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AJ,

Here is the game James Rousselle - David Huang, March 10, 2012. Comments are at the end. Feel free to use any/all of the comments. If you see upgrades, have at it.

1 d4 Nf6
2 c4 e6
3 g3 Bb4+
4 Bd2 a5
5 Bg2 d6
6 Nc3 Nbd7
7 a3 Bc3
8 Bc3 e5
9 de de
10 Qd2 c5
11 Rd1 00
12 Be5 Rc8
13 Bc3 Ne4
14 Be4 Re4
15 f3 Re8
16 e4 Ra6
17 Ne2 Qc7
18 Qg5 Rg6
19 Qf4 Qc6
20 00 Qa4
21 Qd2 Nb6
22 Nf4 Nc4
23 Qd8 Ne3
24 Ng6 hg
25 Qa5 Qc4
26 Kf2 b6
27 Qb6 Ba6
28 Ke3 Qe2+
29 Kf4 g5+
30 Kg5 Qe3+
31 f4 Re6
32 Rd8 Kh7
33 Qb8 f6+
34 Bf6 gf+
35 Kh4 Qe4
36 Rh8+ Kg6
37 Qg8+ Kf5
38 Qg4#

6 Fritz says White is up about 1/2 pawn after Nc3.

8 ... e5 loses 1/4 pawn.

9 ... de loses 1/4 pawn.

10 ... c5 is another error. Fritz has White with close to a decisive edge at this point.

13 I spent over 20 minutes deciding on this retreat to c3. While I did not think Bc3 was the best move, I thought it would be easier to consolidate the extra pawn.

16 e4 is not the best. Nh3 with the idea of heading to d5 is best. 16 Ra6 returns the favor. This stage of the game is marked by inexact play by both players.

18 The idea is to force the rook to g6, so Nf4 will gain a tempo. The immediate Nf4 was superior.

21 Qc7 may have been better, but I was afraid of having my queen stuck on a5 with lots of pieces left on the board.

23 Fritz prefers Qe2 with the idea of getting to an ending with R + 2 pawns vs B and Kt. The line runs something like. 23 Qe2 Rd6 24 Rd6 Nd6 25 Nh5 f6 26 Bf6. I did not even consider such a possibility. When I played 23 Qd8, the idea was to maintain material advantage by winning the a pawn.

25 Qc4? Better is Qa5 leading to a pawn down ending. I spoke to David after the game and he said he did not want to play an ending where he had zero chances to win. Also, we were both running low on time and the complications where just arriving...

26 Kf2 is absolutely forced.

26 ... Black thought over 12 minutes on this move, leaving himself with 14 minutes. White had 31 minutes remaining at this time. b6 is tempting, but ultimately losing.

29 The crowd was growing and so was the tension. Some in the room thought 29 ...f6 would lead to mate. White has at least 3 good defenses to f6 (h4, Bf6 and Rd8). The most interesting is 29... f6 30 Bf6 gf 31 Qf6 Rf8 32 Rd8 Qd2+ 33 Rd2 Rf6+ 34 Ke5

32 Apparently, I was the only one in the room who saw the decisive counter attack.

33 Amazingly Black is out of checks after 33 ...Rg6+ 34 Kf5

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At the end of the game, Huang had like (less than) five seconds, while NM Rousselle might have had 2-3 minutes.

A move like 23. Qd8--is that sometimes done to for psychological reasons, to shake up the opponent, to make him think "wow, he can offer his queen but I can't take it, my position may not be as good as I thought"?

38.Qg4#, 38.g3-g4#, 38.Rh5#, & 38.Qh7#.