Capablanca Classic

The March of Kings tournament is taking place this weekend in Calgary.  I was planning on playing in it and expecting to get at least 1 FIDE rated opponent so that I would complete the nine games needed to get an official FIDE rating.  My wife and kids had Thursday and Friday off from school, so I took the two days off work.  We planned to go down to Banff and do some skiing.  Then we could stop off in Calgary for two days for some chess and shopping.  Wednesday night “we” changed our minds and decided to go to the West Edmonton mall instead.  Oh well, I guess I will just have to wait to get my FIDE rating. 

While I was in Edmonton I remembered their regular Thursday night tournaments, so I went down to the Chess Club hoping to get a rated game in.  I paid my $5 and was paired against Rob Gardner (2340) on board 2 for the first round of the Capablanca Classic which continues throughout March.  I played a good game and was able to draw!  Rob is now the highest rated person I ever was able to score a half point against.  If the game was FIDE rated I would now have an official FIDE rating of 2002!!, but unfortunately they don’t FIDE rate their weekly tournaments.  I should get a boost to my CFC rating to ~1930 when the tournament is completed and rated at the end of the month.

 

The Edmonton Championship final playoff games were taking place at the same time between IM Edward Porper and IM Richard Wang.  This created some excitement near my game.  First they played two rapid games with 25 min w/ 10 sec increments.  In game 1 Richard was down a pawn in a 2 B’s vs 2 B’s endgame but refused a draw only to lose.  In game 2 Richard came back and won with the white pieces.  Then they played blitz games with 10 min w/ ? sec increments.  In the end it was …….IM Proper

Two Steps Up, One step back

I had been very optimistic about my chess recently.  In addition to feeling I was playing better OTB, my online blitz rating had broken through the 2000 barrier, my CFC rating reached a new high of 1916, and I am on the verge of getting an official FIDE rating that will likely be somewhere between 1925 and 2025, depending on my next FIDE rated game.  Ivan Wijetunge has an interesting blog called “Getting to 2000”, about his struggle to achieve this milestone as an adult player.  It has also been one of my goals since I started playing rated chess as a teenager many, many years ago.  I originally hoped to achieve it by the year 1988, which happened to be my cfc#, but It was impossible to do on PEI at the time when my average opponent was only 1600.  The way I have been playing recently, I was beginning to think it might actually happen this year.   

Then I went into Edmonton last weekend and played in the University Battle of Alberta.  The tournament was an unrated ten round active tournament over two days.  There were teams from U of Alberta, U of Calgary, and U of Lethbridge, but it was also open to all non-university players.  The time control was game/ 25 min with 5 second increments.  I thought it would be a good chance to get 6 games in on Saturday and I was hoping for a good result. I’ll post some positions and and let the reader decide for themselves what my level of play was.

Game 1 was against an unrated player.  After 29...c5 I played 30. Rf5? missing that cxb5 31 Rxb4 cxb3+ 32.Kxc3 axb5 loses a pawn.  I was still able to win the game,

Game 2 I was paired against 14 year old IM and future GM Richard Wang (2475).  Richard gave me a chance when he didn't take my Knight before sacking his bishop with 15. Bxh5.  I should have played Nd3+ and then taken on b2 but I thought my N would get trapped.  Instead I played 15...f4 and forced 16.Bxc5 and after that Richard continued his attack and won as expected.

Game 3 was against unrated Login McLeod who played 16.Nxg4?  I replied 17.Ndf3? which loses.  17.Ndf5! wins because it doesn't block the Q from getting to h5 and after Nxf2 creating threats for white.  I don't blame myself too much for this move though because it is not that easy to see.

Game 4 was against David Yao.  I played 13...e4! (diagram) and after 14.fxg6 I played 14...hxg6? instead of 14...exf3!  I was still able to win the game.

Game 5 was against Armine Arzumanyan (1600).  I had the game under control when she played 30...Rxc1.  I should have played 31.Qxc1 and won easily but instead I played 31.Rxc1? which loses to 31...Re2! 32.Qb4 Rxg2+ 33.Kxg2 Qxd5.

Game 6 was against an unrated player ? Zhang.  After he played 10...Nxe4 I played 11.Bxa8? instead of 11.fxe4!  The game was full of blunder on both sides.  I made the last blunder when I lost a piece with 10 sec left on my clock but won when he misshit his clock with 2 seconds left and his time ran out.

After game 6 I drove back to Lloyd.  I had told the TD that I wouldn't play rounds 7-10 before the tournament started.  I probably played at a 1500 ??

 

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.