This game falls under the heading of 'tournament management'. In a round robin event, you don't necessarily have to win every game (unless you are Fischer), so taking a quick draw can restore your energy for the next day.
My round 4 game had a number of interesting points, including my usual issue of mis-assesing my winning chances. My younger opponent decided to take the c pawn in the Catalan (as black) and then hang on to it for as long as possible. Having been caught out by this idea previously, I decided to give him a passed b pawn, and then slowly play around it. If I won it back, great, if I didn't, I had other advantages to work with.
The game got quite interesting after he decided to give up two pieces for a rook and another pawn. This didn't give him the play he was hoping for, but at the same time, moved us closer to an ending where the b pawn might count for more. As a result I repeated the position (a perp on the queen), and we shook hands. According to the engine, repeating the position was my only real mistake in the game, as moving the night to c5 (instead of a5) could have resulted in a better position after Qb8 Nd7 followed by getting the other knight to c5. Suffice to say, the idea did not occur to me.
So I'm still on 50% (2/4), with today being a single round day.
This was the second game from yesterdays double round day. My opponent got a little tangled on the queenside and missed the idea of me catching the knight in the corner. I still had to be a little careful in regards to the passed a pawn, so I took the slow and steady route to convert the material advantage.
The win brought me back to 50% after 3 games.
This mornings round saw me get caught in a surprisingly short draw. Having chosen a line against the Exchange Ruy Lopez that gives Black easy equality, my opponent played a move that lost a pawn. To be fair it wasn't a great extra pawn for me, but it meant I could try and grind for a win. That was until I overlooked a tactic which allowed home to sacrifice a piece for a perpetual check. The whole game took about 40 minutes, and so I had most of the day off.
The New Zealand Chess Federation has organised a series of events to recognise the wonderful contributions of IM Bob Wade and CM Hilton Bennett to New Zealand Chess. The Bob Wade Masters is a 10 player round robin, with 3 GM's (Nagy, Song and Zhao) plus a mix of IM's and FM's. The Hilton Bennet Memorial is also a 10 player RR, with a mix of players who knew or played against Hilton during his chess career (including myself). The third event is mainly for younger players, and is alos a 10 player RR.
In the Masters, the 3 GM's all got off to a winning start, as did IM Sravin Renjith. The Bennett Memorial also saw 4 decisive games, although I was on the wrong end of the scoreboard in my game. Choosing the wrong way to meet a potential f5 push in the Kings Indian I went from better to worse, not quite getting to grips with the requirements of the position.
Tomorrow is a double round day, and all games can be followed at https://lichess.org/broadcast/bob-wade-masters-2025--bob_wade/YhDPYAvJ
The 2025 Australian Open has finished in a tien for 1st betweem IM Mihalo Radovanovic (SRB) and CM Tri Kien Le (VIE). They finished on 7.5/9 after recording wins in the final round. Le went through the event undefeated (6 wins, 3 dars), while Radovanovic lost to Le (in round 8), but won 7 games (also drawing with IM James Morris. Ryder Testolin finished in outright 3rd on 7 points, after beating Morris in a wild final round game. The loss by Morris pushed him back to a tie for 4th, alongside GM Daryl Johansen, Harvey Zhu, Sam Asaka, and FM Daniel Chan (SGP)
The title of Australian Women's Champion was awarded to WIM heather Richards, who finished on 5.5.
91 players took part in the Open, while a further 129 players played in the 7 round Minor. Daniil Yelkhovsky won this event on 6.5, ahead of a group of 4 players on 6.
The next major event in Melbourne will be the 2025 Oceania Zonal, which begins on the 24th January.
Legendary German GM Robert Hubner passed away a few days ago, at the age of 76. One the worlds top players in the 1970's and 80's, he reached a peak ranking of No. 3 in the world in 1981. He did this while essentially remaining a chess amateur, holding a number of academic positions during his playing career.
While known for his chess ability, he was also regarded as somewhat eccentric. His attempts at qualifying for the World Championship match ended with his withdrawal from the matches on 2 occasions, and a loss due to a spin of a roulette wheel when his match against Smyslov was drawn.
Somewhat of an anti-authoritarian, he retired from active chess when FIDE introduced drug testing to the sport. But even before that he demonstrated this in a famous game against Ken Rogoff, where in protest at being asked to play a significant number of games at the World Student Teams Championship (by his captain), he and Rogoff concocted an interesting draw (https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1543378)
A true original of the chess world, his passing severs another link with the great players of the 1960's and 70's.
