Kings Indian Defense - London System

Armand Jess Mendoza vs Rulix Batistil

In the 8th and final round, I played the KID-LS against Armand Mendoza - strong player rated 2024. His early pawn storm on my castled King fizzled out as I was able to counter attack on his uncastled King. The ensuing play in the middle game featured an exchange sacrifice of my Rook with a favorable position and much better pawn structure. After exchanging Queens, I simplified the position featuring my two minor pieces against a lone Rook. My strong connected pass pawns on d6,c5 and b4 proved unstoppable. I gave up my Knight in the end to seal the deal and earned my 5th win.

This is my first win against 2000+ caliber player. Play this complete game below.

[Event "Scarborough Chess Club - Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss Tournament 2014"] [Site "Birkdale Community Centre, Toronto, ON Canada"] [Date "Oct 30 2014"] [Round "-8"] [White "Armand Mendoza"] [Black "Rulix Batistil"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2024"] [BlackElo "1794"] [TimeControl "60 min"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Bf4 O-O 5. e3 b6 6. Be2 Bb7 7. h4 d6 8. Rg1 Nbd7 9. g4 c5 10. d5 a6 11. h5 b5 12. hxg6 fxg6 13. Ng5 Qa5 14. Ne6 Nxd5 15. Nxf8 Rxf8 16. Kf1 Nxf4 17. exf4 Rxf4 18. Nd5 Rd4 19. Nxe7+ Kf8 20. Qe1 Qd8 21. c3 Re4 22. Nxg6+ hxg6 23. Qd2 Re6 24. c4 Qh4 25. Qf4+ Ke7 26. Qg3 Qxg3 27. Rxg3 Bxb2 28. Rd1 b4 29. Rh3 Bd4 30. Rh7+ Kd8 31. g5 Re7 32. Rxe7 Kxe7 33. Rd3 a5 34. Rh3 Ba6 35. f4 Nb6 36. Rh7+ Kf8 37. Ra7 Bxc4 38. Rxa5 Bxe2+ 39. Kxe2 Ke7 40. Ra6 Nd5 41. Kf3 Ke6 42. Ra8 Nc3 43. Kg4 Kd5 44. f5 gxf5+ 45. Kxf5 Nxa2 46. Rxa2 b3 47. Rd2 b2 48. Rd1 c4 49. g6 Kc5 50. Kf4 c3 51. Ke4 c2 *

The Power of Pin

Arkadiy Ugodnikov vs Rulix Batistil

Playing black in round 5 against a veteran Russian player Arkadiy Ugodnikov, I employed my pet Sicilian Defense and he replied with Rossolimo Attack. This variation caused me many troubles in my blitz games as the presence of the light colored bishop on b5 has a disturbing psychological effect pinning my black Knight on c6. We played through the opening until we exchanged Queens in moved 13. The position was so imbalance as white has pawn majority on the Queen side and a power pawn on e5. White on this instance has the advantage until Arkadiy commit a big mistake on moved 18. Here, I punished him with a paralyzing pin brought by exchanged rook sacrifice. He took the bait and this game becomes one of my favorite wins - a concentration of all my guns on his poor pinned rook on d4. He succumbed to my pressure and white just commit blunder after blunder until he resigned on moved 25.

Arkadiy is my fourth 1900+ victim in this tournament. Play this game and enjoy the ride below.

[Event "Scarborough Chess Club - Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss Tournament 2014"] [Site "Birkdale Community Centre, Toronto, ON Canada"] [Date "Oct 09 2014"] [Round "-5"] [White "Arkadiy Ugodnikov"] [Black "Rulix Batistil"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1990"] [BlackElo "1794"] [TimeControl "60 min"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Qc7 4. Nc3 e6 5. O-O d6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bd7 8. Be3 Nf6 9. f4 Be7 10. Qf3 O-O 11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. Bxc6 Qxc6 13. Rad1 b5 14. e5 Qxf3 15. Rxf3 dxe5 16. fxe5 Ng4 17. Bd4 Rfd8 18. h3 Rxd4 19. Rxd4 Nxe5 20. Rg3 Bc5 21. Nxb5 Nc6 22. c3 e5 23. Nc7 Rd8 24. Rg5 f6 25. Ne6 fxg5 *

Lady Blunt Stradivarius

One of the most treasured violin made by Italian Luthier Antonio Stradivari of Cremona, Italy in 1721. The violin is named after its first known owner Lady Anne Blunt, daughter of Ada Lovelace, granddaughter of Lord Byron.
Stradivari string instruments are famous for its sound quality. Today this violin worth is staggering US$15.9 million by the latest auction value.