There was no rest for the wicked after the George Trundle Masters. After a few hours of sleep I was booked to try to teach New Zealand's best and brightest something about chess. The main theme was a tabia most famous from Karpov - Browne 1972. Naturally I showed off with my games featuring similar positions, like Rogozenko - Wohl and a few others that regular readers will be familiar with. I then made up the rest of the time with a quick overview of the English defense.
Since the audience was very strong I was not able to bluff my way through and had to answer some probing questions.
A few hours late I played the toughest Simultaneous exhibition ever. Several participants from the challengers tournament were playing and I scored 2/3 against them! The smiling Hans Gao, pictured below took all the pawns I offered and was one of the first to fall. He walked into one of my "landmines" and never stood a chance. Nathan Goodhue took all the material I blundered and Alpheaus Ang got squeezed in a French variation he didn't know.
Of the others Caroline Yan comprehensively outplayed me in an ending while her younger sister Sarah held a draw without too much trouble.
We finished about 11.20pm so again, not much sleep and the next morning it was off to the airport for the one hour flight to Nelson. This part was nice. No identity check, no luggage screening, just like hopping on a bus. Those that enjoy a good grope will be disappointed. And the aircraft?
Since the audience was very strong I was not able to bluff my way through and had to answer some probing questions.
A few hours late I played the toughest Simultaneous exhibition ever. Several participants from the challengers tournament were playing and I scored 2/3 against them! The smiling Hans Gao, pictured below took all the pawns I offered and was one of the first to fall. He walked into one of my "landmines" and never stood a chance. Nathan Goodhue took all the material I blundered and Alpheaus Ang got squeezed in a French variation he didn't know.
Of the others Caroline Yan comprehensively outplayed me in an ending while her younger sister Sarah held a draw without too much trouble.
As you see we had a full house.
"Top Seed" Nathan Goodhue.
The results.
The last one to finish was Simon Lyall who hit me with .....Rg6!! in the position below.
We finished about 11.20pm so again, not much sleep and the next morning it was off to the airport for the one hour flight to Nelson. This part was nice. No identity check, no luggage screening, just like hopping on a bus. Those that enjoy a good grope will be disappointed. And the aircraft?
A Bombardier Q300, twin prop. Very yesterday. Unfortunately there was cloud cover nearly all the way. I was only able to take pictures for about five minutes.
Enough though to be amazed by the fact that the camera can see the propeller while the eye can not.
Then a change of seats...and then clouds all the way to Nelson.
And here we are!
This is Church hill at the end of Trafalgar street.
It has been raining most of the time since I arrived so nicer photo's will have to wait.
I was picked up at the airport by Dan Dolejs, the driving force of Nelson chess. As it turns out he was also my first round opponent. As I know from personal experience, organising and playing are not the ideal combination and Dan must have had other things on his mind. He dropped a pawn very quickly and then overlooked 22.Rc7, dropping a piece.
The other organiser, Hilton Bennett's game went 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3Nd2 Nc6 4. e5?? Nd4. He forgot to interpolate 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.e5 . Hilton was thinking about where to put the chairs for the analysis area, what to do about the heating, lighting etc, etc... 4.e5 ooops. Anyway, he managed to salvage a draw by making a mencing looking move and offering :-)
I am still not sure what happened in this game. My young opponent totally mishandled the opening and I got a huge advantage which I managed to squander. 14....f5 would probably have been best instead of the too clever 14....Bg4. But credit where its due, he fought like a tiger and might have escaped if he hadn't been so dreadfully short on time near the end. 22.Rfd1 was not great { maybe 22.f5 to scare me}and 23.c5 was terminal. He did have great concentration and fighting spirit and will be a great player one day.
Chesschat has a tread on the tournament
http://www.chesschat.org/showthread.php?15036-South-Island-Championship-Nelson-Open-2013&p=368962#post368962
and I will continue to report, time and internet permitting.
Toodles chums :-)
Alex.
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