Round the Clock

Abhimanyu Mishra – Christopher Woojin Yoo
4th Spring Chess Classic—B; Saint Louis, March 10, 2022
French Defence C05

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Be7 4. Ngf3 Nf6 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bd3 c5 7. c3 Nc6 8. 0-0 g5 9. Nb1 b6!? Better the unknown than the known, sometimes. Quite recently Black dropped into a vale of tears after 9. ... h5 10. Be3 cxd4 11. cxd4 f6 12. Bg6+ Kf8 13. Nxg5 fxg5 14. Bxh5 Rh7 15. f4 Kg8 16. Qg4 Rg7 17. fxg5 Ndxe5 18. dxe5 Nxe5 19. Qf4 Bd6 20. Qh4 Bd7 21. Rf6 Qe7 22. Nd2+− 梁世奇 (Awonder Liáng) – Kumar, 121st U.S. Open, Cherry Hill 2021 — even though then he ended up winning the game! 10. Be3 Bb7 11. a3 c4 12. Bc2 h5 13. Ne1 Qc7 14. f4

14. ... gxf4? This seems to be the cause of most bad things. 14. ... g4! 15. f5 0-0-0∞ seemed pretty interesting. 15. Bxf4 0-0-0 16. Nd2 Rdf8?! Intending to push the Pawn to f6, but it’s debatable whether ... Rd8-g8 may make a little more sense. 17. Qe2 f6 18. exf6 Bd6 19. Bxd6 Qxd6 20. Nef3 Rxf6 21. Ng5 Qe7

22. Ndf3 Re8 23. h4 Qd6 24. Nd2 e5 25. Bf5 Rff8 26. Bxd7+ Kxd7 27. Qxh5. And thus White got two passed and united Pawns as Black cannot do anything else but wait for his doom. 27. ... Rxf1+ 28. Rxf1 exd4 29. cxd4

29. ... b5. By 29. ... Nxd4 30. Qg4+ Ne6 Black restores material equality, but only the material one, since after 31. Kh1! he ends up being stuck in a kind of strategic zugzwang. 30. Ndf3 Qe7 31. Re1 Qxe1+ 32. Nxe1 Rxe1+ 33. Kf2 Re8 34. Qf7+ Re7 35. Qxd5+ Kc8 36. Qf5+ Kc7 37. Qf4+ Kc8 38. Ne4 Nd8 39. Nd6+ Kd7 40. Nf5 Rf7 41. g4 Nc6 42. d5 Ne7 43. Qd6+ Ke8 44. Qb8+ Nc8 45. Kg3 a5 46. Nd6+ 1 : 0.

It was just another stop on the way from wunderkind to superstar. Photo © Austin Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.