[Event "U.S. Senior Chess Championship 2023"] [Site "St Louis"] [Date "2023.07.24"] [Round "8"] [White "Gurevich, Dmitry"] [Black "Shabalov, Alexander"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2364"] [BlackElo "2453"] [Annotator "Davis Zong Jr"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "D02"] [Opening "Queen's Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/ZBuAQUT7/saZ43TpS"] [Orientation "white"] { Annotations by Davis Zong Jr } 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. e3 b6 5. Nc3 Bd6 6. Bd3 Bb7 7. Qa4+ Nbd7 8. Ne5?! { The knight-jump is premature, as Black is not behind in development. } (8. cxd5 { White should settle for equality here by releasing the tension. } 8... exd5 9. Ba6 Bxa6 10. Qxa6 $10) 8... Bxe5 9. dxe5 Ng4 10. f4 (10. cxd5 { Jettisoning a pawn is the lesser evil here. } 10... Nxe5 11. Be2 exd5 12. O-O O-O $15) 10... O-O? (10... dxc4! { Taking advantage of White's uncastled king. All of a sudden, Qh4+ and Bxg2 loom on the horizon and White is in big trouble. } 11. Be4 Bxe4 12. Nxe4 Qh4+ 13. g3 Qh3 14. Qc6 Rd8 $17) 11. Qc2 Nc5 12. cxd5 exd5 (12... Nxd3+ 13. Qxd3 Qh4+ 14. g3 Qh3 15. Qf1 Qxf1+ 16. Rxf1 Nxh2 $15) 13. O-O Nxd3 14. Qxd3 c5 15. h3 Nh6 16. f5 $10 { Dynamically balanced position. Black has a queenside supermajority but White has a kingside supermajority. The semi-open nature of the position also makes it hard for either player to launch a decisive attack. } 16... Re8 17. e4 dxe4 18. Qg3 Qd4+ 19. Kh1 Qxe5 20. Bf4 { Repetition is the best for both players, and a draw by three-fold ensued. } 20... Qf6 21. Bg5 Qe5 22. Bf4 Qf6 23. Bg5 Qe5 24. Bf4 Qf6 { 1/2-1/2 The game is a draw. } 1/2-1/2