IM MARLO MICAYABAS AND THE 2008 BRADLEY OPEN- PART III

This is the 3rd part of IM Marlo Micayabas's personal account of his comeback tourney, the 2008 Bradley Open where he tied for 1st. To view Part II just click
http://metrolirot.blogspot.com/2009/05/im-marlo-micayabas-and-2008-bradley.html


By IM Marlo Micayabas

We woke up even much earlier today to check out from our room, bring our luggages to the car in the garage, come back to eat breakfast and wait for the games to start. With not enough time, we settled for an American breakfast of croissant and coffee for me, and muffin and water for my son Adrian. He made me aware that my clearing of my throat during the games can be heard across the playing hall. I made a mental note of it and tried to avoid distracting other players. In my next game, I'm playing against chess expert Andrew Ng who drew with GM Kudrin in the previous round.


Sunday, August 10, 2008, 9:00AM

13th Bradley Open, Round 4, Board 2
White: Andrew Ng (2175)
Black: IM Marlo Micayabas (2339)


Sicilian Rossolimo


1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.0-0 e5 6.h3 Be7




Here, I was toying with the idea of a blitzkrieg attack 7... g5
followed by 8... h5 and 9... g4. I decided it was too risky as
he has a central break 8.c3 and 9.d4 at his disposal.


7.Re1 Nf6 8.c3 0-0 9.d4 cxd4 10.cxd4 exd4

Also possible was 10... Nd7 followed by a Black Queen move and
...Rd8.


11.Nxd4 Qb6 12.Nc3 h6 13.Be3 c5 14.Nb3 Be6 15.f4




This starts White's plan of undermining the support of Black's c5
pawn with 16.e5. Unfortunately, the Black c5 pawn is poisoned and
Black gets more than enough compensation for it.


15... Rfe8 16.e5 dxe5 17.fxe5 Rad8 18.Qf3 Nd5!




Against the passive 18... Nd7, White has 19.Nd5!


19.Na4 Qb5 20.Naxc5 Nxe3 21.Nxe6 fxe6 22.Qxe3 Rd3!




Seizing the d-file and laying a trap in 23.Qxa7?? Rxb3! winning
White's queen. Also 23.Qe2? is strongly met by Bb4!.


23.Qe4 Red8 24.Rac1 R3d5 25.Kh1 Qd7 26.Rf1 a5 27.Qg6 Rf8

28.Rxf8 Bxf8 29.Qe4 a4




White's knight is lost since 30.Na1 is met by 30... Rd1.


30.Rf1 axb3 31.Qf4 Bc5 32.axb3 Rd1 1-0




White resigned since his position is hopeless.


In this round, GM Ivanov drew with GM Kudrin, while GM Rohde won
his 4th game bringing the following interesting lineup: GM Ivanov
3-1/2, IM Micayabas 3-1/2, GM Kudrin 3, and GM Rohde 3. I will be
playing the black pieces against GM Ivanov in the final round for
the championship.


Replay the game below.