HOCCC: 1904 correspondence match

In the 1903-04 season two correspondence games were played between the chess clubs of Colchester and Tunbridge Wells. According to a newspaper article about the match "In game one Colchester, playing Black, soon turned the attack into a defence, and at one time looked like winning, but White found the right replies, and a draw resulted."

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "1904.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Tunbridge Wells"] [Black "Colchester"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C54"] [Annotator "Barnes, Nathan"] [PlyCount "46"] {C54: Giuoco Piano: 4 c3 Nf6, main lines with 5 d4 and 5 d3} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 {The Giuoco Piano is an opening that has started to come back into fashion in recent years with quite a few of the top players using it.} (5. d3 {is the main line but 5.d4 is also a very common move.}) 5... exd4 6. e5 Ne4 (6... d5 {is the main move in this position, it has been played by Caruana recently against Gawain Jones.}) 7. Qe2 d5 {The only move that does not lead to material loss, the knight on e4 has nowhere to go.} 8. exd6 Bf5 (8... O-O {is also possible as the knight cannot be taken} 9. Qxe4 $4 Re8 10. Qe2 Rxe2+ 11. Bxe2 $19) 9. Ng5 $2 {Trying to win the knight but White would be better off taking on d4 and then developing on the queenside.} O-O $1 $17 {The only move to prevent material loss, the knight is safe due to the potential skewer of queen and king on the e-file.} 10. dxc7 Qxc7 11. O-O Rae8 12. Qf3 Bg6 13. Bf4 Ne5 {White is struggling - development is still not complete, the bishop on c4 is loose and vulnerable to potential discovered attacks from Black's queen and Black's pieces are much better coordinated.} 14. Bxe5 Rxe5 15. Nxe4 Bxe4 16. Qg4 Qe7 17. Qh3 (17. -- Rg5 $1 ( 17... Bxg2 {is also easily winning}) 18. Qh3 Rxg2+ 19. Qxg2 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 Qe4+ {and White will have to give up a lot of material to prevent mate.}) 17... b5 ( 17... Bxg2 $2 {doesn't work at the moment} 18. Kxg2 Rg5+ 19. Kh1 $11) 18. Bd3 { [%cal Rd3h7,Rh3h7]} (18. Bxb5 $4 Bxg2 $1 {[%csl Rf1,Rh3][%cal Re5g5]} 19. Kxg2 Qb7+ 20. f3 Qxb5 $19 21. b3 {while material is equal (temporarily), White's king is too exposed and the pieces not developed so won't be able to hold on for long.}) 18... g6 $6 {Doesn't achieve much. The idea is to unpin the bishop on e4 so that the tactics on g2 could work.} 19. Bxe4 {only move that keeps White in the game} ({for example} 19. Nd2 $2 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 Rh5 21. Qf3 Qg5+ 22. Qg3 Qxd2) 19... Rxe4 20. cxd4 Bxd4 21. Nc3 Bxc3 $6 $15 (21... Re5 $142 $17) 22. Qxc3 Re8 23. a3 a6 {Draw agreed} 1/2-1/2