Maintaining tension

IM Bill Hartston once commented that the the player who has the choice between pushing a pawn or exchanging it usually has the initiative in the centre. Implied in this comment is doing one or the other then dissipates this initiative.
This game from the 2019 NSWCA August Weekender is an example of this. On Move 12 White played c4, which actually helped Black a bit (12.Ne3 was more testing). Black could have maintained the tension with moves like Ne7 and Bb7, but instead pushed the d pawn immediately. With the centre now locked up, White had a free hand to start attacking on the king side, which she did with h4. Manoeuvring the knight to f6 was the next part of the plan, and after Blacked erred by not immediately exchanging it off, a piece sacrifice was enough to decide the result.


Chibnall,Alana - Clarke,Matthew [A08]
2019 NSWCA August Weekender (5.4), 11.08.2019

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. d3 d5 6. Nbd2 c5 7. e4 e6 8. Qe2 Nc6 9. Re1 b6 10. Nf1 a5 11. e5 Nd7 12. Bf4 Qc7 13. c4 d4 14. h4 Bb7 15. N1h2 Rad8 16. Ng4 h5 17. Nf6+ Kh8 18. Nxh5 gxh5 19. Ng5 Bxe5 20. Qxh5+ Kg7 21. Qh7+ Kf6 22. Bh3 ( 22. Nxf7 Bxf4 23. Ng5!! Bxg5 24. hxg5+ Kxg5 25. Qg7+ Kh5 26. Rxe6 Nf6 27. Bf3+ ) 22...  Rde8 23. Nxe6 1-0