TCC-41 Round 2

Kudryatsev - Lucan play a fairly sedate line of the Queen's Gambit Declined until Marius decides on a unique and slightly risky plan of pawn storming on the kingside.  Vadim considers the plan incorrect.  Marius rushes forward with 10...f5 and he's all in with 13...g5 and 14...h5.  Interestingly, Vadim's 15.Be5 is equalized the game.  Komodo recommends 15.h3 to keep a nice advantage.  The hyper aggressive 15...g4 puts the cart before the horse in terms of pieces supporting the attack. Still after 18. b4 the game is fairly level.  If Marius plays 20...h3, his attack actually bears some fruit.  21.Ncd4? was a mistake that allows Black to effectively sac his knight and win a pawn beginning with 21...Nxf2.  Marius misplays a very complicated attack and misses a chance for equality with 26...Qg7 pinning the White queen.  Vadim misplays a pawn up ending and the game is drawn.

Dominick allows me to gain some important tempos in the opening after 6.Qa4, 8.Qb3 and 9.Qd1.  This allows me some quick development that should have led to a beautiful sacrifice with 18...Rh2!  I looked at it during the game and saw after 19.Kh2 Qh4 20.Kg1 Qg3 21.Bg2 Qh2 22.Kf2 Bg3 that White would be in trouble, but I couldn't see that 23.Kf3 would be forced and after 23...Bh4! White would be in dire straights.  Instead the game entered the land of a mundane rook and bishop ending.  Dominick tries some flair and flash with 39.Rf5 but it only hastens the end.

Fellinger plays a BDG but allows some of his attackers to be traded lessening the effect of the gambit. Still he plays hyper aggressively and goes all in for an attack against Hatley's king.  Hatley justifies the attack with 30...Qg7?? and Mike has the sword of Damocles hanging over Travis' head only to lower it harmlessly with 33.Rf2?? With 33.Kh2 he can get his king safe or force the trade of queens and win.  For example after say 33...Qd6 34.Qd6 Rd6 35.Rfh7 Kg8 36.Rh8 Kg7 the Rc8 falls.

Ryan Larson was outplayed by Paschal, who played a beautiful positional game bringing the point home forcefully.  Still, it was impressive to see Ryan's improvement over the last few months.  His resistance seems to grow from game to game.