Streak Ends

MY 19-game unbeaten streak for Battersea ended this evening … against Battersea.
Aldo Camilleri (196 - Battersea) - Spanton (167 - Battersea 2)
Central London League
Ruy Lopez, Open Defence (by transposition from the Berlin)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 a6!?
Much more popular are 5...Nd6, usually leading to the Berlin Wall, and 5...Be7, but the world champion Magnus Carlsen has played all three moves.
6.Ba4
One point of Black's move order is to avoid the Exchange Variation (3...a6 4.Bxc6), but a major alternative at this point is for White to play a delayed Exchange with 6.Bxc6.
6...b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6

We have reached the main tabiya of the Open Spanish

9.c3 Be7
Slightly more popular in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database, and scoring a better percentage, is the more aggressive 9...Bc5.
10.Nbd2 0-0 11.Bc2 Nc5!?
Black usually plays 11...f5, although the analysis engine Komodo9 prefers 11...Nxd2!?
12.Re1
Stockfish10 reckons White has a big advantage after 12.Nb3 Qd7 13.Re1, giving a position which seems to have first appeared on the board in a 1925 simul where world champion Capablanca had the white pieces.
12...d4 13.cxd4 Nxd4 14.Nxd4 Qxd4 15.Qe2 Bg4!?
Euwe twice won with 15...Rfd8, while Tal drew with 15...Rad8. The text seems to be a reasonable alternative if followed up correctly.
16.Nf3 Qd5 17.Rd1 Bxf3 18.gxf3 Qe6 19.f4 g6 20.b4 Nd7??
The engines give 20...Na4 with a playable game for Black as they are not impressed with White's position after 21.Bxa4 bxa4.
In fact, 20...Na4 was forced since the text loses fairly trivially (as will soon be seen) and 20...Nb7?? runs into 21.f5, eg 21...gxf5 22.Bb3 with a huge attack against Black's king.
21.Bb3 Qf5 22.e6 Nf6
Or 22...Bf6 23.exf7+, again with a winning attack, eg 23... Kg7 24.Be6 Qh5 25.Bg4 Qh4 26.Rb1.
23.exf7+ Kg7?
It was better to give up the exchange with 23...Rxf7, but White is still winning.
The game finished:
24.Qxe7 Qg4+ 25.Kf1 Qh3+ 26.Ke1 Qxh2 27.Be3 Qg1+ 28.Kd2 Qg2 29.Bd4 1-0
Updated statistics
Battersea 2018-19
Event...Colour...Grade...Opponent's Grade...Result
CLL.........B..........167...….........196..............…D
LL...…….B...…...167...………..159...………….D
CLL...…..B...…...167...………..161...………….W
CLL...…..B...…...167...………..190...………….D
LL...…….W...…..167...………..161...….………W
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..148...………….D
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..165...………….W
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..160...………….D
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..159...………….D
LL...…….B...…...167...………..168...………….D
LL...…….W...…..167...………..148...………….W
CLL...…..B...…...167...………..196...……….….L
Overall this season for Battersea I have scored +4=7-1 for a grading performance of 180.
In season 2017-18 I scored +10=8-9 for a grading performance of 175.