Thursday Game of the Week 10/28

For this Game of the Week, I've gone back into my online archives. In this G/3 Italian game, I'm White. As this is fairly quick play, I get a little bit sidetracked early in this game.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7 4. c3 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. Re1 O-O 7. h3 Be6 8. Bb3 h6 9. d4 Bxb3 10. Qxb3 Rb8 11. d5 Na5 12. Qc2 b6 13. b4 Nb7 14. a4 a5 15. Na3 Qd7
So far, nothing to write home about. We are working our queen-side pawns but the is very little excitement. But then,

16. Nh4? I wanted to get an active king-side and set my Knight on f5, but the problem is that Black can play Nxd5 winning the pawn as his Bishop will capture my Knight with this discovery tactic.

16. ...c5? 17. b5 Rfe8? 18. c4? and apparently, so have I. I should have gone with 18. Nf5 while I have the chance to save my pawn. I guess I felt like giving something away.

18. ...Nxd5 19. Nf5 Instead of trading off Knights, I'm going to keep working the kingside. Since the pawn was taken away from where I want the action to be, I'm not worried for now, but the endgame might bite me in the end.

19. ...Nf6 20. Qd3 Bf8 21. Nc2 Rbd8 22. Ra3 Kh7 23. Qe2 giving the Rook clear path.

23. ...g6 24. Ng3 Qe6 25. Ne3 holding the pawn and getting the chance to fill d5 with my Knight.

25. ...Bg7 26. Nd5 Nxd5 27. cxd5 Qd7 Now I've created a passed pawn for Black, but I have some spacial advantage. I need to start working my king-side pawns into the mix if I'm going to crack Black.

28. Rf3 Rf8 29. h4 I'm looking at breaking Black's pawns and placing my Knight back on f5 without fear of pawn capture and limiting Black's movements overall. Not to mention that Black's Knight is stuck in the corner and cannot come to Black's aid easily.

29. ...f5?! Most interesting. Black wants to keep my Knight away, but...

30. h5!? Now if 30. ...f4 31. hxg6+ Kxg6 32. Nf5 and Black's King is out in the open. My Rook can slide to the h-file and my Queen can freely get into the fray. However, Black can exchange a Rook for a pawn and my Knight. Add that to my previous pawn and it's even, but Black's Knight is still out of the game.

30. ...fxe4? 31. hxg6+! If the Black's king pulls away to the 8th rank, I play 32. Qxe4 and have shots at the h6 pawn to go ahead on material. Black cannot get any other pieces to back up the Bishop in defense of the pawn without first clearing his King. That won't happen for a long time. Of course, as this is a G/3, there is not much time to think clearly.

31. ...Kxg6?? 32. Qxe4+!! and Black resigns as White has f5 covered indefinitely. However, this is where the fun comes in for the rest of you. There is a Mate in 10, starting with 32.Qxe4 as move one. Can you find it?