[Event "U.S. National Invitational Tournaments"] [Site "Grand Rapids"] [Date "2023.08.01"] [Round "6"] [White "Lu, Maximillian"] [Black "Vanapalli, Vishnu"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2459"] [BlackElo "2395"] [Annotator "IM Sandeep Sethuraman"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "D31"] [Opening "Queen's Gambit Declined: Charousek Variation"] [StudyName "National Invitationals"] [ChapterName "Maximillian Lu - Vishnu Vanapalli"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/w2guu0Vb/NkSp5bTI"] [Orientation "white"] 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. Qc2 Nf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3 Nbd7 9. Nf3 Re8 10. h3 Nf8 11. Bh2 Ng6 12. O-O { White has completed development, and the typical queenside minority attack is about to commence with Ra1-b1 preparing b2-b4-b5. } 12... Bd6 13. Bxd6 Qxd6 14. Rab1 a5 15. a3 Be6 16. Rfc1 (16. b4 axb4 17. axb4 b5 { is the classic continuation in the QGD. Even here, White is better, but Lu chooses a more measured approach, trusting his conversion skills. }) 16... Nd7 17. Na4 Rec8 18. Ng5! { Taking the bishop, and White now has a significant edge. } 18... b5 19. Nc5 Nxc5 20. Qxc5 Qxc5 21. Rxc5 Bd7 22. g4 f6 23. Nf3 Kf7 24. Kg2 Ne7 25. Rbc1 h6 26. Kg3 Rcb8 27. h4 a4 28. Ne1 b4? { Under pressure for so long, Vanapalli finally shows a slight slip-up. Now the a4-pawn will be fixed on a light square, and the open file only favors White. } 29. Bc2 bxa3 30. bxa3 Nc8 31. Nd3 Nd6 32. Nb4 { A perfect outpost for the knight, while Black's c6- and a4- pawns are weak and essentially undefendable. } 32... Nc4 33. Nxc6 Rc8 34. Be4!! { This is the justification for White's last five moves, and that's why it deserves two exclamations. Lu had seen this quite a while ago. } 34... Be6 35. Bg2 Ra6 36. Ne5+! { Ending a perfect game. } 36... fxe5 37. Rxc8 exd4 38. Rc7+ Kf6 39. e4 Nb6 40. f4 { 1-0 White wins. Lu caps off a perfect game, and an almost-perfect tournament with this nice victory to end in second place. } 1-0