First Game Analysis: Kenta and me

 [Event "League Elite du Dimanche"] [Site "Jean-Brebeuf Montreal Canada"] [Date "2016.09.17"] [Round "1"] [White "Huang Qiuyu"] [Black "Olivier Kenta"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 {The Sicilian is what I expected him to play.} cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 (6... Ng4 $4 7. Bb5+ Bd7 8. Qxg4) 7. f3 {B75 Sicilian Defense} a6 {I didn't expect this move, and I didn't know the theory. I thought it was some kind of strange Nadjorf-Yugoslav combination.} 8. Qd2 (8. Bc4 b5 9. Bb3 Bb7) 8... Nbd7 9. O-O-O h5 {After the text move I was sure that he wouldn't castle in view of h4 and g4. This move slows down White's activities for a small moment as g4 isn't possible,} (9... b5 10. g4 b4 11. Nce2 Qa5 12. Kb1) 10. Kb1 b5 11. h4 Bb7 12. a3 Rc8 13. Nb3 Qc7 14. Bd4 {I couldn't find any good plans or moves to play so I decided to wait for any changes in the position.} (14. Be2 $11 Nb6 15. Rhg1 {and there's nothing to do. }) 14... O-O 15. Be2 Nc5 16. g4 {Black did not have some quick breakthrough on the queenside so he decided to defend the kingside.} Ne6 17. Be3 hxg4 18. h5 $15 {Famous way to attack. White sacrifices the h-pawn in order to open up the h-file. Here, it won't be as efficient as the normal Yugoslav Attack, because Black has a knight on e6, protecting the bishop, thus making White's attack more difficult.} (18. fxg4 $2 $19 Nxe4 19. Nxe4 Bxe4 20. Rh2 Bxc2+ 21. Ka2 Bxd1 ) 18... Nxh5 19. Nd4 $4 $19 {I wasn't paying much attention to tactics here, and neither was my opponent! This move gave Black active play if he played correctly.} Nxd4 (19... Ng3 $1 $19 {is what Black should play.} 20. Rh4 Nxe2 21. Ncxe2 Nxd4 22. Nxd4 e5 23. Ne2 gxf3 24. Nc3 f5 {Surprinsingly, Black is 3 pawns up!}) 20. Bxd4 Bxd4 21. Qxd4 Qc5 22. Qd2 Qe5 23. fxg4 Ng3 24. Rh3 Rxc3 { Here I had around 3 minutes left on the clock. I did see this move but immediately rejected it because Nxe4 was better for him.} (24... Nxe4 25. Nxe4 Bxe4 26. Bd3 d5 ({In the post-mortem we thought about Bxd3 and said it was the best move for Black, it goes into a rook endgame and that is not what Olivier wants... But we didn't calculate further.} 26... Bxd3 27. cxd3 {to keep an eye on h6.} Rc7 28. Rdh1 Rfc8 29. Rh8+ Qxh8 30. Rxh8+ Kxh8)) 25. bxc3 Nxe4 26. Qd4 {We blitzed the next several moves.} Qxd4 27. Rxd4 e5 28. Rb4 Rc8 29. c4 Nd2+ 30. Kb2 Nxc4+ 31. Bxc4 Rxc4 32. Rxc4 bxc4 {Now, we are in a BPPP vs R endgame.} 33. Kc3 Bd5 {There is no better:} (33... d5 34. Kb4 Kg7 35. Kc5 d4 36. Kxc4) 34. Rh2 Be6 35. Kb4 f5 36. gxf5 gxf5 37. Rd2 d5 38. Re2 e4 39. Kc5 $4 {I pushed too hard. I wanted to win, so I played the most aggressive move, Kc5, without realizing that it was once again, a blunder.} (39. Kc3 {to be more conservative. Anyways, White doesn't have a lot of chances to win.}) 39... f4 40. Kd4 Kf7 $4 $19 {Blunder, and throws away the simple winning variation:} ( 40... e3 $1 41. Re1 {This variation was played several times in the aftermatch discussion.} Kf7 $1 42. Ke5 f3 $1 {is what we missed.} 43. Rxe3 Bg4 $1 { threatening f2.} 44. Re1 Bh3 {and there is no way to block the f-pawn from advancing.} 45. Re3 Bg2) 41. Rf2 f3 42. c3 Kf6 43. Ke3 Kg5 44. Rb2 Kg4 45. Rb6 Bf5 46. Rxa6 Kg3 47. Rf6 Bd7 48. Rg6+ Bg4 49. Rf6 Bd7 50. Rg6+ Kh3 51. Rd6 Bg4 52. Rxd5 Kg2 53. Rd2+ Kg3 54. a4 Bc8 55. a5 Bb7 56. Rd7 Bc8 57. Rg7+ Bg4 58. a6 f2 59. Rxg4+ Kxg4 60. Kxf2 Kf4 61. a7 e3+ 62. Ke2 {Black resigns} 1-0 

This is round one game played between Kenta and me. I won the game but I was not super excited about it. You know what I mean if you know Kenta and me. He is my former captain who accepted me as a team member when I was not in the best shape. And … we won that season together. Good memory..huh

Round 1: Kenta and me:

See round one video here:

Round 1 Video:

(Photo and video credit to Lefong Hua)