Winners are grinners.

 26th Wine Open Round 9

I won't bore you with the first five moves. My opponent already disliked his position and offered me a draw. Clear first, little to think about. It seems that despite my age I'm still able to destroy the hopes and dreams of much younger competitors 😉 Everyone needs some motivation.

All the photos are available on this link

https://echiquier-medocain.fr/open-des-vins/

The final standings are available on this link

http://www.echecs.asso.fr/Resultats.aspx?URL=Tournois/Id/62264/62264&Action=Cl

Here's a few selected highlights.

Eva Maria Zickelbein has been a regular in the wine tournament for many years, as well as a valuable member of the interclub chess team. Evi, as she is affectionately known to her friends, also tirelessly helps with setting up, taking pictures, writing articles, and anything else that needs to be done. Nobody deserves wine more!

There was another Aussie here as well! Rike is presenting Vanessa Faraday with an upset prize. Not a bad start for what I believe is Vanessa's first tournament,

The next day I drove to Gueugnon, Burgundy, to take Nina back home. Dinner was three types of locally picked forest mushrooms, figs and pork roti, with a bottle of wine of course 😋

I left early the next day, looking forward to an early afternoon arrival in St Tropez. If your trip crosses Lyon during the day, add several hours to your plans. 

I did arrive just before dinner, this time Mergues, Lamb chops, Cod, Salad and Potatoes. I was able to contribute wine.  

Now I'm enjoying the spoils with the St Tropez sunset as a backdrop. In a few days, the journey continues.

 

                                                                          Cheers 😎

Round 8

Pitched battle

Today was a battle for the fans, that nearly wasn't one. I was black against a strong player and thought I should play solidly. Part of this strategy was to offer an early draw. My attempt to be sensible. To my relief, my opponent was in a fighting move.

After 8...Nd4 black is already better and when the offer came back, on move 13, it was already way too late. The Great of the game was a two-result affair. Black came close to drawing at some stages, but finally the a pawn was going to promote.

After the game, at about 7.30 pm I managed to get my third swim in eight days in. Summer didn't really impress this year. Below is random picture of the park in Hourtin. The lake is just beyond the treeline.

Round 8

 [Event "26th Wine tournament"]

[Site "Hourtin"]

[Date "2024.07.05"]

[Round "8"]

[White "Colin, Vincent"]

[Black "Wohl, Aleksandar"]

[Result "0-1"]

[WhiteElo "2311"]

[BlackElo "2332"]

[ECO "C55e"]

[EventDate "2024.06.29"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7 5.Nc3 d6 6.a3 O-O 7.h3 Be6 8.Bb5

Nd4 9.Ba4 Nxf3+ 10.Qxf3 c6 11.Bb3 Bxb3 12.cxb3 Nd7 13.b4 Re8 14.O-O 

Nf8 15.Be3 Ne6 16.Rad1 Bf6 17.Rd2 g6 18.b5 Bg7 19.bxc6 bxc6 20.Rc2 

Qd7 21.h4 Rf8 22.Qh3 f5 23.Ne2 d5 24.Bc5 Rf7 25.Rfc1 fxe4 26.dxe4 d4 

27.Bb4 c5 28.Be1 Rc8 29.Qd3 Qa4 30.b4 Rfc7 31.Qc4 Kf7 32.bxc5 Qxc4 

33.Rxc4 Rxc5 34.Rxc5 Rxc5 35.Rxc5 Nxc5 36.f3 Nd3 37.Bd2 Bf8 38.Nc1 

Nb2 39.Bb4 Bxb4 40.axb4 Ke6 41.Kf1 Kd6 42.Ke2 Kc6 43.g3 Kb5 44.f4 

exf4 45.gxf4 Kxb4 46.f5 gxf5 47.exf5 d3+ 48.Kd2 Kc5 49.Kc3 Kd6 50.Nb3

Na4+ 51.Kd4 a6 52.Nd2 Ke7 53.Ne4 d2 54.Nxd2 Kf6 55.Ke4 Nc3+ 56.Kf4 a5

57.Nc4 a4 58.Kg4 Nb5 59.Kh5 Nd4 60.Kh6 Nxf5+ 61.Kxh7 Nxh4 62.Kg8 Ng6 

63.Na3 Ne7+ 64.Kf8 Ke6 65.Nb5 Nf5 66.Na3 Nd6 67.Nc2 Nb5 68.Ke8 Kd6 

69.Kd8 Kc5 70.Kd7 Nd4 71.Na3 Kb4 72.Nb1 Nb5 73.Kc6 Nc3 74.Nd2 a3 75.

Nf3 Ne2 76.Ne1 Kc3 0-1

Last round, I'm white, half a point ahead of my opponent. Any score will do. I'll end the tournament peacefully if possible, unless the offer comes too late. % rating points is nothing to be sneezed at 😁

Round 7

Montaut

Hopefully I can distract you from my game today with a lot of pictures 😅 I did win, but cannot say I am particularly proud of this game. More on that later. I finished quite early, too early to go back to the house, and hanging around the venue was not the most exciting option, so we decided to go for a little drive just to see something new.

Not far from the town of Hourtin, on the other side of the lake is a place called Montaut. We are in the lakes region of the Medoc, just a few kilometres from nice beaches, yet the water is fresh. Camping places are scattered over the whole area and water sports, food and wine are the main activities. I definitely recommend a visit if that's your thing.

It was about 8.30pm, the sun was still shining and a few people were still swimming.

There is a long Channel leading into the lake with boats all along the shoreline.

 

Opening into a bay.

The trees are perfectly placed all along the lakeside. Montaut has the nicest landscaping I have seen so far in the lakes region, but I'll keep looking.

Round 7

Ok, now that you have seen the photo's, just play through this game quickly, admire my brilliant sacrifice and don't look at it with an engine 😏

I had only looked at the line 24...Re8 25.Bc4 Nde5 26.Re5!! which I thought was good for white. It is in reality 0.00

Unfortunately 25...Ndf8 just makes whites sac look stupid. My opponent instead found 24...Bg7 which loses on the spot.

 [Event "26th Wine Open"]

[Site "Hourtin"]

[Date "2024.07.04"]

[Round 7]

[White "Wohl, Aleksandar"]

[Black "Maric, Boris"]

[Result "1-0"]

[WhiteElo "2332"]

[BlackElo "2070"]

[ECO "B50u"]

[EventDate "2024.06.29"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Be2 Nf6 4.c3 Nbd7 5.Qc2 Qc7 6.O-O g6 7.d3 Bg7 8.

Nbd2 b6 9.a4 a6 10.Re1 Bb7 11.Bf1 O-O 12.Qb3 e5 13.Nc4 d5 14.exd5 

Bxd5 15.Nfd2 Rab8 16.Qc2 h6 17.Ne3 Ba8 18.Ne4 Nh5 19.Ng3 Nf4 20.d4 

exd4 21.cxd4 Bxd4 22.Nef5 gxf5 23.Qxf5 Ng6 24.Bxh6 Bg7 25.Bxg7 Kxg7 

26.Nh5+ Kh6 27.Ra3 Nde5 28.Rh3 Rg8 29.Qf6 Nf3+ 30.gxf3 1-0

Well, now we are at the business end of the event. I am playing my co-leader, Colin Vincent today. I'll try to play more solidly today, but that was also my intention before this game. What's the saying about Leopards and spots?  

Round 6

 The Phar is far

Another day, another sight seen. I had been here before and don't remember the lighthouse being quite so far away. It was a bit of a long drive for not much. We had an average lunch at a tourist trap and then drove back. Unfortunately, summer still hasn't arrived this year, so the normal activity of going to the beach every day is not as enticing.

Round 6

This game confused me somewhat. It seems that the plan of Nb5 is legit, but I still do not understand it. More up-to-date players told me that it's good and that strong players play a6 to prevent it. I just developed my pieces, castled, and according to stockfish, got a slightly better position out of the opening. 

I checked the game afterwards with stockfish, and neither of us made any big mistakes and the game fizzled out. Can't complain about the draw.

[Event "26th Wine tournament"]

[Site "Hourtin"]

[Date "2024.07.03"]

[Round "6"]

[White "Estadieu"]

[Black "Wohl, Aleksandar"]

[Result "1/2-1/2"]

[WhiteElo "2121"]

[BlackElo "2332"]

[ECO "A40m"]

[EventDate "2024.06.29"]

1.d4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bf4 Nf6 4.Nb5 Na6 5.e3 Be7 6.h3 O-O 7.a3 Bd7 ( 

7...Ne4 ) 8.Nc3 c5 9.Nf3 Qb6 10.Rb1 Rac8 11.Bd3 Qa5 12.O-O c4 13.Be2 

b5 14.Ne5 Be8 15.Bf3 Qb6 16.g4 Nc7 17.Bg2 a5 18.g5 Nd7 19.Qg4 f5 20.

Nxd7 Bxd7 21.Qg3 b4 22.axb4 axb4 23.Ne2 c3 24.bxc3 Bb5 25.Bf3 Ne8 26.

cxb4 Rxc2 27.Rfe1 Nd6 28.Rbc1 Rxc1 29.Rxc1 Bxe2 30.Bxe2 Ne4 31.Qg2 

Qxb4 32.f3 Nc3 33.Bf1 1/2-1/2

So now I'm playing a German player with white. Scoring is desirable :-)

Hasta Manjana Amigoes. 

Round 5

Montelivet is quiet, now that the thousands of Bikers and their Harleys are gone.There are still plenty of people at the summer market, but one can move now.

So we did, visiting the local art gallery, buying some locally made food, and a few Opinel knives.

Round 5

As for my game, it was quite tactical. Another concept I try to tell my students is stop your opponent casteling if you can. He did manage to go Queenside late in the game, but that didn't help much considering the open files. If you're wondering why he suddenly resigned, look at checks. The most obvious example is 28...Ra8 29 Rc5. 

[Event "26th Wine tournament"]

[Site "Hourtin"]

[Date "2024.07.02"]

[Round "5"]

[White "Wohl, Aleksandar"]

[Black "Hristodorescu, Daniel"]

[Result "1-0"]

[WhiteElo "2332"]

[BlackElo "2070"]

[ECO "C44l"]

[EventDate "2024.06.29"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 d5 4.Qa4 Qd6 5.d3 Nf6 6.Nbd2 Bd7 7.Qc2 g6 8.b4

Bg7 9.b5 Na5 10.a4 c5 11.bxc6 Bxc6 12.Be2 Nh5 13.Ba3 Qd7 14.Bb4 b6 

15.exd5 Bxd5 16.Ne4 Nf4 17.O-O Qg4 18.Ng3 Nc6 19.Ba3 Nxe2+ 20.Qxe2 f5

21.d4 e4 22.Qb5 O-O-O 23.Qa6+ Kb8 24.a5 Nxa5 25.Bd6+ Rxd6 26.Rxa5 Bb7

27.Qxa7+ Kc7 28.Rb1 1-0

So I am now in the joint lead with 4.5/5. I am plating the other leader today. Here is the link to the pairing site. Toodles.

http://www.echecs.asso.fr/FicheTournoi.aspx?Ref=62264

Hourtin, double round, and a sad passing.

 

                           Julie Andrews

Sadly the deer we picked up from the middle of the road, didnt make it. This morning she was returned to the forest from which she came. Here she was looking quite ok still, but the next morning her injuries took their toll.

                      Double round day

Yesterday we had the only double round day of the tournament, so apart from entering my games into my database, and eating, I didn't do much.

I did manage to win both my games, although the first one was quite tense, against a promising junior.

In the second game, my opponent played two weak moves in the opening, lost a few tempi, and just when the difficult task of converting a pawn-up position was looming, he resigned.

The next few days are afternoon rounds, so there will be some time for tourism, and a chance to investigate chess game viewer options. For now, for the die-hards, here are the PGN's 😁

[Event "26th Wine tournament"]

[Site "Hourtin"]

[Date "2024.07.01"]

[Round "3"]

[White "Hamberger,"]

[Black "Wohl, Aleksandar"]

[Result "*"]

[WhiteElo "1796"]

[BlackElo "2332"]

[ECO "C41k"]

[EventDate "2024.06.29"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Bf4 O-O 7.Qd2 Bd7 

8.O-O-O Nc6 9.f3 Ne5 10.Be2 c6 11.g4 b5 12.h4 b4 13.Nb1 c5 14.Nf5 

Bxf5 15.exf5 Nfd7 16.g5 Qa5 17.Bxe5 Nxe5 18.f6 gxf6 19.gxf6 Bxf6 20.

Rhg1+ Kh8 21.Qh6 Ng6 22.h5 Qxa2 23.hxg6 Bxb2+ 24.Kd2 fxg6 25.Rxg6 Be5

26.Rg4 Qf7 27.Ke1 Rae8 28.Nd2 d5 29.Kf1 c4 30.Kf2 Re6 31.Qh3 Qe7 32.

Kf1 Bg7 33.Rg2 Rh6 34.Qg4 Rg6 35.Qh3 Re8 36.Qh2 Rh6 37.Qg1 Bc3 38.Nb1

Bf6 39.Rxd5 Rg6 40.Rd1 Qxe2+ 41.Rxe2 Rxg1+ 42.Kxg1 Rxe2 43.Rd2 Re1+ *

[Round "4"]

[White "Wohl, Aleksandar"]

[Black "Oncel, Illia"]

[Result "1-0"]

[WhiteElo "2332"]

[BlackElo "1997"]

[ECO "C00e"]

[EventDate "2024.06.29"]

1.e4 e6 2.c4 d5 3.cxd5 exd5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Nc3 Qe6+ 6.Be2 Nf6 7.Nf3 

Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.d4 c6 10.Ne5 Nbd7 11.Bc4 Nd5 12.Re1 Nxe5 13.Bxd5 cxd5

14.Rxe5 Qd6 15.Rxd5 Qg6 16.Re5 Bf6 17.Nd5 Kh8 18.Nxf6 Qxf6 19.Bg5 Qg6

20.Be7 Rg8 21.d5 Bd7 22.Qd4 f6 23.Re3 Rge8 24.Rae1 1-0

That's it for today folks

jusqu'à demain.

Julie Andrews?

Do Re Mi

The weather was nice,so just before the crack of noon three of us, Eva Nina and I decided to go to Le Pin Sec. We had not gone 200 metres from the Hacienda when we saw a Deer lying on the road, not able to move. After considering options it was decided to first bring her to safety and then ring animal rescue or such like.

After a short time she stopped struggling and was installed under a tree in the garden with water. 

With nothing else to be done, we recommenced our trip. Long time followers of my blog (both of you 😁) will remember that I have often posted photos of these WW2 bunkers. Their position changes as does the graffiti.

There were quite a few surfing students here this year. The sea was quite rough, so not ideally suited for beginners. I guess they had fun anyway. Better than watching the Idiot box.

 

Speaking of idiots, that's how I felt after my game today. In retrospect, considering that my sac 20...Nf2 was unsound due to 21.Rd2 declining the gift and trapping the Knight, I shouldn't be too disappointed. After accepting, I was just much better.

 Winning according to Stockfish, but not taking the piece back and playing on calmly a piece done is not very human. I'm referring to 23...Be5 24.Ne5 Qe5 etc. Even after looking at the lines for some time, I'm not sure why the position is -3.52 or thereabouts.

Just taking the piece back was fine but then I just faffed about, while my opponent with no time on the clock, an exposed King, and a pawn less, defended well. Oh well, that's how easy it is to misplace 5 rating points.
 

[Event "26th Wine tournament"]

[Site "Hourtin"]

[Date "2024.06.30"]

[Round "2"]

[White "Germes"]

[Black "Wohl, A"]

[Result "1/2-1/2"]

[WhiteElo "1917"]

[BlackElo "2332"]

[ECO "A43c"]

[EventDate "2024.06.29"]

1.d4 c5 2.c3 g6 3.Bf4 Bg7 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 Qb6 7.Qb3 Nc6 8.

Nbd2 d6 9.h3 Be6 10.Qa3 cxd4 11.exd4 Bd5 12.O-O Rfe8 13.Rfe1 a5 14.

Rad1 Qc7 15.c4 Bxf3 16.Nxf3 e5 17.dxe5 dxe5 18.Bh2 Nb4 19.Qa4 Ne4 20.

Bf1 Nxf2 21.Kxf2 Qc5+ 22.Kg3 e4 23.Bg1 Qc7+ 24.Kf2 Nc6 25.Be2 exf3 

26.Bxf3 Rxe1 27.Kxe1 Bxb2 28.Qb5 Bc3+ 29.Kf1 Re8 30.Bf2 Qe7 31.Qb3 

Qe5 32.Qb5 Qe6 33.Qd5 Qf6 34.Qd7 Rd8 35.Qxb7 Rxd1+ 36.Bxd1 Bd4 37.Bf3

Nd8 38.Bxd4 Qxd4 39.Qd5 Qa1+ 40.Qd1 Qf6 41.Qd5 Ne6 42.Qxa5 Qa1+ 43.

Qe1 Qxa2 44.Bd5 Qa6 1/2-1/2

Now we have the double round day coming up. The survivors can then enjoy the rest of the tournament.

Toodles,

Alex.

ps: Is Julie Andrews a good name for our Doe?

26th Wine Tournament, Hourtin

                                                                   

                               I'm Back!😁

After an absence of many years, about five, I'm playing in an international open in France again. To be more precise, the Wine tournament in the Medoc region, where one wins wine, according to one's weight. The bad news is that I weigh considerably less now than five years ago. 

The road to Hourtin was long. I first flew to Milan took a few trains to St Tropez, stayed there a few days visiting family, then drove to Gueungnon to pick up my daughter who had just graduated from high school with brilliant marks. We then made another road trip, 600km, the next day to the Medoc.

This morning we headed to Montelivet where an annual Biker festival takes place. There were plenty of colourful Harleys on display, but I was more interested in the Cap Ferrer oysters. Nina discovered that she had lost her love of Oysters in the intervening years, so I had to eat most of them.

The Bikes are always worth a look.

Now to get to my first-round game. I have been teaching my students to create problems for their opponents early in the game. To constantly threaten and create problems. I must practice as I preach. I will post the game score here just in case the HTML doesn't work or disappears at some stage, which has happened before.

[Event "26th Wine tournament"]

[Site "Hourtin"]

[Date "2024.06.29"]

[Round "1"]

[White "Wohl, Aleksandar"]

[Black "Nawrocki, B"]

[Result "1-0"]

[WhiteElo "2332"]

[BlackElo "1768"]

[ECO "B06a"]

[EventDate "2024.06.29"]

1.e4 g6 2.h4 d5 3.h5 Bg7 4.Nc3 d4 5.Nce2 e5 6.Ng3 Nf6 7.h6 Bf8 8.Bc4 Be6 

9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.c3 d3 11.Qb3 Kf7 12.Nf3 Nbd7 13.Ng5+ Ke8 14.Nxe6 Qc8 15.

Ng7+ Kd8 16.Qf7 Bxg7 17.hxg7 Rg8 18.Rxh7 Nxh7 19.Qxg8+ Ndf8 20.Qxh7 Nxh7 

21.g8=Q+ Kd7 22.Qxh7+ 1-0

Although beating a player more than 500 elo lower is not something to brag about, I do feel that It showed the value of harassment. 2.h4 already forced my opponent to stop and think. 10.c3 posed problems and accelerated the collapse. In fact, on move 11... black tried to play Kc6, not really good, and not legal. He was clearly rattled. the rest was not worth commenting on. 

https://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=119986

Lets see if this works, more tomorrow.