Monday 26 November 2012

Commonwealth Championships 2012: First Half

The massive playing hall














By Moulthun

As you all know Junta is currently playing over in India. Which has already been underway, at round 6 as we speak. He steamrolled his way quickly to get to 3/3, before having to meet with some tougher opposition. Since its such a big open tournament, the bottom half of players makes up for most of the field. Any points you gain will help benefit to keep your playing field much higher. Although round 2 saw Junta's swindling ability at his very best. Coming back from a rather unpleasant position to weave a nice mating net.

The opening looks to be a standard hedgehog with the inclusion of the strange 16...h6?! and 17...Kh8?!
These moves don't accomplish anything at all for Black. The standard ...Bd8 immediately or ...Kh8 by itself would be much preferred. Unfortunately for Black the later ...d5 break which was played achieves too little, not giving enough counter-play. Although with White's 40th move blunder, everything changes in a heartbeat.


The first real challenge came in round 4 when he was up against his first titled player. A good opening was reached early on, through the active placement of the bishops. White gave up the d4 square early on. Without the use of the move b5!, Black was unable to make use of this outpost. Some further exchanges in the center left Black with too many any holes, and white went on to convert the point. 


He is now on 3.5/5 and playing a 2043 rated opponent in the 6th round. Hopefully he will convert and we will see him climb up the boards. Good luck!















No comments:

Post a Comment