Review my performance in DATMO 2010

Round by round review of my games:

Round 1 , Jimmy - Haslinda Ruslan , win
Unfortunately paired with low rated player. Tiebreak is going to cost me.

Round 2 , WGM Huang Qian - Jimmy , draw
I did not know the opening theory but played excellent middle-game. Invited my opponent to sacrifice a piece for three pawns against my un-castled king. Liquidated to a won rook ending and went wrong straight away. See the Endgame

Round 3, Jimmy - GM Ziaur Rahman, lost
Again went wrong in the opening. Invited my opponent to sacrifice a piece for an attack on my king. Attack was probably winning but black blundered. I did not realize it was a blunder and game ended swiftly.


Round 4,  Xu HuaHua - Jimmy , lost
Same opening from last year but my opponent deviated first with a rather unusual variation. Later she offered two pawns to keep my king in the centre which I unwisely accepted. She finished me off with some strong tactical play. I realize I was taking too much risks in my games by allowing my opponents to launch attacks.

Round 5, Jimmy - Muhd. Aliuddin , won

I had to sacrifice pawns to maintain initiative. Nevertheless, I thought I was in trouble until my opponent allowed simplifications to a lost ending despite being two pawns up.
Round 6, Chong Chor Yuen - Jimmy, won
One of the few games where I got the better opening. I positioned an unshakeable knight on e4 and the outcome was decided from there.

Round 7, Jimmy - IM Duong The Anh, won
Another good opening and maintained the advantage into the endgame where I won a pawn. A rook and bishop versus rook and knight ending was reached where I had a passed pawn. Although he had the strong knight against my bad bishop I found a neat tactical idea to simplify into a won rook ending. This will be examined in my next post.

Round 8, IM Roy Chowdry Saptarsi - Jimmy, draw
After the opening, I found a nice combination to liquidate into a Q+R versus Q+R ending which should be winning for me. However a couple of inaccuracy allowed my opponent to reach a drawn queen ending.

Round 9, Jimmy - GM Dzhumaev Marat, lost
My lack of opening preparation really showed up in this game. My opponent had a strong king-side attack which I neutralized at a great cost. An ending where I had R+2N versus R+2B was reached. Needless to say this ending is undefendable.

Conclusion

I played better after the early rounds, possibly because of the "practice" I was getting. I was totally unprepared in the openings. In this light, five points from nine rounds was not exactly a bad result.

I will examine some positions in the next post.