[Event "Charles Fisher"]
[Site "Ballarat"]
[Date "2026-08-20"]
[White "Allott, Nathan"]
[Black "Laffey, Julian"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 { Scandinavian - sick of playing the Caro Kann. } 3... Qd8 { Considered Qa5 but went for this instead. Is one sounder than the other? Either way black loses time keeping the queen safe. } 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bf4 Bf5 6. Bd3 e6 { Choosing development over exchanging. The trade-off is a possibly funky pawn structure after Bxf5 exf5. } 7. Nf3 Bb4 { Preparing to castle. More active than Be7, but keeps the DSB in the game - I expect to lose the LSB. } 8. a3 { White wastes no time putting the question to the bishop. } 8... Bxc3+ { Ba5 encourages b4, and black has gifted white time and space. This move at least creates a pawn island in white's structure. } 9. bxc3 O-O 10. O-O Nbd7 { Both sides have now completed development. d7 seems a better home than c6 for the knight. } 11. h3 Nd5 { Forks the bishop and pawn. } 12. Qd2 { The best reply, protecting both piece and pawn. } 12... c6 { A quiet move with a few purposes; if Bxf5 exf5 the knight on d5 is still protected, the c6 pawn avoids white's DSB, and the black queen now has more room to move. } 13. c4 Ne7 { I opt to save the knight (rather than exchange it) so it can potentially be a nuisance on g6. } 14. g4 { A mistake in my opinion. While it chases away the bishop, it also weakens the white king. } 14... Bxd3 { Bg6 seems an error - after h3 h6 (making an escape square for the bishop), white is putting a lot of pressure on black's king side.

The Bxg4 hxg4 sacrifice is tempting, but I'm not convinced the payoff is solid. } 15. cxd3 { This recapture keeps the bishop protected. } 15... Ng6 { Starting to assemble forces on white's king side. } 16. Bd6 { A nice little (soon to be) outpost for white's DSB. } 16... Re8 17. c5 { White has a bishop outpost and more space in their favour, but an exposed king and disjointed pawns against them.

Black's pieces are still poorly developed, and the knight pair might be easy to frustrate. Black's pawns looking ok though. } 17... Qf6 { The idea here is to support a push on e5 (which will also expose the white DSB to the black queen), and to threaten the hanging knight. If the knight moves, h4 makes a nice home for the black knight. } 18. Qe3 { A mistake. White's queen is the only defender of the knight, but is itself a target from a black push up the e file. } 18... Rad8 { Anticipating a discovered attack on d6. } 19. Rab1 { Too slow. While black is preparing an attack up the centre, white is picking apples on the queen side. } 19... e5 { Time to strike. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how everything washes out after dxe5 and a series of trades. } 20. Rxb7 { Black can't resist, but misses the deadly next move. } 20... exd4 { Black can no longer save the queen and the knight at the same time. } 21. Qxd4 Qxf3 22. Rfb1 { Again, too slow. } 22... Nh4 { White can't avoid heavy material losses. } 23. Kf1 Qg2# { White was surprised this was mate, had failed to notice the rook on e8. } 0-1