We have another rapid game to look at. Previously we looked at round 1 from this event. This game I am black against another expert.
Vadderaju, Sudeep (2138) - Paciorkowski, Lev (2448)
03-Apr-2026 Rapid, St. Louis, MO (Rd. 2)
G/15+3
Sudeep is a talented youngster and I've seen his rating steadily go up over the last couple years. I am sure he will be over 2200 before too long.
1.e4 e5 I have played pretty much all of black's main moves against 1.e4 (e5, Sicilian, Caro and French) at some point in my past and this time decided to try e5. 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6!? (D)
This is a pretty rare line that has been quite fashionable at the top level recently, being played by the likes of Carlsen, Caruana, and other strong GMs. Even though it is not the theoretically "best" move for black (surely 3. ... Bc5 should be better), it is still playable and leads to less explored positions. My opponent reacted in the most typical and principled way: 4.d4 exd4
Actually 4. ... Nf6!? is also possible and has been played by Caruana before. 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.Qxd8+ Nxd8 7.Nxe5 Nxe4 is equal [1/2-1/2 (80) Zhigalko (2572) - Caruana (2795), Blitz 2026]. That is a little dry for my taste against a lower-rated opponent, so I think I prefer 4. ... exd4 instead.
5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.0-0 0-0+= (D)
One of the main tabiyas of this variation. White is of course a little better objectively speaking, but black is not without his own ideas, which I had a little bit of knowledge about. The most common move in this position is 8.h3, a useful bit of prophylaxis against either ...Ng4 or ...Bg4. My opponent played the second-most common move, 8.Re1, to which I knew the following nice idea for black: 8. ... Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Ng4! (D)
This move has several ideas. Black can follow-up with Ne5 and/or Bf6, harassing white's exposed pieces in the center. There is also sometimes the idea of Bh4!? to hit the f2 pawn and try to provoke a weakening of white's kingside. Finally, if we can chase the bishop away from c4, then f7-f5 becomes possible to challenge white's center.
Instead of this, 9. ... c6!? 10.Bf4+= seemed quite pleasant for white, with pressure on the d6 pawn [1-0 (58) Yankovsky (2468) - Hess (2624), 2012]. I also am not a fan of 9. ... Be6!? since it walks right into 10.Bxe6 fxe6 11.e5!+=, a typical idea for white.
My opponent thought for a little and played the most ambitious move 10.Nd5 I was also familiar with 10.h3 Ne5 when 11.Be2 is semi-forced (11.Bb3? c5! 12.Qd5 c4! 13.Ba4 a6!-/+ and this bishop is in serious trouble. Also bad is 11.Bf1? Bxh3!-/+). Then black continues with 11. ... f5!, meeting 12.Nd5 with 12. ... Bh4!=, with an interesting position, since 13.g3?! Bf6=- would be good for black due to white's weakened kingside.
Another interesting idea to point out that I discovered from post-game analysis is if white plays 10.Bf4 Bf6 11.Qd2, then out of nowhere black can generate an initiative on the kingside with 11. ... g5! 12.Bg3 h5!
Anyway, in the game after 10.Nd5 I played the thematic 10. ... Bh4 (D)
It's a tricky position for white. Maybe the most obvious move is 11.g3 but that understandably feels risky, leaving a juicy hole on f3 for my knight. Black's idea there (and my intention) would be 11. ... c6! 12.gxh4!? Ne5! 13.Be2 cxd5 14.exd5 Bf5 when white has an extra pawn but I think anyone there is preferring black with white's shattered pawn structure and weakened king (although the engine still proclaims equality).
Instead my opponent played 11.Be3?! but black is more than happy to make that trade, winning the bishop pair. 11. ... c6 12.Nf4? Just losing a pawn. 12.Nc3 Bf6 13.Qd2 Nxe3 14.Qxe3=- was needed. 12. ... Bf6 13.Qd2 Nxe3?! Actually 13. ... Bxb2 14.Rad1 Be5!-+ would be much stronger, since black even keeps ideas like Qh4 there. 14.Rxe3 Bxb2 15.Rd1 (D)
However now it is my turn to make a mistake. 15. ... Bf6? It's hard for me to explain this move. I wanted to play the much more natural 15. ... Be5!-/+ but somehow overthought things and talked myself out of it, not sure about 16.Ne2, with the idea of f2-f4. But even that is not a real threat, since it will expose the g1-a7 diagonal, e.g. 15. ... Be5! 16.Ne2 b5 17.Bb3 a5 18.a4 b4 19.f4 Bf6 20.Qxd6? Qb6-+ with a double threat on e3 and of ...Rd8.
16.g3?! Instead 16.Nh5!=- would have been strong, since 16. ... Be7?? 17.Rg3! g6 18.Qh6+- is even winning for white, and 16. ... Be5 17.f4! would make the position unclear. 16. ... Qb6 17.Kg2 (17.Qxd6? Rd8-+) 17. ... Bd7? Again I didn't quite figure out that I need to play 17. ... Be5, then 18.Nd3 Bd4-/+. I thought I was setting a trap, but it turns out my trap has a lot of holes in it. 18.Rb3 I thought 18.Qxd6 Bg4 would be dangerous, but actually after 19.Rb3! there white is not worse. 18. ... Qc5 (D)
19.Be2?! In fact, 19.Rxb7 is fine for white, which I was coming to the realization of over the board as my opponent was thinking. 19. ... Bc8 20.Rb4! a5 21.Ra4!= looks awkward but black has no way to win material there. Also fine for white are 19. ... Bg4 20.Be2! or 19. ... Qxc4 20.Rxd7 Qxe4+ 21.f3.
19. ... Rae8? completely returning the favor. I knew I was going to have to give back the pawn, and just wanted to make sure all my pieces were activated. But a much better way was 19. ... b5 20.Qxd6 Qxd6 21.Rxd6 Rfd8! 22.Rbd3 Be8-/+ when the endgame will still be very unpleasant for white thanks to my two strong bishops.
20.Qxd6? Thankfully my opponent grabs the wrong pawn! 20.Rxb7 Bc8 21.Rb3 Rxe4 22.Qxd6 would be fine for white since my own pawns on the queenside are also going to be weak. 20. ... Qxd6 21.Rxd6 Bc8=- (D)
Time to take stock. Even though material is equal, black has a stable advantage here. The bishop pair is powerful in this position, and white has some weak pawns too. The superficial activity of white's pieces is meaningless since I have no targets in my position.
22.Bf3 Be5 23.Rd1 Rd8 (It was worth considering 23. ... g5!? 24.Nd3 g4=- but I felt this would be too loosening) 24.Rbd3 Bc7 25.h3 f5! Correctly deciding to challenge white's center and open the position further. 26.Rxd8 Rxd8 27.Rxd8+ Bxd8 (D)
28.e5!? It is hard to know how white should proceed, but this is not a bad practical attempt. If white is able to get the pawn to f4, then this protected passer on e5 will become a strong asset that should give better drawing chances. The question though is whether white has enough time to accomplish that. It turns out the answer to that question is no, but this isn't obvious during a rapid game.
28. ... Bb6? But I do not react in the best way. I considered the stronger and more obvious 28. ... Bc7! but didn't see after 29.Nd3 how to prevent white from achieving Be2 and f2-f4, when my Bc7 is doing nothing anymore. But actually what I misevaluated was that after 29. ... Kf7 30.Be2 Ke6 31.f4 Kd5!-+ black is simply winning because the king is too active and heading for the queenside pawns. 29.Be2=- Kf7 30.Bc4+ Ke7 (D)
31.Kf3? This should be the losing move, although I still was not understanding this position entirely correctly. The only move was 31.Ne2! followed by f2-f4. However, 31.Nd3? would not be the same because after 31. ... Bd4 32.f4 b5! 33.Bb3 a5! white is forced into some decisive concession on the queenside (e.g., 34.a4 Ba6 35.Kf3 bxa4 36.Bxa4 Bb5-+ and the outside passed a-pawn will decide the game). 31. ... Bd4 32.Nd3 g5 33.Ke2 (D)
33. ... f4? I thought that I needed to stop white from getting f2-f4 in at all costs, but what I didn't appreciate is that similar to the last variation, 33. ... b5! 34.Bb3 a5!-+ is winning because white cannot avoid the creation of a major weakness on the queenside - either a passed pawn or a fixed target e.g. if he plays a2-a3.
34.gxf4 gxf4 (D)
35.Nxf4? The last decisive mistake, after which black is definitely winning. What I think both of us failed to realize here is that actually 35.Kf3! Bxh3 36.Ke4! Bb6 37.Nxf4 would suddenly be very unclear, with white having two dangerous passers of his own and a strongly centralized king.
35. ... Bxe5-+ White now loses the e5 pawn and has no counterplay. 36.Nd3 (36.Kf3 Bxf4 37.Kxf4 Bxh3-+) 36. ... Bf6 37.Nf4 Bg5 38.Nd3 Bxh3 39.f4 Bf6 40.Ke3 Bf5 41.Bb3 Kd6 42.Nf2 Bd8 43.Ne4+ Ke7 44.Nc5 not losing the knight would prolong the game but should not change the outcome 44. ... Bb6 45.Kd4 Kd6 0-1
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