1. e4 e6 French. Ok, hit him with the Steinitz variation. 2. e5 d5 3. exd6 cxd6 4. d4 d5 He's already played d5 twice. That's got to be a plus for me. 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Nc3 a6 Can't play Bb5 now. Never mind, I think this next move comes into the French sometimes. 7. Bd3 Be7 Can't stop him castling now. Get on with my own development. 8. O-O Nc6 9. a3 b5 10. b4 Well that's the q side locked up. Try to throw everything at his king now. 10... O-O 11. Bf4 Bb7 12. Ne2 Nh5 I wonder if g4 is playable? 13. Bd2 g6 14. Bh6 Ng7 This is looking ok. He can't shift my bishop easily, his q-bishop is blocked in, and I'm starting to get some pieces moving. 15. c3 Re8 16. Re1 Bd6 17. Ng3 Qc7 18. Qd2 e5 19. dxe5 Nxe5 20. Nd4 Nxd3 That was a crap bishop anyway. 21. Qxd3 I'm fairly happy. He's got an isolated pawn, and a bad bishop. Everything under control. 21... Ne6 22. Rac1 Some of this stuff is at least two moves deep! 22... Bf8 23. Bxf8 Nxf8 24. Re3 Rxe3 25. Qxe3 Qd7 I don't understand that move 26. Re1 Rd8 27. Qe7 This forces the Q exchange, to give me a rook on the seventh. Should be easy now! 27... Qxe7 28. Rxe7 Rd7 29. Re3 Rc7 30. Nge2 Kg7 This next is what I call a deep positional move (don't laugh). It's in case I want to move my knight, and he pushes the d-pawn, but it means his bishop will still be restricted. 31. f3 Kf6 32. Kf2 Ne6 33. h4 h6 34. g4 Nf8 35. Kg3 Nd7 I've lost track of what he's up to now. I'm trying to keep the e-file, centralise my king, and hope something turns up. 36. f4 Nb6 Clocks back half an hour. He's only takn 25 minutes so far, against my 55! There's some tricky stuff with the knights coming up. 37. g5+ hxg5 38. hxg5+ Kg7 Haha! A little victory! 39. Nc2 Kf8 40. Ned4 Bc8 That could be unpleasant. He mobilises his bishop at last. I'd better stop it. 41. Re5 Rxc3+ Damn it! First mistake. 42. Re3 Rxe3+ 43. Nxe3 Nc4 44. Nec2 Nd6 45. Kf3 Nc4 46. Kg3 I've got to guard my a-pawn, can't see anything else constructive, so go for a draw. It won't be easy for him to win. 46... Ke8 47. Kf3 Ke7 48. Kg3 Kd6 49. Kf3 Kc7 50. Ne3 Offering pawn exchange 50... Kd6 51. Nec2 I offered a draw at this point, as he doesn't seem to be trying to win, but he declined. 51... a5 52. Nb3 axb4 53. axb4 Be6 54. Ncd4 OK pal, what you gonna do now? 54... Nb6 55. Na5 Bd7 56. Nb7+ Kc7 57. Nc5 Be8 58. Na6+ Kb7 59. Nc5+ Ka7 Running out of things to do now. Try to swap off k-side pawns and maybe win one. 60. f5 Na4 61. Ncb3 Kb6 62. fxg6 fxg6 63. Kf4 Nc3 64. Ke5 Kc7 65. Nc5 Kd8 66. Kf6 Ne4+ No probs. This is where I get my pawn back. 67. Nxe4 dxe4 68. Ke5 e3 69. Kf4 Ke7 70. Kxe3 I probably should have offered the draw again now. 70... Kd6 71. Ke4 Bd7 72. Nb3 Bf5+ 73. Kf4 Kd5 74. Na5 Bd7 Pawn lost again :( 75. Ke3 Ke5 76. Kf3 Kf5 77. Nb3 Kxg5 78. Nd4 Kh4 79. Kg2 Kg4 Better get another scoresheet. Now then, can't play Ne6 or Nf5 or Nxb5. I want the knight this side, so 80. Nf3 Bc6 BUGGER! Resigns. My opponent was kind enough to say it was a perfect game up till then, which was a bit of an exaggeration. Still, I didn't play too badly till the last move. 0-1