[Event "XVII Campeonato Continental Absoluto"] [Site "Medellin, Colombia"] [Date "2024.05.31"] [Round "10"] [White "Valderrama Quiceno, Esteban Alb"] [Black "Wang, Justin"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2437"] [BlackElo "2504"] [Annotator "Lu,Max"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "A28"] [Opening "English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Quiet Line"] [StudyName "2024 American Continental Championship"] [ChapterName "Valderrama Quiceno, Esteban Alb - Wang, Justin"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/0UbLVlAk/QmmTq3cg"] [Orientation "white"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 { White is hoping Black will play ... d7-d5, transposing into a Sicilian up a tempo! } 4... Bb4 5. Nd5 { A rare choice. Perhaps Valderrama was looking to spice things up a bit, as a win for either side in round ten would set up a chance to qualify for the World Cup by winning (or in some cases, drawing) the final round. } (5. Qc2 { would keep in the Sicilian/Taimanov spirit while also addressing the small positional threat ... Bb4xc3. }) 5... e4 6. Ng1 { Personally, I'm not sure I would want to play this line with White. Retreating the knight to g1 on move six with only one piece developed (and moved twice) feels like playing beginner's chess. However, White is banking on his better structure and slight overextension of the e4-pawn to compensate for all the lost time. } 6... O-O 7. a3 Bd6 8. Ne2 { Aiming to reroute the knight to c3 where it will support the d5-knight and attack the e4-pawn. The drawback is that it's a bit slow, a fact that Wang attempts to take advantage of off the bat. } (8. d3 { seems like a natural move to accelerate White's development and trade off Black's annoying, space-gaining e4 pawn. } 8... exd3 9. Nf3 Ne5 10. Nxe5 Bxe5 11. Bxd3 { and White more or less is on equal footing with Black in terms of development. }) 8... Nxd5 9. cxd5 Ne5 10. Nc3 f5 11. d4 exd3 12. Bxd3 (12. f4! { White needs to play actively to prove his strategy. Although this move looks a bit suspicious, the e3-pawn can't really be meaningfully attacked and White can always play e3-e4. Meanwhile,- Black's pieces are slightly awkward with his bishop on d6 blocking in his other bishop stuck on c8. And now, it is White who has the space advantage with the d5-pawn. } 12... Ng4 13. Bxd3 Qe7 14. Qf3 Re8 15. O-O Bc5 16. Bxf5 Nxe3 17. Be6+ (17. Bxe3 Qxe3+ (17... Bxe3+? 18. Kh1 Bc5 19. d6 Bxd6 20. Bc2 $18 { and suddenly White can use the initiative and attacking possibilities to take advantage of Black's severe underdevelopment on the queenside. }) 18. Kh1 Qxf3 19. Rxf3) 17... dxe6 18. Bxe3) 12... Nxd3+ 13. Qxd3 Qh4?! { Trying to prevent White from castling. While natural and tempting, it's unclear if castling was even a threat from White, especially considering that it required Black to spend an extra move to prevent (as opposed to completing his own development with tempo). The immediate } (13... b6 { would've been even stronger, putting White is an awkward position. Wang probably calculated } 14. O-O a5 15. Qd4 Ba6 16. Rd1 { but underestimated his attacking chances and domination of two bishops after } 16... Qe7 { With ideas of ... Rf8-f6, ... Ra8-f8, and ... Rf6-h6 while White's pieces are stuck on the queenside. }) 14. Bd2 { I'm surprised White didn't go for } (14. Nb5 { which seems to gain tempo on the bishop and put Black in a slightly awkward situation. } 14... Be5 15. Bd2 Bxb2 16. Rb1 Be5 17. Bc3 Bxc3+ 18. Qxc3 { White has completed his queenside development at the cost of a pawn, while Black's queenside pieces remain on their initial squares and under pressure from White's open files. }) 14... b6! { Now Wang lands upon the idea of ... b7-b6 and ... a7-a5 to prepare the idea of ... Bc8-a6 with great effect. If White wants to castle, he must do so on the queenside which may be even more dangerous and provide Wang with more attacking chances. } 15. O-O-O a5 (15... Qxf2 { was another possibility, with the threat to decimate White's kingside pawns. It doesn't seem like White has enough compensation or any attacking chances, and Black's long-term positional strengths as well as the ... a7-a5 and ... Bc8-a6 plan. }) 16. g3 Qg4 17. f4 Ba6 18. Nb5 Kh8?! { I'm not sure the exact purpose of this move, presumably to prepare ... c7-c6 and get out of any potential checks. But the position called for a more active/dynamic solution. } (18... Rae8 19. Qb3 Qg6 20. Nxd6 Qxd6 $17 { and Black maintains good attacking chances. }) 19. Qb3 Qe2 (19... Qg6 20. Bc3 Rae8 21. Rhe1 { As compared to the previous variation, White has unraveled himself a bit more, neutralizing Black's initiative. }) 20. Nxd6 cxd6 21. Rhe1 Qxh2 22. Bc3 Rfc8 23. Kb1 { After the slight initiative of the early middlegame, a relative calmness has ensued with Wang grabbing a kingside pawn and Valderrama securing his king and improving his pieces. } 23... Rab8 24. e4? { Valderrama misses Wang's idea, allowing him to generate the initiative and an attack. Preventing or nullifying the ... Ba6-c4 idea preparing ... b6-b5 was necessary. } (24. Qa4 { attacking the d7-pawn and looking at potentially centralizing the queen with Qa4-d4 was to be preferred. }) 24... Bc4 25. Qc2 (25. Qa4 b5 26. Qxa5 b4 27. Bxb4 fxe4 { with good chances for Black's attack. White can't recapture the pawn because of } 28. Rxe4 Bb3 $19) 25... Ba2+! { Perhaps the shot Valderrama missed. With this annoying move, Wang picks up another pawn with tempo, and his attack with ... b5-b4 is hanging over White's head. } 26. Kc1 Qxg3 27. exf5 b5! { As promised, the attack starts crashing through. Wang ignores the temptation of taking the f4-pawn with check for one move to threaten an even better target: the c3-bishop. } (27... Qxf4+ 28. Rd2 b5 { is weaker due to } 29. f6 Bxd5 (29... gxf6?? 30. Rh1 $18) 30. fxg7+ Kg8 31. Qd3 { and White is worse but holding on, at least for the time being. }) 28. Rg1 { The key difference after } (28. f6 { is that Black replies with } 28... b4 { winning the Bishop and neutralizing White's attack. }) 28... Qe3+ 29. Qd2 Qe4 { A nice final touch threatening checkmate. Surprisingly, it's also Black's only move to stay winning, or maintain any advantage at all! } 30. Qd3 Qxd3 31. Rxd3 b4 32. Kd1 { Valderrama resigned without waiting for Wang's reply. Wang put on a powerful display of how to take advantage of your opponent's underdevelopment while notching a crucial win that put him in contention for the World Cup (and his final GM norm) in the final round. } 0-1