[Event "Richard Morris Memorial"]
[Site "Arcadia, CA"]
[Date "2012.12.17"]
[Round "5"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "David King"]
[Black "Matthew James Hayes"]
[WhiteElo "1772"]
[BlackElo "2023"]
[PlyCount "46"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Bd2 O-O 7. e4 e5 8. dxe5 dxe5 {This is a deviation from the previous two games when I had black against Dave. In the other games, he had played 8. d5 Nd4 and had incorrectly played 9. Nxd4, which leads to a highly unpleasant position for white when he either has to drop a pawn or give up the right to castle.} 9. Bd3 Re8 10. O-O Bg4 {I waited for white to castle before playing this, since in some cases white might welcome the capture as it opens up the g-file which he can use to attack my king. That's not a problem, though, if white castled kingside too.}11. Nd5? {Not the best and it puts white into a difficult position.} Bxf3 12. Nxb4 {This seems almost forced as white cannot stomach 12. ... gxf3 13. Nd4 etc., and 12. ... Nxf6+ 13. Qxf6 is just winning a pawn for black.} Nd4 13. Qc3?? {Absolutely the wrong square for the queen. White seemed resigned to losing the e4 pawn anyway but putting his queen on a square where it can potentially be forked by a knight on e2 is just asking for trouble.} Nxe4 14. Qc1 {The queen is still on a square where a knight on e2 can fork it but where else could the queen go without dropping a piece?} Qh4! {Now that white is tied down, it's time to crank up operations on the kingside. The threat of Qg4 is most unpleasant.} 15. Nd5! {I thought this was the best try. White desperately tries to get his knight to e3 where it will protect g2.} Bxg2! {Looks winning in all lines and it was the obvious move to play.} 16. Kxg2 Qg4+ 17. Kh1 Qf3+ 18. Kg1 Qxd3 {I thought that Re6 was probably winning too but didn't want white to muddy the waters with the unlikely looking Nf4 where at least he slows down my attack. 18. ... Qxd3 looks like the cleanest way to win... black threatens to win a piece and to win white's queen with no way to stop both threats. Besides, I still have the rook lift to e6 at any moment which still looks crushing.} 19. Nxc7 {Dave, ever the joker, plays on a few moves in a hopeless position.} Ne2+ 20. Kg2 Nxd2! {I thought I would have some fun too. There's no need to capture the queen because black now threatens Qf3 mate. White can't prevent mate and save his queen at the same time.} 21. f3 Nxc1 22. Raxc1 Nxf1 {Both 22. ... Nxf3, which I considered, and 22. ... e4, as suggested by Gregg Fritchle, look good too but white is totally lost no matter what black plays.} 23. Rxf1 Rac8 0-1