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31. Rd1
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"Draw offered by John....no thanks we need to get the win to help the team!" Steve was quite right to turn down the draw. In a four board match we went two down, but managed to draw it with wins on this and the other top board. But even without that to consider, Fritz gives this position as about plus 1 for black. Clearly white's bishop is virtually useless, hemmed in by its own pawns, unable to defend on dark squares. In these blocked positions knights are far better than bishops. |

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31... Re8e7
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"Now John can't break through at all easily as f7 is protected." |

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32. Kh1
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"....shuffling about..." |

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32... Nfg4
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"The winning try now I have all the squares!" Fritz agrees that this is the best move. |

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33. Bxg4
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White takes. |

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33... Nxg4
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Black takes back, threatening to go to e3. |

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34. Nf1
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So the white knight has to drop back to stop this. |
1 comment
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34... Rf6
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".....threatening Nf2 if he doesn't exchange......" |

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35. g3
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"Ooops!" |
1 comment
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35... Nf2+
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Black corrrectly takes the chance to win the exchange. |
1 comment
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36. Rxf2
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White has to take otherwise Rd1 goes. |

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36... Rxf2
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Black takes back. "....and now the fat lady starts to warble......." |

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37. b4
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A hopeless gesture. |

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37... axb4
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Black simply takes. |
1 comment
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38. b3
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Black saves the b pawn, at least for the time being, but the position is resignable - white is exchange and pawn down and black dominates the second rank, all white's pieces are passive. |
1 comment
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38... Ra7
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Once the other rooks enters it is curtains. |

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39. Kg1
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White attacks the rook. |

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39... Rb2
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Rook attacks b3. |
1 comment
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40. Nd2
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White protects. |

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40... Raa2
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But now white can't avoid the loss of at least another pawn, and so gives up. In my view a most impressive come-back game! Thank you for reading, please rate the annotation on the star system, and leave a comment or two to let me know how I am getting on. Until next time dear reader! |
2 comments
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