I'll never recover from this

A couple days ago me and a lot of friends from my club played in the Olomouc Chess Summer event. The goal was to gain elo, but sadly the most imoprtant event, classical, didn't go quite as planned. Well at least for me. In the first round I got paired against my 1724-rated clubmate. Even though there was an almost 400 point gap, he played a great game, and with me missing only one chance I wasn't able to crack his defences and we drew. Btw he went +90 in the event, very deserved gain. The same month he played another tournament going 7.5/8, sadly losing the last round, but still finishing on another +80!

After winning the next two games, in the 4th round I got paired against a 2000 with White and I blundered a pawn in the opening...

even though the position was at around -1.5 I was the one pushing for a win, tying his pieces down and eventually winning the pawn back, but at the cost of too many exchanges, which resulted in another draw. I can't find the game, but the position at one point looked like this:
The engine eval is 0.0, the definition of a fortress for Black.

However with 2 more wins the event wasn't looking that bad, as I was sitting at 5/6, up on elo elo up and finally facing a higher-rated opposition. He was a 2242-rated FM, which I defeated a couple days ago in blitz in 20 moves! I was pretty confident about my chances, even though I was playing Black. I chose the Anti-Sozin in the Classical Sicilian and I got crushed. Completely outplayed. But hey, 2 more rounds to go! In Round 8 I get White against another 2000, get my prep on the board and I manage to win a pawn. With me also having the bishop pair all I need to solidify and open the position. 2 moves came to my mind, and sadly I chose the wrong one, spotting my oversight imemdiately after my opponent's move.

I chose f4 simpy missing, that Rc4 doesn't only threaten the e4 pawn, but also a fork on b4. Had I played Ba4–Bc3 I'm sure my opponent wouldn't find the top moves and I'd get the whole point.

All the tactics worked out in my opponent's favor, meaning the game ended in a draw again. I managed to swiftly win the last game (in 20 moves) to secure +6 FIDE and 8th place prize, last with one. But that's not what I want to focus on. Other than the Classical tournament, it is common for there to be rapid and blitz side events. This time was no different. The blitz went amazingly, but I'm still hungry for more. I started with 4/4 beating a 2150 and an IM. In Round 5 i threw a draw (the whole game was completely equal) against a GM with Black, but bounced back in the next game with a win against an FM (the one who beat me in classical). Ultimately I finished the event up almost 50 points, so I'm not complaining:D

Funnily enough, the only broadcasted event (I played in) was the rapid tournament. It was a 7 round 10+5 time control, meaning it's much easier to stay at the top. In the first round I got paired against another one of my clubmates. I didn't get anything out of the opening, but managed to win in a heavy piece endgame with some activity and a lot of tricks.

Games 2 and 3 were more convincing, especially the latter, ending with mate on the 18th move. Scoring 3/3 got me paired against an IM with black. Considering the opening, and how many exchanges there were, the game was surprisingly sharp in strategical sense.

Even though only one set of minor pieces remains, the position is still imbalanced. I was able to neutralize White's queenside advance with the simple b6, meaning Black is better thanks to the kingside space and pawn-break potential. White decides to not wait around, and breaks with d4. It's clear I want to play e4, the question is whether I should include cxd4 or not. Let's compare both options:

With cxd4 included

• f4 break is difficult to achieve due to our e4 pawn
• Black's d6 pawn isn't weak, as the d-file stays closed
• White's c4 and d4 pawns can be attacked with moves like Rc8, Ne6, Qg7
• White doesn't have clear play

Without cxd4 included

• f4 break is difficult to achieve due to White's e3 pawn
• Black's d6 pawn can become a weakness after dxc5
• White's d4 pawn is protected; c-file needs to be opened before c4 becomes a weakness
• White has very clear play on the d-file thanks to dxc5

The choice seems so obvious right?

Not the cleanest, but a win is a win. That game put me on 4/4 with only 3 rounds to go. Plus I'll have the White pieces for the next round. I'm in the run not only for the podium, but for the first place, how can things go so wrong from here?

Prep NUKE

From this header you probably think I got really unlucky, playing into my opponent's very deep and rare preparation. Well... take a look. Also pay attention to the time usage ;p

I had 11 minutes. In a 10+5 game. The position is +3. I'm completely winning and I know it, I've played multiple games like this, with this exact f4–g4–g5 attack. All I have to recapture on g5 correctly, how hard can it be?? Let's consider our options:

25.fxg5

• Allows Ne5

25.Rxg5

• Doesn't allow Ne5

Now let's see what I did in the game, shall we?

2 blunders in a row, no point even commenting on that game. But 4/5 is still a good score. Now I have to beat some weaker, and in the last round I'll have chances to fight for something with White.

1.g4

My lower-rated opponent confidently opened with 1.g4. I didn't remember the Grob Gambit refutation, so I had to play something different than the critical d5. Another great try is simply taking the whole centre with e5–d5, basically playing against the modern (White will likely have to waste a move on h3).

I decided on a different approach, the simplest way of playing against moves that don't really accomplish anything, which is choosing a system and not spending much time in the opening. The system I chose is the English Opening, since I have some experience playing it from the Black side against 1.Nf3.

The opening choice paid off, as my opponent was completely clueless getting himself into a strategically completely lost position. A move I didn't appreciate enough is e4 for me. I could've met Qb3 with e4 right away, plus thinking about this pawn break could influence my response to 11.c4. The obvious move is d4 getting into a Benoni structure with clear f5–e4 plan. Something I didn't realize during the game is that this plan is much more dangerous with e2 and c5 pawns traded, as d3 becomes a big wekaness.

A better way of using the e4 break would be capturing on c4! Nxc4 would run into e4, and dxc4 into f5–e4, where the quality of pieces is really felt.

I still had a big advantage in the Benoni structure and a pretty clear plan f5–e4. My opponent however didn't find any reasonable way to improve his position, so instead went to grab the c6 pawn. It's obvious it can't work, in fact it's so bad, that even though the position was lost before, the engine gives it a double quesion mark.

How do we take advantage of that? The queen is trapped. White can't defend against Rf6–Kh7–Rg6+–Rg5.

You might be wondering how I missed that the queen could be trapped so many times. The answer is simple, look at my time usage. Because of my poor play White escapes from a dead lost position and now we have an interesting endgame. I'm still down a pawn, but my pieces are magnitudes better than White's. My king seems weak, but with so many pieces around it all I have to do is defend g6. Then I could think about stacking on the f-file, or attacking weak e2 and c4 pawns. Instead I do this:

I don't know what is Rf2 about. In two rounds I managed to go from fighting for 1st place to trying to end the event up on FIDE. Thank god I won the last one, ending the event with 2034 performance, up 15 rating. If you are interested, here are the rapid, blitz and classical standings.

Thats all I have for you today, I hope you enjoyed the post and the analysis. This month I wont play in any classical tournaments I think, so I hope to bring my rapid and blitz closer to my classical level, maybe even higher ;) Cya!