Tuesday 30 October 2012

Normally I'm black here

Having gone undefeated for the first 8 months of the year, I've been roughed up quite a bit since (Rupert Jones calls it 'The Curse of the FM Title'). Tonight saw my third loss in the space of a month, in a game where I was facing an opening I normally use myself.
Kishore Sreetheran surprised me a little with 1. ... e5 and after briefly considering 2.f4 I played 2.Nf3 instead, assuming I would be seeing the Marshall Gambit after a few minutes. This is exactly what happened, and we both followed theory until move 20. Turns out my recapture with the rook on a4 was not the best. After 20. ... f5 I exchanged on d5 and had planned to follow this up with f4. In the nick of time I realised that this failed to Qe8! (a trap that at least 15 other players walked into), but faced with a number of unappealing alternatives went for the material grab which lost in short order.
At the end of the game I remarked that I'm usually Black in these positions, and a little home research proved this point. Checking the game into my database I wondered if anyone else had reached the position around move 19, and what move they chose. It turned out I had myself, 16 years ago, having the Black pieces against Brian Butler. But rather than take on a4 I tried the immediate 19. ... f5, which didn't work so well as the game ended in a draw, albeit an exciting one.


Press,Shaun - Sreetheran,Kishore [C89]
Belconnen Dark Knights (7), 30.10.2012

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

21.Bxd5? was the culprit.
Better was 21.f4.
Moral: Never play a popular variation if not studied in depth.

Anonymous said...

22.Ra6 was still playable.
23.Rxd6?? loses for White. Instead 23.Bxf4 maintains equality.

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