1. e4 c5 2. f4 Sicilian Gran Prix attack. The long term plan is to try and loosen blacks king position
g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 Nc6 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nf6 7. d3 White has completed his kingside development and prepares to develop the queenside.
O-O Black has completed kingside development and has claimed some queenside space
8. c3 Be6 wanting the bishop to help claim the queenside, but this let white have the option ofactually clamping down with c4 and a4. Bd7 would not have been good because it blocks a good spot for the f6 knight
9. h3 looking to slowly constrict black on the kingside
Rc8 supporting the knight so that the b-pawn can be pushed without any tactics involving the g2 bishop and the centre opening
10. Be3 b5 11. Nbd2 b4 Trying to open the c-file for the rook, but completely missing the obvious response
12. c4 Qc7 13. g4 Nxg4 This knight sacrifice is based on some tactical ideas. The knight will go, but white loses the g and h pawns, which removes some of his king cover, and nullifies the kingside pawn push. black also will be pinning the knight on f3 to the queen, and the g7 bishop will have full control of the long diagonal, and a tempo from the threat to the b2 pawn.
14. hxg4 Bxg4 Pinning the knight and threatening the hanging b2 pawn
15. Rb1 Nd4 bringing the knight to an outpost. since the f3 knight is pinned, white wouldn't want to trade his bishop for the knight because it gives the black bishop the bishop pair with tempo from a check.
16. Qe1 The queen is uncomfortable behind the pin. She is in a bad position but has few good options. The only ones that don't lose immediately are e1 and a4. Perhaps there was something better to do here than moving the queen?
Nc2 This move shows the problem qith Qe1, it allows the bishop to be forked. Black will be able to get the bishop pair if he thinks that he can open the centre up
17. Qf2 a5 The bishop doesn't need to be taken immediately so look at opening the queenside so that blacks quuen and rooks can do something useful
18. Rfc1 putting the question to the knight, note that the other rook is still stuck on defence, so couldnt have come to c1
Nxe3 19. Qxe3 Qd7 If only the d4 square wasn't guarded by the knight. With both whites rooks now on the queenside there seems to be little point at opening it up at this stage. The queen moving to d7 gets her supporting the bishop, threatening Ba3 trying to pull the queen into the knigside. White may also decide to challenge the bishop first with Nh2, so the queen on d7 would be pulled to an agressive g4 if white traded.
20. Nf1 Bh6 pinning the f pawn to the queen threatening e5
21. N3h2 e5 Threatening to win the pinned pawn
22. Qg3 Half-releasing the pin ( the pawn is still pinned to the rook ) and threatening the bishop on g4
f5 A creative way of defending the bishop. Bxf4 forking the queen and rook was no good because white gives up both bishops just to get the rook
23. Nxg4 fxg4 f4 is now pinned and attacked three times since the rook now is supporting the f-file
24. Rd1 avoiding the Bxf4 fork
exf4 creating a pawn duo with tempo
25. Qh4 Bg7 Kg7 to support the bishop is pointless since the bishop is doing nothing on h6 any more
26. Rd2 Bd4+ 27. Kh1 f3 White loses bishop for pawn 0-1