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I am participating in the Team Australia 2022 Australia Day Tournament and so far, 3 wins out of 3 so I’m pretty happy. I enjoy participating in these social tournaments as I get to meet some other Aussies who love chess. The game I’m going to talk about today is my second match against one of the competitors in my group. Just like in the game I talked about yesterday, an unassuming pawn was once again the key to victory.

This game demonstrated some general strategies and approaches. Firstly, be careful with using an opening where you block the movement and development of your pieces. In this game my opponent’s queenside pieces – bishop, knight, and rook – didn’t participate in the game meaning that their influence was not felt. Secondly, opposite-side castling can sometimes be advantageous as can be easier to launch attackers at the opponent’s king, especially pawns. In this instance, the h-pawn was the hero, advancing valiantly into battle and smashing the king’s defenses. I imagine an infantryman leading the charge and preparing the way for the heavy hitters afterwards.

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

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/382480615

[Event "TA 2022 Australia Day Tournament Div 3  ratings up to 1150 - Round 1"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.01.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "GavinGBegbie"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "867"]
[BlackElo "1072"]
[TimeControl "1/259200"]
[EndDate "2022.01.28"]
[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]

1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Bd3 Nc6 4. c3 e5 5. f4 e4 6. Bc2 Be7 7. Ne2 Bg4 8. O-O Qd7 9. Qe1 O-O-O 10. a3 h5 11. Ba4 h4 12. c4 h3 13. g3 Bf3 14. c5 Bg2 15. Rf2 Ng4 16. Rxg2 hxg2 17. Kxg2 Rxh2+ 18. Kg1 Rdh8 19. Kf1 Rf2+ 20. Kg1 Rhh2 21. Nbc3 Rhg2+ 22. Kh1 Qe6 23. Bb3 Qh6# 0-1