[Event "2nd 4NCL Easter (Open) 2022"]
[Site "Daventry"]
[Date "2022.04.15"]
[Round "Round 1"]
[White "Gormally, D."]
[Black "Handley, M."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D93"]
[WhiteElo "2471"]
[BlackElo "1982"]
[Annotator "danie"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.04.15"]

{4NCL Easter open report by Daniel Gormally  I was very happy with my
preparation for the 4NCL open which took place in Daventry, in
Northamptonshire over the Easter weekend and it nearly paid off in spectacular
style, as I won my first six games before stumbling at the end.  In order to
do well you need to start well and what you do directly beforehand seems
pivotal. To be completely relaxed and not rushing to get there, I decided to
travel down the day before and that turned out to be a wise decision.   There
are not many places to eat near the hotel so I decided to go into town, which
was about a half hour walk away. The Italian restaurant served decent enough
fare but was terribly slow, probably due to being almost overrun by local
patrons. The old town of Daventry looked nice enough, and so I retired back to
the hotel in good spirits.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bf4 {
This is a line where the play is fairly forcing, and in truth the theory has
been well worked out since the days of the Kasparov-Karpov matches.} O-O 6. e3
c5 7. dxc5 Qa5 8. Rc1 dxc4 (8... Ne4 {is an alternative.} 9. cxd5 Nd7 $1 (9...
Nxc3 10. Qd2 Qxa2 11. bxc3 Qa5 $16) 10. Nd4 Nxc3 11. bxc3 Qxa2 {with a rather
messy opening position.}) 9. Bxc4 Qxc5 10. Bb3 Nc6 11. O-O Qa5 12. h3 {[#]} Bd7
$2 {a key mistake, arguably already the decisive one!} (12... Bf5 {is by far
the most popular move.  Black plays ... Bf5 to prevent White playing e4, so is
entirely logical. But I wasn't entirely surprised to see ... Bd7, as my
opponent was spending a lot of time in the opening and in general looked
uncomfortable.  Afterwards he told me that he had quit chess for over twenty
years and had only come back recently, and was struggling to learn the ins and
outs of the Grunfeld.} 13. Qe2 Ne4 14. Nd5 e5 15. Bh2 Be6 16. Rxc6 $5 bxc6 17.
Ne7+ Kh8 18. Bxe6 fxe6 19. Nxc6 {is supposed to lead to equality.}) 13. e4 $1 {
White takes over the center and already has a big advantage. Threats like e5
and Nd5 loom large.} Rad8 14. Nd5 Be8 (14... Be6 {seemed more resilient to me
at the board, even if Black remains in trouble.}) 15. Bc7 Rxd5 16. exd5 Qxc7
17. dxc6 Bxc6 {This is the first time I started thinking. White is up the
exchange for the pawn, but if Black is allowed time to co-ordinate his pieces,
can easily get back into the game. It is important to act quickly.} 18. Ba4 $1
{The reason this move is useful is because it rids Black of the Bishop pair,
which could give him some hope of getting back in the game.} (18. Re1 Rd8 19.
Qe2 Nd5 {is still better for White, but at least Black can claim some kind of
temporary activity.}) ({after} 18. Qe2 {Black had a couple of moves which
worried me.} Nh5 {at least aims for ... Nf4, even if objectively this
shouldn't be enough to save Black.} (18... Qf4 $5 {diving into the position
with the Queen, also contained some irritability factor.})) 18... Qb6 19. Bxc6
bxc6 20. Qa4 {Normally when you are the exchange behind you need the
opponent's Rooks tied down, but sadly for my opponent this wasn't the case
here and White's heavy pieces can run rampant.} (20. Ne5 {also seemed winning,
even if Black wipes out the Queenside.} Qxb2 21. Nxc6 Qxa2 22. Nxe7+ Kh8 23.
Ra1 Qe6 24. Rxa7 {Attracted me during the game. The Knight on e7 is stuck for
the moment but White is so active that surely won't matter.}) 20... Rc8 (20...
c5 21. Ne5 Qxb2 22. Rxc5 {is also fairly bad for Black.}) (20... Qxb2 {won't
save Black either, White has a choice of taking on c6 with the Rook or just
grabbing on a7 with the Queen, in both cases winning easily.}) 21. Ne5 c5 22.
b4 $1 Qe6 (22... Nd5 23. Rxc5 $1 {is a neat touch.}) 23. Rfe1 cxb4 24. Nc6 1-0

[Event "2nd 4NCL Easter (Open) 2022"]
[Site "Daventry"]
[Date "2022.04.16"]
[Round "Round 2"]
[White "Lentsoz, I."]
[Black "Gormally, D."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A21"]
[WhiteElo "2116"]
[BlackElo "2471"]
[Annotator "danie"]
[PlyCount "144"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.04.15"]

{I was pleased with the game against Michael Handley, and according to the
computer I had played almost flawlessly. A Lichess centipawns check returned a
score of 0 inaccuracies, 0 mistakes and so on.  Due to my opponents shaky ...
Bd7 move and my solid preparation before the game, perhaps this wasn't
surprising.  I also sensed some anxiety amongst the other top seeds. The
organisers were using English ratings instead of FIDE ratings, something I
protested about before the tournament on Facebook. I didn't like being third
or fourth seed when on FIDE ratings I was the highest rated and had been for
some time.  The reason they used English grades was apparently because some of
the lower sections were often exposed to extremely underrated players entering
on a very low FIDE grade. This had apparently drawn some ire from some of the
amateur players. However in my view it is inconsistent to seed a FIDE rated
event using national ratings.  The reason I mention this minor grumble, is
because in round one Nicholas Skettos upset second seed Peter Roberson, who I
speculate might have been feeling some extra pressure due to a slightly higher
seeding than normal. In any case after winning in round two that was the last
we saw of Robo, as he then promptly withdrew. This obviously helped my chances
as it was one less player to worry about.} 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. Nd5 Be7 4. e3
Nf6 5. Nxe7 Qxe7 6. Be2 O-O 7. d3 d5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Nf3 c5 10. O-O Nc6 11. Qc2
Rd8 (11... Ndb4 12. Qc3 Bf5 13. b3 Rfd8 14. Rd1 {was another possibility, when
Black is pressing.}) 12. a3 Nc7 $6 {This was a tricky position to navigate and
I went slightly wrong here. Black should at least wait for White to play e4
before withdrawing the Knight.} (12... Be6 13. b3 Rac8 14. Bb2 f6 {is at least
equal for Black.}) 13. b3 Bf5 14. Bb2 Rd7 15. Rac1 Na6 16. Qc3 Re8 $2 17. Rfe1
$1 Qd8 18. Red1 $6 {The wrong Rook!} (18. Rcd1 $1 {Was more accurate. It is
tempting to keep the Rook on the c-file, however if White ever manages to open
the center with d4, then the Rook will do a useful job on e1.}) 18... f6 19.
Rd2 Kh8 20. Bf1 Bg4 (20... Qb6 {tempted me at the time, with the idea perhaps
of hitting b3 given the chance with ... Na5 or ... Be6, but White can ignore
all this and blow-up the center.} 21. d4 $5 cxd4 22. exd4 e4 23. d5 {can
become fairly dangerous for Black.}) 21. Rdc2 ({my last move was a prophylatic
measure against} 21. d4 $2 {which can now be met by} Bxf3 22. gxf3 exd4 {
with advantage to Black.}) 21... Bf5 (21... Bxf3 {I probably should have spent
more time on. This leads to a very dynamically unbalanced position, where
White has the two Bishops against Black's two Knights.} 22. gxf3 f5 23. Qc4
Qg5+ 24. Kh1 Nc7 {is another mess.}) 22. Rd2 Ne7 {as soon as I played this I
started to feel uncomfortable. That is the danger of morning games, you
haven't always woken up by the time you play and I felt like I was close to
blundering. I suddenly realized I had given him a chance to sacrifice.} 23. e4
$2 {this took me somewhat by surprise and I didn't react very well.} ({It was
careless that before I played my last move I hadn't even considered the idea of
} 23. Nxe5 $5 {and was rather lucky that I wasn't just losing.} fxe5 (23... Nd5
{is also possible, but an admission that Black is scared of the piece sac.
Which I was.} 24. Qc2 fxe5 25. e4 Bg6 26. exd5 Rxd5 27. Re1 {e5 looks a bit
weak.}) 24. Qxe5 Rg8 25. d4 Bg6 $44) 23... Be6 $2 {In general in this
tournament I calculated pretty well, but this was a rare exception and I
overlooked a key point a few moves later.} (23... Bg4 $1 {was by far the most
logical move and I was kicking myself a bit later for not playing this.} 24. b4
(24. Nxe5 fxe5 25. Qxe5 Ng6 {no longer seems convincing for White.}) 24... Bxf3
25. gxf3 Ng6 $1 26. bxc5 Nh4 $17 {gives Black plenty of action.}) 24. b4 cxb4 (
24... Rc7 $2 {had been my original idea, but to my horror I realized that after
} 25. b5 Nb8 26. d4 $1 $18 {Black cannot take on d4 and is completely
collapsing! So plan B has to go into motion.}) (24... b6 {he mentioned after
the game, but I doubt this holds either.} 25. Qc2 $1 {introduces a cruel
threat of d4, and} cxb4 26. d4 {looks miserable for Black.}) 25. axb4 Qb6 26.
d4 Rc7 27. Qa3 Rxc1 28. Bxc1 exd4 29. Nxd4 Bg8 30. Bxa6 $2 {short of time
White reaches for a simple move, but this takes all the pressure off Black.} (
30. Qa4 $5 Rd8 31. Nf3 $18) (30. Nb5 $1 {is crushing, with the idea of Nd6,
Rd6 etc. If Black covers this with ... Nc8, then Rc2 followed by Be3 and Black
will quickly collapse.}) 30... bxa6 31. Qa5 $2 Nd5 $1 {a nice trick although
objectively this is still just equal.} 32. f3 Nxb4 33. Qxb6 axb6 34. Ba3 Na2
35. Nf5 b5 36. Rd7 Be6 37. Ra7 Bxf5 38. exf5 b4 39. Bb2 Nc3 40. Bxc3 ({I was
praying for} 40. Rxa6 $4 Nd1 $1 {with a nasty threat of mate on e1.} 41. Re6
Rxe6 42. fxe6 Kg8 $19) 40... bxc3 41. Rc7 $6 {still not fatal, except there
was something much simpler.} (41. Rxa6 Rc8 42. Ra1 $1 {was the cleanest way to
steer the game towards the draw.  I feel like this was the key moment of the
tournament for me, because if I had dropped something in round two I wouldn't
have got the confidence and momentum that I achieved later in the event.})
41... h5 42. Rxc3 a5 43. Kf2 Kg8 44. Rc7 Ra8 45. Rc3 a4 46. Ra3 Kf7 {[#]} 47.
Ke3 $2 {a difficult ending to navigate, especially when short of time. My
opponent heads for the a-pawn but as he indicated afterwards in our brief chat,
it was better to linger around the Kingside.} (47. Kg3 $1 {holds the fort.
Endgame maestro Keith Arkell also suggested this idea when I showed him this
game later. There are very few Rook and pawn endings he doesn't know about!}
Ke7 48. Kh4 Kd6 (48... Ra5 $11) 49. Kxh5 Kc5 $2 {even loses.} 50. Kg6 Kb4 51.
Ra1 {White will overwhelm the Kingside and can always sac the Rook for the
a-pawn later.}) 47... Ke7 48. Kd4 Kd6 49. h4 Kc6 $6 {I very rarely get Rook
and pawn endings and didn't feel at all comfortable! As I said to Keith later
though, I am probably an underrated grinder. When I'm on form, I can hold my
own perfectly well in endgame play.  This is still winning but I didn't
realize yet that I could just wait and then if the White King ever moves, the
Black King will gain access to e5.} (49... Ra7 50. g4 (50. Kc4 Ke5 {is easy
for Black}) 50... Ra5 {and White can do nothing on the Kingside and is
essentially helpless.} 51. gxh5 Rxf5 52. Ke4 Ra5 53. f4 Ke6 54. f5+ Kf7 {
now Black can come around ... Kg8-h7-h6 and win that way. White can put the
King on g4 but Black will just pass with the Rook and leave White in zugzwang.}
) 50. Kc4 Ra7 $2 ({it was better to go back} 50... Kd6 $1 {with the same
winning plan as before, of just waiting and then eventually gaining access to
e5.} 51. f4 Ra7 52. Kd4 Ra8 53. Kc4 Kc6 54. Kd4 Kb5 $19) 51. g3 $1 {It was
impressive how my opponent kept resisting given that he had been down to
increment for a while.} Ra8 $1 52. Kb4 Kd5 53. Rd3+ Ke5 54. Ka3 {by getting
the King behind the pawn instead of the Rook, White has made matters quite
tricky as now his Rook is free to become active.} Kxf5 55. Rd5+ Ke6 $2 {
I thought this was being clever and it wasn't. Probably I was nervous and
stopped calculating here, trying to rush him in his time trouble.} (55... Kg6
56. Rb5 Rd8 57. Kxa4 Rd1 {was a surprisingly simple win. Black will get in
around the back with ... Rg1 and the White Kingside will quickly collapse.})
56. Rxh5 {My opponent gave me a look here as if to say that he thought I had
blundered h5. I hadn't and had planned my next, where White still has problems
to solve.} Rd8 {[#]} 57. g4 (57. Kxa4 Rd5 $3 {is winning according to
Stockfish 12, but i'm not sure if I would have gone for this at all, it looks
extremely counter-intuitive to exchange Rooks when a pawn down!} (57... Rd3 $2
58. g4 Rxf3 59. g5 $11 {is apparently just a draw, even though the White King
is a long way away.}) 58. Rh7 Kf7 {White is helpless against the threat of ...
Rd3.}) 57... Rd3+ 58. Kxa4 Rxf3 59. Kb5 $4 {tempting and bad.} ({the
cold-blooded} 59. g5 $1 {would have held the draw.}) 59... Rf4 60. g5 fxg5 61.
hxg5 Kf5 62. Kc5 Kg6 63. Rh1 Kxg5 {The White King is cut-off and the rest is
just a technical conversion.} 64. Kd5 Kf5 65. Rh8 g5 66. Rh1 Rf3 67. Rg1 Kf4
68. Rh1 g4 69. Rh8 g3 70. Rf8+ Ke3 71. Rg8 Kf2 72. Ke4 g2 0-1

[Event "2nd 4NCL Easter (Open) 2022"]
[Site "Daventry"]
[Date "2022.04.16"]
[Round "Round 3"]
[White "Gormally, D."]
[Black "Fallowfield, J."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A65"]
[WhiteElo "2471"]
[BlackElo "2152"]
[Annotator "danie"]
[PlyCount "29"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.04.15"]

{I was extremely happy after round two because it was rare that I managed to
win a technical game. If nothing else, it showed that I wasn't a one-trick
pony, doomed to only win in preparation. The trend continued with endgame wins
in round four and five.  Before then on the Friday afternoon game I faced
Jeremy Fallowfield.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Bg5 {
I had started playing this line in response to preparing for the Black side of
the variation against Andy Ledger at the British championships. Impressed with
the kind of attacking positions White was likely to get, I essayed it a few
times in blitz games online.} c5 {Black's most popular choice.} ({Black has
various ideas here, for example it is also possible to prepare the idea of ...
c5 with} 6... a6 $5) 7. d5 e6 8. Qd2 exd5 ({Facing Mark Hebden in the last
round and only needing a draw to win the tournament outright, I went for broke
and 7/7 instead, based on the logic that I might never be in with a chance to
record such an impressive score ever again.  He played} 8... Qa5 {here, still
following his game against Ledger at the British.} 9. Bf4 $5 {a slight
surprise and something I had prepared before the game.} exd5 10. cxd5 Ne8 {
in the short time before round seven, I had anticipated this move but sadly
for me, my preparation didn't go deeply enough. Having had only about three
hours sleep before the final day, it was most likely I was just tired.} 11. h4
$1 f5 12. exf5 $2 {I was out of preparation and responded badly to his last
move, even though it was a fairly obvious one and typical of Mark's style,
which is to look for "action" at any given opportunity.} ({White should keep
going!} 12. h5 $1 fxe4 13. hxg6 Rxf4 $2 {this was the move I had feared, but I
didn't go deeply enough.} (13... hxg6 14. Bh6 {is also good for White.}) 14.
Qxf4 Bxc3+ 15. bxc3 Qxc3+ 16. Kf2 {and I had failed to realize that he
couldn't snap the Rook off on a1, due to the obvious mate threats that White
has.}) ({at the train station in Long Buckby waiting for the train home, Keith
said he would have just gone for} 12. Bh6 {just to take the sting out of
Black's position. Given the tournament situation, that would have not been a
bad idea at all.}) 12... Bxf5 13. g3 $2 {far too slow and a sign that I was
overly nervous.} Nd7 {Black is already very comfortable, and Mark went on to
win. A tragedy for the gorm!}) 9. cxd5 Na6 {As Jeremy told me after the game,
due to not having played much since the pandemic, he was a bit rusty and more
or less on his own here as far as the theory was concerned, so decided to just
"get a move out".} (9... a6 10. a4 Nbd7 11. Nh3 $1 {is rather comfortable for
White, who waits for the Knight to go to d7 before committing the Knight to h3.
The following plan is then obvious; Nf2, Be2, and 0-0, when White has a
promising attacking set-up.}) 10. Bxa6 $5 {not the most critical move, but in
the circumstances a practical one. In tournaments with a heavy workload of two
games a day, you want to keep things as simple as possible.} (10. Nge2 Nc7 11.
Ng3 a6 12. a4 Rb8 13. Be2 b5 14. axb5 axb5 15. O-O $14 {is another possible
continuation.}) 10... bxa6 11. Nge2 Rb8 12. O-O Re8 ({Jeremy was a bit down
about his position in the post-mortem and seemed to think that White is
clearly better.  More objectively speaking, Black has the two Bishops and a
b-file to operate down.} 12... a5 $1 {with the idea of activating the Bishop
from a6, at first glance looks perfectly fine for Black, although when you
start moving the pieces around and execute White's main plan, the engine
starts to change its mind a bit.} 13. b3 Ba6 14. Rfe1 Rb4 15. Ng3 Qb6 16. Bh6
Bxh6 17. Qxh6 c4+ 18. Kh1 {is a position that contains some danger for Black.
Already there is a threat of Nf5.}) 13. Rab1 Bd7 $2 {this is rather slow.
Already I sensed that Jeremy had given up on his position.} (13... a5 $1 {
with the same plan of activating the Bishop via a6, which is a better square
than b5, where it just blocks the b-file.}) 14. Ng3 {now ... Bb5 will just be
met by Rfe1, when the Bishop will look rather pointless, and White is ready to
start attacking with f4, e5 etc.} Qb6 $2 {one mistake follows another. This is
just a tactical oversight.} (14... Rb4 {was what I was expecting in the game,
retaining some irritability factor with ... Rd4.} 15. Qf4 Bb5 16. Rf2 $16 {
Black is struggling to break the pin (...h6 just drops a pawn) but it is also
not exactly clear how White strengthens his position.}) 15. Qf4 $1 {After
thinking for a while Jeremy graciously resigned, rather than prolong the agony
out even further.} ({the variations are hopeless for Black.} 15. Qf4 Nh5 (15...
Qd8 16. Qxd6 Qb6 17. Qf4 {is just a free extra pawn}) (15... h6 16. Bxf6 ({
it is probable that I would have gone for} 16. Bxh6 $18 {as that looked even
easier to play.}) 16... g5 17. Bxg5 hxg5 18. Qxg5 Qd8 19. Qd2 Qh4 20. Nce2) 16.
Nxh5 gxh5 17. Bf6 $18 {I used this strong start to propel me forward.  
Getting to 6/6 was exciting- before the tournament I had drawn my last four
games, so wasn't expecting anything special at all. Despite the disappointing
last round, the result of this tournament is likely to give me a lot of
confidence going forward.}) 1-0

