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My Final Round of the DHLC Slow 1-2 Tournament

My Final Round of the DHLC Slow 1-2 Tournament

MonofWestlake
| 7

Earlier today I played the fifth and final round of the DHLC 1-2 Pairing #1 Tournament, which resulted in my loss to MarioChessNiraj. Good game Niraj; I enjoyed it. While playing the game, some thoughts came to mind , which hopefully, I will remember for future matches. These ideas are largely based on my experience playing the Pirc in the last few weeks, and from my current bedtime chess read: Richard Reti's Modern Ideas in Chess.

  1. When playing the Pirc, I need to make an effort to put my light-squared bishop into play. I have noticed this to be a particular problem when I play the Pirc. If I am going to play a hypermodern opening, I need to have open lines for my bishops to be effective. Richard Reti himself explained this in his Modern Ideas in Chess.
  2. When playing the Pirc, I need to figure out how to successfully attack d4 with either my e5 or c5 pawns. White seems to consistently not follow the lines to the Pirc and moves d5 when attacked, which creates a closed and cramped center for Black. 
  3. Pay attention and concentrate. Do not become too engulfed in your own plan that you forget to analyze what your opponent is doing. Move 16 of the game exemplifies this basic and common sense rule, which I seem to regularly forget.
  4. I should only plan 1-3 moves ahead of my current situation because there are too many variables that can come into play. Again move 16 in the game below exemplifies this principle advocated by Reti.

Below is how the game evolved with my annotations.