The first game I played after a month of intense training. It went well! I faced a higher rated opponent and managed to play without a single serious mistake!

IV Croatian League, Rd. 7, 09/15/2019, Hašk Mladost vs Polet Buševec, Bo. 2
Šafranić J. (2041) vs Tomić S. (1901), King’s Indian Attack

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Bf5 4. d3 e6
5. c4 c6 6. Qb3 Qb6 7. Be3 Qxb3 8. axb3 Na6
9. Nh4 Bg6 10. h3 Be7 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. Nc3 O-O
13. Kd2 Rfd8 14. Bd4 Nc5 15. Bxc5 Bxc5 16. e3 d4
17. Ne2 dxe3+ 18. fxe3 e5 19. Ra4 Rab8 20. Rc1 Rd7
21. Rd1 Rbd8 22. Nc1 e4 23. Ke2 exd3+ 24. Rxd3 Re8
25. e4 Rde7 26. Ra5 Bb6 27. Rg5 Nxe4 28. Bxe4 Rxe4+
29. Kd1 Re1+ 30. Kc2 Be3 0 – 1

Today the Croatian league continued. It’s divided into two parts. The Spring part with 6 rounds, and the Autumn part with the remaining five. We were in fourth place before today’s round, and today we faced a team higher rated than us on all boards but on board one. Unfortunately, we lost 3 ½ – 2 ½ and now we will have a hard time advancing to the third league next season (the two best teams advance).

I played on board two with black and faced a 2041 rated opponent. My prep was tough because I didn’t know who exactly I was going to play. I didn’t even know if I was going to play board two or three until last night. That meant preparing for 4-7 possible opponents and for both colors. I did that. I spent a long time making sure I was prepared for all of them.

I prepared for Mr. Šafranić too, the opponent I ended up playing. He always plays KIA setups with and early fianchetto. I looked at lines with Bf5 in which I go for dark square control and make his g2 bishop obsolete. And I managed to get exactly that! My strategy worked!

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