[Event "2023 Washington Senior Championship"] [Site "Internet Chess Club"] [Date "2023.04.14"] [Round "1"] [White "Harwood"] [Black "Long, Phil"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C25"] [WhiteElo "1882"] [BlackElo "1425"] [Annotator "Harwood,Paul"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2023.??.??"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2013.12.29"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,72,25,25,31,-21,-15,22,-2,-27,13,-81,1,-145,-158,-240,-207,-356,-362,-378,-341,-377,-224,-237,-253,-236,-251,-254,-255,-269,-276,-263,-232,-409,-358,-340,-368,-347,-347,-333,-336,-336,-298,-418,-452,-462,-408,-447,-433,-432,-444,-450,-460,-485,-520,-568,-474,-486,-461,-485,-369,-426,-439,-432,-482,-494,-484,-563,-624,-629,-643,-1074,-1202,-1269,-1349] After winning the Adult section of the Washington Open nearly a year ago, I signed up for the 2023 Senior Open. https://betterchess.net/game-62-my-return-to-tournament-chess/. The first round I was playing Phil Long. He was rated 1425 and one of the most underrated players I have ever played.} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 {The King's Gambit which is my signature reply to e5.} exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Nc3 Nc6 {The best move compared to h3 or h4. g3 keeps White in the game.} 5. g3 d6 {A perfectly reasonable move that confused me. For some reason i thought I could capture the pawn and have a comfortable game. What a miscalculation. This is the earliest I have ever been lost in a tournament game. Keeping the h4 square under control is critical for White in the KGA. Without it, the Black will get a winning attack.} 6. gxf4 $4 {Why I did this is unclear. However, this is the first time I have ever played the King's Gambit in tournament play - and it shows.} (6. d4 Bg7 7. d5 Ne5 8. gxf4 gxf4 9. Bxf4 Bg4 10. Be2 Nxf3+ 11. Bxf3 Qf6 12. O-O Bh3 13. Bg2 $15) 6... g4 $1 {And like that, I am lost. The knight must be lost or Qh4+ followed by Nd4 will be mating.} 7. Ng5 ({Stockfish says to play} 7. d3 {and be down a knight. That's how bad it is.} gxf3 8. Qxf3 Qh4+ 9. Qg3 Qxg3+ 10. hxg3 $19) 7... h6 8. Bc4 (8. h4 hxg5 9. fxg5 Nd4 10. Bg2 Bg7 11. d3 c6 12. Bd2 Be5 13. Ne2 Nf3+ 14. Kf2 Nxh4 $19) 8... hxg5 9. d4 gxf4 10. Bxf4 Qh4+ 11. Bg3 Qxg3+ $1 {Did I say he was rated 1425?} 12. hxg3 Rxh1+ 13. Bf1 {My opponent's face turned bright red. Later, he told me that he did see that I had Bf1 defending. The interesting part is that it doesn't matter -- Black is still winning.} Bd7 14. Kf2 (14. Qd2 {Mike Hosford suggested this move but I was afraid of Bh6. It turns out the simple Bg7 is scary enough to deal with.} Bg7 (14... Bh6 15. Qg2 Rh5 16. Qf2 Kf8 $1 17. Bg2 Re8 $19) 15. Nd5 Nxd4 16. O-O-O Bh6 17. Nf4 Nc6 $19) 14... O-O-O {It's hard for Black to go wrong here. Pretty much everything wins for him.} (14... Bg7 15. Kg2 Rh6 16. Bb5 Nxd4 17. Bxd7+ Kxd7 18. Qxg4+ Ne6 $19) 15. Kg2 Rh6 $1 {Another good move, securing f6 for the knight and maintaining control of the h-file.} 16. Bc4 (16. Nd5 Bg7 17. c3 Nf6 18. Nxf6 Bxf6 19. Qd2 Rdh8 20. Kf2 Bd8 21. Bg2 $19) 16... Bg7 $1 {Opening the f-file would be deadly so Black continues to pressure d4.} 17. Ne2 Nf6 {And yet another move that gains a tempo - this time, hitting the e4 pawn.} 18. Qd3 {White is and has been dead lost.} Rdh8 $1 19. Rg1 Rh2+ 20. Kf1 Re8 {Repurposing the rook to attack e4 - just great moves all around.} 21. e5 {A desperation attempt to sacrifice a pawn and hope for the best.} dxe5 22. d5 Na5 23. Bb3 $2 (23. Bb5 c6 24. dxc6 Nxc6 25. Rg2 Rh1+ 26. Rg1 Rh2 27. Rg2 Rh6 $19) 23... Nxb3 24. axb3 {I had hoped to advance my c-pawn and hope for the best.} a6 $6 {Preparing Bb5. Not the strongest move but almost anything wins.} 25. c4 Bf8 $1 {Re-routing the bishop to c5.} 26. Rg2 Rh1+ 27. Rg1 Rxg1+ 28. Kxg1 Bc5+ 29. Kg2 a5 30. Nc3 Rh8 31. Qf1 Rh6 32. Qe2 Rh5 {He covers every last weakness in his position.} 33. Nd1 Bf5 34. Nc3 Bd4 35. Qd2 Ne4 36. Qe1 Ng5 $1 {Finishing with a flare. This was clearly the biggest upset of the tournament, and unfortunately, I was on the losing side.} 0-1