I had black on Board 2 against Mike Connor (147) but managed to get the necessary win (we lost on all the other boards).
When I manage to win a game, it rarely involves a middle game checkmate so this game was pretty unusual for me. I think the mating pattern was rather nice (Mike actually resigned when it was mate in one). Here is the game...
1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 c6 [The Catalan. A bit similar to The English that I like to play with
white. I have hardly ever faced this with black though.]
4.Bg2 Bf5 [I decided to get the QB outside the pawn chain afer some thought. It
proved a good decision as things developed and is the most popular move in
Chessbase.]
5.Nf3 e6 6.0–0 Be7 7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.Nd2 0–0 9.Re1 [After this I kept
checking to see that white cannot advance his pawns so as to trap one of my
minor pieces.]
9...Re8 10.cxd5 exd5 [Keep the pawn on c6 to oppose white's bishop.]
11.f3 Qb6 [The pawn on d4 is undefended and this move draws away one of the white
knights covering what is looking like a very important e4 square.]
12.Nb3 Bb4 [This bishop can't cover e4 so I thought it would be good to exchange it
for a knight that can.]
13.a3 Bxc3 14.bxc3 Nf8 [Re-routing to e6 as I don't want him to post a knight on c5 where it
covers e4 etc.]
15.Nc5 Ne6 16.Be3 [I was surprised by this move. e4 is better.]
16...Qc7 [Fritz prefers 15. .. Nxc5 17. dxc5 Qb3, but I correctly anticipated the
next few moves and liked the look of RQR tripled on the e-file.]
17.Nxe6 Rxe6 18.Bf2 Rae8 19.Ra2 Qe7 20.e3 Nd7 [I spent a long
time on this move. I really liked my position but couldn't see how to improve -
I sort of wanted white to move again to show his hand. I eventually decided
that this knight would stand well on c4 if I can get it there.]
21.c4 Nb6 22.cxd5 Nxd5 [At first sight, e4 looks devastating but I had seen well in advance
that Nc3 would fork Q & R.]
23.Qb3 [Played after a very long think and not the best. In fact e4 with loss
of the exchange was the best move, though I would be doing pretty well then of
course.]
23...Nxe3 24.Rb2 [Bxe3 is better but I should still have a winning endgame.]
24...Nxg2 25.Rxe6 Bxe6 [This is the killer move which I think my opponent must have missed. It
gives me the tempo I need to protect the knight. The white king is trapped in a
rather attractive mating net.]
26.Qa4 Bh3 27.Qxa7 Ne1 28.Qxb7 Nxf3+ 29.Kh1 Qe1+ [Mate on the next
turn!]
0–1
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