[Event "Slovakia open 2024"] [Date "2024.09.16"] [Round "3"] [White "Barp, Alberto"] [Black "Vardanyan, Aras"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2431"] [BlackElo "2308"] [Annotator "Aras"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "E62"] [Opening "King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Larsen Defense"] [StudyName "benkonian's Study"] [ChapterName "Barp, Alberto - Vardanyan, Aras"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/b5FKaxRP/HRNJm7F4"] [Orientation "black"] { At the time this was played, I was quite fond of the king's indian defence. I saw that my opponent played the g3 system and I thought I could catch him in a line where black basically equalises } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 c6 7. O-O Bf5 8. Ng5!? { Not really the main move, but I had prepared it a bit since I saw that this was one of the moves he played. One of the virtues of being an expert in one line, like my opponent with the g3 KID, is that you can switch up the lines you play while maintaining the same overall structure, making it harder for opponents to prepare } 8... e5 9. d5 a5 10. e4 { I had somehow forgotten where exactly the bishop should go here. I thought d7 was the usual answer, following up with Na6-Nc5, Rc8, etc. But here Bd7 was not good } 10... Bd7?! (10... Bc8 { This unintuitive move was best, for reasons explained below } 11. f3 cxd5 12. cxd5 (12. exd5 Na6)) 11. f3!? (11. dxc6! { White should take the opportunity to take on c6 when black has to recapture with a piece, since otherwise the d6 pawn will fall } 11... Bxc6 12. Be3 { Black has longterm weaknesses on d6, d5 and b6 as well. This was the first instance of me not knowing what's going on here. I had simply dismissed white taking on c6 on principle } 12... Na6 13. f3) 11... cxd5 (11... Qc8 12. f4 cxd5 13. fxe5 dxe5 14. Nxd5 (14. Rxf6 Bxf6) 14... Nxd5 15. cxd5 Qc5+) 12. exd5!? { This recapture came as a bit of a shock, as I had thought white should automatically recapture with the c pawn, getting the usual king's indian structure. There, I would have kind of known where to put the pieces and how to play - Na6, Rc8, Nc5, a4/b5, etc. with play on the queenside. Now I had to figure out the structure from scratch, while my opponent, I assume, had analysed a few games from this structure. The main point is to keep a pawn on c4 to stop b5 and also to give the g5 knight a square on e4. I navigated the next few moves quite well, but then I had to solve some problems. At this point black has indeed equalised according to the engine, but the situation was that I had no clue what to do while my opponent had already played this structure more than once } (12. cxd5) 12... Na6 (12... Qb6+ 13. Kh1 Qb4 14. Nge4 Nxe4) 13. Be3 Ne8 { [%cal Gf7f5] } 14. Nb5 (14. Rc1 h6 15. Nh3 f5 16. Kh1) 14... Bxb5?! { Giving up the bishop pair, but at the time I thought the one on g2 was not dangerous at all. Also, I was happy to weaken the d5 pawn since black's knight can soon attack it. All of this turned out to be wrong } (14... Bh6 { A strange tactic manoeuvre } { [%cal Ge8g7,Gg7f5] } 15. Qd2 Ng7 16. f4 Nf5 17. Bf2 exf4 18. gxf4 Rc8) (14... Nac7 15. a4 { I believe I was uncomfortable with letting his knight stay on b5, though black should be fine if he seeks active counterplay soon } 15... f5 { [%cal Gh7h6] } 16. f4 e4 17. Qb3 Qe7) 15. cxb5 Nac7 (15... Nc5 16. Bxc5 dxc5) 16. a4 Nf6 17. f4 (17. Bf2 Nfxd5 18. f4 exf4 19. Bxd5 Qxg5 20. Bxb7) 17... e4? (17... exf4 18. Bxf4 Re8 { Made more sense, but I thought the passed pawn would be strong }) 18. Bd4 Re8?! (18... Ncxd5 { This is the best move, but the problem was that it opens up white's light squared bishop towards the b7 pawn. While going for this structure, I had underestimated this nuance - winning the d5 pawn isn't all that great. } 19. Nxe4 Nxe4 20. Bxe4 Bxd4+ 21. Qxd4 Nb4 22. Bxb7 Nc2 23. Qd2 Nxa1 24. Bxa8 Nb3 25. Qc3 Qxa8 26. Qxb3 { After this forced line, the engine gives white only a small advantage, but I would be very scared of the passed and connected b5 pawn }) 19. Re1 (19. f5 Ncxd5) 19... Ncxd5 20. Nxe4 Rb8 21. Nxf6+ Nxf6 22. Rxe8+ Nxe8 23. Qd2 (23. Ba7 Ra8 24. Bf2 { a nice accurate continuation. Here the problems of my opening strategy would be been apparent - giving up the bishop pair to weaken the d5 pawn wasn't a good idea, since even if black takes the pawn, it opens white's bishop and makes it a very strong piece. Only a deeper strategic look would have helped black understand the dangers of Bxb5 on move 14 }) 23... b6 24. Rd1 Bxd4+ 25. Qxd4 { Black is struggling against the strong bishop. Although there were chances to survive, I didn't manage. The rest of the game is not related to the blogpost } 25... Qc7 26. Bc6 Rd8 27. Re1 Ng7 28. Qf6 Rf8 29. Re7 Qc8 30. Rd7 Ne6 (30... Nf5!) 31. Rxd6 Nc5 32. Bd5 Qe8 33. Qe5 Nxa4 34. b3 Qxe5 35. fxe5 Nc3 36. Bc4 a4 37. Rxb6 a3 38. Ra6 a2 39. b4 Rd8 40. Bxa2 Rd1+ 41. Kf2 Rd2+ 42. Ke3 Rxa2 43. Kd3 Na4 44. Kc4 Kf8 45. Kb3 Rxh2 46. Kxa4 Ke7 47. Ra7+ Kd8 48. b6 Kc8 49. Rxf7 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0