Sidcup 3 got off to a bad start for the defence of the Intro trophy they won last year with a resounding loss against Lewisham. It started badly when just before the match we had a player unavoidably pull out due to illness in the family, so we had to default on board 4. We could only manage a half point on board 3 by Ken Grist. Keith Thompson and Peter Houching had good games but were still beaten well, losing the match in the end 3 ½ to ½.

PGN Notation

[pgn height=400 layout=horizontal autoplayMode=none] 
[Event "Intro"] 
[Site "Lewisham"] 
[Date "2011.09.28"] 
[White "Hardias, Girinath"] 
[Black "Thompson, Keith"] 
[Result "1-0"] [ECO "D15"] 
[WhiteElo "107"] 
[BlackElo "121"] 
[Annotator "Thompson,Keith"] 
[PlyCount "93"] 
[EventDate "2011.??.??"] 
[SourceDate "2005.07.14"] 
{Sometimes you play a game you do not see over the board how you got into the losing position you seem to play most of the right moves but your opponent just ends up with the better endgame Girinath playing for Lewisham is a lad of about 12 but if he keeps playing he will be good. Fritz says that I had an equal game to about move 37 made a slight inaccuracy move strategy of exchanging pawns missed a chance of the Bishop exchange on move 24 then I blundered on move 39 h5 which seemed at the time not a bad move which enabled him to capitalize on it and win.} 1. d4 c6 2. c4 d5 3. Nc3 Bf5 {This is the Slav Defence not sure if I played all the best moves for this opening but it seems that I am coming up against c4 quite a lot lately.} 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 e6 8. Ne5 Be7 9. Nxd7 Qxd7 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O Rac8 12. c5 Ne4 {Slight inaccuracy b6 was better according to Fritz but Ne4 is not a bad move. I did think about b6 but I thought b4 was OK in fact this may have been where my strategy was incorrect as it left me with with an endgame with a white square Bishop endgame and most of my pawns are stuck on white squares.} 13. Bxe7 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Qxe7 15. Qa4 Ra8 {Again b6 was slightly better. Not sure why I was so afraid to play b6; it does seem to be the obvious move as White would have to take otherwise he would be left with 2 isolated pawns on the c file.} 16. Qb4 b6 {played at the wrong time.} 17. cxb6 Qxb4 18. cxb4 axb6 19. Rfc1 Rfc8 20. a4 Kf8 21. f4 Ke7 22. Kf2 Kd6 23. Kg3 Ra7 24. Bg4 $2 {This was a mistake by white I should have taken and then I would have had an advantage BxB KxB Ra8 would have seen me having a winning endgame.} Bd3 $2 { instead I decided to keep the Bishops on the board. This was my last chance white from here played very accurately and went on to have a good endgame} ({ Fritz 12:} 24... Bxg4 25. Kxg4 Rca8 26. a5 bxa5 27. Ra4 axb4 28. Rxb4 Ra2 29. Kf3 g5 30. Rb6 Rc8 31. fxg5 hxg5 32. Rb7 Rc7 33. Rb8 Rca7 {[%eval -92,16]}) 25. Ra3 Bc4 26. Kf2 Rca8 27. Rca1 Bb5 28. Bd1 Kc7 29. g4 Bc4 30. Kg3 Kb7 31. Kh4 b5 {Here again was another slight error c5 was a better move.} 32. a5 Ka6 33. Bc2 Rg8 34. Rg1 g6 35. Kg3 {Should have still from here gone on to draw the match} f5 $2 {another bad decision to exchange pawns} 36. gxf5 gxf5+ 37. Kf2 Rag7 ( 37... Rxg1 38. Kxg1 {Fritz 12:} Be2 39. Kf2 Bg4 40. Ra1 Rg7 41. Rg1 Re7 42. Bd3 Rf7 43. h3 Bxh3 44. Rg6 Re7 45. Rxh6 Bg4 46. Rh8 Kb7 47. Rg8 Bd1 48. Ke1 Bf3 49. Kd2 {[%eval 102,20]}) 38. Rxg7 Rxg7 39. Ra1 h5 {This move was the loosing move} 40. Rg1 Rxg1 41. Kxg1 Be2 42. Kg2 Kb7 43. Kg3 Ka7 44. Kh4 Ka6 45. Kg5 Kb7 46. Kf6 Bc4 47. Kxe6 {Here I could not see a point in continuing and resigned a well played game by white. I had a chance on move 24 but decided against the wrong strategy and should have taken the exchange. and also moved my pawn to b6 on move 15 and perhaps even sooner instead of move 16} 1-0 
[/pgn]

Keith Thompson