[Event "2023 Washington Senior Championship"] [Site "Internet Chess Club"] [Date "2023.04.15"] [Round "3"] [White "Harwood"] [Black "Scholz"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A04"] [WhiteElo "1882"] [BlackElo "1941"] [Annotator "Harwood,Paul"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2023.??.??"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2013.12.29"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,57,23,23,41,14,14,14,22,24,15,17,17,14,27,4,10,8,5,-3,-18,-26,-15,-24,-40,-35,-31,-40,-16,-34,-42,-43,13,-42,25,24,32,32,98,-22,182,230,278,308,373,164,166,192,235,149,395,405,652,678,853,940,1008,618,627,646] Last year, I lost to Fritz in the same tournament by making a terrible blunder early in the game. This time I had the white pieces and was determined to play better chess!} 1. e4 c5 2. d3 Nc6 3. Nf3 d6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O e5 {This is a common continuation and one that Fritz plays often. The best response is to meet it with c4 but I had other plans.} 7. Na3 ({Stockfish 15.1:} 7. c4 Nge7 8. Nc3 Rb8 (8... f5 9. exf5 Bxf5 10. h3 Qd7 11. g4 Be6 12. Ng5 h5 13. Nxe6 Qxe6 14. Bg5 O-O-O 15. Nd5 hxg4 16. Qxg4 Kd7 $16) 9. a3 O-O 10. Bg5 a6 11. Rb1 h6 12. Bxe7 Nxe7 13. b4 cxb4 14. axb4 b5 15. Qd2 h5 16. Rfc1 Be6 17. Bf1 Qb6 18. h4 Rbc8 19. Rc2 Qb7 20. Rcb2 Bg4 21. Nh2 Be6 {[%eval 0,61]}) (7. a3 {Once Black plays e5, white begins to expand on the queenside with the moves a3, c3 and perhaps b4. While this might seem slow, the closed center allows this slower plan.} Nge7 8. c3 {The most consistent and flexible move but Stockfis prefers c4.} O-O 9. b4 a6 10. Be3 b6 11. Qd2 Be6 (11... f5 12. Bh6 f4 13. Qa2+ Kh8 14. Bxg7+ Kxg7 15. Nbd2 h6 16. d4 Qc7 (16... g5 $6 17. d5 g4 18. Nh4 f3 19. dxc6 cxb4 20. cxb4 fxg2 21. Rfc1 $16)) 12. Rd1 Rc8 13. Bh6 d5 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. exd5 Nxd5 16. Qb2 h6 $11) ({Book theory continues} 7. c3 Nge7 8. a3 O-O 9. b4 h6 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. Bb2 b6 12. Re1 Qd7 13. b5 Na5 14. c4 Rab8 15. Ra2 f5 16. exf5 Rxf5 17. Ba1 Rbf8 18. Ne4 d5 19. cxd5 Nxd5 20. Nh4 Ne7 21. Nxf5 gxf5 22. Nc3 $14) 7... Nge7 8. c3 O-O 9. Nc4 (9. Nc2 h6 10. b4 $1 Be6 11. b5 Na5 12. Nd2 $11) 9... h6 $6 (9... b5 10. Ne3 a5 $15) 10. Ne3 f5 11. Nd5 $6 (11. exf5 gxf5 12. Nh4 d5 {even with this powerful center, the position is equal.} (12... Bf6 13. Qh5 {[%csl Rf5][%CAl Gh5f5,Gh4f5,Ge3f5]} f4 14. Ng4 Bxh4 15. Qxh4 Nf5 16. Nxh6+ Kg7 17. Qxd8 Nxd8 18. Nxf5+ Bxf5 19. d4 $14) 13. f4 exf4 14. Rxf4 d4 15. cxd4 Nxd4 16. Nc2 $11) 11... Nxd5 12. exd5 Ne7 13. Nd2 {The correct move. Exposing the bishop and preparing Nc4.} g5 14. a4 {Securing c4 for my knight.} f4 {This is a typical Fritz attack but Stockfish claims no advantage, just equal.} 15. Be4 $6 {I was worried about getting my bishop trapped, but was that a real concern?} (15. a5 Qc7 (15... g4 16. Be4 $14 {now this makes sense.}) 16. Re1 g4 17. Qb3 Bf5 18. Ne4 Rad8 $11) 15... g4 $2 {closing off the open diagonal. White has the advantage now.} (15... Bh3 16. Rb1 {Stockfish thinks the rook cannot be saved.} (16. Re1 Qe8 17. a5 Qf7 $17 {[%csl Rf2][%CAl Gf7f2]})) 16. f3 {While not wrong, there is no reason to open the f-file quite yet.} (16. Nc4 h5 17. Bd2 Bh6 18. Qe2 $11) 16... fxg3 $6 (16... Nf5 17. Qe2 Ne3 18. Rf2 Kh8 19. a5 Rf7 $11) 17. hxg3 h5 18. Nc4 (18. Rf2 {vacating the f1 square for the knight.} Nf5 19. Nf1 $14) 18... Nf5 19. Kg2 ({I took a long look at} 19. Qe1 {but was concerned about committing my queen to the defense of a single pawn.} h4 20. gxh4 Bf6 21. Bxf5 Bxh4 22. Qe2 Bxf5 23. Bh6 Rf6 24. fxg4 Bh7 $11) 19... Nxg3 $4 {Fritz thought his passed pawns were decisive.} 20. Kxg3 {I spent less than 10 seconds on this move as I could tell there was no way he had enough pieces to mate me of queen his pawns. On the other hand, I had two excellent pieces that covered the kingside.} h4+ 21. Kg2 $1 g3 22. Be3 (22. f4 Bf5 23. Bxf5 Rxf5 24. Qg4 $18) 22... Qd7 23. Rh1 Bf6 24. Qd2 (24. Bh6 Rf7 25. f4 exf4 26. Qh5 h3+ 27. Kf3 Bg7 28. Qg6 h2 29. Nxd6 $1 Qg4+ 30. Qxg4 Bxg4+ 31. Kxg4 Bxh6 32. Nxf7 Kxf7 33. Bf3 $18) 24... h3+ $4 25. Kxg3 Qg7+ 26. Kh2 $18 Qh8 27. Nxd6 Rd8 28. Nf5 (28. Rhg1+ Kf8 29. Bxc5 b6 30. Ba3 Rb8 31. Nxc8+ $18) 28... Bxf5 29. Bxf5 {Black resigned.} 1-0