Tuesday 31 July 2012

The Fortress

The clash between the top two seeds at the 2012 ANU Open showed just how hard it is to win at the higher levels, even when given a head start. Possibly due to Xie's slightly unusual opening choice (3.Bc4 in the Sicilian) Zhao missed a double attack on move 6(!) and was already in big trouble. In fact Xie had an advantage up until move 18, when a recapture allowed Zhao to equalise. Then the game swung back towards Xie again, and the ending looked better for him. Now I'm not sure how far Zhao saw ahead, but from move 39 he played what seems to be every best move, in that he allowed Xie to queen his a pawn, won some material in return, and set up a fortress in the middle of the board. Xie tried a few checks with the queen, but when it became clear that all the Black pieces we solidly defended the game ended in a draw.


Xie,George - Zhao,Zong-Yuan
2012 ANU Open (6.1), 29.07.2012


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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous1 August 2012 at 23:49

    Moves 13 and 14 look like a typical DGT glitch.

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