[Event "South Portland"] [Site "?"] [Date "2022.11.19"] [Round "?"] [White "Hendrix, Wyatt"] [Black "Deaigneau, Wayde"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D60"] [Annotator "Hendrix,Wyatt"] [PlyCount "66"] [EventDate "2022.11.20"] [SourceVersionDate "2022.11.20"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Rc1 {I knew that we had transposed to a line of the QGD that they used to play a lot back in the day. Generally, nowadays black is trying to play c7-c5 in one go, and in the semi-slav with 5.Bg5 5...h6 and 5...dxc4 have been more topical instead of the development of the bishop to e7. Although I will note that often ...h6 and Bh4 have been inserted, so if you're looking at this with a book/database on that is why you will see a lot less games here.} Nbd7 8. Bd3 {Black is generally pretty solid in these lines. As long as black doesn't do anything super questionable he's not going to lose this anytime soon.} Re8 $6 {This makes a lot of sense as black is prepping to play e6-e5, but I thought this was a bit slow. Since the bishop has now taken time to play Bf1-d3 now may be a good moment to play ...dxc4. I checked how some games went from this position and found a number that went:} (8... dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nd5 {Now the bishop exchange is effectively forced, as opposed to what happened in our game.} (9... c5 {is also worth a bit of consideration. My feeling during the game was that black should be okay here.}) 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O (11. e4 {is important to look at as this is how white got an edge in our game. However, after} Nxc3 12. Rxc3 e5 {it's easy to see why black has a much improved version}) 11... Nxc3 12. Rxc3 e5 {and black has better chances to equalize than the game, but white should still be a bit better}) (8... h6 {could also be inserted first}) 9. O-O dxc4 10. Bxc4 h6 11. Bh4 (11. Bf4 {is also playable as the structure after ... Nh5 and ...Nxf4 is still good for white}) 11... Nd5 {This has been the most popular move but I don't really believe in it (also I should clarify only a few players 2200+ have played this position with black so I'm not really disagreeing with any GMs here). I believe that some may have just underestimated white's strong reply here.} 12. Bg3 $1 {I thought that taking on e7 helped black ease his cramped position and now the knight on d5 looks a little ridiculous with e4 coming (after Bxe7 perhaps black could recapature with the knight). I also though that my plan here should be to start an attack against the black king with a key idea being the battery on the b1-h7 diagonal of the bishop and queen. In this case black may want to bring his remaining knight to f6 (let's say I exchange off the knight on d5) in which case I will play Be5 (or Bh4) to exchange by dark-squared bishop off for this strong defensive knight instead. The bishop also covers e5, keeping black cramped for a little longer and even moves like ...Qc7 preparing ...e5 are off the table (black does have a plan of ...N7f6 and ...Bd6 to oppose this bishop and fight for e5, but the knight from d7 that was controlling e5 has also had to go to f6 allowing white to plant a knight on e5 as happened in the game).} N7f6 $6 { I believe that this was the wrong plan, the posting of white's knight on the e5 square will be a little too strong} (12... Nxc3 13. bxc3 c5 {I think was probably black's best, but unfortunately just because black has achieved ...c5 doesn't mean he's completely equalized.}) 13. Qe2 {I think this is a touch innacurate, as I think Ne5 is a more useful move in general. The queen does prepare e4, but in some lines this won't really matter and this may be wasting a move 9for example the queeen may want to go to d3 anyways).} (13. Ne5 { was also worth consideration}) (13. Bd3 {getting ready for e4 and posting the bishop on the b1-h7 diagonal was also attractive}) 13... Bd6 $2 {This allows white to achieve his plan and take over the center completely} (13... Nxc3 14. bxc3 Ne4 {I thought was black's best try}) 14. e4 $16 Nxc3 ({If} 14... Nf4 $6 { then} 15. Qd2 {would be strong}) 15. bxc3 Bxg3 16. fxg3 $1 {hxg3 is usually an automatic, but here it's clear that opening the f-file is extremely strong. It is a good time to take stock of the position: white has total control of e5, a semi-open f-file, fantastic central control, an excellent light-squared bishop compared to the lemon on c8, more space, and a strong attack brewing against white's king. I believe the position is strategically winning. The tactics that followed were simple as when you have such a nice position with such activity the tactics tend to work out well for you. My opponent of course understood this as well, but simply made an oversight earlier, likely missing the Bg3 concept.} Qc7 17. Ne5 {Had I not had access to this move, a plan with 17.e5 Nd5 18.Bd3 with the idea of Qe4 would be fine as well, and also likely winning, but I thought this was simpler.} b5 18. Bd3 (18. Bb3 {was also an option}) 18... Bb7 {Black is trying hard to finish up his development and fix the problem of his poor light-squared bishop. However noble these intentions were, his kingside weaknesses were much more important. I remember reading a book once where it discussed that identifying your opponents threats, and your problems, and then prioritizing which ones to solve first is very important when trying to defend in chess. This process if of course simple in theory, but often we run into trouble with deciding which to prioritize first. In this case the game was a problem of misprioritizing white's threats. One could argue that this could be a calculation error as well, as perhaps Nxf7 or something later on was missed, but I've often been on the black side in positions like this and when all I'm thinking is "I've got to get this bishop out" it's easy to just forget to look at what's happening on the kingside.} ( 18... Rf8 {is was what I had anticipated either here or on the previous move. Black simply needs to stop Nxf7. I thought I had a few strong continuations here, for example Qe3 and probably Rxf6.} 19. Qe3) (18... Re7 {is similar} 19. Rf2 {was my intention, but had ...Re7 been played I would have taken a serious look at Rxf6} (19. Rxf6 {While analyzing at home I looked at this and I think this is also looking good for white, but not any better than 19.Rf2} gxf6 20. Ng4 e5 $1 {black needs to take control of the g4 square} (20... Kg7 $2 21. Qe3 {is curtains}) 21. Nxf6+ Kg7 22. Rf1 {Also seems quite strong for white})) 19. Nxf7 (19. Rxf6 {also works out pretty well, but I thought Nxf7 was even simpler }) 19... Qxf7 20. e5 Kf8 {Black tries to evacuate the king, but by this point there are no saving moves.} 21. Qc2 $1 {White threatens Bg6, and some simple calculation determines this will force black to close up the black's king's route to the center/queenside. Some authors would refer to this as keeping black's king in the kill zone.} (21. exf6 {I see beginner players play moves like this all the time, but the pin is still active so why cash in so soon? White will improve his position first, the most important way being to attack the h6 pawn before taking so when black recaptures white can snap the h-pawn off (we're also expoliting the fact that black has no reasonable way to defend the h6 pawn as the g7 pawn exists so black's queen cannot occupy this square to prophylatically defend h6).}) 21... Red8 22. Bg6 Qe7 {The positioning of the bishop on g6 makes black's life difficult. For example some position after we capture on f6 where black has a queen on f7, king on h8 and rook on g8 (with the other one coming to e8), black would be alive for awhile longer ok as his weaknesses are all covered for the moment. The bishop on g6 makes this much harder.} 23. Qd2 {As mentioned before, this forces the win of the pawn on h6.} Rd7 24. exf6 gxf6 25. Qxh6+ Kg8 (25... Qg7 26. Rxf6+) 26. Bc2 {I simply threaten the f6 pawn and if it moves to f5 Rce1 will be good.} Qg7 {Black gets queens off but ends up 2 pawns down with the e6 pawn experiencing problems as well.} 27. Qxf6 $18 Qxf6 28. Rxf6 Re7 29. Bb3 Rae8 30. Re1 Kg7 (30... Bc8 { was better in theory but black will lose anyways} 31. Re5 $18) 31. Rfxe6 Rxe6 32. Rxe6 Kf8 33. Rxe8+ Kxe8 {Before I could play my next move my opponent said "It appears I am three pawns down" and resigned.} 1-0