[Event "Sunway Formentera op 2nd"] [Site "Sant Ferran de ses Roques"] [Date "2023.04.21"] [Round "4"] [White "Jacobson, Brandon"] [Black "Aravindh, Chithambaram VR"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E90"] [WhiteElo "2556"] [BlackElo "2607"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2023.04.18"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "10"] [EventCountry "ESP"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Bd3 Bg4 7. Be2 {This funny two-step has become moderately popular in recent years.} Nfd7 8. Be3 e5 {Probably not best. It was played by Carlsen in 2020, but he lost that game.} 9. d5 a5 10. Ng5 (10. Nd2 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 f5 12. f3 {1-0 Dubov,D (2699)-Carlsen,M (2863) FIDE Steinitz Memorial chess24.com INT blitz 2020 (9)} Bh6 $1 $14) (10. h3 $142 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 f5 12. h4 $1 $16) 10... Bxe2 11. Qxe2 Na6 (11... h6 $142 $16 {followed by ...f5 was better.}) 12. O-O-O (12. g4 $1) 12... h6 13. Nh3 (13. Nf3 $142) 13... Nac5 $6 (13... a4 $1) 14. f3 f5 15. Nf2 f4 16. Bd2 (16. Bxc5 Nxc5 17. Nd3 $14 {/?}) 16... c6 $5 17. Be1 cxd5 18. cxd5 $16 b5 {The best try, and it's soon rewarded.} 19. Nxb5 Qb6 20. Na3 Rab8 21. Nd3 $18 {Objectively, White is winning. But that's merely theoretical at the moment; for now, he must worry about all the open lines in front of his king.} Na4 22. b3 $2 {Going wrong straight away.} (22. Kb1 $1 $18 {Clearing the king off the c-file so he can play either Rc1 (because the square has been vacated) or Qc2 (because there's no pin on the file with ...Rfc8). The b-pawn is secure and there's no obvious way for Black to ramp up the pressure against it.}) 22... Ndc5 $1 $11 23. bxa4 $4 {Wildly optimistic.} (23. Nxc5 Nxc5 24. Qc2 Rfc8 25. Nc4 {was (much) better, with equality after} Qa6 $11 ({or} 25... Nxb3+ 26. axb3 Qxb3 27. Qxb3 Rxb3 28. Kc2 Re3 29. Bc3 Rxc4 30. Rd3 $11)) 23... Rfc8 24. Kd2 {The move White was counting on. It's almost good enough for the equality he had before his previous move...almost.} (24. Bc3 Nxa4 $19) 24... Qb3 $3 {A spectacular queen sac, because of the unusual motif. (I can't recall seeing this sort of pattern before, but if you have please send a comment.) The queen can't be taken because of mate in one, and in addition Black doesn't only threaten the knight on a3, but even importantly threatens 25...Qc3+! 26.Kxc3 Nxe4 with double check and mate.} 25. Rc1 (25. axb3 Nxb3#) (25. Bf2 Qc3+ $1 26. Kxc3 Nxe4#) (25. Nxc5 Qb4+ 26. Kd3 Qd4+ 27. Kc2 Rxc5+ {wins everything on the way to mate.}) 25... Qxa3 26. Rc2 (26. Bf2 Nxd3 27. Rxc8+ Rxc8 28. Qxd3 Qb2+ {wins the house.}) 26... Nxd3 27. Qd1 (27. Qxd3 Rxc2+ 28. Qxc2 Rb2 $19) ({I assume White resigned without waiting to see what was coming, which could have been} 27. Qd1 Rxc2+ 28. Qxc2 Rb2 {, which will give Black a queen and a knight (and a continuing attack) for a rook and a doubled a-pawn.}) 0-1