How hard is it to beat a GM? Incredibly hard!

Note: This article is available in both game viewer format and pdf. The PDF file is 18 pages long and includes 40 diagrams + extra annotations and is available for free at chess.clinic´s group, whic is free to join of course. check it out here: https://www.chess.com/groups/home/chess-clinic . 

This is the game viewer format version.

Thank you for sharing! Loved the discussion on the 'human element' at the end of the analysis.

very cool, entertaining & instructive - Thanks very much for sharing this - and great writing!

Glad you read it till the end, LFS! 

Thanks for the comments, Torgelson. 

Hmmm, the end tho, do you regret maybe not being more sportman-ly about it and said you werent sure.

You mean apart from this game analysis where I "Confess everything"?

I do not share your views on what is and what is not sportman-ly.

Chess is tough enough as it is, it's either "you or him". If you've ever played professionally, adrenaline is pretty high during the game and it's really hard to switch to "diplomatic mode" right after the outcome.

If I played the game nowadays, would I tell him that I wasn't sure? Yes, probably. I guess I'm not the same person... 

I could do it (if the GM drank an entire bottle of Scotch and huffed some paint just before the match).

Not sure if that counts!   

While in Portugal I played some well known Spanish players and met many . Many of them played on Portuguese teams and competed in Portuguese team competitions . I remember playing Romero Holmes ( forgive my spelling) and Jordi Magem Badals ?  I might be butchering the names but my memory isnt so good these days and unusual names ( for me ) are harder to recall exactly .  

Yes, the spelling is correct. Magem and Romero are two very strong spanish GMs. 

Never been to Portugal, but they say it's pretty nice!

I found Spain and Portugal both to be very nice . I played Benasque in 2004 and that was a wonderful trip/experience . During the trip my wife and I spent a few days in Barcelona before the tourney in Benasque , both were beautiful places and the tourney in Benasque was both the biggest and strongest I ever played in . That year it was won by a Ukranian GM who is now one of the top Ukranian GMs . I also had a very unique tourney in Zafra Spain when I played in the Ruy Lopez ( Spanish ) theme tourney , the only such tourney I have ever played OTB . The food is also very good in both Spain and Portugal ... 

It was GM Pavel Eljanov that won the tourney I mentioned . 

Wow, you've had a good run! :) 

Benasque is a beautiful place indeed! (I won the Benasque Open once, but it was when only about 150 players took part, and only handful of GMs, later editions were way stronger)

 I'm not so fond of huge cities (I prefer smaller places like Toledo, Segovia, Teruel, etc.), but Barcelona does have a charm of its own!

Magem names are Catalan so they are also unusual to me though. Romero is very usual here but I've never heard of any other Spaniard with a surname like Holmes, maybe there are foreigners in his family? I had the honour of playing GM Romero in a simul btw, I was slaughtered and checkmated in the opening. 

Particularly at chess!