he's of my own echelon - and we <i>do</i> blunder.} Rxh4 58.Kf5 {Plan B won't work. Going straight for plan C now...} g3 {...thank you.} 59.Rh7+ {Thank you very much indeed.} Kxh7 {I did not deserve to draw this game. For the middle game, my opponent very much deserved to win it. Unfortunately for him, he lost his bottle in the endgame, and I knew exactly which cheap shot I was going for.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.playtheimmortalgame.com"]
[Date "2011.12.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Shallow Blue"]
[Black "nlslav"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "?"]
[WhiteElo "1428"]
[BlackElo "1390"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bd6 {This isn't exactly the best move in the King's Knight: it blocks Black's own central position. With proper counter-play (i.e., not mine) White should be able to storm all over Black.} 3.Nc3 h6 {Just time-wasting. Nothing was going to g5 for some time. The only reason for playing this move is that it gets White out of book.} 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.O-O a6 {More loss of time.} 6.d4 Nc6 7.d5 Na5 8.b3 {My turn to make a bad pawn move. I could've just moved the bishop. Yes, it loses time, but so did Black's Na5. And this allows Black to mess up my pawn structure.} Nxc4 9.bxc4 Bb4 10.Bb2 d6 11.a3 {And again I mimic my opponent's bad moves. This was quite unnecessary. My e pawn was under threat, and this does nothing to remove that.}
Bxc3 12.Bxc3 Nxe4 {See? And now I need to waste more time saving my bishop.}
13.Bb2 b6 14.Rb1 a5 {Neither of us, I think, has come out of the opening shining with glory. Black has a pawn, but I have the better king safety. My plan now is to make use of the latter.} 15.Nd2 {(This was not the way - Nxd2 would now have foiled my plans - but...)} Nc5 16.f4 {(...as Black did not do that, I take the opportunity to crash into his kingside.)} f6 {And Black obliges by giving me an open road to his king.} 17.fxe5 {Wrong order. An immediate Qh5+ would have been better. Black could have castled and merely lost his pawn. We'd have been back to material equality, with my attack on his kingside continuing with less vigour than in the game.} dxe5 {But he prefers the pawn, and allows me to get in...} 18.Qh5+
{...this, which I should've done earlier but which is still good now.} Kf8 19.Rf3 {Argh! True blunder number one. Lesson learned (hey, a man must be allowed to hope...) from this game: penned pawns can net you another pawn. Bxe5 would have been just fine, because f6 can't take back whether the rook is on f1 or on f3. Now, though, Black gets the chance to protect those pawns.} Qd6 20.Rg3 {And again. Same blunder, but worse: now Bxe5 is no longer on.} Na4 21.Bc1 Bd7 22.Ne4 {Still going for an all-out assault on the king...} Qe7 23.Bd2 {...so why didn't I get on with it? I do not know. Nxf6 would have been fine. ...Qxf6 would not have been a good response because of Rf3 (back where it belongs), but what I think I did not spot is that ...gxf6 would've allowed Bxh6 with check and a mating attack.}
Be8 24.Qf3 Rd8 25.Qf2 {Nothing much has come of my attack, I'm still a pawn down, and now I'm wasting time.} Bf7 26.Rgb3 Bg6 27.Qf3 {Blunder number two. Don't let your big guns get lured into knight forks. I predict that I will <i>not</i> learn that lesson for a long time to come.} Bxe4 28.Qxe4 Nc5 29.Qg4 Nxb3 30.Rxb3 {Better players would have given up now. Against a better player, I might have given up. But I'm playing against someone of my own calibre, so there's a chance that I may yet get a shot in somewhere.} Rb8 31.Be1 g5 32.Bg3 h5 33.Qf5 {Still going for that weakened kingside, you see. It's not likely to succeed, but it's a reason to keep playing.} Kf7 34.Re3 Kg7 35.Kf2 {Another bad move, because...} Rbe8 {...h4 would've nabbed my bishop (my king just blocked its escape), but it's now time for my opponent to blunder back.} 36.Kf3 Rh6 37.Bf2 Rg6 38.h4 g4+ 39.Kg3 Kh6 40.Re1 Rh8 41.Be3+ Kg7 42.Bd4 {It's a cheap shot. The bishop cannot be taken because the queen would fall.} Qxa3+ {It was <i>too</i> cheap a shot. The pawn falls with check and the bishop is now in danger.} 43.c3 {Not the best way to break the check, but it proved, later on, to be my best chance. Fighting honourably is no longer an option.} exd4 44.Qd7+ Kh6 45.Kf4 Qd6+ {This is what I wanted! Yes, fewer pieces means fewer chances of swindles, but that queen was his most dangerous bit.} 46.Qxd6 cxd6 {Also, his own position is now more blocked: more ways for me to defend.} 47.cxd4 Rg7 {Right, let's take stock and make plans. He is a rook up and has a dangerous passed pawn on the queenside. My king is in the centre and near his position. Plan A: try and tie down his rooks to defending his position, then use my free-roving one to take his pawns. Plan B: free up my own centre pawns, to create threats - even a paper tiger can still frighten someone looking for real predators. Plan C: if I can't force my opponent into blundering away one of his rooks by plan A and B, try and set up a stalemate trap. My king is already quite near his rooks.} 48.Re6 Rd8 49.Rxf6+ Rg6 50.Rf7 {Of course I don't want to swap rooks - plan A is working too well!} Rb8 51.g3 {Preparation for plan C. Also, give my esteemed opponent a chance to help me with plan A (or even B).}
b5 52.cxb5 Rxb5 53.Ke4 {At this point, I also entertained options of maybe walking my king over to the queenside and using it to attack from the rear (some masters claim that a fighting king is worth a whole rook, and his is doing sweet Fanny Adams), but nothing came from that.} a4 {Thank you! Plan A is going stormingly.} 54.Ra7 Rb3 55.Rxa4 Rxg3 {I just knew that he wouldn't be able to resist that pawn. He could, instead, have gone for the mate.} 56.Kf4 Rh3 {And again!} 57.Ra7 {Plan A having been completed (with some concessions on the kingside), I'm now going for plan B. This has no chance of success, unless Black blunders, but he's of my own echelon - and we <i>do</i> blunder.} Rxh4 58.Kf5 {Plan B won't work. Going straight for plan C now...} g3 {...thank you.} 59.Rh7+ {Thank you very much indeed.} Kxh7 {I did not deserve to draw this game. For the middle game, my opponent very much deserved to win it. Unfortunately for him, he lost his bottle in the endgame, and I knew exactly which cheap shot I was going for.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.playtheimmortalgame.com"]
[Date "2011.12.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Shallow Blue"]
[Black "nlslav"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteELO "1428"]
[BlackELO "1390"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Bd6 {This isn't exactly the best move in the King's Knight: it blocks Black's own central position. With proper counter-play (i.e., not mine) White should be able to storm all over Black.}
3. Nc3 h6 {Just time-wasting. Nothing was going to g5 for some time. The only reason for playing this move is that it gets White out of book.}
4. Bc4 Nf6 5. O-O a6 {More loss of time.}
6. d4 Nc6 7. d5 Na5 8. b3 {My turn to make a bad pawn move. I could've just moved the bishop. Yes, it loses time, but so did Black's Na5. And this allows Black to mess up my pawn structure.}
8... Nxc4 9. bxc4 Bb4 10. Bb2 d6 11. a3 {And again I mimic my opponent's bad moves. This was quite unnecessary. My e pawn was under threat, and this does nothing to remove that.}
11... Bxc3 12. Bxc3 Nxe4 {See? And now I need to waste more time saving my bishop.}
13. Bb2 b6 14. Rb1 a5 {Neither of us, I think, has come out of the opening shining with glory. Black has a pawn, but I have the better king safety. My plan now is to make use of the latter.}
15. Nd2 {(This was not the way - Nxd2 would now have foiled my plans - but...)}
15... Nc5 16. f4 {(...as Black did not do that, I take the opportunity to crash into his kingside.)}
16... f6 {And Black obliges by giving me an open road to his king.}
17. fxe5 {Wrong order. An immediate Qh5+ would have been better. Black could have castled and merely lost his pawn. We'd have been back to material equality, with my attack on his kingside continuing with less vigour than in the game.}
17... dxe5 {But he prefers the pawn, and allows me to get in...}
18. Qh5+ {...this, which I should've done earlier but which is still good now.}
18... Kf8 19. Rf3 {Argh! True blunder number one. Lesson learned (hey, a man must be allowed to hope...) from this game: penned pawns can net you another pawn.
Bxe5 would have been just fine, because f6 can't take back whether the rook is on f1 or on f3. Now, though, Black gets the chance to protect those pawns.}
19... Qd6 20. Rg3 {And again. Same blunder, but worse: now Bxe5 is no longer on.}
20... Na4 21. Bc1 Bd7 22. Ne4 {Still going for an all-out assault on the king...}
22... Qe7 23. Bd2 {...so why didn't I get on with it? I do not know.

Nxf6 would have been fine. ...Qxf6 would not have been a good response because of Rf3 (back where it belongs), but what I think I did not spot is that ...gxf6 would've allowed Bxh6 with check and a mating attack.}
23... Be8 24. Qf3 Rd8 25. Qf2 {Nothing much has come of my attack, I'm still a pawn down, and now I'm wasting time.}
25... Bf7 26. Rgb3 Bg6 27. Qf3 {Blunder number two. Don't let your big guns get lured into knight forks. I predict that I will <i>not</i> learn that lesson for a long time to come.}
27... Bxe4 28. Qxe4 Nc5 29. Qg4 Nxb3 30. Rxb3 {Better players would have given up now. Against a better player, I might have given up. But I'm playing against someone of my own calibre, so there's a chance that I may yet get a shot in somewhere.}
30... Rb8 31. Be1 g5 32. Bg3 h5 33. Qf5 {Still going for that weakened kingside, you see. It's not likely to succeed, but it's a reason to keep playing.}
33... Kf7 34. Re3 Kg7 35. Kf2 {Another bad move, because...}
35... Rbe8 {...h4 would've nabbed my bishop (my king just blocked its escape), but it's now time for my opponent to blunder back.}
36. Kf3 Rh6 37. Bf2 Rg6 38. h4 g4+ 39. Kg3 Kh6 40. Re1 Rh8 41. Be3+ Kg7 42. Bd4 {It's a cheap shot. The bishop cannot be taken because the queen would fall.}
42... Qxa3+ {It was <i>too</i> cheap a shot. The pawn falls with check and the bishop is now in danger.}
43. c3 {Not the best way to break the check, but it proved, later on, to be my best chance. Fighting honourably is no longer an option.}
43... exd4 44. Qd7+ Kh6 45. Kf4 Qd6+ {This is what I wanted! Yes, fewer pieces means fewer chances of swindles, but that queen was his most dangerous bit.}
46. Qxd6 cxd6 {Also, his own position is now more blocked: more ways for me to defend.}
47. cxd4 Rg7 {Right, let's take stock and make plans.

He is a rook up and has a dangerous passed pawn on the queenside. My king is in the centre and near his position.

Plan A: try and tie down his rooks to defending his position, then use my free-roving one to take his pawns.
Plan B: free up my own centre pawns, to create threats - even a paper tiger can still frighten someone looking for real predators.
Plan C: if I can't force my opponent into blundering away one of his rooks by plan A and B, try and set up a stalemate trap. My king is already quite near his rooks.}
48. Re6 Rd8 49. Rxf6+ Rg6 50. Rf7 {Of course I don't want to swap rooks - plan A is working too well!}
50... Rb8 51. g3 {Preparation for plan C. Also, give my esteemed opponent a chance to help me with plan A (or even B).}
51... b5 52. cxb5 Rxb5 53. Ke4 {At this point, I also entertained options of maybe walking my king over to the queenside and using it to attack from the rear (some masters claim that a fighting king is worth a whole rook, and his is doing sweet Fanny Adams), but nothing came from that.}
53... a4 {Thank you! Plan A is going stormingly.}
54. Ra7 Rb3 55. Rxa4 Rxg3 {I just knew that he wouldn't be able to resist that pawn. He could, instead, have gone for the mate.}
56. Kf4 Rh3 {And again!}
57. Ra7 {Plan A having been completed (with some concessions on the kingside), I'm now going for plan B. This has no chance of success, unless Black blunders, but he's of my own echelon - and we <i>do</i> blunder.}
57... Rxh4 58. Kf5 {Plan B won't work. Going straight for plan C now...}
58... g3 {...thank you.}
59. Rh7+ {Thank you very much indeed.}
59... Kxh7 {I did not deserve to draw this game. For the middle game, my opponent very much deserved to win it. Unfortunately for him, he lost his bottle in the endgame, and I knew exactly which cheap shot I was going for.}
1/2-1/2

[Event "EPSCA Zonal"]
[Site "Hampshire"]
[Date "2012.03.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Can't remember"]
[Black "Oxfordshire"]
[Result "0-1"]
[FEN "8/2p1b2r/R3p3/B3Q3/4PP2/3P1k2/PPR4P/5K2 w - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]

{--------------
. . . . . . . .
. . p . b . . r
R . . . p . . .
B . . . Q . . .
. . . . P P . .
. . . P . k . .
P P R . . . . P
. . . . . K . .
white to play
--------------}
1. Qxe6 Rxh2 2. Qxe7 Rh1#
0-1

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Nc6 4. O-O e6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Re1 a6 7. d4 b5 8. Bf1 c4 9. d5 Ne5 10. Nxe5 dxe5 11. dxe6 Bxe6 12. Qf3 Be7 13. Be3 Qc7 14. Na3 O-O 15. Nc2 Rad8 16. Bg5 Bg4 17. Qg3 Be6 18. Rad1 Rxd1 19. Rxd1 Rd8 20. Rxd8+ Bxd8 21. Qe3 Ng4 22. Qd2 Bxg5 23. Qxg5 f6 24. Qd2 Qb6 25. h3 Nh6 26. Ne3 Nf7 27. Nd5 Qc5 28. b4 cxb3 29. axb3 Nd6 30. b4 Qb6 31. Kh2 Nxe4 32. Nxb6 Nxd2 33. Bd3 e4 34. Bc2 f5 35. Kg3 Kf7 36. Kf4 h6 37. h4 Kf6 38. Ke3 Nc4+ 39. Nxc4 Bxc4 40. Kd4 g5 41. hxg5+ hxg5 42. g3 Ke6 43. Kc5 Ke5 44. Kb6 Bd3 45. Bb3 f4 46. Kxa6 e3 47. fxe3 fxe3 48. c4 bxc4 49. Bd1 c3+ 50. b5 e2 51. Bxe2 Bxe2 52. Ka5 Bxb5 53. Kxb5 0-1