[imagefield_assist|fid=10553|preset=fullsize|lightbox=true|title=Youth trumped experience last month as GM Ray Robson defeated GM Ben Finegold 6-4 in Saint Louis.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=700|height=464]
I am going to write a long three-part blog for my readers who missed me this Spring. I was quite busy with the following:
Part 1 - Match with Ray Robson
Part 2 - Chicago Open
Part 3 - National Open
This blog post will concentrate on my match with Ray. The match was very competitive, but, due to many blunders on my part, the score was quite lopsided. I will need to improve my tactical skill to have better chances in future matches!
Game 1 was interesting. Ray was able to equalize, and even was slightly better from moves 18-40. I was able to make time control at move 40 with a reasonable game, then made several errors, trying to get a perpetual check. Ray's king escaped the checks, and I was left with a lost position.
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Game 2 was a bit better. I prepared the unusual (especially for me) Philidor Defense. I was able to get a large time advantage (he could not possibly have expected the Philidor!) and equalized easily. Ray even thought he was slightly worse when the opening ended, and wondered how that could be, since he was white and made no errors. Score one for preparation!
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Game 3 was also quite a well played game, as I prepped a lot of moves for Ray's Sicilian, and he had analyzed this position a lot earlier, as he had an interesting game in Gibraltar earlier in the year with the same line. I thought things were getting better for Ray, so I sacrificed a piece and then a rook for a perpetual check.
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Game 4 saw an interesting opening battle. The employees of the CCSCSL dared me to play Dragon Sicilian. You gotta play for the fans, so we transposed from an Accelerated Dragon to the real thing, and things petered out to a drawn rook ending, although Ray was probably better earlier in the game. An exciting game for the spectators.
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Round 5 looked quite good for me throughout. My preparation went quite well. I got a very good position and a huge time edge as well. Unfortunately I blew several winning chances, as well as a clear win with 26.Nh4! Easy come easy go, as we played 137 moves and over 6 hours of chess!
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Game 6 saw an unfortunate end (Ray may disagree) as my opponent went too far trying to win in time trouble, and saw himself in a losing position. I sealed Ray's match victory (in the slow rated part) with the horrible blunder 27..Re2?? instead of the winning 27...Re5! Of course, I completely missed 29.Rxg7+! winning immediately for Ray. As I said earlier, easy come, easy go. A sad ending to the hard fought slow match, but the rapid was still to come.
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Game 7 was my only victory of the match, and an easy one at that. Ray played too slowly and passively, and with less than 3 minutes went down in flames. I played a little bit differently in the opening with the unusual move 8.Na3 (a favorite of GM Rozentalis), and Ray was unable to find a good way to equalize in such a short time control.
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Game 8 was another sharp Sicilian, and this time I was fortunate to draw. In mutual time trouble, I sacrificed a piece which led to a perpetual check. Ray could have declined the offer and tried to win, but with little time on the clock, he chose the safe way out. It seems the engines think equality was within reach in any case, so, a peccable draw was the result.
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Game 9, like game 6, was rather infuriating. I was slightly better, then was winning a pawn, but instead chose a terrible continuation missing Ray's brilliant 28...Bxg2! Later, after mutual errors, I was drawing, even behind a piece, but withered in time trouble and lost to tie up the rapid portion of the match. 97 moves of torture ending with a 0, but at least the spectators had fun!
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Game 10 ended in a drawn rook and pawn ending after both sides had the advantage at various points. Ray played 3.Bb5 against my Sicilian, and an unusual poisiton occurred in the early middlegame. Both sides wanted to win, but a draw was a fair result.
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So three losses, 1 win, and 6 draws as I lose by the score of 6-4. The match was really interesting for me, as it was the first match I have ever played, and the preparation was quite different from a tournament, as I had a very good idea what Ray would play every game, and it took hours of prep each game to secure a good position in almost every opening. The rapid part of the match was more fun than competitive, but, of course, we both wanted to win. I hope to play matches like this annually, and I hope to do better next time!
