[Event "NY International"] [Site "New York"] [Date "2017.06.22"] [Round "?"] [White "Jacobs, Jon"] [Black "Krush, Irina"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B22"] [Annotator "Jon"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [EventCountry "USA"] {[%evp 0,73,28,31,52,30,25,15,16,14,14,23,23,19,30,4,-4,-21,-28,-28,-28,-49,-28,-35,-31,-49,-49,-47,-53,-73,-95,-99,-99,-99,-99,-99,-99,-82,-81,-81,-89,-96,-88,-88,-84,-132,-37,-13,-17,-25,0,-176,-193,-177,-175,-265,-216,-200,-213,-173,-155,-155,-115,-112,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 Nf6 {I had begun studying the Morra Gambit in prepration for this tournament. But I didn't get as far as studying the various methods of declining the gambit. So, what follows fell far outside my prep!} 4. e5 Nd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. cxd4 ({Usual is} 6. Bc4 Nb6 7. Bb3 d5) 6... d6 7. Nc3 $6 dxe5 $1 ({Seems much better than} 7... Nxc3 $6 8. bxc3 dxe5 9. d5 {Westbrock-Smith, U.S. Open Cleveland 1957, continued} e4 (9... Na5 $4 {would lose to} 10. Bb5+ Bd7 11. Qa4) 10. Ng5 Nb8 11. Nxe4 {with a big advantage for White.}) 8. Bb5 $5 ({Caught on my heels, I quickly decided that the routine recapture} 8. dxe5 Nxc3 9. Qxd8+ Nxd8 10. bxc3 {sticks White in an inferior endgame with no chance for counterplay. So in I decided to improvise in the Morra spirit, casting pawns to the wind in a bid for attacking chances.}) 8... Nxc3 9. bxc3 exd4 {Since 10.cxd4 is unplayable (...Qa5+) and 10.Nxd4 seemed to leave White with nothing for his pawn minus, I concluded after a long think that my best chance was to continue developing... and pitching pawns.} 10. O-O $1 {Now it was my opponent's turn for a long think. She finally decided to play it safe and finish developing, rather than temporarily go 3 (!) pawns ahead.} e6 11. cxd4 Be7 12. Qe2 O-O 13. Rd1 Nb4 14. Ne5 a6 15. Bc4 b5 16. a3 $1 {This lets me restore material equality, but my chances remain clearly worse in view of her 2 bishops, light-square dominance and my pawn weaknesses.} bxc4 ({Less convincing for Black would be} 16... Nd5 $6 17. Nc6 Nc3 {(forced)} 18. Qd3 Qd7 {when after reciprocal captures on e7, c3 and c4 Black emerges with a better bishop and better pawn structure, but probably smaller winning chances than in the game.}) 17. axb4 Bb7 18. Qxc4 Rc8 19. Qb3 Qb6 20. Qg3 ({Not} 20. Nd7 $4 Qc6) 20... Rfd8 21. Bh6 Bf8 22. h4 $1 {Played with both an aggressive and a defensive purpose: eyeing h4-h5, Bxg7 and h5-h6; while from a defensive standpoint, in many lines it's useful to prevent any back-rank mates.} Rxd4 $6 {Gives White the opportunity for a surprising perpetual check. Stockfish suggests Black could have stayed on top with} (22... f6) ({or} 22... Be4) 23. Be3 ({During the game I considered} 23. h5 {to maintain tension and threaten Bxh6 followed by h6. But Black can reply} Qd6 ({or} 23... Qd8 {) and the White forces will get pushed back. By this point we both had under 10 minutes to reach move 40.})) 23... Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Qxb4 {Black has nothing better} (24... Qb5 {would allow the same drawing idea}) 25. Rd4 $6 ({I missed} 25. Ng4 $1 {, setting up the perpetual-check "windmill" with Nh6+ and Nf7+, which Black has no good way to ward off. No Black piece can defend the f7 square, since} Qe7 $4 {loses immediately to 26.Rd7 Qxd7 27.Nf6+} ({And if} 25... Kh8 26. Ne5 {renews the same threat and again Black lacks a way to defend f7.})) 25... Qb1+ 26. Kh2 Bd5 27. Rg4 f5 ({Stronger was} 27... h5 $19 {kicking my rook off the g-file since} 28. Rg5 {would lose immediately to} f6 {. But Irina had less than 2 minutes left to reach move 40.}) 28. Rg5 Qb7 29. h5 Rc3 30. h6 {Surprisingly, Black's advantage has completely vanished, according to Stockfish. Its top 3 choices are ...Qc7, ...Rxc3 and ...a5, but it sees chances as fully equal after each.} a5 ({And naturally, 30...} 30... g6 $2 {is suicidal:} 31. Rxg6+ hxg6 32. Qxg6+ Bg7 33. h7+ Kf8 34. Bh6 $19) 31. Qh4 $1 {with the idea of reaching the back rank. Even if Black prevents that, the pressure on g7 gives White a wealth of tactical possibilities (see next note)} Rxe3 ({If} 31... Qc8 32. hxg7 Bxg7 $4 33. Rxg7+ Kxg7 34. Bh6+ {with mate to follow}) ({And} 31... g6 {is still suicidal, this time in light of} 32. Nxg6 hxg6 33. Qh5 $1 Qf7 34. Rxg6+ Kh8 (34... Kh7 35. Rg7+) 35. Bd4+) 32. Rxg7+ Bxg7 33. Qd8+ Bf8 34. Qg5+ Kh8 35. Qf6+ Kg8 36. Qg5+ Kh8 37. Qf6+ 1/2-1/2