[Event "Oregon Closed Championship"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Raptis, Nick"]
[Black "Zavortink, Matt"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A09"]
[WhiteElo "2366"]
[BlackElo "2303"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 0,75,13,17,27,0,-3,-17,-20,-27,-6,-4,15,5,5,-29,-14,-58,-50,-64,25,-55,
-39,-50,-31,-50,-32,-77,-63,-76,-65,-85,-78,-91,-45,-46,-46,-240,-38,-70,-25,
-43,86,14,69,58,54,54,148,130,72,112,29,5,0,-2,2,-31,58,0,-19,-9,39,44,98,89,
112,143,174,276,273,34,192,273,273,273,547,570]} 1. Nf3 d5 {Same first two
moves as last year, but this year Nick has White. Let us see how the players
reinterpret this opening.} 2. c4 {Nick is a little more direct.} ({Matt played
} 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 c6 4. c4 dxc4 5. O-O) 2... e6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 d4 5. O-O c5
6. d3 Nc6 7. e4 {Nick transposes into a King's Indian reversed, which will
give him no objective advantage but plenty of opportunity to unleash chaos.} ({
I once believed that White should have a huge advantage by aiming for a
reversed Benoni two moves up, but a young Wesley So barely worked up a sweat
proving me wrong. This this game was played during one of his early visits to
Minnesota which must have made a good impression on him, as he ended up moving
there permanently. This game was played in September - if he had visited in
January, he might have chosen differently.} 7. e3 Bd6 8. exd4 cxd4 9. Bg5 h6
10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. Nbd2 Qd8 12. a3 a5 13. Qa4 Bd7 14. Ne4 Be7 15. c5 e5 16. Rfe1
O-O 17. Qc4 $6 Be6 18. Qb5 a4 19. Qxb7 Bd5 20. Rac1 $2 Ra7 21. Qb6 Qa8 $1 22.
Nxe5 Nxe5 23. Nf6+ Bxf6 24. Bxd5 Qxd5 25. Rxe5 Qb7 26. Qxb7 Rxb7 27. Re2 Rc8
28. c6 Rbc7 29. Rec2 Kf8 30. Rc4 Ke7 31. Rxa4 Rxc6 32. Ra7+ Kd6 33. Rxc6+ Rxc6
34. Rxf7 Rb6 35. a4 Rxb2 36. a5 Ra2 37. Ra7 Ra3 {0-1 (37) Gibbins,W-So,W 2013
Noel Skelton Open 2013}) 7... Be7 ({Engines prefer to try to stop White from
advancing his pawn to e5 with} 7... e5 $15) 8. Ne1 {Nick prefers a more
traditional King's Indian approach of keeping the position closed to allow a
kingside pawn advance. Lots of good, traditional values here in Oregon Chess.}
({From an historical perspective, I wish Nick would have played} 8. Nh4 {
to honor the move 11...Nh5!? played on July 16, 1972 by Bobby Fischer against
Boris Spassky in game 3 of their World Championship match, exactly 50 years
before this game was played.}) 8... O-O 9. f4 Rb8 10. h3 ({Nick continues to
avoid the engine-recommended} 10. e5 {and continues to avoid developing his
pieces. Will the chess gods punish him? If you read the tournament report, you
already know the answer.}) 10... Nd7 11. Nf3 Qc7 12. g4 b5 13. b3 bxc4 14. bxc4
f6 15. h4 Bd6 16. Ne1 Nb6 17. g5 Bd7 18. Rf2 Ne7 19. h5 e5 $2 {Up until now
Stockfish has been impressed with Black's position, but this space-grabbing
move gets us back to equality. Who says chess is logical? Well, authors Irving
Chernev and Erik Kislik, but other than that?} (19... Na4 $17 {says Stockfish,
but this is still a King's Indian, and White will continue to have chances
against Black's king.}) 20. f5 Na4 $6 (20... fxg5 21. Bxg5 h6 {looks like you
are accelerating White's attack. But Stockfish says Black has equality, as he
has sufficient room to defend. Maybe Matt wanted to avoid reminding Nick that
he could develop his queenside pieces? ☺}) 21. h6 $14 gxh6 22. gxf6 Rxf6 23.
Qh5 Kg7 (23... Kh8 24. Bxh6 Ng8 $14) 24. Bxh6+ $6 {tricky, but not best. Less
forcing moves retain an advantage for White.} Rxh6 25. Qg5+ Rg6 26. fxg6 Nxg6
27. Nf3 ({Stockfish recommends bailing out with a draw by repetition with} 27.
Qf6+ Kg8 28. Qf7+ {But one can't expect Nick to head for a draw when he up an
exchange for a pawn.}) 27... Rf8 28. Nbd2 {Nick develops a queenside piece!
But with two bishops, an extra pawn, and a lot of space, Black has more than
enough for the exchange.} Be7 29. Qg3 Nb2 30. Bf1 Kh8 $2 (30... Rf4 $1 31. Qh2
Rg4+ {is unclear}) 31. Rg2 {And suddenly Stockfish prefers White again. White
can make attacking moves on the kingside with his knights while uncovering an
attack on Black's loose knight on b2. Even with a space disadvantage, White is
playing on both sides of the board.} Bf6 32. Ng5 $1 Rg8 33. Ndf3 Rg7 (33... Na4
{trying to save the knight fails} 34. Nxe5 $1 Bxe5 35. Nf7+ Kg7 36. Nxe5 $18)
34. Rxb2 $18 {Black's 29...Nb2 wasn't a mistake, but the loose piece required
him to play very accurately to stay in the game.} Nf4 35. Kh1 Qd8 36. Rab1 Bc8
37. Rb8 h6 38. Qh2 1-0

[Event "Oregon Closed Championship"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Cigan, Jason"]
[Black "Richardson, Ryan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2169"]
[BlackElo "2045"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 0,63,18,8,48,37,85,57,57,36,36,27,45,38,23,47,41,40,31,12,18,10,-5,-3,5,
-2,25,2,23,13,6,5,11,11,24,36,43,6,8,-36,142,69,181,225,226,158,142,132,77,78,
77,75,91,91,91,68,127,129,158,158,166,147,147,153,525,533]} {A game that
exemplifies Jason's play in the tournament. He chooses a theoretically
critical opening, exploiting White's built-in initiative instead of just
deferring the battle to the middlegame. He invites a double-edged battle of
attacks on the wings. Finally, he is able to foresee the tactical finesses
required by this style of chess.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5.
Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3 Nbd7 9. g4 $1 {The only move in my database
that gives White a plus score.} Nb6 10. g5 Nfd7 ({The decentralizing} 10... Nh5
{is more popular and scores better.}) 11. Qd2 Be7 12. O-O-O Rc8 13. h4 $16 {
White and Black have both been playing normal, logical moves, but the engines
say White stands a lot better. Maybe not quite winning, but Jason is
comfortable in these tactical positions, as you are about to see.} Qc7 14. Qf2
Nc4 15. Bxc4 Bxc4 16. Kb1 b5 17. f4 a5 18. fxe5 dxe5 19. h5 O-O $2 {Allowing
White to win a pawn, as Black's king was responsible for defending the knight
on d7. Perhaps Black sacrificed the pawn, as it seemed less relevant than
leaving his king in the center.} (19... a4 {is Black's best try. White stands
better, but with both kings under fire, anything can happen.}) 20. Nxa5 ({
The engine prefers interpolating} 20. h6 g6 21. Nxa5) 20... Qxa5 21. Rxd7 {
This doesn't look so bad for Black, as he is only a pawn down and has two
bishops plus what appears to be a fast moving attack on White's king.} Ra8 {
Ryan finds Black's best try, but Jason has things tactically under control.} ({
If Black tries to save his bishop with} 21... Rfe8 {then} 22. Ra7 Qb4 23. h6 g6
24. a3 Qd6 25. Rd1 Qe6 26. Nd5 {gives White an overwhelming position. I
wouldn't resign Black's position, but Stockfish might.}) 22. Rxe7 b4 23. Bb6
Qa6 24. b3 bxc3 25. a4 Rfb8 26. a5 (26. Rc7 {is a little better, but Jason's
move more than gets the job done.}) 26... Qb5 27. Qc5 Qxc5 (27... Rxa5 28. Qxb5
Rxb5 29. Bc7 $1 Rc8 30. Rh3 $16 {removes the pawn from c3, and with it all of
Black's hopes and dreams.}) 28. Bxc5 Rxa5 29. Bb4 $1 $18 {Jason must have
foreseen this move to enter this line, as all other moves lose for White.} Rab5
(29... Rxb4 30. Re8#) 30. Bxc3 Be6 31. Rf1 Kf8 $2 {But White is winning after
other moves too.} 32. Rxe6 1-0

[Event "Oregon Closed Challengers"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Kodarapu, Ishaan"]
[Black "Murray, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "1895"]
[BlackElo "1788"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 0,39,18,-27,6,6,6,6,0,-23,19,10,18,12,24,19,12,27,26,22,33,25,33,33,33,
41,49,39,-4,0,2,-44,152,152,147,150,165,165,165,165,277,277]} {After losing
his first round, Ishaan gets back on the winning track in round 2 to start his
run to a tie for first place.} 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 Nf6 4. b3 Nbd7 5. Bb2
Bd6 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Qc2 a6 8. Be2 ({Leela's first suggestion is} 8. Rg1 $140 $5
Z0 {with the idea of attacking with} 9. g4 {This is probably due to the
influence of some anti-Slav lines in repertoire books like "The Modern Reti -
An Anti-Slav Repertoire." But if Leela is getting advice from repertoire books,
that means she can read! The singularity is near.}) 8... dxc4 9. bxc4 e5 10.
O-O Re8 11. d4 exd4 12. exd4 c5 13. Rad1 cxd4 14. Nxd4 Qc7 15. h3 Ne5 $2 {
This move blocks the bishop from moving to h2. This bishop needs this resource
so it can escape from the attack of a White knight on b5 with check, giving
the queen time to retreat.} (15... Nb6 {Prevents the combination we will see
in the game. But the following line is difficult to see through to the end.}
16. Ndb5 $2 axb5 17. Nxb5 Bh2+ 18. Kh1 Qf4 19. Bxf6 Bxh3 20. gxh3 Qxf6 21. Kxh2
Qe5+ 22. Kg2 Qxe2) 16. Ndb5 $1 axb5 17. Nxb5 Qa5 18. Nxd6 Re6 19. c5 Nfd7 $2 {
loses a piece, but White is much better in any case.} 20. f4 {if 20...Nc6, 21.
Nxc8 Rxc8 22.Rxd7} 1-0

[Event "Oregon Closed Challengers"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Houston, Noah"]
[Black "Waterman, Jeremy"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "1696"]
[BlackElo "1910"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 0,56,25,-11,-30,-51,16,2,9,-2,-2,-7,3,-23,5,-60,-9,45,39,-21,83,54,70,
30,29,21,17,20,14,4,29,-11,-76,-77,-29,-119,-138,-131,-118,-107,-117,-141,-183,
-162,-86,-111,-118,-118,-156,-368,-54,-109,-99,-88,-97,-150,-103,-795,-795]} 1.
c4 e5 2. g3 c6 3. d4 e4 4. Nc3 d5 {Jeremy's ambitious opening play is rewarded
with a quick win.} 5. Bg2 Nf6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Qb3 Nbd7 (7... dxc4 8. Qxc4 Be6 9.
Qa4 Qb6) 8. cxd5 cxd5 9. f3 {A logical attempt to chip away at Black's center,
like what Black might try in the French Defense.} (9. Nh3 {is White's other
approach when Black tries to claim the center like this.} Z0 10. Nf4 {will put
a lot of pressure on Black's d-pawn.}) 9... exf3 10. Nxf3 h6 11. Bd2 Nb6 12.
Ne5 O-O 13. O-O Be6 14. Be1 Bd6 $15 15. a4 $2 Bxe5 $1 16. dxe5 Ng4 (16... d4 {
is also strong.}) 17. Qb5 $2 {White wants to get his queen out of the line of
fire from Black's bishop on e6, but to mix metaphors, the queen should
continue to sit under the sword of Damocles and defend the e3 square from
invasion.} (17. Nb5) 17... Ne3 $1 18. Rf2 Nxg2 19. Kxg2 Nc4 20. Nd1 d4 21. Kg1
a6 22. Qxb7 Bd5 23. Qb4 Qc7 24. Rc1 Rab8 (24... Qxe5 25. Rxc4 Qe4 26. Rf3 Qxe2)
(24... Rfc8) 25. Qa3 (25. Qd6 $1 $17 {is best, but Black is still much better.}
) 25... Qxe5 26. Qd3 Nxb2 27. Nxb2 Rxb2 28. Qxa6 $2 Qe4 0-1

[Event "Oregon Closed Challengers"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Sherrard, Jerry"]
[Black "Waterman, Jeremy"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B43"]
[WhiteElo "1970"]
[BlackElo "1910"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 0,90,30,12,44,42,41,43,43,47,80,65,84,70,54,54,75,46,66,25,32,20,46,49,
43,28,20,-10,21,21,2,1,43,-30,-21,-37,-37,-39,-30,-112,24,9,10,-27,-11,-87,-87,
-90,31,12,35,19,36,36,110,98,117,86,114,146,146,0,138,42,86,32,183,-127,-278,
-259,-312,-119,-119,-446,-446,-1096,-1461,-1773,-1847,-1888,-326,-309,-233,
-227,-231,-234,-256,-309,-315,-308,-319,-491,-534]} {This game got Jeremy to
3-0 and an early lead in the Challengers section.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4
cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 b5 6. Be3 Bb7 7. f3 Qc7 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Nb3 Nf6 10. Nc5
Ne5 11. Nxb7 Qxb7 {White has traded his development advantage for the two
bishops, which doesn't seem to be worth a lot in this position. White may be
able to castle kingside safely, but White castling queenside or Black castling
either way feels like castling into the attack.} 12. Qd4 Nc6 13. Qd3 Ne5 14.
Qd4 Nc6 15. Qd2 Ne5 16. b3 Rc8 17. Bd4 Qc7 18. Nd1 Nc6 19. Bf2 Bb4 ({Stockfish
likes} 19... d5 {the standard Sicilian pawn break to open the center in spite
of the fact that Black is a few moves away from castling. Stockfish is so
brave.  Jeremy's approach is to soften up White's pawn structure a little bit
and then use piece play to harass White's king.}) 20. c3 Bd6 21. g3 h5 22. Qe3
h4 23. Rg1 Nh5 24. f4 e5 25. f5 hxg3 26. hxg3 Nb4 $5 {I wanted to label this
"?!", but as this sacrifice creates too many problems to solve over the board,
I promoted it to "!?". Black is objectively better if he does not sacrifice,
objectively worse if he does, but the course Jeremy takes is much more
entertaining for all involved, with the possible exception of Jerry. The
resulting position will be very difficult to play accurately, but Jeremy does
a better job of making the most of his opportunities.} 27. cxb4 Bxb4+ 28. Ke2
Nf6 29. Kf3 $14 (29. a3 $16 {is most accurate, and White is better, but his
defensive challenges persist.}) 29... d5 $1 30. exd5 $11 (30. Bd3 $1 $14) 30...
Rh2 {Approved for equality by Stockfish.} ({Also approved are} 30... e4+) (
30... Qd6) ({and surprisingly} 30... Kd7) 31. Bd3 Nxd5 $6 (31... Qd6) 32. Qe4
$11 (32. Qa7 $14) 32... Qd6 $2 (32... Rd8 $11) 33. a4 $2 (33. Bd4 $1 $18) 33...
Nf6 $1 {And despite still being a piece down, Black's advantage is
overwhelming. All his pieces are working, and White's are not.} 34. Qe2 Qd5+
35. Be4 Qxb3+ 36. Qd3 Nxe4 $1 37. Kxe4 (37. Qxb3 Nd2+) 37... Rc4+ $1 38. Ke3
Bc5+ $1 39. Ke2 Qxd3+ (39... Rc2+ {wins a little faster, but in a game like
this one might want to prolong the enjoyment.}) 40. Kxd3 Bxf2 41. Nxf2 Rxf2 42.
axb5 axb5 43. Ra7 e4+ 44. Ke3 Rf3+ 45. Kd2 Rd3+ 0-1

[Event "Oregon Closed Challengers"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Waterman, Jeremy"]
[Black "Murray, David"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B11"]
[WhiteElo "1910"]
[BlackElo "1788"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qe2 ({I thought the only
legitimate move was} 5. Nxf6+ exf6 6. d4 {transposing into normal lines, but 5.
Qe2 is actually quite popular and preferred by Stockfish.}) 5... Nxe4 ({
Perhaps Jeremy was hoping for} 5... Nbd7 $2 6. Nd6# {1-0 (6) Keres,
P-Arlamowski,E Szczawno Zdroj 1950}) 6. Qxe4 Nd7 7. d4 Nf6 8. Qd3 g6 9. Be2 Bg7
10. Qb3 a5 11. a4 Qc7 12. Bc4 O-O 13. Ne5 e6 14. O-O b6 15. f4 $6 $15 {An
attacking move that helps White migrate heavy pieces towards Black's king. But
it doesn't work out, as White's pieces don't get to Black's king quickly
enough, and the weaknesses left behind, especially on e3 and f2, eventually
proves fatal.} Nd5 16. Qg3 Ba6 17. Bxa6 Rxa6 18. c4 {Temporarily kicking the
knight out of range of the weak e3 square, but like General Douglas MacArthur,
it will return.} Ne7 19. Ra3 Rd8 20. Rd3 Nf5 21. Qf2 c5 $1 22. dxc5 $2 ({
Black is better after} 22. d5 Raa8 {but only slightly}) 22... Rxd3 23. Nxd3 {
23...Bd4 is coming} 0-1

[Event "Oregon Closed Challengers"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Tang, Austin"]
[Black "Kodarapu, Ishaan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B32"]
[WhiteElo "2053"]
[BlackElo "1895"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 0,61,38,30,56,39,53,42,22,20,14,18,22,-29,-10,-15,-8,-13,9,0,-8,-9,-8,4,
0,0,0,-45,-35,-35,-13,0,0,-7,7,31,31,28,31,13,13,18,71,94,163,185,209,190,216,
222,221,231,640,640,701,727,1222,1402,29995,29996,29997,29998,29999,-30000]} {
The key game in the Challengers section. These two players have faced each
other 14 times previously, so they both have a fairly good idea about what
might be coming. But as they had a week to prepare, one can assume they both
have made a few adjustments to their opening repertoire.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6
3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Be7 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 f5 ({Ishaan played
} 8... Be6 {in round 3 of the 2022 OSCF Middle School Championship, with the
game ending in a draw.}) 9. exf5 Bxf5 10. Bd3 {Tony Rotella gives this an
exclam in his book "the killer Sicilian"} ({Austin played} 10. Nc2 {against
Ishaan in the 2021 Oregon Junior Closed, the game ending in a draw after 61
moves. Both moves seem equally playable, according to databases and engines.})
10... Be6 11. Nc2 Nf6 12. O-O O-O 13. Ne3 Nd4 14. b3 Rc8 15. Bb2 Qd7 16. Ncd5
Bd8 17. f4 Bxd5 18. cxd5 Bb6 {The engines' second choice, but it seems logical
and fun to intimidate White's king down the b6-g1 diagonal.} ({Stockfish and
Leela slightly prefer} 18... g6 {perhaps to allow Black to bypass White's
f-pawn without allow an en passant capture in lines such as} 19. f5 ({But
White still has a slight edge after} 19. fxe5 dxe5 20. Nc4 $14 {as} Qxd5 $6 {
loses the exchange after} 21. Ba3 Re8 $2 22. Nd6) 19... g5) 19. fxe5 $1 ({
Austin's move is stronger than immediately moving the king away from the
bishop's attack with} 19. Kh1 {and allowing} e4 20. Bxe4 Nxe4 21. Bxd4 Bxd4 22.
Qxd4 Rce8 {which looks like a clear pawn to me, but Stockfish says Black's
well placed knight gives him compensation.}) 19... dxe5 20. Kh1 $1 $16 g6 $2 (
20... Bc7 {avoids the ensuing problems because} 21. Nc4 {no longer attacks an
undefended bishop, so Black can calmly play} Qxd5) (20... Kh8 {is another
approach to the defense, getting Black's king off the dangerous c4-g8 diagonal
to make capturing Whites d-pawn with the Black's queen less risky.} 21. Nc4 Bc5
22. Nxe5 Qxd5) (20... Rce8 {avoids a knight fork on b6, and defends the e-pawn.
}) 21. Nc4 $1 Bc7 22. d6 Bxd6 (22... Bd8 23. Nxe5 Qxd6 24. Bc4+ Kg7 25. Qxd4) (
22... Bb8 23. Nb6 Qxd6 24. Nxc8) 23. Nb6 Qe7 24. Nxc8 Rxc8 25. Bc4+ Ne6 26.
Rxf6 Qxf6 27. Qxd6 Re8 28. Rf1 Qe7 29. Qxe5 Qf6 30. Qxf6 Re7 31. Qh8# 1-0

[Event "Oregon Closed Championship"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Zavortink, Matt"]
[Black "Pendergast, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2303"]
[BlackElo "2140"]
[Annotator "Wilson Gibbins"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 0,43,20,12,20,-7,8,-10,5,8,32,-10,39,21,23,4,11,-4,6,15,23,-37,-24,-24,
-26,-24,-33,-18,-39,-44,-7,16,0,-7,33,25,29,32,530,676,688,629,628,652,1631,
1656]} {Annotations by Wilson Gibbins are prefaced by WG, annotations by Matt
Zavortink prefaced by MZ. WG - Last year's champion demonstrates tactical
skills and positional judgement that made him champion last year.} 1. Nf3 d5 2.
g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 c5 4. O-O e6 {WG - One doesn't expect a miniature from a closed
opening like this. Watch Matt crack open the center before Black is fully
developed or castled, at the investment of only a pawn.} 5. d4 {WG - Is Matt
aiming for a reversed Gruenfeld, or perhaps the Tarrash variation of the
Queen's Gambit Declined after he advances his pawn to c4?} (5. d3 {WG - is the
King's Indian Attack, which my generation over-valued because Bobby Fischer
had success with it. Today's repertoire books claim that Black is fine, but
when the words "King's Indian" are in the opening name, you can depend that
fighting chess will ensue.}) 5... b5 {WG - Trying to prevent White from
opening the game with 6.c2-c4, but Matt is persistent.} 6. a4 $1 b4 7. c4 $1
Bb7 ({MZ - The most natural continuation seems to be} 7... bxc3 8. Nxc3 {
when Black has an obviously superior structure. But Black is dangerously far
behind in development.} {Trying to castle quickly with something like} Be7 {
runs into} 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. e4 {and the position opens in White's favor.}) 8.
Nbd2 Nbd7 9. cxd5 Bxd5 10. e4 $1 {White sacrifices a pawn to maintain his lead
in development.} Nxe4 11. Nxe4 Bxe4 12. Re1 Bd5 $1 $14 ({MZ - The move} 12...
Bb7 $2 {runs into} 13. d5 {with the entertaining line} Nf6 14. dxe6 Qxd1 15.
exf7+ Kxf7 16. Rxd1 $16 {White has regained the pawn but more importantly the
immediate threat of Ng5+ forces black to make a major concession like ...Bxf3
or ...Kg8.}) ({WG - after} 12... Bxf3 {the sequence} 13. Bxf3 Rc8 14. Bf4 Be7
15. Bb7 {nets White the exchange.}) 13. dxc5 Nxc5 ({WG - not} 13... Bxc5 $2 14.
Qxd5) ({MZ - the best continuation for Black is} 13... Be7 $1 14. Bg5 $1 Nf6 {
This variation might represent "best play" from both sides after 5...b5; the
computer says white has an edge though practically it's hard to tell if the c5
pawn is more of an asset or a liability.}) 14. Bg5 Be7 15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. Qd4
$16 {WG - And White has a significant advantage despite Black not making any
particularly dubious moves. Black will to need to invest some time and
probably his b-pawn to get his king to safety.} Kf8 $6 (16... O-O $4 17. Qxd5
exd5 18. Rxe7) (16... f6 $1 17. Rad1 Rd8 18. Qxb4 O-O 19. Rc1 Rc8 20. Nd4 Bxg2
{WG - And white has some advantage after the complicated} 21. Nxe6 $5 ({
or the simpler} 21. Kxg2)) 17. Rad1 $1 ({MZ - I thought 16...Kf8 was actually
very clever, as now I really should not play} 17. Qxb4 {allowing} Nd3 {when
white must enter a thankless endgame with} 18. Qxe7+ {I also have to defend
against ...Nb3 so it was only through process of elimination that I arrived at
17.Rad1 which is by far the strongest move, but not immediately obvious. The
difference between 16...Kf8 and 16...f6 is that after ...f6 white can take on
b4 and ...Nd3 will drop a piece to Qb5+.}) 17... Nxa4 18. Nh4 $1 Nb6 $2 {
WG - This is logical, getting the knight back into the game and shoring up the
defense of the bishop on d5, but White has a trick} ({WG - best but
insufficient is} 18... Qc5 {is best but insufficient to hold the game. In many
of the lines, White is attacking Black's King with three or four pieces, and
Black is defending with only one or two, as his knight and at least one of the
rooks ends up serving as spectators.} {MZ - I had seen that I can continue the
attack with} 19. Qf4 $1 {which cross-pins the d5 bishop to the d7 square, as
allowing 20.Rd7 will lead to some kind of queen and rook mate on f7. White is
also threatening 20.Rc1 with a similar rook invasion on the 7th rank. I felt
like this was immediately decisive.} {During the game I did NOT see the
computer's suggested} Nxb2 {with the point that now black can meet 20.Rc1 with
...Nc4, blocking the c-file (or perhaps ...Nd3 going into an endgame with 3
pawns vs a piece). I think I would've found Rd4 or Rd2 though, as the
positions where white is allowed to take on d5 and then go Nf5 seem very hard
to defend as black.} 20. Rd4 $1 {WG - Black is up three pawns but the engine
says White is winning.} Nc4 21. Bxd5 exd5 22. Nf5 h6 23. Ne7 Nb6 24. Rd3 Rd8
25. Rf3 {and Black's defenses are crumbling.}) 19. Nf5 $1 Qf6 20. Qc5+ Kg8 21.
Ne7+ Kf8 22. Nxd5+ 1-0

[Event "Oregon Closed Championship"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Raptis, Nick"]
[Black "Russell, Corey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D01"]
[WhiteElo "2366"]
[BlackElo "2206"]
[Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (7s)"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 11,75,7,7,-49,7,7,7,7,13,-6,-5,-12,-3,-12,-11,-11,-11,-11,-16,-26,-17,
-20,17,17,17,17,17,19,40,38,38,19,38,40,46,46,45,28,28,28,28,5,10,0,62,-38,36,
-19,39,38,73,73,73,73,187,186,219,206,206,187,187,182,292,165,408,427] All
unattributed annotations are made by Fritz, a chess software. My comments will
be denoted by my (Corey Russell) inititals. -cjr} 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5
Bf5 4. f3 c6 5. Qd2 Nbd7 6. g4 Bg6 {LiveBook: 6 Games} 7. h4 {Nick mentioned
to me that he never plays like this, but was resorting to such rash moves
because I was playing a good line. - cjr} (7. Bf4 $11) 7... h6 {At the time of
the game I couldn't decide which was better ...h6 or ..h5. What I didn't see
is what Nick pointed out: 7. ... h5 8. Bh3 e5 is good for black. -cjr} ({
Black should try} 7... h5 $15 8. gxh5 Nxh5) 8. Bf4 $11 {The position is equal.}
e6 9. e3 a6 10. Bd3 Bxd3 11. cxd3 c5 12. dxc5 Bxc5 {Nick felt like my move was
inaccurate. He said he was worried about 12. ... e5 13. Bg3 Bxc5 14. d4 Bd6
and he felt like his position was garbage. It looks even to me but I can see
why Nick doesn't want to play that positon. - cjr} 13. d4 Bb4 14. Nge2 Nb6 15.
Kf2 Nc4 16. Qc2 {[#] aiming for Qc2-a4+.} Bd6 17. b3 Na3 {Nick felt this was a
serious mistake. And indeed for the rest of the game the knight never saw any
action. Nick recommended ...Nb6 instead.I was hoping to use the knight to
force a ...Rc2 but that never panned out. -cjr} 18. Qd3 Rc8 19. Rac1 {Strongly
threatening Bf4xd6.} O-O {Nick mentioned instead 19. ... Ke7!? might be an
idea because then black could do ...Bxf4 Nxf4 g5. -cjr} 20. Bxd6 Qxd6 21. Nf4
Rc7 22. g5 Nh7 23. gxh6 gxh6 24. Nce2 Rxc1 25. Rxc1 Qe7 26. Rg1+ Kh8 27. Rg4
Nb5 (27... Nf6 $11 28. Rg1 Re8) 28. Ng3 (28. Qg6 $1 $14 Qf6 29. Qh5) 28... Qc7
(28... Qa3 $1 $15 29. Nfe2 Qe7) 29. Nge2 ({White should play} 29. Ngh5 $14 Rc8
30. Rg7 Qc2+ 31. Qxc2 Rxc2+ 32. Ke1) 29... h5 $6 {The beginning of the end. In
the postmortem Nick and I came up with ...Rg8 to blunt white's attack. and
indeed in a great many lines it seems the position is fairly level.} (29... Nd6
$11) 30. Rg1 $40 {[%cal Bg4g1,Bg1h1,Bh1h3,Bh3h6][%mdl 160] Black needs to
defend precisely.} Qd8 31. Nxh5 Qxh4+ 32. Nhg3 f5 (32... Qh2+ $16 33. Kf1 Qh3+
34. Ke1 Qh6) 33. Rh1 $18 Qg5 34. Nf4 Rg8 35. Rh3 Qe7 36. Qf1 Qf7 (36... Nc7
$142 37. Qh1 Rg5) 37. Qh1 {[#] And now Rh3-h6 would win.} Nc7 $2 (37... Rc8 38.
Nxe6 Qg8) 38. Rh6 {Precision: White = 51%, Black = 24%. - Fritz || Black is
utterly helpless to prevent to death by Ng3-h5-f6. So resignation seemed to be
in order. -cjr} 1-0

[Event "Oregon Closed Championship"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Pendergast, Michael"]
[Black "Russell, Corey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2140"]
[BlackElo "2206"]
[Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (7s)"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 19,74,71,71,27,20,-36,-36,-36,-4,-38,-46,-46,-46,-46,37,21,38,38,101,99,
116,112,112,97,137,137,137,110,229,150,150,146,140,125,127,120,148,148,162,114,
159,136,151,136,136,117,173,173,173,-312,-312,-312,-312,-312,-247,-247,-312]} 
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 {[%cal Be2e3,Be3e4][%mdl 32]} g6 4. c4 Bg7 5. cxd5
Nxd5 6. e4 Nb6 7. h3 O-O 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. Be3 e5 10. d5 Ne7 {[%cal Bc6e7,Be7f5,
Bf5e3][%mdl 32] LiveBook: 18 Games} 11. Qb3 (11. a4 $16) 11... c6 $1 $11 {
[%cal Rc6d5] White has an edge.} 12. O-O-O (12. d6 $11 Qxd6 13. Rd1) 12... cxd5
$15 13. exd5 e4 14. Ng5 Nf5 $1 {[%cal Rf5e3]} 15. Ngxe4 Nxe3 16. fxe3 Bh6 (
16... Bf5 $15 17. g4 Bxe4 18. Nxe4 Re8) 17. g4 $36 {[%mdl 2048] White has some
pressure.} Bxe3+ 18. Kb1 Bd7 ({Black should try} 18... Bf4 $14) 19. Bb5 $16
Bxb5 20. Nxb5 Bh6 21. Rhf1 a6 22. Nbd6 Nd7 {I rejected a more expected move
like 22. ... Rb8 because of the line: 22. ... Rb8 23. Nf6+ Kh8 24. Nde4 and it
looked like a winning position to me for white. Black is paralyzed and white
basically has all day to grind out a win. And indeed in the post-mortem
Michael mentioned he was doing to play that if I allowed it. -cjr} 23. Qxb7 Nc5
(23... Bg7 $16 {was necessary.} 24. b3 Nc5) 24. Qc6 Nxe4 25. Nxe4 Bg7 26. Nf6+
Bxf6 27. Qxf6 Qd7 28. d6 Rab8 29. Rf3 ({Better is} 29. Rfe1 $18) 29... Qa4 (
29... Rfe8 $142 30. Rc3 Re6) 30. Rfd3 {d6-d7 is the strong threat.} Rfc8 {
[#] ( -> ...Qa4-c2+)} 31. R3d2 Qe4+ 32. Ka1 {Hoping for d6-d7.} Rc2 (32... Qe3
$16 {is a better defense.} 33. b3 Rc1+ 34. Rxc1 Qxd2) 33. Rxc2 $18 Qxc2 {
[%cal Rc2d1]} 34. Qd4 $4 {[%mdl 8192] Interestingly enough my opponent
mentioned that the reason he played this was it was a "safe" move. He had used
quite a bit of time by this point and he wanted to make time control. -cjr} (
34. Rf1 $18 Rf8 35. h4) 34... Rxb2 $1 $19 35. Qxb2 Qxd1+ 36. Qb1 Qxb1+ ({Not} 
36... Qxd6 37. Qb3 $17) 37. Kxb1 {[#] Strongly threatening d6-d7.} Kf8 {
Precision: White = 37%, Black = 33%.} 0-1

[Event "Oregon Closed Championship"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.18"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Russell, Corey"]
[Black "Haessler, Carl"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E18"]
[WhiteElo "2206"]
[BlackElo "2200"]
[Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (7s)"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 30,55,149,149,149,149,149,116,149,141,352,352,352,352,353,353,353,335,
374,374,384,384,445,445,445,429,1638,1490]} 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 Be7 4. g3
Nf6 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 {Developing the QB first is more prudent if black
intends a queen's indian structure. This move order leads to a lot of trouble.
-cjr} 7. Nc3 b6 8. Ne5 Bb7 9. Qa4 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Ne8 {One might wonder why Carl
didn't try to more natural 10. ... Nd7. The reason is because of this line: 10.
... Nd7? 11. cxd5 Nxe5 12. d6! Bxg2 13. dxe7 Qxe7 14. Kxg2 and white is up a
piece -cjr.} 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Nxd5 $1 Bxd5 13. Rd1 c6 14. e4 Nc7 15. exd5 cxd5
16. Be3 {LiveBook: 4 Games - Fritz || Containing the black d-pawn is prudent.
I also want to prevent an unopposed ....Bc5 by black. Then I can bring
pressure to bear with Qc6. -cjr} Bc5 {[#]} 17. Bxc5 $1 bxc5 18. Qc6 Qe7 19.
Rac1 Qxe5 $2 {[#]} (19... c4 $16 20. Qd6 (20. Bxd5 Qxe5 21. Bxc4 Ne6 $16) 20...
Rae8) 20. Re1 $1 $18 {[%cal Re1e5]} ({Weaker is} 20. Qxc5 Ne6 $16) ({And not} 
20. Bxd5 Nxd5 21. Rxd5 (21. Qxd5 Qxb2 22. Rxc5 Rae8 $11) 21... Qxb2 $11) 20...
Qxb2 21. Qxc7 Qxa2 22. Qxc5 Rad8 23. Red1 d4 24. Rxd4 Rxd4 25. Qxd4 a5 26. Bd5
{White is clearly winning.} Qa3 27. Rc7 g6 (27... h6 $142 28. Qe5 Kh8) 28. Qf6
1-0

[Event "Oregon Closed Championship"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Cigan, Jason"]
[Black "Russell, Corey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2169"]
[BlackElo "2206"]
[Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (7s)"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 20,89,39,34,64,49,71,71,76,39,39,19,40,40,43,17,17,17,17,14,26,20,41,42,
41,41,41,37,95,77,77,78,192,193,192,124,292,285,285,-7,6,11,14,-259,-262,-253,
615,615,539,539,661,661,642,590,592,433,433,400,400,407,407,400,474,481,1220,
1220,1220,1006,1006,1006,1218,1006]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Be6 11. Kb1 {
LiveBook: 645 Games} a5 12. h4 a4 13. a3 Qa5 {White is better.} 14. Qg5 Rfc8
15. g4 Qxg5 16. hxg5 Nd7 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Rd4 Ne5 19. Be2 {White wants to
play f3-f4.} Bc4 20. Bd1 Rc5 21. f4 Nd7 22. Bf3 $36 {[%mdl 2048] Hoping for
e4-e5. White has good play.} Nf8 23. f5 $1 Ra6 (23... Kg8 $14) 24. e5 dxe5 25.
Rd8 b5 (25... f6 $16 {is a better defense.}) 26. Ne4 $18 Rd5 27. Rc8 (27. Re8
$18 {Strongly threatening f5-f6+.} Nd7 28. Rxe7) 27... Rd4 $2 (27... Nd7 $16)
28. f6+ $1 exf6 29. gxf6+ $2 (29. Nxf6 $18 {Threatening mate with Rh1xh7+!}
Rxf6 30. gxf6+ Kxf6 31. Rxf8) 29... Kg8 $11 30. g5 Bd5 31. Rxf8+ $2 (31. Re1
$11 Ra8 32. Rc5) 31... Kxf8 $19 32. Rxh7 {[%cal Rh7h8] [#]} Ke8 $4 {[%mdl 8192]
This game was quite draining for me. I felt the position was a difficult one
to play. In any case, by this point I was fatigued and when fatigued my
tendency is to play fast. As a result I didn't see that 32. ... Kg8! 33. Rg7+
Kh8 is winning for me! And it felt so weird to intentionally trap myself but
yet white can do nothing about it. -cjr} (32... Kg8 $19 33. Rh4 Rb6) 33. Nc5
$18 {[%cal Rh7h8]} Kd8 {...Ra6-c6 is the strong threat.} 34. Bxd5 ({And not} 
34. Nxa6 Bxf3 35. b3 Bd5 $14) 34... Rxd5 35. Nxa6 {[%mdl 4096] Endgame KRN-KR}
e4 36. Rxf7 {[#] Black must now prevent Na6-c7.} Rxg5 37. Rf8+ Kd7 38. Nb8+ Ke6
39. Nc6 Rg1+ 40. Ka2 Rd1 41. Nd8+ {White is clearly winning.} Rxd8 (41... Kd5
$142 42. f7 Rf1) 42. Rxd8 Kxf6 43. Kb1 Kf5 44. Kc1 g5 45. Kd2 {Precision:
White = 46%, Black = 27%. - Fritz || Here I could see that the white king and
rook were containing my pawns. I also saw even in a best case scenario where I
force white to sace his rook white just easily wins by using his king to pick
up my queen side pawns. Thus, seemed like resignation time. -cjr} 1-0

[Event "Oregon Closed Championship"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Russell, Corey"]
[Black "Zavortnik, Matt"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2206"]
[BlackElo "2303"]
[Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (7s)"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 18,112,-9,-12,-12,-38,-38,-41,-23,-83,-31,-31,-31,-31,-6,-31,-1,-39,-7,
-7,-2,-56,-56,-56,-56,-56,-56,-56,-56,-68,-68,-77,-80,-75,-75,-83,-78,-113,
-114,-114,-114,-127,-127,-142,-142,-142,-142,-142,-141,-234,-233,-276,-262,
-276,-199,-273,-263,-293,-255,-312,-271,-271,-296,-296,-164,-179,0,0,0,0,466,
466,466,466,466,466,466,466,466,466,466,466,466,466,466,466,466,466,466,466,
466,466,466,466,466,0,466]} 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. g3 Bf5 5. Bg2 e6 6.
Nc3 h6 7. O-O Be7 8. b3 O-O 9. Bb2 Nbd7 10. Re1 {LiveBook: 10 Games} Qb6 11.
Ne5 Nxe5 12. dxe5 {Black is slightly better.} Ng4 13. e3 (13. Rf1 $1 $11 {
remains equal.}) 13... Nxe5 (13... dxc4 $1 $17 {Strongly threatening ...Ra8-d8.
} 14. Na4 Qa5) 14. Nxd5 $15 exd5 15. Bxe5 Bb4 {Threatening ...Rf8-e8.} 16. Rf1
Rfe8 (16... dxc4 {with more complications.} 17. bxc4 Rfd8 18. Qf3 Be6 19. Qf4
Qc5) 17. Qd4 {My opponent stated he missed this otherwise he could have done
the correct ...dxc4. It should be noted that if either 17. ... Bc5 or 17. ...
c5 then 18. Qf4 is good for white. -cjr} Qxd4 18. Bxd4 Bd3 19. Rfc1 (19. cxd5
$11 Bxf1 20. Kxf1) 19... Ba3 $1 20. cxd5 Bxc1 21. Rxc1 cxd5 22. Bxd5 Be4 {
This was a really good and important move. If instead 22. ... Bd3?! 23. f3
followed by e4 would give black lots of trouble. -cjr} 23. Bxe4 Rxe4 {Endgame
KRR-KRB} 24. Rc7 b6 25. Kg2 Ree8 26. g4 Rec8 27. Rb7 Rc2 28. a4 Rc1 $1 29. h4
Rb1 30. g5 hxg5 31. hxg5 Rxb3 32. g6 f6 {Hoping for ...Rb3-a3.} ({Don't do} 
32... fxg6 33. Rxg7+ Kf8 34. Rh7 $11) 33. f4 {I rejected 33. a5 because then
34. axb6 axb6 35. Rxb6 Rg5+ 36. Kf3 Rxg6 and I felt that position would be
easier to win as white has no counter play now. -cjr} (33. a5 $17) 33... Rb4
34. Kf3 Rxa4 35. Rd7 Ra3 {Black sees white wants to play e4-e5 for counter
play, so he slows my plan down with this move. -cjr} 36. Ke4 (36. Kg4 $142)
36... b5 $19 37. Rb7 a6 38. Kd5 Ra4 39. Rd7 {White hopes to continue with
e3-e4.} Rc4 40. e4 {[#]} Rcc8 (40... a5 $142 $1 {[%cal Ra5a4]} 41. e5 a4) 41.
e5 {[#]} fxe5 $2 (41... Rd8 $1 $19 {[%cal Rd8d7]} 42. e6 Re8) 42. fxe5 $11 Rd8
43. e6 {[%cal Be5e6,Be6d7][%mdl 32]} Rxd7+ $4 {[%mdl 8192] Black was getting
pretty low on time here. I believe he saw a forced draw here and decided to go
into it rather than lose by time.... -cjr} (43... Rab8 $11) 44. exd7 {KR-KB} b4
45. Ke6 a5 46. Bc5 a4 $1 47. Bxb4 a3 $1 {[#] intending ... a3-a2.} 48. Bxa3 $1
{[%mdl 512]} Rd8 (48... Rxa3 49. d8=Q#) 49. Ke7 Rxd7+ 50. Kxd7 $18 {Fritz's
statement that white is "winning" is quite the exaggeration. If black plays it
right he draws by force. -cjr} Kh8 51. Ke7 Kg8 52. Bb2 Kh8 53. Bf6 {
Threatening mate with Ke7-f7.} Kg8 54. Bg5 Kh8 55. Bh6 {White threatens Ke7-f7
and mate.} Kg8 56. Bg5 Kh8 57. Kf7 {Precision: White = 38%, Black = 47%.} (57.
Kd8 $142) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Oregon Closed Championship"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Richardson, Ryan"]
[Black "Russell, Corey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2045"]
[BlackElo "2206"]
[Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (7s)"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 15,118,5,25,19,20,10,31,20,20,11,11,8,9,1,3,4,19,19,21,-6,-6,-6,-6,-4,1,
2,0,-36,-30,-131,3,3,3,3,2,-35,-35,-34,12,-4,-6,-34,-19,-61,-61,-61,-55,-87,
-87,-87,-87,-87,-62,-78,-78,-62,-90,-90,-99,-151,0,-107,-131,-182,-185,-185,
-181,-182,-92,-153,-135,-178,525,-127,-48,-260,-260,-260,-260,-260,-260,-259,
-259,-533,-590,-902,-515,-515,-438,-1072,-1072,-1014,-616,-1099,-1087,-1087,
-1099,-1099,-1098,-1300,-1095,-1398,-1441,-1398,-1398]} 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3.
Nc3 c6 4. a4 Qa5 5. Bd3 e5 6. Nge2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. h3 Nbd7 {LiveBook: 8 Games
} 9. Be3 Re8 {The position is equal. - Friz || While the black position is
cramped it also is very solid. I felt it was unlikely my opponent was prepared
for this. -cjr} 10. Qd2 Qc7 11. f4 exd4 {Taking the center pawn is better: 1)
trades center pawn for center pawn, than the wing pawn of f4. 2) opens up c5
for my knight 3) avoids opening up the f-file for white which seemed pretty
useful for white if I were to do that. -cjr} 12. Nxd4 Nc5 13. Rae1 a5 14. Nf3
Nxd3 15. cxd3 Bd7 16. Rc1 Qd8 17. e5 Nd5 18. Nxd5 cxd5 19. b3 dxe5 20. fxe5 Bf5
{My opponent criticized this move in the post-mortem because it lead to
bishops of opposites. However, by going into this I also won two pawns and
created two passed pawns on the queenside which eventually won the game for me.
The other thing bishops of opposites are NOT necessarily draw. -cjr} 21. Ng5
Bg6 22. e6 (22. Nf3 $11) 22... Bxg5 ({Black should try} 22... f6 $1 $17 {
[%cal Rf6g5]} 23. Nf3 Bb4) 23. exf7+ $11 Bxf7 24. Bxg5 Qb6+ 25. Kh1 h6 26. Bh4
Bh5 (26... d4 $15 {I really wish I had chosed ..d4. It would have saved me a
lot of grief. -cjr}) 27. Bf2 Qxb3 28. Rc7 {Intending Bf2-d4 and mate.} Rf8 29.
Re1 (29. Rfc1 $11 {deserves consideration.} Qxa4 30. Qb2) 29... Rf7 $36 {
[%mdl 2048] Black is more active.} 30. Rxf7 Bxf7 31. Bd4 Qxa4 32. Qf4 {
Strongly threatening Qf4-e5.} Re8 33. Rc1 Qb4 {I spent a large amount of time
here. I had to construct a defense. I knew if I could just hold my queenside
pawns can carry the day for me. -cjr} 34. Rc7 Re7 35. Rc8+ Be8 $1 36. Kh2 a4
37. Qg4 (37. Rd8 $142) 37... Qd6+ $2 (37... g5 $1 $17 38. Rd8 Qd2) 38. Kg1 (38.
g3 $1 $11 g5 39. Bc5) 38... g5 39. Qh5 (39. Bc5 $17 {was worth a try.} Re1+ 40.
Kf2) 39... Qe6 $1 $19 {[%cal Re6c8]} 40. Rd8 Kh7 41. Qf3 {intending Qf3-f8.}
Bf7 (41... Rf7 $19 42. Qg3 Re7) 42. Kh2 ({Better is} 42. Ra8) 42... Kg6 43. h4
(43. Qf2 $17) 43... h5 $4 {[%mdl 8192] I didn't play ...gxh4 because I was
worried about 44. Qf4 threatening to win my queen with Rd6. However ...Rd7 and
black is doing well. -cjr} (43... gxh4 $19 {and life is good for Black.
Threatens to win with ...Qe6-f5.} 44. Qf2 Qf5 45. Qxh4 Re2) 44. hxg5 $2 {[#]} (
44. Rh8 $1 $18 Qd6+ 45. g3) 44... Kxg5 (44... Qf5 $1 $17 {aiming for ...Qf5xf3.
} 45. Qg3 Qxg5) 45. Rxd5+ $2 {My opponent spent a large amount of time here,
in fact nearly his entire regulation time he was almost on increment time only.
While this combination does win a pawn it's a technically lost endgame. There
are chances to draw for him so don't fault him for it. I thought it would be
more difficult if he had kept queens on. I was expecting a line like this: 45.
Qg3+ Qg4 46. Be3+ Kg6 47. Rd6+ Re6 48. Rxe6+ Bxe6 49. Qe5 and white fights on.
-cjr} (45. Rh8 $1 $15 Qf5 46. Qg3+ Qg4 47. Be3+ Kg6 48. Qf2 Rxe3 49. Qxe3)
45... Qxd5 46. Bf6+ Kg6 {( -> ...Qd5xf3)} 47. Qxd5 Bxd5 48. Bxe7 {[%mdl 4096]
Endgame KB-KB} Kf5 49. g3 $2 (49. Kh3 {was necessary.}) 49... Ke5 {Black is
clearly winning.} 50. Bc5 Bf3 51. Kg1 {White hopes to continue with Kg1-f2.}
Kd5 52. Be3 {The necessity of this move is unfortunate. White would have
preferred a move like Bf8 but then 52. ... Kd4 53. Kf2 Bg4 54. Ke1 Kxd3 and
white is helpless to a ...Kc2-b3 and forcing white to sac his bishop for a
black queen side pawn. -cjr} (52. Bf8 $142 Kd4 53. Kf2) 52... b5 {[%cal Bb7b5,
Bb5b4][%mdl 32]} 53. Kf2 b4 $1 54. Kxf3 {Black must now prevent Kf3-e2. KB-K3P
- Fritz || I saw was winning after this. Instead 54. Bc1 is slightly more
resistant. E.g., if 54. ... a3 then 55. Ke3 holds! However I was going to play
instead 54. .. Kd4! 55. Kxf3 Kxd3 56. Kf4 Kc2 and black's passers will prevail.
-cjr} a3 55. Bc1 Kd4 56. Ke2 {[#]} Kc3 $1 57. Bd2+ Kb3 58. Bg5 Ka2 59. Bf6 b3 {
Precision: White = 21%, Black = 53%.} 0-1

[Event "Oregon Closed Championship"]
[Site "Portland, OR"]
[Date "2022.07.19"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Russell, Corey"]
[Black "Swearingin, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2206"]
[BlackElo "1986"]
[Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (7s)"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2022.07.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 20,99,26,26,48,47,47,23,23,23,42,28,49,49,64,64,64,15,15,15,19,9,66,66,
100,100,100,100,100,100,97,94,120,-13,-13,-13,-13,-13,-13,-13,-13,-13,-12,-49,
-49,-42,-29,-136,-136,-245,-172,-184,-184,-184,-184,-184,-184,-379,-379,-413,
-413,-363,-310,-303,-237,-237,1159,1159,1159,1159,1159,1159,1159,1121,1121,373,
7267,7267,29982,7267,7267,7267]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5.
e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 O-O 8. Rb1 {After taking the time to study the
theory for this line I've had just tremendous success with this line including
against masters and experts. I was happy with my opponent's opening choice and
felt confident to play for a win. -cjr} c5 9. Be2 b6 10. O-O cxd4 11. cxd4 {
LiveBook: 28 Games} Nc6 {[%cal Rc6d4]} 12. d5 Na5 {I agree this is better than
12. ... Ne5 e.g., 12. ... Ne5 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. Bh6 Re8 15. f4 and white gets
a strong initiative.} 13. Bb2 Bxb2 {White has an edge.} 14. Rxb2 Nb7 15. Nd4 e6
16. Nc6 $36 {[%mdl 2048] White is more active.} Qc7 17. Rc2 Nc5 18. Qd4 (18.
Bb5 $14 exd5 19. exd5) 18... exd5 $11 19. exd5 Re8 20. Bb5 {[#] d5-d6 is the
strong threat.} Qd6 ({Black should try} 20... Bd7 $1 $11) 21. Nxa7 $1 $14 Re4
22. Nxc8 Rxc8 23. Qxe4 Nxe4 24. Rxc8+ Kg7 25. Rd1 Qf6 {[#]} 26. f3 {I now see
why Rc2 is much better. Because then Nc3 doesn't work! e.g. 26. Rc2 Nc3 27.
Rxc3 Qxc3 28. Ba4! and black must go all the way back 28. ... Qc7 29. d6 Qd8
and black is helpless to stop h3, Re1-e8 and d8(Q). f3 allows a check on c5.
-cjr} (26. Rc2 $1 $16) 26... Nc3 $11 27. Rxc3 Qxc3 {[%mdl 4096] Endgame KQ-KRB}
28. Ba4 {Strongly threatening d5-d6.} Qc5+ 29. Kh1 {Threatens to win with
d5-d6.} Qd6 30. Bb3 h5 {[%cal Bh7h5,Bh5h4][%mdl 32]} 31. g3 g5 32. Kg2 f5 33.
f4 (33. Bc2 $11 {remains equal.}) 33... gxf4 $17 34. gxf4 (34. Rd4 $17) 34...
h4 35. Kf3 Qb4 {And now ...Qb4-e4+ would win. - Fritz || I've looked at this
for quite a while and as long I am careful where to put my king I don't see a
win for black. In any case here I cannot play for win as my opponent can draw
at will with perpetual check. I also knew a draw offer could alter my
opponent's thinking - that is he can see that he can win two pawns with check
and also if I am careless he can even pick up my d-pawn with check which would
then make it an easy win. My draw offer probably confirms to my opponent that
he MUST be winning. This lead to fatal thinking. Objectivity is crucial for
chess success. -cjr} 36. d6 Qe4+ 37. Kf2 Qxf4+ 38. Ke2 $2 (38. Ke1 {was
necessary.}) 38... Qxh2+ $19 39. Ke3 Qe5+ 40. Kf2 Qg3+ 41. Ke2 {intending
d6-d7. - Fritz || The reason I believe black needs to take the perpetual is
because of three key lines: 1) 41. ... f4 42. d7 Qe3+ 43. Kf1 f3 44. Bc4! wins
2) 41. ... f4 42. d7 f3+ 43. Ke3 f2+ 44. Ke2 Qg1 45. d8(Q) wins 3) 41. ...Qg2+
43. Ke3 Qe4+ 44. Kf2 h3 45. d7 h2 46. d8(Q) h1(Q) 47. Qg5+ leads to mate. Thus
theses lines show that black must win in two non-checking moves. If I queen
first black's exposed king ensures a white win. -cjr} Qg4+ 42. Kf2 {Hoping for
Rd1-g1.} f4 $4 {[%mdl 8192] I disagree with Fritz analysis I believe white can
hold. So here black probably realized that ...Qg3+ is 3-fold repetition. He
also greatly under-estimated Kf2 as I was just "responding" to his check and
running. Plus he might have interpreted my move as a draw offer. And I am an
exposed king with no pieces able to block for me what could I do? My opponent
had also spent all his regulation time and was on increment only. He was no
doubt greatly fatigued at trying to find a win an equal position. Thus all of
this contributed to his fatal mistake. -cjr} (42... Qf4+ $19 43. Ke2 Qh2+ 44.
Ke1 Qg3+ 45. Ke2 f4) 43. Rg1 $18 Qg3+ 44. Rxg3+ fxg3+ {KB-K3P} 45. Kg2 {
Intending d6-d7 and mate. - Fritz || while I am winning careful thought is
still required. There's a number of issues to work out such as my week d-pawn
and dealing with the black connected passers. -cjr} Kf8 46. Be6 Ke8 47. Kf3 $2
{Fritz question mark is nonsense my move is just fine. -cjr} (47. Bh3 Kf7 48.
a4) 47... Kd8 $2 (47... Kf8 48. Bd5 Ke8) 48. Bh3 b5 49. a3 {My move here is
also good. Generally speaking denying black any free moves is helpful for
white. So I disagree with Fritz here too. -cjr} (49. Ke4 $142 Ke8 50. Ke5 g2
51. Bxg2 Kf7 52. Bh3 Kf8 53. Ke6 Ke8 54. d7+ Kd8 55. Kf7) 49... Ke8 50. Ke4 $1
{Precision: White = 44%, Black = 53%. - Fritz || Here white's true purpose is
revealed. He will win with the d-pawn as black can't win it. e.g. 50. ... g2
51. Bxg2 Kd7 52. Kd5 holds the pawn. Also thanks to the white KB black will be
unable to prevent the white king from getting to c7 which in turn will
guarantee the white d-pawn sees their destiny. Therefore, black throws in the
towel and goes home (this was the last round). -cjr} 1-0

[Event "Washington Summer Sizzler"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.07.16"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Anand, Lakshana"]
[Black "Edwin, Elijah"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "1397"]
[BlackElo "887"]
[Annotator "Lakshana Anand"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Nc3 O-O {This put Elijah’s king
on a safer square. I should have castled queenside, actually…} 6. Bg5 h6 7.
Bh4 g5 8. Bg3 a6 $2 {Elijah might have lost a pawn!} 9. Bb3 $2 {I don’t
capture but ...b5??: I still have a chance.} b5 10. Nd5 $2 {Still don’t
capture: Nxd5? Have a chance.} Nxd5 $2 11. Bxd5 Bd4 $2 {Um...} 12. Bxe5 $4 {
I forgot! Bishops are better than knights but} Bxe5 $2 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Bxa8 {
Free Rook} c6 15. O-O $2 {Advantage gone.} d6 $2 16. d4 $1 Ng6 17. Bxc6 Qc7 18.
Bd5 Qe7 19. Re1 Be6 20. Bxe6 Qxe6 21. d5 Qe5 22. c3 b4 23. Qd4 bxc3 24. Qxe5
Nxe5 25. bxc3 Rc8 26. Rac1 $5 {Loses a piece.} Nd3 27. Red1 Nxc1 28. Rxc1 Rc4
29. Re1 $2 {Loses a pawn.} Rxc3 30. h3 $5 {Missed an open file.} Rc2 {And the
game went on. This game lasted 53 moves, then we agreed on a draw. Thank you
for reading this page. Have a nice rest of your day! -Lakshana Anand, 3rd Grade
} 31. a4 Ra2 32. e5 dxe5 33. Rxe5 Rxa4 34. Re3 Rd4 35. Re8+ Kg7 36. Ra8 Rxd5
37. Rxa6 f6 38. g4 Kg6 39. Kg2 Rd2 40. Kg3 Rd3+ 41. f3 Rd1 42. Kg2 Rd2+ 43. Kg3
Re2 44. Ra8 Re1 45. Kg2 Re2+ 46. Kg3 Re1 47. Kf2 Rh1 48. Kg2 Rb1 49. Rg8+ Kh7
50. Rf8 Kg7 51. Re8 Rb2+ 52. Kg3 Rb1 53. Re7+ Kg6 1/2-1/2

[Event "2022 Vancouver Open (Open)"]
[Site "Vancouver, WA"]
[Date "2022.07.24"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Lee, Brian"]
[Black "Hosford, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E10"]
[WhiteElo "1949"]
[BlackElo "1863"]
[Annotator "Brian Lee"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2022.07.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nf3 e6 4. a3 d5 {I was expecting 4...d6 followed by 5..
e5 which is more popular and scores better than 4...d5. After 4...d5 the
knight seems a little bit misplaced on c6 blocking the c-pawn.} 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3
$2 {Usually when White allows the capture on c4 he is able to regain the pawn
or get enough compensation with play in the center or with tricks down the
h1-a8 diagonal, but here nether is the case. Both of us missed this for the
next couple of moves. In the future I would play 6. cxd5 and develop normally.}
Be7 $2 (6... dxc4 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O Na5 9. Bg5 b5 10. Ne5 Rb8 {Black keeps his
extra pawn with a better position.}) 7. Bg2 $2 O-O $2 8. O-O $2 dxc4 {Finally
capturing.} 9. e4 b5 10. d5 $6 {d5 is a normal idea in this structure but here
it leads to trouble with my Rook on a1, which was honestly the furthest thing
from my mind.} Na5 11. Bf4 Nb3 12. Rb1 $6 ({White can save the rook by playing
} 12. dxe6 {(12.Ra2 is a terrible place for the rook.)} Bxe6 (12... Nxa1 13.
exf7+ Rxf7 14. Qxa1) 13. Qxd8 Rfxd8 14. Rad1 {but this is a miserable endgame
which I would never choose over keeping Queen's on the board.}) ({Since I am
losing material anyway, and interesting try is} 12. Nd4 Nxa1 13. Nc6 Qe8 14.
Qxa1 (14. Nxe7+ {also leads to a losing endgame after} Qxe7 15. d6 Qd8 16. e5
Nd5 17. Nxd5 exd5 18. Qxd5 Rb8 19. dxc7 Qxc7 20. e6 Bxe6 21. Bxc7 Bxd5 22. Bxb8
Rxb8 (22... Bxg2 23. Rxa1 Rxb8 24. Kxg2) 23. Rxa1 Bxg2 24. Kxg2)) 12... exd5
13. exd5 $6 Bf5 14. Ne5 Bd6 {The rook is still trapped so Black makes a good
decision stopping White's counterplay.} 15. Nc6 Qd7 16. Bg5 Bxb1 17. Qxb1 h6 $2
{Loses a tempo and allows White to destroy Black's pawn structure in front of
his king.} (17... Ng4 $19) 18. Bxf6 Nd2 $4 {This loses all of Black's
advantage. Black still remains up material but he loses a lot of his activity.
I had a feeling my opponent was planning this after he played 17...h6 because
there was no other reason to allow 18. Bxf6} (18... gxf6 {Black is still
winning although White has some counterplay now thanks to Black's damaged
kingside structure.}) 19. Qd1 {I think another reason my opponent played 17...
h6 was because of the line} (19. Qc1 Nxf1 {when if not for the pawn on h6,
White could play 20.Qg5.}) 19... Qf5 $4 {My opponent told me that he thought
he had gotten too greedy and decided to bail out. Unfortunately, he
miscalculated and thought he was still up the exchange but then realized later
that I had gotten two pieces for the rook instead of just one.} (19... Nxf1 20.
Ne4 Nxh2 21. Kxh2 Qf5 22. Bc3 {White has three minor pieces for two rooks and
two pawns, which still gives Black a significant material advantage, but the
White's activity compensates for that. Computer says equal but with such a
strange material imbalance it seems unlikely that this will be a draw with two
humans playing.}) 20. Qxd2 Qxf6 21. Ne4 Qg6 22. f4 f5 23. Nxd6 Qxd6 24. Qc2
Rae8 25. Kh1 Qc5 26. Rd1 Qe3 27. Nd4 g6 28. Nf3 Re4 29. Ne5 Rd4 30. Nxg6 Re8
31. Ne5 h5 32. h4 $4 {I wanted to get rid of my back rank issues and turns out
I had the right idea, but the wrong execution.} (32. h3 $1 {This does the same
thing but avoids the perpetual check in the notes to the next move.}) 32... c5
$4 {Now the game is over.} (32... Rxd1+ 33. Qxd1 Qxg3 34. Qxh5 Re7 35. Qg5+ ({
Black has a perpetual after} 35. Qxf5 Qxh4+ 36. Bh3 Qe1+) 35... Rg7 36. Qxg3
Rxg3 37. Bf3 {(to stop 37...Rb3)} Rh3+) 33. Rxd4 cxd4 34. Qxf5 Rxe5 35. fxe5
1-0

[Event "2022 Vancouver Open (Open)"]
[Site "Vancouver, WA"]
[Date "2022.07.24"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Dann, William"]
[Black "Tang, Austin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "1400"]
[BlackElo "2043"]
[Annotator "William Dann"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2022.07.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 0,63,30,40,51,48,44,70,38,29,76,18,28,29,43,-232,64,44,37,-9,-22,-16,-1,
-28,-8,-14,20,-20,46,23,36,-12,-15,-24,-2,-54,-21,-94,3,13,13,30,62,43,54,-81,
-29,-13,20,-23,427,29986,29987,29988,29989,29990,29991,29992,29993,29994,29995,
29996,29997,29998,29999,-30000] This game contains the most disrespectful
combinations I have ever played. I highly recommend trying to solve the
diagram after 24...Qxe4 if you're going to skip this game.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6
3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nf3 g6 {Jerry Sherrard played 4...a6 against me the round before
this and I got a great position, so I was feeling confident.} 5. Nxd4 cxd4 6.
Ne2 Bg7 7. d3 $4 e6 $4 {I will be telling my children the move order of the
game was O-O e6 d3. Don't play your openings on autopilot no matter how
confident you feel!} (7... Qa5+ {Just wins the Bb5}) 8. O-O Ne7 9. f4 O-O 10.
Qe1 a6 11. Ba4 d6 12. Qf2 e5 13. Qg3 Kh8 $6 {This is the kind of move one
plays when you don't want to calculate something like ...f5. This combined
with my opponent missing 7...Qa5+ gave me the impression that I could push
then around some more with:} 14. Bb3 f6 $6 15. h4 Bd7 16. h5 gxh5 17. f5 $1 {
No Ng6. Black's king is now surrounded by defenders only optically.} d5 18. Qh4
Be8 19. Ng3 dxe4 20. dxe4 d3 21. Be3 $5 {I saw the possibility of the
combination that ended up winning the game before 18. Qh4, but for that to
work we need the dark square bishop hitting the h6 square.} dxc2 22. Nxh5 Bxh5
23. Qxh5 Qd3 24. Kf2 $1 Qxe4 $4 {I could not contain my excitement here as my
combo now works! White to move and win!} 25. Qxh7+ $3 Kxh7 26. Rh1+ Bh6 27.
Rxh6+ Kg7 {My opponent did not see the idea here and was looking at me with a
confused look.} 28. Rh7+ Kxh7 29. Rh1+ {My opponent reigned because they now
saw the idea.} Kg7 30. Bh6+ Kh8 31. Bxf8+ Qh4+ 32. Rxh4# 1-0

[Event "2022 Vancouver Open (Open)"]
[Site "Vancouver, WA"]
[Date "2022.07.23"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Lin, Michael"]
[Black "Sherrard, Jerry"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "1618"]
[BlackElo "1970"]
[Annotator "Ralph Dubisch"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2022.07.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 0,57,25,26,13,-23,2,-29,4,-11,15,-20,-21,-6,-10,-40,-40,-65,109,120,38,
40,291,216,159,160,160,161,168,15,22,0,629,660,660,660,676,396,446,428,445,428,
439,468,585,522,543,561,874,586,1302,1507,1593,1678,1895,1895,29993,29994,
29999,-30000]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. dxc5 d4 6. a3 Qa5 $6 (
{Provocative.} 6... Ba5 7. b4 dxc3 8. bxa5 $13) 7. axb4 Qxa1 8. Nb5 (8. Ne4 $5
Na6 9. b5 Nb4 10. Nd6+ Ke7 11. Qd1 $13) 8... Kd7 $4 (8... Na6 {threatens ...
Nxb4, and things are not at all clearly in White's favor.}) 9. Qd2 ({White's
position is now so over-powering that there is no longer need to discuss
compensation for the exchange -- the material imbalance simply has no
significance here.^^There are plenty of paths for White to advantage:} 9. Nf3
Na6 10. Nfxd4 {The black queen is on sabbatical while the black king swims in
shark-infested waters.}) (9. Qd1 Nc6 10. Nf3 e5 $2 11. Nxe5+ $1 Nxe5 12. Qxd4+
Ke6 (12... Ke8 13. Nc7+ Ke7 14. Qd6#) 13. Nc7+ Kf6 14. Qh4+ Kf5 15. e4+ Kg6 16.
Qg5#) 9... Nc6 10. Nf3 Nf6 11. Nfxd4 Ne4 12. Qd1 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 (13. e3 a6 14.
Nxd4) 13... Ke8 14. Nb5 $2 (14. f3 $1 {Drive the knight back first, while
providing an escape path for the white king.}) 14... Bd7 15. Nc7+ $2 (15. Nd6+
Nxd6 16. cxd6 $14 {White should still be fairly pleased with the position,
though perhaps not quite as happy as a few moves previous.}) 15... Kd8 $4 (
15... Kf8 16. Nxa8 Ba4 $1 17. Qd8+ Be8 18. Kd1 (18. Qd1 Ba4) 18... Qa4+ {
The draw is forced.}) 16. Bg5+ Nxg5 17. Qxa1 Kxc7 18. e3 e5 19. Be2 f6 20. O-O
Rhd8 21. Rd1 Nf7 22. Bf3 Be6 23. Bd5 Re8 24. Qa4 Bd7 25. Qa5+ b6 26. Qa6 Bc8
27. cxb6+ Kb8 28. b7 Bxb7 29. Qxb7# 1-0

[Event "2022 Vancouver Open (U1700 Reserve)"]
[Site "Vancouver, WA"]
[Date "2022.07.23"]
[Round "3"]
[White "McDevitt, Owen"]
[Black "Stephenson, Phil"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D04"]
[WhiteElo "1373"]
[BlackElo "1302"]
[Annotator "Phil Stephenson"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2022.07.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{[%evp 0,120,19,31,14,30,23,12,32,-3,-7,-13,15,8,0,-2,0,-25,1,-31,-26,-19,-12,
-11,-11,-23,-22,-5,41,28,50,24,51,29,35,25,39,-38,-29,-29,-37,-23,-23,-46,-37,
-51,-58,-58,-52,-134,-116,-121,-148,-329,-119,-241,-171,-173,-178,-193,-173,
-173,-116,-173,-122,-107,-18,-81,0,-30,-57,-80,-57,-55,-68,-103,98,125,102,94,
107,21,163,60,157,88,88,75,74,-5,8,8,8,0,0,0,0,0,172,-130,-130,-189,-221,-499,
-573,-569,-633,-633,-939,-1030,-1073,-1991,-2237,-2245,-28158,-29975,-29976,
-29977,-29978,-29979,-29982,-29983,-29984]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 c5 4. b3
Nc6 5. Bb2 Bf5 {I'm not very familiar with this opening for White. I just try
to play natural moves and develop my pieces here.} 6. Bd3 Bxd3 7. Qxd3 e6 8. a3
{I guess he was worried about Nb4 but I'm not sure I would have played it
either way.} Bd6 9. Nbd2 cxd4 {I was a little worried here white might play e4
next move so I play this to clarify white's plan.} 10. exd4 O-O 11. O-O Rc8 12.
Ne5 Qc7 13. f4 Bxe5 14. fxe5 {This move at least shuts down black's b2 bishop.}
(14. dxe5 Nd7 15. c4 {This also looks nice for white.}) 14... Nd7 15. Rf3 Ne7
16. c3 {White doesn't want to close c2 but he's still not doing his bishop any
favors.} Qb6 {Threatening Nxe5 and eyes b3} 17. Kh1 Ng6 18. Raf1 (18. Rh3 f5
19. exf6 Rxf6 20. c4) 18... Ndxe5 {Thought for a while before making this move.
I was happy to win the material, but I worried that opening the center might
give his bishop better scope after white eventually plays c4. Still I thought
this was my best plan and it gives me good control over the center with my e
and d pawns.} 19. dxe5 Nxe5 20. Qe2 Nxf3 21. Rxf3 f6 {I'm anticipating c4 next
move so I'm quick to try to move my pawn chain up and restrict the bishop.} 22.
Rg3 e5 23. Qg4 Rc7 24. h4 {Really lashing out at me here, but white is
starting to leave some holes in his own position now.} Qf2 25. Rd3 f5 (25... e4
26. Rxd5 e3 27. Nc4 e2 $19 {Should have really given this more consideration})
26. Qd1 Rd7 {Again I should have considered e4. I think I was just afraid of
the board opening up and missing some tactic.} 27. c4 d4 28. Qf1 Qxh4+ {
I knew this was a little risky after Rh3, but with two extra pawns and my
connected passers e and d I felt I should win here.} 29. Rh3 Qg4 {Probably Qg5
or Qf6 was safer. I ended up in a bit of trouble here getting my queen kicked
around.} 30. Nf3 Qf4 31. Bc1 Qe4 32. Ng5 Qc6 33. Nxh7 {Better this pawn than
e5 I figured.} Rff7 34. Qe1 Qe4 $1 {Prevents Qh4 and with tempo. White cannot
afford to trade the queens being a pawn down and with my passers coming down
quickly.} 35. Qd1 Qg4 36. Qe1 Qe4 {I was getting low on time and needed to
make the 40th move time control.} 37. Qd1 f4 38. Ng5 (38. Qh5 Qf5) 38... Qg6
39. Nxf7 Rxf7 40. Qe1 Qf6 41. Qe2 g5 42. a4 Rh7 43. Rxh7 Kxh7 44. Qh5+ Qh6 45.
Qxh6+ Kxh6 46. g4 e4 47. Kg2 Kg6 48. b4 Kf6 49. c5 Ke6 50. Kf2 Kd5 51. Bxf4 {
If white does nothing I'll just leave my pawns where they are, keeping the
white king out and pick up the queenside pawns with my own king.} gxf4 52. g5
d3 53. g6 Ke6 54. b5 {Thought I was completely lost here and nearly resigned.
Decided to just play a few more moves to see what happened.} e3+ 55. Ke1 f3 56.
g7 d2+ 57. Kd1 Kf7 58. g8=Q+ Kxg8 59. c6 bxc6 60. bxc6 f2 {And white can't
prevent black from queening.} 0-1

