A Faulty Plan
In my last tournament in Brazil (the Pan-American Continental Championship), I started with a solid 4.0/5 and in round 6 had the black pieces against GM Giovanni Vescovi. I was expecting 1.e4, but as he plays pretty much everything with the white pieces, I couldn't discount the fact that he'd play 1.d4 or 1.c4. As it was, he played 1.d4 and we reached an opening line that has been pretty popular recently - the 5.b3 Anti-Meran.
Question 1: What would you play after 10.f3?
Question 2: What would you play after 13.fxe5?
Question 3: What would you play after 16.Rac1?
Question 4: What would you play after 25.Ra1?
I didn't play too badly in this game - Vescovi certainly didn't give me many second opportunties. However, although I recognize the critical nature of the position after his 10th move (10.f3), I failed to take the time to understand the situation after the exchange on e5. Because of that mistake, I had to suffer for a little while, but it wasn't a completely fatal mistake. However, when I played 25...Qb6, I started to really go down the wrong path, and 26...f4 compounded that. While I relaxed too early after 13.fxe5, I panicked too soon after 26.Bc3!
