Game of the Week IX - Kjartansson,Gudmundur vs. Petursson,Margeir
Perhaps you have heard about “torturing” another player in chess and wonder: How is it possible to torture anyone in a board game?!
There are several ways to “torture” one’s opponent in a match, 2 common examples of which are the following:
1.You have a better position with no risk of losing it and can essentially go on playing “forever”;
2. Your opponent is just one step away from equalizing the position fully, but you keep preventing him from doing so.
What other examples of “torture” have you experienced in your matches? Share them in the comments below!
As a grandmaster, I am not “tortured” in my matches often anymore; however, on one occasion in 2011, while playing against my good friend grandmaster Alexsandr Shimanov, he employed the 2nd strategy described above which I still remember vividly. I felt like I was about to make a draw, but he made a move that basically said, “Not quite yet!”. After that, with every move, he was whittling down my options to restore the balance of the position, and my chances of the drawing were getting worse and worse. When I was about to resign, however, a miracle happened!
Give a shot at finding Shimanov’s strongest move below:
Game of the Week is: Kjartansson, Gudmundur vs. Petursson, Margeir
Black was close to equalizing the game on several occasions, but could not achieve this in the end.
Analysis:
