(1) Messam-Sparks,Lateefah - Lobo,Richard [B50]
British Under 14 Championship Douglas, Isle of Man (1), 07.08.2005

This game features a very strange phase after Lateefah establishes a winning position. Saying too much in advance would spoil the surprise...

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.h3 g6 6.d3 Bg7 7.Be3 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Qd2 e6 11.Bh6 Ne8 12.Bxg7 Kxg7 13.Nh2 Na5
The battle lines are drawn. White will go after the king; Black will attack on the queenside.

14.Ba2 b5 15.axb5 axb5 16.f4 b4 17.Ne2 Nc7 18.f5
This may be a little optimistic.

18...exf5 19.exf5 Bxf5 20.Nf4 d5?
Black misses Lateefah's next tactical shot.

21.Nh5+ gxh5 22.Rxf5 Nc6 23.Rxh5 Qd6 24.Ng4 Rfe8? 25.Rg5+?
[25.Qg5+ Qg6 26.Qh4 f5 27.Rxh7+! Qxh7 28.Qf6+ Kg8 29.Nh6+ Qxh6 30.Qxh6 wins for White.]

25...Kh8 26.Nh6 Qe6 27.Rf1 Re7 28.Qf4 Rf8? 29.Nf5?
[29.Bxd5 Nxd5 30.Rxd5 Qxd5?? 31.Qf6# ]

29...Rd7 30.Ng7 Qd6 31.Nh5 Qxf4 32.Nxf4 Ne7
Black has beaten off the attack and the position is roughly equal.

33.Re1 Ra8 34.Bb3 f6 35.Rg3 h6??
[35...Nf5 36.Rf3 Nd4 37.Rfe3 Nxb3 38.Re7 Rad8 39.cxb3 d4 40.Rxd7 Rxd7 41.Rc1 Na6 42.Nh5 Rf7 is level. Black's actual move is a horrible blunder.]

36.Rxe7 Ra1+ 37.Kf2 Rxe7 38.Ng6+ Kh7 39.Nxe7 Ne6 40.Nxd5 Ng5 41.Nxf6+ Kh8
Black has avoided being mated, but could reasonably be expected to resign here. A piece and two pawns down, the knight is about to fall as well.

42.h4 c4
What's going on? Black seems to have gone berserk!

43.Bxc4 b3 44.Bxb3 h5
This is starting to look like a blitz game, where one player is losing on the board but just needs to make quick moves to win on time. But perhaps there's some method in the madness...

45.Rxg5 Rf1+ 46.Ke3
[Aha! Now 46.Kxf1?? is stalemate! This sort of thing happens all the time in endgame studies, but is rare over the board. Fortunately, Lateefah can escape from the rook.]

46...Rf3+ 47.Ke4 Re3+ 48.Kd5
[48.Kf5 Re5+ 49.Kg6 reaches safety more quickly.]

48...Rxd3+ 49.Ke6 Re3+ 50.Kf7 Re7+ 51.Kg6 Rg7+ 52.Kf5
Now Lateefah's troubles are over. It is very strange that Black should now play on to mate. White has avoided a clever stalemate trap and isn't going to fall into another.

52...Rxg5+ 53.hxg5 h4 54.g6 h3 55.gxh3 Kg7 56.Nh5+ Kf8 57.g7+ Ke7 58.g8Q Kd7 59.Qe6+ Kc7 60.Bd5 Kd8 61.Qf7 Kc8 62.Qe7 Kb8 63.Qb7# 1-0