The major surprise in the Battersea 1 v Battersea 2 match earlier this week was the win by our Chair Alan Palmer (156) over our Treasurer Adrian Somerfield (192).

The key point in the game came in the featured position where Adrian played 24 …Bxd4?   Then if 25 cxd4 26 Qxd2 Rxd2 27 Rxc1 and Black is winning, but Alan found the critical intermezzo mentioned in the match report 25 b4, which wins.

The full game, with analysis, is given below.

[pgn]

[Event “Central London League Division 1, Bd 3”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2017.09.26”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Palmer, Alan”]
[Black “Somerfield, Adrian”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B10”]
[Annotator “Fritz 15 (1m)”]
[PlyCount “65”]

{B10: Caro-Kann: 2 d3 and 2 c4} 1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Ne5 Nf6 5.
d4 g6 6. Bd3 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. c3 {[8…Nc6 9.Qe2 Nxe5 10.dxe5 Ng4 11.f4 f6 12.
exf6 exf6 13.h3 Re8 14.Qf3 Qb6+ 15.Kh1 Nh6 16.Na3 Bf5 17.Bxf5 Nxf5 18.g4 Ne3
19.Bxe3 Qxe3 20.Qxe3 Rxe3 21.Kg2 Rae8 22.Rad1 Bf8 23.Nc2 Arizmendi Martinez,J
(2524)-Pallardo Lozoya,J (2297)/Mislata 2008/CBM 126 Extra/½–½ (52)]} Nbd7
9. f4 Ne8 10. Nd2 Nd6 11. Qc2 {N [11.Qe1 Nf6 12.Kh1 Qc7 13.Ndf3 Re8 14.Qh4 Bf5
15.Bxf5 Nxf5 16.Qh3 Rf8 17.g4 Nd6 18.f5 b5 19.fxg6 fxg6 20.Ng5 Qc8 21.Rxf6
Rxf6 22.Qxh7+ Kf8 23.Nxg6+ Rxg6 24.Qxg6 Kg8 25.Ne6 Ne8 Sonnhalter,S (1746)
-Senf,P (1494)/Wismar 2009/CBM 132 Extra/1–0; 11.Qe2 Nf6 12.b3 Bf5 13.Bxf5
Nxf5 14.Bb2 Rc8 15.Ndf3 Ne4 16.c4 e6 17.c5 Qa5 18.g4 Ne7 19.Ng5 Nxg5 20.fxg5
Qc7 21.Rae1 Nc6 22.Nxc6 Qxc6 23.b4 a6 24.Rf3 Qa4 25.a3 <https://maps.google.
com/?q=25.a3&entry=gmail&source=g> a5 Patil,P (2280)-Kulkarni,C (2249)/Pune
2014/CBM 160 Extra/1–0 (32); 11.Nxd7 Bxd7 12.Nf3 Bf5 13.Bxf5 Nxf5 14.Kh1 Rc8
15.Ne5 e6 16.Qe1 b5 17.g4 Nd6 18.Qg3 Ne4 19.Qg2 b4 20.c4 f6 21.cxd5 fxe5 22.
Qxe4 exd5 23.Qe1 e4 24.Qxb4 Rc4 25.Qa3 Bxd4 Sonnhalter,S (1748)-Velina,V (1751)
/Oberhof 2011/CBM 142 Extra/1–0 (50)]} Nf6 12. b3 {Consolidates c4} Bf5 13.
Ba3 Nfe4 14. Bxd6 (14. Nxe4 $5 {should be investigated more closely} dxe4 15.
Be2 $11) 14… exd6 $17 15. Nef3 Nxd2 (15… Re8 $142 $5 $17) 16. Qxd2 $11 Bd7
17. Rac1 Qa5 18. Rc2 Rac8 19. Rfc1 Bg4 20. Be2 Rfe8 21. h3 {White threatens to
win material: h3xg4} Bf5 {Black threatens to win material: Bf5xc2} 22. Bd3 Be4
23. Kf2 Bxf3 {White king safety dropped} (23… b5 24. f5 $15) 24. Kxf3 $11 {
Opposite coloured bishops appeared} Bxd4 $4 {c3 draws heavy fire. Black is
ruining his position} (24… Re6 $142 $11 {was necessary}) 25. b4 $18 Be3 (
25… Qb6 26. cxd4 Rc6 27. Rxc6 bxc6 28. Qc3 $18) 26. bxa5 Bxd2 27. Rxd2 d4 (
27… Re7 28. a6 bxa6 29. Bxa6 $18) 28. Re2 (28. Be4 $5 {makes it even easier
for White} Rxc3+ 29. Rxc3 dxc3 $18) 28… Rxe2 29. Bxe2 dxc3 30. Ke3 Rc5 31. a6
b6 (31… bxa6 32. Kd4 $18) 32. a3 (32. Kd4 $5 {might be the shorter path} Ra5
$18) 32… Kf8 (32… Kg7 33. Kd4 Kf6 34. Rxc3 Rxc3 35. Kxc3 $18) 33. Kd4 1-0

[/pgn]