One over two

Sacrificing your queen to win a game is always fun. But how about giving your opponent a second queen, and still winning? This was what happened in a 4NCL game played by Chris Skulte earlier this year. In a hard fought game, Skulte managed to get a clear advantage around move 40, but the knockout blow happened on move 51 with Bf4. This allowed his opponent to promote his c pawn a few moves later, but by then, it was all over, as Black had a forced mate.


Kay,Lee - Skulte,Chris [B01]
4NCL, 18.03.2018

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4 4. Nf3 Qxd5 5. Be2 e6 6. O-O Nbd7 7. c4 Qd6 8. c5 Qc6 9. b4 Ne4 10. Qb3 Be7 11. Bc4 b5 12. Be2 O-O 13. Nc3 Nxc3 14. Qxc3 Bf6 15. h3 Bh5 16. Ne5 Nxe5 17. Bxh5 Qd5 18. Bb2 Nc6 19. Bf3 Qd7 20. Rad1 Rad8 21. Bxc6 Qxc6 22. Rd3 Rd5 23. Rfd1 Rfd8 24. f4 Qd7 25. Kf2 e5 26. fxe5 Bxe5 27. Kg1 c6 28. Qd2 Bf6 29. Kh1 Bg5 30. Qf2 Bf6 31. Bc3 h6 32. Qe3 Re8 33. Qf2 Re4 34. Qg1 Qe6 35. Qf1 Re2 36. R3d2 Re3 37. Rd3 Rf5 38. Qg1 Rxd3 39. Rxd3 Qxa2 40. Qe1 Qd5 41. Qa1 Rf2 42. Qg1 Qf5 43. Rd1 Bg5 44. d5 Qc2 45. dxc6 Rxg2 46. Qxg2 Qxd1+ 47. Qg1 Qf3+ 48. Qg2 Qxc3 49. c7 Qe1+ 50. Qg1 Qe6 51. Qg2 Bf4 52. Qa8+ Kh7 53. c8Q Qe1+ 54. Kg2 Qe2+ 55. Kg1 Be3+ 56. Kh1 Qf1+ 0-1

Is this +3

White to move

I was doing some chess study with a friend this morning and he showed me a position from one of his games (A Morra Gambit). He was interested in my assessment, as he felt he was better during the game, but couldn't find the right followup and went on to lose.
We applied some rudimentary positional assessment to the position (king safety, material, pawn structure, space, central control, open lines etc) and came to the conclusion that White was better (despite being a pawn down).
But it is one thing to assess the position, but another to then use that assessment to come up with a plan. In the actual game 15.Bb5+ was played, which isn't a bad move. Black played 15 ... Kf8 (15 ... axb5 16.Nxb5 is crushing) and White is still better. There were two other moves we also looked at, which I categorised as the 'Tal/Nezhmetdinov' move, and the 'Fischer/Capablanca' move. The tactical try was 15.Nb5 with the idea of playing Rc7 after 15 ... axb5 16.Bxb5+ Kf8. The positional try was 15.Ne4, exchanging off a defender, and opening the position further.
And according to the chess engines, it is 15.Ne4 which is the strongest move in the position. The assessment is +3 (and a bit) for White, which indicates that a tactical win isn't that far off. Nonetheless I was still surprised by this. I guess it shows that even if you can recognise the strength of a position, you still still need to find the winning moves.

The Pownage continues

The 2018 Sinquefeld Cup has ended is a slightly confusing three way tie. Wins by Aronina and Carlsen enabled them to catch Caruana at the top of the leader board, on 5.5/9. There was then supposed to be a playoff between the two players with the best tie-break, but the high proportion of draws meant that they all had equal tie-breaks. Eliminating one player by the drawing of lots didn't appeal to Aronian and Carlsen, so the playoff was dropped.
It then turned out a playoff was needed, but to see whether So or Caruana qualified for the Grand Chess Tour final in London. So these two will be playing overnight to see he is the 4th player in the final.
While Aronian's win over Grischuk was a bit of a bluff that paid off, Carlsen continued to heap misery on Nakamura. Forcing Nakamura to defend a weak pawn for a lot of the game, Carlsen found a clever king march in a rook and pawn ending to force Nakamura's resignation on move 97. This was enough for Carlsen to grab a share of first, while pushing Nakamura into a tie for last place with Karjakin.

Carlsen,M (2842) - Nakamura,Hi (2777) [D37]
6th Sinquefield Cup 2018 Saint Louis USA (9), 27.08.2018

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. c4 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4 Ba6 9. Qe2 Bxc4 10. Qxc4 c5 11. dxc5 bxc5 12. O-O Nc6 13. Rac1 Rc8 14. Ne5 Qb6 15. Nxc6 Rxc6 16. b3 h6 17. Rfd1 Qb7 18. h3 Rfc8 19. Na4 Nd7 20. Rd2 Nb6 21. Nxb6 Rxb6 22. Rcd1 Bf6 23. Rd7 Qa6 24. Qe4 e5 25. Bxh6 Re8 26. Qg4 Qxa2 27. e4 Qxb3 28. Be3 Rb7 29. R7d6 Be7 30. R6d5 Bf8 31. Bxc5 Bxc5 32. Rxc5 Qe6 33. Qe2 Rd7 34. Rxd7 Qxd7 35. Rd5 Qc7 36. Qd2 Ra8 37. Rd7 Qc4 38. f3 Qc5+ 39. Kh2 Qc6 40. Rd6 Qc5 41. Ra6 Qe7 42. Qe3 Kh7 43. Kg3 Qb7 44. Qa3 f6 45. Kh2 Qc7 46. Qa1 Qb7 47. Qa5 Qd7 48. Qa2 Qe7 49. Qf2 Qb7 50. Qa2 Qe7 51. Qd5 Rb8 52. Qa5 Rb7 53. Qe1 Qd7 54. Qh4+ Kg8 55. Qf2 Qf7 56. Qa2 Qxa2 57. Rxa2 Kh7 58. Ra6 Kg6 59. h4 Kh5 60. Kh3 Rf7 61. g4+ Kh6 62. Kg3 g5 63. h5 Kg7 64. Kf2 Rb7 65. Ra3 Kh6 66. Ke3 a5 67. Rxa5 Rb3+ 68. Kf2 Rb2+ 69. Kg3 Kg7 70. Ra7+ Kg8 71. Ra1 Kg7 72. Rf1 Ra2 73. Rf2 Ra3 74. Rd2 Ra7 75. Kf2 Kf7 76. Ke2 Rb7 77. Rd3 Ra7 78. Kd2 Ke6 79. Kc3 Ke7 80. Kc4 Rc7+ 81. Kb5 Rc1 82. Rb3 Kf7 83. Kb6 Rc2 84. Kb7 Rc1 85. Kb8 Kg8 86. Rb6 Kg7 87. Rb7+ Kg8 88. Rc7 Rb1+ 89. Kc8 Rb3 90. Kd7 Rxf3 91. Ke6 Rf4 92. h6 Kh8 93. Rb7 Kg8 94. Rg7+ Kh8 95. Kf7 Rxe4 96. Kg6 Ra4 97. Rh7+ 1-0

9 rounds, 5 days

Due to a lack of interested parties, the Australian Chess Federation has awarded the hosting rights to the 2019 Australian Open to the Box Hill Chess Club in Melbourne. Oddly the dates for the 2019 Open will be from the 27th to the 31st of December 2018.
Ordinarily the Box Hill Chess Club would be hosting a 7 round swiss from the 27th to the 30th, but have decided to add on 2 extra rounds to make it a title event (albeit a shortened one).
As a previous organiser of the Australian Open I find this decision sad, but at the same time, hardly surprising given the ACF's track record at attracting tournament hosts. Weirdly, the very tournament that has now become the Australian Open, was originally organised in direct competition to the 2006-07 Australian Open in Canberra, on the grounds that Victorian players weren't interested in playing in Canberra at that time of year. I'm guessing the organisers hope that the rest of the country won't have the same attitude towards Melbourne.

7 rounds, 6 wins

Despite the application of rules designed to discourage draws, the 2018 Sinquefeld Cup has seen plenty of them. After 7 rounds, there have only been 6 decisive games, a win rate of a little over 17%.
The big clash for round 7 was the Carlsen v Caruana match-up, as it was the last time they would meet before their World Championship Match. While the game ended in a draw, both players looked as though they could take something from it. For Carlsen, he gained a clear advantage against an opening that Caruana may use during th World Championship, while for Caruana, he would be happy that he was able to defend a worse position.
Caruana still holds a narrow lead, having won 2 games and drawn 5, while there are 4 players tied for second, all with 1 win each.


Carlsen,Magnus (2842) - Caruana,Fabiano (2822) [C42]
6th Sinquefield Cup 2018 Saint Louis USA (7.1), 25.08.2018

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nc6 8. Bc4 O-O 9. Qd2 Bf5 10. O-O-O Qd7 11. Kb1 Rfe8 12. h4 Bf8 13. h5 h6 14. Be2 Bg4 15. Nh2 Bxe2 16. Qxe2 Ne5 17. Bc1 Qc6 18. f4 Nc4 19. Qd3 Qe4 20. g4 Ne3 21. Rde1 Qxd3 22. cxd3 Nd5 23. Reg1 Re6 24. g5 Ne7 25. gxh6 Rxh6 26. f5 Rh7 27. Ng4 Kh8 28. f6 Ng8 29. fxg7+ Rxg7 30. Be3 c5 31. Bf4 Re8 32. Ne3 Rxg1+ 33. Rxg1 Re6 34. Nd5 Nf6 35. Nc7 Re2 36. Nb5 Re6 37. Rf1 Kg8 38. Nc7 Re2 39. Nb5 Re6 40. Nc7 Re2 41. Nb5 Re6 1/2-1/2

Olympiad - less than a month away

The 2018 Chess Olympiad starts in a little under a month. Official registrations have closed, and at the time of writing this 183 teams are registered for the Open, and 150 for the Women's section. USA is the top seed for the Open, ahead of Russia and China, with Russia, Ukraine and Georgia heading the Women's event. Australia is seeded 42nd in the Open and 33rd in the Women's. PNG is seeded surprisingly high at 149 in the Open, located among traditional rivals such as San Marino, Guernsey, and Bermuda.
The current list of teams is here, noting that the team lists do not have the players in board order.

Bird is the word!

Before Steintz became Steintz, he was one of the many masters looking to follow in the footsteps of Paul Morphy. But he had plenty of competition, with players like Blackburne and Bird also playing in a similar style. As a result, matches between these players were often exciting affairs, with sacrifices and combinations deciding. The 1866 match between Steinitz and Bird showed this, with Steinitz winning +7=5-5 (9.5-7.5).
Before this match, the two played some casual games (possibly as a warm up), at Simpsons Divan. In one game that survived, Bird must have caught Steinitz on an off day, as he crushed him in 19 moves (less if had spotted  15.exd7+)


Bird,Henry Edward - Steinitz,William [C65]
London Simpson's Divan casual London, 09.1866

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. e5 Ne4 6. Nxd4 Be7 7. O-O Nxd4 8. Qxd4 Nc5 9. f4 b6 10. f5 Nb3 11. Qe4 Nxa1 12. f6 Bc5+ 13. Kh1 Rb8 14. e6 Rg8 15. Qxh7 Rf8 16. exf7+ Rxf7 17. Re1+ Be7 18. Qg8+ Rf8 19. f7# 1-0

A draw by reputation

Sometimes you sit down at the board and decide a draw is the right result. This can happen during the game, or in the case of the following game, this decision can be made 20 years ago. For those unfamiliar with the back story, Ian Hosking and I have debated the soundness of the Traxler since 1985, and while the score is strongly in my favour, recent results have not been so kind to me.
So when we reached move 15 Ian offered me a draw, knowing that I could take a perpetual if I wanted to. After about 30 seconds though I accepted the offer, as I didn't spot anything clear cut. But some advice for those who wish to follow the same path that we did. If you are Black, refuse any such offers, as the position is actually winning after Nd4 (a move I did consider BTW). I leave the actual analysis to you and Stockfish if you are interested.

Hosking,Ian - Press,Shaun [C57]
Korda Classic, 21.08.2018

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Bc5 5. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6. Kxf2 Nxe4+ 7. Kg1 Qh4 8. g3 Nxg3 9. hxg3 Qxg3+ 10. Kf1 Rf8 11. d3 d5 12. Bxd5 Bh3+ 13. Rxh3 Qxh3+ 14. Ke2 Qh2+ 15. Ke1 1/2-1/2

Carlsen wins because ...

The 2018 Sinquefeld Cup is underway, although the early morning viewing start (4 am) is a bit tough for Australian viewers. On the other hand, if the games do run long enough, then there is the chance to catch some action.
For example, when I woke up at 7am the Carlsen Karjakin game was still going, although the position seemed pretty equal. I then ran a few errands, but when I got back, the position was still equal (although Carlsen had saced an exchange for 2 pawns). I then took the dog for a walk, to return to an still equal position, although Carlsen was now pushing hard for a win. And finally, by the time I got back from chess coaching, Carlsen had won the game, because Carlsen is Carlsen.
Whether Carlsen decides to do this to the rest of the field I'm not sure, but if he does, I for one will enjoy watching it over a cup of coffee and the morning crossword.

The Notorious BDG

Flipping through some old games I came across this quick win in the BDG. While I don't go looking to play the Blackmar-Diemar Gambit, it is something I will play against the Scandinavian. In this game Black went wrong on move 6, as after I castled, the open e file was always going to be a problem for him.


Press,Shaun - Marshall,Justin [D00]
Belconnen Club-ch Belconnen, 1994

1. e4 d5 2. d4 dxe4 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nxe4 exd4 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Bc4 Qe7 7. O-O Bxf3 8. Qxf3 Nd7 9. Ng5 Ne5 10. Qxb7 Rd8 11. Re1 f6 12. Bb5+ Rd7 13. Qc8+ Qd8 14. Bxd7+ Ke7 15. Qxd8+ 1-0

One man wrecking crew

The ACT Interschool events use a restricted swiss system for our qualifying events. Players are grouped by schools (or subsets) and aren't paired against players from the same school/set. Team scores are then based on the top 4 scores from a school (and the next 4 for team 2 etc). The intention of this system is to make events a little more competitive, as in a strict team of 4 system, only board 1 players player other board players etc
On the other hand, a different set of issues arrive, when one school is clearly stronger than the rest. In both Secondary Schools events this year, the top three places were taken by single schools (Canberra Grammar and Lyneham High). It also made the event tough on the other players, as the leading players couldn't take points of each other in a lot of cases, and ended up playing finding opponents on lower scores (which isn't normal in swiss pairings).
The other issue is that we award trophies for perfect score (7 wins from 7 games). In yesterdays event, it was looking as though I might have to hand out 10 such trophies, to players from the same school. Fortunately I was saved by Ricky Luo (Radford) who ended up playing all the top players from Lyneham High. Each round he was paired against someone on a prefect score, and each round he saved me one trophy! By the last round he had taken out 6 Lyneham players and as a result only Yizhen Diao and Manjot Melli ended up on 7/7. Despite his hard work Luo missed out on a perfect score himself, falling just short after a hard fought draw with Safron Archer in round 6.

What was Black thinking?

I observed a pretty wacky game of chess at my local club this evening. Black thought it was a good idea to sacrifice his queen, expecting to be rewarded with at least some compensation. However looking at the game from an elevated (and sideways) observation point I couldn't see exactly what he was expecting. I turns out that there was compensation, in that both players were under 5 minutes after about move 10 (60m+30s was the time limit), and in the ensuing complications, White ran out of time!
Here is the start of the game, as I got sidetracked playing my own game, and was not able to see the rest. White's flag fell around move 30

Aliyev,Kamran - Grcic,Milan [A40]
Korda Classic, 14.08.2018

1. c4 b6 2. e4 Bb7 3. Nc3 e6 4. d4 Bb4 5. Bd3 f5 6. d5 fxe4 7. Bxe4 Nf6 8. Bg5 Nxe4 9. Bxd8 Nxc3 10. Qb3 Nxd5+ 11. Kf1 Na6 0-1

Give a pawn, take a queen

I can remember at some point Nigel Short annotating a game where he basically said that the Two Knights Defence simply lost a pawn. This was based on the observation that after 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Black cannot recapture on d5, unless they are willing to face the Fried Liver Attack.
And yet people still play the opening, including myself, although I tend to give up more than a pawn in the lines I favour. Looking through some games from the current Abu Dhabi Masters, I came across a nice win for Black where he gave up a couple of pawns, in the Colman Variation. When I was a boy the advice was not to capture the pawn on c6, but White did, and Black demonstrated why it might not be the best idea. Nonetheless, the game was still pretty even until White decided to threaten mate on h7 with Qg6, at which point Black played a few checks and then trapped the White queen by moving his king.


Al-Hajiri,Bader (2120) - Esenbek Uulu,Ilimbek (2159) [C58]
25th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festi Abu Dhabi (5.72), 11.08.2018

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3 Rb8 9. Bxc6+ Nxc6 10. Qxc6+ Nd7 11. d3 Be7 12. Ne4 Rb6 13. Qa4 O-O 14. Nbc3 f5 15. Ng3 Rb4 16. Qc6 Kh8 17. Nd5 f4 18. Nxb4 Bxb4+ 19. c3 fxg3 20. hxg3 Bc5 21. Qg6 Bxf2+ 22. Ke2 Nf6 23. Bg5 Bg4+ 24. Kd2 Qb6 25. Kc2 Kg8 0-1

First Saturday

Albert Winkelman is another of Canberra's young players spending the European summer playing chess. At the moment he is taking part in the First Saturday IM tournament in Budapest. These monthly events have been running for over 20 years, and provide an opportunity for players to achieve IM and GM norms (depending on the section).
While Albert looks to be finding this months tournament tough going, he has scored 2 wins, including one against IM Nhat Min To. So even if he doesn't return from Europe with a new title, he will certainly come back a stronger player.


Winkelman,Albert (2134) - To,Nhat Minh (2352) [B33]
First Saturday IM August 2018 1117 Budapest, Hunyadi Janos u (7.2), 10.08.2018

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Qb6 5. Nb3 Nf6 6. Nc3 e6 7. Be3 Qc7 8. a3 a6 9. g4 d6 10. g5 Nd7 11. f4 Be7 12. Qd2 b5 13. O-O-O b4 14. axb4 Nxb4 15. Qd4 a5 16. Qxg7 Rf8 17. Qd4 a4 18. Qxb4 axb3 19. Qxb3 h6 20. h4 Nc5 21. Bxc5 Qxc5 22. Qb5+ Qxb5 23. Bxb5+ Kd8 24. Kb1 Bb7 25. Rhg1 hxg5 26. fxg5 Kc7 27. Rdf1 Kb6 28. Bc4 Ra5 29. Bb3 Bc6 30. Kc1 d5 31. exd5 exd5 32. Rg4 Ra1+ 33. Nb1 Bc5 34. Re1 Re8 35. Rxe8 Bxe8 36. Rg3 Bf2 37. Rf3 Bxh4 38. Rf5 Bd7 39. Rxd5 Kc6 40. c4 Be6 41. Rb5 Bf2 42. Kc2 Bc5 43. Nc3 Bf5+ 44. Kd2 Rg1 45. Bd1 Rxg5 46. Bf3+ Kd6 47. b4 Bg1 48. Ne4+ Bxe4 49. Rxg5 Bh2 50. Ke3 Bg6 51. c5+ 1-0

Never bet on anything that talks

Unibet has just been announced as the official betting partner for the upcoming 2018 World Championship Match. Apart from providing you with the opportunity to win or lose money, Unibet is going to offer enhanced digital content throughout the match.
Having never bet on chess before I'm not sure exactly what options will be available. Win, loss and draw for each game seems to be obvious, as well as betting on the match result. More exotic options could be problematic, as offering odds on choices of openings or specific moves could be vulnerable to insider information.
More information will no doubt be released soon, but hopefully the connection of the tournament with a gambling site will not have any unfortunate side effects.

How's this for a draw

While looking at some recent opening theory I came across the following drawing line in the Closed Sicilian. Clearly both players involved were happy to split the point, but I suspect the tournament rule on when draws could be offered/agreed to dictated the length of the game. Having said that, as the game was played after the FIDE 5 fold repetition rule came into play, then technically the game only lasted 16 moves.


Narciso Dublan,Marc (2521) - Grigoryan,Karen H (2580) [B23]
Barbera del Valles op 38th Barbera del Valles (9), 12.07.2015

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. g3 d5 4. exd5 exd5 5. Bg2 d4 6. Qe2+ Be7 7. Nd5 Nc6 8. d3 Be6 9. Nf4 Bc8 10. Nd5 Be6 11. Nf4 Bc8 12. Nd5 Be6 13. Nf4 Bc8 14. Nd5 Be6 15. Nf4 Bc8 16. Nd5 Be6 17. Nf4 Bc8 18. Nd5 Be6 19. Nf4 Bc8 20. Nd5 Be6 21. Nf4 Bc8 22. Nd5 Be6 23. Nf4 Bc8 24. Nd5 Be6 25. Nf4 Bc8 26. Nd5 Be6 27. Nf4 Bc8 28. Nd5 Be6 29. Nf4 Bc8 30. Nd5 Be6 31. Nf4 Bc8 1/2-1/2

Showing my age

A slightly atypical win for me, played last night at Belconnen Chess Club. Whether I'm getting older, or finally playing the position rather than by instinct, is still unclear, but it was a fairly smooth win, with minimal chaos!


Badrinarayan,Siddhant - Press,Shaun [D27]
Korda Classic, 07.08.2018

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 e6 4. c4 dxc4 5. Bxc4 c5 6. Nc3 a6 7. O-O Nc6 8. b3 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Nxd4 10. exd4 b5 11. Be2 Bb4 12. Bb2 Bb7 13. Bf3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 O-O 15. Ne4 Nd5 16. Rac1 Qa5 17. Ra1 Rfc8 18. Ng5 Qc7 19. Rac1 Qf4 20. Rxc8+ Rxc8 21. h4 h6 22. g3 Qxf3 23. Nxf3 Rc2 24. Rb1 Bc3 25. Bxc3 Nxc3 26. Ra1 Rxa2 27. Rxa2 Nxa2 28. Kf1 Nc1 29. Nd2 Kf8 30. Ke1 Ke7 31. Kd1 Nd3 32. Ke2 Nb4 33. Ne4 f5 34. Nc5 Kd6 35. f4 Kd5 36. Kd2 a5 37. Kc3 Nc6 38. Na6 b4+ 39. Kd3 Nxd4 40. Nc7+ Kc6 41. Kxd4 Kxc7 42. Kc5 a4 43. Kxb4 axb3 44. Kxb3 Kd6 45. Kc3 e5 46. Kd3 e4+ 47. Kd4 h5 48. Kc4 Kc6 49. Kd4 Kb5 50. Kc3 Kc5 51. Kd2 Kd4 52. Ke2 e3 53. g4 hxg4 54. h5 Ke4 55. h6 gxh6 56. Kf1 Kf3 57. Kg1 e2 58. Kh2 h5 59. Kg1 Kg3 60. Kh1 e1R# 0-1

2018 Chess Olympiad - PNG Team

The 2018 Chess Olympiad is less than 2 months away, and most federations have organised their teams. This years Papua New Guinea team has a few changes, including a return to the board for me. Returning from the 2016 team are FM Stuart Fancy, FM Rupert Jones and CM Helmut Marko. Joining them are myself, and newcomer Tom McCoy. Initially playing his chess in Canberra, work in PNG has allowed Tom to join the team.
This year also sees a new team captain with US/Iranian GM Elshan Moradiabadi taking on the sometimes difficult task. Moradiabadi has some familiarity with the team, and Iran played PNG in the first round of the 2010 Olympiad, crushing me on board 2!
The first round of the Olympiad is on the 24th September, with the tournament running through to the 5th October. Once again it will be an 11 round event, with a single rest day.


McCoy,Tom (1664) - Chibnall,Alana (876) [C34]
Belconnen op Belconnen (1), 08.07.2005

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 c6 4. d4 d5 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd3 Bg4 7. O-O Bxc3 8. bxc3 dxe4 9. Bxe4 Nf6 10. Re1 O-O 11. Bxf4 Re8 12. Qd3 Nxe4 13. Rxe4 Rxe4 14. Qxe4 Nd7 15. Rb1 Nf6 16. Qd3 b6 17. Ne5 Rc8 18. Rf1 g6 19. Bg5 Bf5 20. Rxf5 gxf5 21. Qxf5 Kg7 22. Ng4 Qe8 23. Qxf6+ Kg8 24. Nh6+ Kf8 25. Qh8# 1-0

Secret Sport

ABC Radio in Canberra does a weekly segment on Canberra's "Secret Sports". This week it was Chess's turn to be the 'secret sport' so Alana Chibnall, Stephen Mugford and myself hit the studio to talk up chess, as a sport. The response was generally favourable, although of course there was at least one sceptic. You can hear the 20 minute interview here, starting at the 7:30 minute mark of the recording.
After the interview Stephen Mugford mentioned a quick win he had at his local club. I'm always a fan of the quick finish in chess, so here it is. It is a good example of what happens if you move too many pawns in the opening, although ironically, it was Black who was finished off by a pawn at the end!


Mugford,Stephen - Gibson,Bernard [C00]
Tuggeranong, 30.07.2018

1. e4 e6 2. d3 c5 3. g3 d5 4. Nd2 Bd7 5. Bg2 Bc6 6. Ngf3 Nd7 7. O-O e5 8. Re1 d4 9. Nc4 f6 10. Bd2 b6 11. Nh4 g6 12. f4 Be7 13. f5 Nf8 14. Qg4 Qd7 15. Qh3 O-O-O 16. Nxg6 Nxg6 17. fxg6 Qxh3 18. Bxh3+ Bd7 19. Bxd7+ Kxd7 20. g7 1-0

At least they got the characters names right (sort of)

I caught the movie 'Pawn Sacrifice' on TV this evening, having not seen it in it's entirety before. When I saw the initial trailers for the movie (when it was first released) I thought that the movie had made a reasonable attempt at historical accuracy. It turns out that 'reasonable' significantly oversells the accuracy of the movie.
To be fair, it is a movie, and not a documentary, but almost every dramatic scene in the movie presented an alternative version of history. Venues were changed, opponents were different, tournament results altered, and even well known facts (at least to chess players) were sacrificed for dramatic alternatives. While this often happens in film, a lot of the changes seemed unnecessary, as the truth would have served just as well.
As a movie I'd probably give it 6/10, but as a chess movie I would rate it significantly lower.

Being British

There was a time when 'British' in the British Championship stood for the British Empire. Commonwealth players had the same eligibility to play as UK citizens, with the title occasionally heading off to the colonies. This eventually came to an end when an influx of strong overseas players made it seem like a Commonwealth Championship, rather than a English/Scotland/Wales affair.
This years Championship looks to have done a great job of attracting most of the strong UK players to Hull. Fourteen GM's are in the field, including Michael Adams, Gawain Jones, David Howell and Luke McShane. Interestingly there are a number of non UK players taking part, but instead of being from India,Canada etc they are from various European countries. I assume that this is due to permanent residency/citizenship eligibility, rather than any ironic attachment to European Union work rules.
Australia even has a representative in the tournament with soon to be GM Justin Tan. At the two thirds mark he is on 4/6, winning two games and drawing four. Adams and Jones share the lead on 5/6, and play in round 7. David Howell is half a point back, but has already played the two leaders (both games were drawn). Another player on 4.5 is GM Nick Pert who has had to work very hard, playing 3 of the 4 longest games in the event, winning a 90 move game, while drawing two others in 105 and 133 moves respectively.


Murphy,Conor E (2336) - Tan,Justin Hy (2481)
105th British Championships Hull City Hall, Hull (3.7), 30.07.2018

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Qc2 Be6 7. e4 Nxe4 8. Nxe4 dxe4 9. Qxe4 Bb4+ 10. Bd2 Bxd2+ 11. Nxd2 Nc6 12. Nb3 O-O 13. Bd3 g6 14. Nc5 Bf5 15. Qf3 Nxd4 0-1

Getting blitzed

While I didn't mind my play on the first day of the 2018 ANU Open, the second day was a bit of a shambles. The 60m+10s time limit is a tough one to play, and if you don't have a clear cut advantage going into the last few minutes, bad things can easily happen.
On the other hand the better you are, the less of a problem this seems to be. My first round game, against top seed IM Jame Morris, showed that winning tactics can be spotted, even at 10 seconds a move. Unfortunately for me it was my opponent who did the calculating, finding a nice queen sacrifice to finish me off.


Press,Shaun P - Morris,James
2018 Australian National University Open Canberra, Australia (1.1), 28.07.2018

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 a6 5. d3 b5 6. Be3 Bb7 7. Qd2 Nf6 8. h3 Qc7 9. Nge2 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. f4 b4 12. Nd1 d5 13. e5 Nd7 14. g4 a5 15. g5 d4 16. Bf2 Ncxe5 17. fxe5 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Qc6+ 19. Kh2 Nxe5 20. Ng1 f5 21. Bg3 Bd6 22. Qg2 Qc7 23. Bxe5 Bxe5+ 24. Kh1 Rae8 25. Nf3 Bf4 26. Nd2 e5 27. Nc4 Qe7 28. Rg1 e4 29. dxe4 fxe4 30. Nf2 Rf5 31. h4 Bc7 32. Rae1 Rf4 33. Ng4 h5 34. gxh6 Qxh4+ 35. Nh2 Re7 36. Qg5 Qxh2+ 37. Kxh2 Rh4+ 38. Kg2 Rh2+ 39. Kf1 Rf7+ 0-1