Montana Closed 2014, Round 4

My tournament had been improving steadily since round one, and the trend continued. In the fourth round I was paired with Mark Anderson, a higher-rated player and the winner of the 2014 January Thaw. I had only played him once before; a rapid game which he won about a month earlier in Kalispell.

In this game I was particularly pleased by the chance to play 21.Bb4!, freezing the black king, which had been cavalierly lingering uncastled on its home square, in place and thenceforth dictating the flow of the game.