[Event "US Senior Open 2024"] [White "Fishbein,Alexander"] [Black "Gilruth,Peter"] [Site ""] [Round "5"] [Annotator "PGilruth"] [Result "1-0"] [Date "2024.07.14"] [WhiteElo "2350"] [PlyCount "53"] {Playing Alex for the 3rd time (1-1 up until this date) was exciting. After my last game in which he killed me with the Marcozy Bind against my Dragon, he told me that he had prepared a special line against my Caro-Kann.} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qd3 $5 {So this was his prep, I guess. It most certainly worked against me. A famous game is (23299) Reti,Richard - Tartakower,Saviely [B15] Vienna Vienna, 1910. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Qd3 e5 6.dxe5 Qa5+ 7.Bd2 Qxe5 8.0–0–0 Nxe4 9.Qd8+ Kxd8 10.Bg5+ Kc7 11.Bd8# 1–0} Nxe4 6. Qxe4 Qd5 {I go for simplicity, with Qs off the board. The lesson to learn here is that White maintains a slight advantage based on his pawn in the center and better development.} 7. Bd3 Qxe4+ (7... Nd7 8. Nf3 Nf6 9. Qe3 $14 )8. Bxe4 Nd7 {and here I thought for a while on how best to get equality. Fianchettoing my Black Bishop comes with the idea of ...e5 which I never get.} (8... Be6 {and 9...Bd5 is playable.} )9. Nf3 g6 (9... Nf6 10. Bd3 Bg4 11. Ne5 $14 )10. O-O Bg7 11. Re1 O-O 12. c3 Re8 (12... e5 $5 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Bxe5 15. Bxg6 $16 )13. Bc2 $1 {13....e5 walks into a pin that is hard to break. So, I changed my mind. ...b6 and Bb7 was another option.} Nb6 (13... c5 14. Ba4 cxd4 )14. h4 Bf5 15. Bb3 Nd5 16. Bg5 h6 $6 {Fishbein says this was a mistake. I should have play 16....Bf6 when he would not have doubled my f pawns. But I was afraid of the same because of the ending I would face.} (16... Bf6 17. Bxf6 exf6 )17. Bd2 Be6 18. Ne5 Kh7 19. Bc2 Bxe5 $2 {Now White gets everything. Maybe 19....Bf5 ? Strangely, this is Fritz' top move!} 20. Rxe5 Kg7 21. Rae1 $16 Nb6 $2 {the losing move.} 22. Rxe6 $1 fxe6 23. Rxe6 Kf7 24. Rxg6 Nc4 $6 (24... Rg8 25. Rxh6 Rh8 26. Rg6 Rag8 {may have held out a little longer, but Black is busted.} )25. Bxh6 Nxb2 26. Rg3 Rh8 27. Bb3+ {I never reached equality in this game. After my win against Matera, this game brought me quickly down to Earth.} 1-0