Horsham Club Championship 2025-26: Mansson – McDonald

   [Event "Horsham Club Championship"]  [Site "Horsham"]  [Date "2025.09.17"]  [Round "1"]  [White "Mansson, James C"]  [Black "McDonald, Robert"]  [Result "1-0"]  [Annotator "Mansson,James"]  [ECO "B51"]  [WhiteFideId "-1"]  [WhiteFideId "-1"]  [PlyCount "105"]  [GameId "2223033872864455"]  [EventDate "2025.09.01"]  [EventType "swiss"]  [EventCountry "ENG"]   {In this video I am going to look at a game I played last Tuesday in the first round of this year's Horsham Club Championship.  I had the White pieces and was up against Rob McDonald.} 1. e4 ({This was a small surprise to my opponent, who had been expecting} 1. d4 {as in our previous games when I had been White. However, 1.e4 is the move which I have been playing over the last year or so.}) 1... c5 {I had not been sure how my opponent would reply to 1.e4. I thought he might play the Sicilian Defence, and this proved to be the case.} 2. Nf3 d6 {This is Black's most popular move.} 3. Bb5+ {The Moscow Variation.  I chose this line rather than the Open Sicilian as I have been analysing it recently and wanted to try it out.} Nd7 {This is Black's sharpest response, hoping to win the bishop pair should White be provoked into playing Bxd7. The downside is that Black risks falling behind in development.} 4. a4 {This is an unusual move which I have been analysing recently.  White prevents Black from expanding on the queenside with ...a6 and ...b5.  4.a4 is also in a sense a waiting move: White wants to see what formation Black is aiming for before deciding on whether to play d4 or not.} a6 5. Be2 {This is part of the concept of 4.a4: White wants to keep the bishop rather than swap on d7.} Ngf6 6. Nc3 {Now my opponent had to decide on which pawn formation to adopt. He chose} g6 {with a Dragon, although aiming for ...e6 or ...e5 was also possible.} 7. a5 {White fixes the weakness on b6 before Black has the chance to play ...b6. If Black does play ...b6, then he can meet a5 with ...b5.} Bg7 8. O-O {Now my opponent played an interesting move.} Qc7 {Black aims play ...Nb8-c6 to attack the a-pawn without allowing e5 by White.} {I now had to decide whether to keep the position closed with 9.d3 or open things up with 9.d4.} 9. d3 {White decides to keep things closed.} ({The problem with} 9. d4 {is that} cxd4 10. Nxd4 {leads to a good version of the Dragon for Black, as White can no longer castle queenside, which is his strongest plan.}) 9... O-O {At this point I had come to the end of my opening preparation, and had to decide what to play next. I chose} 10. h3 {intending to play Be3 without allowing Black to molest the bishop with ...Ng4. However, as I didn't in fact play Be3, this turned out to be a waste of time.} (10. Nd2 {at once was better, intending both f4 and Nc4.} Nb8 {can then be met with} 11. f4 Nc6 12. Nc4 Be6 {and now White should sacrifice a pawn with} 13. Ne3 $1 Nxa5 14. f5 Bd7 15. g4 {and he has definite compensation in the form of a kingside attack.}) 10... Nb8 11. Nd2 Nc6 {Black now has some awkard pressure on the a-pawn, so White needs to find a good way to deal with this.} {Here I chose} 12. f4 $2 {I played this with the idea of preventing ...Nxa5 by tactical means. However, it seems this should not work!} (12. Nc4 {was what I should have played.} {I was concerned about} Be6 13. Nb6 Rae8 14. Bd2 Nxa5 {but after} 15. Ncd5 Bxd5 16. Nxd5 Nxd5 17. exd5 b6 18. Ra4 {White will get the pawn back due to the awkward arrangement of Black's pieces.} {Note that} Bxb2 $2 {is a mistake because of} 19. c3 $18 {trapping the bishop.}) {Black decided to play} 12... e6 $2 {but now White is fine.} ({Black should have taken the pawn.} 12... Nxa5 $1 13. e5 Ne8 $1 $17 {leaves Black a pawn up, while White's centre is over-extended.} (13... dxe5 14. fxe5 Qxe5 $4 (14... Ne8 $1 $17 {was better, when Black is a pawn up and the e-pawn is weak.}) 15. Rxa5 $18 {was White's idea, winning a piece, but Black can easily improve on this.})) 13. Nc4 {White defends the pawn on a5, while eyeing up the weakness on b6.} Bd7 14. Bf3 {White increases his control over d5 to make it harder for Black to break with ...d5.} Rad8 15. Bd2 Nb4 {Black hints at ...d5, but this proves not to be possible.} (15... Nd4 {moving the knight to a strong square looks promising for Black.}) {Now I decided to go for} 16. e5 $5 {This looks like White's best practical try. There is no way to improve the position of his pieces, so he should look for a way to go forward.} {Black now has three possible moves; fortunately for White he did not chose the best one.  Black chose} dxe5 $2 {This is a mistake, as White's bishop on d2 will come into the game via g5.} (16... Ne8 $1 {seems to be best.} {I thought this move was bad because of} 17. exd6 Nxd6 18. Nxd6 Qxd6 19. Bxb7 {when White wins a pawn, but when I analysed it afterwards with Stockfish, the computer suggested that after} Qc7 20. Be4 Rfe8 $44 {Black had compensation for the material. This seems to be the case, as his pieces are active and the pawn on a5 is weak.}) ({Worst is} 16... Nfd5 $2 {when} 17. Nxd6 $18 {just wins a pawn.}) 17. fxe5 Nfd5 18. Bg5 {Now rook moves can be met by Ne4 or Qd2, when grabbing the pawn on e5 looks too risky.} f6 {was my opponent's choice, look to play actively.} 19. exf6 Bxf6 $6 {This is a mistake as it weakens Black on the dark squares following the exchange of bishops.} 20. Bxf6 {Now my opponent decided to play actively with} Rxf6 {but I was able to respond with} 21. Ne4 {attacking the rook on f6 while bringing the knight to a strong outpost on e4.} {Black retreated with} Rff8 {and White played} 22. c3 {forcing Black to retreat with} Nc6 23. Qd2 {I could have captured on c5, here and a couple of moves later, but playing to activate my pieces was more sensible as I was starting to run short of time.} {Black now tried to activate his pieces with} Ne5 24. Nxe5 Qxe5 {Again I could have grabbed the c-pawn, but this was not necessary.} 25. Rae1 {White now threatens Nxc5, with a discovered attack.} Qc7 {Black moves the queen back to a safe square.} 26. Qh6 {White looks to attack on the kingside with Ng5, threatening mate on h7.} Bc8 {Black prepares to bring the queen across to the defence with ..Qg7 at an appropriate moment.} 27. Ng5 Nf4 {Black counter-attacks d3, but this is easily met with} 28. Be4 {Black brought his queen over to the kingside with} Qg7 ({Black could not play} 28... Nxd3 $4 {because of} 29. Rxf8+ Rxf8 30. Bxd3 $18 {winning a piece.}) {I decided to retreat with} 29. Qh4 {as I could not see anything after the exchange of queens.} ({However after} 29. Qxg7+ Kxg7 {White has the surprising tactic} 30. Bxb7 $1 {with the point} Bxb7 31. Rxf4 Rxf4 32. Nxe6+ Kf6 33. Nxd8 $18 {This should be winning for White, but is a bit messy. In any case, keeping the queens on is also good.}) {White now threatens Black's knight on f4. Black sensibly played} 29... Nd5 {bringing his knight to a strong central post.} ({Again, Black cannot play} 29... Nxd3 $4 {because of} 30. Rxf8+ {and all three recaptures lose:} Kxf8 (30... Qxf8 $4 {allows} 31. Qxh7#) (30... Rxf8 31. Bxd3 $18 {wins a piece.}) 31. Nxe6+ Bxe6 32. Qxd8+ Kf7 33. Qc7+ Kf8 34. Qxg7+ Kxg7 35. Bxd3 $18 {leaves White a rook up in an endgame.}) {I now played} 30. Rxf8+ {Here, I was running very short of time; I only had two minutes plus increment following this move. I decided to simplify towards a very good endgame, a good practical decision under the circumstances.} Rxf8 31. Rf1 Rxf1+ 32. Kxf1 {White has a big positional advantage, while the exchanges have made it much more difficult for Black to create counterplay.} Ne3+ {Black plays for some tricks, but White successfully negotiates them.} 33. Ke2 Nf5 34. Qf4 Qf6 35. Ke1 e5 36. Qd2 Ng3 {Black threatens ..Qf1# but White can stop this easily enough.} 37. Bf3 {White now consolidates. Both players were now down to playing on the increment. This explains the subsequent oversights.} Nf5 38. Ne4 Qe7 39. Qf2 Nh4 40. Be2 {White avoids the exchange of knight for bishop.} {Black now makes a terrible blunder.} Qf7 $4 {I had not expected this move, as I thought that Black would want to keep queens on the board. Also, in addition to being generally undesirable, the move both hangs the knight on h4 and walks into a fork.} 41. Qxf7+ (41. Qxh4 {was also winning, but swapping queens before winning a piece is obviously simpler.}) 41... Kxf7 {However I missed this and played} 42. Kf2 $2 {instead.  The explanation for this oversight is that I was running very short of time and focused on defending g2 and capturing on c5.} ({Now} 42. Nd6+ $18 {just wins a piece.}) 42... c4 $4 {My opponent gave me another chance to play the same move.} {However, I played} 43. dxc4 $2 {once more missing the chance for the same reasons. Fortunately, White still has a winning endgame, but it now requires more work to convert.} ({Now} 43. Nd6+ $18 {again wins a piece.}) 43... Ke7 44. g4 {White threatens Kg3, when Black will have to give up a pawn with ...g5 to save the knight.} h6 {Black prepares to play ...g5 without losing a pawn.} 45. Kg3 g5 46. Bd3 {White now plays to restrict the Black knight to h4.} {Black chose} Kd8 {and play continued with White gradually improving his position.} ({Black now had a chance to bring out the knight with} 46... Ng6 {when White should be careful.} 47. Nd6 {is a more sensible choice.} (47. Nxg5 $4 {loses a piece after} Nf4 $17 {which is best avoided.}) 47... Kxd6 (47... Nf4 {is met by} 48. Nxc8+ $18 {winning a piece.}) 48. Bxg6 Kc5 49. b3 $18 {leads to a winning endgame.}) 47. Nf6 Be6 48. b3 Kc7 49. Be4 Bf7 50. Nd5+ Kc8 51. Kf2 {White is steadily working towards victory, but there is no immediate win in sight.} {However, Black was now anxious to bring his knight back into the game, and blundered with} Ng6 $4 {I had anticipated this, so there was no chance of me overlooking the refutation this time!} 52. Bxg6 Bxg6 53. Ne7+ {White wins a piece with an easily won endgame, so Black resigned.} 1-0