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An enjoyable simultaneous display game this evening versus GM Vladislav Tkachiev:

Chris Kreuzer 0-1 Vladislav Tkachiev

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 {Trying to avoid mainline theory?} 4. Bb5+ Bd7 5. Be2 {My cunning attempt to go out of book} 5...cxd4 6. Qxd4 e6 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. Qg4 Nge7 9. O-O Ng6 10. Qg3 Qb8 {Unfortunately, I've ended up losing a pawn.} 11. Re1 Ncxe5 12. Nd4 Nc6 13. Qxb8+ Rxb8 14. Be3 Be7 {Strange, has he just let me win the pawn back?} 15. Nxc6 bxc6 16. Bxa7 Rxb2 17. Bd4 {at this point I had visions of pushing the White a-pawn down the board to queen.} 17...Rb8 18. Bxg7 Rg8 19. Bc3 Nf4 {OK, maybe his pieces are getting rather active now.} 20. Bf3 Bc5 21. Kf1 Bc8 {I had missed this, but he found it fairly quickly.} 22. Be5 Rb4 {22...Ba6+ wins as well.} 23. a3 {I broke the etiquette of simuls here and offered a draw, which did prompt a comment and a smile.} 23...Ba6+ 24. Be2 {Hoping for a capture on e2 by Black: capturing on e2 with the bishop is approximately level, while capturing with the knight is winning for White.} 24...Rxg2 {The GM paused and thought for a couple of seconds here, he is after all leaving three pieces en prise.} 25. axb4 {I choose the capture that leaves Black with all his pieces hanging, not that it helps much - the other two captures also lead to a win for Black.} 25...Rxf2+ 26. Kg1 Rxe2+ 27. Kf1 {I had by this time seen the mating sequence: 27...Rxh2+ 28.Rxa6 Rh1#} 27...Rf2+ {But Tkachiev thought for several seconds and elected to play a different move instead - this briefly gave me hope - had he somehow missed the mate I had just seen? I then realised that he was in fact playing a different mate instead...} 28. Kg1 Rf1# {As he was signing the scoresheet, I pointed out that all Black's pieces are en prise in the final position, which prompted Tkachiev to tap his king - maybe making the point that it was still on its original square and was not en prise...}

Hopefully the others in the simul (about 20 players in total) did better than that.

One player did better than that - Michael Healey...

[Event "Simul 20 Boards"] [Site "Princess Victoria, Acton"] [Date "2014.12.15"] [Round "?"] [White "Tkachiev, Vladislav"] [Black "Healey, Michael"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A28"] [EventDate "2014.12.15"] [WhiteElo "2629"] 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e3 Be7 5.d4 exd4 6.exd4 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bb5 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Qd5 10.Ba4 Bg4 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Qxf3 Qxf3 13.gxf3 O-O 14.Be3 Na5 15.Rb1 b6 16.Bb5 Rfd8 17.Ke2 a6 18.Bd3 b5 19.Rhg1 Rac8 20.a4 bxa4 21.Bxa6 Ra8 22.Bd3 Rdb8 23.Be4 c6 24.d5 a3 25.Rxb8+ Rxb8 26.dxc6 Rc8 27.Rb1 Nb3 28.Bf4 a2 29.Rd1 Ba3 30.c4 Nc1+ 31.Rxc1 Bxc1 32.Be5 Bf4 33.Ba1 Rb8 0-1

27.Rb1 was a blunder, beautifully refuted by Mike.

Another player, Patrick Morcas, of Holland Park Chess, managed a draw. Vlad won the other 18 games.