Ruy Lopez

Tal Memorial 2012 Finish

Leave a Comment / Luke McShane, Magnus Carlsen, Ruy Lopez, Tal Memorial /
The Tal Memorial has come to an end for another year. The tournament finished a few days ago with Magnus Carlsen taking out first place after beating McShane in the final round. Caruana, who was looking good for the top spot, lost to Aronian in the final round. Nakamura and Radjabov drew their game quickly and that left Magnus out in front by half a point on 5.5 out of 9. It was a great finish for a great tournament!
The following game is the final round game between Carlsen and McShane.
The opening is the Ruy Lopez – delayed exchange variation.

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Newcastle Open 2012 – Round 3

Leave a Comment / Newcastle Open 2012, Ruy Lopez, Schliemann Defense /
This years Newcastle Open was a 6 round event. I don’t mind 6 round events but generally find that it is hard to split away from those players that are of a similar rating to you and it is harder to finish the tournament with a result that reflects your performance.  This was the case in this tournament as I scored 3 out of 6 but felt I did really well in the tournament with 5 of my games against higher rated players.

In my round 3 game I came up against a much stronger opponent. I enjoyed the game and although I went away with the loss it was great to have the chance to analyse the Schliemann Defence variation of the Ruy Lopez as I had not come across this opening before (and you know how often I play the Ruy Lopez). It will  definitely be an opening line I research further to make sure I am a little better prepared in the future!

In this game I thought there were a few attacking chances and therefore played very aggressively in the opening, only to find the attack was not sound. After I went down in material my opponent was able to hold on to the advantage and secure the win.



 

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Newcastle Open 2012 – Round 2

Leave a Comment / Newcastle Open 2012, Ruy Lopez /

 

I really enjoyed this game!
As you know I love the Ruy Lopez and this was a great game that followed the main line of the Ruy Lopez and allowed for the fun tactics and positions that arise in this opening. It was great to play an opponent that new the opening well as you could feel the struggle back and forth during the game. When I was analysing this with Fritz there were quite a few times were the advantage swayed between us.
I would have to say this was my favourite game of the tournament.

 

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Country Teams Tournament – Rounds 1 & 2

Leave a Comment / Country Teams Tournament, Queens Gambit Declined, Ruy Lopez /

“>Heya all!

The following games are my Round 1 and 2 games from the Country Teams Tournament I played in recently. In my first game I played the Queens Gambit Declined. I found myself with a cramped position and an inactive Bishop that placed a lot of pressure on my position. I went down the exchange with the pressure releasing from the position but then made a decisive blunder that lost me the game.

In my second round game I opened with the Ruy Lopez gaining the advantage quite early after an opening error by Black with 3… Bd6. I continued to develop my opening and came up with a strong attack after some inaccurate moves by Black early in the game.

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