[Event "2026 WA Senior Chess Championship"] [Site "lichess.org"] [Date "2026.04.18"] [Round "5"] [Board "2"] [White "Gale, Geoff"] [Black "Harwood"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Harwood,Paul"] [ECO "B38"] [WhiteElo "2031"] [BlackElo "1847"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "54"] [GameId "2300800984957877"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2013.12.29"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,54,16,24,14,17,23,34,30,27,22,35,49,41,22,34,44,46,49,59,50,46,51,52,43,55,48,48,55,38,32,46,21,36,49,-41,-24,-21,-12,-22,-32,-32,-40,-62,-23,-28,-31,-63,-66,-108,-102,-77,-94,-177,-136,-310,-267] After my very tough loss in round 4 I had to get it together for the final round starting at 3 PM the same day. I had beated Geoee last year at the senior open with the white pieces in a very long, complicated game. Now I have Black - let's see what happens.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 {The Maroczy Bind. I did do some opening prep on this but let's see what he decided to play.} Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Be2 d6 9. O-O Bd7 10. h3 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bc6 12. Qc2 (12. Qd3 a5 13. Rfd1 Nd7 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Qd4+ Kg8 16. Bg4 Ne5 17. c5 Nxg4 18. hxg4 dxc5 19. Qxc5 Qc8 20. f3 Qe6 21. Rd2 Rfc8 22. Qg5 Rd8 23. Rad1 Rxd2 24. Rxd2 a4 25. a3 f6 26. Qc5 Kf7 27. Ne2 Rc8 28. Nf4 Qb3 29. Nd5 Re8 30. Nb4 Rc8 31. Nd5 Re8 32. Nc3 Rc8 33. g5 fxg5 34. Qxg5 Qb6+ 35. Kh2 Rd8 36. Qf4+ Ke8 37. Rxd8+ Qxd8 38. Kg3 Qb6 39. Qd2 Qc5 40. Ne2 b5 41. Qd4 Qg5+ {½-½ Yoo,C (2588)-Sindarov,J (2700) Titled Tuesday intern op 18th Feb Early Chess.com INT blitz 2025 (7)}) 12... a5 {Gaining space on the queenside is a common theme of this opening. a5-a5 followed by a possible Qa5 is typical.} 13. b3 Nd7 ({Stockfish 18 offers the very strange idea of playing Bh6. I guess it is to allow Nd7 without trading dark square bishops. And if Bxf6, my bishop has uncontested control of the dark squares.} 13... Bh6 14. Rad1 (14. Bxf6 exf6 15. Rad1 Re8 16. Nd5 Rc8 17. g3 Bf8 18. h4 h5 19. f4 $11) 14... Nd7 15. f3 e6 16. Rfe1 Qe7 17. Bf1 Bf4 18. Bf2 Be5 19. Qd2 Nc5 20. Bd3 Rfd8 21. Bb1 Bf6 22. Re2 b6 23. Be3 Rac8 24. Kh1 Qb7 25. Bg5 Bxg5 26. Qxg5 e5 27. Red2 Ne6 28. Qe3 Qc7 29. Bd3 Rb8 30. Qh6 Qe7 31. Bf1 Nd4 32. Ne2 Ne6 33. Kh2 Rd7 34. Nc3 Kh8 35. Qe3 Kg7 36. Qf2 Rdd8 37. g3 g5 38. Ne2 h5 39. h4 b5 40. cxb5 Bxb5 41. Nc3 Bc6 42. hxg5 Nxg5 43. Bg2 Qf6 {[%eval 43,51]}) 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Rfe1 (15. Rfd1 f6 16. a3 Nc5 17. b4 axb4 18. axb4 Rxa1 19. Rxa1 Ne6 20. Bf1 Re8 21. Rd1 Qb6 $11) 15... Nc5 16. Rad1 {[#]The threat is now e5 and White is doing fine. The position is equal but White has the initiative.} Qb6 {[#]} (16... e5 $1 {At first this looks like a terribly weakening move but it's just the opposite. e5 shuts down the a1-h8 diagonal and creates a future post for the knight on d4. Yes, the backward d6 pawn is an issue but this is harder to capture than it appears.} 17. Qd2 ({Even with the slow buildup on the d-file with.} 17. Rd2 Qe7 18. Red1 Rfd8) (17. f4 $6 Qf6 18. Rf1) ({Apparently, the correct approach is} 17. Bf1 Qe7 18. Qe2 h5 19. Qe3 Ne6 20. Re2 Rfd8 21. Red2 Rac8 22. Qg3 Kh7 23. Kh2 Nd4 $11) 17... Bxe4 18. Qxd6 Qxd6 19. Rxd6 Bc6 20. Red1 f5 $11) 17. Nb5 $146 {This is about as non-standard a move in the Maroczy as I have ever seen. The knight doesn't seem like it belongs on b5 -- d5? Yes. And also, does white know he is hanging a pawn? Apparently, Stockfish 18 sees this as equal which is fascinating by itself.} (17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. exd5 e5 19. dxe6 fxe6 20. Bf1 Rf6 21. Qd2 e5 22. Qe3 Raf8 23. Rd2 Rf4 24. Red1 R8f6 25. a3 Re4 26. Qc3 Nxb3 27. Rb2 a4 28. Bd3 Ref4 29. Rf1 Qd4 30. Qxd4 Rxd4 31. Bc2 Rd2 {0-1 Pichot,A (2630)-Aghasiyev,K (2441) Titled Arena 2nd Jan Lichess.org INT blitz 2021}) {After a 15 minute think, I opted for} 17... Bxe4 {why not? A pawn is a pawn.} 18. Qc3+ {A sensible check. White wants control of the dark squares and this move assures that.} Kg8 (18... f6 $2 {[%csl Re7] is weakening.} 19. Bf3 d5 20. a4 e5 21. Bxe4 Nxe4 22. Qc2 Qc6 23. Rxd5 Nc5 24. Rd6 $16) 19. h4 $5 Bc6 {I'm up a pawn but the position remains equal. I guess the backward e7 pawn is an issue.} 20. Qd4 Nd7 {Opting to simplify but I don't know if this is the best approach. Centralizing the rooks is more logical.} (20... Rfe8 21. h5 Rad8 22. Nc3 $11) 21. Qf4 {After a long think, I decided to play} Bxb5 22. cxb5 Rac8 (22... Kg7 23. h5 h6 24. Qd4+ Qxd4 25. Rxd4 $11) 23. h5 Rc5 $1 {A nice centralizing move that threatens to double on the c-file but also create lateral pressure across the 5th rank.} 24. Bc4 Rf5 $15 {[%csl Yf2,Rf4][%CAl Gf5f2,Gb6f2] [#]Black is starting to get the upperhand now. Active rooks, an open c-file and easy access to the e5 and c5 squares.} 25. Qg3 $6 Ne5 26. hxg6 $2 {[#]At first I thought this was a tactic I had missed, but after a deep think I realized that this does not work.} hxg6 27. Rxe5 $4 {[%csl Rg6][%CAl Gg3g8,Gb6g6,Rd6e5] Yes, I thought that after de5, White plays Qg6+ winning the rook and probably the game as moves like Rd3-h3 would quickly be mate. However, what I missed (along with my opponent0 is that after fe5, my queen holds g6.} {I instantly played} dxe5 {and I heard my opponent say "Oh sh*t". White resigns.} 0-1