Sunday, June 10, 2012

Hart v Moskwa, the Rematch, 1/2-1/2.

Robert and I played in Yuri Shulman's G45 tournament at the Barbara Rose Elementary School in South Barrington on Saturday.  Despite offering free entries to anyone rated over 1600, Robert and I were the only takers.  However, the MSL was well represented with Michael Feldman from Fremd as well as Harrison Choi, Jiby Varghese, and Jake Albertson from Hoffman Estates.  Going into the fourth last round, Robert, Harrison, and I all had three points and I thought Robert might get the chance to avenge his loss to Harrison at the MSL Tournament last January, but instead he got another crack at me, albeit again with the Black pieces.

I opened with my usual 1.c4 and Robert replied with the much less usual 1...b6.  We were quickly out of book and forced to rely on our wits.  I felt that I had the better position for much of the game, but I was unable to figure out any way to capitalize on my space advantage and I offered a draw as my clock went under five minutes.