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I am participating in the Team Australia 2022 Australia Day Tournament and will be presenting some of my games. The tournament uses the daily format with up to 3 days per move – basically like correspondence chess. I’m in division 3 with player ratings up to 1150. These are the first two of my completed games of round 1 of my group, and I managed to secure two wins. In a very real way, these victories came out of the power of the passed pawn.

The unassuming pawn becomes much more valuable when it is “passed” – unopposed by an opponent’s pawn. Although we think of pawns as the weakest piece, the context on the board is important! Passed pawns block the progress of other pieces, threatens what’s in front of them, and when it gets to the final couple of ranks, often need to be traded with sacrifices lest it gets to the final rank and promotes to a queen. From that perspective, supporting your own passed pawns, and making sure that the opponent’s passed pawns are properly defended are important strategic considerations.

I hope you enjoyed this video, and thanks for watching!

Game 1: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/381986885

[Event "TA 2022 Australia Day Tournament Div 3  ratings up to 1150 - Round 1"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.01.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "GavinGBegbie"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C25"]
[WhiteElo "1052"]
[BlackElo "871"]
[TimeControl "1/259200"]
[EndDate "2022.01.28"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. d4 f6 4. f4 Ne7 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 f5 7. h3 Bh5 8. fxe5 d5 9. exf5 Nxf5 10. g4 Ng3 11. Rg1 Nxe2 12. Qxe2 Bg6 13. Qb5+ Nd7 14. e6 Qe7 15. Ne5 O-O-O 16. exd7+ Rxd7 17. Qxd7+ Qxd7 18. Nxd7 Kxd7 19. Nxd5 Bxc2 20. Bd2 Bd6 21. Rc1 Re8+ 22. Ne3 Bg6 23. Rf1 Bg3+ 24. Ke2 h5 25. Kd1 h4 26. Nf5 Bf7 27. b3 g6 28. Nxg3 hxg3 29. Rxf7+ Re7 30. Rxe7+ Kxe7 31. Bf4 g2 32. Ke2 Kf6 33. h4 c6 34. Kf2 Ke6 35. Kxg2 Kd5 36. Be5 Ke4 37. b4 Kd3 38. h5 gxh5 39. gxh5 Kd2 40. Rc5 1-0

Game 2: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/381986839

[Event "TA 2022 Australia Day Tournament Div 3  ratings up to 1150 - Round 1"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.01.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "AnandaUma"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "857"]
[BlackElo "1062"]
[TimeControl "1/259200"]
[EndDate "2022.01.28"]
[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d5 6. exd5 Nxd5 7. Bb5 Bg4 8. c4 Ne7 9. a3 a6 10. Bxc6+ Nxc6 11. Bg5 Be7 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Nbd2 O-O-O 14. d4 Rxd4 15. Qe1 Bxf3 16. Nxf3 Rxc4 17. b3 Rf4 18. Rd1 f6 19. b4 Re8 20. Qe2 e4 21. Qc4 Ne5 22. Nxe5 Qxe5 23. Qf7 e3 24. Qd7+ Kb8 25. Rd5 exf2+ 26. Rxf2 Qe1+ 27. Rf1 Qxf1# 0-1