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[Event "Saturday Night Special"]
[Site "St. Louis"]
[Date "2018.01.20"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ramirez, GM Alejandro"]
[Black "Wilson, Matthew (e4stat)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2572"]
[BlackElo "2069"]
[Annotator "Wilson,Matthew"]
[PlyCount "74"]
1. c4 c5 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. b3 {This move order managed to confuse me. After 5.Nc3, I play 5...Qb6 to block d2-d4. But that makes less sense with a b2-bishop to prepare the pawn break. So I played flexibly, developing my bishop and castling and hoping he would commit his knight.} Be7 6. Bb2
O-O 7. O-O Qc7 {The queen doesn't belong on this square} 8. Nc3 a6 9. Rc1 Qb6 {After d4 ...cxd4, the c-file opens up and White has Nd5 tactics, so I move out of the potential pin} 10. e3 {White wants to recapture on d4 with a pawn. Then the threat of a d4-d5! pawn break causes Black headaches} Rd8 11. Qe2 d5 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Na4
Qa7 14. Bxf6 gxf6 {I thought that my weakened kingside wouldn't be much of an issue. That turned out to be wrong!} 15. d4 cxd4 16. Nxd4 Nxd4 17. exd4 Be6 18. Nc5 Bxc5 19. dxc5
Rac8 20. Qe3 {A strong move. White covers c5 and eyes the vulnerable Black kingside} d4 21. Qh6 Rxc5 22. Qxf6 Rd7 {I thought that the exchange of the passed c5-pawn for my doubled f-pawn favored me. The next move ends any such illusions.} 23. Be4 d3 24. Qh6 d2 {With the clock ticking down, I had a crazy idea: once he plays Bxh7+, there are no good discoveries!} 25. Bxh7+ Kh8
26. Rcd1 Qb8 {I was down to seconds and committed a horrible blunder, but Black is already busted} 27. Bg6+ Kg8 28. Bh7+ Kh8 29. Bb1+ Kg8 30. Qh7+ Kf8 31. Qh8+ Ke7
32. Qxb8 Bg4 33. Rxd2 Rxd2 34. Qf4 Rd1 35. Qxg4 Rxf1+ 36. Kxf1 Rc1+ 37. Kg2
Rxb1 {He held out his hand. I was unsure why - obviously he isn't resigning! Then I noticed that my flag had fallen} 1-0
In the next round, I punished a 1500 for playing too solidly in the Sveshnikov. It's absolutely necessary for Black to be energetic and create counterplay.
[Event "Saturday Night Special"]
[Site "St. Louis"]
[Date "2018.01.20"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Wilson, Matthew"]
[Black "Soerensen, Morton"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2069"]
[BlackElo "1542"]
[Annotator "Wilson,Matthew"]
[PlyCount "53"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6.
Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 11. Bd3 O-O {11...Ne7 is the book move. Black must contest the d5-square} 12. O-O Be6
13. Qh5 {I like this move. Now Black can't take the d5-knight without dropping a piece.} Ne7 14. c4 b4 {Now White has complete control} 15. Nc2 {There's no need to get entangled in 15.Nxb4 Rb8 and ...Rxb2} a5 16. Rae1 Rb8 {Black can't create counterplay with ...f5. Also, he can't eliminate the monster on d5 since that would open up the b1-h7 diagonal} 17. Nce3 {This gets in the way of the rook lift I prepared earlier, but it does prevent Black from starting any counterplay with ...b4-b3. I avoided 17.b3 since then Black could potentially open up the queenside with ...a5-a4. After 17.Nce3, the queenside remains closed and there is very little that Black can do about White's grip on the rest of the board.} Ng6 18. Nf5 Bxd5 {A blunder in a difficult position} 19.
exd5 Nf4 20. Qg4 Ng6 21. h4 {Winning material} Kh8 22. h5 Rg8 23. hxg6 fxg6 24. Nxg7 Rxg7 25. Qe2 {25.f4 allows ...Qb6+, which could be annoying. So first I drop back, intending to meet ...Qb6+ ideas with Qe3 or Qf2}
f5 26. f4 e4 27. Bc2 {I don't remember the rest of the moves, but White eventually won} 1-0
