Training Log
Classical Games (2) - 4 hours, 30 minutes
Double round today, with the first game starting at 9:30 am. My fourth round opponent was FM Zhiulien Kalosha (2232), a junior from Ukraine, who had been playing quite well so far in the tournament. He is mainly an 1.e4 player, but decided to play 1.d4 into my King’s Indian, which made sense as I saw he had played the 5.h3 + 6.Be3 (Karpov) variation recently.
I chose a system (5…Nbd7) which was used with great effect against me a few years ago, courtesy of KID-specialist GM Vladimir Belous. My opponent developed logically, but I felt I was more familiar with the structure, and got ahead on the clock. I also thought I played pretty well, first getting a small edge as Black and then finding a nice exchange sacrifice to seize a big advantage.
Things got quite sharp, and I allowed him a clear chance at one point, which thankfully we both missed. I then got a technically winning position, with a powerful knight and two connected passers for the rook. My technique was far from perfect, as the position spiraled out of control, but I believe I was winning all the way. The finish was incredibly stressful though!
Seeing White’s idea here was to go Ng1-f3, I played 1…b5!?, where after 2.Ng1 Ng5 3.Nh5+ R8xh5 4.gxh5 Nxe4 Black had fantastic compensation for the exchange. As it turns out, the immediate 1…Ng5 was even stronger! Just going immediately for the sacrifice.
A few moves later we reached this position, with my opponent down to just 7 minutes:
After two minutes, White played 1.Nd4, a nice idea as f5 and g6 are vulnerable. I had anticipated this and responded with 1…Rg5, where after 2.Nxf5+ gxf5-\+ Black was much better. Instead 1.Nh4!! would have been very strong. If 1…Qxh4 or 1…Rxh4 then 2.Rxf5+- and g6 hangs. I had 1…Rg5 in mind here too, seeing nothing better for White than 2.Nxf5+, as in the game. But White has 2.Qxg5!! Nxg5+ 3.Rxf5!+- and Black is losing.
The rest of the game was quite chaotic — but I was happy to pull out the win!
Kalosha - Kavutskiy, Montesilvano 2024
Round 5
In the afternoon game, I was paired against GM Blazimir Kovacevic (2376) of Croatia. He had just lost a difficult game, and I was certainly exhausted from the morning round. So with the White pieces I decided to just play solidly and see how much risk my opponent was wanting to take. He surprised me with the Semi-Slav, but after 14 moves I had obtained a very small plus. He then offered a draw, which I shortly accepted, as I was still tired from the previous game and eager to get some rest.
Kalosha - Kavutskiy, Montesilvano 2024
4/5. Currently tied for 1st!
I am enjoying these posts Kostya, keep up the good showing!
Congrats on a great tournament so far! We are rooting for you to get first! Making the Dojo proud :-)