2016-04-13 - Payne, Matthew 1-0 Cooper, Andrew

[Event "D&F B v Bath A"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.04.13"] [Round "?"] [White "Payne, Matthew"] [Black "Cooper, Andrew"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B03"] [Annotator "Pickup,Ian"] [PlyCount "122"] 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 exd6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Bd3 Nc6 8. Be3 O-O 9. Nge2 Bf6 10. O-O Re8 11. h3 Nb4 12. Ng3 g6 13. Nce4 Nxd3 14. Nxf6+ Qxf6 15. Qxd3 h5 16. d5 Bf5 17. Nxf5 Qxf5 18. Qxf5 gxf5 19. Bd4 Re4 20. Rfd1 Rae8 21. Rac1 Nd7 22. c5 dxc5 23. Bxc5 Nxc5 24. Rxc5 Re1+ 25. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 26. Kh2 Re7 27. Kg3 Kg7 28. f3 Kg6 29. Kf4 f6 30. g3 a6 31. b3 b6 32. Rc6 Rd7 33. Ke3 Rxd5 34. Rxc7 Ra5 35. a4 Re5+ 36. Kd4 b5 37. Rc5 bxa4 38. bxa4 Re6 39. a5 Rd6+ 40. Kc4 Rd1 41. Rc6 {It was still level here, according to Stockfish but Black was starting to get low on time.} Rg1 $6 42. Rxa6 Rxg3 43. Rb6 Rxf3 $2 { Apparently, this was the wrong pawn.} (43... Rxh3 $1 44. a6 Rh1 45. Rb2 Ra1 46. Kb5 Kg5 $11) 44. Rb3 Rf1 45. Ra3 f4 46. a6 f3 47. Kd3 $4 {White still had plenty of time compared to Black who was down to a minute or so by now but this move throws away a fairly straightforward win. Much excitement concerned the state of the match which was tied at 2.5 each and we just needed a drawn match to secure first division status for another season.} (47. a7 $1 Rc1+ 48. Kd4 f2 49. Rg3+ Kf7 50. a8=Q Rd1+ 51. Ke3 f1=N+ (51... f1=Q 52. Qg8+ Ke7 53. Rg7+ Kd6 {Mate in 8.}) 52. Ke2 Nxg3+ 53. Kxd1) 47... Re1 48. Ra2 Re7 49. Kc4 $2 Re2 50. Ra3 f2 51. Rf3 $2 Rb2 (51... Re6 52. Kb5 Re5+ 53. Kb4 Rf5) 52. Kc5 f5 53. Kc6 Kf6 54. a7 Ra2 55. Kb7 Rb2+ 56. Ka8 Ke5 57. Rxf2 $4 {57 h4 leads to an easy draw with threats of stalemate but White opts for an inferior move which neverthless gives winning chances because Black only has seconds left.} (57. h4 Ke4 58. Rf4+ {Just one of the many interesting themes that can occur in such endings.} Ke3 59. Rf3+ Ke2 60. Re3+ Kf1 61. Re1+ Kg2 62. Rg1+) 57... Rxf2 58. Kb7 Ra2 59. a8=Q Rxa8 60. Kxa8 Kf4 61. Kb7 Kg3 {Black lost on time, just a split second away from eliminating the last pawn. A great shame for Andrew, who had fought very well and finally reached a won game. It meant that we had to go to Horfield for the final nailbiting match of the season, still needing one match point...and the rest, as they say, is history!} 1-0

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