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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Nge2 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Ng3 exd5 9.cxd5 a6 10.a4 Nbd7 11.Be2 h5 12.Bg5 Qe8?! [12...Qa5 is better.]
13.Qd2 Nh7 14.Bh6 This had all been seen before in, I think, Ivanchuk-Kramnik, Las Palmas 1997.
14...h4 [14...Qe5 15.Bxg7 Qxg7 16.Nf1! And Ivanchuk made it look easy for White.]
15.Nf1 f5 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.exf5 gxf5 18.f4! Black is positionally busted. h4, f5, d6 and b7 are pawn weaknesses, the knight on h7 has few prospects and the bishop is chained to the immovable yo-yo on f5. White's pieces will be too well placed to allow any real play down the g-file and b4 could be a useful pawn break. I was pleased the opening went so well because Neil was in inspired form in Edinburgh and it wouldn't have been easy to outplay him from a level position.
18...Ndf6 19.Ne3 b6 20.0-0 Kh8 [20...Ra7 21.Rae1 Re7 22.Bxa6!]
21.Rae1! Keeping everything centralised and harmonious. I was tempted by Rf3-h3 and Rb1 and b4 but both mess up my co-ordination unnecessarily.
21...h3 22.g3 Ne4 23.Nxe4 Qxe4 [23...fxe4 24.Bd1 and an eventual g4 is not a lot better, though I would have to have been more attentive than was necessary in the game.]
24.Qc3+ Qd4 25.Qxd4+ cxd4 26.Nc4! Now Black's pawns are looking fairly ripe and he has difficulty activating his pieces.
26...b5! Exclam for speed and serenity; nothing else is challenging.
27.axb5! A single rook can't do much harm and the variations looked simple enough.
27...axb5 28.Nxd6 b4 [28...Ra2 29.Nxb5 Rxb2 30.Nxd4 The h3 pawn is annoying for me, but the two extra pawns more than make up for it.]
29.Ra1! Bd7 30.Nf7+! Improving the knight, blocking the e-file and freeing the d-pawn.
30...Kg7 31.Ne5 Ba4 32.Rfc1 [32.Bc4 was more ruthless]
32...Bb3! 33.d6 Nf6 34.Bf1 Rxa1 35.Rxa1 Rd8 36.Ra7+ Kg8 37.Bxh3 Time for the final harvest. 37...Rxd6 [37...Be6 would have prolonged it to just after the time control.]
38.Bxf5 Two pawns and total control. 1-0