Wow, very dynamic and entertaining game!! I actually followed along on a real-life board on my desk, hehe... Very imaginative play by both players. I really liked the imaginative move ...Rab8 when it seems the obvious move ...Bb7 is "forced".

I love these endgame lessons too. Good luck from California.

Very nice game and a nice analysis as well. Good luck on getting your final IM norm.

Good luck today!

Your buddy seems like a really nice guy. He responded to a few comments about his win against Wang Yue on chessgames.com. I was wondering maybe if you were one of his friends that showed up to watch? (see second paragraph):

Thanks for the interest guys. I think I played this game rather well but I got lucky in the way that the opponent underestimated me and didnt play at his usual standard. Also Im sure he saw 13.Nd4 when he played 12. - Nc6 but decided to take "the risk". The only other move is 12. - Kh8 and then I would have forced a draw with 13. Ne7 Qe8 14. Nd5 Qc8 15. Ne7 etc.(Yes, not very heroic but remember the 330 point rating difference!!). After 13. Nd4 then black is in big problems and to my surprise then I was able to convert it.

And finally for the record, I finished the tournament with 6 points.

Best regards,
Bjorn Thorfinnsson

Thanks. No, we didnt analyse the game afterwards, probably since I was just a complete nervous wreck after it. It was a bit strange, before the game I wasnt worried at all, since I simply had no expectation. Then during it I got very excited, mostly after 13. Nd4 when I realized just how good my position was (I mainly was realizing that after 14. Bxg4 and the long time Wang Yue thought after that move). But after I won the exchange and knew I was completely winning then I just got really nervous because it would have been horrible to blow it into a draw or even a loss. That would have been much worse then just being crushed in 30.moves Also a big impact was when I saw a few of my friends who I suspected were watching the game live on the homepage suddenly arrived in the tournament hall. They had seen how good a position I had and decided to go to the tournament hall and really watch it "live". I was just waiting for my entire family to show up with cameras - then I probably would have just offered a draw and walked out crying. Wang Yue was however really excellent during the tournament - shaking hands and smiling all the time - a really nice guy and I hope we can welcome many Chinese chessplayers to Iceland in the future.

No, I was playing the tournament as well and my game was last to finish in the 1st round.

Awwww you didn't make it . Sorry to see this, Zibbit. Hope you are pleased with most of your games as a consolation. If not, I'm sure you will get a new opportunity very soon.

Nice game.