[Event "DCC Denver Open 2019"] [Site "Centennial, CO"] [Date "4/28/2019"] [Round "4"] [White "Chris Burkhardt"] [Black "Harsh Mali"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "Unrated"] [BlackElo "1542"] [TimeControl "G/90+30"] [Termination "Resignation"] [Annotator "Chris"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C02"] [Opening "French Defense: Advance Variation, Main Line"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/KAAIKOCV/EWmtpsml"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 { I won with a French Advance in my last game; now it's my turn to lose against it. } 3... c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. a3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Nge7 8. Nc3 Nf5 9. Bb5 { First non-database move. 9.Na4 is the move here, chasing the queen to relieve pressure on both b2 and d4. } (9. Na4 Qd8 10. b4) 9... Bd7 10. Bxc6 Bxc6 11. O-O (11. g4 Ne7 12. O-O) 11... Be7 12. g4 { I considered this last move when I thought it would be inconvenient for black to put his knight on e7 blocking his bishop, but now I thought black's last move left the black knight with only the h6 square to retreat to. But actually it makes h4 available for the knight! (and really, even Nh6 is not that bad for black) } 12... Nh4 { My opponent thought for 40 minutes on this move! Unlike me he definitely gave the complications after the g file opens the consideration it deserves. For most of that time I was still expecting him to play 12...Nh6 before noticing this move was available. } 13. Nxh4 Bxh4 14. g5 h6 15. gxh6 { I thought trading and then Qg4 would give me a bit more initiative on the opened kingside than him. But g6 undermining his center pawn chain would have been better. } (15. g6 fxg6 (15... f5 16. exf6 Bxf6 17. Be3) 16. Qg4 Be7 17. Qxg6+ Kd7) 15... gxh6 16. Qg4 Be7 17. Qg7?? { This is where I lost the game. I thought he would have to play Rf8 here in light of Qxf7 and then I would have time to defend my d4 pawn. } 17... O-O-O (17... Rf8 18. Rd1) 18. Qxf7 { Now I thought black would have to do something about my threats of Qxe6+ followed by Qxe7 so that he wouldn't have time to checkmate me. I failed to appreciate the lightsquare bishop's scope on the h1-a8 diagonal and its ability to block my threat of check with tempo. } { [%cal Gc6d7,Gc6h1] } 18... Qxd4!? { I could tell my opponent thought he had some tactics here because he was visibly excited and giving thumbs up to his young friends in the tournament room. Now I see that I don't have time to play Qxe6+ right away, but I thought I could still stop his mate threats which would renew my attack on e6 and e7. } { [%cal Bf7e6,Bc6d7,Rc6h1] } 19. Be3 (19. Qxe6+ Bd7 20. Be3 Qh4) (19. Bf4 Rhg8+ (19... Bc5 20. Bg3 Qg4 21. Qf4 Qxf4 22. Bxf4 Rdg8+ 23. Bg3 h5 24. b4 Bb6 25. b5 h4 26. bxc6 hxg3 27. hxg3)) 19... Qg4+ 20. Kh1 Rhg8 21. Rg1 { [%cal Bc6h1] } 21... d4+! { I didn't even see that discovery until it was played! Distant bishops is a persistent blindspot for me that I need to work on. It's mate in 4 here and I resigned. } 0-1