An Eventful Benoni

1. d4 c5 2. d5 d6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e4 exd5 6. cxd5 Be7 7. Nf3 Nbd7 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O a6 10. a4 b6 11. Nd2 Qc7 12. Nc4 Bb7 13. Kh1 Rfe8 Both sides have completed their development, and the question now is how to proceed into the early middlegame. White has a clear spatial advantage, with Stockfish rating the position +1.21.

14. f4 Bf8 15. Bf3 g6 16. Re1 Bg7 17. e5 dxe5 18. fxe5 Nh5 19. Bxh5 gxh5 20. Qxh5 I have won a pawn due to the powerful push 17 e5. Stockfish now has it +2.19.

20...Bxe5? (Nxe5) 21. Bh6! Bd4 22. Qg5+? (Ne4) Kh8 23. Qf5 Nf8 24. Ne4 Bc8? (Qd7) 25. Qg5 Ng6 26. Nf6 Rd8?? My advantage jumps up to +10! However, I miss several winning shots before luckily winning on time.

27. d6 Here I missed 27 Re8+!! RxR 28 Bg7+! KxB 29 NxR+, winning black's queen.

27...Qc6 28. Ne5 And here I missed 28.Bg7+ Kxg7 29.Nh5+ Kg8 30.Qxd8+ Nf8 31.Re8.

28...Bxe5 29. Rxe5? Missing 29.Bg7+ Kxg7 30.Nh5+ Kg8 31.Qxd8+ Nf8. My edge now drops down to 2.77.

29...Qxd6? (Bb7) 30. Rd5 Missing 30.Re8+ Rxe8 31.Bg7+ Kxg7 32.Nxe8+ Kg8 33.Nxd6

30...Qe7 31. Rxd8+ Qxd8 32. Re1?? Throwing away all my advantage! I missed the forced mate: 32.Bg7+ Kxg7 33.Nh5+ Kg8 34.Qxd8+ Nf8 35.Qg5+ Ng6 36.Qf6 Bg4 37.Qg7#. Now a sloppy time scramble ensues, with me winning even though I am down in time 1:38 to :21!

32...Be6 33. h4 Qd4 34. h5 Qh4+ 35. Qxh4 Nxh4 36. Kh2 Rd8 37. Bg5 Nf5 38. Ne4 Rd5 39. Nf6 Rd4 40. h6 And here black ran out of time, with me having 0.2 seconds left! 1-0