Ben Vaughan has annotated his last round of the County Championship.
“I was facing Bob Collins. Top seed who had defaulted against me in the 3rd round. Because that game was not played, I had the opportunity to set the record straight. Two little birdies had told me that Bob plays the Sicilian Najdorf (they shall remain anonymous) so I had a line prepared.
“I had looked into it already. 6. a4 (to prevent b5-b4). 6. Be2 (quiet developing move allowing Kinside castling) 6. Bg5 (main line, involving a Kingside attack, demonstrated in Andy's Victory over Martin on this website - sorry Martin!) Finally 6. Bc4 (pressurising the weak f7 square and along with f4-f5 assisting with Kingside attack) The sharpest of the variations and if Bob played passively, I would have a lot of initiative.6. Bc4 with a Kingside attack involving a later f4-f5 pawn push. Of course Bob had moves in between!
“Black's plans involve Nbd7-c5 to attack Bishop on b3 as the bishop is an important part of the Kingside attack. Black's plans are usually down the Queenside with activation of Queenside pieces and pushing the a and b pawns. I'd lost many a game to Doddsy in this way.
“Most of my research was from the greatest games of Bobby Fischer and he plays f4 this early but there is usually fireworks very early on. My plan involved this and hoping that he would fall for one of the many losing variations.”
“I was challenged before the game by Neil Lassetter to 'Go out with a Bang' and prove myself as Champion. It's funny how going out with a bang was the only thing on my mind.”