MCC Open Round 2

I often ask the kids that I coach what they think is the most important tournament. I inevitably get answers like the World Championship, or the Olympiad, or even the latest super-GM event. I tell them that the most important tournament is the one you are in. So while it is natural to get excited and follow something like the World Cup of chess with Magnus Carlsen and all the rest of the world's elite, that still shouldn't mean as much to each player as the tournament they are playing in. I'll admit that I get more of a buzz being in a chess club watching live chess, than viewing it on my laptop as it is broadcast from across the globe.

And with that intro, we enter the second round of the MCC Open. There have been a few late entries and the field now sits in the mid 40's for size. The tournament is wide open after top seed, Thai Ly lost last week. Today should see a settling of the field. Top board is Dizdarevic-Papadinis, but Jim Papadinis hadn't showed with 10 minutes left on his clock.

8.15 Update

An hour down....yes, we started on time tonight. The first winner is Mehmedalija Dizdarevic who moves on to 2/2 after Jim Papadinis didn't show. There are some exciting games happening,though. Tom Kalisch has tried the King's Gambit against Sally Yu who has taken. A bizarre position sits on the board at the moment. David Lacey is going for a big king side attack as black in a Dutch against Richard Voon. Thai Ly also has a promising king side attack against Sophie Chang, who has had a remarkably tough start to this event after playing so well against Tom Kalisch last week, but losing in the end. I'll go get a position or 2...

David Lacey as black just played ..Nxf4. Richard Voon replied Ne4 almost immediately.

This is the top game in progress, Kalisch-Yu which arose from some weird Bishop's Gambit.

9.00 Update

There are some crazy time differences on some boards. Here are some examples of time left:

Kalisch 53 Yu 39
Gusain 62 Fry 37
Voon 76 Lacey 24
Harris 62 Li 34 (and Oliver Li has gone walkabout)
Culbert 70 Snow 28
Ragavendran 27 Ashlock 67.

I don't know why players are taking so much time, but they will need to look at their confidence and decision making skills.

Ben Frayle finds himself a rook up, but somewhat tied up by an advanced passed pawn and an excellently placed king by Kerry Hopkins.

An interesting endgame. Colin Savage has an extra pawn, but will the opposite coloured bishops help Kevin Liu?

Club President Elizabeth Warren is putting up a very good fight against Roger Beattie. Elizabeth is just a pawn down, though the connected passed queen side pawns will probably give Roger the win.

Meanwhile, the giant killer from the last round, Alex Jones is playing another solid game against Sushant Manuja who had an excellent performance in the previous tournament, the Malitis Memorial.

9.45 Update

The Ben Frayle-Kerry Hopkins game is reducing to a pawn endgame. Who fancies some calculation training?

I guess Black must play ..Kc2 when white should move his rook forcing black to promote, but who is quickest after d1=Q Rxd1 Kxd1? Actually, the game continued 47..Kc2 48.Ke2 and black has won the a-pawn and should win the game! What a turn around from being a rook down!

Kalisch-Yu is still in this complicated position with clock times 29-22. I don't know if I prefer white's bishops or the better black structure. I think a knight swing from c6-e7-g6 could make white concerned about those offside king side pieces. But it is white to play...

Manuja-Jones, and I think black is ok!

10.00 Update

It is time for me to go home. My predictions? Carlsen will progress to the second round....

Kalisch-Yu too close to call. I'm beginning to like white
Harris-Li Unclear with Anthony bishop and pawn for a rook, and Oliver down to 9 minutes left
Gusain-Fry Looks like Daniel has this one dead to rights
Anton-Watson Sarah looks to be in control
Manuja-Jones I'm going with another giant killing here, black is ok
Hooi-Nordruft Black is material up and should win

Finally, the Frayle-Hopkins game ended in a draw! Black did win white's a-pawn, but instead of then swinging his king to the king side to pick off white's pawns, he got himself stalemated trying to promote his own a-pawn! Moral of the story: Work on your endgames!

I would verymuch like to see the full games of Kalisch-Yu, Harris-Li and Anton-Watson as they all were very interesting. I'll see about getting them off the players :)

Goodnight!

MCC Open

I am sitting in the MCC as the roll call of the MCC Open tournament is happening. Unfortunately I can't play because I'll be in England for 3 or 4 weeks of the competition, but while I can, I will blog about the event. A field of 41 players have entered so far with Thai Ly the top seed. I t is a very open field and I'm sure there are quite a few players who feel they have a chance of doing well.

L-R Thai Ly, Simon Dale (Chief Arbiter), Elizabeth Warren (MCC President)

A well attended playing venue for the current Monday night event, the MCC Open

8.00 Update

The tournament started fashionably late at about 7.30 so we've had about half an hour of play and there are already some interesting positions on the board.

Any ideas what the result of this one will be? This is from James Watson-Ben Frayle, and it the type of position I'd hate to be in for either side! Meanwhile, we have Tom Kalisch having to defend against the Morra Gambit of young Sophie Chang. Board 1 sees Thai Ly having to play against Alex Jones, so it is a very competitive first round already, and I'd be surprised if all the games went the way of rating tonight. Perhaps the most interesting pairing is the junior battle between Gavyn Sanusi Goh and Daniel Gusain, both vastly improving players.

8.30 Update

Still no winner yet which is good for a first round. Time to catch up on some returning players. It is good to see MCC stalwarts Felix Wyss and John Beckman returning after periods of absence. Scott Stewart is also playing again, and walking around shaking his head, murmuring "Rusty....rusty". Well Scott, the good news is that the rust wears off pretty quickly, and his opponent, John Beckman, hasn't played much in the last 6 months either!

Perhaps the most pleasing returner is Sally Yu who finds the Monday night at MCC the most convenient for her. Hopefully, she will make a full return and fight for the women's Olympiad spot that she previously held. Sally is the second seed here at the MCC Open.

John Beckman returns to the MCC after 6 months off

Sally Yu makes a welcome return to the game

On the boards, the biggest upset is Tom Kalisch who appears to be an exchange down to Sophie Chang! Sally Yu is showing signs of rustiness. She is half an hour down on the clock. Thai Ly is black against an IQP type position which looks promising for white to me, though I've recently been looking at dynamics in chess so I guess it would appeal! But the big news is a piece sacrifice by Jim Papadinis (usually a safe stodger!) against young Jacob Day. Is it good enough?

White to play. Papadinis-Day

9.00 Update

The MCC is trying to secure its FIDE rated future with new arbiters. Congratulations to Giles Lean and Hans Gao for becoming National Arbiters so that FIDE rated chess will be able to continue at the MCC. This is something I'd like to do as well, but unfortunately the last course clashed with the Victorian Championship which I was playing in.

Newly minted arbiter, Hans Gao who is assistant for the MCC Open

There still isn't a winner, but a few are close. Sarah Anton is a piece ahead of young Emma Chang. Jim Papadinis is now an exchange up against Jacob Day, while James Watson is a piece up against Ben Frayle but with his king still in the centre. One of the returners, Felix Wyss, has a tough challenge against an in-form David Lacey. David played excellently in the recently finished Malitis Memorial finishing equal first with me, but he was really the pyrrhic victor of the event and should be carrying some confidence into this tournament.

No endgames yet :(

9.30 Update

Thai Ly has sunk into deep thought against Alex Jones. Thai took a piece, but his queen has become a little open and his position is looking difficult.

Thai Ly as black taking a long time over this move.

I take back that Jim Papdinis is an exchange up, he is a rook and pawn for 2 pieces. Oliver Li is an amazing talent. I am thankful that I have avoided him in the draw throughout the year, especially after he drew with FM Greg Canfell in the MCC Championship back in February. Oliver is a piece up and looking uninterested like a GM rather than a 10 year old!

We have the first winner of the night. James Watson won a crazy game against Ben Frayle. The diagram position from earlier is well worth looking at, it has loads of possibilities.

10.00 Update

Tonight, this is the last update, as I feel crap and need to sleep! Tom Kalisch now has 2 pawns for the exchange against Sophie Chang and the game is in the balance. A big upset is on the cards though as Richard Snow has a rook and 3 pawns against Richard Voon's knight and 5 pawns. I think the rook is in very good shape, but we'll see how both players finish this off.

Can Richard Snow as white cause an upset?

 The slowest players in the hall? Sally Yu is down to 17 minutes, while Gavyn Sanusi Goh has only 13 minutes left. There opponent's are about an hour left on the clock!

No upsets yet, but I have my hopes :)

Next week I'll be here to the end....unless I'm still sick! Hopefully a few more players enter the event. It would be good to get the numbers up toward 50.

Writer's Block

I apologise for not updating this blog recently. Since coming back from my roadtrip to the USA I've had a lethargy, a kind of post-holiday blues. The whole experience was so amazing that I've found it difficult to readjust to everyday life. However, I think I'm finally getting there and with under a week before the World Chess Championship it's none too soon. But I've also decided that this blog will not be as concentrated on chess as it has been. It's still going to have a fair deal of chess content, and there'll still be a heavy emphasis on the local scene in Melbourne and Australia. But chess isn't everything, and I thoroughly enjoyed relating my travels in the USA, so expect more non chess posts from now on. Though maybe chess will take centre stage during the upcoming Anand-Carlsen match.

Recently my tips have been pretty good with Svidler winning the Russian Championships, so I'll take a shot at the upcoming match. I'm going to choose Carlsen to win the match with at least a game to spare. I have nothing against either of the players, and would like to see a great competitive match, but I think that Anand will struggle to maintain his strength of play for the full match. If it is a close match, then it will be interesting to see how Carlsen copes with the nerves towards the end, and should the match be decided on tie break, then anything could happen.

As for me, I'm still defying FIDE and their events. I did wonder whether I should pay off FIDE and just start playing again, but it won't be happening this year. Without serious competition I'm a bit directionless when it comes to studying the game. It seems rather pointless to work on repertoire and technique when I'm not going to be using it anytime soon. I've hardly looked at any chess, though I have been playing a load of games on chess.com. Some of these have been in thematic tournaments, so I'll try to post some ideas from these openings in the near future.

In the meantime the Melbourne Chess Club was the last place I played and there are currently 2 big events in progress. The regular Monday night event is currently the MCC Open, and I tipped IM Mirko Rujevic to win this. Mirko then went down to Justin Penrose and it looked like my tipping curse might remain intact. However, since then Mirko has bounced back and with just one round to go, he leads David Hacche by half a point. Both have black in the final game, and Hacche's draw seems a bit tougher as he plays Penrose (half a point behind Hacche, so theoretically can still catch Mirko), while Mirko has Tom Kalisch who has had a pretty respectable event up to now. Tom sits on a group of players half a point shy of third. This long weekend sees the MCC staging their annual Cup Weekender. The 9 round swiss started Friday night and has 2 games per day over the holiday weekend including the Monday which is not officially a public holiday. This year the tournament has attracted a decent sized field with a strong top end. Among the 64 players are 5 IM's and after 5 rounds the tournament is being led by local Master James Morris on 5/5. Should he win, James will be an incredibly popular winner, but he is facing tough competition with FM's Luke Li and Bill Jordan half a point back, and IM Max Illingworth, FM Dusan Stojic, Karl Zelesco and Jack Puccini on 4/5. And with another 4 rounds still to go, players further down the field will still fancy their chances.

World's Worst Tipster

I'm so happy that I haven't lost my tipping form. As soon as I tipped Aronian to win the Sinquefield Cup and he plays a game with an unbelievable blunder for a player of his calibre. Even Aronian was amazed with how bad his move was.

This was the position last night between Nakamura and Aronian. Aronian as black has to move his queen, but chose the unfortunate 30..Qb5?? which allowed the simple refutation, 31.Qxb5 axb5 32.Nd7 where white will win an exchange as 32..Rfe8 allows the fork 33.Nf6+. The game continued for not much longer and my tip for the event was already off the pace. I suppose the good thing is that the first round of a tournament is probably the best time to lose, as you have the rest of the event to catch up. However, this is only a 6 round tournament, so Aronian will have to take some risks if he is to catch his rivals. Tonight Aronian plays Carlsen which will be an epic battle. The World number 1 already won a nice game against Kamsky in the first round, and will be looking to consolidate his position.

Meanwhile in Melbourne, the MCC started a new 9 round event last night. The MCC Open is a 9 round event played on consecutive Monday nights with a break for the long weekend at the start of November. The first round didn't see much in the way upsets. The only win against the seedings was Finlay Dale's win against Jack Puccini though when 2 young players meet it is difficult to really call things too much of an upset. I'm sure Jack will bounce back. Top seed in the 26 player field is IM Mirko Rujevic while Malcolm Pyke is second seed, just like in the last event. Mirko was almost unstoppable then, and I will tip him for this event too (sorry Mirko if my tipping curse continues). The MCC has also announced a Sunday quad event for October. I really like this idea. Groups of 4 players play a small round robin over a day, playing 3 games at a rate of about 60 minutes + 30 second increment. The games will be ACF rated and I could even be persuaded to play one of these myself. I will of course not be tipping myself as that would be tantamount to sporting suicide.

Finally, the MCC has re instituted the Endgame Group which I established a long time back. The idea was for players to come together to talk about endgames, to practice playing from endgame positions and generally to strengthen that part of their game. Older players might remember when we used to do this during adjournments, but since they no longer happen, studying endgames has fallen behind other parts of the game, such as tactics or openings, in the priorities of a modern player using modern time controls. The endgame group had a small but loyal following when I was running it, but it never really achieved what I aimed for it which was for all members to contribute material to be discussed. Perhaps I was unrealistic in thinking this could be the case, and really a group needs one or just a few to lead it. This is basically what happened. Well, though I ran the group for about 2 years, my work commitments got in the way, and I had to step aside and there was no one to take over my role and the Endgame Group fell away. Now FM Bill Jordan is running the group which started up again a few weeks ago. Bill is an excellent teacher of chess, and his knowledge of endgames is pretty good. There isn't a player in Melbourne who wouldn't gain something from these groups, and especially useful is the practical element as even if players do study endgames, there just isn't much opportunity to put these ideas into practice. MCC Endgame Group is running on Tuesday nights, and again, if I wasn't working, I'd be there. Hopefully, some of the endgames I post on this blog can make it to the endgame group to discuss.

A Chess Free Week

Earlier this year, my wife and I worked out a plan to go away for a week around the time of our anniversary. So for the past week I have been spending time on a houseboat in Mildura, travelling a few miles down the Murray river, eating, drinking and generally forgetting what living in a city is like. It was a great chance to relax and recharge. I came back to Melbourne on Saturday (via a side trip to the Grampians) and found it really hard to get going again. But of course all good things come to an end and work eventually returned. Luckily I love my work of teaching chess and was eased into it a little with a game at the Melbourne Chess Club last night.

Relaxation on the Murray River

It was the last round of the MCC Open and with 2 players on 7/8 and unable to be caught, a grandstand finish was in order. The tension in the back room of the MCC where the top 5 games of the tournament was being held was palpable. On board 1, IM Guy West was facing a well known foe in IM Mirko Rujevic, while on board 2, FM Dusan Stojic was playing David Beaumont. I didn't get to see too much of these games as I was being put under the pump by giant killer Jason Chew. Jason, however got a bit passive at some critical moments and I managed to pull through. The excitement was on the top boards, though. Guy looked to be building some pressure against a vulnerable c6 pawn in a Semi Slav/Meran type structure. And in the meantime a big crowd was building around board 2 as David Beaumont went a piece up. So it looked like Guy West was taking the tournament outright but in a huge turn around, Guy dropped a piece and Dusan  managed to work miracles in an endgame where David blundered and Dusan actually took the full point. A remarkable finish leaving Dusan first on 8/9, Guy second on 7/9 and a group of players equal third on 6.

Keeping your feet on the ground

Last night I lost my game of chess. This statement would undoubtedly bring a different intensity of emotions to different chess players. I don't expect anyone feels good after losing a game, but I've seen a range of emotions that stretch from magnanimous through to anger, tears, excuse making and ignorantly rude and I'd like to remind people that its just a game we play. Take a look at disasters such as which has just happened on the Eastern coast of North America if you want to get upset about something!

If you give everything of yourself in your game, try your hardest, and just get beaten by the better player on the day that is nothing to be upset about. Luckily I can say that this year all the games I've lost have fallen within this scenario. So, I repeat, last night I lost my game of chess. I was playing IM Guy West and took him out of any preparation on move 1 by playing 1.c4 for the first time in my life! My idea was that Guy is incredibly difficult to prepare for as he can play almost anything. So I decided to just develop, get a fairly level position and then play the game from the middlegame. I wanted to fight for space in the centre and not allow myself to get over run. I was also prepared to take risks to open lines and directly attack his king if the position arose. Well, the game went pretty much to plan, then I gave up a pawn for not quite enough. Guy defended excellently and took the full point in a nervous finale where we played the last 20 moves with less than 5 minutes each, and the final 15 moves using our 30 second increment.
After the game we had a laugh about our lack of preparation for each other, but didn't really analyse much as it was already late when we finished. Guy had been visibly nervous during the game and was visibly relieved after winning the game. It keeps his tournament alive, and he shares first place in the MCC Open with FM Dusan Stojic who beat Richard McCart. Ari Dale moved into third place outright with a win over Jim Papadinis. I didn't see much of this game, which was a bit surprising as they were playing right next to me. However, I thought Jim was an exchange up early on while Ari had a ton of play for it. Jim's body language seemed to indicate he was getting himself untangled, and then the room heard an "Oh God!" which signaled that Jim had miscalculated an exchange and had lost a piece. So Ari is a point behind the 2 leaders and I'm a further point behind in 4th place where I'm joined by Jason Chew, Peter Fry, Richard McCart, David Beaumont and IM Mirko Rujevic.

This was the end of the game between Dusan Stojic and Richard McCart (though I couldn't testify to the exact position). Dusan here played 1.f4 and Richard played 1..e5 looking to create a passed pawn in the centre. Dusan quickly shot out with 2.g5! creating an outside passed h-pawn and winning the game.

The next round is not for 2 weeks as the tournament takes a break for the Cup Weekender. In the meantime I hope Malcolm Pyke recovers as he has had to withdraw from the tournament due to illness (it seems to be that time of the year for illnesses) and that whether you win, lose or draw your next game, you give your all and enjoy your game. :)

MCC

It's an exciting time of year at my chess club, the Melbourne Chess Club. The current Monday night tournament is reaching it's climax, a big weekender is coming up, the next tournament is on the horizon and the state body is holding its AGM at the MCC soon.

The MCC Cup Weekender is a 9-round swiss held over the long weekend at the start of November. With just under 2 weeks to the start there are already a fair number of entries including 3 IM's and it promises to be a high class event.

The current Monday night event, the MCC Open has now had 7 of the 9 rounds and still the same 2 players dominate the field, as they have done all year at the club. FM Dusan Stojic had a potentially dangerous match up with Ari Dale who has already beaten Guy West this tournament. But Dusan held it together to notch up another victory to take him to 6/7. The only game he has lost was to IM Guy West who also won his 7th round game against Dizdarevic. These 2 are a point clear of myself, Ari Dale, Richard McCart and Jason Chew. I guess we can assume that one of these players will take the title, but it seems hard to see who will stop Guy and Dusan from their winning streaks. I won a hard game against David Beaumont to keep me just a point behind the leaders. The position was highly unbalanced for a while in the middle game before David got short on time and lost the thread. It was interesting as the game seemed to revolve around my light squared bishop and I had to use some imaginative methods to prevent it being trapped.


When this tournament ends, the most unusual tournament of the Monday night calendar starts. The last tournament of the year on Mondays is a series of 6 player round robins. Players are assigned into groups based on their ratings, with the highest rated 6 players in the first group, then the next 6 in the second group and so on. As all other Monday night events are run on the swiss system, this can be a refreshing change. These tournaments start on Monday 19th November and run through till just before Christmas.

Chess Victoria, the state administrative body for chess will be holding their AGM at the MCC on Sunday 11th November, and this will be preceded by the Victorian Blitz Championship. The AGM is mainly for electing or re-electing members of CV's committee, and rumour has it that some of the current members are ready to stand aside, though I have heard of no one new on the horizon to fill any positions. The current President of CV, IM Leonid Sandler is also one of the strongest blitz players in the state, though I guess he will have his hands full if some of our young players decide to try their luck.

History Repeats Itself

The MCC Open is following a familiar pattern. First FM Dusan Stojic steams ahead. Then he is paired against IM Guy West who needs to win to catch up, and duly does just that. The rest of us are spectators hanging on to the tails of these 2 comets. With the board 2 game between juniors Ari Dale and Jason Chew postponed, Guy and Dusan currently sit on 5/6 half a point ahead of Mehmedalija Dizdarevic, who is continuing his good start to this event with a 6th round victory over IM Mirko Rujevic. I am part of the chasing group on 4/6 along with Malcolm Pyke, David Beaumont and Richard McCart. As both Dale and Chew are already on 4 points before their game, this makes up the leading pack with 3 rounds to go.

I didn't see much of the other games. The top board game was a tough one to assess. I looked at the position after perhaps an hour or 2, and it seemed to me Guy had grabbed a pawn, but Dusan had comensation in the form of piece activity. I think Mirko mixed it with Dizdarevic then grabbed some material which led to his own king being violently attacked. I stodged a playable position with black against Peter fry's 1.b3 which turned into an odd Exchange French where white had fianchettoed his queen side bishop. I probably missed some chances earlier in the game to improve my position, but I was fairly happy with the way I played.




Further down the field, Andrew Louis should be pleased with his first win the tournament.

Mistakes can happen...

Today, I faced one of the biggest challenges in my role as a chess coach. Over the past 8 years of teaching chess for chesskids in Melbourne, I have experienced all sorts of problems, some caused by myself and some incidental. Over time I have arrived at classes without a demo board (minor inconvenience), with a demo board but no pieces (minor inconvenience), with a demo board and some pieces (frustrating), with a demo board and pieces but no normal playing boards (panic!!). I have been sent to the wrong school, the right school, but wrong campus, a school with no rooms to teach in, and best of all was a outdoors simul given in what can only be described as a blizzard!

Today the new challenge came through a lack of voice. I think that I caught a chill when running a few days ago. I had started out in sunshine, and then the temperature dropped and it started raining heavily. I was probably under dressed for the conditions, and caught a chill on my chest. The upshot is that I now have no voice and the making of a cough. Well, at least I got through it, and I now know that I can control a class without raising my voice :)

I wasn't feeling too great on Monday, but it was no excuse for my play against Ari Dale. I had intended to continue our theoretical duel in the main line of the Caro Kann. However, on Monday I didn't have the energy to finally prepare, so I decided to just play 1.d4 and stodge it. But a blood of rush to the head saw me throw in an early g4 in a Queen's Gambit Declined. To be honest, it was quite an interesting game up to a point, but I lost the plot and Ari put me away relatively easily. The tournament remains in the hands of Dusan Stojic who won against Mehmedalija Dizdarevic to go to 5/5. The board 2 game between Guy West and Malcolm Pyke was postponed due to Malcolm being ill, but the big sensation was young Jason Chew beating MCC stalwart IM Mirko Rujevic. Mirko castled queenside riskily on the white side of a French and was punished in no uncertain terms. These results mean that Dusan is followed by Ari and Jason who are a point behind (of course, Guy or Malcolm could join the leaders), with the rest of us trailing behind.

Melbourne Chess Club Open

I've been playing in this tournament, though as I'm on holiday it doesn't really seem that much has been happening. In fact, the tournament has settled into a pattern resembling the Club Championship. Dusan Stojic has raced to 4/4 and leads a pack of players of which Guy West is the top seed. Guy and Dusan are yet to play, and that may once again be the clincher for this tournament, though as we've only had 4 rounds it is a bit early to be predicting things like that.

Dusan has beaten myself and IM Mirko Rujevic in consecutive rounds to lead the field. In my game, I thought the position was dead level, and then realised I was virtually in zugzwang after about 15 moves, took about 30 minutes to come up with a bad move and was slaughtered about 10 moves later.

Here, Dusan as black coolly played 15..b6, reinforcing his queen side and I spent 30 minutes realising that my position was bad. I had many ways to lose material, but I decided to maintain a material balance and give my opponent a quick win on the dark squares. I have to admit, his knights in this game were absolutely awesome.




I bounced back this week with a long, hard, struggle against Paul Kovacevic on the black side of a Queen's Gambit Exchange. Paul made the same mistake as I did against Dusan, playing a little passively at the end of the opening. But it puts me on 3/4 which I'm pretty happy with. I'm alongside some very good players, IM's West and Rujevic, Malcolm Pyke, Ari Dale and surprise package Jason Chew who had a great victory last week against David Beaumont.

Dusan is one point clear of all of us, but in the middle is M. Dizdarevic on 3.5. It's good to see Mehmedalija at the club, as this is his first tournament here this year. The tournament is getting good coverage on Kerry Stead's blog, and Kerry is as ever doing a great job as arbiter!

Thinking Processes again

If you're playing someone much higher rated than you, or much lower rated than you, do you change your style of play? And should you? I have to admit, that my policy has been to play more solidly against lower rated players, while trying to mix things tactically against higher rated players. As a result I usually grind down players much lower rated than me, although I do sometimes end up drawing (or even losing the odd game), and against higher rated players I sometimes have big wins but not that often. So is this general plan desirable or should I be playing true to myself each game irrespective of my opposition?

So far in the Monday night tournament at the MCC, I have played 2 games against players quite a bit lower rated than myself. In both games I followed a similar pattern. I sought as much space as I could get, tried to consolidate my gains and then brought my pieces to their most effective positions behind my pawn cover before breaking through. My opponents both defended quite passively and allowed me the time to fulfil my goals. Against Bill Reid last week, I questioned my calculation skill in the following position:

One line I looked at here was 19.Nd5 Nxd5 20.Bxd8 Nf4 21.Bc4 Qg6 and I asked in my last blog post what did I miss in this line? Well, quite a bit actually. After 19.Nd5 Nxd5 (I think black must take because of the threat to c7) 20.Bxd8 (This is not an obligatory capture. White has a comfortable edge after 20.Bc4, but forcing moves like 20.Bxd8 are easier to calculate) 20..Nf4 (Black should play 20..Rxd8 which will leave him with 2 pieces for a rook after 21.Bxe6 Ne2+ 22.Kf2 Nxd4) 21.Bc4 Qg6 (and now 22.Qd2 would win material for white, though this line is pointless because of 20..Rxd8).

My trouble in these lines was seeing opportunities for my opponent, and alternatives (especially non forcing moves) in variations. In my game last night against Tanya Kolak, I worked hard on these aspects and was pretty happy with the way I was thinking. I noticed once again that I looked for forcing lines at one point, ignoring another possibility, though it may have another cause other than calculation problems. I reached the following position for black.

Black has a wide range of moves and plans to choose from. I chose 11..d4 creating extra tension in the centre. One move that I merely glimpsed at, and then ignored was 11..e4. But this move has a lot going for it. It opens the h2-b8 diagonal, displaces white Nf3, vacates e5 for a black minor piece, and holds back white's e-pawn which currently blocks the dark squared bishop.

So why didn't I choose such an obviously good looking move? I think the reason is one of familiarity. I have played pawn advances such as 11..d4 often and I'm usually comfortable with an opening of the centre. In the above position, I judged that my better development would put me in good stead if lines opened. Partially closing the centre with 11..e4 is something that I tend to do rarely in my games, and I tend to feel less comfortable in positions with a closed centre. Looking at more positions like those above and comparing them can only help a player to understand the game better, and perhaps the style that suits his natural game the most.

Chess Thinking Processes

When you play games it's a good idea to analyse your thinking processes afterwards. I mean, it's easy to get a computer to check the moves for blunders, but the 3000+ rated silicon tactic master can't correct the way we think about our moves. I played a game on Monday in the MCC Open, and have analysed some of my thinking processes. Take the following position:

White to move

As white in this position, I had 3 candidate moves:

I analysed the most forcing 19.Bxf6 first seeing 19..gxf6 [19..Qxf6 20.Qxf6 gxf6 21.Nd5 seemed good for white] 20.Nd5 winning a pawn by force.

19.Nd5 tries to exploit black's pinned knight, but I looked at 19..Nxd5 20.Bxd8 Nf4 21.Bc4 Qg6.

19.Bc4 Qe5 then seemed to me similar to the first line.

So based on this artificial analysis, I chose 19.Bxf6, winning a pawn in the most forcing way and I went on to win the game. But really, my thinking processes were flawed in a number of ways:

1. I was overly attracted to the most forcing lines which clouded my judgement.

2. After 19.Nd5, I analysed lazily, again taking the forcing line to be gospel.

3. I made assumptions not based on analysis, such as 19.Bc4 being essentially the same as 19.Bxf6.

How can I correct these problems in my games?

Well, identifying problems is the first step. Secondly, I must not make assumptions about positions without doing the work. And finally I must put in the work. Analysing some difficult tactical positions and analysing games generally needs to be something which I undertake more often. And I need to make myself work harder during the games, and not be blinded by the most forcing lines of play.

If any of my thinking problems resonate with you, then try to work out what was wrong with my analysis of the line starting with 19.Nd5? (from the diagram above: 19.Nd5 Nxd5 20.Bxd8 Nf4 21.Bc4 Qg6). What did I miss?

Playing Again

I've had a bit of a break from playing chess (a couple of months) and feel fully refreshed and ready to give it my all in the latest Monday night event at the Melbourne Chess Club. The MCC Open is a 9 round swiss event which started last night and runs until 12th November. So far 30 players have entered with the favourites being IM Guy West, FM Dusan Stojic and IM Mirko Rujevic. I'm sat at number 5 seed, which meant that I started in the top half which usually means an easy point. However, it seems to me that easy first round points are getting harder to come by, and in fact, a few games went against the odds. Thai Ly was the highest rated player to drop points, Alex Kaplan again scoring a good draw. But Finley Dale probably caused the biggest upset of the night beating Gary Lycett. Gary had been in excellent form in the recently finished Malitis Memorial, which made young Finley's win even more impressive. Tanya Kolak and Abraham Widjaja were the other upset winners beating Anthony Hain and Paul Kovacevic respectively.

While I'll be taking a personal view of this tournament, arbiter Kerry Stead is reporting on the event on his blog, while another MCC member, Paul Cavezza (who is largely responsible for the reconstruction of the MCC website) will also be blogging about the tournament.

From my point of view, I have had to build my playing schedule around my work as a chess coach. I now don't work on Mondays, so I have an easy run in to the tournament. But that is where the fun ends. Tuesday is my busiest day, starting at 8am and finishing at 7.30pm (I leave my house about 7am, and get home about 8pm!). So while I give my all in my games, I apologise now to players if I rush off without analysing our game. And though I will look at the games in some depth at some stage, it probably won't be until later in the week. What I will say about this game is that I played very safe at the start of the game and felt I had no tangible advantage for the first 15 moves. I didn't like Bill's 16th move pinning himself and was able to win a pawn, though I'm not sure I managed to do this in the best way. I was worried about possible opposite coloured bishop endings, and if Bill had played 28..Bd6 instead of 28..Ra8, we may have been in for a late night.

MCC Open Round 9 7/4/2011

 Richard McCart and Rad Chmiel face their opponents

 The main hall of the MCC

The back room...out of focus...Morris and Dowling are nearest to the camera on the top board.

The final round of the MCC Open has just got underway. There are a number of interesting match-up's across the boards. Currently, young IM James Morris is half a point clear of top seed IM Mirko Rujevic, with Domagoj Dragicevic a further point back. Paul Cavezza and Anthony Hain are leading the underdog status in the small room tonight.

1 hour down

The game between Riley Lenard and Kevin Brown has been postponed, while Endre Simon has gone to Europe and couldn't find time to play Jim Papadinis before leaving. Roger Beattie did show up at the club and somewhat colourfully announced he was forfeiting his last game. This left 2 players, Jim Papadinis and Ben Gavine without opposition, so they have been repaired together.
Around the games being played, there has been some mention of the board 3 game between Malcolm Pyke and Eddy Levi. The game started 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.Nd5 Ba5 4.b4 c6 5.bxa5 cxd5 6.cxd5 d6 7.Qa4+ Nbd7 8.Ba3 leaving the following position

MCC President asked of this position, "Isn't this just good for white?" Well a pawn up, but a very undeveloped king side...I'm not sure I'd like to be trying to attack someone like Malcolm Pyke from this position with the black pieces; then again, I don't think I'd like to defend against Eddy Levi with white!

James Morris looks good, a pawn up and with an attack. Dowling can be a pretty tough nut to crack though. David Garner has accepted an IQP against Paul Cavezza, and it is a tricky situation for both players now.
Anthony Hain is showing no fear on board 5 against Justin Tan. The position looks tricky for the higher rated Tan as black.

Another interesting game is on board 7 where 2 in form players are meeting. Ari Dale as black has put both his knights on the edge of the board but can take both white's bishops, though he is a pawn behind (even if white does end up with tripled f-pawns).

On the lower boards, things seem only to be getting going. Felix Wyss looks forlorn....he has lost his beloved bishop pair to Alex Kaplan. Meanwhile Stephen Jago is a pawn up against Sarah Anton. But the most interesting game for me is between Richard McCart and Gary Bekker. Gary is a pawn up in the following position

As black Gary just played 1..Re4.

2 hours gone

Ben Frayle is the first winner on the night. Ben has had another solid performance in this tournament, showing just how misleading ratings can be. His ACF of 1231 might make him appear an easy target to many, but he has shown he is better than this rating suggests, and looks as if he will post a FIDE rating of nearer to 1600 in the next list. Well done Ben! Felix Wyss wins

Stop Press *** James Morris wins and takes the tournament. Well played James, a deserving tournament victory.

On board 2 it is 2 minor pieces vs rook and pawn endgame. Mirko, as black, is deep in thought over this tricky situation.

On 3 Malcolm looks as if he's a piece ahead. Does Eddy as black have any tricks? It is white to move in the next diagram.

Paul Cavezza is doing a good job against David Garner, he has the 2 bishops and a decent looking position, though he is getting characteristically low on time. Anthony Hain, is looking even more impressive against Justin Tan who is working out the complications in this position. tan as black to play.

In the main room, the Beaumont-Dale game is very interesting with David having 3 pawns for a piece. Gary Lycett is a piece up while Richard Voon is an exchange down against Mario Palma. Stephen Jago is now an exchange for a pawn ahead and Jack Puccini has a dangerous looking attack, but is material down and only has 8 minutes left on his clock. On board 20 there is an interesting ending between Michael hain and Roger McCart.

James Morris final round victory:

Ok, we're getting close to the end now. Domagoj and Mirko have the K+R v K+N with no pawns. Mirko is shrugging, but I guess Domagoj will try to win it. Malcolom Pyke has won, as has Sarah Anton (the luckiest escape of the tournament). Paul Cavezza's great tournament finally fell against David Garner, though Paul should still be happy about his play in this event.

Last shout.

Anthony Hain looks to be winning an opposite coloured bishop ending against Justin Tan. Watch out for this game, as Malcolm Pyke pointed out a brilliant queen sacrifice earlier in the game which would have won for Anthony. Kerry Stead is winning against Karl Zelesco (actually, just won), Shane Lawson is continuing his great tournament, being a piece up against Peter Fry. Jack Puccini is fighting valiantly against Marcus Ogden, and Jack has been down to his last 30 seconds for a long time. I think he is going to find it tough to hold on much longer. Besides that, the tournament is virtually over. James has won, Mirko is second, and Malcolm and Domagoj shared third. The rating prizes are yet to be decided, but I'll post them by tomorrow on the MCC website.

Stop Press *** Anthony Hain hits the upset of the tournament, beating Justin Tan.

Thanks to all viewers, the next live games will be from the Victorian Juniors next week, and then the Malitis Memorial, the next Monday night tournament at the MCC.

MCC Open Round 8 live

The penultimate round of the MCC Open has just started, with much resting on the last 2 games. There are 3 games not starting tonight. Justin tan has called in sick against Ari Dale, and they have agreed to play on Thursday. Jim Papadinis couldn't get his car to start, and has forfeited against Abdullah Durani. Sarah Anton is interstate and her game with Riley Lenard has not been rearranged yet but will hopefully be played later in the weekend. As the arbiter, I thank the players for their understanding and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Most games are underway. Eddy Levi has just arrived, so it must be about 10 minutes into the round, and we are just waiting for Gary Bekker and Alex Kaplan to make up a full complement. On a point of law, I have had to remind a player that writing moves down before they are played is against the rules.

Already, we have a visitor from the Yarra Chess Club. Dan Zoraja is currently blitzing with Elie Beranjia until the games start to get interesting.

Beranjia (left) vs Zoraja (right)

1 Hour into the games

Early news from the top boards. Board 1 is a Sicilian Kan with Domagoj having double pawns on the a-file but some piece activity for this. David Garner has pushed forward int he centre against Rujevic's Closed Sicilian. Dowling and Beaumont have both castled long in a Reti, a game that looks set for the night. Shane Lawson doesn't find himself in the backroom often, and is making the most of it, taking on Malcolm Pyke's French with the Wing Gambit, b4. Eddy Levi is doing his utmost to liven up a typically stodgy Peter Fry Caro Kann.

First game of the night to finish is Rad Chmiel winning against Ben Frayle, a one move blunder by all accounts.

Paul Cavezza has Richard Voon tutting and shaking his head. Cavezza prepared a line against Voon's Najdorf, and Richard has played into it. Further down, Felix Wyss is a pawn to the good against Roger McCart, Endre Simon is a piece to the good against Damien Feaine, Michael Hain is 2 pawns to the good against James Brennan, and Ganesh Krishnan is a piece down against Stephen Jago, but Stephen has some defending to do.

Positions to follow soon:

 This mad position is the board 13 game between Marcus Ogden and Richard McCart. I prefer white, but that d5 knight looks good.

 On board 2 Mirko as white to play here is facing a Maroczy Bind against the white pieces. David garner seems pretty happy at the moment.

On board 1, James Morris does not seem happy. He has just gone a pawn down against Domagoj Dragicevic and is in deep thought trying to work out how to compensate for this deficit.

Wonderboy Karl Zelesco doesn't even give me a chance to have a decent look at his game before he has won! The opening to the Krishnan-Jago game was interesting

Into the second hour:

 Puccini-Beattie is a difficult endgame. Opposite coloured bishops means a draw doesn't it? Both players look as if they are trying to win!

 James Morris as white, is under immense pressure from Dragicevic here.

Kevin Brown must be happy with 2 bishops, and a pawn, but Alex Kaplan is fighting on.

Across the boards, Rujevic is under great pressure, and is fighting doggedly. Beaumont has a shot pawn structure so is trying to make something happen against Dowling. Malcolm Pyke has retained his pawn advantage, but is under some pressure from a frontal attack with his king in the centre. Paul Cavezza is a piece up against Richard Voon, but only has 15 minutes for the game, while the Kovacevic-Hain game is an interesting struggle of opposite side attacks with both having castled king side!

Stop Press!!

*** James Morris has made chances for himself exchanging his queen for 2 rooks and some pawns, but he has an advanced central passed pawn that is going to give Domagoj some headaches. Added to this, Domagoj has less than 10 minutes.

*** Paul Cavezza has an exchange and a pawn lead against Richard Voon and possibly has Richard in a maitng net. But he has only 5 minutes to finish Richard off!

*** Kaplan has fought well and has exchanged all but 2 pawns of Kevin Brown. The game is still probably winning for the bishop pair, but with every pawn exchange, the win looks harder.

Board 1 has simplified to this position. Domagoj as black played 1..Qf3 which forced Morris into a fit of tutting and head shaking. But the young master is not leading the tournament for nothing, gritted his teeth and fights on with, 2.Rhe8 Kf5 3.Ra2, leaving Domagoj with some issues and only 6 minutes left to sort the game out.

A big crowd is surrounding board 1 as Domagoj is down to the last minute. The tension is amazing! Right behind them, Mirko is also struggling....could it be a night where both our IM's lose? Eddy Levi finally breaks through against Peter Fry, and Alex Kaplan fought bravely to hold that difficult endgame to a draw! Paul Cavezza had a great result, with a win against Richard Voon. He still got into some time trouble but never dropped below 5 minutes, perhaps learning from the last few weeks.

The Final Dash:

Mirko Rujevic has won! In a difficult position he worked out the tactics better than his opponent, as David Garner's time started to run short. James Morris is putting up a terrific fight on the top board and has reduced the position to R+R+P v Q+2P, and Domagoj is still down to a minute. Malcolm Pyke has just won, though there were some scares along the way. And in the other room, the only 2 games left involve the father and son Hain team, and it looks as if they are both doing well!

Morris-Dragicevic draw! According to James, the game was "full of errors....by both sides". At the other end of the table, it's good to see Michael Hain score his first win on his return to chess after a 20+ years absence. Malcolm Pyke admits that he was a bit lucky in his game against Shane Lawson, but was very happy with the move 29..a5. Only 3 games remain. David Beaumont is fighting in a worse position against John Dowling, Gary Bekker has played above his weight again, and is holding Kerry Stead, whileAnthony hain looks to be taking another scalp in Paul Kovacevic.

MCC Open Round 7 live

Well at last I get online. I've been having trouble logging into this blog tonight, but finally we're here.

Ok, the early news is a no-show by Frank Lekkas and there has been a lot of talk about mutual blunders on board 2, though I haven't seen the game yet. We have seen quite a few visitors to the club tonight. Ben kersten of Geelong Chess Club was here to promote the 2012 Australian Championships, David Cordover and Thai Ly are also are also around the club, and even the President Grant Szuveges has shown up to support the long play game!

Right, off to get some interesting positions and updates of the action as it happens.

There's a lot of stodge across the boards, so we could be in for a long night. Saying that, there have been a few shockers so far. Stephen Jago, by his own admission, missed a one move threat. Jim Papadinis completely underestimated his young opponent, lost a piece, and soon found himself 2 exchanges down....except both exchanges were rook for queen! But perhaps the biggest shocker came on board 2 in the following position:

Here, Mirko Rujevic as black played 6..d6?? missing White's 7.Qa4+ winning a piece. Luckily for Mirko, David Beaumont missed this as well!!

So early winners tonight include Gary Bekker, Rad Chmiel and Anthony Hain. In the top room, perhaps the most interesting game is between the 2 talented juniors, Ari Dale and Karl Zelesco. They are showing their strategic class playing a Carlsbad type structure.

Meanwhile, Beaumont has spotted tactics against Rujevic and finds himself 2 pawns up but with Mirko as black to move:

2 hours gone and board 1 is a stodge. James has a sort of Stonewall formation against Justin and it is difficult at the moment to see where either will make progress. Beaumont looks good against Rujevic, though he may have to give a pawn back at some stage. The board 3 game between Dragicevic-Levi is an interesting struggle between 2 fairly unorthodox players. Domagoj has chosen to play with an IQP, while Eddy has given up the 2 bishops.

There are many more dour battles across the boards, but the following move caught my eye. In the following position, Paul Cavezza, as black saw a tactical try:

Black played 24..Nxd5 and Alex Kaplan went into a fairly long think before replying 25.Ne6

Finally, the quality of our juniors is well known. Justin Tan and James Morris are battling it out on board 1, while Dale and Zelesco fight out on board 6. But Jack Puccini is also very talented, and is showing his endgame talent against Endre Simon. Jack as white completely dominates here:

First game to finish on the top boards was a fairly quiet affair between Malcolm Pyke and John Dowling. Malcolm is not feeling too well, and John was busy with his chess poster collection. In fact, if anyone has any interesting chess posters, then please contact John Dowling as he is an avid collector.

The top board game has Justin a pawn down, but James under pressure.

James Morris as black is to move here and is taking a long think.

Beaumont is a clear 2 pawns up on board 2 and looks good for the point. The big Junior clash has taken a new twist with Ari Dale gaining 2 rooks for a queen and looking confident. Karl as ever, looks calm.

An interesting opposite coloured bishop ending is taking place between Roger McCart and Ben Frayle.

Black has a n avalanche of king side pawns, but must be a little worried about the white advanced b-pawn.

Games are beginning to wind up. Paul Kovacevic defended heroically from early on against Mario Palma and came away with a draw. Congratulations to Damien Feiane who finally wins his first game at this level. I doubt that there will be a happier person leaving the club tonight! The Kaplan-Cavezza game finished abruptly after the last diagram I showed. Alex's king side collapsed under the pressure of black's attack.

There are only 6 games left, 5 in the back room on the top boards, and the game between Durani and Anton. Sarah has an extra piece, but is down to a minute on the clock. Abdullah is making her find good moves. On the top boards, Justin has 2 rooks for James queen, but James has the initiative and some pawns. They both have less than 5 minutes, but I'd expect a win for the master. Beaumont is finding the final hurdle hard to pass against Rujevic. David gave back a pawn to activate his king, but seems to be having trouble getting to the finish line. David garner has 2 connected passed pawns over half way down the board against Kerry stead, and this should guarantee a win for the Englishman. Ari Dale has finally activated his rooks against Karl Zelesco, but the position remains unclear to me. Finally, the Dragicevic-Levi game is anybody's guess!

So time pressure tells. Sarah finally blunders in time pressure and loses from a winning position. James Morris wins! A picket fence looks on the cards for the young master. David beaumont is still  finding the going heavy against Mirko on board 2. Domagoj has just won a same coloured bishop ending against Eddy Levi. And the game between Dale and Zelesco continues with Karl very short of time and defending a difficult position. Games to follow soon hopefully.

More games to follow later in the week. Thanks for watching....and unbelievably.....Mirko Rujevic wins!!!