Knockout.
I woke up around 8 for the 10am start to Round 3. Satisfied with my performance thus far but itching for a kill. Had a great breakfast, showed up a little early and got to do a belated postmortem with Pupols which was very cool. The pairings were up when I got there and I was due to play White for the second time in a row against a low rated expert. I showed up to the board a couple minutes after the round started, he wasn't there yet, set up my clock and moved 1.e4. He showed up after a few minutes and opened 1...c5. I played 2.Nf3 and he played 2...d6. Nowhere to run now... he gets to pick his poison but I'm strong in all of the 5 options after 3.d4 cd 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3. When he played 5...a6 and introduced a Najdorf I was feeling good. I played my 6.Bg5 and went downstairs to buy an Arizona Green Tea [a staple this tournament], which I was drinking during my turnaround in Round 2 after I got frustrated with the position and the small cups we were supposed to be drinking water out of. Even though I was ready to rattle off the next 6-7 moves he seemed pensive and I decided to take some time and calm down a little bit.
The game is here.
I had used 12 minutes to get to move 15 when I play Nd5. At this point he took over 40 minutes to play the forced exd5. It must have been brutal to be on the Black side of this mess.
As for me, right after I played Nd5 I went to my friend and said 'check out my game, it's over already'. From there I just converted what was a huge advantage. There were some semi-interesting lines towards the end for him but pretty much he was hoping for some kind of miracle.
So I was undefeated with 2 points through the first 3 rounds. And in the evening I was going to face a much stronger player....
The game is here.
I had used 12 minutes to get to move 15 when I play Nd5. At this point he took over 40 minutes to play the forced exd5. It must have been brutal to be on the Black side of this mess.
As for me, right after I played Nd5 I went to my friend and said 'check out my game, it's over already'. From there I just converted what was a huge advantage. There were some semi-interesting lines towards the end for him but pretty much he was hoping for some kind of miracle.
So I was undefeated with 2 points through the first 3 rounds. And in the evening I was going to face a much stronger player....
I might play that myself if I have White against George Fischer next week. I'm hoping he will play that Nd7?! line against me.
Kevin and I both played Nd5 in thematic fashion against the Najdorf at the Far West Open in the same round within about ten minutes of each other!!
Different position but both were crushing!
chris - watch out fischer says he beats everybody but me in that line haha
chessaholic - like i said the positions in a lot of lines are very similar. basically with the pawns on e6, d6 white has knight sacs on d5 and f5 pretty much every move, and it's one thing that both sides should consider. they are not always sound but the idea is that you open up the e file and kill black before he can castle. i gave an example a few weeks ago of a mainline that features the d5 sac here. here the idea is more subtle, clearing the c3 square for the rook. but look out in games with the e6 d6 structure for sacs on d5, they happen a lot.
You literally steam-rolled over your opponent.
One of the main problems with the Najdorf is when White does the typical sacs of the Knight on d5, the situation gets really really dangerous. You've really mastered this technique down to a pat.
Wow is the word here.
kevin: thanks for the explanation, I wasn't aware of that pattern with d6 e6 and sacs on d5, I think I'll do some database surfing this weekend to check it out :)
Yeah I will be publishing it soon I haven't fully analyzed my games from the Far West Open. Check my page soon and it should be there.
Kevin-I have White against Fischer!