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I'm playing lots of correspondence games these days, on chess.com, lichess.org as well as through the ICCF, while we wait for OTB chess to resume when it's safe to do so. I particularly enjoyed this game and my opponent made the unwise decision to open up his king after castling long, instead of playing on the kingside.

[Event "Let's Play!"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2020-09-03"] [White "Nekocent"] [Black "nchorley"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1222"] [BlackElo "1317"] [TimeControl "1 in 3 days"] [Termination "nchorley won by resignation"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Bb5 Qb6 8. Be3 a6 9. Bxc6 Qxc6 10. Qd2 Be7 11. O-O-O O-O 12. a3 f6 13. b4 cxb4 14. axb4 b5 15. Na2 Nb6 16. c3 Bd7 17. Kc2 a5 18. Ra1 axb4 19. Nxb4 Bxb4 20. Rhb1 Be7 21. Qd3 Rfc8 22. Nd2 Be8 23. g4 Rxa1 24. Rxa1 b4 25. Nb1 bxc3 26. Nxc3 Na4 27. Kd2 Nxc3 28. Ke1 Ne4 29. exf6 Bxf6 30. g5 Be7 31. Kf1 Qb5 32. Qxb5 Bxb5+ 33. Kg2 Bd6 34. Kf3 Rc3 35. Ra8+ Kf7 36. Ra7+ Kg6 37. Rb7 Bf1 38. Rb1 Nd2+ 0-1

I haven't done any serious analysis, but some notes:

14. ... Bxb4 looks like it should be a safe pawn; I just missed that.

17. Kc2 a5 younger me would have just played Nc4 likely without hesitation, but I realise now that it gets in the way of my other pieces and opening up the king is better to give me more chances to attack.

29. ... Bxf6 I think is best there. Taking with the knight means it leaves the wonderful outpost and I'd waste time bringing it back and taking with the pawn makes the king a bit unsafe and even though I'm material up now, I wonder if White would have some counterplay since the major pieces are still on.

37. ... Bf1 I enjoyed playing this move taking away more squares from the king. The idea I saw was to bring the other bishop to c1 and the king to f5 or h5 before ending with Rxe3#. It's not forced, since the rook should be able to defend the first rank, but I would need to get the dark squared bishop in somehow in any case.

It was certainly unwise to castle on the Q-side, and then play those weakening pawn moves.

Hi Nicky,

A good fun game, always enjoyable when your opponent opens up the files v their King for you.

Round about 1978/79 I was 8-9 moves in on the Black side of a Benko Gambit, I had the open 'a' and b-files
and of course the Bishop on g7 when my opponent suddenly played 0-0-0(!) the game lasted just a few moves after that.

Here (Black to play)

2r1b1k1/4b1pp/2q1p3/3p2P1/3PnP2/3QB3/7P/R4K2 b - - 0 31

Nothing wrong with 31...Qb5, I would have gone for 31...Qb6 with threats of 32...Bb5 and 32....Rc3.
Kings and Queens on the same diagonal when possessing the two Bishops are, to me, moths to a flame
and Rc3 ties the White Queen to holding the e3 Bishop thus opening up the box of overloaded Queen combo's.

Castling queenside without playing dxc5 is usually a bad idea for white in the Steinitz French, and black can often launch a fierce attack by means of ...c4 and ...b5-b4.

Castling queenside was wrong. It just gave you an easy target and the initiative.
For me, I have a number of games that I have enjoyed playing over the years for various reasons. Mostly wins but a couple of losses aswell.
From the top of my head, the games I have enjoyed the most are:
1. My loss to GM Nigel Short with black in a simul.
2. My first competitive Italian Game win against Nick Fawcett in the league.
3. My win against John Cooper when I played 1. b6
4. My draw against Bob Taylor, when he used to play for Preston. I played the KIA for the first time.
5. Three wins of mine against Brett Lunds' English Opening.
6. My win a couple of years ago against Phil Taylor's Alekhine.
7. Two wins white and Black v Oleg Cukovs.
8. My draw against Roy Ellames.
My last game at Blackpool Congress, which I should've lost.
Two games in South Lakes and Blackpool Congresses against Tony Robinson and Phil Foley (Upminster), both ended in draws but quite messy.
There was a win of mine against Henrick Stepanyan, when he was a junior at the Blackpool Congress. We had a large audience for the last half of the game. I think it was another KIA.
I would like to post these games gradually in General Chat and Chess Questions.
I would like to post one of our Ukrainian CMs games, when she was a junior against another Ukrainian who is now a WGM and she also played at last year's Isle of Man Tournament.
I hope that's ok with you all.
Many thanks.

[Event "44th Blackpool Congress (Minor)"] [Site "Blackpool"] [Date "2020.03.14"] [Round "2.17"] [White "Jackson, Paul Robert"] [Black "Zigmond, Andrew"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D05"] [WhiteElo "116"] [BlackElo "126"] [Annotator "Jackson,Paul Robert"] [PlyCount "36"] [EventDate "2020.03.13"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceVersionDate "2005.07.15"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nbd2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. e4 d4 10. cxd4 (10. Nb3 Bb6) 10... Nxd4 11. e5 Ng4 12. h3 (12. Nxd4) 12... Nxf3+ 13. Nxf3 Nxf2 14. Rxf2 Qb6 15. Qe2 Rd8 16. Bxh7+ (16. Bc2) 16... Kh8 (16... Kxh7 17. Ng5+ Kg8 (17... Kh8 18. Qh5+ Kg8 19. Qxf7+ Kh8 20. Qh5+ Kg8 21. Qh7#) (17... Kg6 18. Qe4+ f5 19. exf6+ Kh5 20. Qh7#) (17... Kh6 18. Nxf7+ Kg6 19. Qe4+ Kh5 20. Qh7#) 18. Qh5 Bxf2+ 19. Kh2 Rd7 20. Bf4 Qd4 21. Qh7+ Kf8 22. Nxe6+ fxe6 23. Qh8+ Kf7 24. Qh5+ Kg8 25. Qe8+ Kh7 26. Qh5+ Kg8) 17. Be4 $11 {Declined} Bxf2+ 18. Qxf2 $4 (18. Kh1) 18... Rd1+ $11 {not realising he has won the Queen} 1/2-1/2

One of my last OTB games before "The Lockdown".
Pity the last 2 moves spoil an interesting miniature.

I thought you were a bit unlucky in the game Paul. Andrew is a very good player and can find some unexpected moves.