(1) Hughes,T (2081) - Karagianis,P (2138) [C52] US Class Championship Des Moines (3), 21.08.2004 [Hughes,Tyler B] This game was played in round 3 of the US Class Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. My opponent is the Iowa state champion, Pete Karagianis. This game was very complicated: it started off as a normal Evans gambit, Black began to catch up in his development, then I found an unexpected resource, he found a tricky defense and the game quickly became one of the most complex games of my life. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 I was happy to see this move as it allows me to play the Evans gambit, an opening which I have been studying a lot lately with the help of Larry Christensen. 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.0-0 dxc3 This line is quite risky; Black will be up two pawns but he will have a hard time catching up in development. I was happy to see this move, as White usually scores well in this line. It&aposs nice and intuitive to play for White: your queen goes to b3, you take the pawn on c3 with your knight, your bishop goes to a3 to stop black from castling and you develop your rooks to the open central files. 8.Qb3 Qf6 This is the best move. Qe7 isn&apost as good because White will gain a tempo of Black&aposs queen with Ba3. [ 8...Qe7 9.Nxc3 Bxc3 ( 9...Nf6 10.e5 Bxc3 11.Qxc3 Ne4 12.Qc2 Nc5 13.Bg5+/= ) 10.Qxc3 f6 ( 10...Nf6 ) 11.Ba3 d6 12.Bd5 Bd7 13.Rfe1 This is the sort of position White is aiming for in the Evans gambit. White has plenty of compensation for the pawn: a huge lead in development, the two bishops in and real chances to attack Black&aposs king. Watch what happened in the ancient game Steinitz-Gray, 1872: 13...0-0-0 14.Rab1 Be6?? 15.Rxb7! Kxb7 16.Qxc6+ Kc8 17.Qa6+ Kd7 18.Bc6# ] 9.e5 Qg6 [ 9...Nxe5 Taking the pawn loses: 10.Re1 d6 11.Nxe5 dxe5 12.Qb5+ c6 13.Qxa5+- ] 10.Nxc3 Nge7 11.Ba3 Bxc3 Black has also tried castling right away here: [ 11...0-0 12.Rad1© And again, this is the kind of position White is looking for in the Evans gambit. White&aposs plan of attack will be to transfer more pieces to the kingside by playing Bd3 and then Ne4 possibly followed by Neg5. For example, lets look at what happens if Black plays naturally: 12...Bb6 13.Bd3 Qh5 14.Ne4 Re8 15.Neg5 h6 16.Nxf7 Na5 17.Nxh6+ Kh8 18.Qf7 Qxf7 19.Nxf7+ Kg8 ] 12.Qxc3 0-0 13.Bd3 My idea is to chase Black&aposs queen to h5 and then play Ra1-e1-h4. 13...Qh5N [ During the game I thought that 13...Qe6 loses but it turns out that it&aposs really not so bad after all: 13...Qe6 14.Bxh7+! Kh8 15.Rae1+/= ( 15.Ng5?! Qh6 16.Qg3 f6 17.exf6 gxf6 18.Bb2 d6= ) ; 13...Qh6 ] 14.Rae1 This was my idea when I played 13.Bd3: I want to play Re4 next, and then Rh4 trapping the queen and if he stops this by ...Ng6 I want to play h4 followed by g4. However, I had another continuation which would have won back one of my pawns and left him with a very weak isolated pawn: [ 14.Bxe7 Nxe7 15.Qxc7 This position is quite pleasant for White-he has many open files for his rooks, his bishop is well placed and black has a isolated d-pawn which makes it difficult to develop his light squared bishop. ] 14...Re8 Getting out of the pin by my bishop, so that he can play ...Ng6 next move which stops my idea of Rh4 and opening up an attack against my e5 pawn. 15.Re4 Threating 16.Rh4, winning Black&aposs queen. 15...Ng6 16.h4!? I spent half an hour on this move. The idea is to take away the h3-square from black&aposs queen. Now my threat is 17.g4 Qh6 18.Bc1 winning the queen. [ 16.Rfe1+/= After analyzing the repercussions of 16...Ngxe5 17.Nxe5 d5! I came to the conclusion that I need to find a better move than 16.h4. This move I believe is an improvement; I give e5 more pressure and now plan to play h4 then next move. This position looks quite tough for Black: his main source of counterplay (Attacking e5) has been stopped and he is left with misplaced pieces being the knight on g6 and the queen on h5.] 16...d5 During the game I thought that taking the e5-pawn would lose for Black. However, I missed an important resource for Black. [ 16...Ngxe5 17.Nxe5 d5! When calculating this line I did not see this possibility. My opponent showed it to me later when we were analyzing our game. I only looked at 17...Nxe5 and 17...Rxe5. This is a complicated position, I have many interesting continuations. Lets take a look: ( 17...Nxe5? 18.f4 d6 19.fxe5 Bf5 20.Rc4 Bxd3 21.Qxd3 dxe5 22.Rxc7+- ; 17...Rxe5 18.Rxe5 Qxe5 ( 18...Nxe5 19.Qxc7 Nc6 20.Qd6+- ) 19.Re1+- ) 18.Be2 ( 18.g4 An exciting move, which doesnt quite work: 18...Bxg4 19.Rxg4 d4! 20.Rxd4 ( If I try Qc2 it doesn&apost work out too great for me: 20.Qc2 Nxe5 21.Rf4 Nxd3 22.Qxd3 c5-/+ This position is bad for me. Black has 4 pawns for the piece, two of which are passed. All of my pawns are broken up and his pawns on c5 and d4 severely restrict my bishop.) 20...Nxd4 21.Qxd4 Rxe5 22.Bb2 Rae8=/+ An interesting position; White has two bishops for a rook and three pawns. White&aposs queen and dark squared bishop form a nice battery toward Black&aposs king. This is nice, but White&aposs king is very exposed, which means that black can usually force a perpetual if he wants to. Also, Black may be able to break up whites queen and bishop battery by playing activating his queenside pawn majority by ...c5, ...a6 and ...b5. Although this position is probably a draw with best play, Black has better practical chances due to White&aposs exposed king and the possibility of activating his queenside pawn majority.; 18.Nxc6 This try doesn&apost work out at all for White: 18...dxe4 19.Ne7+ Rxe7 20.Bxe7 exd3 21.Qxd3 Be6-+ ) 18...Qf5 19.Nxc6! ( Another option is: 19.Bb2 dxe4 ( 19...f6 Doesn&apost pan out to Black&aposs favor: 20.Nxc6 dxe4 ( 20...Rxe4 Here I would continue 21.Nd4 Qd7 22.h5+/= With the idea of playing h6 break up the g7-f6 defensive setup against my Bb2-Qc3 battery. I would definitely prefer White here.) 21.Nd4 Qf4 22.Nb5!+/= This move creates some difficulties for Black. 22...Re7 ( 22...c6 23.g3 Qe5 ( 23...Qf5 24.Nd6+- ; 23...Qb8 ) 24.Qc4++- Qe6 ( 24...Be6 25.Bxe5 Bxc4 26.Bxc4+ Kh8 27.Nc7+- ) 25.Nc7+- ) 23.Qc5! Rf7 ( 23...Re8 24.Nxc7+- ; 23...Rd7 24.Bc4++- ; 23...Kf7 24.Ba3 Rd7 25.Qh5+ g6 ( 25...Ke6 26.Bc4+ Rd5 27.Qxd5# ) 26.Qxh7+ Ke6 ( 26...Ke8 27.Qg8# ) 27.Qg8+ Ke5 28.Qe8+ Kf5 ( 28...Kd5 29.Rd1+ Kc6 30.Qe6++- ) 29.g4++- ) 24.Bc4+- ; 19...Qxe4 20.Nxc6 f6 21.Bf3 Qc4 22.Re1! Transposes to 19.Nxc6) 20.Nxc6 Qf6 ( 20...f6 21.Nd4 Qf4 22.h5+/= White has good attacking chances.) 21.Qxf6 gxf6 22.Nd4= With about equal chances. This is why 19.Nxc6! is superior.) 19...Qxe4 20.Bb2 f6 21.Bf3 Qc4 22.Re1! ( 22.Qxc4 dxc4 23.Na5= Probably just drawn.) 22...Qxc6 ( Not 22...Rxe1+ 23.Qxe1 Qxc6 24.Bxd5+!+- Wins) 23.Bxd5+! Qxd5 24.Rxe8+ Kf7 25.Qe1~~ A computer might be able to defend this, but I believe that in a tournament game White has good enough chances against Black&aposs open king in compensation for his missing pawns. However, objectively this must be equal. This means that 16.Rfe1 was a stronger move.] 17.exd6 Bg4? This move loses a piece; lets look at some different options for Black: [ 17...Bf5 18.Bb2 f6 19.Qb3+ Kh8 20.Rxe8+ Rxe8 21.Bxf5 Qxf5 22.Qxb7+/- ; 17...Rxe4 18.Bxe4 Bd7 ( 18...cxd6?? 19.Bxc6 bxc6 20.Qxc6+- ) 19.Bb2+/- ; 17...Be6 18.g4! Bxg4 ( 18...Qd5 19.h5+/- White has a very strong position now.) 19.Bb2 f6 20.Qc4+ Kh8 21.Rxg4 b5 22.Bxg6 hxg6 23.Qf4+/= Black has a few pawns for the piece, but White is still definitely better. Thus we can determine that after 16...d5 Black&aposs game is already difficult.] 18.Bb2! Forcing f6 18...f6 19.Bc4+?! Here I saw the possibility of sacking my queen, and I went for it with out hesitation. However, I completely missed a way that I could have just won a piece: [ 19.Qc4+ Kh8 20.Rxg4 cxd6 21.Rg3+- If I had seen 19.Qc4+ I would have played it, as this is completely winning for White. I instead went for wild complications.] 19...Kh8? Here my opponent and I both thought 19...Kf8 would be suicide. It turns out that this was the better move. [ 19...Kf8 20.Rxe8+ Rxe8 21.dxc7+/= And here I have good chances to attack, but it&aposs better than what happened to my opponent in the game.] 20.Qxf6! I had to see this idea before I could play h4. If I didn&apost have this shot I would probably be worse. 20...Nge5! A tricky defense! Black blocks the long diagonal, so now he is threatening to take my queen. I decide to sacrifice it for two minor pieces. [ 20...gxf6 21.Bxf6# ] 21.Nxe5! Now black must take the queen. 21...gxf6 22.Nxg4 Now black has to deal with Bxf6#. It turns out that despite that fact that I only have two minor pieces for the queen Black is clearly lost! 22...Ne5 The best try, attempting to block the killer dark-squared bishop. 23.Nxf6 Now I destroy the e5 knights support, while also threatening Blacks queen. 23...Qf5 24.d7! This pawn will be a killer. 24...Re7 25.Rfe1 Because I spent so much time on 16.h4, 20.Qxf6 and 21.Nxe5 I now have only 8 minutes left to make move 40. The quality of my play now noticeably goes down. 25...Qxf6 26.Bxe5? [ 26.Rxe5 This move would have been much better than 26.Bxe5 but I was moving fast to make the time control so I didn&apost have much time to consider which piece I should take with. 26...Rf8 27.Rf5! Rxe1+ 28.Kh2 Qxb2 29.Rxf8+ Kg7 30.Rf7+ Kh6 31.d8Q+- And Black will be mated soon.] 26...Rxe5 27.Rxe5 Rf8 28.R1e2 Rd8 Nothing works: [ 28...Qd6 29.Re8 Qxd7 30.Rxf8+ Kg7 31.Rg8+ Kf6 32.g4+- ] 29.Re8+ Kg7 30.R2e7+ Kg6 31.Re6? I had seen this move since 26.Bxe5 so I made it instantly to save time. There were 2 better continuations one of which mated and another which would have put me up a rook and a bishop. I now only have 5 minutes for 9 moves. [ 31.Bd3+ Kh5 32.Rxh7+ Kg4 33.Re4+ Kf5 34.g4+ Kg6 35.Re6# ; 31.Rxd8 Qxe7 32.Rg8+ Kf5 33.d8Q Qxd8 34.Rxd8+- ] 31...Rxd7 32.Rxf6+ Kxf6 33.Bb3? I am moving really fast at this point. My next seven moves do not really do anything positive for my position. Meanwhile, my opponent skillfully mobilizes his queenside pawn majority and turns it into quite a threat, one that I must address before mobilizing my own majority. 33...c5 34.Rc8? b6 35.g3? [ 35.g4!+- ] 35...Ke5 Now suddenly I have to deal with Black&aposs plan of ...Kd4 ...b5 ...c4. 36.Kf1 I must get my king over to the queenside to help defuse Black&aposs pawn majority. 36...Kd4 37.Ke2 b5 38.Kd2 a5 39.Bd1 [ 39.Kc2?? c4 Would be quite painful after all my hard work] 39...Kc4+ 40.Kc2 Whew! I barely make the time control with 20 seconds left. Now I need to figure out how to defuse blacks queenside pawn majority. 40...Kb4 41.a3+ This move trades my a-pawn for his c-pawn. My plan now is after 41...Kxa3 42.Rxc5 I will move my bishop to e2 to attack the b5 pawn. Black will be forced to defend this pawn with his rook. Then I will advance my kingside pawns and at the proper moment I will sacrifice my extra piece and one of my kingside pawns will queen. 41...Kxa3 42.Rxc5 Kb4 43.Re5 a4 44.Be2 Rb7 45.g4 a3 I now calculate to make sure that my h-pawn will queen before his king arrives to stop it. 46.Rxb5+ Rxb5 47.Bxb5 Kxb5 48.g5 I queen in time. An interesting game, filled with missed and untried possibilities for both sides, many of which I completely missed during the game. This game was very fun to analyze. Winning this game put me tied for first with 14 year old Christopher Nienart. I beat him in a close game the next morning, and then won my next game to win the tournament 5-0. I thank my opponent for a very interesting game and a fun analysis session on ICC. I also thank Brian Wall and Jesse Cohen for analyzing it with me. 1-0