The B section has players between 2530-2593, and is currently lead by Chinese GM Jinshi Bai with 2.5/3.
[Event "Spring Classic 'A'"]
[Site "St Louis"]
[Date "2019.03.04"]
[Round "3.5"]
[White "Hansen, Eric"]
[Black "Le, Quang Liem"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2615"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[Annotator "John Upper"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[EventType "game"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. Re1 a6 6. Bf1 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8.
d4 {} Nf6 $1 {Anticipating c2-c4 and pressuring d4. After the exchange of
pawns on either d4 or c5, White will have a queenside majority and no
weaknesses, but advancing the majority safely is not at all easy (see: Polgar
- Gelfand, below).} ({Black can allow the queenside pawns to be broken to
enable more dynamic queenside play, as Larsen did in North Bay against the
second Polgar sister:} 8... cxd4 9. Nxd4 Be7 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Nd2 (11. c4 $14
{White has nicer-looking pawns, but Larsen would no doubt have been happy to
push his a-pawn for play.}) 11... O-O 12. c3 Qc7 13. Nf3 Rb8 14. Qc2 c5 15. Bd3
h6 16. Qa4 Rd8 $11 17. Bc2 $2 (17. Qe4 Nf6 18. Qe2) 17... c4 $1 $15 {1/2- 1/2
(41) Polgar,Sofia (2500)-Larsen,B (2505) North Bay 1995}) 9. Be3 cxd4 (9... Be7
10. c4 O-O 11. Nc3 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Ne5 13. h3 Bd7 14. Rc1 (14. c5 $1) 14... Rc8
15. Qb3 Bc5 16. Red1 Qc7 17. Nc2 Bxe3 18. Nxe3 Rfd8 19. Qa3 Be8 20. b4 Rxd1 21.
Rxd1 Rd8 22. Qc1 Nc6 23. Nc2 Rxd1 24. Qxd1 Qe5 25. Qd3 Qf4 26. a4 Ne5 27. Qe3
Qxe3 28. Nxe3 a5 $3 {an excellent move, mangling White's queenside majority.}
29. bxa5 (29. b5 Ned7 $17) 29... Nc6 30. f4 Nxa5 $15 {1/2-1/2 (44) Polgar,
Judit (2693)-Gelfand,B (2777) London 2013}) 10. Nxd4 Bd7 11. c4 Be7 12. Nc3 O-O
13. a3 (13. Nf3 $5 {keeps the pieces on before expanding on the queenside.})
13... Qc7 14. b4 (14. h3 Rad8 15. Nf3 Bd6 16. b4 (16. c5 $1) 16... Ne5 17. Nd2
$6 Ng6 {1/2-1/2 (42) Giri,A (2790)-Topalov,V (2754) Stavanger (blitz) 2016})
14... Rfd8 15. Qe2 Bd6 16. g3 Be5 17. Rad1 $14 {All theory so far?} h6 (
17... Rac8 18. h3 Be8 19. Nxc6 Rxd1 20. Rxd1 Bxc6 21. Bb6 $1 Qb8 $1 22. Qe3 Nd7
23. Bd4 b6 24. Ne4 h6 25. Be2 a5 $2 26. Bxe5 Qxe5 27. b5 $1 Qxe4 28. Qxe4 Bxe4
29. Rxd7 Kf8 $14 {1/2-1/2 (56) Lu,S (2551)-Yu,Y (2675) Danzhou 2013}) ({
Characteristically, Leela recommends} 17... h5 $5 $14) 18. Rd3 Nxd4 19. Bxd4
Bxd4 20. Rxd4 Bc6 21. Red1 (21. Rxd8+ Rxd8 22. Rd1 $14) 21... Rxd4 22. Rxd4 b6
23. Bg2 Rc8 24. Bxc6 Qxc6 25. Qd3 Ne8 (25... Qc7 26. Ne4 Nxe4 27. Rxe4 a5 $5 {
could give White a passed pawn, but with no realistic chance of advancing it.})
26. Ne4 e5 27. Rd8 Rxd8 28. Qxd8 Kf8 (28... Kh7 29. Qd3 f5 30. Nd2 e4 31. Qd4
$14) 29. Qd3 Ke7 30. c5 $1 {} bxc5 $2 {Stockfish and Leela both rate this
as a mistake, but disagree about best defence, with SF opting for maximum
activity:} ({Stockfish:} 30... f5 31. Nc3 bxc5 32. Qxf5 Qd6 (32... cxb4 $2 33.
Qxe5+ Qe6 (33... Kf8) 34. Qc5+ Qd6 35. Nd5+ Ke6 36. Nf4+ Kd7 (36... Ke7 37.
Qe3+ Kd7 38. axb4 Qxb4 39. Qa7+ $18) 37. Qf5+ Kd8 38. axb4 Qxb4 39. Ne6+ $18)
33. Qe4 cxb4 34. Nd5+ $14) ({Leela:} 30... b5 {challenges White to break
through, but concedes that it will be a long and difficult defence with no
real hope of counterplay.}) 31. Nxc5 $16 Nc7 32. Qe2 {Critical Position} (
32. h4 Qd6 (32... a5 $2 33. Qe3 {attacks e5, defends the N, and enables axb5.})
33. Qf3 $14) 32... Qd6 $6 {Black misses an excellent defence:} (32... Qd5 $3 {
hangs a6, but keeping the Q on the long diagonal creates game saving tactics:}
33. Nxa6 Nb5 34. Qe3 (34. a4 Nd4 $1 $11 {and ...Nf3+ will force a draw.}) 34...
Qd1+ 35. Kg2 Qd5+ 36. Qf3 (36. f3 Qa2+ $11) 36... e4 $1 $11 {threatening to
pry open the K is essential} 37. Qe3 {White is up connected outside passed
pawns and Black's checks are finished...?} Nxa3 $3 {Not finished.} 38. Qxa3 e3+
$1 $11 {blocking with f3 loses to ...Qd2+ and e-pawn promotes, so White has to
allow a draw from Q checks on d5 and d1.}) 33. Qg4 g6 34. Qh4+ g5 35. Qe4 Kf6
36. a4 Kg7 37. Kg2 Ne8 38. Qa8 Nc7 39. Qe4 Ne8 40. Qa8 Nc7 {Eric thought for a
lot of his remaining time before choosing not to play for the repetition...}
41. Qf3 {} Ne8 $6 (41... a5 $4 42. Ne4 {safetys the N with tempo and a
triple attack on d6, a5 and f6.}) (41... Nd5 42. Nxa6 Nxb4 43. Nxb4 Qxb4 44.
Qc6 $14 {easier to play for White, but this should be a draw.}) 42. a5 $1 Nc7
43. Qb7 g4 {Eric played his next few moves almost instantly.} 44. h3 h5 $2 (
44... gxh3+ {avoids leaving a loose pawn on g4.} 45. Kxh3 Ne6 46. Nxe6+ (46.
Qxa6 $2 Ng5+ 47. Kg2 (47. Kh2 Qd2 48. Kg2) 47... Qd5+ $11 {Only move.}) 46... Qxe6+ 47.
Kg2 e4 $1 $14) 45. hxg4 hxg4 46. Qe4 $1 Qd4 47. Qf5 Qd5+ 48. Kh2 Qd4 49. Nd7
Ne8 50. Nxe5 Qd5 51. Qxg4+ Kf6 52. Nd7+ Ke7 53. Nc5 Nf6 54. Qe2+ Kf8 55. Qxa6
Ng4+ 56. Kg1 Ne5 57. Qb7 Nf3+ 58. Kg2 Ne1+ 59. Kf1 Qd1 60. Qb8+ 1-0
