Bhatting Practice

The past two weeks, I've shared my games from rounds 4 and 6 of the Montreal International. This week, I want to share my game from the 5th round, as white against GM Sergei Tiviakov.

With a draw against Bacrot in the books, I was looking to take my swings against Tiviakov as white. Since Mig's Daily Dirt blog put it better than I could, I stole his title and will just say that he wrote: "[Vinay] turned in a non-stop fireworks show of a game against Tiviakov. Wow. Prepare to have your swashes thoroughly buckled."

I hope you enjoy this one! As usual, after each diagram, there's a question asking what you would play next.

Question 1: What would you play after 19...Qc7?

Question 2: What would you play after 27...h6?

Question 3:  What would you play after 34...Ke8?

Question 4:  What would you play after 38...Kc7?

Question 5:  What would you play after 51...Re2?

Question 6:  What would you play after 61...a3?

I won a couple other games in Montreal, but this is probably the one I'm most proud of since it was a real slugfest. Tiviakov also became the highest-rated scalp I've collected in a rated game - I've beaten Nakamura a couple times in USCL play at slow time controls, but those aren't FIDE rated games.