Round 2 game from Doprastav Open. The Kholmov System crushed the Pirc again!
S. Tomic (1859) vs J. Jambrich (1507), 2019 Doprastav Open, Bratislava, Round 2, 04/19/2019
After losing in round 1, I was really eager to win (and I had to win, as the Swiss system is relentless). Since I’m in the lower half of the tournament, I play a much higher opponent in round 1, and then, if I lose, a much lower opponent in round 2, and it goes on like that evening out around the fifth round.
This is very pressuring, so I had to win the game. I prepared as much as I could, since there weren’t too many games online to prepare from, as my opponent is lower rated.
I saw that he played the Modern or the Pirc most often, so I decided to test out Bc4 once more (regardless of which defense he goes for). Unfortunately, he didn’t play the main line, which would allow me to sack my queen, but I got a fine attacking position anyway. I played the unsound f3 instead of developing, but I wanted to give the move a go since I think it’s very interesting.
I ended up getting a very interesting attacking position and all of my plans worked. I maneuvered my pieces all over the board, using the weak squares in his position and the open files I had. At the same time, his pieces were much more passive which made his position worse and worse as the moves went by.
A nice attack which worked smoothly!
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bc4 Bg7
5. Qe2 O-O 6. f3 c6 7. a4 a5 8. Be3 d5
9. Bb3 e6 10. Rd1 Na6 11. Qd2 b6 12. e5 Nd7
13. Na2 c5 14. c3 cxd4 15. cxd4 Ndb8 16. Ne2 Nc6
17. O-O Ncb4 18. Nac3 Bd7 19. Bh6 Nc7 20. Bxg7 Kxg7
21. f4 f5 22. Rf3 Kf7 23. Rh3 Rh8 24. Qe1 Qe7
25. Kh1 g5 26. fxg5 Qxg5 27. Qf2 Rag8 28. Nf4 Ke8
29. Nh5 Kd8 30. Nf6 Rg7 31. Ne2 Ne8 32. Nxe8 Bxe8
33. Nf4 Qe7 34. Rc1 Na6 35. Rhc3 Bd7 36. Nh5 Rg6
37. Nf6 Rxf6 38. exf6 Qxf6 39. Rg3 Qh6 40. Rcc3 Qf6
41. Qf4 Ke7 42. Rh3 h6 43. Bd1 Qg7 44. Be2 Nb4
45. Rc7 Nc6 46. Bb5 Nb8 47. Rhc3 Rg8 48. Rg3 Qf8
49. Rxg8 Qxg8 50. Qxh6 Qg4 51. Qh7+ Kf8 52. Qh8+ Kf7
53. h3 Qd1+ 54. Kh2 Qd2 55. Qe5
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