2015 GTCL Team Competition, 2nd Round. I'm paired with a Russian player but he's below my rating so I'm confident he is not a threat. He played the Scandinavian Qd6 variation and I just reply solidly. On move 8, I offered the b4 pawn sac - he declined. Move 19 c4 pawn sac again - accepted by no choice. My position was already favorable with a c6 passed pawn backed up by my Queen, Rook and white colored Bishop.
For some reasons I stop calculating precisely and missed some quick wins. Yuri has 2 minutes left on his clock and I'm enjoying a comfortable 30 minutes on my clock. I committed 3 serious mistakes in succession in move 37. Qe7, 38.c7 and 39.Qd8 where Yuri got me spending 26 minutes to find the only correct defense to thwart a mating attack. Luckily, I found 43. Rc3 and he runs out of accurate moves and fizzled out. He resigned when I promoted the c pawn on move 47. c8=Q
It was an intense struggle almost throwing up the game brought by mistakes towards the end. Nevertheless, I came out victorious!
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Scary Scandinavian Game
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Winning with Winnawer
Third round encounter - my opponent a youngster Kevin Yi-Xiao Yie. He played the French Defense and I responded with the Winnawer variation as white. The last time we played, I blundered a winning position and lose the game. This time I make sure I'll get even with him by playing solid positional chess. Kevin is a player who will wait and see until his opponent make a mistake.
French Winnawer is kinda sweet and sour chess, the position can swing quickly if you are not alert because of its open and dynamic positional structure. I was able to castled kingside and Kevin's black King was stuck in the middle of the board. He forego castling and hope to counter attack somewhere down in the middle game. I played cautiously and methodically breaking down his defenses by playing c4 on move 20. He accepted and in the process opening the b file where I was able to grab the initiative and play the rook exchange sacrifice with a strong attack on the uncastled black King. By this time he is in defensive mode all night long - I continue to pressed and squeezed his position until he succumb to a zugzwang twenty moves later. Nothing sweeter in chess than a winning smile as we handshake.
Replay and enjoy the game below!
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Grunfeld To The Rescue
I struggled lately in my chess games since hitting the 2k plus rating. My last five games has been a nosedived but as a chess player, I take all lows in stride and fight every opportunity at the chess board to bounce back and win games again. In round 2, I faced Stepanovic Miroslav - above 2k plus rated veteran club player. He opened the game with d4 and I replied Nf6 hoping to lured him into playing my untested Grunfeld Defense that I've been practicing for quite a while already. Well, be always careful what you wish for - surprisingly enough, he played the main line of the Grunfeld.
It was a tight battle in the Queenside entering the middle game. Almost at equal position then I sacrificed my pawn on move 12 to open up the D file. He toke the bait but then gave the pawn back three moves later. For I gained more space with promising attack on his broken pawn structure.
Then came a series of missed opportunities and slight inaccuracies. But the position is very sharp, wide open ready to break lose. I can smell fireworks on the board ready to explode in a moment. I'm treading a tight rope so as he - the first to blink will be in great trouble. Thankfully he was in time trouble and did blinked with some tactical blunders toward the end game playing under two minutes remaining on his clock.
The crowning moment was my all or nothing sacrifice on move 40 - a gambled trick that leads to a beautiful combination winning the white Queen. Miroslav is the second 2000+ player that I conquered so far in my chess career.
Replay and enjoy the game below!