Preparation Works
2026-02-25T11:35:50+00:00
I’ve joined this league where we play once a week. The time control is 45 minutes and 45 seconds. Last season, I was an alternate and I played four games. This season, I am part of a team and have discovered a whole new world. Our team captain, Timothy, is an experienced player and also runs the largest chess club in New Zealand.
So, coming to the topic. I looked at my 7th-round opponent’s games. I saw that he has played very few games, around 25–26. He mostly plays the Kan against 1.e4, and against 1.d4 he starts with Nf6 and probably goes into the KID or Pirc.
First, I looked at playing the Smith-Morra Gambit, which I have never seen played live nor have I played it myself. He had faced it twice, but the variation he faced was cxd4, Qxd4, Nc6, and then the queen goes back to d1 or e3. This did not appeal to me. I did not want to lose a tempo as White. Also, he has already faced it twice, so he would be familiar and may not have to think much. I found that the actual gambit is c3, and then Black can capture or decline. I was worried about the declined variation with Nf6 — it becomes an Alapin. So I felt I needed to look at things in more depth before feeling comfortable to play.
Then I decided to look at the Grand Prix Attack but abandoned it for now. Eventually, I thought, why not look at the Trompowsky Attack? Now, I’ve never played it and also never actually seen a game live or browsed one seriously. So I started looking at the Trompowsky and found that Ne4 was the main variation, followed by Bf4 and …c5. But then somewhere I found that you can play h4 — the so-called Raptor Variation. OOH! This appealed to me! Something different, and it might go into interesting territory.
One idea I saw was that if the knight takes the bishop, then the pawn can be thrown to g6 with Bd3, creating a threat. This actually happened in the game! I was surprised.
I was not expecting it to happen because the threat was quite obvious, but maybe my opponent missed it or let it be. So I took on g6.
I won the exchange and eval is +2.7
He castled queenside. But I misplayed a bit and he gained the upper hand.
The game went through ups and downs, and I checkmated with Qh4#. What a game. At the end, there was a moment where I was really doing well, but I lashed out with f4 very quickly, and that was a losing move!! Thankfully, my opponent did not punish me. I escaped.
Here is the chart which captures the game flow -
Preparation works! The Game