Author: Matthew Sadler

June 3, 2025 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

This was one of the round 8 games from the 3rd Cambridge International which attracted a lot of attention together with a sizeable crowd that had gathered in the commentary room! Wells,Peter K (2350) – Bosiocic,Marin (2511) [E06] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O…

June 2, 2025 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

This next game from round 9 of the Cambridge International featured one of my unusual engine ideas, a surprising exchange of minor pieces and a virulent attack along the g-file! Camacho Collados,Marcos (2462) – Sowray,Peter J (2219) [B09] 1. d4 d6 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. f4 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Qd2…

June 1, 2025 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

A recent trip to the Cambridge International Open (https://lichess.org/broadcast/3rd-cambridge-international-2025/round-6/Wa4LxDIM) to do some commentary together with Natasha Regan (recordings are here for the next 2 weeks: https://www.twitch.tv/wim_natasharegan) reminded me how much fun commentating is and how nice it is to walk around the tournament hall and watch some games. One game that couldn’t fail to catch…

June 1, 2025 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

In my last blog post, we cast our minds into the nightmare of endgames future and saw some evidence that we need to play decisively as Black in the middlegame and not allow ourselves to drift into a passive situation. Just in case we still aren’t totally convinced, it’s also instructive to look at the…

May 26, 2025 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

This blog post continues my slight obsession with the intricacies of the …c4 move in a Trompovsky / Torre Attack structure. This time we focus on one of the engine’s best lines for Black: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.Nd2 Nbd7 4.Ngf3 h6 5.Bh4 e6 6.e3 c5 7.Bd3 Be7 8.c3 0–0 9.0–0 and now instead of…