KL Masters, round 2 and pictorial.

Before we get to today's game, let me take you for a walk around Chinatown, where the hotel is situated. The Swiss Inn is the perfect venue. The main entrance opens onto a busy road and the other entrance, onto Petaling street, the busy shopping and restaurant area. We start our walk from the main entrance pictured below.

And we turn right at Jalan Hang Jebat, a special picture dedicated to my countrymen :-)

The next corner and we are at the entrance to Petaling street. This is early morning. The stalls go up in the afternoon and then there is hardly any room to move. I'll show you another day.

Along the way there is a long alley that serves as a produce market.

And just before we get back to the hotel, having gone in a circle, we pass a fruit stand. For less than an Aussie dollar you can get a little bag of pre-cut pineapple, mango, jackfruit or whatever takes your fancy. 

Now to get to my game. Dr GM Wong Meng Kong is Singapores first and only native Grandmaster but plays rarely these days as he has a day job. He obviously has not warmed up yet as this was his second consecutive loss. A look at the database will show you that he is a very creative and dangerous player and just like Vassily Ivanchuck, you never know when he will strike.

This game was all about one horse, the monster on d4. Once it got there blacks days were numbered.

That's all folks, tune in tomorrow, same time {roughly} same station.

KL Masters round 1

Gremlins

Well my long awaited journey to France via Malaysia got off to an inauspicious start.Wednesday was raining as I was driving all over the place trying to get last minute things done, things I should have sorted well before. So after a long and harried day I finally made it onto the packed plane and despite being very tired, couldn't sleep. Main reason being that after all day in the car my "sitzfleisch" was not appreciating the seat.

Anyway, I arrived in KL on time but spent the next hour trying to get online with one of my three electronic devices, Phone, Ipad and laptop, all to no avail. I had forgotten to ask which Hotel I was in so now I was stuck at "Sentral" with 4kg of Morton Bay Bugs slowly melting in my suitcase. I  tried the public phonebox but kept getting messages in Bahasa, probably telling me I was dialling wrong.

Anyway, after an hour of pure frustration, punctuated by the occasional attempt so connect I decided to get a cab to a Hotel I thought I had read somewhere was associated with the tournament. I got lucky! It was the right  Hotel.

I checked in, had breakfast and it was time for the players meeting. This was a short formality where time limits were discussed and lots drawn. I drew number 11 {out of 11} and was paired against GM Thomas Luther of Germany in the first round. 

I did manage to get two hours sleep before the game but that was not enough to keep concentrated past the first time control. My first little inaccuracy occurred on move 13. Just 13....Nd5 followed by Re8 is even a bit better for black according to my engine {stockfish}. Then late in the ending after many concessions I was intending to play 45....Ke6 and changed my mind at the last moment giving away the last drawing chances.

Then after the game the Internet didn't work so I was unable to post this until now, 2am. Lesson for today is that one should not turn up in the morning of the day of the first round but rather a day or two before, but I already knew that.

Other lesson, if playing someone who has just arrived with no sleep and jet-lag, play a long drawn out game with a boring ending. Chances are  they will crack eventually. You always learn something from playing a GM :-)

Hasta manjana amigoes!
                        

Brodie McClymont wins Peninsula open

Brodie won with a picket fence 7/7. He was in trouble in round 5 against Yi Liu but apart from that his tournament looked like plain sailing. I was second on 6/7 and Tony Weller finished in clear third! A sensational result for Tony in a strong field.

The other prizes were mainly taken by the juniors. I'll publish those results when I find them. Now, back to what's important, my games :-)

Round 6

It would be presumptuous to call Yi Liu "my student" as he was a very talented junior long before we met, but last term I started teaching at his school, Churchie, and he has been in my class. Today I was able to pass on a variation taught to me by GM Tony Miles two decades ago in Adelaide.

This was my best game from this tournament. I believe white had to get e4 in to get any advantage. This, combined with the knight dance f3, h4, f3, g5, e6 put a lot of pressure on black's position. Maybe Yi should have castled instead of 15...d4 but I nevertheless prefer white.

Round 7

John Harris played the opening like a Grandmaster, specifically GM Dorian Rogozenko. He made the same mistake in the second round of the Wine tournament a few years ago. The game and wine tournament post is here.

 

I hope you enjoyed these games. More are coming soon from Malaysia. Stay tuned :-)

Peninsula Open, rounds 4+5

First up in the morning I had to play Brodie with black. 18...f5 was based on a miscalculation which obliged me to sack a pawn. I got some counterplay only to miscalculate the ending. Shows I need a warm up before Malaysia.

So feeling quite dejected after the morning debacle, I played this game quite aimlessly until my opponent made an error in his calculations. Well, as Lasker said  long time ago, chess is all about calculation...or something like that.


And so in a few hours the final day starts. Toodles!

Peninsula Open 2013

After some radio silence expect a flurry of posts. I am escaping the winter for some chess in Malaysia and France. But before leaving why not warm up a bit? The Peninsula Open offered the perfect opportunity.

Since I was a teenager I regularly wrote "Solomon" on my scoresheet. Today, for the first time, the initial was different. Anthony, like his dad Steven, seems to like endings. Black got a playable position but missed a couple of tic tacs.

Many years ago Tony crushed me badly in an open tournament. Today he allowed me too much space on the Kingside, where his King was :-)



I got the round time wrong for this game. I arrived just on forfeit time but George was not even thinking of claiming a win, he had come to play! We had a fierce tactical fight which I thought I had negotiated perfectly...until my engine slapped me in the face. On move 28 black has a mate in 4. My lucky day.



Next round 10am tomorrow. I'll have to watch checks tomorrow.

Sweet dreams,
                       Alex

Back in the Saddle!

The Wilde Weekender

After many moons I was roped into playing in a chess tournament again. This gives me a good excuse to post. Five from six is not a bad score and I should be quite happy, especially given my inactivity of late.

 The first round woke me up a bit. I won a queen but failed to convert in an expeditious manner.

In round two I was paired with a friend from Mullumbimby. Mikey is a leading northern rivers player. We used to often play on Wednesdays, when the local club meets at somebody's house. The level in the hills is surprisingly good. In this game Mikey did not give me as much trouble as he usually does on his home turf.



It was nice to get white against Jakob. His white gambits are known and feared by all.



The Doubleroo defense lives! After burning the midnight oil for many years I believe I have patched up what I consider the critical variation. Which is the critical variation?



Until now everything was going according to plan. And I had white against the second seed. More effort was required to make the game interesting. I played several inaccuracies in the opening and never got back in the game. One move stands out and that is 13. Bg5. Pointlessly placing the bishop in mid-air, abandoning my b2 pawn and serving as a useful target. On my next move I should have just moved it back.



Hippo! I got to play both my favourite animal openings on the same day. George made a miscalculation and handed me a pawn in a double-edged position. It had been a long weekend.



It's the Monday after a tournament and I feel a bit drained, more so than usual actually. Playing and organising is much worse than just playing. Perhaps at my age I should only do one or the other :-) 

R.I.P Michael John Corner

Michael, my Mentor

I first met Michael when I was 15 years old, in Sydney, at the Chess Centre. He was sharing a flat in Kings Cross with another chess player, Michael Walsh. I made friends with these two gentlemen and spent a lot of time at their place. One day I packed my schoolbag with clothes and moved into their place, crashing on their floor.

I was there for several months, three or four, I don't remember exactly but I do remember that when I moved in I was a novice. M.W worked during the day while M.J.C and I spent most of every day playing and studying chess. By the time I left I was one of the best Juniors in Sydney, mainly due to Michael. My contribution to the household was mainly cooking as I came from a restaurant background. Every Saturday I would raid my parents restaurant, when they were not there of course, and bring back bags of food.

Chess

When I moved out I moved to Austria for a while to finish my schooling, was back in Sydney within a year and met up with Michael regularly for blitz or just to go for a drink. He was a permanent member of the Sydney chess community and was always happy to play a game or share his knowledge with anyone who asked. His style was very positional and on his day Michael could beat anyone. Here is a game of his from the Australian championships in Brisbane 1995

Later years

I ran into Michael sporadically in chess tournaments over the years and it was always as if we had only seen each other yesterday. We both lived in Adelaide for some years and then later, coincidentally, Queensland. The last decade or so I was mainly in Europe and we lost touch so it was wonderful to see him again end of last year when Michael played in the Veterans and Disabled championship at the Doubleroo Chess Academy in Milton. Michael won the event :-)

Funeral

Last week I received a call and then an email informing me of Michaels untimely passing. Deep vein thrombosis was the verdict. The funeral was set for Thursday March 2 at 2pm, yesterday. The hall was full of people, family, bridge players and of course chess players. I imagine if it had been held on the weekend even more people would have attended. 

Geoff Corner, one of Michaels brothers and also a chess player, gave a very nice eulogy detailing Michaels life including many exploits that I was unaware of, like the fact that he was a "life master", whatever that is, and read messages from many people who's lives Michael had touched. Particularly touching was a message from a young lad who Michael was teaching chess who said he owed his interest and ability to Michael and wishes he were still here to teach him.

Unfortunately the funeral had a sour note to it. But I have deleted the details that were posted here originally. This is not because I have changed my mind but because I have thought better of responding to nastiness in kind.  

Goodbye old friend, I know that if there is an afterlife you will be looked upon favourably for all the kindness and love you gave so freely all your life.