IM Herman van Riemsdjik vs Smith-Morra fanatic

After playing at the 2006 Queenstown Class Classic, IM Herman van Riemsdijk gave a simul, which I was lucky to play in .. here is what happened:

[Event "Simul"]
[Date "2006.01.30"]
[White "IM van Riemsdjik, Herman"]
[Black "Smith Morra fanatic"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Be3 a6 5. Qd2 b5 6. h4 h5 7.
Bd3 Bb7 8. f3 Nf6 9. Nh3 Nbd7 10. Ng5 O-O 11. O-O-O e5 12. d5 Bc8 13. Rdg1 Nb6

van Riemsdjik has a great position, my pieces are passive while his are active, it was instructive to see how he played

14. Qe2 Qd7 15. g4 hxg4 16. fxg4 Nxg4 17. h5 Nxe3 18. Qxe3 Qe8 19. Ne2 Nd7 20.
Ng3 Nf6 21. hxg6 Ng4

Finally I try to get active!

22. gxf7+ Rxf7 23. Qe1 Rf2?

... and blunder a piece

24. Nf5 Bxf5 25. exf5 e4 26. Rxg4 Qe5 27. Qxf2

van Riemsdjik doesnt even bother preventing me from having a bit of a king hunt .. on 27. c3 I would have just resigned

Qxb2+ 28. Kd2 Qc3+ 29. Ke2 exd3+ 30. cxd3 Qc2+ 31. Kf3 Qxd3+
32. Kg2 Qxd5+ 33. Ne4

My king hunt comes to nothing, as he knew it would, and the threat of 34. f6 is deadly

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IM Gary Lane vs Smith-Morra fanatic

1 year ago this week, I had the pleasure of playing IM Gary Lane in a simul shortly after he won the 2005 Oceania Zonal.. here is what happened:

[Event "Simul 2005"]
[Date "2005.02.07"]
[White "IM Lane, Gary"]
[Black "Smith Morra fanatic"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Be3 Nc6 5. Qd2 e5 6. Nge2 f5
7. exf5 gxf5 8. Bg5 Nf6 9. O-O-O Bd7?! 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. Ng3 Ne7?! 12. Bc4 c6

Fritz: white is +4.03 already

13. Rhe1 Qc7 14. Qd6 Qxd6 15. Rxd6 Ng4 16. Nh5 Bf8

Fritz: + 2.53

17. Nf6+ Nxf6 18. Bxf6 Ng6!?

After some pretty poor play by myself I am getting smashed in the centre ... and now Lane goes in for the kill, and after all he *is* the IM and I am the fish .. so he doesnt need to work out the mate, all he has to do is push me about some more and the mate will come

19. Rxd7 ?? ... or will it? :)

19. ... Kxd7 20. Bxh8 Bh6+ ! Fritz says: -0.12 .. black is ahead! I had seen this possibility before playing 18. ... Ng6

21. Kb1 Rxh8 22. f3 Rd8 23. a4 Bd2 24. Rd1 Ke7 25. Ne2
Ba5 26. Rf1 Rf8 27. c3 Bc7 28. Ng3 Nf4

Fritz: -1.20, thats a pawn up vs an IM!

29. Rf2 Nd5 30. Bd3 Ke6 31. Bc4 a6 32.Re2 b5 33. axb5 axb5 34. Bb3 Rb8 35. Nh5 Kf7 36. Rd2 Rd8 37. Ng3 Ke6 38. Nf1
Bb6 39. Re2 Rf8 40. Ng3, with a draw offer from an IM .. I accept :)

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