I'm leavin' on a jet plane

I head off to Europe tomorrow, although hopefully my blogging will not be disrupted too much.
The main purpose of the trip is to play in the Olympiad in Dresden (for Papua New Guinea), although I will also be having a weeks holiday in England first.
So for the next week I'll try and keep up the chess content, although it may end up looking like a travelogue. However when the Olympiad starts I should be back to full on, serious chess blogging, with plenty of insider coverage of the Olympiad (although it will be from the back, not the front, of the field).
Of course this all depends on me having net access, although my media accreditation for the Olympiad came through so it shouldn't be a problem.

2008 WCC - Game 11

Anand Draws! (and therefore wins)

By drawing game 11 of the 2008 World Chess Championship, Viswanathan Anand reached the 6.5 points required to win the match. 

Anand's choice of 1.e4 (for the first time in the match) was sensible, in that Kramnik's usual defences (Petroff or Berlin Wall) wouldn't generate the counterplay Kramnik needed to win the game, and prolong the match. Instead Kramnik chose a Najdorf Sicilian (5. ... a6) but Anand played senisbly, with the clear intent of shutting down attampts by Kramnik to stir it up. Indeed by the time the game reached move 20 there was nothing left in the position for Kramnik, and Anand was even better when the players agreed a draw on move 23.

So Anand retains World Championship title he won in the tournament in Mexico last year, and also wins the World Championship title (matchplay format), which Kramnik has held since defeating Kasparov in 2000. Anand also won the FIDE World Championship (Knock-out format) in 2000, so given his victories in 3 disparate formats, there is no doubt that Anand is truly a worthy champion.

The art of negotiation

While details are still sketchy, it appears the Australian Chess Federation has had to deal with another association who hasn't paid all their junior chess levy's. Apparently the VCA has had moneys outstanding from 2004-06. But rather than deal with them in this manner, (which then resulted in this) , the ACF and the VCA came up with a figure (a nice round $1000) which the ACF was happy to charge, and the VCA was happy to pay. In the ACF's defence, apparently neither side actually knew how much money was really owed by the VCA, so any number greater than $0 could be considered a bonus.
I hope to have further details when the minutes of last ACF council meeting are distributed.

2008 WCC - Game 10

Kramnik hangs on!
Vladimir Kramnik prolonged the 2008 World Chess Championship in the only possible way, by winning Game 10 of the match. The win, the first by Kramnik, narrowed the margin to 2 points (Anand leads 6-4), and extends tha match by at least another game.
In what appears to be a late match surge, Kramnik once again obtained an advantage out of the opening. The game started as a g3 Nimzo-Indian, and the players navigated their way through plenty of opening theory, before Kramnik played a novelty on move 18 (Re1). After that Kramnik increased his advantage by targeting Anand's queenside, while Anand had a couple of pieces on the wrong side of the board. Despite attempts to scramble back Anand was ultimately too slow, and Kramnik's push of the a pawn to a5 resulted in a decisive invasion of the Black position. Anand resigned on move 29.

2008 WCC - Game 9

This game could be considered a psychological battle, although it has come too late in the match to make a difference. Kramnik (as Black) chose to play the same opening that had brought Anand such success in games 3 and 5 (Semi-Slav). However Anand avoided going too far down the same road and chose the currently topical Anti-Moscow variation.
Kramnik spent much of the opening a pawn up (after taking on c4 and then hanging on with b5) but once Anand struck in the centre with 16.f4 the game really kicked into gear. Kramnik gave up his pawn advantage (19. ... c5!), and another pawn as well, but this was only temporary and as the players headed towards the endgame, Kramnik was once again a pawn to the good. As the players approached the first time control, Kramnik even found a piece sacrifice (38. ... a4) but unluckily for him, it wasn't enough to win. Anand returned the piece at the right time and a drawn rook(s) ending was reached.
So Anand can no longer lose the match (except in tie breaks) and tonight's game may very well be the last.

Smerdon wins ACT Lightning Championship

The 2008 ACT Lightning Championship was held yesterday, on a glorious Canberra spring day. Although the field might not have been as strong (or as large) as the Moscow Lightning Championship (also held as an outdoor event), I suspect we were warmer than Morozevich et al.
In the end the field was more about quality then quantity with the event held as a 9 player round robin. (Normally at this point I'd go off about the size of the field and what is says about chessplayers in general, but I've decided that if I get angry about everything I'm heading for an early grave, and anyway I've probably blogged enough on this topic already).
The results went pretty much in ratings order with David Smerdon (seen in picture) winning with 8.5/9. He dropped half a point to Lee Forace (a repetition in a worse position), but defeated his closest rival, Endre Ambrus, to secure the title. Ambrus finished second (8/9) and Roger Farrell finished in third with 7/9.
I finished in 4th place but did have a chance to alter the standings with my final round against David Smerdon. Defending the White side of a Dragon(!) I even managed to get to a position where I was a piece ahead. Unfortunately by that stage the clock was the dominant feature of the game and I lost on time (while David still had a minute on his clock).
So while the tournament may not have been huge in terms of numbers, I'm sure those that did turn up to play felt it was a worthwhile way to spend a Saturday lunchtime.

2008 WCC - Game 8

Anand is edging closer to winning the 2008 World Chess Championship, with a draw in Game 8. He now leads 5.5-2.5 over Kramnik, and an Anand victory in Game 9 on Sunday would finish the match for good.
Once again the game started with 1.d4 and Anand's 4. ... dxc resulted in Kramnik choosing the Vienna variation. This is a sharp line to play, although it can also result in a lot of minor pieces being exchanged. Interestingly enough Anand ended up with the a similar pawn structure he had in games 3 and 5 (black pawns on f7,fg and e6) and once again he chose to place his rook on the semi open g file. Nonetheless Kramnik had a small advantage in the position and Anand was forced to play exactly, to prevent Kramnik from dominating the centre with a push to f5. Kramnik could have forced a draw on move 30, but as this wasn't the result he was looking for, he chose not to repeat the position a third time. However he wasn't able to find any other way to improve his position and the game was drawn on move 39.