Wednesday 1 January 2014

Australian Chess Championship round 1

This year we are contesting the national championship in the south of Melbourne in a suburb called Noble park. How it got it's name is a mystery to me but there are some bright spots. Never have I seen so many Asian restaurants in one area. I feel like I am in Petaling street, Kuala Lumpur.....out of tourist season.

The venue is also very nice. The playing hall is huge, as is the analysis room and there is even a canteen. The organisers have even thought to provide water for the players. No complaints.


It was nice to run into some Queenslanders before the round. I am bestowing honorary Queensland status to David Lovejoy as he lives just south of the border and plays in lots of our events. The Wellers are chess gypsy's and one cannot be surprised to see them anywhere. 


Our President Gary Wastell giving another of his rousing speeches at the opening ceremony. Copyright concerns prevent me from giving the full transcript.


Not for the first time I started with an egg. My last loss against a significantly lower rated player was also with the English defense [ Nelson ]. I may have to give it a rest for a while. Not that the opening itself was a disaster for me. I was happily wandering along "Fantasy lane", sense of danger at the beach, when my opponent surprised me with 20.Bc6. It had not occured to me that he would give up the light squared bishop. 19...Rd8 preparing d6 and black should be fine. Oh well, the rest of the tournament will show me if it is time to retire or not.
[Event "Australian Chess Championship"]
[Site "Noble park."]
[Date "2014.01.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Castor, David"]
[Black "Wohl, Aleksandar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2125"]
[BlackElo "2371"]
[ECO "A40d"]
[EventDate "2014.01.02"]

1.c4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Nc3 e6 4.e4 Bb4 5.f3 Ne7 6.Ne2 f5 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.
Nxc3 fxe4 9.fxe4 O-O 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 Qe8 12.Be2 Nbc6 13.Bh5 g6 14.
Bf3 Qf7 15.O-O Qg7 16.Bf2 g5 17.e5 Kh8 18.h3 Nf5 19.Qd3 d6 20.Bxc6
Bxc6 21.d5 Bb7 22.exd6 cxd6 23.dxe6 g4 24.Nd5 Rae8 25.Be1 Qg5 26.Bd2
Qg6 27.Bc3+ Kg8 28.Rf4 gxh3 29.Qxh3 Qxe6 30.Raf1 Bc8 31.Nc7 Qe3+ 32.
Qxe3 Nxe3 33.Nxe8 Nxf1 34.Nf6+ 1-0

The game re-player is not working again. Anyway, game is not really worth playing through.

And to add to my joy tomorrow is a double round starting at 10am. Groan.....

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