After yesterday's debacle it was quite an effort to front up to today's game. Not helping is the fact I've had a sore throat/cold since about day 2 of my holiday. And despite resisting the temptation to 'Keith Moon' my hotel room, I still didn't get much sleep ('slept like a baby' as the old joke goes, 'cried for 2 hours, slept for 2 hours, etc').
So PNG fronted up against the AHO's (Dutch Antillies), who have always been a challenging team for us. Their board 1 was an IM, and the rest of the team was in the 2100-2200 range.
Once again the games followed the usual script. Stuart Fancy continued his plan of playing Black in every game by opening 1.a3 for the second day in a row. I actually had to find an answer to 1.Nh3 (The Amar Opening) and didn't do a good job of it. Rupert Jones played a solid Lopez, while Craig Skehan misplayed a Italian Opening and was in trouble from the start. Craig resigned after about 2 hours, while Rupert Jones's game ended in a 9 fold repetition. Despite the position being repeated around move 24 the players decided to remove the arbiters from the equation by happily repeating until move 30 had been reached. Attempts by the arbiter to intervene were unsuccesful as neither player attempted to claim the draw prior to the allowed move.
My opponent also fell foul of this regulation where he attempted to offer me a draw on move 21, when the position was starting to turn against him. I informed him that such an offer was not allowed and we continued. By the time we reached move 30 I was completely winning so no further offer was forthcoming.
Stuart Fancy gave up a piece for 2 pawns but it was insufficient compensation and despite defending for 4 hours was unable to hold. So we are still to record a match win but 1.5-2.5 was an OK score for us.
For those following the fortunes of the Australian Open team, they managed to score their first win, a 4-0 victory over the British Virgin Islands. The fact that this match took place on Board 53 resulted in some cruel teasing by the 'minnow' teams.
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Saturday, 15 November 2008
Olympiad Day 2
Round 2 got off to a delayed start after the board pairings were published, despite 40 teams having the wrong team lists reported. This was due to an arbiter failing to collect the team sheets on time, which resulted in the missing teams being listed as playing their top 4. The error was discovered late enough to effect team preparation, so the round was held up for an hour.
The other weird thing about this round was the boards that some of the teams were playing on. Due to the accelerated pairing system a powerhouse match like Hungary v Latvia was being played on board 51, while on board 18 Jersey was playing Malaysia. Expect more chaos tommorow as the acceleration comes to an end and some teams on 0 match points (like Australia!) end up amonsgt other teams with 0 match points (like PNG!)
PNG were paired with Sri Lanka, which on paper outrated us slightly, although a 2-2 result was quite possible. In the end we went down 3.5-0.5, with losses on boards 1,3 and 4. Once again I proved that no anti-draw measure can stop me, as I recorded yet another draw, the second of the Olympiad and the 11th in my last 15 Olympiad games. Annoyingly I missed a win, and probably a pretty basic one. A pawn up in a rook and pawn ending, I did all the right things until right to the very end, when I suddenly couldn't find the key idea, and offered a draw.
Not making me any happier was the slightly unpleasent end to the game. I offered a draw, which my opponent accepted with a handshake. The arbiter came over, but foolishly I had left my clock running. As we were recording the result, the Sri Lankan team captain, Sunil Weeramantry tried to claim a win for his player as my clock had reached zero. I suggested he not try that on, when he became all indignant about my suggestion, claiming he was merely joking. Although I apologised for any misunderstanding, I wasn't happy with the whole situation.
The other weird thing about this round was the boards that some of the teams were playing on. Due to the accelerated pairing system a powerhouse match like Hungary v Latvia was being played on board 51, while on board 18 Jersey was playing Malaysia. Expect more chaos tommorow as the acceleration comes to an end and some teams on 0 match points (like Australia!) end up amonsgt other teams with 0 match points (like PNG!)
PNG were paired with Sri Lanka, which on paper outrated us slightly, although a 2-2 result was quite possible. In the end we went down 3.5-0.5, with losses on boards 1,3 and 4. Once again I proved that no anti-draw measure can stop me, as I recorded yet another draw, the second of the Olympiad and the 11th in my last 15 Olympiad games. Annoyingly I missed a win, and probably a pretty basic one. A pawn up in a rook and pawn ending, I did all the right things until right to the very end, when I suddenly couldn't find the key idea, and offered a draw.
Not making me any happier was the slightly unpleasent end to the game. I offered a draw, which my opponent accepted with a handshake. The arbiter came over, but foolishly I had left my clock running. As we were recording the result, the Sri Lankan team captain, Sunil Weeramantry tried to claim a win for his player as my clock had reached zero. I suggested he not try that on, when he became all indignant about my suggestion, claiming he was merely joking. Although I apologised for any misunderstanding, I wasn't happy with the whole situation.
Friday, 14 November 2008
The legend of 'Craig'
Before I started this blog I used to provide Olympiad coverage via the Canberra chess email list. That was a much more personal affair, as most of the readers new me directly, and as a result I was probably more 'familiar' with what I wrote.
One of the regular features of that coverage was the 'Craig Skehan Moment of the Day', which chronicled the adventures of the PNG board 4. To understand the background, you need to realise that Craig is an exceptionally part time player, with the possible unique achievement of playing no other rated chess other than the 5 Olympiads he has taken part in. Craig's other record is that he has played more games at the Olympiad without a win than any other player in history (Unfortunately for PNG the second player on this list is Allan Luga, who was supposed to be our board 4 this time, but didn't make it).
Amongst the lower ranked teams the legend of Craig has started to grow, with members of other teams accosting me at the venue and assuring me that 'Craig must win a game at this Olympiad'. 'Against you?' I ask. 'Well not against us' is the usual reply. Indeed Craig is now so famous that like Madonna and Snoopy, he is now known simply by his first name. At our match yesterday the PNG team was listed as Fancy, Press, Jones and 'Craig'. And after the match he was signing autographs for German school children.
But sadly I'm not going to continue the 'moment of the day' feature, as this blog now has a wider readership (Hi to the Alwoodley CC and the Yorkshire Chess Association!). But I'll leave you with a small taste of what you're missing.
However on the train trip from Berlin we were sitting with various members of the German Olympiad Team No 2 when the subject of the World Championship Match in Bonn came up. "World Championship Match" said Craig. "Is Kasparov still world champion? he continued. "No" came the straight reply. "Then who is?" he continued. At this point the Germans could not contain themselves any longer and dissolved into a fit of giggling.
One of the regular features of that coverage was the 'Craig Skehan Moment of the Day', which chronicled the adventures of the PNG board 4. To understand the background, you need to realise that Craig is an exceptionally part time player, with the possible unique achievement of playing no other rated chess other than the 5 Olympiads he has taken part in. Craig's other record is that he has played more games at the Olympiad without a win than any other player in history (Unfortunately for PNG the second player on this list is Allan Luga, who was supposed to be our board 4 this time, but didn't make it).
Amongst the lower ranked teams the legend of Craig has started to grow, with members of other teams accosting me at the venue and assuring me that 'Craig must win a game at this Olympiad'. 'Against you?' I ask. 'Well not against us' is the usual reply. Indeed Craig is now so famous that like Madonna and Snoopy, he is now known simply by his first name. At our match yesterday the PNG team was listed as Fancy, Press, Jones and 'Craig'. And after the match he was signing autographs for German school children.
But sadly I'm not going to continue the 'moment of the day' feature, as this blog now has a wider readership (Hi to the Alwoodley CC and the Yorkshire Chess Association!). But I'll leave you with a small taste of what you're missing.
However on the train trip from Berlin we were sitting with various members of the German Olympiad Team No 2 when the subject of the World Championship Match in Bonn came up. "World Championship Match" said Craig. "Is Kasparov still world champion? he continued. "No" came the straight reply. "Then who is?" he continued. At this point the Germans could not contain themselves any longer and dissolved into a fit of giggling.
Olympiad Day 1
The big day has finally arrived, with almost a thousand players moving into the playing hall for the first round of the 2008 Olympiad. There was much interest in the start of the first round as FIDE has introduced a rule that players absent at the start of the round will lose. Although almost all teams managed to front up on time there was a bizarre result in the Moldova v Morocco match where Morocco failed to show but Moldova only scored 3 points after their board 1 went missing as well.
As for the chess, the Olympiad is using accelerated pairings which meant that instead of being massacred 4-0 by Indonesia, Papua New Guinea would probably score the same result against Uruguay. As it turned out the acceleration helped us a little bit as I managed to draw on board 2, limiting our defeat to 3.5-0.5 Despite the margin, we fought hard on all boards, with the top 3 boards heading into the 4th hour of the game before the result became clear.
As you can see in the photo, at least 3 of the team were taking the match seriously, although my distant stare can be explained by a desire not to cough all over my opponent and give him the sore throat I have been suffering from. (Many thanks to Cathy Rogers for providing the photo)
At the moment I am still hamstrung by the internet facilities at hotel, but hopefully these will be sorted out quickly, and I will be able to provide games and extended commentary.
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Olympiad Day 0
A long but mainly pleasent journey from Leeds got us into Dresden at lunchtime today. Due to a double booking on the Eurostar, Rupert Jones and myself got moved into first class, which meant a free dinner and all the wine we could drink. The only drawback was a 5 hour wait at Brussels railway station for the night train to Berlin. Brussels isn't the most interesting place in the world and the railway staion could do a fair impersernation as 'Hell's waiting room'.
After a short break in Berlin we took the train to Dresden. A couple of people recognised us as chess players, so we took the opportunity to play "Guess which country we are from?". We thought we had won becuase they failed to recognise our obvious PNGness, but honours were shared when we failed to recognise Karsten Muller (the well known author), despite the fact that Rupert Jones had met him 10 years previously.
We arrived in Dresden to find that our hotel accommodation is still the Ibis, while the Australians are staying in the 5 star Maritim, right next to the venue. Despite claims to the contrary, average ELO carries some weight. I also picked up various bits of gossip from around the venue, including news that Kirsan Illumzyhnov was involved in a car accident in Moscow while heading to the airport to fly to Germany.
At the moment I'm blogging from the press centre, which may be the only place in Dresden that provides free internet access. The ClosetGrandMaster was already here when I arrived, so if you can't stand me, there is also coverage from him.
The hotel charges 5 euros per half hour and there is now way I'm paying that. So updates are likely to occur before and after the rounds, with the latter being more likely.
The opening ceremony is taking place in a couple of hours and hopefully I will have some photos for tommorows post.
After a short break in Berlin we took the train to Dresden. A couple of people recognised us as chess players, so we took the opportunity to play "Guess which country we are from?". We thought we had won becuase they failed to recognise our obvious PNGness, but honours were shared when we failed to recognise Karsten Muller (the well known author), despite the fact that Rupert Jones had met him 10 years previously.
We arrived in Dresden to find that our hotel accommodation is still the Ibis, while the Australians are staying in the 5 star Maritim, right next to the venue. Despite claims to the contrary, average ELO carries some weight. I also picked up various bits of gossip from around the venue, including news that Kirsan Illumzyhnov was involved in a car accident in Moscow while heading to the airport to fly to Germany.
At the moment I'm blogging from the press centre, which may be the only place in Dresden that provides free internet access. The ClosetGrandMaster was already here when I arrived, so if you can't stand me, there is also coverage from him.
The hotel charges 5 euros per half hour and there is now way I'm paying that. So updates are likely to occur before and after the rounds, with the latter being more likely.
The opening ceremony is taking place in a couple of hours and hopefully I will have some photos for tommorows post.
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
The leaving of Leeds
Do a search for 'chess' in Google news and most of the stories are about teams heading off to the Dresden Olympiad. For the PNG team most of the team have been traveling since last week, although the final leg of the journey starts tomorrow.
For an island nation surprisingly most of us are arriving by train. In my case it will a total of 25 hours of travel, starting in Leeds and ending in Dresden via London, Brussels and Berlin. Once we do get there sorting out accommodation may be more involved than first thought.
The organisers have placed the PNG team in the cheap and cheerful Ibis hotel, which seems sensible enough if you assume that the quality of accommodation and the average rating of the team is directly related. However this apparently isn't the case, and it depends more on when you registered. Unfortunately for the PNG team we were probably too efficient, requesting our accommodation on the very first day we were requested too. It appears that the organisers then managed to lose all our data (possibly due to a redesign of their registration form) and only re-requested the information as the registration deadline approached. This meant we went from the head of the queue to the end of it.
I guess the lesson we have learned is "it doesn't pay to be more efficient than the Germans"
For an island nation surprisingly most of us are arriving by train. In my case it will a total of 25 hours of travel, starting in Leeds and ending in Dresden via London, Brussels and Berlin. Once we do get there sorting out accommodation may be more involved than first thought.
The organisers have placed the PNG team in the cheap and cheerful Ibis hotel, which seems sensible enough if you assume that the quality of accommodation and the average rating of the team is directly related. However this apparently isn't the case, and it depends more on when you registered. Unfortunately for the PNG team we were probably too efficient, requesting our accommodation on the very first day we were requested too. It appears that the organisers then managed to lose all our data (possibly due to a redesign of their registration form) and only re-requested the information as the registration deadline approached. This meant we went from the head of the queue to the end of it.
I guess the lesson we have learned is "it doesn't pay to be more efficient than the Germans"
Monday, 10 November 2008
Cannot find chess books!
While holidaying in England has been pleasant, the one thing I've missed is finding second hand chess books. A planned trip to Hay-on-Wye failed to eventuate, and now that I'm 'oop north', I haven't seen many second hand bookshops.
Instead I've been reduced to reading through Rupert Jones' chess collection. One interesting volume was a bound set of British Chess Magazine from 1920. As a past chess magazine publisher I can sympathies with the editorial team who were extremely worried about the magazine finances, and the level of subscriptions (at one stage as low as 500, although it was soon after World War I).
There were a number of reports from British chess, as well as mention of events like the Victorian State Championship, and a Melbourne Chess Club v a Sydney Club telegraphic match.
At random I've picked a short game where Black tries the Philidor Counter Gambit and quickly becomes unstuck.
Mlotkowski,S - Perry,E [C41]
1919
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5?! 4.exf5 e4 5.Ng5 [ 5.Qe2!] 5...Bxf5 6.Nc3 d5 7.f3 Nf6 8.fxe4 dxe4 9.Bc4 Now white is winning. 9...Bg6 10.0-0 [ 10.Ne6 would also be effective.] 10...h6 11.Ne6 Qe7 (D)
12.Rxf6!! Setting up a nice finish. 12...gxf6 13.Nd5 1-0
Instead I've been reduced to reading through Rupert Jones' chess collection. One interesting volume was a bound set of British Chess Magazine from 1920. As a past chess magazine publisher I can sympathies with the editorial team who were extremely worried about the magazine finances, and the level of subscriptions (at one stage as low as 500, although it was soon after World War I).
There were a number of reports from British chess, as well as mention of events like the Victorian State Championship, and a Melbourne Chess Club v a Sydney Club telegraphic match.
At random I've picked a short game where Black tries the Philidor Counter Gambit and quickly becomes unstuck.
Mlotkowski,S - Perry,E [C41]
1919
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5?! 4.exf5 e4 5.Ng5 [ 5.Qe2!] 5...Bxf5 6.Nc3 d5 7.f3 Nf6 8.fxe4 dxe4 9.Bc4 Now white is winning. 9...Bg6 10.0-0 [ 10.Ne6 would also be effective.] 10...h6 11.Ne6 Qe7 (D)
12.Rxf6!! Setting up a nice finish. 12...gxf6 13.Nd5 1-0
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