2024 Maia Open - Round 2
Training Log
Classical Game — 3 hours
Post-mortem — 20 minutes
Second round of the Maia Open. Played a solid game as Black against an expert level player (2071) from Germany. Managed to equalize comfortably in a Sicilian KIA, and soon found a nice shot to pose some serious problems. From there my opponent started to burn lots of time, but my position was nevertheless quite promising. Eventually I gained the bishop pair and cracked open the position to break through. I was happy not to give my opponent any chances, compared to my mess of a game in Round 1.
1…b6!?=+ leaves Black slightly better, for instance 2.Qd2 Qd7, followed by Rad8, Rfe8, f7-f6, etc., with a small plus. In the game I played 1…e4!? which posed difficulties for White after 2.dxe4 Bxb2, where only 3.Bxc5! Bxa1 4.Qxa1=/∞ would keep things balanced.
Always happy to start 2/2. Round 3 tomorrow.