Hello and welcome back! I played a few interesting rapid games for us to look at this time. Without any further preamble, let's jump right in. Time control was 15 minutes plus 3 seconds per move.
Paciorkowski, Lev (2448) - Wilson, Matthew (2108)
03-Apr-2026 Rapid, St. Louis, MO (Rd. 1)
G/15+3
My first opponent is a solid expert player from Illinois. If you've seen some of my other recent games, you can probably guess what opening I played as white. Despite the seemingly quiet nature of the position we got, this turned out to be a super interesting game.
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Bf5 4.0-0 e6 5.c4 c6 6.Qb3 (D)
This is a fairly well-known position in the Lasker System (where black sets up c6-Bf5) against the Reti. Here most commonly played is 6. ... Qb6, when I was pretty familiar with white's main ideas. However, my opponent played differently with 6. ... Qc8!? (D)
This is much less common but not necessarily a worse option. I continued 7.d4!? after a bit of thought, which is a little unusual. Typically, white instead treats these positions with 7.d3 (D)
The idea is then to take on d5 and quickly play e2-e4. I was aware of this plan, but somehow just decided to try something different this game. After 7.d3, we could get the following continuations:
- 7. ... Be7 is the most natural and best move for black, to which white carries out his plan: 8.cxd5 exd5 9.e4! dxe4 10.Nd4 Bg6 11.dxe4 0-0 (taking on e4 is way too risky for black with the king still on e8) 12.Nc3+= This classic middlegame structure is what white is aiming for.
- 7. ... Nbd7!? gives black the option of Nc5, but delays castling by another move. In particular, without the bishop on e7 yet, white can play a little more energetically now with 8.Nh4! Bg4 9.cxd5 exd5 10.e4! Be7 (10. ... Be2? 11.Rd1 Nc5 12.Qc2 Bxd3 13.exd5+ is crushing for white) 11.Qc2 0-0 12.h3 Be6 13.Nc3+= according to the engine, this is actually a slightly more preferable version of this structure for white. I think the reason is that the Be6 is a little misplaced, giving black less pressure against the e4 pawn.
- 7. ... h6?! is a typical move to give the Bf5 a hidey-hole on h7, but here it is just too slow: 8.cxd5 exd5 9.e4! dxe4 10.dxe4 Be6 (10. ... Bh7? 11.Ne5+- is already very strong for white) 11.Qc2+/- an even better version of this structure for white, with more of a lead in development.
Anyway, in the game after 7.d4!? we proceeded h6 8.Nc3 Bd6 9.Bd2 I think I briefly considered 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Nh4 Bh7 11.e4!? dxe4 12.Nxe4 Nxe4 13.Re1 0-0 14.Bxe4 but wasn't entirely sure I wanted to enter this IQP. That position could be dangerous for black though, if I can get my knight to f5. 9. ... Nbd7 10.Rac1 Qb8 11.Rfe1 Instead I went for a different plan of playing e2-e4 without taking on d5. 11. ... 0-0 12.Nh4 Bh7 13.e4?! (D)
I do remember my spider senses tingling here that I am leaving the d4 pawn unprotected momentarily, but in these faster time controls you cannot afford to think too long to understand every nuance and have to accept that you will make some imprecisions. However, my intuition was correct - black has a great thematic reaction here in 13. ... e5! which thankfully my opponent didn't play. After 14.dxe5 Nxe5-/+ the knight arrives on d3, while 14.exd5 exd4!=- is messier but black is definitely not worse. To avoid this, I should have still preferred 13.cxd5 exd5 14.e4 dxe4 15.Nxe4 Nxe4 16.Bxe4 Bxe4 17.Rxe4+= when this position is no picnic for black. White's ideas of Qf3-Nf5 are dangerous.
13. ... dxe4 14.Nxe4 Nxe4 15.Bxe4 Bxe4 16.Rxe4= (D)
Black still has nothing to complain about from the opening. White has no advantage in this well-known structure. I thought I might have some practical attacking chances because for the moment black's queen is still very far away from the kingside, but it's really nothing serious.
16. ... Nf6 17.Ree1 Rd8 18.Qf3 Bf8! (D) This is actually the best move, although I'm not sure I would have naturally considered it had I been playing black. During the game I was planning 18. ... Be7!? 19.Nf5!? (instead 19.Bf4 Qc8 20.d5! is a stronger idea that deserves attention) but the engine is not impressed, happily agreeing to 19. ... exf5 20.Rxe7 Rxd4 21.Bc3 Re4! when this is apparently just equal. Bad for black is 18. ... Nd7? 19.d5+/-
The point is that 19.Bxh6!? gxh6 20.Qxf6 Bg7= is not that impressive for white, since black will regain the pawn on d4 and still have a pretty safe king and a powerful bishop. I could have played something slow here like 19.Bc3, but instead I tried to make for an improvement on the Bxh6 ideas and played 19.d5!? (D)
Quite an interesting move, played on a mix of calculation and intuition. I'm trying to trade my center pawn for the h6 pawn in a way that opens the position more, where perhaps it will be easier to make something of black's weakened king.
19. ... cxd5 Definitely the most human way to capture, keeping f5 under control. After 19. ... exd5!? 20.Bxh6 gxh6? 21.Qxf6 Bg7 22.Qf3+- would just be crushing for white since Nf5 will come soon. So instead black would probably have to enter 20. ... dxc4 21.Bg5 when white's attacking position looks scary. Apparently that is still playable for black, but only if he finds 21. ... Rd3!=
20.Bf4!? I thought this might be a good move to throw in to disrupt black's piece coordination somewhat, but that is debatable. 20. ... Bd6 forced 21.Bxh6 Be5! (D)
My opponent finds another good move that was not at all obvious to me. Instead 21. ... gxh6?! 22.Qxf6 would have been more dangerous for black since the bishop really needs to be on g7 instead of d6 here (hence why I played the intermediate 20.Bf4). I also had calculated 21. ... Bb4? 22.Bf4! Qc8 23.cxd5 Bxe1 24.Rxc8 Raxc8 and was not 100% sure how to evaluate it from afar, but did feel like it could just be winning for white because I have 25.dxe6 fxe6 26.Qe2, picking up e6 when black's king is very weak. Engine confirms that position is indeed completely winning for white, so nice to know I at least calculated something correctly.
22.Bg5 I was right to reject 22.Qe2? gxh6 23.Qxe5 Qxe5 24.Rxe5, although not because of 24. ... d4? (from far away I thought the passed d-pawn could be dangerous in the endgame). Actually black just has 24. ... Rac8-/+ and my c-pawn is pinned.
Instead of my move, the engine suggests the unbelievable 22.Bxg7!? which does not win for white, but leads to a very unclear position after 22. ... Kxg7 23.Qe3 Bxb2 24.Qg5+ Kh8 25.Rb1. Apparently that is "equal". Ok... I don't play chess this way though.
22. ... dxc4!? I was happy to see this. I did not really have a convincing plan in case of 22. ... Bxb2! when white would still have full compensation for the pawn, but it is not obvious what we are supposed to do. 23.Rxc4+= Now we just have equal material with my pieces being so much more active. Black needs to play carefully to avoid getting into trouble, but this is a hard task in a rapid game. 23. ... Rd5? (D)
Such a natural move, overprotecting the Be5, blocking my queen's access to b7, clearing room for the queen to come to the kingside, and even eyeing my bishop on g5. Plus, the rook is super-defended on this outpost. However, tactics are tactics, and white has a great opportunity here which I quickly spotted. The engine instead suggests 23. ... Rd4=. Even 23. ... Bxb2!? is technically playable. I thought 24.Rb4 Bd4 25.Rxb7 would be dangerous, but compy just plays 25. ... Qd6= and says everything is fine.
24.Nf5!+/- Suddenly black is in trouble. 24. ... exf5 25.Bxf6 Qd6 (forced) 26.Rxe5 Rxe5 27.Bxe5 Qxe5 28.Qxb7+/- is a clean extra pawn for white. Understandably not liking this, my opponent instead played 24. ... Qd8? (D)
If your gut tells you white should have something here, you would be correct. I did see white's winning idea, but was starting to get pretty low on time and decided not to invest into calculating it fully. The idea I saw briefly was 25.Nxg7! Kxg7 26.Rg4! (D)
Unfortunately I did not look into this further since it seemed like black has multiple squares to run the king out of the g-file, when the Nf6 is still adequately defended. And I did not want to invest all of my time making sure none of Kf8, Kh7 or Kh8 (not to mention giving the queen) are OK for black. However, this actually is pretty straightforward. No matter where the king goes, white just plays Rxe5, and then Bxf6, when even with no immediate mate we will have a pawn and a strong attack for the exchange. Black can reach an endgame with 26. ... Kh7 27.Rxe5!? (27.Rh4+ Kg7 28.Ree4!+- is even more crushing actually, but that is more complicated) 27. ... Rxe5 28.Bxf6 Re1+ 29.Kg2 Qd5, but even there white has 30.Qxd5 exd5 31.Rg7+ Kh6 32.g4!+- the only good move, with a winning position because of black's weak king.
Instead I played what I thought was also a strong move that seemed not to require any calculation at all: 25.Ne3? (D)
During the game I saw 25. ... Rd7 26.Ng4 and thought surely this must be very strong for white. Amazingly, black is surviving there with the calm 26. ... Bxb2! when 27.Rf4? Qa5!-+ would even win for black, forking e1 and g5. I didn't see that...
Instead my opponent played the more human 25. ... Rd3, pinning my knight. But I thought I could now clean up black's queenside pawns. 26.Qxb7 Rb8 27.Qxa7 Rxb2+= I was correct to acknowledge that black has enough activity not to be in too much trouble, but an extra pawn is still an extra pawn...
We continued 28.Qa6 Rb8! My opponent played this part of the game extremely well under pressure. 29.Ng4 Rd1 30.Rc1! Rxc1 31.Rxc1 Bb2 32.Rb1 Ra8 33.Qe2 Bd4? This slip starts to get black into trouble though. The precise 33. ... Qd5!+= would maintain the status quo. 34.Rd1+/- This pin is hard to deal with, although white cannot actually win the bishop. The real problem, which I failed to fully appreciate during the game, is that white can now generate an attack against black's king while the rest of his pieces are tied up. 34. ... Ra4 35.Nxf6+ gxf6 36.Be3 e5 37.Qc2? This is not it. Necessary was 37.Qg4+ Kf8 38.a3!+- when black is just totally paralyzed, while white can then start running the h-pawn. That was a bit too hard for me with only a few seconds on my clock though. 37. ... Rb4? (37. ... Qa8!+=) 38.Bxd4? (38.a3! Rb7 39.Qf5!+- playing for the attack was winning again) 38. ... Rxd4= 39.Rc1 Rd2 40.Qa4 Qd4 41.Qxd4 Rxd4 (D)
After all the drama, we wind up in a rook endgame where white is still up a pawn, and black's kingside structure is compromised. This should be a draw, but proving that is not necessarily easy for black when you are just playing on increment.
42.Rc2 Just from my intuition, I didn't feel like 42.Ra1 Ra4 was too promising. Indeed, black draws fairly easily there just by bee-lining counterplay with his king against my f2/g3/h4 pawns: 43.a3 Kg7 44.Kf1 Kg6 45.Ke2 Kf5 46.Kd3 Kg4 47.h4 Kf3! 48.Ra2 e4+ 49.Kc3 e3=
42. ... Rd1+ 43.Kg2 Ra1 44.g4 My idea was to play for some kind of restriction first, then try to figure something out. 44. ... Kg7 45.Kf3 Kg6 46.h4 f5!? 46. ... Rh1= looked much safer to me. 47.Rc6+ (D)
47. ... f6? Chess is so cruel sometimes. After playing a great game, this one move throws everything away and loses. Instead, just 47. ... Kg7= would stay in the drawing margin, when white could hardly hope to win after 48.gxf5 Rxa2, although I would still try something.
48.g5+- Rxa2 49.Rxf6+ Kg7 50.Rxf5 1-0 I don't have the rest of the moves, but I was able to convert from there. What a game!
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