KCC August Troy Octo

I recently participated in my third tournament up at Troy, NH hosted by the Knights Chess Club of Keene, NH. It was advertised as an OCTO, but the lack of participants brought it down to six players. Me, at 1365 (provisional) was the highest rated player of the section. My first and third games went rather fast; I was playing opponents a few hundred points below me. The second game was against my old nemesis Max Sewall.

I met Max at my first tournament when we were both tied at two points and playing for the prize. A sicilian game, I lost a knight for two pawns, and an end game that came down to his single pawn advantage and my king unable to stop it.

I was looking forward to playing Max again and showing off my new French repertoire. It was a bit off-setting when, while going over his first game with him and his opponent, I discovered he was at least familiar with the French. However, I was set on playing the French and was relying on my more recent studying to pull through.

I was prepared to handle 3.c3, 3.Nc3, 3.Nf3, 3.e5 all the most played and strongest moves. So, what does Max do? 3.Nd2, the Tarrasch. Great, I'm hosed...