[Event "\"Judit Polgar vs. the World\" Simul Event"] [Site "https://lichess.org/cP0ZLh3b"] [Date "2022.03.20"] [White "GM Judit Polgar"] [Black "US Chess Girls Club"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [TimeControl "-"] [Termination "Normal"] [Annotator "Jennifer Shahade"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C88"] [Opening "Ruy Lopez: Closed"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/OZ3e4g49/0QSeNGYV"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 e5 { My favorite opening (and Judit Polgar's too!) is the Sicilian. So this was a very hotly debated moment. My co-host, Alessia Santeramo plays 1...e5 while 2018 US Women's Champion, WGM Sabina Foisor, who called in from Romania for the first hour, wanted ...c5 as well! It was ultimately up to the girls to break the tie. Our friend from Chess-in-the-Slums Africa, Favour, wanted to play a Pirc Defense. That got a few more votes as well as the Scandinavian, which was recommended by a girl in Uganda. However, the large majority of votes were for either 1....e5 or 1....c5, and when the final tally was in- it was clear that the girls had a slight preference for double king pawn! It pained me to play the move....but I did it! And after this game [spoiler alert], who knows, i may do it again. } 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 { This was the next close moment. The girls were divided between the solid ...d6 and ...0-0, which leaves open the possibility of a Marshall Attack. The young chess historian in our group, Lilianna, told us the story about how Marshall prepared that line for years--only to lose to it in his first outing with it against Capablanca. As it turned out, we didn't get that chance.... } { [ed - the young historian is Lilianna Gao] } 7... O-O 8. h3 { Judit elects to play one of the "Anti-Marshall" variations, rather than 8.c3, which would allow us to opt for the Marshall, or transpose to more solid closed lines with ...d6. I also play the Ruy Lopez and avoid the Marshall (usually with 8.a4) so I was pretty comfortable, despite still pining about the Lost Sicilian. } 8... Bb7 9. Nc3 { This was an instructive moment for the girls. We had earlier explained that white usually plays pawn to c3 in these types of variations. But in the anti-Marshall variations, Nc3 isn't so rare, as the battle for the d5 square quickly begins. } 9... d6 10. a4 Na5 11. Ba2 b4 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. Bxd5 Bxd5 14. exd5 { At first we (and especially me!) were overly excited about the move ...b3 here, as we thought it would give us a structural advantage. At some point, I realized the now obvious truth that White can just ignore our pawn on b3 and play something like pawn to d4, grabbing the center. } 14... f5 { An excellent move that I wouldn't have played on my own. Thanks to WGM Nadya Ortiz of Colombia for suggesting it--and to the girls for voting for it! Despite being an aggressive player, I get very nervous about moving my f-pawn as Black like this (What's up Ben Finegold?) I also didn't like that our knight was still loose and totally offsides. But as it turns out our position is really solid and strong- Judit Polgar admitted afterwards that she did not get an opening edge against us. } 15. d3 c6 { We have to improve the position of our knight on a5, horribly misplaced right now. } (15... Rb8) 16. dxc6 Nxc6 17. c3 a5 { According to Stockfish this move ...a5 was our first "mistake" of the game. It weakens our b5 square which gives Judit a lot of troublesome possibilities later. Instead ...Rb8 achieves the same aim of bolstering b4, but without making a weakness. } 18. Bd2 Rb8 (18... g5 { The super talented chess expert and Feinberg Scholarship winner Jessica Hyatt suggested this ambitious move! The trouble, as Alessia Santeramo, put, is the center is not closed. Judit would smash it open and cause us to regret opening our own lines. Afterwards, Grandmaster Pontus Carlsson (who was watching silently!) pointed out it's a great idea in many positions, but in particular in positions where the knight has no good retreating squares after ...g4. }) 19. Qb3+ Kh8 20. Qd5 { Look at that monster Chess Queen! Coaches often tell kids not to "get their queen out too early" but the truth is you don't want to get your queen out too early when it can easily be attacked. If you can nestle your queen into a central square where it's unassailable, it can create devastating pressure. I thought Judit had a large edge here. After the game, I see the computer disagrees and thinks Black is just fine. Why did I think we were so much worse? Is it because we were playing my favorite player, the greatest female player of all time, and one of the best attacking players ever? Or just because I'm not as comfortable in these positions, and I see so many potential weaknesses for Black. (the e6 square, the f7 square, the a5 pawn)? Most likely: a combination of both. Thankfully, the girls, led by me and Alessia, did not fail us. Also helping tremendously: WGM Nadya Ortiz, who had planned to stop by for 15 minutes, and ended up staying for EIGHT HOURS. Have you ever planned to "drop by" a party and then go right home and do your homework? Yeah- me too :) } 20... Qb6 21. Bg5 { There was much debate here! Should we go ...h6, or ...Rbe8? The voting was so close between our own girls, and Alessia's channel, that we decided I had to make the final choice. And I chose ....Rbe8, which turns out to be a mistake! I was concerned about weakening ...the square on g6, as well as the line after Bxe7 Nxe7 Qe6. But I was wrong to fear that line and ...Rbe8 is an inaccuracy. } 21... Rbe8 (21... h6 22. Bxe7 Nxe7 23. Qe6 Qd8 24. Nh4 Rf6 { And there is absolutely nothing to fear. }) 22. Rac1 { One interesting idea we had here was to play ...Bxg5 Nxg5 Nd8, at first we liked it a lot! We can eject the knight on g5 and relocate our knight, and earn a strong center. Then we realized in horror that Qb5 would be crushing! The queen on d5 is a powerhouse precisely because it can elegantly navigate from the queenside to the center to the kingside, causing us perpetual worries. } 22... h6 (22... Bxg5 23. Nxg5 Nd8 24. Qb5) 23. Be3 { We were terrified about this position at first because we forgot for a while about ....Qa6-a8. We realized that under no circumstances would we allow Judit to trade queens with Qb5 qxb5 axb5, it seemed winning in all lines because of her stronger queenside structure. } 23... Qa6 24. Qb5 Qa8 25. d4 Rb8 26. Qc4 { Here we naturally started looking at all the forcing moves. We thought ...e4 was really good. Then we realized that Judit would play d5 in reply. ...f4 was even worse because after Bd2, we lost control of the e4 square. Thanks to WGM Ortiz and the girls, who convinced me to hold my aggressive ambitions and play the great tension keeping move ...Bf6. } 26... Bf6! (26... e4 27. d5! Ne5 28. Nxe5 dxe5 { and White has a new passed pawn and our queen on a8 is too far away to make an attack with f4 and f3 viable. }) 27. dxe5 { Here we were all so excited to get rid of our "bad knight"--that we had been struggling with all game that we played ...Nxe5 very quickly. Too quickly. Appears that ...dxe5 and WE may have the initiative. Instructive: never ever make captures super quickly, whether it's strategic or tactical, there are often nuances that require deeper thought. } 27... Nxe5 28. Nxe5 dxe5 29. Bc5 { We underestimated the danger. We thought this should be great and easy for us because we can just pin the bishop. } 29... Rfc8 30. cxb4 Rxb4 { We again played ....Rxb4 almost instantly because we thought it was obvious to win pawn with a gain of tempo. Computer thinks the other capture is better. The trouble we find is that there are some tactics on our back and 7th rank, so the active rook can become a tactical problem for US too. } 31. Qe6 Re8 32. Qxf5 Rxb2 { We were worried about Be3, threatening Bxh6 here. Apparently we were right to be worried- and this is a rare moment in the game where Judit did not take her best chance. } 33. Red1 (33. Be3 Rf8 34. Rc7 Rb7 35. Rec1 Rxc7 36. Rxc7 Qd8 37. Ra7 Qd1+ 38. Kh2 Qxa4 39. Bxh6 Qd4 40. Be3 Qd5 { is a forced computer line that looks very dangerous- our king is still so weak, even with the reduced material we will struggle. }) 33... Bg5! { Great move suggested by Alessia- this stops Be3 that was so painful in the previous move. } 34. Rc4 { I thought we were positionally busted here. True that we are worse, but my assessment was GREATLY exaggerated. We just need to chill. Thank goodness for the girls, Alessia and Nadya, because if it was me alone, I would have tried to blow up the position with ....e4. Yes, this move would avoid positional domination of the light squares.....but it also gets mated :) } 34... Qa6! (34... e4? 35. Bd4 e3 (35... Rb7 36. h4 e3 37. hxg5 e2 38. Re1) (35... Rd2 36. Rxd2 Bxd2 37. Bxg7+ Kxg7 38. Rc7+ Kh8) 36. Bxb2 exf2+ 37. Kf1) 35. Qf7 Qe6 36. Qxe6 Rxe6 37. h4 Be7 38. Rd7 Bxc5 39. Rxc5 Rf6 40. Rc8+ Kh7 { It's funny that the computer thinks all these positions are 000. We still felt a lot of pressure because of ideas like h5 and creating a mating net combined with trying to win a pawn with tempo. } 41. Rcc7 Rg6 42. Ra7 Rb1+ 43. Kh2 Rb4 44. Rxa5 Rxh4+ 45. Kg1 e4 46. Re7 Rhg4 (46... Rgg4) 47. g3 Rf6 { Skye and Kate two young sisters from Lebanon, (who you will be hearing about in future years!) pointed out that this move was weird- why not be even more active with ...Rc6 or ...Rd6. Absolutely correct! Luckily we are drawing anyway. } 48. Kg2 Rf3 49. Re8 Ra3 50. Kh3 Rf4 51. Kg2 Rg4 52. Kh3 Rf4 { We had a celebration here! We were sure Judit was going for three-move repetition. It was hour six, and we were ready to give our girls club a big round of applause. And then..... } 53. Ra7 { She rejected the DRAW OFFER! OH no- we have to keep thinking?! We were all exhausted. As Alessia pointed out, the experience of struggling in a slightly worse game against an elite Grandmaster was extremely instructive. We saw how she will always go for the "best try." It will never be easy to draw, let alone win, against such players. The girls got a lesson that you can't learn from a book. } 53... Rxf2 54. Ree7 Rff3 55. Rxg7+ Kh8 56. Rg4 (56. Rgb7) 56... e3 57. Re4 (57. Rb4 { We were of course very worried about getting mated at the last minute! But we can always play ...Kg8. } 57... Kg8 58. Rb8+ Rf8) 57... Kg8 58. Kg4 Rf7 59. Ra6 Rg7+ 60. Kh4 Ra1 61. Kh3 Ra3 62. g4 e2+ 63. Kh4 Ra1 (63... h5 64. g5 { also draws } 64... Ra1) 64. Rxe2 Rh1+ 65. Kg3 Rg1+ 66. Rg2 Rxg2+ 67. Kxg2 Rxg4+ 68. Kh3 Rb4 69. Rxh6 Rxa4 { And we erupted into cheers as Judit Polgar, the greatest female player of all time, offered us a DRAW! What a team effort: girls from USA, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Nigeria, Colombia, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, Italy, Israel and more helped us on this epic quest. Special thanks to WGM Nadya Ortiz and to host Alessia Santeramo. Judit Polgar later summed up the game "They kept slipping out of my hands." } { 1/2-1/2 The game is a draw. } 1/2-1/2