The prize fund for the tournament has been announced as:
1st $400
2nd $250
3rd $150
4th $100
5th $80
There are also 2 rating groups with prizes of $100 for first and $70 for second, as well as junior and senior prizes.
Counter Gambits!!!
We got a couple of interesting games already. Kevin brown has tried the Budapest and Dragicevic has gone for the Latvian against Zelesco!
1 hour update:
Imminent victories seem on the cards for Roger Beattie, Sarah Anton and Jack Puccini. I will try to get Roger's game as it looks like a nice attack. A few players a re a pawn ahead: Kovacevic against Wyss (but the game is a mess), Palma against Brown (and looking good), and Hain against Chmiel (looks like a pawn for nothing). On the top boards in the back room, James Morris and Malcolm Pyke are playing out a French where black has taken on e4 and then played c5, opening the centre a bit more. Personally, I like white a bit better, but I am not much of a fan of the French! Mirko is trying his luck down the king side in a King's Indian, but Ari looks to have things in control....for now. The game Zelesco-Dragicevic has moved on a little. Eddy Levi is pressing on the white side of the Pirc against Richard McCart. The next few moves will tell.
On board 3, David Garner has taken a big initiative on the queen side against David Beaumont's King's Indian. David doesn't look to have created enough king side play. Shane Lawson has foregone castling to launch an attack on the h-file against a fianchetto. If it works I'll try to get the game. And another update on the Lycett-Tan game sees Justin consolidate his advantage.
On board 1, the game has come down to an endgame. Clocks are White: 1.15, Black: 48
Justin Tan w3as able to convert against Gary Lycett.
2 Hours down:
Unless I'm hallucinating, Eddy Levi looks to be a queen for a knight up. Mirko is a pawn up and is pressing against Ari Dale. David Beaumont is fighting valiantly to hold on to his d6 pawn. Unfortunately, this means his usual king side activity has stalled a bit. On the top board, I just heard a big sigh from James Morris, who has looked very relaxed all evening. I'm not sure that he's better any more in his game against Malcolm:
In answer to Kai Tan's question, Karl is a pawn up, but the position is anything but clear!
And finally, the game between Kovacevic and Wyss has reduced to this position with white to move. I don't know much about these types of positions, but having the move is pretty crucial
A couple of games have finished in the top room. Mirko powered a typical King's Indian performance, while Karl Zelesco found the defence too hard against Dragicevic's unorthodox opening.
Perhaps the biggest upset of the night has just been reported with Anthony Hain taking out experienced campaigner Rad Chmiel! And again, we get the issue of time trouble looming as Paul Cavezza took almost all his time for his first 20 moves and found himself in time trouble just as the middlegame was getting really interesting. Kerry Stead took advantage of this factor, which is an issue that a number of players will need to look at in their games.
10.30pm
The MCC welcomes back Phillip Drew, who looks as if he's going to be playing some chess here again. The more the merrier! There are only 4 games left, including an ending on the top board where James has a rook and 2 passed pawns against Malcolm's Rook and 1 passed pawn. Unfortunately for Malcolm, his passed pawn isn't advanced enough to cause trouble. James looks as if he's going into the week off with a perfect 6/6.
Garner and Beaumont have had an amazing fight, and it finally looks as if David's king side counterplay is happening. He has defended excellently, frustrating his opponent and is coming into the best form I've seen him in in the past 5 years.
Our American visitor Ganesh Krishnan wins a nice game as I speak and the only other game is that between Lawson and Durani which is down to less than 5 minutes each and in the middle of a complex position. Abdullah has defended excellently and Shane is struggling to find the killing blow.
James Morris wins as I am writing.
Thanks Carl! Very nice to have updates from home! Any position in Domagoj-Karl? Kai
ReplyDeleteWell done to James - 6 out of 6; can he be caught or, on the other hand, achieve a picket fence? Either way, he's in great form.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know more about Domagoj's win - to my eyes his position look suspicious 13...Kd8. Without doing any more than glancing analysis, Karl went wrong with 14.0-0 and 15.g4, castling into fire, then weakening his king. My initial inclination would be to play something like 14.Qf3, encouraging an exchange of queens and castling Q-side. Was Karl in time pressure?
can we get a position from cavezza - stead?
ReplyDeleteDomagoj admitted after the game that his opening was nothing to write home about. It did catch Karl out of his comfort zone though, so it worked.
ReplyDeleteI will see if I can get Paul Cavezza's game, and will post it later this week with some others that I have. On the night, there is only so much time for me to compile information, post it, and act as tournament arbiter, analyse post mortem's, act as an MCC duty officer and any other admin work I should be doing.