[Event "BCC 2018"]
[Site "Mechanics Institute"]
[Date "2018-05-10"]
[White "Robert Bailey"]
[Black "Rob Loveband"]
[WhiteElo "1481"]
[BlackElo "1744"]
[Result "1-0"]

1.e4 c5 {I'd mostly prepared for Rob's French Defence after his win in the Steinitz/Boleslavsky variation last year. So seeing c5 was a surprise and made me quickly try to remember our previous sicilian battles (one morra gambit, several scheveningens and one memorable Najdorf from 2008 where I blew a win by losing on time)} 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 {I knew little of Accelerated Dragon theory but decided to try and turn the game toward Yugoslav Attack territory.} 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 a6? {Perhaps mixing systems - Nf6 and d6 would be more regular.} 7.Qd2?! {Played too hastily following theory without considering all options - Nd5 looks quite strong (with the idea of Bb6 and Nc7)} Nf6 8.f3 O-O 9.O-O-O Nxd4 10.Bxd4 b5 11.g4 {Both players going for classic hack and slash sicilian action on opposite wings. I looked at the e5 push too which appears to be better, but I wanted to keep the bishop active on the dragon diagonal.} Qa5 12.Kb1 Kh8? {Upon reflection, possibly the losing move. The only explanation I could think of was avoiding zwischenzug knight checks on e7 in the event of a queen trade on d2. The move I'd looked at more at the board was 12...b4! after which I was intending Nd5 and saw a series of exchanges that could occur with white only having a minimal edge.} 13.h4 {I remember Ian Rogers demonstrating this pawn-storm theme in the Yugoslav Attack when he last played the Begonia many years ago. Nigel Short also writes memorably of the opening in his Nigel Short's Chess Skills book that I won at the club in 1992.} d6 14.h5 gxh5 15.g5 {I spent the most time on this single move, trying to evaluate whether the alternative, gxh was any good by comparison. After I spotted h6 for black and white's 16th move, I felt this was best and Fritz 11 agrees.} Ne8 16.Qh2! {I felt this was winning and judging by Rob's bemused expressions and fun banter towards the end, so did he. What follows is a king hunt where I was a bit nervous in being ultra-careful, trying to play best moves, not blunder anything and slowly look for a mate. i caught up to Rob on the clock in the end as a result.} f6 17.Qxh5 Kg8 18.Qxh7+ Kf7 19.g6+ Ke6 20.Bh3+ {Yep, I'd play that one too! said Rob.} f5 21.exf5+ {After Kd7, white can pick up material with bxg7 or go for passed pawn mayhem with f6+ Easily one of my best games against Rob who I don't beat very often; he has always been a tricky opponent creatively for me in the middle game especially. (RB)} {#r}