My Round 3 win at the Cardinal Open :)

In January 2018 I played in the Cardinal Open in Columbus, OH. It was classical time control and my first tournament playing in the U1800 section.

In this game I face a stronger player, Bruce Graham, rated 1640 (my rating was 1572). White is better in the opening but has trouble finding a way to crack the solid Scandi structure with pawns on e6 and c6. White ends up going with c5? which gives black active piece play and the game quickly becomes dynamic and tactics now show up in many lines. 

Things turn around for black when a white minor piece is pinned with no escape, but white plays accurately and acquires two connected pass pawns for the piece! This leads to a sharp end game where black is surely better, but white has those scary pawns which might allow white to hold and perhaps even win.  Enjoy the game!  

Thanks for watching!

-Stacia

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