This is the final rapid game from a small 3-round event. We have so far looked at rounds 1 and 2 where I was up against two expert-strength players. This game, I am playing none other than GM Alex Yermolinsky, a two-time US champion who used to be in the top 25 in the world back in the 1990s. Although that was a while ago, he is still obviously a very strong and experienced player, and I was curious to see how he would approach the opening against me. I'm playing the black pieces this game.
Yermolinsky, Alex (2442) - Paciorkowski, Lev (2448)
03-Apr-2026 Rapid, St. Louis, MO (Rd. 3)
G/15+3
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4 0-0 6.Be3 (D)
I did not shy away from a fight this game, entering the King's Indian which is one of the sharpest ways black can play against d4/c4/Nf3 systems. In response, Alex has chosen quite a rare move for white which I suspect was to try and quickly get me out of my own opening knowledge (mission successful). The way I see it, there are the following main systems white can choose from in the position after 5. ... 0-0:
- Classical Main Line with 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 - this is where most KID theory is
- Petrosian System: 6.Be2 e5 7.d5 - this is kind of rarely seen nowadays, and I believe not considered to be too dangerous for black
- Gligoric-Taimanov System: 6.Be2 e5 7.Be3 - this has a little more poison to it and certainly could be considered a more serious weapon for white
- Exchange Variation: 6.Be2 e5 7.dxe5 - this is very rare nowadays, but it used to be a penchant of GMs like Ulf Andersson, who would try to use their technical prowess to win the resulting drawish endgames
- A Makogonov-type system with 6.h3. This is also a serious move. In the traditional move order, white plays h2-h3 before necessarily committing the knight to f3.
After a small amount of thought, I played 6. ... Ng4 I was a little surprised to find out after the game that this is a fairly uncommon move for black, even though it seems like the natural way to test white's early placement of the dark squared bishop without including h2-h3. The main alternative would be 6. ... e5 when white would have the option of transposing back into a Gligoric system with 7.Be2 (which perhaps black would prefer not to allow) or we could go into more uncharted territory with a line like 7.d5!? Ng4 8.Bg5 f6 9.Bh4.
The game continued 7.Bg5 This is the only move that could ask any serious questions to black; otherwise I would just play e7-e5 right away. 7. ... h6 8.Bc1!? (D)
This is pretty unusual though. In my database I could only find one high-level blitz game where this was played. Over the board, the only move I was still a little concerned about was 8.Bh4, keeping the pin on the e7 pawn. It turns out this move has been used with some success by white, mostly in faster time controls. Black will have to decide if it is worth it to commit to g6-g5 so that we can achieve our desired ...e5 break in the center, a decision which is not obvious if you've never looked at this before.
8. ... e5 There is nothing wrong with this natural move, and I think black has equalized. 9.dxe5 This was also white's choice in a 2025 blitz game Paravyan-Lazavik. The try 9.h3!? exd4! (as was my intention during the game) 10.Nxd4 Ne5 is nothing special for white, while 9.d5!? f5 only enters a traditional KID structure where it seems like black has gained several useful tempi.
9. ... Nxe5 My choice here deviates from any established previous games. I did consider 9. ... dxe5, but felt concerned about my knight on g4 being out for lunch in those positions, and I have to constantly think about if white can take on e5 after ...Nf6. The aforementioned blitz game went 9. ... dxe5 10.Qxd8 Rxd8 11.Nd5 eventually ending in black's favor [0-1 (42) Paravyan (2582) - Lazavik (2605), Blitz 2025]. For what it's worth, the engine does actually slightly prefer my move, so perhaps there was something to my intuition after all.
10.Nxe5 Otherwise black will quickly be able to organize some pressure on the c4 pawn with ...Be6. 10. ... dxe5 11.Qxd8 Rxd8 12.Nd5 Na6 (D)
This kind of endgame is always strategically a little risky for white, since the d4 square is a proper outpost for black, while the d5 square can still be covered by my c-pawn after ...c6. In this particular position, black also has a small lead in development. White could try here to liquidate the position with 13.c5!? when I was planning 13. ... Nxc5 14.Nxc7 Rb8=, but actually, because black has such a lead in development, the engine even suggests the insane-looking 13. ... Rxd5!(!?) 14.exd5 Nb4! 15.Kd1 Nxd5 when black apparently can fight for an advantage in that position despite being an exchange down. I don't think I ever would have seriously considered that during the game but it's a neat concept to see!
13.Be3 Be6 14.0-0-0 c6 15.Nc3 b6!? Not strictly necessary, but I wasn't convinced by 15. ... Bf8?! 16.Rxd8 Rxd8 17.Bxa7+= when there is not quite enough compensation for black. Nothing much happens for a while 16.Be2 Bf8 17.Rxd8 Rxd8 18.Rd1 Rxd1+ 19.Kxd1 Bc5 It is almost always desirable for black to exchange the dark squared bishops in this structure, leaving white with a more passive light squared bishop. 20.Bxc5 Nxc5 21.Kd2 Kf8 22.Ke3 Ke7 23.h4 g5 24.hxg5 hxg5 25.b3 (25.b4!? would always have been risky because of 25. ... Nb7! when white's c-pawn can become a target later after ...Nd6) 25. ... f6 26.Bd1 Bf7 27.Bg4 Kd6 28.g3 a5 29.Be2 Ne6 30.Na4 Kc7 31.Nc3 Nd4 32.Bd1 b5 33.cxb5 cxb5 34.Ne2 Nxe2 35.Bxe2 b4 (D)
The start of an interesting bishop ending. During the game I was correct in thinking that this should objectively be a draw, but white is the one who has to be careful, since all of my pawns are on the opposite color square from my bishop. In general, my immediate plan is to use the pressure from my Bf7 to achieve ...a5-a4-a3, then look for some way to make progress after that.
36.f4 gxf4+ 37.gxf4 Kb6 38.fxe5 fxe5 39.Bd1 Kc5 40.Bc2 Be8 41.Bd1 Bb5 Here I am just moving around to gain some time from the increment. At this point I had about 30 seconds and Alex had about a minute and a half on the clock. 42.Bc2 Bf1 43.Bd1 Bg2 44.Bc2 Bh3 45.Bd1 Be6 46.Kd3 a4 (D)
The first real decision for white to make. Should this pawn be taken, or is it OK to allow black to achieve ...a4-a3?
It turns out that both options still draw, although it would start to get very tricky for white after 47.bxa4!? Bxa2. So understandably, Alex allows my pawn to go forward, but at the same time that also feels like a big accomplishment for black. 47.Ke3 a3 48.Kd3 (of course white can never allow 48.Be2? Bxb3!-+) 48. ... Bc8 49.Ke3 Ba6 50.Bc2 Bf1 51.Bd3 Bh3 (51. ... Bxd3 52.Kxd3 is a dead draw) 52.Bc2 Bg4 53.Kd3 Bf3 54.Ke3 Bh5 55.Kd3 Bf7 56.Ke3 Kd6 (D)
After some more shuffling to gain time on the clock, here I start to march my king over to the kingside to try and invade somehow. My bishop on f7 always keeps c4 under control, so white will never be able to invade with his own king on the queenside. White's bishop also always has to stay on c2 or d1 to prevent ...Bxb3.
57.Bd1 Ke7 58.Bc2 Kf6 (D)
Again white has a decision to make. Should anything be done now to stop my king from invading too far? Had I been playing white, I think my intuition would have been (of course, in a classical game these things should be decided by pure calculation, not intuition. This doesn't apply in fast time controls though.) to try 59.Kf3 Kg5 60.Kg3, but that is not so easy because black can try to set up a zugzwang position - e.g. 60. ... Bh5 61.Bd3! (61.Bb1? Bd1-+ is zugzwang) 61. ... Bg4 62.Bc2! Be2 (D)
Here white is only surviving because of 63.Kf2! momentarily attacking my bishop. Any other move loses, e.g. 63.Bb1? Bd1!-+ Here in the post-game analysis perhaps that doesn't seem so hard, but over the board with little time that isn't obvious.
In the game Alex decided on 59.Bd1 which also draws, but at least my king can invade more now. 59. ... Kg5 60.Bc2 Kg4 61.Bd1+ Kg3 62.Bc2 Kg2 63.Ke2! (white cannot allow my king to f1) 63. ... Bh5+ (D)
Quick - where should white go with the king? Only one move holds the draw.
64.Kd3! (D) Threatening to invade through c4 now that my bishop has momentarily left that diagonal.
I actually can win white's bishop in the variation (I didn't have time to calculate this during the game) 64. ... Kf2 65.Kc4 Ke3 66.Kxb4 Kd2 67.Bb1 Kc1 68.Kxa3! (68.Bd3? Kb2!-+) 68. ... Kxb1 but white is just in time to run back with his king to eliminate my e-pawn: 69.Kb4! Bf3 70.Kc5 Bxe4 71.Kd6=
So I go back with my bishop. 64. ... Bf7 65.Ke2! Be8 and try to dislodge white's king from another diagonal, where I keep c4 defended at the same time. 66.Kd3 (just to show how careful white has to be, 66.Bd3? loses after 66. ... Bh5+! when white's king can no longer go to the needed d3 square. The last finesse is 67.Ke3 Bf7! threatening to take on b3 68.Bc2 Kf1-+) 66. ... Bb5+ 67.Ke3 (D)
White is still holding on by the slimmest of margins. 67. ... Kf1 68.Bd3+! would lead to a drawn K+P endgame: 68. ... Bxd3 69.Kxd3 Kf2 70.Kc4 Ke3 71.Kxb4 Kxe4 72.Kxa3 Kd3 73.b4 e4 74.b5 e3 75.b6 e2 76.b7 e1=Q 77.b8=Q and this is a draw. By the way, white also would have to be sure that 67. ... Kf1 68.Bd3+ Ke1? 69.Bxb5 Kd1 doesn't work for black - in fact, white's extra bishop is winning there, but only with 70.Kd3 Kc1 71.Kc4 Kb2 72.Kxb4 Kxa2 73.Bd3! Kb2 74.Bb1!!+- and white wins. Without this resource, or if the bishop couldn't get back there in time, black would actually be winning.
67. ... Ba6 (D)
68.Bd1? After a lengthy defense, the difficulty of chess finally makes itself felt and my esteemed opponent goes astray. The only move was 68.Bb1! to still keep the Bd3+ resource available in case of ...Kf1.
68. ... Kf1-+ White cannot effectively deal with this king invasion, although my opponent kept kicking and fighting, still finding an ingenious defensive idea in the next few moves. 69.Bg4 Ke1 70.Be2!? (D)
I remember being quite startled by this because it just comes out of nowhere. 70. ... Bxe2? is stalemate! Fortunately, I have better options.
70. ... Bc8 White now cannot deal with both ...Be6 and ...Kd1. 71.Bc4 Kd1 72.Kd3 Kc1 73.Bd5 Ba6+ 74.Ke3 Kb2 75.Kd2 Bc8 (75. ... Kxa2 76.Kc2 Be2! is also winning with the idea Bd1+!) 76.Kd3 Ba6+ 77.Kd2 Bf1 78.Kd1 Bd3 0-1 Now my bishop goes to b1 and cleans up white's queenside.
It is really incredible to see how complex a bishop endgame can be with such a limited number of pawns left on the board. This game also goes to show how difficult defending such an endgame can be, even if you know or feel it should be a draw.
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