1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. b3 c5 7. cxd5 In Miles-Geller, Wijk aan Zee 1977, the players preferred 7. Bb2 Nc6 . 7... exd5 8. d4 Nc6 9. Bb2 Bg4 10. dxc5 Bxc5 White gets Black's d-pawn isolated, but Black has much freer piece play and better development. The computer prefers Black here by about 0.4 pawns. 11. Nc3 Re8 12. Rc1 Bf8 13. h3 Bf5 14. Nd4 Bg6 15. e3 Nb4 16. Ba1 Qa5 Not at all bad, but 16... Rc8 is worth considering too. 17. Nde2 Rad8 The computer assesses Black as about 1/2 pawn better here. Black has White's a-pawn under pressure, and White's Queen may come under pressure in the center of the board. Not 17... Nxa2 18. Nxa2 Qxa2 19. Bxf6 gxf6 20. Bxd5 regaining the pawn with interest. 18. Nf4 Ne4 19. Nxg6 hxg6 20. a4 By this point, the computer assesses the position as roughly equal. 20... Bc5 21. Nb5 Nxf2 22. Rxf2 Bxe3 23. Qf3 Rd7 24. Rd1 Nc2 In this position, White is roughly 1/2 pawn better, but Black has oodles of play. 25. Bc3 Qb6 4r1k1/pp1r1pp1/1q4p1/1N1p4/P7/1PB1bQPP/2n2RB1/3R2K1 w - - 0 26 26. Rxd5 Red8 27. Rxd7 Rxd7 Interesting that, after all the fireworks, the computer likes White to the tune of 0.6 pawns, but Black has very active piece play for it. 28. Kf1 A poor move, allowing Black to activate his passive Rook. The computer prefers 28. Qe2 and an assault on Black's queenside pawns. 28... Bxf2 29. Qxf2 Ne3+ 30. Ke2 Necessary; if 30. Kg1 Rd1+ 31. Be1 (if 31. Kh2? Ng4+) 31... Qa5 is decisive. 30... Re7 31. Kd3 a6 The software scores this position as roughly equal. 32. Bd4 Qe6 33. Nc3 If White captures 33. Bxe3 , Black is better after 33... axb5 34. axb5 Qxb3+ . 33... Nxg2 34. Qxg2 Qxb3 35. Qd5 Qxd5 36. Nxd5 Re1 37. a5 g5 38. h4 White's po sition has been going downhill - Black stands a pawn better here. This pawn exchange permits Black to attack pawns on both sides of the board with his Rook. 38... gxh4 39. gxh4 f6 40. Ne3 Rb1 41. Nc4 Kf7 42. Nd6+ Ke6 43. Ne8 g6 Black doesn't fear ( 43... g6 ) 44. Nxf6 here, since 44... Rd1+ and ...Rxd4 removes the defender and leaves Black with a winning pawn endgame. Similarly, if ( 43... g6 ) 44. Bxf6 then 44... Kf7 wins a piece. 44. Nc7+ Kd7 45. Nd5 Ke6 46. Nc7+ Kf7 47. Ke4 Permitting Black to maneuver his Rook on both sides of the board to win a pawn. Safer might have been to repeat the position with 47. Nd5 until Black comes up with something different. 47... Rh1 48. Bf2 Ra1 49. Bb6 Ra4+ 50. Kd5 An aggressive foray to eat Black's queenside pawns, which should not have worked, but did. 50... Rxh4 51. Kd6 Rh1 It's preferabl e to begin advancing the kingside pawns immediately, and bring up support with the King. It takes White several moves to work around Black's queenside, consume the pawns, and advance his own, and the Rook can harass White from in front or behind. 52. Kd7 g5 But now, having given White's King an extra move to advance after 51...Rh1, it would be better to try 52...Rh8, preventing the White King from infiltrating. Even so, Black is still winning, but the work becomes much harder. 53. Kc8 g4 54. Kxb7 g3 55. Kxa6 g2 56. Nb5 Rb1 Preventing White from advancing his King immediately and forcing either a wasteful Bishop or Knight move. 57. Bf2 Ke6 58. Kb6 Kd5 Threatening ...Kc4 and enabling the King to move to the kingside to support the pawns or to the queenside to stymie the White pawn advance, depending on the circumstances. 59. Ka6 g1=Q 60. Bxg1 Rxg1 61. Ka7 f5 A huge edge for Black here, being ~3 pawns ahead in position. Also playable was 61... Kc5 . 62. a6 f4 Although this still works, Black is giving White surviving chances. 62... Kc5 is more to the point, when play might continue 63. Nc3 Rg7+ 64. Kb8 Kb6 65. Nd5+ Kxa6 and Black should have no more difficulties. 63. Kb7 Kc5 64. Nc3 8/1K6/P7/2k5/5p2/2N5/8/6r1 b - - 0 64 64... Kc4 Black's advantage is lost with this move. Winning is 64... Rg7+ 65. Kb8 Kc6 66. Ne4 f3 67. Nf2 Rf7 68. Ng4 Kb6 winning. Black needs to keep his King near the White King and pawn to create mating threats on the back rank. He will eventually gather in the a-pawn. 65. Ne4 With Nf2+, Nh3, and Nxf4 coming up, White has no difficulty holding the draw. 65... Kd3 66. Nf2+ Ke3 67. Nh3 Rb1+ 68. Kc7 Ra1 69. Kb7 f3 70. a7 f2 71. Nxf2 Kxf2 72. a8=Q Rxa8 73. Kxa8 1/2-1/2 [Jeff Burch and CM9000]

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd2 c5 7. a3 Bxc3 8. Bxc3 Ne4 9. Rc1 Nxc3 10. Rxc3 cxd4 11. Qxd4 Up to this point, this was following Alekhine-Kmoch, San Remo 1930, which continued with 11. exd4 and was considered equal. Jesse's move seems more aggressive. 11... Nc6 12. Qd2 dxc4 13. Qxd8 Rxd8 14. Bxc4 Bd7 15. Ke2 A true Jesse move! Some folks would castle without thinking, but an IM knows he should keep his King near the center of the board in such positions. 15... Rac8 16. Rhc1 Kf8 17. Bd3 h6 18. b4 Ne7 19. Be4 Rxc3 20. Rxc3 Rc8 21. Kd2 Bc6 22. Bxc6 Rxc6 23. e4 White has the most miniscule of edges here; the computer assesses it as being around 0.2 pawns. This move gives him an advantage in the endgame, denying the critical d5 and f5 squares to the Black Knight. 23... Ke8 24. Nd4 Rxc3 25. Kxc3 Kd7 26. f4 Nc6 27. Nb3 b5 Awfully committal. Black could continue to play solid defensive chess with 27... b6 . 28. e5 Ne7 29. Kd4 Kc6 30. g4 Kb6 31. Ke4 g6 32. Nd4 Nc6 33. Nc2 a5 34. f5 axb4 35. axb4 g5 36. f6 Although the game should still be drawn at this point, White gives himself every opportunity to win. This at least permits Knight sacrifices to take place on d5 or f5, with e6 and f7 to follow, under certain conditions. 36... Kc7 37. h3 Kd7 38. Na3 Nxb4 39. Nxb5 Ke8 40. Nd4 Kf8 41. Nf3 Kg8 42. Ne1 Kh7 43. Nd3 Nd5 44. Nc5 h5 Here Black begins to go wrong; she cannot get too far from White's f-pawn due to a Knight sacrifice on e6, of which Black seems blissfully unaware. It's hard to see how White can make much progress if the Black King hovers around the e8, f8, and g8 squares instead of trying this incursion on the side of the board. 45. gxh5 Kh6 46. Kf3 Kxh5 No, no, no, no, no. Black's gotta try 8/5p2/4pP2/2NnP1pk/8/5K1P/8/8 w - - 0 47 46... Nb6 or 46... Nf4 . 47. Nxe6 Nxf6 47... Kg6 is safer and makes White's task harder. 48. exf6 Kg6 49. Nf8+ Kxf6 50. Kg4 Kg7 51. Nd7 Kh6 52. Ne5 f6 53. Nf3 Kg6 54. Nd4 Kg7 55. Kh5 1-0 [Jeff Burch and CM9000]

1. e4 e6 2. Qe2 The Chigorin Attack, sometimes played to avoid main lines in the French Defense. Despite its novelty, it seldom gives Black many problems. 2... Nf6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e5 Nfd7 5. d3 Nc6 6. g3 f6 7. d4 fxe5 8. dxe5 Be7 9. Bg2 O-O 10. O-O Qe8 11. Re1 Qh5 12. Bf4 h6 13. h4 It is rare that permitting your opponent to sacrifice an exchange this early can be considered a poor move, but it happens to be true in this case. Black's Knights and dark-squared Bishop are so active, he will be able to win either or both of the White f- and h-pawns and will have a splendid kingside attack into the bargain. Although it seems somewhat anti-positional, White should have tried something like 12.b3 and 13.Bb2 if he wanted to develop his Bishop. 13... Rxf4 14. gxf4 Nf8 15. Nc3 Bb4 Probably not done so much to really pin anything, but rather to maneuver the Bishop to the b6-f2 diagonal to assist with the upcoming attack. 16. a3 Ba5 17. b4 Bb6 18. Qd3 Ne7 The computer prefers the immediate 18... Ng6 , but this also works. 19. Ne2 Nfg6 20. Bh3 Nxh4 21. Nxh4 Qxh4 22. Qg3 Qh5 23. Qg4 Qf7 24. Rad1 Nf5 Perhaps necessary to thwart 25.Ng3 and 26.f5, but Black must think about making the moves ...Bd7 and ...Rf8 in fairly short order. 25. c4 dxc4 26. Rd8+ If White thought this would bring him some kind of attack, he was sadly mistaken. The c4 pawn is now annoying, and no White Rook will ever live long on d8 with ...c6 or ...c5 upcoming. 26... Kh7 27. Red1 c5 28. R8d2 cxb4 29. axb4 a5 Reactivates the dark-squared Bishop and now permits a scary advance of queenside pawns. The silicon brain prefers Black to the tune of about 1/2 a pawn. 30. b5 a4 31. Nc3 Ba5 32. Rc2 Bxc3 33. Rxc3 Bd7 How often does one see a player deploying a piece for the first time on move 33? But it's a good move; the light-squared Bishop comes crashing through. 34. Rxc4 Either 34. Rb1 or 34. b6 are likely better. 34... Bxb5 35. Rb4 Bc6 36. Bg2 Qe8 37. Bxc6 Qxc6 38. Qg2 Qc2 39. Ra1 a3 40. Qxb7 No better is 40. Rxb7 Ra4 41. Qg4 Qe4 . 40... Rd8 41. Qa6 3r4/6pk/Q3p2p/4Pn2/1R3P2/p7/2q2P2/R5K1 b - - 0 41 41... Ne3 Devastating and probably not foreseen by White. Nothing holds against this. Not taking the Knight is not an option either - ( 41... Ne3 ) 42. Qxe6 Rd1+ 43. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 44. Kh2 a2 wins as well. 42. fxe3 Rd2 It's mate in 6. 43. Qb7 Qg6+ 44. Kf1 Qd3+ 0-1 [Jeff Burch and CM9000]