Thursday 24 April 2014

Sydney International Open - Day 2

Day 2 of the Sydney International was a good one for me in many respects. Although I finished the day with 2/4, I managed to score my first win over an International Master in a FIDE rated game.

Round 3 saw me playing black against IM Andrew Brown from Canberra & I played a Dzindzi Indian. Andrew played an early g4, similar to Dmitry Gurevich in the first game with the variation against Roman Dindzichashvilli. I managed to grab two pawns in the opening, but it left my white squared bishop out of play on h5, however it was difficult for Andrew to exploit the poor placement of this piece. I returned some of this material to try to untangle my position & eventually found myself in a favourable major piece endgame. I kept things together & found a few tactics to finally finish the game off to record my first win over an IM in a long time control game.



The afternoon round didn't get any easier, as I had white against FM Greg Canfell. I tried to be aggressive & aimed for the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit. Greg chickened out & with the Paleface Attack move order I used (1. d4 Nf6 2.f3!?) we ended up in a strange Caro-Kann like position. My move 12. Nce2 gave me a cramped position (perhaps a move like 12.Kf2 immediately might have been better) which Greg exploited tactically to win a pawn. After swapping some more pieces off, we found ourself in a rook & knight ending where I had a cramped position with very few active moves to make. I eventually traded off to a pure knight & pawn ending & although I managed to get one of my pawns back, Greg's pawns proved too strong & they secured victory for him.


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