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.Be6? 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.
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