[Event "North American Open 2022"] [Date "2022.12.28"] [Round "6"] [White "Khanin, Semen"] [Black "Liang, Jason"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Jason Wang"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "E73"] [Opening "King's Indian Defense: Semi-Averbakh System"] [StudyName "North American Open (Wang annotations)"] [ChapterName "Khanin, Semen - Liang, Jason"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/vFd6hQmq/cfLytvoK"] [Orientation "white"] { [%evp 0,119,19,21,30,0,37,37,33,42,42,48,35,11,30,15,16,0,2,-6,21,11,8,30,49, 31,26,20,19,30,14,16,-1,4,-1,10,90,-14,-25,-19,-17,-23,-17,-25,-7,-40,-24,-8, -9,0,-1,-27,-10,-30,16,18,32,9,2,0,2,16,0,-2,-1,10,0,0,29,7,0,0,0,0,10,64,89, 94,89,109,103,21,126,165,73,73,73,94,94,125,97,144,193,115,168,191,196,201,201, 220,224,257,300,339,353,828,965,1017,1034,1093,1097,308,311,542,634,1238,1238, 1252,1252,1260,1312,1293] } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5 Na6 8. h4 Nc5 9. Qc2 c6 10. Bxc5 dxc5 11. h5 cxd5 12. cxd5 Ne8 13. h6 (13. Nf3 { Perhaps White could have waited to play h5-h6 to give himself more flexibility. }) 13... Bf6 14. Nf3 Nd6 15. Nd2 a6 16. a4 Bd7 17. a5 Nb5 18. Nc4 (18. Nxb5 axb5 19. Qxc5 b6! $13 { Liang's idea hinged on this move. } (19... Rxa5 20. O-O $14)) 18... Nd4 19. Qd1 Bb5 20. Bd3 (20. Nb6! { White should prevent Black from trading his bishop for the knight, because his knight is strong, controlling and attacking many squares. } 20... Rb8 21. Bc4 { White will play Qd1-d3 next. }) 20... Re8 (20... Bxc4! 21. Bxc4 Bg5 $15 { White will find it difficult to form a plan. }) 21. Kf1 Bg5 22. Ne2 Qf6 (22... Bxc4 23. Bxc4 Nb5 $15 { Black will follow with ...Nb5-d6, with a great blockade. Black may then play for ...f7-f5 in the future. }) 23. Nxd4 cxd4 24. g3 Rac8 25. b3 Rc5 26. Kg2 Bxc4?! { Black should have played something like ...Qf6-e7 with the idea of ...f7-f5 instead. } 27. bxc4! { White correctly assesses that this b-file will be a huge asset for him. Plus, Black's counterplay is near zero now. } 27... Rb8 28. Ra2 Qd8 29. Qg4 Be7 30. f4 Bd6 31. Rf2 Qe7 (31... Rxa5 32. fxe5 Bxe5 33. Rxf7 Kxf7 34. Qe6+ $18) 32. Ra1 Bc7 33. Rfa2 (33. f5!?) 33... Rf8 34. Rb1 Rb8 35. Rab2 Bd6 36. Rb6 (36. Qh4! { This move provokes ...f7-f6, weakening Black's king further. } 36... f6 (36... Qxh4 37. gxh4 Rxa5 38. Rxb7 { and White's active rooks, strong center pawns, and Black's weak back rank make Black's position unenviable. }) 37. Ra2 $16) 36... Qc7 (36... Rxa5! { This was actually possible here. White can try to make Rb6-xb7 work, but it is only enough for an equal position. } 37. Rxb7 (37. Qg5!? Qxg5 (37... f6 38. Qg4 $44) 38. fxg5 $14) 37... Rxb7 38. Qc8+ Qf8 39. Qxf8+ Kxf8 40. Rxb7 exf4) 37. Qg5 exf4 { Now Khanin found a very nice tactic. } 38. e5! f3+ (38... Bxe5 39. Rxb7! Rxb7 40. Rxb7 Qxb7 41. Qd8#) 39. Kxf3 Bf8 40. d6? { Played with a very tempting but wrong idea. } (40. Rf6 $18 { Starting here, with the idea of pushing e5-e6 next, wins the game. }) 40... Qd7 41. e6?! { At first sight, this seems crushing. If Black takes the pawn on e6, he loses the rook on c5, while if Black takes the queen on g5, White's pawn captures Black's queen, landing on d7 with devastating effect. } 41... Rxg5? { Liang misses a brilliant saving chance. } (41... Qxe6!! { If White captures the rook, Black uncorks an ingenious perpetual check with } 42. Qxc5 Qe3+ 43. Kg2 Qd2+ 44. Kh3 Qxh6+ 45. Kg4 f5+ 46. Kf3 Qe3+ 47. Kg2 Qd2+ { . }) 42. exd7 Rd8 43. Rxb7 Bxd6 44. R1b6 Rxg3+ 45. Ke4 Bf8 46. Rc6 Re3+ 47. Kxd4 Re7 48. Rcc7 Bxh6 49. c5 Bf4 50. c6 Bxc7 51. Rxc7 Kf8 52. Rc8 Rxd7+ 53. cxd7 Ke7 54. Rxd8 Kxd8 55. Bxa6 Kxd7 56. Kc5 Kc7 57. Bc4 Kb7 58. Bxf7 Ka6 59. Kb4 g5 60. Bh5 $18 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0