[Event "U.S. Girl's Junior Chess Championship 2"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.07.08"] [Round "2"] [White "Wu, Rochelle"] [Black "Morris-Suzuki, Sophie"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2216"] [BlackElo "2055"] [TimeControl "5400+30"] [Annotator "Shlyakhtenko,Robert"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "E81"] [Opening "King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Sämisch Gambit"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/cfnNS6tI/ai6r7gEk"] [Orientation "white"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Be3 c5 7. Nge2 Nc6 8. d5 Ne5 9. Ng3 h5 10. Be2 h4 11. Nf1 e6 12. a4!? { Played quickly, this rare move was evidently still part of preparation. } (12. f4 { leads to exhaustively-analyzed positions after Grischuk's piece sacrifice: } 12... Nxc4!! 13. Bxc4 b5 14. Bxb5 exd5 { , and Black is in good shape theoretically. }) (12. Bg5 { is considered the critical try, to my knowledge. }) (12. Nd2 { remains the most common move. }) 12... exd5 13. cxd5 h3 { In general, this is a double-edged move: in the long-term the h3-pawn is a weakness, but many things can happen before then. } 14. g3?! { After this move black's knight is secure on ...e5, which leaves black free to play ...a7-a6 and ...Bc8-d7. } (14. g4! { was best, with some chances for an advantage. At the very least, Black cannot play the same way as in the game: } 14... a6? { (senseless in this case) } 15. g5! Nh7 16. f4 Nd7 17. Ng3 { with a clear advantage. }) 14... a6 15. Nd2 Bd7 { Black is ready to play ...b6-b5 even as a pawn sacrifice. If ...h4-h3 had not been included, White's typical reaction would be h2-h3 with the threat of f3-f4. Here White does not have access to this resource, and her position is already perilous. } 16. O-O b5! 17. axb5 axb5 18. Rxa8 (18. Nxb5 { While watching the livestream, I could not escape the eerie feeling that I had seen this position before. It turns out that I had reached this position as White myself a few years back! Admittedly, it was through a different move order. That game continued as follows: } 18... Qb6 (18... Bxb5 19. Bxb5 Qb6 20. Be2 Qxb2 21. Rb1 { is a better version of what White got in the game. }) 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Na3 Qxb2 21. Nac4 Nxc4 22. Nxc4 { and I was worse but held a draw, ½-½ (42) Shlyakhtenko,R-Ravuri,V 2019. Perhaps this is indeed a better defensive plan: the c4-knight holds the position together at least somewhat. }) 18... Qxa8 19. Nxb5 Bxb5 20. Bxb5 Rb8 21. Be2 Rxb2 { Black has achieved everything they could possibly want in the Benoni. An opening disaster for White. } 22. f4 Qa3! 23. Bf2 Qb4 (23... Rxd2! 24. Qxd2 Qf3!! { was the most stylish. Typically, the blows come from both sides of the board. }) 24. Be1 Nd3! 25. Bxd3 Qd4+ 26. Rf2 Qxd3 27. Qf3 Qxf3 { Entirely sufficient. } 28. Rxf3 Ng4 29. e5 dxe5 30. d6 e4 31. d7 Bd4+ 32. Bf2 (32. Kh1 Rb8 33. Nxe4 Rd8 34. Ng5 Rxd7 35. Nxh3 { would have allowed White to continue resistance for a bit longer. }) 32... Bf6 { Because of the weak back rank, White loses material. } 0-1