[Event "U.S. Senior Playoff"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2022.07.16"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Christiansen, Larry"]
[Black "Shabalov, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2632"]
[BlackElo "2574"]
[Annotator "Scott"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,116,25,-24,5,16,17,-14,-9,-4,-2,6,8,-5,15,15,19,23,3,5,19,0,0,-31,-22,
-65,-37,-65,-60,-115,-115,-94,-66,-70,-64,-64,-60,-64,-69,-60,-55,-61,-47,-85,
-81,-81,-65,-103,-124,-105,-70,-109,-85,-176,-60,-131,-126,-155,-125,-161,-142,
-148,-144,-180,-169,-191,-174,-186,-147,-155,-108,-115,-128,-134,-67,-113,-87,
-111,-136,-116,-129,-117,-132,-238,-327,-298,-126,-131,-96,-73,-122,-135,-135,
-147,-147,-143,-111,-129,-170,-154,-129,-126,-126,-226,-253,-243,-243,-270,
-237,-232,-226,-254,-208,-271,-292,-292,-290,-29999,-30000]} 1. c4 c5 2. Nf3
Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g3 Bc5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg2 O-O 9. O-O b6
10. e4 Ba6 11. Nd2 Rc8 {(D) [#]} 12. Re1 $2 Ne5 $1 13. b3 Bb4 $6 ({Black would
have serious initiative after} 13... Nfg4 $1 14. Nf1 Bb4 15. Bd2 Qf6 $1 {.})
14. Qc2 b5 $1 15. a3 Be7 $6 16. Nf3 Nxf3+ 17. Bxf3 bxc4 18. b4 Bb7 19. Bf4 d6
20. Rad1 Qb6 21. Be3 Qa6 22. a4 Nd7 23. b5 $6 Qa5 24. Bd2 Ne5 25. Be2 Qc7 26.
Be3 Ba8 27. Bf4 f5 $1 28. Bxe5 dxe5 29. Bf1 f4 30. Bh3 Rf6 31. f3 fxg3 32. hxg3
Rcf8 33. Rf1 Rg6 34. Kg2 Bh4 $6 35. Ne2 Bg5 36. Bg4 h6 {(D) [#]} 37. a5 $2 ({
Missing the opportunity to relocate the rook to a more effective rank with} 37.
Rd3 $1 Rc8 ({Harte:} 37... Bxe4 38. fxe4 Rxf1 39. Kxf1 Bd8 40. Rxd8+ Qxd8 {
but now} 41. Qxc4 Qf6+ 42. Bf5 Kh7 43. Nf4) 38. Rc3 {. From the c3-square, the
rook defends f3 and put pressure on the c4-pawn.}) 37... Be3 38. Qc3 Qc5 39.
Bh3 Rgf6 40. Bg4 g6 $1 41. Kh2 h5 42. Bh3 Kg7 $6 ({Black is absolutely
crushing after} 42... Rxf3 43. Rxf3 Rxf3 44. Bxe6+ Kh7 45. Qxc4 Qxc4 46. Bxc4
Bxe4 {.}) 43. Bg2 g5 44. Rd7+ Kg6 45. b6 axb6 46. axb6 Bc6 47. Rc7 Bd4 $1 48.
Rxc6 Qxc6 49. Nxd4 exd4 50. Qxd4 h4 $2 ({Here} 50... e5 {wins the b6-pawn after
} 51. Qxe5 Qxb6 {.}) 51. e5 $2 ({White's last chance was} 51. gxh4 gxh4 52. Bh3
{with a complete mess.}) 51... hxg3+ 52. Kxg3 Rf4 53. Qe3 Rb8 54. Rb1 c3 55.
Qd3+ Kg7 56. Rh1 Rf5 57. Rc1 Qa4 58. Qxc3 Qh4# 0-1

[Event "UNO March 2022"]
[Site "lichess.org"]
[Date "2022.03.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Lacroix, Nick"]
[Black "Lang, JJ."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A65"]
[WhiteElo "2038"]
[BlackElo "2076"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 exd5 4. cxd5 d6 5. e4 Nf6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Bf4 Bg7 8. h3
O-O 9. Bd3 b5 10. Nxb5 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 Qa5+ 12. Nc3 Re8 13. Nge2 Rxe4 14. O-O
Bxc3 15. bxc3 Ba6 16. Re1 Nd7 17. Bd2 Rae8 18. Nf4 Nf6 19. c4 Qd8 20. Qa4 Bxc4
21. Rxe4 Rxe4 22. f3 Qe8 23. Qc2 Qe5 24. Bc3 Rd4 25. Bxd4 Qxd4+ 26. Kh2 Qxf4+
27. g3 Qe5 28. Rd1 Bxd5 29. Qd2 Bxf3 30. Re1 Ne4 31. Qf4 Qb2+ 32. Kg1 Qf2# 0-1

[Event "22nd ch-EUR Indiv 2022"]
[Site "Terme Catez SLO"]
[Date "2022.04.05"]
[Round "10.116"]
[White "Giannoulakis, Lampros"]
[Black "Janzelj, Lara"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2362"]
[BlackElo "2160"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "342"]
[EventDate "2022.03.27"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "SLO"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 Nf6 2. Bg2 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. O-O Bb7 5. b3 Be7 6. Bb2 O-O 7. d3 d6 8. e4
Nbd7 9. Nbd2 c5 10. Re1 Qc7 11. c3 Ne5 12. Bf1 Ba6 13. Qc2 Rfd8 14. Nh4 Ng6 15.
Ng2 d5 16. f4 dxe4 17. dxe4 Bxf1 18. Rxf1 Qd7 19. Rad1 Qd3 20. Qxd3 Rxd3 21. e5
Ng4 22. Ne4 Rad8 23. Rxd3 Rxd3 24. Re1 h5 25. h3 Nh6 26. Kf2 f5 27. exf6 gxf6
28. Ke2 Rd7 29. Nf2 Kf7 30. Bc1 f5 31. Nd3 Bf6 32. Bd2 Ke7 33. Ne3 Rd8 34. b4
h4 35. gxh4 cxb4 36. cxb4 Nxh4 37. Rc1 Rd7 38. b5 Nf7 39. Nc4 Rd5 40. a4 Nf3
41. Nb4 Nd4+ 42. Kf2 Rd8 43. Bc3 Rc8 44. Nd2 Kd7 45. Nc6 Bh4+ 46. Ke3 Nxc6 47.
bxc6+ Rxc6 48. Nf3 Be7 49. Rd1+ Ke8 50. Bd4 Rc4 51. Ra1 Bc5 52. h4 Rc3+ 53. Ke2
Rxf3 54. Kxf3 Bxd4 55. Rc1 Bc5 56. a5 Ke7 57. h5 Kf6 58. Ke2 Nh6 59. Kd3 Bd6
60. a6 Bc5 61. Kc4 Nf7 62. Kb5 e5 63. fxe5+ Nxe5 64. Rh1 f4 65. h6 Ng6 66. Rf1
Be3 67. h7 Kg7 68. Rd1 f3 69. Rd7+ Kh8 70. Rd1 Kxh7 71. Kc4 Kh6 72. Kd3 Bc5 73.
Rh1+ Kg5 74. Ke4 Nh4 75. Rd1 f2 76. Kd3 Kf4 77. Ke2 Kg3 78. Rd7 Nf5 79. Rf7 Kf4
80. Kf1 Ke4 81. Kg2 Kf4 82. Rxa7 b5 83. Rf7 Ke4 84. a7 Bxa7 85. Rxa7 Ke3 86.
Ra3+ Kd4 87. Kxf2 b4 88. Ra8 Kc3 89. Rc8+ Kd2 90. Rd8+ Kc3 91. Ke2 Nd4+ 92. Kd1
Nb3 93. Rb8 Nd4 94. Kc1 Nb3+ 95. Kb1 Nd2+ 96. Kc1 Nb3+ 97. Kd1 Nd4 98. Rc8+ Kb3
99. Kd2 Nb5 100. Kd3 Nc3 101. Kd4 Ne2+ 102. Kc5 Nc3 103. Rh8 Ne4+ 104. Kb5 Nd6+
105. Kc5 Ne4+ 106. Kd4 Nc3 107. Rh3 Ka4 108. Kc4 Nb1 109. Rh4 Nd2+ 110. Kd3 Nb1
111. Kc2 Nc3 112. Rh8 Ne4 113. Kd3 Nd6 114. Kd4 Kb3 115. Rb8 Ka3 116. Rb6 Nf5+
117. Kd3 Kb3 118. Ke4 Ng3+ 119. Kd4 Ka3 120. Kc4 Nf5 121. Rxb4 Ne3+ 122. Kc5
Nc2 123. Rb8 Ka4 124. Rb2 Na3 125. Rb4+ Ka5 126. Rh4 Nb5 127. Rh1 Na3 128. Rh8
Ka4 129. Rb8 Nc2 130. Rb7 Na3 131. Rb6 Ka5 132. Rb8 Ka4 133. Kd4 Nb5+ 134. Kd3
Kb4 135. Rc8 Nd6 136. Rg8 Kc5 137. Rg5+ Kc6 138. Rh5 Kb6 139. Kd4 Kc6 140. Rh6
Kd7 141. Kd5 Nc8 142. Rh7+ Ne7+ 143. Ke5 Kd8 144. Ke6 Nc8 145. Rd7+ Ke8 146.
Rd1 Nb6 147. Rh1 Kd8 148. Rc1 Nc8 149. Rc6 Ne7 150. Rd6+ Ke8 151. Ra6 Nc8 152.
Ra1 Kd8 153. Rc1 Ne7 154. Rd1+ Ke8 155. Rh1 Ng8 156. Rh7 Kf8 157. Ra7 Nh6 158.
Rb7 Ng8 159. Ke5 Ne7 160. Kf6 Ng8+ 161. Ke6 Nh6 162. Ra7 Ng8 163. Rh7 Ke8 164.
Rf7 Nh6 165. Rf1 Ng8 166. Rh1 Kf8 167. Rh7 Ke8 168. Rg7 Kf8 169. Rg6 Ne7 170.
Rg1 Ng8 {[#]} 171. Rxg8+ Kxg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "New York"]
[Site "New York, NY USA"]
[Date "1955.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Feuerstein, Arthur"]
[Black "Bennett"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E60"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "25"]
[EventDate "1955.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,25,25,26,18,-17,37,12,12,-13,2,-7,-7,-7,99,83,102,100,303,304,359,358,
386,383,350,380,1484,1515]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 c6 4. d5 cxd5 5. cxd5 Qa5+
6. Nc3 Ne4 7. Qd4 Nxc3 8. Bd2 Qxd5 9. Qxc3 Nc6 10. Qxh8 Nd4 11. Rc1 Qxh1 12.
Qxd4 Qxg1 {[#]} 13. Qxa7 1-0

[Event "N.Y. State Championship"]
[Site "Binghamton, NY USA"]
[Date "1954.08.31"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Feuerstein, Arthur"]
[Black "Marchand, Erich"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "1954.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,37,18,15,13,12,9,6,-9,-17,-11,-53,-25,-25,-24,-51,-52,-42,-11,-37,25,
-28,-52,-109,-85,-110,-81,-84,-68,-68,-58,-52,-72,-57,13,0,13,-98,30,0]} 1. d4
d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Bd3 c5 4. c3 Nbd7 5. f4 g6 6. Nd2 Bg7 7. Qf3 Rb8 8. Ne2 b5 9.
O-O Qc7 10. g4 Nxg4 11. Qxg4 Ne5 12. Qxc8+ Qxc8 13. fxe5 O-O 14. Nf4 Qd7 15.
Kh1 b4 16. Nb3 bxc3 17. Nxc5 Qc6 18. Nb3 cxb2 19. Bxb2 e6 20. Ba3 Rfe8 21. Bd6
Rbc8 22. Rfc1 Qa8 23. Ba6 Rc6 24. Nc5 Rb6 25. a4 Bf8 26. a5 Rxd6 27. exd6 Bxd6
28. Bb5 Rb8 29. Bd7 Bxf4 30. exf4 Kg7 {[#]} 31. Nxe6+ fxe6 32. Bc6 Rb7 33. a6
Qb8 34. axb7 Qxf4 35. Rc2 Qf3+ 36. Rg2 Qf4 37. Rb1 1-0

[Event "Third Rosenwald Trophy"]
[Site "New York, NY USA"]
[Date "1956.10.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Feuerstein, Arthur"]
[Black "Hearst, Eliot"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D30"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "1956.10.07"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,45,21,20,27,-9,39,26,37,41,50,42,56,34,31,40,52,9,54,23,59,59,52,21,
21,7,43,51,36,36,48,55,45,55,114,119,114,109,106,96,99,77,98,79,80,58,90,74]} 
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bd3 Nbd7 6. Nbd2 c5 7. O-O Be7 8. b3
O-O 9. Qe2 Qa5 10. Bb2 cxd4 11. exd4 b6 12. Ne5 Bb7 13. Nxd7 Nxd7 14. cxd5 Bxd5
15. Nc4 Bxc4 16. bxc4 Ba3 17. Bxh7+ Kxh7 18. Qd3+ Kg8 19. Bxa3 Rfd8 20. Qh3 b5
21. c5 Nf6 22. Bb2 Rd5 23. Rfc1 Rf5 24. Qd3 Qc7 25. h3 Qc6 26. Rc2 Rd8 27. Rd1
Nd5 28. Qe4 b4 29. Bc1 Qa4 30. Rdd2 Rf4 31. Qe5 Rf5 32. Qe2 Qc6 33. Rd3 Nc3 34.
Qg4 a5 35. Be3 Rxc5 {[#]} 36. Bh6 g6 37. Qh4 g5 38. Rg3 Rf5 39. Rxg5+ 1-0

[Event "New York"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "1956.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Feuerstein, Arthur"]
[Black "Lombardy, William"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A03"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "1956.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,44,27,-11,-31,-32,-30,-49,12,12,17,4,12,0,3,14,16,-14,-7,-14,7,-3,33,
-16,-11,0,4,5,6,-4,-4,-29,-24,-33,-33,-33,-37,-47,-45,-52,-41,-67,-65,-74,-66,
-81,-76]} 1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O Bg7 6. d3 Nf6 7. Ne5
O-O 8. Nc3 Nbd7 9. a4 a5 10. e3 Nc5 11. g4 Ne8 12. d4 Ne4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. b3
Nd6 15. Re1 f6 16. Nc4 Nxc4 17. bxc4 f5 18. Ba3 Bc6 19. gxf5 gxf5 20. c3 Qe8
21. Bb2 Kh8 22. Kh1 Rd8 23. Qc2 Rd6 24. Rg1 Rh6 25. Bf1 Rff6 26. Ra2 Qh5 27.
Qe2 Qe8 28. Qc2 Rh4 29. Rg2 Rfh6 30. d5 Bd7 31. c5 Qf8 32. c4 Bf6 33. c6 Be8
34. c5 bxc5 35. Bxf6+ Rxf6 36. Rb2 Bh5 37. Qb1 Be8 38. Rb8 Rg6 39. Qb2+ Kg8 {
[#]} 40. d6 exd6 41. Bc4+ Bf7 42. Rxg6+ hxg6 43. Bxf7+ Kxf7 44. Rxf8+ Kxf8 45.
Qf6+ 1-0

[Event "USA-ch"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "1957.??.??"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Feuerstein, Arthur"]
[Black "Seidman, Herbert"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "1957.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,39,27,27,27,-26,23,21,11,12,23,-8,16,-12,12,-21,6,17,8,14,24,28,166,
171,253,259,259,259,265,248,248,248,248,248,291,222,222,237,247,241,248,243]} 
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. d3 c5 6. e4 Nc6 7. Nbd2 b6 8. Re1
Bb7 9. c3 Nh5 10. Nc4 f5 11. exf5 gxf5 12. Nh4 Nf6 13. Nxf5 d5 14. Ne5 Nxe5 15.
Rxe5 Rf7 16. Qe2 Bf8 17. Nh6+ Bxh6 18. Bxh6 Qd7 19. Re1 Re8 20. Rg5+ Kh8 21.
Qe5 Bc6 22. Bf3 Qh3 23. Rh5 Qd7 {[#]} 24. Rf5 Qd6 25. Bh5 Qxe5 26. Rexe5 Ref8
27. Bxf7 Rxf7 28. Rxe7 1-0

[Event "Manhattan CC-ch 5556"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "1955.12.16"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Denker, Arnold"]
[Black "Feuerstein, Arthur"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "1955.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,54,27,27,27,28,47,39,36,46,35,35,28,-13,1,3,5,22,3,-3,57,17,10,-3,10,
-15,-9,-27,-27,-85,-83,-87,-95,-108,-81,-231,-180,-180,-168,-226,-226,-445,
-378,-424,-407,-632,-407,-407,-370,-346,-433,-433,-433,-433,-404,-660,-725]} 1.
d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 Nh5 6. Be5 f6 7. Bg3 Nxg3 8. hxg3
c6 9. e4 Be6 10. Bd3 Bf7 11. Qe2 Nd7 12. exd5 cxd5 13. O-O-O O-O 14. Rh2 e5 15.
dxe5 fxe5 16. Bb5 e4 17. Nxd5 {[#]} Nb6 (17... exf3 $2 18. Ne7+ Kh8 19. Rxh7+
Kxh7 20. Rh1+ Bh6+ 21. Qe3) 18. Qxe4 (18. Nxb6 Qxb6 19. Ng5 Qf6) 18... Nxd5 19.
Bc4 Qf6 20. Rxd5 Qxb2+ 21. Kd1 Qa1+ 22. Kd2 Qc3+ 23. Kd1 Rfc8 24. Bb3 Qa1+ 25.
Kd2 Bc3+ 26. Ke2 Re8 27. Re5 Bxe5 28. Bxf7+ Kxf7 29. Ng5+ Kf8 30. Nxh7+ Kg7 31.
Qxb7+ Bc7+ 32. Kf3 Qd1# 0-1

[Event "1000GM Labor Day IM 2022"]
[Site "Los Angeles USA"]
[Date "2022.09.01"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Heimann, M."]
[Black "Narayanan, Samrug"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2401"]
[BlackElo "2354"]
[Annotator "Heimann"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2022.09.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "2"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,87,19,-18,-11,-11,6,-19,-26,-25,-11,-5,-4,-18,-4,-4,9,33,50,2,2,24,11,
12,12,1,16,18,-3,3,8,-10,-3,4,19,7,0,21,39,53,53,66,78,86,97,56,107,82,81,89,
86,86,88,86,86,71,113,65,71,94,169,131,192,131,124,110,190,97,105,90,90,83,90,
90,90,90,88,84,88,80,90,88,88,89,88,30,13,25,17,22]} 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3
d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qc2 Nbd7 6. O-O c5 7. Na3 b6 8. Ne5 Nd5 9. Qa4 Qc7 10. Naxc4
{Narayanan had played slightly provocatively by exposing the long diagonal.
Here the engine likes 10. d3! clearing lines for White's dark-squared bishop,
i.e.,10...Qxe5 11.dxc4. I missed this and continued more routinely.} a6 11.
Nxd7 Bxd7 12. Qb3 b5 13. Ne3 Nxe3 14. Qxe3 Bc6 15. Bxc6+ Qxc6 16. b3 {[#] Even
after the simplification, I thought I had chances to play for an edge as
Black's c-pawn is easy for me to attack.} h5 17. h4 f6 18. Ba3 c4 19. Bxf8 Rxf8
20. Rfc1 Qd5 21. bxc4 bxc4 22. Rc3 Rf7 23. Rac1 Rc7 24. d3 Rac8 25. Qf4 Kf7 26.
dxc4 {White's strategy has worked, resulting in an extra passed pawn. The
downside is that this pawn is also isolated, while Black's pieces are well
poised to block it.} Qa5 27. a3 Rc5 28. Rd3 Qa4 29. Qe4 R8c7 $2 {Black is
trying to maintain a c-file blockade, but this error could have let my pieces
in through the cracks...} 30. Rd6 Re5 {[#]} 31. Qd3 $2 {White needs to do one
of two things: advance the extra c-pawn and/or infiltrate Black's slightly
airy kingside. 31.Qh7! would threaten a powerful backrank attack with 32.Rd8,
while after 31...Rd7 32.c5 yields a decisive advantage.} Rec5 32. Qh7 Rd7 $2
33. Rxd7+ $2 {I needed to stick to the plan of latching on to the weak back
rank at all costs. Here 33.Rb6!, threatening 34.Rb8, would still give me an
irresistible attack. My continuation is a concession.} Qxd7 34. Qd3 Qc7 35. Qf3
Rf5 36. Qb3 Qc5 37. e3 Qc6 38. Qd1 {The engine-approved 38.c5!? tries harder
to make progress (38...Rxc5 39. Rxc5 Qxc5 40. Qb7+). I was concerned about ...
Qc6-f3 and ...g7-g5, and with the whole tournament ahead I wanted to avoid a
disaster scenario.} Rc5 39. Rc3 Ke7 40. Qd4 Qc7 41. Qe4 Kf7 42. Qa8 {A
last-ditch try in time pressure.} Rxc4 43. Rb3 Qc6 {Of course. White has no
time to invade on the seventh rank and must trade into a dead drawn position.}
44. Qxc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "1000GM Labor Day IM 2022"]
[Site "Los Angeles USA"]
[Date "2022.09.04"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Heimann, M."]
[Black "Oberoi, Shelev"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A21"]
[WhiteElo "2401"]
[BlackElo "2291"]
[Annotator "Heimann"]
[PlyCount "159"]
[EventDate "2022.09.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "2"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,69,28,-5,-35,-39,19,-9,39,-1,12,15,15,16,22,26,37,-18,29,15,4,-30,-11,
-70,-16,-17,-19,-38,-45,-54,-20,-74,-74,-91,-107,-103,-105,-118,-123,-127,-122,
-132,-130,-138,-131,-130,-107,-127,-127,-150,-127,-150,-102,-86,-61,-67,-51,
-80,-50,-31,-19,-28,-65,0,47,17,42,24,30,35,41,55]} 1. g3 e5 2. c4 {In a
must-win situation, I chose an English Opening (via a funky move-order, just
for fun) to keep a lot of pieces on the board while also trying not get into
trouble too quickly. What's that about famous last words?} d6 3. Bg2 f5 4. Nc3
Nf6 5. d3 Be7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. b4 a6 8. a4 Qe8 9. Nd2 c6 10. Nb3 $6 d5 $1 11. Ba3
$6 {I had originally planned 11.cxd5 Bxb4 12.Bd2 Bxc3 13.Bxc3, when I have
dark-square compensation for the pawn after Black recaptures on d5. Instead I
chickened out and simply gave Black more space.} d4 12. Nb1 Be6 13. N1d2 Nbd7
14. Na5 Ra7 15. O-O f4 $1 {Oberoi has been playing much more purposefully and
already has a clear advantage.} 16. b5 Bxa3 17. bxc6 Bb4 18. cxd7 Bxd7 $1 {
Finally winning material. In a better alternate universe I could hope for
Benko-style compensation or a light-square central blockade, but with my
pieces so uncoordinated, I have less than nothing for the pawn.} 19. Nab3 Bxa4
20. Ne4 Nxe4 21. Bxe4 Bc3 22. Bd5+ Kh8 23. Ra2 Rf6 24. Qc2 b5 $6 {Black still
has a large advantage, but the direct kingside attack would give me fewer
chances: 24...fxg3 25.hxg3 Rh6 and Black is much better.} 25. Qb1 bxc4 {[#]}
26. Nc5 $1 {With this in-between move, White's pieces get active, giving me
hope.} Bc6 27. dxc4 fxg3 28. hxg3 Ra8 29. Qe4 Rh6 30. Rb1 a5 31. Nd3 Rc8 32.
Nxe5 {White gains the pawn back with serious attacking chances. With Oberoi
running very low on time, I was feeling confident.} Bxd5 33. Qxd5 Re6 34. Rb5
Re7 35. f4 Rec7 36. Rb7 Rxb7 37. Qxb7 {[#]} Qe6 $4 {With seconds left on the
clock, Shelev gives me a gift...} 38. Nf7+ $4 {...but I squander it! Instead
38.f5! overloads the Black queen, i.e., 38...Qxf5 39. Nf7+ and Nf7-d6.} Kg8 39.
Ng5 Qxc4 40. Ra4 {My idea, but I had missed my opponent's next move.} Bb4 41.
Qe4 g6 42. Qb7 Qc7 43. Qd5+ Kh8 44. Ra1 Qc5 45. Qf7 Qe7 {Black emerges from
the tactical minefield by forcing the queen trade.} 46. Qxe7 Bxe7 47. Rxa5 Bxg5
48. Rxg5 {[#] I expected 48...Rd8 followed by 49...d3, when the position
liquidates into a dead draw, and my norm chances with them.} Rc3 {But this
gives me hope. With Black's rook not behind the pawn, White is not forced to
exchange and can instead play to win the d-pawn.} 49. Kf2 d3 50. e4 Rc4 51. Ke3
d2 52. Rd5 Rc3+ 53. Kf2 Rc2 54. Ke2 Rc3 55. g4 Rc4 56. Ke3 Rc3+ 57. Kxd2 Rg3 {
[#]} 58. g5 $2 {I had two choices here and did not correctly evaluate them.
This move holds on to the pawn, but with best play it's not enough. Correct
was 58.f5! Rxg4 59.f6.} Rf3 59. f5 gxf5 60. Rxf5 Ra3 61. e5 Kg7 62. e6 Ra6 63.
Rf7+ Kg6 64. Rf6+ Kg7 65. Ke3 Ra4 {Alas, despite White's advanced extra pawn
and Black's boxed-in king, White's king cannot support the pawn and escape
checks from the side with best play.} 66. Kf3 Ra5 67. Kf4 Ra4+ 68. Kf5 Ra5+ 69.
Kg4 Re5 70. Kf4 Ra5 71. e7 Ra4+ 72. Kf5 Ra5+ 73. Ke6 Ra6+ 74. Kd5 {[#]} Ra8 $4
{A difficult mistake after a long defense. After 74...Ra5+! 75. Kc6 Ra8, White
has no move to progress that does not a) allow Black's king into the defense,
b) leave the white king unable to defend the e-pawn, or c) allow more checks
from the black rook.} 75. Kc6 $6 {75. Ra6! was more precise.} Ra6+ $6 {
Conceding defeat. Relatively best, but still insufficient, was 75...Kg8!.} 76.
Kb7 Rxf6 77. gxf6+ Kf7 78. Kc7 Ke8 79. Kd6 Kf7 80. Kd7 {Oberoi resigned, and I
breathed a huge sigh of both relief and disbelief. We were still in this thing!
} 1-0

[Event "1000GM Labor Day IM 2022"]
[Site "Los Angeles USA"]
[Date "2022.09.05"]
[Round "9.5"]
[White "Xie, Bryan"]
[Black "Heimann, M."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2162"]
[BlackElo "2401"]
[Annotator "Heimann"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2022.09.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "2"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,72,32,35,31,32,49,40,40,44,42,49,26,6,35,9,43,28,20,4,13,9,11,23,31,
-43,30,10,58,53,94,81,94,86,80,40,67,26,17,10,17,-44,-58,-139,-166,-125,-133,
-146,-148,-146,-146,-159,-112,-148,-149,-190,-184,-203,-201,-203,-207,-193,
-180,-187,-193,-189,-197,-205,-167,-189,-172,-187,-204,-241,-218]} 1. d4 Nf6 2.
Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 d6 5. h3 O-O 6. Be2 Nc6 7. O-O Nd7 8. c4 e5 9. Bh2 f5
10. Nc3 e4 11. Nd2 Nf6 {[#] Although White objectively has a typical slight
opening advantage, I was happy to have a position with attacking potential
given the tournament circumstances.} 12. c5 d5 13. Qb3 Bh6 14. Be5 Ne7 15. a4
Ne8 16. a5 a6 {[#] I have a lot of space in the center, though my pieces have
temporarily been driven back. Over the next few moves, I was able to activate
my pieces, while White's maneuvers were less fruitful.} 17. Rfe1 Ra7 18. Qa2
Be6 19. Bd1 Nc6 20. Bh2 Nxd4 {Winning a pawn due to the pin on the e3-pawn.}
21. b4 Nc6 22. Rb1 Qd7 23. Ne2 d4 {Black has continued to make progress over
the last few moves, and I began sensing the norm was in sight. Of course,
given how I had played earlier in the tournament, I was still worried about
choking at the last minute.} 24. Bb3 Bxb3 25. Qxb3+ Qf7 26. Qxf7+ Rxf7 27. Nc4
d3 {[#] With an incredibly strong protected passed pawn, I knew I should be
winning, and the conversion did indeed progress smoothly.} 28. Nc3 Bg7 29. Na2
Nf6 30. Nc3 Nd7 31. Rec1 Nde5 32. Nd2 Rd7 33. Bf4 Ne7 34. b5 c6 35. bxa6 Rxa6
36. Ra1 Nf7 37. Ra2 Bxc3 38. Rxc3 Nd5 39. Rc4 Nxf4 40. exf4 Nd8 41. Nb3 Ne6 42.
g3 g5 43. fxg5 Nxg5 44. Kg2 Nf3 45. Rc1 Kf7 46. Ra4 Kf6 47. Rb4 Ke5 48. Rd1 h5
49. h4 Ra8 50. Kf1 f4 51. Kg2 Rg8 52. Nc1 Nxh4+ 53. Kh3 fxg3 54. Re1 d2 55.
Rexe4+ Kf6 {With Xie's resignation, I could finally put down the hoodie I had
been anxiously twisting in my hands through the second half of the game.} 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Why The Petroff?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C42"]
[Annotator "Ntirlis"]
[PlyCount "4"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 $1 {Why is the Petroff a great practical choice for all
levels of chess players?  = Soundness  It has been chosen as the main defense
by the two previous Wch challengers: Caruana and Nepo. In both matches,
Carlsen failed to present anything scary against it.  = Robustness  If you
want to be solid, there is hardly a better choice. Stats from Lichess online
database (https://lichess.org/analysis) show that it is one of the openings
with the lowest win rate from White. For example:  The Lichess db is different
to a regular OTB one, as there are much less draws in online blitz.  -
Marshall: 16% (but White has 32% after 6.d3!? which another big main line) -
Petroff: 26% - Sicilian Najdorf: 28% - Ruy Lopez/ Zaitsev: 29% - Ruy Lopez/
Breyer: 29%  Ref: https://lichess.org/analysis  = Maintainance  There is less
theory to learn. There is no Italian and Scotch lines to constantly check any
new ideas coming. And in other main lines you can take shortcuts (fe against
the Four Knights game as we will see).  = Richness  My experience has shown
that there is hardly one move that Black can play in any major main lines.
There is typically a wide range of alternatives that you can study if you feel
bored, or if you feel that against a particular line your opponent might have
great prep.   = Material for Study  Engines love the Petroff and many modern
top players have played a ton of games in every line. Equiped with a modern
database and engine, you can create your own repertoire easily with a few
hours of dedicated work.  Why isn't it the most popular opening at all levels?
= Reputation  Partly deservably, Petroff has the reputation of being a dull
opening. It is not easy to White to break it, but it is quite hard for White
to blunder everything in one move. If you want to win the Petroff, you need to
display patience and a decent level of technique in quite positions.   = The
Berlin is even safer!  Boris Avrukh responded on my Tweeter thread that he was
working with Kramnik on the Petroff, until the great World Champion discovered
that the Berlin is an even more solid choice. Indeed, the Lichess stats
confirm this (intentionally I didn't mention that above!) as White is getting
a 19% win rate in the Berlin Main line!} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "A Brief Overview"]
[Black "My ICCF Repertoire"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C42"]
[Annotator "Ntirlis"]
[PlyCount "14"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,14,23,22,22,27,41,8,24,31,31,7,15,15,32,32,52]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 {
[#]  I have played the Petroff in 5 ICCF games, all of them in 2021 against an
average rating of 2411 and scored 5 easy draws.In this article, I am going to
share with you how I met, or how I am intending to meet, White's main tries
against the Petroff.  Let's see a brief summury of my proposals:} 3. Nxe5 ({
After} 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 {I propose} Bd6 $5 6. O-O O-O 7. c4 {
and now} c5 $1) ({if White goes for} 3. Nc3 {I believe that} Bb4 $5 {is a good
practical choice}) 3... d6 4. Nf3 ({I'll show you a rock solid antidote
against Carlsen's favorite:} 4. Nd3) ({White has somewhat crazy gambit idea
here:} 4. Nxf7 {I'll share an easy way to play against it.}) 4... Nxe4 5. d4 (
5. c4 {is how Firouzja tried to beat Nepo in the candidates, and it backfired
badly. That's a serious attempt for White though, but I got you covered.}) ({
The move} 5. Nc3 {has been a popular choice of repertoire books and courses
against the Petroff. I am proud that I discovered a practical way to meet this
which also proved to be sound in my corr practice:} Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nd7
8. Qd2 Ne5 9. O-O-O Nxf3 $5 10. gxf3 Be6 $1) 5... d5 6. Bd3 Be7 $5 7. O-O Bf5
$1 {This is a very solid way to meet the main line which has served me well. 
Of course, White has a few more lines that can throw at you, but typically
they aren't much challenging and you can study them on your own.  Please
remember, the opening preparation is a personal responsibility! Build your own
files and put your own ideas in them. Play the lines, see how you feel and how
you perform with them and adapt!} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Meeting the 4 Knights"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C42"]
[Annotator "Ntirlis"]
[PlyCount "18"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 {With this move White is hoping to transpose to the
Four Knights game after 3...Nc6, which I do think that it is Black's best move.
But, generations of Petroff players, have proved that Black is solid also with:
} Bb4 $5 {Your engines will tell you that White is a bit better after the
following line, and I think that they aren't wrong, but Black has a simple
positional concept in mind which makes the whole line attractive in my eyes:} (
3... Nc6 $1) 4. Nxe5 O-O 5. Nd3 Bxc3 6. dxc3 Nxe4 {[#]} 7. Be2 ({Another plan
is} 7. Be3 Re8 8. Qe2 {[%cal Ge1c1] planning long castle. A good antidote is}
d5 $1 9. O-O-O Nd6 $1 $132 {[%cal Gd6c4,Gd6f5] threatening ...Nc4 or ...Nf5.})
7... d6 $1 {[%cal Gh7h6,Gb7b6,Ga7a5] Black has lost their dark-squared bishop,
so they'll continue by putting as many pawns as possible in the dark squares 
(h6, b6, a5).} 8. O-O Re8 9. Nf4 {This is how White usually plays. They may
start with f2-f3, or a2-a4, or Re1. It doen't matter. Black's plan remains the
same.} Nd7 $132 {[%cal Gb7b6,Ga7a5,Gd7c5] Black plays next ...b6, or may even
start with Ndc5 and ...a5. If White plays f2-f3, we retreat the e4-knight to
f6.} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "3.d4"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C43"]
[Annotator "Ntirlis"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 {A challenging continuation, which I always had a
great deal of respect and that's why I spent an enormous amount of time and
energy to find a way to deal with it that I feel comfortable with.} Nxe4 4. Bd3
(4. dxe5 {is met by} Bc5 $1 {and the established main line goes} (4... d5 {
is the alternative way, but White may hope for a small edge after} 5. Nbd2) 5.
Bc4 Nxf2 6. Bxf7+ Kxf7 7. Qd5+ Kg6 8. Qxc5 Nxh1 9. Nc3 h6 $11 {[%cal Gg6h7]
Black hides the king to h7 and with a rook down, White should better start
thinking about giving a perpetual asap.}) 4... d5 5. Nxe5 Bd6 $5 {[#]} (5...
Nd7 {is the popular main line. One of the downsides is that White can more or
less force a draw with 6.Nxf7!?}) 6. O-O ({An engine favorite is} 6. Nc3 {
but after} Nxc3 7. bxc3 Nd7 $1 8. O-O O-O 9. Re1 c5 $1 $132 {Black has done
will in recent high level games and the engine analysis confirms that Black
has no problems. My analysis main line runs} 10. Qf3 c4 11. Bf5 Nxe5 12. dxe5
Bc5 13. Bxc8 Rxc8 14. Be3 Re8 $11) 6... O-O 7. c4 {[#]  And here, the top
Chinese players discovered that Black has a great resource:} c5 $1 ({The old
line} 7... Bxe5 8. dxe5 Nc6 9. cxd5 Qxd5 10. Qc2 Nb4 {has been seen in many
classical top GM games in the late 80s and 90s with names like Kasparov, Tal,
Timman, Karpov and Yusupov popping up. This line still produces draws in corr
games, but it is far from fun to play over the board.}) 8. Nc3 ({White has
many tries, and if you want to build a serious repertoire, you'd need to check
them all, but one where Stockfish insists that is great for White, even if
left overnight to analyse the position (I checked!) is the following one:} 8.
cxd5 Nf6 9. Bg5 cxd4 10. f4 Nbd7 11. Nd2 Be7 12. d6 Bxd6 13. Ne4 Be7 14. Qf3
Nxe5 15. fxe5 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 g6 17. Bh6 {and now} Be6 $1 18. Bxf8 Bxf8 {[#] is
a great exhange sac. If Black manages to play Bh6-Be3 and Bd5, White will even
be worse!.} 19. b3 $1 {[%cal Gd3c4] White needs to threaten to play Bc4.} Qd7
$1 {Now, Bc4 will be met by Bxc4 and Re8} 20. Rad1 Rd8 $1 $44 {Now Bc4 is met
by Bxc4 and d4-d3. Black was fine in Heß-González Sánchez, ICCF 2021. 
Black has a pawn for the exchange and a wekness on e5 to target, while on the
other side we can play a6-b5 to reduce the score of White's remaining bishop.})
8... Nxc3 9. bxc3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Bxe5 11. Qh5 $5 (11. dxe5 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Qxd1
13. Rxd1 Nc6 14. Ba3 Rd8 {proved to be fine for Black in a couple of
high-level corr games. After} 15. Bd6 $5 Be6 $1 {as in Dunlop- Klügel, ICCF
2021 White either gives up the bishop pair, or allows Black's bishop to always
threaten to take the a2-pawn.}) 11... g6 12. Qxe5 Nc6 $1 13. Qxd5 Nb4 14. Qxd8
Rxd8 15. Be2 Nc2 $1 16. Bg5 Re8 17. Bf3 Nxd4 18. Bd5 Be6 19. h4 Bxd5 20. cxd5
Re5 $132 {Bakulin- Ntirlis, ICCF 2021.  Black has both short-term (play
against the d-pawn) and long-term (queenside majority) potential here.} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "The Cochrane Gambit"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C42"]
[Annotator "Ntirlis"]
[PlyCount "16"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nxf7 $6 {I think that there are better ways
to challenge the Petroff, but I have to admit that this isn't a stupid gambit.
White gets decent positional comepnsation for the sacrificed piece.} Kxf7 {[#]}
5. d4 {This move, or 5.Nc3 is the correct way to play.} (5. Bc4+ $2 {is met by}
d5 $1 6. exd5 Bd6 $17 {or the more sophisticated 6...Qe8+}) 5... Be7 $5 6. Nc3
Re8 {[%cal Gf7g8] That's the simple way I want to meet the gambit. Next comes .
..Kg8, so White is forced to play} 7. Bc4+ {and now I like the simple} Be6 $5
8. Bxe6+ Kxe6 {[%cal Ge6f7,Gf7g8] and we will hide the king to g8. White may
have just enough for their knight. If you ask your engine, it will propose for
White to play O-O followed by f4 and g4. This looks cool I admit, but I'd
prefer to be Black with my extra knight.} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "4.Nd3!?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C42"]
[Annotator "Ntirlis"]
[PlyCount "20"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nd3 $5 ({Similar is} 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Qe2 Qe7 {
[%cal Gc7c6,Ge4f6] My advise for Black here is to remember to do somehing
similar to the main line: exchange queens and play a solid set up with ...c6.})
4... Nxe4 5. Qe2 Qe7 6. Nf4 {[#]  White's idea is not without venom. Carlsen
tried this both against Caruana and against Nepo during Wch matches.} c6 $5 {
I believe that this is the most solid.} ({Caruana played against Carlsen} 6...
Nc6 7. Nd5 Nd4 8. Nxe7 Nxe2 9. Nd5 Nd4 {but later, Carlsen's second, Jorden
Van Foreest discovered the interesting exchange sacrifice} 10. d3 $5 {seen in
Van Foreest- Bjerre, Germany 2022. This line was pointed out to me in my
Twitter thread and I agree that it would be better for Black to avoid it for
practical reasons. Good job Twitter!} (10. Na3 {was seen in Carlsen- Caruana,
New York 2018.})) ({Nepo played} 6... Nf6 {and after} 7. d4 {probably White
was a tiny biot better in Carlsen- Nepomniachtchi, Dubai 2021 (Game 10). I
believe that we should encourage White to play f2-f3 to kick our knight.}) 7.
f3 Nf6 8. h4 (8. d4 h5 {[%cal Gc8f5] followed by ...Bf5 is similar}) 8... h5 $1
9. d4 Bf5 10. c3 d5 {[%cal Ge7e2,Gf8d6] Klimczak-Leisner, ICCF 2021. Black
follows up with Qxe2 and Bd6 with a solid and ultimately balanced position.} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "5.c4!?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C42"]
[Annotator "Ntirlis"]
[PlyCount "18"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,18,28,28,28,28,41,19,27,27,30,-37,10,-25,-14,-22,-22,-1,20,20,20]} 1.
e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. c4 Nc6 {[#]} 6. d3 ({If} 6. Nc3 Nxc3
7. dxc3 g6 $5 $132) 6... Nf6 7. d4 d5 $1 (7... Be7 8. d5 Ne5 9. Nd4 {was seen
in Firouzja- Nepomniachtchi, Madrid 2022, but my engine claims that White may
hope for a small edge after also} (9. Nxe5 $5)) 8. c5 (8. Nc3 $6 Bb4 {gives
the initiative to Black}) 8... a6 $1 9. Nc3 g6 {[%cal Gf8g7,Gb7b6] an easy way
to counter this line, as shown in Neto-Finocchiaro, ICCF 2017. Black follows
up with Bg7 and ...b6 at the right moment.} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "5.Nc3!?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C42"]
[Annotator "Ntirlis"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 {This line used to be the
favorite of repertoire books!} Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 {[#]  White's game is
simple: play Qd2, O-O-O, h4 and build an attack at the kingside. Black has
tried a zillion defensive schemes and move orders. When I discovered the one I
will show you beloow, I felt that at last I found something that I like. A set
up that will put White under pressure in a OTB game for sure.} Nd7 $1 ({
I had to learn from my experience, that the move order with 7...Nd7 isn't
equivalent with 7...Nc6. After} 7... Nc6 {If 8.Qd2 Ne5, but in one of my own
games I got tricked:} 8. Bd3 $5 Be6 9. Qe2 {and I had to put the effort to
escape with a draw and playing a position I didn't enjoy in Martín Molinero-
Ntirlis, ICCF 2021.}) 8. Qd2 ({Now, if} 8. Bd3 {we play} O-O $1 9. Qd2 ({Now} 
9. Qe2 $6 Nf6 $1 {[%cal Gf8e8] followed by Re8 is akward for White.}) 9... d5
$1 10. O-O-O Nc5 $132 {and Black showed the downside of White's move order in
Muljadi-Miettinen, ICCF 2021}) 8... Ne5 9. O-O-O (9. Nxe5 dxe5 $11 {[%cal
Gc8e6] followed by ...Be6 is totally fine for Black. No White player will play
like this against you.}) 9... Nxf3 10. gxf3 Be6 {[#]  And here it is! This
position is severely underestimated by the engines, who believe that White has
a healthy advantage. When I analyzed this deeply, I realised that Black is OK
and in most positions White had to live wiwth their bad structure until the
end of the game. In an OTB game, your opponent will not play like the engine,
so you have even more chances to play for the win later.} 11. Qd4 ({The
alternative is} 11. Rg1 g6 12. Qd4 (12. Bc4 Bxc4 13. Qd4 O-O 14. Qxc4 Qd7 15.
h4 b5 16. Qf4 Qe6 {was fine for Black in Krejcír- Stukalov, ICCF 2020 as ...
Bg6 comes and Black has enough counterplay.}) 12... Kd7 $1 {[%cal Gd7c8] The
key move in this line! The king will hide to c8 and later to b7, especially if
the light-squared bishops get exchanged.} 13. Bc4 Kc8 14. Bd5 a5 {[%cal Ge6d5,
Gf7f5] and Black followed up with ...Bxf5, ...f5 and ...Bf6 in Wlodarczyk-
Pundak, ICCF 2020}) 11... Bf6 12. Qb4 b6 13. Rg1 ({I analyzed carefully the
line} 13. Bb5+ Kf8 14. Qe4 Rb8 {[%cal Gh7h5,Gh5h4] and Black is fine. Next
will come ...h5 and if allowed ...h4 and ...Rh5.}) 13... O-O 14. h4 c5 15. Qe4
d5 16. Qf4 Qe7 17. h5 Rad8 18. Bd3 Kh8 19. h6 g6 20. Kb1 Bc8 {[%cal Ge7d6] and
I played next ...Qd6 in Castro- Ntirlis, ICCF 2021.  As we saw, in all these
lines, White has to live with their bad structure for the rest of the game.} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Main Line"]
[Black "White plays Nbd2"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C42"]
[Annotator "Ntirlis"]
[PlyCount "26"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,26,28,28,28,28,29,-4,27,27,35,22,22,22,37,37,73,55,68,32,43,39,49,57,
49,39,56,54,54]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 {
[#]  This is the traditional main line.} Be7 $1 {A modern move order.} (6...
Bd6 {is another hige main line, which recently has been championed by Nepo.}) (
{The old main line is} 6... Nc6 7. O-O Be7 {but recently White has a lot of
success with} 8. Nbd2 $1) 7. O-O Bf5 $1 {That's a the solid and easy set up I
propose.} 8. Re1 O-O 9. Nbd2 $5 {This concept is critical in this line as well.
But here, Black has easier ways to meet it.} Nd6 $1 10. Nf1 {[#]  When I was
preparing this line for my correspodence games, I realised that a strong way
to play for Black is} Bg6 $1 {We will continue with Re8, Nd7, c6 and either
Nf8 or Bf8, while the modern concept of ...a5-a4 is typical and useful to
remember. I didn't have the chance to play this in one of my corr games (yet!)
but the younr American GM Xiong has tested this in hiw own practice.} 11. Bf4 (
{Only after} 11. Ne5 {we will take} Bxd3 $132 {[%cal Gb8d7] as now we can
challenge the knight with ...Nd7 next}) 11... Nd7 12. Ng3 Re8 13. c3 Nf8 $11 {
Aronian-Xiong, Saint Louis (Repid) 2022} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Main Line"]
[Black "White plays c4"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C42"]
[Annotator "Ntirlis"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,48,28,36,20,26,25,27,27,28,28,22,22,37,52,37,62,59,52,49,75,68,75,75,
75,75,75,53,61,57,68,25,27,23,21,37,33,11,17,17,4,4,18,-9,30,22,35,-3,35,10,2]
} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Be7 $1 7. O-O Bf5
{[#]} 8. Re1 ({Another line is} 8. c4 dxc4 $1 ({A game that I hate that became
famous went} 8... O-O $2 9. cxd5 Qxd5 10. Bxe4 $1 {1-0 Dominguez- Moradiabadi,
Saint Louis US Ch 2022.   I worked on this line with Elshan a few years back
and I know that in his files the correct move was 8...dxc4. Elshan was
critisized after tha game why on earth he played an opening (the Petroff) that
he hasn't played that much and thus doesn't have experience with, against one
of the leading theoreticians of the Black side. The answer is simple. Elshan
did this to honor the Russian GM Landa, that died a few games before the game.}
) 9. Bxc4 O-O 10. Nc3 Nc6 11. Re1 Nd6 $132 {Dunlop- Mulligan, ICCF 2021.
Typical for this line (and the repertoire in general), Black has long term
chances against White's sub-optimal structure.}) 8... O-O 9. c4 Nc6 $1 10. cxd5
Qxd5 11. Nc3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Rae8 {[%cal Ge7d6,Gc6a5] [#]  What I
like in this line, is that Black only needs a couple of moves to take over the
initiative. If we are allowed to play Bd6 and Na5, we are simply better. If
White plays then Be3, the move ...f5 comes. So, White needs to act fast and in
a concrete way.} 14. Rb1 {Typical, but not the most challenging according to
my analysis.} (14. Bf4 {is the move that I spent a lot of time analysing.
Black's best is} Qd7 $1 15. Rad1 h6 $1 {[#] Please make sure you remember this.
The rest is easy as we are threatening ...Bd6. There is only one concrete
variation to remember and it happened in a recent corr game.} 16. d5 Nb8 17. h3
Bd6 18. Be3 Na6 $1 19. Bxa7 {If White doesn't take the pawn, Black will take
over} Rxe1+ 20. Rxe1 Qa4 $1 $11 {and as Black is threatening now to trap the
bishop with ...b6, White needs to move it and we take the a2-pawn as in
Jiménez Molina- Kuntze, ICCF 2021}) 14... Bd6 15. Be3 (15. Rxb7 $2 Nxd4 $19)
15... b6 16. c4 Qe4 17. Qb3 Bf4 $5 18. Rbc1 Bxe3 19. Qxe3 Qxe3 20. fxe3 f6 21.
Rc3 h5 22. Kf2 g5 23. d5 Ne5 24. Nd4 Rf7 $11 {Pheby- Ntirlis, ICCF 2021  In an
OTB game, a patient technical player would try to squeeze a win with Black. In
a corr game, this rarely happens, so...a draw!} *

[Event "Olympiad Women 2022"]
[Site "Chennai IND"]
[Date "2022.08.07"]
[Round "9.10"]
[White "Krush, Irina"]
[Black "Avramidou, Anastasia"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2430"]
[BlackElo "2274"]
[Annotator "Begim"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,87,19,31,19,0,-3,-3,15,9,19,19,24,27,25,20,24,34,36,32,58,29,29,10,38,
20,12,22,7,5,89,93,75,93,79,79,79,79,81,15,66,77,79,66,98,89,106,108,115,106,
115,117,117,117,121,115,143,139,178,156,194,190,197,184,199,200,200,205,204,
214,231,238,202,231,278,256,280,301,382,395,605,641,622,1037,1211,1522,29997,
29998,29999,-30000]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 {Recently popular. The main
idea behind this move is to play ...dx5c4 next; if White reacts with e2-e4 or
e2-e3 attacking the c4-pawn, then ...b7-b5 can be played.} 4. Bg5 {A very
interesting move, played by strong players like Giri and Nakamura, among
others. White's plan is to exchange the dark-squard bishops and play e2-e3,
when White is no longer concerned with the c1-bishop.} ({The main line right
now is} 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 {, but I think Irina wanted
to get something that's not too familiar to her opponent.}) 4... Be7 5. Bxe7
Qxe7 ({Here} 5... Nxe7 $5 {is worth considering. Black wants to play ...
Nb8-d7-f6, where the b8-knight is undoubtedly better placed than it would be
on c6 or d7.}) 6. e3 Nf6 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. Rc1 {Starting to put some pressure on
the c-file.} Nc6 {I'm not too fond of this move. While it's understandable
that Black wants to play ...e6-e5 soon and activate the light-squared bishop,
8...Nc6 feels anti-positional. Black usually has to prepare well before
opening up a passive but solid position. I would consider playing 8...Rd8,
while} (8... c6 {is another possible continuation, but this leaves Black very
passive, and they'll have to play ...c6-c5 or ...e6-e5 eventually. Finding a
good square for the b8-knight is hard; this is another reason that 5...Nxe7
seemed more logical.}) 9. Bd3 e5 {After Black played ...Nb8-c6, it wasn't hard
to guess that this pawn push was intended. It does look natural.} 10. cxd5 Nxd5
11. Be4 {A key move! I think Black may have missed or underestimated the
sacrifice that is coming. Were the rook on d8, the pawn push would have been
better prepared.} Rd8 {[#]} 12. Rxc6 $1 {I watched Krush as she was making
this move, and her excitement was obvious. This is a beautiful positional
sacrifice. The black pawn structure is terrible, and now Avramidou has to be
very precise.} bxc6 13. Nxe5 Bb7 14. Qc2 {A double attack, but Black has a way
to equalize.} ({Instead} 14. Nd3 {would be better, controlling the c5- and
e5-squares. White has a pleasant position.}) 14... Nf6 $2 ({A mistake. Here} 
14... Nb4 $2 {also is poor in light of} 15. Bxh7+ Kh8 16. Qf5 {with a
tremendous position.}) ({The correct} 14... c5 $1 {is not an easy move to find.
The idea is to give away another pawn to activate the b7-bishop, opening the
position so the rooks can show their strength.}) 15. Bxc6 Rdb8 {Forced, making
the development of the a8-rook difficult.} ({White is crushing after} 15...
Rab8 16. Bxb7 Rxb7 17. Nc6 {.}) 16. O-O Qe6 17. Nb3 Bxc6 18. Nxc6 Rb5 19. Nc1 {
Perhaps imprecise, but logical. The d3-square is usually the best for the
knight in such structures.} Qe4 20. Qxe4 ({Better than the alternative} 20. Nd3
Rg5 21. g3 Ng4 22. Ne1 Qe6 {. There's no reason to give the opponent
counter-chances when you can have a slightly better position without any
counterplay for them.}) 20... Nxe4 21. Nd3 a5 {Trying to liberate the rook.}
22. Rc1 Kf8 23. f3 Nd6 24. b3 a4 {This fixes the position more, leaving fewer
squares for the the rooks. Too little, too late - the game can't be saved.} 25.
b4 {Creating more squares for the knights.} a3 26. e4 Rb6 27. d5 Ke8 28. Kf2
Nb7 29. Ke3 Rc8 30. e5 Ra8 {Black is totally stuck. The a8-rook has been lazy!}
31. f4 Rb5 32. Ke4 Kd7 33. g4 g6 34. Rc3 Ra4 35. f5 gxf5+ 36. gxf5 Ra8 37. e6+
Ke8 38. Ke5 Nd6 39. Nc5 {[#] Total domination.} f6+ 40. Kxf6 Rxc5 41. bxc5 Ne4+
42. Kg7 Nxc3 43. f6 Nxd5 44. f7# {A beautiful mate by Krush. It's sad to see
the black rook still nailed to the a8-square. Reader, develop your pieces so
they won't suffer such a tragic fate!} 1-0

[Event "Olympiad Women 2022"]
[Site "Chennai IND"]
[Date "2022.08.05"]
[Round "7.13"]
[White "Zuriel, Marisa"]
[Black "Tokhirjonova, Gulrukhbegim"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C49"]
[WhiteElo "2174"]
[BlackElo "2329"]
[Annotator "Begim"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,114,16,16,16,22,18,17,17,12,13,18,25,25,7,9,17,5,5,5,5,10,11,-7,0,3,
13,-7,-12,-8,-3,2,-1,-10,-7,-3,5,-4,-8,-20,-11,-11,4,1,0,-4,-9,1,-10,-6,-20,
-19,-27,-33,-33,-33,-33,-81,-81,-75,-74,-137,-56,-32,-42,-45,-45,-35,-33,-92,
-76,-162,-168,-166,-166,-168,-166,-166,-148,-160,-147,-157,-117,-120,-138,-125,
-106,-107,-106,-106,-104,-128,-117,-106,-113,-179,-171,-320,-291,-516,-507,
-507,-516,-527,-537,-537,-567,-795,-1002,-1007,-1022,-1022,-29059,-1429,-1474,
-1521,-1558]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 {As my opponent played this move, the
Argentinian team strategy became clear. They wanted to hold on first board,
and fight on the rest.} Nf6 4. Bb5 {I thought for a bit here, trying to decide
if I wanted to play an equal, dry position with 4...Bb4 (as I usually do) or
try something else.} Bb4 {My conclusion: equalizing with Black is always good,
and then I can see how to continue.} 5. O-O O-O 6. Bxc6 ({The main line begins
with} 6. d3 {and brings more lively positions.}) 6... dxc6 7. Nxe5 Bxc3 {
Simple chess, unafraid of exchanging or making a draw. I wanted to play a game
without much risk.} ({More popular is} 7... Re8 {more popular option} 8. Nd3 (
8. Nf3 Nxe4 9. Nxe4 Rxe4 10. d3 Re8 {is slightly better for Black due to the
bishops}) 8... Bxc3 9. dxc3 Nxe4 10. Qf3 Qf6 {with equality.}) 8. dxc3 Nxe4 9.
Qxd8 {It would be better to play 9.Bf4, keeping some pressure. There's no need
to rush to exchange queens, but I think my opponent was trying to make a draw
as quickly as possible.} Rxd8 10. Bf4 Nd6 11. Rad1 Be6 12. a3 {A bit careless.
I sensed from the way Zuriel was playing that she thought the position was
easy to play, which isn't false. But just because it is not complicated
doesn't mean you can become inattentive.} ({It makes more sense to play} 12. a4
{. The basic rules of opposite-colored bishop positions state that you should
keep the pawns on the same color as your opponent's bishop.}) 12... a5 13. a4 {
This loss of tempo gives Black more time to develop, and some hopes of ginning
up some pressure.} f6 14. Nd3 b6 {[#]} 15. Rfe1 {This looks at first glance to
be a natural developing move, but the rook is not contributing anything on e1.
It would be better to play b2-b3, f2-f3, and Rd1-d2, and only then decide
about the f1-rook. And by pressuring the bishop, I'm forced to play the move I
want to play anyway.} Kf7 16. f3 ({During the game I thought} 16. h4 {was
White's best move, but I couldn't see how to do much against it.}) 16... g5 {
This takes squares from the white knight, and now Zuriel has to decide where
to put the bishop.} 17. Bg3 Rd7 18. b3 Rad8 19. Nf2 {Much better is 19.Nb2,
leaving the f2-square for the king.} Bf5 ({The position is equal after} 19...
Nb7 20. Rxd7+ Rxd7 21. Rd1 {.}) 20. Re2 Nb7 21. Rde1 {I made my next move with
a bit of excitement. I understood that the ensuing positions were not winning
or even better, but I was happy to get some activity and force her to be
precise.} b5 22. h4 h6 23. hxg5 hxg5 24. Ng4 {White needs to get rid of the
f5-bishop.} bxa4 ({I considered taking the knight for awhile, but then I
realized it would give White counterplay on the f-file:} 24... Bxg4 25. fxg4
bxa4 26. bxa4 Nc5 27. Rf1 Nxa4 ({or} 27... Rd1 28. Ref2 Rxf1+ 29. Rxf1 Nxa4 30.
Be5) 28. Be5 {.}) 25. Nh6+ Kg6 26. Nxf5 Kxf5 27. bxa4 Nc5 28. Bf2 {A good move,
which I did not consider because I thought the bishop was already well-placed.
But now I'm forced to take on a4, White can immediately start attacking with
Re2-e6, and g2-g4 is now possible, after which the bishop can attack the
f6-pawn with Bf2-d4.} ({I thought} 28. f4 {was White's best try at the board,
expecting} Nxa4 ({the engine points out that} 28... g4 $1 {leaves White in
serious trouble}) 29. fxg5 Kxg5 30. Re6 Nxc3 31. Rxc6 {.}) 28... Nxa4 29. Re6
Rd6 {[#]} 30. Re7 $2 {We were both in time trouble by this point, and it
affected our moves a lot.} ({It was important to play} 30. g4+ Kg6 31. Bg3 {
, forcing Black to play} Rxe6 {when after} 32. Rxe6 {White has many threats,
Bg3-e5 among them. The positions here are equal.}) 30... R8d7 $2 {A mistake. I
don't know why I would even consider giving the a5-pawn away, when I'd placed
all my hopes on it for the entire game!} ({Much better was} 30... Nxc3 {
was much better} 31. Rxc7 Kg6 32. Ree7 Rd1+ {with advantage to Black.}) 31.
Rxd7 Rxd7 32. Ra1 Nxc3 33. Rxa5+ Rd5 34. Ra7 $2 ({Here} 34. Ra6 {leads to an
equal position, while}) (34. Rc5 {also is a good move}) 34... Nb5 35. Ra6 {
I think Zuriel thought this move (in conjunction with her last) would force
the draw instantly.} Rd1+ 36. Kh2 Rd2 37. Rxc6 Rxf2 38. Rc5+ Ke6 39. Rxb5 Rxc2
{But she forgot about the c2-pawn. Of course, it's hard to blame anyone for
missing things in time trouble!} 40. Kg3 c5 41. f4 Kf5 42. fxg5 {[#]} Kxg5 ({
The correct} 42... fxg5 {would make my life easier. Instead I was careless and
thought both recaptures were the same. It's always a bad idea to relax too
early.}) 43. Ra5 f5 $2 44. Kf3 $2 ({Now} 44. Ra8 {holds. It's important to
activate the rook! Play continues} Rc3+ 45. Kf2 c4 (45... Kf4 $6 46. g3+ $1 {
and the checks begin}) 46. g3 {.}) 44... Rc3+ 45. Kf2 Kf4 46. Ra4+ ({Of course
} 46. g3+ {won't work here:} Kg4 47. Ra8 Rf3+ {and Black wins.}) 46... c4 47.
Ra5 Rc2+ 48. Kg1 c3 49. Kh2 Rd2 50. Rc5 c2 51. Kh3 Ke3 52. g3 f4 53. gxf4 Kd4 {
A cute move, even though 53...Kxf4 is also winning.} 54. Rc8 Rd3+ 55. Kg4 ({
No better is} 55. Kg2 Rc3 56. Rd8+ Ke4 57. Re8+ Kxf4 58. Rf8+ Ke5 59. Re8+ Kf6
60. Rf8+ Ke7 {.}) 55... Rc3 56. Rd8+ Ke3 57. Re8+ Kf2 0-1

[Event "Olympiad Women 2022"]
[Site "Chennai IND"]
[Date "2022.08.09"]
[Round "11.1"]
[White "Sachdev, Tania"]
[Black "Yip, Carissa"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E92"]
[WhiteElo "2399"]
[BlackElo "2416"]
[Annotator "Begim"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,92,22,17,19,-10,44,44,41,32,56,43,35,33,46,22,16,16,25,9,5,-2,3,-2,11,
23,33,32,25,32,32,6,-5,6,14,-5,1,-24,-6,-69,-73,-63,-58,-80,-72,-119,-104,-131,
-134,-133,-132,-124,-126,-157,-166,-166,-174,-189,-147,-212,-143,-145,-112,
-200,-200,-207,-199,-199,-218,-273,-228,-319,-314,-382,-387,-389,-392,-420,
-353,-348,-345,-334,-379,-401,-330,-323,-364,-335,-372,-1265,-1480,-1909,-2256,
-2684,-324]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 {Carissa like to play the
King's Indian, and she scores well with it. It was also a good fit for a
situation where the team needed to win the match.} 5. Be2 O-O 6. Nf3 e5 7. d5
a5 8. Bg5 Na6 ({Another popular move is} 8... h6 {another popular move. White
has to play} 9. Bh4 {, and after} Na6 10. Nd2 Qe8 {there's no h2-h4.}) 9. Nd2
Nc5 ({The logical} 9... Qe8 {is another well-known idea. The queen gets out of
the pin, so Black can move the knight and prepare ...f7-f5.}) 10. h4 h6 11. Be3
h5 {Stopping White's attack.} 12. f3 Bd7 13. Nb3 {I was surprised by this move
during the round. To me, it doesn't make much sense to play on the queenside
when White has been preparing a kingside attack. I wondered if White could
play g2-g4 immediately, and when I check with the engine later, it was one of
the best moves. But the engine also thought 13.Nb3 was strong. I'd still play
the pawn push myself!} Na4 {The right decision by Carissa.} 14. Nxa4 ({Now} 14.
g4 {is not possible due to} Nxc3 15. bxc3 hxg4 16. fxg4 Nxe4 {. It also
highlights the fact that the b3-knight is not a good piece.}) 14... Bxa4 15. c5
{Another move that deviates from White's strategy of playing on the kingside.
Playing on the queenside only helps Black.} ({Instead} 15. Qd2 {or 15.Qd3
immediately would be better, avoiding the pin, and perhaps bringing the knight
back.}) 15... Nd7 16. cxd6 cxd6 17. Qd2 f5 {[#]} 18. exf5 {It would be better
to keep pressure on the center with something like 18.Rc1. Instead the text
creates a weakness on d5 and strengthens Black's center.} gxf5 19. Bh6 {
Exchanging the dark-squared bishops only benefits Black because, after the
exchange, the knight lands on c5 permanently.} Bxb3 20. axb3 Nc5 21. Ra3 ({
White could change her mind and play} 21. Bg5 {, but it would be
psychologically tough.}) 21... f4 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 {Suddenly White is worse.
Sachdev realized something had gone wrong and tried to find counterplay.} 23.
b4 axb4 24. Qxb4 Rxa3 25. bxa3 Qf6 {[#] Unfortunately White lacks the pieces
to create play. The h1-rook is not doing much, the e2-bishop can't attack
anything, and the queen is immobile. The position is lost.} 26. Qb6 e4 27. O-O
e3 28. Rc1 Rg8 29. Rc4 Kh8 30. Bf1 ({If} 30. Rxc5 Qg7 {.}) 30... Rg6 31. Qc7
Qxh4 32. Qc8+ Kg7 33. Rc2 Qe7 34. Bd3 Rf6 35. Be4 Rf7 36. Qh3 Nxe4 37. fxe4
Qxe4 38. Re2 Qb1+ 39. Kh2 Qf5 40. Qf3 Qg4 41. Qf1 Qg3+ 42. Kh1 f3 43. Qa1+ Kh7
44. Qb1+ Kh6 45. gxf3 Qxf3+ 46. Rg2 Qf1+ {This was the fifth win in a row for
Carissa, and it's always good to finish a tournament with a game like this!}
0-1

[Event "Olympiad Women 2022"]
[Site "Chennai IND"]
[Date "2022.08.09"]
[Round "11.1"]
[White "Abrahamyan, Tatev"]
[Black "Bhakti, Kulkarni"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C58"]
[WhiteElo "2291"]
[BlackElo "2373"]
[Annotator "Begim"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,95,22,22,22,8,16,22,18,-7,-14,-9,2,-16,-16,-8,-8,-21,1,-15,0,0,0,0,0,
-10,5,8,7,0,0,0,7,2,23,12,34,14,53,109,109,103,70,81,121,114,159,159,274,264,
256,269,277,282,274,274,282,292,301,301,300,241,224,253,290,250,225,225,349,
397,402,377,383,398,389,420,420,399,429,421,454,459,469,458,488,491,512,517,
507,235,556,571,29991,29992,29993,29994,29995,29996]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.
Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 {A good attempt by Tatev to get her opponent out of preparation.
Black has to remember what to play, and considering that this was a morning
round, it makes sense to try a forcing line.} d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6
bxc6 8. Bd3 Nd5 {We've reached a well-known position. Now White has a choice
between 9.Nf3 and 9.h4.} 9. h4 h6 ({The main move is} 9... Nf4 {, and after}
10. Bf1 h6 {there's no Qd1-h5. The line continues} 11. Nf3 Bd6 12. d4 exd4 13.
Qxd4 Ne6 {etc.}) (9... Qc7 {is also popular these days.}) 10. Qh5 Qf6 11. Ne4
Qe6 {[#]} 12. Nbc3 ({White can make a draw with} 12. Ng5 Qf6 13. Ne4 Qe6 {
, but the team was playing for a win, and a draw with the white pieces would
not be optimal.}) 12... Nf4 13. Qf3 Nxd3+ ({Black could keep the knight for a
bit with} 13... Be7 {but after} 14. Ng3 {White threatens Bd3-e4 or Bd3-f5, so
Black has to take the bishop:} Nxd3+ 15. Qxd3 O-O (15... f5 16. b3 {transposes}
) 16. b3 Rd8 $15 {. Black would be totally fine here. Perhaps this means that
12.Nbc3 was a bit risky, given the situation?}) 14. Qxd3 f5 15. Ng3 Be7 16. b3
Rb8 17. Bb2 Rb4 $6 {Greedy, trying to win the h4-pawn.} ({Here} 17... Nc4 {
was a cute way to release the knight, allowing it to contribute to the team
cause:} 18. O-O-O Nxb2 19. Kxb2 O-O {.}) (17... O-O {is also a good move.}) 18.
O-O-O Rxh4 19. Rxh4 Bxh4 20. Re1 {Now Black has the pawn, but is behind in
development. Bhakti's king is in the center, and the a5-knight is unprotected
and useless. She now chooses to do something about her king, but there's no
time to consolidate.} O-O 21. Na4 {[#]} Rd8 {A mistake, but the position is
already very difficult.} ({Here} 21... Bf6 {is met with} 22. Nh5 e4 23. Nxf6+
Qxf6 (23... gxf6 24. Qg3+ Kh8 (24... Kh7 25. Qc7+) 25. Rh1 Kh7 26. Qc7+ {
and White wins}) 24. Bxf6 exd3 25. Bc3 {and White has a tremendous advantage.
Look at that sad knight on a5!}) ({If} 21... e4 22. Qc3 {and a double attack.})
({The only move that does not lose immediately is} 21... Qd5 {, but White is
quite happy with} 22. Qc3 Re8 23. Rxe5 Qxe5 24. Qxe5 Rxe5 25. Bxe5 Be7 26. Bb8
{.}) 22. Qc3 Bg5 23. Rxe5 Qf7 24. Qxa5 {Crushing.} Bxd2+ 25. Qxd2 Rxd2 26. Kxd2
{White has too many pieces for the queen, and Tatev converted her advantage
well.} Qg6 27. Ne2 Kf7 28. Nf4 Qg5 29. g3 h5 30. Nc5 h4 31. Re3 Qh6 32. Nce6
Bxe6 33. Rxe6 Qg5 34. Rg6 Qd8+ 35. Ke2 Qe8+ 36. Kf1 Qe4 37. Rxg7+ Ke8 38. Bf6
Qh1+ 39. Ke2 Qe4+ 40. Kd2 Qb4+ 41. Kc1 h3 42. Nxh3 Qd6 43. Re7+ Kf8 44. Ng5
Qa3+ 45. Kb1 a6 46. Nh7+ Kg8 47. Rg7+ Kh8 48. Ng5 {With mate looming, Black
gave up. This was the final game of the match, and we were delighted to win it!
} 1-0

[Event "44th Olympiad"]
[Site "Chennai IND"]
[Date "2022.07.30"]
[Round "2.7"]
[White "Dominguez Perez Leinier"]
[Black "Cubas Jose Fernando"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B32"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2451"]
[Annotator "Donaldson"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2022.07.29"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Be7 7. N5c3 Nf6 8.
Na3 O-O 9. Nc2 Be6 10. Be2 Rc8 11. O-O a6 12. Be3 {[#]} Nd7 $6 (12... Na5 13.
b3 b5 14. Nd5 Bxd5 15. exd5 bxc4 16. b4 Nb7 17. Na3 a5) (12... Nb8 13. b3 (13.
Na3 Nc6 14. Rc1 h6 15. Nc2) 13... b5 14. Nb4 bxc4 15. Bxc4 Bxc4 16. bxc4 Rxc4
17. Qb3) 13. Qd2 Nc5 $2 14. b4 Nd7 15. Nd5 f5 16. exf5 Bxf5 {[#]} 17. b5 $1
Ncb8 18. Ncb4 Nc5 19. f3 h6 20. Nxe7+ Qxe7 21. Rad1 a5 22. Nd5 Qd8 23. Nc3 Ne6
24. Qd5 Re8 25. Qxb7 Nf4 26. Bxf4 exf4 27. Qd5+ Be6 28. Qd4 Nd7 29. Ne4 Bf7 30.
Rf2 Re5 31. Nxd6 1-0

[Event "44th Olympiad"]
[Site "Chennai IND"]
[Date "2022.07.31"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Levon Aronian"]
[Black "Mikheil Mchedlishvili"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2593"]
[Annotator "Donaldson"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2022.07.29"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,119,45,2,36,23,29,-25,4,-15,-29,-26,-8,-39,-29,-7,-8,-18,19,20,16,16,
16,15,15,31,26,23,22,27,34,19,24,36,55,35,32,16,44,20,26,36,21,23,31,18,16,16,
12,8,7,3,-4,0,-14,-19,-27,-30,-16,-23,-9,-16,0,4,8,-12,5,30,34,40,33,33,40,40,
43,24,24,6,12,0,12,0,0,0,21,31,31,31,33,31,31,52,33,40,68,89,95,84,90,76,96,87,
81,123,128,145,147,135,154,177,165,177,208,213,213,186,186,191,264,267,262,225]
} 1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 dxc4 {Black has several choices here
including} (4... g6 {and}) (4... e6) ({The most common move, trying to steer
the game into play akin to the London System, is} 4... Bf5 {but this is
precisely what White's opening moves sought to prevent. In earlier times it
was thought that} 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Qb3 {was very strong. Indeed, after} Qc8 (
6... Nc6 7. Qxb7 Bd7) 7. Nc3 e6 8. d3 Nc6 9. Bf4 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Rac1 Qd7
12. e4 $1 {White's position is very promising. In one of the first games with
this line Gideon Barcza defeated Vassily Smyslov in a historic game.} dxe4 13.
dxe4 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 Bxe4 15. Ne5 Nxe5 16. Bxe4 Nc6 17. Rfd1 Qc8 18. Qa4 (18. a4)
18... Rd8 19. Rxd8+ Qxd8 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21. Qxc6 h6 (21... a5 22. b3 Ba3 23. Rc4
Qd1+ $4 24. Kg2 Rd8 25. Bg5 Rd7 26. Qc8+ Bf8 27. Qxf8+ Kxf8 28. Rc8+ {1-0,
Donaldson Zichao Li, Edmonton 2007.}) (21... Bf6 22. b4 Bd4 23. Bd6 h5 24. a4
g6 25. Rc4 e5 26. b5 {and White had an winning advantage in Donaldson-Rey,
Berkeley 1999.}) 22. Be5 Bg5 23. Rc4 Qd1+ 24. Kg2 Rd8 25. Qf3 Qxf3+ 26. Kxf3
Bf6 27. Bxf6 gxf6 28. Ke3 {Barcza-Smyslov, Moscow Olympiad 1956 and White went
on to win.}) 5. O-O Nbd7 {Black has several choices here including} (5... Bf5 {
and}) (5... Be6 {, but the text, envisioning holding onto the pawn with ...Nb6
is by far the most popular move.}) (5... b5) 6. Qc2 Nb6 7. Na3 {[#]} Be6 (7...
Qd5 {was once popular by the gambit line commencing with 8.b3! has scored
heavily for White.} 8. b3 cxb3 9. axb3 Be6 (9... g6 10. Nc4 Nxc4 11. bxc4 Qh5
12. d3 Bg7 13. Ba3 c5 14. Bb2 O-O 15. Ra3 {and White had excellent Benko
Gambit like play for the pawn in Adams-Kanep, Gibraltar 2013.}) 10. b4 Qb3 11.
Qxb3 Bxb3 12. b5 c5 13. d3 Nfd7 14. Nd2 Bd5 15. e4 Be6 16. f4 f6 17. e5 Bd5 18.
e6 Bxe6 19. Bxb7 {with a large advantage for White in Timman-S. Ernst, Wijk
aan Zee 2012.}) 8. Ne5 h5 (8... Qd4 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bxc6+ Nfd7 (10... Kd8 11.
Nb5 Qc5 12. Bxa8 Nxa8 13. a4 a6 14. d3 axb5 15. Be3) 11. Bxa8 Nxa8 12. d3) 9.
Naxc4 (9. h4 Qd4 10. Nf3 Qe4 11. Qd1 Bg4 12. b3 cxb3 13. axb3 g6 14. Nc4 Nxc4
15. d3 Ne3 16. Bxe3 Qe6 17. Ng5 Qd7 18. Bxa7 Bg7 19. d4 O-O 20. Qd3 {is
evaluated as offering equal chances by Adrien Demuth in his The Modernized
Reti (2018), likely the best book on the subject.}) 9... Nxc4 10. Nxc4 h4 11.
Ne5 hxg3 12. hxg3 {[#]} Qd4 (12... Rc8 13. d4 {was Aronian-So, Leuven 2016.} (
13. Qa4 {may be even stronger.})) (12... Qc8 13. Rd1 (13. Nxc6 Bh3 14. Nb4 e5
15. Qxc8+ Rxc8 16. Bxh3 Rxh3 {gives Black active play for the pawn.}) 13... Bh3
14. Bf3 g6 15. b4 Bg7 16. Bb2 {favored White in Ding-Dubov, Lindores Abbey
Rapid 2020.}) 13. Qc3 Rd8 14. Qxd4 Rxd4 15. d3 a6 (15... Ng4 16. Nf3 Rd7 {
was another way to meet the threat of Be3 followed by capturing on a7.}) 16.
Bd2 Bh3 (16... g6 {looks more precise.}) 17. Rfc1 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 g6 19. Rc4 Rd5
(19... Rxc4 20. Nxc4 Bg7 21. Bc3 (21. Na5 Ng4) 21... Kd7 22. f4 Ne8 23. a4 Bxc3
24. bxc3 {with a slight advantage for White.}) 20. Bc3 Rh5 21. f4 Nd7 22. Nf3
e6 23. g4 Rh7 24. g5 Bd6 25. a4 Kd8 26. b3 {[#]} e5 27. fxe5 Nxe5 28. Bxe5 Bxe5
29. d4 Bc7 30. e4 Rd7 31. b4 {[#]} Rh8 (31... Bf4 32. b5 axb5 33. axb5 cxb5 34.
Rb4 Rc7 35. Rxb5 (35. Ra2 Rh5 36. Rxb5 f6 37. Rd5+ Ke7 38. gxf6+ Kxf6 39. Rxh5
gxh5) 35... Rc2+) 32. Rac1 Re8 33. e5 Bb6 34. Rh1 Rd5 35. Kg3 (35. a5 Ba7 36.
Rh7 Re7 37. Kf2 Red7 38. Ke3 Ke7 39. Rh8 Rd8) 35... Ke7 36. Kf4 Rdd8 37. Ke4
Rh8 38. Rcc1 Rxh1 (38... a5 39. Rxh8 Rxh8 40. Rb1 Bc7 41. bxa5 Rb8 42. Nd2 Bxa5
43. Nc4 Bc7 44. a5 Ke6 45. Rb3 Ke7 46. d5 cxd5+ 47. Kxd5 Rd8+ 48. Nd6 Rd7 49.
Rxb7 Bxa5 50. Rxd7+ Kxd7 51. Nxf7 Bd2 52. e6+ Ke8 53. Nh8 Bxg5 54. Nxg6 Bf6)
39. Rxh1 Rd5 40. Rh8 Rd8 41. Rh7 Ke6 {[#]} (41... Rd7) 42. a5 Ba7 43. Rh1 Ke7
44. Kd3 Ke6 45. Rh4 Ke7 46. Nd2 c5 (46... Ke6 47. Rf4 Ke7 48. Kc4 Rd7 49. Nb3
Rd8 50. Rf1 Rd7 51. Nc5 Bxc5 52. bxc5 Rd8 53. Rf6 Rd7 54. e6 fxe6 55. Rxg6 Kf7
56. Rh6 Rd5 57. Rh7+ Ke8 58. g6 Rg5 59. Rxb7 Rxg6 60. Rc7 e5 61. dxe5 Rg4+ 62.
Kd3 Ra4 63. Rxc6 Rxa5 64. Kc4 Ra1 65. Kd5 a5 66. Ra6) 47. bxc5 Bxc5 48. Kc3 Ba7
49. Nc4 Bb8 50. Kd3 Rd5 51. Ke4 Rb5 52. Rh8 Bc7 {[#]} 53. Ne3 Bxa5 54. Nd5+ Kd7
55. Rf8 Bd8 (55... Ke6 56. Nf6 Bb4 57. Re8+ Be7) 56. Nf6+ Kc8 57. Rxf7 a5 58.
e6 a4 59. e7 Bxe7 60. Rxe7 a3 (60... Kb8 61. Re5) 1-0

[Event "Chennai"]
[Site "lichess.org"]
[Date "2022.08.05"]
[Round "7"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Melkumyan, Hrant"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B11"]
[Annotator "Donaldson"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,55,19,38,60,73,60,24,72,69,33,26,77,14,66,53,49,39,45,51,48,55,100,36,
30,50,31,25,25,31,46,24,55,35,45,15,-21,-32,-45,-274,269,250,252,252,256,256,
269,297,281,263,243,253,383,419,508,541,544,551]} 1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 {The
Caro-Kann enjoys an excellent reputation these days among top players and is
proving a tough nut to crack. Here Wesley meets it with the Two Knights
variation, but with an eye to reaching a Carlsbad pawn structure. Better known
in American chess for many years as the Exchange Variation of the Queen's
Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.d4 d5 4.cxd5 exd5), this setup got its name from the
Carlsbad tournament of 1929 where it was played a number of times. While this
is true a number of others played it regularly before this, particularly Frank
Marshall.} (2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 {and}) (2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Ne5
{are two other ways to reach the same structure.}) 2... d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3
Bxf3 5. Qxf3 e6 6. Be2 Bc5 7. O-O Nd7 8. exd5 (8. Qg3 Bd4) 8... cxd5 9. Rd1
Ngf6 10. d4 {[#] Now we have the Carlsbad structure. White has the two bishops
but needs to spend the next few moves getting his minor pieces to the right
squares.} Be7 11. Bd3 O-O 12. Bf4 Nb8 13. Ne2 Nc6 14. c3 Re8 15. Re1 g6 16. Ng3
Nd7 {[#]} 17. Re3 $6 (17. Rad1 {or}) (17. Qe3 {would prevent Black's next move
and preserve a small advantage.}) 17... e5 $1 {This is a well-timed equalizing
move.} 18. Bh6 $2 ({This should lead to trouble. White should} 18. dxe5 Bc5 $11
19. e6 fxe6 20. Re2 {with equal chances.}) 18... e4 $4 ({Melkumyan was in
terrific form in Chenna. He had a 2713 performance to help lead Armenia to the
silver medals, but things might have gone even better had he spent some time
here instead of playing the following blunder after a minute's thought. With} 
18... Bf8 $1 19. Bxf8 e4 $1 20. Qd1 Rxf8 21. Bf1 f5 {Black wins no material
but has a clear positional advantage with his strong center.}) 19. Rxe4 {
[%cal Bd5e4]} Nf8 ({Wesley's point is that} 19... dxe4 {is met by} 20. Qxf7+ $1
{[#]} Kxf7 21. Bc4+ Kf6 22. Nxe4+ Kf5 23. g4+ Kxe4 24. Re1+ Kf3 25. Re3# {
Now Black's position quickly collapses.}) 20. Rf4 f5 {[#]} 21. Nxf5 $1 gxf5 22.
Rxf5 Qd6 23. Qg4+ Ng6 24. Rxd5 Qf6 ({Black can stop the attack with} 24... Qxd5
25. Bxg6 Kh8 26. Bxe8 Qg8 {but the cost would be steep as after} 27. Bd7 {
he would be four (!) pawns down in the endgame.}) 25. g3 Bf8 26. Rf5 Qe7 27.
Bc4+ Kh8 28. Bg5 ({The point is} 28. Bg5 Qd6 {is met by} 29. Rf6 Qb8 30. Rxg6
hxg6 31. Qh4+ {mating.}) 1-0

[Event "New York op"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "1994.??.??"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Lobron, Eric"]
[Black "Sjodahl, Pontus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D65"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[Annotator "Donaldson"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "1994.03.30"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,35,19,-14,7,-3,4,4,4,-7,17,33,37,2,39,20,51,51,43,53,48,45,39,55,58,
62,70,81,67,49,55,64,79,78,95,89,1587,1871]} 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4.
Bg5 Be7 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Rc1 O-O 7. Nf3 a6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bd3 c6 10. Qc2 Re8 11.
O-O Nf8 12. h3 g6 13. Rfe1 Ne6 14. Bh6 Ng7 15. Qb3 Nd7 16. e4 dxe4 17. Rxe4 Nf5
{[#]} 18. Qxf7+ $1 1-0

[Event "44th Olympiad"]
[Site "Chennai IND"]
[Date "2022.08.07"]
[Round "9.4"]
[White "Dimitrios Mastrovasilis"]
[Black "Fabiano Caruana"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2599"]
[BlackElo "2783"]
[Annotator "Donaldson"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2022.07.29"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,72,19,28,40,35,40,45,45,27,27,22,58,42,37,-2,-2,-2,23,6,1,10,20,-16,
18,3,-8,30,36,33,66,61,46,0,39,41,40,54,46,49,57,57,69,58,72,43,38,2,6,-134,
-134,-218,-298,-298,-370,-312,-312,-596,-596,-558,-316,-429,-361,-430,-431,
-406,-479,-505,-534,-524,-534,-527,-637,-645,-660]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4
cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5
f5 11. Bd3 Be6 12. O-O Bg7 13. Qh5 Rb8 14. c3 f4 15. Nc2 O-O 16. Ncb4 Nxb4 17.
Nxb4 Qb6 (17... Qc8) (17... Bd7 18. Nxa6 (18. Rfd1) (18. Rad1) 18... Rb6 19.
Nb4 d5 20. Nxd5 Rh6 21. Qf3 Qh4 (21... Qg5)) 18. Rad1 a5 (18... Kh8 19. Nd5 Qd8
20. Kh1 Rg8 21. Be2 Bf6 22. g3 Rg5 23. Qf3 Rg6 24. gxf4 Bxd5 25. exd5 exf4 26.
Qxf4 Be5) 19. Nd5 Qd8 20. Bc2 (20. Be2) 20... Kh8 21. Rd2 Rg8 22. Rfd1 {[#]}
Bh6 $1 23. h3 (23. Qxh6 Rg6 24. Qh5 Bg4) 23... Rg6 24. Qf3 (24. a3 Bg5 (24...
Qd7 25. Nf6 Rxf6 26. Rxd6 Qe8 27. Qxe5 Bg7)) 24... Qh4 25. Kf1 {[#]} Rxg2 $1
26. Kxg2 Rg8+ 27. Kf1 Bxh3+ 28. Ke1 Bg2 29. Rd3 Bxf3 30. Rxf3 Rg2 31. Ke2 Bg5
32. Rf1 Qg4 33. Bd1 {[#]} f5 34. Bc2 Rh2 35. exf5 Rh3 36. Be4 Rxf3 37. Bxf3
Qxf5 0-1

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk RUS"]
[Date "2007.12.04"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Wang Yue"]
[Black "Cheparinov, I...."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E87"]
[WhiteElo "2703"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[Annotator "Benjamin"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6k1/2p4p/6p1/3Pp3/2rqpP2/1Q3P2/N2p3P/1K5R w - - 0 36"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#] UNDER-PROMOTION} 36. d6 cxd6 37. fxe4 Qxe4+ 38. Kb2 Qxh1 39. Qxc4+ {
Thanks to White's 36th move this capture comes with check, but the d-pawn is
still out of control.} Kg7 40. Qe6 {White's try for a perpetual is brushed
aside in a pleasing manner} d1=N+ {[#]} 41. Kc2 {Otherwise Black's queen will
approach with checks, but now the Black knight comes back to defend and leaves
Black with a simply won endgame} Ne3+ 42. Kd3 Nf5 43. fxe5 Qf3+ 44. Kd2 Qf2+
45. Kd3 Qd4+ 46. Kc2 dxe5 47. Nc3 Qf2+ 48. Kb1 Qg1+ 49. Kb2 Qxh2+ 50. Ka3 Qg3
51. Kb4 Qf4+ 52. Ka5 Qd4 53. Nd5 Qc5+ 54. Ka4 Qd6 {The queens will be traded,
ending any hopes for a miracle} 0-1

[Event "Vugar Gashimov Mem 2019"]
[Site "Shamkir AZE"]
[Date "2019.04.08"]
[Round "8.4"]
[White "Topalov, V..."]
[Black "Ding Liren"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2740"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[Annotator "Benjamin"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5K2/4P2r/5k2/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 80"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2019.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 80. e8=N+ Kg6 81. Nd6 Rd7 82. Ne8 Rf7+ 83. Kg8 Ra7 84. Kf8 Rd7 85. Kg8
Rf7 86. Nd6 Rd7 87. Ne8 Kf5 88. Kf8 Kg5 89. Kg8 Kg6 90. Kf8 Rf7+ 91. Kg8 Rf1
92. Ng7 (92. Nc7) 92... Kf6 93. Nh5+ (93. Kf8 Rf2 94. Ne8+ Ke6+ 95. Kg8 Ke7 96.
Ng7 Re2 97. Kh7 Kf6 98. Nh5+ Kg5 99. Ng7 Re7) 93... Kg5 94. Ng7 Kg6 95. Ne8 Rf3
{[#]} 96. Ng7 $4 (96. Nc7) 96... Kf6 97. Nh5+ Ke6 (97... Kf5 98. Ng7+ Ke5 99.
Ne8 Ke6) 98. Kh7 (98. Kg7 $11) 98... Kf5 99. Ng7+ Kf6 100. Nh5+ Kg5 101. Ng7
Rh3+ 102. Kg8 Kf6 103. Ne8+ Ke6 104. Ng7+ Ke7 105. Nf5+ Kf6 106. Nd6 (106. Ng7
Rg3 107. Kh8 Kf7) 106... Rh5 107. Nf7 $2 (107. Ne4+ Ke6 108. Kg7) 107... Rd5
108. Nh6 Rd8+ 109. Kh7 Rd7+ 110. Kg8 0-1

[Event "World Senior Teams +50"]
[Site "Rhodes GRE"]
[Date "2019.04.20"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Benjamin, Joe"]
[Black "Garcia Palermo, C..."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2523"]
[BlackElo "2407"]
[Annotator "Benjamin"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r6k/8/6PP/5RK1/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 82"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2019.04.16"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 82. h7 (82. g7+ Kh7 83. Rf8 Rxf8) 1-0

[Event "Oakham"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1988.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Serper, G..."]
[Black "Navrotescu, C..."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C05"]
[Annotator "Benjamin"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/p2R4/1p4pk/rP5p/6rP/4R2K/6p1/8 b - - 0 46"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "1988.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 46... g1=R (46... g1=Q 47. Rh7+ Kxh7 48. Re7+ Kg8 49. Rg7+ Kf8 50. Rf7+)
0-1

[Event "Leningrad"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1972.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Reshko, A..."]
[Black "Kaminsky"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A29"]
[Annotator "Benjamin"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4Q3/Pq4pk/5p1p/5P1K/6PP/8/8/8 w - - 0 61"]
[PlyCount "21"]
[EventDate "1972.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 61. a8=B (61. a8=Q Qf7+ 62. Qxf7) (61. a8=N Qa7 $11 62. g5 hxg5 63. hxg5
fxg5) 61... Qb3 62. Qd7 Qg8 63. Bd5 Qf8 64. Bf7 Kh8 65. Qe8 Qxe8 66. Bxe8 Kh7
67. Bf7 Kh8 68. Kg6 h5 69. Kxh5 Kh7 70. Be8 Kg8 71. Kg6 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Saavedra position"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Benjamin"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/2P5/1K6/3r4/8/8/8/k7 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "12"]
[EventDate "1988.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 1... Rd6+ 2. Kb5 (2. Kb7 Rd7) (2. Kc5 Rd1) 2... Rd5+ 3. Kb4 Rd4+ 4. Kb3 (
4. Kc3 Rd1 5. Kc2) 4... Rd1 5. Kc2 Rd4 6. c8=R $3 {[#]} (6. c8=Q Rc4+ 7. Qxc4)
6... Ra4 7. Kb3 *

[Event "9th Sinquefield Cup TB"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.09.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "12.1 Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, I."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2022.09.11"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,67,22,-23,15,-40,-42,-42,-4,-16,-5,-16,-15,-28,4,-9,-21,1,4,14,18,9,
-30,12,-7,-7,-7,53,56,54,54,58,51,44,278,280,280,258,258,258,263,274,299,314,
493,486,483,483,519,300,308,259,263,256,298,245,244,261,250,259,270,266,278,
282,322,333,298,308,306,308]} 1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e5 3. Bg2 c6 4. Nf3 e4 5. Nd4 d5
6. cxd5 Qxd5 7. e3 Na6 8. d3 Bb4+ 9. Nc3 Bxc3+ 10. bxc3 Nc5 11. c4 Qe5 12. dxe4
Ncxe4 13. O-O c5 14. Nb3 O-O 15. f3 Nd6 16. e4 Qe7 {[#]} 17. e5 $1 {Winning a
piece.} Nxc4 (17... Qxe5 18. Bf4 {and the knight on d6 falls.}) 18. exf6 Qxf6
19. Qd5 Be6 20. Qxc5 {and White is winning.} h6 21. f4 Rad8 22. f5 b6 23. Qc7
Rc8 24. Qf4 Bd7 25. Qd4 Qxd4+ 26. Nxd4 Rfd8 27. Bf4 Ba4 28. Nf3 Bc2 29. g4 Nb2
30. Ne5 Ba4 31. Rac1 Rxc1 32. Rxc1 f6 33. Ng6 Nd3 34. Rc7 1-0

[Event "9th Sinquefield Cup 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.09.08"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "12.2 Aronian, L."]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, M."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2757"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2022.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,97,31,31,45,45,66,66,66,37,15,37,46,20,20,20,20,20,56,31,36,30,50,45,
59,-1,-17,24,28,46,40,-19,-7,-34,-15,-17,-30,-14,-19,-61,-63,-72,-34,-35,-18,
-32,49,40,37,43,50,50,43,43,37,53,40,50,56,46,50,55,48,55,72,38,49,49,63,25,11,
-16,-13,6,66,67,106,97,108,77,83,91,177,173,175,178,164,194,261,193,238,151,
215,220,222,280,277,277,567,775]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5.
Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3 h5 9. Nd5 Bxd5 10. exd5 Nbd7 11. Qd2 g6 12.
O-O-O Nb6 13. Kb1 Nbxd5 14. Bg5 Be7 15. Bd3 Qc7 16. Rhf1 Nh7 17. Bh6 Nhf6 18.
c4 Nb6 19. Bg7 Rg8 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 21. Na5 Kf8 22. Be4 Kg7 23. Qxd6 Rac8 24. Bxb7
Nxc4 25. Qxc7 Rxc7 26. Nxc4 Rxb7 27. Rfe1 Rgb8 28. b3 Rc7 29. Re4 Rc5 30. Rd7
Rbc8 31. Re1 R8c7 32. Red1 h4 33. h3 Bg5 34. a4 Bf4 35. a5 e4 36. R7d4 f5 37.
fxe4 Kh6 38. exf5 Rxf5 39. Rf1 Rcf7 40. b4 Kh5 {[#]} 41. Nd6 $1 {Aronian
forces a liquidation that results in an easily winning endgame.} Bxd6 42. Rxf5+
Rxf5 43. Rxd6 Rf4 ({Or} 43... Rb5 44. Rb6 {and White is winning.}) 44. Rb6 g5
45. Rb8 (45. b5 {also wins} Rb4+ 46. Kc2 axb5 47. Kc3 Ra4 48. Rxb5 Kh6 49. Kb3
Ra1 50. Rc5 {and White's king will assist the a-pawn to queen.}) 45... Rf1+ 46.
Kb2 Rf2+ 47. Kb3 Rxg2 48. b5 g4 49. Rh8+ {and Black resigned.} 1-0

[Event "9th Sinquefield Cup 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.09.03"]
[Round "2.5"]
[White "12.3 Caruana, F."]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, L."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2745"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2022.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 O-O
8. Qd2 Nd7 9. O-O-O Nf6 10. Bd3 Re8 11. h3 c5 12. g4 Qa5 13. a3 d5 14. c4 Qa4
15. c3 dxc4 16. Bc2 Qa6 17. g5 Nh5 18. Ne5 Be6 19. f4 Ng3 20. Rhe1 Nf5 21. Bxc5
Bxc5 22. Bxf5 Bxf5 23. Qd5 Bf2 24. Qxf7+ Kh8 25. Qxf5 Bxe1 26. Rxe1 Rf8 {[#]}
27. Qd7 $1 ({In the game, Caruana continued less accurately:} 27. Qe4 Rad8 28.
f5 b5 29. Nc6 Rc8 30. Ne7 Rce8 31. Qh4 {and while White still had an advantage,
most of it was gone and the game later ended in a draw.}) 27... Rxf4 28. Nf7+
Rxf7 29. Qxf7 Qg6 30. Qxg6 hxg6 31. Re4 {with a won endgame for White; Black's
poorly-paced king will riddle him with an impossible defensive task.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.08.29"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "12.4 Dominguez Perez, L."]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, I."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2022.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,62,22,19,46,39,66,28,39,23,39,37,85,74,75,64,69,49,58,9,8,-95,20,37,
25,19,19,22,59,51,77,66,46,-11,-6,-195,-176,-177,-133,-261,-188,-208,-211,-209,
-158,-310,-146,-147,-204,-203,-153,-155,-189,-157,-115,-220,-220,-919,-165,
-300,-297,-418,-429,-589,-593]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5.
Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Qc7 7. Qf3 b5 8. Nxc6 Qxc6 9. O-O-O Bb7 10. Qg3 Rc8 11. Bd3 b4
12. Ne2 Nf6 13. f3 h5 14. h4 g6 15. Bd4 Bg7 16. Nf4 Qc7 17. Kb1 {[#]} Nxe4 $1 (
{This is much stronger than} 17... e5 18. Nxg6 exd4 19. Qxc7 Rxc7 20. Nxh8 Bxh8
{which is clearly better for Black.}) 18. Bxe4 Bxe4 ({This is even stronger
than the game continuation which went} 18... Bxd4 19. Bxg6 Be5 20. Bxf7+ Kxf7
21. Qg6+ Kf8 22. g3 Rg8 23. Qh7 Rg7 24. Ng6+ Rxg6 25. Qxg6 Bg7 26. Rhe1 Kg8 27.
Rd2 Bxf3 28. Rf1 Qc6 29. Rdf2 Qe4 30. Qg5 Be2 31. Rc1 Qd4 {and White resigned.}
) 19. fxe4 Qxc2+ 20. Ka1 Bxd4 {and Black is winning.} 0-1

[Event "9th Sinquefield Cup 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.09.10"]
[Round "8.4"]
[White "12.5 Dominguez Perez, L."]
[Black "Mamedyarov, S."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2745"]
[BlackElo "2757"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2022.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,170,22,13,19,19,19,11,8,-6,-6,7,15,14,10,-11,-11,-6,2,-31,-12,13,19,
17,31,-17,-17,56,68,68,70,0,0,-9,-8,-23,-25,-63,-23,-66,16,-23,-6,24,20,0,61,5,
4,25,42,39,39,33,33,12,31,27,46,46,51,45,29,40,60,56,61,67,69,84,69,62,61,67,
61,65,68,52,84,67,79,68,76,72,84,100,99,99,97,93,99,89,108,112,106,109,113,109,
110,112,109,98,102,66,102,89,102,97,114,114,114,76,63,69,63,63,63,63,63,63,196,
214,207,201,209,187,220,221,250,233,229,229,229,229,229,232,232,232,242,223,
227,227,227,181,212,212,244,181,237,184,236,211,236,86,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,
0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5
7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Be7 10. Nbd2 Nc5 11. Bc2 d4 12. Nb3 d3 13. Bb1 Nxb3
14. axb3 Bf5 15. b4 O-O 16. h3 Qd7 17. Re1 Rfd8 18. Re3 h5 19. Ba2 Be6 20. Bb1
Bf5 21. Ba2 Be6 22. Bd2 g6 23. Bb1 Bf5 24. Ba2 Be6 25. Bxe6 Qxe6 26. Ne1 a5 27.
Nxd3 axb4 28. Rxa8 Rxa8 29. cxb4 Rd8 30. Qf1 Nd4 31. Bc3 Qf5 32. Ne1 c6 33. Qd3
Qd7 34. Qe4 Ne6 35. Rd3 Qc8 36. Rxd8+ Bxd8 37. Nd3 Be7 38. Kf1 Qd7 39. Ke2 Kf8
40. Bd2 Nd4+ 41. Kf1 Ke8 42. Be3 Ne6 43. Ke2 Kf8 44. Bc5 Bxc5 45. Nxc5 Nxc5 46.
bxc5 Qe6 47. b4 Qa2+ 48. Kf3 Qa3+ 49. Kf4 Qc1+ 50. Kg3 Qc3+ 51. Kh2 Qd2 52. Kg3
Qc3+ 53. f3 Kg7 54. h4 Qd2 {[#]} 55. e6 $1 ({In the game continuation,
Dominguez floundered and eventually failed to win the game.:} 55. Qf4 Qe1+ 56.
Kh2 Kg8 57. Qd4 Kh7 58. Qf4 Kg8 59. Qf6 Qxb4 60. e6 fxe6 61. Qxg6+ Kf8 62. Qf6+
Kg8 63. Qxe6+ Kg7 64. Qe5+ Kg8 65. Qe8+ Kg7 66. Qe7+ Kg8 67. Qe8+ Kg7 68. Qe5+
Kf8 69. Qf6+ Kg8 70. Qg5+ Kf8 71. Qxh5 Qf4+ 72. g3 Qd2+ 73. Kh3 b4 74. Qh8+ Kf7
75. Qh7+ Kf6 76. Qb7 Qe1 77. h5 Qe6+ 78. Kh4 Qc4+ 79. f4 Qd5 80. Qxb4 Qh1+ 81.
Kg4 Qd1+ 82. Kh3 Qh1+ 83. Kg4 Qd1+ 84. Kh3 Qh1+ 85. Kg4 Qd1+) 55... fxe6 56.
Qe5+ Kg8 ({Or} 56... Kh7 57. Qc7+ Kh6 58. Qf4+ Qxf4+ 59. Kxf4 Kg7 60. Ke5 Kf7
61. Kd6 {and White is winning the pawn ending.}) 57. Qb8+ Kh7 58. Qc7+ Kg8 59.
Qxc6 Qe1+ 60. Kf4 Qxb4+ 61. Kg5 Qd2+ 62. f4 {and White is winning.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "9th Sinquefield Cup 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.09.08"]
[Round "6.2"]
[White "12.6 Niemann, Hans Moke"]
[Black "So, W."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2688"]
[BlackElo "2771"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2022.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,118,31,31,25,22,44,32,32,32,32,-11,9,11,-10,-7,52,51,52,33,43,47,35,
38,45,41,39,55,27,1,6,-15,1,4,48,36,49,46,46,41,41,-43,-13,0,-32,-76,-44,-52,
-90,-105,-108,-101,-101,-99,-106,-83,-72,-110,-109,-114,-104,-100,-99,-99,-107,
-111,-102,-111,-107,-106,-109,-102,-107,-102,-95,-111,-110,-111,-110,-102,-100,
-110,-75,-86,-48,-65,-100,-84,-81,-92,-98,-116,-119,-119,-91,-121,-122,-123,
-122,-120,-135,-143,-146,-142,-140,-142,-141,-155,-158,-151,-178,-178,-188,
-184,-177,-218,-316,-321,-332,-449,-439]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3
Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bf5 7. O-O Be7 8. Re1 O-O 9. Nbd2 Nd6 10. Nf1 c6 11. Bf4
Bxd3 12. Qxd3 Na6 13. Ne3 Nc7 14. b3 Ne6 15. Be5 Ne4 16. c4 Nf6 17. Rad1 g6 18.
g3 a6 19. Re2 Re8 20. h4 Nh5 21. cxd5 cxd5 22. Ng2 f6 23. Bb8 Kf7 24. g4 Qxb8
25. gxh5 Nf4 26. Nxf4 Qxf4 27. hxg6+ hxg6 28. Rde1 Bd6 29. Rxe8 Rxe8 30. Rxe8
Qg4+ 31. Kf1 Kxe8 32. a4 Kf7 33. Qe3 Bf4 34. Qd3 Qh3+ 35. Ke2 Qe6+ 36. Kf1 Qe4
37. Qc3 Bd6 38. Kg2 Qg4+ 39. Kf1 Ke7 40. Ng1 Qf5 41. Qe3+ Qe4 42. Ke2 {[#]} Bh2
$1 43. Nf3 ({This allows Black to force White into a lost endgame.
Alternatively,} 43. Nh3 Kd6 44. Kf1 Qg4 45. Qd3 Kc7 {leaves White hopelessly
uncoordinated.}) 43... Bf4 $1 44. Qxe4+ dxe4 45. Ne1 Ke6 {White's hopeless
pawns decides the game in Black's favor.} 46. Ng2 Bb8 47. Ne3 Ba7 48. d5+ Kd6
49. Ng2 Ke5 50. d6 Kxd6 51. Nf4 g5 52. hxg5 fxg5 53. Nh3 g4 54. Ng5 Ke5 55.
Nf7+ Kf4 56. Kf1 Bb6 57. Nd6 Kf3 58. Nc4 Bxf2 59. Nd2+ Kf4 {and White resigned.
} 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.08.26"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "12.7 Nakamura, Hi"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A14"]
[WhiteElo "2768"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2022.08.26"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,98,22,20,20,20,10,10,6,-15,-1,12,3,-24,-12,-10,-11,2,14,-20,0,8,0,-15,
-1,-5,0,-9,-5,-5,-7,-7,-7,-25,-10,-10,6,0,18,14,50,-2,-11,-29,-18,-32,-34,-34,
3,-43,-42,-18,-36,-25,-29,-22,-11,-11,-19,-48,-49,-49,-59,-46,-56,-62,-43,-93,
-66,-66,-61,-61,-85,-106,-114,-113,-114,-156,-128,-113,-60,-81,-72,-71,-84,
-112,-111,-102,-99,-103,-50,-113,-120,-112,-111,-203,-179,-177,-186,-205,-226]
} 1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. b3 Be7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. g3 b6 7. Bg2 Bb7 8. O-O
c5 9. Qe2 Qc8 10. Nc3 Rd8 11. Rac1 Nc6 12. d3 d4 13. exd4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Bxg2
15. Kxg2 cxd4 16. Nb1 Qb7+ 17. Kg1 h5 18. Nd2 h4 19. gxh4 Rac8 20. Qf3 Qa6 21.
Kh1 Rc5 22. Rg1 Rf5 23. Qg2 Nh5 24. a3 Bxh4 25. Rcf1 g6 26. Ne4 Be7 27. Ng3
Nxg3+ 28. fxg3 b5 29. g4 Rxf1 30. Rxf1 bxc4 31. bxc4 e5 32. Bc1 Rb8 33. Qf3 Qb7
34. Kg2 Qxf3+ 35. Kxf3 Rb1 36. Ke2 f5 37. gxf5 gxf5 38. Kd2 Bxa3 39. c5 Bxc5
40. Rxf5 Bd6 41. Kc2 Rb7 42. h4 Rc7+ 43. Kd1 Rc3 44. Rf6 Ba3 {[#]} 45. Bd2 $3 (
{In the game, Nakamura failed to find the correct defense and lost after} 45.
Bg5 Rxd3+ 46. Ke2 Rh3 47. Rg6+ Kf7 48. Rf6+ Kg7 49. Kf2 Be7 {and White
resigned.}) 45... Rxd3 46. Kc2 $1 Rh3 47. Re6 $1 Rxh4 ({Or} 47... d3+ 48. Kb3
Rxh4 49. Rxe5 (49. Kxa3 Re4 50. Re7 {will also lead to a draw}) 49... Kf7 50.
Ra5 Be7 51. Rxa7 Ke6 52. Kc3 Rh3 {with a drawn endgame.}) 48. Rxe5 Rh2 49. Kd3
Kf7 50. Be1 Rh3+ 51. Kc4 Bd6 52. Ra5 {and Black will not be able to hang on to
his pawns.} 0-1

[Event "9th Sinquefield Cup 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.09.06"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "12.8 Mamedyarov, S."]
[Black "Caruana, F."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2757"]
[BlackElo "2758"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2022.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,85,31,22,22,6,6,15,13,18,33,18,26,-18,-18,-15,-6,-9,59,25,47,48,61,3,
28,24,24,39,37,41,38,51,48,4,21,11,22,35,28,23,37,-37,94,94,94,-24,-9,-37,-47,
-47,-47,-30,-22,-49,-15,-7,0,-7,-10,-7,-10,-18,-20,-17,-19,-19,-19,-25,-7,-53,
-39,-45,-45,-44,-33,-33,0,-19,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3
d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4 Ne4 7. Rc1 Qe7 8. Nd2 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Ba3 10.
Rb1 O-O 11. e3 g5 12. Bg3 f5 13. Be5 Nc6 14. f4 Nxe5 15. fxe5 f4 16. Bd3 fxe3
17. Nf1 c5 18. Nxe3 cxd4 19. cxd4 Bb4+ 20. Ke2 Qf7 {[#]} 21. Qg1 $1 ({The only
move.} 21. Bxh7+ Qxh7 22. Rxb4 b6 {is incredibly dangerous and probably lost
for White.}) 21... Bc3 $1 22. Rf1 $1 {The point behind the previous move and
once more White's only move.} Qxf1+ $1 23. Qxf1 ({White can also play} 23. Nxf1
{but has to find the only defense that works after} Bg4+ 24. Ke3 Rf4 {which is}
25. Bxh7+ $1 Kxh7 26. Kd3 $1 Rc8 27. Ng3 $1 Bb2 28. h3 $1 Rc3+ 29. Kd2 Bd1 $1 {
when the engines indicate that the position is equal.}) 23... Rxf1 24. Rxf1
Bxd4 25. Nf5 $1 Bxf5 26. Rxf5 Re8 27. Rxg5+ Kh8 28. Kf3 Rxe5 29. Rxe5 Bxe5 {
with a drawn endgame.} 30. h4 Kg7 31. Bc2 h6 32. Bb3 d4 33. Ke4 Bf6 34. g4 Kf8
35. g5 hxg5 36. hxg5 Bxg5 37. Kxd4 b5 38. a4 a6 39. axb5 axb5 40. Bc4 Be3+ 41.
Kxe3 bxc4 42. Kd4 c3 43. Kxc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "9th Sinquefield Cup 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.09.04"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "12.9 Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Niemann, Hans Moke"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2688"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2022.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,113,24,23,23,1,1,6,25,-11,-24,-23,-18,-21,-29,-24,-13,-18,-8,-9,-11,
-13,9,18,29,7,-1,10,15,-19,-12,-20,-16,-12,-12,-27,-48,-38,-35,-35,-48,-39,-19,
-19,-15,-33,-39,-35,-40,-36,-40,-60,-54,-51,-37,-55,-58,-88,-85,-66,-90,-96,
-84,-128,-140,-115,-90,-101,-97,-101,-88,-93,-93,-93,-91,-93,-82,-90,-98,-99,
-97,-108,-95,-111,-102,-124,-106,-115,-95,-99,-90,-98,-100,-104,-122,-91,-102,
-176,-150,-244,-197,-310,-305,-314,-337,-367,-377,-372,-374,-367,-387,-388,
-422,-422,-467,-510]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d5 6. a3
Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 dxc4 8. Nf3 c5 9. O-O cxd4 10. Qxd4 Nc6 11. Qxc4 e5 12. Bg5 h6
13. Rfd1 Be6 14. Rxd8 Bxc4 15. Rxa8 Rxa8 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Kf1 Rd8 18. Ke1 Na5
19. Rd1 Rc8 20. Nd2 Be6 21. c4 Bxc4 22. Nxc4 Rxc4 23. Rd8+ Kg7 24. Bd5 Rc7 25.
Ra8 a6 26. Rb8 f5 27. Re8 e4 28. g4 Rc5 29. Ba2 Nc4 30. a4 Nd6 31. Re7 fxg4 32.
Rd7 {[#]} e3 $1 ({This is much better than} 32... Nc4 {which also gives Black
a clear advantage.}) 33. fxe3 ({The knight cannot be captured:} 33. Rxd6 Rc1+
34. Rd1 exf2+ {and Black is winning.}) 33... Ne4 $1 {The point behind the
previous move: Black threatens 34...Rc1+ 35.Rd1 Rxd1+ 36.Kxd1 Nc3+, winning
the bishop on a2.} 34. Kf1 ({Or} 34. Rxf7+ Kg6 35. Kf1 Rc1+ 36. Kg2 Rc2 37. Bd5
Rxe2+ 38. Kf1 Rd2 {and Black is winning.}) 34... Rf5+ ({The controversial game
instead continued} 34... Rc1+ $2 35. Kg2 Rc2 36. Bxf7 Rxe2+ 37. Kg1 Re1+ 38.
Kg2 Re2+ 39. Kg1 Kf6 40. Bd5 Rd2 41. Rf7+ Kg6 42. Rd7 Ng5 43. Bf7+ Kf5 44. Rxd2
Nf3+ 45. Kg2 Nxd2 46. a5 Ke5 47. Kg3 Nf1+ 48. Kf2 Nxh2 49. e4 Kxe4 50. Be6 Kf4
51. Bc8 Nf3 52. Bxb7 Ne5 53. Bxa6 Nc6 54. Bb7 Nxa5 55. Bd5 h5 56. Bf7 h4 57.
Bd5 {and White resigned at the same time.}) 35. Kg2 b5 36. axb5 axb5 37. Bb1
Re5 {and Black has a large advantage.} 0-1

[Event "9th Sinquefield Cup TB"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.09.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "12.1 Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, I."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b2rk1/pp2qppp/3n1n2/2p5/2P1P3/1N3PP1/P5BP/R1BQ1RK1 w - - 0 17"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2022.09.11"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,67,22,-23,15,-40,-42,-42,-4,-16,-5,-16,-15,-28,4,-9,-21,1,4,14,18,9,
-30,12,-7,-7,-7,53,56,54,54,58,51,44,278,280,280,258,258,258,263,274,299,314,
493,486,483,483,519,300,308,259,263,256,298,245,244,261,250,259,270,266,278,
282,322,333,298,308,306,308] [#]} 17. e5 $1 {Winning a piece.} Nxc4 (17... Qxe5
18. Bf4 {and the knight on d6 falls.}) 18. exf6 Qxf6 19. Qd5 Be6 20. Qxc5 {
and White is winning.} h6 21. f4 Rad8 22. f5 b6 23. Qc7 Rc8 24. Qf4 Bd7 25. Qd4
Qxd4+ 26. Nxd4 Rfd8 27. Bf4 Ba4 28. Nf3 Bc2 29. g4 Nb2 30. Ne5 Ba4 31. Rac1
Rxc1 32. Rxc1 f6 33. Ng6 Nd3 34. Rc7 1-0

[Event "9th Sinquefield Cup 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.09.08"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "12.2 Aronian, L."]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, M."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2757"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/5r2/p5p1/P4r1k/1PNR1b1p/7P/6P1/1K3R2 w - - 0 41"]
[PlyCount "17"]
[EventDate "2022.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,97,31,31,45,45,66,66,66,37,15,37,46,20,20,20,20,20,56,31,36,30,50,45,
59,-1,-17,24,28,46,40,-19,-7,-34,-15,-17,-30,-14,-19,-61,-63,-72,-34,-35,-18,
-32,49,40,37,43,50,50,43,43,37,53,40,50,56,46,50,55,48,55,72,38,49,49,63,25,11,
-16,-13,6,66,67,106,97,108,77,83,91,177,173,175,178,164,194,261,193,238,151,
215,220,222,280,277,277,567,775] [#]} 41. Nd6 $1 {Aronian forces a liquidation
that results in an easily winning endgame.} Bxd6 42. Rxf5+ Rxf5 43. Rxd6 Rf4 ({
Or} 43... Rb5 44. Rb6 {and White is winning.}) 44. Rb6 g5 45. Rb8 (45. b5 {
also wins} Rb4+ 46. Kc2 axb5 47. Kc3 Ra4 48. Rxb5 Kh6 49. Kb3 Ra1 50. Rc5 {
and White's king will assist the a-pawn to queen.}) 45... Rf1+ 46. Kb2 Rf2+ 47.
Kb3 Rxg2 48. b5 g4 49. Rh8+ {and Black resigned.} 1-0

[Event "9th Sinquefield Cup 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.09.03"]
[Round "2.5"]
[White "12.3 Caruana, F."]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, L."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2745"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r4r1k/pp4pp/q7/4NQP1/2p2P2/P1P4P/1P6/2K1R3 w - - 0 27"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2022.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 27. Qd7 $1 ({In the game, Caruana continued less accurately:} 27. Qe4
Rad8 28. f5 b5 29. Nc6 Rc8 30. Ne7 Rce8 31. Qh4 {and while White still had an
advantage, most of it was gone and the game later ended in a draw.}) 27... Rxf4
28. Nf7+ Rxf7 29. Qxf7 Qg6 30. Qxg6 hxg6 31. Re4 {with a won endgame for White;
Black's poorly-paced king will riddle him with an impossible defensive task.}
1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.08.29"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "12.4 Dominguez Perez, L."]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, I."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r1k2r/1bqp1pb1/p3pnp1/7p/1p1BPN1P/3B1PQ1/PPP3P1/1K1R3R b k - 0 17"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[EventDate "2022.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,62,22,19,46,39,66,28,39,23,39,37,85,74,75,64,69,49,58,9,8,-95,20,37,
25,19,19,22,59,51,77,66,46,-11,-6,-195,-176,-177,-133,-261,-188,-208,-211,-209,
-158,-310,-146,-147,-204,-203,-153,-155,-189,-157,-115,-220,-220,-919,-165,
-300,-297,-418,-429,-589,-593] [#]} 17... Nxe4 $1 ({This is much stronger than
} 17... e5 18. Nxg6 exd4 19. Qxc7 Rxc7 20. Nxh8 Bxh8 {which is clearly better
for Black.}) 18. Bxe4 Bxe4 ({This is even stronger than the game continuation
which went} 18... Bxd4 19. Bxg6 Be5 20. Bxf7+ Kxf7 21. Qg6+ Kf8 22. g3 Rg8 23.
Qh7 Rg7 24. Ng6+ Rxg6 25. Qxg6 Bg7 26. Rhe1 Kg8 27. Rd2 Bxf3 28. Rf1 Qc6 29.
Rdf2 Qe4 30. Qg5 Be2 31. Rc1 Qd4 {and White resigned.}) 19. fxe4 Qxc2+ 20. Ka1
Bxd4 {and Black is winning.} 0-1

[Event "9th Sinquefield Cup 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.09.10"]
[Round "8.4"]
[White "12.5 Dominguez Perez, L."]
[Black "Mamedyarov, S."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2745"]
[BlackElo "2757"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/5pk1/2p3p1/1pP1P2p/1P2Q2P/5PK1/3q2P1/8 w - - 0 55"]
[PlyCount "15"]
[EventDate "2022.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,170,22,13,19,19,19,11,8,-6,-6,7,15,14,10,-11,-11,-6,2,-31,-12,13,19,
17,31,-17,-17,56,68,68,70,0,0,-9,-8,-23,-25,-63,-23,-66,16,-23,-6,24,20,0,61,5,
4,25,42,39,39,33,33,12,31,27,46,46,51,45,29,40,60,56,61,67,69,84,69,62,61,67,
61,65,68,52,84,67,79,68,76,72,84,100,99,99,97,93,99,89,108,112,106,109,113,109,
110,112,109,98,102,66,102,89,102,97,114,114,114,76,63,69,63,63,63,63,63,63,196,
214,207,201,209,187,220,221,250,233,229,229,229,229,229,232,232,232,242,223,
227,227,227,181,212,212,244,181,237,184,236,211,236,86,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,
0,0,0,0,0,0,0] [#]} 55. e6 $1 ({In the game continuation, Dominguez floundered
and eventually failed to win the game.:} 55. Qf4 Qe1+ 56. Kh2 Kg8 57. Qd4 Kh7
58. Qf4 Kg8 59. Qf6 Qxb4 60. e6 fxe6 61. Qxg6+ Kf8 62. Qf6+ Kg8 63. Qxe6+ Kg7
64. Qe5+ Kg8 65. Qe8+ Kg7 66. Qe7+ Kg8 67. Qe8+ Kg7 68. Qe5+ Kf8 69. Qf6+ Kg8
70. Qg5+ Kf8 71. Qxh5 Qf4+ 72. g3 Qd2+ 73. Kh3 b4 74. Qh8+ Kf7 75. Qh7+ Kf6 76.
Qb7 Qe1 77. h5 Qe6+ 78. Kh4 Qc4+ 79. f4 Qd5 80. Qxb4 Qh1+ 81. Kg4 Qd1+ 82. Kh3
Qh1+ 83. Kg4 Qd1+ 84. Kh3 Qh1+ 85. Kg4 Qd1+) 55... fxe6 56. Qe5+ Kg8 ({Or} 
56... Kh7 57. Qc7+ Kh6 58. Qf4+ Qxf4+ 59. Kxf4 Kg7 60. Ke5 Kf7 61. Kd6 {
and White is winning the pawn ending.}) 57. Qb8+ Kh7 58. Qc7+ Kg8 59. Qxc6 Qe1+
60. Kf4 Qxb4+ 61. Kg5 Qd2+ 62. f4 {and White is winning.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "9th Sinquefield Cup 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.09.08"]
[Round "6.2"]
[White "12.6 Niemann, Hans Moke"]
[Black "So, W."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2688"]
[BlackElo "2771"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/1p2k3/p2b1pp1/3p4/P2Pq2P/1P2Q3/4KP2/6N1 b - - 0 42"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2022.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,118,31,31,25,22,44,32,32,32,32,-11,9,11,-10,-7,52,51,52,33,43,47,35,
38,45,41,39,55,27,1,6,-15,1,4,48,36,49,46,46,41,41,-43,-13,0,-32,-76,-44,-52,
-90,-105,-108,-101,-101,-99,-106,-83,-72,-110,-109,-114,-104,-100,-99,-99,-107,
-111,-102,-111,-107,-106,-109,-102,-107,-102,-95,-111,-110,-111,-110,-102,-100,
-110,-75,-86,-48,-65,-100,-84,-81,-92,-98,-116,-119,-119,-91,-121,-122,-123,
-122,-120,-135,-143,-146,-142,-140,-142,-141,-155,-158,-151,-178,-178,-188,
-184,-177,-218,-316,-321,-332,-449,-439] [#]} 42... Bh2 $1 43. Nf3 ({This
allows Black to force White into a lost endgame. Alternatively,} 43. Nh3 Kd6
44. Kf1 Qg4 45. Qd3 Kc7 {leaves White hopelessly uncoordinated.}) 43... Bf4 $1
44. Qxe4+ dxe4 45. Ne1 Ke6 {White's hopeless pawns decides the game in Black's
favor.} 46. Ng2 Bb8 47. Ne3 Ba7 48. d5+ Kd6 49. Ng2 Ke5 50. d6 Kxd6 51. Nf4 g5
52. hxg5 fxg5 53. Nh3 g4 54. Ng5 Ke5 55. Nf7+ Kf4 56. Kf1 Bb6 57. Nd6 Kf3 58.
Nc4 Bxf2 59. Nd2+ Kf4 {and White resigned.} 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.08.26"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "12.7 Nakamura, Hi"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A14"]
[WhiteElo "2768"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6k1/p7/5R2/4p3/3p3P/b1rP4/8/2BK4 w - - 0 45"]
[PlyCount "15"]
[EventDate "2022.08.26"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,98,22,20,20,20,10,10,6,-15,-1,12,3,-24,-12,-10,-11,2,14,-20,0,8,0,-15,
-1,-5,0,-9,-5,-5,-7,-7,-7,-25,-10,-10,6,0,18,14,50,-2,-11,-29,-18,-32,-34,-34,
3,-43,-42,-18,-36,-25,-29,-22,-11,-11,-19,-48,-49,-49,-59,-46,-56,-62,-43,-93,
-66,-66,-61,-61,-85,-106,-114,-113,-114,-156,-128,-113,-60,-81,-72,-71,-84,
-112,-111,-102,-99,-103,-50,-113,-120,-112,-111,-203,-179,-177,-186,-205,-226]
[#]} 45. Bd2 $3 ({In the game, Nakamura failed to find the correct defense and
lost after} 45. Bg5 Rxd3+ 46. Ke2 Rh3 47. Rg6+ Kf7 48. Rf6+ Kg7 49. Kf2 Be7 {
and White resigned.}) 45... Rxd3 46. Kc2 $1 Rh3 47. Re6 $1 Rxh4 ({Or} 47... d3+
48. Kb3 Rxh4 49. Rxe5 (49. Kxa3 Re4 50. Re7 {will also lead to a draw}) 49...
Kf7 50. Ra5 Be7 51. Rxa7 Ke6 52. Kc3 Rh3 {with a drawn endgame.}) 48. Rxe5 Rh2
49. Kd3 Kf7 50. Be1 Rh3+ 51. Kc4 Bd6 52. Ra5 {and Black will not be able to
hang on to his pawns.} 0-1

[Event "9th Sinquefield Cup 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.09.06"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "12.8 Mamedyarov, S."]
[Black "Caruana, F."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2757"]
[BlackElo "2758"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b2rk1/pp3q1p/8/3pP1p1/1b1P4/3BN3/P3K1PP/1R1Q3R w - - 0 21"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "2022.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,85,31,22,22,6,6,15,13,18,33,18,26,-18,-18,-15,-6,-9,59,25,47,48,61,3,
28,24,24,39,37,41,38,51,48,4,21,11,22,35,28,23,37,-37,94,94,94,-24,-9,-37,-47,
-47,-47,-30,-22,-49,-15,-7,0,-7,-10,-7,-10,-18,-20,-17,-19,-19,-19,-25,-7,-53,
-39,-45,-45,-44,-33,-33,0,-19,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0] [#]} 21. Qg1 $1 ({The only
move.} 21. Bxh7+ Qxh7 22. Rxb4 b6 {is incredibly dangerous and probably lost
for White.}) 21... Bc3 $1 22. Rf1 $1 {The point behind the previous move and
once more White's only move.} Qxf1+ $1 23. Qxf1 ({White can also play} 23. Nxf1
{but has to find the only defense that works after} Bg4+ 24. Ke3 Rf4 {which is}
25. Bxh7+ $1 Kxh7 26. Kd3 $1 Rc8 27. Ng3 $1 Bb2 28. h3 $1 Rc3+ 29. Kd2 Bd1 $1 {
when the engines indicate that the position is equal.}) 23... Rxf1 24. Rxf1
Bxd4 25. Nf5 $1 Bxf5 26. Rxf5 Re8 27. Rxg5+ Kh8 28. Kf3 Rxe5 29. Rxe5 Bxe5 {
with a drawn endgame.} 30. h4 Kg7 31. Bc2 h6 32. Bb3 d4 33. Ke4 Bf6 34. g4 Kf8
35. g5 hxg5 36. hxg5 Bxg5 37. Kxd4 b5 38. a4 a6 39. axb5 axb5 40. Bc4 Be3+ 41.
Kxe3 bxc4 42. Kd4 c3 43. Kxc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "9th Sinquefield Cup 2022"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2022.09.04"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "12.9 Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Niemann, Hans Moke"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2688"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/1p1R1pk1/p2n3p/2r5/P3p1p1/8/B3PP1P/4K3 b - - 0 32"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[EventDate "2022.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,113,24,23,23,1,1,6,25,-11,-24,-23,-18,-21,-29,-24,-13,-18,-8,-9,-11,
-13,9,18,29,7,-1,10,15,-19,-12,-20,-16,-12,-12,-27,-48,-38,-35,-35,-48,-39,-19,
-19,-15,-33,-39,-35,-40,-36,-40,-60,-54,-51,-37,-55,-58,-88,-85,-66,-90,-96,
-84,-128,-140,-115,-90,-101,-97,-101,-88,-93,-93,-93,-91,-93,-82,-90,-98,-99,
-97,-108,-95,-111,-102,-124,-106,-115,-95,-99,-90,-98,-100,-104,-122,-91,-102,
-176,-150,-244,-197,-310,-305,-314,-337,-367,-377,-372,-374,-367,-387,-388,
-422,-422,-467,-510] [#]} 32... e3 $1 ({This is much better than} 32... Nc4 {
which also gives Black a clear advantage.}) 33. fxe3 ({The knight cannot be
captured:} 33. Rxd6 Rc1+ 34. Rd1 exf2+ {and Black is winning.}) 33... Ne4 $1 {
The point behind the previous move: Black threatens 34...Rc1+ 35.Rd1 Rxd1+ 36.
Kxd1 Nc3+, winning the bishop on a2.} 34. Kf1 ({Or} 34. Rxf7+ Kg6 35. Kf1 Rc1+
36. Kg2 Rc2 37. Bd5 Rxe2+ 38. Kf1 Rd2 {and Black is winning.}) 34... Rf5+ ({
The controversial game instead continued} 34... Rc1+ $2 35. Kg2 Rc2 36. Bxf7
Rxe2+ 37. Kg1 Re1+ 38. Kg2 Re2+ 39. Kg1 Kf6 40. Bd5 Rd2 41. Rf7+ Kg6 42. Rd7
Ng5 43. Bf7+ Kf5 44. Rxd2 Nf3+ 45. Kg2 Nxd2 46. a5 Ke5 47. Kg3 Nf1+ 48. Kf2
Nxh2 49. e4 Kxe4 50. Be6 Kf4 51. Bc8 Nf3 52. Bxb7 Ne5 53. Bxa6 Nc6 54. Bb7 Nxa5
55. Bd5 h5 56. Bf7 h4 57. Bd5 {and White resigned at the same time.}) 35. Kg2
b5 36. axb5 axb5 37. Bb1 Re5 {and Black has a large advantage.} 0-1

[Event "Reggio Emilia 9293 35th"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Manca, Federico"]
[Black "Braga, Fernando Alberto"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "2390"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "1992.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,39,19,38,25,5,75,61,61,54,39,33,16,26,72,52,36,3,0,-83,-63,-159,-119,
-93,-82,-142,-142,-176,-92,-92,-94,-72,-72,-146,-149,-364,-140,-360,-360,-222,
29993,29994]} 1. e4 e5 2. d4 d6 3. Nf3 Nf6 {[#]} 4. dxe5 Nxe4 5. Qd5 Nc5 6. Bg5
Qd7 7. Nc3 c6 8. Qd2 dxe5 9. Qe3 f6 10. Bc4 Qf5 11. O-O-O Be6 12. g4 Qxg4 13.
Bxe6 Nxe6 14. Rhg1 Qc4 15. Nxe5 fxe5 16. Qxe5 Nd7 17. Rxd7 Kxd7 18. Rd1+ Kc8
19. Nd5 Qg4 (19... cxd5) 20. Qc7+ {[#]} 1-0

[Event "ABC-380"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Problem 1"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r4/1k6/6q1/8/3n4/2P1N3/PP2bQ2/R1K5 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "1992.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "ABC-380"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Problem 2"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/7k/7q/7b/7Q/4N3/8/4KB2 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "1992.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "ABC-380"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Problem 3"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/8/2b2N2/3q4/2k1pP2/2B3P1/3Q1K2 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "1992.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "ABC-380"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Problem 4"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "7b/7q/8/7b/4Q3/5P2/2k2P2/4KR2 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "1992.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "ABC-380"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Problem 5"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/7k/6qb/8/b2Q4/4N3/8/2K4R b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "1992.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "ABC-380"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Problem 6"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r7/6k1/6b1/n7/1p6/8/1PBR4/2KN4 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "1992.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "Internet (blitz) Position 10"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "NN"]
[Black "Hurtado, Philip"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Watson"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4k3/1R3p1p/8/3PKp2/8/3P2Pr/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "15"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 1. Kd6 $1 (1. Kf4 $2 h5 2. d6 h4 {Even if Black loses both f-pawns it's
a draw.} 3. Re7+ Kd8 4. gxh4 Rxh4+ 5. Ke5 f4 6. Rxf7 Rh3 7. d4 Re3+ 8. Kxf4 Re6
9. d7 Re1 {is an easy draw}) (1. d6 $2 Rxg3 2. d7+ Kd8) 1... Kf8 $1 (1... Rh6+
2. Kc7 Ke7 3. Rb1 $1 Ra6 4. Re1+ Kf6 5. d6 {and White escorts the pawn in.}) 2.
Kc6 $1 Rxg3 3. Rb8+ Kg7 4. Rb3 $1 Rg1 5. d6 Rc1+ 6. Kd5 Kf6 7. Rb8 $1 Rd1 8. d4
{and d7-d8 follows} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.10.16"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Experience Intuition pg382"]
[Black "1g7"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Watson"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1r2q1kr/pp5p/2p2QP1/8/4P3/2N5/PPP3PP/R5K1 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]}  *

[Event "National Open - 30 Board Simul"]
[Site "Riviera - Las Vegas, NV"]
[Date "1998.03.26"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Benjamin, Joel"]
[Black "Woodworth, Bob"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[Annotator "Woodworth"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "1998.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Dec 2022"]
[SourceDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.12.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,90,31,25,37,49,59,50,50,46,46,46,87,87,133,100,102,108,95,79,78,89,
115,89,103,64,59,60,51,24,31,29,61,56,80,16,32,32,19,28,21,24,32,26,32,37,50,
52,74,64,77,63,96,133,133,42,61,27,9,12,54,27,21,25,37,44,30,34,32,28,38,20,25,
36,92,28,43,35,72,7,36,37,10,-231,-231,-492,-151,-210,-187,-295,-309,-338,-282]
} 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bc4 Bg4 6. Nge2 c6 7. O-O e6 8.
f3 {Weakening the kingside to break the pin.} Bf5 9. Bf4 Qb4 {Gaining a tempo
on the c4-bishop by NOT losing a move to the attack on the queen by White's
ninth move.} 10. Bb3 Be7 ({Fortunately I saw that} 10... Bd6 $2 {lost to} 11.
a3 $1 {.}) 11. Ng3 Bg6 12. Nce4 Nbd7 13. c3 Qb6 14. Nd6+ Bxd6 15. Bxd6 O-O-O
16. Qe2 Rhe8 17. Kh1 c5 18. Bf4 Nd5 19. Bxd5 exd5 20. Qd2 c4 {Gaining control
of the vital d3-square.} 21. Rfe1 f6 22. Nf1 Nf8 23. Bg3 Ne6 24. Ne3 Bd3 25. b3
Rd7 26. bxc4 dxc4 27. a4 Qa5 {This attacks and blocks the a-pawn, pressures
the backward c-pawn, and connects the queen to the kingside.} 28. Qb2 Nc7 29.
Qa3 {pass} Red8 30. Rac1 b6 31. Nd1 Nb5 32. Qa1 Nd6 33. Nb2 Nf5 34. Bf2 Rc7 35.
Nxd3 cxd3 36. Red1 Rc4 {My idea is to be able to get this rook to the second
rank in two moves.} 37. Rxd3 Rxa4 38. Qb1 Ra2 39. Kg1 Re8 40. Rf1 {[#]} ({If} 
40. Re1 Rxe1+ 41. Qxe1 ({not} 41. Bxe1 $2 Ra1) 41... Ra1 42. Rd1 Rxd1 43. Qxd1
Qxc3 {and Black is better.}) 40... Ree2 $1 {MY BEST MOVE, made with the very
serious threat of 41...Rxf2 42.Rxf2 Ra1.} 41. Rdd1 ({The only move for White is
} 41. Qb3 $1 {, removing the queen from the first rank, and looking for checks
via the g8-square. It's understandable that Benjamin might miss it, moving so
quickly around the room.}) 41... Ne3 42. Qxh7 ({Checkmate follows after} 42.
Bxe3 Rxg2+ 43. Kh1 Rxh2+ 44. Kg1 Rag2#) 42... Qg5 43. Qh3+ f5 44. f4 Qg4 45.
Qxg4 fxg4 0-1

