2013 Northern Alberta Open

I played in the Northern Alberta Open this weekend.

Round 1
I took a bye in round 1 so that I wouldn't have to get up early to make the 2.5 hr drive into Edmonton or spend Friday night in a hotel.  0.5/1

Round 2
One of the advantages of taking a half point bye in round 1 should be that a player like me in the middle won't have to play an IM or beginner in the first round and in round 2 should be paired with lowest rated winner or highest rated loser from round 1 - either way it should be someone close to my rating.  But in this tournament FM Vladimir Pechenin (2439) also took a bye in round 1, so I was paired with him in round 2.  He played the French Defense and I played a very good game.  I had the better position until move 27 when I missed a tactic.  Even after that Vlad didn't play completely accurately and showed me after the game where I had a winning move on move 30 (see position below and find White's winning move!).  I missed it and played an inferior move that left me behind.  After that Vlad converted his advantage and I resigned after the 40th move.  We were the last game to finish and were both down to under 2 min on the clock.  0.5/2

After 29...Ng5.  White to play - what is the correct move?

Round 3
Paired against Carlita Romero, an unrated player from 10 hrs north of Edmonton. I played the French Defense !? and was able to get a big advantage in the opening and won quite easily in about an hour.  After the game I started calling hotels looking for a room but was having little success.  It seems there was a concert, a hockey game and a wine festival in Edmonton this holiday weekend.  I considered driving home and returning in the morning but eventually found a hotel in Nisku (a half hour away).  1.5/3

Round 4
My stay in the trucker hotel was interesting, with the the wafting scent of mary-jane through the ventilation, the ringing of the VLT's and blackjack tables and the "peelerz" all under the same roof.  I got to the chess club 15 min before the start of the round and was sitting at the board at 10 AM and made my first move 1. e4.  Then I waited for an hour for my opponent (an unrated player) who never showed up.  It was bad enough to be paired twice in a row against an unrated player but then for the player to not show up made it worse.  I was hoping to have at least 3 good games against FIDE rated players this tournament, but now that is impossible.  2.5/4

Round 5
In my final round I was hoping to be paired against another one of the players sitting at 2.5, which would probably be a 2100 player, but since there were 7 players with 2.5 and I was the lowest rated,  I got paired down to play against Bill Bentley.  He played the French so that makes it a clean sweep for the opening in my games at this tournament.  I didn't play the opening very well and Bill decided to close the center with c4.  After that I was able to create something on the kingside but my pieces always seemed to be in each others way.  I turned down a draw but after all the major pieces were traded I didn't see any way to make progress so I offered a draw and he accepted.  3/5

A summary of the Tourney Can be found on the Alberta Chess Association website here. I ended up tying for the Best under 2000 prize and winning $40.

Red Deer Open

I played in the Red Deer Open last weekend.  I had to travel to Calgary for meetings on Monday so I was able to go down one day early and play.  I left home at 8:30 AM on Saturday, drove for 4.5 hours, had some lunch, and was ready for round 2 at 2 PM.

My round 2 game was as black against an unrated opponent Harry Peralta.  It was his first tournament but he was obviously a strong player tactically.  He had beaten Bill Bently (1859) in round 1 and finished with 3/5 and will probably have an initial rating of close to 1900.  He made a mistake in the opening that I should have seen and have been winning after 4 moves but I missed it.  Then I just played passively and badly and had a hopelessly cramped position.  Luckily he made a mistake while playing quickly and I was able to equalize and then sac some pawns to free myself then force a checkmate.  1.5/2.

My round 3 game was as white against Adam Harris (1772).  I tried to play a Closed Sicilian too aggressively and Adam was able to force the exchange of pawns in the center.  After that it was an open Sicilian and he played the position much better than me and eventually won.  After the game it was obvious talking with him that he had a lot of theoretical knowledge on the Sicilian lines.  He had a great tournament beating the top rated Vlad Rekson (2189) in round 1 and finishing with 3.5/5 with a bye and should gain many points.  1.5/3.

My round 4 game was as white against Neyef Daher (1804).  It was an even game throughout until we got down to a same color bishop and pawns endgame.  I turned down two draw offers and pressed on until he made a mistake.  I was able to win a pawn and then two and won soon after.  2.5/4.

My round 5 game was as black against Aaron Sequillion (2080) who was having a good tournament and tied for 1^st with 3.5/4.  I have played Aaron before and was surprised when he played 1.d4.  We played a Kings Indian and I ended up with the better position after the opening.  After that the game went back and forth several times and was very tactical.  My king was completely exposed but I was up a pawn.  Near the end he had a completely won position but we both missed the winning move.  The computer says that it was a draw on the last move when Aaron blundered his Rook into a mate in 2.

So I finished with 3.5/5 and tied for second with Aaron Sequillion and Adam Harris.  Lukas Beaudry won with 4.5/5.  Itohan Gold, Atheer Jawad and Harry Peralta had 3/5.  This was probably my best result but I felt that I missed a lot at the board.  I feel I played better in my last tournament than this one overall but only scored better because luck was with me and not against me – then again there is no luck in chess.

WBXmas Team Tournament

Once again I entered a tournament at the last possible moment.  The Weekend Before Xmas tournament is the last tournament of the year in the Alberta chess calendar.  The format is different than all the other tournaments because it is a team tournament.   I have never participated in a team event before and I was curious as to what it would be like.  Teams are made up of three players with an average rating of 2000.  A couple of days before the start there were two players that still needed a board two player around my rating so I volunteered and joined Rocket Rob Gardner and David Yao on team “???”- we never got around to agreeing on a name.

Round 1:

Friday night the round one pairings were posted and I saw we were paired against the top rated team consisting of Jack Yoos (2360), Micah Hughey (2084), and Zach Kirsch (1563) so I would be playing Micah Hughey as white.  Micah was the highest rated board 2 player so it he would be my toughest opponent.   I have played him several times before and he always played aggressive openings against me so I decided to try something aggressive against him – The King’s Gambit!?  I was pleased with how I played and I was happy with the result – a draw.  Unfortunately my teammates both lost so the result was 0.5-2.5.

Round 2:

We were paired against IM EdwardProper’s (2487) team with Jamil Kassem (1917) and Armine Arzumanyan (1490).  I played young Jamil in July and was lucky to beat him.  He definitely has the potential to be a great player.  I have noticed that during this game and the previous game he spends a lot of time not looking at the board while it’s his turn.  Either he analyzes moves in his head or he is getting distracted.  I played another good game and was able to simplify the position into what I knew should be a winning king and pawn endgame for me.  Unfortunately, due to poor understanding of how to play the position, I wasn’t able to convert and had to take a draw.  My teammates both lost their games so the result was another 0.5-2.5 and overall 1.0-5.0.

Round 3:

We were paired against the lowest rated team of Terry Seehagen (1753), George Sponga (1797), and Andu Mihulescu (1632).  My wife had come with me to Edmonton to do some Christmas shopping on the weekend.  I asked the organizer if he knew of anyone that could fill in for me on Saturday night so my wife and I could have a night on the town.  He was able to get Ron Erikson (1886) to fill in.  Unfortunately Ron's opponent, George, had to go to the hospital that night and so some rearranging to the pairings had to be done.  I found out the next day that George had to withdraw from the tournament but I hear he is fine now.  I think we ended up winning both games that were played.  2.0-0.0 and overall 3.0-6.0.

 Round 4

Paired against the team of Richard Wang (2454 and Canada Junior champion), Harris Wang (1855), and Tristan Tan-Ly (1500).  I was feeling pretty good about my play but cautious of my opponent as he is Richard’s brother and probably stronger than his rating. I played a good game down to an equal Knight and pawns endgame.  At that point I was confident it was a draw and honestly I stopped thinking.  My opponent didn’t and I blundered into a loss.  Both my teammates also lost so it was 0.0-3.0 and overall 3.0-9.0

Round 5:

We were paired against FM Vladimir Pechenkin (2438), Rob Brazeau (1825), and Joseph Young (1665).  I played the opening horribly against Rob and I spent all my time unsuccessfully trying to remember lines that I had studied 3 months earlier.  When the middle game came I was short on time and down a pawn.  I tried to open up the Kingside and was successful.  I even managed to get a winning position but was too short of time and too frustrated to see the winning lines.  I think if I was playing online blitz I would have played the position better.  The Rocket drew his game against Vlad but David lost so we were once again 0.5-2.5 and overall finished at 3.5-11.5

My last game was frustrating and a couple of late game blunders spoiled what could have been a good result for me (possibly 3-1 instead of 1-3) but I can’t say I was disappointed with my level of play.  Our team result was pretty bad (we ended up second last out of ten teams) but I was amazed at how much I enjoyed the experience.  Having teammates definitly puts a different feel into your games - more than I expected.  You are not only fighting for yourself but also for your teammates.  I would definitely do it again.

The Tourney was won by my fellow Lloydminster-ite Jamin Gluckie’s (2200) team of Lukas Beaudry (2047) from Calgary, and Jason Danner (1702) from Saskatoon with 11.0 points.  I didn’t find out until Sunday that Jamin and Jason were in a roll-over on Friday on their way into Edmonton.  The accident wrote off Jamin’s truck and sent them both to the hospital for X-rays.  They were in pain all weekend with multiple bruises but still were able to play great chess.  My wife and I gave them a ride back to Lloydminster on Sunday night and she was amazed that they still played in the tournament after a serious accident.  I am glad she got to see that I am not the most chess-crazy person she has met. lol.

Any comments are welcome - especially critical comments about my games.

Medicine Hat Open - Poor Result

My Medicine Hat Open result was pretty disappointing which is probably why I avoided blogging the result for so long. With my recent rating gain (thanks to the new bogus system - oops - I mean bonus system), I was the 4th highest rated player entered and had high expectations. I made the 5 hr drive on Friday morning and had time to do some golfing on Friday afternoon. I was staying with a close friend who is also from PEI and we had a pleasant evening, but I may have consumed a few too many wobbly pops and it might have affected my first game on Saturday morning.


Game 1
My first game was against Ryan Barnes (1538).  In the past I have been very effective at producing wins against lower rated players.  In fact, I can only recall one loss, and that was against an obviously underrated junior who produced a master performance rating. This time things didn’t work out for me.  Ryan played the Alkheline and since I couldn’t remember the main lines of the opening I chose to avoid them by playing some offbeat moves.  I ended up with a slightly worse position and never was able to create anything promising.  It was looking like a draw was the likely outcome when I made a horrible blunder (with ...d5 in the position below) and lost two pawns and then the game.  I was discouraged but took the attitude that mistakes are part of the game for everybody, and if I won my next two games I would be right back in the mix.

Game 2
I played against Mike Scholtz (1302).  I had a good position in the King’s Indian Defense and was able to win when he missed a move where I retreat my Q rather than exchange and then win his Q for a Rook.  In the position below Mike played Qxh5 which loses to Qg2.

Game 3
I played a closed Sicilian against Steve Panteluk (1763) and had a good position and was able to break through to his K before he got anything going on the Queenside.  In the position below after ...h5 Steve played gxh5 and I replied with Qg5 and was able to win a piece but it took me a long time to win the game as I allowed too much counter play.  It was a long first day but I went back to my friend’s house in a good mood.  I had studied the crosstable and knew that if I won my Sunday morning game I would be playing on board 1 in the final round for possible 1^st with a win, or 2^nd with a draw.

Game 4
I played a Scandinavian against Patrick Porter (1796) and was hoping for some action on the Queenside when Patrick moved his Queen over to the Kingside and proceeded with a rook lift and a straight forward attack on my King.  In the position below I blundered with 22…f5? and overestimated my defensive resources. After this game I realized I had nothing left to play for and withdrew from the tournament which I’m sure was the right decision because if I played without my heart in it anymore I might have lost a third game to a lower rated player.

Overall it was a very bad result and I had a loss of over 30 rating points.  Maybe I should have expected as much based on my poor preparation which consisted of just playing some online blitz.  Even online I was playing poorly and lost 200 points in the two weeks before the tournament.

Medicine Hat Open

I am playing in the Med Hat Open this weekend.  So far it looks like a small turnout but maybe there will be some last minute entry's.   I will post my games here ASAP.

I also plan to post the last two games I played in my last tourney against experts. I have looked at them and there is something to learn from both games. I was too willing to accept a draw in the first game and tried to force a draw in the second rather than looking for the best move

I other Alberta chess news there has been 2 big developments.  First Richard Wang achieved the IM title at the Canadian Zonal and then Eric Hansen achieved the GM title at the Chess Olympiad!
A couple of years ago I had a poll on my blog "Which Albertan will be the 1st to become a GM" and my candidates were Edward Proper, Eric Hansen, and Richard Wang.  My personal opinion at the time was that it all depended on Eric. While Edward is certainly capable of producing a GM norm, Eric was already as strong as Edward and had youth on his side. If he continued to work on his chess he was a good bet to get the title.  If Eric stop playing, then the young prodigy Richard is almost a sure bet to get the GM title - barring of course a loss of interest in the game.

Vacation Chess

When you are on a family vacation and you want to take in a chess tournament also there are three rules to consider: 1. Don’t PO your wife; 2. Don’t PO your wife; and 3. Don’t PO your wife. With that in mind I made sure I got permission and I made sure that the wife and kids had something to do before I registered in the UPEI in Prince Edward Island on July 27-29th.

The UPEI Open is an annual summer tournament held at my old alma mater, the University of Prince Edward Island. Fred McKim is the organizer and it’s biggest claim to fame is that IM Tom O’Donnell plays in it every year. Four years ago I joined the tournament and had a good game against him in the first round. You can see that game in my Aug 2008 blog entry.

Round 1: This year I was at the bottom of the top half of the field (instead of the top of the bottom half in 2008) so instead of an IM I had an unrated junior for my first game. I was able to win with little difficulty. 1/1.

Round 2: I was paired down with David Paulowich (1805) who took a bye in round 1. I was glad he showed up otherwise I would have been paired with one of two Sowa brothers from RI who play in the tournament most years and who also took a round 1 bye. They are rated 1700 in the US but only 1200-1300 in Canada and they are improving very rapidly. Like most grumpy adults who want to protect their rating, I fear playing underrated juniors. My game with David was an even game until he missed a simple tactic that wins the exchange for me and he resigned 1 move later. So far - so good – two relatively easy wins 2/2.

Round 3: I had to wait until the last game finished to find out if I would be playing a 2000+ player or one of the US brothers who won their games. I ended up playing Richard Bowes (2080). It was a good game. I think I had the better position throughout the game but he had some initiative. I forced him to have doubled pawns and then he un-doubled them at the cost of leaving me with a B vs. his N plus the major pieces. He offered a draw after move 30 and I accepted. I should have looked longer at the position I might have realized that I could improve my position but he couldn’t. 2.5/3

Round 4: I had asked for a bye when I entered the tournament (see the 3 rules above) so I had ¾.

Round 5: I was going to withdraw because we had a family meal planned for 5 PM (see above rules again) but the organizer said that he could arrange a faster time control with my partner and start a little earlier if I wanted. I accepted so I played Jason Manley (2026) on board two. I played a good game that I should have drawn but I made two mistakes that cost me the game. Maybe the faster time control was a factor but more likely just poor end game skill. If I won I would have finished solo second behind IM O’Donnell, if I drew I would have tied. I finished at 3/5 and probably gained some more rating points.

A draw in the last game would probably have put me over 1900 for the first time in almost 20 years - a win for sure would have done it.

Second Sober Thought (Edm Intl)

On second sober thought I find that I was very lucky to end up with 2.5/5 points.  I probably only deserved 0.5.

In game 1 the position where I thought I might win was as follows with white to play:

I played 36. a5 and instantly regretted it as I gave up the a5-e1 diagonal.  36. Bf2 is better but it does not win.  It should hold the draw easier.

Later on in the game I completely lost concentration and played 50. Rxd3 missing the fact I would lose my bishop.

Instead 50. Kxf7 d2 51. Bxd2 Bxd2 52. a6 offers the best chance.

In game 2 against Jamil we had the following position:

I played 20. Nc1?? because I didn't even see the discovered check after 20...c4.  20 Be3 was needed.

Later on Jamil lost after making some small mistakes and then blundering with 39...Qc8??  

which loses the Knight to 40. Qf2+.  I didn't deserve half a point let alone a win.

In game 3 I was just outplayed and lost.

In game 4 I was lost most of the game.  In the following position white could sac the Knight on f5 and mate will follow.

Fortunately white didn't pull the trigger for the next 3 moves and I somehow untangled myself and counter attack with my queen.   34. Ng3? Be8 35. Re7? Qd8 36.Rb7? Qc8 37.Ra7? Qc1.  Somehow I equalized the position and then happily forced a draw.  I never noticed that at the end I had a win available after 64 Nb2??

I played 65. Ra7 Rb3 but missed the simple 66.Ba3! winning the exchange.  Instead I played Be7 and offered a draw after my next move.

Game 5 was probably the most disappointing for me.  My opponent played an incorrect tactic in the opening on move 18 and I was winning.  Over the next 66 moves I must have blown my win with bad moves about 6 times but luckily my opponent played worse.