Road to 2200! Double brilliant! ‼️

Hey all! I’m on a pretty solid streak (minus one game against the alien gambit) in rapid lately, and this game was a juicy one. My opponent was 2200 when I played ‘em.

This line in the Sicilian is super venomous  (I’ve gotten a winning position against an IM in it!), and while my conversion wasn’t perfect, this is still a game to remember as the tactical flourish to win it is visually very satisfying. Enjoy!

Wow

Nice game. Your sicilian line is so effective.

Thanks! I was looking at my win rate in it over the last 12mths, and it’s pretty decent. Far less effective against the master move (1. E4 c5 2. A3 g6(!)) but serving me well in pretty much every other line

Excellent response 😭

people still fall for the mengarini at that level? wow

it always surprises me the questionable lines that titled players will fall into lol

In Jack’s defence it was a bullet game

Means a lot

You think the mengarini is more succesful at your level than the open sicilian? Sicilian is fascinating because there are so many variations - mengarini, alapin, open, closed, etc

You do seem to do well with the trappy stuff though. Have you tried the Busch gass?

I’m a CK player so haven’t played Busch Gass myself. Don’t think it’s a particularly great gambit anyway, tbh, as white can get a decent position pretty easily:

but thanks for the suggestion either way

These double bishops on the queenside have been great for me lately, this was another recent game (slightly less dramatic)

Nice example on how to counterattack.

Thanks, glad it’s got some instructive value

Against the Sicilian, I deploy a home cooked opening I call the Adkins Attack. It starts like this:

I have a 58% win rate with this invention and look at this game I played just earlier today! 35 moves, zero mistakes, blunders, misses, inaccuracies, and only one good move. Basically everything was excellent or better!

Isn't that just the Smith Morra gambit?

#19 f4 is the difference I think