I was reminded of his words during my round-three game from the 50+ seniors at the British Chess Championships.
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| White to make his 22nd move in Stephen Dilleigh (2000/182) - Spanton (1900/168) |
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I felt my bishop-pair gave serious winning chances. But White's space advantage and Black's weak queenside pawns outweigh the bishops - so much so that the analysis engine Stockfish10 reckons White has the upper hand. Komodo9 also favours White, but only by about a half-pawn.
22.Ke2 Bc7 23.Kd3 Ke7 24.h3 Kd6 25.b4 g6?!
If I had assessed the position correctly, I would have grabbed my fair share of space in the centre with 25...e5.
26.e5+!?
This looks like White's best chance for an advantage. I had considered it, but did not realise what a precarious state it left me in.
26...Ke7
Black is close to losing after 26...fxe5?!, when both 27.Ke4 and 27.Ng5 seem promising.
27.Ke4
SD explained in the postmortem that he played this to provoke my reply.
27...f5+!?
Once this has been played on the board, Komodo9 comes to like it, but Stockfish10 prefers 27...h6 or 27...Bb8.
28.Kd4 h6 29.Nd2 g5 30.g4 Bd7
Giving up the bishop-pair, but by now even I realised the bishops give Black no advantage as they are so restricted.
31.Bxd7 Kxd7 32.b5 Ke7?
It looks like this should lose. Better was 32...fxg4 33.hxg4 Ke7, when it is not clear that White can make progress.
33.Nc4?
Missing his chance. White is almost certainly winning after 33.gxf5 exf5 34.Kd5. I believe SD was worried about 34...h5, but the engines give 35.Nf1!, eg 35...g4 36.hxg4 fxg4 37.Ng3 h4 38.Nf5+ etc.
33...f4 34.a4 Kd7 35.f3 Ke7 36.Nd2
SD spent quite some time looking at 36.a5? bxa5 37.b6? (37.Kc5 may hold) Bd8 38.Kc5, but 38...a4 wins for Black, eg 39.Kb4 Kd7 40.Kxa4 Kc6 etc, or 39.Kb5 Kd7 40.Na3 Be7.
36...Kd7
The engines reckon White is still much better, but the position is drawn.
The remaining moves were:
37.Ne4 Ke7 38.Nf6 Ke7 39.Ke4 Bd8 40.Nh5 Be7 41.Kd3 Bd8 42. Ke4 ½–½
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