[Event "U.S. National Invitational Tournaments"] [Site "Grand Rapids"] [Date "2023.07.29"] [Round "1.19"] [White "Dsouza, Aiden"] [Black "Liu, Aiden Q"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1594"] [BlackElo "2199"] [Annotator "Lang,JJ"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C56"] [Opening "Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Max Lange Attack"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/w2guu0Vb/ttehHbh8"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. e5 d5 6. Bb5 Ne4 7. Nxd4 Bd7 8. Nxc6?! { Preserving the light-squared bishop is very intuitive, but here it comes at the cost of crucial tempi. } (8. Bxc6 bxc6 9. O-O Bc5 10. f3 Ng5 11. f4 Ne4 12. Be3 Bb6 13. Nd2 c5 { is the modern main line of the Scotch Gambit. }) 8... Bxc6?! (8... bxc6 { why not preserve the bishop if the pawns are going to get doubled anyways? } 9. Bd3 Qe7 { seems like a nice way to exploit White's weak e5-pawn. }) 9. Bxc6+ bxc6 10. O-O Qd7 11. Nd2 Nxd2 12. Bxd2 Bc5 13. Kh1 O-O 14. f4 Qf5 15. c4 { White has played reasonably since here, and now aims to create some liabilities in Black's center. Opening things up in this way would be less prudent if Black's other bishop were still part of the game. } 15... f6 16. cxd5 cxd5 17. Rc1 Bb6 18. Bb4 Rfd8 19. Be7 Rd7 20. exf6 gxf6 21. Re1 Kf7 22. Bc5 Rg8 23. Qc2 Qxc2 24. Rxc2 d4 25. Bb4?? (25. Rec1 { White had to keep the blockade on the c5-square at all costs. If Black's c-pawn can connect with the passer on d4, it's game over. }) 25... d3 (25... c5 { was also strong. } 26. Bd2 (26. Bxc5?? d3 27. Rc4 d2! 28. Rd1 Bxc5 29. Rxc5 Re8 $19) 26... Re7 $17) 26. Rd2 c5 27. Bc3 c4 28. g3 a5! { An excellent bit of planning from the top seed. If Black can remove the b2-pawn, then the dark-squared bishop is no longer a defended blockader, and can thus be chopped off with more ease. } 29. Kg2 a4 30. Re4 Rc8 31. Kf3 a3 32. Re1 axb2 33. Rxb2 Bd4! 34. Bxd4 Rxd4 { Mission accomplished. The connected passers are unstoppable. } 35. Ke3 Rd7 36. Rd2 Re8+ 37. Kf2 Rxe1 38. Kxe1 c3 39. Rg2 d2+ 40. Kd1 c2+ 41. Kxc2 d1=Q+ { 0-1 Black wins. } 0-1