Happy Birthday Junta Ikeda

Having published a loss by IM Junta Ikeda yesterday, it is only fair that I publish a win, seeing that today is his birthday. Ikeda, who turns 23, has been a fixture on the Canberra chess scene for over a decade, as well as being one of Australia's rising young talents. He won his first open weekender in 2004 (the Vikings Weekender), and has won a number of major events in Australia and Japan (where he studied for a year). Despite moving to a level where chess study tends to preclude a weekly chess schedule he has continued to support the local Canberra chess scene by playing the Canberra weekend events, the ACT Championships, and other FIDE rated tournaments.
Today he showed his resilience as a  player, rebounding from yesterdays loss in the Australasian Masters. Facing top seed GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev he started with Larsen's Opening (1.b3) reaching the kind of middlegame he favours. He then began some patient manoeuvring, probing for weakness in his opponents position, until a tactical oversight allowed him to execute a quick attack to end the game.

Ikeda,Junta - Kazhgaleyev,Murtas [A01]
Australasian Masters, 15.12.2014

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 d6 3. c4 Nf6 4. e3 g6 5. d3 Bg7 6. Nd2 O-O 7. Ngf3 Re8 8. Qc2 a5 9. a3 c5 10. Be2 Nc6 11. O-O Ng4 12. h3 Nh6 13. Ne4 f5 14. Nc3 g5 15. Nd5 f4 16. Nh2 Nf5 17. Bh5 Rf8 18. e4 Nfe7 19. Bc3 Bd7 20. Nf3 Nxd5 21. exd5 Ne7 22. Nd2 Nf5 23. Ne4 Nh4 24. g3 Nf5 25. g4 Nd4 26. Bxd4 exd4 27. f3 Be5 28. a4 Rc8 29. Rf2 Rc7 30. Qd2 b6 31. Rh2 Bc8 32. Qg2 Bf6 33. Kf2 Re7 34. Re1 Re5 35. Rhh1 Be7 36. Qh2 Kg7 37. Rhg1 Bd7 38. Rg2 Qa8 39. Kg1 Kh8 40. Kh1 Rg8 41. Rge2 Qf8 42. Nxd6 Rxe2 43. Nf7+ Kg7 44. Qxe2 Bf6 45. h4 gxh4 46. g5 Bxg5 47. Qe5+ 1-0