Grenke Open 2017, game analysis, part 1

Hey guys!

As some of you might already know, on Monday ended Grenke Open 2017 held in a nice little city Karlsruhe (at least I think it's little ) & I had the pleasure to take part in this tournament.

You can see my impressions about the tournament at its different stages on my YouTube channel here (episode 1, episode 2, episode 3).

Enough with the fluff and let's get down do business - game analysis!

Round 1

The pairings for round 1 were presented 5 minutes before the start of the game, so no preparation possible, which sort of okay, as I was paired against a lower rated opponent and with White pieces, nevertheless, the thrills and excitement before the first round were there as it had been a while I had played such a big tournament.   

All in all it was a pretty convincing victory in round 1, so all was good at this point.

Round 2

In round 2 I was facing a very tough opposition in shape of GM Svetushkin Dmitry from Moldavia (2574 elo). To face such a caliber player with Black pieces was obviously a challenge. I briefly checked what opening my opponent plays and was ready to put up a fight!

I think I played a really good game up to the point, where it was important to find a good plan for that ending with Queen + BIshop vs Knight and 2 Rooks. It was quite tough to lose such a game after a 5 hour fight, but in the end my opponents technique just was superior. 

Round 3

This round started just an hour after my last game, which I lost. I found it very difficult to focus on the game as I still felt as if I had missed some chances in the previous game and that showed in the game quality of this game.

Totally not proud of this game and feeling lucky that I managed to win eventually. I realized that this is a major weakness of mine to not be able focus after a tough game, which obviously will backfire eventually in my results as well. I don't really know how to deal with this, as consciously I understand that I need to forget what happened and focus on what's in front of me, but subconsciously I am still thinking about that game. Any ideas of how to get rid of this drawback?

Despite the poor game in round 3, I was feeling quite optimistic about the whole tournament and just needed some good night sleep, which I got.   

The analysis of the rest of the games will follow soon - stay tuned! 

Cheers,

Ritvars