Grandmaster Ilia Smirin has been ranked as high as in the top ten in the world. By luck of the pairing system, I was pared against him in the second round of the 2012 World Open today. Here is the game:
[When Grandmaster Smirin saw my second move, first he started laughing. Then, his face turned beet red. Finally, he went into deep thought. He was probably realizing that he was not up on the latest theoretical developments on this important line. He spent about ten minutes thinking about this position until finally he played.}
3.d4
{He probably realized that it is not possible that I had made a beginner’s blunder. After all, what was I doing playing him on the top boards if I was a beginner? He must have realized that I had thoroughly analyzed the complications arising after 3. Nxe5 fxe5 4. Qh5+. Even a top grandmaster could not feel confident of working out all the possibilities over the board. So, it made sense for him to play a developing move instead.}
d5 4.exd5 e4 5.Nfd2 Qxd5 6.Nc3 Qxd4 7.Ncxe4
[At this point I think I have achieved at least equality and possibly the advantage. I even considered offering him a draw since he is a much stronger player than I am but he might take it if he felt that his position was inferior.}
{This I think was my fatal error. I could have played 17. . . . Qf4 forcing a trade of queens or 17. . . . Qg7. Although I would have been a pawn down, my more active pieces would have made it difficult for him to win, I believe.}
Mr. Sloan–
In the Smirin game you stated that after his move 7 you thought about offering him a draw. I believe that he would have refused because only one player was a GM. It would only be 1/2 of a grandmaster draw resulting in only in
1/4 of a point.
I am having my best tournament in years, possibly the best tournament of my life. In round three, I defeated a player FIDE Rated 2297 by playing 1. g4. Then here in round 4 I drew an International Master also by playing 1. g4 in a wild game with pieces hanging all over. Best part is I had analyzed the position correctly. When I played 23. Kh2, I had worked out all the variations and figured out what the result would be. I saw the final position correctly from there.
I now have an even score and my opponents have an average FIDE rating of 2410. In the unlikely event that I can keep this up, I could have an IM Norm. I cannot explain why I am playing so much better than usual, except that possibly publishing all these chess books has helped my game.
[Event “World Open”]
[Site “Philadelphia PA USA”]
[Date “2012.07.06”]
[Round “04”]
[White “Sloan, Sam”]
[Black “Zlotnikov, Mikhail”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “A00”]
[WhiteElo “1902”]
[BlackElo “2286”]
Congratulations for playing junk openings and getting away with it, thus far. It won’t last forever, probably not even to the end of this event. I would not want to get to the point of playing junk openings, especially at a big tournament like the World Open. To each his own, so good luck.
In his article in CL July 2012 p.36 GM Akobian calls 1. g4 as a "less common opening " and elsewhere as “quirky”. He does not call it a “junk” opening.
One of the fun things about chess is that a class player can produce the occasional gem against a NM or even an IM. Congratulations, Sam!
I also note that Sam stopped posting in the final 5 rounds, in which his score was 0.5 - 4.5; the lone draw came against an opponent rated 1897. This part of chess is not quite as fun, perhaps, but it’s also instructive in many ways. Maybe Sam will will share some of his experiences from the later rounds. Did any opponents bite the bullet and play 3. Nxe5 fxe5 4. Qh5+, for example?
