The hardest decisions in chess often involve deciding what to do with an advantage once it is achieved. The path to victory frequently requires a player to convert an advantage in initiative or space advantage into a advantage in material or a middlegame advantage into an endgame advantage. Timing these conversions is often critical, but complicated by the fact that the advantage a player presently enjoys is always easier to appreciate than the one he hopes to enjoy.
The most interesting game of the match was Kevin Kostka's loss on 3rd Board against Palatine's K.C. Stenerson. K.C. neutralized Kevin's King's Gambit whereupon Kevin sacrificed a piece in an effort to salvage some initiative. In his eagerness to simplify the position, K.C. let Kevin obtain two powerful pawns deep in Black territory, but Kevin was unable to find the right point to convert that advantage into a strong ending.
On 2nd Board Palatine's Kyle Shymanik obtained a space advantage and superior piece activity against Andrew Berowski, but gave them up to quickly leading to a drawn ending. On 4th Board, Palatine's Ian Salyers obtained a space advantage and an extra pawn, but failed to take the measures necessary to neutralize Tejas Shah's counterplay and wound up overlooking a mate threat.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment