William Wu and Jianchao Zhou win, Harry Li breaks 2000!
The Big Money Swiss, played this June at the Boylston Chess Club, is a quarterly event at the club. 1st place in the Open section was split by GM Jianchao Zhao and NM William Wu, who drew in their round 2 game.
During this event, a number of players gained impressive amounts of rating. In the U1900 section, winner David jumped from 1714 to 1813 in his second event coming off of a 9 year hiatus from over the board chess. In the Open Section, Harry Li gained 65 points and broke 2000 for the first time. Harry beat NMs Tim Sage and Kevin Zhao en route to his 3rd place tie. Harry has gained over 100 points since the start of the year! Below is an analysis of Harry's round 3 game against Tomas Girnius.
Round 3 from the Big Money Swiss
[Event "Tomas Girnius vs Harry Li: Chapter 1"]
[White "Girnius, Tomas"]
[Black "Li, Harry"]
[Date "2026.06.20"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/counterplay855"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[ECO "E83"]
[Opening "King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Yates Defense"]
[StartFlipped "1"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 Nc6 7. Nge2 e5?! { The saemisch is a great way to fight against the KID. In this case, black is mixing lines. Either a6 to continue with the Panno, or e5 before Nc6 allow black to develop harmoniously. } 8. d5 Ne7 9. Qd2 a6 10. O-O-O b5 11. c5 Nd7?! (11... dxc5 { Usually dxc5 is a mistake, but this is one of the exceptions. With whites king on the queenside, black must open at least one line for the rooks. }) 12. c6 Nb6 13. Ng3 (13. Bxb6 cxb6 { If White takes the knight, Black is seriously hurting for space against whites protected passed c pawn. Counterplay with f5 does not come fast enough as White is able to enjoy a relatively safe king, improve his pieces, and then begin a kingside expansion. }) 13... f5 14. Bh6 f4 (14... Bxh6 15. Qxh6 f4 { It is counterintuitive to invite the queen into Black's kingside by trading off an important defender, but by following up with f4 Black is ensures the queen has no square for retreat, dislodges White's well-placed pieces, and threatens to trap the queen if White falls asleep at the board. }) 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Nge2 Nc4 17. Qe1 b4 18. Na4 a5 { Black protects his pawn and threatens Ne3, however, White has a clever tactical solution. Better would have been to play Ne3 immediately. } 19. Nxf4 $7 Nxb2 20. Nh5+ { Ruining black's structure and opening the g file is attractive, but even better would be to reroute the knight from a4. } (20. Nxb2 Rxf4 21. h4 h6 22. Bb5 Qf8 23. Nd3 Rf7 24. h5 g5 25. Qe2 $16) 20... gxh5 21. Nxb2 Ng6 22. h4 Ba6 23. Bxa6 Rxa6 { The structure has been damaged, but Black is working to activate his pieces and use the imbalanced pawn structure to continue the play on the queenside he began in the opening. Note that without the dark square bishops and with the rook controlling entry squares for the knight, it is difficult (though not impossible!) for white to use the advanced c-pawn or Black's doubled h pawns to his advantage. } 24. Rh3 Qf6 25. Nd3 Rb8 26. g4 Nf4 27. Nxf4 { This natural move creates too many open lines for Black's heavy pieces with the correct follow-up from Black } 27... exf4! { Tempting is taking with the queen and not accepting a third isolated pawn, but this is the only way for Black gain an advantage. Now White as many problems to solve as the queen and both rooks prepare to attack a weakened king. } 28. Kb1 a4 29. gxh5 a3 30. Qg1+ Kf7 { The king is nice and cozy on f7 and now black's queenside attack is decisive. } 31. Qd4 { Trading queens does not save white here. Black's rooks and advanced pawns are enough to mate on their own. } 31... Qxd4 32. Rxd4 b3 33. Rh2 (33. Rh1 { Even with perfect play, white will fall into a decisive zugzwang and be forced to part with a rook } 33... b2 34. Re1 Rg8 35. Rb4 Ra7 36. h6 Kf6 37. Rf1 Ke5 38. Rd1 Rg3 39. Rf1 Ra5 40. Rb7 Rc5 41. Rb3 Rg2 42. Rxa3 Rgc2 43. Ra7 Rc1+) 33... Rg8 34. Rd1 b2 { Black now brings a rook to c1 to end the game! } 35. Rc2 Rg3 36. Rc3 Kf6 37. Rb3 Ra4 38. Rb8 Rxf3 39. Rf8+ Kg7 40. Rc8 Rc3 41. Rxc7+ Kf6 42. Rxh7 Rac4 43. Rh6+ Kf7 0-1
