A sharp, theoretical Prins (f3) Sicilian in which I faced a relentless attack but managed to survive and get a better position.
Tomic S. (1910) vs Dabic S. (2102)
Gradište Open 2019, Round 8, 06/28/2019, Prins Sicilian
This is my favorite game from the tournament. I played a good opening, and managed to play very well in the early middlegame, compensating for my opponent’s initiative with material and defending well. That lead to a much better late middlegame for me. We traded queens and I was a clear pawn up.
When things should (and would have been converted by a better player) have been converted, I messed up, gave my extra pawn back and got an ending in which I couldn’t do much.
Despite misjudging the position and overestimating the power of my (potentially passed) outside h pawn, I still managed to play solidly and with little or no mistakes apart from not defending b2 when it was necessary.
After the game, my opponent told me that he was expecting and preparing for the closed Sicilian, which I do play most often, but there are also games of mine with Nf3 in the database. So my prep was more successful than his. He knew the position well, but I managed to defend well and emerged with no weaknesses.
A lot can be learned from my bad technique and not playing Nd1. That is a blunder I can work on and improve on instantly. I wanted to sack a pawn for time, which was obviously a bad decision. Next time I will be smarter!
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