1. c4 Surprisingly, I had never actually studied the English at all. It shows too, as my opening is less than stellar 1... Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. e4 Nc6 4. d3 g6 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. Nge2 e6 8. O-O Qc7? My idea was to stop e4-e5 when I play Ne7, but it's kind of silly to assign the task to the queen when 9.f4 is coming. 8...d6 made sense to support the idea, and I can just ignore e5 and play Ne7 right away 8... Ne7 9. e5 Ng4 10. f4 d6 Looks at least equal, maybe even a little better for Black 9. f4 a6?! I was paranoid about Nb5, but something like 9...Ne7 or 9...Rd8 makes a lot more sense with the investment I've made in gettingd7-d5in 10. e5 Ng4 I played this move with the intent of sacrificing a pawn, as happened, but but 10...Ne8 might be better because it tries to fix the weaknessond6 11. Ne4 Rd8! I think this is the only way to attempt to battle for the initiative. I calculated that I can win the pawn back, and if he declines I can play Bf8 and d6 to remove the clamp on d6 12. N2c3 12. Nxc5 d6 13. exd6 Qxd6 12... Nh6 13. Nxc5?! I think something like 13.Be3 or 13.Rb1 would be a lot better beause ...d6 will still take some time to play 13... d6 14. exd6 Qxd6 15. N3e4 Qd4+ 16. Kh1 f5 I had actually calculated 16...b6 because it looked less weakening for my pawn structure and gave my knight the f5 square, but this way White has fewer tactical opportunities on the h1-a8 diagonal and after ...e5 Black's pawn structure is fine 17. Nb3 Qxd3 18. Qxd3 Rxd3 19. Nf2 Rd8 20. Rb1 e5! I like this move because it eliminates a weakness for white to develop around and gives me more space to develop, specifically the e6 square for my Bishop, and I don't waste any time playnig it because 21.fxe5 is forced or else after 21...e4 I'm clearly better, so my knight will recapture with tempo againstc4 20... Rb8 21. Be3 Nd4 (21... e5? 22. Bb6 Rd7 23. fxe5 Nxe5 24. Bd5+ Nhf7 And I'm really cramped) 22. Nxd4 Bxd4 23. Bxd4 Rxd4 I should still be ok, but my nice Bishop is gone and White is going to be a lot more active for quite a while 21. fxe5 Nxe5 22. Nc5 Nxc4 23. Bg5! A very nice grab for the initiative 23... Rd4 24. Nxb7 I don't want to label this a mistake because it seems pretty natural, but I think that White needs to play more aggressively here 24. Rfe1! There's no rush to grab back the pawn, the initiative is much more valuable. 24... Nd6 (24... Bd7 I don't know if I'm missing something but in this line Black seems to get slaughtered 25. Bxb7 Rb8 26. Nxd7 Rxd7 27. Bxa6 Nxb2 28. Bc4+ Kf8 29. Bb3 trapping the piece) 25. Be3 Rb4 26. Nfd3 I think that White's piece activity should give him at least compensation for the pawn, but if Black can finish developing he should have a winning endgame, and the only easy weakness for white to exploit is b7, so Black may be able to defend. It's certainly not easy to calculate through this mess 26... Rb5 27. a4 Rb6 28. Ne6 24... Bxb7 25. Bxb7 Ra7 26. Bg2 Nf7 A nice nuance, the knight uses the Bishop to gain time before it's traded off 27. Bc1 Nd2 28. Bxd2 Rxd2 29. Nd1? White is too materialistic again. Instead of getting pressure against some pawns, he gets two open files for his rooks and the 2nd rank. I think something like 29.Rbc1 or 29.Rbd1 needs to be played, when Black wins a pawn but White can at least have some fight left, and maybe shoot for drawing chances 29... Re7 30. Nc3 I think Rc1 is slightly better, but at this point it really doesn't matter, WHite can't generate much counterplay in any line 30... Bxc3 31. bxc3 Ree2 32. Rg1 Ng5 33. Rbe1 Rf2 34. Rd1 34. Ref1 Nh3 Is no better, White loses the rook and probably the rest of his pawns too 34... Rxg2 I think this was my most tactically complicated game at the Denker. My opening was just bad, but I battled for the initiative pretty well I think, although the tactical complications make this almost impossible for me to figure out, even with no time limit to analyze 0-1