Rd 2 Spanish Tch

The 2nd round of the Spanish Tch in Linares continued with more surprises yesterday, as one can see from the crosstable below.  Lots of fighting chess and decisive results.  And , ofcourse, its fair share of blunders  adding to the excitement.  If I was not a player then I would love being a spectator, just savouring the atmosphere. 

Ljubojevic–who has made Linares his home for the past 2 decades–has shown up each day and stays for hours.  Still a very strong grandmaster, I am always interested in his opinions of my games…usually he is more right than I am!

My game with Bacrot yesterday was a solid, uneventful  affair.

POSITION AFTER 22 MOVES:

gm  Bacrot,E

gm  Spraggett,K

After the first round’s unfortunate result, I decided to play solidly and regain my confidence.  Avoiding the French star’s well prepared Spanish, I played the Italian game, improving over an earlier Fressinet vs Bacrot game  and managed a small theoretical advantage of the two Bishops.  In the position above I have an isolated pawn, which diminishes the advantage of the Bishops.  On top of this, Bacrot’s position is super solid and without weakness.  We made a draw on move 30 in a completely level position, Bacrot neutralizing my two Bishops.

Bacrot is France’s best player.

Eric, meanwhile, made a solid draw with the Black pieces.  Hansen is suffering from a slight cold that he got last week, and spends most of his free time in bed, trying to recover.