Thursday, July 24, 2008

Antonio wins game 2 against Torre

That's good. Another draw would have wane the public's interest, I say.

Anyway, the win came after 68 moves of the Sicilian Dragon with Antonio handling the black pieces. The end game had seen Antonio with two unstoppable passed pawns which left Torre with no option but to resign the game. Reports also said that Torre surprised Antonio with his first move--a pawn push to e4--that saw Antonio rethink his strategy for more than 12 minutes. The game proceeded to white's advantage, with Torre keeping intense pressure on the king side and Antonio launching a strong counter play on the opposite side of the board which is the typical game play in Sicilian Dragon Variations. Then came the dramatic rook-for-knight sacrifice by Antonio on the 25th move despite being under time trouble, perhaps because of the calculation time he would needed for the plan sacrifice. Post game analysis by both Antonio and Torre which drew lots of spectator around the board proved that the sacrifice turned effective and shifted the momentum to black.

Game 3 of the six-game match will be played tommorow starting at 2 pm. I'll be at the duel on August 1 at Gateway Mall to personaly witness the closing and awarding ceremony and of course take some photos.

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