At the start of the tournament I was intending to use 1.d4, but I feared being crushed by a 2000 player's opening theory so I played in more familiar lines

1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 c5 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. O-O e6?! Normally Black develops the Bishop with g6 and Bg7. On e7 it is much more passive 6. d3 The normal setup against the Bg7 line, this is perfectly solid, and as far as I can see White's better in every line than he would be if that Bishop were on e7 6... Be7 7. c3 O-O 8. Na3 Rb8 9. Ne5 Nd7 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. b3? I knew that I needed to play c4 soon to freeze Black's c5 pawn, but ...Bf6 worried me irrationally so I tried to neutralize it with my own dark squared Bishop. I had 3 more flexiblechoices 11. Qa4 Qc7 12. e4 Nb6 13. Qc2 Ba6 14. Be3 Piling up on the doubled pawns as any advance weakens the structure. I think White is a little better here, but Black can get some counterplay with the b file 11. e4 Qb6 12. Kh1 Ba6 13. c4 (13. f5!? Black is a little distracted from the kingside so White may have some attacking opportunities, but I haven't looked at this line much yet) 13... Bf6 14. e5 Be7 Black is cra mped and it's very difficult to free the position without creating some weaknesses 11. c4 Bf6 12. Rb1 and I have no problem getting in my b3 and Bb2 idea 11... Qa5 12. Bb2?? c4 was forced to save material and a playable position 12. c4 Bf6 13. Rb1 Bb7 14. Qd2 (14. Qe1 Qxe1 15. Rxe1 e5 16. e4 d4 17. Nc2 Be7 With f6 to follow and and the center blockade makes it almost impossible to attack the "weak" doubled pawns, and Black still enjoys the b file and can try to make a weakness with b7-b5-b4) 14... Qxd2 15. Bxd2 e5 16. e3 This position actually looks fairly even. Playing for d4 will relieve Black's doubled pawns but White can find some active plans with the newly opened files 12... c4 13. b4 Qb6+ This is very embarassing. For at least a minute after he played this move, I forgot that put me in check. If I had realized the check earlier I obviously wouldn't have tried 12. Bb2. Once I realize it's check I just selfdestruct 14. d4 a5 15. Nc2 axb4 16. cxb4 Bxb4 17. Rb1 Be7 18. e4 Qa7 19. a3 Rb3 20. e5 Qb6 21. Qc1 Ba6 22. Ba1 Rb8 23. Rxb3 cxb3 24. Nb4 Bxb4 25. axb4 Bxf1 26. Bxf1 Qxb4 27. Bb2 c5 28. dxc5 Qxc5+ Unfortunately, most of my analysis was about opening improvements, few of which I even considered over the board. This was by far my worst played game of the Denker, but fortunately I was able to use my poor performance as motivation in the next round. 0-1