(1) Burns - Wastney
Gordon Hoskyn Memorial, 2008
[Chris Burns]



1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 The Mieses variation of the Scotch game.

8.c4 Ba6 9.b3 Qh4!? An incredibly sharp idea, introducing the possibility of both ...Bb4+ and ...Qd4, this was very popular in the late 1990's.

10.a3! White rips up the openings rule book to play an outwardly 'irrelevent' pawn move, but the reality is that it's worth expanding another tempo to rule out any ...Bb4 or ...Nb4 possibilities for Black.

10...Bc5 11.g3 Bxf2+! 12.Qxf2! Kxf2? Qd4+ is a less attractive way of losing the rook

12...Qe4+ 13.Kd1 Qxh1 14.Nd2 Diagram

Black is an exchange and a pawn ahead but his queen is lacking squares and his two minor pieces have seen better days.

14...f5!? Probably best as 14... Nc3+ 15.Kc2 Ne4+ 16 Nxe4 Qxe4 17.Bd3 leads to a strong attack for White.

15.cxd5 Bxf1 16.Qxf1 Qxd5 17.Bb2 0-0 18.Kc2 Rae8 19.Rd1 Rf7 20.Kb1 h6 21.Ka2 Ref8 22.Nf3 Qc5? A mistake which lets White win an exchange.

23.e6! Re7 24.Ne5 d5 25.Nd7 Rxd7 26.exd7 Qd6 27.Qa6 To quickly establish a passed 'a' pawn. At the time I did not realise how fast it would be.

27...Qxd7 28.Qxa7 f4 29.Qd4 f3 30.Rf1 Qe7 31.a4 Rf7 32.Rf2 Qe4 33.a5 Re7 34.a6 Qe1 35.a7 Qa5+ 36.Qa4 Qxa4+ 37.bxa4 Re8 38.Bd4 1-0