For some of us, the amount of chess club events, weekenders, FIDE Internationals and team events that can be participated in during the year just isn't enough. When your an English chess player living abroad around Christmas/New Year, the thought that back home I'd probably be playing in one of the events at the Hastings festival makes me want to play chess! So what can I do?
Well besides making a bigger effort to join as many clubs, and play as many tournaments as is humanly possible, I can play online. There are 2 forms of chess to be played online: real time chess, and forms of correspondence chess. I would recommend that an improving player tries his hand at both of these. The internet has made both these forms of chess very user friendly.
Real Time Chess
There are dozens of sites to play chess on the internet, some free, some not and it is sometimes difficult to choose which is the right one for you. Signing up for a free site, like FICS carries no obligation and there are literally dozens of these. Some you can play for free, but get more features if you pay for a full membership which seems to have something for everyone. A rapidly growing site is chess.com where besides playing there are a heap of educational materials.
If you want to pay, the 2 premium sites online are the Internet Chess Club (ICC) and the Chessbase online site, Playchess. I personally use ICC, but I believe it to be a matter of choice as both have excellent features, including GM analysis, GM/IM simuls, tournaments, live relay of world class events, and of course a huge membership so there is always someone to play. For instance, today I logged in to ICC, set a challenge for some 5 minute games and was lucky enough to play 1 GM, 1 IM and a few other players around my own sort of strength. After playing the games, I had a brief look through them, and its helped me to understand a bit more about the openings I play (which is the main reason I play on these sites).
To play, you usually have to download a browser which enables you to access the site and when a game starts a board just opens up and you start playing, it couldn't be easier.
Slower Chess
Especially if you're new to chess, or if you like more time to think about your moves, there are sites where you can play games that last weeks rather than minutes. Correspondence chess has been around for an awful long time, but to many of us, it is cumbersome, time consuming and quite expensive. Online chess sites have cut out the expense of paying for stamps, and internationally recognised organisations play tournaments online by email. There isn't many sites more active than the Intenational Email Chess Group (IECG), and they even have an archive of their games online. In these games you would have a given length of time (eg 3 days) to send a move to your opponent via email. Then your opponent has the same time to send their move back and so forth. In this sort of chess you can spend more time studying each move, and learn much about certain positions which may arise in your games. A number of top players over the years have played correspondence chess to some extent, including Euwe and Keres in their early days.
Besides ICC I also use a site like this called Gameknot where the majority of games are at the rate of 2 or 3 days per move. You can play a number of games at any one time, and always have something to be thinking about. These sites can be used as an end in themselves, or as I'm doing, they can be used as a tool to help improve your normal rated chess. For instance, I am putting a lot of work into developing and extending my opening repertoire from the games I play on Gameknot. So far I have found it to be both challenging and friendly which has to be a good thing. And like so many other sites, it is free, but there is a premium membership which will open more features.
So try out some of these sites, or even search around for others. There is very little excuse nowadays for not being able to play enough chess, and you can play against people from all over the world, rather than getting stale sitting against the same opponent each week at the chess club.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Rook and Rook's Pawn versus Rook Endgame
These were the type of endgames looked at in the final session of the Melbourne Chess Club Endgame Group for 2010. Personally, I find these the easiest to classify and remember, though of course, that still won't necessarily make them easy to play. I got the idea for looking at these endings after I looked at the blog of Paul Cavezza, who regularly attends the MCC Endgame Group. Paul wrote a nice article on rook endings for beginners but I couldn't help notice that he didn't look at rook endgames where the stronger side has a rook's pawn. So, here's a look at the basics of these type of endings as we dealt with them at the Endgame group.
1. Pawn has reached the seventh rank, but it's king is in front.
The key for the defending side is to cut the attacking king off along the file, and have his own king close enough to the pawn. The defending king has to be 3 files or less away from the pawn. In this position white can make no progress as the only way he can force black's rook away from the b-file is to get his own rook to b8 or b7, but in the time it takes to do this, black's king will have reached c7 and it will then trap white's king.
When the defending king is 4 files away, white will have time to get his rook to b8. eg.
Here white plays 1.Rc3 Ke7 2.Rc8 Kd6! 3.Rb8 and forces black to give up the b-file which will allow white's king to escape. However, it still isn't easy to win this....check out Karsten Mueller's latest article which discusses this very ending. 3..Ra2 4.Kb7 Rb2+ 5.Kc8 Rc2+ 6.Kd8 Rh2 Threatening checkmate 7.Rb6+ Kc5 8.Rc6+! forcing the king to take as otherwise white plays 9.Rc8. 8..Kxc6 9.a8=Q+
2. The pawn has advanced to the 7th rank and the stronger side's rook sits in front of the pawn.
This is about the worst case scenario for white, unless black's king is away from the safe corner.
The only way white can make progress is if black decides to march his king to the queenside. 1.Kf2 Kh7 [1..Kf7?? 2.Rh8 Rxa7 3.Rh7 skewering the rook] 2.Ke3 Kg7 3.Kd4 Kh7 4.Kc5 Kg7 5.Kb6 Now that white's king defends his pawn black's rook becomes active. 5..Rb1+ 6.Kc7 Ra1 7.Kb8 Rb1+ 8.Kc8 Ra1 and whenever the white king defends the pawn it gets checked away with a draw inevitable.
This means that advancing the pawn to the seventh rank when the rook is in front and the enemy king is safe is a mistake.
3. The pawn has advanced to the 6th rank and the stronger side's rook sits in front of the pawn.
When the pawn is on the 6th rank it will give shelter to it's king on the square in front of it. If the defender uses the same technique as in the last example then they will lose. However, there is a defensive position called the Vancura Position (just as important in rook endgames as Philidor and Lucena positions) which is an important one to know.
Here, black's king is in it's safe corner and the rook sits on it's third rank attacking the enemy pawn and cutting off the white king from advancing to help it. Whenever the white king defends the pawn, it will be checked. 1.Kb5 Rf5+ 2.Kb6 Rf6+ 3.Kc7 Rf7+ 4.Kd6 Rf6+ 5.Ke5 Rc6 now the rook sits on the 6th rank cutting off the enemy king and threatening the pawn. This ties down the white rook to the pawn's defence. If white should ever advance the pawn, black must be able to play Ra6 getting to the same sort of position in the example above. eg from the above position 1.Kb5 Rf5+ 2.Kb4 Rf6 3.a7 Ra6 4.Kb5 Ra1 with a draw.
These basic endgames provide some guideposts for us and aren't too difficult. Of course, practical examples aren't always so clearly defined. The pawn may be closer to home while both kings and rooks could be anywhere on the board. But for now, this is the basic knowledge that needs to be understood before attempting more difficult positions and before some other concepts are introduced.
1. Pawn has reached the seventh rank, but it's king is in front.
When the defending king is 4 files away, white will have time to get his rook to b8. eg.
2. The pawn has advanced to the 7th rank and the stronger side's rook sits in front of the pawn.
This is about the worst case scenario for white, unless black's king is away from the safe corner.
This means that advancing the pawn to the seventh rank when the rook is in front and the enemy king is safe is a mistake.
3. The pawn has advanced to the 6th rank and the stronger side's rook sits in front of the pawn.
When the pawn is on the 6th rank it will give shelter to it's king on the square in front of it. If the defender uses the same technique as in the last example then they will lose. However, there is a defensive position called the Vancura Position (just as important in rook endgames as Philidor and Lucena positions) which is an important one to know.
These basic endgames provide some guideposts for us and aren't too difficult. Of course, practical examples aren't always so clearly defined. The pawn may be closer to home while both kings and rooks could be anywhere on the board. But for now, this is the basic knowledge that needs to be understood before attempting more difficult positions and before some other concepts are introduced.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Williamstown
When I first moved to Australia nearly 6 years ago, the first area I lived in was Williamstown in the western suburbs of Melbourne. Caroline had a job in Werribee when we first got here so we spent a year in the west before moving to the south eastern suburbs, and settling in Elsternwick where we live now.
Well today I was able to revisit my old haunt as I took a trip to the west. It has been suggested that the best views of the city are from Williamstown but that is usually in the evening. On a 26C day, there is usually a bit of a haze over the city, but if you walk to the end of Gem Pier, you still get a pretty good view.
Melbourne CBD from Gem Pier
There is a great eating strip at Nelson Place, and on every third Sunday of the month, this area gets packed as a farmers market takes over the area. There used to be a great cafe called La Dolce Vita which has unfortunately closed, though it's place has been taken by a great looking Greek style cafe. I went for a coffee and cake in a place called Schwabs Galley. The coffee was passable but not excellent, but the place was friendly, clean and had a good menu, mainly Foccaccia's and savouries.
Nelson Place Restaurant Precinct
Driving around brought back some memories. Williamstown beach was very busy. One thing I don't remember is the number of speed humps there are on the roads. But there are loads of parks and wetlands about, and these were looking much greener than I've ever seen them.
Walking back along Gem Pier, the Commonwealth Reserve looking quite green!
Williamstown is a great place for walks along the front. I remember I used to walk to Hobson's Bay Chess Club from my house, cutting under the West Gate Bridge. And Williamstown is of historic interest to Melbourne being one of the first settlements in the region. For instance, at the end of Gem Pier on Nelson
Parade you have the Customs House, which is now a hotel. And for nature lovers, there are Pelican's, Black Swans and the usual mob of gulls!
All in all, Williamstown is a great place for a short trip for the day, and from the city you can even get a ferry to Williamstown, saving any bother with traffic on the West Gate Bridge!
Well today I was able to revisit my old haunt as I took a trip to the west. It has been suggested that the best views of the city are from Williamstown but that is usually in the evening. On a 26C day, there is usually a bit of a haze over the city, but if you walk to the end of Gem Pier, you still get a pretty good view.
There is a great eating strip at Nelson Place, and on every third Sunday of the month, this area gets packed as a farmers market takes over the area. There used to be a great cafe called La Dolce Vita which has unfortunately closed, though it's place has been taken by a great looking Greek style cafe. I went for a coffee and cake in a place called Schwabs Galley. The coffee was passable but not excellent, but the place was friendly, clean and had a good menu, mainly Foccaccia's and savouries.
Driving around brought back some memories. Williamstown beach was very busy. One thing I don't remember is the number of speed humps there are on the roads. But there are loads of parks and wetlands about, and these were looking much greener than I've ever seen them.
Williamstown is a great place for walks along the front. I remember I used to walk to Hobson's Bay Chess Club from my house, cutting under the West Gate Bridge. And Williamstown is of historic interest to Melbourne being one of the first settlements in the region. For instance, at the end of Gem Pier on Nelson
Parade you have the Customs House, which is now a hotel. And for nature lovers, there are Pelican's, Black Swans and the usual mob of gulls!
All in all, Williamstown is a great place for a short trip for the day, and from the city you can even get a ferry to Williamstown, saving any bother with traffic on the West Gate Bridge!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Learning from your victories
It's one of the great cliche's of chess that it is easier to learn from your defeats than it is to learn from your victories. But that doesn't mean that you can't learn from your victories as long as you are objective about the game. Of course, if you have a coach this is easier as they can act as a devil's advocate asking you all the awkward questions that you would normally ignore because you had obviously played perfectly in your game. However, most adults don't have coaches and we have to do most of the hard work ourselves.
During the Australasian Masters I did hardly any thorough analysis of my games, and I am beginning to go through them now. I remember reading a book by Soviet trainer Vladimir Zak who stated that on average a chess player should be spending between 12 -15 hours analysis on each of his games. This included opening study and tactical practice resulting from the game, but it still seems a bit excessive. I have spent a few hours looking at my win against Vladimir Smirnov. Some of this was working on the opening, and I think I have a better understanding of the Dutch now, though I want to do some more work on this opening. However, I also addressed some interesting strategic and tactical issues that arose from the game. Try to answer the questions to these positions which arose during the games, or could have from variations.
1. It is Black to move, what is his best move?
2. What is white's best move?
3. What is white's best move?
4. What is white's best move?
5. What is white's best move?
6. What is white's best move?
What struck me from looking at this game was that I became very dogmatic in my thinking. It is generally regarded that when attacking on opposite sides of the board you make few, if any, moves on your defensive side, while pulling out all the stops on the other side where you are attacking. But because of this, both me and my opponent missed some amazing chances, and there were moves which I never even considered because I wasn't looking for anything on that side of the board.
Answers:
1. Black should play 1..a5 holding White's queen side expansion. Instead he continued with his king side action.
2. White can play 1.Rfb1, because the f2 pawn is taboo. Although it doesn't look it, black's back rank is weak. I had decided the rook on f1 was needed for defence, and hadn't considered moving it.
3. White has the amazing 1.g4! decoying the bishop from it's defence, and after 1..Bxg4 white can take a piece 2.Rxa5. This resource was not seen by me, but luckily the variation didn't arise.
4. White can again play 1.Rfb1 as 1..Rxf2 loses to 2.Bxe6 Qxe6 3.Kxf2. Again, I wasn't looking at tactics in front of my king, and I'm not sure I'd have found them if I'd been forced down these lines.
5. White has another amazing resource, 1.Bh3 as the queen can't take on h3 because it is needed to defend e8. I prosaically took on a7 without looking at any king side possibilities. My move was good enough, but certainly not best.
6. Funnliy enough, after making no moves on the king side throughout the game, I now played 1.h4 preventing mating possibilities. A safe choice, but my opposite sides policy would have been capped off if I'd played 1.a7! and went for mate myself. 1..Bxg2 2.a8=Q [not 2.Kxg2?? Qh3+ 3.Kg1 Qxh2#] 2..Qh3 3.Qg8+ Kg6 4.Qae8+ Kg5 5.Qxg7+ Kf5 and white can choose between 4 mate in 1's.
So you can learn from your victories as long as you are objective. I will be looking at more unusual resources in positions where there are attacks on opposite sides of the board, and will be working harder on my tactical ability which is obviously not as good as it could be!
During the Australasian Masters I did hardly any thorough analysis of my games, and I am beginning to go through them now. I remember reading a book by Soviet trainer Vladimir Zak who stated that on average a chess player should be spending between 12 -15 hours analysis on each of his games. This included opening study and tactical practice resulting from the game, but it still seems a bit excessive. I have spent a few hours looking at my win against Vladimir Smirnov. Some of this was working on the opening, and I think I have a better understanding of the Dutch now, though I want to do some more work on this opening. However, I also addressed some interesting strategic and tactical issues that arose from the game. Try to answer the questions to these positions which arose during the games, or could have from variations.
What struck me from looking at this game was that I became very dogmatic in my thinking. It is generally regarded that when attacking on opposite sides of the board you make few, if any, moves on your defensive side, while pulling out all the stops on the other side where you are attacking. But because of this, both me and my opponent missed some amazing chances, and there were moves which I never even considered because I wasn't looking for anything on that side of the board.
Answers:
1. Black should play 1..a5 holding White's queen side expansion. Instead he continued with his king side action.
2. White can play 1.Rfb1, because the f2 pawn is taboo. Although it doesn't look it, black's back rank is weak. I had decided the rook on f1 was needed for defence, and hadn't considered moving it.
3. White has the amazing 1.g4! decoying the bishop from it's defence, and after 1..Bxg4 white can take a piece 2.Rxa5. This resource was not seen by me, but luckily the variation didn't arise.
4. White can again play 1.Rfb1 as 1..Rxf2 loses to 2.Bxe6 Qxe6 3.Kxf2. Again, I wasn't looking at tactics in front of my king, and I'm not sure I'd have found them if I'd been forced down these lines.
5. White has another amazing resource, 1.Bh3 as the queen can't take on h3 because it is needed to defend e8. I prosaically took on a7 without looking at any king side possibilities. My move was good enough, but certainly not best.
6. Funnliy enough, after making no moves on the king side throughout the game, I now played 1.h4 preventing mating possibilities. A safe choice, but my opposite sides policy would have been capped off if I'd played 1.a7! and went for mate myself. 1..Bxg2 2.a8=Q [not 2.Kxg2?? Qh3+ 3.Kg1 Qxh2#] 2..Qh3 3.Qg8+ Kg6 4.Qae8+ Kg5 5.Qxg7+ Kf5 and white can choose between 4 mate in 1's.
So you can learn from your victories as long as you are objective. I will be looking at more unusual resources in positions where there are attacks on opposite sides of the board, and will be working harder on my tactical ability which is obviously not as good as it could be!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Australasian Masters: the finish
Round 8 of the Australasian Masters was played at Box Hill Chess Club and 2 players, Erik Teichmann and Bobby Cheng, were still in the hunt for an IM norm. But alas it was not to be as Bobby came up against a solid and in form Stephen Solomon, while Erik seemed to falter and took an eternity to try to find the right plan. It seems with the extra pressure of needing a result to score a norm has been too much for the FM's in this tournament, and I'm sure this has been the case to hundreds of players over the years. However, I believe that the future will be bright for these talented players, and I'm sure that at least one will become an IM in the not too distant future. It was good to See Guy West and Jean Watson among the spectators today.
Pairings and Results:
Solomon-Cheng 1-0
Illingworth-Steadman 1-0
Morris-Teichmann 1-0
Smirnov-Rujevic 0-1
Levi-Gorka Draw
And the Standings:
7. Solomon
5. Cheng, Teichmann, Illingworth
4. Smirnov, Morris, Rujevic
3.5 Gorka
2. Steadman
.5 Levi
So Stephen Solomon wraps the tournament up with a round to spare. James holds fast against Erik Teichmann, and there are good wins for Rujevic and Illingworth. It was also good to see Eddy Levi get off the mark, even if it was against me. The final position might be slightly better for me, but not by much.
Round 9
Sometimes at the end of tournaments there is a lack of fighting spirit, and we get a few quick draws. No such thing today as everyone was trying to squeeze the last bit from the tournament. My game against Stephen Solomon lasted over 4 hours and there was still a game going on then.
Pairings and Results:
Gorka-Solomon 0-1
Rujevic-Levi 1-0
Teichmann-Smirnov 0-1
Steadman-Morris 0-1
Cheng-Illingworth 1-0
Stephen ground me down in typical gritty fashion. Both Mirko Rujevic, and James Morris have come alive in the second half of the tournament and both finished with nice wins today. Smirnov beat Teichmann to catch the group in third place. But outright second place goes to Bobby Cheng after his victory against Max Illingworth today. Bobby was agonisingly close to a master norm missing by just half a point, but at just 13 he has time on his side.
Final Standings:
1st Solomon 8/9
2nd Cheng 6
=3rd Morris, Rujevic, Illingworth, Teichmann, Smirnov 5
8th Gorka 3.5
9th Steadman 2
10th Levi .5
All the results will be on the CV website.
More analysis of the tournament to follow in the next few days
FM Mike Steadman visiting from New Zealand
Stephen Solomon against Bobby Cheng from round 8. Tournament organiser Leonid Sandler is in the background.
The Australian Masters Perpetual Trophy which will have Stephen Solomon's name engraved on it for 2010
Pairings and Results:
Solomon-Cheng 1-0
Illingworth-Steadman 1-0
Morris-Teichmann 1-0
Smirnov-Rujevic 0-1
Levi-Gorka Draw
And the Standings:
7. Solomon
5. Cheng, Teichmann, Illingworth
4. Smirnov, Morris, Rujevic
3.5 Gorka
2. Steadman
.5 Levi
So Stephen Solomon wraps the tournament up with a round to spare. James holds fast against Erik Teichmann, and there are good wins for Rujevic and Illingworth. It was also good to see Eddy Levi get off the mark, even if it was against me. The final position might be slightly better for me, but not by much.
Round 9
Sometimes at the end of tournaments there is a lack of fighting spirit, and we get a few quick draws. No such thing today as everyone was trying to squeeze the last bit from the tournament. My game against Stephen Solomon lasted over 4 hours and there was still a game going on then.
Pairings and Results:
Gorka-Solomon 0-1
Rujevic-Levi 1-0
Teichmann-Smirnov 0-1
Steadman-Morris 0-1
Cheng-Illingworth 1-0
Stephen ground me down in typical gritty fashion. Both Mirko Rujevic, and James Morris have come alive in the second half of the tournament and both finished with nice wins today. Smirnov beat Teichmann to catch the group in third place. But outright second place goes to Bobby Cheng after his victory against Max Illingworth today. Bobby was agonisingly close to a master norm missing by just half a point, but at just 13 he has time on his side.
Final Standings:
1st Solomon 8/9
2nd Cheng 6
=3rd Morris, Rujevic, Illingworth, Teichmann, Smirnov 5
8th Gorka 3.5
9th Steadman 2
10th Levi .5
All the results will be on the CV website.
More analysis of the tournament to follow in the next few days
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Australasian Masters Round 7
Excuse me if I gush a bit, but in round 7 I had my best result since arriving in Australia over 5 years ago. I didn't hold out much hope against Vladimir Smirnov, especially as my preparation for the game was a full days work, but perhaps this helped me to relax into the game. In contrast, Vladimir was under pressure to score a result against me with the black pieces to keep his IM norm hopes alive. He went all out for a king's side attack in the Dutch but it fell short and I won on the other side of the board.
We were again in the back room of Box Hill Chess Club as Friday is their main club night and there were events happening in the main room....an allegro I think. So the DGT boards were not in operation, though the games were transmitted by the organiser, Leonid Sandler to the chesschat forum. The round was tense as the 4 FM's still in the hunt for a norm were all put under extra pressure in their games. The Pairings and results were:
Levi-Solomon 0-1
Gorka-Smirnov 1-0
Rujevic-Morris 1-0
Teichmann-Illingworth 1-0
Steadman-Cheng 0-1
Eddy Levi again saw a decent position deteriorate to a loss to the tournament leader. James Morris seemed to come out of the opening very well against Rujevic, but made a horrible blunder that cost him a piece and was visibly upset after the game. Max Illingworth sacrificed a pawn for piece activity which was eventually nullified by Erik Teichmann who took the full point and thus retains the chance of getting to the norm. And Bobby Cheng kept his IM norm chances alive with a nice win against Steadman.
Standings:
6. Solomon
5. Teichmann, Cheng
4. Smirnov, Illingworth
3. Gorka, Rujevic, Morris
2. Steadman
0. Levi
We were again in the back room of Box Hill Chess Club as Friday is their main club night and there were events happening in the main room....an allegro I think. So the DGT boards were not in operation, though the games were transmitted by the organiser, Leonid Sandler to the chesschat forum. The round was tense as the 4 FM's still in the hunt for a norm were all put under extra pressure in their games. The Pairings and results were:
Levi-Solomon 0-1
Gorka-Smirnov 1-0
Rujevic-Morris 1-0
Teichmann-Illingworth 1-0
Steadman-Cheng 0-1
Eddy Levi again saw a decent position deteriorate to a loss to the tournament leader. James Morris seemed to come out of the opening very well against Rujevic, but made a horrible blunder that cost him a piece and was visibly upset after the game. Max Illingworth sacrificed a pawn for piece activity which was eventually nullified by Erik Teichmann who took the full point and thus retains the chance of getting to the norm. And Bobby Cheng kept his IM norm chances alive with a nice win against Steadman.
Standings:
6. Solomon
5. Teichmann, Cheng
4. Smirnov, Illingworth
3. Gorka, Rujevic, Morris
2. Steadman
0. Levi
Friday, December 10, 2010
Australasian Masters Round 6
The tournament has really become interesting as 4 of the FM's moved on 4 out of 6, and if any of them has a good run in, we could have an IM norm from this tournament. Once again, the main room of the Box Hill Chess Club was being used for other purposes, so we were relegated to the back room without the DGT boards. David Hacche was present helping Trevor Stanning with the running of the tournament in the absense of Leonid Sandler, but things are running very smoothly in this event.
Round 6 Pairings and Results:
Solomon-Steadman Draw
Cheng-Teichmann 1-0
Illingworth-Rujevic 1-0
Morris-Gorka 1-0
Smirnov-Levi 1-0
Mike Steadman nearly pulled off a big upset, but couldn't convert from an exchange up against Stephen Solomon. Bobby Cheng built up a very promising attack against Erik Teichmann and finished the game in fine combinative style. This might be the best game of the tournament so far. Rujevic was sloppy against Max Illingworth who is finishing off games clinically in this tournament. Vladimir Smirnov won against a terribly out of form Eddy Levi.
In my game, James Morris took advantage of some slack play by me and converted his advantage very nicely. The game started with a Hedgehog and I successfully got d5 in which looked to equalise. However, I then didn't find the right continuation, allowing James to take the initiative and gain the 2 bishops. Soon after I tried to create some perpetual chances, but gave away material which James took, and he avoided any drawing tricks. All in all, a nice performance from the young IM.
This leaves the standings as follows:
5. Solomon
4. Cheng, Teichmann, Illingworth, Smirnov
3. Morris
2. Gorka, Rujevic, Steadman
0. Levi
Stephen Solomon retains his lead, while the FM's pack in behind him. Any player on 4 points needs 2.5 from their remaining 3 games for an IM norm. Morris moves back to half points, after a very tough start to the tournament, and the rest of us are struggling to hang on.
The move that I really didn't like was 22..Qd7. I think after 22..Qd6 black is fine.
Round 6 Pairings and Results:
Solomon-Steadman Draw
Cheng-Teichmann 1-0
Illingworth-Rujevic 1-0
Morris-Gorka 1-0
Smirnov-Levi 1-0
Mike Steadman nearly pulled off a big upset, but couldn't convert from an exchange up against Stephen Solomon. Bobby Cheng built up a very promising attack against Erik Teichmann and finished the game in fine combinative style. This might be the best game of the tournament so far. Rujevic was sloppy against Max Illingworth who is finishing off games clinically in this tournament. Vladimir Smirnov won against a terribly out of form Eddy Levi.
In my game, James Morris took advantage of some slack play by me and converted his advantage very nicely. The game started with a Hedgehog and I successfully got d5 in which looked to equalise. However, I then didn't find the right continuation, allowing James to take the initiative and gain the 2 bishops. Soon after I tried to create some perpetual chances, but gave away material which James took, and he avoided any drawing tricks. All in all, a nice performance from the young IM.
This leaves the standings as follows:
5. Solomon
4. Cheng, Teichmann, Illingworth, Smirnov
3. Morris
2. Gorka, Rujevic, Steadman
0. Levi
Stephen Solomon retains his lead, while the FM's pack in behind him. Any player on 4 points needs 2.5 from their remaining 3 games for an IM norm. Morris moves back to half points, after a very tough start to the tournament, and the rest of us are struggling to hang on.
The move that I really didn't like was 22..Qd7. I think after 22..Qd6 black is fine.
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