New Pin Theory, Redemption
Submitted by
on Sun, 08/23/2009 at 1:07am.
This week, I posted 6 wins and 1 loss, so I have selected the most important win from a theoretical point and from a final standings point in the Sicilian Pin thematic tourney. This win defeated the #2 player on the leaderboard, THCCKINGJON, who had crushed me with the white pieces in this tourney by playing the weak novelty 6. Qf3!? which took me totally out of my personal book and the master DB since no master game had ever featured this weak move. I reacted with contempt thinking that Jon was a "patzer" and castled right into a mating attack which resulted in my second defeat in this tourney. I had to spend 3 days doing post-mortem analysis after the game to find the right line.
Fortunately, this game Jon had the black pieces, so I did not have to worry about 6. Qf3. However, Jon springs another innovation in the Exchange Sac Variation of the Sicilian Pin with 11. .. f6!? This time, I knew that Jon was a strong player as he had established a strong #2 position on the leaderboard with 13 wins, 2 draws, and only 2 losses (14 points) with only our game unfinished. I had 12 wins, no draws, and 2 losses with just 4 games to go, so a loss here would give Jon undisputed second place behind the marvelous Marjan Lacic, a fantastic Pin player that I personally love to play, but have NEVER beaten. Marjan had already been guaranteed first place long before this game concluded by winning 17 straight games with no defeats and no draws! Only his game with me remains unfinished at this time. But if I could win with white against Jon, that would give him 3 losses and I would have a good chance for the second place medal. The game was very tense and Jon resigns with chances of counter-play still left, so I give the Chess.com analysis of the final position. This defeat of Jon means that I need just one and one-half points out of my three unfinished games to gain second place and win the silver medal! Enjoy!