[Event "Arcadia Istvanyi Open"]
[Site "Arcadia, CA"]
[Date "2012.09.24"]
[Round "5"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Matthew James Hayes"]
[Black "Gordon Brooks"]
[WhiteElo "2051"]
[BlackElo "1900"]
[PlyCount "33"]
1. e4 d5 {I knew beforehand that I would be playing Gordon and that he plays the Scandinavian. However, I didn't prepare anything specific for him.} 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nf3 {I was always a staunch 3. Nc3 player until quite recently but I find the position easier to play after Nf3.} Bg4 4. Be2 c5 {I thought this was slightly dubious and wasn't a move I had seen before in this line. It's designed to prevent white from playing d4, except it actually doesn't really prevent it at all. We'll see that black probably can't afford this tempo right now and he ends up being considerably behind in development.} 5. Nc3 {Ironically, we've transposed into some sort of Nc3 line anyway.} Qd6 {Qd8 may have been better.} 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nb5 Qb6 8. Bf4 Na6 9. Nfxd4 Bxe2 {Looks natural but it's just helping white with his development.} 10. Qxe2 e6 11. 0-0 Be7 12. Rfe1 {There are significant problems mounting on the e file. Nf6 looks natural now for black but may even come close to losing after 13. Nf5! when the knight may be jumping into d6.} 0-0-0 {An understandable reaction, trying to get developed and move the king into safety at the same time. Unfortunately, castling queenside only really accomplishes one of those goals... hint: it's not king safety.} 13. Qc4+ {After the game, Gordon said he missed this when he was contemplating castling queenside.} Bc5 {This may just be losing but black is short on options. Qc5 loses to the obvious Nxa7+, when black is going to get mated or lose his queen in short order. Nc5 loses a piece to b4. I thought the only try for black was 13. ... Kd7 14. Rad1 Ke8 which looks ridiculous given that black has taken three moves to achieve what he could have accomplished in one, namely Rd8, but I couldn't see an immediate breakthrough here even though white is clearly significantly better.} 14. a4! {There are too many threats for black to cope with. Now white threatens a5, trapping the queen.} Rd5 15. a5 Qd8 {Unfortunately, this loses by force but white is already winning anyway.} 16. Nxa7+ Kd7 17. Qa4+ 1-0 Black resigned without waiting for 17. ... Ke7 18. Nac6+ bxc6 19. Nxc6+ winning the queen. Note that Qa4 is the right square for the queen. Qb5+? would have been a blunder, allowing black to play Bxf2+ winning white's queen, e.g. 17. Qb5+ Ke7 18. Nac6+ bxc6 19. Nxc6+ Kf8 20. Nxd8 Bxf2+ 21. Kxf2 Rxb5.