This is my final update of my games in season 31 of the Lonewolf league. You can find my previous updates for rounds 1-2, rounds 3-5 and round 6-9.
Going into the final two rounds, I was on 5.5/9 and was around rank 30. Since I was pretty satisfied with my position, my goal was to score at least 1 out of 2 in the two final rounds to maintain my spot.
Round 10
For round 10, I was white and saw that my opponent usually played the classical Sicilian and prepared quite a bit in that line. However, my opponent decided to surprise me with the Najdorf during the game. Luckily for me, I play the Najdorf as black so I know the theory quite well.
Additionally, I played a blitz game at my chess club a couple of days before with the Najdorf as black and got crushed by a line I didn't know. So I analysed the line a bit, looking at the general plans and specific moves and this analysis was fresh in my mind when I played my Lonewolf game.
Takeaways
The biggest takeaway from this game is my blunder 21.Bxc5?? I didn't spend enough time trying to refute my move and as a result, I missed the pin along the a7-g1 diagonal.
Round 11
Since I had won in round 10, I was already satisfied with my overall result. So I didn't try to play for a win at any cost in the last round.
I had seen that my opponent played the 6.h3 Najdorf and I prepared for a bit. My opponent deviated from my prep with 9.Bxf6. But I was very happy with my position and tried to start a kingside attack. My opponent neutralised the attack and we exchanged into an endgame.
My position was a bit cramped in the ending and I miscalculated and lost a pawn. But since I had a clear plan in the minor piece ending - exchange as many pawns as possible and sacrifice my bishop for white's last pawn - I was still a bit optimistic about my drawing chances.
Takeaways
Even though I managed to hold the game in the end, I was quite annoyed during the endgame. It seemed like every idea I had didn't work because of some knight fork. In the future, I need to stay calmer when things don't go my way and focus on playing good moves.
My handling of the position after the queen exchange was in general not too good. I underestimated how cramped my position was and didn't play moves to free my pieces. Ending up with passive pieces is a general problem with my play and something that I have to work on.
Conclusion
I finished in 24th place and I'm very happy with the tournament overall. My play can definitely be improved and I got lucky a few times (for example in round 10) but I guess that can be said about most tournaments.
I really enjoyed playing in the tournament and also writing these short summaries of my rounds. I hope you have enjoyed them as well!