Sunday 13 September 2009

It's like deja vu all over again

Just arrived back from Blayney, having taken a somewhat circuitous route caused by an accident closing the most direct route back to Canberra. To put into perspective it took me 2 hours 20 minutes to drive up yesterday morning, and 4 hours to drive back this evening.
As for my tournament it turned out to be almost identical to last year. Once again I reached 4/4, and then proceeded to lose my last two games. Although I didn't lose my 5th round game as quickly as last year, I did manage to lose it almost as stupidly. In a drawn ending with co-leader Emma Guo I played a one move blunder, which dropped me a pawn and the game. Aided by this good fortune Emma went on to win the tournament with 5.5/6 after her last round opponent agreed to a quick draw.
To punish me for my stupidity, I was paired against FM Vladmir Smirnov in the final round (he was an upfloat!). I guess if I had to lose a final round game I prefer it to be against a 2300 (rather than a 1700), but by stalling on 4/6 I allowed 7(!) other players to overtake me in the final standings.
Here is the final game of my winning streak, against Romeo Capilitan, who was one of the players to tie for second.

Press,Shaun - Capilitan,Romeo [E11]
Blayney Open, 13.09.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Qe7 5.Nc3 0-0 6.a3 Bxc3 7.Bxc3 b6 8.g3 Bb7 9.Bg2 d6N10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Nd2 Bxg2 12.Kxg2 e5 13.e3 Rfe8 14.Re1 c5 15.d5 Nf8 16.e4 Ng6 17.Nf1 Qd7 18.f3 b5 19.Ne3 Rab8 20.b4 Rec8 21.Qe2 h5 22.bxc5 Rxc5 23.Bb4 Rc7 24.cxb5 Rxb5 25.Bxd6 Rcb7 26.Bb4 a5 27.Bd2 h4 28.Rec1 Nh5 29.Nf5 Rb2 30.Qd1 Ngf4+ 31.gxf4 Nxf4+ 32.Kg1 Nh3+ 33.Kg2 Nf4+ 34.Kg1 g6 35.Bxf4 exf4 (D)
36.Nh6+ Kh7 37.Ng4 Qb5 38.Rc2 h3 39.Rac1 Qb6+ 40.Kh1 f5 41.exf5 gxf5 42.Rc6 Qa7 43.Qd3 Rf7 44.Rh6+ Kg8 45.Rc8+ Rf8 46.Rxf8+ Kxf8 47.Qxf5+ Qf7 48.Rf6 1-0

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Please post a Final Tournament table. ( or is there a link)