How I Won Bronze At The 2020 Asian Online Nations Cup
Want to hear some inspiring news to start your week?
I just finished the qualifying stage of the 'Asian Online Nations Cup', where I represented Australia on Board 3.
Australia finished in 4th place in the tournament, with 13 match points (out of a possible 18). This means that Australia qualifies to the final knock-out phase, where the top eight teams slug it out for the 'Asian Online Nations Cup' trophy!
My personal result was a real success, too - I scored 5.5/8 against very strong opposition (6 GMs) to win the individual bronze medal for my board (Board 3). According to the tournament crosstable, I was the 10th best performing player in the event.
However, if you use my opponents' classical FIDE ratings, my performance rating comes to 2618 - well above my 'retired' FIDE rating of 2492! Given that my online blitz rating translates to roughly 2650 FIDE (top 100 in the world), and that my blitz is stronger than my rapid, this is a pretty decent result!
Certainly, life is very different for me compared to the picture below from two years ago, at the 2018 Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia:
I just finished the qualifying stage of the 'Asian Online Nations Cup', where I represented Australia on Board 3.
Australia finished in 4th place in the tournament, with 13 match points (out of a possible 18). This means that Australia qualifies to the final knock-out phase, where the top eight teams slug it out for the 'Asian Online Nations Cup' trophy!
My personal result was a real success, too - I scored 5.5/8 against very strong opposition (6 GMs) to win the individual bronze medal for my board (Board 3). According to the tournament crosstable, I was the 10th best performing player in the event.
However, if you use my opponents' classical FIDE ratings, my performance rating comes to 2618 - well above my 'retired' FIDE rating of 2492! Given that my online blitz rating translates to roughly 2650 FIDE (top 100 in the world), and that my blitz is stronger than my rapid, this is a pretty decent result!
Certainly, life is very different for me compared to the picture below from two years ago, at the 2018 Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia:
At that time, I was facing some challenges, one of the most significant being that I had stopped enjoying chess for many months, and was finding the slow pace of classical chess very boring when I would generally see the best moves almost immediately (or, very frustratingly, talk myself out of the best moves when thinking for several minutes).
Fortunately, despite the poor result, I gained a lot of confidence from the new skills I was developing during the event (to forget my poor performance), and that greatly contributed to me meeting my wife in late 2018.
By the time I played the FIDE Online Olympiad for Australia in 2020, I was enjoying blitz and rapid once again, showing some very good results (2600+ rapid performance in my training games, and being ranked in the top 50 blitz players on Chess.com). On the first day of the event, I played great chess and started with 2/2.
Unfortunately, then I got very sick just after this first day of play, and the resulting stress made it very difficult to play to my potential in the event. I was extremely nervous, and avoiding the openings I knew best in an irrational fear of my opponents and their preparation.
The result was that I lost to an opening trap I'd studied already but forgotten under pressure against GM Niaz Murshed, then later I completely choked and lost a dead-won position against GM-elect Novendra Priasmoro (which I'd achieved purely through opening preparation).
Therefore, when a friend suggested to me that I create a video course on my experience of the tournament, I felt it demonstrated a total lack of understanding of competitive chess.
One thing I did differently in my preparation for this Asian Online Nations Cup is that I prepared a narrow repertoire with White and Black, and made sure to know it extremely well.
In fact, the repertoire I prepared for this tournament is the same one that I am sharing with you at the end of this post - with the sole difference that, in place of the Scandinavian, I was intending to surprise my opponents with the Petroff, which had scored well for me in some blitz games.
However, after the first day of the tournament, I realized that I had to change my initial approach.
Initially, the first day was meant to last around 3 hours (from 1-4pm). Therefore, waking up early at 4am seemed quite a nice way to optimize when I would be sharp for the event.
However, some organizational errors meant that the final round of the day did not start until around 6pm, and that affected both me and my opponent, GM Amin Tabatabaei (rated over 2600 FIDE), as he was five minutes late for the 15+5 time control game.
Out of the opening, we reached this position, a standard one for the 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 Petroff that I had prepared:
Objectively speaking, the position is just totally equal, and with a solid approach like 17...Nf6 18.g3 g6 followed by ...Rae8 and ...Kg7 (with ...c5 to follow to isolate White's pawns), the game would almost certainly end in a draw.
However, playing purely for a draw does not come naturally to me - as one of Australia's top players for many years, success in open and even round-robin tournaments relied on scoring heavily against lower-rated players. That showed in my subsequent play, where I kept choosing the wrong plan (rejecting the natural ...c5 break), talking myself out of the move I would play immediately if it were a blitz game, and got totally outplayed, as I simply failed to play to my strengths.
In the end, Australia lost this match to Iran 1.5-2.5, and Iran went on to win this qualifying stage outright with 15 match points. As both teams played all the main contenders, we can say that, had I done some things differently (not played the Petroff, taken better care of my physical and mental energy), I would at least draw the game, and Australia would finish in equal or clear first place (and I would do better than a bronze medal for my board).
Fortunately, the second day of play (Rounds 4-6) did not start for another week, and that gave me time to learn the right lessons from my mistakes against Tabatabaei (both on and away from the board) and adapt my approach.
In that week, I learned a completely new defence to 1.e4, by studying a 500-page opening book in just over two days. Fortunately, this book had a lot of well-annotated model games, allowing me to master the middlegame positions as well as remember the important theory. This paid off handsomely in my Round 6 game, as I was able to use this new opening to defeat GM John-Paul Gomez of the Philippines on the way to a 3-1 victory for Australia.
Originally, I was intending to stick with my 1.e4 White repertoire for the whole event, but on the day before Rounds 4-6, I was scrolling through the Chess24 videos in foreign languages, and discovered something very interesting - a solid 1.d4/2.c4 repertoire for White in French, by GM Adrian Demuth.
This caught my attention, because I had tried for several months to make 1.d4/2.c4 as White 'work' in my blitz games, but without much success. However, I recalled that I was generally playing sharper systems, such as lines with an early f3. Therefore, it occurred to me that I could probably learn a 'safe' 1.d4 repertoire overnight, relying on my extensive experience with 1.d4 in the past to guide me.
The main openings that I'd struggled against when playing 1.d4 in blitz were the King's Indian and Modern Benoni. However, Demuth had a very interesting suggestion of simply avoiding the critical lines and playing the 'Smyslov Variation' with an early Bg5 (see diagram below):
However, playing purely for a draw does not come naturally to me - as one of Australia's top players for many years, success in open and even round-robin tournaments relied on scoring heavily against lower-rated players. That showed in my subsequent play, where I kept choosing the wrong plan (rejecting the natural ...c5 break), talking myself out of the move I would play immediately if it were a blitz game, and got totally outplayed, as I simply failed to play to my strengths.
In the end, Australia lost this match to Iran 1.5-2.5, and Iran went on to win this qualifying stage outright with 15 match points. As both teams played all the main contenders, we can say that, had I done some things differently (not played the Petroff, taken better care of my physical and mental energy), I would at least draw the game, and Australia would finish in equal or clear first place (and I would do better than a bronze medal for my board).
Fortunately, the second day of play (Rounds 4-6) did not start for another week, and that gave me time to learn the right lessons from my mistakes against Tabatabaei (both on and away from the board) and adapt my approach.
In that week, I learned a completely new defence to 1.e4, by studying a 500-page opening book in just over two days. Fortunately, this book had a lot of well-annotated model games, allowing me to master the middlegame positions as well as remember the important theory. This paid off handsomely in my Round 6 game, as I was able to use this new opening to defeat GM John-Paul Gomez of the Philippines on the way to a 3-1 victory for Australia.
Originally, I was intending to stick with my 1.e4 White repertoire for the whole event, but on the day before Rounds 4-6, I was scrolling through the Chess24 videos in foreign languages, and discovered something very interesting - a solid 1.d4/2.c4 repertoire for White in French, by GM Adrian Demuth.
This caught my attention, because I had tried for several months to make 1.d4/2.c4 as White 'work' in my blitz games, but without much success. However, I recalled that I was generally playing sharper systems, such as lines with an early f3. Therefore, it occurred to me that I could probably learn a 'safe' 1.d4 repertoire overnight, relying on my extensive experience with 1.d4 in the past to guide me.
The main openings that I'd struggled against when playing 1.d4 in blitz were the King's Indian and Modern Benoni. However, Demuth had a very interesting suggestion of simply avoiding the critical lines and playing the 'Smyslov Variation' with an early Bg5 (see diagram below):
White's next moves are very simple - e3, Be2, 0-0 and keep playing natural moves! Meanwhile, the pin on the f6-knight makes the usual ...d6/...e5 ineffective, whereas after ...c5 d5, again the pressure on the f6-knight makes the Benoni approach of ...e6xd5 less effective than usual.
As for the Modern Benoni, I saw that Demuth recommended the 'Modern Main Line' of h3/Bd3/Nf3, which basically gives Black a choice between playing 9...b5 10.Bxb5 Nxe4 and accepting that at best he will draw the game, or deviate with an inferior 9th move, accepting a much worse position if White plays correctly. As I had not tested this line much as White, yet found it very unpleasant on the Black side, this was the perfect solution to my problem.
When I had a bad fall in the evening before Day 2 of the tournament, I still had a bit of a headache from hitting my head on the concrete floor (fortunately I escaped without any long-term injuries). Therefore, when playing White against Bangladesh's GM Ziaur Rahman, I played very safely against his Tarrasch Defence, heading for an endgame where White has the bishop pair and plays for a win with absolutely no risk.
As it turned out, my opponent defended very precisely, and even though my thoughts were completely muddled for the whole game, my position remained safe and soon we agreed a draw.
Despite this recovery from my Round 3 loss, I was still dissatisfied with my performance, as most of my teammates were outperforming me and I knew that I was still not playing to my true potential, but the smoothness of my win over GM Gomez gave me confidence that I could do this on the final day of the qualifying event.
In Round 7, I played against GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev from Kazakhstan. I already knew him to be a very tricky and resourceful player, and unfortunately I was way too nervous for the game. In spite of this, I recovered from totally forgetting my Scotch Gambit theory (that I covered in the White repertoire I'm sharing with you) and reached this completely winning position:
As for the Modern Benoni, I saw that Demuth recommended the 'Modern Main Line' of h3/Bd3/Nf3, which basically gives Black a choice between playing 9...b5 10.Bxb5 Nxe4 and accepting that at best he will draw the game, or deviate with an inferior 9th move, accepting a much worse position if White plays correctly. As I had not tested this line much as White, yet found it very unpleasant on the Black side, this was the perfect solution to my problem.
When I had a bad fall in the evening before Day 2 of the tournament, I still had a bit of a headache from hitting my head on the concrete floor (fortunately I escaped without any long-term injuries). Therefore, when playing White against Bangladesh's GM Ziaur Rahman, I played very safely against his Tarrasch Defence, heading for an endgame where White has the bishop pair and plays for a win with absolutely no risk.
As it turned out, my opponent defended very precisely, and even though my thoughts were completely muddled for the whole game, my position remained safe and soon we agreed a draw.
Despite this recovery from my Round 3 loss, I was still dissatisfied with my performance, as most of my teammates were outperforming me and I knew that I was still not playing to my true potential, but the smoothness of my win over GM Gomez gave me confidence that I could do this on the final day of the qualifying event.
In Round 7, I played against GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev from Kazakhstan. I already knew him to be a very tricky and resourceful player, and unfortunately I was way too nervous for the game. In spite of this, I recovered from totally forgetting my Scotch Gambit theory (that I covered in the White repertoire I'm sharing with you) and reached this completely winning position:
White is up a monster passed pawn on e6, and about to win a second pawn on f3 - and it is White to move, as well! Frankly, this is a position I should win against any player on the planet as White.
However, I rejected the move 27.Qxf3, which is almost certainly what I would have played in a blitz or bullet game, and instead did all these crazy manoeuvres to try and win the f3-pawn 'for free', starting with 27.Rd3?. I played so impractically and nervously that I managed to later blunder my queen for a rook in the game.
Luckily, my position was so winning before that I still had real swindling chances with two queenside passed pawns and a rook for the queen, and by advancing my passed pawns quickly, I was able to swindle a draw in mutual time pressure. Reading Smerdon's 'The Complete Chess Swindler' the previous week really helped me out here!
In the 8th round, I played perhaps the game I am most proud of from the event, against the Mongolian GM Tsegmed Batchuluun (with a classical FIDE rating of 2536).
Back when I was competing in classical tournaments, I often 'beat myself' when playing opponents rated 2500+, as I would assume I needed to do something really 'special' to beat them, and would often avoid my strongest openings or ideas in fear of their preparation or that they would quickly kill all my winning chances.
However, now that I have played a lot of blitz games against strong players and raised my level, beating even 2650+ FIDE-rated GMs is no longer anything unusual for me (indeed I'm playing at this level in blitz too), and therefore I had the confidence to play 1.d4 and follow Demuth's repertoire, despite not having time to seriously prepare between the rounds.
However, in the minutes before the game, I had time to quickly check my opponent's games and opening choices, and I observed that he's a generally more solid player, who feels quite uncomfortable in messy, complex positions, or when under attack early.
That's why, in the diagram position below, I met his attempt to play the Semi-Tarrasch with 7.Rb1 and then the novelty 9.h4!?:
However, I rejected the move 27.Qxf3, which is almost certainly what I would have played in a blitz or bullet game, and instead did all these crazy manoeuvres to try and win the f3-pawn 'for free', starting with 27.Rd3?. I played so impractically and nervously that I managed to later blunder my queen for a rook in the game.
Luckily, my position was so winning before that I still had real swindling chances with two queenside passed pawns and a rook for the queen, and by advancing my passed pawns quickly, I was able to swindle a draw in mutual time pressure. Reading Smerdon's 'The Complete Chess Swindler' the previous week really helped me out here!
In the 8th round, I played perhaps the game I am most proud of from the event, against the Mongolian GM Tsegmed Batchuluun (with a classical FIDE rating of 2536).
Back when I was competing in classical tournaments, I often 'beat myself' when playing opponents rated 2500+, as I would assume I needed to do something really 'special' to beat them, and would often avoid my strongest openings or ideas in fear of their preparation or that they would quickly kill all my winning chances.
However, now that I have played a lot of blitz games against strong players and raised my level, beating even 2650+ FIDE-rated GMs is no longer anything unusual for me (indeed I'm playing at this level in blitz too), and therefore I had the confidence to play 1.d4 and follow Demuth's repertoire, despite not having time to seriously prepare between the rounds.
However, in the minutes before the game, I had time to quickly check my opponent's games and opening choices, and I observed that he's a generally more solid player, who feels quite uncomfortable in messy, complex positions, or when under attack early.
That's why, in the diagram position below, I met his attempt to play the Semi-Tarrasch with 7.Rb1 and then the novelty 9.h4!?:
The idea of this move (which Carlsen already played, but with the pawns still on c5 and c3) is simply to charge the h-pawn to h6, in AlphaZero style. As Black will almost certainly castle kingside soon (and indeed played 9...0-0 in the game), the h6-pawn will create long-term mating threats against Black's king, due to the constant possibility of Qd4-g7#.
Admittedly, my opponent could still have equalized on move 16, but it requires a machine-like accuracy that is generally not realistic at a rapid time control.
Funnily enough, later in the game I played very intuitively (my natural style of play, as GM Srinath Narayanan noted yesterday on the ChessBase India broadcast), and this meant that I had actually completely blundered my opponent's last move of 21...Rc5-d5, reaching the diagram position below:
Admittedly, my opponent could still have equalized on move 16, but it requires a machine-like accuracy that is generally not realistic at a rapid time control.
Funnily enough, later in the game I played very intuitively (my natural style of play, as GM Srinath Narayanan noted yesterday on the ChessBase India broadcast), and this meant that I had actually completely blundered my opponent's last move of 21...Rc5-d5, reaching the diagram position below:
However, as I started kicking myself for making such a beginner's blunder, I subconsciously remembered a very famous game in the Queen's Indian in the late 1990s (regrettably, I can't find it now in Mega Database), where White sacrificed the queen for a rook and a minor piece to get a powerful passed d-pawn that completely tied up Black's remaining pieces.
As it transpires, 22.Qxd5! Bxd5 23.Rxd5 is in fact almost winning for White (which the engine takes some time to appreciate), as Black can't really avoid the move d6-d7, but then the Black queen is completely paralyzed, and White can eventually evict the queen by bringing his knight to c6. Admittedly, had Black played 23...f6! 24.d7 Qc7 25.Rbd2 Rd8, at least it would only be the rook that is paralyzed, but even this feels close to winning for White after 26.g3!, preparing Kg2 to avoid any possibility of perpetual check by Black's queen.
Instead, my opponent got desperate with 23...Qc8?, and after 24.Rbd2 Qc1 25.Rd1! Qxh6 26.d7 Rd8 27.Ne5!, my opponent was unable to prevent Nc6 winning the rook (...g5 runs into Rd6, as indicated by Australian IM Ari Dale) and I won quite easily from here, despite being so nervous that I felt sick to my stomach!
Perhaps the greatest pride with this game is that I was able to demonstrate the effectiveness of a concept devised over the board, that the engines initially don't understand or appreciate, which is quite a rare feat nowadays.
In the final round, I was paired with GM SP Sethuraman of India, who is rated around 2650 FIDE. I knew him to be a very well-prepared player, due to perusing his book on beating the Najdorf and Taimanov, and therefore decided to play a system-based approach as Black, where I could quickly get ahead several minutes on the clock.
Had I been in this situation in the FIDE Online Olympiad, I would have probably lacked the confidence to play an objectively inferior system against a player ranked around 100 in the world, fearing that he would know the best lines already, or figure them out over the board.
However, given that he was not in great form in the event, and also without any real time to prepare for the game, I knew that my old favourite, the Benko Gambit, would work quite well in this one-off game.
My opponent tried to avoid the Benko with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 cxd4 4.Nxd4, but then I played another of my 'pet' blitz systems in 4...b6!?, to force my opponent into a more manoeuvring game that goes against his natural attacking style:
As it transpires, 22.Qxd5! Bxd5 23.Rxd5 is in fact almost winning for White (which the engine takes some time to appreciate), as Black can't really avoid the move d6-d7, but then the Black queen is completely paralyzed, and White can eventually evict the queen by bringing his knight to c6. Admittedly, had Black played 23...f6! 24.d7 Qc7 25.Rbd2 Rd8, at least it would only be the rook that is paralyzed, but even this feels close to winning for White after 26.g3!, preparing Kg2 to avoid any possibility of perpetual check by Black's queen.
Instead, my opponent got desperate with 23...Qc8?, and after 24.Rbd2 Qc1 25.Rd1! Qxh6 26.d7 Rd8 27.Ne5!, my opponent was unable to prevent Nc6 winning the rook (...g5 runs into Rd6, as indicated by Australian IM Ari Dale) and I won quite easily from here, despite being so nervous that I felt sick to my stomach!
Perhaps the greatest pride with this game is that I was able to demonstrate the effectiveness of a concept devised over the board, that the engines initially don't understand or appreciate, which is quite a rare feat nowadays.
In the final round, I was paired with GM SP Sethuraman of India, who is rated around 2650 FIDE. I knew him to be a very well-prepared player, due to perusing his book on beating the Najdorf and Taimanov, and therefore decided to play a system-based approach as Black, where I could quickly get ahead several minutes on the clock.
Had I been in this situation in the FIDE Online Olympiad, I would have probably lacked the confidence to play an objectively inferior system against a player ranked around 100 in the world, fearing that he would know the best lines already, or figure them out over the board.
However, given that he was not in great form in the event, and also without any real time to prepare for the game, I knew that my old favourite, the Benko Gambit, would work quite well in this one-off game.
My opponent tried to avoid the Benko with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 cxd4 4.Nxd4, but then I played another of my 'pet' blitz systems in 4...b6!?, to force my opponent into a more manoeuvring game that goes against his natural attacking style:
This Hedgehog position is obviously very pleasant for White, due to his space advantage, but by this point, I was already several minutes ahead on the clock, as my opponent had been figuring out the best way to place his pieces, whereas I could manoeuvre on the last 3 ranks in a thematic way.
Unfortunately, I didn't really capitalize on this advantage, as on move 19 I made a very careless blunder (rejecting the correct bishop move I would have played instantly in a blitz game by seeing ghosts), but fortunately, I found some very resourceful counterattacking ideas in a difficult position (again, thanks to studying Smerdon's 'The Complete Chess Swindler').
At a key moment, on move 34, my swindle had been so successful that I actually had a win that would have given the team =2nd and me the individual silver medal. But both my opponent and I completely missed it, as I was still playing to maintain the balance, having been in trouble before.
I went for a line that I knew was drawing at worst, but it turned out there was no win either, and a draw was ultimately a fair outcome to our very exciting battle, which was analyzed very well on ChessBase India's live commentary of the event.
As you can see, I played a lot of very interesting games in this tournament, scoring +1 in my games against the GMs (and 2/2 against resilient low-rated opponents who played well above their rating). Ultimately my performance was probably a 'fair' indication of my level - while I failed to win some winning positions, I also successfully swindled draws from losing positions in these same games.
This was a long story, but one that I think you've learned a great deal from. Now, you can see the way that I approach tournaments, and know that, by learning from me, you will also evolve your approach and start handling the opening and your chess training in general like a Grandmaster!
If you've made it all the way to the end, congratulations - it means you are the perfect fit for my Complete Grandmaster Opening Repertoire for White and Black, where I share the full White and Black repertoire I prepared for this Asian Online Nations Cup.
You've shown your dedication to learning and your commitment to chess mastery. Most importantly, you have a willingness to put in the 'hard work' (technically known as 'deliberate practice') that most of the 'dreamers' fail to do. They dream of becoming a chess master, but when things get hard or they feel uncomfortable, they give up.
I'm one of the few Grandmasters that honestly shares all of his secrets and ideas about chess and chess improvement - even while playing in a major competition! Now, you can learn all these Grandmaster ideas as well - it's just a click away!
Unfortunately, I didn't really capitalize on this advantage, as on move 19 I made a very careless blunder (rejecting the correct bishop move I would have played instantly in a blitz game by seeing ghosts), but fortunately, I found some very resourceful counterattacking ideas in a difficult position (again, thanks to studying Smerdon's 'The Complete Chess Swindler').
At a key moment, on move 34, my swindle had been so successful that I actually had a win that would have given the team =2nd and me the individual silver medal. But both my opponent and I completely missed it, as I was still playing to maintain the balance, having been in trouble before.
I went for a line that I knew was drawing at worst, but it turned out there was no win either, and a draw was ultimately a fair outcome to our very exciting battle, which was analyzed very well on ChessBase India's live commentary of the event.
As you can see, I played a lot of very interesting games in this tournament, scoring +1 in my games against the GMs (and 2/2 against resilient low-rated opponents who played well above their rating). Ultimately my performance was probably a 'fair' indication of my level - while I failed to win some winning positions, I also successfully swindled draws from losing positions in these same games.
This was a long story, but one that I think you've learned a great deal from. Now, you can see the way that I approach tournaments, and know that, by learning from me, you will also evolve your approach and start handling the opening and your chess training in general like a Grandmaster!
If you've made it all the way to the end, congratulations - it means you are the perfect fit for my Complete Grandmaster Opening Repertoire for White and Black, where I share the full White and Black repertoire I prepared for this Asian Online Nations Cup.
You've shown your dedication to learning and your commitment to chess mastery. Most importantly, you have a willingness to put in the 'hard work' (technically known as 'deliberate practice') that most of the 'dreamers' fail to do. They dream of becoming a chess master, but when things get hard or they feel uncomfortable, they give up.
I'm one of the few Grandmasters that honestly shares all of his secrets and ideas about chess and chess improvement - even while playing in a major competition! Now, you can learn all these Grandmaster ideas as well - it's just a click away!
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