Running Update

That is such a funny title as my running update is basically that I haven't done any for a couple of months! The last time I was running was in early December, then I traveled to England where friend and family commitments got in the way. When I came back to Australia I was initially jetlagged, and then came down with a heavy cold where I found it hard to breathe. That's been gone for about a week or a little longer, so there is no excuse but to start the exercise regime again. And there is no better motivation than a set goal (but more on that later!).

When I was last regularly running I was working out for up to 1 hour 30 minutes and going distances up to 15km. I was running 3 or 4 times a week averaging about 5.30-5.45 minutes per km. I was never too much concerned about pace, but distance is my main goal, and I would dearly like to run a half marathon (21km). Today, I went out for the first time in 2 months, ran about 3km (and that was exhausting) for a 20 minute workout which was made easier because I stopped to take a phone call after about 2km! Like all people who have lost fitness will know, when getting back to it, it is always the first week that is the hardest to get through. There is a mental hurdle to overcome just to get out, and then the disappointment with realising just how unfit you've become. After the first few sessions expect some aches because they will come! But of course it is not all bad. Once begun improvement comes quickly as you find a routine and progress to greater workouts.

The Train also races!

To be honest I had been putting this awful day of pain off. I knew it would be tough and had made excuse after excuse not to work out. But this changed today when I received an email from the Puffing Billy Railway notifying me of their 2013 edition. Last year I ran the race, and I have set myself the goal of running it again this year. In fact I just entered before starting this blog post. The race is just over 13km and there are a couple of painful hills, but there is also some beautiful countryside through the Dandenong Ranges and the fact that you are not only running with/against other people, but also against the steam engine Puffing Billy itself! Having entered the race, I now have to sit down and write a plan of how I will get myself into shape to actually run over 13km. I have just under 3 months to do this as the race is on May 5th. This week I have set the target of 3 running workouts with an aim of being able to walk at the end of the week. Next week I'll start building on this, but the progress will be careful to start with as the last thing I want to do is overtrain and cause an injury.

Me before the 2012 Puffing Billy Run

MCC Championship round 3

There are now only 2 players on 3/3 in the MCC Championship out of the 38 players. Ari Dale beat Chris Wallis, while Guy West won against Dusan Stojic. Last year Guy and Dusan dominated the club tournaments they competed in, and their individual encounters proved fascinating. Their game last night was another fascinating battle, and we outside the club were lucky that MCC provided live coverage. In fact, the MCC are putting in a big effort to improve the image of the website which has a combination of club information and multimedia presentations. It is both educational and entertaining. Paul Cavezza seems to be the driving force behind the MCC website, while Kerry Stead, the arbiter for the current tournament, also provides round by round reports. While Dale and West lead the event, it is still early days and any good run from virtually anyone in the tournament will move them up to the head of the field. Of course, if they get there Guy and Ari will be waiting.

While Guy's pedigree is well known, Ari is still a fairly new commodity. In fact Ari's progress has been so fast that it only feels like yesterday that he was a 1500 little kid! Now he is pushing FM level after a great tour of Europe including successful performances in the London Chess Classic, Prague Open (5.5/9 including a draw with IM Bejtovic) and Wijk aan Zee (8/9 in his section). With all that experience, and no doubt the coaching, I have a feeling this could be Ari's breakthrough year in Australia. The first litmus test will definitely be his match up with Guy next week.

I always like to point to the upsets of the week, but there were none really to mention. Alex Kaplan managed his second draw of the tournament with stronger opposition. In the first round, Alex drew with Laurent Michaille and this round he drew with Jim Papadinis. But I think the biggest upset of this round was the club itself. I wasn't there, but I know from experience how hot the club rooms can get during a hot spell. There is no air con in the building, and the club is really in no position financially to install it. So for a few weeks the players have to endure incredibly hot and stuffy conditions, and last night was one of those weeks. The usual arguments then arise. When will the club be able to install aircon? Wouldn't it be better to sell the ramshackle old building and relocate?  There is something to be said for both of these ideas, but neither will be happening so I won't waste my fingers in this post.

Watching the Stojic-West game live was intriguing. These 2 have played a number of critical games over the past 12 months so are well aware of each other's styles. To me it was fascinating watching the duel that swung one way, then another.

The first interesting moment. Guy as black has been angling towards a Hedgehog structure and I expected black to play 8..Be7 or 8..a6. Instead Guy closed the centre with 8..e5. At the time I thought this would suit Dusan's style, but both players have proved themselves quite universal in their ability to play various styles. (By the way, 8..e5 is the top move according to Stockfish!)

This was the next critical position. Guy blundered with 22..Ba6? (22..Nb6) and Dusan wasted little time with 23.Ng6!. The knight can't be taken (23..hxg6 24.fxg6 and white will play Qh4-h7 unless black sacs his queen) so essentially white has won an exchange. Now I'm not sure how long Dusan had taken to get to this position (or whether he relaxed somewhat, though I doubt that) but his game started to go downhill.

While watching I thought 27.Ba5 was an obvious try here (Stockfish also likes 27.Rc3, lifting the rook enabling Rac1 and Ra3 driving black's queenside back.). Dusan played 27.a4 which I didn't really get.

Here Dusan missed an outright win. As white he played 39.Ra8, while 39.Rd8 was very strong. There is no good way for black to defend his d-pawn, as 39..Rxd5 fails to 40.Rd7+ Kh8 41.Qb3 with mate threats linked with attacks on d5 and a7. After 39.Ra8 black defended with 39..Qf7and Dusan immediately blundered with 40.Rb1 allowing black to play 41.Bc4 and win the d-pawn. Black's central mass of pawns proved too much for Dusan to handle, and Guy won a great fighting game!

Reporting Hearsay

We all hear people say things, and often conversations then become forgotten. Well, I've heard a few people say a few things that I'm going to record here, so I don't forget them. I will not incriminate anyone by mentioning names, so don't bother asking!

1. Multiple people have asked me recently why don't I write a book about chess? Well, I would love to write a book about absolutely anything but the main reason for not doing so is that I have nothing specific to write about. Ok, I can write some blog posts here, but that's hardly the same as writing a book. Put into chess terms, I can't think of anything in particular that I am so inspired by that I would even attempt to write a book about. I've started reviewing some books and seen the trouble that top players have and if I was to write something I'd like it to be good and worthwhile. So in short, if I think of something to write about, then I'll go straight ahead and start writing a book. In fact, any suggestions would be seriously considered, so tell me what you'd like me to write a book about!

2. Why do IM's and GM's get everything for free when I have to pay? A student asked me that, though it's a question I've heard of a few times over the years. Actually it's a pretty difficult one to answer. My answer was that it was something that was earned by the player who had excelled in their chosen field, and tournament organisers want those strong players to play, so offer them that gratuity. I had to cover a laugh when I was told that some masters are crap, so why should they get free entry?

Apart form this amusing anecdote this is an interesting topic. Should GM's and IM's get free entry into events? To be honest I've never really had a problem with it. I have always been happy to pay entry into events which I don't expect to win and I always felt that the masters had earned the right to free entry. It means on those few occasions when I beat them it makes it that much sweeter. But there does seem some inconsistency. I mean, there are some very strong players without the master title, and FM's are pretty good players too, many of whom out rate masters who may have lost some strength. As an example, Australian Open champion Bobby Cheng is an FM with a FIDE rating of 2425. He would still have to pay entry fees to tournaments that a great number of masters who are rated below him would get in for free. I think it's time to change things and perhaps just give a rating limit for free entry. If you're above it, then you're in for free, if not you pay. Not only would this be fair to strong players without titles, but it would give masters that incentive to maintain their strength.

3. Are you really going to give up FIDE rated chess? A pretty easy one to answer really. Yes! After my blog post of February 4th quite a few people have expressed outrage, disbelief or sadness on my behalf, but most don't think it will be 'the end of my FIDE playing days'. Subsequent to this post, FIDE backed down on their proposed licensing laws. But is this the end of FIDE's continual ruination of our game? I doubt it very much. Our beloved leader has announced his desire to launch a world chess party, initially in Russia, but eventually a worldwide phenomenon. Sorry, but I'm not going to be a part of this new party. I love chess as a game and an intellectual pursuit, I'm not evangelical about it (though I can talk chess with the best of them, though i prefer preaching to the converted), and I don't feel the need to politicise it.

And I don't think we've seen the last of the licensing scheme. FIDE cancelled their proposed licensing scheme, but new proposals will be drawn up and presented to the next General Assembly. So this means we have a reprieve, and perhaps a watered down proposal will initially be pushed through, but it seems clearly obvious the direction that the current FIDE leadership want to take chess down. It's a direction I don't much care for so I'm abandoning ship now.

So, you all now know that when you say things to me, nothing is sacred! At this rate, I'll be turning into a journalist!

Viva Italia!

One of the wonderful things about living in Melbourne is the multiculturalism. I love the various nationality festivals, the suburbs which have developed national identities, and the great restaurants, cafes, bars and stores which bring another part of the world to this great cosmopolitan city. This weekend has been quite Italian for me. My wife, Caroline, and I went for a meal in Carlton's Lygon, Street. We went to a restaurant just off Lygon Street called Cafe Italia, where we both had a beautiful gnocchi meal which took me back to my visits to Tuscany. Both Caroline and I fell in love with the region when we traveled there a couple of times 10-15 years ago. The pace, the history, the surroundings, and the wonderful fresh food! These were things we reminisced about while having our meal. It's funny what you remember. She vividly recalled conversations she had with a waitress in Florence who had enjoyed our attempts at speaking Italian and sat with Caroline for a while to teach her more. I remember sounds. The sounds of the church near Castelfranco di Sopra ringing Ave Maria in the evenings; the sounds of wild boar snuffling for plums outside the farmhouse we stayed at, the sounds of laughter at bars, and the sounds of demonstrative drivers!

An aid to reminiscences

Of course we both remembered the flavours. There are the breads, the tomatoes, the cheeses, the wines, the prosciutto and other meats (I ate wild boar at a Trattoria in the Tuscan countryside). The gnocchi we had at Cafe Italia was great, soft potato with a rich tomato Napoli sauce and cherry tomatoes halved and tossed into the mix. To be honest, I'd had the same meal there before, and it was also great then. Tonight we kept on the Italian theme by having a pizza. Now I don't really do pizza, but we were with our friends Nick and Zoe and we all decided to head to Port Melbourne to try Caroline's recommendation of Mojo's Weird Pizza. The menu offered your usual types of pizza such as margherita, hawaiian etc. But then you get some interesting specialities as well. For instance I shared a "prickly pear" with Zoe which had prosciutto, caramelised onions, fetta, cheese and pear. I know it sounds strange, but it was unbelievably nice.

Best pizzas in town?

Now I don't know if it's true, but I remember reading somewhere that pizza was actually invented in New York, not Italy. Ok, it was invented by the Italian expatriate community in New York, but nevertheless, this dish which we associate with Italy is in fact an American export. The same can be said for Italy's number 1 chess player at the moment, Fabiano Caruana. Caruana was born in Florida and grew up in America, mainly in New York. Caruana is a duel citizen of Italy and the USA, but has represented Italy for the majority of his career. At only 20 years of age, he is currently ranked number 13 in the world, but had reached an amazing 5th spot in the January 2013 ratings list. Caruana will miss out on the Candidates tournament next month but will surely be a feature of top class chess for many years to come. He is currently competing with World Champion Anand and 4 others at a tournament in Baden Baden Germany. After 8/10 rounds Caruana is a point clear of the World Champion who is half a point ahead of the next challenger Arkady Naiditsch of Germany. Naiditsch has played perhaps the most interesting chess of the tournament and be said to be a little unlucky, having had 2 winning positions against Caruana but losing both of them.

This was Caruana-Naiditsch from round 3. Black could have won material and the game with 32..Qxg3 hitting the rook on e1, 33.Rxe2 taking advantage of the pin on black's bishop on f3, 33..Qg6 34.Bd3 Qh5 and white has an exchange threatened on e2 and a knight threatened on d5. Unfortunately, Naiditsch played 32..Qg2 and after 33.Nd4 he decided to give back the exchange by 33..Rxc4 but resigned only 5 moves later!

Yesterday the 2 met again and a similar fate occurred. Naiditsch developed a winning advantage but couldn't find those final moves, eventually going on to lose.

This time, Naiditsch was white and he missed 25.Rd1 where white has both his knights en prise, but taking either leads to disaster.

a) 25..Kxh6 26.Rd7! cutting the king's retreat 26..g5 preventing Qh5, 27.Nf5+ Kh5 28.Rg7! Rg8 29.Rg1 Rxg7 

And now the wonderful 30.Qh4+!! wins the game. 30..Kg6 (30..gxh4 31.Nxg7+ Kh6 32.Bf4#) 31.Rxg5+ with a forced mate in 10!

b) 25..Bxe3 26.Rd7+ Kxh6 (26..Kh8 loses to 27.Ng4)

and now it's mate in 2 with 27.Qh4+ Nh5 28.Bg7#

Now some would say that Caruana has been lucky, but I'm a bit more sympathetic. What makes a good player great is finding moves when the position is difficult, continuing to offer your opponent every chance of going wrong and then taking the opportunity to you when it's presented. We can all well play in good positions, but not many of us can play well in bad positions. It's great to see Caruana representing Italy as it gives us a more international feel at the top of the chess ladder and that can only be a good thing. And apart from that, Italy is an amazing country which I truly love visiting and I have absolutely no problem with an Italian player vying for top spots in international elite events!

Let's talk about Love

Well it is Valentine's Day! That amazing day when we celebrate being in love, or wanting to be in love. Contrary to popular belief, Valentine's Day was not invented by a florist, chocolatier, or a card maker. Much like other religious festivals, Valentine's Day has become commercialised, though this is not a particularly recent thing. The sending of Valentine's dates back probably to the 1300's.

St Valentine (Bassano)

The Christian calendar is made up of a number of festivals and feast days of saints. Some are more commonly known than others, others haven't a fixed date each year, and some days celebrate more than one saint. St Valentine's is annually celebrated on 14th February. At least that is the date for the Western branch of the Christian Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates Valentine's on 6th July. It's bizarre that the same religion should have denominations which can't agree on specific dates to celebrate their martyrs or even important festivals. You'd have thought an issue such as the resurrection would bind all Christians together, but in 2013 Easter Sunday is March 31st in the west, and Sunday May 5th in the east

Frank Dicksee's Pre Raphaelite classic, Belle Dame Sans Merci

Anyway, I'm not going to get into a religion bashing post. I'm actually interested in the history of Valentine's Day, the Western version celebrated on 14th February. There is quite some information on him, and due to excavations in Rome which have unearthed a catacomb and a Church dedicated to him, it is assumed that he was a real person. Valentine was sainted and given his feast day of February 14th as that was the day he was allegedly killed. He is supposed to have cured his jailor's daughter of blindness, and on the eve of his execution, wrote her a letter signed, "From Your Valentine".  Valentine may have been a Priest who performed illegal Christian weddings in pre Christian Rome, which would explain why he was in prison. This isn't the whole story, but it's pretty romantic so I guess it fits the bill.

So he was martyred on 14th February 269 AD in Rome. He is the patron saint of betrothed couples, but so much more. Valentine is also patron saint of bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers and young people. Quite a diverse patronage! But then again, "Love is a many splendored thing"!

Shakespeare's Star Cross'd Lovers, Romeo and Juliet

Happy Valentine's to you all whether you are seeking love, are with you absolute soul mate, or anywhere between.

Melbourne Chess Club Championship

It was good to see a few more players enter the Melbourne Chess Club (MCC) championship bringing the number up to 39. This is still a bit disappointing compared to last year's total of 46, let alone the heady numbers of 2011 when we had around 60. Compared to other clubs it is also not a good sign. Currently Box Hill Chess Club and Noble Park Chess Club have FIDE rated tournaments running. Box Hill have a very respectable 64 players in their Autumn Cup, while Noble Park have 47 players for their Club Championship which is about a 10 player increase over last year. Should this be a worry for the MCC committee? I certainly think they should be asking why numbers are dropping for the club's flagship event. It may be unrealistic to maintain numbers in the 60's (though it may not), but I would have thought a field of at least 40 should be the yearly target.

The committee should not be too concerned over the quality of the field. 13 of the 39 players are rated above 2000 FIDE which means it is going to be a strong performance by anyone to win the championship. There is a live game being transmitted each week and yesterday was a great fight between IM Guy West and  David Beaumont. David played a Sicilian but Guy didn't go into the Open systems. Guy had to use all his strategic skill to aim at weaknesses in David's position. In the end David couldn't hold out, and Guy took the full point. Guy is joined on 2/2 by FM Chris Wallis, FM Dusan Stojic, Ari Dale, and Justin Penrose who took the scalp of IM Mirko Rujevic. Justin played the Centre Game and he and Mirko played an absolutely wild game which can be found on arbiter Kerry Stead's blog.

Paul Kovacevic followed up on his excellent win last week with a draw with ex club champion Malcolm Pyke. These 2 are half  point behind the leaders where they are joined by FM Dragicevic, Urban, Michaille, and Drew. Of course there is a long way to go, but it is always good to have points in the bag. Next week is teh last chance for late entries, so hopefully someone will enter and bring the total to 40 which would seem the minimum for respectability. I had intended to go to the club this week but events were against me. I will do my best to visit the champs next week.

How Amazing is Social Media?

So, I'm a bit of a technophobe, and fairly reluctant to try new gadgets, but I have to say that I'm completely blown away recently by the power of the internet. I'm currently following live feeds on Twitter and the BBC news site over the shock announcement that the Pope is to resign. Now as a non Catholic, I'm not going to make comment on this turn of events, but it is a momentous piece of news. In fact Pope Benedict will be the first Pope to resign in office since Gregory XII in 1415. I am now an avid follower of Twitter, and when I'm online I will have a tab with it running while I do other things. Besides following various chess tweeters, and some authors and book sites, it is the news that mainly interests me, and I find the BBC coverage usually very good. I always have an alternative site news running so as to get a second opinion, though this second site changes. Currently I am following Sky News, but I think I'll change soon.

My main point of contact with others online is through Facebook, and I've found it an invaluable tool for following the progress of my family back in the UK, and for promoting chess and this blog. I must admit that I'm not too bothered about the number of 'friends' I have, or interests I follow. I guess we all use these social media tools for our own ends.

But personally I find the most useful thing about the internet is the way it has made following chess so easy. There are some sites which I regularly follow and have done for a very long time. Top of the list are my favourite 2 sites, The Week in Chess (TWIC) and the Chess Cafe. TWIC is a chess news site while Chess Cafe offers regular articles on all aspects of the game. I use TWIC as my main portal for watching live games. On the site there is a live chess game page, and links to other live games happening around the world.  In fact, watching live games online is one of my favourite chess activities. My local chess club, the Melbourne Chess Club (MCC) has a digital board and I've been watching a game tonight which has been broadcast live. I see the game has just finished but I'm guessing the result has been put in wrong, as it looks as if white has forced mate rather than the game being a draw.

I also like to follow blogs. Some I have been looking at for a long time, while I like to try new ones out for a bit. My blogroll to the right of the page shows blogs I follow as do the links underneath. Some of these are updated more often than others and I've found a few more to follow. Kevin Spraggett's blog is excellent for chess. Spraggett is a Canadian GM and his chess posts are great reading material whether they are about parts of the game itself, or commentary about chess politics or culture. I also want to follow Denis Monokrousos' site as that also has a great deal of chess content. I'll be adding these 2 sites to the blogroll and following them for the next couple of months, at least until the end of the London Candidates.