Only a draw

One challenge of juggling chess with other commitments that doesn't get mentioned very much is that it can be a real momentum killer. I'm often dependent on the belief generated by good results to play at my best, but all too often in recent years a promising run has been terminated simply because I haven't been able to get games. Sometimes this been the pattern of the league season combined with my distaste for weekend events, but if you are an accountant in professional life then there comes a point every year when you simply have to put everything else aside for a while.

After the game I covered in the last entry, my workload began to swallow up evenings and even most weekends, with the result that I played only two short draws in county matches between December and early March. Even then, things didn't really calm down until this month, and today's game was arranged chiefly so that I didn't fall too far behind with my club championship schedule. I approached it with some uncertainty, and that was compounded when I was repaired on the day! Still, it was likely to be one of my most important games of the season, so I endeavoured to put audits out of my mind for one evening. I had the white pieces against Danny Sparkes, the other top seed in the tournament with a 2056 rating.

Despite the last-minute change of opponent, my preparation connected well and I got a big advantage from the opening. I was able to maintain the controlled play I'd shown towards the end of last year, but eventually I had to do something with my advantage and the opportunity began to slip away:

[Event "Wantage Club Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2026.03.03"] [Round "3"] [White "Young, Daniel J"] [Black "Sparkes, Daniel A"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B27"] [WhiteElo "2032"] [BlackElo "2056"] [Annotator "Young,Daniel J"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] {This was the meeting between the top two seeds in the club championship. Sparkes had been absent for the first half of the season with work commitments, but in his first two games after resurfacing he'd beaten an IM and a ~2200, so I wasn't sure what I was up against. Time control: 80 minutes for all moves + 10 seconds/move.} 1. e4 {(1:20)} c5 {(1:20)} 2. Nf3 g6 3. c3 {I think that steering for a good Alapin offers White more hope of an opening advantage than transposing into an Accelerated Dragon, and the 4. Qxd4 line has been defused since Black can gambit a pawn for queenside play (Manley-Young, 4NCL 2020). Besides, I'd seen that Sparkes invariably plays} Bg7 $6 {, which is not the best here. If White has time to consolidate his large pawn centre then he will get a clear advantage, so every tempo is precious for Black. To that end, he should start with 3... d5 and only develop this bishop later.} 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 d5 6. e5 {I've played the related position after 1. e4 c5 2. c3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. cxd4 d5 5. e5 many times as Black. My results have been good, but analysing the position with an engine is quite depressing. With careful play White can snuff out any attempts against the pawn on d4, after which Black has to defend a cramped and passive game. Normally White doesn't want to play Nf3 this early, as it invites ...Bg4, but equally Black has wasted a tempo with ...Bg7.} Nc6 7. Bb5 {This was my prepared plan. White is not too precious about his better bishop, as it neutralises the knight's pressure on d4. Instead he will exchange on c6 and then play against the backward c-pawn.} Bg4 (7... Qb6 $143 $6 {Playing to recapture with the queen doesn't help Black, as} 8. Nc3 {gives Black no better way to defend d5 than} e6 {, when his light-squared bishop is locked inside the pawn chain and White's pawn centre is impregnable. Even here White should carry on with} 9. Bxc6+ Qxc6 10. a4 {(threatening Nb5)} a6 11. O-O Ne7 12. Bd2 $16 {followed by a5 and Na4(-b6) with a suffocating grip on the queenside. Black has no counterplay at all.}) 8. Bxc6+ bxc6 9. Nbd2 {This modest placement of the knight is important for two reasons. Firstly, it enables White to recapture on f3 with another knight, protecting the key d4 and e5 squares; secondly, it keeps the c-file clear for pressure against c5 and c6.} Qb6 {A new move to me though not, of course, a new idea. Black's only hope of freeing himself is to break out with ...c5, which the queen move supports.} (9... e6 {was one line I'd prepared. Play can continue} 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Nxf3 Ne7 12. O-O O-O {, and here White can start to lock down the squares on the c-file with} 13. Qc2 Qb6 14. b3 $16 {followed by Ba3. The c-pawn is a permanent weakness.}) (9... f6 {had also been checked before the game. This forcible attempt to break free in the centre doesn't work either because} 10. O-O $1 fxe5 11. dxe5 Bxe5 $2 {asks too much of an undeveloped position - White wins with} 12. Qa4 Bxf3 13. Nxf3 Bf6 14. Qxc6+ Kf8 15. Re1 $18 {, and whilst material is equal Black has no way to continue developing. After Ng5 Black will be forced to capture, and then Bxg5 will put intolerable pressure on e7.}) 10. O-O {(1:14)} Nh6 $5 {(1:07) A slight twist: Black is trying to save a tempo by doing without ...e6. This is a risk though, as the fight is in the centre and the knight will struggle to lodge on f5 - if it has to stay on h6 then it will be unable to influence the game.} 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Nxf3 $16 O-O 13. b3 {I reverted to the same plan as in the 9... e6 variation above. If Black allows me to carry this out then his position will be strategically hopeless, so} c5 $6 {is the only practical try - unfortunately for Black, it doesn't quite work.} 14. dxc5 {This keeps some advantage by positional means, but there was also a tactical route which exploits the unhappy knight on h6.} (14. Bf4 $144 {The point I failed to grasp is that White is actually threatening to trap the knight by doubling on the c1-h6 diagonal, because ...Nf5 will be met by g2-g4 and the knight has no retreat square. If Black takes a move to make one, say with 14... Kh8, then 15. Qc1 forks the knight and the c-pawn. He can try to muddle things by} cxd4 15. Qd2 Nf5 16. g4 g5 {, but after} 17. Bxg5 f6 18. exf6 exf6 19. Bf4 Ne7 20. Rae1 $16 {White has a positional advantage bordering on decisive, as Black's d-pawns are crippled and his pieces are lifeless.}) 14... Qxc5 15. Be3 $6 {(55) Developing with tempo is very tempting, but it gives Black a chance to put his queen on a better circuit.} (15. Bg5 $142 $1 {gives Black no such luxury. Now the queen is tied to e7, and White can return to the idea of trapping the knight with g2-g4 and Qd2. Black isn't in time to play} e6 $6 {(apparently 'best' is 15... Qb4, with the idea of meeting g2-g4 with ...Nxg4, but White simply takes the d-pawn for no compensation)} 16. g4 Kh8 {because of} 17. Qc1 $1 {to force the exchange of Black's only active piece.} Qxc1 18. Raxc1 {Black can hardly contemplate giving up the c-file without a fight, but} Rfc8 19. Rxc8+ Rxc8 20. Rc1 Rxc1+ 21. Bxc1 Ng8 22. Be3 a6 23. Bc5 $18 {leaves him utterly paralysed whilst White casually advances his queenside majority to victory.}) 15... Qb5 $1 $146 {(1:01) The best defence - Black's queen can best anchor his position from d7, where it defends both d5 and e7 without interfering with the rooks, and also lends an eye to the g4 square.} (15... Qa5 {was the move I expected, and indeed this was played in all three preceding games (most prominently, Shirov-Koop, Vijlani Raud 2017). However,} 16. Rc1 $146 Nf5 (16... Qxa2 $143 $4 17. Ra1 Qb2 18. Bd4 $18 {and the queen is trapped}) 17. Bc5 Qd8 18. g4 Nh6 $18 {is worse than the game for Black since his rooks aren't connected. Tellingly, Stockfish is keen to play ...Qd7 next move and admit the loss of a tempo.}) 16. Rc1 Nf5 17. Bc5 {Not 17. Rc5? Nxe3. But here Black has an unexpected chance of counterplay.} Qd7 $2 {Once it's missed, however, normal service is resumed and Black is in big trouble, as his knight is evicted from the centre of the board.} (17... Bh6 $142 {clears g7 for the knight with tempo. This looks pointless since the bishop will have nowhere to go after g4-g5, but...} 18. Rc3 Qd7 $1 {is the point, and here at last we see a concrete reason why the queen rightly went to b5 instead of a5. Black can meet} 19. g4 Ng7 20. g5 {with} Qxh3 21. gxh6 Qg4+ 22. Kh1 Qh3+ {, and to avoid a repetition White has to limit his gains to two pieces for rook and pawn.} 23. Nh2 Qxc3 24. hxg7 Rfe8 25. Bd4 Qh3 $14 {It's true that the material balance still favours White, and his king is safe enough with the knight in attendance, but it beats being functionally a whole piece down.}) 18. g4 Nh6 19. Re1 $1 {This is a useful prophylactic move, stopping any tricks on g4 since 19... Nxg4? 20. e6 wins. It also overprotects my e-pawn, allowing my knight to occupy the blockading square d4. From there I wanted to aim for d6, as Black is bound to play ...e6 soon to stabilise his pawn chain.} Rfc8 20. Qd3 {(46)} e6 {(56)} 21. Nd4 Bf8 {Reducing the congestion on the kingside, but I was happy to clear the way for my knight to come to d6 as planned.} ({In the postmortem Sparkes mentioned that he'd been tempted by the combination} 21... Bxe5 $143 $2 22. Rxe5 Rxc5 23. Rxc5 Qd6 {, apparently forking both rooks, but assumed there had to be a hole. There is -} 24. Qe3 Qxc5 25. g5 $18 {wins a piece (25... Nf5 26. Nxf5) - but I didn't see this at the time!}) 22. Bxf8 Kxf8 23. Nb5 Ng8 24. Nd6 Rxc1 25. Rxc1 {(39)} Ne7 {(46) Reaching the critical moment of the game. White has carried out his knight manoeuvre and been rewarded with control of the c-file. Black can scarcely move, his king is exposed and there is a weakness on f7; if White can use reach c7 and invade the seventh rank then Black's defences will snap. However, if Black is given time he can ease the pressure with ...Nc8 to exchange off White's knight. How then does White make progress?} 26. Qa6 $2 {Continuing the theme of my games before Christmas, this seemed like good Karpovian prophylaxis, and I was very satisfied when I played this move: White stops the black knight going either to c8 or c6, and intends Qa5 followed by Rc7 with a decisive invasion. Unfortunately, I only foresaw Black's 27th move after his reply.} (26. Qc3 {was my opponent's suggestion in the postmortem. We looked at} Rb8 27. Qc7 $2 {, but not Stockfish's} (27. b4 $142 a6 28. a3 $16 {, holding Qc7 in reserve, keeps Black bottled up at least}) 27... Qxc7 (27... Rd8 $2 {was my defensive try, but} 28. Qa5 $18 {followed by Rc7 wins immediately as} Nc6 29. Rxc6 {overloads the black queen}) 28. Rxc7 a5 29. f4 a4 $132 {and Black gets some chances of survival by activating his rook in this simplified position.}) (26. Rc5 $142 $1 {calls for some calculation, but would have led to a forced win. The idea is to lead on the c-file with the rook. Black's obvious defensive try is} Nc8 {, since White doesn't control this square twice, but it fails to the zwischenzug} 27. Qc2 Nxd6 28. Rc7 $1 Qd8 29. Qc5 $18 {, and a passed pawn on d6 is more than Black can deal with.}) 26... Rb8 {Now the rook can block my queen's access to c7 and I am forced to come up with another way to make progress.} 27. Qa5 Rb6 28. Qd2 Rc6 29. Rxc6 $6 {As the game goes it makes no difference, but I could have avoided the possibilities on Black's 30th move by finessing the move order.} (29. b4 $142 Rxc1+ 30. Qxc1 $16 {keeps control for White; if} Nc6 31. Qh6+ Kg8 32. Qf4 {transposes to 31. b4 in the game.}) 29... Nxc6 {Of course not 29... Qxc6?? 30. Qf4. Now I was tempted by 30. Ne4, but there's nothing special after 30... Nxe5 so I decided to keep squeezing.} 30. Qf4 {(16)} Kg8 $6 {(32)} (30... Nxe5 $5 {is a surprising idea from the engine, intending} 31. Qxe5 Ke7 {and White's knight is unexpectedly trapped. However, Black faces a difficult ending after} 32. Nxf7 Kxf7 33. Qh8 {winning the h-pawn.} Qd6 34. Qxh7+ Kf6 35. Qh8+ Kf7 36. g5 $16 {Black's d-pawn gives him some counterplay, and this may be a good practical try, although his unsafe king counts against him.}) (30... a5 $142 $16 {is a less radical way to defend. This controls b4 and so checks the advance of White's queenside pawns.}) 31. b4 {Belatedly hitting on the right idea... if only I'd believed it! White's last trump card is his queenside pawn majority, which can both control some queenside squares and threaten to divert Black's pieces from the defence of his king.} Nd8 32. Qf6 $2 {And yet, after accidentally stumbling over the truth, I dusted myself off and carried on as if nothing had happened. I was resigned to Black forcing an exchange of knights, not realising that ...Nxd6 isn't really a threat so long as my queen protects that square, and instead set off to place my queen there instead, which doesn't achieve anything.} (32. b5 $142 Nb7 33. a4 $16 {maintains the pressure. To reiterate, Black should not play} Nxd6 $2 {because of} 34. exd6 $18 {with an unbearable passed pawn. Therefore he has no mechanism to free himself.}) 32... Nb7 33. Nxb7 $2 $11 {I assumed this to be forced and so played it quickly, however it loses any remaining advantage. It wasn't too late to admit a loss of time and put the queen back on f4.} Qxb7 {(Black draw offer)} 34. Qd8+ Kg7 35. Qf6+ {(10) I rejected Black's draw offer largely just to make the decision on my own terms, but by now I was starting to drift into time trouble and decided not to take risks in what would likely be the decisive game of the tournament. White has nothing better than repeating moves.} (35. Qd6 {was my original idea, but I now realised that the pure queen endgame was just equal despite my queenside pawn majority, since Black already has a passed pawn on d5. For example,} Qb5 $11 36. Qc5 $4 {would actually lose after} Qxc5 (36... Qd7 37. b5 d4 $132 {was enough to dissuade me at the time}) 37. bxc5 Kf8 38. f4 Ke7 39. Kf2 Kd7 40. Ke3 Kc6 41. Kd4 h6 {and White runs out of reserve tempi.}) 35... Kg8 {(30)} 36. Qd8+ {Definitely an opportunity lost. Even when you have an overwhelming positional advantage, a bit of tactical flair is often needed to crown it, and the position on my 26th move is a good example. I was at least pleased to have set some serious problems in the opening and early middlegame.} 1/2-1/2

Now that it is a real choice when preparing for a game, I sometimes fall into a false dichotomy of seeing 1. e4 as leading to a sharp, attacking game, and other first moves as a way to avoid that. Nothing is so simple in chess, of course. I've had excellent results from the other side of this opening variation because White can easily let Black's counterplay against the pawn centre get out of control if he is careless - the first player should limit himself to a containing strategy. I've had more experience of trying this in recent months, and am just as happy to apply the learnings to a king's pawn opening as any other! In the first part of the game I succeeded, as attested by the position of the knights by move 24. If White knows this variation is coming and has a plan worked out in advance then Black is likely to have a bad time. That is why, although I used it routinely when I was a 'full-time' Sicilian player, I was always careful to keep it out of the database.

Having subsequently seen more of my opponent in action, I've learnt that he is nothing if not resourceful in difficult positions, and in the final third of the game I lost my chance. Whilst I realised that control of the c-file was the key to the position, I missed a fairly obvious defence to my attempted invasion (27... Rb6) - a disappointing miss given that my 26th move was specifically directed to keep Black tied up, so I should have been able to find it by elimination. The engine's solution, 26. Rc5!, is not so easy to calculate, but the idea of leading the charge with the rook rather than the queen is the same - it's possible to at least generate it as a candidate move, and then if you look deep enough...

Even later, I could have kept the advantage if I wasn't so fixated on keeping my knight on d6. I believed that once it was exchanged I wouldn't have anything real, and maybe that's why I didn't think about the positions with a white pawn on d6 very hard. If I had, it would have been obvious that they favour me. It's interesting that, as the game approached its climax, I still had the idea of gradually tightening the noose (31. b4) but failed to follow through and unthinkingly exchanged off into a colourless ending. Perhaps my nerves let me down at that moment, making me rush to force a crisis. In summary, the opening and early middlegame have some value, but the main learnings should be my tactical and psychological misses later on. At the time of writing I've reached 4/5 and Sparkes 3½/4 in what is a seven-player round robin, so I don't yet know how deeply I'll regret this draw in the weeks to come.

After this game I gradually started playing regularly again. The next stop was the British Rapidplay in Peterborough; my score of 5/11 was notable mostly because Black won every game! I suffered badly from yo-yo pairings in a single section Swiss, and despite some good middlegame positions it was evident that I struggle to compete with stronger players in a time scramble. Someone resigning a drawn position with KR vs KN was an unexpected gift though. From there I made an inauspicious return to league chess by failing to equalise as white in a Pirc, and followed that up with the next game I will analyse.