[Event "2025 WA Winter Classic"] [Site "?"] [Date "2025.12.20"] [Round "1"] [Board "15"] [White "Harwood"] [Black "Lu, Karson"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Harwood,Paul"] [ECO "C36"] [WhiteElo "1857"] [BlackElo "2035"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "93"] [GameId "2257264684703813"] [EventDate "2002.08.13"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2013.12.29"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,93,20,21,21,-4,-7,-17,-16,-15,-26,-22,33,37,61,46,186,195,221,125,189,168,137,198,187,191,278,225,422,389,512,497,488,442,555,515,562,605,561,508,524,344,374,392,392,328,300,324,343,235,309,283,552,327,326,343,357,292,292,315,304,324,336,367,396,412,436,425,433,396,468,481,467,485,559,580,597,520,541,550,552,598,582,551,587,585,586,563,554,568,651,663,639,760,1536,1610]} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 {The Falkbeer Counter-Gambit. This is a common reply to the King's Gambit but i was hoping my opponent (8-years old) did not have a lot of experience with it.} 3. exd5 exf4 4. Nf3 {Only move really. I have to stop Qh4 ideas.} Nf6 5. c4 {Protecting d5 and preparing Nc3.} h6 $6 {Trying to hold the f-pawn with g5. Better was c6 to attack the center pawn structure.} 6. Nc3 g5 7. d4 {[#]White already has a major pawn majority in the center with ideas of castling long.} g4 $4 $146 {Too early. Black's pieces are undeveloped. g4 only helps get my knight to a better square.} (7... Bg7 8. Qe2+ Kf8 9. h4 Nh5 10. Ne4 g4 11. Ne5 f5 12. Nc5 Ng3 13. Ne6+ Bxe6 14. Ng6+ Kg8 15. Qxe6+ Kh7 16. Nxh8 Kxh8 17. Rh2 Nc6 18. Bxf4 Nxd4 19. Qf7 Nc2+ 20. Kd2 Nxa1 21. Bxg3 c6 22. Bc7 Qc8 23. Bd3 cxd5 24. cxd5 Bxb2 25. Rh1 b5 26. Re1 Qa6 27. Re6 Bc3+ 28. Kxc3 Qa3+ 29. Kd2 Qb2+ 30. Ke3 Nc2+ 31. Bxc2 Qc3+ 32. Bd3 Qe1+ 33. Kd4 Qa1+ 34. Kc5 Qc3+ 35. Kd6 Qb4+ 36. Kd7 {1-0 Nepomniachtchi,I (2792)-Martinez Alcantara,J (2591) Chess.com Rapid Wk24 Swiss Chess.com INT 2022 (4)}) 8. Ne5 Nh5 $2 {Another mysterious move. Black intends Qh4+ but that isn't enough of a threat to be overly concerned with.} 9. Nxg4 $6 {While not wrong, I need to focus on move square control. Grabbing a pawn is not needed given my enormous development advantage.} (9. Qe2 {[%CAl Ge2e8]} Qe7 (9... Qh4+ 10. g3 Qe7 11. Bxf4 Nxf4 12. gxf4 Qh4+ 13. Kd2 $18) 10. Bd2 Bf5 11. O-O-O Nd7 12. Nxg4 {Now I can take it.} O-O-O 13. Ne5 Bg6 14. Nxg6 fxg6 15. Qd3 Qf6 16. c5 $18) 9... Qe7+ (9... Qh4+) 10. Kd2 (10. Ne5 Qh4+ 11. Kd2 Bg7 12. Qe1 Qe7 13. Bd3 Bxe5 14. Qxe5 Qxe5 15. dxe5 $18) 10... Rg8 11. Ne5 Nf6 (11... Rg5 12. Kc2 Bg7 13. Nf3 $18) 12. Qf3 Bg4 $2 13. Qxf4 (13. Nxg4 Nxg4 14. Kc2 Ne3+ 15. Bxe3 Qxe3 16. Qxe3+ fxe3 17. Re1 Bg7 18. Rxe3+ $18) 13... h5 14. Bd3 Rh8 {[%csl Rd2,Rf4][%CAl Gf8h6,Gh6d2] ?Bh6} 15. Kc2 {Not only avoiding Bh6 but also opening the c1-hi diagonal for my bishop.} Na6 {Nb4+ would be annoying as it would deprive me of my valuable light-squared bishop. There is no reason for me to allow that.} 16. a3 {White is winning but I need to stop any counterplay.} O-O-O 17. Rf1 ({The most direct approach should be} 17. h3 {creating immediate pressure and forcing Black to retreat.} Bd7 18. Re1 $1 {[%csl Ye7][%CAl Ge1e7]} Rg8 19. Re2 Be8 20. Qf3 Kb8 21. Bf4 Ka8 22. Rae1 $18 {the build up of white pieces is just overwhelming.}) 17... Bg7 18. h3 Bd7 19. Nxd7 $6 {Unnecessary - trading such an active knight makes no sense. The f7 pawn is not that valuable.} (19. Bd2 $18 {[%csl Re7][%CAl Ga1e1,Ge1e7]}) 19... Nxd7 20. Qxf7 {Still winning of course but building up my piece presence is something I need to work on.} Qxf7 21. Rxf7 Bxd4 {This is why Nxd7 isn't good. Yes, I am still winning but there is no reason to lose my strong central d4 pawn.} 22. Bg5 (22. Bf5 Nac5 23. Nb5 Be5 24. Be3 Kb8 25. Re1 $18 {Look at this position. Black is completely defensive and is on the verge of losing material.}) 22... Rdg8 {Trying to create threats but there is just nothing for Black.} 23. h4 Ne5 24. Rf5 (24. Re7 Rf8 25. Rf1 Nxd3 26. Rxf8+ Rxf8 27. Kxd3 Bc5 28. Rh7 Rf2 29. b4 Bf8 $18) 24... Nc5 25. Be2 a6 26. Rd1 Bxc3 27. Kxc3 Re8 28. Bf3 {White should be a little more greedy. Why give up one of the bishop pair?} (28. Rd4 Ned7 29. Bf3 $18) (28. b4 $6 Ne4+ 29. Kd4 (29. Kb3 Ng3 30. Rf2 $18)) 28... Nxf3 29. gxf3 {[%csl Ge4][%CAl Gf3e4]} Re2 30. Rd2 Na4+ 31. Kc2 Rxd2+ 32. Bxd2 Nb6 33. Kd3 Nd7 34. b4 {My opponent offered a draw.} Re8 35. Bc3 Rf8 36. Ke4 (36. Rxf8+ {wins also, but I wanted to ensure my king made it to the center.} Nxf8 37. Ke4 Kd8 38. Kf5 Nd7 39. Kg5 Nb6 40. Kxh5 Nxc4 41. Kg5 Nxa3 42. h5 Kd7 43. h6 c6 44. h7 $18) 36... a5 {For some reason I didn't take the rook as I wanted to get more king activity. But now seems as good a time as any.} 37. Rxf8+ Nxf8 38. Kf5 axb4 39. axb4 c6 40. dxc6 bxc6 41. Kg5 Kd7 42. Kxh5 Ke6 43. b5 (43. Kg5 {Preventing Black from playing Kf4 and allow the h4 pawn to move forward.} Nh7+ 44. Kf4 c5 45. b5 {#16}) 43... cxb5 44. cxb5 Kd7 45. f4 Kc7 46. Ba5+ (46. Kg5 Kb6 47. Kf5 Kxb5 48. h5 Ka4 49. h6 Kb3 50. Bg7 Nh7 51. Kg6 $18) 46... Kd6 47. Bb4+ {Black resigned.} 1-0