[Event "Oak Tree Open"]
[Site "Arcadia, CA"]
[Date "2009.07.20"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[White "Matthew James Hayes"]
[Black "Craig Faber"]
[WhiteElo "1925"]
[BlackElo "2146"]
[PlyCount "86"]
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bc4 Bf5 6. 0-0 e6 7. Re1 Nbd7 {If black plays the natural 7. ... c6 then white is close to winning by force with 7. ... Re5} 8. d3 c6 9. Bd2 Bb4 10. a3 Bxc3 11. Bxc3 Qc7 12. Nd4 {I wasn't sure if this was ojectively the best move but I felt it set black some problems. The pressure on e6 is uncomfortable for black and, of course, I have the obvious threat of Nxf5.} Qf4 13. g3 Qg5 14. Nf3 Qh5 {Not 14. ... Qg6 which will cost black a piece after 15. Nh4 Qg5 16. Bd2} 15. Nh4 Qxd1 {A bit of a surprise. I expected 15. ... Bg4 and if 16. f3 then 16. ... Bh3 and suddenly those light squares are looking like a problem after all. True, white could try 17. Ng2 followed by Nf4 but black is having all the play here.} 16. Raxd1 Bg6 17. Nxg6 hxg6 18. Kg2 0-0 {A surprise. I thought black might castle queenside to keep some pressure on the h-file (18. ... Ke7 looks a bit suspect after 19. Bb4+ c5 when black has moved his important pawn on c6).} 19. Bxf6 {I was getting really short of time here and wanted to simplify the position. However, Bxf6 really does nothing to help white. In fact, it gives away one of the main advantages I had, namely the two bishops. My idea was to still retain a "good" bishop by following up with d4 and c3, which looks solid enough, but it's very passive.} gxf6 20. d4 Kg7 21. Re3 Rad8 22. Be2 {This is where I start to go wrong. I was probably down to about 10 minutes for the remaining 19 moves, which partly explains some of the poor moves coming up, but it's rarely a good idea to just "make any move" because one is low on time. I suppose it's better than losing on time but I should be managing my clock better to begin with!}Nb6 23. Bf3 Rd7 24. Ree1 Rfd8 25. c3 Nc4 {Of course. By this point, my time pressure is getting chronic and I blunder a pawn.} 26. Be2 Nxb2 {I was moving so fast I forget that black's rook on d7 is covering his b7 pawn.} 27. Rb1 Na4 {So, I've lost a pawn, I have just a couple of minutes left on the clock, and I'm playing a 2100 player who is surely not going to let this game slip. I briefly considered resigning, but it's "just" a pawn and why not blitz out a few more moves to see what happens? I decided to go for broke.} 28. Rb3 Nb6 29. Reb1 Rc7 30. a4 Nxa4 {White has serious drawing chances here} 31. Rxb7 Rxb7 {A dubious move. Black should not let white get a rook on the 7th rank.} 32. Rxb7 Nxc3 33. Bc4 {Black is two pawns up but white threatens both Rxa7 and Bxe6. Black's c6 pawn can also be targeted. 33. Bf3 may also be good here but I didn't have enough time on the clock to weigh up the pros and cons of Bf3 versus Bc4.} f5 34. Bxe6 Kf6 35. Bd7 {Craig told me after the game that he didn't see this move. He should have taken more time to think about it. He still had a reasonable amount of time whereas I was down to about a minute.} a5 36. Bxc6 Rxd4 37. Ra7 Rd6 38. Be8 Rd2 39. Rxf7+ Ke6 40. Ra7 Ne4 {Finally we've reached the time control and I get an extra 30 minutes on the clock, letting me relax a little. The last dozen or so moves have been played at blitz pace but now I knew the position was a dead draw.} 41. Rxa5 Nxf2 42. Bxg6 Ng4+ 43. Kg1 Rd1+ {Here Craig offered the draw, which I gladly accepted.} 1/2-1/2
