After a disappointing but instructional VA Chess Championship result in September, (1-5) Nitin Kanuri has bounced back to win 8 in a row. It happens a lot that players do not realize how strong they are or just how many opportunities they are actually missing! By keeping accurate score sheets and reviewing the games, we were able to eliminate 2 problems with Nitin’s play. The time control for the state Championship was 30 moves in 90 minutes then add an hour for sudden death. Nitin was the 1st or 2nd person to finish his game each round. He was moving way too fast!! 1.) He doesn’t move fast anymore. Nitin would play timidly and cowardly when his opponent was rated higher than him. He thought that it meant he shouldn’t be able to see the mistakes they make so why look!? 2.) Nitin isn’t afraid of higher rated players anymore! Look at these 3 instructive examples from the VA State Championship.

This is his round 1 game. Nitin has white. His Rating is 812. The person with the black pieces is rated 1500.
1.Nf3 d5 2.c3 Nc6 3.d3 Nf6 4.Qc2 Bf5 5.Nbd2 e5 6.e4 dxe4 7.dxe4 Bg6 8.Be2 Bc5 9.Ng5?! h6 10.Ngf3 Ng4 11.O-O Nitin has a slight advantage in this position. He was so upset for having moved the knight forward, and then having to move it back, that he thought white was loosing.

This is his round 2 game. Nitin has black. His opponent is rated 1200.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.h3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 h6 6.d3 Be7 7.Be3 c6 8.Qd2 Qc7 9.O-O-O a5 10.g4?? g5?? Here Nitin passes up the opportunity to win whites Bishop. 10. … b5!! 11. Nb5 cb 12. Bb5 and black has won a piece for 2 pawns. 11. Bb5 cb 12. Nb5 and black has won a piece for 2 pawns. If the Bishop retreats 11. Bb3 a4 and now white will only get 1 pawn for the piece!

This is Nitin’s 3rd round game. Nitin has white. His opponent is rated 1500.
1.Nf3 d5 2.c3 Nc6 3.d3 e5 4.Qc2 Nf6 5.Nbd2 Bc5 6.h3 O-O 7.e4 Re8 8.Be2 d4 9.O-O Be6 10.Re1 h6 11.Nf1 Nh5 12.N3h2 Nf4 13.Ng3 Qd7 14.h4 dxc3 15.bxc3 Bh3?? 16.Bf1??(After 16. Bf4! ef 17. Nh5 white is clearly winning) Be6? 17. Bd2?? after (17. d4!! The pawn on e5 is over loaded and cannot take the pawn! If the bishop does move away, then 18. d5!! forks the knight and bishop on e6 and c6).

Over the last 8 wins he has come out of the tournament hall at a reasonable pace. If you ask Nitin what is the difference he will tell you that he is taking his time instead of rushing. The other thing he will tell you is that he is not afraid of people’s ratings anymore because he’s taking enough time to catch their mistakes. What a difference!

If you want to win, you must record your games and you must learn from them through analysis. Do that, and you can be a Nitin too!
Great Job Nitin Kanuri! 248 points in 8 games, 4-0 two events in a row, keep up the good work!