[Event "71st Oregon Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.09.05"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Anoop, Pranav K."]
[Black "Cigan, Jason"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B86"]
[WhiteElo "1956"]
[BlackElo "2184"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

{[%evp 0,78,19,38,40,41,66,66,57,33,33,27,50,33,68,40,35,22,14,9,25,32,36,33,
53,47,62,36,63,29,42,50,57,37,16,22,70,73,175,85,132,55,176,69,66,35,35,107,63,
38,44,30,11,-2,2,-1,41,48,63,59,75,82,103,144,174,202,151,159,176,176,237,215,
284,241,407,365,757,492,507,507,489]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 Be7 {A normal looking development move, but
actually less popular than} (7... b5 {and}) (7... Nbd7 {, moves that were
played by Garry Kasparov in his 1993 World Championship match against Nigel
Short.}) 8. g4 {Looks exotic, but it is the third most popular choice in this
position and scores 71%. Pranav appears to have done his research.} h6 9. Be3
b5 10. f3 b4 11. Nce2 {It looks safer to move the knight to the center instead
of the wing, but this isn't a safety-first position.} (11. Na4 {is often the
best way to play these Sozin positions when Black plays an early b7-b5-b4 to
attack White's Knight on c3. But if you choose to play your knight to a4, you
better have a plan to save it after} Bd7 {Here is one approach:} 12. Qd2 $14
Qa5 $2 {White's Knight on a4 has no escape squares, but} 13. a3 $16 ({or the
messier} 13. Nb6 $5 Qxb6 14. Nxe6) 13... Bxa4 $2 14. axb4) 11... Bd7 12. Qd2 a5
{Jason has taken advantage of the less agressive 11.Nce2 to reach a rough
equality. His queenside counterplay is well underway, discouraging White from
castling in that direction. But his pawn on h6 means it will be dangerous for
him to castle kingside, as White will be able to crack open Black's kingside
with pawn advances. Both kings are more comfortable in the center for the time
being.} 13. c3 Na6 14. Kf1 $5 {This seems to be the fashionable way for White
to play open Sicilians these days, as also seen on move 20 of the game between
Shunkai Peng and Daniel Daza on page xxx of this issue. Maybe Pranav and
Shunkai have been playing Vladimir Kramnik's "No-Castling Chess" in their
training games :-) https://chessbase.in/news/
No-Castling-Chess-Vladimir-Kramnik-proposes-an-exciting-variant-} bxc3 15. Nxc3
Nc5 16. Bc2 Rb8 17. Rb1 Qb6 $6 {This looks like a normal Sicilian move, but
Stockfish says that this is when Black's game starts to go downhill.} ({
Stockfish suggests putting up a barrier to White's Kingside pawn advances with
the decentralizing} 17... Nh7) 18. Kg2 Bc8 $2 {Preparing for White's Kingside
pawn storm by creating a retreat square for the Knight on f6, but it doesn't
quite work.} ({White is preparing a kingside attack, but perhaps Black can
survive castling into it.} 18... O-O 19. h4 Qb7 {removing the indirect attack
from White's bishop on Black's Queen, and adding an indirect attack from
Black's queen to White's king} 20. g5 Nh5 ({Not} 20... hxg5 $2 21. hxg5 Nh7 22.
e5) 21. gxh6 g6) 19. h4 $16 {This is a good move} ({Alternatively, Stockfish
suggests driving Black's knight on c5 back with} 19. a3 $1 $18 Z0 20. b4 $140)
19... Nfd7 20. g5 h5 21. g6 (21. a3 $1) 21... Ne5 22. gxf7+ Kxf7 23. b3 Bd7 24.
Rbd1 Rbf8 25. Nce2 Qd8 26. Bg5 Bxg5 $6 (26... Kg8 $14) 27. hxg5 g6 28. a3 $1 {
Pranav initiates the plan that Stockfish has been screaming for since move 19}
Kg7 29. b4 $1 {As a Sicilian player I would be hoping that my well-placed
knight on e5 would provide sufficient counterplay. Back in the real world,
White is winning} axb4 30. axb4 Nb7 31. Bb3 $1 Qe7 32. Ra1 Ra8 33. Rhc1 Rxa1
34. Rxa1 h4 35. Ra7 h3+ 36. Kh1 Nd8 37. Nf4 Ndc6 38. Nfxe6+ Kh7 39. Nxc6 Nxc6 (
{A possible continuation is} 39... Nxc6 40. Rc7 Ne5 41. Qf4 Nf7 42. b5 {
and Black is too tied up to defend against both White's kingside attack and
the advance of the b-pawn}) 1-0

[Event "71st Oregon Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.09.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Anoop, Pranav K."]
[Black "Tang, Zoey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B89"]
[WhiteElo "1956"]
[BlackElo "2201"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

{[%evp 0,120,20,20,52,36,61,53,48,27,27,46,47,35,71,40,78,15,41,31,38,18,9,-10,
-17,-27,-62,-88,35,44,44,49,38,45,45,45,34,31,36,27,19,24,40,40,48,20,78,13,8,
25,28,-94,-77,-87,-85,-92,-80,-81,-83,-80,-98,-91,-79,-84,-84,-76,-47,-55,-49,
-52,-10,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,93,65,124,132,176,189,200,161,194,108,116,127,
127,108,112,112,138,104,54,0,112,123,123,100,100,100,100,40,40,0,0,0,40,0,0,0,
0,0,0,0,0]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bc4 e6 7.
Be3 a6 8. Qe2 Qc7 9. Bb3 Be7 10. O-O-O O-O {It is great to see young players
choose the Velimirovic Attack, a wild line that was popular in the 1970s, but
seems to have died out. Is it because White is playing 6.Bg5 instead of 6.Bc4
these days, to claim a clearer theoretical advantage? Is Black ducking these
complications by playing the Benko variation 6...Qb6? Or have computers
rendered an objective verdict on what once seemed to be unfathomable
complications, and that verdict is common knowledge in the 2700 club?} 11. Rhg1
({Back in the 1970s, the main choice was between Pranav's move and} 11. g4) ({
Velimirovic himself won a nice game against Csom in 1974 with} 11. Kb1 b5 12.
Nxc6 Qxc6 13. Bd4 Bb7 14. Rhe1 Qc7 15. a3 Rac8 16. f4 e5 17. fxe5 dxe5 18. Nd5
Bxd5 19. exd5 exd4 20. Qxe7 Qxh2 21. d6 Rce8 22. Bxf7+ Rxf7 23. Qxe8+ Nxe8 24.
Rxe8+ Rf8 25. d7 Qd6 26. Rf1 {1-0 (26) Velimirovic,D-Csom,I Amsterdam 1974})
11... b5 12. g4 b4 13. Nxc6 bxc3 ({The old main line goes} 13... Qxc6 14. Nd5
$1 exd5 ({Black can bail out with} 14... Nxd5 $5 15. exd5 Qb7 ({or} 15... Qc7))
15. g5 Nxe4 16. Bxd5 Qa4 17. Bxe4 Be6 18. Bd4 {when White's winning attacking
chances are objectively stronger than Black's, but neither side has much room
for error.}) 14. Nxe7+ Qxe7 15. Bd4 cxb2+ 16. Bxb2 Bb7 17. f3 (17. e5 {is the
engine choice, but has lead to draws in the two games where it has been played,
including one by Chess Life columnist Andy Soltis in 1989.}) 17... a5 18. Ba3
Rfd8 19. g5 (19. e5 {is tempting, but} Nd5 20. exd6 Qf6 {gives Black plenty of
hope for the pawn investment.}) 19... Nh5 {keeps the knight active, but allows
White to win the pawn on d6 for insufficient compensation.} (19... Ne8 $1) 20.
e5 $1 Qc7 21. exd6 Qc3 22. Bb2 Nf4 23. Qc4 (23. Qd2 $1 {At first I thought
this was an obvious try, but the more I investigated it, the more I realized
its strength depends on deep engine analysis} Qxd2+ 24. Rxd2 Rxd6 25. Rxd6 Ne2+
26. Kd2 Nxg1 27. Ke3 $18 {White has the two bishops, a passed pawn, and
Black's knight is far away from the action.} Nxf3 $6 {seems like Black has
chances, but after} 28. Rb6 Ra7 29. Bc4 (29. Rxb7 $4 Rxb7 30. Kxf3 a4) 29...
Nxh2 (29... Nxg5 30. Be5 $1 Z0 {threatens} 31. Bb8)) 23... Qe3+ $1 {White is
still a little better, but Zoey finds the move that gives Pranav the most
problems to solve} 24. Kb1 Bd5 25. Qd4 ({And now the unintuitive} 25. Qa4 {
is the only way to maintain White's edge.}) 25... Qxd4 26. Bxd4 Bxf3 $15 {
Still a wild position, but now Zoey is the player with an edge. It is Pranav's
turn to face the responsibility of finding accurate defensive moves.} 27. Rd2
Rxd6 28. Rf1 Ne2 29. Rxf3 (29. Be3 {keeps Black's edge to a minimum by
retaining both Bishops.}) 29... Nxd4 $17 30. Rfd3 Nxb3 31. axb3 Rxd3 32. Rxd3
g6 (32... h6 33. gxh6 (33. h4 hxg5 34. hxg5 Kh7 {and Black will be able to
harass the pawn on g5 with her king.}) 33... gxh6 {and Black's connected
passed pawns are the most important aspect of the position.}) 33. c4 $11 Kf8
34. Rd7 Rc8 35. Kc2 Rc5 36. h4 Rf5 37. Ra7 Kg7 38. Kc3 h6 39. gxh6+ Kxh6 40.
Kd4 Rf3 ({Stockfish says} 40... Rf4+ 41. Ke5 Rxh4 {is equal} 42. Rxf7 (42. c5
Rh5+ 43. Kd4 e5+ {looks complex to me, but Stockfish says White and Black both
have the draw well in hand.}) (42. Rxa5 $4 Rh5+) 42... a4 {and pawns are
disappearing from the board.}) 41. c5 Rxb3 42. c6 Rb4+ (42... Rb8 $1 $11) 43.
Kc5 Rxh4 44. Rxa5 (44. Rxf7 $1 {Still too much for humans to calculate, but
White has chances to win Black's rook for the c-pawn, and round up Black's
three isolated pawns.}) 44... Rh1 (44... Kg5 $1 {to prevent Black's king from
being cut-off on the third rank and struggling to help the pawns advance.}) 45.
Ra4 ({White can win with} 45. c7 Rc1+ 46. Kd6 Rxc7 (46... Kg7 47. Rc5) 47. Kxc7
{and Stockfish says Black's pawns are too slow without the king to help them
advance, though it isn't obvious to me at this point.}) 45... Kg5 {While is
still looks unclear to me, Stockfish assures me that it is clearly drawn the
rest of the way.} 46. c7 Rh8 47. Kd6 Kf5 48. Rc4 e5 49. c8=Q+ Rxc8 50. Rxc8 e4
51. Kd5 Kf4 52. Kd4 f5 53. Rc1 Kf3 $1 {The only move that draws.} (53... e3 $2
54. Rf1+ Kg3 55. Kxe3) (53... Kg5 $2 54. Ke5 Kg4 {And} 55. Rc3 $1 {is
inexplicably the only winning move.} (55. Rg1+ Kf3 56. Rxg6 e3 57. Kxf5 e2 $11)
) 54. Rf1+ Ke2 55. Rg1 e3 56. Rxg6 f4 57. Ke4 Kf2 58. Kxf4 e2 59. Re6 e1=Q 60.
Rxe1 Kxe1 1/2-1/2

[Event "71st Oregon Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.09.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Anoop, Pranav K."]
[Black "Raptis, Nick"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C14"]
[WhiteElo "1956"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

{[%evp 0,51,19,38,30,51,38,32,53,33,48,53,54,37,61,-32,-29,-61,-57,-138,48,58,
12,0,40,37,41,-35,8,-31,8,10,30,45,66,92,84,66,147,127,148,60,189,0,223,108,
646,811,1127,1133,1169,1183,29999,-30000]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5
Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. h4 O-O {This might look like castling into the attack, but
Vicktor Moskalenko recommends it in "The Even More Flexible French" and it
scores better than the four most popular moves} (6... a6) (6... Bxg5) (6... h6)
(6... c5) 7. Bd3 c5 8. Qh5 g6 9. Qh6 {Uh, maybe Grandmaster Moskalenko mislead
us about this line, as Stockfish 14 hates black's position. Or perhaps engines
didn't hate the position as much back in 2015 when he wrote the book.
Stockfish waits until it gets to a depth of about 28 or so before it develops
a deep hatred. I wonder if Moskalenko's new book "The Fully-Fledged French"
has anything to say about this position.  Anyway Pranav has a nearly winning
advantage. He plays steady chess the rest of the way, and Nick can't get out
of the hole that Moskalenko dug for him. (Disclaimer - I have no idea whether
Nick actually reads Moskalenko chess books)} Re8 10. Bxe7 Rxe7 11. h5 Qf8 12.
hxg6 fxg6 13. Qg5 Nc6 14. f4 cxd4 15. Nce2 Rg7 16. O-O-O Qb4 17. Nf3 Nc5 18.
Nexd4 Na4 (18... Nxd4 $2 19. Qd8+ Kf7 20. Ng5#) (18... Bd7 {is best, but White
still has a big advantage.}) 19. Nb3 Bd7 20. Rh4 Qb6 21. Rdh1 Be8 22. f5 gxf5
23. Rxh7 $1 Rxg5 24. Rh8+ Kf7 25. Nxg5+ Kg6 26. Rg8# 1-0

[Event "71st Oregon Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.09.06"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Baxter, Brent "]
[Black "Murray, Dave"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A15"]
[WhiteElo "1892"]
[BlackElo "1854"]
[Annotator "Murray,David"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

1. b3 {and I was out of book. In this last-round game, Brent had 4.5 points
and only needed to draw to tie for first in the U2000. I had 4.0 and a strong
desire to win. I decided to go all-in on a King's Indian Defense setup and ...
f5 plan that leads to unbalanced, attacking positions.} e5 2. Bb2 d6 3. c4 Nf6
4. Nc3 g6 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. d3 Ne8 {Non-subtley intending ...
f5. Surpising me, the position up to 8. d3 is in my database a number of times,
including in three top games. Those top players normally play ... Nh5 with the
same idea of ... f5 and ... g5.} 9. O-O Bg4 $6 $14 {with the idea of capturing
on f3 to remove a defender and create one more imbalance. I was doing this for
the sake of creating an imbalance without regard to whether it would be
favorable for me.} 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 f5 {The top engine suggestions are 12.
b4, 12. a3, and 12. Rb1. The idea might be to crash through on the queenside
faster in King's Indian style.} 12. Bd5+ Kh8 13. f4 $6 $15 {and now Black is
slightly better} exf4 14. Rxf4 Be5 15. Qd2 {daring Black to capture. But
White's prospects after 15. ... Bxf4 16. Qxf4 looked dangerous, and I wanted
to keep the game complicated.} Ng7 {The move I wanted to play was 15. ... Qg5.
But thinking hard for my opponent, I spotted 16. Ne4, where 16. ... fxe4??
would lose to 17. Rxf8. This is next-level thinking: you need to think for
yourself, think for your opponent, and think for the person playing on the
board next to you. (Next-next-level thinking is realizing that 15. ... Qg5 16.
Ne4 Qe7 is good for Black, who got to play ... Qe7 for free after the knight
retreats.). The idea of 15. ... Ng7 is to solve the problem after 15. ... Qg5
16. Ne4, since the f8-rook would be protected.} 16. Raf1 {and now 16. ... Qg5
17. Ne4 fxe4 loses again, since White captures twice on f8. Black has better
than 17. ... fxe4, but this was what I was concerned with over the board} Bxf4
17. Rxf4 Qg5 $2 18. Ne4 $1 $16 {Wait... Ne4 was still a threat?! Now the point
is that ... exf4 fails to Rxf8+ and Qxg5. And for the first time, White is
better after a retreat like ... Qe7, since he has a resource to come...} Qe7
19. Rh4 $1 {The only move that keeps an advantage. Now 19. ... exf4 20. Qh6 is
lights out.} Ne5 {An only move.} (19... Qxh4 20. gxh4 fxe4 {was considered.
Stockfish gives White +5.5, so I'm glad it was rejected. White's bishops are
too strong for Black to survive.}) 20. Ng5 Nh5 21. Bf3 f4 {One of two viable
moves, along with 21. ... Nf6. I saw one of the tactical points and found out
about the other when it appeared.} 22. gxf4 Rxf4 {What I saw when I played ...
f4 is that 23. Rxf4 loses to 23. ... Qxg5+. And surely White doesn't have
anything better, so...} 23. Rxh5 $1 {The only move for White! Now he will have
two pieces for the rook and will be winning...} gxh5 24. Qxf4 Rg8 {The other
tactical point of 21. ... f4. Now Black will win the piece back and nothing
exciting will happen again...} 25. h4 $17 h6 26. Bd5 Rg7 $2 $18 {Black had to
play 26. ... hxg6, when I didn't see a way to meet 27. Qf3 (27. ... g4 28. Qf5)
. If you like computer lines, Black had 27. Qf3 gxh4+ 28. Bxg8 Qg7+! 29. Kf2
Nxf3 30. Bxg7+ Kxg8 with a slight edge in the knight vs. bishop endgame.} 27.
Qf5 $1 {The best move by far, after which I spent about 20 minutes deciding
between 27. ... Qe8 and 27. ... Qd8. As a diversion, I started wondering
whether I was a character in a movie about Brent or he was a character in mine.
After all of these resources, I also felt a sense of peace about any outcome
of the game: I don't expect myself to see this many gotchas ahead of time.} Qd8
{Best, but White is still clearly better if he finds one more only move.} 28.
d4 $2 $14 {Instead he played the move I had calculated to be best, when I got
to show the idea that had escaped me for most of the 20 minute think.} (28. Bc1
$18 {continues to press.}) 28... Nd7 $11 {The only place to put the knight. 28.
... Nc6 allows 29. Bxc6 with tempo and then 30. d4.28. ... Ng6 breaks the pin
on the g-file so 29. Nf7+ is possible. The idea is to move the knight back to
e5 whenever d4-d5 is played.} 29. Be6 hxg5 30. Bxd7 $2 $19 ({Amazingly,
White's best is to let Black capture ... gxh4+ and put his king on h2. Black
has no way to proceed with the attack, and neither does White. For example:} 
30. d5 Ne5 31. c5 gxh4+ 32. Kh2 Rg5 33. Qf7 {[%eval 0,0] is}) 30... gxh4+ 31.
Kh1 Qxd7 {And I was surprised to learn that I was winning. 32. d5 is obviously
not possible because the queen on f5 is hanging.} 32. Qxh5+ Kg8 33. Qd5+ Qf7
34. Kh2 Qxd5 {For full disclosure I first played 34. ... Qf2+!! and was shown
that it was illegal.} 35. cxd5 Re7 {I managed to steer the game toward
complications and Brent did an amazing job finding resources and securing a
winning position after a positional exchange sac. I solved just enough of the
problems he posed and was lucky that he misstepped once, which is the game
that we inexplicably play.} 0-1

[Event "71st Oregon Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.09.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Benaid, Henry"]
[Black "Russell, Corey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D04"]
[WhiteElo "1591"]
[BlackElo "2204"]
[Annotator "Russell,Corey"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

{[%evp 11,100,-14,16,-11,4,5,5,-6,-6,-2,-2,-2,4,-23,-25,-31,-31,-53,-53,-53,
-16,-58,-54,-64,-30,-30,-30,-26,-26,-59,167,-54,31,-51,-40,-57,-42,-166,-78,
-78,-92,-92,0,-245,-245,-245,-138,-265,-265,-330,-330,-330,-277,-368,-368,-368,
-368,-392,-375,-415,-368,-368,-368,-409,-401,-481,-397,-546,-470,-470,-467,
-498,-484,-534,-534,-816,-816,-2121,-2121,-1249,-1093,-2215,-2219,-2089,-1028,
-7953,-7953,-29996,-1867,-2176,-1244]} 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 g6 4. Be2 Bg7
5. O-O O-O 6. b4 b6 7. a4 Bb7 8. Nbd2 {The position is equal. - Fritz} Nbd7 9.
Bb2 c5 10. bxc5 bxc5 11. c4 Rb8 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Qc2 cxd4 14. Bxd4 e5 $1 15.
Bb2 {White wisely declines to take the bait on a7. It's clear that 15. Bxa7
Ra8 16. Bc5 Rc8 and white's in a bad spot. At the very least black has
compensation for his pawn.} Nb4 16. Qd1 (16. Qc3 $1 $11 {might be stronger.})
16... e4 17. Nd4 Ne5 18. Ba3 Bd5 19. Rb1 a5 20. Nb5 {So here I had to choose -
lose a pawn, gving white a passer on the queen side, or sacrifice an exchange
but in compensation would have a knight deep into white's position on d3. I
chose the latter.} Nbd3 21. Nb3 $2 {Fritz thinks white should take the bait on
f8. I don't see a reason for white to decline either. White probably really
likes his QB and didn't want to give it up for my rook on f8 which at the
moment wasn't doing anything. However, considering the important role the rook
soon plays, perhaps white should have thought the better of that.} Qg5 (21...
Re8 $15 22. N3d4 Qd7 {This is Fritz's comment.}) 22. N3d4 Rfd8 {Threatens to
win with .. .Nc4.} 23. Nc3 Rxb1 24. Nxb1 {Fritz thinks 24. Qxb1 is better, but
I thought white needed to guard f3. My opponent I think thought the same thing.
} h5 (24... Nc4 $19 25. Bc1 Bxd4 {- Fritz}) 25. Nc3 $17 Ba8 {[#] Hoping for ...
Rxd4!} 26. Ncb5 Nf3+ $40 {Black attacks.} 27. Nxf3 exf3 $19 28. Bxf3 {[#]} Ne1
$1 {Fritz wants me to play .. Ne5 instead. But that would allow 29. Bxa8 Rxd1
30. Rxd1 and white gets my QB  (rather than trading it which is what I wanted).
My move lets me trade the bishops which is what I preferred.} 29. Qxd8+ (29. h4
$17 Nxf3+ 30. Qxf3 Qxh4 31. Qf4 Qxf4 32. exf4) 29... Qxd8 30. Bxa8 Qxa8 31.
Rxe1 Qe4 32. Bc5 Qxa4 33. Nd4 Qc4 34. Bd6 a4 35. g3 a3 $1 {Tactics like this
come up a lot this game, as white's pieces are very loose, so double-attacks
are easy to come by.} 36. Bxa3 Qc3 37. Nc2 Qxc2 38. Rf1 Qe4 {White must now
prevent ...h4. - Fritz} 39. h4 Qf3 40. Bd6 Bc3 41. Bf4 Kg7 42. Rc1 Qe2 {
Strongly threatening ...Be1.} 43. Kg2 {White needed to play 43. Rf1 and hope
he can setup a fortress. After the text, black's attack is decisive.} Be1 44.
e4 Qxf2+ 45. Kh1 Qf3+ 46. Kh2 Qxe4 47. Rc7 Bf2 48. Rc8 Qe2 {( -> ...Bd4+)} 49.
Bb8 Bxg3+ {The line that Fritz points out does lead to mate, but the text also
makes white resign as he's had enough, so it's just as effective.} (49... Bb6+
$142 50. Kh1 Qf1+ 51. Kh2 Qg1+ 52. Kh3 Qh1#) 50. Kxg3 Qg4+ {Precision: White =
28%, Black = 46%.} 0-1

[Event "71st Oregon Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.09.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Breckenridge, Steven"]
[Black "Anoop, Pranav K."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2304"]
[BlackElo "1956"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "144"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

{[%evp 0,61,36,30,51,10,14,17,13,21,-1,5,19,13,13,-3,-3,-3,6,-56,24,26,54,-60,
-10,1,-11,-31,-14,-68,-1,-41,-50,-103,-26,-132,-26,-91,-59,-35,0,0,-23,-85,-87,
-87,-133,-161,-135,-126,-148,-121,-121,-255,-255,-258,-251,-244,-245,-245,-248,
-249,-222,-298]} 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bc4 Nb6
7. Bb3 d5 8. exd6 Qxd6 9. Na3 (9. O-O Be6 {is the main line, but Steve's
choice is the second most popular and always looked more dangerous to me.})
9... Be6 {The right move after 9.0-0.} ({But after 9.Na3, black can try} 9...
dxc3 10. Qxd6 exd6 11. Nb5 Rb8 {when Black has gained a pawn and some troubles.
}) 10. O-O (10. Nb5 Qd7 11. Nbxd4 {is the safe path to a small edge. Steve
sticks with his gambit.}) 10... dxc3 11. Qe2 Bxb3 12. Nb5 Qb8 13. axb3 e6 {
Black correctly tries to catch up in development.} ({The greedy} 13... cxb2 $2
14. Bxb2 {does not appear in my database, as sane Black players see that
White's lead in development is too much for Black to handle.}) 14. g3 Qc8 15.
Ng5 {Black is playing steady defensive moves, and White is playing accurate
moves to keep his pawn's worth of initiative alive. Stockfish confidently says
0.00, which seems strange with such unbalance, unless you see some of the move
repetitions ahead.} Be7 16. Qh5 g6 17. Qh6 Bf8 18. Qh3 $6 {Steve declines the
implicit draw offer. But now Black is better.} ({Stockfish's 0.00 comes from} 
18. Qh4 Be7 19. Qh6 Bf8) 18... a6 $15 ({Stockfish suggests the cold-blooded} 
18... c2 $17) 19. Nxc3 e5 20. Qh4 Be7 21. f4 $6 {Perhaps White can open the
position with Black's king stuck in the center?} f6 $1 {Pranav finds a
defensive sequence which gives him an overwhelming advantage.} 22. Nxh7 f5 $1
23. Qh6 Qe6 24. Qg7 O-O-O $1 {With Black's king safely castled, the game is
effectively over. White's queen and knight are in grave danger.} 25. Ng5 Bxg5
26. fxg5 Nd7 $1 {cuts off the White queen's escape square on f6} 27. Rd1 Rdg8
28. Qxd7+ Qxd7 29. Rxd7 Kxd7 30. Be3 Kc8 31. Bb6 Nd4 32. Nd5 Rg7 33. b4 Rd7 34.
Nf6 Rd6 35. Bc5 Rc6 36. Rd1 Nf3+ 37. Kg2 Nxg5 38. Nd5 Kb8 39. Ne7 Re6 40. b5
Ne4 41. Bb4 Re8 42. Rd7 Nf6 43. Rd6 R8xe7 44. Rd8+ Kc7 45. Bxe7 Rxe7 46. bxa6
bxa6 47. Rf8 Ne4 48. Kf3 Rd7 49. g4 Rd3+ 50. Ke2 Rd2+ 51. Ke3 Rxh2 52. gxf5
gxf5 53. Rxf5 Nd6 54. Rf1 Rxb2 55. Rc1+ Kb6 56. Rd1 Nc4+ 57. Ke4 Kb5 58. Rh1 a5
59. Rh8 Kb4 60. Rb8+ Kc3 61. Ra8 Re2+ 62. Kf3 Ra2 63. Ke4 a4 64. Rc8 Rd2 65.
Ra8 a3 66. Ra7 Rd4+ 67. Kf3 Rd5 68. Ke2 Ra5 69. Rf7 a2 70. Kf3 a1=Q 71. Rf8
Qf1+ 72. Ke4 Qd3# 0-1

[Event "71st Oregon Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.09.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Murray, Dave "]
[Black "Diamond, Colin "]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A91"]
[WhiteElo "1854"]
[BlackElo "1790"]
[Annotator "Murray,David"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

{[%evp 0,17,19,7,75,75,71,76,61,32,49,65,52,10,50,54,55,52,82,61] My loss in
the U2000 section of the Oregon Open, which is notable for its direct
punishment of a problem I sometimes have that I suspect is shared by others.
I'm happy to share it as a cautionary example, and selfishly intend to
internalize the lesson by writing this up.} 1. d4 f5 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. c4
Be7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. e3 d6 7. Nge2 c6 8. O-O Qc7 9. b4 a5 10. bxa5 Rxa5 11. Bd2
Ra8 12. Qb3 e5 $14 {So far nothing exciting has happened. White has a slight
edge due to an advantage in space and prospects to finish development sooner.
It doesn't look like a critical position, but the key lesson that I take from
this game is right here: White can react to Black's ideas, pursue forcing
ideas of his own, or finish developing his pieces.} 13. d5 $2 $11 {This wasn't
it. The ideas were to react to Black's threat of ... e4 by freeing d4 for the
e2 knight and to prepare the forcing dxc6 and c5+. But neither of these ideas
are good. What White should do is develop a piece: either 13. Rfc1 or 13. Rfb1.
The debacle to come will highlight why.} Na6 {Exploiting the hole on c5
created by 13. d5.} 14. dxc6 $2 bxc6 15. c5+ {With a tactical idea that is not
sound.} d5 $1 $19 16. Nxd5 $4 cxd5 17. Bxd5+ Nxd5 18. Qxd5+ Kh8 19. Qxa8 Bb7
20. Qa7 {This is where I had stopped calculating.} Bxc5 {And while White has
been lost for several moves, now it is obvious. But the reason that I am
sharing this game is clear: what if White had a rook on c1 OR on b1 here? If
you can do something forcing or finish developing your pieces, your forcing
thing had better be really good.} 21. Rac1 Bxa7 22. Rxc7 Nxc7 23. Rc1 Ne6 24.
Bc3 Ba6 25. Re1 Ng5 26. Kg2 Rc8 (26... Nf3 {Everything wins, but 26. ... Nf3
was flashier.}) 27. Bxe5 Bb7+ 28. Kf1 Nf3 29. Rd1 Nxe5 {Hat's off to Colin for
both seeing that 16. Nxd5?? did not work and encouraging it to be played.} 0-1

[Event "71st Oregon Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.09.06"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Russell, Corey"]
[Black "Seshadri, Sridhar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2200"]
[BlackElo "1703"]
[Annotator "Russell,Corey"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

1. c3 $1 {By this point, I had already lost with e4 and d4. So decided to play
something that probably won't be going into my opponent's strength, since he
probably isn't an expert on the Saragosa (1. c3). It is sorta like passing, so
it puts me and my opponent on an equal playing field. Works for me.} d5 2. d3
e5 3. Nf3 Nd7 4. g3 {We are basically going into a reverse Pirc with an extra
move for me.} Ngf6 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. b3 c6 8. Bb2 e4 9. Ne1 {This is
useful as it discourages 9. ... e3 10. fxe3 Ng4 11. Nc2 holds the pawn.} exd3
10. exd3 Ne5 11. d4 Ng6 12. Nd2 Bf5 13. Nc2 Re8 14. Ne3 Bc8 15. Qc2 Bf8 {
Both sides are being very careful to not over-commit.} 16. Rfe1 Bd7 17. c4 Rc8
18. Rac1 Bb4 19. Bc3 Bxc3 20. Qxc3 Ng4 {Black offered a draw here and several
more times. I usually don't like early draws, but am fine with it once there
are no more winning chances. We aren't there yet.} 21. Nxg4 Bxg4 22. h3 Be6 23.
Nf3 f6 24. Re3 Bf7 25. h4 Rxe3 26. Qxe3 Qa5 27. cxd5 Re8 28. Qd2 Qxd2 29. Nxd2
Bxd5 30. Bxd5+ cxd5 {Fritz thinks its equal - I agree. But I had one more idea
to try to win, so decided to give it a try.} 31. Kf1 Re7 32. Rc8+ Kf7 $2 {
I was expecting 32. ... Nf8 33. Rd8 Rd7 34. Rxd7 Nxd7 and I saw little better
than playing 35. Ke2 and then offer a draw.} 33. Rd8 Ke6 $2 {My opponent
played this rather fast. I believe he thought equal position = no danger. He
couldn't be more wrong. Once of the risks of offering a draw and getting it
declined, as you might over-estimate your position.} 34. h5 Ne5 {It's clear my
opponent is going to make me prove I'm winning. Fair enough, as I made him
prove to me it was a draw. I've drawn and lost a number of endgames a knight
up, so I know I need to be very careful and make sure I am playing with
purpose.} 35. dxe5 fxe5 36. Nf3 h6 37. Ke2 d4 38. g4 Rc7 39. Re8+ Kf7 40. Rxe5
Rc2+ 41. Kd3 Rxf2 42. Nxd4 Rxa2 {I felt this was a the key moment - here I
would win or draw/lose. I need a plan, in particular where to put my rook and
knight. One issue is no matter what I do, I need to hang onto my king-side
pawns. Everntually I saw I needed to put my knight at f5 and rook on g6, which
holds onto my king-side pawns and also causes black's king side collapse,
which in turn can let my king side panws win the game. It does mean my king to
defend my pawn, but I thought I could manage.} 43. Rd5 b6 44. Rd7+ Kf6 45. Rd6+
Kf7 46. Rg6 Rg2 47. Nf5 a5 48. Rxg7+ Kf8 49. Rg6 b5 50. Nxh6 Rg3+ 51. Kc2 Rg2+
52. Kb1 Rg1+ 53. Ka2 b4 54. Rg8+ Ke7 55. Nf5+ Kf7 56. Rg7+ Kf6 57. h6 Rg2+ 58.
Kb1 Rh2 59. h7 Ke5 60. g5 $1 Ke4 {Black probably saw that 60. ... Kxf5 61. g6
Ke4 62. Rg8 Kd3 63. h8(Q) is decisive for white.} 61. Nh6 Kd3 62. Rd7+ Kc3 63.
h8=Q+ Kxb3 64. Rd3+ {Black probably saw 64. ... Kc4 65. Qd4+ Kb5 66. Qe5+
picks up black's loose rook, and with it, any hope of resistance. Thus he
finally conceded the game.} 1-0

[Event "71st Oregon Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.09.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Tang, Austin"]
[Black "Pupols, Viktors"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B15"]
[WhiteElo "1939"]
[BlackElo "2200"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

{[%evp 0,70,16,20,69,67,59,46,94,93,102,77,75,73,76,79,82,76,76,41,43,40,41,40,
51,29,26,15,16,10,6,-24,5,-6,13,8,20,22,13,13,64,64,64,68,82,72,74,102,104,76,
63,73,82,74,76,68,73,82,85,84,73,77,70,59,61,82,391,407,439,439,718,850,1315]} 
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 ({Some players, including GM Sergei Tiviakov, prefer
the subtle} 3. Nd2 {If Black plays 3...dxe4, there is no difference between
this move and 3.Nc3.} {But if Black plays} g6 {White has additional options,
like} 4. c3 {to clog the diagonal of Black's bishop on g7. I wonder if Black
has any other moves that might show a difference between 3.Nd2 and 3.Nc3.})
3... b5 {Don't laugh, this move scores well} 4. e5 ({When Gurgenidze played
this line against Tal in 1969, Tal played} 4. a3 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Bf5 6. Bd3 Bxe4
7. Bxe4 Nf6 8. Bd3 e6 9. Nf3 Be7 10. Qe2 Nbd7 11. O-O O-O 12. Re1 Re8 13. Ne5
Nxe5 14. dxe5 Nd5 15. Qg4 a5 16. h4 Bxh4 17. g3 Be7 18. Kg2 g6 19. Rh1 Bf8 20.
Bg5 Qc7 21. Rxh7 Qxe5 22. Rxf7 Kxf7 23. Bxg6+ Kg8 24. Bxe8 Bg7 25. Bd7 Nc7 26.
Bxc6 Rf8 27. Rd1 Qc5 28. Bf3 Qxc2 29. Rd7 Rf7 30. Rd8+ Rf8 31. Bf6 Qh7 32. Be4
Qh6 33. Bg5 Qh8 34. Rd7 {1-0 (34) Tal,M-Gurgenidze,B Almaty 1969}) 4... Bf5 5.
Nf3 e6 6. Ne2 $146 {And not just a novelty because it is not in my database,
but also one of the better moves in this position.} Nd7 7. Ng3 Bg6 8. Bd3 c5 9.
c3 c4 10. Bxg6 hxg6 {If I were Black, I would hope that my White-squared pawn
defenses would be sufficient to compensate for White's superior space and
development. But I might be wrong.} 11. O-O ({Stockfish suggests} 11. Kf1 {
perhaps influenced by Pranav and Shunkai :-)}) 11... a5 12. Qc2 Be7 13. Be3 Nh6
14. Bxh6 {I like this move, as it avoids drifting into a Bad Bishop ending.}
Rxh6 {This looks right to me, keeping the h-file open for an attack.} ({
Stockfish slightly prefers} 14... gxh6 {undoubling the pawns and retaining
castling rights. This surprises me, as I thought engines are unimpressed with
rook pawns these days.}) 15. Nd2 {Now we begin the maneuvering phase} Nb6 16.
f4 Qd7 17. Nf3 Kf8 18. Ne2 Kg8 19. g3 f5 20. Kg2 {Austin is preparing to
maneuver his Knight from e2 to g5. In a closed position he can take such
liberties.} ({Stockfish likes} 20. exf6 gxf6 21. g4 {but I'd be reluctant to
open up the position in front of my King while Black's rook patrolling the
neighborhood.}) 20... Kf7 {Viktors sees it coming, and prepares to connect his
Rooks before a Knight reaches g5.} 21. Neg1 Rhh8 22. Nh3 Rhb8 23. Nhg5+ Ke8 24.
h4 Bxg5 {This makes White's position easier to play, as it removes a redundant
Knight. White had two Knights but only the one g5 square to post them on - now
his number of knights match the number of posting squares. It also clears the
knight from f3 so when the queen moves to e2 she can support pawn pushes to g4
and h5. Watch how Austin breaks through on h5.} (24... b4 $11) 25. Nxg5 Ke7 26.
Rh1 Rh8 27. Qe2 Kd8 $2 {Trying to remove Black's King from the battle zone,
but it disconnects Black's rooks for a move, making White's breakthrough
stronger.} (27... b4 28. h5 gxh5 29. Rxh5 g6 $11) 28. h5 gxh5 29. Rxh5 Rxh5 (
29... Kc7 30. Rah1 $16) 30. Qxh5 $16 Kc7 31. Qg6 Re8 32. Rh1 Na4 $2 (32... Re7
33. Rh8 $16) 33. Rh7 Re7 34. Rxg7 $1 Nxb2 (34... Rxg7 35. Nxe6+ Kb7 36. Nxg7
Nxb2 37. e6 {and the passed pawn is unstoppable.}) 35. Nxe6+ Kb8 ({A possible
continuation is} 35... Kb8 36. Rg8+ Ka7 37. Nc5 {And Black will have to give
up his queen to stop} Z0 38. Qa6#) 1-0

[Event "Philidor draw"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "White"]
[Black "Black"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5k2/1R6/r7/5PK1/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "10"]

{Defending with rook against rook and pawn, the simplest drawing method was
shown by Philidor in the late 18th century. Black keeps the rook on the sixth
rank until the white pawn advances to the sixth, then the rook goes up the
board to harass the white king.} 1. f6 Ra1 2. Kg6 Rg1+ 3. Kf5 Rf1+ 4. Ke6 Re1+
5. Kd6 Rf1 {The white king has no cover against the checks.} *

[Event "Extended Philidor"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "White"]
[Black "Black"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4k3/R7/3K4/4P3/8/8/8/5r2 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "9"]

{Sometimes the black rook is not well placed to defend along the sixth rank.
Another drawing idea is to place the rook behind the pawn and run the king to
the short side when threatened with mate or otherwise forced out of the pawns
path.} 1... Re1 2. Ke6 Kf8 3. Ra8+ Kg7 4. Kd6 (4. Ra2 Kf8) (4. Re8 Ra1 5. Rd8
Re1 6. Rd7+ (6. Rd5 Kf8 7. Kd7 Kf7 8. e6+ Rxe6 9. Rf5+ Rf6) 6... Kf8 7. Kf6
Rf1+ 8. Ke6 Re1) 4... Kf7 5. Ra7+ Ke8 *

[Event "Passive defense"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "White"]
[Black "Black"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1r4k1/R7/6K1/5P2/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "13"]

{Against c-, d-, e-, and f-pawns, passive defense on the eight rank fails:} 1.
f6 Rd8 2. Rg7+ Kf8 3. Rh7 Kg8 4. f7+ Kf8 5. Rh8+ Ke7 6. Rxd8 Kxd8 7. f8=Q+ {
With a-, b-, g-, and h-pawns, however, even passive back rank defense holds,
because White does not have the flanking maneuver and pawn check shown above.}
*

[Event "Bridge building"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "White"]
[Black "Black"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4K3/4P1k1/8/8/8/8/3r4/5R2 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "13"]

{With the attacking king in front of the pawn and the defender driven off,
White often has a choice of winning methods. The classical example is
sometimes called "building a bridge," as analyzed by Lucena in the late 15th
century.} 1. Rf4 ({Black to move changes nothing:} 1. Z0 Ra2 2. Rg1+ Kf6 (2...
Kh7 3. Rd1 Kg6 4. Kf8 Rf2+ 5. Kg8 Re2 6. Rd6+ Kf5 7. Kf7) 3. Kf8) ({Equally
good is} 1. Rg1+ Kh7 {and now} 2. Rg4 {is the winning idea.} ({White isn't
ready to bring the king out yet:} 2. Kf7 Rf2+ 3. Ke6 Re2+ 4. Kf6 Rf2+)) 1...
Rd1 2. Rg4+ Kh6 (2... Kh7 3. Kf7 Rf1+ 4. Ke6 Re1+ 5. Kf6 Rf1+ 6. Ke5 Re1+ 7.
Re4) 3. Kf7 Rf1+ 4. Ke6 Re1+ 5. Kf6 Kh5 (5... Rf1+ 6. Ke5) 6. Rg5+ Kh4 7. Re5 *

[Event "Aimchess US Rapid Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2021.08.28"]
[Round "1.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A50"]
[WhiteElo "2847"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2021.08.28"]
[EventType "rapid"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Bf4 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg3 c5 6. e4 Nf6 7. Nd2 Nc6 8. e5
Nd7 9. Ngf3 cxd4 10. Bc4 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. Rc1 Nc5 13. a3 a5 14. Nb3 b6 15.
Nbxd4 Nxd4 16. Nxd4 Bb7 17. Nb5 Ne4 18. Nd6 Qb8 19. Qd4 b5 20. Bxb5 Nxg3 21.
hxg3 Bd5 22. Bc6 Bxd6 23. exd6 Ra6 24. Bxd5 Rxd6 25. Rc5 Rxd5 26. Rxd5 exd5 27.
Qxd5 Qxb2 28. Qxa5 g6 29. Qb4 Qf6 ({Despite the very unusual third move by
White, the game's continuation is quite typical of queen-pawn openings between
Grandmasters. One side has just enough initiative to win a pawn, leading to
essentially equal kingside pawns and one extra queenside pawn. Then the battle
is to win with the extra bean or to hold the draw.^^Here the position is
particularly favorable for White, because he can get his rook behind his
passed pawn. In general, attacking rook behind the passed pawn is very close
to winning; rook stuck in front of the pawn makes a draw far more likely.
Defense from the side is somewhere in between.} 29... Qa2 30. Rc1 Ra8 31. a4 $1
h6 (31... Qxa4 $4 32. Rc8+ Kg7 $2 (32... Rxc8 33. Qxa4 h5 {should be winning
for White, but will require some technical work.}) 33. Qf8+ Kf6 34. Qd8+ Kg7
35. Rxa8 {, and White covers the perpetual check ...Qd1-h5.}) 32. Qd4 Kh7 33.
Ra1 {The rook gets behind the pawn. There's still work to be done here, as the
queens remain on the board, significantly complicating White's task.}) 30. a4
Rc8 31. a5 h5 32. Qa4 Rc6 (32... Ra8 {may be a better try.}) 33. Qa1 $1 {
Aiming for the pure rook ending with rook behind the pawn. Black's choice is
either defend that ending or give up the long diagonal -- neither option is
appealing.} Kg7 34. Rb1 ({A subtle finesse, but not a necessary one.} 34. Qxf6+
{is essentially the same, since the king on f6 doesn't represent a real
improvement.}) 34... Qxa1 35. Rxa1 Ra6 36. f3 Kf6 37. Kf2 Ke5 38. Ke3 Kd5 39.
Kf4 f6 {This kind of position is basically winning for White. The most obvious
difference, aside from the pawn count, is that the a1-rook can make tempo
moves, while any back-pedalling by the a6-rook allows the white pawn to
continue up the board. Eventually zugzwang allows the white king to penetrate.}
40. g4 hxg4 41. Kxg4 Ke5 ({Black simply doesn't have time to run to the
queenside and capture the a-pawn.} 41... Kc5 42. f4 Kb5 43. f5 gxf5+ 44. Kxf5 {
, and not only are the king and pawn endings completely hopeless, the king is
now very far away from the action if the white rook swings around to pick up
the f6-pawn.}) 42. f4+ Ke6 43. Ra2 Ke7 44. Kf3 Kd6 45. Ke4 Ke6 46. Ra1 (46. g4
Kd6 47. Kd4 Kc6 48. Kc4) 46... Kd6 47. f5 gxf5+ 48. Kxf5 Ke7 49. Kg6 Ke6 ({
Black kind of just rolls over here. At least set a trap -- one possibility is} 
49... Kf8 50. g4 Kg8 51. Rb1 $1 (51. Rd1 $4 f5+ 52. Kxf5 Rxa5+ {draws, and
especially easily since even back-rank passive defense works against a g-pawn.}
) 51... f5+ (51... Kf8 52. Rb8+ Ke7 53. Rb6 Rxa5 54. Rxf6 {and the black king
is cut off. See Lucena position.}) 52. Rb6 $1 {wins.}) 50. Re1+ Kd7 51. g4 Kd8
52. Kf7 Rd6 53. Re4 Rc6 54. Rd4+ Kc8 55. Rf4 1-0

[Event "*Aimchess US Rapid Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2021.08.28"]
[Round "2.7"]
[White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2751"]
[BlackElo "2704"]
[PlyCount "170"]
[EventDate "2021.08.28"]
[EventType "rapid"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 c5 6. Be3 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Ne7 8. Nd2
Nbc6 9. N2f3 Bg4 10. O-O g6 11. Nxc6 Nxc6 12. c4 dxc4 13. Qa4 Qa5 14. Qxc4 Bxf3
15. Bxf3 Nxe5 16. Qe4 Bg7 17. Qxb7 Nxf3+ 18. Qxf3 O-O 19. Rad1 Rad8 20. Qb7 Rb8
21. Qxa7 Qxa7 22. Bxa7 Rxb2 23. Bd4 Rxa2 24. Bxg7 Kxg7 25. Ra1 Rd2 26. Rfd1 Rd5
27. g3 Rfd8 28. Rdc1 Rd2 29. Rc3 g5 $1 30. h3 h5 31. Rac1 R8d4 32. R3c2 Rxc2
33. Rxc2 {So we reach the single rook ending with pawns all on one side of the
board. Generally speaking, four versus three can be held for a draw, but it
gets more difficult if the defender can't reach the structure f2/g3/h4, thus
explaining the importance of Black's move 29.} f5 34. Kg2 Kf6 35. Rc8 h4 36.
gxh4 gxh4 37. Rf8+ Kg7 38. Re8 Kf7 39. Ra8 Ke7 40. Rh8 Kd6 41. Ra8 Rb4 42. Ra6+
Kd5 43. Kf3 Rb3+ 44. Kg2 Rb4 45. Kf3 e5 46. Rh6 e4+ 47. Kg2 Rb2 48. Rh5 (48.
Kf1 f4 49. Rxh4 f3 50. Ke1) (48. Rxh4 $4 e3 $19 {The connected passed pawns
are very strong.}) 48... Ke5 49. Rh8 (49. Kg1 Kf4 50. Kf1 Ra2 51. Kg1 Ra1+ 52.
Kg2 Ke5 53. Rxh4) 49... Ra2 50. Rb8 Kf4 51. Rb3 $6 ({So far White has been
defending easily, though he seems unaware of the possibility of retreating the
king to the first rank to unpin the f-pawn. Here better ways to prevent e3 are
} 51. Re8) ({or} 51. Rb4 {.}) 51... Rd2 (51... Kg5 $15) 52. Ra3 Ke5 53. Ra5+
Rd5 54. Ra8 f4 55. Ra3 $2 ({White was apparently unwilling to step into
possible mate threats with Kf1 and ...f3, but there are clear paths:} 55. Kf1
$1 Rb5 56. Ke1 Rb3 57. Ke2 f3+ 58. Ke1) (55. Re8+ Kd4 56. Rf8 f3+ 57. Kf1 Rb5
58. Rd8+ ({Also drawing is} 58. Ke1 Rb1+ 59. Kd2 Rf1 60. Rd8+ Ke5 61. Re8+ Kd5
62. Rd8+ Kc6 63. Ke3 Re1+ 64. Kf4 Re2 65. Rd4 Kc5 66. Rxe4 Rxf2 67. Re3)) 55...
Rd2 $2 (55... f3+ 56. Kg1 Rd1+ 57. Kh2 Rd2 58. Kg1 Kd4 $19 {The black king
penetrates to e1/e2, and White has no defense.} 59. Rb3 Rc2 60. Ra3 Rc3 61. Ra2
Kd3 62. Rb2 Rc2 63. Rb4 Rc1+ 64. Kh2 e3 65. Rb3+ Rc3 66. Rxc3+ Kxc3 67. fxe3 (
67. Kg1 e2 68. Kh2 Kd2 69. Kg1 e1=Q+ 70. Kh2 Qxf2+ 71. Kh1 Qg2#) 67... Kd3 68.
e4 f2) 56. Kf1 Rd3 $6 (56... f3 {Unlike facing checks from the rear, here the
black king has cover against checks from the side -- which is why White's
choices on moves 51 and 55 are suspect.}) 57. Ra5+ Rd5 58. Ra8 Rb5 59. Re8+ {
Back on track to draw...} Kd4 60. Rd8+ Rd5 61. Ra8 (61. Rf8) 61... f3 62. Ra3
$2 (62. Ke1) 62... Rb5 63. Kg1 $4 (63. Ra1 $15) 63... Rc5 64. Ra1 Kd3 65. Ra3+
Rc3 66. Ra1 Kd2 67. Ra2+ Rc2 68. Ra3 Rc1+ 69. Kh2 Rc3 70. Ra4 Kd3 71. Ra1 Kd2
72. Ra4 e3 73. fxe3 Kxe3 $4 (73... Rc1 $1 74. Ra2+ Kd3 $1 75. Rf2 Rc2 76. Kg1
Rxf2 77. Kxf2 Ke4 78. Kf1 Kxe3 79. Ke1 Ke4 80. Kf1 Kf5 81. Ke1 Ke5 82. Kf1 Ke4
83. Kf2 Kf4 84. Kf1 Kg3 $19) 74. Ra1 Rd3 75. Kg1 Rd2 76. Ra3+ Ke2 77. Ra1 Rb2
78. Rc1 Rb3 79. Rc2+ Ke3 80. Ra2 $4 (80. Rc1 Kf4 (80... Rb2 81. Re1+ Re2 82.
Ra1) 81. Rc4+ Kg3 82. Rg4+ Kxh3 83. Rg8 {The weird rook versus rook and two
pawns draw -- if the pawns are f- and h-pawns.}) 80... Rb1+ 81. Kh2 Rd1 82.
Ra3+ Rd3 83. Ra1 Ke2 84. Kg1 f2+ 85. Kg2 Rg3+ {So in a battle between super
Grandmasters, just as in games between any two club players, the result is
determined by who made the last significant blunder.} 0-1

[Event "WA Chess960 Fall Open"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.10.10"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Razmov, Valentin"]
[Black "Razmov, Gabriel"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1986"]
[BlackElo "1516"]
[Annotator "Ralph Dubisch"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rkqbbrnn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RKQBBRNN w FAfa - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "137"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[TimeControl "1800+10"]

1. e4 e5 2. Ng3 Ng6 3. Nh3 (3. Nh5 d5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. Nxg7 Bd7 $13) 3... Nh6 (
3... Nh4 $5 {Pawn hunting in the opening -- with Black -- may be a little
rambunctious here.} 4. d4 (4. Rg1 $6 d5 5. exd5 $6 Nxg2 6. Rxg2 Qxh3 $15) 4...
exd4 5. Qd2 Nxg2 6. Qxd4 Nf6 {doesn't look too bad.}) 4. f4 exf4 5. Nh5 (5.
Nxf4 Nxf4 6. Rxf4 $14) 5... Rg8 (5... f5 6. Nxg7 fxe4 7. Nxe8 Rxe8 8. Nxf4 $13)
6. d4 f5 7. Bf3 (7. e5 $5 $14) 7... Bf7 8. Bc3 Nh4 9. N5xf4 g5 10. Nd3 g4 $6 ({
Black may have just missed that h6 was hanging. Alternatives:} 10... fxe4 $5
11. Bxe4 d5 12. Bxh7 Rg7 13. Ne5 Rxh7 14. Nxg5 Bxg5 15. Qxg5 N4f5 16. O-O-O $15
) (10... d5 $5 11. exf5 Nxf3 12. gxf3 (12. Rxf3 $5 Bh5 $15 (12... g4 13. Qxh6
gxf3 14. Qxh7 fxg2 15. Qxf7 g1=Q+ 16. Nxg1 Rxg1+ 17. Be1 $13)) 12... Nxf5 $15)
11. Qxh6 gxh3 12. Qe3 $2 (12. Qxh7 hxg2 13. Bxg2 Rxg2 14. Qxf7 fxe4 15. Ne5 $16
{with a serious initiative.} Z0 16. Nxd7+ {is unstoppable.}) 12... hxg2 13. Rg1
c6 (13... fxe4 $1 14. Bxe4 (14. Qxe4 d5 15. Qxh7 Qe6 16. Bd1 Qf6 $19) 14... d5
15. Qf2 (15. Bxh7 Rg7 16. Qh6 Qg4 $19) 15... dxe4 16. Qxf7 Bg5 17. Ne5 a6 {
and Black is close to winning.}) 14. Qf2 fxe4 (14... Nxf3 15. Qxf3 Bc7 16. Rxg2
fxe4 17. Qxe4 Bd5 18. Rxg8 Qxg8 $17) 15. Bxe4 Rf8 (15... Bd5 $5 16. Bxd5 cxd5
$15) 16. O-O-O Bg5+ (16... Bh5 17. Qg3+ Qc7 $13) 17. Bd2 ({Not} 17. Kb1 $4
Bxa2+ 18. Kxa2 Rxf2 $19) 17... Bh5 $2 (17... Bxd2+ 18. Qxd2 Bg6 19. Bxg2 Nxg2
20. Rxg2 Qc7 (20... d6 21. Qh6 a6 22. Nf4 $14) 21. Ne5 $14 O-O-O) 18. Qg3+ Qc7
19. Bxg5 (19. Qxg5 $1 Bxd1 20. Rxd1 Rf1 21. Bf4 Rxf4 22. Nxf4 $18) 19... Qxg3
20. hxg3 Bxd1 21. Rxd1 (21. gxh4 Rf1 22. Bf4+ Kc8 23. Rxg2 Bf3+ 24. Kd2 Bxg2
25. Bxg2 Rg1 26. Ne1 d5 27. Be3 Rxg2+ 28. Nxg2 $16) 21... Rf1 (21... Nf3 22.
Be3 Kc7 23. Bf2 (23. Nf4 $6 Rae8 24. Bxf3 Rxe3 25. Bxg2 Rxg3 26. Rf1 Kd6 27.
Nh3 Rxf1+ 28. Bxf1 Kd5 29. c3 (29. Nf4+ Ke4 30. Ne2 Rg7 $17) 29... Ke4 $15)
23... Rae8 (23... h5 24. Nf4 g1=Q 25. Bxg1 Nxg1 26. Rxg1 $16) 24. Bxf3 Rxf3 25.
Rg1 $16) 22. Bxg2 Rxd1+ 23. Kxd1 Nxg2 24. Ke2 Kc7 25. Kf2 Re8 26. Kxg2 ({
Save the pawn!} 26. c3 $1 $16 {The knight's not going anywhere.}) 26... Re2+
27. Kf3 Rxc2 28. a3 a5 29. Kg4 (29. Ke4) 29... b5 (29... Kd6 $1 30. Kf4 Kd5 31.
Ke3 Kc4 $15) 30. Kf5 b4 (30... d6 31. Bf4 Kd7) 31. axb4 axb4 32. Ke4 (32. Nxb4
Rxb2 33. Nd3 Rb1 34. Bf4+) 32... b3 33. Be7 $4 (33. Bf4+ d6) 33... Re2+ 34. Kf3
Rxe7 35. Nc1 Re8 36. Nxb3 Rb8 37. Nd2 Rxb2 38. Ne4 Rh2 39. g4 Rh6 40. g5 Rh4
41. Nf6 Rxd4 42. Nxh7 Rd6 (42... Kd6) 43. Kf4 Rg6 (43... Kd8) 44. Kf5 Rg7 $6 (
44... Rg8 $1 {saves a critical tempo in the pawn races.} 45. Nf6 Rd8 46. g6 d5
47. g7 d4 48. g8=Q Rxg8 49. Nxg8 d3 $19) 45. Nf6 $6 (45. g6 d5 46. Nf6 (46. Kf6
Rg8 47. Kf7 Ra8 48. Ke6 d4 49. g7 d3 50. Nf8 d2 51. g8=Q d1=Q $17) 46... Kb6
47. Kg5 d4 48. Kh6 d3 49. Kxg7 d2 50. Kf7 d1=Q 51. g7 c5 52. g8=Q Qb3+ 53. Ke7
Qxg8 54. Nxg8 c4 55. Nf6 Kc5 56. Ke6 c3 57. Ne4+ Kd4 58. Nxc3) 45... Kb6 $6 ({
Start by defending with both black pieces on the kingside:} 45... Kd8 $1 46. g6
Ke7 47. Nh5 Rg8 48. g7 (48. Nf6 Rf8 49. g7 Rxf6+ 50. Kg5 Rf1 (50... Kf7 51.
g8=Q+ Kxg8 52. Kxf6 d5 $19) 51. g8=N+ Ke6 $19) 48... Kf7 49. Nf6 d5 $19) 46. g6
d5 47. Nh5 Rg8 (47... Rd7 48. g7 Rd8 49. Nf6 d4 50. Nd7+ $3 Rxd7 (50... Kb5 51.
Nf8 d3 52. g8=Q Rd5+ 53. Ke6 d2 $13) 51. g8=Q d3) 48. g7 $4 (48. Nf6 $1 Rg7 (
48... d4 49. Nxg8 d3 50. g7 d2 51. Nf6 d1=Q 52. g8=Q) 49. Nh5 Rg8 50. Nf6 Rd8
51. g7 d4 52. Nd7+ $3 {As in the last note.} Kb5 53. Nf8 d3 54. g8=Q Rd5+ 55.
Ke6 d2 $13 {Black is certainly not losing here, but White has good chances to
find a perpetual against the exposed black king. To avoid endless checks Black
will almost certainly need to part with the c6-pawn. Then the players can
create new endgame theory playing out the Q+R vs Q+N pawnless endgame -- not
even covered in John Nunn's _Secrets of Pawnless Endings_.} 56. Qg7 d1=Q 57.
Qb7+ Kc5 58. Qa7+ Kc4 59. Qa6+ Kd4 60. Qxc6 {Good luck!}) 48... d4 $19 49. Ke4
c5 50. Kd3 Kb5 51. Kd2 Kc4 52. Kc2 d3+ 53. Kd2 Kd4 54. Ng3 c4 55. Nf5+ Ke5 56.
Ne3 Rxg7 57. Nxc4+ Kd4 58. Nd6 Rg2+ 59. Kd1 d2 ({Rook and pawn vs minor piece
is often a bit more complicated than it seems. Here more accurate is} 59... Rg6
60. Nf5+ Kc3 61. Ke1 d2+ 62. Ke2 Re6+ 63. Ne3 d1=Q+ 64. Kxd1 Rxe3 65. Kc1 Re1#
{One of the keys to winning these is not to be in too much of a hurry to
advance the pawn.}) 60. Kc2 Ke3 61. Nf5+ Ke2 62. Nd4+ Ke1 63. Nf3+ Kf1 $4 ({
Unfortunately, Black finds the only drawing move in the position. Instead, a
little triangulation goes a long way.} 63... Kf2 64. Nd4 (64. Nxd2 Ke3 $19)
64... Ke3 65. Nf5+ (65. Nb3 Rg1 66. Nxd2 Rg2 $19) 65... Kf3 66. Nd4+ Ke4 67.
Nb3 (67. Nb5 Ke3 68. Nc3 d1=Q+ 69. Kxd1 Kd3 $19) 67... Ke3 68. Na5 Ke2 $19) 64.
Kd1 Kf2 65. Nxd2 Ke3 66. Nf1+ Kd3 67. Ke1 Re2+ 68. Kd1 Ra2 69. Ke1 {Quite a
struggle! Both players acquitted themselves well, and as in all chess games,
the result was determined by the last significant mistake.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "WA Chess960 Fall Open"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.10.10"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Cen, Evan"]
[Black "Cheng, Edward"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1336"]
[BlackElo "1741"]
[Annotator "Ralph Dubisch"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rkqbbrnn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RKQBBRNN w FAfa - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[TimeControl "1800+10"]

{One of the fun things about chess960 is trying to determine from move zero
how to best coordinate all of the pieces.} 1. d4 {Doesn't feel quite right to
me. Although it's influencing the center, it's a little difficult to arrange
the bishops and knights around this starting point.} (1. e4 {or}) (1. f4 {
feel more consistent with the arrangement of minor pieces on the back rank,
though I doubt this starting position offers much hope of an opening advantage
to White.}) 1... f5 $1 {Instant equality.} 2. Bb4 $6 {The bishop doesn't do
much on this square, and it could soon be a target for an advancing a-pawn (...
a5). After a natural ...d6, the bishop's only function appears to be
temporarily preventing ...e5 due to the loose rook on f8 -- which can move.}
Ng6 3. Ng3 Nh4 $6 ({Pawn hunting; not recommended. Black already has at least
a small advantage:} 3... a5 $5 4. Ba3 (4. Bd2 e5 $15) 4... d6 $15) 4. Nh5 $4 ({
White doesn't actually lose material here, but there is a cost in time, and
the queen recaptures on an inferior square, as it is on the same line as the
black bishop on d8.} 4. Nf3) 4... Bxh5 5. Qg5 Bg6 6. Qxh4 e6 7. Qg3 f4 8. Qh3
d6 9. e3 fxe3 10. Bg4 $2 (10. Qxe3 Ne7 $17) 10... Rxf2 $1 $19 11. O-O-O $2
Rxc2+ 12. Kb1 e2 13. Bxe6 (13. Nxe2 Rc3+ 14. Ka1 Rxh3 $19) 13... Rc3+ ({
One win of many. Others:} 13... exf1=Q 14. Rxf1 Rf2+ 15. Kc1 Rxf1+ 16. Kd2 Bg5+
({or} 16... Bf5) 17. Ke2 Qf8 $19) (13... exd1=Q+ 14. Rxd1 Re2+ 15. Ka1 Rxe6 $19
) 14. Ka1 exd1=R+ 15. Rxd1 Rxh3 16. Bxc8 Rd3 17. Rc1 Kxc8 18. Bxd6 Kd7 19. Be5
Bg5 20. Rxc7+ Ke6 21. a3 Rd1+ 22. Ka2 Rxg1 23. g3 Ne7 24. Rxb7 Be4 25. Rc7 Bd5+
26. b3 Rg2+ 27. Kb1 Rf8 {boocoolpro won by resignation} 0-1

[Event "WA Women's Championship"]
[Site "Redmond, WA, USA"]
[Date "2021.09.12"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Kuhner, Mary"]
[Black "Bian, Erin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "1901"]
[BlackElo "1822"]
[Annotator "Mary Kuhner"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

{[%evp 0,123,21,14,18,17,11,14,14,33,54,-2,-10,-21,-23,-19,-18,-19,-19,-17,2,
-19,-18,-51,-21,-20,-12,-12,-12,38,220,220,204,211,208,97,101,101,92,92,87,103,
103,42,163,66,196,27,134,105,186,191,200,190,190,181,276,276,276,281,333,333,
430,424,461,461,645,663,671,618,671,673,678,686,29975,29986,29987,684,704,704,
704,701,864,751,767,767,951,964,964,865,877,867,998,1037,1178,1306,1976,2527,
29983,29984,29985,29980,29979,1991,29975,29980,29983,2340,29979,1730,3419,3524,
29989,29990,29991,29990,29991,29992,29995,29994,29995,29996,29997,29998,29999,
-30000]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. Bg5 {I don't
usually get to play this, either because Black plays ...h6 or because they
haven't castled yet ( and will respond with ...h6 and ...g5 to attack ) . But
this time I can, so why not? ( Stockfish disagrees, though. ) There is so much
I don't know about this opening that I've been playing for years!} h6 7. Bh4 d6
8. a4 a5 9. Nbd2 Ba7 {In this position I had a sharp argument with the
internalized archetype of the Coach, who was saying "Why haven't you castled
yet? You're going to get in trouble!" But I really preferred the text move....}
10. Nf1 Be6 11. b3 {Solves the problem of protecting the bishop without
dropping anything or making a trade that will open the f-file, but the bishop
easily could get trapped out there. I figured I could always trade it later if
it looked endangered.} Qe7 {This move does not seem to do much, other than
connecting the rooks.} 12. Ne3 g5 {Here I thought, I'll look at the sack for a
bit--I doubt it's good--and then look at other lines. But the more I looked at
it the more I liked it. After 7 minutes I hadn't looked at anything else and
decided I wasn't going to. Stockfish agrees, for once. It doesn't think the
sack is winning but it does think it's the best move here.} 13. Nxg5 hxg5 14.
Bxg5 Bxe3 $2 {Opening the f-file against the pinned knight just can't be right.
} 15. fxe3 Nb8 16. O-O Nbd7 17. Rxf6 $6 {Attractive but apparently not
necessary, and Black has a subtle response which maintains the balance. On the
other hand, I felt it made my young opponent flinch ( as the initial sack had
not ) and that's something in itself.} (17. Qe1 Kg7 18. Qg3 Nh5 19. Bxe7+ Nxg3
20. Bxf8+ Rxf8 21. hxg3 {is the engine recommendation, and it does look like
an improved version of the game ( except for the doubled g-pawns ) .}) 17...
Nxf6 18. Qf3 $6 {After this move Erin thought for a long time, and I had time
to find her tricky reply. So at least it wasn't a surprise, though it took a
bunch of time from my own clock as well to sort out all the variations.} ({
A strong and subtle move is} 18. Ra2 $1) 18... Bg4 $1 19. Bxf6 ({It does not
work to play} 19. Qg3 Nxe4) ({Also not convincing is} 19. Qxg4 Nxg4 20. Bxe7
Rfe8 21. Bg5 Kg7) 19... Bxf3 20. Bxe7 Rfe8 21. Bf6 {The computer would rather
win a pawn here ( Bxd6 ) , but I value this bishop more highly than that. I am
yearning to eventually play Rh8#.} Bh5 $2 {The bishop should retreat to e6 and
get rid of White's bishop pair. It will turn out to be desperately unsafe on
the kingside.} 22. Rf1 {White has the bishop pair, two nice pawns, and a
temporary initiative for the exchange. I felt this was enough to claim an
advantage. Also, f7 is weak and the bishop on f6 is cramping Black's game; the
rooks have no open lines and it's not easy to find anything for them to do.
Finally, Black's king is not entirely safe even with queens gone.} Kh7 23. Rf5
$2 Kh6 $2 (23... Bg4 $1 {drives me back in confusion}) 24. h4 Rg8 {This move
introduces pins and counter-threats against White's king, but doesn't change
the evaluation, which is now a hefty +3. During the game I was cautiously
optimistic.} 25. Bg5+ Kg7 26. g4 Bg6 (26... Bxg4 27. Rxf7+ Kg6 28. Rxc7 {
might have been better, but it's not good}) 27. Rf3 Raf8 $2 {The rook simply
can't protect the f-pawn due to Be7, and after this move Black is completely
tied up and passive. Better to let the pawn go and try for counterplay
elsewhere, though everything is a bit slow given how much trouble Black is now
in--her bishop's life is in grave danger.} 28. Kf2 {Trying to avoid a pin on
the g-file if Black sacrifices her bishop for the advancing pawns.} Kh7 {
Self-trapping the bishop, but Black has no good moves here.} 29. Bf6 Kh6 30. h5
{The pawns finally roll, and Black really can't do anything about it.} Bh7 {
Stockfish prefers to give up the bishop immediately, but young players tend to
hang onto material when defending; in any case it's very bad for Black.} 31.
Be7 Re8 32. Rf6+ Kg7 (32... Kg5 33. Rg6# {is a very cute mate}) 33. Rxf7+ {
With the fall of this pawn, the Bb4 gains lethal access to e6 and g8.} Kh6 34.
Rf6+ {A pointless move, but I wanted to gain a little time, look at the
position some more, and incidentally give her a chance to walk into the mate
again. She was, of course, not going to fall for that.} Kg7 35. Rf7+ Kh6 36.
g5+ Kxh5 37. Rxh7+ Kg6 38. Bxg8 {Good enough, but I missed a mate here--did
not see the final quiet move that seals the net.} (38. Rh6+ Kg7 39. Bf6+ Kf8
40. Bxg8 Kxg8 41. g6 $1 {and mate is inevitable}) 38... Rxg8 39. Rh6+ Kf7 40.
Bf6 {The rest of the game needs no comment. She looks for stalemate but I
don't let it happen; my winning plan is not very direct or fast but it's good
enough for the job.} Ke8 41. Kf3 Kd7 42. Kg4 Ke6 43. Rh7 Re8 44. d4 c6 45. c4
d5 46. Bxe5 dxc4 47. bxc4 b5 48. cxb5 cxb5 49. axb5 a4 50. Ra7 a3 51. Rxa3 Rc8
52. Ra6+ Ke7 53. Bf6+ Kf7 54. Kf5 Rb8 55. g6+ Kg8 56. b6 Kf8 57. e5 Ke8 58. e6
Rd8 59. Bxd8 Kxd8 60. Ra7 Ke8 61. g7 Kd8 62. g8=Q# 1-0

[Event "Washington Women's Championship"]
[Site "Redmond, WA"]
[Date "2021.09.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Erin Bian"]
[Black "Sophie Tien"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C72"]
[WhiteElo "1822"]
[BlackElo "2027"]
[Annotator "Erin Bian"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 {The Advanced Steinitz.} 5. O-O Bd7 6.
c4 {An interesting idea that is scoring quite well for white.} g6 $6 {Dubious,
because it opens up the a1-h8 diagonal; white can now play d4.} 7. d4 Bg7 (7...
exd4 8. Bxc6 Bxc6 9. Nxd4 $16) (7... Nxd4 8. Bxd7+ Qxd7 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. Qxd4
f6 11. Nc3 $16) 8. Bxc6 Bxc6 9. Nc3 Ne7 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. Qc2 {Clearing the
d-file for the rook.} O-O 12. Rd1 Qe8 13. Nd5 $16 {The opening has so far gone
well for me; I have more space and my pieces are more active.} Rc8 {Defends c7.
} 14. b3 {Preparing to activate the bishop via a3 or b2.} f5 $5 {An
interesting attempt for counterplay.} 15. Ng5 $6 {Dubious, but I was trying to
take advantage of the weakened e6-square.} (15. Ba3 $1 {was better.} Bxd5 16.
exd5 e4 17. Nd4 $16) 15... Nxd5 {The only move.} 16. cxd5 Bd7 17. Ba3 Rf6 18.
Bb2 {Trying to take advantage of the fact that the black rook is now blocking
the bishop, perhaps f4 can be a possibility.} Rb6 {Getting out of the way of
the bishop.} 19. exf5 $6 $11 {It was better to maintain the tension and play a
developing move.} (19. Rac1 $16) 19... gxf5 20. Re1 {Trying to target e5.} Qh5
$6 21. Nf3 (21. f4 $1 {a solid alternative:} exf4 22. Nh3 $14 {and now if} f3
$4 {then} 23. Bxg7 Kxg7 24. Re7+ $18 {wins!}) 21... e4 $1 {It's a good idea to
start attacking as we were both getting low on time and it will not be easy to
defend.} 22. Ne5 Be8 $2 $16 {Too passive.} (22... Rh6 $1 {would have been
better.} 23. h3 $14 (23. Nxd7 $2 {It is easy to misevaluate this in time
pressure. For example, this is the engine line:} Qxh2+ 24. Kf1 Qh1+ 25. Ke2
Qh5+ $1 26. g4 $1 Qxg4+ 27. Kd2 Qf4+ 28. Kd1 Rd6 $1 29. Rg1 $1 Rxd7 30. Qc3
Qf3+ 31. Qxf3 exf3 $17 {and when the dust settles, black is up a few pawns and
will probably win.})) 23. Nc4 $2 $15 (23. Re3 $1 {I missed the idea of a rook
lift. White will be able to successfully defend.}) 23... Rh6 24. h3 Rg6 25. Kh1
$2 (25. Bxg7 $1 {This is the top engine move and is completely inhuman. I
stopped calculating on 25...Qxh3 but...} Qxh3 26. Ne3 $1 Rxg7 27. Qb2 $1 $11 {
with the idea of Qxg7+ and gxh3 somehow holds!} (27. Qc3 $4 Rxg2+ $19)) 25...
Bd7 {This bishop belongs here, eyeing h3.} 26. Qe2 {Trying to trade queens and
fend off the attack.} Qh4 {It's a good idea to avoid the trade and keep
putting pressure. I think we were both under 10 minutes by now.} 27. Bxg7 {
I thought for about 5 minutes here, and I wasn't sure how to prevent ...f4
followed by a sac on h3. I didn't actually see what to do after f4 here, but
Bxg7 was indeed the best move.} Rxg7 (27... f4 $2 28. Qf1 $1 (28. Qxe4 $2 Bxh3
$1 29. g3 $1 Qh5 30. Qxf4 $13 {Very dangerous, especially in time pressure. I
was a bit worried Sophie was going to play this, but I didn't see the other
defense I had!}) 28... f3 29. g3 Qh5 30. Kh2 $16) 28. Ne5 $1 {I was not sure
how to stop ...f4 and ...Bxh3, but I suddenly saw a motif here: the fork on f6
with the knight if I deflected the black queen with Qh5. Qh5 would also
temporarily defend h3, so problem solved! Of course, it wasn't this simple...}
f4 $2 $16 {The crucial mistake.} (28... Bb5 $15 {Would have maintained a small
advantage. But I think both our attentions were focused on ...f4 and ...Bxh3.
Sophie simply missed the Qh5.}) 29. Nxd7 Rxg2 $6 {A mistake but this may be
the best try. White has to be precise.} (29... Rxd7 {Better than what was
played, but white still has the advantage:} 30. Qxe4 $16) 30. Qh5 $1 $18 {
I saw this move in advance. Unfortunately for her, Sophie missed this 
(completely reasonable, seeing we were both under 5 minutes!), and lost the
game because of it. I would give it 2 exclams, but it's not actually that hard
to find with the position in front of you...} (30. Nf6+ $2 {I was actually
planing to play this move order in the beginning, but after} Qxf6 31. Qxe4 f3
32. Rg1 $13 {it's still unclear. Qh5 is much more decisive.}) 30... Qxh5 (30...
Qxf2 {This may appear intimidating at first, but is not at all dangerous. I
calculated both ways to defend:} 31. Nf6+ $1 (31. Rg1 $1 $18) 31... Kg7 32. Ng4
$18) 31. Nf6+ Kf7 32. Nxh5 Rxf2 33. Rxe4 $18 {When the dust settled, I was up
a piece and clearly winning. So, black resigned. This was a tough game and the
last to finish in that round. It was definitely close, and just came down to
tactics and quick calculation in the end. This was probably the most difficult
(and most interesting!) game out of my 4 wins!} 1-0

[Event "Pan American Youth Chess Festival 2021"]
[Site "lichess.org"]
[Date "2021.09.07"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Peng, Shunkai"]
[Black "Daza, Daniel Titichoca"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B81"]
[WhiteElo "2281"]
[BlackElo "2051"]
[Annotator "Shunkai Peng"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

{[%evp 0,65,34,25,59,39,68,45,55,42,36,36,53,34,58,43,58,35,30,17,17,18,38,42,
42,47,33,12,12,8,25,25,2,7,34,0,0,31,55,65,60,59,76,46,82,58,119,124,136,133,
141,151,136,290,299,212,408,229,431,431,1089,1482,29995,29992,29995,29992,
29997,29998] In the fifth round of this tournament, I play against Bolivian
player Daniel Titichoca Daza. This was a crucial game. He had a half point
more than me. I wanted to try to beat him to make the situation bright.} 1. e4
c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. Nge2 d6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. h3 {Transposing to the
Najdorf variation.} e6 (6... e5 $5 {another very popular line}) 7. g4 Nfd7 {
A relatively unpopular variation. I did not expect him to play this line
before the match.} (7... d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Nde2 Bb4 10. Bg2 Nc6 11. O-O Nxc3
12. Nxc3 Bxc3 13. bxc3 $14 {white has a slight advantage}) 8. Bg2 Be7 9. g5 $5
{[#] A little trap. If he plays 9...Bg5? 10. Ne6!} Nc6 (9... Bxg5 10. Nxe6 $1
fxe6 11. Qh5+ $16 {white is very close to a winning positon}) 10. h4 Qc7 11. f4
b5 {[#]} 12. Be3 (12. Nxc6 $1 Qxc6 13. Qd4 {typical idea} (13. Be3 $5 Bb7 14.
Qd4 O-O 15. h5 Qc5 16. Qd2 Qc7 17. h6 g6 18. O-O-O $14) 13... O-O 14. Be3 {
with a promising position for white} (14. h5 Qb6 15. Qxb6 Nxb6 16. h6 g6 17. f5
Bb7 18. f6 Bd8 19. Bf4 $14)) 12... Bb7 13. a3 {Maybe not the best move, but I
am afraid of b4 hitting my knight.} (13. f5 $5 {immediately pushing seems not
very good, because it allows black's knight dump into the e5 square} Nxd4 14.
Qxd4 Ne5 15. O-O-O Qc4 $1 $11) 13... Na5 {black has a threat to play Nc4, Bc1,
Nxa3!} 14. Rh3 $1 {[#] I spend 20 minutes to think this move, I was anxious in
the beginning, My idea is to move the rook to support the third rank.} Nc4 15.
Bc1 {[#]} O-O $2 {a positional mistake, can't say this is a question move, but
obviously black should keep his king on the center, because it looks safer
there} (15... h6 $1 16. g6 O-O $1 17. gxf7+ Rxf7 18. Nxe6 Qc8 $44) 16. b3 $1 {
Drive it back!} Ncb6 17. Bb2 $16 d5 $5 {[#] Both sides have finished
development, and a fierce game is inevitable. Black first launches a charge
and tries to open the situation.} 18. e5 $1 $16 {[#]} (18. exd5 $2 Qxf4 19.
Nde2 Qg4 20. Rg3 Qxh4 $132) 18... b4 19. axb4 Bxb4 20. Kf1 $6 {The pin is
annoying. The king retreats to a safe space. But now g6 attack is a good move!}
(20. g6 $1 hxg6 21. Qg4 $16 (21. h5 $2 g5 $1)) 20... Be7 $2 {too slow} (20...
Nb8 $1 21. h5 Nc6 22. Nce2 a5 23. g6 h6 24. Kg1 $16) 21. Qe2 $6 {better to
keep e2 square for the knight on c3} (21. h5 Nc5 (21... Bc5 22. Nce2 $16) 22.
Qg4 $16) 21... Nc5 $2 (21... Bc5 $1 22. Rd1 Nb8 $14) 22. h5 $16 Bc8 $2 {
Black loses his direction at middle game, why to redeploy bishop to d7?} 23.
Kg1 Bd7 24. Kh1 {Finally arriving!} a5 25. g6 $1 $18 {[#] white is having
strong attack} f5 26. h6 {[#]} hxg6 27. Rg1 g5 {[#]} 28. Nxd5 $2 {The wrong
move order. The exchange should come later.} (28. hxg7 Kxg7 29. Nxd5 $1 Nxd5
30. Bxd5 exd5 31. e6 {easy win}) 28... exd5 $4 {the final mistake} (28... Nxd5
$1 {More tenacious.} 29. Bxd5 (29. hxg7 $4 Nxf4 $19) 29... g6 $1 30. Bxa8 Rxa8
$14 {white is better but the game is still on}) 29. hxg7 Kxg7 30. e6 Bf6 31.
Nxf5+ Kg8 32. Rh8+ Bxh8 33. Ne7+ {[#] white win} 1-0

