1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 e6 6.Be3 Nd4 7.Qd2 d6 8.Nd1 A standard manoeuvre: prior to developing the g1 knight, White decides to eject the Black knight from d4 in a way that avoids exchanges. 8...Rb8 9.c3 Nc6 10.Ne2 Nf6 One school of thought holds that Black should keep the knight at g8 for as long as possible to prevent Bh6 while trying to develop a queen's-side initiative in the meantime. Instead Black decides to go ahead and just develop the knight anyway. However, ... Nge7 is more usual. 11.Bh6 Bxh6 12.Qxh6 b6 13.O-O Ba6 14.Nc1 White preferred to undevelop the knight rather than retreat the queen, as the latter is performing a useful job on h6 by preventing Black castling. Qe7 15.Ne3 Ng8 16.Qh3 16. Qg7 Qf6 17. Qxf6 Nxf6 achieves nothing for White. 16...Nf6 17.f4 Bb7 Necessary, as White was threatening 18. e5 attacking both knights. 18.Ne2 e5 19.g4 O-O Black finally castles, but his king's-side position is weakened by the absence of the dark-squared bishop. Fritz6 suggests 19... h6 instead; perhaps Black could then follow up with ... Kf8 and ... Kg7. 20 g5 would be met, as in the game, with 20...Nh5 but Black would be better defended with the rook at h8. 20.g5 Nh5 21.Nd5 Qd8 22.Ng3 The position is becoming critical as White is threatening 23. Nxh5 gxh5 24. Nf6+ with 25. Qxh5 to follow. Perhaps Black's best defence now is 22...Ne7 23. Nxh5 Nxd5 24. exd5 gxh5 25. Qxh5 but White still has a considerable advantage as Black's king's-side position is difficult to defend. Instead Black decides that the position is so critical that it is necessary to give up the queen for two knights. Nxg3 23.Nf6+ Qxf6 24.gxf6 Nh5 25.fxe5 dxe5 White now has the task of exploiting a material advantage. Black's knight on h5 is a key defensive piece, so White came up with the idea of manoeuvring the queen to g5 and the bishop to g4 to force ...Nf4, when Rxf4 nets knight and pawn for the rook and reduces Black's defensive capacity. 26.Qh4 Kh8 If Black tries 26...Nd8 intending ...Ne6 then the pawn at e5 is difficult to defend. 27.Rad1 Rbd8 28.Qg5 Rfe8 29.Bh3 Rd6 30.Bg4 Nf4 31.Rxf4 exf4 32.Qxf4 Rdd8 33.Qc7 Ne5 If 33...Bc8 34. Bxc8 Rxc8 35. Qxf7 Rg8 36. Qb7 keeps White on top, with an advance of the d- and e-pawns to follow. 34.Qxb7 Nxg4 35.Qxf7 Rg8 36.Qe6 Ne3 37.f7 Nxd1 38.Qf6+ It is mate in two: 38...Rg7 39. Qxd8+ Rg8 40. Qxg8. 1-0