[Event "Washington Open 2022"] [Site "Redmond, WA"] [Date "2022.05.28"] [Round "2"] [White "Harwood"] [Black "Louie, Henry"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C47"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2013.12.29"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,83,25,25,69,25,24,19,35,-11,-17,-8,-4,1,1,1,18,0,22,22,34,11,36,0,21,23,66,26,33,1,13,1,10,3,5,7,28,30,68,80,103,103,266,282,282,278,310,309,309,326,425,408,440,450,450,450,457,357,357,344,340,333,380,389,396,367,367,373,378,251,379,379,391,396,394,375,375,362,362,362,377,387,386,377,455,503] My opponent is an underrated 1300 who specialized in defense. I played Louie in the 2022 Washington Senior Open and was lucky to get a draw. Unlike our first encounter, I wasn't going to take him lightly.} 1. e4 d6 2. d3 e5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3 (7. h3 b5 8. Nc3 Rb8 9. Be3 Be6 10. Ne2 Qc8 11. Kh2 Rd8 12. Ng5 d5 13. Nxe6 Qxe6 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Bc1 b4 16. c3 h6 17. Qc2 bxc3 18. bxc3 Qd6 19. Rb1 Rb6 20. a4 Rxb1 21. Qxb1 Na5 22. d4 exd4 23. cxd4 Bf6 24. Qc2 Qc6 25. Qxc6 Nxc6 26. Rd1 Ncb4 27. Ba3 a5 28. Rb1 Nc2 29. Bc5 Ndb4 30. Rc1 Nxd4 31. Nxd4 Bxd4 $11 {[%eval 27,53]}) (7. c4 $5 {This move occurred to me during the game. It locks the center but departs from the typical KIA strategies, so I avoided it.} Bg4 8. Be3 Qd7 9. Nc3 h6 10. Qc2 Nh7 {?f5} 11. Nd5 Bxf3 12. Nxe7+ Nxe7 13. Bxf3 c5 $11) 7... Bd7 {A passive move that doesn't help his position.} ({Instead he should have played} 7... Be6 8. h3 a5 9. a4 h6 10. Re1 Nb4 11. d4 c6 12. Nb1 Re8 13. c3 Na6 14. b3 $11) 8. h3 {A nice prophylactic move. Black's earlier Bd7 was a mistake but he could still play Bg4. This move covers the g4 square for two reasons. The first is that it stops Bg4 which is an uncomfortable pin on my knight. The second is that it prepares Be3 as Ng4 is no longer an option.} Rb8 {Black prepares to expand on the queenside. More development was needed here, perhaps Re8 was better.} 9. Be3 b6 $6 ({If you're going to play Rb8, you better be playing} 9... b5 10. a3 Be6 11. d4 exd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Qxd4 c5 14. Qd1 a5 $11) 10. Qd2 a5 ({I was expecting} 10... Qc8 {hitting the h3 pawn.} 11. g4 h6 12. Ne2 d5 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. Nxe5 Nxe3 15. Nxc6 Bxc6 16. fxe3 $11) 11. Rad1 $6 {I have to be mindful of Black's queenside expansion. A move like a4 should have been considered to stop the pawn storm. Now the position is equal.} (11. a4 h6 12. d4 Re8 13. Rad1 Bf8 $14) 11... Qc8 12. Kh2 Na7 $6 {It looks like he didn't realize that he could already play b5 and didn't need to prepare it with this move.} (12... b5 13. b3 Re8 14. a4 bxa4 15. Nxa4 d5 16. exd5 Nxd5 17. Bc5 $11) 13. Rfe1 (13. d4 Nc6 14. d5 Nd8 15. Ne1 Nb7 16. f4 Nc5 $14) 13... c5 $1 {Now the idea is clear. Na7 was to prepare c5.} 14. Ng1 (14. a4 {to prevent b5.} b5 15. Nxb5 Nxb5 16. axb5 Rxb5 17. b3 $11) 14... Nc6 15. Nce2 $6 {Leaving the queenside unattended is not the best strategy here. Again, a4 is reasonable idea. I am too focused on playing f4 without thinking about my opponent's plans.} Nd4 (15... b5 16. f4 h6 17. Nf3 b4 $11) 16. c3 Ne6 {This was the turning point.} (16... Nxe2 17. Nxe2 Be6 18. b3 b5 19. c4 a4 $11) 17. f4 {Consistent to what I was building up to.} exf4 18. gxf4 Ne8 $2 {Too defensive.} (18... g6 19. Ng3 Ng7 20. N1e2 $14) 19. Ng3 (19. f5 Nd8 20. Nf4 Nc6 21. d4 cxd4 22. cxd4 b5 23. Nge2 $16) 19... Bc6 20. d4 Bh4 $4 {My opponent misses the simple} 21. d5 $18 Bxg3+ 22. Kxg3 Bd7 23. dxe6 Bxe6 24. b3 Nf6 25. Qxd6 (25. f5 {kills all counterplay.}) 25... Rd8 26. Qxd8+ Qxd8 27. Rxd8+ Rxd8 28. Bf3 Rd3 29. c4 (29. Kf2 Rxc3 30. Ne2 Rc2 31. f5 Bd7 32. e5 Ne8 33. Rd1 Bxf5 34. Rd8 Kf8) 29... g6 30. Kf2 Kg7 31. Ke2 Rd8 32. Rd1 {Simplification is the key to converting this.} Rxd1 33. Kxd1 Nd7 34. Bg4 f5 35. exf5 gxf5 36. Bf3 Nf6 37. Bd2 (37. Bc1 {?Bb2 was a better plan.}) 37... Ne4 38. Bxe4 fxe4 39. Ke2 Kg6 40. Ke3 Kf5 41. Bc3 Bd7 42. a4 {Black resigns. A game where I had only a slight opening advantage and squandered this by ignoring my opponent's queenside threats. I have to balance my attacking ideas with a strong defensive posture.} 1-0