George Trundle Memorial Round 7

George Trundle Memorial Round 7

Today was zoo day since time ran out yesterday. Is Auckland zoo worth going to? One can see every exhibit in under two hours even at a slow pace so it is definitely not Toronga park zoo in Sydney, but especially for families with small children, it is a great little place. It is laid out in continental sections with lots of information, playgrounds and cafes.  To be perfectly honest, I preferred the park shown yesterday, but its ok.

There is a little young Sri Lankan Elephant, curiously enough in the African section but let's not quibble. We saw it being fed and showered and here it is brushing its teeth with a log.

The pink flamingoes were very popular, especially when they spread their colourful wings.

In the South American section, we saw some Capybara, the largest rodents on earth. They were the size of pigs. I guess they would terrify your average domestic cat.

Tortoises under a sunlamp? I guess the Auckland temperature is a bit cold for them. 

Meerkats! According to an Attenborough documentary, some always stand guard to look for predators. Not these. They feel perfectly secure despite dozens of people gawking at them only a few feet away.

My favourite section was the Avery. This looks like a Kea. If you are in the mountains on the west coast of the north island, these cheeky birds will land on your car, ask for food, and if you don't deliver they take your windscreen wiper instead!

My game with Vishal today was a very short draw. He wanted to see more of Auckland with Arty and I felt like a rest day. So today instead of our half-dozen moves I present you with a brilliancy by Vishal against Paul Garbett from round four with annotations by the man himself.

[Event "George Trundle Masters 2018"]

[Site "Auckland NZL"]

[Date "2018.07.10"]

[Round "4"]

[White "Sareen, Vishal"]

[Black "Garbett, Paul Anthony"]

[Result "1-0"]

[WhiteElo "2346"]

[BlackElo "2197"]

[ECO "B82"]

[EventDate "2018.07.07"]

[PlyCount "67"]

1.e4 {Well playing a serious tournament after more than a decade has 

its ups and downs. I blundered a dead-winning position and lost in 

round one, blundered a real chance in game two and drew and finally 

the third round game me back some blushes as I won with a queen 

sacrifice. I was in a good mood coming in to this game.  } 1...c5 2.

Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Qc7 ( {Always happy to get a 

Sicilian defense especially when the opponent is older than me! } ) 

6.f4 a6 7.Nb3 {In the last game this is what my opponent played and I

was tempted to repeat. However here I deviated as I wanted some 

position which I could complicate} ( ) ( 7.Nb1 ) 7...d6 8.Bd3 Nf6 9.

Qf3 Be7 10.Be3 O-O 11.g4 d5 {Bang on! Its time for some action!} 12.

e5 Nd7 13.O-O-O {May be there are better moves but I had taken some 

time reaching this position and I couldn't be bothered} 13...Nb4 14.

Kb1 b5 15.Qf2 f6 {This I think is bad. I completely missed that he 

could play f6 and then it was time to hold my head again...} 16.exf6 

Bxf6 17.Ne2 Bb7 {After what I ahd done this seemed pretty logical for

me. Somehow I had a feeling I was probably not worse. My opponent 

here had to make a difficult choice here and he just went wrong} 18.

Rhg1 {After what I had done this seemed pretty logical for me. 

Somehow I had a feeling I was probably not worse. My opponent here 

had to make a difficult choice here and he just went wrong} 18...e5 

19.Bf5 g6 {I think he just missed the ideas associated with this move

} 20.Be6+ Kh8 {After this its almost over... wait, is it?} 21.c3 d4 

22.cxb4 dxe3 23.Qxe3 Nb6 24.Nc5 {I thought I was just almost winning 

here as the threats with g5-Nf4-g6 were too strong to meet.} 24...

exf4 25.Nxf4 Bc6 26.g5 {This allows a pretty finish!} 26...Be5 27.

Nxg6+ hxg6 28.Rd7 Rf3 {Cool isn't it! Somehow I had missed a trick 

from black which actually helped in the end.} ( ) 29.Qe1 Bg3 {I had 

Rc7 at my disposal which would win but I had about twenty minutes 

left and I figured out I can still calculate!} 30.hxg3 Nxd7 31.Rh1+ 

Kg7 32.Rh7+ Kf8 {While playing Qe1 I saw this and was mighty pleased 

} ( ) 33.Bxd7 Kg8 34.Be6+ {It still mates on h6 without both rooks! }

1-0