Game 24

A game from the Glasgow Congress.

[Event "Glasgow Congress"]
[Date "5 Nov 2006"]
[White "Ian McLachlan"]
[Black "Lewis Brookens"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White Grade "1602"]
[Black Grade "1579"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.e4 d6 9.e5 [played to prevent 9....e5 closing the position. A Greek gift sacrifice was also in mind] dxe5 10.dxe5 Ng4 11.Bxh7+ [This shouldn't lead to an advantage but it does put Black under a bit of pressure and he has to find the right moves. Objectively best is probably 11.Bf4 leading to something like 11.... f6 12.Qc2 h6 13.exf6 Qxf6 14.Bd6 which is fairly equal] 11...Kxh7 12.Ng5+ Kg8 13.Qxg4 f6 [This turns out to be a mistake. The correct move is 13...Nxe5 after which 14.Qh5 is met by Qd3 and 14.Qe4 by Ng6 and in either case White has nothing. Now White has the advantage and plays the remaining moves accurately] 14.exf6 Qxf6 15.0-0 Qxc3 [another slip in a difficult position] 16.Qh5 Qc2 17.Ba3 b6 [The losing move. Black had to deal with White's threat to chase his Queen from the long diagonal, so perhaps Rf6 to give the Queen the g6 square] 18.Rac1 Qd3 19.Rc3 Qf5 20.Rh3 1-0