[Event "2025 National K-12 Chess Championship"] [Site "Spokane, WI USA, United State"] [Date "2025.12.14"] [Round "7.1"] [White "Sloan, Jed"] [Black "Liang, Yu-Cheng"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2202"] [WhiteTeam "USA"] [BlackElo "2200"] [BlackTeam "USA"] [Annotator "Foisor,Sabina"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "B12"] [Opening "Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation"] [StudyName "2025 National K-12 Grade Championships, Pt. 2"] [ChapterName "Sloan, Jed - Liang, Yu-Cheng"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/NnKpzTbl/0sGme8Ae"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Bd3 Bxd3 5. Qxd3 e6 6. Ne2 Nd7 7. O-O Ne7 8. Nd2 c5 9. c3 Nc6 10. Qg3 g6 11. Nf3 Qb6 12. h4 cxd4 13. cxd4 Ne7 14. h5 h6 15. Bd2 O-O-O { Jed only needed the draw to secure a share of the 12th Grade title, and though he got a very good position out of the opening, he chose to make cautious moves. I totally understand the mindset. Brilliant performance overall and huge congratulations. I can only talk from the chess perspective here: if one were going to try to play for a win, they should probably go for a2-a4-a5-a6 to weaken the queenside and bring in the rooks onto the c-file to build the attack... } 16. b4 (16. a4 Kb8 17. b4 Nf5 18. Qh3 Be7 (18... Bxb4 { White shouldn't be afraid of this } 19. a5 Qb5 20. Bxb4 Qxb4 21. hxg6 fxg6 22. Nf4 { with more than enough compensation. } { [%csl Ge6,Gg6,Gb7][%cal Gf1b1,Gb1b7,Ga5a6] })) 16... Kb8 17. Rfb1 Rc8 18. b5 (18. a4 Rg8 19. hxg6 Nxg6 20. b5) 18... Rg8 19. Qh3?! (19. a4) 19... Qd8 20. Kh1?! 1/2-1/2