Srikanth Bangalore vs. GM Varuzhan Akobian (Simul 06/06/2010)

A simul. was conducted by GM Akobian in a chess camp held in his own home in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 6, 2010. He played more than a dozen people simultaneously, and surprisingly, let everyone play with White pieces.

I played my Colle Zukertort, and he chose a little played but harmless variation.

I am now looking up the opening in Zuke 'Em. According to David Rudel, White should exchange Black's knight on e4 the moment it arrives there - before Black has a chance to cement it with f5. He gives Gelfand-Veremelchik game as the model game. Here it is

So, basically, in my game, White lost initiative by not exchanging the knight on e4 immediately on move 11. By Move 23, Black was in total control of the game and had a draw by repetition in hand, if he so wanted. However, Black decided to explore his advantage in the ensuing Bishop endgame. I had no knowledge of Double Bishop endgame theory, and I played some moves, which eventually led to Single Bishop endgame with Bishops of Same Color. I had inferior King position, but there were too many pawns, and they were blocked in such a way that neither side could breakthrough.

My next blog would be about understanding the endgame.