East vs West Match

Hey everyone! This is BrewMaster. Today I’ll be showing my match vs Satria Duta.

If you don’t know who Satria is, he is an extremely talented kid from Indonesia. The match was on June 26, 2021. The format of the match was six games of 5 minute with 1-second increment. This event was also a charity event for UNICEF India.

Let's take a look at the most important moment from each game, with a quiz question from each!

Game 1

In the first game Satria had the white pieces and played the London system and right off the bat I messed up the opening and played the move ...a6 instead of ...c6. They have the same purpose but ...c6 is better because you usually want to go ...a5 so by going ...c6 you can go ...a5 right away instead of ...a6, then ...a5, wasting a move.

What move in this position wins for white?

Match score 1-0 in favor of Satria.

Game 2

In this game I have the white pieces and we went into a Ruy Lopez. Eventually Satria played the move ...e3.

In this position we both were very low on time. I would win completely winning if I played the move f3 but I played Bxe3 which let him play ...d4 with check. But eventually we both made mistakes but he made the bigger mistake leaving mate in one.

Math Score 1-1.

Game 3

In this game Satria was white and he played another London. Instead of playing ...g6 like last time, I played ...c5 going for a different plan. I did this because the first game went so poorly.

Early on I went pawn grabbing and won a pawn. The cost of that was me getting no development and then I lost my pawn which was my only advantage.

Find the winning move for white in this position!

Match Score 2-1 in favor of Satria.

Game 4

In this game I played another Ruy Lopez. The majority of the game was equal until Satria became very passive and didn’t move much. Eventually I won a pawn but it still should have been a draw.

We both had time pressure and he blundered mate in 1. I'm sure you can find this one!

 

Match Score 2-2.

Game 5

In this game Satria played another London. I played what I did in the third game but I traded on d4. Yet again I won a pawn early on but I couldn’t get development. He eventually was starting a really big attack so I sacrificed an exchange to try to salvage my king safety. So later on I had a knight and a pawn for a rook but his rook wasn’t doing much.

After winning a pawn I actually missed mate in 1 which was ...Qg2. We both had 5 seconds here so we were blundering left and right but eventually he blundered his queen.

In this position Satria blundered a pawn. Black to move.

Match score 3-2 in favor of me.

Game 6

In the final game of the match I had the white pieces and Satria played the Scandinavian. The whole game I knew I just needed a draw so I was trying to just play solid. Eventually we got into a rook and pawn endgame which is a easy draw but I let him trade the rooks. In this position Satria was winning but with his limited time it would be extremely hard to win that endgame so it was a draw.

If you can work out how Black wins this position, you are likely already a grandmaster!

Final Score 3.5-2.5 in favor of me.

Overall I had a great time playing against Satria. He tripped me up with his London and it was a fun match.

 

Answers: 

1: 1. e5! taking advantage of the pin on the e-pawn and trying to remove the knight from defending h7. 

2: Freebie!

3: 1. Rc8 Rxc8 2. Qxc8 Bd8 3. Bc5 Qd5 4. Bxd7 Qxd7 5. Qxd7 Kxd7 and white wins blacks knight.

4: 1. Qg8#.

5. 1...Nxh4.

6. FunMasterMike and I agree -- this is too hard to explain! Why don't you remind yourself of some hard king-and-pawn ending ideas here instead!