Miniature of the Month - June 2010

Just to show that the French Defence doesn't always lose brutally, I present the miniature of the month for June 2010. (Yes I know it is the end of July but my source material was slow in arriving!)

Bogdanovich,Stanislav (2458) - Kovalev,Denis (2460) [C05]
Alushta Summer 2 Alushta UKR (6), 06.2010

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.c3 c5 6.f4 Nc6 7.Ndf3 cxd4 8.cxd4 f5 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.Bd3 Ne4 11.a3 Qa5+ 12.Bd2 Nxd2 13.Nxd2 Nxd4 14.Rc1 g6 15.h4 e5 16.fxe5 Bh6 17.Rc3 0-0 18.h5 Bf4 19.Bxg6 (D)
19...Qxc3! 0-1

The trouble with visas

When the 2010 Chess Olympiad was awarded to Khanty-Mansiysk the initial concern was how to get there. While the organisers appear to have solved this via charter flights* there is still some obstacles to overcome.
The next worry is that of travel visas. This has been both a perennial problem for some teams, and often the cause of teams arriving with only 2 or 3 players. In the past FIDE have simply blamed the federations for not getting themselves organised sooner, but this excuse cannot be used for this Olympiad. Instead the Russian bureaucracy seems to be the culprit, with the invitation letters that are required to get the visas not being sent out until late August. This leaves teams approximately 1 month to apply and receive their visas, which may seem ample, except for the fact that the turn around time for processing applications isn't that quick (7 business days and $110 in Australia).
For players travelling from Australia this may be a painless process, but for countries that lack a Russian embassy (eg PNG) or for players who are beginning their travels in August, there may be difficulties. I just hope everyone planning to play in the Olympiad doesn't get done over at the application stage, otherwise we may see a repeat of 2008, with 2 player and 3 player teams affecting matches on the lower boards.

*Credit for the charter flights idea should go to Budva, who were an unsuccessful bidder for the 2010 Olympiad. They promised this in their bid, and Khanty then did the same.

Pay for play?

Over at Chessvibes is an open letter from Arkadij Naiditsch concerning the non participation os some leading German players at this years Olympiad. His initial concern is about the remuneration offered to the players on the German team, but it then goes on the bag out a number of German Chess Federation officials.
What mainly interests me is the notion of being paid to represent your country. I know some countries do pay their players at the Olympiad, but I suspect that a majority of countries do not, simply because they cannot afford to. I also suspect that their are a number of federations who cannot even pay the full travel expenses of their selected players (eg every federation in Oceania).
For most European players the expense of playing in the Olympiad is minimal, as accommodation and meals are provided by the organisers. And even with this years event being played in Siberia, travel by plane from Munich/Prague/Milan is also free.
So I wonder whether the basis of the complaint is entirely valid. Is everything about money, right down to the fact that by not receiving what you demand, you are somehow being disadvantaged? And will it get to the point where teams will be picked, not on skill, but on a federations budget, and a players willingness to accept a lower payment?

Openings that just get bashed

There are a couple of openings that seem to turn up on the wrong side of hacks more often than not. Certain lines of the French for example, or passive openings like the Philador. Of course this is an exercise in self selection (for me at any rate) as having decided an opening is bad I tend to notice evidence confirming this belief.
The Queens Gambit Accepted is another opening in this category. I can remember an old game (pre-1990!) where Hubner got snapped as Black taking the pawn, and I'm pretty sure I've seen a few others. Adding to that list is the following brilliancy that turned up in my latest copy of Chess Today. In a variation of the QGA that has a degree of historical provenance (Euwe, Alekhine and Najdorf have all been on the white side of it), Drozdovskij not only sacrifices his own queen, but allows his opponent to get an extra one as well. However this is all to no avail and the game is over in 21 moves.

Drozdovskij,Yuri (2624) - Ivanov,Jordan (2422) [D27]
15th Open Balaguer ESP (6), 24.07.2010

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.0-0 a6 7.Bb3 Nc6 8.Nc3 b5 9.Qe2 Bb7 10.Rd1 Qc7 11.d5 exd5 12.e4 d4 13.Nd5 Qd8 14.Bf4 Rc8 15.a4 c4 16.axb5 d3 (D)
17.bxc6 dxe2 18.Nxf6+ Qxf6 19.cxb7 exd1Q+ 20.Rxd1 Qc6 21.Ba4 1-0

2010 British Championship

I'm not sure whether it is just me, but the British Championship seems to have started a little earlier than usual this year. I missed the first couple of rounds as a result of this, but there are still plenty of rounds to go before it finishes. The top seed (by a long way) is GM Michael Adams, who is making a return to the British. He out rates the second seed GM Nicholas Pert by a good 150 points.
Interestingly the championship is using an accelerated pairing system, which is a little surprising for an 11 round event that only has 80 odd players. Clearly the intention is to avoid 'junk' pairings in the early rounds, rather than the necessity of finding a winner. Overall there are 730 entries for the whole event, noting that supporting events include various Junior and Senior Championships, plus rapidplays held on rest days, which players in other events can, and have, entered.

Summer in Europe

GM Ian Rogers had a big write up in Sundays Canberra Times on Tomek Rej's European chess tour. Rej, from Sydney, scored his third IM norm at the O2C Doeberl Cup earlier this year. However his rating is still below the 2400 mark to confirm the IM title, so he is playing a few events in the European summer to try and gain the required rating points.
In the Najdorf Memorial tournament in Poland he got off to a spectacular start with 3.5/4, including a win over GM Krzysztof Jakubowski and draw with second seed GM Bartek Macieja. His win over Jakubowski included a tactical trick that the tournament bulletins described as "satanic".
Also doing well is South Australian Andrew Saint who is leading the 'C' tournament at Biel with a perfect 4/4.

Rej,Tomek - Jakubowski,Krzysztof [B80]
Najdorf Memorial, 07.2010

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be3 b5 7.Qd2 Nf6 8.f3 Nbd7 9.0-0-0 Bb7 10.g4 Nb6 11.Qf2 Nfd7 12.e5 b4 13.Ne4 dxe5 14.Nxe6 fxe6 15.Rd6 Nd5 16.Rxe6+ Kf7 17.Ng5+ Kg8 18.Bc4 Rc8 19.b3 Qa5 20.Qe2 Qxa2 (D) 21.Rxa6 Rxc4 22.Rxa2 Rc3 23.Bd2 Nc5 24.Kb2 h5 25.Bxc3 bxc3+ 26.Kb1 hxg4 27.Qxe5 gxf3 28.Qe8 1-0

2010 ANU Open - Final Results

After 7 gruelling rounds IM Andras Toth emerged as the winner of the 2010 ANU Open. After finishing day 1 with 3.5/4, he scored 2.5/3 on Day 2 to finish on 6/7. GM Zong Yuan Zhao recovered from his round 3 loss (to Toth) to go into the last round tied with Toth, but found GM David Smerdon a tough nut to crack and their game was drawn in 43 moves. This left Zhao on 5.5, tied for second with FM Junta Ikeda.
In the Minor (Under 1600) Hwaimeen Chai fended off a strong attack from Stuart Mason to win their decisive last round game. The win took her to 6.5/7, a full point ahead of second place getter Trent Parker. Third place saw a 6 way tie between Mario Palma, Paul Campbell, Bill Egan, Stuart Mason, William Booth, and Michael Kethro.

Full crosstables for both events in the comments section