The game below may not elicit any particular feeling or thought at first sight. However, that game may have ended up costing me $10,000 and a qualification for the Grand Prix series during my World Cup match against Vidit!

After the match, I was contemplating how my opponent could have been so well-prepared against a rare line that I thought I had never played before. Then, I suddenly remembered that I had played only one online blitz game (the game shown above) in this line and I used this exact variation, so Vidit may have used it against me. Although I cannot be 100% sure that this was his strategy, I believe it is very likely.

Usually, I am pretty careful about what to play online because I am aware that my opponents may prepare against me this way, but this time I overlooked this possibility and it cost me dearly.

Anyway, the moral of the story is: do not play your opening lines online if you plan to play those lines in a classical tournament. Also, when playing online, I would strongly recommend playing less often under your actual name because you may want to play “blitz lines” in a classical chess tournament at some point.

Game of the Week XXX: Durarbayli,V – Vidit,G 

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Please note that Game of the Week will cover games played from Saturday to Saturday of each week, and any games played on Sunday will go to the next week. See you next Sunday! 

Contributors:

Grandmaster Vasif Durarbayli

Edited by Della Almind