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1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 Writing "Understanding the Gruenfeld" helped me to expand my repertoire in this way; quite useful against Colin who rarely enters the critical main lines.
4.b3 Bg7 5.Bb2 c5 6.e3 This seems a little dainty. [6.c4!? d4 7.b4 was much more to the point. Maybe I should have played ...c5 and ...Nc6 before ...Bg7.]
6...Nc6 7.0-0 0-0 8.d4?! White may already be slightly worse after this. [8.Ne5!? playing it like some sort of Queens Indian, seeems reasonable. Then there are pros and cons to the bishop being on g2 rather than e2. 8...Nxe5 9.Bxe5 Bg4! makes most sense of black's position. Here the position just looks equal.; 8.d3 intending the ultra quiet Nd2 and Qe2 also looks preferable to the game continuation. ]
8...cxd4 9.exd4 [9.Nxd4 Bg4! looks very comfortable for Black.]
9...Bg4 10.Nbd2 Rc8 My only gripe about my position is that I had taken about twenty minutes to get here. Almost all my moves have been obvious so some sort of chronic faffing was probably going on.
11.a3?! Colin is playing much too passively and it's not surprising that Black can already instigate concrete threats.
11...Ne4! 12.h3 This looks like the only move. [12.c3 is too embarrassing to contemplate: 12...Nxd2 13.Qxd2 Na5) This is a big moment; I have to decide between two promising continuations. The first involves a change in the material balance, some calculation and (quite) far-sighted evaluation. The second involves just keeping the tension and trying to gauge whether my pressure will persist. I think I made the wrong choice.
12...Bf5 [12...Nxd4!? 13.Bxd4 Bxd4 14.hxg4 Bxa1 15.Qxa1 Nxd2 (15...Rxc2 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.Rd1 Qb6 18.Nd4 Rc7 19.Bxe4) 16.Nxd2 Rxc2 This position is virtually forced after 12...Nxd4; you can check the fairly self-evident calculations for yourself. Now I had to decide whether the advantage (assuming I have one; which on first impressions I seem to-White's bishop is bad and my rooks will be active; good chances of exchanging queens) I had here was a good transition from the one I had earlier, or whether it was better to just keep the early pressure on with 12...Bf5. My main concern with this line is that whenever I bolster my d5 pawn with ...e6 White can use his annoying useful extra g-pawn to clamp me with g5. Also, there are sometimes threats of the knight slowly or quickly coming to f6; dangerously "covered" by the queen on a1. My feeling at the time was that these were probably just ghosts and I should have some way of damping the residual initiative, forcing the exchange of queens and winning the ending. However, I did feel there was some risk so after my provisional assessment of "probably better for Black, but need to calculate concrete lines at the end of the variation" I returned to 12...Bf5 and asked if I wouldn't be more comfortable just making Colin squirm with all the pieces on the board. I couldn't see a good answer to 12...Bf5 but couldn't escape the feeling that I was missing a big chance that wouldn't come again so I returned to the other line. In the final position the move which most concerned me was 17.Rd1 because then it seemed to me that I had to play 17...e6 allowing A) 18.Ne4. Had I been a bit more hardened and self confident I would have foreseen that 18...f5! to be followed by ...Qf6 keeps Black in total control, but having such a cushy position earlier I was reluctant to compromise my position in this way. However, I should have surmised that as long as the bishop on g2 is not involved in White's attacking ideas, I can easily deal with the immediate threats. B) So although I didn't see it at the time, 18.Bf1! intending to centralise the bishop on d3 thus removing the rook and covering c2 looks like white's best resource. Then 18...Qg5!? 19.Qd4 Rfc8 (19...e5? 20.Nf3!) 20.Nf3 doesn't seem great for Black, but (18...Qe7 19.Bd3 Rc7 is just very comfortable for Black; there is no rush to exchange Queens and White has no major kingside threats. Colin felt such a position was clearly better for Black and what was particularly instructive is that whereas I was worried about the clamping move g4-g5, Colin pointed out that this was dangerous for White in the endgame because Black could play ...f6! and gain an outside passed pawn to trouble the minor pieces. When I asked "Are you sure?" Colin just politely reminded me that minor pieces have difficulty dealing with rooks pawns. I would have been naturally more inclined to play ...Kg7 and ...h6, keeping all my pawns intact; but I think Colin's right; your best bet is to separate the two minor pieces by creating two un-connected passed pawns and then trying to demonstrate your rook's superiority to both minor pieces rather than the two together. That's all a bit distant from the game continuation, but I hope you know what I'm on about. It's such little details that can make a huge difference to a chess player's positional judgement. In general I seem to have a problem with transforming advantages.
13.g4! This ugly move was born of necessity. Otherwise ...Qb6 happens next and White's in under all sorts of pressure. I guess I should have seen this resource really, because there's nothing else for White and although it is a very weakening move, white's king is quite well fortified by pieces.
13...Nxd2 14.Nxd2 Be6 15.Nf3 Qd6 Black is still at least slightly better due to the weaknesses on f4 and c2 and the passivity of the bishop on b2. Now my plan was to double rooks on the c-file, play ...f6 and ...Bf7 with the ostensive threat of ...e5 but the real idea of ...Nd8-e6-f4. It turns out that White's position is quite resourceful however, and Colin played the rest of the game very well.
16.Re1 Rc7 17.Re2! Laterally defending c2 and preparing to double on the e-file with pressure on e6 and e7.
17...Rfc8 18.Qd3 f6?! This was a bit automatic and inattentive to my opponent's intentions. Colin felt I had played these moves(...f6, ...Nd8 and ...Bf7) in the wrong order but he had missed that my concern with [18...Nd8 was 19.a4! intending Ba3 to seriously mess up my co-ordination.; 18...a6!? is a plausible improvement though; trying to clamp the queenside before anything else. then 19.Nd2!? intending to bring the knight to e3 and angling at an eventual f4 looks playable for White, though I suspect I retain some advantage.]
19.Nd2! Ouch! This move really highlights everything that is awkward about my position and sets up a whole host of tricks. It's a very quick turn-around, and I think I am no longer better.
19...Bf7! A sober retreat; I realised that the following space gain was double-edged because it's difficult to restrain my ...e5 counter-punch. [19...Na5? 20.Qb5! intending Rxe6 is winning.; 19...Bh6 20.c4 Bxd2 21.Rxe6 winning.; 19...Nd8 20.c4 dxc4 21.bxc4 Bxc4 22.Nxc4 Rxc4 leaves me horrendously weak on the light squares and 23.Rxe7!? is already possible.]
20.c4 e6 21.c5 Qf4! I needed this move; if White could play ...f4 he would definitely be better (space advantage on both sides of the board).
22.Nf3 Re7 23.Rae1 Rce8 24.b4 a6 25.g5! Effectively bailing out but sensibly so; ...g5 may be an idea but ...Qc7 intending ...e5 is a more serious one(I need to retreat first otherwise Bc1 traps the queen).
25...fxg5 ½-½ The draw offer may look premature (especially since Colin had around six minutes) but I felt the following sequence was forced and I wasn't totally sure that I wasn't worse in the final position. 26.Bc1 Qf5 27.Qxf5 exf5 [27...gxf5 28.Bxg5 Rd7 29.Rd2 Bh5 30.Ne5 is probably a bit better for White; more space and the potential passed pawn is more difficult to blockade.] 28.Rxe7 Rxe7 29.Rxe7 Nxe7 30.Bxg5 Nc6 [30...Kf8 31.Bf4!? Nc6 32.Bd6+ Ke8 33.Ne5] 31.Be3 f4 32.Bxf4 Nxd4 33.Nxd4 Bxd4 I think I'm absolutely fine at the end but I wasn't certain at the time and since these last eight moves would probably have flashed by in a few seconds it's not inconceivable that if Colin's renowned endgame insight did tell him he was slightly better he may have thought twice about the draw. Certainly, if White's kingside pawns weren't crooked I think White can claim some niggle because Black can never really move the d-pawn due to the weakness of b7. However, the kingside weaknesses means that White will be slow to centralise his king.