Just some of the talent assembled at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis: (l-r) Awonder Liang, IM Jeffery Xiong, IM Luke Harmon-Vellotti, FM Michael Bodek, Mika Brattain. See the rest of the field’s photos at
uschesschamps.com.
and was now out of theory.
13. ... Ne7 14. Rfe1 Ng6 15. Bd4 Be7 16. Ne4 0-0 The idea of 16. ... Qxc2?! looked risky. 17. g3!
0-0 18. h4 with a dangerous initiative for White. 17. c3 Nh4
The knight was poorly placed on g6, and so rerouting it to f5 seemed logical. I considered 17. ... f5!? 18. exf6 e.p. gxf6 but ultimately rejected it because I didn’t fancy playing with a mangled pawn structure.
18. Qg4 The continuation 18. Qh3 Nf5 19. Nf6+ looks
scary and had to be calculated by me during the game and after 19. ... gxf6 20. exf6 Bc5 21. Bxc5 Qxc5 22. g4 Kh8 23. gxf5 Rg8+ 24. Kf1 Qc4+ 25. Rd3 Rg5! I judged that Black has good compen- sation for the pawn.
18. ... Nf5 19. Nf6+ Kh8 19. ... Bxf6 20. exf6 g6 was the alterna tive, but
allowing White’s pawn to come to f6 was unappealing to me.
20. Nd5 Qb7 21. Nxe7 Nxe7 22. Re3 (see diagram next column)
22. ... b4?! An impatient move. The serene 22. ... Kg8 was
stronger. White does not have any threats and so
30. h3 b4. 29. a3
Fixing my b-pawn. Now ... b5-b4 can always
be met with a3-a4, creating a dangerous passed pawn.
29. ... Kg8 The most precise was 29. ... g5!. Black
Black is not obliged to immediately create counterplay, as I did in the game.
23. cxb4 A better continuation for White was 23. Rh3
Nf5 24. cxb4 Qxb4 25. Qh5 h6 26. Bc3. Black’s knight is unable to reach the desirable d5-square, and as a result White will be able to exert strong pressure on the d7-pawn via the d-file.
23. ... Qxb4 24. Qe2 Nd5 25. Rb3 Qa4
The line 25. ... Qc4 26. Qxc4 Rxc4 might have been a bit more precise. 26. Ra3 Qb5 27. Qxb5 axb5 The reason why I went for 25. ... Qa4, as I
thought I’d be improving my pawn structure by trading queens on b5 instead of c4.
28. Ra7 Rfd8 Much simpler was 28. ... Ra8! 29. Rxd7 Rxa2
Now White has a slight plus thanks to the weakness of the b5-pawn.
30. ... f6 31. Rd3 Ra8 32. Rb7 Rab8 33. Rxb8 Rxb8 34. Rb3 Kf7 35. f4 Ke8
www.uschess.org 23
discourages White from playing f2-f4 in the future, which would isolate the e5-pawn, and prepares ... Kh8-Kg7-Kg6. I con sidered this during the game, but incorrectly decided on making a “normal” move instead.
30. g3
PHOTO CREDIT: AUSTIN FULLER
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