Training Log
Classical Game - 4 hours
Played the final game of the tournament today, where I faced one of the top seeds in GM Arkadij Rotstein (2458) of Germany. Going into the round I was leading by a half-point over GM Alsina Leal, who I had drawn earlier in the tournament. Alsina was paired White against a lower rated GM, and likely to win, so I felt a draw in my game would likely share first (with worse tiebreaks), while a win would clinch the event outright.
Playing Black, I had no huge expectations for winning the game—my opponent started off the event quite poorly, with 1/4, but had since clawed back with several wins, including a victory over another GM in the previous round. Nevertheless, I approached the game in a very competitive mindset — I didn’t expect a draw offer from my opponent but rather a big fight, as a win for him would earn a prize.
And truth be told, I was quite looking forward to the challenge. I recently listened to a fantastic podcast with GM Alexander Grischuk, where he explained his mindset in very plain terms: he loves to fight for first place until the very end—for him that’s what makes chess fun. So win or lose, I aimed to just enjoy the moment and thrill of being in contention for the title.
The game itself was quite interesting, and overall I’m quite happy with how I played. I equalized comfortably, but then had to play on equal terms in the endgame with my more experienced opponent. But I felt I handled the position and the pressure well. I didn’t feel all that nervous, rather I enjoyed the final game very much.
For most of the game, I was content with a draw, as my position wasn’t superior. But then deep into the endgame I realized that my opponent had over-pressed, and I seized a chance to win a pawn in a rook + opposite colored bishop ending. I then won a second pawn, and knew I had to be winning. But as fate would have it, my opponent defended really well, and I spoiled the conversion, resulting in a draw anyways.
GM Alsina ended up winning his game, and as I expected he took first on tiebreaks, albeit by a very slim margin (a single Buchholz point!). Still, I was very happy with my performance overall—6.5/9, four wins, five draws, with a 2463 rating performance. It’s certainly my best tournament in quite some time, as it’s very rare that I don’t lose a game in nine rounds!
Here’s a few key moments from the final round:
I usually have a hard time giving up my bishops, but here I was happy to make the right call - 12…Bxd5! 13.cxd5 Rfc8=, where Black is comfortable due to the lead in development and White’s minor pieces lacking any activity. If 13.Nxd5, keeping the diagonal open, I had planned 13…Nxd5 14.Bxd5 e6! 15.Bxb7 Rb8-/+, followed by Nxc4 next with a great position.
There were a couple other moments where I was happy with my decisions, in particular 22…f5, 28…Bc5, and 31…Rxc6! (a very important in-between move). But I also missed some serious winning chances later on. This one stands out:
In the game I chose 51…Rg1, with huge technical issues after 52.Be8 g5 53.Bh5. Instead, winning was 51…Re5!-+, stopping Be8 and preparing to advance the g-pawn with Kh6-h5, etc. If I had found this, I’d have very decent odds to win the game and the tournament. Oh well! Endgames!
Rotstein - Kavutskiy, Montesilvano 2024
Overall I felt my play in this tournament was extremely solid — apart from 1-2 moves, I was never worse! And I even left a few points on the table — missing clear wins against GM Alsina in Round 2 and IM van der Werf in Round 6, accepting a draw in a much better position in Round 8, and of course failing to convert in the final round as well.
Missing chances is disappointing, but at the same time it also means I have lots of room to grow 😊, which is a very motivating feeling. I have plenty more thoughts on the tournament, and will likely share them in a future YouTube video.
It was also very fun to dual stream the games live along with thechessnerd, and I truly hope the fans enjoyed it! We had a mix of commentators including MaxiW2006, AlexandraChess, and PhoebeWitte to call the action. It was only the second tournament where I streamed video of my games (the first was the recent Maia Open), but I hope to do more in the future.
Flying to Budapest tomorrow (!) to visit the Olympiad for the very first time. Super pumped about it! Will definitely post highlights of the trip here.
Thanks for reading!