Recently I played in the 2026 Mid-America Open, held in St. Louis, Missouri. In the spirit of chess improvement, I will analyze in detail some of the more interesting classical games that I played there. The game we have today is from the final round.
I'm paired white against a young expert (rated 2144) who has been having a pretty good tournament. In the previous rounds he scored 3.5/4 against expert-strength opposition. I was having a decent tournament too and also was on 3.5/4 going into this game. Actually, besides the two of us, only one other player had 3.5 points, and he had already taken a 1/2-point bye for this final round. So that meant that whoever won our game would snag clear first place (nobody had a perfect 4/4).
Let's get straight into it! The time control was 40 moves in 80 minutes, followed by 30 minutes, with a 30-second delay for all moves.
Paciorkowski, Lev (2446) - Hengen, Luke (2144)
2026 Mid-America Open, St. Louis, MO (Rd. 5)
40/80 SD30; d30
1.Nf3 This has lately been my preferred first move with white, although I do sometimes dabble with 1.e4 or 1.d4. 1. ... Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 e6 4.0-0 Be7 (D)
Because white is not doing anything particularly threatening by opening with Nf3-g3-Bg2, black has a lot of freedom in how to respond. In this game my opponent has chosen a classical Queen's Gambit Declined setup. At this point, the most popular continuation for white is 5.d3, playing a reversed King's Indian Attack (the plan is typically something along the lines of Nbd2, then e2-e4-e5). I have played this way before, but for this game I decided to transpose back into a mainline Catalan with 5.c4 0-0 6.d4 (D)
Objectively I do think this is the most theoretically principled way for white to play for an opening advantage. However, the drawback is that the mainline Catalan has of course been very well explored and so most opponents will likely have some prepared system to play against it. My opponent quickly replied 6. ... dxc4 (black's main move), to which I responded just as quickly with 7.Na3!? (D)
A few words about these last moves. White's whole idea in the Catalan is to put our light-squared bishop on g2 to pressure black's queenside. In particular, we want to try and make it difficult for black to develop the bishop on c8 (e.g., by attacking the b7 pawn itself or tactically preventing black from fianchettoing the bishop on b7). Since black's pawn on d5 seems to be a useful blocker of this diagonal, it might seem odd to even consider 6. ... dxc4, but general practice over the decades of this opening has shown that this is in fact black's best bet to equalize. Basically, the idea is that while white tries to regain this pawn, black will try to sneak in a6-b5-Bb7, possibly playing ...Nd5 at the right moment to shield the rook on a8 from white's Bg2. There is the alternative plan of quickly playing ...Bd7-c6 as well.
After 6. ... dxc4, the most common move for white is 7.Qc2, a natural attempt to recollect the pawn on c4 right away. Then black's well-known ideas are pretty easy to follow - the move is 7. ... a6!, and after 8.Qxc4 b5! 9.Qc2 Bb7 black has solved the problem of the light-squared bishop. Now, the story is not quite over as in that resulting position, white still would be better if we could prevent c7-c5, since black would then be left with a weak backwards c-pawn. However, with accurate play it turns out that black can successfully achieve this needed pawn break and equalize. White has some attempts to make things tricky, but as long as black reacts correctly to them, he should be fine.
For that reason, over the years several alternative 7th moves have been tried for white to see if we can at least pose some more practical problems to black. The one I chose, 7.Na3!? is the 4th-most common move. Black can still equalize against it, but the point is that he has to figure out something else besides the typical a6-b5 plan, as 7. ... a6? 8.Nxc4 b5 (D) turns out not to work anymore:
Even intuitively we should feel this is risky. Black will be able to get the bishop to b7, but with a few accurate moves white can in fact stop the c7-c5 break for good. To me the cleanest way to achieve this seems to be 9.Nfe5 Nd5 10.Ne3! Bb7 11.Nxd5! Bxd5 12.e4! Bb7 13.Be3, when after the further 13. ... Nd7 white continues 14.Nd3!+/- maintaining the cramp on the c5 square and giving black a long unpleasant defensive task.
Going back to the game, my opponent seemed to be unfamiliar with this 7.Na3!?. After 10 minutes' thought, he played the natural-looking 7. ... Bd7!? (D)
This move makes a lot of sense, since once you decide that a6-b5-Bb7 is a bad idea, this is the only other way to solve the problem of the light-squared bishop. Objectively however, it does not quite solve all of black's opening problems. Now, I will confess that I actually had very limited theoretical knowledge of this entire line, since I had played this 7.Na3!? years ago and could not remember much of my analysis from there. I will just say that black's best move is understood to be 7. ... Bxa3!, which can lead to double-edged positions that are objectively equal.
I knew 7. ... Bxa3! was black's best move, but had never remembered analyzing 7. ... Bd7!? before, so I settled into my first think to try and figure out what the problem was with my opponent's move. I did not make a bad decision per-se, but maybe an impractical one.
After about 5 minutes' thought, I played 8.Ne5!? The alternative was 8.Nxc4 Bc6 9.b3 and then trying to play for piece activity in the resulting position after black eventually gets c7-c5. For example, after the logical 9. ... Nbd7 10.Bb2 Bd5 11.Rc1 c5, white could consider 12.Nfe5!? Bxg2 13.Kxg2 cxd4 14.Qxd4 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 (D)
Despite the symmetry, black still has some small problems to solve because of white's more active pieces. The a7-pawn is under pressure, and if black plays ...a6, then Ne5-c4-a5/b6 could be annoying. However, this is still pretty close to equal (I'd say between = and +=) and I feel like I try to avoid these kinds of positions against lower-rated players because the drawing margin is fairly high. For this reason, I rejected the whole idea of entering this type of position from move 8. Perhaps this is an unjustified mindset on my part though; there are still opportunities for black to go wrong.
In the game, after 8.Ne5!?, we continued 8. ... Bc6 9.Bxc6 (I avoided first 9.Nxc6 Nxc6 10.Bxc6 because I thought there was the possibility of 10. ... Bxa3!? there, not allowing me to recapture on c4) 9. ... Nxc6 (now of course 9. ... Bxa3? 10.Bxb7+- traps the rook on a8) 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Nxc4 (D)
This was the kind of position I had been looking at back when I was thinking on move 8. During the game I thought white should be a little better here. In hindsight, that may be objectively true, but I definitely underestimated the potential risks. You may notice that although I have a perfect pawn structure, I do lag quite a bit in development! My kingside is also slightly drafty without my light-squared bishop. Black has some ideas like Qd5-h5-Ng4 which could be dangerous. Black can also use the open b-file, or meet my b2-b3 with a7-a5-a4 to generate targets of his own. Even if white does have an objective path to some small advantage, it is still easier to play black here. For this reason, perhaps a better practical decision would have been 8.Nxc4, preferring to enter the symmetrical position where white had a (tiny) edge in piece activity. At least there, black would be the one to have to show some accuracy to neutralize my play.
My opponent continued naturally and strongly: 11. ... Qd5 12.b3 Rfd8 (D)
On black's last move (instead of 12. ... Rfd8), in case of 12. ... Qh5 I had prepared at least 13.Kg2, able to meet 13. ... Ng4? with 14.h3 when black has no follow-up.
This is where it becomes more apparent that it is easier to play black. The move I want to play is 13.Bb2!, which I figured is probably a healthy move, but I saw some ghosts and convinced myself out of it. I did not like 13.Bb2! Qh5?! (instead black should probably prefer 13. ... c5, and then if 14.e3!? (to keep any hope for an advantage, here white has to start playing like an engine and come up with 14.dxc5! Qh5 15.Qe1! Ng4 16.h4 which looks scary to my human eyes, but black does not have a way to break through, and the a/c pawns are still split weaknesses) 14. ... a5!=) and I thought I have to play 14.Kg2!? (14.Ne5! to stop ...Ng4 is a better alternative) when now 14. ... c5 (D) seemed like a problem:
White would in fact be in a small amount of trouble here were it not for the simple 15.e3!, which at least maintains the balance - I can get my queen out of the d-file by exchanging it. Somehow I failed to notice that detail in this specific variation.
So in the game, after 12. ... Rfd8, I began to drift with 13.e3!? (D)
It's only a small misstep, but every move I delay finishing development gives black a chance to take control of the game. White definitely should not be better after this move.
Now it is my opponent's turn to not quite find the right way to handle this position. 13. ... Ne4!? I correctly judged during the game that 13. ... a5! was a stronger move, when black can even start to fight for an advantage after creating weaknesses in white's queenside. 14.Qf3?! Again, I had to prefer 14.Bb2!, and then after 14. ... Ng5!? white can simply play 15.f3! when even though my kingside might superficially look loose, black has no follow-up. 14. ... f5?! (14. ... a5!=-) 15.Ba3 I felt my bishop is a terrible piece which should be exchanged 15. ... Bxa3 16.Nxa3 (D)
The position is objectively about equal, although I would definitely prefer black here. Just as before, I was quite worried about 16. ... a5! which puts some real pressure on my position as ...a5-a4 is unstoppable, creating a weakness in my queenside. This is an instructive moment where my opponent makes what I knew should be an incorrect decision: 16. ... g5?! This only serves to weaken black's king and misses the requirements of the position. I was very relieved to see this move. 17.Nc4+= White is slightly better now, although it's not by much and I quickly proceeded to squander it with my imprecise 18th move... 17. ... c5 18.dxc5?! (I considered the more desirable 18.Rad1!, but disliked 18. ... Nc3!? when I did not think about the strong exchange sacrifice 19.Qh5! which would put black under a lot of pressure) 18. ... Qxc5= 19.Rac1 Rd5 (D)
Thanks to my helping of black to activate his pieces, the position is about equal again. Here I made what I thought was a decent practical attempt to stir up some trouble.
20.Qh5!? A "fishing expedition", as I like to call such moves. Just casually venturing into black's house to see what I can find. There is a threat of f2-f3, but black can deal with this easily enough. 20. ... Qe7 21.Rfd1 I did spend about 8 minutes considering 21.f3 Nd2 22.e4!? but did not calculate it very cleanly, rejecting it because of 22. ... fxe4? (instead black should play 22. ... Nxf1 23.exd5 exd5 24.Kxf1 dxc4= which I did not consider) 23.fxe4? (I missed here 23.Nxd2! Rxd2 24.Rxc7! +/-) 23. ... Qc5+ 24.Kh1 Nxf1 25.exd5 Qxd5+ 26.Kg1 Nd2= when I thought black could hardly be worse. 21. ... Rad8 22.Rxd5 (D)
A critical decision for black. How should the rook on d5 be recaptured? One recapture is equal, while the other would surprisingly allow white to get a nearly winning position!
22. ... exd5? (D) (22. ... Rxd5=)
White can get a nearly decisive positional advantage now. Unfortunately, I did not stop to properly consider my candidate moves. I had 22 minutes on my clock, and after barely any thought played the "autopilot" 23.Nb2? Instead, had I stopped to think a little more, I probably would have appreciated the strength of 23.Na5! +-. My mind didn't naturally consider this because it superficially "feels risky" and seems like I'm leaving my pieces scattered around, but black concretely has no way to exploit this, and the point is that black cannot prevent Nc6, which will come with devastating effect even if it doesn't immediately win any material. In the resulting position, black will just not be able to keep all of his weak pawns covered long-term. The tactical justification is that 23. ... Qa3 24.Rxc7 +- is not possible for black. The funny thing is that I even saw this last tactical detail after my 23.Nb2, but I just literally did not stop to give Na5 any serious thought.
23. ... c5= Position is back to about equal again. 24.Qe2 g4 25.Qc2 Qf6 26.Nd3 Rc8 27.Nf4 (D)
I thought black should maintain the balance with 27. ... Rd8 now, but instead my opponent decided to sacrifice the d-pawn for an attack which I ultimately did not think should work (and correctly so). 27. ... Ng5? 28.Nxd5 Nf3+ 29.Kg2?! (29.Kh1! was more precise, but I similarly did not stop to even consider this less natural move) 29. ... Qh6 30.h4! White has other good moves, but this is pretty clean. 30. ... gxh3+ (now this moves comes with check and my king ends up on h1 anyway) 31.Kh1 (31.Kxf3?? Qh5+ 32.Kf4 Qg4+ 33.Ke5 Re8+ 34.Kd6 Qg6+ definitely won't end well for white) 31. ... Qe6 (D)
With the action heating up, we reach yet another critical moment. I had about 8 minutes left here to make it to move 40, and only spent 2 minutes thinking here. To the tactically observant, the "obvious" move is what I played, 32.Qxf5?, which as we will see throws away the vast majority of white's advantage. With low time, my king a little uncomfortable, and seemingly having an attractive endgame up a pawn with better pawn structure, the prospect of trading queens was too good to resist. However, if we look deeper, we will see that black gets a significant amount of counterplay with his rook, knight and h3 pawn that is difficult to stop.
The only good move, which I felt I didn't have enough time to consider, was 32.Nf4!, when the key detail is that after 32. ... Qc6, which does indeed look scary, white can now play 33.Qxf5! and meet 33. ... Nh4+ with 34.Qd5+! forcing the queen trade under much better circumstances. If black avoids a queen trade somehow, his own king is also quite weak, and I just have to be careful not to blunder some mate on g2.
Basically my problem was that I assumed the endgame would be "good enough" so didn't bother to look for other options. But after my 32.Qxf5?, watch what happens: 32. ... Qxf5 33.Ne7+ Kf7 34.Nxf5 Rd8! the only good move for black, but sufficient. There is no way to stop this rook from invading on d2. I tried 35.Nh4 but there came 35. ... Ne5!? 36.Kh2 Rd2 37.Kxh3 Nd3! (D)
Even though I am momentarily up two pawns, black has enough activity not to be worse. After 38.Rf1 Rxa2 39.g4!? (39.Kg2 Rb2= would not change the outcome) 39. ... Rxf2 40.Ra1 Re2 41.Rxa7+ Kf6 I realized I wouldn't have any more winning chances and the game ended in a draw after a few more moves. 42.Ng2 (42.Nf5 h5=) 42. ... Ne1 43.Nxe1 Rxe1 44.Rc7 Rxe3+ 45.Kh4 h6 46.Rxc5 1/2-1/2
What can we say about this? First of all, props to my opponent for playing overall a pretty good game. He really only made two significant mistakes - 22. ... exd5?, allowing 23.Na5! and the overly optimistic 27. ... Ng5?, which was objectively an unsound pawn sacrifice. In the ensuing critical moments after both of these opportunities, I returned the favor, failing to find the best moves for white.
In the opening, perhaps I should have had better theoretical knowledge of how white should play after 7. ... Bd7!?, but that honestly is not what would have decided the game. I did make the argument that my 8.Ne5!? perhaps should not be the "theoretically best" choice and that 8.Nxc4 was better. But one could also make the argument that my 8.Ne5!? led to a more imbalanced position which in theory should help me as the supposedly stronger player.
Really what it comes down is calculation! And perhaps time management. In the first big moment after 22. ... exd5?, I still had plenty of time on my clock but did not sense there might be something better than the automatic 23.Nb2? Even just an extra 30-45 seconds of searching for candidate moves would have probably been enough for me to spot that 23.Na5! could be promising, and then another minute or two after that to make sure I calculate and evaluate it correctly.
Then on move 32, with a little less time, I felt the need to simplify the position, perhaps not wanting or not being confident in my calculation abilities to keep my own slightly uncomfortable king safe. I also erroneously assumed that the endgame "should just be good/winning" since white has an extra pawn and much better pawn structure. But of course, chess is a concrete game and after 34. ... Rd8! it was already clear that black would have significant counterplay that turned out to be enough to easily draw.
Certainly an instructive game! Perhaps a good example for me of what the critical moments are that actually would decide a game at my level. Hint - not necessarily the opening choice. In the future we may look at other games from the same event.
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