Finding Holes in Aggressive Play (Whissell - Saposhnikov, Ontario Open 2009 (1))

This is game is taken from the first round of the Ontario Open 2009 played just this May, shortly after my 34th birthday (yes I'm old!). The game was against a young (15) and very talented juniour who has been tearing up Canadian Chess as of late.

The interesting point about the game is that overly aggressive play can be awfully intimidating to face and force us into big mistakes, but it can also provide opportunities to exploit the squares left behind. In this game I use a little bit of positional play to calmly answer threatening looking moves and get away with a big upset over a player who finished 3rd in the Open Section (i did not place at 2.5/6).