[Event "Live Chess - Chess960"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2019.08.04"] [White "GM jefferyx"] [Black "visualdennis"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2894"] [BlackElo "2273"] [TimeControl "600+2"] [Variant "Chess960"] [ECO "?"] [Opening "?"] [Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/visualdennis"] [FEN "bqrbknrn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BQRBKNRN w KQkq - 0 1"] [SetUp "1"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/V3hGm7Ko/O0xIv8CL"] [Orientation "white"] { I wanted to include this game to my list because this was first time i had a super gm opponent or 2700+ Fide even though i simply got outplayed by Jeffery Xiong in this game. It can be instructive to think about what went wrong for me.. } 1. b4 b6 { Intending b6-c5 set-up to open room for as much as many pieces with minimum possible moves. } 2. c4 Nhg6 3. g3 { This turned out to be a quite a good move, not just it restricts my knight on g6 jumping to f4 or h4 but i overlooked how powerful the g3-f4 wall will be in the game. } 3... c5 4. b5 d5 5. cxd5 Bxd5 6. Ne3 Bb7 { So far so good, it still does look like im doing fine in the opening as black. But with a closer look, issues for black become clearer. For example, my bishop on d8 is already big candidate to be a bad bishop since the b6-c5 diagonal is not available and bishop on c7 does not do much because of strong g3-h2. So this g3 set up proves to be more than just stopping knight jumps. On the other hand, white has b3 square free for his bishop, where it will be quite powerful. } 7. f4 { Now problems for black start to show itself, especially after my e5 attempt to break his strong pawn chain. } 7... e5 (7... e6 { Therefore in my opinion e6 would be much better continuation for blacks hope to equalise somehow. Black should try to keep the diagonal close with f7-e6 and try to exchange the d8 bishop somehow for example Nd7-Bf6. But black needs to be careful of f5 pushes in case of Nd7 and calculate if for example lines like exf5 Nxf5 Ne5 work. }) 8. f5 { But as the game shows, my e5 move has simply gave him f5 square and opened the door for a possible kingside attack for white. It is actually black, who kind of has provoked white into this game plan. At first f5 alone does not seem to be super dangerous and one might think that black can maybe hold somehow, but with a closer look, here the problem of d8 bishop and his advantage of free b3 square for his bishop seem to play a bigger role as now black has not the option of playing f6 to support e5 pawn and slowing potential g4-g5 down since after Bb3 the diagonal becomes super dangerous for black, especially f7-e6 squares. } 8... Ne7 9. Nf2 Nd7 10. g4 Bc7 { Maybe Nd5 instead of Bc7 would have been a better try. Bishop on c7 is not doing much, but could be used in the d8-h4 diagonal for the defensive purposes maybe or come to f6 in some cases or watch out for g5-f6 pushes at least. Also Nd5 and Bh4 or Bg5 could be another idea. } (10... Nd5 { Here white can either trade or move the knight away as Bb3 Ne3 cant be good for white. If Nc4 then i ll go Nf4 and hope to hold the position somehow. Knight on c4 is at least on the bishops way, when it comes to b3. So more likely to happen: } 11. Nxd5 Bxd5 { Here maybe white can try e4 with the idea of Bb3. But e4 closes the position maybe bit too much and the bishop on b3 might not be sufficient to make the kingside attack work as black can play h6 and try to hold somehow. Still white is the side who is pressing. }) 11. g5 h6 { I think this is a mistake and helps white only. Instead I could try Qa8 and try to cope with the Bb3. } 12. h4 hxg5 13. hxg5 { I dont have a single piece that has passed the 7th rank.. Things should have gone terribly wrong for black. } 13... g6 { I could play maybe Rh8 but still it looks like already late for black. g6 is definitely another move that helps black and accelerates the loss. } 14. Bb3 Qa8 { Now already too late. } 15. Qd3 { Stopping my pieces from coming to d5. I also cannot 0-0-0 since Bxf7. But white has a better plan with this move. It prepares to create a battery on g8-a2 diagonal, where my biggest weakness lies. } 15... Rd8 16. Qc4 Rf8 { All blacks pieces are tied to defence. } 17. fxg6 Nxg6 18. Nfg4 Nf4 19. Rf1 { From here, it is simply hopeless for black as it cannot deal with the pressure on f-file and f7 or f6 square. } 19... a6 20. g6 { White undermines the protection of e6 square one by one with this and next move as Qe6 would then be mate. } 20... fxg6 21. Rxf4 { This now decides the game by force as exf4 allows Qe6 mate and Rxf4, as we can see in the game, leads to loss by forcing line as well. } 21... Rxf4 22. Qe6+ Kf8 23. Qg8+ Ke7 24. Qg7+ Ke8 25. Qxg6+ Ke7 26. Nf5+ Rxf5 27. Qe6+ Kf8 28. Qxf5+ Ke7 29. Qe6+ 1-0