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I continued to hone my skills as a 1.d4 player, and this new level of strategic understanding led to a further increase in strength. I won many tournaments during the early 80s, but my equal first at the 1981 U.S. Open was the highlight for that period.

Silman - Barkan
U.S. Open, 1981
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bf4 c6 6.e3 Be7 7.h3 0-0 8.Rc1 a6 9.a3 Re8 10.c5 (My study of Petrosian's games and my use of 1.d4 taught me the power of a space advantage. The striving for more and more territory soon became a staple of my style.) 10...Nh5 11.Bh2 g6 12.Be2 f6 (Black wants to counter in the center with an ...e6-e5 advance. My next move beats him to the punch.) 13.e4! Bf8 (Black can't capture on e4 since the d6-square would fall into White's hands after Nxe4.) 14.0-0 Bh6 15.Rc2 Kh8 16.Re1 Nf4 17.Bf1 Rg8 18.b4 Nf8 19.a4 g5 20.Bxf4 gxf4 21.Nh2 (A very greedy move! I have a space advantage on the queenside and in the center, and now I decide to take the initiative on the kingside as well! In other words, I wanted nothing less than "world" domination.) 21...Ng6 (Of course, 21...Qe8 would fail to 22.exd5 cxd5 23.Nxd5.) 22.Qh5 Bf8 23.exd5 cxd5 24.Bd3 f5 (This makes a very bad position even worse.) 25.Nf3 Be7 26.Rce2 Bf6

It's time to kick down Black's doors!

27.Rxe6! (Quite decisive. Black's position now falls apart.) 27...Bxe6 28.Rxe6 Be7 29.Bxf5 Nf8 30.Ne5 Qe8 31.Nf7+ Kg7 32.Nxd5 (An extraordinary position!) 32...Nxe6 33.Qh6+ Kxf7 34.Bxe6 mate.

I had to win this last round game if I wanted a share of first. Fortunately, my favorite line against the KID (the Averbach Variation) made it look easy.

Silman-Gogel
U.S. Open, 1981
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Bg5 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Qd2 exd5 9.exd5 Re8 10.Nf3 Bg4 11.0-0 Nbd7 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Bxf3 (I've never understood why Black would want to play this passive line. With two Bishops and an advantage in space, Black can't hope for anything more than a draw, while White can put his opponent though many hours of torture.) 13...a6 14.a4 b6 15.Rae1 Rxe1 16.Rxe1 Qf8 17.Bd1 (This Bishop wasn't doing anything on f3. By repositioning it on c2, it keeps the enemy Knights off of e4, takes aim at Black's kingside, and also can penetrate into the queenside [via Ba4] in certain variations.) 17...h6 18.Be3 Rb8 19.Bc2 Ne8 20.f4 (Following Steinitz's rule that states: "The way to beat Knights is to deprive them of any advanced support points.") 20...Nc7 21.Bd3 (Preventing ...b6-b5 and leaving Black with no counterplay at all. Such a helpless situation brings on depression and often leads to errors based on desperation.) 21...Re8 (Threatening to exchange some pieces by ...Rxe3 followed by ...Bd4.) 22.Bf2 f5?! (This pseudo-active move is a step in the wrong direction. He had to swap Rooks and hang on for dear life.) 23.Rb1! (Intending to break through on the queenside by b2-b4.) 23...a5 24.g4 Qf6? (Hopeless. Like it or not, he had to try 24...fxg4 25.Bxg6 [the simple 25.hxg4 is also good] 25...Bxc3 26.bxc3 Qg7 27.Qd3 Rf8 and hope for the best) 25.gxf5 gxf5 26.Ne2! (All I have to do is pile up against the target on f5 and it's game over.) 26...Qg6+ 27.Ng3 Rf8 28.Kh2 Ne8 29.Rg1 Qh7 30.Qc2, 1-0. Resignation is the only way to stop the agony.