Turkey Feast

After an incredible 12 hour drive from Vancouver, Canada, I arrived at Missoula, Montana at exactly 5:00 pm on Friday November 11th to play against Grand Master Varuzhan Akobian (Var for short) in that evening's Simul. It had been over a year since I played in a Montana tournament, but this was simply an event, followed by a tournament, that I could not miss. Not only was it Montana's largest chess tournament to date, but it's also Montana's first time having a grand master visit. It was even more special for me personally. Var was my initial chess inspiration and crucial building block. 

Like many, I started seriously playing less than three years ago during Covid-19. I started at chess.com's rapid 1000 rating and quickly fell to 950. Having recently completed a master's degree at Johns Hopkins University and thinking myself intelligent, I felt I should study some basic strategy and stop embarrassing myself. I started watching YouTube videos, looking for some easy tips and tricks to gain rating. Naturally I found quite a few gimmick videos, but alas, I stumbled upon St. Louis Chess Club's grand master in residence lecture series (something I cannot recommend strongly enough). I started watching Var dominate with d4 and finesse with the French. So I made THAT my repertoire. With the simple combination of learning from my mistakes and watching his videos on middle game plans, I climbed from 950 to 1850 in roughly a year and a half. 

Over time, my repertoire expanded beyond the Queen's Gambit to include the London and the Colle systems and my love of the French transitioned into respect for the Caro Kann. Primarily because the exchange French is just too dry for my taste. But at their heart, I still play primarily the same pawn structures and positions Var instilled in me years ago. Therefore, I thought I would share two of my games from the Turkey Open that demonstrates this repertoire and the power of these Carlsbad pawn structures. Please note I am black in both games. 

Game 2 was against Steven Brendemihl (1550). I actually drew him recently at the Inland Empire Open as white against his Dutch Defense and I was prepared and eager for a rematch. This was also my first game on a DGT board and I simply loved it. 

Game 3 was against Timothy Cline (792). I hope you find his play not only incredibly strong, but very sound and logical. For an 800-rated opponent, he played exceptionally well. I know he had many strong wins in the tournament against opponents rated 1500-1600.