Player: Richard Colfer

[Event "Edited game"]
[Date "2003.03.14"]
[White "R.Colfer"]
[Black "J.Boyce"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 I was very happy to see my opponent go for the Petrov... I play it myself, and I know what I don't like as Black... I'd recommend the next few moves to any university player playing as white. Unless they're playing me, of course :o) 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Qe2 Qe7 6. d3 Nf6 7. Bg5 Nbd7 8. Nc3 h6 9. Bh4 Qxe2+ 10. Bxe2 g5 11. Bg3 Nb6 12. Nb5 Trying to get black to move his king and be unable to castle... in this sort of position every little advantage can be crucial. 12... Kd8 13. O-O-O Bg7 14. Rhe1 a6 15. Nc3 Nh5 16. Ne5 15 ...Nh5 gave me the opportunity to open up the centre with Ne5. Black has to capture with his d-pawn (eventually) which reduces the cover in front of his king. 16... dxe5 17. Bxh5 f6 18. d4 exd4 The only way to save the pawn... Letting it go was probably Black's last chance. 19. Rxd4+ Bd7 20. Nd5 I had to keep the pressure on to stop black getting his king to safety. Swapping the knights off removes a defender and stops black having the time to play c5. 20... Nxd5 21. Rxd5 c6 22. Rd2 b5 23. Red1 Ra7 24. Bg4 Black hasn't managed to organise his defence in time and the bishop can't be saved. There you go... my best win ever... in terms of grade points (Black was graded 170). Don't laugh! I hardly ever play people with a higher grade than me! Honest!

This game was played in University A's home game against Whoberley A in the 01-02 season. It was the first game after Christmas and our form in the first half of the season (including wins against Nuneaton A and Whoberley A) had made us favourites for the title (maybe). As the official start time came and went, the University team were missing two players... this meant I'd probably have to win my game for us to have a chance. Unfortunately I was playing Matt Fletcher, formerly of Warwick Uni and one of the best players in the league... 1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. g3 Nc6 5. Ngf3 Nf6 6. Bg2.. What I always play against the French. White gives up space in the centre for a solid position and a possible kingside attack. It's not great - but I can't be bothered to learn anything else! } 6... d4 7. O-O Be7 8. Nc4 b5 9. Nce5 Nxe5 10. Nxe5 Qc7 11. f4 The pawn structure forces this game into a kingside v queenside attack. 11... Bb7 12. Qe2 O-O 13. Bd2 Rfd8 14. Ng4 Nxg4 15. Qxg4 c4 16. Rf2 c3 17. bxc3 dxc3 18. Be3 Bc5 19. Qe2 Qb6 20. Bxc5 Qxc5 21. Kh1 Rac8 22. g4 Rd4 23. f5 e5 24. f6 g6 25. Qe3 Rb4 26. Qh6 Qf8 27. Qg5 Rc5 28. Rf3 h6 29. Qh4 Rb2 30. Rf2 b4 31. g5 hxg5 32. Qxg5 Bc8 33. h4 Kh7 34. Qg3 Qh6 35. Bh3 Bxh3 36. Qxh3 Ra5 Now the queenside definitely can't be saved. The kingside has to be opened up before it's too late. } 37. Qd7 Qf8 38. h5 g5 39. Qf5+ Kh6 40. Rg1 Qg8 41. Rfg2 Raxa2 42. Rxg5 Rxc2 Although black is now threatening checkmate, he resigned as after Rg6+ black's king will be kept in check until he is checkmated. eg: 43. Rg6+ fxg6 44. Rxg6+ Kh7 45. RxQ+ KxQ 46. Qg6+ Kf8 47. Qg7+ Ke8 48. Qe7++ Sadly, the defaults were too much for us to cope with and we lost 3-2, leading to the usual tail-off at the end of the season into upper mid-table obscurity :o/ Here's hoping the University can win the league championship sometime in the not-too-distant future.

[Event "Edited game"]
[Site "Bath A v Thornbury A (Bristol League)"]
[Date "2004.04.01"]
[White "Richard Colfer"]
[Black "Dave Buckley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

{ Sitting down to play Dave I remembered the innumerable times I'd lost to him in quickplay games at Warwick - So I was pretty much resigned to defeat from the start... But I didn't want to make it easy... I decided I'd take every chance I got to swap off pieces and play boring, drawish stuff } 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nge2 Nge7 8. Qd2 Nd4 9. Nd5 Nxd5 10. exd5 Bg4 { Dave forces me to either play the dismal looking Ng1 or give up the bishop pair... } 11. Bxd4 cxd4 12. h3 Bxe2 { We agreed afterwards that Bd7 is probably better for Dave in the long term. } 13. Qxe2 Qb6 { There's no good counter to this... 0-0-0 will leave my king in trouble - and c3/c4 ruins my pawn structure and fixes Dave's - so b3 was the least bad move I could find. } 14. b3 O-O 15. O-O Rac8 16. a4 Rc3 17. Ra2 { Puts my rook out of action... but it can't be helped... putting a rook on c1 will lose to Rxb3 or Bh6 eventually. } 17... Rfc8 18. f4 Qc7 19. Rf2 exf4 20. gxf4 Bf6 { Dave gives me a chance... Bh6, f5, Kf8, Re8 and Re3 in some order would probably have killed me off. } 21. Qg4 Re8 22. Be4 { I offered a draw... Dave didn't want it. } 22... Bg7 23. f5 Bh6 24. Kh1 Qd8 { Dave offered me a draw... I thought fxg6 looked pretty good so... I played it! } 25. fxg6 fxg6 26. Bxg6 Re1+ 27. Kg2 Qg5 28. Bh5 { Qg5 has finished my attack, so I played Bh5 and offered a(nother) draw... Which I was happy to see Dave accept... although I'm a pawn up, it's not a good pawn - and I didn't fancy going up against Dave's endgame technique... My best draw ever! Sorry Dave! 1/2-1/2

Last checked and updated by Michael Jones 06/05/07.