So starting Feb 13-15, and continuing Feb 28-March 1 is a 9 round invitational tournament. I scored 4.5/9 last year, but was one of the lowest rated, so I actually did gain 15 points to move back over 2100 (I had dipped below the previous tournament). This is quite a unique tournament as I know who I'm playing, when I'm playing them, and with what color.

So the first 5 games:

(1) Black vs. 2150: I just drew him in my last tournament game. We've had a lot of battles and I think this one will be as well. I drew him last year with black, but will be playing KID instead of Benko this time. He plays the Bayonet Attack so I need to review my lines there.

(2) White vs. 2200: I also played him in the last tournament and drew with white. I definitely have some things to study here as the colors are the same. I started going wrong on move 8, so I need to focus on that position, though he could possibly play something different to throw me off. He has played Tarrasch in the past so I should look into that also. This is a big chance for me to finally beat an FM.

(3) White vs. 2000: I've played him twice with black -- 2 draws. I know he'll let me play into the Catalan, so I need to review that.

(4) Black vs. 2200: The last 5 times we've played the white player won (3-2 in his favor). He plays the obscure Yugoslav with 9 0-0-0 and 10 Kb1 against my Dragon, which I think I've solved. Unless he changes his opening for this game I'm not too worried.

(5) White vs. 2100: Agh, playing my roommate in this one. I know he plays Slav, which is a pain for me. It also doesn't help that we're so familiar with each other's style. He could also play into the Catalan which he knows well from both sides. Last year we took a fairly quick final round draw, but it'll probably depend on the standings this year.

Can I recommend 9 O-O-O d5 10 Kb1!? Nxd4 11 e5! Nf5! 12 exf6 Bxf6 13 Nxd5 Qxd5! 14 Qxd5 Nxe3 15 Qd2 Nxd1 16 Qxd1 Be6 17 Bd3 Rfd8 18 Qe1 Rd6 19 Qa5 b6 20 Qe1 Rc8 =.

The rest of the game can be found here: Michael Adams vs Vassily Ivanchuk (1998)

Well, perhaps that line is equal at the top level with accurate play, but practically I think white's position is easier to play. Having played both sides, if white can create just a few weaknesses, the queen is a handful for the rook and bishop to deal with.

Here's what I intend to play:

10 Kb1 Rb8 11 h4?! (Nb3 seems best, keeping the b-file closed, though it does allow black to trade queens to a pretty solid endgame) e5 12 Nxc6 bxc6 13 exd5 cxd5 14 Nxd5 Bf5 15 g4 Nxd5 16 Qxd5 Qc7! with some advantage to black....17 gxf5 falls to Rfd8, picking up the rook.

In the actual game, I moved my bishop to e6 or something on the 15th move. I then played him again a month later and tried a different 14th move, reaching a drawn endgame that I blew in time trouble (I literally had 8 seconds left at the end...both games were G/40). On further inspection though, I found the trick with Qc7.

Update: I haven't played my roommate yet...game was postponed. I'm expecting that we'll just take a quick draw, since we're both doing well so far.

I lost the first game on the black side of a Classical (Ne1, Bd2) King's Indian. I actually had the right plan, but wasn't patient enough as I ripped things open a little too early. The guy was definitely booked up as he knew the first 20 or so moves of the opening, and I wasn't really prepared as I was expecting the Bayonet. He played very well and definitely punished me for mistakes, which is what you need to improve.

I won the second game on the white side of an exd4 King's Indian. I was very patient this time and eventually he blundered near the end of time control giving me a 2 knights, rook and 6 pawns vs. 2 rooks and 6 pawns ending. I was winning it, but then blundered badly and lost 2 knights for a rook reaching a drawish rook endgame. He was very low on time though, and decided instead of calculating that he would enter what he thought was a drawn Queen and pawn vs. rook and 3 pawns. It was winning for me though, and I ground him down, won one of the pawns, was about to win another when he ran out of time. 5.5 hour games suck, but it's nice to be on the winning side. This is my first win over an FM...finally!

I won the 3rd game on the white side of an open Catalan with an early c5 by black. I was expecting to go into a Tarrasch after I took cxd5, but he took with the knight which gave him some problems. With his knight not defending the kingside I was able to force him to play g6 and f5 and really punished him for all of his weaknesses and lack of development. I transferred to a forcing sequence of moves where I trapped his rook and won after about 30 moves.

I won the 4th game on the black side of that Kb1 Dragon I was talking about. He tried 11 Ndb5, which I need to evaluate further. I played 11...a6, after which I thought 12 Na7 was very interesting. He instead played 12 exd5, which liquidated a lot of material, but also removed his strong e4 pawn, and gave me lots of open files to play on. I eventually won a pawn and transferred to a knight ending. I slowly ground a victory there (another 5ish hour game).

So, a good start and after 4 rounds I was tied for first with 3/4, though I don't know how the 5th round games ended this evening.

Congrats!!!

--Fromper

Thanks. Still 5 rounds to go, but at this point I'm up about 15 points.

Very nice, especially for someone who's only 29 points from a master title.

--Fromper

What books do you own on the Dragon? I have both Play The Sicilian Dragon by Edward Dearing and Easy Guide To The Dragon by Golubev. If you don't own either I'll post some of the lines from those books for you to see.

I have the Complete Dragon. It seems a bit outdated, because it barely even mentions the cutting edge line (9 Bc4, 10 Kb1) that has dominated top play the last few years.

As for keeping up on it, I mostly just enter in the positions I'm trying to figure out and search 2500+. It's tough to write a hard-copy about an opening that has theory that is rapidly being rewritten.

So I drew my roommate, giving me 3.5/5. He's playing a makeup game on Friday against against a player who also has 2.5/4. So there's one player with 4/5, I and one other player have 3.5, and there's the possibility of a 4th player having 3.5 as well. I've played all potential 3.5's already, but I do get to play the player with 4 with white in the 7th round. Here's what remains for me:

(6) Black vs. 2100 (2/5): I've played this guy 3 times, scoring 1.5/3, but the last time I played him with black was about 3 years ago, and he beat me in an Alekkhine's Defense. I'm going to play the Dragon, and I know he plays the 9 Bc4 Rc8 10 Bb3 Ne5 11 Kb1 line of the Yugoslav, to which I'll play the Carlsen variation of 11...a6. It's possible he'll prepare something different for me, but if not I'm very excited to play this variation.

(7) White vs. 2200 (4/5): I've played him twice with 1.5/2, both games with black. I know he plays Slav with black, so I'm planning to play my 4 Qc2 pet line. I've never seen him face this before, so this should be an interesting game.

(8) Black vs. 2150 (1.5/5): I've played him once with a draw with white. This guy is difficult to prepare against, as he plays the English with white but varies his move order each game. He hasn't had a great tournament so far, but he's going to be tough to take down with black.

(9) White vs. 2000 (1/5): I played him a lot when I was lower rated, but recently I have 1.5/2 against him, both with black. He plays wacky stuff like 1 d4 Nc6. I don't plan to do much preparation, because he'll just try to throw something weird at me to get me out of book.

I don't like to check my rating mid-tournament, but so far I'm 2171 -> 2184. I've calculated that if I finish 7/9, I'll break 2200. It's a bit of a stretch, but I'm going to try for it and focus on playing to win a la Topalov or Nakamura. If it works, then great...if not, then I'll probably have a lot to learn from the losses/draws.