[Event "Live Chess"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2025.03.22"] [Round "?"] [White "shahramaghaie"] [Black "Harwood"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Harwood,Paul"] [ECO "D04"] [WhiteElo "2067"] [BlackElo "2113"] [PlyCount "90"] [GameId "2158755810008410"] [EventDate "2025.??.??"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2013.12.29"] [SourceQuality "1"] [TimeControl "180+2"] {[%evp 0,90,19,40,17,1,6,4,1,8,6,0,2,-23,-18,-39,-33,-45,-39,-56,-13,-12,0,12,18,11,27,101,13,-21,-5,-1,-1,-8,-20,-42,-41,2,-5,-7,8,-10,17,-70,-94,-65,-74,-72,-73,-72,-64,-74,-75,-88,-108,-107,-134,-160,-180,-166,-99,-161,-107,-114,-36,-1,-46,-2,-56,-21,-52,-22,-34,-60,-23,-64,-88,-286,-279,-265,-265,-331,-208,-886,-912,-1279,-1611,-1620,-2090,-29975,-29976,-29977,-29978] My opponent was nice enough to give me a rematch. So now, I have the Black pieces.} 1. Nf3 c5 2. b3 Nc6 3. Bb2 {Unknown territory for me.} Nf6 4. e3 {a consistent move to gain control of the dark squares.} d5 5. d4 cxd4 6. exd4 (6. Nxd4 Qc7 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. Nd2 e5 9. c4 Bd6 10. Qc2 d4 11. exd4 exd4 12. Bxd4 O-O 13. Be2 Re8 14. Be3 Bf4 15. Bxf4 Qxf4 16. Nf3 Bg4 17. O-O Rad8 18. Rfe1 h5 19. Rad1 Bf5 20. Qb2 Rxd1 21. Rxd1 h4 22. h3 Be4 23. Qd4 Qc7 24. Nxh4 Re7 25. Nf3 Rd7 26. Qe3 Re7 27. Qd2 Re8 28. Nd4 a6 29. Bf1 c5 30. Ne2 Bg6 31. Nc3 Qe5 32. Nd5 Nxd5 33. cxd5 Qd6 34. Re1 Rxe1 35. Qxe1 Qxd5 {1-0 Nakamura,H (2794)-Nihal,S (2669) Bullet Chess Winners Chess.com INT blitz 2024 (3.1)}) 6... g6 {Bf5 or Bg4 are just as good.} 7. a3 $6 {Too slow, White needs to continue his development.} Bg7 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. Bd3 Re8 (9... Nh5 $5 {[%csl Yd3,Ye2,Gf4,Yg2][%CAl Gh5f4] taking advantage of the f4 weakness.} 10. g3 Qb6 11. c3 f5 12. Qc2 e5 $17) 10. O-O Bg4 (10... Nd7 $5 $11 {playing for the immediate e5. This is the kind of move amateur's struggle with. Instead of the robotic Bg4, Black should focus on seizing the initiative this way.}) 11. h3 Bxf3 (11... Bf5 $5 12. Bxf5 gxf5 13. Ne5 e6 14. c4 Rc8 15. Rc1 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Ne4 $11) 12. Nxf3 {[#]} Qc7 $146 {The idea is to prepare e5 but apparently there are a lot of ways to do this..} ({Predecessor:} 12... Ne4 13. Re1 f5 14. c4 e6 15. c5 a6 16. b4 h6 17. Bc2 g5 18. Ne5 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Qc7 20. Qd3 Rf8 21. Qd4 Qf7 22. Kh2 Qh5 23. f3 g4 24. fxe4 gxh3 25. exf5 hxg2+ 26. Kxg2 exf5 27. Qf4 Rae8 28. Rh1 Qg6+ 29. Kf2 d4 30. Bxd4 Qf7 31. Qf3 Kh8 32. Bb3 Qd7 33. Rad1 f4 34. Rxh6+ Bxh6 35. e6+ Qg7 36. Bxg7+ Kxg7 37. Rd7+ Kg6 38. Qg4+ Bg5 39. Bc2+ Kf6 40. Qf5# {1-0 Buksa,N (2396)-Kubicka,A (2334) Swiss Queens Wed #27 FIDE Online Arena INT blitz 2024 (6)}) (12... Qd6 {prepping e5.} 13. Qd2 (13. Re1 Nd7 14. Bf1 e5 $11) 13... Nd7) 13. Re1 Nh5 {This move has two purposes. First to occupy the f4 square, the other is to unleash the g7 bishop's grip on the e5 square.} 14. g3 Nxg3 $5 {I thought this was winning but it turns out that it is only equal - with exact play of course.} 15. fxg3 Qxg3+ 16. Kh1 Qxh3+ 17. Nh2 $2 {Shuttling the king and accepting a draw was the correct choice. Now I can grab a pawn and the initiative.} (17. Kg1 Qg3+ 18. Kh1 Qh3+ $11) 17... Nxd4 18. Bxg6 $2 (18. Rb1 Nc6 19. Bf1 Qd7 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. b4 f6 22. Bg2 Rad8 23. b5 Na5 24. b6 a6 25. Qd4 e5 $17) 18... Nf3 $2 {The tactics are very complicated but this is still just a draw.} 19. Qxf3 Qxf3+ 20. Nxf3 Bxb2 $1 21. Ra2 $2 (21. Rab1 Bc3 22. Re3 d4 23. Rxc3 dxc3 24. Be4 $11) 21... Bc3 $1 $17 22. Re3 d4 23. Rxc3 dxc3 24. Be4 Rab8 25. Ra1 e6 26. Rg1+ Kh8 $1 {Leaving the g8 square for the rook. The next several moves are instructive to understand the importance of careful defense. Black is much better but there is still some work to do in order to quell counterplay.} 27. Ne5 {My opponent is not rolling over. He is lost given all the extra pawns I have but he has some initiative.} Re7 28. Rg3 f5 29. Bd3 Rd8 $6 (29... Rg8 30. Re3 Reg7 $19) 30. Rh3 {[%csl Ye7,Gg6,Yh8][%CAl Ge5g6] Threatening Ng6, winning the rook.} Rg7 31. Rh6 Rdg8 $2 {Played too quickly.} (31... Rd4 $1 32. Rh3 Kg8 {The king slowly emerges from hiding and begins to enter the game.} 33. Kh2 Kf8 34. Nc4 Rf4 $19) 32. Rxe6 Rg1+ 33. Kh2 R8g2+ {Now the game is just equal.} 34. Kh3 Rg3+ 35. Kh4 R3g2 36. Bxf5 {Greedy.} ({It was better to play} 36. Kh3 {and play for a draw.}) 36... Rh2+ 37. Bh3 Rgh1 38. Nf7+ $4 {A critical blunder which requires an accurate response.} Kg7 39. Ng5 h6 $1 40. Re7+ $2 Kg6 (40... Kf8 41. Rf7+ Ke8 $19) 41. Re3 $2 {The final mistake which loses a piece and the game.} hxg5+ 42. Kg3 Rxh3+ 43. Kf2 R1h2+ 44. Kg1 Rxe3 45. Kxh2 Re2+ {White resigns.} 0-1