Not Chess...Well Not Much

Well, actually there might be some chess, but not a lot. First a big thanks to Paul Cavezza who has mentioned this blog in kind terms on his blog. Knowing that the stuff you're doing is having even the most minuscule influence is a great thing.

Now, on to matters which are nothing to do with chess! The first important thing is coffee. This is critical, as next week I will be going to Canberra which doesn't have the same pedigree as Melbourne when it comes to coffee. However, I remember I found some decent places the last time I was there so I have some hope. Meanwhile, I have recently been fortunate enough to have had Egyptian and Greek coffee. The Egyptian Coffee I had in Hong Kong at an amazing Restaurant in the Central District. The food in Habibi was unbelievable and the coffee was delicious. It was a typical thick, sweet, syrupy drink with a slightly spiced flavour, probably from cardamom. Soon after I came back from Hong Kong I went to a local cafe where they had brewed some Greek coffee and were dishing it out free to regulars. Again, it was thick, sweet and flavoured although I've found that Greek coffee is generally chicory based. Both drinks were excellent, although a bit too sweet for my regular taste, and it makes me want to try some other types of coffee.

Greek coffee, looking rich and syrupy and tasting sweet and spicy

Ok, why is it that when you have holiday one of 2 things happen? Either you get sick, or the weather goes lousy. Well I have been pretty tired the past week, but the biggest thing in the way of my enjoyment is the torrential rain we've been having in Melbourne. Last week was great and I did manage to get out on Sunday, to the tourist hot spot of St Kilda. St Kilda is a suburb that I can't stand to be near in the summer. The crowds are unbearable, and too many of them have an aggression about them that comes from the amount of alcohol they've consumed. Look, I've got nothing against people having a good time, but I just don't feel the need to be near them when it's happening. However, in the colder months, St Kilda reverts back to being a bohemian, arty hang out that I really enjoy. Last Sunday I strolled along the crafts market, walked along the beach, into the community gardens (one of my very favourite places), had cake in Acland Street and walked around the botanical gardens.

St Kilda's "Espy" venue

The ethos of St Kilda Community Gardens

Fabulous cakes in Acland Street

And now I'm going to sign off and continue listening to alternative 80's music, taking me back to my student days when I would sit inside on rainy days listening to alternative 80's music (though it was more current then). I will resist the temptation to grow my blog by posting cute animals, naked women, licking arse on social networks or joining google+, whatever that is. I will, however, go back to chess for one last time. When I was in St Kilda I saw a great tee-shirt but it was unfortunately not in my size. I'll be back to get one in the right size in the future and will choose the right person to wear it against :)

Congratulations Guy West on victory number 11

Before saying anything else, my thoughts today have been overwhelmed by the events that happened in Boston. I was at work early this morning, came home and Caroline asked if I'd heard about the Boston Marathon. I said no, thinking perhaps the 2 hour barrier had been broken or some other amazing feat. When she said about bombs and deaths, my heart sank and I turned to the online news sites to see the shocking truth. I can't begin to understand how those who were in proximity to the blasts must be feeling. Life is often a hard enough act to get through without people doing things like this. I don't even want to believe that 8 year old was killed in this disgusting manner. It's a tragedy that hasn't affected me personally, but which I can feel empathy for. My thoughts are with the runners and their families and I hope those injured recover quickly.

Events like the Boston Marathon bombings put our lives into perspective somewhat, but ordinary things do happen. Here in Melbourne the MCC Championship concluded with IM Guy West finishing in first place for a record 11th time. On winning the event Guy said that he would need to take some time out of chess, possibly a year, to work on strengthening his opening repertoire if he wants to compete with the rising crop of young players coming through. He may have a point, with Ari Dale coming an excellent second, and Justin Tan equal third. Perhaps we will see a 2014 Guy West playing solid mainlines looking for minor advantages to be converted later in the game. Or perhaps he just needs that long to devise a new bunch of sidelines that no one expects. Either way, it will be great to see Guy going for a dozen MCC Championships the next time he plays. I wonder if anyone will come near that number in the future?

Coming equal third with Justin Tan was Laurent Michaille who also had an excellent tournament. Jack Puccini won a last round upset to finish just half a point behind third, but in doing so he took the U-2000 prize. James Cameron took out the U-1800 prize in his first MCC Championship. While this does seem rather a high rating class for the lowest rating group prize, it does show that the standard of the players were high. The rating prizes were based on dividing the field into roughly equal groups below 2000 so it shows that the majority of players in the field were certainly above 1800. The fact that it was a small field is another issue and one that I'll leave for another time.

On a last note, I have to say that Paul Cavezza has done marvelous work with the MCC website. There are educational and promotional video's, pgn databases, history, information, a calendar of events. It has just about everything you would want of a chess website in an attractive format. Check out this page of the 2013 Club Championship.

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.