[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "lichess.org"] [Date "2023.01.14"] [Round "?"] [White "Harwood"] [Black "TraditionalOpening"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A04"] [WhiteElo "2059"] [BlackElo "2125"] [Annotator "lichess.org"] [PlyCount "98"] [EventDate "2023.??.??"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2013.12.29"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,98,25,18,100,7,72,44,59,9,15,5,94,63,63,-13,4,-3,32,33,46,7,62,7,69,35,43,43,60,60,107,106,178,156,359,252,250,276,276,276,325,293,268,261,334,283,322,286,260,127,375,99,116,102,95,100,101,100,108,104,109,77,89,91,66,94,194,39,43,1,0,0,16,29,10,0,-43,-45,-30,-20,-19,-19,-11,-39,0,0,0,0,169,0,19,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,-18,-15]} 1. e4 c5 {B20 Sicilian Defense} 2. d3 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 Nc6 5. Bg2 e6 6. O-O Nge7 7. c3 O-O 8. Re1 (8. d4 {makes more sense. Since Black never played e5, I should grab the center.} cxd4 9. cxd4 d5 10. e5 f6 $11) 8... f5 $6 {A rare move that confused me. Surely taking won't help me, would it? It's better to play e5 and leave his pawns on light squares. Black's light-squared bishop is buried.} 9. Nbd2 d5 $2 (9... d6 10. a4 Rb8 11. a5 Nxa5 12. e5 $1 dxe5 13. Nxe5 b6 14. Ndf3 $16) 10. e5 (10. exd5 $1 Nxd5 11. Nb3 {preparing d4} Qd6 12. d4 cxd4 13. Nbxd4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Nc7 $16) 10... Nb8 11. Nf1 Nec6 12. h4 {To prepare for Bf4.} Nd7 13. Bf4 Qc7 14. d4 c4 $2 15. h5 $1 {With Black's pieces jumbled on the queenside, it's time to launch operations against the Black king.} Qd8 16. hxg6 $6 (16. h6 {is stronger. Chess is all about space. By playing h6, Black has no way of contesting the dark squares.} Bh8 17. Ng5 Nb6 18. Ne3 Bd7 $18 {White can pause and try to open the queenside with moves like b3 to create further problems.} 19. b3 Re8 20. bxc4 dxc4 21. Rb1 Qc7 22. Rb5 Rad8 23. Rc5 Bc8 24. Nxc4 Nxc4 25. Rxc4 $18) 16... h6 17. Qd2 Qe8 18. Nh4 Ne7 {Nice defensive play. Black is slowly unwinding and finding better squares for this pieces.} 19. Bxh6 (19. Bf3 Nxg6 20. Nxg6 Qxg6 {I avoided these exchanges because I thought it would help my opponent consolidate. The fact is, that even here he is lost. After Ne3, Kg2 and Rh1, Black is in deep trouble.} 21. Ne3 b5 (21... h5 22. Kg2 h4 23. Rh1 $18) 22. Kg2 Rb8 23. Rh1) 19... Nxg6 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. Qg5 Rh8 22. Bf3 $2 {?Bh5} (22. Bxd5 $3 {I actually looked at this move but immediately dismissed it because I could not see any followup. Now it's obvious that on ed5, Nf5 is crushing.} Ndf8 (22... exd5 $2 23. Nxf5+ Kg8 24. N1e3 Ndxe5 25. dxe5 Bxf5 26. Nxf5 Qe6 27. Rad1 Rf8 28. Qxg6+ Qxg6 29. Ne7+ $18) 23. Qf6+ Kh7 24. Ne3 Qe7 (24... exd5 25. Nhxf5 Bxf5 26. Nxf5 Ne6 27. Kg2 Ngf4+ 28. gxf4 Qg6+ 29. Kf3 Qxf6 30. exf6 Kg6 31. Re5 Kxf6 32. Rae1 $18) 25. Qxe7+ Nxe7 26. Bf3 $18) 22... Qf7 23. Bh5 {A cute move but missing the strong defensive move.} Ndf8 $1 24. Ne3 Rh6 {More defense and planning Nh7 to evict my queen.} 25. Neg2 {A good move to recircuit the knight to a better outpost.} Nh7 26. Bxg6 $6 {Not the best move, but who could ever find the right one...?} (26. Qxh6+ $3 Kxh6 27. Bxg6 Qe7 28. Nf4 Nf8 29. Kg2 Kg7 30. Rh1 $18) 26... Nxg5 27. Bxf7 Kxf7 28. Nf4 {[#]Even after some miscalculations, White has a decisive advantage. But watch as I have trouble converting the advantage.} a5 29. Kg2 Bd7 30. b3 $2 {Weakening c3. The right plan is to move rooks to the open h-file and begin to trade down. His bishop is no match for my knight.} b5 31. bxc4 dxc4 32. f3 Bc6 33. Red1 $6 (33. d5 $1 Bd7 (33... exd5 34. Nxf5 Rah8 35. Nxh6+ Rxh6 36. Ne2 $18) 34. Red1 exd5 35. Rxd5 $18) 33... Rah8 34. d5 exd5 35. Nxd5 f4 $1 36. Nxf4 Nxf3 37. e6+ Kf6 38. Nd5+ Bxd5 39. Rxd5 Nxh4+ 40. gxh4 Rxh4 $11 41. Re1 Rg8+ 42. Kf2 Rh2+ 43. Kf3 Rxa2 44. Rxb5 Rc2 45. Re3 Rh8 46. Ke4 Rd2 47. Rxa5 Kxe6 48. Ra6+ Kd7 49. Rg3 {White offers draw} Re8+ {Game drawn by agreement.} 1/2-1/2