[Event "U.S. Junior Chess Championship 2023"] [Site "St Louis"] [Date "2023.07.24"] [Round "8"] [White "Hong, Andrew"] [Black "Stearman, Josiah"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2520"] [BlackElo "2444"] [Annotator "Davis Zong Jr"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "B12"] [Opening "Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Botvinnik-Carls Defense"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/ZBuAQUT7/CiB1mbdI"] [Orientation "white"] { Annotations by Davis Zong Jr } 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Nf3 cxd4 5. Qxd4 Nc6 6. Qf4 { One of Hong's favorites, but now he faces a novelty by Stearman. Common moves include 6. ... e6 and 6. ... g6. Stearman "splits the difference" and pushes the f-pawn instead! } 6... f6!? { A bold move, challenging White's e5-pawn but exposing their own king in the process. } 7. Nc3 a6 8. Be3 e6 9. O-O-O fxe5 10. Nxe5 Nf6 11. Qa4 Qc7 12. f4 Rb8 13. Ba7 Ra8 14. Be3 Rb8 15. Ba7 Ra8 16. Bd4!? { Hong could have ended the game in a draw by repetition here, but he decided to fight on towards a sharp middlegame. } 16... Rb8 17. Nxc6 bxc6 18. Be5 Bd6 19. Bxd6 Qxd6 20. g3 O-O 21. Bg2 c5 $10 22. Qa5 Bd7 23. Rhe1 Rb4 24. b3 Rfb8 25. Bf1 R4b6 26. f5 Kh8 27. fxe6 Bxe6 28. Nxd5 { A double-edged move. On one hand, it eliminates Black's threatening pawn duo, but on the other hand, it exposes White's own king even more. } 28... Nxd5 29. c4 Bf7 30. cxd5 Qf6 { With Hong down to only two minutes, Stearman tries to keep up the pressure. A check on a1 is now on the cards. } (30... Bxd5 31. Kc2 Qg6+ 32. Bd3 Qh5 33. Rd2) 31. Re3 { A strong defensive idea. Doubling on the e-file also blocks the king from checks on the c1-h6 diagonal. } 31... Rb4 32. Qxa6 Qg5 (32... Qd8!! { A backwards move like this one is difficult to find, but it keeps the balance, as now 33. ... Ra8 is threatened. } 33. Bc4 Ra8 34. Qc6 Rc8 $10) 33. Re1 $16 R4b6? (33... Qd8! 34. d6 R4b6 35. Qa7 R6b7 36. Qa4 $16) 34. Qc4 $18 { Now white is up two clean pawns and converts nicely. } 34... Bxd5 35. Qh4! { A nice finishing touch by Hong. The trade of queens is forced due to the threats of Re3-e8+ followed by Bf1-d3+. } 35... Qh6 36. Qxh6 gxh6 37. Re5 Bf7 38. Rxc5 Ra8 39. Kb2 Rf6 40. Bd3 Rd8 41. Re3 Rfd6 42. Kc3 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0