[Event "2025 WA Winter Classic"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2025.12.20"] [Round "2"] [Board "5"] [White "Taylor, Ashton"] [Black "Harwood"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Harwood,Paul"] [ECO "B34"] [WhiteElo "2159"] [BlackElo "1857"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "100"] [GameId "2257334592366171"] [EventDate "2025.??.??"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2013.12.29"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,99,7,15,7,11,22,23,32767,18,22,15,26,14,27,6,17,-46,0,-66,-69,-46,32767,-55,-28,-72,-14,17,1,-68,39,39,20,22,18,32767,32767,7,105,28,10,41,30,-1,1,-8,-3,6,-6,1,0,-11,-2,1,1,1,-1,1,-1,1,1,-14,-14,-12,1,1,-1,-10,7,2,-9,0,-23,0,0,0,0,0,0,-8,0,0,7,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,-1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 {The Accelerated Dragon. An opening I have been playing for decades but this is against a 2100+ player.} 6. Be3 Nf6 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 (8. Nb3 $5 {The idea of indirectly stopping d5 but Black can still play this.} d5 9. Nxd5 Nxd5 10. exd5 Nb4 11. Qd2 Nxd5 12. O-O-O Be6 13. Bc4 Qc7 $5 14. Bxd5 Rad8 15. Bf4 Qb6 16. Be3 Qc7 $11) 8... d5 $1 $11 {Main line theory. Black wants to strike in the center and open up the position.} 9. exd5 $6 (9. O-O-O dxe4 10. Nxc6 Qxd2+ 11. Bxd2 bxc6 $11) 9... Nxd5 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Bd4 $2 {Attempting to trade the "dragon" bishop but this just walks into trouble.} (11. Nxd5 cxd5 12. c3 Rb8 13. Be2 a5 14. O-O a4 15. Rfd1 Qc7 16. Rac1 h5 $15) 11... e5 $1 12. Bc5 Re8 $6 {A simple move like this is considered too passive for Stockfish.} ({Apparently I should let the rook be taken as my dark squared bishop is so dangerous, it is worth more than a rook.} 12... Rb8 $1 13. Bxf8 $2 (13. Be2 Re8 14. Nxd5 cxd5 15. Rb1 a5 16. O-O Bf5 17. Be3 $17) 13... Bxf8 14. Nxd5 cxd5 15. c3 Qb6 16. Rd1 Be6 17. Bd3 Bc5 $19 {Black is down the exchange but all his pieces are active. White's king is in the center and is under serious pressure.}) 13. O-O-O Be6 $6 {Passive and creating full equality for White.} (13... Qa5 {Black targets the bishop and has an open b-file to attack the king.} 14. Nxd5 Qxc5 15. Nc7 Bf5 16. b4 $1 (16. Nxe8 Bh6 $3 17. Nf6+ Kh8 $19)) (13... Qa5 14. Nxd5 Qxc5 15. Nc7 Bf5 16. b4 Qb6 17. Nxa8 Rxa8 18. Bc4 a5 19. g4 Be6 20. Bxe6 fxe6 21. c3 axb4 22. cxb4 e4 23. Rhe1 e3 24. Qd6 Kh8 25. Rd3 Qa6 26. a3 Qc4+ 27. Kd1 c5 28. Rexe3 cxb4 29. Qxb4 Qc6 30. Qe4 Qa6 31. Qxe6 Qa4+ 32. Ke2 Qf4 33. Qd6 Qc4 34. Kf2 h6 35. Kg3 g5 36. Re6 Kh7 37. Qd5 Qf4+ 38. Kg2 Rb8 39. Qe4+ Qxe4 40. Rxe4 Rb2+ 41. Kf1 Rxh2 42. Rd7 Kg6 43. Re6+ {1-0 Pinero Rodriguez,C (2284)-Troff,K (2490) Titled Tuesday intern op 21st May Late Chess.com INT blitz 2024 (7)}) 14. Nxd5 $2 (14. Ne4 $5 {An interesting idea that seizes control of the dark squares and threatens to plant the knight on d6.} Qc7 15. Bd6 Qd7 16. Ba3 Red8 17. Bc4 Qc7 $11) 14... Bxd5 $6 ({The simple} 14... cxd5 {would give black a big advantage but I was afraid of} 15. Bb5 {trapping the rook. However, I need to calculate deeper. My bishop pair is much stronger than white's rooks, one of which is still on its home H1 square.} Rc8 16. Bxe8 (16. b4 $2 a5 $5 17. a3 axb4 18. axb4 Re7 19. f4 e4 $19 20. Bd4 Rec7) 16... Qxe8 17. Qa5 Qc6 18. b4 $19) 15. c4 Be6 16. Qxd8 Rexd8 17. Be2 {[#]} Bh6+ $11 ({Predecessor:} 17... Bf5 18. b3 Bh6+ 19. Kb2 e4 20. g4 exf3 21. Bxf3 Bg7+ 22. Ka3 Bc2 23. Rxd8+ Rxd8 24. Re1 Bc3 25. Re7 Rd2 26. Re8+ Kg7 27. g5 h5 28. gxh6+ Kh7 29. Bb4 Bxb4+ 30. Kxb4 Kxh6 31. Bxc6 f5 32. Bf3 f4 33. Re2 Rxe2 34. Bxe2 Be4 35. Kc3 f3 36. Bf1 Kg5 37. Kd4 Kf4 38. b4 f2 39. a4 Kf3 40. b5 g5 41. a5 Bc2 42. a6 g4 43. c5 Bd1 44. Kd3 Ba4 45. Kd2 Bxb5 46. Bxb5 Kg2 47. c6 {1-0 Karpinets,A (1398)-Dzoba,D (1692) Kiev Spring op 2023 (4)}) 18. Kc2 Bf8 $11 19. Bxf8 Kxf8 {With all the trading and symmetrical pawn structure, the position is equal.} 20. Kc3 Ke7 21. b3 c5 {Keeping the king out of b4 and locking down the d4 square.} 22. a3 {My opponent feels there is still like in the position and tries to create a pawn majority.} a5 {Stopping b4 and almost guaranteeing a draw.} 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Rd1 Rb8 {Just to reinforce my protection of b4. The game is still a dead draw.} (24... Rxd1 $11) 25. Rb1 Kd6 26. g4 f5 ({Another good idea is} 26... e4 $5 {allowing Ke5, securing the draw.} 27. fxe4 Ke5 28. h3 $11) 27. gxf5 gxf5 28. Rg1 Rg8 29. Rxg8 Bxg8 30. Bd3 Be6 {The remainder of the game is spent liquidating pawns and not gaining any advantage.} 31. b4 axb4+ 32. axb4 cxb4+ 33. Kxb4 Bd7 34. c5+ Kd5 35. Bb5 Bc6 36. h4 e4 37. fxe4+ fxe4 38. Bxc6+ Kxc6 39. Kc4 e3 40. Kd3 e2 41. Kxe2 Kxc5 42. Kf3 Kd6 43. Kf4 Ke6 44. Kg5 Kf7 45. h5 Kg7 46. Kf5 Kf7 47. Kg4 Kf6 48. Kf4 h6 49. Kg4 Ke5 50. Kg3 Kf5 1/2-1/2