Samsonov style

Shripathi ramakrishnan Asked 9 years ago

Hi Alois and Jeff!

I've started watching Vladimir Samsonov play a lot more now, and i stay amazed each time. His tactical play close to and far off the table are astounding and he always seems to do with minimal effort.

In this match against Xu Xin though, he seemed to put him under all sorts of pressure, almost as if he cut Xu Xin down to size by not letting him play that fast forehand he always does. Was there something wrong with Xu Xin in that match, or was it Samsonov's game? if so, what was it?

I really look forward to the answer :D

thank you!

Alois Rosario Answered 9 years ago

Hi Shripathi,

I think he played him tactically really well by getting him to move wide to his forehand side a lot which then exposes his backhand side.

Of course Xu Xin has extremely good footwork, but on this occasion, Samsonov was able to expose the limitation in his game, his backhand.