[Event "NY GM/IM President's Days Invitational"] [Site "https://lichess.org/study/Uaq5SkLD/tTFBnB8x"] [Date "2025.02.17"] [Round "9"] [White "Marsh, James J"] [Black "Das, Aditeya"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1991"] [BlackElo "2297"] [Annotator "Alex"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "D37"] [Opening "Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation"] [StudyName "NYC Norms February 2025 RR"] [ChapterName "Marsh, James J - Das, Aditeya"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/Uaq5SkLD/tTFBnB8x"] [Orientation "white"] { Despite being the lowest-rated player with a 1991 FIDE rating in the IM D section, James Marsh had a very impressive 5/9 score with a 2300+ FIDE performance. Notably he earned 60 rating points to eclipse the 2200 US Chess mark to achieve his NM title! His last round positional win over FM Aditeya Das was the clincher: } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 h6 5. Bf4 Bd6 6. Bxd6 Qxd6 7. c5 Qe7 8. e3 O-O 9. b4 c6 10. Be2 Nbd7 11. O-O e5 { Battle lines are drawn! White is going for a queenside pawn storm while Black is going to try to get central counterplay. } { [%csl Gb4,Gc5,Gd4,Ge3,Gf2][%cal Gb4b5,Ye5e4] } 12. b5 Ne4 13. Rc1 Nxc3 14. Rxc3 e4 { [%cal Gb7e4] } 15. Nd2 cxb5 { This looks a bit too helpful for White, as Black willingly opens squares/files for White's pieces. } (15... f5 16. Rb3 Nf6 17. a4 $14 { This is still better for White, but it seems harder to break through than the game. }) 16. Bxb5 a6 17. Be2 Nb8 18. f3 f5 19. Qb3 Be6 20. fxe4 fxe4 21. Rxf8+ Kxf8 22. Qb6 { Black has no counterplay and can only hope to defend against White's unwavering b-file crush. } 22... Nc6 23. Rb3 Ra7 24. Rb1 Qd8 25. Nb3 Ke8 26. Na5! { [%cal Ra5c6,Rb6a7] } 26... Qa8 27. Nxb7 Kd7 28. Bd1 Qc8 29. Ba4 Ra8 30. Nd6 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0