Inside the Master Mind: Winning a Grandmaster

In this fourth article of the series “Inside the Master Mind: The Best Games of a Chess Coach”, I would like to present to you one of my best wins against chess players of high class – the so-called grandmasters. That game was played at one of the most prestigious open-tournaments in Bulgaria in 2008 – Memorial G. Tringov and my opponent was the famous Bulgarian GM and trainer Vladimir Dimitrov (ELO rating 2462). In that game I played with black and here is the place to note that when a given chess player has to play against such a strong opponent (or GM for short) the most important thing in the preparation for the game is the opening system that we choose. It should not be too complicated and at the same time it should give you a consistent development without superfluous problematic positions and variations from the very beginning. Thus, you can avoid the possibility of getting caught in a hard position still in the opening, in which you have to resolve specific problems creating difficulties for you and also giving your opponent the opportunity to use their experience and strength to outplay you. Another important thing while playing GMs is that when they play weaker adversaries, they do not like losing control over the events happening on the board, e.i. they strive for positions in which their plans can be applied smoothly and also in which they lead their opponent’s course of play. Therefore one more subtlety in the battle against grandmasters for you is to choose such an opening system or variation in which only the rational thinking and the general understanding which they have for the game will not be sufficient to be able to outplay you. Therefore, while choosing which system to play in my own game, I selected one interesting system against the English opening, in which black receives a very comfortable development with flexible pawn structure and mobile pieces, ensuring quite complex and variable play in the ensuing middlegame battle – something not in the style of my adversary. Let’s follow the actual game now:

After that victory I managed to take a top spot in the temporary standing of the tourney and eventually I had a  very good performance, as I managed to increase my FIDE ELO with a lot of points, reaching a rating over 2300!