Training Log
Classical Game - 3 hours
Post-mortem - 20 minutes
Decided to play 1.e4 today, as I’ve been wanting to gain more experience with e4 structures (and it’s way more fun than 1.d4). My opponent was a French junior who mains the Caro-Kan. I got some good prep in, but then ended up confusing myself in the opening. Ironically, the game transformed into a reverse-Benoni structure, which I have played as Black, and sometimes get as White with 1.Nf3.
My opponent missed a dynamic chance to gain a big advantage, and then played over-optimistically, allowing me to go after their king. I pounced on the opportunity, offering a piece sacrifice for several moves. My opponent couldn’t quite handle the tension, and ended up accepting the sacrifice at the worst possible moment.
The knight on a4 is trapped, so White needs to do something tactical. I considered 16.Nd2, but soon found the much stronger 16.Nh4! with idea Be4 & Qh5, with a very dangerous attack. If 16…bxa4 then 17.Bxc6 would be quite nice for White. 16…Bd7 was played and now 17.Be4! — if 17…bxa4 here then 18.Qh5+- and Black will soon be mated. Instead 17…Kg7 18.Qh5 Rh8 was forced, avoiding disaster. I then tried 19.Bd5!? (D), hitting the f7-pawn:
I was mainly expecting 19…Rf8, after which I had planned nothing better than to repeat once with 20.Be4 Rh8, then follow up with 21.cxb5 and Rc1, hitting the knight on c6. I thought White would be better there but with lots of game left. Instead I was very pleasantly surprised to see 19…bxa4 — my opponent finally took the knight! But I had already calculated until mate - 20.Qxf7+ Kh6 21.Bxc6 Bxc6 22.Nf5+ Kg5 23.Nxe7! (D), the key move.
White has won back the piece, with Black’s king totally done for. But since the rook on h1 is hanging, it was important to see until the end: 23…Bxh1 24.Qg7+ Kh5 25.Nf5! Bf3 26.g4+ Bxg4 27.Qh6# Far from a perfect game, but I was quite happy with the finish—starting from 19.Bd5, I had foreseen a nine-move combo!
Kavutskiy - Warnier, Montesilvano 2024
2.5/3. Double round tomorrow, will be tough!
Good luck in the next rounds!