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.

GM Gawain Jones Palmerston North Simul

After a long break I couldn't resist posting my first win over a grandmaster not played over the internet.

GM Jones,G - King,M [A68] Palmerston North Simul, 16.03.2010

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Be2 exd5 9.cxd5

9...a6?!

Not the best move as far as theory is concerned.

9...Bg4 A Solid line

9...Re8 10.e5 dxe5 11.fxe5 Ng4 12.Bg5 Qb6 A rather sharp and unclear possibility.

10.0-0 Re8 11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 Ng4 13.e6 fxe6 14.d6 Nc6 15.Ne4 Nd4 16.Nxd4 Bxd4+ 17.Kh1 Nf6

I was tempted by 17...Nxh2 but after 18.Rf4 I couldn't see anything great.

18.Qxd4?!

Not a completely sound move but the psychological prejudice noted by Nimzowitsch speaks volumes.

As soon as the sacrifice of the queen falls within one's field of vision it immediately becomes clear that this is the move that has to be played.

Gawain said he didn't like Bg5 as it would allow me to sacrifice my queen.

18.Bg5 Is better, black must find the queen sac 18...Nxe4!? 19.Bxd8 Rxd8 20.Bg4 Nxd6 But now it will turn out that black's position cannot maintain any blockade and white will crash through with a strong attack. 21.Rc1 b6 (21...e5 22.Rxc5 Bxg4 23.Qxg4 Bxc5 24.Qe6+ Kg7 25.Qxe5+ Kg8 26.Qxc5) 22.Qf3 Rb8 (22...Ra7 23.Qb3 c4 24.Qg3 b5 25.Qh4 Bb6 26.b3) 23.Rce1 e5 24.Bxc8 Rbxc8 25.Qd5+ Kg7 26.Rxe5 Bxe5 27.Qxe5+ Kg8 28.Qe6+ Kg7 29.g4+-

18...cxd4 19.Nxf6+ Kg7 20.Nxe8+ Qxe8 21.Bg5 e5

Better is 21...Qc6 22.Bf6+ Kg8 23.Rac1 (23.Bxd4 Qd5 24.Bc3 Qxd6 25.Bf3 Qc7-+) 23...Qxd6

22.Bf6+ Kg8 23.Be7?

23.Rac1! Be6

(23...b5 24.Rc7 Bd7 25.Bf3 e4 26.Bd1 h5 27.Bb3+ Kh7 28.Bxd4+-;

23...d3 24.Bxd3 e4 25.Bc4+ Be6 26.Bxe6+ Qxe6 27.Rc7 Rf8 28.Rg7+ Kh8 29.Rxg6+ Rxf6 30.Rgxf6 Qd5+-)

24.Rc7 Qf8 25.Re7 Bf7 26.Bxe5 Re8 27.Rfxf7 Qxf7 28.Rxf7 Kxf7+-

23...Bf5 24.Rae1 Qc6 25.Rc1 Qb6?

25...Qa4 26.Bc4+ Kg7 27.Bb3 Qb5 28.Kg1 Black is better

26.Bc4+

26.Rc7! d3 27.Bd1 Be6 28.Bf6 Qxd6 (28...Qb5 29.Rg7+ Kf8 30.Bxe5+ Bf5 31.Bb3 Qxb3 Forced to avoid mate) 29.Rg7+ Kf8 30.Bxe5+ Bf5 31.Bxd6+ Kxg7

26...Kg7 27.Bb3 Rd8

Better is 27...Qb5

28.Rc7

28.Bxd8 Qxd8-+ Black will be two pawns down and the queen has chances to cause havoc.

28...Rd7! 29.Rxf5

29.Rxd7 Qb5 30.Bf8+ Kxf8 31.Rf7+ Ke8 32.Re1 Kd8 33.Kg1-+

29...gxf5 30.Rxd7

30...Qb5!

One of the best moves I have had the opportunity to make. White is now officialy busted but of course being only a 16 board simul I am basically playing at a rapid time control so the win must be calmly played out.

31.Bf8+ Kxf8 32.Rf7+ Ke8 33.Rxf5 Kd7 34.Rf6 Qc5 35.h4 e4 36.Rh6? Qc1+

The power of the queen is undeniable

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Photo's and pgn to be found here

http://web.mac.com/xrissmith/Chess/NZ/GM_Simul.htm

Australasian Chess Match of the Decade

August 1st-6th 2009

Australasian Chess Match of the Decade: IM Puchen Wang v GM David Smerdon, Auckland.

Sponsored by Chess Enterprises New Zealand.

Venue: "Old Boys' Pavilion" at Auckland Grammar School in Mountain Road (off Khyber Pass). Six game match, one game a day, starting at 4pm. Spectators welcome.

You are also invited to attend an informal get-together to meet Puchen and David at the Copthorne Harbourcity Hotel Tactics Bar on Friday evening, July 31st between 6.00 and 8.00 pm. This will be a fundraising evening as well to support the Chess Friends Trust. Donations of support will be most welcome & proceeds passed on to the Trust to help support New Zealand chess development.

more info at

http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/calendar.html

http://www.chessnz.co.nz/

San-Sebastian

After securing a 1 point lead midway through the tournament the American Nakamura looked set to be an easy winner. However Ponomariov was able to steadily catch up as Nakamura drew game after game with many being short draws, perhaps taking a leaf out of Kramnik's play book. After 9 rounds Ponomariov and Nakamura where tied so it came down to a blitz play-off which of course suited the blitz expert Nakamura.




The following position is from game one
Nakamura - Ponomariov white to move

White has just played g5 which black replied hxg5 the sharp eye of Nakamura had a surprise coming

33. Qxe5!

The game concluded

33...Kf7

33...fxe5 34.Bh5+ leads to mate

34. Qg3 g4 35. Bxg4 Qc5 36.Bxe6+!

1-0

Nakamura was able to win the second blitz play-off game and claim outright first. Congratulations Hikaru. The 12th world champion Karpov had I would imagine the worst tournament of his life finishing on 1.5 out of 9. It is clear that even for a former World champion how much work is needed to stay at the top of the chess ladder. Karpov may even fall out of the top 100 after this result, But I am sure all of this will be forgotten if he beats Kasparov in their exhibition match in September.

Official website http://www.donostiachess.com/en/ where full results to the other tournaments running along side this are available.

Palmerston North Club Rapid Championship

Stephen Taylor Mathew King and Justin Davis tied on 5/6 to share first place.

After winning my first 5 games beating my main rival and securing first place I just wasn't up to the task in my last round . Full credit to Taylor for bringing intensitity and capatilising on my mistakes to get a share of first. I have to admit that losing to Stephen was tough to take, It was my first loss to someone lower rated than me since losing to James Stewart in Wanganui last year (although he is now higher rated than me on the latest NZCF rating's list.) But I learnt alot from that loss and will duely do the same with this one.

On a happier (atleast for me) note I am going to show my game with the top seed.

Davis,J 1881 - King,M 1758 [E92]Palmy Rapid Championship (4.1), 25.06.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.dxe5

This could be seen to rain on black's aggressive intentions, but not all people who play the King's Indian Defence are one dementional monster's craving a K-side attack at any cost.

7...dxe5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Nd5

Not the most popular choice. A previous game of ours was agreed drawn on move 8 at white's suggestion in the Club Captain's verse Presidents team match in 2008. White is aiming for a solid position with (in theory) minmul losing chances.

9.Bg5 is a more popular option.

9...Nxd5 10.cxd5 c6

The center must be attacked before white is able to consolidate it.

11.Bc4 b5

This is what was analysed after our earlier game and we agreed black is doing fine.

12.Bb3 Bb7 13.Bg5 Rd7 14.0-0-0 cxd5 15.Bxd5 Bxd5 16.Rxd5

16.exd5 Rc7+ 17.Kb1 Nd7 18.Nd2 f5 19.f4 h6 20.Be7 exf4 21.Bd6 Rcc8 22.Bxf4 g5 23.Be3 f4 24.Bf2 Nf6 25.Nb3 Rd8 26.Rhe1 Rxd5 27.Rxd5 Nxd5 28.Nc5 a5 29.h4 gxh4 30.Bxh4 Ne3 31.Rg1 Nf5 32.Bf2 Re8 33.Nd3 Rd8 34.Kc2 Bd4 35.Rf1 Be3 36.Be1 Nd4+ 37.Kb1 Ne6 38.Kc2 Nd4+ 39.Kb1 Ne6 40.Kc2 b4 41.g3 Nd4+ 42.Kb1 f3 43.Ne5 Rc8 44.Bf2 Bxf2 45.Rxf2 Re8 46.Nd3 Re3 47.Rd2 Kg7 48.b3 Re2 49.Kc1 Rg2 50.Nf4 Rxd2 51.Kxd2 f2 0-1 Herraiz Hidalgo,H-Illescas Cordoba,M/Ayamonte 2002

16...Rxd5 17.exd5

17...f6

This move was based on inferior thinking. I thought a bishop coming to e7 followed by the pawn supporting it with d6 was good for white. It turns out that white would be over extended and black would suffer no difficilties.

17...Nd7 18.Be7 Re8 19.d6 h6 20.Rd1 Rc8+ 21.Kb1 f5 22.Ne1 e4 23.Nc2 Kf7 24.Ne3 Ke6 25.f3 Be5

18.Be3 Nd7 19.Kb1!?

White will now have first show at the c-file

19...Nb6?!

I decided to defer the pawn advance not convinced I was better and allowed white a chance to cause a permanent structural hit.

Better is of course 19...f5 20.Rc1 f4 21.Bc5 e4 22.Ng5 Nxc5 23.Rxc5 e3!? I just couldn't evaluate this in due time but black is doing well.

20.Bxb6 axb6 21.Rc1

Probably better is 21.Rd1 Kf7 22.Nd2 Ra4 23.Nf1 Ke7 24.Ne3= but white is still believing in his so called "colour advantage" . This is not a reference to ethnicity by the way :)

21...Rd8 22.Rc6?!

Justin still believes he holds the advantage and proudly emphasizes his rook controls the historicaly strong c-file (see the game Botvinnik - Alekhine AVRO Tournament Holland 1938. Annotated in My Great Predessors book volume 2 game 36)

22...Rxd5 23.Rxb6?

White misses black's next move but then to see such a move as powerful is not easy.

23...e4!

The knight's legs are cut from under him.

24.Ne1

Slightly less losing maybe 24.Nh4 g5 25.Rb8+ Bf8 26.Re8 gxh4 27.Rxe4 h3! But with this move black is a piece ahead and will have targets in the form of white's affected K-side.

24...Rd1+ 25.Kc2 Rxe1 26.Kd2 Ra1!

Justin is a resourceful player in difficult positions and I must be vigilant with any counterplay white can generate. White's only real counterplay will be his queenside pawns hence why this is better than going after the k-side pawns. It is important not to relax even in a clearly winning position, the game must still be won. As after all black's extra bishop is yet to play an important role.

Still winning is 26...Rg1 27.Rxb5 Bh6+ 28.Ke2 Rxg2 29.Rb8+ Kf7 30.Rb7+ Ke6 31.Rxh7 Rxh2 32.b4 e3!

27.a3 Bh6+ 28.Ke2 Ra2 29.Rxb5 Bc1!

White now will not get even a single pawn for the piece and his only real source of counter play is eliminated. White play's on hoping to swindle black in the time scramble.

30.Rb8+ Kg7 31.Rb7+ Kh6 32.Kd1 Bxb2 33.a4 Bd4 34.Rb4 Bxf2 35.Rxe4 f5 36.Rc4 Ba7 37.Rh4+ Kg5 38.Rxh7 Rxa4 39.Ke2 Ra2+ 40.Kf3 Ra3+ 41.Ke2 Bc5 42.g3 Re3+ 43.Kf1 Kg4 44.Rh4+ Kg5 45.Rc4 Bd6 46.Kf2 Ra3 47.Kg2 Kf6 48.Rc6 Ke6 49.Rc2 Be5 50.Rc6+ Kd5 51.Rc2 Rb3 52.Kh1 Ra3 53.Rd2+ Ke6 54.Re2 g5 55.Rc2 g4 56.Rc6+ Kd5 57.Rc8 Ke4 58.Re8 Kf3!

Checkmate is coming.

59.h4 Bxg3

0-1

Kramnik Wins Dortmund

Kramnik's style of chess may not gain a huge fan base but he once again proved his critics wrong. In his first classical tournament this year he was able to achieve some important milestones. In round 4 he finally won a game with the black pieces against Naiditsch, his last one (in a classical time control) was way back in 2006 against Topalov in their World championship match. In round 8 Kramnik was able to crush top seed Magnus Carlsen who had been leading the tournament throughout. This win gave Kramnik the lead which was bolstered by a final round win to finish on +3 undefeated.

July NZCF Active Rating List

Palmerston North Players

Rank Name Standard rating Rapid rating


24. Charles Ker 2108 2002

55. Justin Davis 1970 1881

77. Mathew King 1889 1750

145. Jeremy Smith 1685* unr

184. Taylor Stephen 1605 1646

239. Dylan Chen 1477* 1493

Stewart Holdaway i 1645

Damon White unr 1533*

Kim, Teh Gyu unr 1473*

Ryan Hill unr 1463*

Matthew Howe unr 1453*

Savern Reweti unr 1407*

DanielYuan unr 1405 *

Michael Yuan unr 1386*

John Young unr 1386*

JuYoung Kim unr 1358*

Dennis Davey unr 1309

Terry Lee unr 908*

Ricky Kim unr 899*

i = inactive
*=Provisional
unr= unrated