Well, I have to apologise for not updating my blog in quite some time. I have been off chess for a couple of weeks due to a busy schedle at work and poor performance in an online league. I have suffered a couple of bad defeats which are still undergoing analysis (they will be posted here eventually!). But I am back! My university team played their first game of the season last week, and we were playing the leagues strongest side. Nevertheless, we won 3-1!! Here is my game:
Jim Grange Vs Mike Lee
1)d4 d5 2)c4 e6 3)Nc3 Nf6 4)cd5 arguably my favourite opening. I have a 75%+ score with it. ...ed5 5)Bg5 c6 6)Qc2 this move prevents the Black Bishop developing effectively to f5. The exchange variation of the Queens Gambit used to be frowned upon due to fact it allows Blacks traditionally "bad" light square Bishop to be developed (compared to if the pawn were still on e6). However, the "free" Bishop soon runs out of decent squares to develop to. ...Nbd7 7)e3 g6?!
I had never seen this move before, and indeed it has only ever been played once (Black lost that one too!). The black bishop will be biting on granite at g7, and if Black is intending to develop his Bc8-f5, then he has another think coming in the shape of Bd3 from white. Black should play the main line 7)...Be7 8)Nf3 0-0 9)Bd3 Re8 followed by Nf8 and h6. In the game, white soon gets a good position. 8)Nf3 Qc7 9)Bd3 Bg7 10)O-O O-O 11)b4! 
White gets his minority attack underway immediately. The general idea of the minority attack is to advance the pawn to b5 and exchange it at c6 leaving a weakened backward pawn for black to worry himself about. In return Black usually gets a piece attack on the kingside, another reason why the black bishop can be considered misplaced on g7. 11)...Re8 12)Rab1 Qd6 13)Rfc1 b6 White seems well placed, and black has lost a little time with his Queen. Here I thought about pushing e4, trying to make something of my temporary lead in development. In a friendly game I would have chosen e4 without much thought, but here I thought for 14 minutes and decided not to play it. This is one of my weaknesses: I find it hard to see past the "weakness" of an isolated Q-pawn and concentrate on the dynamic plusses it brings to the position. Instead I decided to increase pressure on the c-file by removing my Queen from the frontal position, and move my knight to a4 to prevent a ...c5 break from black. In retrospect this attempt at a positional squeeze is objectively weaker than e4, but it is still playable. 14)Qd1?! Bb7 15)Na4 Ne4 16)Bf4 Qe7
c5 has been prevented (thanks to loose Bishop on b7) and White can start to think actively. First call of duty is to remove the strong knight from e4. 17)Nd2 Qh4? Not a bad move in itself but he (and I!) overlooked 17)...Nf2! 18)Kf2 g5!
when Whites position hangs by a thread. For example 19)Qf3 [this appears to be the best move; white must give the piece back otherwise e3 is going to fall with devastating consequences] ...gf4 20)Qf4 Nf6 and it seems that Black is in control. Back to the game.18)Ne4 de4 19)Bf1 the safest place for the Bishop, keeping faithful to the King. ...Rad8 20)Qb3 Bd4??
A terrible blunder, just when Balck was beginning to equalise. 20)...Nf6 bringing another piece to the k-side was the best. Now the game is effectively over. 21)Bg3! g3 would also win. ...Qf6 22)ed4 Qe6?! Neglecting the rule to keep Queens on if material down. Note that 22)...Qd4 was dubious due to 23)Rd1 Qf6 24)Bc7! winning an exchange. I thought for 10 minutes here ensuring the win was there. Its always a good idea to try and get up and have a walk around (time permitting!) when you get a winning position, as all too often a won position is lost 4-5 moves after it arises. This may be due to droppping ones guard; I was determined not to let this happen to me so after a quick walk round to look at the other games I hunkered down to see the win was there in an endgame also. It was. 23)Qe6 Re6 24)Bc4 Ree8 25)b5! and this was the move that convinced me it was there.
This move prevents any pawn forks and sets up a pin on the knight if he captures. If he doesnt I have the move cb5 Bb5 Bf7+! winning a pawn. If he plays 25)...c5 then 26)dc5 bc5 27)Nc5! Nc5 28)Bf7+ wins in a similar vein. 25)...cb5 26)Bb5 e3 27)Bc7 e2? just sheer desperation, but with both of my rooks on the back rank there are no tricks to be had. 28)Bd8 Re4 29)Be2! The simplest way to end it. ...Re2 30)Rc7 Black resigned. A great start to the new season, and another success for the Exchange Variation of the QGD!
