TCC-42 Round 4
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Adaar
Mar 31, 2017
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#1
My game against Marius was a painful affair for me. I didn't believe in my position for most of the game after getting the isolated pawn and watching his kingside attack grow. Still the silicon doesn't put Black too far ahead and I even had the very beautiful defensive shot 31.Bd1!! instead of my blunder 31.h3?? I like the idea of a relatively defensive move like 31.Bd1!! turning the tables offensively. After 31.h3??, Marius' attack is fully justified.
James plays the Advance Caro-Kann with 6.Be3 letting Black take on d4 without being able to take back with a pawn. This is not to my taste since White's e-pawn becomes very weak. Still, I believe that White can still play this way. Vadim's 10...g5 is a very logical idea of playing against that weakness. The silicon doesn't think much of it though and something more sedate and keeping in the spirit of the Caro-Kann might be better like 10...a6. After 12.c4, James is clearly on top with 13.cxd5! I'm not sure what Vadim had planned for that variation! Instead 13.Qb3? allows Vadim's initiative to grow by leaps and bounds. James loses the exchange and the game.
Dominick's penchant for little played moves that skirt theory comes into play again with 2...b5. King reacts slowly on the queenside and things are equal but looking good for Black. Then Robert feels some phantom pressure from an optically pleasing position and dubiously sacrifices his Bishop. Instead, 11.Be2 gives Dominick a very small edge. The strategic idea for White later is to play the e4 break and liberate his pieces by winning on c4. Very similar to Vadim's 10...g5 move. After the sacrifice, Dominick plays chess and of course wins.
Mennella plays his Scandinavian and David plays the rare 3.Bc4. David is a talented player that doesn't study chess much and has a natural ability. Sometimes, his openings look a bit naive. 14.Nh4 is a bit suspicious since he is not doing much to complete his development and 15.f4 is just bad serving up the e4 on a silver platter. David misses 19...Ng3 and James wins the game.
