Nova Daily - 10 January 2025
Hi!
Today's game was a nice attacking game in the English (who would have thought).
Prior to playing today's game, I did the aftermath analysis of my previous game and was forced to come to terms with the fact that my play is abysmal at times. There are some glaring immaturity mistakes in my play that I need to get rid of.
As an extra bit of training I also did ten intermediate puzzles from a puzzle book. I solved nine of them correctly, which could be a good metaphor: If I put myself to it, there is a lot that I can do correctly, but there remains room for improvement.
Let's dive on in.
The aftermath analysis will be there, but it will have to wait for a minute.
Overall a pretty decent game. Black never got any play, and it was a one-sided victory from there.
What can I take away from this game:
1. Setups with an early a6 from black in the Reversed Sicilian are typically harmless, as it's a slow move on the wing. White can afford to play a2-a3 in the Sicilian, but black cannot do the same.
2. The variation with b3 is quite nice here, setting up threats against black's centre with Bb2, a well-timed Nd5, and f2-f4 (preceded by Kh2).
