Game Analysis: 2026 Bill Wright Open, Round 3

We have a fun game in store to look at today. At least, it's my definition of fun -- a long endgame.

Laishevkin, Mykhailo (2093) - Paciorkowski, Lev (2448)
2026 Bill Wright Open, St. Louis, MO (Rd. 3)
G/90+30

I'm playing black against an 18 year old expert. We'll skim through the opening quickly.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 d6 6.Re1 Bd7 7.c3 g6 8.d4 Bg7 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Nxe5 dxe5 11.Bxd7+ Qxd7 12.Qxd7+ Nxd7 13.Be3 0-0-0 14.f3 (D)

This is a very equal position, with completely symmetrical pieces and pawn structure. I would venture to guess that a lot of people would be uncomfortable agreeing to this kind of position against someone 300-400 points lower rated, because the drawing margin is quite high. That may be valid, but I decided not to let that kind of thinking affect my decisions during this tournament.

I also got some feeling that my opponent was "playing for a draw". Over the years I've kind of gotten a sixth sense for this. So perhaps from his point of view, he was happy to get this position.

My two cents on "playing for a draw" against a higher-rated player: be careful. This kind of mindset tends to have a pernicious effect on your decision-making during the game. I say that as someone who has done his fair share of "playing for a draw" with white when I was a kid.

The problem is that you will invariably find yourself going out of your way not to "rock the boat" in any position. After all, we don't want to make the game complicated, right? If we just trade all the pieces and keep everything symmetrical, then we cannot lose. This means that you may pass up opportunities to "initiate complications" when you objectively should.

A strong enough player will always find a way to keep some life in the position. Eventually, they will initiate complications on their own terms, at which point you'll suddenly need to play with a high degree of precision to maintain the balance. Most likely, the stronger player will on purpose wait to do this until your time gets low. At that point, mistakes will happen.

Now, to the game. The funny thing about analyzing these types of positions is that the engine will give basically every reasonable-looking move as 0.00. However, as a human I can say I have some experience of what kinds of positions are more comfortable than others, even if they are all objectively "equal". So this type of experience becomes at least as important as the engine here.

I decided to start by getting my knight to a better square. 14. ... Nf8 15.Nd2 Ne6 16.Rad1 (D)

Now, I made the first "move" to try and imbalance the game with 16. ... Nf4 (D)

17.Bxf4!? I will say this decision from my opponent did slightly surprise me. Yes, it may look scary that the knight can appear on d3, but I didn't actually see what I'm doing after 17.Nc4 Nd3 18.Re2, when the plan is Re2-d2 next and white has everything covered. By taking on f4 white does continue with the strategy of "trading pieces", but I would say that this exchange greatly helps black. The pawn on f4 will have a slight cramping effect, and that bishop on e3 was probably white's best minor piece. The diagonal for the Bg7 also opens up, so (much) later on, plans like ...b5-b4 become an option to pressure the queenside.

Of course, the engine thinks everything is dead equal, 0.00. But I'll still stand by my human assessment.

17. ... exf4 18.Nb3 c6 19.Kf1 Kc7 (D)

20.Rxd8!? This was more of a confirmation of my suspicions earlier. There's no need to do this; white can just play Ke2. 20. ... Rxd8 21.Ke2 (D)

21. ... Re8 Of course, if we do just trade off both sets of rooks, then it will become much drier. But white's rook by itself won't be able to do anything on the d-file since my king can cover the entry squares. So I set off on a fishing expedition.

22.Rd1 Re5 23.Kf1!? A slightly strange move. 23. ... Rh5 24.h3 I thought provoking this could only help me, since now white doesn't have g2-g3 ideas anymore. 24. ... Rb5 25.Rd2 (D)

Here I had my longest think so far in the game, at 10 minutes. I was considering something like 25. ... a5 26.Nc1 a4 but ultimately felt that after 27.a3, I am not achieving anything on the queenside, and my rook will start to feel claustrophobic after Nc1-d3. (Unsurprisingly, according to the engine everything is 0.00.)

So, I decided to bring the rook back to home base. 25. ... Re5 26.Nc1 Re7 27.Nd3 g5 28.Ke2 (D)

Since I can't do anything with my rook yet, I now started to think about how to improve my bishop. I thought it would be great on e3, but it's not so easy to actually get it there: it would require something long-winded like Bf8-d6-c7-b6. So I decided to at least get started with this operation.

28. ... Bf8 29.Kd1 Re6 30.Kc2 Bd6 31.c4 (D)

I personally would have preferred something like b4-a4-a5 if I was playing white, but of course it's all still equal.

31. ... Bf8!? Played after about 3 minutes' thought. This looks like a funny move. Didn't the bishop just come from f8? I realized I was a little apprehensive about 31. ... Kc8 32.c5 Bf8 33.b4, when I would have liked to be able to quickly play Re8-a8 and then a6-a5. But I wasn't sure if white played c4 specifically with the intention of c4-c5. So I decided to wait for a move to see what my opponent would do. (Again, everything is 0.00 according to engine.)

32.a3 In case of 32.c5!? I now would have played 32. ... Re8, intending a6-a5 and Ra8. 32. ... Re8 I still wasn't sure, does white want b2-b4? 33.Rd1 I guess not. 33. ... Re6 (D)

Actually I burned 9 minutes on this move, which in hindsight seemed a bit silly. What am I doing with this shuffling back and forth? Well, I am basically probing to see what my opponent wants to do. Is he also going to shuffle back and forth, or is he going to carry out some real plan? In my experience this kind of shuffling also gives the lower-rated player a false sense of comfort, since it makes it seem like I am thinking about agreeing to a draw (in reality I would never do that from this position). Some psychological mind games, if you will. I do still have the plan of Bd6-c7-b6 in my back pocket.

34.Rd2!? Personally I think white should prefer something like 34.Rh1, when black would have to at least think about the possibility of h3-h4, activating the rook. 34. ... a5 Just in case white still wants b2-b4. 35.a4!? Even though the engine still gives everything as dead equal, I don't like this move for white, since now it freezes his queenside play and b2-b4 will never be an option anymore. Instead I thought 35.h4!? would be interesting for white, but that is also the kind of "rocking the boat" move that my opponent probably felt uncomfortable playing because of his mindset.

35. ... Bd6 36.Rd1 Kc8 37.Rd2!? (D)

Now it is clear white isn't interested in doing anything. Again, I think 37.Rh1 should be preferred.

37. ... h5 I was actually a little hesitant to continue with 37. ... Bc7 because I didn't like 38.Nc5 Re7 39.Nb3, when now white's knight can get to f5 via d4. (Still all 0.00!) So I make a small improving move on the kingside and toss the ball back into white's court.

38.b3!? This I was thrilled to see, because now there is no Nc5-b3-d4-f5! Finally I can complete my bishop maneuver. 38. ... Bc7 39.Nf2 Bb6 40.Nd3 Be3 41.Re2 Bd4 (In case of 41. ... Re8, I wasn't quite sure yet if I wanted to allow 42.g3!?) 42.Rd2 Re8 43.Rd1 (43.Nxf4? Be3-/+) 43. ... Be3 44.Re1 (D)

If you compare this to the position from 20 moves ago, black definitely seems to have made some progress. But still, it is objectively equal! Baby steps though. Now I can improve my king.

44. ... Kd7 45.Re2 Ke6 46.Nf2 (I thought now if white tries 46.g3 I could play 46. ... Rg8 and just keep the tension, then play f7-f5 at some point) 46. ... Rg8 47.Nd1 Bd4 48.Nf2 (D)

White cannot afford to allow ...g5-g4 too easily. At some point ...Bxf2 comes under consideration, but I wasn't quite ready to do that yet. Instead I came up with

48. ... Rc8!? (D)

This looks mysterious, but I actually am hinting at playing b7-b5 to open a new front on the queenside. Finally, after a lot of shuffling around, my opponent makes a real mistake here.

49.Kd3? This careless move gives black multiple extra tempi in the rook endgame we get soon. Better was 49.Nd3.

49. ... Ke5 50.Kc2 Bxf2! Now it is time for this. 51.Rxf2 (D)

Here I had quite an inexplicable lapse in judgement. I wanted 51. ... Kd4 here, which is the best move and perhaps even is objectively winning for black. What I didn't like though was 52.Rd2+ (If 52.Kd2 I thought at the very least 52. ... b5!?-/+ is strong) 52. ... Ke3 53.Kd1 when I somehow talked myself out of seriously pursuing this further, not liking the prospect of white's rook appearing on d7 with counterplay. This is fairly ridiculous though. Black is just winning after e.g. 53. ... Rc7 54.Ke1 f6! 55.Rd6 g4!-+.

So instead I returned the favor with 51. ... b5? 52.Rd2 This is much less clear. 52. ... bxa4 53.bxa4 Rb8 54.Rd7 Rb4 (I didn't like that white picks up my a-pawn after 54. ... f6 55.Ra7) 55.Rxf7 Rxa4 (D)

Out of nowhere, what was a quiet position just 10 moves ago has erupted into a very tricky rook endgame (finally got the complications I was looking for). Objectively this should still be a draw, but during the game it felt like white is the one who has to be more careful, because my king is going to be more active and my pawns are generally more advanced.

56.Kb3 This is fine. 56. ... Ra1 57.Rf5+ Kd4 58.Rxg5 a4+ 59.Kb2 Rg1 (D)

White is even a pawn up now, but somehow it doesn't feel like it. 60.Ka3? would run into the unpleasant 60. ... Kc3!, with a mating net around white's king. My opponent instead tried 60.c5, which is a reasonable move and still maintains the balance. 60. ... Kc4 intending ...Kb4, and then to maneuver my rook to give a check on the 2nd rank. 61.h4!? A little strange, but still fine. I thought white at least could try 61.e5. 61. ... Kb4 (D)

Not an easy position for white. I have the dangerous idea of ...Re1, then ...a3+ followed by Re2. White can still hold this with something like 62.Rg8 (there are other moves too), planning to get the rook to b8/a8 for checks, but still, 62. ... Kxc5 and black can play on with the two passed queenside pawns.

Here my opponent had only 5 minutes left, and he spent all his remaining time before playing the losing move: 62.Ka2? (D)

This move I did not understand at all. Perhaps the thought was that black cannot do anything, but I quickly played 62. ... Re1-+ It's the only winning move, but plenty good enough. My rook is perfectly placed to watch the e-pawn, and deliver a check from e2. 63.Rg8 Re2+ 64.Kb1 Kxc5 (D)

This position is a good example of how pawn structure can be overrated. Black has four isolated pawns, while white's pawn structure is in theory perfect. But that doesn't matter at all here because my pieces are so active, something else we have discussed in the past.

White's problem is that his king is cut off now, which means there are always mating net ideas. This makes the position indefensible.

65.Ra8 Kb4 66.Rb8+ Kc4 67.Ra8 c5 (D)

For example. 68.Rxa4+ Kb3 wins because of the double threat of mate and on the rook.

68.e5 There is hardly anything else to suggest. 68. ... Rxe5 69.Rxa4+ Kb3 70.Re4 Rxe4 The KP ending is winning. 71.fxe4 Kc4 72.Kc2 Kd4 73.Kb3 Kxe4 0-1 (D)

White is losing the race after 74.Kc4 Ke3 75.Kxc5 Kf2 76.Kd4 Kxg2 77.Ke4 f3. Funnily enough, some 60 moves after giving me that pawn on f4, it is the one that decides the game.

Except for that one strange moment on move 51 where I played ...b5? instead of ...Kd4!, I felt this was a pretty high quality game that I could be happy about.

Game Analysis: 2026 Bill Wright Open, Round 5

We are back with another classical game from a recent event in St. Louis. This one I think was quite instructive, featuring an unusual opening variation that I knew nothing about over the board.

Sargsyan, Anna (2423) - Paciorkowski, Lev (2448)
2026 Bill Wright Open, St. Louis, MO (Rd. 5)
G/90+30

My opponent is a strong international master from Armenia and now one of the top female players in the US.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 (D)

A small note on opening strategy in these games (at least, at 2400+ level). All the games from this event were publicly recorded, and I had already played the King's Indian in round 1. So from that standpoint, one might say that it is "risky" to repeat the same opening, especially against a strong player who would be able to prepare something serious against it.

However, the other approach is to say that you know your openings like the back of your hand, and that it would be impossible to surprise you with anything, even a super rare sideline. So therefore, you should have nothing to fear in being too predictable. Further, because you play the same opening all the time, you will accumulate a lot of experience in the resulting structures and still be able to "feel" your way through unfamiliar positions if you do get them.

I don't think there is necessarily one right approach. Of course at the top level you see people play different openings almost every game. (I do not qualify as a top player, in case that needed clarifying.) For other players like myself who don't do chess full-time, it's much more practical to have one main opening and stick to it. For the King's Indian specifically, there are a few reasons why I really like it, even as a main weapon in these open tournaments:

• You can almost always guarantee a fight. This makes it especially attractive against lower-rated opponents we want to win against with the black pieces. White does have some options to try and kill the game, like the Exchange Variation, but black can still play to avoid lines like that if desired.
• Black has so many different variations to play, even in the most heavily studied classical main line. This means that you can still surprise people by switching to a different sub-variation that you maybe haven't played in a while, even if it is still all part of the "King's Indian".
• You do not have to worry about any move order tricks white often tries by starting with 1.Nf3 or 1.c4 instead of 1.d4. For instance, if you are a Grunfeld player, after 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 you have to learn a completely separate variation, because if you continue 2. ... g6, white can play 3.e4, when suddenly you will not be playing a Grunfeld anymore. If you play the King's Indian, our first moves are Nf6-g6-Bg7 pretty much no matter what, so we are completely unaffected by these move order shenanigans and can always get our desired opening system.
• In open tournaments there is often not that much time to prepare for each game anyway, so this makes predictability in the opening less of an issue.

Anyway, let's get back to the game. Anna surprised me with the very rare 5.Bd3!? (D)

I am not even sure this system has a name. For some context, it is white's 6th most common move in the position, being played only about 3% of the time. I suppose you could call this the Sarana system, since GM Alexey Sarana has apparently played this a lot, mostly in rapid/blitz games. He scores almost 90% with it too (albeit against mostly lower rated opposition, but still including some strong players), so clearly there is some venom here.

After not too much thought (just a couple minutes), I simply castled 5. ... 0-0. Rare variation or not, opening principles are still opening principles, and I figured this cannot be a bad move. Later I will come back to this point to show how I think black should react to this system, but for now I will just say that the immediate 5. ... Nc6 is the most serious alternative.

6.Nge2 (D)

Here I again thought for a couple minutes and actually came up with what I think is indeed the best move now for black: 6. ... Nc6! It's a little unusual to do this before playing e7-e5, but I do have some general knowledge from similar positions that in the structure after 6. ... e5!? 7.d5!, the bishop on d3 actually can be very well-placed, since it drops back to c2 in response to ...Nc5, and keeps the e4 pawn overprotected.

7.0-0 (7.d5?! Ne5=- did not worry me) 7. ... e5 The other alternative which I will discuss later is 7. ... Nd7. 8.d5 Nd4 9.Nxd4 exd4 10.Ne2 Re8 11.f3 c5 12.Ng3! (D) (White should not entertain 12.dxc6? bxc6 13.Nxd4, when my intended 13. ... Qb6 14.Be3 Ng4! is at least equal for black.)

Unbeknownst to me during the game, I have actually figured out the main line for black in this variation. After Anna's last move though, we reach a position which it turns out is just good for white. At least, that is my opinion after having done some deeper analysis afterwards.

This is kind of like a Benoni structure, except black's pawn which normally would be on e7 (and breaks with ...e6 early on) is on d4. This has the main point of blocking the bishop on g7. Now, normally in these structures, the bishop on g7 is black's best minor piece. But in this case, it is severely restricted by that pawn on d4, which is the main source of black's difficulties here.

In fact, this is already a critical moment for black! I do want to give myself some credit for how I reacted in this unfamiliar position, because I did intuitively sense the long-term danger here. For example, I correctly judged that 12. ... a6?! (a commonly chosen move, even by some strong GMs) is already just bad for black after 13.a4!+/-. Indeed, the best case scenario there will be this kind of position after 13. ... Rb8 14.b3 Bd7 15.a5! b5 16.axb6 Qxb6 17.Ra3! (D)

In this structure, that d4 pawn would typically have gone to e6 and then ultimately been traded for either the pawn on c4 or e4. Compare the position above with the following one:

(Let's pretend white got the free move Kh1 to avoid any ...c4+ tactics.) In the previous version with the pawns still on d4/c4, white had a clear advantage. However, with those pawns traded, even black can be better. There is now the added resource of ...Bb5, and the Bg7 enjoys a completely open diagonal to operate on.

Going back to the position after 12.Ng3, there are only two viable moves for black, and I played one of them: 12. ... b5! (D) (The engine also proposes first 12. ... Nd7 13.f4 and then 13. ... b5!)

Benko gambit style. Black can't afford to sit around and play slowly, because white will not be too far away from organizing a decisive central breakthrough with f4-e5.

13.cxb5!? Actually, I did think during the game that 13.b3! could be even stronger, not even entertaining black's attempts at stirring up trouble on the queenside. Then white can go back to preparing f4-e5. (The engine agrees with this assessment, and this is ultimately why I think black should look for an improvement earlier.) 13. ... a6 14.Bf4 Nd7 (14. ... axb5 15.Bxb5 Re7 also deserved attention, to ensure that the b-file gets opened.) 15.a4! (D)

I have handled things pretty well so far. But, I am only human and here the difficulties of the position exceeded my capabilities. The only idea here to maintain a playable position is 15. ... h5!, when for example after 16.Qd2 (16.Bxd6? c4! and Nd7-b6 is good for black) 16. ... h4 17.Nh1 h3 the position is just messy and unclear.

Instead, I was far too tempted by the prospect of getting white's dark squared bishop, and played a serious inaccuracy: 15. ... Ne5?! to which white replied with the expected 16.Bxe5! Bxe5 17.f4! Bg7 18.Qf3+/- (D)

This is the position I was anticipating we would reach after my 15th move. However, I badly mis-evaluated it from a few moves back. I more or less naively assumed that with my "strong" unopposed dark squared bishop, I can figure something out here. But in fact, this is a dream position for white, all thanks to my own pawn on d4. Further, I actually cannot get the b-file open anymore, which means there is very little counterplay on the queenside. So, white has a free hand to prepare some breakthrough with e4-e5.

18. ... axb5!? (according to the engine, it would have been preferable to try something like 18. ... Ra7!? instead, keeping the tension on the queenside, followed by ...Qa5-b4 at the right moment to look for counterplay with the queen. I did consider this strategy but didn't really believe it could work to send my queen so far away from the kingside where white is planning to break through.) 19.axb5! White importantly keeps the b-file closed. 19.Bxb5? Bd7 lets black right back into the game. 19. ... Rxa1 20.Rxa1 At least now I thought I have less to worry about on the kingside, with white's rook gone from f1. 20. ... Qc7 21.Bc4 (D)

The position is still very unpleasant for black. It's not lost yet, but it is certainly a desperate situation. I considered the option of 21. ... d3!? 22.Qxd3 Bxb2 23.Rb1 but thought that would just be a thankless defensive task where I will have to passively blockade the b-pawn and hope that white cannot crack through in the long-run. While that is a correct assessment, it is unfortunately the best black can do from this position.

Instead, I played 21. ... Bd7? (D)

Actually, this move should lose on the spot! I saw what white's strongest response was here, but I didn't see how I'm supposed to stop it, and reasoned that I can hardly play with my bishop on c8 the whole game and allow Ra8.

If you have any familiarity with Benoni structures, you should immediately be considering the breakthrough 22.e5!, which just wins for white. What I saw during the game was 22. ... dxe5 23.Ne4?! exf4 24.d6 Qd8 25.Qxf4+-, when black's position is simply on the verge of collapse. Actually, even stronger would be 23.d6! exploiting the fact that 23. ... Qxd6? 24.Bxf7+! wins on the spot.

Instead of that, Anna quickly played 22.Qb3?+/-, which I think was her only real mistake this game. White still maintains a clear advantage, but finding this e5-d6 sequence really would have ended the game in short order.

We continued 22. ... Rb8 23.Ra6 Bf8? In practice still a very difficult position for black. An engine will always hold against a human, but I am no engine. Apparently, the surprising 23. ... Bh6! 24.Ne2 Bc8! 25.Rc6!? Qa5! would have given white some more serious problems to navigate. 24.b6+- (D)

White should have a decisive advantage now, and Anna did not give me any more chances. I continued 24. ... Qd8 25.b7 Qc7 26.Ra7 Kg7 27.Ba6 There is just nothing for black to do but wait passively until white maneuvers the Ng3 over to the queenside with decisive effect. I tried the desperate 27. ... c4?! 28.Qxc4 Qb6 29.Ra8 Rxb7 30.Bxb7 Bb5 but there are a million reasons why this doesn't work. Anna ended things convincingly: 31.Qc8 d3+ 32.Kh1 d2 33.Qxf8+ Kf6 34.e5+ dxe5 35.Qh8+ Ke7 36.Qxe5+ Qe6 37.d6+ 1-0

Ouch!

So actually, if we go back to the position after 5.Bd3 (D)

in my humble opinion, an easier way for black to play is with the immediate 5. ... Nc6! (instead of my 5. ... 0-0). After 5. ... Nc6 6.Nge2, now black can carry out the following idea: 6. ... 0-0! 7.0-0 Nd7! (D)

Hitting the d4 pawn. Notice how we are avoiding 7. ... e5!? 8.d5 Nd4 which would transpose into the game after 9.Nxd4 cxd4 10.Ne2. Our goal is to get a position without this blocking pawn on d4 so that the Bg7 keeps an open diagonal.

After 7. ... Nd7, the two most sensible moves are 8.Be3 and 8.Bc2. Black does not need to worry about 8.d5!? Nce5 9.f4 Nxd3 10.Qxd3 when there 10. ... f5!= puts white's center under a lot of pressure, with our other knight coming to c5.

So let's first look at 8.Be3 (D)

Now the circumstances have changed, and black should proceed with 8. ... e5! 9.d5 Nd4, since if white tries 10.Bxd4?! exd4 11.Nb5 black is in time to get good piece activity, e.g. 11. ... Ne5 12.Nbxd4 c5 13.dxc6 bxc6=-. There is more than enough for a pawn in that position. So white needs to try to play more slowly and live with the knight on d4; this is a position that can be explored deeper.

In case of 8.Bc2 (D)

Now again, 8. ... e5! seems to be working out for black. After 9.d5 Nd4 10.Nxd4 exd4 11.Ne2, the difference is that our knight is already on d7, which means 11. ... Ne5! (D) is possible

White cannot comfortably defend the c4 pawn (12.Bb3? d3 13.Nf4 f5!-/+ is just bad for white). This means that we will end up exchanging c4 for d4 and the Bg7 will enjoy an open diagonal. After 12.Nxd4 Nxc4 13.Rb1 (D)

Black should further continue with 13. ... Re8!=, and then look to play c7-c5 soon.

By the way, I do think that starting with 5. ... Nc6! is important. In case of 5. ... 0-0!? (which is the move order I played in the game), white actually has the option of 6.Nf3 (although it's rarely played). That would still be playable for black (e.g., 6. ... e5 7.d5 a5+=), but starting with 5. ... Nc6! takes that option out entirely, because then 6.Nf3!? Bg4 is completely fine for black, with e7-e5 and Nd4 coming next. (It is important to note that 5. ... 0-0!? 6.Nf3 Bg4!? 7.Be2!+= is not the same, because black's knight isn't already on c6, and 7. ... Nc6 can be met strongly with 8.d5!+/-.)

That's all for this time. We'll see if we can look at a few other games from this event later.

April 29th - Chess Lecture with Candidate Master Clif Kharroubi

                                     Topic: Unpleasant Double King Pawn Surprises

Time/Place: 5:00-6:30pm at the Chess Center in Rochester

$3 for CCCR members; $5 for non-members. Free for children 12 and under.   

(The small fee helps the chess club provide snacks) Free Pizza (while it lasts!) 

for those who attend the chess lecture. 

Registration is Required: Call 585-442-2430 to register or register on-site at the Chess Center.

Schedule: 5pm-5:30pm: Pizza and on-site lecture registration

5:30-6:30pm: Lecture 

The lecture will be recorded and made available on YouTube. Watch Clif's lectures here.

Game Analysis: 2026 Bill Wright Open, Round 1

Hello, and welcome back! We have a game to analyze from a new tournament played in St. Louis. This is my first round game from the event. My opponent is a 13-year old expert, quite a talented youngster. Let's see what happened.

Rana, Oliver (2071) - Paciorkowski, Lev (2448)
2026 Bill Wright Open, St. Louis, MO (Rd. 1)
G/90+30

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Re8 7.Nc3 Bd7!? (D) This is a super rare line I wanted to try out for black in the fianchetto KID. There is very little established opening theory in this position.

The idea is simply to block the d-file so that we can now play e7-e5. In some positions the bishop can go to c6, or black might even entertain ...Qc8, depending on what white does.

8.b3!? A slightly unusual move, but not necessarily bad. At this point I was out of my "book".

8. ... e5 (D) I saw no reason to reject this.

The most principled way for white to fight for an advantage would be to go into the closed structure 9.d5 a5 (black could also consider 9. ... e4!? 10.Nd4 h6) 10.e4. I would have been quite happy to go into that, when we would likely see a classic KID fight with black preparing f7-f5 while white plays on the queenside. However in that position the move b3 would just turn out be a waste of time, since white will want to go b4-c5 anyway. Therefore, probably 8.b3!? is not a dangerous move for black to deal with.

My opponent played much more conservatively with 9.dxe5 (9.e4 Nc6! would be quite nice for black, intending 10.d5 Nd4!) 9. ... dxe5 I think black has mostly equalized now. After 10.Bb2 I proceeded with the principled 10. ... e4 (D)

In general in these structures, if white allows this advance, black should take up the offer.

11.Nd4 (D) In case of 11.Ng5?! I was considering 11. ... h6! 12.Nh3 and felt like that position should be somewhat good for black with white's knight now out of play. That assessment would be correct; after 12. ... c6! black is doing very well.

11. ... Nc6!? This is actually a small imprecision. I wasn't appreciating this during the game, but in fact in this type of situation, black should prefer 11. ... Na6! and then to put the pawn on c6, to keep the Nc3 restricted.

12.Nxc6!? But this is a little too compliant. After 12.Nc2!+= white could end up with some pressure, intending Ne3 and then either knight to d5.

12. ... Bxc6= Now black definitely has no problems. 13.Qxd8!? (13.Qc2; there is no need to centralize black's rooks) 13. ... Raxd8 (D)

This endgame of course should just be equal, but I would say it is a little more "equal" for black than for white. I have all my pieces activated and the pawn on e4 cramps white's position slightly.

In general against high rated young players, the advice I give is to "trade queens and win the endgame". Now it's not always that easy, and I don't even follow my own advice all the time, but it worked out well for me this game. It is instructive to see how in less than 10 moves white managed to give himself a lost position from here.

14.Rad1 This is fine. 14. ... Ng4 I want to support my e-pawn with f7-f5. 15.h3! This is also good, as otherwise black was even threatening ...e3. 15. ... Nh6 (D)

16.e3!? This is the start of white's problems, since now the d3 square becomes a serious weakness. During the game I thought white could try 16.g4, when I was intending 16. ... f5 and thought that is still pleasant for black, but it should still objectively be equal.

16. ... f5=- (D)

17.b4?! Another pawn move that greatly weakens white's position. Gaining space with b4-b5 might superficially seem attractive, but white's pieces are too passive to support this kind of operation. Preferable was 17.Rxd8 Rxd8 18.Rd1 when I still would have been content to play the minor piece endgame after 18. ... Rxd1+ 19.Nxd1 Bxb2 20.Nxb2=-

17. ... Nf7-/+ I am not worried about b4-b5, and now have my eyes set on the weak c4 pawn. 18.b5 Bd7 (D)

This is already a difficult position for white. It is not clear what should be done against my intended ...Be6 and ...Ne5. At least, during the game, I did not see what white should even try. The engine, realizing how desperate the situation is, thinks that the only way for white to continue fighting is to sacrifice a pawn with 19.Rb1! intending 19. ... Be6 20.Nd5! Bxd5 21.cxd5 Rxd5 22.Rfc1-/+ with some counterplay on the c-file.

19.Rfe1?! This does not work out though, and after 19. ... Be6-+ (D) black is winning material, probably with a decisive advantage already.

20.Bf1 (20.c5 Ne5 is no better, when the knight will wreak havoc on d3) 20. ... Ne5 21.Rxd8!? (Keeping rooks on the board with 21.Be2 would have been more resilient) 21. ... Nf3+! I thought this was the most precise, because of my strong 23rd move. 22.Kh1 Rxd8 23.Rd1 (D)

23. ... Rd2! What I had planned from move 21. Black is winning. 24.Rxd2 forced, otherwise white loses a piece 24. ... Nxd2 25.Be2 Bxc4 26.Bc1 (26.Bxc4 Nxc4 27.Ba1 Bxc3 28.Bxc3 Na3-+) 26. ... Bxc3 27.Bxd2 Bxe2 28.Bxc3 Bxb5 29.Kg2 (D)

29. ... Be2 One last finesse, trapping white's king in a box. The only way out is to jettison a third pawn, but otherwise my king will simply march to the queenside unhindered. The rest is straightforward. 30.Be5 c6 31.a3 Kf7 32.g4 fxg4 33.hxg4 Bxg4 34.Kg3 Bf3 35.Kf4 Ke6 36.Bd4 b6 37.Be5? a blunder, but the endgame is hopeless either way 37. ... g5+ 0-1

A good illustration of how just a few careless pawn moves in an endgame can be disastrous. We'll be back to see what happens in future rounds.