Wednesday 21 September 2016

Taking your second chances

IM Anton Smirnov is getting some notice around the world after is stellar performance at the 2016 Chess Olympiad. He was featured in The Guardian chess column and a number of other chess writers are taking notice of what he achieved.
He played a number of brilliant games during the tournament, including the following one against Brazil. I was able to watch some of the end of the game from around move 35, but at the time wasn't sure if he had played a brilliancy or just a brilliant draw. Captaincy duties called me away before the end, and it was only afterwards that I learned that he had one, but that his opponent had missed the drawing resource at the end (37 ... Kh7 was the final mistake). But earlier than that, Smirnov himself had missed a stronger continuation when he played the Botvinnik-esque 29.Nh5+ instead of the more brutal 29.Rxb4. Of course chess is about taking your chances, and having missed one, he made sure he didn't miss the next one.


Smirnov,Anton (2482) - Barbosa,Evandro Amorim (2509) [D80]
42nd Olympiad 2016 Baku AZE (6.4), 08.09.2016

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