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 22, 2015
Winning with Winnawer
Rulix Batistil vs Kevin Yi-Xiao Yie
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