There are no words to explain how I felt after the game.
Tomic S. (1876) vs Medak B. (2347), Pirc, Lion Jaw
2019 Croatian Cup Finals, Rd.4, 05/17/2019
I came to play the Croatian Cup Finals as a substitution. My team is composed of three International Masters, my coach Matej, who is an FM, and me. Last year I played four rounds (out of six). This year, after losing in round one, I didn’t play in the next two, but I was to play in round four. Against a Fide Master! That evening, when Matej told me I’d play, I was thrilled.
Not because I thought I had much chance, but because I felt that I can play well and that anything can happen. I started preparing immediately, and I spent the entire next day preparing against him. I was to face Bojan Medak, a great guy, whom I’ve met on my first tournament ever, the cup in 2016. He played board one for my team back then (I was board 4 and scored 0.5/6). He is a great guy and an incredible player, so I had a tough time preparing. I knew he will most likely play the Pirc, he seldom chooses another defense to d4. I decided to play the same Lion Jaw setup with f3, g4 and Ng3 which I had used to draw a 2144 ELO rated opponent in my last league game.
During the game, things went as planned up to a point. He got an advantage by breaking up my central grip and not allowing me to continue my attack. The basis of the variation is a relentless kingside attack. You leave your king in the center and basically go all in. At one point he was much better, winning even. He had a fairly obvious central pawn advance which he missed. Instead he played a losing blunder. He played a move which allowed me to secure my king completely and to have enough time to continue my attack. There was nothing he could have done about it even. My pieces were very strongly placed, and I had already brought my pawns up to g4 and h4. The game lasted only a few more moves. He resigned in a hopeless position a knight down and about to either get mated or lose more material. I won against an FM!
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