[Event "U.S. National Grade Championships 2023"] [Site "Orlando"] [Date "2023.12.15"] [Round "1"] [White "Vudutala, Saketh K"] [Black "Gao, Marvin"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1357"] [BlackElo "2168"] [Annotator "Lang,JJ"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C01"] [Opening "French Defense: Exchange Variation"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/6xQz7aU5/64HrkZnx"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bd3 Bd6 6. O-O Bg4 7. Re1+ Nge7 8. c3 Qd7 9. Bg5 f6 10. Bh4 O-O-O 11. Nbd2 h5 12. Qc2 Bf4 13. b4 g5 14. Bg3 Bxd2 15. Nxd2 h4 { When strong players make strong-looking moves, it's easy to lose hope and assume the attack works. Here, a series of forcing moves led to White's dark-squared bishop running out of squares. White accepted their fate and went to give up the piece. But just because a strong players makes a strong threat, it doesn't mean there isn't a strong response! } 16. Nf1?? (16. f3! { Idea: the dark-squared bishop has a home on f2 now, and Black's light-squared bishop is also under attack. If } 16... hxg3 (16... Bf5 17. Bf2 Bxd3 18. Qxd3) (16... Be6 17. Bf2 (17. b5!? hxg3 18. bxc6 Qxc6 (18... Nxc6? 19. Rxe6! Kb8 $18 (19... Qxe6? 20. Bf5 $18)) (18... bxc6?? 19. Ba6+ Kb8 20. Qb3+ Ka8 21. Qb7#) 19. hxg3)) 17. fxg4 gxh2+ { , it's easy to think the king is in danger, but is that really so? Remember, the alternative is going down a full piece, so it's worth being "concrete" here. Show me Black's mating attack, and if you can't, don't go down the piece! } (17... Qxg4 18. h3! { If they don't take on f2, let's take away the chance. Again, with the g3-pawn, things look scary, but "it looks scary" isn't a good reason to go down a full piece. } 18... Qf4 19. Nf1! { with the point that the f2-square is covered and there's no sac on h3. White is the one who will be having fun on the queenside now. }) 18. Kh1 { and now things are roughly equal, with White's king a bit exposed, but it's hard to break through, and White has a nice opportunity to attack on the queenside! } 18... Kb8 (18... Qxg4?? { would be a disaster for Black, actually: } 19. b5 $18 { and the e7-knight falls after the c6-knight moves. Black also has to watch out for Bd3-f5+ winning the queen if the e7-knight falls. }) 19. a4 Rde8 $132 (19... Qxg4?? 20. b5 $18 { is still on the menu. })) (16. h3?! { has some of the same ideas, but I'd rather have the king tucked away on h1 using the enemy pawn on h2 as a shield. With the rook on e1, after . ..g3xf2+, the king will need to expose itself on f2 to avoid losing material. }) (16. b5!? { is also a reasonable way to start things, although eventually it will be combined with f2-f3 to save the piece. }) 16... hxg3 17. Nxg3 { From here, Black never hung any tricks on the h3-c8 diagonal and went on to win with his extra piece and open h-file. } 17... Rde8 18. h3 Be6 19. a4 f5 20. Qe2 Ng6 21. Qc2 Nh4 22. b5 Na5 23. Re5 f4 24. Nf5 Nc4 25. Bxc4 Bxf5 26. Rxe8+ Rxe8 27. Bd3 Bxh3 28. g3 Nf3+ 29. Kh1 Rh8 { 0-1 Black wins. } 0-1