Recapping February's Tournament (Part 1)
A great result in Dallas!
Catch up on January’s tournaments here
February was a relatively slow month with only one tournament but it was my first out-of-state tournament of the year which always brings excitement. I played in the Southwest Class Championship in Dallas, Texas from February 15-19 which was full of GMs and IMs in the open section (GM Jeffrey Xiong was the top seed) which meant very strong competition and fierce fighting games. In fact, I ended up playing against three GMs and three IMs in the tournament. The tournament went very well and I even had the chance to score better than I did which gives me increased confidence going forward. This tournament recap is going to be split into two parts since the tournament lasted 9 rounds. In this post I’ll be recapping the first 5 rounds of the tournament and specifically focusing on some of the critical moments from each game. Part two will recap the last 4 rounds:
2024 Southwest Class Championship Stats:
9 rounds
80 d30 and +30 minutes after move 40
Score: 5/9 (four wins, three losses, two draws)
Place: Tie for 31st
Rating change USCF: 2325 → 2350 (+25)
Rating change FIDE: 2182 → 2226 (+44!!)
Round 1: Black vs Chatterjee, Koustav (2537 FIDE - Grandmaster)
The game had been pretty back and forth for a while but I had been able to gain an advantage leading up to this position. Black has the strategic advantage here due to the better pawn structure and control of the e5-square. On the other hand, White has some dangerous attacking chances on the kingside with fxe6 and f6 being ideas. If I can slow down white’s attack then I should win the game in the long-term but this is definitely easier said than done. Add in the fact that time trouble is hurting me (I have 1 minute to reach move 40 and he has 6 minutes) and I have a tough decision to make here. How do I play?
I went for 32…Qxc4 which is objectively okay but unnecessarily risky. White responded with 33. f6 and after 33…g6?? 34. Qf4 Kh8 35. Qc7! (I had missed this move in my brief calculations) White is winning due to the triple attack on knight, rook and f7-pawn. I lost a few moves later. It would have been better to go for 32…e5 33. f6 g6 to keep the position as closed as possible. The benefit of the pawn on e5 is clear: White cannot play Qf4-h6. With white’s attack stalling out a bit, Black has time to collect the c4-pawn and win on the queenside later. Alternatively, in the game after 33. f6 I should have played 33…g5!! which sacrifices a pawn to close down the kingside. Honestly, I’m not sure if I would have found that move even with a few more minutes on the clock.
Round 2: White vs Gangavarapu, Sreekar (2047 FIDE)
We reach a position out of the opening where White has the advantage but has to play precisely to make the most of it. How should White play?
I went for 14. Rxb6! Qxb6 15. Ba4+ Bd7?? 16. Nxd7 Nxd7 17. Nxc4 with an attack on black’s queen plus looking to play Ne5 next to pile up on the pinned knight. Black decided to sacrifice back their extra material with 17…Rxc4 18. Qxc4 Qe6+ 19. Qxe6 fxe6 20. 0-0 but now I have an extra pawn, bishop pair and much more active pieces. I won the endgame easily. Black should have played 15…Nd7 16. Naxc4 Qc7 when White is better but still has to play precisely.
Round 3: Black vs Jasinski, Alexander (1883 FIDE)
In this game I was playing the highest rated 9-year old in the country who has a rating of 2091 USCF going into this tournament. I had outplayed him positionally throughout the game and was ahead two pawns. However, he did a good job of muddying the game and we found ourselves in this position. White has a lot of pressure on black’s position but Black does have a narrow path forward to maintain the advantage. How should Black play?
In the game I played 27…d4! 28. Nxd4 Nc6! 29. Qxc6 Qxd4 30. e6 fxe6 31. Qxe6+ Kh8 where I gave back one of the two extra pawns I had but was able to trade off a pair of knights. With the reduced material I was able to eventually push my two connected passed pawns forward on the queenside and win the game later. Alexander ended up gaining 86(!!) FIDE rating points in this tournament but fortunately none of that rating came from me ;-)
Round 4: White vs Lin, Andy (2287 FIDE - FIDE Master)
I had been building up my position throughout the game focusing mostly on the queenside. In response, Black has been playing …g5, …Rg7-g6 and …h5 on the kingside. Now he wants to play …g4 next. How should White make progress?
I advanced 28. c5! pushing into black’s half of the board. Even though Black has the c5-square covered pretty well, if the b-file opens then I will have a threat on black’s queen with my rook. After 28…b5 29. Nb3 I have a protected passed pawn on the c-file which I eventually used to win the game: 29…Nb8 30. Nb6 Re8 31. Na5 Qc7 32. c6 Bf7 33. Nd5 Qc8 34. c7 Nd7 35. Nc6 and the knight aims for the a7-square next. Black resigned a few moves later.
Round 5: Black vs Juksta, Karolis (2406 FIDE - International Master)
Earlier in the game I had a pleasant strategic advantage with the better pawn structure but then made my life difficult by getting my king and rook stuck in the corner of the board. Now my position is a bit tricky. It does end up that there is a strong sequence of moves that completely changes the character of the game. How to play as Black?
I found 21…h5 22. g5 h4! which was a nice blow-for-blow sequence. If White retreats their knight then I play …Nd5 and later attack white’s overextended kingside pawns. The game continued 23. gxf6 hxg3 24. Qxg3 Qxg3 25. fxg3 Rxh3 where Black emerges with a slightly better endgame which I went on to convert into a win later.
This win put me at 4/5 in the tournament which was a great first half score. I’ll be recapping the last four rounds of the tournament in the next post where I face the gauntlet of two GMs and two IMs.
Until next time!
Congrats on another strong showing Dalton!