On holidays

Off on a week long holiday to Hong Kong. As I am not taking my laptop etc I probably won't be blogging that much while I'm there, unless I find a cheap internet cafe, and even then I may not bother.
I hope to get along to the Hong Kong Chess Club, much to the annoyance of my family, and will hopefully have some stories when I return.

I thought I'd share my game against Kaarlo Schepel (HKG) from my first Olympiad. Annoyingly I was better for most of the game without realising it, and chose a drawing line when a win presented itself to me. I'll leave the annotations up to the dispassionate eye of Fruit 2.1.

Press,S - Schepel,K (2175) [C66]
Istanbul ol (Men) Istanbul (8), 05.11.2000
[Fruit 2.1 (10s)]

C66: Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defence
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 d6 last book move 5.c3 Bg4 [ 5...Be7 6.d4=] 6.h3 Bh5 7.d3 Prevents intrusion on e4 [ 7.d4 Be7+=] 7...Qd7 8.Be3 Be7 9.Nbd2 a6 10.Ba4 b5 11.Bc2 h6 Covers g5 12.Re1 g5 [ 12...0-0 13.Qe2=] 13.Nf1 Rg8 Black intends g4 14.Ng3 Bg6 15.d4 g4 16.dxe5 [ 16.hxg4 Nxg4 17.a4 Na5 18.axb5 Nxe3 19.Rxe3 Nc4+-] 16...Nxe4? [ 16...dxe5!? must be considered 17.Qxd7+ Kxd7 18.Rad1+ Ke8 19.hxg4 Nxg4+=] 17.Nxe4 gxf3 [ 17...d5 18.Nd4 Nxd4 19.Qxd4 dxe4 20.Qxd7+ Kxd7 21.hxg4+-] 18.Qxf3 [ 18.exd6!? cxd6 19.Qxf3 0-0-0+-] 18...d5± 19.Nc5 Nxe5 (D) [ 19...Bxc5!? 20.Bxg6 Rxg6 21.Bxc5 0-0-0±] 20.Qg3+- Qd6 [better is20...Qc6 21.Qxe5 Bxc2+-] 21.Bd4?? with this move White loses his initiative [ better is 21.Nb7 White would have gained the upper hand 21...Qe6 22.Bd4+-] 21...Nc6+= 22.Qxd6 cxd6 ½-½

btw Good luck to all those players making the trip to the Blayney Open!