Caught Off-guard by GM Magesh and GM Arun

Most smart players have a knack for taking their opponents into uncomfortable areas very early in the game. Like we have discussed in previous articles, chess not only involves strategy over the board, but also before the actual game is started. So what would you do to make your opponent uncomfortable? I (Magesh) learned more about this the hard way in two of my recent games being on the receiving end. In this hypermodern chess era nothing really seems to be wrong. Plenty of new ideas float around breaking all the age-old strategic rules. But we all know that there is only one rule in this world, yes “Every single rule is meant to be broken!” In this case I would like to share my ideas when I encountered the Groningen Attack, an early g4 from white launching an assault on my kingside without completing his development; not very conservative, but very effective.

This summer has been a great run for both me and Arun as we played several tournaments over a period of three months and ended up gaining a few rating points. The first game today comes from the Scottish Chess Championship this year in the month of July. I had three points out of three rounds and I was up against this young kid from Iceland named Kjartansson Gudmundur. Though he was reasonably lower rated than me, I did not take anything for granted as I had watched him convincingly beat Arun in the previous game with the black pieces. Something that does not happen very often.

It was a nice finish from my opponent. I tried to study the opening in-between my hectic playing schedule, but I did not manage to put in enough work. Little did I know that I would be facing the same opening again in a very critical game within a few months.

I was having a wonderful performance in the recent Kolkatta open with a 2700 tournament performance. In round seven I faced the top seed, Mamedyarov Shahriyar with the black pieces. I studied his openings, but it is not easy to study all of the openings a 2700 player plays. I was caught off guard yet another time and beaten convincingly.

Now that I have made the same mistake twice, I am ready to face it. They say that smart men learn from their mistakes, but wise men learn from others' mistakes. We have shared our mistakes, it is up to you guys to be wise!