[Event "2026 Irwin Senior"] [Site "?"] [Date "2026.08.03"] [Round "1"] [White "Kraai, Jesse"] [Black "Levi, Ariel"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Ariel Levi"] [ECO "E09"] [WhiteElo "2486"] [BlackElo "2078"] [PlyCount "95"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6 8. Nbd2 b6 9. e4 Ba6 {Black more commonly plays 9...Bb7 here, but Ba6 can offer sharper lines if White maintains the tension with 10. b3, after which Black can play Rc8 followed by ...c5 to put more pressure on White's c4 pawn.} (9... Bb7) 10. e5 Ne8 11. Re1 Rc8 12. h4 {At this point, a small fly began buzzing around our board, occasionally alighting on a pawn or piece. We both tried to shoo the fly away by waving our hands but it persistently refused our attempts to evict it. Eventually, after the fly buzzed around the f4 square and then landed on the g3 pawn, I gave it a flick with my fingers, making sure to say "J'adoube" as I did so. Getting back to the game, Kraai's 12. h4 enables a potential kingside attack, with Ng5 or h5-h6 combined with a knight transfer to g4 and a possible knight or bishop sacrifice to breach Black's kingside if Black plays ...h6.} Nc7 {[%csl Gb2] The immediate 12...c5 allows White to get the advantage with 13. cd--e.g., 13...cxd4 14. Qa4 or Qd1, or 13...exd5; 14. Nb3 cxd4 15. Qd1)} (12... c5 13. cxd5 cxd4 (13... exd5 14. Nb3 cxd4 15. Qd1 d3 (15... Bb4 16. Bd2 Bxd2 17. Qxd2 d3)) 14. Qa4 Nc5) 13. b3 c5 14. Bb2 {The game Van der Stricht - Sielecki, 2010, went 14. a4 dxc4 15. bxc4 cxd4 16. Nxd4 Nxe5 17. Bb2 Bf6? 18. Rxe5 Bxe5 19. Nc6 with a large advantage to White, who eventually won. However, black could have equalized by playing 17. Bc5.} cxd4 15. Nxd4 Nb5 {Aiming to trade pieces and reduce White's space advantage.} 16. N4f3 {White rightly does not trade knights.} Bb7 17. Rad1 h6 18. Qb1 Nc7 {I considered playing 18...Na3 but did not see much point after 19. Qc1. I would eventually have to retreat the knight anyway: e.g., 18...Na3 19. Qc1 Nb5 20. Nh2.} 19. Nd4 a6 {Around here, I thought my position was passive and that I needed to get some play on the queenside with this move followed by ...b5. After the game Jesse suggested that this move was dubious because it allowed him to control the queenside with a3 and b4. He thought that either ...Ba8 or ...Qe8 or possibly a combination of these 2 moves would have maintained a sound position and that there would be no obvious way for White to increase his advantage. He also suggested 19...a5 as a way to allow my d7 knight to gain the c5 square. Later, I found that Stockfish approved of 19...Ba8 and 19...Qe8 but gave an evaluation of a 1.2 pawn advantage to White after 19...a5--e.g., 20. Nf1 Bb4 21. Re2} (19... a5 20. Nf1 Bb4 21. Re2) 20. a3 b5 {This allows White a clear advantage. Better was 20...Ba8} 21. b4 {If my Bishop were on a8, this move would not be possible. Now I cannot allow White to play c5 with a dominant position.} bxc4 22. Nxc4 Nb5 23. Na5 Ba8 24. Bf1 Qb6 {Now things go from bad to worse. Better was the non-obvious move 24...Bc5, which would keep White's advantage to just under a pawn's worth after 25. Nab3 Ba7 26. Bxb5 ab 27. Nxb5 Bb8 28. Qd3 Rc4 29. Bd4 Qe8} (24... Bc5) 25. Nxb5 axb5 26. Bd4 Qb8 27. Qd3 Rc4 {I had no expectation that Kraai would play 28. Nxc4 and enable me a little bit of counterplay on the long diagonal after ...dc and ...Qb7.} 28. Qd2 (28. Nxc4) 28... Rc7 29. Qe2 {Now if I play ...Rc4, White can play Nxc4 and prevent any counterplay with Bg2 if needed.} Nb6 (29... Rc4) 30. Qxb5 Nc4 31. Qxb8 Rxb8 32. Rc1 {Now it's just a matter of technique.} (32. Nxc4 dxc4) 32... Rbc8 33. Nxc4 dxc4 34. Bb6 Rc6 35. Ba5 Ra6 36. Rxc4 Rxc4 37. Bxc4 Ra7 38. Bf1 Bd5 39. Bg2 Bb3 40. Bc6 Ra6 41. Re3 Bd1 42. Bf3 Ba4 43. Rc3 f6 44. Rc7 Kf7 45. Bb7 Ra7 46. Bb6 Rxb7 47. Rxb7 Ke8 48. Bc5 1-0 [Event "2026 Irwin Senior"] [Site "?"] [Date "2026.08.06"] [Round "6"] [White "Hargrove, James"] [Black "Levi, Ariel"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Ariel Levi"] [ECO "B26"] [WhiteElo "1900"] [BlackElo "2078"] [PlyCount "90"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. Be3 e5 7. Qd2 Nge7 8. O-O-O $6 {Castling into a ready-made queenside attack is risky but my opponent wanted a double-edged battle. Stockfish evaluates this as dubious & prefers 8.f4 & Nf3 with kingside castling.} Qa5 {Starting the attack immediately with 8...b5 is also possible, with the possible continuation 9.Nxb5 Rb8; 10.Na3 Be6; 11.Nc4 O-O; 12.Ne2 f5; 13.f3 Qc8, as occurred in a GM game from 2011, Szczepanski - Jaulneau (0-1, 20). Stockfish 18 rates Black's position after move 13. as better by about 1.5 pawns.} (8... Be6 9. Bh6) 9. Kb1 Bg4 {I wanted White to block his bishop's indirect control over d5.} 10. f3 Be6 11. Bh3 Nd4 {Retaining the bishop with 11...f5 was also possible, & is preferred by Stockfish, which rates the position as about even after my 11...Nd4.} 12. f4 {This opens the diagonal of my g7 bishop & allows a forced sequence of moves that gives Black a clear advantage.} exf4 13. Bxf4 {The other capture also gives Black a similar advantage: 13. gxf4 Nb5 14. Nd5 Qxd2 15. Bxd2 Nxd5 16. Bxe6 fxe6 17. exd5 exd5 18. c3 a5} Nb5 {White now has to give up a pawn to stave off the threats to his king.} 14. Nd5 Qxd2 15. Rxd2 {15. Bxd2 also drops a pawn: 15...Nxd5 16. Bxe6 fxe6; 17 exd5 exd5} Nxd5 16. Bxe6 $2 {White may have overlooked or underestimated my next move, which ensures a large advantage (about 2.7 pawns worth) to Black. Better was 16. exd5 Bxd5; 17. Re2+ Kd8; 18. Bg2 Bxg2; 19. Rxg2 Kd7, which makes it more difficult for Black to convert his material advantage.} Ndc3+ {My opponent likely was hoping that I would play 16...Nxf4, allowing him to minimize the damage with 17. Bc4.} 17. bxc3 Nxc3+ 18. Kc1 fxe6 19. Bxd6 Nxa2+ 20. Kd1 Nc3+ 21. Kc1 b6 {Sufficient to keep a big advantage, but stronger was 21...Rd8, meeting 22. Bxc5 or 22. e5 with ...Bh6 winning the exchange. If 22.Bf4, then ...Rd4 followed by ...Ra4, threatening ...Ra1+ and forcing White to give up more material.} 22. Bf4 O-O {Now 23. Nf3 will lose a piece to ...e5 24. Nxe5 g5.} 23. Ne2 Nxe2+ 24. Rxe2 c4 {My idea was to either weaken White's pawns or to create two connected passed pawns on the a & b files. However, Stockfish evaluates this as suboptimal, instead recommending either 24...Rfd8 or ...a5 with about a 2-pawns' worth advantage.} 25. Bd6 {White can keep his disadvantage to about 1 pawn with 25. dc, after which 25...Rac8 26. e5 Rxc4 27. Rd1 h6 28. h4 could follow.} Rfd8 26. e5 cxd3 27. cxd3 Rac8+ 28. Rc2 Bf8 29. Bxf8 Kxf8 30. Rxc8 Rxc8+ 31. Kd2 Ke7 32. Ra1 Rc7 {32...a5 was more direct & slightly better.} 33. Ra4 a5 34. g4 Kd7 35. Rd4+ Ke7 36. g5 b5 37. Rd6 Rc5 38. Ra6 {During the game, I wondered if the K&P ending after 38. d4 Rd5 39. Rxd5 ed was a win or a draw. Could White's King hold off my 2 passed pawns while his protected passed e-pawn prevented my king from advancing to help my pawns? Later analysis showed that the position is still a win for me. With the right timing, I would advance my pawns to a4 & b4 and my King to b5. After the further advance of the b-pawn to b3, White would eventually be in Zugzwang, allowing my King to help one of my pawns advance to the queening square and deliver checkmate. (38. d4 Rd5 39. Rxd5 exd5 40. Kc3 Ke6 41. Kb3 Kf5 42. h4 Ke6 43. Ka3 Kd7 44. Kb3 Kc6 45. Ka3 b4+ 46. Ka4 Kb6 47. Kb3 Kb5 48. Kb2 a4 49. Kc2 Kb6 50. Kb2 b3 51. Kc3 Kb5 52. Kb2 Kb4 53. e6 a3+ 54. Kb1 Kc3 55. e7 a2+ 56. Ka1 b2+ 57. Kxa2 Kc2} Rxe5 39. Rxa5 Rxg5 40. Ra7+ Kd6 41. Rxh7 Rh5 42. Rb7 Rxh2+ 43. Kc3 Rh5 44. Rb6+ Ke7 45. Kd4 Rf5 {and White resigned on move 58.} 0-1