In my third June quad I was lucky to win all three games. A game with Ido was tense but it is very complicated to analyze it in this report, so I will discuss my game with Julian. He is very young and talented player who quickly calculates variants but lacks some strategic ideas. As usual I will comment on some key positions given in the picture (in all of them Black is to move).
Position 1 characterizes my bold and risky style of play in the opening (where in particular I used my favorite e6-pawn pattern preventing a normal development of the opponent‘s pieces; read some of my earlier reports). Julian got this, for example he had not played c5 (because of Bb5) and slowly got rid of my e6-pawn. But I had received two bishops advantage.
In position 2 Julian had played 16…Ne4 but I would have not recommended it since he did not castle yet (it is interesting that castling was possible on any side!). After Ne4 I was thinking for some time about almost forced variant 17. Re1 0-0 18. f3 Ng3 19. Rh3 Nf1 20. Re5 Rae8 21. f4 when a black knight is trapped but I could not evaluate the position). In response of 16…Ne4 I played 17. Bd3 forcing Ng5 (since 17…Nf2 is losing due to 18. Rhe1). If I were Black I would also trade the second knight for a bishop since a combination “rook and bishop” usually is stronger that “rook and knight” (this is one of some strategic ideas which young players do not understand because of lack of experience).
Julian had decided to play with his knight but his maneuvers were not successful and I was able to penetrate my rooks to the seventh rank – see position 3. Now Black had committed a fatal mistake; he had not trade a pair of rooks by Rxg7. For me this was like a gift from the heaven; I could not believe my eyes! Leaving two opponent rooks on the seventh rank is almost always lethal for Black. Black had to play Rxg7 and then Rxg2. Then he could hide his king on b6 (after a6 or a5) and White had to play careful to get a draw. So, here is my advice to all young players of the ICA: do not allow the opponent’s rooks to be on the seventh (or the second) rank! Concerning Julian I believe that this mistake would never be repeated; he has a big potential… Thank you for reading!
Congratulations once again to Yefim for winning free entry to his next Glen Rock Quads! Do you want free entry? After playing in an ICA tournament, submit an entry with your match analysis and insights about the tournament for a chance to win the report contest?
Our summer camps start next week:
Week One of Camp, starting June 17th will be held at Glen Rock.
Weeks Two-Ten will be held at both Glen Rock and Teaneck. Click HERE for more information.
In addition, we will have seven weeks of Master Camp: six weeks with GM Alexander Stripunsky followed by one week with GM Elshan Moradiabadi. Final Words from ICA
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