Game of the Week
In chess, you rarely get what you deserve (or maybe you do)
Before we get into this week’s game, I’d like to clear up some points that I think kept people from submitting last week.
Game of the Week is not a brilliancy prize. In fact, if you’ve been following my games and workouts, you may have noticed that I tend to find the most instructive value in seemingly ordinary moments. These are, after all, the moments we face most often. So there doesn’t have to be anything special about a game to submit. It could just be a game you’re curious about. Or not curious about! All games welcome.
Starting this week, the player whose game is selected for Game of the Week will get a free month’s paid subscription. Just to sweeten the pot a little.
Also starting this week, I will only consider submissions in the comments section of this post for Game of the Week. It’s just easier for me to have them all in one place.
As always, the video and Lichess Study analysis are available for everyone, but only paid subs can submit games.
On to the game! This week’s game comes from Germán Martínez, who will receive a free additional one month paid sub. It’s blitz week, and while I don’t think anyone submitted a blitz game, I chose this game because it exemplifies a dynamic common in blitz: Germán found a lot of great moves and ideas, but ultimately failed to get the full point because he missed one move that was not complicated at all. Let’s see what happened.
Oh man, I bet those kids go absolutely bananas when their chess teacher talks about PP on the PP.
Very well played and showcased. So many instructive positions, strategic pawn pushes / imbalances and few other hits and misses. Being ahead in Opening development vs opponent no weaknesses vs creating weaknesses, very nicely played and explained. I recall something from Mastering your Openings book/course :)