Codger (Slightly less Old) Survives...

Just to show that an old codger can occasionally hold his
own, I offer this
exercise in somewhat jammy pragmatism against one of the
stars of this year's
Division 2.
   [Event "Division 2"]   [Site "?"]   [Date "2016.04.07"]   [Round "?"]   [White "Karimi, Q."]   [Black "Hickman, N."]   [Result "0-1"]   [ECO "C44"]   [Annotator "Hickman,Neil"]   [PlyCount "92"]       1. e4 e5 {"Neil always plays the French". So Neil  decides not to,   just to be awkward. Unwise.} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4  {The Scotch Gambit.   I have never played the Scotch/Goring systems with White but  have frequently   found them a handful when playing Black. And I had  absolutely no idea what   Black is supposed to do now...} Bb4+ ({Apparently Black is  supposed to play}    4... Nf6 5. Ng5 Ne5 6. Qxd4 Nxc4) 5. c3 dxc3 6. bxc3 Ba5 7.  Qd5 $6 ({This is   just a bit too direct. White can give Black plenty of scope  to go horribly   wrong with, e.g.,} 7. O-O d6 8. Ng5 Ne5 $2 (8... Nh6 $15) 9.  Nxf7 Nxf7 10.   Bxf7+ Kxf7 11. Qh5+ g6 12. Qxa5 h6 $2 (12... Nf6) 13. f4 Ne7  14. c4 Rg8 15. Bb2   Bd7 16. Nd2 Nc6 17. Qc3 Qe7 18. e5 Raf8 19. exd6 {1-0  Mihalyfi-Horvath,   Hungarian Ch 2007}) (7. Qb3 {or} Qe7 8. O-O d6 9. Re1 Nf6 $2  (9... Bb6 $15) 10.   e5 dxe5 11. Ba3 Qd7 12. Nxe5 {1-0 in 16 Ferrante-Rigorda,  Italian u-20 Ch 2008.   Both the Black victims were about 2000 standard.  By now I was   trying to remember why I had thought it a good idea not to  play the French. I   don't like having spent 19 minutes on the first 7 moves,  three of those being   obvious "book".}) 7... Qe7 8. Bg5 Nf6 9. Bxf6 Qxf6  10. e5 Qe6 11. Qb5 Qe7 12.   O-O O-O 13. a4 a6 14. Qd5 d6 15. exd6 Qxd6 16. Qh5 h6 {Fritz  seems to want to   move the queen yet again but keeping the White minor pieces  out of g5 seems   more prudent. Black has, more through luck than judgment and  certainly not as   a result of knowing what he is doing, emerged from the  opening in one piece,   importantly not falling behind in development, and I do not  think White has   any compensation for the gambit pawn.} 17. Ra2 Be6 18. Rd2  Qe7 19. Re1 Rad8 20.   Nd4 Nxd4 $2 ({Quite adequate, but better, I think,} 20...  Rxd4 21. cxd4 Bxd2   22. Nxd2 Qb4) 21. Qxa5 Nc6 22. Qh5 Rxd2 23. Nxd2 Qd6 $2  ({Inaccurate, because   the Q can get hit here. Better} 23... Qd7) 24. Ne4 Qf4 25.  Bxe6 fxe6 26. Qe2   Ne5 27. Ng3 $2 (27. f3 $1 {supports the N on its outpost and  puts an end to   threats against f2}) 27... Nd3 $1 28. Qxe6+ Kh8 29. Rf1 Qxa4  {Material   advantage is restored, but more importantly Black has traded  his weakness on   e6 for a potentially mobile majority on the queenside.} 30.  Qg6 Nf4 31. Qb1 ({   Qais brought the Q back intending to put it on b1 but let go  of it on c2.} 31.   Qc2 Qxc2 {is obviously terminal; but I didn't want to finish  an interesting   game in that way.}) 31... Qc6 32. f3 Qb6+ ({Fritz prefers}  32... a5 {but it   seemed to me that once the queens had gone the endgame  should be   straightforward.}) 33. Qxb6 cxb6 34. Ne4 Rc8 35. Kf2 Nd5 36.  Rc1 b5 37. Ke1 b4   38. Kd2 bxc3+ 39. Kc2 b5 40. Ra1 b4 {Having been thoroughly  materialistic for   most of the game, I felt I could now safely abandon the  a-pawn. That two   united passed pawns on the 6th are worth a rook is one of  the things they tell   to children (well, they did in my prehistoric day).} 41.  Rxa6 Ne3+ 42. Kc1 b3   43. Nxc3 Rxc3+ 44. Kd2 Nd5 45. Ra8+ Kh7 46. Rd8 (46. Rb8  {doesn't get anywhere,   either -} Rc2+ 47. Kd3 Nf4+ 48. Ke3 Nxg2+ 49. Kd3 Ne1+ 50.  Ke3 b2 {etc}) 46...   Rc2+ {And Qais accepted the inevitable.} 0-1