[Event "Washington State Championship"]
[Site "Seattle"]
[Date "2022.02.12"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Lee, Megan"]
[Black "Readey, John"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B11"]
[WhiteElo "2321"]
[BlackElo "2289"]
[Annotator "Megan Lee"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2022.02.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.03.27"]

1. e4 c6 {I had a feeling Readey would try something different than his usual .
..d6 (which he had played against me in last year's event online), so I was
prepared for what was to come.} 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Nxe4 {
Not 5...Nbd7 because of Nd6#. Other options include 5... Bf5, but I figured it
would be more awkward for Black to play with doubled kingside pawns.} 6. Qxe4
Nd7 7. Bc4 Nf6 8. Ne5 {A fun mating trap that helps White solve his
light-squared bishop's development} e6 9. Qe2 {Here I think White is sitting
in a nice position - the plan is relatively straightforward, to develop the
rest of our pieces by castling and figuring out where to put our dark-squared
bishop, and then moving our rooks to the semi-open files in the center to
maintain our knight's outpost. A common idea in this sort of position is to
make Black's light-squared bishop have a hard time developing with a4
threatening a5. White's knight is very useful in stopping b5 ideas right away,
and Black will need to regroup slowly in order to get Qc7, b6, Bb7, c5 in.} Be7
(9... b5 {Somewhat inhuman to play something like this, but Black has enough
resources to prevent what looks like losing two pawns} 10. Nxc6 Qc7 11. Bxb5 a6
12. Ba4 Bd7 13. Qc4 Nd5 14. b3 Nb6 15. Qe4 Qb7 {And the pins work in Black's
favor to reclaim the lost material}) 10. O-O O-O 11. a4 {Again, White's a5
plan is very annoying, as Black's dark-squared bishop does not want to be shut
in forever.} a5 {Probably somethin g like 11...Qc7 might have been a better
option. Although White can play a5, Black's light-squared bishop still has a
chance to be free with c5, Bd7-Bc6 ideas.} (11... Qc7 12. a5 c5 {Also useful
to challenge the center}) 12. b3 {I chose to develop my dark-squared bishop
this way for a couple of reasons: 1) - it would be more useful on the a1-h8
diagonal, supporting d4 and aiming at the enemy's king. 2) - If I went the d3
route, it would be a bit slow. My plan is to play d4 eventually, so I would
waste some time playing Rf1-d1 (I might want my f-Rook to play a role on the
kingside in the future, or help support my knight via the e1 square.) Pushing
my pawn from d3 and later d4 is also slow and it makes my light-squared bishop
a target for b5 traps.} Nd7 {Getting rid of the annoying outposted knight, and
preparing for Bf6 to counter White on the diagonal. However, a better plan for
Black might be to have gone Nd5 to eventually play for f6 and e5 to free the
light-squaredbishop} 13. Bb2 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Bd6 15. f4 {I chose to push this
pawn instead of the d-pawn since I thought that my f-rook might be more useful
once the bishops were traded and I would have preferred the f-file open as
opposed to the d-file.} Qc7 16. Bd3 {My light-squared bishop is no longer
useful on the c4 diagonal and can now help attack on the kingside. Also
setting up a nice trap.} Bd7 17. Bxh7+ Kxh7 18. Qd3+ Kg8 19. Bxd6 Qb6+ 20. Kh1
Rfe8 21. Rf3 {A rook lift that helps bring more pieces to the party} Rad8 22.
Rh3 {Mate is coming...if not serious concessions from Black} f6 23. Qh7+ Kf7
24. Rg3 e5 25. Qxg7+ Ke6 26. fxe5 fxe5 27. Qxe5+ 1-0

[Event "Washington State Championship"]
[Site "Seattle"]
[Date "2022.02.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Lee, Megan"]
[Black "Moroney, Timothy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2321"]
[BlackElo "2234"]
[Annotator "Megan Lee"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2022.02.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.03.27"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Be3 Be6 10. Bf3 {It's generally uncommon to play Bf3 in tandem with Be3
in this position, but I thought I would give this a try. Obviously we can't
let Black break the center with d5 yet.} Nbd7 11. a4 {My favorite plan of the
tournament - this time to also stop Black's queenside expansion and to make
the b6 square potentially vulnerable in the future.} Nb6 (11... Qc7 {I think
th is move might be a little more flexible for Black, since it maintains some
tension and Black might need the a-rook for supporting his pawn in case of a
queenside break} 12. a5 b5) 12. Bxb6 $6 {12. Nd2 is probably best since it
prepares a5 and puts the b3 knight on a more useful square. We aren't scared
of Nc4, and are happy to trade in that case. Capturing with the bishop gets
rid of one of our nice minor pieces that is helping control the b6 square.}
Qxb6 13. Nd5 {Taking our outpost and fixing Black's pawns. However, we're not
in a rush. Better is probably a5 continuing with our plan and supporting the
center. Nd5 can always be played.} (13. a5 Qa7 14. Re1) 13... Nxd5 14. exd5 Bf5
{14...Bd7 is slightly better since Black wants to eventually play f5, Bf6. So
it is not an ideal solution for the light-squared bishop since we will have to
move it again eventually.} 15. Be2 {Finding a more useful diagonal and taking
away escape squares from Black's queen} Rac8 16. c3 Bg6 17. a5 Qc7 18. Ra4 {
Activating our pieces and getting them into the game. Also supporting f4 ideas
and Rb4 to targetb7} f5 19. Rb4 Bd8 20. Kh1 Qe7 21. Re1 {21. f4 seems fine as
well, but I figured if Black chooses to play e4 the White rook is eventually
better suited on the e-file to play for Re3-Rg3 or Rh3} Be8 22. f4 e4 23. Bf1 {
A waiting move that helps support the g4 break} (23. g4 {A very tempting break
as Black has a good fortress that is hard to penetrate. But when the position
is closed, we have time to wait and gradually improve our position until we
are ready.} b5 24. axb6 Rb8 {Black, although down a pawn, is doing fine here
since White's kingside is exposed and the space is opening up to better serve
Black's bishop pair}) 23... Rf6 24. g4 {A good time, since we can play g5 and
block Black's pieces from infiltrating too much if needed} Rh6 25. Qd2 (25. g5
$2 {Not now since Black can play Rh4 and h6 starts to look scary for White})
25... Qh4 26. g5 {Now Black's pieces are a little out of room. h6 doesn't come
fast enough} Rh5 27. Nd4 g6 28. Rxb7 Bxa5 29. Re2 {A little overprotection
never hurt anyone. We need our queen in the game!} h6 30. Ne6 hxg5 31. Qd4 Rh7
32. Rg7+ Kh8 33. Rxg6+ 1-0

[Event "Oregon Girls Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.03.12"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Reddy, Laxmisri"]
[Black "Sripada, Anisha"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D58"]
[WhiteElo "260"]
[BlackElo "1377"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2022.03.12"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.03.27"]

{[%evp 0,76,19,31,19,0,-3,-3,-12,-10,17,21,20,16,43,15,10,15,30,0,12,-3,-3,4,
-20,-37,-25,-22,-13,-52,-35,-48,-64,-64,-60,-54,-47,-77,21,-22,-49,-63,-65,
-114,-96,-407,-410,-533,-545,-561,-560,-577,-581,-594,-603,-687,-642,-661,-669,
-688,-572,-569,-569,-615,-598,-687,-686,-788,-623,-696,-756,-804,-823,-1049,
-1067,-29997,-29998,-29999,-30000]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5.
Nf3 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Bd3 h6 8. Bh4 b6 9. O-O Bb7 {Black uses a sophisticated
move order to reach a Tartakover Queen's Gambit Declined. This move order
avoids the lines where White plays Bg5xf6 at a time when Black is forced to
recapture with the bishop from f6 - capturing with a knight from d7 is more
natural. Very subtle.} 10. Qc2 c5 11. b3 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Bxf3 13. gxf3 {When I
try captures like this to double pawns and expose White's king, it usually
ends up that the open g-file is supporting White's attack is more important
than the slight weakening of White's king protection. In this game, Anisha
makes White’s weakened kingside the more salient issue.} cxd4 14. exd4 Nh5
15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. Kh1 Nf4 17. Qe4 Qf6 18. Rg1 Qf5 ({Black could have used a
tricky maneuver to win a pawn.} 18... Nh3 19. Rg2 Ng5 20. Qe3 Qxf3) 19. Rg3 (
19. Qxf5 exf5 {is roughly equal according to Stockfish.}) 19... Nf6 20. Qxf5
exf5 {Stockfish thinks Black is better here than in the line suggested on
previous move after 19.Qxf5. White will not be able to break through with a
kingside attack without queens on the board, so the rook lift to g3 is a loss
of time.} 21. Rag1 N6h5 {And Black wins at least an exchange, as the White
rooks cannot avoid the attacks from Black's knights.} 22. Rxg7+ Nxg7 23. Nd5
Nxd5 24. Bxd5 Rad8 25. Bc4 Rxd4 26. Rg3 Rd2 27. Rh3 Kh7 28. Kg2 Rxa2 29. Rh4 f6
30. Rd4 Kg6 31. f4 Re8 32. b4 Ra1 33. Rd3 Kh7 34. Rg3 Nh5 35. Rf3 Re4 36. Bd3
Nxf4+ {Black finishes the game with an elegant checkmate.} 37. Kg3 Rg1+ 38. Kh4
Rg4# 0-1

[Event "Oregon Girls Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.03.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Sripada, Anisha"]
[Black "Tang, Zoey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D93"]
[WhiteElo "1377"]
[BlackElo "2232"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2022.03.12"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.03.27"]

{[%evp 0,70,25,27,29,28,29,27,53,44,44,22,27,18,60,16,13,-6,-8,-21,-26,-22,9,2,
-8,-16,-18,-30,-43,-233,-221,-203,-235,-252,-262,-224,-210,-207,-243,-282,-249,
-299,-239,-447,-447,-431,-431,-481,-315,-410,-310,-324,-319,-506,-506,-581,
-622,-639,-569,-826,-583,-664,-490,-576,-236,-457,-457,-29993,-29994,-29997,
-29998,-29999,-30000]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 {The London system, formerly a way to
avoid the complexities of opening preparation, now the fashionable way to
embrace the complexities of opening preparation.} d5 3. e3 (3. Nc3 {transposes
to the Jobava variation of Veresov's opening, as played in the games
Feldman-Tang and Feldman-Nair which appear on pages 5 and 6 of the March 2021
issue of Northwest Chess.}) 3... g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. c4 O-O 6. Nc3 c5 {and we
reach to a highly forcing Gruenfeld line.} 7. Be2 {The second most popular
move in this position.} (7. dxc5 {is the most popular, and is about equal if
both sides have memorized an obscene number of moves, starting with} Ne4 ({or} 
7... Qa5)) 7... cxd4 8. Nxd4 Ne4 $1 {Zoey's knight move is part of a standard
Gruenfeld technique to soften White's queenside in general and the a1-h8
diagonal in particular. It would be hard for most of us to choose to move a
piece twice in the opening before developing the queenside pieces, but this is
quite natural to Gruenfeld players.} 9. Nxe4 dxe4 {White has a queenside pawn
majority and all her minor pieces developed, so must be better, right? In
reality, Black is better.} 10. Bg3 {avoiding the pawn fork.} ({White cannot
castle yet, as} 10. O-O $2 e5 {loses a piece}) ({Stockfish suggests avoiding
the pawn fork by playing} 10. Bxb8 {with only a slight disadvantage for White.}
) 10... a6 $6 $11 {stopping the threat of 11.Nb5, but losing time.} ({Best is
the continuing the policy of sacrificing pawn structure for attacking
prospects on the queenside with} 10... Nc6 {allowing White to weaken Black's
queenside pawns and trade queens, but also opening the a1-h8 diagonal for
Black's bishop and the b1-b8 file for Black's rooks. This gives Black
sufficient pressure on the queenside to more than offset the slightly inferior
pawn structure.} {A sample line runs} 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Qxd8 Rxd8 13. Rb1 a5
14. Bc7 Rd7 15. Bb6 Rb7 16. Bd4 Bxd4 17. exd4 Rd7 18. Rd1 Rb8 19. Rd2 ({Or} 19.
b3 a4 20. bxa4 Ra8 21. Rd2 Rxa4 22. O-O Rda7 $17 {and Black's queenside
pressure means White's passed a-pawn is a weakness, not an asset.}) 19... e5
20. dxe5 Rxd2 21. Kxd2 Rxb2+ $17) 11. O-O e5 12. Nb3 Qe7 $11 {Black's
queenside pieces are still undeveloped, but her plan to advance the pawn from
f7 to f3 means that White has more problems to solve than Black does.} 13. Qc2
({Stockfish says that White should be trying to trade queens and suggests} 13.
c5 Nc6 14. Qd6 $11) ({or} 13. Qd5 Nc6 14. Qc5 $11) 13... f5 14. h3 $2 {Makes
space to keep the bishop on g3 from being trapped, but allows Black's attack
to roll forward.} (14. f3 $11) 14... f4 $1 $17 {With a kingside attack, Zoey
is in her element,} 15. exf4 exf4 16. Bh2 f3 17. Bd1 Nc6 {After establishing a
winning kingside attack. Zoey finally gets around to developing her queenside
pieces. It takes excellent judgement to recognize that even though the
position is wide open, Black's lag in development is a small price to pay for
the attacking pawn formation. White has no way to prevent Black from
developing her remaining pieces and finishing the attack.} 18. Bg3 Bf5 19. Qd2
Rad8 20. Qc1 Nb4 21. Bc2 {stopping the black Knight from invading on d3, but...
} Nxc2 22. Qxc2 e3 23. Qc1 Bh6 24. Qc3 exf2+ 25. Bxf2 Rd3 26. Qa5 fxg2 27. Rfe1
Qf7 28. Qb4 Bxh3 29. Qc5 b6 30. Qxb6 Rf3 31. Re2 Be3 $1 {Black has more than
one of winning move, but this is the best of the bunch.} 32. Rxe3 Rxf2 33. Rae1
{The scoresheet says 33.Re1, I am guessing it is the undeveloped rook from the
a-file, not the one on e3.} (33. Rxh3 Rc2 {threatens} 34. Z0 Qf1+ 35. Rxf1
gxf1=Q#) 33... Rf1+ 34. Rxf1 gxf1=Q+ 35. Kh2 Qg2# 0-1

[Event "Tournament of Champions"]
[Site "Garden City, ID"]
[Date "2022.03.27"]
[Round "2.101"]
[White "Leifeste, Bryce"]
[Black "Kodihalli, Kaustubh"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C30"]
[WhiteElo "1536"]
[BlackElo "1896"]
[Annotator "Ralph Dubisch"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2022.03.27"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.03.27"]

{[%evp 0,83,19,18,24,25,17,7,7,-2,21,-21,4,11,8,6,11,6,13,9,-1,-13,-4,15,7,5,
11,-2,-9,0,13,13,40,22,43,43,50,41,65,20,44,33,28,4,28,27,43,11,23,19,71,63,62,
74,62,79,64,44,42,40,116,75,824,845,860,731,748,750,759,762,771,769,779,781,
783,789,741,789,792,730,743,725,784,868,868,919]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4
Nf6 4. d3 h6 (4... Na5 5. Nge2 Nxc4 6. dxc4 {is a well-traveled path to rough
equality.} Bc5 7. O-O d6 8. Qd3) (4... Bb4 5. Nge2 d5 6. exd5 Nxd5 7. O-O Be6
8. Bxd5 (8. Ne4 Be7) (8. Nxd5 $6 Bxd5 9. Bxd5 Qxd5 10. Ng3 $15) 8... Bxd5 9. f4
) 5. f4 Bc5 6. Nf3 d6 7. Na4 Bb6 8. Nxb6 axb6 9. O-O O-O 10. Be3 (10. fxe5 dxe5
11. a3 $14) 10... Bg4 (10... d5 11. exd5 (11. fxe5 $2 Ng4) 11... Nxd5 12. Qd2 (
12. Bxd5 Qxd5 13. c4 Qd6 14. fxe5 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Qxe5 16. Qd2 $13) 12... Nxe3
13. Qxe3 exf4 14. Qxf4 Ra5 $5) 11. h3 exf4 12. Bxf4 Be6 13. Bb3 Bxb3 14. axb3
Qd7 15. Qd2 Kh7 (15... Rxa1 16. Rxa1 Re8 {removes some of White's potential
while hinting at central distraction with ...d5. The position is close to
equal.}) 16. Be3 $6 ({White finds a plan to exchange knights. This is for sure
better than not having a plan at all, but other plans suggest themselves that
may be a bit more in harmony with the structure. ^^The positional elements
that appear important here are the half-open f-file and especially the
advanced outpost on f5, as well as the possibly mobile pawn center.} 16. Rae1 {
is a start, avoiding the possibility of having to recapture on a1, while
supporting the center and even suggesting the idea of doubling on the f-line.
Yes, it gives Black control of the open a-file, but is that the important
factor here? What are the targets? For Black, the b2-pawn. For White, the
black king.} Ra2 17. Nh4 $16 ({Or} 17. d4 $16 {One line in the complications:}
Rxb2 $6 18. d5 Ne7 19. Bxh6 $1 gxh6 20. Qc3 Ra2 21. Qxf6 Rxc2 22. Nd4 Ra2 23.
Ne6 $18 {.}) 17... Nh5 (17... g5 $4 18. Bxg5 hxg5 19. Rxf6 gxh4 $2 20. Rh6+ Kg7
21. Qg5#) 18. Be3 $16) ({The impatient} 16. Nh4 Rxa1 17. Rxa1 d5 {draws the
white pieces away from the action and undermines the center. White is still
not doing too badly here, but things are less clear.}) 16... Qe6 17. Nd4 ({
White should again consider centralizing} 17. Rae1 {, since Black clearly does
not have time for} Ra2 18. Nh4 Rxb2 {when} 19. Nf5 {offers a huge kingside
attack.}) 17... Nxd4 18. Bxd4 Nd7 19. Kh1 (19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Qc3 {looks like a
fork, but} c5 21. Bxg7 Kg6 $1 {suggests the bishop may experience some
difficulties.} ({The superficially attractive} 21... Rg8 22. Bf6 Qxh3 23. Qd2
Rg6 24. Bc3 $14 {, however, leaves White with fewer pawn islands and fairly
active bishop and rook.})) 19... c6 20. Qf4 f6 21. Qf2 b5 22. Qg3 d5 ({Perhaps
it's more thematic to keep the center somewhat closed and secure an outpost
for the knight:} 22... c5 23. Bg1 Ne5 {.}) 23. Rae1 Rae8 24. Qc7 dxe4 (24... c5
$5 25. exd5 (25. Bxc5 $4 Rc8 26. Qd6 Nxc5 $19) 25... Qxd5 26. Bg1) 25. Rxe4 Qd5
26. c4 bxc4 (26... Qf7 $5) 27. bxc4 Qf7 28. Rfe1 Rxe4 29. Rxe4 f5 (29... Ne5
30. Bxe5 fxe5 31. Qxf7 Rxf7 32. Rxe5 {leads to a theoretically drawn rook
ending, though of course White can and should press on indefinitely.} Rf1+ 33.
Kh2 Rb1 34. Re2 Rd1 35. Re7 b5 36. cxb5 cxb5 37. Rb7 Rxd3 38. Rxb5 $14) 30. Re2
Nb8 $4 (30... f4 $1 {By threatening further advance and kingside disruption,
Black can cause enough distraction to maintain a rough balance.} 31. Rf2 Qf5 $1
32. Qxb7 (32. g4 $5 Qe6 (32... Qxd3 $5 33. Qxd7 Rf6 $1 34. c5 Qxh3+ 35. Kg1 Rg6
36. Qf5 Qxg4+ 37. Qxg4 Rxg4+ 38. Kf1 g5 $13) 33. Rxf4 Qe1+ 34. Kg2 Qe2+ 35. Rf2
$6 Rxf2+ 36. Bxf2 Ne5 $13) 32... c5 33. Bc3 Qxd3 34. Rd2 Qb1+ $1 (34... Qf1+ $4
35. Kh2 Nf6 36. Rd7 $3 (36. Bxf6 Rxf6 37. Qe4+ $1 {also wins nicely:} Rg6 (
37... Kg8 38. Rd8+ Rf8 39. Qd5+ Kh7 40. Rxf8) (37... g6 38. Qe7+) 38. Rd6)
36... Nxd7 37. Qxd7 Rg8 38. Qf5+ Kh8 39. Qg6 $18 {Black is helpless against
the threat of mate on h6 or, if the rook moves, g7. This is a nice pattern to
remember.}) 35. Kh2 Nf6 $13 {The black queen retains its interest in the b1-h7
diagonal, and while there is still play in the position, Black is not losing.})
31. Re7 Na6 32. Rxf7 Nxc7 33. Rxg7+ Kh8 34. Rxc7+ Kg8 35. Rg7+ Kh8 36. Rxb7+
Kg8 37. Rg7+ Kh8 38. Rf7+ Kg8 39. Rxf8+ Kxf8 40. Kg1 Kf7 41. Kf2 Ke6 42. Ke3
1-0

[Event "Tournament of Champions"]
[Site "Garden City, ID"]
[Date "2022.03.27"]
[Round "5.101"]
[White "McKenzie, Niall"]
[Black "Leifeste, Bryce"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "1636"]
[BlackElo "1536"]
[Annotator "Ralph Dubisch"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2022.03.27"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.03.27"]

1. e4 c6 2. c4 d5 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nxd5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Bc4 (7.
Bb5 {and}) (7. d4 {are more common.}) 7... Nb6 8. Bb3 e5 $6 ({The normal play
from here is} 8... Bf5 9. d4 e6 10. O-O Be7 11. d5 {, leading to equality
through liquidation.}) 9. O-O Be7 10. h3 O-O 11. Re1 Bf6 12. Ne4 Bf5 13. Qe2
Re8 14. d3 h6 15. Be3 Bxe4 $2 ({Surrendering the bishop-pair while
simultaneously fixing White's pawn structure just can't be the right idea.} 
15... Be7 16. Rac1 {offers chances for further creativity.}) 16. dxe4 $16 Re7
17. Red1 Rd7 18. Rxd7 (18. Qb5 $5) 18... Qxd7 19. Rd1 Qc7 20. Bd5 $6 (20. Qb5
$16 {does a nice job of tying down the black queenside.}) 20... Nb4 (20... Rd8
$14) 21. Rc1 Qd7 22. Bxb6 $6 (22. Bb3 {maintains the current generally
advantageous imbalance, though White will still need to make progress somehow.}
) 22... Nxd5 23. exd5 axb6 24. Qc4 b5 25. Qb3 Rd8 26. Rd1 e4 27. Ne1 Be7 28.
Qe3 f5 29. Qb3 Bd6 (29... Kh7 30. Nc2 Bc5 $15 {Black has a threatening pawn
mass and superior minor piece.}) 30. f3 $2 (30. Nc2 {is both forward-looking,
intending Nd4-e6 for example, and less positionally self-destructive.}) 30...
Re8 31. Nc2 Kf8 $2 (31... e3 $1 32. Re1 (32. Nxe3 Bc5 {and Black will win the
pinned piece with ...f4 as needed.}) 32... e2 33. Qd3 Qe7 $19 {The bishop
dominates the dark squares, and has many paths to e1.} 34. Nd4 Qh4 $1 {is a
nice little tactic as well:} 35. Rxe2 Rxe2 36. Nxe2 Qe1#) 32. fxe4 (32. Nd4 $13
{regains White's footing.}) 32... Rxe4 33. Kh1 $2 (33. Re1 Bc5+ 34. Kh1 Qe7 {
, initiative Black.}) 33... Qe8 $1 34. Qf3 g6 $2 (34... Qe5 $1 {first, forcing}
35. g3) 35. Qc3 Kf7 36. Qd2 {Clearly time pressure is playing a role here.} Bf4
(36... Qe5) 37. Qc3 Bd6 38. Qd2 Qe5 $1 39. Kg1 Qh2+ 40. Kf2 Bc5+ 41. Kf3 Bd6
42. Kf2 Rf4+ 0-1

[Event "Montana Open"]
[Site "Missoula, MT"]
[Date "2022.04.02"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Murray, Mike"]
[Black "Nazriev, Rasul"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2031"]
[BlackElo "1860"]
[Annotator "Mike Murray"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2021.04.02"]
[SourceTitle "Jobava Attack"]
[Source "ChessPublishing"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]

{[%evp 0,41,19,21,8,13,17,19,25,24,34,32,38,13,41,0,27,-12,24,11,25,5,22,11,25,
30,44,52,52,-9,157,191,202,206,344,270,200,79,362,364,29995,29996,29997,29998]
} 1. Nc3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. Bf4 g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. Be2 {I wanted to avoid letting
him exchange his light bishop for my Ng1. Engines say this move is as good as
any.} ({GM Simon Williams likes the immediate} 5. h4) 5... O-O 6. Nf3 c5 7. Nb5
$5 {Thematic, but this move tends to be less effective when Black has already
castled, so White might consider} (7. Ne5) 7... Na6 ({This lets the pesky
White Knight tie up Black’s whole queenside.  Black has an interesting
exchange sac here:} 7... cxd4 8. Nc7 dxe3 9. fxe3 Nh5 10. Nxa8 Nxf4 11. exf4 {
with about equal chances.} Bxb2 12. Rb1 Bc3+ 13. Kf2 Nc6) ({Also reasonable is
} 7... Nc6 8. Nc7 Rb8 {and a possible draw by repetition} 9. Nb5 Ra8 {etc.}) 8.
c3 Ne4 $6 $146 9. h4 {Stockfish wants to castle here} h5 {and here, but....}
10. Ne5 {I wanted to attack.} Nd6 11. a4 cxd4 12. exd4 Bf5 {Plays right into
it.} (12... Nc7 {might be better.}) 13. g4 hxg4 14. Bxg4 f6 $6 $18 ({Better was
} 14... Bxe5 15. Bxe5 Qc8 16. Rg1 {but Black is still lost.}) 15. Bxf5 fxe5 16.
Be6+ {[#]} Kh7 17. Bxe5 $6 {I was tired and kept getting lost in the
complications.} (17. h5 $1 {is obvious and best} Rxf4 (17... g5 18. Bxg5 {
was better, but probably still lost after} exd4) 18. hxg6+ Kxg6 19. Qh5+ Kf6
20. Qxe5+ Kg6 21. Rg1+) 17... Bxe5 18. dxe5 $6 (18. h5 $1 g5 19. dxe5 {was the
correct way to do it.}) 18... Nxb5 $2 ({Black could have made things much
tougher by} 18... Qb6 {(threatening mate)} 19. Nd4 Qxb2 {(again, threatening
mate)} 20. O-O {(best, but what a sad move to make)} Ne4 21. Rb1 Qxc3 22. h5 g5
23. Rxb7 $16 {and the forced win is gone -- all White can claim is the
advantage.}) 19. h5 {[#] finally!} Nd6 20. hxg6+ Kg7 21. Rh7+ 1-0

[Event "Clark Harmon Memorial (Reserve)"]
[Site "Redmond, WA"]
[Date "2022.04.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Saloranta, Leo"]
[Black "Freeman, Spencer"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D08"]
[WhiteElo "1362"]
[Annotator "Spencer Freeman"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2022.03.26"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.03.27"]

{[%evp 0,40,25,26,13,-13,44,22,22,43,43,3,25,-36,-28,-23,21,24,100,110,109,61,
61,134,115,114,114,114,114,108,116,116,116,28,28,28,28,-51,-51,-71,0,0,9]} 1.
d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. e3 Bb4+ 6. Nbd2 dxe3 7. fxe3 Bg4 8. a3
Bxf3 9. Qxf3 Nxe5 10. Qe4 Bxd2+ 11. Bxd2 f6 {This felt like an ugly move, but
the alternative was protecting with the queen, which allows Qxb7 to come with
a tempo because the rook is no longer protected, so it seemed like the best
option.} 12. Rd1 Qc8 13. Bc3 Ne7 {I knowingly gave up a pawn here. It didn’t
seem practical to protect further, and developing my knight felt more
important than holding onto it.} 14. Bxe5 fxe5 15. Qxe5 Qf5 {This allows the
capture of either the g-pawn or the c-pawn, however after Qxc7, I have a quick
counterplay with 0-0 threatening ...Qf2#, and after Qxg7, both ...Rg8 and ...
Rf8 are possible and create problems for White.} 16. Qf4 O-O 17. Qxf5 Nxf5 18.
Ke2 Rae8 {Ke2 struck me as a mistake. Although it adequately defends the pawn
for now, it blocks in the light-squared bishop and makes it much harder for
the rook on h1 to develop as well. Kf2 looked better to me even though it
allows a revealed check, as the knight has no good targets. Kd2 was another
option, protecting the pawn and leaving White with more flexibility for
development.} 19. Rd3 Re4 20. b3 Rfe8 {b3 was the move that I was trying to
provoke with ...Re4, but I marked it as a mistake during the game. I thought
that g4 immediately was necessary to disallow me from stacking my rooks on the
e-file with the knight on f5. I would either have had to retreat my knight, or
play ...Rxg4, allowing Bh3, skewering my rook and my knight and allowing the
light-squared bishop to become active. b3 still would have been possible after
all of this to protect the c-pawn.} 21. Kd2 Nxe3 22. g3 Ng4 23. Rf3 Rd8+ 24.
Kc3 Red4 {This was an inaccuracy on my part. The idea was to play ...Rd2 and
…a5 creating a mating net, and then rotate my knight to f6 and then e4 for
checkmate. This is of course very preventable, but it seemed like a reasonable
long-term plan.} 25. Be2 Nf6 26. Bd3 $4 Rxd3+ $1 {This was my opponent’s
first, and perhaps only big mistake of the game. After a lot of thought, I
realized that Rxd3, temporarily sacrificing the exchange led to a winning
position, because even though my knight gets trapped after all the trades, the
time it would take White to win the knight allows me enough time to bring my
king to win his queen-side pawns and win the game.} 27. Rxd3 Ne4+ 28. Kc2 Rxd3
29. Kxd3 Nf2+ 30. Ke2 Nxh1 31. Kf1 Kf7 32. Kg2 Ke6 33. Kxh1 Ke5 34. Kg2 Kd4 35.
Kf3 a5 36. h4 Kc3 37. b4 Kxc4 38. bxa5 Kd3 39. Kf4 c5 40. g4 c4 0-1

