Road to GM 2. - Titled Tuesday 2021.03.30.: revenge against Martinez Alcantara

As I already mentioned in my previous post, playing against titled opponents is a great opportunity to stay in shape in these hard times so this is what I did this Tuesday as well.

I started this week's Titled Tuesday against a Candidate Master from the USA. After once again having a Bogo-Indian like last week, I obtained a slight edge thanks to my strong centre and better placed pieces. When he was just about to finish development, I opened up the position and my Catalan bishop became a killer after a small tactic. Despite having a ruined structure I managed to convert my advantage. You can check the game here: https://www.chess.com/game/live/10862773171

2nd round: My IM opponent chose the ever-solid Exchange Slav which is by far not as innocent as it looks, I know it from my experience with both colours. He obtained a little pressure, but I was able to create enough counterplay. Maybe I was even a bit better at the end, but I decided to repeat moves due to having a minute less on the clock: https://www.chess.com/game/live/10863373943

3rd round: I faced a FM from Ukraine whom I had already faced several times and who is known to play crazy openings. This time was no exception with 1.d4 h6. We got a position similar to the Modern Defence, but his kingside was chronically weak. I could have (and should have) punished his extravagant play quicker, but I didn't find a way so I decided to force a better endgame thanks to his terrible pawn structure. I managed to convert, even after some inaccuracies: https://www.chess.com/game/live/10863994649

4th round: I was paired against a Candidate Master from Turkmenistan who played a Reti-Larsen hybrid. I chose the Slav approach with c6 and Bg4, but when he pushed d4 prematurely I knew it was time to strike with Ne4, threatening all kinds of annoying checks. He tried to lock down the queenside, but it didn't work for tactical reasons. My only concern again was my time management, thanks to which I missed mate in 3 twice(!), although I still managed to win this chaotic game: https://www.chess.com/game/live/10864611967

5th round: This time I didn't miss the start of the game after the break. My Russian IM opponent entered the super sharp Anti-Moscow variation of the Semi-Slav. In this line white has a long-term compensation for the sacrificed pawn and I even made some mistakes so he got a clear advantage. I tried everything to complicate matters and a similar opposite coloured bishop endgame arose what I had last week against Chigaev. This time I managed to save it: https://www.chess.com/game/live/10865345235

6th round: I played against Vahap Sanal, GM from Turkey whom I know quite well from the European Youth tournaments. I chose the trendy d3 Spanish with Nc3 and a3 to which he replied with a line leading to immediate simplifications. White should be slightly better thanks to his healthier pawn structure and better bishop, but it's hard to capitalise on it. Maybe it wouldn't have been possible if not for him taking too many risk in my time trouble: https://www.chess.com/game/live/10865960495

7th round: It was time for the mighty Vugar Rasulov! I had already faced numerous times the Azeri GM who is known to be a great blitz player. We got a strange variant of the London System and I secured a small middlegame/endgame edge after a clever sequence of exchanges. I won a pawn after a small tactic, but what happened afterwards... it would be better to forget. I pushed so hard for the win that I even managed to lose. A painful game: https://www.chess.com/game/live/10866991507

8th round: Without having basically any time to recover, my next game started against Denis Lazavik, a huge talent from Belarus who once even won the Titled Tuesday! The Slow Slav (4.e3) soon turned into a tactical fight when I bravely took a pawn with my king still being in the centre. Objectively it was "not great, not terrible", but he got very a dangerous initiative. An initiative which I couldn't handle with little time on my clock: https://www.chess.com/game/live/10867603859

9th round: The 6-minute break came in the best moment because I had some time to recover from the two losses. I played the Ragozin against an Armenian IM, while the game quickly transposed into an e3 Nimzo. He didn't play it accurately because I could take advantage of his structural weaknesses and I won two pawns. Endings with opposite coloured bishops tend to have a high drawing tendency, but two pawns are two pawns: https://www.chess.com/game/live/10868762967

10th round: Once again Martinez Alcantara! I faced the strong GM from Peru last week, but this time I led the white pieces. He chose a popular line of the Open Spanish where I wasn't sure what to do. After spending a minute and playing what I initially wanted to play, we got a position which is typical for this line: white has a better structure, but black is very active. Following a nice regrouping of my pieces I gained an advantage, but his unexpected queen blunder sped up the ending. You can find the detailed analysis at the end of my post.

11th round: For the closing round I reverted to the French Defence which was my main weapon in childhood. David Gavrilescu, young IM from Romania, played the line with Nce2 and Nf3 that I sometimes play with white as well, but when I mixed up something I landed in a positionally terrible position. Although I took my chance of complicating matters, I was much worse in the whole game... until he exchanged queens too early. Yet I only had two pawns for his bishop, they were both passed pawns and combined with my activated king, they saved me half a point: https://www.chess.com/game/live/10869996171

Now let's see the analysed game against Martinez Alcantara: