1. f4 b6 Being new to f4 this was the first game I met b6. The most common responses are d5, e5, e6, g6, Nf6, c5
2. e4 Bb7 3. d3 giving a nice pawn centre to work behind. black will not be able to challenge the centre immediately, but d5 will be able to be used eventually
e6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Be3 Nc6 6. h3 Be7 7. Nc3 O-O Black did not need to castle so soon. Whites pawn position suggests a kingside attack. White currently has the centre, and can claim space on the kingside with g4
8. Qd2 White chooses to castle queenside so that the kingside pawns can be used in a pawnstorm
d5 This move challenges the centre
9. O-O-O Fitting in with the plan, but a mistake due to blacks next move
d4 Forking bishop and knight
10. Ne2 The kingside plan now requires complete focus. This move sacrifices the dark bishop for a pawn. Why not sacrifice the knight? The recapture by the queen puts her on the wrong side of the board for the attack.
dxe3 11. Qxe3 Nb4 12. a3 Na6 13. g4 threatening to bump the f6 knight. Expected h6 h4 Nh7
Nc5 14. g5 Nh5 Blocks the h pawns advance for now ( h5 is a hole )
15. h4 To get rid of the h5 knight I need Bh3, Rdg1,then Ng3. The drawback would be that the bishop is not well placed on h3
Na4 16. Bh3 Qd6 Blacks queen and knight focus on f4 so Ng3 is no longer possible
17. Ne5 e5 looked ok, but it makes the pawns less flexible, and if black could get in g6 the pawn strorm can only operate successfully by sacrificing on the h-file
Nxb2 This sac caught me by surprise. It looks dangerous on the face of it. but the king has plenty of bolt holes
18. Kxb2 I was looking at Rg1, but white gets into trouble with discovered attacks after black plays Qxa3
Qxa3+ 19. Kb1 Black is up a pawn, the white king is in the open. But how can black continue? Immediate checks would let the black king escape to the comparative safety of the middle ( c1,d2,e1 ) . If blacks queen and bishop swapped locations then white would be lost. The white queen can't reposition to let the bishop to a3 since any move by the queen lets the king escape to c1. Qa5 blocking d2 would be followed by c3 when B3 is no longer a problem. Blacks reinforcements are of no short term help, the rooks have no open files on a/b/c to join in an attack, and the a2-g8 diagonal is not available to blacks light squared bishop, so it couldnt get to a2. It could however pressure c2
Bc5 attacks the queen, and more importantly takes away g1 from whites d1 rook
20. Qf3 Gets out of the way of the bishop and attacks the knight. When the knight gets protected the bishop will be brought to g4 to force open blacks kingside. Note that d3 was pinned ( the knight now supports the queen on f3 ) and now e4 is.
g6 forced. Opens up a hole for the knight to escape to
21. Bg4 Forces the knight to retreat and prepares h5
Ng7 the counter threat f6 probably doesn't work for black after Bxe6+ Kg7 Nd7 getting rid of the pesky dark squared bishop
22. h5 The h-file can now be opened for the rook and queen to use
Nf5 This move is possible because of e4 being pinned.
23. Bxf5 exf5 I was expecting gxf5 delays whites breach of the h-file
24. hxg6 fxg6 25. Qh3 Threatens Qxh7#
h5 26. Nxg6 gxh6ep might have been ok here, but blocks the h-file. White now needs two tempos to finish the game
Qb4+ The threat of Qxh5 compels black to action
27. Kc1 Qa3+ 28. Kd2 Qb4+ 29. c3 Nc3 Bd4 Qxh5 Qxc3+ Ke2 Qxc2+ Rd2 wins for white, but I miscalculated the c3 line thinking it was shorter
Qb2+ 30. Ke1 Bxe4 The move I missed. Qxh5 fails now because the bishop can remove the rook ( eliminating Qh7# ) Qh8+ would then let the king escape
31. dxe4 The d file is opened
Rfd8 Takes the rook out of the knights gaze, and pressures the d-file.
32. Rxd8+ Qxh5 would probably have worked here but allows the white king to be pushed around a bit first
Rxd8 33. Ne7+ Again Qxh5 probably works here. Why sacrifice the knight? Because the bishop was covering f2. This was probably faulty thinking however as the king always had f1 to go to
Bxe7 If the king moves instead then white can harass the king further
34. Qxh5 Qd2+ 35. Kf1 Qe3 36. Qh7+ White now has forced mate. Qh8+ also wins but it takes longer
Kf8 37. Qxf5+ Kg8 38. Qg6+ Kf8 Rh8# is forced 1-0