[Event "Ravn vs Belanoff: Chapter 1"] [White "?"] [Black "?"] [Site "?"] [Round "?"] [Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/WillRavn"] [Result "*"] [Date "2024.12.18"] [ECO "D85"] [PlyCount "49"] [GameId "2124257079320576"] [EventDate "2024.??.??"] {[%evp 0,49,11,26,15,19,35,42,44,35,21,33,25,20,19,18,15,19,38,51,48,54,60,51,71,113,168,169,150,138,117,178,248,302,346,348,337,418,436,509,490,499,509,477,748,746,807,884,29997,29998,29999,29999]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 {The Grunfeld Defense, a sharp opening that often leads to interesting, imbalanced positions.} 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 c5 8. Rb1 {This 8.Rb1 is a move I really enjoy, it removes the rook from the dangerous path of Black's dark-squared bishop, puts the rook on a nice semi-open file eyeing the b7 pawn, and opens the door for an insidious trap.} Nc6 {Now, after Nc6, the trap set by Rb1 will be revealed...} 9. d5 {d5! A move that at first glance appears to be a blunder is actually a very deep pawn sacrifice. The idea is that after Bxc3+, Bd2, Black will have 2 pieces hanging in the bishop on c3 and the knight on c6, and the problem with the only natural continuation Bxd2+ is that after Qxd2, Black's dark squares will be left incredibly weakened on the kingside with no bishop to defend them, the queen on d2 is now poised to jump to h6 in many lines, and the knight on c6 is still hanging and needs to be moved.} Bxc3+ 10. Bd2 Bxd2+ 11. Qxd2 {Here Black has one chance to save the position by playing Nd4 and immediately returning the pawn. The resulting position is still quite nice for White in my opinion and Black has a defensive task ahead of them.} Nb8 {This move is a mistake, but an understandable one, from a material perspective, Black is doing well, up a pawn, but unfortunately Nb8 is just too slow and Whites attack should now be overwhelming.} (11... Na5) (11... Nd4 12. Nxd4 cxd4 13. Qxd4) 12. h4 {Immediately striking at the kingside, aiming to open the h-file for White's other rook and to break open Black's position. It's worth noting that the tempting Qh6 is less accurate as it allows Black's queen into the game with Qa5+. Although as I sit now with the aid of a computer I see that Qa5+ wasn't a big concern, from a human perspective allowing Black counterplay just doesn't make a lot of sense when it isn't necessary in such a strong position.} (12. Qh6 Qa5+ 13. Nd2) 12... b6 {During the game, my perception of this move was that it was essentially the final nail in Black's coffin as it takes away any chance for counterplay with Qa5+.} 13. Qh6 {Now I was very happy to jump to h6 with my queen, threatening Qg7.} Qd6 {When I first saw this move I started getting a little worried that I had somehow messed up such a nice position. Black is threatening to meet Qg7 with Qf6, essentially forcing a trade of queens while protecting the rook on h8. White would love to play e5 to prevent this, but in the current position e5 would fail to Qxd5 with the threat of Qe4+ forking the king and b1 rook. My immediate thought was to play Bc4 to protect d5 before pushing e5, but unfortunately black could then play Nd7 further controlling the e5 square and preventing the pawn from moving to e5. At this point I even considered the position after allowing Qf6 and trading queens, but to my eyes it seemed white would have little to no advantage at that point and could even risk losing to Black's queenside pawns in an endgame. Luckily I found the strong idea of playing Bb5+! with the idea of meeting Bd7 with Bc4 and reaching a position where e5 would be unstoppable.} 14. Bb5+ (14. Qg7 Qf6 15. Qxf6 exf6) (14. Bc4 Nd7) 14... Bd7 (14... Nd7 15. Bc6) 15. Bc4 Bg4 {Here Black tries to free up the d7 square for his knight, but it's too late.} 16. e5 {as promised} Qc7 17. Qg7 {Now I finally succeeded in reaching g7 with my queen and from here Black's position quickly collapses.} Rf8 18. Ng5 Nd7 {At this moment I knew White's position had to be crushing, but Black now has the option to castle queenside on the next move, and I knew if I allowed that I may have missed my chance, so I had to find a move so forcing that it continued the attack while also preventing Black from castling.} 19. d6 {After a bit of a think and many moments of just trying to stay calm to focus and calculate, I found this move d6! The main ideas being to open the c4 bishop to attack f7 while also attacking Black's queen to keep Black from being able to castle.} (19. e6 fxe6 20. O-O O-O-O) 19... exd6 {Black has nothing better.} 20. Bxf7+ Kd8 {Now Black can no longer castle and the position is rich in tactical ideas for White. I was once told that "Tactics come from good positions", and this is a great example, White's next few moves just flow naturally.} 21. e6 Qb8 22. exd7 Kc7 23. Be6 Rf5 {The position is already hopeless for Black and Rf5 is a desperate try. Capturing the rook is of course winning, but here I took my time and found a very special way to end the game.} 24. d8=Q+ {d8=Q++!! Now any move by Black results in mate next move.} (24. Bxf5 Bxf5 {Up a rook with a still crushing position.}) 24... Kxd8 25. Qd7# {A beautiful finish to what was one of the most enjoyable and best games of Chess I've ever played. I hope anyone following along enjoyed it as much as I did, and even though I may have just given away some of my opening prep by discussing this pawn sacrifice in detail, I'm just happy to get the opportunity to play this line in a tournament, let alone against such a strong opponent as NM Ted Belanoff. Thank you for reading!} *