[Event "U.S. Senior Chess Championship"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.07.15"] [Round "8"] [White "Christiansen, Larry"] [Black "Shabalov, Alexander"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2577"] [BlackElo "2510"] [Annotator "King"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "E10"] [Opening "Indian Defense: Anti-Nimzo-Indian"] [StudyName "2022 U.S. Senior and Juniors"] [ChapterName "Christiansen, Larry - Shabalov, Alexander"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/cfnNS6tI/KzOqNe4Y"] [Orientation "white"] { [%evp 0,126,23,23,17,-14,6,6,26,7,28,17,17,16,29,16,21,21,43,45,46,27,55,55, 78,65,62,61,57,49,50,68,46,46,27,20,16,16,4,-1,11,-35,0,-15,5,-32,-68,-68,-32, -26,-48,-34,-25,-24,-22,-18,-5,0,27,25,39,53,52,48,60,33,31,44,47,0,0,0,1,0,1, -88,-27,-22,0,0,44,56,95,-84,-84,-84,-45,-55,-47,-163,-183,-271,-282,-292,-289, -289,-252,-277,-250,-250,-250,-257,-257,-268,-276,-312,-320,-321,-321,-324, -335,-334,-334,-346,-347,-390,-379,-389,-392,-512,-427,-429,-422,-434,-439, -531,-577,-587,-607] } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. e3 { Declining Shabalov's invitation to a Benoni after } (4. d5) 4... cxd4 5. exd4 d5 6. Nc3 Be7 7. cxd5 Nxd5 { The center has resolved into a standard isolated queen pawn (IQP) structure. } 8. Bc4 Nxc3 9. bxc3 { And now the structure has been transformed into "hanging pawns". See my ongoing "One Man's Tarrasch" article series in Chess Life magazine (especially Part 1 in the March 2022 issue) for further explanation of the IQP and hanging pawns structures. } 9... O-O 10. O-O Nc6 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qc2 g6 13. Bh6 Re8 14. h4!? { Christiansen the fearless attacker makes the unsurprising decision to launch "Harry the h-pawn" up toward Black's king. } 14... Bb7 { In normal circumstances } (14... Bxh4? { would merely give White sufficient compensation for the pawn due to the open h-file, but here it loses immediately to a neat tactic: } 15. Bb5! Bb7 16. Qe4! $18 { forking c6 and h4 and winning a piece. }) 15. h5 Bf8 16. Qd2 Ne7 17. Bxf8 Rxf8 18. Ng5 Nf5 19. Rfe1 Rc8 { Shabalov, himself a celebrated attacker, has carefully absorbed the initial wave of White's attack. But the position remains complicated, with potential knight sacrifices on e6, f7, or h7 always in the air. } 20. Rac1 h6 21. Nh3 { Undoubtedly Christiansen was tempted by } (21. Nxe6? fxe6 22. Rxe6 { but spotted the refutation } 22... Nh4! 23. Qxh6 Rc7 24. hxg6 Nxg2 $19 { when despite having three pawns for the piece, White's attack has run out of steam while his own king is now fatally vulnerable. }) 21... g5 22. Re5 Ng7 23. Bc2 Bd5 24. Qd3 f5! { In my own games I have often underestimated the strength of this defensive move, which to me always feels like a painful weakening of the e5-square. However, importantly it also blunts the action of White's queen-bishop battery along the b1-h7 diagonal. Indeed, in this case it is Black's only option. } 25. Bb3 Rc7 26. c4 Bb7 27. Rce1 Rf6 28. f3 Rd7 29. d5 b5! { Shabalov continues to fight hard, finding an important resource to destabilize White's pawn duo. } 30. Qe3 { A dangerous alternative was the sacrifice } (30. Qc3!? exd5 31. c5! $16 { creating a passed pawn. }) 30... exd5 31. cxd5 Qb6! { Jumping at the chance to achieve some relief through simplification. } 32. Qxb6 Rxb6 33. Nf2 Kf8 34. g4 a5 35. a3 Rbd6 36. Rd1 Re7 37. Nd3 a4 38. Ba2 Rxe5 39. Nxe5 fxg4 40. fxg4 Ne8? $18 { The infamous mistake on the last move of the time control. Correct was } (40... Ke7! 41. Ng6+ Kd7 $13) 41. Rf1+? $13 { Returning the favor, but without the excuse of the time control. Instead } (41. Ng6+! { would prepare to meet } 41... Kf7 { with } 42. Re1! $18 { when Black has no good answer to the threatened 43.Re7+ winning a piece. }) 41... Nf6 42. Ng6+? $19 { Best was } (42. Nd7+! { forcing further simplifications: } 42... Ke7 43. Nxf6 Rxf6 44. d6+! Rxd6 45. Rf7+ { leading to a drawn rook ending. }) 42... Ke8? $13 { The right way to escape the checks was } (42... Kf7! 43. Ne5+ Ke8! $19 { after which White loses his d-pawn. }) 43. Re1+ Kd8 44. Ne7? $19 { White had to save the g4-pawn with } (44. Ne5 Bxd5 45. Bxd5 Rxd5 46. Nf7+ Kc7 47. Nxh6 $13) 44... Nxg4 { Black has safely won a pawn, with the d5-pawn potentially soon to follow. Christiansen is unable to shake things up further, and Shabalov carefully converts his material advantage into a win. } 45. Re2 Rd7 46. Ng8 Rc7 47. Rb2 Bc8 48. Bb1 Rg7 49. Nxh6 Nxh6 50. Rxb5 Rb7 51. Rxb7 Bxb7 52. Bc2 Bxd5 53. Bxa4 { Unfortunately Black's final remaining pawn will still cost White a piece. } 53... Bf3 54. Kf2 Bxh5 55. Ke3 Ke7 56. Ke4 Be8 57. Bd1 Kd6 58. a4 Bc6+ 59. Kd4 Nf5+ 60. Kd3 Ke5 61. a5 Bb5+ 62. Kc3 Ne3 63. Kb4 Ba6 { and Christiansen resigned. After } (63... Bh5 64. Kd4 { followed by 65...g4, White will be forced to sacrifice his bishop, after which Christiansen trusted in Shabalov's ability to force checkmate with bishop and knight against king. (These days even kids know how to win this endgame - see an example in my article on the National High School Championship in the current July 2022 issue of Chess Life magazine. ) }) 0-1