Articles
Critical Moments

Critical Moments

vbhat
| 12 | Middlegame

Last week I shared a win of mine from Cappelle la Grande 2010. That win against IM Jorge Cori took me to 6/8, and in the last round, I was black against GM Yuriy Kryvoruchko. For whatever reason, I failed to sense the critical moments in this game and I duly lost. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes!

I played the Zaitsev Variation of the Ruy Lopez, but with a little move-order trick, he got me into the Breyer Variation. Here's what happened:

Question 1: Black has finished his development now and has to look for something to do. What would you play? 

Question 2: White is trying to turn the screws on Black's position by working away on the queenside and the dark squares in particular. How would you continue as Black?

Question 3: It normally takes a few mistakes to lose a game, and this one is no different. White is better here, but Black can still make a go of it. How should he try and defend?

 

And here's the entire game in one viewer:

More from GM vbhat
The Not-So-Hanging Pawns

The Not-So-Hanging Pawns

Fire on Board

Fire on Board