I'm so lucky! | Day 2 of road to IM

He opened with 1. e4, and I replied with the Sicilian. We actually had this matchup a little over a year ago, where he played an interesting sideline in the delayed Alapin. I’d briefly glanced at it before the game, but this time, he opted for the King’s Indian Attack. Thankfully, I still remembered the right setup even though I hadn’t studied it in over two years:

Then came this naive mistake. The position was still equal, but I felt a bit too cramped and tried to create counterplay. Unfortunately, it didn’t achieve anything and just gave up central control. Instead, a simple rook lift with 18...Rc7 would’ve been much better.

Soon after, my position began to fall apart. It was clear he had simply outplayed me:

But then, out of nowhere, he failed to convert — and suddenly I had a chance to trade into an almost equal endgame! Unfortunately, it looked lost to me at the time, so I didn’t go for it... and instead chose something that looked even more losing.

At that point, the position was already tough to defend, but I topped it off by blundering something very simple. Nice. Now I’ll need to win every single game to stay in the race for an IM norm.

Next round, I was up against a strong Danish junior, Vitus Bondo Medhus.

Early on, I made a dubious move. It looks logical, but Black should actually prioritize defending the d5-pawn with 7...Be6.

I had looked at this opening line briefly before the game and analyzed up to this point. But I had only studied the line where the pawn recaptures. Since he didn’t, I was officially out of book — though at least I had a 30-minute time advantage.

Apparently, this move loses my advantage. I should’ve kept the queens on — even though it felt unintuitive, since my c-pawn is weak. But keeping queens on is actually good for me here.

We reached a dead draw. I offered a draw, but he declined. To be fair, he was probably the one pressing slightly, and he’s also higher rated.

He should have taken the repetition here. Now his king is stuck behind my rook and he has no progress. It’s still a dead draw, but if he slips, I can start pushing the h-pawn and cause some trouble.

And here’s where he blundered. When I realized I was winning, the adrenaline kicked in. I had to go splash water on my face and do controlled breathing for like five minutes just to calm down and not make a snap decision.

I actually felt sorry for my opponent, I even apologized. There was no reason I should’ve won that game; it was equal the whole way. But thanks to that miracle finish, I’m still on track for an IM norm... if I manage to win every single game from here on out. ;)

Tomorrow, I’m playing the lowest-rated player in the field. That said, I’m definitely not going to underestimate him. I sat next to him in the last round and watched him pull off a beautiful queen sacrifice to win. So, no room to relax.