Olympiad 2010 Round one Tactics

Natasha Fairley is black in this position and played the unfortunate d2?? but by simply moving the rook black should cruise to victory. The game ended in a draw


Michael Steadman has just played Rbc8 what tactical shot did he miss

Olympiad 2010 Round two

Open
Board 72

144 Mauritania (MTN) - 92 New Zealand (NZL) 1-3

Mohamed Cheikh Boidiya Sidi 0 - FM Smith Robert W 2282 0-1

Daouda Sabar Ousmane 0 - FM Steadman Michael 2309 0-1

Hemam Moulaye Brahim 0 - FM Croad Nicolas 2297 1/2-1/2

Ould Taleb Mohamed Ahmed 0 - Han Daniel 2200 1/2-1/2

Women
Board 33

80 Puerto Rico (PUR) - 72 New Zealand (NZL) 3-1


WFM Segarra Choe Tammy 2014 - WFM Milligan Helen 2033 1/2-1/2

Pacheco Medina Hilzandryly 1875 - WIM Maroroa Sue 1981 1/2-1/2

Sanchez Rodriguez Wilmairi 1812 - WCM Chen Eachen 1966 1-0

Comas Colon Rinelly 1696 - WFM Fairley Natasha 1777 1-0

Olympiad 2010 Round one

Pictures from the opening ceremony

Please note pairings are not in colour order.

Open

Board 18

91 New Zealand (NZL)-18 Cuba (CUB)

FM Smith Robert W 2282 - GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro 2679

FM Steadman Michael 2309 - GMQuesada Perez Yuniesky 2614

FM Croad Nicolas 2297 - GM Corrales Jimenez Fidel 2599

Han Daniel 2200 - GM Hernandez Carmenates Holden 2563

New Zealand lost all games

Women


Board 12

70 New Zealand (NZL) - 13 Slovenia (SLO)

WFM Milligan Helen2033 - WGMKrivec Jana 2309

WIM Maroroa Sue 1981 - WGMKaps Darja 2300

WCM Chen Eachen 1966 - WIMRozic Vesna 2289

WFM Fairley Natasha 1777 - WFMBajt Indira 2204

Natasha and Sue drew but NZ lost 1-3

World Chess Olympiad 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk Siberia, RUSSIA

Three days to go and the somewhat troublesome Olympiad begins. Good luck to both teams. I have donated a small amount to the olympiad fund but I figure if we all make a small effort it can only help.

The New Zealand Open team is ranked 90th out of 157 teams with an average rating of 2272. Ahead of Papau New Guinea (114th) but behind Australia (50th). The top 3 teams are Russia, Ukrine and China.
The Women's team is ranked 72 out of 118 with an average rating of 1952* (see http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/Olympiad2010/olympiad2010.html for more details). The 3 top teams are Russia China Ukraine.


Official site http://www.ugra-chess.com/
Result's and information http://chess-results.com/tnr36795.aspx?art=0&lan=1&turdet=YES&flag=30&m=-1&wi=1000

3rd Gordon Hoskyn Memorial Rapid Tournament

21st August 2010 - 3rd Gordon Hoskyn Memorial Rapid, Palmerston North

A-Grade
1st Justin Davis
2nd= Mathew King IM Anthony Ker

B-Grade
1st Daniel Yuan
2nd= Micheal Yuan, David Bell, Jack James

Upset prizes
1.James Stewart (1754) - for win against IM Anthony Ker (2363)

2.Jack James (1384) - for win against David Capper (1642)

3.Cerdic Backhouse (1406) - for win against David Capper (1642)

4. Mathew King (1832) - for win against John McDonald (2042)

5. Justin Davis (1909) - for draw against IM Anthonuy Ker (2363)

Directors of Play :- Stewart Holdaway and Dennis Davey

Special thanks to Stewart Holdaway for the excellent job done as tournament director, general organising and sponsoring of this event.

A-GradeRound Robin
Name Rating Total


1 Davis,Justin 1909 4/5

2 King, Mathew 1832 3.5/5

3 IM Ker,Anthony 2363 3.5/5

4 Smith,Chris 1863 2/5

5 Stewart,James 1754 1/5

6 McDonald,John 2042 1/5



B-GradeSwiss
No Name Loc Total 1 2 3 4 5


Yuan, Daniel 1549 4.5
Yuan, Micheal 1528 3
Bell, David 1571 3
James, Jack 1384 3
Brockway, Andrew 1624 2.5
Capper, David 1642 2
Backhouse, Cedric 1406 2
Luo, Brian 953 0

Due to unforeseen circumstances this years tournament was a slight change from last year. The A-grade was a 5 round robin and the B grade a small 8 player swiss. . The tournament was a great success but next year will probably bring a return to the open format. Unfortunately due to the blog format I cannot bring a complete crosstable easily but in case your wondering IM Ker lost to James Stewart in the first round and drew with Davis in the second leaving the tournament wide open for an unlikey winner. Congratulations to all who managed to come away with a prize.

Complete results to be found here also http://web.mac.com/xrissmith/Chess/NZ/tourn2010gh.htm

Wang Draws Kamsky

Former New Zealand champion has managed to take a half point off the current US champ and all around elite GM Gata Kamsky. Congratulations Puchen Wang.

IM Wang Puchen (2469) - GM Kamsky,G (2702)
[B42] 38th World Open King of Prussia USA (7), 04.07.2010

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 g6 6.0-0 Bg7 7.Nb3 d6 8.N1d2 Nf6 9.Nc4 b5 10.Nca5 Bd7 11.c4 0-0 12.c5 dxc5 13.Nb7 Qe7 14.N7xc5 Rd8 15.Bg5 h6 16.Bh4 Nc6 17.Qe2 g5 18.Bg3 Nd4 19.Nxd4 Qxc5 20.Nb3 Qb6 21.Rac1 Rac8 22.h4 Be8 23.hxg5 hxg5 24.e5 Nd5 25.Rxc8 Rxc8 26.Qg4 Nf4 27.Bxf4 gxf4 28.Qxf4 Rd8 29.Rd1 Rd5 30.Be2 Rxe5 31.Bf3 a5 32.Nd2 Rf5 33.Qg4 Kf8 34.Ne4 Rd5 35.Rxd5 exd5 36.Ng3 Bxb2 37.Bxd5 Qc5 38.Qf5 Qc1+ 39.Kh2 Qc3 40.f4 Qh8+ 41.Nh5 Qh6 42.g4 Qg6 43.Qc8 Qd6 44.Qf5 a4 45.Ng3 Qg6 46.Kg2 b4 47.Qc8 Qb6 48.Ne4 Qb5 49.Qd8 Qe2+ 50.Kg3 Qe3+ 51.Kg2 Qxf4 52.Bc6 Qe5 53.Kf3 b3 54.Bxe8 Qxe8 55.Qd2 f5 56.gxf5 Qh5+ 57.Kg2 Qxf5 58.Qb4+ Kg7 59.Qxa4 bxa2 60.Qxa2 Qxe4+ 61.Kf2 Bd4+ 62.Kg3 Be5+ 63.Kf2 Qf4+ 64.Ke1 Bc3+ 65.Kd1 Qf1+ 66.Kc2 Qe2+ 67.Kb3 Qe6+ 68.Ka3 Qd6+ 69.Kb3 Qd5+ 70.Ka3 Qc5+ 71.Kb3
½-½

RIP Ted Frost 1927-2010

Ted Frost 1927-2010 passed away peacefully 15th July, aged 83

A nice article can be found at the wellington chess club web site.

I remember Ted from my first tournament, the 2005 New Zealand Congress. Ted was a guest speaker and among other things described playing Murray Chandler in the Major Open, back a few years ago now. Sadly he stopped playing over the board chess a while ago but he became a New Zealand Correspondence championship player. One event I remember clearly (or not so clearly as the result may be) was his victory over Gordon Hoskyn at the Wanganui Club Presidents verse Club Captain's team match. If anyone has the score of this game it would be great to see it published.

The following game is a nice win for Ted against David Lynch who in 3/4 years was to become NZ Champion.

Frost,Edward GA- Lynch,David [D53]Napier v Hastings, 1947
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 h6 7.Bf4 c6 8.Rc1 0-0 9.Qc2 Re8 10.a3 Nb6 11.c5 Nbd7 12.Bd3 Nh5 13.Ne2 f5 14.h3 g5 15.Bh2 Nhf6 16.Ne5 Nxe5 17.Bxe5 Rf8 18.g4 Qe8 19.Kd2 Ne4+ 20.Ke1 fxg4 21.hxg4 Qf7 22.Bxe4! Qxf2+ 23.Kd2 dxe4 24.Qxe4 Rf3 25.Rcf1 [25.Qg6+ Kf8 26.Bg7+ Kg8 27.Bxh6+ Kh8 28.Qg7#]

1-0

Palmerston North Chess Club Rapid Championship

Final Standings

1st Justin Davis 6/6

2nd Mathew King 5/6

3rd Stewart Holdaway 4/6

4th Cedric Backhouse 3.4/6

5= Dennis Davey Johan Van Vurren 3/6

7th Clive 2.5/6

8th Frank Visser 1/6

9th =Jack James Derrick 0/6

My first tournament this year for the club was a rather predictable event. Chess has a great thing called ratings National (NZCF) and international (FIDE), these ratings are usually accurate and Justin being the top seed won this event. Below is my game against him.

King,M (1829) - Davis,J (1863) [B01] Palmerston North Club Rapid Championship, 25+5, 11.06.2010

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6

A favourite move of GM Tiviakov. This opening is solid but in general doesn't give black many winning chances at the GM level.
4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nc4 Qc7 8.Qf3 Nb6 9.Bf4 Qd8 10.Be5


10...Be6
10...Bg4 11.Qg3 h5 12.f3 Be6 13.Ne3 Nbd5 14.Ncxd5 Nxd5 15.Nxd5 Qxd5 16.Bd3 f6 17.Bb8 h4 18.Qc7 Kf7 19.Qxb7 c5 20.Qxd5 Bxd5 21.c4 Bxf3 22.Bxa7 Bxg2 23.Rg1 Rxa7 24.Rxg2 cxd4 25.Bg6+ Kg8 26.c5 ½-½ Grischuk,A-Tiviakov,S/Sochi 2006
11.Ne3
11.Na5 Nbd5 12.Nb3 Nxc3 13.Qxc3 Bd5 14.Qg3 b5 15.Bd3 g6 16.0-0 Bg7 17.Rfe1 0-0 18.h3 a6 19.Nc5 Ra7 20.a4 Qa8 21.c3 Nh5 22.Qe3 Bxe5 23.Qxe5 Ng7 24.Be4 Rd8 25.axb5 axb5 26.Ra6 Rxa6 27.Nxa6 Bxe4 28.Nc7 Qb7 29.Rxe4 Rd7 30.Na6 Rd6 31.Nc5 Qb6 32.Qxe7 Nf5 33.Qe8+ 1-0 Chernov,V-Muse,D/Berlin GER 2010
11...Bd5
11...Nbd5 12.Ncxd5 Nxd5 13.c3 f6 14.Bg3 Bf7 15.Bc4 e6 16.0-0 Be7 17.Nxd5 cxd5 18.Bb5+ Kf8 19.Rfe1 g6 20.Bd3 Kg7 21.Bf4 a6 22.a4 Re8 23.Qe2 Bd6 24.Bxd6 Qxd6 25.Qd2 Re7 26.f4 Be8 27.Qf2 Bd7 28.Re3 Rg8 29.Qh4 Rf7 30.a5 Qc7 31.Rf3 Kf8 32.Qe1 Ke7 33.Qd1 Kd8 34.Qb3 Kc8 35.c4 Bc6 36.Rf2 Kb8 37.c5 Kc8 38.Qc3 g5 39.Re1 gxf4 40.Rxe6 Bd7 41.Rd6 Rg4 42.Be2 Rh4 43.Bf3 Re7 44.Rxd5 Re3 45.Qc2 Qxa5 46.Rf1 Re1 47.Rh5 Bb5 0-1 Valentine,B-Crouch,C/London ENG 2009
12.Nexd5 Nbxd5 13.Bc4 Qa5?!
A mistaken plan Justin acknowledeges after the game. Better is 13...e6 if 13...Qb6 14.0-0!
14.0-0 Nxc3 15.bxc3 Nd5 16.Rab1
Black is in serious difficulties now in fact I would say losing. His king is still in the center and the bishop on f8 needs a pawn to move before it can be developed.
16...b6 17.Rb5!

I was very happy with the position now, the problem is I had used a good chunk of time and was under 5 minutes as opposed to Davis who still had over 10 minutes.

17...Qa4

This rook is untouchable because after cxb5 Bxb5 f7 and a8 are hanging Bc6+ is also coming putting the black king in great danger.

18.Bxd5 cxd5 19.Qxd5 Rc8 20.Qb7 Qc4 21.Rb3

This was my first tournament of the year and the rust is starting to show I saw Rc5 but couldn't analyse it properly in the time pressure. Winning is 21.Rc5! Rxc5 22.dxc5 Qxc5 23.Qa8+ Kd7 24.Rd1+ Ke6 25.Bd4

21...f6 22.Bd6?
Now I simply missed 23...Kd8. At the 2009 Gordon Hoskyn memorial tournament FM Nic Croad gave me a strong observation. He roughly stated that after looking at my games I seem to play a few moves and then sacrifice something and sometimes when you have the advantage simple play is best. Of course 22.Bg3 is the sane choice.

22...exd6 23.Re1+ Kd8 24.Qxa7 Qc7 25.Qa4

25.Qa6 This would give white some compensation.

25...Qc6 26.Qa6

Black won in a few moves after mutual mistakes, white hanging his rook being the final one.

0-1

I will now give a segment out of the book Masters of the Chess Board by Richard Reti on Emanuel Lasker

"In analysing Lasker's tournament games I was struck by his lasting and at first incredible good luck. There are tournaments in which he came out on top and won almost every game, though in a losing position in every other game, so that many masters spoke of Lasker's hypnotic influence over his opponents. What is the truth? Again and again I studied Laskers games too discover the secret of his success. There is no denying the fact that over and over again Lasker's lay-out of the game is poor, that he is in a losing position a hundred times and nevertheless wins in the end. The hypothesis of lasting luck is too improbable. There is only one answer which may sound paradoxical at first blush: Lasker often deliberately plays badly. The motive is not far to seek. It was Dr. Tartakower who created the paradox which my give us the explanation: " a game is always won through a mistake, either the opponent's or one's own."

The reason I include the above quote is to try and bring attention to the point a plus/minus evaluation does not automatically translate to a won game, sometimes we feel (especially when playing certain players) because we have a winning position we surely must win the game. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Now Masters of the chess board was first published back in 1933 so it is probably ok to question Reti's conclusion because in my humble opinion he is giving Lasker too much credit. Lasker was undoubtley a great practical player but to say he played into losing position's purposely is going too far.

A game of chess does not travel down a flat road, it is fill of up's and downs as can be seen from my game. What matters most is you concentrate on each move until the end. Sounds simple enough right?

3rd Gordon Hoskyn Memorial Rapid Chess Tournament

When:
August 21st 2010

Where:
Evelyn Rawlins room 1st floor of Square Edge 47 The Square Palmerston North

Format:
5 round robin 25 minutes plus 5 seconds per move

Prize fund:
A grade 1st - $180 2nd - $70
B grade 1st - $150 2nd - $60

Entry fee:
$35

The palmerston North Chess club meets every thurseday at the Intermediate Normal school on Ferguson Street at 7:30pm sharp.

Club president : Dennis Davey (06) 353-0193
Club Captain : Stewart Holdaway 027-329-4399

Olympiad 2010

19th September - 4th October 2010 - World Chess Olympiad, Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia, RUSSIA

The New Zealand teams have been announced

Open

FM Smith, Robert FIDE 2274 NZCF 2357

FM Steadman, Michael FIDE 2252 NZCF 2335

FM Lukey, Stephen FIDE 2244 NZCF 2318

Han, Daniel FIDE 2200 NZCF 2233

Thornton Giovanni FIDE 2195 NZCF 2230

Team Captain Hilton Bennet

Women

WFM Milligan, Helen FIDE 1995 NZCF 2093

Chen, Eachen FIDE 1994 NZCF 1887

WIM Maroroa, Sue FIDE 1926 NZCF 2034

Fairley, Natasha FIDE 1777 NZCF 1844

Wu, Shirley FIDE 1763 NZCF 1871

Team Captain WFM Vivian Smith

Going by the players listed above it seems we have a JAFA explosion!

The women's team looks good but what has happened to New Zealand's top rated players.

No Grandmasters but ok we only have one and he is mostly retired.

But no International masters is the most shocking then then add Han at 18th and Thornton at 20th on the active rating list and the open team looks extremely weak compared to two years ago. Han and Thornton's inclusion is more a failure of other top players than an achievement for those too, but ok good on them for stepping up some one had to.