GM Bartel’s Lesson on Initiative and Activity
Grandmaster Mateusz Bartel walked through a double round robin tournament that finished yesterday in Slovakia. The average player rating was 2570, visit Chessdom for a full report. The same report contains game analysis that Mateusz kindly provided. Some of his insights are invaluable!
The fireworks have ensued right after the opening and the game was very dynamic. I decided to repost Mateusz’s commentary here because the R+N vs R+B endgame is very instructive. (Download in PGN)
Mateusz Bartel (2601) - Lubomir Ftacnik (2559) [B80]
31st Banicky Kahanec Prievidza (6), 08.05.2009
[Annotations by Mateusz Bartel]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be3 a6 7.f3 b5 8.Qd2 b4 9.Na4 Nbd7 10.Bc4 Qa5 11.Bb3 Bb7 12.c4
Interesting decision. White is fighting against d5 and at the same time prepares new options for defending the knight on a4, if necessary.
