Sunday morning slugfest in Bunratty

Northern Ireland's adopted son Mikhail Pavlov, on 3.5 points out of 4, was on the live boards in Round 5 of the Challengers. The Russian opera singer was already fine tuned for his 9.15am (!!) start. In typically enterprising style he essayed the Morra Gambit and brought off a sparkling win.

[Event "Bunratty Challengers"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.02.19"] [Round "5.2"] [White "Pavlov, Mikail"] [Black "Mirza, Diana"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B21"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:01:59"] [BlackClock "0:32:36"] 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Bc4 d6 6. Nf3 a6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Bf4 Bg4 9. h3 Bh5 10. g4 Bg6 11. Nh4 e6 12. Re1 Ne5 13. Bb3 Nxe4 14. Ba4+ Nc6 ( {I suspect that after} 14... b5 {we would have seen} 15. Nxb5 axb5 16. Bxb5+) 15. Nxe4 Bxe4 16. Rxe4 d5 ({Probably best here is} 16... Qxh4 {but after} 17. Rc1 Rc8 18. Bxc6+ bxc6 19. Rxc6 $1 Rxc6 20. Qa4 Qd8 21. Qxc6+ Qd7 22. Qxa6 { White must have good winning chances.}) 17. Re2 b5 ({Now if} 17... Qxh4 { White has} 18. Qxd5 {exploiting the pin along the e-file.}) 18. Rc1 Nb4 19. Nf5 $1 g6 20. Nd4 Bg7 ({After} 20... bxa4 {now} 21. Rc7 {threatening Qxa4+ looks very strong.}) 21. Nxe6 fxe6 22. Rxe6+ Kf7 23. Rd6 Qe7 24. Bb3 Rad8 25. Bxd5+ { The computer tells me there's a forced checkmate from here.} Kf8 26. Qf3 Bf6 27. Rxf6+ Qxf6 28. Bh6+ 1-0