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1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. e3 I was not sure what to do against my opponent's Grunfeld defence. I remembered this option at the board and decided for it. 4... O-O 5. Be2 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. e4 Nb6 I wasn't familiar with the correct move order if black insists on d5 without my knight committed to c3. White has many options here. 8. h3 I went for the ambitious 8. h3 to stop Bg4, however since white has wasted a move on going e3 and then e4, it may be too ambitious to play h3 before developing the rest of the pieces and castling. 8... c5 9. d5 e6 10. Nc3 exd5 11. exd5 Re8 12. O-O This sequence of moves seemed critical to me and now black must decide whether to accept the pawn offered. It looks risky for black but I wasn't happy at the board, I felt that black can accept the pawn and be better with accurate play. I was surprised to see 13. Nxd5. I was more concerned about 13... Qxd5 as I felt like I must avoid all endgames here. After Qxd5 it seemed to me that I would have to make some compromises to keep the queens on, I perhaps intended 14. Bd2 after Qxd5. 14. Bd3 I thought for quite a while before this move. It seems odd to put the bishop on this diagonal where it is blunted by the pawns. However, electing to place the bishop on the desirable c4 square allows nb6 in response. I thought if I can get my pieces out fast here (queen on c2, bishop on b5 or b2 etc) I might have close to enough compensation to be equal. 14... b6 A mistake. We both thought 14... Nc6 would be a better move after the game. b6 is too weakening before developing the pieces, some tactics begin to appear in the position. Here I could sense that the tide had swung my way, black has created too many weaknesses and my pieces are ready to jump into action. If I can eliminate the light squared bishop the weaknesses that black created with f6 and b6 will leave white with a decisive initiative. 17... Kf7 Kf7 seems the most resilient attempt. 18. Rxe6 [RR 18. Bh6 18... Rxe6 Definitely black should try 18... Kxe6 instead but I was ready to play 19. Qb3 in response, preparing to bring the a1 rook into the attack. After Qb3 I calculated some forcing variations that all seemed to lead to a decisive advantage for white, however these were less obvious than the ones after Rxe6. [RR (18... Kxe6)
19. Qb3 19. Qxd5 Qxd5 20. Bxd5 Nc6 21. Re1 Re8 22. Rxe6 Rxe6 23. Be3 g5 24. Bxg5 fxg5 25. Nxg5+ Kf6 26. Nxe6 I was happy with my play after a point but my opponent was not in good shape due to an optical injury he sustained in the sauna prior to the game. I think on a better day for him he might have punished my complacent play in the opening. 1-0 Annotator(s): Jacob Flynn. Source(s): Jacob Flynn, via Craig DuBose; Lichess (https://lichess.org/broadcast/the-sligo-spring-tournament-2022--master/round-1/QVm7N13B). Event information: Tournament report. |
