2017 Winter Sucks Round 5 Anton Taylor, 1906 - Connor Zhang, 1551 Ruy Lopez Closed (C90)

2017 Winter Sucks Round 5
Anton Taylor, 1906 - Connor Zhang, 1551
Ruy Lopez Closed (C90)
http://chessmicrobase.com/microbases/9425/games/919185

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 Nf6 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. a4 

The best objective move is 9. h3 but I played this move to muddy the waters for my opponent. That's not the best idea but it made a fun game. 9. ... Bg4 10. h3 Bh5 11. Qe2 b4 12. Bd5? Up until this move we have followed a game Kosteniuk-Nikolic 2005 instead of my Bd5? Kosteniuk played a5 with a gain of space. d3 is also a potential alternative to the troubles white makes for himself with Bd5. 12. ... Qd7? Nxd5 followed by Na5 was the bid for a black advantage. This move in a sense justifies Bd5. 13. Bxc6 Qxc6 14. cxb4? A bad move for a number of reasons. Firstly, it concedes the bid for the center as finished as d4 is no longer supported. And secondly, it leaves white's b-pawn and d-pawn with no clear home or future. So, while it may look like I win a pawn (temporarily) this actually loses the extra pawn and probably a second pawn. d4 is the correct move. 14. ... Rab8 15. b5 I realize the hopelessness of my position and elect to return the pawn in exchange for putting a piece on a square where I can attack it with a knight trying to catch up my development. 15. ...axb5 16. axb5 Rxb5 17. Nc3 Rbb8 18. d3 d5 Had I seen the e-pawn is hanging I would have played g4 in response to this move. Instead, I saw ghosts. 19. Bg5 dxe4 20. Nxe4 Bxf3 21. Qxf3 

I was very happy with this position. the threat of Nxf6 followed by Qxc6 is rather scary. My opponent wrote down Rxb2 in his notation book and then quickly scratched it out when he saw the tactic. I said nothing but let him rethink. It wasn't long before he made a similarly fatal error. 21. ... Nxe4?? 22. Bxe7 Rfe8 23. Ba3 Qf6 24. Qxe4 h6 25. Rac1 Qb6 26. Rc6 Qa5 27. Rec1 Rec8 28. R6c5 Qb6 29. Rxe5 c6 30. Re7 Rb7 31. Re8+ Rxe8 32. Qxe8+ Kh7 33. Rxc6 Qd4 34. Qe4+ Qxe4 35. dxe4 g6 36. f3 Kg7 37. b4 Rd7 38. Bb2+ Kh7 39. Rc8 g5 40. g4?? Rd1+! would win the piece back. My opponent misses his chance to win and instead loses from here. Rb7 41. Rh8+ Kg6 42. Rg8+ Kh7 43. Rg7+ Kh8 44. Rxf7+ Kg8 45. Rxb7 and with mate coming soon black resigned.