[Event "Spielvogel 2026"]
[Site "Ballarat"]
[Date "2026-02-19"]
[White "Rob Loveband"]
[Black "Scott Stewart"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 Nbd7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O e5 8. d5 Nc5 9. Qc2 a5 10. Bg5 h6 11. Be3 Ng4 { I am not fond of Ng4 here, it set's off the combination that follows, White emerges with a little something. } 12. Bxc5!? dxc5 13. h3 Nf6 14. Nxe5 Nxd5! 15. Nxd5 (15. cxd5 { feels stronger, a well supported central pawn. }) 15... Bxe5 16. Rad1 { I thought White had better play with the more direct f4 } (16. f4 Bd4+ 17. Kh2) 16... Bd4 17. Qc1 { The opening has gone Black's way, } 17... c6 18. Nc3 Qh4 19. Bf3 Bxh3?? { Woops, I had a special moment here, I spent a while calculating Be6 and not being 100% convinced was scanning at my other candidate moves. I spotted Bxh3 gh and Qg3 double attacking the King and Bishop momentarily forgetting that Bishops can move to block check. Damn } (19... Be6 20. b3 (20. Ne2)) 20. gxh3 Qxh3 21. Qf4?! g5 22. Qf5 (22. Qg4 { Is just as winning for White, Declan pointed this move out as a nice way for White to simplify towards victory. }) 22... Qg3+ { I know I am totally busted, I have failed to justify my costly misadventures but I wanted to keep the Queens on the board as there were more ways for White to go wrong } 23. Bg2 Qc7 24. Rd3 Rae8 25. Rh3?! Qd6 26. Kh1 Re5 27. Qg4 f5 28. exf5 Rexf5 29. Ne4 (29. Rf3 { Another missed opportunity to trade some material }) 29... Qg6 30. f3? { I felt I was still worse here but f3 seemed a very unfortunate move born of time pressure, like a black hole, the activity of the Rooks, Queen and Bishop is sucked up. } 30... Rf4 31. Qh5 Kg7!? { Adding an active King to the fray seemed like a good idea as I sure he was going to trade Queens. } 32. Qxg6+ Kxg6 33. Re1 h5 { Here I felt the tide had turned, Objectively I am still a piece down but I am enjoying a lot of counter-play } 34. Nd6 g4 { White is under time pressure here less than 5 minutes. I was aware of how important White rook was being on the h-file. Possible back row problems if the pawn lands on g3, those Bishop forks on f2 should the rook stray to g3. Re6 looks like a strong move especially with the hile file opening up. } 35. fxg4 hxg4 36. Re6+?? { Unfortunately for Rob this creates a double attack/ skewer along the 6th and the rook is on-prix on h3. } 36... R8f6 37. Rxf6+ Rxf6 38. Be4+? Kg5 { Fortunately for me the skirmish ends with Whites pieces tripping over themselves with the White knight wanting to land on e4 but it being occupied by the Bishop. } 39. Rg3 Rxd6 40. Kg2 0-1