[Event "Invitational"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.02.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ackerman, Ryan"]
[Black "Van Weerdhuizen, Lane"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A41"]
[WhiteElo "1922"]
[BlackElo "1869"]
[Annotator "Lane Van Weerdhuizen"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2021.02.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[TimeControl "3600+10"]

{[%evp 0,76,18,18,74,42,42,27,42,17,42,23,13,13,0,-21,83,80,81,-3,-36,-31,-35,
-22,-24,-24,-25,-31,-31,-31,-20,-13,-11,-5,-10,-5,-9,-3,-15,-32,-34,-44,2,8,22,
22,23,0,0,0,0,-34,-15,-61,-45,-36,-36,-100,-123,-126,-147,-168,-158,-484,-540,
-571,-389,-389,-402,-392,-446,-479,-505,-966,-990,-1047,-1376,-1484,-29980]
This was my first tournament since the 2012 US Open! I was very nervous going
into this game playing against another professional chess coach and highly
skilled chess player, Ryan Ackerman. I went into this tournament hoping for a
score of 4.0/9 (which I was able to achieve after my 7th round!) wanting to
prove to myself I could still compete with some of Washington’s best
players! Getting this first win in round one really boosted my confidence
going forward!} 1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. e4 d6 4. Be2 Nc6 {I like my move here of
...Nc6 (analysis also agreed it was the best move). Adding some pressure on d4,
while keeping my Bishop on g7 unblocked!} 5. Be3 {Analysis says Nf3 is equal
here. I think Ackerman’s plan was to use his f-pawn aggressively, so Nf3
would have blocked that plan.} f5 {My best move here was 5...e5. I wanted to
play something more aggressive (since White has no knights developed yet). I
decided to play 5...f5 to attack the center and play something unpredictable!}
6. exf5 Bxf5 7. g4 $4 {Analysis says g4 is a blunder. Nf3/Nc3 are equal. g4
kinda blocks some of White’s pieces and attempts to displace my light bishop.
Here I had two options. I considered ...Bd7 (which was the best move according
to analysis) but I was worried my bishop would be too limited in space so I
decided to take the knight on b1 with a small tempo of ...Be4 to force f3 (and
block a good developing square for White’s knight!} Be4 8. f3 Bxb1 9. Rxb1 $4
{Analysis is such a fun thing. After ...Bxb1, White was supposed to play d5.
Such a hard Zwischenzug move to find, naturally. This move displaces my
c6-knight, while also making it harder to play a move like ...e5 later.} e5 {
I was able to find the best move here with ...d5 being slightly worse. Black
need to compete for the center and pawns are the best way to do it!} 10. d5 Nd4
{Once again, ...Nd4 is the best move by quite a bit; took me a bit to find it.
Looks scary, though, as I’m committing to having double pawns on the d-file
and it might be hard to hold onto the pawn after it goes to d4.} 11. Qa4+ Qd7
12. Qxd7+ Kxd7 {I really hate trading queens. I’m a very tactical player,
and the Queen is the best piece at making tactics. Ryan was able to force a
queen trade here and force me to go into an endgame!} 13. Bxd4 exd4 {Now
Ackerman creates my doubled pawn, the opposite-colored bishops help me protect
the pawn, and I’m planning on playing ...c5 ASAP. Best piece at protecting a
pawn is another pawn!} 14. Nh3 Re8 {Ackerman didn’t let me castle… so I
was going to make it very difficult for him to develop all of his pieces. With
the exception of his knight, I was able to really hold a lot of White’s
pieces in place.} 15. Nf4 Bh6 16. Ne6 Be3 {I saw Ackerman’s outpost that he
had on e6. It was an impressive outpost, and I was struggling at finding a way
to stop it from happening. I decided to get an outpost myself on e3 (which was
happy to find out later that analysis liked as well). My ...Be3 stopped White
from being able to castle and really controlled lots of important squares
White’s rooks/king wanted to move to!} 17. Rd1 c5 {Analysis didn't like ...
c5 as much as I did. Best move here was ...c6 or ...Nf6. My move wasn’t
terrible though.} 18. b4 b6 {Apparently we both blundered here! b4 was losing
a pawn, and I was supposed to take that pawn! I was worried my pawns would all
be too hard to defend if I captured b4.} 19. a3 Nh6 {...Nf6 was slightly
better. I wanted my knight to have the ability to go to f7 and then e5.} 20. f4
Rxe6 $1 {This was my favorite move of the game. And maybe my favorite move of
the tournament! This was me deciding I wanted to go for a win and try to
create some imbalances in my favor (analysis liked my move here as well).} 21.
dxe6+ Kxe6 22. Rf1 Rf8 23. f5+ gxf5 24. gxf5+ Ke5 {I saw after I sacrificed my
rook, I had the ability to get a knight and two pawns in return. I knew f4 was
going to be hard to defend. I decided winning that pawn back wasn’t worth it
as I wanted to keep more pieces on the board. Capturing the f-pawn would have
simplified things too much. Analysis agreed not to take the pawn, but
preferred ...Kf6 over the move I played.} 25. Bd3 Ng4 26. h3 Nf6 27. bxc5 dxc5
28. Ke2 Nh5 {I played ...Nh5 with the plan of relocating my knight to either
f5 or g3. When you are unsure of what kind of plan to make in chess, try to
find ways to make your weaker pieces stronger.} 29. Rf3 Nf4+ 30. Ke1 {
Interesting move here. Apparently, White’s best move was Rxf4 instead of Ke1.
Definitely would have simplified the game for White and make for an annoying
endgame of opposite-colored bishops. At this point Ackerman had just under
three minutes on his clock (while I was at seven minutes). I’m sure that
helped me at this point in the game.} Rg8 31. Rxe3+ dxe3 {Once again, Rxf4 was
the better move. Ackerman was down to 57 seconds at this point. My knight is
much stronger than my bishop.} 32. Bf1 Kxf5 {Analysis preferred ...Ke4 instead
of ...Kxf5.} 33. Rd7 Ke4 34. Re7+ Kf3 35. Rf7 Rg1 {The Rg1-pin locked up this
win. I knew ...e2 would be coming and I’m using all three of my pieces
together to help push my e-pawn up the file.} 36. Rxf4+ Kxf4 37. Ke2 Rxf1 38.
Kxf1 Kf3 {After winning the exchange and maintaining my passed e-pawn, I
decided to convert the advantage and play ...Rxf1. White resigned here and
after that it was on to Round two!} 0-1

[Event "Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.02.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Airapetian, Chouchanik"]
[Black "Koons, Nat"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2104"]
[BlackElo "2290"]
[Annotator "Ralph Dubisch"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2021.02.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[TimeControl "3600+10"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qf6 (4... Bc5) ({and} 4... Nf6 {are the
most common moves here.}) 5. Be3 Qg6 $6 (5... Bc5 6. c3 Nge7 7. Bc4 Ne5 8. Be2
Qg6 {is the usual move order to threaten a pawn grab. After} 9. O-O {, however,
Black generally avoids the risk, and continues} d6 {with roughly balanced
chances and plenty of action to follow.} (9... Qxe4 $5 10. Nd2 (10. Nb5 $5 Bxe3
(10... Qc6 $2 11. Bxc5 Qxc5 12. Qd4 $1 {wins material for White.}) 11. Nxc7+
Kd8 12. Nxa8 {is wild and crazy, but could be fertile ground for home analysis.
}) 10... Qg6 11. Bh5 Qd3 12. N4f3 $1 Bxe3 13. Nxe5 Qxd2 14. Bxf7+ Kf8 15. fxe3
Qxe3+ (15... Qxd1 16. Raxd1 d6 17. e4 $18) 16. Kh1 Qxe5 17. Bg6+ Kg8 18. Qb3+
d5 19. Rae1 $18 {looks like a throwback to the romantic era.})) 6. Nc3 Bb4 7.
Be2 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 Qxe4 {Black chooses his poison.} 9. O-O Nf6 10. Bd3 (10. Nb5
{is a standard method of causing Black discomfort when the queen has gone for
a walk.} Kd8 (10... Qe5 $4 11. Bd4 Nxd4 12. cxd4 Qf4 13. g3 $18) 11. Re1 d6 12.
Bf3 {with a ton of development and Black's king caught in the center. White
can claim more than adequate compensation for a pawn and queenside structural
weaknesses. Those, after all, only show up as a deficit in the endgame.}) 10...
Qe5 (10... Qd5 11. Nb5 Kd8 12. c4 $16) 11. Re1 O-O 12. Nf5 ({Now that the
black king has successfully escaped to the kingside, White redirects to
kingside attack mode. However,} 12. Nb5 {still appears a strong option.}) 12...
Qxc3 $2 ({One of Karl Schoffstoll's sayings, back in the day, was "I may be a
fool, but I'm a greedy fool!" Much safer is} 12... d6 13. Bh6 (13. Nxg7 $4 {
loses instantly to} Ng4) 13... Qxc3 14. Nxg7 (14. Bxg7 $4 Bxf5 15. Bxf8 Bxd3
$19) 14... Ng4 {with possible complications. For example:} 15. Qf3 Qf6 (15...
Kh8 16. Qxf7 $1 Bd7 $1 17. Qxd7 Nce5 $1 18. Qe7 Nxh6 19. Ne6 Rf7 20. Qh4 Nf5
$13) 16. Qxf6 Nxf6 17. h3 Bd7 $13) 13. Bd2 Qc5 14. Qf3 d6 (14... g6 15. Bg5 $16
) 15. Nxg7 $3 {Smashing the black king's cover.} Ng4 (15... Kxg7 $4 16. Bh6+
Kg8 17. Qxf6 Qd4 18. Qg5+ Kh8 19. Bxf8 $18) 16. Nf5 Bxf5 17. Bxf5 Nge5 18. Qh5
Ng6 19. Re3 Rfe8 20. Rh3 Re2 21. Be3 (21. Qxh7+ Kf8 22. Bh6+ Ke7 23. Re3+ Rxe3
24. Bxg6 $1 $18 {with a monster attack.}) ({Black is hoping for} 21. Qxe2 Qxf5
{, when White is merely winning.}) 21... Qe5 22. Rf1 Rxe3 $5 (22... Kf8 23.
Bxg6 Qxh5 24. Bxh5 Rxc2 25. Re1 $18) 23. fxe3 $2 (23. Qxh7+ Kf8 24. Bxg6 $18)
23... Qg7 24. Rg3 Re8 25. Qd1 {Simple plan: push the h-pawn.} Re5 26. h4 Qh6
27. h5 Rxe3 $2 (27... Nce7 28. e4 $18) 28. Rff3 $2 (28. Qd2 {pins the rook and
ends all hope for Black.}) 28... Rxf3 29. Qxf3 Nd4 (29... Nce5 30. Qe2) 30. Qf2
$4 ({Now things go from bad to worse for White, who turns a crushing attack
into a miserable loss in the space of just a couple moves.} 30. Qg4 $18) 30...
Qxh5 31. Bxg6 Qd1+ 32. Qf1 $4 (32. Kh2 hxg6 33. Rh3 Nf5 34. Qxa7 Kg7 35. Qxb7
$13) 32... Ne2+ 33. Kh2 (33. Kf2 {doesn't help.} Qxf1+ 34. Kxf1 Nxg3+ 35. Kf2
hxg6 $19) 33... Qxf1 34. Rg4 (34. Bd3+ Nxg3 35. Bxf1 Nxf1+) 34... Qg1+ 35. Kh3
Qh1# {Ah, the joys of online chess.} 0-1

[Event "Washington State Championship"]
[Site "Seattle, WA"]
[Date "2021.02.14"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Haining, Kyle"]
[Black "Moroney, Tim"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2288"]
[BlackElo "1927"]
[Annotator "Kyle Haining"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Qd2
Be7 9. f3 O-O 10. O-O-O Qc7 {an interesting sideline where Black opts for
quick activity along the c-file} (10... Nbd7 11. g4 b5 12. g5 b4 $132 {is main
line and an important position to be aware of. Different online databases give
this as resulting from the top line in chess.}) 11. g4 Rc8 12. Kb1 (12. g5 {
is a better move for White, preventing ...d5. For some reason I was thinking
the reverse, that g5 runs into ...d5 while Kb1 avoids it by getting out of any
... Qxc2 checkmate ideas.} Nh5 13. Kb1 Nd7 14. Nd5 Bxd5 15. exd5 $14) 12... d5
13. exd5 (13. g5 d4 {is fine for Black} 14. gxf6 dxc3 15. Qxc3 Qxc3 16. bxc3
Bxf6 $132) 13... Nxd5 14. Nxd5 Bxd5 15. Be2 (15. Qxd5 $2 {runs into} Rd8 16.
Qxd8+ Bxd8 $17 {White does not have enough for the queen}) 15... Rd8 $2 {
Amazingly, this move turns out to be the losing move of the game, which is
surprising because it looks fairly natural. The reason is that I have a series
of power moves here that turns the table in my favor.} (15... a5 $1 {is a
strong move for Black, the point being that White is not really threatening to
capture the bishop. After} 16. Qxd5 $6 {...Rd8 no longer works, but Black has
instead} Qxc2+ 17. Ka1 Qxe2 $17) 16. Qa5 Qxa5 17. Nxa5 b5 18. c4 Be6 (18...
bxc4 19. Nxc4 {is highly unpleasant for Black, with the knight threatening to
hop onto b6. A sample continuation:} Bxc4 20. Rxd8+ Bxd8 21. Bxc4 $18 {White's
bishop pair and active piece placement are too much}) 19. Bd3 Nd7 20. Be4 {
Now White has the dominant light-squared bishop and overwhelming piece play.
Since erring with 15...Rd8, Black has been playing more or less the engine's
top move (it preferred giving up material with ...f5 the previous move), but
White's positional takeover was unavoidable.} Rac8 {I went into a long think
here to figure out the best continuation. Black's position looks loose and it
feels like I should be able to win material here, but it's harder than it
might seem. I eventually found the knockout punch.} 21. cxb5 axb5 22. Nc6 Re8
23. Na7 Ra8 (23... Rb8 24. Bc6 Red8 25. Bxb5 $18) 24. Bxa8 Rxa8 25. b3 $18 (25.
Nxb5 $6 Bxa2+ {gives Black an unpleasant amount of counterplay}) 25... b4 26.
Rc1 Nf6 27. Nc6 Bd6 28. Bc5 Bxc5 29. Rxc5 Nd5 $6 30. Rxd5 Bxd5 31. Ne7+ Kf8 32.
Nxd5 1-0

[Event "2021 WA State Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.02.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "He, Anthony"]
[Black "Mahajan, Rushaan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B15"]
[WhiteElo "2500"]
[BlackElo "2221"]
[Annotator "Anthony He"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[TimeControl "3600+10"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 6. c3 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8.
Qc2 Re8+ 9. Ne2 h5 $1 {Known to be the best in terms of modern theory.} 10. O-O
h4 11. Nf4 $5 {[%cal Gc2d1,Gd1h5] An interesting idea I came up with. The
point is to exploit the movement of the h-pawn and pretty much just attack the
king.} Nd7 12. Qd1 Nf8 (12... Qc7 13. g3 {Doesn't really help Black honestly.})
13. Qh5 f5 $5 {This wasn't something I expected but the more I looked at it
the more reasonable it seemed.} (13... g6 $6 14. Nxg6 $1 {Most clear and
concise.} (14. Qh6 $5 Bxf4 15. Bxf4 h3 16. Rfe1 Qd5 17. gxh3 Bf5 $13 {[%cal
Gf8e6] Less clear. White should be betetr still but it's not easy at all.})
14... fxg6 15. Bxg6 Be6 (15... Re7 16. Bh6 $16 {[%cal Gf1e1] Is just really
bad for Black.}) 16. Re1 Qd7 17. Bxe8 Rxe8 18. Qxh4 $14 {This is close to
equal but in both an objective and practical sense White has the edge, due to
it being easier to play and the material "advantage."}) 14. Bd2 (14. Bxf5 $4 {
I nearly played this move expecting g6, but then realized I actually just lose
a piece.} Bxf4 $1 15. Bxc8 (15. Bxf4 g6 $19) 15... Bxc1 16. Bxb7 Bxb2 17. Bxa8
Bxa1 18. Bxc6 Re6 19. Bd5 g6 20. Qf3 Rf6 $19) (14. Nh3 $5 {[%cal Gh3g5,Gh5h4]
This move was also a consideration but I wasn't so sure beacuse Ng5 doesn't
really pose a threat} Qc7 15. Ng5 Bxh2+ 16. Kh1 Bd6 17. Qxh4 b5 $1 $13 {
The point is to stop g3-Kg2-Rh1 manuevers by preparing Bb7 + c5+. I didn't
really feel like entering these types of positions.}) 14... g6 15. Qh6 Nh7 $4 {
This was a mistake which I wasn't expecting. He spent around 20 minutes on
this move and that was when I started to realize he must have been considering
Nh7 + Bf8 ideas but missed the next move.} (15... Qf6 $1 {The move I was
expecting. It's not so easy to play though because it runs straight into Nh5,
but there is nothing direct for White. White is still += though.} 16. Rfe1 $1 {
White should take it slow and play with a better pawn structure.} (16. Nh5 $6 {
Tempting but does nothing.} Qh8 17. Rfe1 {Some variations I was looking at.}
Ne6 18. Qxh8+ Kxh8 19. Nf4 $11 {White has literally nothing here.} (19. Nf6 $4
Rd8 $19 {[%cal Gh8g7,Gd6e7] White can't save the knight.} 20. d5 cxd5 21. Nxd5
Bxh2+ 22. Kxh2 Rxd5 {[%csl Rd2,Rd3]})) 16... Be6 (16... Bd7 17. Nh3 $1 $16 {
[%cal Gd2g5] The simple way to just get a pawn.} (17. Nh5 $5 {Now and only
know is this good because the d7 bishop will be under attack.} Qh8 18. Qxh8+
Kxh8 19. Nf6 Rxe1+ 20. Rxe1 Be6 21. Bg5 h3 $14 {This is unclear. White's
probably still better but there's really no point to go for it.}) 17... Ne6 18.
Ng5) 17. c4 Qh8 18. Qxh8+ Kxh8 19. g3 $14 {This is easier and much more
pleasant with White pieces.}) 16. Bc4 $1 {Move I"m guessing he missed.} Bxf4 $6
{Black was already dead lost but this made the task simpler.} (16... Qf6 {
The only chance, even though I can get a pawn for no compensation.} 17. Qxg6+ (
17. Rfe1 {Also good too.} Bd7 18. Qxg6+ Qxg6 19. Nxg6 $18) (17. Nxg6 $4 Be6 $19
{And the tables turn.}) 17... Qxg6 18. Nxg6 h3 19. Rfe1 $18) (16... Bf8 17.
Qxg6+ $18) 17. Bxf7+ Kxf7 18. Qxh7+ Ke6 (18... Kf8 19. Bxf4 g5 {The best
chance but still hopeless nevertheless.} 20. Be5 $18) 19. Qxg6+ Kd5 20. Bxf4 {
Mate comes soon.} Be6 21. Rfe1 Qd7 22. Re5+ Kc4 23. Rc5+ Kd3 24. Qh5 1-0

[Event "2021 WA State Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.02.15"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Vijaykumar, Advaith"]
[Black "He, Anthony"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2026"]
[BlackElo "2500"]
[Annotator "Anthony He"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[TimeControl "3600+10"]

{[%evp 0,48,25,26,18,18,39,5,14,12,8,4,11,10,13,15,7,26,14,28,45,8,38,4,43,-7,
-6,-3,0,-89,-28,-79,-68,-42,-55,-195,-104,-100,-79,-78,-79,-85,-156,-378,-614,
-640,-1007,-521,-897,-1613,-2348]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Be2 O-O 5.
O-O {Not what I expected from my opponent, but it's a rather timid approach
and White can't really expect much from such lines. However, the point I
assume is to prevent Black from getting Grunfeld type positions by refraining
from putting his knight on c3.} b6 6. b3 $6 {I don't get the point of this,
since this doesn't contribute to the idea behind playing e3 Be2.} (6. c4 $5 {
Probably the expected approach, even though White eventually has to go Nc3
sooner or later.} Bb7 (6... d5 $4 7. cxd5 Nxd5 {For example, if I were to play
in the spirit of Grunfeld, White gets a comfortable edge beacuse his knight is
not yet on c3.} 8. e4 Nf6 9. Nc3 $16 {I had no option to go Nxc3 after e4.}) 7.
Nc3 d5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 $11 {[%csl Gc3]}) 6... Bb7 7. Bb2 c5 8. c4 e6 $5 {I
decided to play such positions. This is basically Reti in reverse but I'm down
a tempo. However I believed this was still playable as the pawn structure is
very flexible.} 9. Nc3 d6 10. Qc2 Qe7 11. Rfd1 a6 {Just prophylaxis against
dxc5 + Nb3 ideas.} 12. e4 $2 {[%csl Rb2,Re4] I think this is the first mistake.
First of all it wastes a tempo by going e3-e4. Additionally, his bishop is not
so well placed on b2 and in Maroczy/hedgehog structures his bishop should be
on e3. Finally, it willingly puts a target on e4 already attacked by both my
f6 knight and b7 bishop.} (12. Rac1 {[%cal Gc2b1,Gb1a1] Could have been a
better and more normal idea.} Rd8 $11 {[%cal Gb8d7,Ga8c8] Nothing crazy is
going on but I think Black's position is relatively pleasant.}) 12... cxd4 13.
Nxd4 Nbd7 14. b4 $2 {Another mistake. Again, such ideas rarely work and are
only supported if the bishop is on e3. In this case, this just creates another
weakness on c4 and b5 is never seriously considerable.} (14. Bf1 $1 {I believe
this is probably best, just trying to consolidate and prepare against d5/b5
breaks while preparing Re1 if needed.} Rac8 15. Qe2 Rfd8 $13 {[%cal Gd6d5]
Black will play for d5 in the long term.} (15... Rfe8 16. f3 h5 $13 {[%cal
Gd7e5,Gf6d7,Gg6g5] Typical hedgehog position.})) 14... Rac8 $6 (14... Rfc8 $1 {
Intuitively I felt that this somehow was more accurate than Rac8 because it
completely stops b5 ideas due to the rook being on a8, but I liked the idea of
Rac8 + Rfd8 and then breaking open with d5.} 15. b5 (15. Bf1 Ne5 {[%csl Rc4,
Re4]}) (15. Rac1 Bh6 16. Rb1 Ne5 17. b5 Bg7 18. Bf1 Nxc4 19. Bc1 Ng4 20. h3
Nge5 21. bxa6 Bxa6 $19) 15... Ne5 16. bxa6 Bxa6 17. Ncb5 Bb7 18. f3 d5 {
Now we see the difference. With the rook on a8 White has no Ba3. However if I
went Rac8 White would have Ba3 here.}) 15. f3 $2 {Game is pretty much decided
after this final innacuracy.} (15. b5 $1 {He had to take advantage of this
moment to play b5, otherwise b4 was totally pointless. In deeper lines we see
the innacuracy behind Rac8.} Ne5 (15... Rfd8 16. bxa6 Bxa6 17. Ndb5 Nc5 18. f3
h5 $15 {Is still better for Black but less clear.}) 16. bxa6 Bxa6 17. Ncb5 Bb7
18. f3 Rfd8 (18... d5 {No longer possible since our rook gave up control of
the a3 square.} 19. Ba3) 19. Ba3) 15... d5 {Critical move.} 16. exd5 exd5 17.
Qb3 (17. cxd5 {The best try.} Qe3+ (17... Qxb4 $5 {Adequate as well.} 18. Qb3
Qa5 19. Nc6 Bxc6 20. dxc6 Rxc6 21. Nd5 Nxd5 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. Rxd5 Nc5 24. Qb2+
Kg8 $17 {White will suffer but has hopes of holding at least.}) 18. Kh1 Nxd5
19. Nxd5 Rxc2 20. Nxe3 Rxb2 21. Ndc2 Bc8 22. Rdb1 b5 $17 {[%cal Gf8e8,Gd7b6]
Black is much better still but it will require some technical work.}) 17...
dxc4 18. Bxc4 Ne5 19. Bf1 Rfd8 {[%cal Gd8d4,Ge5f3,Ge7e3] All sorts of
sacrifices hang in the air.} 20. Nc2 $2 {Losing, but it was difficult to
suggest another move.} (20. Na4 Nd5 $17 {[%csl Rg1][%cal Gh7h5,Ge7g5,Gd5f4]})
20... Bxf3 $19 {[%csl Ra1,Rb2,Rb3,Rc2,Rc3] Such moves should be able to be
played without thinking. Even if you don't calculate everything you can see
White's knight, queen, bishop, and rook on the queenside and quickly deduce
this is mate.} 21. gxf3 Nxf3+ {Critical move.} 22. Kf2 Nd2 {Nice and simplest
resource.} 23. Rxd2 (23. Qa3 Ng4+ $19 {[%cal Ge7e5,Ge7h4]}) 23... Rxd2+ 24. Be2
$6 (24. Kg1 Ng4 $19) 24... Rxc3 0-1

[Event "Invitational"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.02.15"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Ackerman, Ryan"]
[Black "Bian, Erin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "1922"]
[BlackElo "1795"]
[Annotator "Erin Bian"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2021.02.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[WhiteClock "0:09:39"]
[BlackClock "0:05:59"]

{[%evp 0,96,18,18,27,-9,0,-2,27,6,9,-15,37,8,2,15,5,-21,-11,-30,5,-15,-13,-9,
12,8,23,-14,-4,-32,-32,-32,-30,-50,-54,-83,-88,-140,-135,-142,-148,-158,-137,
-126,-116,-181,-144,-135,-128,-147,-135,-126,-120,-128,-128,-149,-128,-128,
-114,-110,-106,-117,-131,-129,-114,-145,-152,-182,-152,-237,-241,-226,-234,
-236,-245,-240,-240,-287,-242,-335,-335,-332,-333,-398,-345,-406,-394,-412,
-420,-444,-418,-431,-416,-439,-448,-495,-499,-29999,-30000] This was the 7th
round of the Invitational section of the WA State Championship. I had drawn 3
games in a row and was hoping to get a win this round.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3.
Nf3 {This came as a surprise, as my opponent normally plays 3. Nc3.} b6 {
The Queen's Indian Defense.} 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bh4 c5 $6 {Inaccurate, as this
allows white to play d5.} (5... Bb7 6. Nc3 Be7 7. e3 O-O) 6. d5 d6 7. Nc3 Be7
8. Bxf6 $6 {This is too rushed. White does not need to give up the bishop pair.
} Bxf6 9. Qc2 Bxc3+ $5 {In my opinion a good decision, trading off the bad
bishop before white plays Ne4.} 10. Qxc3 O-O 11. e4 e5 {Closing the center.} (
11... exd5 12. cxd5 Re8 {May have been better.}) 12. Bd3 Nd7 13. g4 {Aiming to
attack black on the kingside, but this leaves the f4 square very weak.} Re8 {
clearing f8 for the knight.} 14. Rg1 Nf8 15. g5 h5 (15... hxg5 16. Nxg5 {
Is good too, but why not close off the attack?}) 16. h4 Ng6 17. Be2 Bg4 {
Looking to remove the defender of h4 with Bxf3.} 18. Nh2 $2 {Unaware of the
threat, white offers a trade of bishops, dropping a pawn.} Bxe2 19. Kxe2 Nxh4
$1 {White does not have anything after this pawn-grabbing move. Black's knight
will reroute to f4 in the upcoming moves.} 20. Nf1 Ng6 21. Kd2 Nf4 22. Ne3 g6 {
Guarding f5 and solidifying h5.} 23. Rg3 a6 {Now that I have locked the
kingside, I will try to open up the queenside with b5.} 24. Ng2 Nxg2 25. Rxg2
b5 26. b3 bxc4 27. Qxc4 Qa5+ 28. Qc3 Qxc3+ {The engine dislikes this, but I
wanted to trade into a rook endgame up a pawn.} (28... Qb5 29. Rb1 Qd7 30. Rgg1
a5 31. Qf3 Reb8) 29. Kxc3 Rab8 30. a3 a5 31. Rg3 Rb5 {Looking to double on the
b-file.} 32. Kc4 Reb8 33. Rf3 Kg7 34. Rh1 a4 $1 {Isolates a3 and makes e4 a
potential target.} 35. bxa4 Ra5 36. Rb3 Rxa4+ 37. Kc3 Rba8 38. Ra1 R8a6 $6 {
Preventing Rb6, But I could have taken on e4 right away.} (38... Rxe4 39. Rb6
h4 40. Rxd6 h3 41. Rc6 h2 {Threatening Rxa3+.} 42. Rh1 Rxa3+ {-+}) 39. Kb2 $2
Rxe4 {-+ And the rest was easy.} 40. f3 Rd4 41. Kc3 Rxd5 42. Kc4 Rd4+ 43. Kb5
Rda4 44. Rd3 R4a5+ 45. Kc4 f6 46. gxf6+ Kxf6 47. Kd5 Ra4 48. Rb3 $2 Rd4# {
ErinBian won by checkmate Interesting checkmate! I was happy to win this game,
as it put me in the competition for 1st again.} 0-1

[Event "Premier"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.02.15"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Whale, Nicholas"]
[Black "Moroney, Tim"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2074"]
[BlackElo "2048"]
[Annotator "Nicholas Whale"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2021.02.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]

{I had a pretty disappointing event this year. Before this round I had already
let two winning positions as Black slip first into draws, and then all the way
to losses, which was quite dispiriting and put me way out of contention for
the top places. But on the bright side, that meant no pressure to produce a
win anymore. So I managed to finish much better, with 2.5 out of the final 3,
and this game was my favorite.} 1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 {Everyone seemed to be
avoiding all my preparation, so by this point I just thought \"screw it, let's
purposefully play something weird.\" But Tim was unfazed.} d6 3. Nbc3 Nf6 4. g3
g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. d3 Nc6 8. h3 Rb8 {We ended up in a Closed Sicilian
position where the most common move is 9.f4, but I elected to slow down
Black's queenside play first, rather than just going for broke on the kingside.
} 9. a4 a6 10. Be3 b5 11. axb5 axb5 12. Qd2 Qb6 $6 {The first new move, but I
didn't really like it for Black since the queen seems to be more in the way
and potentially vulnerable here.} ({I was expecting} 12... b4 13. Nd5 {and now
either} Nxd5 ({or} 13... Nd7 {, but in either case Black is fine.}) 14. exd5
Ne5) 13. Bh6 b4 $6 {Again I didn't think this move was the best. Black is
picking a fight while not fully developed, which often backfires.} (13... e6)
14. Na4 (14. Nd5 {was perhaps a bit better, but I didn't like that after} Nxd5
15. exd5 Ne5 {my light-squared bishop's diagonal is blocked.}) 14... Qb5 ({
Continuing the aggressive action, but retreating with} 14... Qc7 {would have
saved Tim a lot of grief later.}) 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. b3 $1 {Stockfish claims
this is equal, but I was very happy with my position here since now Black's
queenside operations are dramatically slowed down.} Nd7 17. f4 {Now it's time
to get back to the kingside attack.} Nb6 18. Nb2 $1 {Trading would only help
Black.} e6 $6 {Stockfish is not a fan of this.} (18... Bb7 {Develop!}) 19. Nc4
({I thought} 19. f5 $1 {was premature but the computer disagrees. If Black
dares to play} exf5 20. exf5 Bxf5 {there are a number of promising
continuations, the most forcing of which is} 21. Rxf5 gxf5 22. Qg5+ Kh8 23.
Qf6+ Kg8 24. Nf4 {with a very strong attack.}) 19... Rd8 ({The best try was} 
19... Nxc4 $1 20. dxc4 Qb6 $1 {since the d-pawn is poisoned:} 21. Qxd6 $4 Rd8)
({A cute trick is} 19... d5 $4 20. Nd6 {and Black's queen is trapped!}) 20. e5
$5 {Stockfish claims this is a mistake, but I thought it was the most direct
and the game continuation turns out perfectly.} (20. f5 $1 {is once again the
computer favorite, with a possible continuation} Nxc4 21. dxc4 Qb6 22. fxg6
fxg6 23. Qg5 Ne5 24. Nf4 {and Black at least has a chance to defend, unlike in
the game.}) 20... dxe5 $2 ({Again better was} 20... Nxc4 21. dxc4 Qb6 {
although here after} 22. exd6 Nd4 23. Nxd4 Rxd6 24. Nxe6+ Bxe6 25. Qe3 {
, Black remains a pawn down.}) 21. fxe5 Nxc4 22. bxc4 {Now Tim thought for
awhile, perhaps realizing the difficulties he had fallen into.} Qb6 ({The
tactical justification to my decision to push e5 was that here} 22... Qxc4 $2 {
allows} 23. Bxc6) 23. Qg5 $1 {This was the most difficult and important move
for me to find.} ({Originally I was intending the natural} 23. Qf4 $2 {
attacking along the f-file with threats like Qxf7+ and Bxc6 followed by Qf6+,
but Black can defend with simply} Rd7 {. However in the game line, by having
my queen not sitting on the f4-square, I can meet this move by bringing
another attacker into the fray.}) 23... Rd7 24. Nf4 $1 {Suddenly Black is
simply lost, as his pieces are too uncoordinated and his king too weak to
defend.} Rc7 ({The best try was} 24... Kg8 {but} 25. Nh5 f5 26. exf6 Rf7 27.
Be4 {still leaves me with far too many threats.}) 25. Nh5+ Kg8 {Others lose
more quickly:} (25... Kf8 26. Qf6 gxh5 27. Qh8+ Ke7 28. Rxf7+ $1 Kxf7 29. Rf1+
Ke7 30. Qg7+ Kd8 31. Rf8#) (25... Kh8 26. Qf6+ Kg8 27. Qg7#) 26. Rf4 Bb7 {
Better late than never, I suppose.} 27. Nf6+ Kg7 28. Rh4 Nd4 {This move allows
about six different forced mates, and I picked the quickest but least
interesting one.} 29. Qh6+ ({Much prettier is} 29. Rxh7+ $1 Kf8 30. Rh8+ Ke7
31. Ng8+ $1 ({or} 31. Nd5+ Kd7 32. Nxb6# {, which is also quite nice.}) 31...
Ke8 (31... Kd7 32. Qe7+ Kc8 33. Qe8#) (31... Kf8 32. Nh6+ Kg7 33. Qf6#) 32.
Qe7+ $3 {(Diagram here please!)} Rxe7 33. Nf6#) 29... Kh8 30. Qxh7# {
CheeseBreadFuzzyHead won by checkmate} ({Even here,} 30. Qf8+ $1 Rxf8 31. Rxh7#
{would be cuter. Maybe next year...}) 1-0

[Event "Invitational"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.02.15"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Ackerman, Ryan"]
[Black "Bian, Erin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "1922"]
[BlackElo "1795"]
[Annotator "Ryan Ackerman"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2021.02.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[TimeControl "3600+10"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bh4 c5 6. d5 $1 d6 7. Nc3 Be7 {
"Is 8. e4 playable?" is the question I asked myself. I answered this question
erroneously which became the basis for my illogical decision thereafter. 
[diagram]} 8. Bxf6 $6 (8. e4 $1 Nxd5 $6 9. exd5 Bxh4 10. Nxh4 Qxh4 11. dxe6 $1)
8... Bxf6 9. Qc2 Bxc3+ 10. Qxc3 O-O $10 11. e4 e5 12. Bd3 Nd7 {The knight is
beckoned by the f4 square. It's a match made in heaven but Lord Capulet wants
to hinder this development from happening. What's the best way to do so? 
[diagram]} 13. g4 $6 (13. Nd2 $1 Nf6 14. Be2 $1) 13... Re8 14. Rg1 {Despite
the aggressive tonality of this plan I was well aware that black is already
slightly better and a draw would be an acceptable result for me.} Nf8 15. g5 h5
16. h4 $5 Ng6 17. Be2 Bg4 18. Nh2 $6 {My small errors are slowly adding up and
it seems I'm unwittingly allowing Biam to outplay me positionally. But her
triumph this game had more to do with superior calculation: I thought the pawn
on h4 was taboo. It wasn't.} (18. O-O-O $1 Nf4 19. Rde1 a6 20. Kb1 b5 21. Bf1
Bxf3 22. Qxf3 Qa5 23. Be2 Reb8 24. Rc1 Rb6 25. Rc2 bxc4 26. Bxc4 Rab8 27. Rgc1
Qb4 28. Bb3 Qd4 $15) 18... Bxe2 19. Kxe2 Nxh4 $1 20. Nf1 (20. Qh3 $2 Ng6 $1 {
Whoops. I didn't look far enough.}) 20... Ng6 21. Kd2 Nf4 $17 {Lord Capulet:
*smh*} 22. Ne3 g6 23. Rg3 $1 a6 24. Ng2 Nxg2 25. Rxg2 b5 26. b3 $5 (26. Rh1 {
Might've been more resilient.} bxc4 {although defensive measures are still
mandatory for some time. White cannot do a hail marry:} 27. Kc1 $1 (27. Rgh2 $4
Qxg5+ $19) (27. Qf3 Qa5+ 28. Kc2 Qxa2 $19) 27... Rb8 28. f3 Rb4 29. Kb1 Qb6 30.
Rf1 Rb8 31. f4 exf4 32. Rxf4 Qa5 33. Rf3 Ra4 34. Qxa5 Rxa5 35. Rf6 {Keeping
black's advantage to a minimum; albiet still a significant one after:} c3 $1
36. Rxd6 h4 $1) 26... bxc4 27. Qxc4 Qa5+ 28. Qc3 Qxc3+ 29. Kxc3 Rab8 30. a3 $5
a5 31. Rg3 Rb5 $1 {[%eval -167,0] HIARCS} 32. Kc4 Reb8 33. Rf3 Kg7 34. Rh1 $2 {
34. Rb1 would've kept matters more complicated. But I had less then 10 minutes
remaining and I made a major oversight as a result of misevaluating the
viability of:} a4 $1 $19 {She outplayed me.} 35. bxa4 Ra5 36. Rb3 Rxa4+ 37. Kc3
Rba8 38. Ra1 R8a6 39. Kb2 $2 Rxe4 {ErinBian won by checkmate} 0-1

[Event "Premier"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.02.14"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Anand, Vignesh"]
[Black "Malugu, Satyajit"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E91"]
[WhiteElo "2085"]
[BlackElo "2156"]
[Annotator "Vignesh Anand"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2021.02.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[TimeControl "3600+10"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 c5 6. d5 (6. dxc5 {This move
looks tempting as after dxc5, white can force the trade of Queens, and easily
develop to a better position in the endgame. However, Black has the move Qa5!
in this position, and white would have to play accurately to maintain his
advantage}) 6... e6 7. dxe6 Bxe6 8. Nf3 (8. Bf4 {this looks to win the pawn on
d6, but Qa5 yet again makes things tricky for White.}) 8... O-O 9. O-O Qb6 10.
Qc2 Nc6 11. Rd1 Nd4 12. Nxd4 cxd4 13. Na4 {This move intuitively doesn't feel
right, but after deep calculations, I thought I should be fine} Qc6 14. Rxd4
Nd7 15. Rd1 b5 16. Nc3 Bxc4 {Here I missed the move Bf4, which would complete
my development and secure myself a better position as Black has the annoying
isolated d6 pawn to deal with.} 17. Bxc4 Qxc4 18. Qd3 (18. Rxd6 Nc5 {And now
my e4 pawn is weak, and black has threats like b4 winning the knight, and its
hard to hold onto everything so I concluded that being pawn greedy wasn't the
best option here}) 18... Qxd3 19. Rxd3 Nc5 {I started to realize that I might
be on the backfoot here because there wasn't a lot of good options for me, and
my clock continued to tick down} 20. Re3 {I started to feel frustrated here
after spending a lot of time to have to play this passive move, and give my
opponent the initiative} (20. Rxd6 Bxc3 21. bxc3 Nxe4 22. Rd3 Rfd8 {this
position with the undeveloped bishop on c1, a weak back rank, and an
isolated-backwards pawn on c3 looks to ugly for me to try to hold this}) 20...
b4 21. Nd5 a5 22. Re2 {Trying to give my pieces space to develop} Rae8 23. f3
f5 24. Bf4 Bd4+ {At this point, my loss of the e4 pawn was almost guaranteed,
but I still had 1 trick left up my sleeve.} 25. Be3 Bxe3+ 26. Rxe3 fxe4 27.
Rae1 {I played this move quickly, and then proceed to pretend to be frustrated
on the camera, hoping that my opponent would see exf3 and think it is a
brilliant winning move.} exf3 28. Nf6+ $1 {The interference between the Rook
on f8 and the pawn on f3 allows me to win an exchange here} (28. Rxe8 f2+ 29.
Kh1 Rxe8 30. Rxe8+ Kf7 {The line that my opponent most definitely calculated
to think he was winning here}) 28... Rxf6 29. Rxe8+ Kg7 30. gxf3 Rxf3 {Here
I'm probably wining with best play, but I was running really low on the clock
at this point and needed to find the most accurate moves to win} 31. R1e7+ Rf7
32. Rxf7+ Kxf7 33. Ra8 a4 34. Kf1 h5 35. Ke2 g5 36. Rh8 h4 37. Ke3 Kf6 38. Kd4
Kf5 39. Rh6 Ne4 40. Kc4 a3 41. b3 Ke5 $2 {This move definitely surprised me as
it was a huge mistake by my opponent. Kg4 looked like the most dangerous line
to go after my h-pawn, but now I'm winning} 42. Kxb4 d5 43. Kxa3 Kd4 44. Kb4
Ke3 45. Rh8 d4 46. a4 d3 47. a5 g4 48. a6 d2 49. Rd8 g3 50. hxg3 h3 $1 {
I overlooked this move in time pressure, and then started to panic because I
thought I had an easy win, and now we were both going to promote into a
chaotic endgame where I had jst a few seconds on the clock and was practically
playing on the increment} 51. a7 h2 52. a8=Q h1=Q 53. Qa7+ Ke2 54. Qa6+ {
I'm now just frantically throwing in checks to gain increment on the clock so
I can spend more time to think} Ke3 $2 {Definitely a huge mistake allowing me
to play Qd3+} 55. Qd3+ Kf2 56. Rf8+ Ke1 57. Qe3+ Kd1 58. Qd3 Ke1 {Here my
opponent offered me a draw, but I really didn't want one as I knew I would be
disappointed, not being able to convert an endgame up an exchange} 59. Re8 $5 {
A very interesting move that spices up the game} (59. Ra8 {The winning
continuation according to Stockfish} d1=Q 60. Qxd1+ Kxd1 61. Ra1+ {should be
an easy1-0, but I missed this line due to time pressure once again}) 59... d1=Q
{forced} 60. Rxe4+ Kf2 61. Rf4+ {Here my opponent missed a perpetual with Ke1,
after which I'm forced to repeat. However, in a time scramble, Ke1 doesn't
feel like the most intuitive move} Kg2 $4 {Now the game is lost} (61... Ke1 62.
Qe3+ Qe2 63. Qc1+ Qd1 64. Qe3+ Qe2 65. Qc1+ Qd1 {1/2-1/2}) 62. Qe4+ Kxg3 63.
Qe3+ Kg2 64. Qf2+ Kh3 65. Rh4# {VigneshRar won by checkmate} 1-0

[Event "Premier"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.02.14"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Anand, Vignesh"]
[Black "Razmov, Valentin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2085"]
[BlackElo "1986"]
[Annotator "Vignesh Anand"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2021.02.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[TimeControl "3600+10"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 (6. b3 {Last time I
played this line I lost a pawn to the following variation} Bb4 7. Bb2 Qa5 8.
Qc2 Ne4 9. Rc1 Qxa2) 6... b6 7. b3 Bb7 8. Bd3 Bd6 9. Bb2 {trying to bait out
castles Kingside by my opponent so I can maybe get agressive with g4 or h4} Qe7
10. O-O O-O 11. Rae1 {hoping to get a big break in the center} Rac8 12. Qe2
dxc4 13. bxc4 e5 14. dxe5 (14. c5 $5 bxc5 15. dxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 Bxe5 17. f4
Bc7 18. Na4 $11) 14... Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Bxe5 16. f4 Bxc3 17. Bxc3 Ne4 $1 {my
opponent now has strong light square control, and I'm not going to be able to
kick the knight out of e4, so I'm going to have to give up the 2 bishops
advantage and try to hope I have a good enough Kingside attack to win} 18. Bxe4
Qxe4 19. f5 f6 (19... Rfe8 {This move seemed annoying because it prevented my
plan of Rf4}) 20. Rf4 Qe7 21. Rh4 c5 22. Qh5 h6 23. Rg4 Kh7 (23... Be4 {
A small oversight by both me and my opponent. This strong move would prove to
be effective in maintaining equality, and shut down my attack} 24. Qxh6 Bxf5
25. Rg3 $11) 24. e4 $18 {now Be4 is no longer a move, and there are too many
threats for my opponent to prevent.} Qf7 25. Rg6 $1 {Bxf6 is now a major
threat in the position} Qxc4 {Desperate times call for desperate measures} 26.
Rxg7+ $3 {The following moves are now forced, which leads to forced checkmate
for white} (26. Rxh6+ gxh6 27. Qg6+ {this line would also transpose to what
was played in the game}) 26... Kxg7 27. Qg6+ Kh8 28. Qxh6+ Kg8 29. Qg6+ Kh8 30.
Re3 {VigneshRar won by resignation} 1-0

[Event "Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.02.15"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Porter, Ryan"]
[Black "Mahajan, Rushaan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2310"]
[BlackElo "2221"]
[Annotator "Ryan Porter"]
[PlyCount "143"]
[EventDate "2021.02.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]

{[%evp 0,143,31,31,61,61,61,22,14,11,-4,26,17,13,13,-30,-25,-16,26,7,34,-22,24,
7,21,-11,34,40,29,-14,-5,9,25,18,54,41,43,43,60,90,58,17,163,78,67,47,109,88,
104,76,97,122,96,75,96,73,68,69,69,38,128,97,108,-3,-15,-6,102,-8,50,-13,19,
-17,16,-30,27,-102,64,64,318,347,388,388,403,346,349,347,403,403,396,301,286,
256,276,276,276,276,276,276,300,276,276,254,202,202,407,308,290,845,1933,29974,
29975,0,1077,1098,29983,484,593,489,555,561,535,428,399,427,427,427,555,423,
427,299,321,300,336,339,339,339,339,260,497,267,326,334,372,378,580,891]} 1. e4
c6 2. d4 d5 3. f3 $5 e6 4. Be3 $6 ({Commits white to sacrificing a pawn.} 4.
Nc3 {is the main move.}) 4... dxe4 5. Nd2 (5. fxe4 $6 Qh4+ {is just a worse
way to sacrifice the pawn.}) 5... exf3 6. Ngxf3 {We now have the structure of
a Blackmar–Diemer Gambit, which does not have the best reputation. I think
that white can make some claim to this better a better version of it, because
he has developed his pieces while black has pushed two pawns up a single
square. However, objectively, black is probably at least equal here. The
reason I played this variation in a G/60 game is that it is much to easier to
play with the white pieces.} Nf6 7. Nc4 Nbd7 8. Bd3 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Qe2 b5
$6 ({Pushes white's knight to the square it wants to go to anyway, and creates
a weakness on c6 that draws another potential defender away from the kingside.
Black should instead strike at white's center with} 10... c5) 11. Nce5 Bb7 12.
Ng5 {White now has two half-open files and 6(!) pieces aiming at black's king.}
h6 13. Ngxf7 Rxf7 14. Nxf7 Kxf7 15. Bxh6 $1 Nf8 $1 ({The bishop cannot be
captured, because the king has zero unpinned defenders.} 15... gxh6 $4 16. Qh5+
Kf8 (16... Kg7 17. Qg6+ Kh8 18. Qxh6+ Kg8 {transposes}) 17. Qxh6+ Kg8 (17...
Kf7 $2 {hastens the end} 18. Qh7+ Kf8 19. Bg6 Ne5 20. Qh8#) 18. Qg6+ Kf8 19.
Qh7 {+- and black cannot prevent Bg6 and Qf7# without a major loss in material.
During the game, I must admit that I did not take the time to work out these
variations before I played Bxh6. I instead made the practical choice of
recognizing that I could always bail out with a perpetual check if I ended up
not being able to find a mating net.}) 16. Be3 {Time to take stock of how the
position has been transformed. Material is roughly balanced, with a rook and
pawn versus two knights. White has zero weaknesses, while black has a weakened
pawn structure in front of his king, with four white pieces already aiming at
it. Somehow, given enough time, Stockfish finds a way for black to solve all
of his problems and equalize, but I definitely prefer to play white here.} Qd5
$6 ({Safer is} 16... Kg8) 17. c4 bxc4 18. Bxc4 Qd6 {Black has induced a
weakness on d4, but at the cost of bringing another attacker to aim at e6,
which is a much more important pawn.} 19. Rad1 {Freeing up the bishop on e3 to
re-reroute to e5, where it will again guard d4, but also take better aim at
the kingside.} Ng6 20. Bf2 Rh8 21. Bg3 Qd7 22. Rde1 {Forces black add a
defender to e6 before the bishop on e5 blocks the line of attack.} Bc8 23. Qd3
Nf8 24. Be5 {This is another position that Stockfish claims offers equal
chances, but I just don't see it. Black's pieces are passive, while all of
white's are very well placed.} c5 $4 {The idea is sound. Black wants to open
up the h1-a8 diagonal for his bishop to either attack g2 or stake a claim to
d5. Unfortunately, the d5 square is currently too weak to allow for the
removal of a defender.} (24... Rh6 {followed by Rg6, continues the fight.}) 25.
d5 {±} Kg8 26. d6 $4 {Immediately returning the favor. The prospect of a
slamming a pawn down black's throat proved to be too tempting to me, but it
doesn't actually do anything there, and now is absolutely not the time for
white to reduce the tension.} (26. Qg3 {Adds threats to f6 to the existing
pressure on e6.} exd5 (26... Rh6 27. dxe6 Nxe6 28. Bxf6 Bxf6 29. Bxe6+ {+-})
27. Bxf6 Bxf6 28. Rxf6 dxc4 29. Rd6 {+- White's major pieces dominate the open
board and will soon invade the last rank.}) 26... Bd8 27. Qg3 Qf7 28. Bc3 Rh6 {
Black is now bringing his pieces into better coordination.} 29. Re5 N8h7 $6 ({
The knight should keep the guard on e6 to free up the white-squared bishop to
use the long diagonal that I generously opened for it.} 29... Bb7 {∞}) 30.
Kh1 {Gets the king off of the g1-a7 diagonal to threaten Rxc5.} Rg6 $6 31. Qe1
$2 (31. Qh3 {± is much stronger, because it keeps an eye on g2.} Bb7 32. Bxe6
Bxg2+ 33. Qxg2 {+-}) 31... Bb7 $1 {∓ And now the tables have turned. Black's
pieces are now well coordinated, and white's weakness on g2 allows black time
to solve his e6 problem.} 32. Re2 (32. Bxe6 $4 {immediately loses to} Bxg2+ 33.
Kg1 Bd5+) 32... Ng5 $2 (32... Bd5 {was necessary. It should be noted that
black now had less than 90 seconds left, and thus was mostly playing on a 10
second increment for the rest of the game.}) 33. Rff2 Kh8 34. Bxe6 $6 (34. h4 {
is stronger, first driving away a defender of e6, but it's a hard move for a
human to make.}) 34... Nxe6 35. Rxe6 Rh6 36. Qe5 $2 Qg6 $2 (36... Bc8 {Oops.
My rook would now be trapped. Maybe it's a good time to try the excuse that I
was now down to a couple minutes left on the clock.}) 37. Kg1 $2 (37. d7 {
prevents Bc8, and actually black will have to give up a piece for the pawn.})
37... Rh5 $2 (37... Bc8 {was still available}) 38. Qe2 c4 $4 (38... Rd5 {
leads to a very complex position, with roughly equal chances.}) 39. Bxf6 $1 {
Finally, I find tactic to run the d-pawn, which now cannot be stopped.} Bxf6
40. d7 Rd5 41. Rexf6 gxf6 42. Qe8+ Kg7 43. d8=Q Rxd8 44. Qxd8 $4 ({White is
still winning, but the double question mark is for missing a simple tactic
that would have left black down material, with no counterplay.} 44. Qe7+ Qf7 (
44... Kh6 45. Rxf6) 45. Qxd8 {And white has time to regroup before the black
queen gets to the back rank.}) 44... Qb1+ {now it's messy.} 45. Rf1 Qxb2 46.
Qc7+ Kh8 47. Qd8+ Kg7 48. Qd7+ Kf8 49. Qd6+ Kg7 50. Qg3+ Kf7 51. Rd1 c3 52.
Rd7+ Ke6 53. Qd6+ Kf5 54. g4+ Kxg4 55. Rg7+ $4 ({Our silicon friend
immediately sees mate in 7 after} 55. Qe6+ {But, I'm not too disappointed that
I couldn't work these lines out in a time scramble.} Kg5 56. h4+ Kg6 (56...
Kxh4 57. Qxf6+ Kh3 58. Rh7+ Kg4 59. Rh4+ Kg3 60. Qf4#) 57. Qg4+ Kh6 58. Qg7+
Kh5 59. Qh7+ Kg4 60. Rd4+ Be4 61. Qxe4+ Kh5 62. Qh7#) 55... Kf3 $4 (55... Kh5 {
and white's checks will run out after the next one by the queen, because Kh6
threatens the rook, while Rh7 would be met by Kg6. Stockfish sees nothing
better here than for white to take a draw.}) 56. Qxf6+ Ke4 57. Qe7+ $2 ({
Winning the bishop, but} 57. Qe6+ {was another mate in 7 that I'm not ashamed
of missing.}) 57... Kd3 58. Qxb7 Qc1+ {Time to take stock again. Black is down
a full rook, but now it's his turn to chase white's king around. My mindset
was that there should not be a perpetual, and that I could eventually block a
check by giving check with my queen, forcing a trade. Then, white simply gives
up his rook for the c-pawn and runs the h-pawn.} 59. Kg2 Qd2+ 60. Kg3 Qe1+ 61.
Kf4 Qe3+ 62. Kf5 Qf2+ 63. Ke6 Qe3+ 64. Kf7 Qf4+ 65. Kg8 $2 ({I'm not sure why,
given my plan, I did not run towards my queen with} 65. Ke8) 65... Qc4+ 66. Qf7
Qc8+ 67. Qf8 Qe6+ 68. Rf7 {Okay, I've now gotten my king sheltered in a corner.
I planned to continue with moves like Qg7, Rf8, and Kh8, after which black
would have check on the h-file. Then Qh7 forces a queen trade, completing my
plan.} c2 $1 {D'oh! I wasn't even considering the possibility that black could
stop checking, but now is the opportune moment to do so, with my rook is
pinned. I think this showed impressive presence of mind by my opponent, in the
midst of a time scramble, to find the best practical chance. I was worried
that black had now saved a draw, but fortunately the tactics still worked out.}
69. Qa3+ Kd2 70. Qb4+ Kd3 71. Qb5+ $1 Kd2 (71... Kc3 {forces white to be more
precise} 72. Qb3+ $1 Qxb3 73. axb3 Kxb3 74. Rb7+ $1 (74. Rf1 {also works, but
it far less pretty}) 74... Kc3 75. Rxa7 c1=Q 76. Rc7+) 72. Qd7+ {retropwr won
by resignation Finally completing then plan. Whew. Overall, that was a tough,
interesting game, with several large evaluation swings.} 1-0

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "PNWCC Online Super G/60"]
[Date "2021.02.27"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Porter, Ryan"]
[Black "Demchenko, Anton GM"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A21"]
[WhiteElo "2308"]
[BlackElo "2680"]
[Annotator "Ryan Porter"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[TimeControl "3600+5"]

{[%evp 0,77,25,-13,-15,-23,14,14,-3,-22,-22,-16,-20,-8,-8,-6,-3,-2,9,9,22,-18,
3,-4,7,2,8,7,17,17,0,-5,-17,-17,-17,-17,21,-1,14,14,17,10,15,0,-2,-17,5,22,11,
-62,-60,-119,-119,-107,-67,-109,-118,-275,-275,-298,-99,-275,-123,-123,-123,
-131,-132,-130,-131,-122,-165,-185,-165,-188,233,233,29993,29994,29995,29996]
This game was played in Round 1 of a strong online G/60 tournament hosted by
PNWCC. I played up in the 2400+ section for opportunities like this to play
against grandmasters.} 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 Be7 4. d4 exd4 5. Qxd4 Nf6 6.
Bg2 O-O 7. Nh3 {Aiming for d5.} Nc6 8. Qd2 Ne5 {White has been a bit slow in
developing the queenside. So, black takes immediate action there.} 9. b3 a5 10.
Bb2 a4 11. Rd1 {A concession, which gives black the a-file, in conjunction
with the weakness on b3.} ({I did not consider} 11. Nxa4 $5 {due to} Nxc4 {
but it's actually not all that bad for white after} 12. bxc4 Rxa4 13. Qc2 Ra6
14. Nf4 {White's active minor pieces and control of d5 compensate for the
weakness on a2.}) ({The main alternative I considered was} 11. O-O a3 {The
point of Rd1 is to open up a1 for the bishop after this move.} 12. Bc1 {
I did not like the prospect of spending several more moves now to complete my
development. Longer term, though, that pawn could prove to be offsides.}) 11...
axb3 12. axb3 c6 13. O-O ({Looking back, I now prefer} 13. Qc2 {to immediately
guard the weak b3 pawn, while also preventing black's next move.}) 13... Bf5 {
By making the c2 square off limits for the white queen, black has the
immediate threat of Qb6, when it will be very awkward to try to defend b3. I
spent a while on my next move, first evaluating passive options for defending
b3. Not finding a good solution, I next looked for an active way to maintain
the balance.} 14. c5 $1 {Makes use of my central pressure, and the fact that,
if the d6 pawn moves, then both the knight on e5 and bishop of f5 are
unguarded.} (14. Nf4 $6 Qb6 15. e4 Qxb3 (15... Bg4 {is also not fun for white})
16. exf5 Nxc4 17. Qe1 Qxb2 18. Rb1 {White is still making a game of it, but
black clearly has the upper hand.}) (14. e4 $4 {of course loses on the spot to}
Bxh3) 14... Bxh3 (14... d5 $6 15. Qf4 Bxh3 16. Bxh3 Ng6 17. Qd4 {⩲}) 15. cxd6
(15. Bxh3 $5 dxc5 16. Qf4 {=/∞ is a very interesting alternative. White has
plenty of compensation for the pawn.}) 15... Bxg2 16. dxe7 $6 ({Honestly, I
just went into auto-pilot here and failed to even consider} 16. Kxg2 {when the
trapped bishop on e7 will allow white to win back the piece more favorably.})
16... Qxe7 (16... Qxd2 $6 17. exf8=Q+ Kxf8 18. Rxd2 Bxf1 19. Kxf1 {⩲}) 17.
Kxg2 Qb4 {I still do have that weakness on b3, but it is easier to guard now.}
18. Na4 {Unleashing the bishop, temporarily blocking the a-file, and aiming to
relocate to c5 at some point. I would welcome a queen trade here, after which
it's harder for black to attack b3.} Qb5 (18... Qxb3 $4 19. Nc5 Qc4 20. Bxe5
Qxc5 21. Bd6 {and white wins the exchange}) 19. Qc2 Rfe8 20. Rd2 {I couldn't
find a good plan here. So, I just improved the position of my rooks.} h5 21.
Rfd1 h4 22. Qf5 $5 {Leads to complications if black takes the pawn left behind
on b3. I did not fully analyze the resulting lines during the game, but I felt
like my rooks on d-file supported such a move.} h3+ {Woah. I was not expecting
that.} (22... hxg3 23. hxg3 Qxb3 24. Bxe5 Qb5 $1 {A key intermediate move to
induce f4.} (24... Qxa4 $4 25. Bxf6 gxf6 26. Rd4 {and white wins by swinging
his rook to g4, unblocked by a pawn on f4.}) (24... Rxa4 $4 25. Bxf6 gxf6 26.
Rd8 Ra8 27. Rxa8 Rxa8 28. Rd4 {is similarly crushing.}) 25. f4 Qxa4 26. Bxf6
gxf6 27. Qxf6 Qe4+ {=}) 23. Qxh3 ({Obviously not the best square for my queen,
and I wanted to play} 23. Kxh3 Neg4 {However, during the game, I rejected this
line, because I only saw the losing} 24. Qxb5 $4 ({White could maintain the
balance with} 24. e4 $1 Qxf5 25. exf5 Ra5 26. Kg2 Rxf5 {=}) 24... Nxf2+ 25. Kg2
cxb5 {-+}) 23... Neg4 $5 (23... Qxb3 {is objectively a better move, but it
allow white to simplify the position. I was expecting to the game proceed in
the general direction of the following lines.} 24. Nc5 Qb5 25. Bxe5 Rxe5 26.
Nd7 Nxd7 27. Qxd7 {=}) 24. Bd4 $4 {I thought that I might start to take
control of the position, with the bishop supporting Nc5, and the threat of Nc3
preventing an immediate Re2.} (24. Bxf6 Nxf6 25. Rd3 {holds everything
together, with the knight ready to jump to c3.} (25. Rd4 $5 {is also an
interesting attempt to try to use the h-file.})) 24... Rxe2 {Uh oh. Now I see
that he can just take both my rooks if I grab his queen.} 25. Nc3 Rxd2 26. Rxd2
(26. Nxb5 $2 Rxd1 27. Bxf6 Nxf6 28. Nc3 Rd3 29. Ne2 Rxb3 {should be a pretty
straightforward win for black.}) 26... Qxb3 27. Ne4 $5 {Objectively, this
isn't the best move, but I'm doing everything I can to try to mix things up in
a losing position. The clock situation was 6 minutes for me, and just under 10
for him.} Qb4 ({Black finds the best move, but the victory proved pyrrhic,
because he spent over 80\% of his remaining time to find it, leaving himself
with just 90 seconds (plus the increment) for the rest of the game! Given the
clock situation, I think black should have spent far less time and played the
natural move} 27... Qd5 {when I expected the game to continue} 28. f3 Nxe4 29.
Qxg4 Qg5 30. Qxg5 Nxg5 {I was planning to try to cause some problems with Be3
and Rd7, but black is clearly winning, and anything more than 5 minutes left
should be plenty for a GM.}) 28. Nxf6+ ({Stockfish prefers} 28. Qh4 {but black
can simplify with} c5 29. Nxf6+ Nxf6 30. Be3 Qxh4 31. gxh4 b6) 28... Nxf6 29.
Rd3 Qc4 30. Rd2 Qd5+ 31. f3 Qg5 32. Rb2 b5 33. Rc2 b4 34. Bxf6 Qxf6 35. Qd7 b3
36. Rxc6 $6 (36. Qxc6 {may have been a better try, but black is of course
still winning.} Qa1 $1 37. Re2 g6 {-+}) 36... Ra2+ $4 {With 15 seconds left,
black blunders horribly. Even a superficial evaluation of position should have
told him not to leave the back rank. However, I believe that the greater
mistake was spending so much time on move 27. As we all know painfully well,
anything can happen in a time scramble.} 37. Kh3 Qxf3 $2 {For the puzzle
inclined, white now has mate in 4.} ({The only way to continue the game is} 
37... Qxc6 38. Qxc6 {but white is certainly winning, especially with an extra
pawn on the kingside to use to pry open any attempt at a fortress.}) 38. Qd8+ {
This is not a difficult tactic, but I did have to find it quickly, and every
other move loses.} ({Perhaps black only analyzed the superficially tempting} 
38. Rc8+ $4 Kh7 {when black's queen prevents any follow-up checks.}) 38... Kh7
39. Qh4+ {retropwr won on time Black let his little remaining time run out,
with mate in 2 coming. Obviously, I was outplayed and outclassed in this game,
and I got lucky in the end, aided by the shorter time controls, which can add
a dose of randomness. However, I am proud of the way that I competed and found
active moves to continue the fight into a time scramble, against an opponent
who is by far the best player I've ever defeated in a non-blitz game.} 1-0

[Event "Washington State Chess960 Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.01.10"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Razmov, Valentin"]
[Black "Olson, Travis"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1986"]
[BlackElo "1714"]
[Annotator "Ralph Dubisch"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "bbnqrnkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BBNQRNKR w HEhe - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2021.01.10"]

1. e4 c5 2. b3 ({Although the first moves look like the Sicilian, it's clear
that many normal Sicilian lines are simply not going to work here. One
variation that might:} 2. b4 $5 {would be the 960 equivalent of the Sicilian
Wing Gambit.}) (2. c3 d5 {is a bit different than a normal Alapin (c3)
Sicilian, as White isn't preventing a knight from going to c3 with the move,
but that a1-bishop needs consideration. Black's central counter-thrust is
still good and natural, though.} 3. exd5 b5 $5 (3... Nb6 $5)) (2. c4 {has a
bit more bite than you might expect, as the natural aim for central symmetry,}
e5 {, might run into} 3. Nd3 Ne6 4. b4 $5 {with some initiative.}) 2... e5 3.
Ne3 b6 4. c3 (4. c4 {. White has the move in an otherwise completely
symmetrical position, but there doesn't seem to be much to do with it.}) 4...
Ne6 5. Ne2 Ne7 6. d4 exd4 $6 (6... d5 $1 7. dxe5 ({Or} 7. f3 O-O 8. O-O $15 {
. I'd call this an edge to Black, as Black is on move and has the slightly
more aggressive side of a near symmetry.}) ({Worse,} 7. dxc5 dxe4 {, and
Black's kingside pawn mass has the potential to become quite unpeasant for
White.} 8. cxb6 $6 Qxb6 9. Ng3 O-O 10. Nxe4 f5 $17 {is close to winning.}) 7...
Bxe5 8. Nxd5 Nxd5 9. exd5 Bxd5 $15 {, again with symmetry, but Black has the
minor plus of the temporary pin of the c3-pawn and better centralization.}) 7.
cxd4 $14 cxd4 (7... d5 8. e5) 8. Nxd4 O-O 9. Qg4 {Suddenly Black's king
position seems vulnerable.} Nxd4 10. Bxd4 f6 11. O-O d5 $2 ({Black tries to
solve the problem of the isolated queen pawn, but kingside weaknesses and
White's threatening kingside posture make this dubious.} 11... Qc7 12. g3 $14)
(11... Ng6 12. Nf5 $14) (11... Be5 12. Rd1 $14) 12. exd5 Bxd5 ({Black must
surrender the bishop-pair.} 12... Nxd5 $2 13. Qh5 g6 14. Bxg6 hxg6 15. Qxg6+
Kh8 16. Nxd5 Bxd5 17. Rxe8 Qxe8 18. Bxf6+ Rxf6 19. Qxe8+ $18) 13. Nxd5 Qxd5 14.
Rd1 Qg5 15. Qe6+ Kh8 16. Rfe1 (16. Qh3 $5 $16) 16... Qh5 17. g3 Nc8 (17... Be5
$5 18. Bxe5 Ng6 $1 19. Qd5 Nxe5 20. Kg2 $14 {. White likely still has an edge
with bishop versus knight and more active rooks, but it's clearly less than
that conferred by the bishop-pair on the open board.}) 18. Qd7 Rd8 19. Qc6 ({
The ending with} 19. Qf5 Qxf5 20. Bxf5 $16 {also favors White, of course.})
19... Qd5 $2 (19... Be5 {is again the best chance, getting rid of one of the
nasty bishops.}) 20. Qc2 $1 Qh5 (20... Qg8 {makes for an interesting back-rank
picture.}) 21. Re4 Qf7 22. Rh4 g6 23. Qxg6 Qxg6 24. Bxg6 Kg7 25. Bxh7 Rh8 26.
Bc2 Rxh4 27. gxh4 ({Or} 27. Bxf6+ Kxf6 28. Rxd8 {.}) 27... Rh8 28. Be3 Rxh4 29.
Rd7+ {Convincing.} 1-0

[Event "WA Junior Closed"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.01.30"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Levine, Joseph"]
[Black "Lee, Brian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2244"]
[BlackElo "1898"]
[Annotator "Ralph Dubisch"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2021.01.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[TimeControl "3000+10"]

{[%evp 0,77,25,16,71,43,82,67,62,42,33,37,46,23,55,43,78,72,44,25,23,21,28,25,
19,17,5,23,0,-31,-5,-36,29,25,10,10,10,5,9,-11,190,154,157,155,118,103,124,132,
169,169,226,178,321,306,158,183,145,156,328,328,335,320,324,332,341,341,432,
407,428,428,428,430,851,1145,29995,29996,29997,29998,29999,-30000]} 1. e4 c5 2.
Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 {The Najdorf variation is the most
popular line of the Sicilian in modern times. Black makes it expensive for
White to put a bishop or knight on b5, so Black can now consider an early ...
e5. Black also supports a possible ...b5 with queenside expansion and perhaps
a threat (...b5-b4) to the e4-pawn.} 6. Bd3 {This is a bit unusual here,
though White may be hoping to transpose into a different line.} (6. Be3 {
is the most common relatively modern move, while}) (6. Be2) ({and} 6. Bg5 {
are somewhat more traditional lines.}) 6... e6 7. O-O b5 8. Be3 (8. a4 b4 9.
Na2 e5 10. Nf3 Nc6 11. c3 $13) 8... Bb7 9. a3 Nbd7 10. f4 Qc7 11. Qf3 Nc5 12.
Rac1 ({I haven't seen this move here before, but my Stockfish engine likes it
slightly better than the "theoretical"} 12. Rae1 {.}) 12... Be7 13. b4 $5 {
Thus explaining the placement of the rook.} Ncd7 (13... Nxd3 $6 14. cxd3 $14 {
forces the black queen to move again, thus explaining one idea behind putting
the rook on c1.}) 14. Nce2 Nb6 15. g4 d5 $6 ({Black loses central flexibility.
More thematic, and better, is} 15... Nc4 {, occupying the outpost and hitting
both the e3-bishop and the a3-pawn.}) 16. e5 Nfd7 (16... Ne4 17. f5 $1 O-O (
17... exf5 $2 18. Nxf5) (17... Qxe5 18. fxe6 fxe6 19. Qf7+ Kd7 20. Nf3 $1 Qd6
21. Bf4 {, and White wins material.}) 18. f6 gxf6 19. exf6 Nxf6 (19... Bd6 20.
Qh3 Kh8 21. Rf3 $1 {and it's starting to get very difficult to imagine a
defense.}) 20. Qh3 Ne4 21. Qh6 {with a serious attack.}) 17. Ra1 $5 ({Direct
advance is also possible:} 17. f5 Nxe5 18. Qg3 Nbc4 19. fxe6 f6 20. Nf5 $16 {.}
) (17. Qh3 $5) 17... Nc4 18. c3 $2 (18. Qh3) 18... O-O-O ({Stockfish points
out the positional tactic} 18... g5 $1 {, breaking up the mobile pawn mass at
just the right moment:} 19. Rae1 (19. fxg5 $2 Ndxe5 20. Qg3 Nxe3 21. Qxe3 Nxd3
22. Qxd3 Bxg5 $17) 19... O-O-O $17 {.}) 19. a4 Ndxe5 $2 ({Black finds a tactic
to take advantage of the loose bishop on d3; unfortunately, it's the wrong
tactic for the job. Instead, the short, sharp, flurry} 19... bxa4 20. Rxa4 Nb2
21. Bxa6 Nxa4 22. Nb5 Qb8 23. Na7+ Kc7 24. Nb5+ {repeats.}) 20. fxe5 Nxe5 21.
Qg3 ({Or} 21. Qh3 {.}) 21... Nxd3 22. Qxc7+ Kxc7 23. Rxf7 Kd7 (23... Rd7 24.
axb5 axb5 25. Nxe6+ Kc8 26. Rxg7 $16 {when Black's plan to grab pawns has
clearly not met with success.}) 24. Bg5 Rde8 25. axb5 Ne5 26. Rxe7+ Rxe7 27.
Bxe7 Kxe7 28. bxa6 Ba8 $2 (28... Ra8 29. b5 (29. axb7 $2 Rxa1+ 30. Kf2 Nd7 $15)
29... Bc8 {also doesn't look like fun.}) 29. Nf4 Rc8 30. Nfxe6 (30. Re1) 30...
Rxc3 31. Nxg7 Rc4 32. b5 Rb4 (32... Nf3+ 33. Nxf3 Rxg4+ 34. Kf2 Rxg7 35. Rc1 {
doesn't help Black.}) 33. Re1 Kd7 34. Ngf5 Ng6 35. h4 Nxh4 36. Re7+ Kd8 37.
Ne6+ Kc8 38. Nd6+ Kb8 39. a7# {An aesthetic checkmate pattern to end the game.}
1-0

[Event "Seattle City Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.01.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ingram, Richard"]
[Black "Lenderman, Aleksandr"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C07"]
[WhiteElo "1880"]
[BlackElo "2704"]
[Annotator "Aleksandr Lenderman"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2021.01.30"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[TimeControl "3600+5"]

{[%evp 0,98,19,38,43,18,28,33,57,16,2,47,48,48,48,38,27,20,21,21,10,17,20,27,
29,8,5,2,-6,-21,-32,-41,-50,-46,-43,-43,-42,-53,-49,-60,-53,-50,-39,-48,-49,
-39,-40,-49,-40,-79,-90,-89,-72,-85,-88,-83,-78,-68,-60,-57,-40,-34,-48,-64,
-65,-71,-70,-62,-62,-62,-54,-64,-69,-69,-67,-89,-102,-109,-118,-118,-144,-169,
-133,-200,-189,-390,-465,-492,-496,-476,-542,-758,-639,-640,-788,-926,-980,
-29981,-1160,-1334,-980] The first round game was a good textbook example of
how just because queens and most minor pieces get exchanged, you are far from
guaranteed an easy draw.} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 {In my opinion, the only
line that should equalize against the Tarrasch French. Giri also believes that
in his chessable course. The only drawback of this line is that often, the
game can become simplified. However, this game shows, that you can still get
winning chances in any quiet line, even if the opponent does not make any
obvious mistakes.} 4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. exd5 (5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8.
Bd3 {Is another line which can lead to more of a double-edged fight.}) 5...
Qxd5 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nb3 Nc6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 (10. Nxd4 {
This is a more principled line, after which black usually plays either Be7 or
a6 followed by Qc7.} Be7 (10... a6)) 10... Qxd4 11. Nxd4 Bc5 {I think this is
accurate, since Nb5 isn't really a threat, so a6 isn't necessary.} 12. Bb5+ $6
{Trying to simplify further, however probably not the best. That is the
drawback of trying to play for the draw too much without forcing it, is that
you often make concessions as a result, and make unfavorable trades. I don't
think logically, white should trade his developed bishop on c4 for my
undeveloped one on c8.} (12. Nb5 Ke7) (12. Nb3 {This is probably the main line
here.}) (12. Rd1) 12... Bd7 13. Bxd7+ Kxd7 14. Ne2 $6 {Also inaccurate. Too
passive. Susan Polgar often mentions how it is better to avoid backward knight
moves in most cases unless there is a concrete reason for it. This is no
exception.} (14. Rd1 Ke7 15. Bg5 {should still be close to equal.}) 14... Ke7
15. Bg5 h6 16. Bxf6+ Kxf6 {Another pair of minors were traded, but let's take
stock here. This looks like an equal position. However, black is better for
three main reasons. 1) My king is a bit more active, which is importnat in the
endgame. 2) Bishop against a knight in an open and structurely inbalanced
structure is favorable for me. 3) Most importantly, I have a central pawn
against his side pawns. However, my bishop can deal with his 3 on 2 majority
very well. Let's now see how such a position can be won.} 17. Rad1 Rhd8 18. Ng3
Bb6 19. Rfe1 Rac8 20. c3 g6 {Preparing Ke7 and f5, to restrict the g3 knight.}
21. Kf1 Ke7 22. Ke2 f5 23. Kf3 Kf6 24. Ne2 e5 25. g3 g5 {My kingside pawns are
coming.} 26. Nc1 e4+ 27. Kg2 Rxd1 $1 28. Rxd1 f4 {I gotta give something to
get something. I am sacking a pawn in order to get the pawn potentially to f3.}
29. Nb3 (29. Rd6+ Ke5 30. Rxh6 f3+ 31. Kf1 Rd8 32. Ke1 e3 $19 {Is a sample
line where black is crashing through.}) 29... f3+ 30. Kf1 Ke5 31. a4 Rd8 $1 {
And finally, the last part of the plan. Exchanging rooks guarantees me the
winning bishop against knight endgame because his king is in a box, and
eventually I can induce queenside weaknesses.} 32. Rxd8 Bxd8 33. Nd4 Bb6 34.
Nc2 g4 35. b3 h5 {Just shoring up the kingside, since white cannot do anything
anyway.} 36. Ke1 a6 37. Kf1 (37. Ne3 {It's worth noting that white cannot
active his knight and transpose into a king and pawn endgame.} Bxe3 38. fxe3 a5
39. Kf1 Kd5 40. Ke1 Kc5 41. Kf1 b5 42. axb5 Kxb5 43. Ke1 a4 {And I win easily.}
) 37... Ba5 {Finally provoking more weaknesses.} 38. b4 (38. c4 Bd2 39. b4 Kd6
(39... a5 40. bxa5 Bxa5 {Here black is breaking through.}) 40. a5 Bc3 41. Kg1
Ke5 42. Kf1) 38... Bd8 39. c4 a5 40. b5 Bb6 41. Ke1 Kd6 42. Na1 Kc5 {I
brokethrough. The rest was very simple.} 43. Nb3+ Kxc4 44. Nd2+ Kd3 45. Nf1 Bc5
{Pictureesque position of a total domination.} 46. h4 gxh3 47. Nh2 Kc2 48. g4
hxg4 49. Nxg4 Kb3 {AlexanderL won by resignation} 0-1

[Event "Seattle City Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.01.30"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Lenderman, Aleksandr"]
[Black "Vijayakumar, Advaith"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2704"]
[BlackElo "2062"]
[Annotator "Aleksandr Lenderman"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2021.01.30"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[TimeControl "3600+5"]

{[%evp 0,85,28,-13,-14,-9,4,-27,-19,-18,-18,-13,-9,-9,-5,-5,-17,-17,15,22,22,
26,22,23,43,40,40,40,67,67,67,67,70,78,85,70,119,78,78,80,80,73,80,85,93,88,81,
81,92,76,80,79,79,71,74,43,43,43,43,0,58,58,58,61,68,40,86,71,59,59,53,38,97,
97,133,71,65,60,84,52,201,241,238,238,29987,29988,29989,29990] This game was
against a local young player, Advaith. He's playing at a solid expert level,
moving on to master level. I know that he's a very solid player and he
definitely lived up to his reputation of holding a difficult position out of
the opening for many moves until only cracking deep in the endgame with less
than a minute on his clock.} 1. b3 {I know he's good at openings so I just
wanted to play chess this time.} Nf6 2. Bb2 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 c5
6. O-O Nc6 (6... d6) (6... d5 7. c4 d4 8. b4 {Is another interesting direction
the game could've went.}) 7. c4 d5 $6 {The timing of this wasn't best and I
got a very good position as a result.} 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bxg7 Kxg7 10. d4 cxd4 (
10... Qa5 11. e4 Nc3 12. Nxc3 Qxc3 13. Rc1) 11. Nxd4 Nxd4 12. Qxd4+ Nf6 13. Qe5
$1 {I already had this exact position before in another game, so I knew that
Qe5 is the right move here, really restricting his development and forcing
more concessions. So far I'm playing quickly and confidently. However, soon, I
started misplaying it.} Qd6 $1 {Definitely this is not the move he wants to
play, to weaken the d6 pawn. However, this was really the only way to get rid
of this queen, and somehow free his development. I should be better, but it is
actually not so easy.} 14. Qxd6 exd6 15. Nc3 a6 $6 (15... Rd8 16. Rfd1 Rb8 {
Was more precise to try to develop the c8 bishop immediately.}) 16. Rfd1 Rd8
17. Rac1 $6 (17. Rd2 {I wanted to play this. However, I did not see how to
proceed if he brings his king to e7.} Kf8 18. Rad1 (18. Rc1 {However, I can
play Rc1 and Nd5 here. I guess I was looking for something more than that.})
18... Ke7) 17... Ra7 (17... Rb8 {I expected this more.}) 18. Ne4 $6 (18. Nd5 {
This was more accurate.} Nxd5 19. Bxd5 b5 20. Rc6 Kf6 21. Rdc1 $16 {With a big
advantage due to better pieces and better pawn structure. Black is still alive
though.}) 18... Nxe4 19. Bxe4 b5 20. Rc6 Rad7 (20... Re7 {I expected this more.
}) 21. Bd5 Kf8 22. Rb6 $2 {This was a mistake and most likely the start of my
technical problems. I wanted to stop Bb7 trying to trade off the bishops.
However, that wasn't ever a threat, and giving him the c-file gave him too
much unnecessary counterplay, and made my technical task very difficult.} (22.
f3 Ke7 23. Kf2 {Should be winning step by step since black has no counterplay
and Bb7 is simply met by Rb6.} Bb7 24. Rb6 Bxd5 25. Rxd5 Ra7 26. g4 {This rook
endgame is totally winning for white since black is totally passive with both
rooks.}) 22... Rc7 23. Rd2 Ke7 (23... Bh3 24. f3 Rc1+ 25. Kf2 Rf1+ 26. Ke3 Re8+
27. Kd3 {I calculated this to be safe for me.}) 24. f4 (24. f3 {Perhaps f3 was
a better way.}) 24... f5 $6 {Probably not recommended to put another pawn on
the color of the bishop.} 25. Kf2 Rc5 26. b4 $6 {Another hasty move, allowing
too much counterplay.} (26. Bf3) 26... Rc3 27. e4 $2 {Wow, this was just very
bad, a clear positional mistake. How could I possibly have thought of
activating his horrible c8 bishop?!} (27. Bb3 $16) 27... fxe4 28. Bxe4 Rc4 29.
Re2 $4 {Amazingly, this is just a blunder. I was lucky he didn't have much
time left here. I saw he can play Kd7, but I didn't see that I was just lost
there. Amazing stuff.} Kf6 $4 {Phew, I dodged a bullet here.} (29... Kd7 30.
Rb8 Kc7 31. Ra8 {I thought this was fine, but} d5 {followed by a potential Kb7,
and I lose.}) 30. a3 Rc3 31. Re3 Rc1 32. Kg2 $6 {Here I continue to play
inaccurately. At this point I just probably got lazy and started to play on
his time. It worked I guess, but very often, it might not work.} (32. Rd3)
32... Kg7 33. Bb7 Rc2+ 34. Kf3 Bh3 35. g4 h5 36. gxh5 gxh5 37. Kg3 Bf5 38. Kh4
$5 {A trick that worked because my opponent was now below a minute.} Rxh2+ $2 {
The final mistake letting my king in. Now I was able to genererate a decisive
attack.} (38... Kf6 {Here black is totally fine, and actually with ideas like
Rxh2, and Rb8, if anyone has to be careful, it's me.}) 39. Kg5 Rf8 $2 {This
loses quickly.} (39... Bb1) 40. Re7+ Kh8 41. Rxd6 Rh3 (41... Bh7 42. Bd5) 42.
Rh6+ Kg8 43. Bd5+ {AlexanderL won by resignation. It was good to win in the
end, but certainly a very unconvincing technique for me after a very good
opening.} 1-0

[Event "Seattle City Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.01.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Bernadskiy, Vitaliy"]
[Black "Lenderman, Aleksandr"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2619"]
[BlackElo "2704"]
[Annotator "Aleksandr Lenderman"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2021.01.30"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[TimeControl "3600+5"]

{[%evp 0,85,19,29,18,2,0,1,1,1,17,7,21,23,40,24,23,17,15,20,20,20,21,35,30,35,
32,27,37,32,33,28,19,14,20,0,15,3,6,7,9,24,20,2,26,30,0,0,97,98,101,86,88,98,
98,88,98,98,148,166,166,174,173,173,169,175,171,192,210,210,222,245,254,406,
424,424,431,447,566,574,594,631,784,794,1409,1445,29991,29992] This game was
the critical game for the tournament standings, against the other GM in the
tournament, Vitaliy Bernadskiy. Unfortunately, this time it did not go my way,
as I lost my way in complications.} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 a6 {
A solid system that Magnus has played many times.} 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7.
e3 Nbd7 8. Bd3 Bd6 {Since I am annotating the games, I was not interested in a
short draw, and instead wanted a fight. Therefore, I chose the Bd6 line.
Actually, the truth is, I just forgot during the moment that the h6 move
existed here :)} (8... h6 9. Bf4 g5 (9... Nh5 10. O-O) 10. Bg3 Nh5 11. Be5 Nhf6
{Is another interesting line. Or Ng7 if I want to avoid the draw.} (11... Ng7
12. Bg3 {Though difficult if white really insists :) Black now needs to go for
a worse position to avoid a draw.}) (11... Nxe5 12. Nxe5)) 9. O-O O-O 10. h3 c6
11. Bf4 {We both played this part very quickly. I turned down his draw offer
here.} Qc7 12. Bxd6 Qxd6 13. Rc1 {Here I needed to find a plan. I'm not sure
if I played the best way here.} Rfe8 (13... Qe7 {Most likely I should play
this and then try to bring one of my knights to d6, usually the best structure
in Carlsbad. Not sure why I forgot about that idea.} 14. Qc2 g6 15. a3 Nb6 16.
Rfe1 Nc8 17. Na4 Nd6 18. Nc5 Bf5 19. Bxf5 Nxf5 20. Ne5 Rfe8 {My gut tells me
black should be fine here, though, perhaps white has some concrete ideas like
f3 e4}) 14. a3 h6 15. Re1 Rac8 16. Qb3 {So far, we've both played waiting
moves, but now I felt that with the queen on b3, it might be time to play c5.
On one hand it might be logical. On the other hand, it's a very concrete move,
which requires precise play from me after that to not end up statically worse.
I did not manage to handle the dynamics well unfortunately.} c5 (16... Rc7 17.
Qb4 {I was actually a little bit worried about this move, though probably
after trading I should be ok. I remember Magnus beat Fabi in a similar
structure by trading queens on a3.} (17. Qc2 {Of course, he can just play a
move like Qc2.}) 17... Qxb4 18. axb4 Nb6) 17. dxc5 Nxc5 18. Qd1 Qb6 19. b4 Nce4
{I thought I would get some dynamic counterplay here, but maybe I don't.} 20.
Na4 (20. Ne2 {Was probably also a small plus for white.}) 20... Qd6 (20... Rxc1
21. Nxb6) 21. Bxe4 Nxe4 (21... Rxc1 22. Bh7+ Kxh7 23. Qxc1 Rc8 24. Nc5 {
Was annoying since he always has Qb1+ intermetzo. However, maybe this was the
way to go.} Ne4 25. Qb1 Bf5) 22. Qd4 {Now, the problem is, he has a perfect
setup with Nc5 and so on. However, I was banking on a concrete idea here. It
worked but I just didn't follow up correctly unfortunately.} Bxh3 23. gxh3 Qg6+
$6 (23... Qd7 {This was the move to play here. For some reason I never
considered this. Just goes to show I have to continue sharpening my tactics.}
24. Nb6 Qxh3 25. Rxc8 Rxc8 26. Nxc8 Qg4+ 27. Kh2 Qxf3 28. Rf1 Qh5+ {Leads to a
draw which would be a logical result.}) 24. Kf1 Qh5 $2 {But this is just a
serious mistake. Perhaps at this point I already saw some flaws and didn't
believe in my position anymore.} (24... Qf5 {Of course, I must play this.} 25.
Ke2 {And here I cannot believe that I missed a very straightforward idea} Rxc1
26. Rxc1 Re6 $132 {If white is better, it's still very complicated. For some
reason I only considered 25)Qxh3. Very poor dynamic skills on my part today.})
25. Ke2 $1 (25. Ng1 {For some reason I thought this is the only move, and
didn't consider that Ke2 is still possible here stepping into a pin. However,
I cannot take advantage of it.} Qh4 26. Qb2 Rxc1 27. Rxc1 d4 {I was hoping to
drum up some counterplay here, though objectively of course, it shouldn't be
enough after a strong move} 28. Nc5 Nxc5 29. Rxc5 dxe3 30. Rc3 exf2 31. Qxf2
$16) 25... Rxc1 26. Rxc1 Re6 {Here I was actually happy again, since I thought
his only move is Rg1 with the idea or Rg4.} 27. Rc8+ $1 (27. Rg1 g6 $3 (27...
Rf6 $6 {This was actually my intention.} 28. Rg4 Qxh3 29. Rf4 Qg2 30. Ne1 Qh2 {
With some vague hope to create a mess.}) 28. Rg4 Qxh3 {However, here I have
quite a lot of counterplay, maybe even enough for equality.}) 27... Kh7 28. Rc5
$1 {What to say. I just never saw this idea until he played it. Great idea,
forcing a trade of my great knight or killing my attack. His threat of Qxe4+
is a killer.} Qxh3 $5 {I was hoping for the best here but it shouldn't work.} (
28... Nxc5 29. Nxc5 Re7 30. Qg4 {I thought this should be a hopeless endgame.
Maybe it's not as hopeless as I thought. At least, today, Firouzja saved a
seemingly even more hopeless one, even after Giri made time control. This gave
me some hope today. But Bernadskiy was up to the technical task.}) 29. Qxd5 $1
{Of course not} (29. Rxd5 $4 Qg2 {And suddenly, I have a very strong attack.})
29... Nxc5 30. Nxc5 Rf6 31. Qxb7 Qh5 32. Qe4+ g6 33. a4 {Now it is totally
lost. No more counterplay. My last chance was ...} (33. Nd7 $4 Qb5+) 33... Qh3
34. Ne5 h5 35. Qd4 Qg2 36. Ne4 {His pieces are now beautifully coordinating
and his king is now safer than mine!} Rf5 37. Nd7 g5 38. Nef6+ Kh8 39. e4 Qf3+
40. Ke1 Qh1+ 41. Kd2 Qh4 42. Ng4+ f6 43. exf5 {VitaliyBernadskiy won by
resignation. An interesting battle. It's a pity that I couldn't do better in
the dynamics. However, full credit to Vitaliy for playing a great game and
showing precise calculation, good technique, and good opening preparation to
create me some problems.} 1-0

[Event "Seattle City Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.01.31"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Lenderman, Aleksandr"]
[Black "Ramkumar, Aditya"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2704"]
[BlackElo "1614"]
[Annotator "Aleksandr Lenderman"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2021.01.30"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[TimeControl "3600+5"]

{[%evp 0,115,19,-32,-23,-4,12,12,6,12,1,-4,-8,-13,8,26,33,22,35,35,54,48,37,39,
32,29,55,26,47,16,16,12,30,12,24,22,26,16,22,-2,1,-3,-10,-11,-6,-27,-20,-41,
-22,-23,-32,-39,-44,-22,-29,-53,-53,-50,-67,-60,-4,-15,-11,-13,-5,-16,9,5,-5,
-19,-19,-19,0,11,27,35,28,23,30,33,29,41,70,74,74,92,136,129,127,129,125,132,
153,105,129,116,136,68,179,225,220,220,220,220,314,220,500,525,882,1039,1098,
1155,1842,1370,29997,29998,29999,-30000] After losing the previous game to GM
Bernadskiy, I got paired all the way down against a 1500+ player. However,
this game was very hard and I never felt like I had control of the game until
he got down to under 2 minutes in the endgame.} 1. b3 d5 2. Bb2 c5 3. e3 {
The accurate move order.} (3. Nf3 {is effectively met by} f6) 3... Nc6 (3... f6
4. c4 d4 5. Qh5+) 4. Nf3 e6 5. d4 (5. Be2 Nf6 6. O-O Be7 7. d4) 5... Nf6 6. Be2
Be7 (6... cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bb4+ {Was slightly annoying, or Qa5+.}) 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
O-O O-O 9. c4 (9. a3 $5) 9... Ne4 $6 (9... dxc4 10. Bxc4 Qxd1 11. Rxd1 b6 {
was probably more solid.}) 10. cxd5 $6 {I played this quickly since I wanted
to give him an isolated pawn. However, it might've not been the most accurate.}
(10. Qc2 $1 {keeping the tension was apparently very strong. Now Nc3 can be
followed by Qxc3.} Nb4 11. Qc1) 10... exd5 11. Nc3 Nxc3 (11... Ba3 {This was
also interesing. I can probably get an advantage here though.} 12. Bxa3 Nxc3
13. Qc2 Nxe2+ 14. Qxe2 Re8 15. Bb2 d4 (15... Bg4 16. Rfd1) 16. Rfd1) 12. Bxc3
Be6 13. Nd4 $6 {Looking back, I don't really love this move.} (13. Qd2) 13...
Qe7 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. Rc1 Bb6 16. Qd2 c5 {Now, black is totally fine with the
hanging pawns. I have nothing.} 17. Rfd1 Rfd8 18. Bf3 Rac8 19. Ba5 h6 20. Bxb6
axb6 21. Qb2 Qg5 22. g3 Rd7 23. b4 Rdc7 (23... c4 {here, probably only black
can be better.}) 24. bxc5 bxc5 25. a3 c4 26. Qc3 Rc5 27. Rb1 {Here I knew I
lost the grip of the position and black should be totally fine, maybe even
slightly better. Therefore, I was trying to play quickly, and wasn't focused
as much on playing the best moves anymore. My focus was to get him low on time.
} Qf5 28. Bg2 Qf6 29. Rd4 Qe7 (29... Ra8 $15) 30. e4 dxe4 31. Bxe4 Qa7 32. Bc2
Ra5 33. a4 Rd5 34. Rxd5 Bxd5 35. Rb5 Qa8 36. Qa5 Be6 $6 (36... Bf3 37. Qxa8
Rxa8 38. Kf1 Re8 39. a5 g6 {Kept the balance since it's hard for me to
activate my king.}) 37. Qxa8 Rxa8 38. Kf1 {Now I get my king to c3, blockading
the c-pawn and my a-pawn becomes lethal. From here on, I was in control and
also my opponent was very low on time.} Kf8 (38... Re8 {He should still try to
stop my king from going to e2, though here, I can play f3 without too much
risk.} 39. f3 $14) 39. Ke2 Ke7 40. Kd2 Kd7 41. Kc3 Kc7 42. a5 $18 {Now my
a-pawn is just decisive.} Ra6 43. Be4 Ra7 44. Kd4 (44. Bd5 {This was actually
probably the simplest.}) 44... Kd6 45. f4 g6 46. Rb6+ Kc7 47. Rc6+ Kd7 48. a6
Bf5 (48... Kd8 {Was the best chance but I should win with a nice simplication
technique:} 49. Rxe6 $1 fxe6 50. Bb7 {All the king and pawn endgames will be
lost for him, and his rook is forever stuck.}) 49. Bd5 Be6 50. Kxc4 Bxd5+ 51.
Kxd5 Ra8 52. Rb6 Rc8 53. Rb7+ Ke8 54. a7 Rd8+ 55. Ke5 Ra8 56. Kf6 Kf8 57. Rb8+
Rxb8 58. axb8=Q# {AlexanderL won by checkmate. Not a game I'm proud of, but a
win is still a win.} 1-0

[Event "Seattle City Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.01.31"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Lenderman, Aleksandr"]
[Black "Guha, Mitrabha"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2704"]
[BlackElo "2445"]
[Annotator "Aleksandr Lenderman"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2021.01.30"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[TimeControl "3600+5"]

{[%evp 0,65,19,29,18,2,26,16,11,7,16,18,47,18,19,17,18,15,24,6,4,22,1,8,-2,-12,
-12,-16,-120,-113,-7,-113,-77,-114,-132,-100,-89,-92,-83,-89,-77,-77,-77,-98,
-73,-62,-58,-42,-1,1,67,65,264,252,252,274,254,191,322,80,323,323,323,345,362,
323,415,439] This is the last round against IM Mitrabha Guha. In the beginning
the game did not go my way, but later, unexpectedly, I got some incredible
chances which I was able to take advantage of.} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. g3 Bb7
4. Bg2 c5 5. O-O g6 {This is a system that I honestly speaking, dread playing
against.} 6. b3 (6. d4 cxd4 7. Qxd4 d6 8. Nc3 Bg7 9. Rd1 Nbd7 10. Qh4 {is
another common line.}) 6... Bg7 7. Bb2 O-O 8. d4 (8. Nc3 d5 9. Nxd5 Nxd5 10.
Bxg7 Kxg7 11. cxd5 Qxd5 12. d4 Na6 $11 {was my game against Jeffrey Xiong,
where I had nothing and in fact at some point I ended up suffering for a draw
in that game.}) 8... cxd4 9. Qxd4 d6 10. Nc3 Nbd7 11. Rfd1 Rc8 12. Rac1 Nc5 13.
Qe3 $2 {In a quiet position, I made a natural move, but amazingly, it turns
out to be a serious mistake. Even in the quitest of positions, you still have
to be very careful of tactical ideas.} (13. Ne1) (13. Bh3 {would be normal
moves.}) 13... Ng4 $1 {Of course! Now I have concrete problems.} 14. Qf4 {
unfortunately the only move. However, my queen is a bit awkward there. The
natural} (14. Qd2 $4 {of course fails to} Nxf2 $1 15. Kxf2 Bxc3 $19 {With Ne4+
to follow.}) 14... h5 15. Ng5 $2 {Another mistake in a difficult situation. As
it turned out I was still ok, but I couldn't find the right way.} (15. h3 Bh6
16. Qd4 {I should sac the exchange this way.} Bxc1 17. Bxc1 Nf6 18. Qd2 $44 {
Surprisingly I might still have full compensation here.}) (15. Rc2 Bh6 16. Qd4
{Was also fine for me. I actually hallcuinated here, thinking e5 wins for
black, but it doesn't since I have Qxd6. In hindsight, maybe it's good I
didn't see it, since black can just make a forced draw here, which he might've
done.} Bg7 17. Qf4 {which I have to make, since Qd2? again loses to Nxf2.})
15... Ne6 {This is ok but he had good alternatives here.} (15... f6 $1 16. Bxb7
fxg5 17. Qxg5 Nxb7 $1 18. Qd5+ {I thought this is ok for me, and probably so
did my opponent. However, here it turns out, that black has lots of inititaive.
} Rf7 19. Qxb7 e6 20. Qg2 Rxf2 $36) (15... Bxg2 {Is what I expected, and I
didn't really have an answer to this.} 16. Kxg2 f6 17. Nf3 Bh6 18. Qd4 Bxc1 19.
Bxc1 {I am not lost here since I have some compensation and he doesn't have
open files for his rooks. However, black is clearly better and I have no real
way to get to his king.}) 16. Qd2 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Nxg5 18. Qxg5 Bh6 19. Qd5 Rc5 {
maybe not the best practically speaking.} (19... Bxc1 20. Rxc1 (20. Bxc1 Nf6
21. Qd4 Qd7 22. Bg5 Qe6 23. Bxf6 Qxf6 24. Qxf6 exf6 25. Rxd6 Rcd8 {And here
only black can probably win.}) 20... Nf6) 20. Qd4 Bxc1 21. Rxc1 Nf6 (21... f6 {
In hindsight, f6 followed by Ne5 might've been more solid. However, even here
I have more compensation than I thought I had.}) 22. Rd1 $1 {This move was
very important to stop him from playing e5 and blocking my bishop. Suddenly, I
have many ideas that he has to worry about like Nd5, Ne4, and so on.} Kg7 $6 {
A bit unnatural to step in the pin. Unsurprisingly, it turns out to be
inaccurate.} (22... Re8 $1 {This was the correct move here. However, it's far
from obvious, it's a very sutble prophylaxis. Here I don't have anything
immediate.} 23. Ne4 (23. Nd5 b5 24. Nxf6+ exf6 {And here because he has
counterplay on e2, I cannot get very far by taking his weak d6 and f6 pawns.})
23... Re5) 23. f3 Qa8 $2 {This is already a mistake since it leaves behind a
weak target, which I pounced on.} (23... Rc7 {It was better to move the rook
out of the 5th rank.}) 24. Qe3 $1 {A very strong multi-purposeful move. First
of all, I am attacking his weak target, e7. Also, I am opening my bishop from
b2 to make Ne4 and Nd5 threats more lethal. All of a sudden, this is very hard
for him to play. I am objectively better. As he started to think a lot here, I
started liking my position here more and more.} Rf5 $6 {A tricky move but not
the best. Here he probably started to miss stuff.} (24... Re5 25. Ne4 Re6 26.
Qd3 {This is one sample line for example where I get back the exchange by
force since Ng5 cannot be stopped. Still, though, black should be close to
equal here.} Qc8 27. Ng5 Kg8 28. Nxe6 Qxe6) 25. Nd5 $1 (25. Qxe7 $4 Re8 26.
Qxd6 Rxe2+ 27. Nxe2 Qxf3+ 28. Kg1 Qe3+ 29. Kh1 Qxe2 $19 {Was an example of how
one careless move, missing opponent's counterplay can be fatal immediately.})
25... Re8 $2 {This is just losing. He probably missed Rxd6 on move 28.} (25...
Rxd5 26. cxd5 Qb7 {He had to try this, though even here, I am definitely
better.}) 26. Nc7 Qc6 27. Nxe8+ Qxe8 28. Rxd6 e5 {Losing but what else to do} (
28... Kf8 29. Rxf6 exf6 (29... Rxf6 30. Bxf6 exf6 31. Qxe8+ Kxe8 32. Kf2 {
Is obviously a trivially winning pawn endgame with my queenside majority.}) 30.
Ba3+) 29. Rxf6 {This wins a piece by force. It turns out, the engine gave me
even higher scores on other moves, but a line like Rxf6 cannot be considered a
mistake :)} Kxf6 (29... Rxf6 30. Qxe5 $18 (30. Bxe5 $4 Kg8)) 30. g4 hxg4 31.
fxg4 Qc6+ 32. Kg3 Rg5 33. Qf4+ {AlexanderL won by resignation. And this win
allowed me to leapfrog my opponent who had 3.5 and put me in a share 1st with
GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy. Not great chess from me, with many tactical mistakes,
but I was happy with my resiliency in this game.} 1-0

[Event "Seattle City Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.01.31"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Ackerman, Ryan"]
[Black "Joshi, Atharva"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1922"]
[BlackElo "1366"]
[Annotator "Ryan Ackerman"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3rr1k1/pb3ppp/1p6/2PnP1q1/1P6/P2Q1P2/1B2N1PP/R4RK1 w - - 0 21"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2021.01.30"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]

{[%evp 0,61,80,88,115,103,175,110,200,176,179,49,357,357,370,372,494,494,479,
502,501,501,593,356,411,333,333,333,402,408,418,359,364,360,356,331,340,359,
377,394,379,315,360,361,538,432,443,325,396,305,419,418,510,517,546,577,596,
605,605,606,646,650,682,682]} {[diagram] Can you find the only move for white
that retains the advantage? My opponent, an up and coming youngster has scored
a draw against Richard Ingram (1880 USCF) in his last round and now he's
poised and ready for a full on assault against me. At a glance, black's
position seems to check all the boxes for having a winning attack. He also has
plenty of time, a little over 29 minutes to potentially score a big upset over
me. My clock reads 27:45 and I felt uncertain. 21. Qb3 Qxe3+ leads to equality.
I spent 11 minutes looking for alternatives.} 21. Bd4 $3 Re6 $5 ({HIARCS
suggests Joshi abandon his kingside attack in favor of controlling the center:
} 21... bxc5 22. bxc5 Nc7 23. Rf2 Rd7 24. f4 Qg4 25. Qc2 Bc6 26. h3 Qh4 27. Rd1
Red8 28. Rff1 $16) 22. Rad1 Rg6 23. Ng3 $5 ({Computer suggests moving the rook
to the second rank and then retreating back to f1. Ah yes, 'twidle my thumbs'
- why, of course! Why didn't I think of that?} 23. Rf2 $1 bxc5 24. bxc5 Nf4 25.
Nxf4 Qxf4 26. Rff1) 23... Re8 24. Rfe1 Nf4 {12 minutes remain on my clock, to
Atharva's 21 minutes. He's begun playing faster, giving me little time to
think during his turns. I imagined that my most likely chance for a win would
be to prompt resignation during an endgame, which I aproximated to be ~25
moves away, so each of my next moves should average at 30 seconds maximum.
Nevertheless I spent 4 minutes and played for the cheapo:} 25. Qc4 $2 {Here he
spent only two minutes, hoping to dismantle my resolve so I'd crack under
pressure.} (25. Qc3 $1 Qh4 26. Bf2 $1 $18) 25... bxc5 $4 (25... Qh4 $3 {
I completely missed this move. Maybe Joshi saw it but I doubt he had much
interest in scanning for bail-out plans.} 26. Re3 Rh6 27. Nf1 $1 Rg6 28. Rd2
Nh3+ 29. Kh1 Nf2+ $10) 26. Be3 $1 {Nope!! Your attack's over now kiddo!} Nh3+
27. gxh3 Qxe5 28. Bf2 Qb8 29. Rxe8+ Qxe8 30. Qxc5 Bxf3 31. Re1 Qd8 32. Qe7 {
Under four minutes remain on my clock, whilst Joshi has nearly 18 minutes. My
adrenaline's pumping. My technique was pretty sloppy, but what matters is that
his attack failed because that makes me happy. Now the fun is all mine.} Qxe7
33. Rxe7 h6 34. Bxa7 Ra6 35. Kf2 Rxa3 36. b5 Bd5 37. b6 Rb3 38. Rd7 Bc6 39. Rd6
Bb7 40. Bb8 Rb2+ 41. Ke3 Rxh2 42. Rd7 Bc6 43. Re7 Rxh3 44. b7 Bxb7 $4 (44... h5
$1 {would've kept matters complicated. I only had 29 seconds and I might've
failed to convert against black's best moves:} 45. Kd4 (45. Bf4 $4 Bxb7 46.
Rxb7 h4 $10) 45... h4 46. Ne4 Rb3 47. Nc5 Rb1 48. Bd6 Rd1+ 49. Ke5 Rd5+ 50. Kf4
Bxb7 51. Nxb7 Rd4+ 52. Ke3 Ra4 53. Nd8 $18) 45. Rxb7 f6 46. Kf4 Rh4+ 47. Kf3
Rh3 48. Kg4 Rh2 49. Nf5 $4 {The computer informed me this a blunder because
it's under the impression I learned how to mate with a bishop and knight, and
can do so with only 41 seconds on my clock. Can you believe that? My goodness
- complete trust! I'm blushing.} Rg2+ 50. Bg3 Rd2 51. Rxg7+ {Black resigned 11
moves later.} 1-0

[Event "Seattle City Championship"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.01.31"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Ackerman, Ryan"]
[Black "Joshi, Atharva"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E38"]
[WhiteElo "1922"]
[BlackElo "1366"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2021.01.30"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[TimeControl "3600+5"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 c5 7. e3 b6 8. Bd3
Bb7 9. f3 Nc6 10. Ne2 cxd4 11. exd4 d5 12. b3 Rc8 13. Bb2 Na5 14. c5 Re8 15. b4
Nc4 16. Bxc4 dxc4 17. Qxc4 Nd5 18. Qd3 Qg5 19. O-O e5 20. dxe5 Rcd8 21. Bd4 Re6
22. Rad1 Rg6 23. Ng3 Re8 24. Rfe1 Nf4 25. Qc4 bxc5 26. Be3 Nh3+ 27. gxh3 Qxe5
28. Bf2 Qb8 29. Rxe8+ Qxe8 30. Qxc5 Bxf3 31. Re1 Qd8 32. Qe7 Qxe7 33. Rxe7 h6
34. Bxa7 Ra6 35. Kf2 Rxa3 36. b5 Bd5 37. b6 Rb3 38. Rd7 Bc6 39. Rd6 Bb7 40. Bb8
Rb2+ 41. Ke3 Rxh2 42. Rd7 Bc6 43. Re7 Rxh3 44. b7 Bxb7 45. Rxb7 f6 46. Kf4 Rh4+
47. Kf3 Rh3 48. Kg4 Rh2 49. Nf5 Rg2+ 50. Bg3 Rd2 51. Rxg7+ Kf8 52. Rh7 Ra2 53.
Nxh6 Ra4+ 54. Bf4 Ra6 55. Nf5 Rc6 56. Bh6+ Ke8 57. Bf4 Rc4 58. Nd6+ Kf8 59.
Nxc4 Kg8 60. Rc7 Kh8 61. Kf5 Kg8 62. Kxf6 {KnackMate won by resignation} 1-0

[Event "Washington President's Cup"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.02.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Lenderman, Aleksandr"]
[Black "Bell, Harry"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2704"]
[BlackElo "2000"]
[Annotator "Aleksandr Lenderman"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2021.02.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[TimeControl "4200+10"]

{[%evp 0,123,19,29,23,12,10,-6,45,42,50,22,28,21,41,29,67,20,18,-16,-9,-25,-4,
-7,-7,-23,27,-394,-408,-421,-407,-465,-312,-327,-319,-318,-330,-328,-330,-364,
-327,-354,-358,-348,-335,-397,-272,-269,-271,-271,-269,-299,-295,-295,-285,
-310,-311,-315,-273,-305,-313,-315,-314,-319,-293,-299,-323,-323,-319,-319,
-328,-319,-330,-366,-298,-310,-292,-293,-309,-317,-322,-328,-292,-297,-301,
-314,-307,-329,-303,-339,-312,-369,-369,-370,-372,-325,-269,-275,-303,-324,
-295,-297,-295,-348,-352,-352,-395,-428,287,320,360,360,360,390,408,381,424,
325,982,1002,1430,29986,29991,29992,29997,29998] In the first round I am
playing a veteran local player, Harry Bell, whom I've played several times
already in the WCF online events. This is my first time playing white against
him.} 1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Qc2 $5 {My opponent is
clearly trying to set up a semi-slav, but he keeps his options open, where he
considers playing e6, as well as e5. Therefore, I also try to play a flexible
move.} (5. d4 e6 {would transpose into semi-slav main lines while}) (5. b3 $6 {
would already be inaccurate due to} e5) 5... e5 (5... e6 {If e6 I wanted to
play b3 where I hold off playing d4 at least for some time.}) 6. cxd5 {Now the
point is, I force him to recapture with the knight.} Nxd5 (6... cxd5 $2 7. Nb5
$1 {is the point} Bc5 8. Nxe5 $18) 7. Bc4 {Now we transposed into a reversed
Taimanov Sicilian where I am probably up at least a tempo since I'm white and
black played a weird move c6 (c3 as white in open sicilians is usually not so
useful).} (7. Be2 {Was also a logical alternative.}) 7... Qc7 $6 {An
interesting move, a move which I didn't consider, but probably should be
inaccurate if I react correctly.} (7... Nb4 $5 {I thought this didn't work due
to Qb3 followed by a3 but the engine finds something brilliant.} 8. Qb1 (8. Qb3
Nd3+ $3 {This move I didn't see. Now I have to play Kf1 since} 9. Bxd3 $2 (9.
Kf1 N7c5 10. Bxf7+ Ke7 11. Qc4 Bf5 $44 {This position is of course very murky.}
) 9... Nc5 {And suddenly black is dominating.}) 8... Nb6 $1 9. Be2 (9. Nxe5 $2
Nxc4 10. Nxc4 Nd3+) 9... Bd6 {with a balanced position}) 8. a3 {I thought for
some time here but didn't find the best way.} (8. O-O Be7 (8... Bd6 9. Ne4 $14)
9. Bxd5 cxd5 10. Qb3 {nets a pawn. I just needed to make sure I would castle
first.}) (8. Bxd5 cxd5 9. Qb3 Nc5 10. Nxd5 Qd6 $44) (8. d4 exd4 9. exd4 Be7 10.
O-O O-O 11. Bd3 N5f6 {Was also promising.} 12. Bg5) 8... Bd6 9. Ba2 $6 (9. Ne4
{This was again, better to at least get two bishops.} Be7 $4 10. Bxd5) 9...
N7f6 10. d4 exd4 11. Nxd5 Nxd5 12. Qe4+ Ne7 {And now I thought I had a clever
trap prepared in case he would go Ne7, but as soon as I played my move I
realized I just made a horrific blunder.} 13. Ng5 $4 (13. Nxd4 $11) 13... Qa5+
{Of course! Wow! Not only will I be down a piece without compensation, but my
position is probably worse on top of that. Here, I seriously contemplated
resigning but for the sake of the readers of the articles I wanted to at least
play some moves and test my opponent's techniques, just in case there will
still be something to learn from this game. Of course, I did not expect to
possibly have any chances to save this game, but in the very endgame, a
miracle happened. This just goes to show that it is important to not only
fight until the end, but never relax until the game is completely over.
Honestly speaking though, I mentally did resign, and was prepared to just be a
good sport about it and was looking forward to after losing this game to give
some lower rateds a chance to play me. I thought, ok that can be a positive
outcome of losing this game. I believe it is important to look for something
positive in anything negative.} 14. Bd2 Qxg5 15. Qxd4 Qe5 16. Bc3 {As much as
I did not want to exchange queens, keep queens can only make my position worse.
In my experience of trying to play piece odds against the engine with let's
say blitz time control, I noticed that some endgames can sometimes be tricky
to win up a piece, so I didn't lose all hope yet in the endgame.} (16. Qd3 Bf5
17. Qe2 Qxb2 {Makes it only much worse.}) 16... Qxd4 17. Bxd4 O-O 18. Rd1 Bc7
19. Ke2 Bf5 20. Rd2 b6 21. Rhd1 Rfd8 22. b4 Be6 {My opponent is playing very
well so far, exchanging pieces, and putting pieces on good squares. I cannot
do much about it since it is an open position.} 23. Bxe6 fxe6 24. e4 Kf7 25. g3
{At least trying to restrict his knight.} e5 26. Bc3 Rxd2+ 27. Rxd2 Ke6 28. f3
Rd8 29. Rc2 {Not yet!} Bd6 30. a4 c5 31. b5 {Cannot allow the knight to c6-d4.}
Bc7 32. Ra2 a6 33. bxa6 Ra8 34. Kd3 Rxa6 35. Kc4 Ra8 36. Kb5 Rd8 {I had to,
otherwise I allow Rd3, or if Kc4, then Nc6-d4.} 37. Rd2 Rxd2 38. Bxd2 Kd7 39.
f4 {Only chance of counterplay now, trying to make a passer on the kingside.}
Nc6 40. Kc4 Ke6 41. f5+ Kd6 42. g4 Nd4 43. h3 Kc6 44. Be3 Bd6 45. g5 b5+ 46.
axb5+ Nxb5 47. h4 Na7 {Now this move, I thought was very odd. Black is still
winning, but why spend 3 tempi to get the knight to b6, when he can play Be7
and Nd6+ where the knight is closer to the kingside, attacks e4, and kicks the
white king out of his post.} (47... Be7 48. Kd3 Nd6 $19 {looked much simpler
to me.}) 48. h5 Nc8 49. g6 {only chance to try to exchange as many pawns as I
can. At this point I was just hoping to somehow get B+N versus king and hoping
he didn't know how to do the mate.} (49. f6 g6) 49... Nb6+ 50. Kd3 hxg6 51.
fxg6 Bf8 52. Bg5 {Last chance. Threatening h6 and Bf6, not that it saves the
game, but at least something for him to think about.} Nd7 53. Kc4 Nf6 $4 {
I couldn't believe my eyes! What was I missing! Now it dawned on me that a
miracle happened. He fell for my only remaining trap in the position, and now
not only am I saving the game, I am actually miraculously even winning! This
is exactly why we should always fight until the end and try to never relax
even when winning.} (53... Kd6 {All black needed to do was to bring the king
to e6 so that the knight on f6 will be protected, and then I can literally
resign, since I am out of any possible remaining tricks.}) 54. h6 {Wow! Just
incredible!} Nxe4 (54... gxh6 {Was also not saving the game.} 55. Bxf6 h5 56.
g7 Bxg7 57. Bxg7 Kd6 58. Bf6 $18) 55. h7 Nxg5 56. h8=Q Ne6 {The problem for
black here is that the g6 pawn is still alive.} 57. Qh1+ Kd7 58. Qe4 Bd6 $6 {
Speeds up the process for me.} (58... Be7 {Was still losing but much more
tenacious. Now I still have to play accurately to win.} 59. Qd3+ $1 {It is
better to disturb black's harmony first.} (59. Qxe5 $6 {I was actually
planning to just take the pawn, but that would be a very bad idea since that
would activate his bishop. and let him park it to f6 where he defends many key
squares and has some chances for a fortress.} Bf6 60. Qd5+ Ke7 61. Qb7+ Kd6 62.
Qf3 {I assume it should still be winning but would definitely take work.})
59... Nd4 (59... Ke8 60. Qf5 Nd8 61. Qxe5) 60. Kd5) 59. Qf5 {Now it is totally
over.} Be7 (59... Ke7 60. Qf7+) 60. Kd5 Bf6 61. Qxe6+ Kd8 62. Kc6 {AlexanderL
won by resignation. I feel terrible for my opponent, but what to do, sometimes
chess can be so cruel to us.} 1-0

[Event "Washington President's Cup"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.02.06"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Guha, Mitrabha"]
[Black "Lenderman, Aleksandr"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A80"]
[WhiteElo "2505"]
[BlackElo "2704"]
[Annotator "Aleksandr Lenderman"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2021.02.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[TimeControl "4200+10"]

{[%evp 0,135,19,31,75,85,71,64,65,18,9,11,22,9,42,0,-7,-8,-11,-16,1,1,-2,-6,14,
9,0,-10,-11,-15,-18,-24,-24,-26,-3,-5,-10,-16,-10,-14,-10,-7,-15,-15,-18,-22,
-9,-13,-9,-13,14,0,0,-16,0,0,0,0,-20,-10,-25,-28,-35,-35,-35,-41,-46,-64,-64,
-61,-65,-55,-33,-36,-27,-78,-66,-69,-30,-48,-46,-53,-43,-72,-71,-70,-70,-122,
-125,-100,-101,-90,-91,-92,-87,-92,-104,-84,-84,-84,-66,-70,-65,-77,-113,-157,
-92,-117,-122,-135,0,0,0,0,-14,-18,-19,-19,-29,-28,-7,-2,-1,-6,-6,-1,0,0,0,0,0,
0,0,0,0,0,0,0] In round two I was playing IM Guha Mitrabha. I wanted a fight
against him, since I have two byes last two rounds. I got a very interesting
fight, and was able to outplay him only to then get unnecessarily cute in the
end.} 1. d4 f5 {Going for a fight. Last time I played a more solid queens
gambit accepted.} 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 d5 4. Bxf6 exf6 5. e3 Be6 6. Bd3 Qd7 7. Nf3
Nc6 8. Ne2 (8. a3) 8... Nb4 {I believe that white didn't play the opening in
the most ambitious way, and I am already totally fine after exchanging his
good bishop.} 9. Nf4 Nxd3+ 10. Qxd3 Bf7 11. h4 h5 {I played this move
automatically, but perhaps it wasn't necessary.} (11... Bd6) 12. O-O-O O-O-O
13. Qc3 Bd6 14. Nd3 b6 15. Kb1 Rhe8 16. a3 Bf8 {Now, for many moves we will
have an even maneuvrening battle.} 17. Nf4 Kb7 18. Rd3 Rc8 19. Qd2 Red8 20. Rd1
a5 21. Rb3 Ra8 22. g3 Rdb8 23. Nd3 (23. Qe2 Kc8 24. Kc1 {Maybe it was time for
white to escape with his king while he can.}) 23... Kc8 24. Rc3 Qe8 25. Qe2 Bd6
26. Nd2 Kd8 {I want to eventually break on the queenside, so I am moving my
king to the kingside, and taking advantage of the closed nature of the
position.} 27. Qf3 g6 28. Nb3 Ke7 29. Nf4 c6 30. Nd3 (30. Nc1) 30... Kf8 31.
Kc1 Rc8 32. Nf4 Kg7 33. Qg2 Qe4 $2 {This was a mistake that wasn't taken
advantage of.} (33... Rab8 34. Nd2 Qd7 {Eventually my plan is Qb7 and b5 and
b4. It is hard for him to play. His queen is also off-side.}) 34. Nd2 $2 {
Missing a good opportunity.} (34. f3 Qe7 35. g4 fxg4 36. fxg4 {creating
counterplay.}) 34... Qxg2 $2 {The engine thinks I shouldn't have traded queens.
} (34... Qe7) 35. Nxg2 c5 36. Rb3 Rab8 37. Nb1 c4 (37... a4 38. Rbd3 c4 39.
R3d2 {looked too drawish to me.}) 38. Rb5 Rd8 $5 {An interesting try.} 39. Nc3
Be8 40. Rxd5 Bc6 {Now, the point of Rd8 was revealed. The d6 bishop is now
protected.} 41. Nf4 $2 {Here, white doesn't choose the best way though.} (41.
Rxd6 Rxd6 42. d5 Bd7 43. a4 b5 44. axb5 Bxb5 45. Rd4 {is decent for white.})
41... Bxd5 42. Ncxd5 Kf7 43. a4 b5 {Of course! Opening up the files for my
rooks since I am up an exchange.} 44. axb5 Rxb5 45. Nc3 Rb7 46. Nfe2 g5 {
Opening up the second front. I need to create a 2nd weakness in order to win.}
(46... Rdb8 47. Na4 {Here, I considered something interesting, but it didn't
work.} Rxb2 48. Nxb2 Ba3 49. Kd2 Bxb2 50. Nc3 {because he is in time to stop a4
}) 47. Rh1 Kg6 48. Na4 Rb4 49. Nec3 f4 50. gxf4 gxf4 51. e4 f3 $1 {Now, I'm
winning.} 52. d5 Bf4+ $6 {Here I started rushing. Very bad rookie mistake. Now
I'm complicating it a bit.} (52... Rg8 53. Rh3 Kf7 54. Rxf3 Rg1+ 55. Kd2 Rh1
$19 {was cleaner.}) 53. Kd1 f5 $6 {natural but why allow counterplay.} (53...
Kf7 54. Rh3 Rg8 55. Rxf3 Rg1+ 56. Ke2 Bd6) 54. Nc5 fxe4 $4 {Looks clever but
getting too cute and based on a serious miscalculation.} (54... Rb6 {this move
should win simply, by stopping Ne6.}) 55. Ne6 Be5 56. Rg1+ $1 {Of course! This
check is very unpleasant since it disturbs my harmony, and I have no good
square for my king.} (56. Nxd8 $2 {would reveal the point of my line.} Bxc3 {
where I win routinely.}) 56... Kf6 {Now I have to unfortunately allow Nxe4
with check.} (56... Kh6 {I think I might've thought this was possible but I
missed a key detail.} 57. Nxd8 Bxc3 58. Nf7+ Kh7 59. Ng5+ {and I cannot escape
perpetual.}) (56... Kf5 $2 {allows a very nasty check.} 57. Rg5+ Kf6 58. Nxe4+)
(56... Kh7 {And I thought maybe I can even do this but ...} 57. Ng5+ {He
doesn't actually have to take the rook and I still don't have a good way to
escape with my king. Very annoying! Knights are very tricky.}) 57. Nxe4+ Kf5
58. Nxd8 Kxe4 59. Nc6 {Now it just leads to a forced draw.} Rxb2 60. Re1+ Kxd5
61. Rxe5+ Kxc6 62. Rxa5 c3 63. Kc1 Rb4 64. Rxh5 Re4 65. Kb1 (65. Kd1 $4 Ra4 $19
{shows that it is still never too late to blunder.}) 65... Rb4+ 66. Kc1 Re4 67.
Kb1 Rb4+ (67... Re2 68. Rf5 Rxf2 69. h5 {Is also draw, but here, I have to
fight for it.}) 68. Kc1 {Game drawn by repetition. I guess compensation for my
luck first game :) Anyway, a fun up and down game, and definitely very
instructive.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Washington President's Cup"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.02.06"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Lenderman, Aleksandr"]
[Black "Talukdar, Rohan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A15"]
[WhiteElo "2704"]
[BlackElo "2400"]
[Annotator "Aleksandr Lenderman"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2021.02.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[TimeControl "4200+10"]

{[%evp 0,79,19,29,18,2,61,-12,-2,-5,38,-1,11,3,0,22,24,13,16,29,32,26,16,11,32,
28,34,28,45,25,12,15,39,14,15,25,43,37,39,25,59,60,60,54,56,55,65,69,70,75,123,
133,143,139,148,156,154,158,157,154,159,178,172,102,111,113,133,131,207,209,
481,487,513,484,513,535,558,558,779,786,796,821] My round 3 game was against
Rohan Talukdar, another frequent opponent as of late for me in online events.} 
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. b4 {So far I've changed what I played against him every
single time to keep him guessing, and this game isn't any different. I decided
to try out this rare system against the Grunfeld, which can be similar to the
reversed system, Nf3 Nf6 g3 b5 for black, which I consider quite reputable and
under-rated.} a5 4. b5 c6 5. a4 Bg7 6. Bb2 {Natural, but actually, maybe it
was better to start with d4, e3, Be2, 0-0, and leave some flexibility for the
c1 bishop to potentially go to a3 in some cases.} O-O 7. e3 d5 8. cxd5 cxd5 9.
Be2 Bg4 10. O-O Nbd7 11. d4 Ne4 (11... Nb6 $11 {This was also natural. The way
I played probably should not cause too much problems to black.}) 12. Nc3 Nxc3
13. Bxc3 Qc7 {Not sure if it was a good idea to put the queen on a file where
I can put the rook.} (13... Nb6) 14. Qb3 Rfc8 15. Rfc1 e6 16. Bd2 Qd8 17. h3
Bxf3 18. Bxf3 Bf8 $6 {This is inaccurate though, since it loses control of the
d4 pawn, and gives me a chance to get some initiative. Still nothing that
special, but at least it's something.} (18... Rxc1+ 19. Rxc1 Nb6 20. Be2 Bf8
$11 {should still be equal.}) 19. e4 $1 {I don't miss my chance!} Nf6 (19...
Nb6 20. Rxc8 (20. exd5 Rxc1+ 21. Rxc1 exd5 $14 {Black should be able to hold
this. However, at least, here the d5 pawn can be a long-term weakness.}) 20...
Rxc8 21. Bxa5 dxe4 22. Bxe4 Qxd4 {Was still fine for black but it's a bit more
double-edged.}) 20. Bg5 $5 {The most ambitious move but maybe not best.} (20.
exd5) (20. e5 {both secured some small edge. I guess I wanted more though.})
20... dxe4 21. Bxe4 Rxc1+ 22. Rxc1 Bh6 $2 {And here comes his decisive mistake.
Giving up such a bishop and weakening the dark squares turns out to be deadly
for black.} (22... h6 23. Bxf6 Qxf6 24. Bxb7 Rb8 25. Bf3 Qxd4 {And black has
good chances of holding with a very good blockade on the b6 square.}) 23. Bxh6
Nxe4 24. Qe3 {Here I was already choosing between several pleasant options.}
Qd5 25. Rc7 Nd6 26. Rd7 {Once again, the simplest. Black has to play Nf5 due
to a deadly Qf4 threat, but I assessed the endgame as completely lost.} Nf5 27.
Rxd5 Nxe3 28. Rd7 Nd5 (28... Nf5 29. Bg5 b6 30. g4 Ng7 31. Rd8+ {Definitely
didn't offer saving chances.}) 29. Rxb7 Nc3 30. b6 Nxa4 31. d5 {Freeing the e3
square for the bishop to defend b6. Black will be forced to lose the knight
now.} exd5 32. Be3 g5 33. Bd4 f6 $6 (33... Nxb6 34. Rxb6 (34. Bxb6 a4 35. Ra7
Rxa7 36. Bxa7 a3 37. Bd4 {My gut tells me, this should be winning for white
too.}) 34... a4 {Was relatively best but should be hopeless in the long run.})
34. Bxf6 Rc8 35. Rg7+ Kf8 36. b7 Rc1+ 37. Kh2 Rb1 38. Rc7 h6 39. Bd4 Ke8 40.
Rc8+ {AlexanderL won by resignation. My cleanest game for today, with some
help by my opponent.} 1-0

[Event "Washington President's Cup"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.02.06"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Levine, Joseph"]
[Black "Shahinyan, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2179"]
[BlackElo "2578"]
[Annotator "Ralph Dubisch"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2021.02.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[TimeControl "4200+10"]

{[%evp 0,74,19,38,75,73,88,70,112,108,83,78,80,62,75,56,73,47,48,33,32,-10,-6,
-6,-7,-23,0,-30,0,4,0,-14,30,33,32,32,32,35,52,42,40,43,130,170,170,175,144,
138,129,122,122,101,98,102,102,69,62,55,61,74,61,59,63,68,61,55,60,44,34,30,96,
114,105,101,101,101,174]} 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 (2... e5 3. Nf3 ({Or} 3. dxe5 dxe5
4. Qxd8+ Kxd8 5. Bc4 Be6 6. Bxe6 fxe6 7. Be3 Nf6 8. f3 Nbd7 9. Nd2 Bc5 10. Bxc5
Nxc5 11. Nc4 Ncd7 12. Nh3 Ke7 13. Nf2 $16 {and Black must find something to do
about the unpleasant threat of Nd3. White has benefited from the flexibility
to develop the b1-knight to d2 and c4.}) 3... exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 (5. f3 $5
) 5... Be7 6. Bf4 O-O 7. Qd2 Nc6 8. O-O-O Nxd4 9. Qxd4 Be6 10. f3 $14) 3. Nc3
e5 4. dxe5 ({If you're familiar with the Philidor, there's a direct
transposition into the main lines.} 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. a4 c6
{, for example.}) 4... dxe5 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8 6. Bg5 (6. Bc4 Be6 (6... Ke8 7. Nf3
Bd6 8. Bg5 Nbd7 9. O-O-O a6 10. a4 h6 11. Bh4 Kf8 $14 {is another way to go,
with lots of alternatives along the route, but even here there's plenty of
play left for everybody.}) 7. Bxe6 fxe6 8. f3 Bd6 9. Be3 Ke7 10. O-O-O Nc6 11.
Nge2 {. Sure, Black has doubled isolated e-pawns, but they're devilishly
difficult to attack. Black's position is a hard rock to break.}) 6... Be6 7.
Nf3 $6 (7. O-O-O+ {intending 8.f4 against, well, almost any rational reply,
looks like a better chance for advantage.}) 7... Bd6 8. O-O-O Nbd7 9. Bb5 Kc8
10. Rd2 (10. Bxf6 Nxf6 11. Ng5 {is probably equal.}) 10... a6 (10... Bb4 {
is slightly uncomfortable to meet.}) 11. Bxd7+ Nxd7 12. a3 (12. Be3 {keeps an
eye on b6, in case a knight happens to transit through there.}) 12... b5 (12...
Nb6 $5) 13. Rhd1 Kb7 (13... Nb6 {again. I'd probably call this a small edge
for Black, due to the excellent semi-outpost on c4 and the bishop-pair.
White's doubled d-file rooks and d5-square offer some hope, though. Black's
king requires only one move to reach a reasonable safe haven.}) 14. Be3 f6 15.
Nd5 Nc5 $2 (15... Rhd8 {. Black is fine.}) 16. Nxc7 $1 Nb3+ 17. cxb3 Bxc7 18.
Rd3 a5 19. Kb1 Rhc8 (19... Rhd8 $14) 20. Ne1 Bd8 $2 (20... a4 $14) 21. Rd6 $1
Bxb3 22. Rd7+ Bc7 23. Rc1 Bc4 24. a4 Ra6 25. Rxg7 Rc6 26. axb5 Bxb5 27. Rxc6 (
27. Rxh7 $5 $16) 27... Bxc6 28. f3 Rd8 29. Kc2 Rd7 30. Rxd7 Bxd7 31. Nd3 Bb5
32. g4 Kc6 33. g5 fxg5 34. Bxg5 Bxd3+ $6 ({Gives up the bishop-pair
unnecessarily.} 34... Kd7 {, using the bishops to prevent inroads on the
queenside while bringing the king to the side where White has an extra pawn,
should hold.}) 35. Kxd3 Kb5 36. b3 Bd6 37. Bd2 Bb4 $2 ({Black's entire
exchanging strategy in this endgame is erroneous.} 37... Bc7 {, while perhaps
not holding out forever, at least has the benefit of not losing immediately.})
38. Bxb4 Kxb4 39. f4 $1 {Of course. White wins.} exf4 40. e5 f3 41. e6 f2 42.
Ke2 1-0

[Event "67th US Open"]
[Site "Seattle, WA"]
[Date "1966.08.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Peter Cleghorn"]
[Black "Pal Benko"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A02"]
[Annotator "Daniel Shubin"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "1966.??.??"]

{[%evp 0,115,17,-24,-33,-25,-20,-35,-50,-31,-39,-26,-28,-2,-21,-22,-28,-25,-5,
-6,-1,-8,18,17,-11,-68,-55,-90,15,15,-38,-75,-63,-70,-61,-73,-87,-65,-46,-43,
-43,-42,-30,-83,-112,-93,-158,-158,-134,-134,2,0,0,-22,0,-50,74,0,0,0,0,18,6,0,
8,26,104,119,312,138,124,80,85,29,17,0,154,165,188,146,260,176,185,164,168,168,
146,146,128,98,180,123,110,108,125,81,117,125,125,117,45,9,9,3,47,6,288,373,
606,622,1151,1065,1279,1351,1779,2169,1891,2507]} 1. f4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7
4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O c5 6. d3 d5 {Bird's Opening with d5} 7. Nc3 d4 8. Na4 Nfd7 9.
c4 a6 $5 {better might have been:} (9... Na6 10. Bd2 Rb8 11. Qc2 (11. e4 dxe3
12. Bxe3 b5 13. cxb5 Rxb5) 11... Nf6 12. a3 Qc7 13. Rab1 Ng4 14. Ng5 Rd8 $11)
10. Ng5 {[#]} Ra7 11. Ne4 Qc7 12. f5 (12. Bd2 $5 {develop before you attack.
This way white can bring in the rook if it is ever needed....}) 12... b5 13.
Bf4 Ne5 (13... Be5 14. cxb5 axb5 15. Naxc5 Nxc5 16. Rc1 Bxf4 17. gxf4 Nba6 18.
b4 Bxf5 19. Nxc5 Nxc5 20. Rxc5 Qd6 $15) 14. fxg6 bxa4 (14... hxg6 15. cxb5 axb5
16. Naxc5 Nbd7) 15. Bxe5 Qxe5 16. gxf7+ Rxf7 17. Rxf7 Kxf7 {[#] black is up a
bishop for a pawn. However, their king is unsafe and white are ready to pounce
on that.} 18. Qxa4 Bf5 (18... Bb7 19. Rf1+ $140 Bf6 20. Qa5 Nd7 21. Qd8 $44)
19. Rf1 Bf6 20. Qa5 (20. b4 cxb4 21. Nxf6 exf6 22. Qxb4 Nd7 23. Rf4 Rc7 24.
Bd5+ Ke8) 20... Nd7 21. Qd8 Kg7 22. Rf4 e6 $19 23. Qc8 Qc7 (23... Be7 24. Bf3
Nf8 25. Bh1 {white is out of moves while black slowly improves.}) 24. Qe8 {[#]}
Ne5 $4 (24... Qb6 25. Qh5 Bg6 26. Qg4 h5 27. Qh3 Be7) 25. Nxf6 Kxf6 26. Qh8+
Kg6 27. Be4 (27. Qg8+ Qg7 28. Qc8 {Attacking all the weak pawns and black
cannot defend them or they will risk a repetition.}) 27... Qg7 28. Qe8+ Kg5 29.
Qc8 Nd7 30. Qc6 Qg6 31. Qd6 h5 32. Bc6 Nf6 $4 (32... Qf7 33. b4 cxb4 (33... Qf8
34. bxc5 Qxd6 35. cxd6 $11) 34. Qxd4) 33. Qxc5 Rc7 $4 {Two mistakes in a row
from Benko??} 34. Rxd4 (34. e4 dxe3 35. Qxe3 Rxc6 (35... Kh6 36. Rg4+ $14) 36.
Re4# (36. Rh4#) (36. Rd4#)) 34... Kh6 35. Qf8+ Rg7 36. Bf3 (36. Rf4 {with the
idea of e4!}) 36... Qg5 37. Kf2 Ng4+ 38. Bxg4 hxg4 39. Rd7 Bh7 40. Qxg7+ Qxg7
41. Rxg7 Kxg7 {endgame with 4 pawns for a bishop (with the correct technique
it should be winning) [#]} 42. Ke3 e5 43. d4 Kf6 44. d5 Bg8 45. Kd3 Bh7+ 46. e4
Ke7 47. c5 a5 48. b3 {b3, a3, b4.} (48. a3 a4 {One pawn holds two rule.}) 48...
Bg8 49. Kc4 Bh7 50. Kd3 Kd8 51. a3 Bg6 52. b4 Be8 53. Kc4 axb4 54. axb4 Ba4 (
54... Bg6 55. b5 Bxe4 56. c6 Bg6 57. Kc5 Be8 58. d6) 55. b5 Kc8 56. c6 Bc2 57.
Kc5 Bxe4 58. b6 {The pawns are unstoppable.} 1-0

[Event "67th US Open"]
[Site "Seattle, WA USA"]
[Date "1966.08.23"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Leroy Jackson"]
[Black "Edward W Formanek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C14"]
[Annotator "Daniel Shubin"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "1966.??.??"]

{[%evp 0,51,25,11,43,23,44,33,58,40,32,36,40,22,22,21,14,11,8,3,77,17,58,54,34,
25,-2,-27,-15,-141,-177,-61,-18,0,0,0,-9,4,5,-11,-1,12,49,-9,-36,-39,285,406,
436,456,551,548,29989,29990]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 {French Defense} Nf6 {
Other Possible Opening Lines:} (3... Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7.
Qg4 Qc7 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 cxd4 10. Ne2 Nbc6 11. Qd3 dxc3 12. Nxc3) (3... dxe4
4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Bd3 c5 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. O-O O-O) 4. Bg5
Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4 O-O 8. Nf3 c5 9. Bd3 {Regular Opening
Preperation} f5 $6 {Potential weakness if white castles queenside and go g4...}
10. O-O (10. Qd2 Nc6 11. O-O-O cxd4 12. Nb5 $14 {with Nd6 / Nxd4}) 10... Nc6
11. Nb5 a6 12. Nd6 cxd4 13. Kh1 $2 {maybe with the idea of going Rh1, g4.
Instead I would think about playing slowly...} (13. a3 $5 {limit opponents
moves...} h6 14. Qd2 g5 (14... Nc5 15. b4 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 {and pawn on d4 falls})
15. fxg5 hxg5 16. Qxg5+ Qxg5 17. Nxg5 $36) 13... Nc5 14. g4 $2 fxg4 15. Bxh7+
Kxh7 16. Ng5+ Kg8 17. Qxg4 g6 18. Rf3 Rf5 $4 (18... Qg7 19. Rh3 Ne4 20. Rh7 $4
(20. Ngxe4 dxe4 {The attack has vanished and black is just up a piece.}) 20...
Nf2+) 19. Nxf5 (19. Rh3 Bd7 20. Rh7 $4 (20. Nxf5 exf5 21. Qh4 Qg7 22. Nh7 $13 {
and Nf6 coming.}) 20... Rxg5 21. fxg5 Kxh7) 19... exf5 20. Qg2 Ne6 21. Rg1 Nxg5
22. Rg3 Qe6 $4 (22... Qh7 23. Rxg5 Ne7 24. Qd2 Be6 25. Qxd4 Kf7 26. b3) 23.
Rxg5 Ne7 24. Qh3 Bd7 25. Rh5 Rf8 26. Rh7 {Black Resigned. Might have continued
with:} a5 27. Qh6 Qxe5 28. fxe5 Rf7 29. Rh8# 1-0

