[Event "National High School (K-12) Championship"] [Site "Washington D.C."] [Date "2023.04.01"] [White "Arthur Guo"] [Black "Avi Harrison Kaplan"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2534"] [BlackElo "2240"] [Annotator "Lang, JJ"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "B23"] [Opening "Sicilian Defense: Closed"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/gWVmQS5K/vKnafJsl"] [Orientation "white"] { Annotations by JJ Lang } 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. g3 b5 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. d3 d6 6. Nh3 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. g4 $146 { An interesting idea! I would imagine this was meant to dissuade Black from playing ...Ng8-f6, due to the swiftness of g4-g5. This is especially frustrating, since with Black's bishop already on the e7-square, the knight lacks a good detour. } 8... Nf6 (8... Nc6 { I like the idea of trying to play the waiting game. Sure, ...Ng8-f6 will be met by g4-g5, but how should White proceed until the knight moves? After all, the board is too closed for Black's king to be in danger despite not being castled. }) 9. g5 Nfd7 10. f4 Nc6 11. Ne2 Nb6 { Black reorganizes his forces to prepare for counterplay on the queenside. } 12. Ng3 d5?! { But this seems too brash, threatening to open the center before White has committed to which pawns are moving forward. } (12... Qd7 { What I like about this move is it leaves the option open of castling long if, for instance, the center opens up after } 13. f5 exf5 (13... O-O-O { is also probably fine. White's attack will stall. }) 14. Nxf5 (14. exf5 O-O-O)) 13. f5! exf5 14. exf5 { White has achieved an open e-file, which should provoke Black into castling sooner, if not for the fact that the threat of f5-f6 is horrifying. } 14... g6 15. f6 Bd6!? 16. Re1+ Kd7 { Black can be praised for this inspiring idea. Perhaps the king will find shelter on c7 or even castle by hand. } 17. Nf4 Ne5? { But this was asking far too much of his position. The king needed to get where he was going sooner rather than later. } (17... Kc7 18. Bxd5 { does win a pawn but after } 18... h6! { Black has considerable compensation. }) 18. c3 Re8 19. d4 Nec4 20. b3 Na5 21. Nd3 c4 22. Ne5+ Bxe5 23. dxe5 { And now the king is once again misplaced! } 23... Qc7 24. Bf4 Kd8 25. Ne4 Nc8 26. b4 Qd7 27. Nc5 Qc6 28. Nxb7+ Qxb7 29. bxa5 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0