(7) Phil Watson - Trevor Braithwaite [E81]
Woodhouse League black
[Trevor]

This game illustrates three main points which i will point out thoughout the game . 1 the fight for the initiative in the opening 2. restraining your opponent 3. energetic mating attack

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3 c5 7.dxc5 dxc5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Bxc5 Nc6
# black is a pawn down in this variation of the KID but is ahead in development. He will try to either inflict either permanent pawn damaged ( to offset his pawn deficit ) or generate enough piece play so that the opponent has to make seroius concessions. In the game I was able to execute both plans as you will see.

10.Ba3 a5
The idea of this move ( Grandmaster Shirov ) is to plonk the knight on b4 thereby blocking out the white bishop

11.Bc5?!
Apparently an recommendation from a KID Grandmaster according to my opponent.

11...Nd7!
This move allows black to shatter his opponent pawn structure irreparably so

12.Be3 Bxc3+!
A bold and corrrect decision . Black give up his cherish KID bishop so as to ruin white's pawn structure

13.bxc3 Nde5
Black peices are extremley active the same can't be said of whites.

14.f4 Nd3+ 15.Ke2 Be6!
Heading for c4 square to Embarrass the king . Note not 15...Bg4 because this would facilatate whites development with 16 Nf3!.

16.c5 Bc4!
The real point of the earlier bishop move. Black pieces are now very dynamic whilst most of whites pieces haven't even left their starting blocks .

17.Kf3
Blackneeds to open the position to get to whites king but how?

17...e5!
A strong move that tries to open the center up to get to the white king

18.g3?
One pawn move too many

18...f5!
objective acheived , the position will now open up aand the king will have very little pawn shelter. Also the h8 -a1 diagonal ihas become very sensitive.

19.Bxd3 Rxd3 20.Ne2 exf4 21.gxf4 fxe4+ 22.Kf2
Black has won back his pawn with a better position to boot. Its important now to restrain white by controlling the only open file.

22...Rad8!
Remember Point 2, restraining your opponent. Black now dominiates the board and has his pawn back to boot.

23.Rhc1 Ne7 24.Ng3 Nd5 25.Bd4 Rd2+!
A very important check this forces white to go into the corner which will give rise to mating possibilities . It is at this point i smelt blood and from now on in I play for mate using this pawn on e4 as bait which my oppoent can never accept . ( Please note that checking the king on f3 is much weaker and less forcing ).

26.Kg1 Nxf4 27.Re1
The pawn is poisoned. Can you see why?

27...Nh3+ 28.Kh1 e3!
There is no adequate reply to the coming Bishop to the d5 square. What makes this game even more more special is that i came to the match 40 minutes late ( another 5 minutes and I would of forfeit the whole game) So i had to play pretty fast and precise to catch up on the clock . Given also that i had never beaten my opponent before and i had the black pieces meant the odds of me winning were very slim indeed. But win i did with an energetically played game 0-1