Friday, May 22, 2009

Waitakere Licensing Trust Open 2009

May 30-June 1 2009 - 32nd Waitakere Licensing Trust Open, Auckland
This tournament is shaping up to be quite a strong and popular event. Here is the link for entrie's so far with over 50 to date including GM Jones, IM Dive and FM Smith as the top seeds.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

RIP Richard Sutton 1938 - 2009

New Zealand chess has lost a great player.
A tribute article from the Otago Daily times is here.
http://otagochess.wikispaces.com/ODT090505

Friday, May 8, 2009

Palmy 60/60 game

Baker,J (unr) - King,M (1885) Palmy Club 60/60 (5.1), 30.04.2009

I finished the tournament on a perfect score but my last round opponent played a nice game to come within a whisker of beating me. John Baker had defeated 2nd seed Stephen Taylor earlier in the tournament and would no doubt have finished higher up in the standings if he didn't default round 4.

26.Bxh6! gxh6
Black could decline the sacrifice by 26...Qd6 27.Bf4 Qd7 and still have some compensation for the pawn deficit. Being the stronger player I thought the sacrifice must be accepted as a matter of honour. It must be refuted! Sometimes one's ego can blur the lines of common sense.
27.Qxh6 Qd6?
I would like to say I saw the whole Bf8 line and was not satisfied with a draw by repetition so decided to sac my Queen. Reality is I missed the fact the Queen covered the f4 square!
27...Bf8 28.Qf6 Qc7 29.Qg5+ Bg7 30.Nd5!? Qd6 31.Nf6+ Kf8 32.Nh7+ Kg8 33.Nf6+ Kf8 =
28.Rf4! Qxf4
Still losing but possible to play is 28...Rc5 as pointed out by Stewart after the game 29.Rcf1 Bg5 30.Rg4 Re5 31.Rxg5+ Rxg5 32.Qxg5+ Kf8 33.Qf6 Rd7 34.e5 Qc6 35.Bd5
29.Qxf4 Bd6 30.Qh6 Bf8 31.Qg5+ Bg7 32.Rf1 I should also mention that I am down to my last 7 minutes 15 behind my opponent and the time control is flat rate!
32...Kf8

33.Nxb5?
Right at the point where the final blow should be delt white has a brain explosion. Caught in my time pressure he is moving too quickly not thinking about his moves and ultimately gives me the chance I was praying for.
Winning is 33.Ne2! White doesn't have a mate but black is just lost suffering from an ultimately indefensible position.
33...axb5 34.Qh5
34.h4! And the march of the h-pawn up the board will ensure an edge for White still.
34...Rd7 35.Rf4?! Rc2 36.e5?? After playing 30 odd moves and gaining a winning position white throws it all away in the space of 3 moves!
36...Bxg2+ 37.Kg1 Ne2+
White's best is to give his queen for the knight or suffer heavy material losses with Kh2 so white resigned.
0-1

Palmy 60/60 Game

Taylor,S (1605) - Holdaway,S (1580) [B12]Palmy Club 60/60 (Round 3), 04.2009

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Bd3?!



Richard Reti in the book Masters of the Chess board comments on this move best.
"Although white controls more territory, Black has the better bishop after the exchange on d3. As white is consequently inclined to be weak on white squares, correct play by his opponent will make it impossible for him to break through with f4-f5, which ordinarily be the form of attack indicated. It seems, therefore, that in this variation of the Caro Kann Black has rather the advantage."
Better is 4.Nf3 going for the short system or if you prefer the sharp stuff the complicated 4.Nc3 and 5.g4 is interesting.
4...Bxd3 5.Qxd3 e6 6.Nf3 Qb6
6...Nd7 and c5 was a little safer. The queen may become harassed later.
7.0-0
The rest of the game the notes are supplied by Stewart Holdaway taken from the weekly Palmerston North Club chess Magazine.
7...c5 8.b3 cxd4 9.Qxd4 Bc5 10.Qf4
Even better looks to be 10.Qg4 hitting the weak g7 square. 10...g6 11.c4 dxc4 12.bxc4 Looks good for white.
10...Ne7
The position is now equal. My plan was pretty simple. Gang up on the e5 pawn.



11.Ba3 Ng6 12.Bxc5 Qxc5 13.Qd2 Qc7 14.Re1
14.c4 dxc4 15.Na3 0-0 (15...Nxe5?! 16.Nxe5 Qxe5 17.Nxc4) 16.Nxc4 Rd8=
14...Nc6 15.Qe2
15.c4 dxc4 16.Na3 Qd8 (16...Ngxe5 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.Nb5 and white is better) 17.Qxd8+ Rxd8 18.Nxc4 Ke7 gives black a slight advantage.
15...0-0
This was the position I had envisioned when I played 12...Qxc5. I thought Black must be slightly better because white has ti defend e5, is weak on the dark squares and Black will be able to put pressure on the c-file.

16.Nbd2
16.c4 dxc4 17.bxc4 Rfd8 gives black a slight edge.
16...Rfd8 17.Rac1
Stephen was critical of this move after the game and argued he should have played. 17.c4 then if 17...d4 18.Rad1. However c3 (stopping d4) is the best move when after 18...Qb6 black has a slight pull.
17...Rac8 18.c4 d4
I have finally got the passed pawn I wanted.
19.Qe4 Rd7 20.h4
I was expecting this as I thought it was the only way for White to get counter play. However, I didn't realise how strong it was.
20...h6
Stopping all those nasty Ng5 ideas.
21.h5 Nge7 22.Nb1 Rcd8 23.Na3 a6 24.Nb1 Nf5 25.g4 Nfe7 26.Nbd2
26.Qd3 leaves black with only a small advantage.
26...d3
I was convinced I wa winning now. But...
27.a3 Nd4 28.Kg2 Nec6
29.Nxd4??
The losing mistake but black was already on top. Better is [29.g5 hxg5 30.Nxg5]
29...Rxd4 30.Qe3 Rxg4+ 31.Kh3 Rg5 32.f4 Rxh5+ 33.Kg4 Rf5 34.Rc3 Qe7 35.b4 g5! 36.fxg5 Rxg5+ 37.Kh3 Rh5+ 38.Kg2 Qh4 39.Rg1 Rg5+ 40.Kf1 Rxg1+ 41.Qxg1+ Qg5 42.Qf2 Nxe5 43.Ne4 Qf5 44.Nf6+ Kg7 45.Qxf5 exf5 46.Nh5+ Kg6 47.Nf4+ Kh7
White now oversteps the time limit
0-1

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Palmerston North Club 60/60 tournament

Final Standings

1st
5/5
Mathew King 1885

2nd=
4/5
JuYoung Kim 1358
Dennis Davey 1309

4th=
3/5
Stewart Holdaway 1580
Stephen Taylor 1605
Terry Lee 908
David Kweon unr

8th
2.5
John Baker

9th=
2/5
Johan Van Vuuren
Ricky Kim
Dan Kim
Ryan Kim
Jay Lee

14th
1.5/5
Frank Visser
John Kim (t)
John Kim (s)

17th=
1/5
Jacob King
Andrew Parker
Jake Kim
Jack Jung