Ali Hill beat IM Richard Bates in the Eastman Cup last week to record his first victory while playing for Battersea against a IM (he has previously beaten several masters of that calibre in congresses). It is also the first victory for a long time for any Battersea player in a League or Cup match against an IM or GM – the only such victory that can be remembered by top players at the club is one by Tony Ashby against IM Nigel Povah.
Despite wins for Adam Bukojemski against FM Iain Gourlay (a player with an even higher ECF rating than Bates) and for Rafael Domenech, overall Battersea lost the match 6-4.
Here’s Ali’s victory, with annotations.
[pgn]
[Event “?”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2017.02.28”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Bates, Richard”]
[Black “Hill, Alistair”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “E63”]
[WhiteElo “231”]
[BlackElo “204”]
[Annotator “AliH”]
[PlyCount “102”]
[EventDate “2017.??.??”]
[SourceDate “2016.09.23”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. c4 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3 a6 8. b3
Rb8 9. d5 Na5 10. Bd2 c5 11. dxc6 Nxc6 12. Rc1 Bf5 13. Nh4 Bg4 $6 (13… Bd7 {
Better. Provoking h3 is proably not wise as it might be useful for White in
some lines}) 14. h3 Be6 15. e4 b5 16. cxb5 axb5 17. Be3 (17. Nxb5 Rxb5 18. Rxc6
Qd7 19. Qc2 Bxh3 20. Rc7 Qe6 21. Nf5 Bxg2 {Was my line}) 17… Qd7 18. Kh2 b4
19. Na4 (19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. exd5 Na7 {My intention, but White is better with
21Qd4}) 19… Ne5 20. Qe2 Qb5 21. Qxb5 Rxb5 22. Rfd1 d5 {An attempt to
equalise the game} 23. Nc5 Nxe4 (23… dxe4 $1 {Correct} 24. Nxe4 Nd5 $15) 24.
Nxe4 (24. Bxe4 dxe4 25. Nxe6 fxe6 $15) 24… dxe4 25. Bxe4 f5 {Trying to
misplace the bishop, and give the f7-square for the King} (25… Ra5 26. Rd2) (
25… Bf6 26. Ng2) 26. Bg2 Bf6 27. f4 (27. Nf3 Nxf3+ 28. Bxf3 Ra5) 27… Nf7
28. Bd4 Bxd4 29. Rxd4 Rc8 30. Re1 Rb6 31. Rd2 Rd8 32. Rde2 Rdd6 33. Bf3 Ra6 34.
g4 {Both players are running out of time (<5mins)} fxg4 35. hxg4 Bd5 (35… g5
$1 {Was not easy to see} 36. fxg5 Nxg5 $15) 36. Kg3 e6 37. g5 (37. f5 gxf5 (
37… exf5 $1 38. gxf5 g5) 38. gxf5 e5) (37. Bxd5 $16 exd5 38. Re8+ Kg7 39.
R1e7) 37… Ra7 38. Bxd5 Rxd5 (38… exd5 39. Re8+ Kg7 40. Rb8) 39. Nf3 Nd6 40.
Kg4 Nf5 41. Rxe6 Rxa2 42. Rc1 $2 Rd7 $2 {[Misses 42…Rg2+ followed by 43…
Rg2+ winning. Both players miss this variation in time trouble until’s
Black’s 44th move]} 43. Re8+ Kg7 44. Rcc8 Rg2+ $1 45. Kh3 Rg3+ 46. Kh2
Rxf3 47. Rg8+ Kf7 48. Rgf8+ Ke6 49. Rf6+ Kd5 50. Rc2 Ke4 51. Re6+ Kxf4 {
A messy win} 0-1
[/pgn]
