[Event "2025 WA Winter Classic"] [Site "Bellevue, WA - Hotel 116"] [Date "2025.12.20"] [Round "3"] [Board "8"] [White "Harwood"] [Black "Taylor, Tristan"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Harwood,Paul"] [ECO "C00"] [WhiteElo "1857"] [BlackElo "2203"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "43"] [GameId "2257400611727317"] [EventDate "2002.08.13"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2013.12.29"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,43,27,16,24,4,6,-4,13,-5,30,-10,-21,-19,-2,-19,-20,-32,-31,-51,-35,-31,-28,-30,-13,-153,2,-6,-12,2,24,-41,-6,-20,-20,-52,-31,-27,-26,-42,-16,-1,-11,-10,77,89]} 1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. g3 (5. c3 Bd6 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O O-O 8. Re1 Re8 9. Bf1 Bf8 10. h3 a5 $11) ({Playing g3 so quickly is not necessarily the best approach. Stockfish likes Be2. I mean, why take time to put the bishop on g2 when Be2 is just as effective?} 5. Be2 Bd6 6. O-O O-O 7. c3 e5 8. Re1 Re8 9. h3 h6 10. Bf1 d4 11. Nb3 Bf8 12. Bd2 a5 13. a4 Qd6 14. cxd4 exd4 15. Rc1 Nd7 16. Nh2 Nb6 17. Nc5 Nb4 18. f4 Na2 19. Rc2 Nb4 $11 {[%eval 0,62]}) 5... dxe4 6. dxe4 Bc5 7. Bg2 (7. Bc4 {just because g3 was played doesn't automatically mean the bishop MUST go to g2.} O-O 8. c3 e5 {[%csl Gg4][%CAl Gc8g4,Yg4d1]} 9. Qe2 a5 10. a4 Ba7 11. Nf1 Qd6 12. h3 Be6 13. Bg5 Nd7 14. Be3 $11) 7... e5 8. O-O O-O 9. h3 $6 ({Playing} 9. c3 {first is more productive as Bg4 is not much of a threat and Qc2 is a natural square for the queen.} Qd3 10. Ne1 Qd6 11. b4 Bb6 12. a4 a6 13. Qc2 Be6 14. Nd3 $11) 9... Qe7 10. c3 a5 {a logical move gaining space and expanding on the queenside.} 11. Qc2 b6 12. Rd1 $4 {A blunder that walks into a deep tactic that I should have seen.} (12. Re1 $11) (12. Nb3 Bd6 13. Rd1 a4 14. Nbd2 b5 15. Nf1 $11 {[%csl Gd5,Ge3,Gf5][%CAl Gf1e3,Ye3d5,Ye3f5]}) 12... Ba6 $2 (12... Bxf2+ $1 13. Kxf2 (13. Kh2 Rd8 14. Nf1 Rxd1 15. Qxd1 Ba6 16. Nh4 Rd8 17. Qf3 Bc5 18. Nf5 Qe6 19. Be3 $17) 13... Qc5+ 14. Kf1 Nb4 15. Qb3 Ba6+ $19 {[%CAl Ga6f1,Gc5g1]}) 13. Nf1 {The right idea. White wants to play Be3 and trade Black's active dark-squared bishop.} Rad8 $146 (13... Nd7 14. Bg5 f6 15. Be3 Bd6 16. Rd2 Nc5 17. Rad1 a4 18. g4 Bc4 19. Qb1 Qf7 20. a3 Ba2 21. Qa1 Nxe4 22. Nxe5 Nxe5 23. Bxe4 Rae8 24. Qxa2 Qxa2 25. Bd5+ Qxd5 26. Rxd5 Nc4 27. Bc1 Re2 28. Nd2 Na5 29. Rxa5 bxa5 30. Nc4 Bc5 31. Be3 Bxe3 32. fxe3 f5 33. gxf5 Rxf5 34. Rd8+ Kf7 35. Rd7+ Kf6 36. Rxc7 Rd5 37. Kf1 Rh2 38. Rc6+ Kf5 39. Nd6+ Ke6 40. Ne4+ Kd7 {0-1 Wilk,I (2153)-Szpar,M (2477) Titled Tuesday intern op 12th Nov Early Chess.com INT blitz 2024 (11)}) 14. Bg5 {Played to encourage the weakening h6. after which the bishop goes to e3.} h6 15. Be3 Nd7 16. a3 (16. Nh4 {[%csl Rd6,Re7,Gf5,Rg7,Rh6][%CAl Gh4f5] is what I was thinking during the game. Why didn't I play it? It's not clear why I rejected that move as the f5 square is particularly weak.} Qf6 17. Bxc5 Nxc5 18. Ne3 Bd3 19. Rxd3 Rxd3 20. Nd5 Qg5 21. Nf3 Qd8 22. Ne1 Rxd5 23. exd5 Nb8 24. b4 Nb7 25. a3 Re8 26. c4 $11) 16... Qe6 17. b4 Bxf1 18. bxc5 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Nxc5 20. Bxc5 bxc5 21. Qa4 Rb8 22. Rd5 {Draw agreed. Technically, white has a small advantage but nothing significant.} 1/2-1/2