Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Dont Look Back In Anger
Ok well aside from the above pointless reference to a great song you are probably wondering, what this has to do with this blog? Well nothing really, but I just liked the heading so much, as it reminds me of the song itself, which in turn creates a certain mood and imbues you with thoughtful merry reflections. After having made the choice to play in the 2008 Irish Open despite my bad experience of playing last year, and the general indifference about the event, I figured that it was worth playing in anyway this year. Though this time with the caveat that I really should try to take my chess seriously and have a go at trying to play some decent chess.
Well I am not too displeased with my performance but naturally disappointed at losing two games and especially the last game which was pretty important. The curious thing though is that all the way through the event I was in a sort of daze. It was just a bit weird to be again playing in an event called the Irish Championships when it patently wasn't that at all. I genuinely couldn't care less from my own point as after all it was just an Open event on my door step so to speak, and well what had I to complain about? Nothing at all really actually. The playing conditions were good and the venue central and easy to get to. The fact that the event seemed so devoid of atmosphere or character was of no concern to me at all as I just had time to play my game and leave.
However the funny thing was that when I get a chance to briefly chat with people I was amused at some of the banter resulting. The odd things people say or think can really catch you unaware sometimes and remind you that no matter what there will always be some who prefer to live in the past, look backwards and continually misunderstand or misrepresent things you said or opinions you have had over time. In one of the more incredible examples of this it was suggested that I didn't regard the winner of the title of Irish Champion as valid? Especially as it was Alexander Baburin?
Of course what I had actually wrote last year was that I didn't think any comparison between previous actual Irish Championships winners and the new system of merely incorporating the title of Irish champion had any validity which is quite a different thing. While as for Alexander Baburin somehow not being a valid Irish Champion? How bloody long does anyone expect him to live here to be considered one of us? I admit I always held a belief that citizenship should be the key to all sorts of rights and issues of acceptance within a country, and as far as I know he has been Irish for years now? Anyway who could doubt that he is an integral part of Irish chess now and a very genuine reflection of Irish chess as it is?
The fact that he won the event jointly and with it also the incorporated title of Irish Champion seems perfectly fine to me? I admit I found it really puzzling that it took him so long to play in an event of this name and only after the tournament had become something very different from what it had been for years and years. To that end I find any comparisons with previous championships pretty pointless though I hardly wish to begrudge him of credit for his fine victory this year in this new Open format.
For one thing it was at least far more impressive or worthy of note than last years far more farcical situation in which two players got the title of Irish champion despite not winning the tournament. The curious and relevant point is that in a dictionary you will find that what comes up for “Champion” is as follows: “1. One that wins first place or first prize in a competition. 2 One that is clearly superior or has the attributes of a winner”.
How much clearer does it need to be? In the case of Alexander Baburin in 2008, that surely makes him a perfectly valid champion? Along with the joint winner Alon Greenfeld of course, who also surely is entitled to regard himself as Irish Open Champion? While Alexander Baburin now has that title plus the incorporated title of Irish Champion too? This merely points to the fact that the title of Irish champion is now won or awarded in an arbitrary manner and can or should not be regarded in the same light as all the previous winners of actual Irish Championships.
It may well be that this downgrading of the title was a good thing or even something overdue for a long time? However I honestly don't see the gain myself? Simply put, why would there need to be an either or situation? Let us say that for example the 2008 event, which was still billed as the Irish Championships, had been given the official name of Irish Open Championships and the title of Irish Champion was to be decided later in another tournament dedicated to the purpose of establishing an undisputed Irish Champion? Do we suppose it would have been impossible to hold such an event? Or that nobody would turn up to play in such an event? Oddly enough, even in 2006 when the event was a real disaster it still had a strong [but small] field which included a few previous champions.
In other words, no matter what, it seems some sad people [like myself] attach some importance to the winning of the title? So if the problem was simply organising a proper tournament then why not concentrate efforts to that end? Maybe it is not worth doing and perhaps the days of having a meaningful title of Irish champion are long gone and a thing of the past? Fair enough then, so at least that is clear and it tells us a lot about the state of Irish chess. Is that really what we would call progress?
In any event the other really weird thing I was surprised by was the truly weird explanation which Alexander Baburin felt the need to publicly offer the day after he won the event for his lack of participation over the 15 years or so he has been living here. I have to admit I was disappointed and frankly baffled by this? I mean even if it were true that as he says some Irish players "campaigned hard against me playing in the Irish championship" his reaction hardly merits much by way of admiration or respect? Understanding maybe?
As one of the players who was so adamantly and publicly against him being rail-roaded onto the Irish Olympiad team so illegitimately back in 1996 I never have or would make any apology for trying to uphold due process and do things properly, even though it was all in vain and the issues got lost in acrimony and propaganda, which in turn resulted in years of bad feeling and mistrust on all sides to a very emotive and sensitive subject.
As a matter of fact, the situation in 1996 was that Alexander was listed as a Russian player [which was his choice] and only declared for Ireland too close to the time of the 1996 Olympiad and was simply not entitled to represent Ireland. This also would mean he was not entitled to play in the 1996 Irish Championships, but crucially all would have been in order for the next Olympiad and the 1997 Irish championships. So if rules are to mean anything then we should just observe them and everybody can be if not happy, with the result, then at least happy with the process? No blame and no ill will from anybody?
Sadly that was not the way things went and so instead a huge division was opened up in which lies, propaganda and all manner of despicable shenanigans were to follow. The sheer sneakiness and duplicity involved reaping a whirlwind of bitterness which exposed the rotten and dysfunctional state of Irish chess. This was to continue for years and still has not been accounted for properly, but after all this time most people would understandably feel it was perhaps the best thing to do as the song says and "Dont Look Back In Anger"
For myself well I have some sympathy for the position that Alexander was in and can appreciate that he was probably feeling very vulnerable at the time and couldn't help take things personally. On a human level that was probably a big oversight by many and had it not been for all the agitators and the way things were dealt with, I think a simple point of disagreement could have been contained to just that.
However the truth is that nobody was too preoccupied by any issue of personality but rather that any foreign player in that position should go through the process which would involve having to be a little bit patient. Unfortunately when the ICU or some of the people serving or associated with the ICU at the time, had gone ahead with their own agendas without any consideration [and even showed contempt] for the views of those with a genuine interest, positions hardened and then the view taken that the whole eligibility to play for Ireland needed to be examined was opened up.
So much so that many players got themselves involved with or on the ICU, and this in turn lead to their being a special committee set up to deal with the whole issue of eligibility to play for Ireland.
This three man committee came back [1997] with a majority proposal of 2 to 1 and then a minority proposal of 1 to 2 from the same committee . The majority proposal was in favour of even more stringent requirements [citizenship] which actually would mean Alex would not even be able to play on the next Olympiad [98] as he was not an Irish citizen [a key requirement] then . [Ironically he didn't go to the 98 Olympiad for his own reasons, as he, along with Mark Quinn pulled out about 2 months before it started and Mark Orr the day before departure ]
Well as you can imagine around this time Irish chess was a very bitter and divided place with all sorts of dirty tricks abounding [I would contend firmly on the side of those trying to force through their own agendas without any consideration for the general good.] but perhaps most significantly Alex had a majority of his "supporters" [fanatical and paranoid in my view] on the ICU executive [One of whom was at one time his acting "manager and business partner"!] yet the events of 1996 had galvanised the chess community to such an extent that several of the top players got themselves on to or involved with the ICU executive, such was the anger at the way things had been handled,
Then when the vote came for the eligibility proposal, it was first voted in! [the majority one] Then at the next ICU meeting someone disputed the validity of the vote owing to a claim that one of the delegates was not entitled to vote [some technicality or other] and so then amazingly the minority proposal was voted in!
Thereafter at the 1997 AGM the then chairman of the ICU declared that he was putting forth a motion to vote on the said proposals [completely in violation of the ICU constitution, as no notice of this was given, but hey this is Ireland and anything goes in Irish chess] He declared that there would be two people allowed to speak from either side and nobody else!
Well amusingly the minority proposal guy had notes ready and spoke very well [though as I tried to point out at the meeting, but was not allowed to, he did state falsehoods and incorrect facts] while as it happens, one of the other two people from this original three man committee just happened to be at the meeting, and was asked to speak in favour of his majority proposal, well he tried his best, but it was clear that the whole thing was a stitch up, and as if to make it even funnier, despite having already declared that nobody else should speak, Alex was allowed to speak at length [and he is a smooth operator and could easily be a politician in my view] and made some valid but also some simply erroneous comments and points. He played the victim card excellently too and of course the whole debate had long since been reduced to an emotional {all about Baburin fest} and how so many of the Irish players had it in for him, and were against him!
Facing that there was no way that Alexander was not always going to get his way and it was as if all he had to do was to cast a spell and all the mindless twits who so often were desperate to ingratiate themselves with such a strong player that they just went along with it regardless. Any detail, such as the fact that it actually was not about Alexander but a set of rules, were a waste of time and effort.
Some players just didn't like him or get along with him so well it was true, but hey that's nothing to do with anything and frankly when your as good as he is there is always bound to be some stupid resentments from various sorts of people.
This myth about people being against Alex was never the truth but you simply could not get the message out, and so now, after all this time and so much damage has already been done, it is odd for Alex to be suggesting that there was any lobby to have him not be able to play in the Irish ch. There really wasn't! At least none from the top players I knew of the time anyway. Maybe as with many other things, Alexander was being fed all sorts of nonsense which seemed to make sense to him and feeling vulnerable he actually believed in a lot of things which never were?
The weird thing is that I don't recall anybody being too bothered with him playing in the Irish championships? Rather in my own case, the minute he played for Ireland [which I was totally against at that exact time for reasons of due process]I actually argued that it was completely absurd that anyone could play on an Irish team and somehow not be welcome or allowed to play in an Irish Championships. It made no sense to me at all. Once you let somebody represent your country they should have the same rights as anybody else?
Anyway there are of course two sides to every story [at least] and much of the problem was that neither side actually trusted or spoke with the other in a frank and open manner. The result was plenty of pointless bickering and wasted time and energy with various petty feuding offshoots. Some with far reaching consequences that re appeared in new forms for years to follow.
The other thing that amazed me during the Irish Open was the amount of people who having asked me if I was playing in the 2008 Dresden Olympiad, then went on to imagine and suggest all manner of conspiracies against me when I told them I was not on the team. In the first place I was not available and perhaps even more importantly, I am no longer good enough to get a place on the team anyway! At least not according to rating which is the way the team is put together. Just a calculator and the rating lists is all that is needed nowadays. An inperfect system but at least it is transparent and above the sort of selection nonsense of the past. Generally speaking anytime you get a "selection commitee" together you are bound to get some really stupid choices and in the case of selecting an Irish chess team this is especially true. Thankfully that seems to be gone now and the team is just done according to ratings. Other than Stephen Brady declining his place all has gone exactly as it should.
In fact it was a rather odd feeling for me to know that for the first time ever [since I became one of the top players]I was not going to be on the team for perfectly normal and legitimate reasons [as a contrast to the various absurdities and corrupt conspiracies of the past] I simply don't have the high enough rating either Fide [which is important to me] or Irish [which I honestly couldn't care less about really] so dont have a case to be on the team.
Actually my ratings have be going down badly I think, and there are lots of players ahead of me besides just the players who are on the team. I won't say I will never play in another Olympiad again but that might be the case now, and that is fine by me anyway. Perhaps I will get my rating back up to something decent again perhaps not? It is not a big deal either way. What is clear is that we do have a very good team now and I wish them all well [including Alexander who hardly needs much luck really]. Hopefully they all have a great time on and off the chess board as that's what it is all supposed to be about in the end.
Though there has been no official word of the team that I am aware of, I am assuming the 2008 Irish Olympiad team is the following : Alexander Baburin - Brian Kelly - Sam Collins - Mark Quinn - Mark Heidenfeld while the team captains being some permutation or variation of two from the following four: Mark Orr, Gerry Graham, Herbert Scarry, Eamon Keogh? I am only guessing in the case of the captains positions. No doubt it will all be made known officially in due course.
In fairness, and to conclude, when it comes to Irish chess though, regardless of the fact that there are some really utter sh..ts still in Irish chess, there are plenty of fine people too and as the song says: Dont Look Back In Anger!
Being Past Your Sell By Date
Firstly, as I have not been blogging for nearly a year now, I should say thanks to all those who inquired about this, and asked that I make a return soon. Also thanks to those who contacted me with kind words regarding my recent IM norm near miss. Sorry if I didn't get back to you but as you can doubtless tell I just didn't have the time.
Anyway today I hope this will be a return to some sort of regular routine from me in which I can offer my various musings and reflections as before. The great thing about getting older [too old] is that you become simply indifferent to all the nonsense that you see. Or at least you care so much less as to be able to laugh things off and put things in some sort of perspective.
Chess is without doubt a really great game and it can torture us as much as it can please us, depending on your motivations and reasons for playing of course. For myself I just like the battle of ideas and testing myself. The competitive tension and underlying drama of the contest combined with the aesthetic beauty of the game all play their part.
I have not really studied chess in any serious way since around 1999 so since then have only dipped into the well of chess knowledge from time to time. Mostly this can happen during a tough tournament [hardly ever a weekender] in which you have the chance to prepare either for an opponent or just to play a particular opening. The most recent example of this for me, that allowed me some chances to do this, was the recent 2008 Irish Open [which of course also had the title of Irish Champion incorporated within it] held here in Dublin.
It was an odd event, yet I was determined to try enjoy the chess as best I could. In the very end I had what might have been seen as a disastrous end to it when I blew a chance to finish joint third and make an IM norm, but as disappointing and frustrating as this was, it was actually not that big a deal really,or at least, not as painful as it would have been when such things really mattered to me. Anyway as the great song says That's Life!
I have had many tragic and comical reversals playing chess, and so this latest one is just another in a long list. Before this, I had not so long ago lost also in the last round at the 2007 City Of Dublin [I think?] to John Redmond [and for the second time, also in the last round too] while when just thinking off the top of my head I can recall the likes of my amazingly painful 1993 last round loss to Stephen Brady in and endgame a full pawn up, in the Irish championships, in which a win got me outright first a draw joint first and a loss nothing!
Then there was the even weirder 2000 last round loss to Eamon Keogh at the 2000 Irish Ch which was held in a shed in a country field, which I certainly deserved to lose but which he perhaps deserved no more than a draw? [Only because he allowed me a drawn position from a hopeless one] Thankfully nothing was at stake in this game. Something which was not the case for me when I lost incredibly against Mel O Cinneide in the last round of the Cork City 2001 event, after playing a really nice game and outplaying my opponent comprehensively, only to blow it in the time scramble. Ironically I got an even more incredible fluke of a win playing Mel this year when at the Cork Rapidplay. I was gifted a dramatic and crucial last round win when Mel inexplicably blundered from a winning position. [Though it should really have been a draw from the overall balance of play] It gave me outright first as opposed to nothing.
In a certain sense the most recent last round loss to Stephen Jessell seems to be most like this Cork City event game with Mel, as it was just as painful to see such a nicely played game ruined, after having just outplayed your opponent so easily and assuredly, as the actual result, which had very frustrating consequences too. Arguably I should have just settled for a draw after a certain point and worry about the norm stuff for another day? Then again, if I had not been so careless so many times I could have made an easy IM norm with relatively little effort as compared to normal attempts?
Additionally I often have also had something of a knack of making players look much better than they actually are, though I am not saying they are bad players at all either. I mean it is just that if I was to play John Redmond or Stephen Jessell another ten times I would sort of expect to win about 7 or 8 times, though naturally they may have rather different expectations too. For me at least though, the proof is in the results such players then go on to have have more generally. In the case of Eamon Keogh? Well it probably has been about 9 wins out of the last 10, with a good fighting draw in 2001, and I have had to work a bit for some of my wins too. But anyway it is often the bad results you remember the most.
On the positive side I still gained some ratings points, which is a bonus for me because I have been doing nothing but lose points for a while now. Therefore when I play in an event, I am just content to play some hopefully decent games, and if I make rating gain all the better.
Anyway today I hope this will be a return to some sort of regular routine from me in which I can offer my various musings and reflections as before. The great thing about getting older [too old] is that you become simply indifferent to all the nonsense that you see. Or at least you care so much less as to be able to laugh things off and put things in some sort of perspective.
Chess is without doubt a really great game and it can torture us as much as it can please us, depending on your motivations and reasons for playing of course. For myself I just like the battle of ideas and testing myself. The competitive tension and underlying drama of the contest combined with the aesthetic beauty of the game all play their part.
I have not really studied chess in any serious way since around 1999 so since then have only dipped into the well of chess knowledge from time to time. Mostly this can happen during a tough tournament [hardly ever a weekender] in which you have the chance to prepare either for an opponent or just to play a particular opening. The most recent example of this for me, that allowed me some chances to do this, was the recent 2008 Irish Open [which of course also had the title of Irish Champion incorporated within it] held here in Dublin.
It was an odd event, yet I was determined to try enjoy the chess as best I could. In the very end I had what might have been seen as a disastrous end to it when I blew a chance to finish joint third and make an IM norm, but as disappointing and frustrating as this was, it was actually not that big a deal really,or at least, not as painful as it would have been when such things really mattered to me. Anyway as the great song says That's Life!
I have had many tragic and comical reversals playing chess, and so this latest one is just another in a long list. Before this, I had not so long ago lost also in the last round at the 2007 City Of Dublin [I think?] to John Redmond [and for the second time, also in the last round too] while when just thinking off the top of my head I can recall the likes of my amazingly painful 1993 last round loss to Stephen Brady in and endgame a full pawn up, in the Irish championships, in which a win got me outright first a draw joint first and a loss nothing!
Then there was the even weirder 2000 last round loss to Eamon Keogh at the 2000 Irish Ch which was held in a shed in a country field, which I certainly deserved to lose but which he perhaps deserved no more than a draw? [Only because he allowed me a drawn position from a hopeless one] Thankfully nothing was at stake in this game. Something which was not the case for me when I lost incredibly against Mel O Cinneide in the last round of the Cork City 2001 event, after playing a really nice game and outplaying my opponent comprehensively, only to blow it in the time scramble. Ironically I got an even more incredible fluke of a win playing Mel this year when at the Cork Rapidplay. I was gifted a dramatic and crucial last round win when Mel inexplicably blundered from a winning position. [Though it should really have been a draw from the overall balance of play] It gave me outright first as opposed to nothing.
In a certain sense the most recent last round loss to Stephen Jessell seems to be most like this Cork City event game with Mel, as it was just as painful to see such a nicely played game ruined, after having just outplayed your opponent so easily and assuredly, as the actual result, which had very frustrating consequences too. Arguably I should have just settled for a draw after a certain point and worry about the norm stuff for another day? Then again, if I had not been so careless so many times I could have made an easy IM norm with relatively little effort as compared to normal attempts?
Additionally I often have also had something of a knack of making players look much better than they actually are, though I am not saying they are bad players at all either. I mean it is just that if I was to play John Redmond or Stephen Jessell another ten times I would sort of expect to win about 7 or 8 times, though naturally they may have rather different expectations too. For me at least though, the proof is in the results such players then go on to have have more generally. In the case of Eamon Keogh? Well it probably has been about 9 wins out of the last 10, with a good fighting draw in 2001, and I have had to work a bit for some of my wins too. But anyway it is often the bad results you remember the most.
On the positive side I still gained some ratings points, which is a bonus for me because I have been doing nothing but lose points for a while now. Therefore when I play in an event, I am just content to play some hopefully decent games, and if I make rating gain all the better.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Time Keeping And Draws In Chess - Part Two
Well it seems this topic took on a life of it's own and I meandered off in a direction that made it hard for me to come back to the main thrust of what I wanted to be saying about draws and time keeping in chess, added to which might now be included "respect" or rather notions of in chess.
Well I guess the long and short of it is that people should really mind their own business and not be too worried about other peoples games or time-keeping in a tournament. As for the notions of respect often mentioned? Usually such people as mention these type of issues are the most rude and disrespectful around. If we all worry about our own games and leave others to play their own then I think we would all enjoy our games much more. Anybody who wants to turn up one minute or 59 minutes after the start of play is fine by me and in fact I would really really appreciate anyone who wishes to give me any sort of advantage I can get.
Well I guess the long and short of it is that people should really mind their own business and not be too worried about other peoples games or time-keeping in a tournament. As for the notions of respect often mentioned? Usually such people as mention these type of issues are the most rude and disrespectful around. If we all worry about our own games and leave others to play their own then I think we would all enjoy our games much more. Anybody who wants to turn up one minute or 59 minutes after the start of play is fine by me and in fact I would really really appreciate anyone who wishes to give me any sort of advantage I can get.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Oirsh Chess Championships
I recently played in an international tournament in my home town of Dublin and it felt a bit like an “Alice In Wonderland” experience, so weird was it on many levels. Of course I had plenty of plans for the tournament in terms of developing a structured routine around the event, as one would do normally when playing in a serious international tournament. I even had every intention of doing something really radical like being on time for my games.
Such is the fantasy and self delusion that sometimes comes with good intentions. In truth when I was honest with myself I had to admit that I was not particularly impressed or motivated by this event and in many respects was simply playing because I could!If that does not make much sense then let me explain.
Basically I am more or less retired as a serious chess player and have been for many years really. I rarely have the time or opportunity to either study chess or play it much. That’s not a complaint, but just a fact of modern life were we try to juggle so many things at once. Anyway, as much as I like playing in international events in which I can test myself and immerse myself in the game. In Ireland, such opportunities basically don’t exist, and so with the exception of the annual Irish championships, one simply has to go abroad to play tournaments that have "fide rated games" and good international standards of opposition. This essentially means having to combine a holiday with chess or choose one or the other.
Well, when I was younger the choice was simple enough I opted for chess nearly every time. Problem was, then my resources didn’t allow me to be in a position to make such choices very often. Therefore such opportunities were loaded down with the weight of all sorts of baggage and self imposed pressure and expectations – Oh if only I had been rich! Nowadays and in more recent years this is not a problem but the thought of sacrificing a holiday for chess can at the best of times seem just a little crazy.
So when it turned out that there was going to be an international open in my home town it seemed like an obvious idea really, what was there to think about really? No travel or accommodation costs and as I told myself, little by way of disruption to any work I might be doing [self delusion]? Hey why wouldn’t I play in such an event?
Previously I had done this most years when the Irish championships was being held every July, if it was in Dublin. Well that had very poor results too generally, so one would perhaps think you might learn from such mistakes? Not me I’m afraid! Last year I only entered the tournament the day before the event hours after I had just returned form a holiday in Thailand. Again the enticing logic being that as I don’t have many chances to play international chess/fide rated games and as I was the defending champion it seemed maybe worthwhile? Especially when you figured there were again no travel or accommodation expenses on account of it being in my home town.
Of course it was a disaster and I scored very badly indeed. The irony of which, for me, was that it underlined so much part of the reason why I had done so well in 2005 when I had won the event so comfortably and convincingly. Then there had been all sort of other things [chess politics] going on behind the scenes and some really outlandish and disgraceful efforts to impede me. Such shenanigans were not merely futile but hilariously counter productive and galvanizing on various levels. The net result of which, in any case, just saw me being extremely motivated, and for the most part, greatly helped/nudged me to be very focused and diligent.
2006 by contrast was such a nothing event that it was virtually impossible for me to take it seriously and after the high of having just been on a great holiday on the other side of the world, I don’t mind admitting that I felt like one sad fool to be playing in such a depressing and embarrassing event as was last years Irish. The journey alone from Clontarf to the very heart of the south side of Dublin city giving me a new and greater appreciation for the traffic hell that can be commuting in Dublin.
Back to 2007, and a new tournament entirely, well ever the optimist, I failed to do the sensible thing, which was to either not play [almost certainly the case for me next year] or just take time off and put everything else on hold and give the tournament the sort of attention it deserves. Which of course means treating the event like you might when playing abroad?
Well as it turns out, it too was another disaster and my play was pretty awful for most, if not all, of the tournament. My score of 5.5 points masking a truly shameful performance. Worse still I had a nagging discomfort at the whole event generally? It was to say the least odd and somewhat surreal to be participating in an event which for my own selfish reasons suited me greatly yet I also deplored what it represented.
It used to be that there was the Irish Championships and then there was the Irish Open, two clearly defined and identifiable events. Now the former has been discarded and its chief asset of the title of Irish champion “incorporated” within the latter. The result of which is the clear downgrading [and that’s putting t nicely!] of a title and tournament that had a tradition and essentially unblemished authenticity and history going back to the early part of the last century. All just thrown out, and on the whims of a few, perhaps well intentioned people, discarded on the alter of political or economic expediency.
Basically nobody wanted to uphold the obligations of the Irish Chess Unions constitution and instead dumped/subcontracted out the Irish championships to the “private sector/interests” with a license to do with the event whatever was so desired.
To my mind it seemed a bit like giving away the family jewels without much thought or consideration for the implications and general good further down the line. Though of course some might think that it was worth getting rid of the family jewels if there was a buck or two to be made, and they may well be right?. Especially if nobody was willing to give the jewels a good cleaning and invest the time and energy on a badly needed good refurbishment project.
The upshot of the event saw two deserving GMs Mark Hebden and Nick Pert win the 2007 Irish Open and become joint Irish Open champions, though nobody seemed to afford them that recognition? I mean, if you win a tournament it should make you champion of something?
Instead there was subsequently the hilarious specter of the official ICU/Mark Orr website not merely spinning things but then contorting to try glibly convince people that not only was the Irish Open really the same thing as the Irish Championships proper, but that it was credible to suggest that comparing previous Irish champions with the Irish champion/s of 2007 was anyway valid?
As it happens, I think I am on pretty safe grounds in thinking that in the case of the two players declared joint 2007 Irish champions, by virtue of finishing with the highest amount of points of any other Irish players, Brian Kelly genuinely couldn't care less about the title and in fact, most likely has little regard for it now and perhaps ever? The added irony being that Brian played a mere three Irish players in the entire event compared with Stephen playing eight, and worse still, Brians rating performance being about 2550 while Stephens being about 2380. Clearly it is as if the two players were playing in two different tournaments, such are the possible anomalies when a tried and trusted format is messed with and rendered absurd.
The polar opposite in attitude to the title of Irish champion being Stephen Brady who could justly take pride in winning his fifth title in 2006 but may well be somewhat embarrassed by the absurd suggestion that somehow it is now credible to afford the artificial and arbitrary title from 2007 with having anything like the same worth or legitimacy as previous titles.
Accordingly, fanciful assertions like those one has come to expect from Mark Orr on his ICU website can only make you laugh and wonder how such a bright guy can contort and twist information to such a misleading and farcical extent. As was said to me recently "its bloody obvious that you cant compare this years event with anything that went before" which is surely obvious? Apparently not to some?
Essentially a committee decided who would be Irish champion for 2007, as opposed to the usual method. The concept of being a champion usually means winning something. You win a tournament then your the champion, you don't, and your not.
Personally I don't mind admitting that I regard Mark Hebden and or Nick Pert as the 2007 Irish champions and sure why not? Logically they played in the "Irish Championships" [The 2007 Irish Open really] and they won it. So whats not logical about that? Well its all pretty silly really, but then that was the main feature of this whole event. The reality now, for good or ill, is that there is no Irish champion title and what is passing off as one is so devalued as to be now truly virtually worthless.
I even recall thinking how farcical it was that both Stephen and Brian got a mere 400 Euros, not for becoming "Irish champions" but for coming joint 3rd to 6th in a tough event held over nine days, while for example I got 500 euros for the considerably weaker Malahide weekender held over three days. This means that either the title of Irish champion is now worth nothing [there was no prize for winning that title?] or at best, it was worth a mere 400 euros, compared to last year when it was about 750 I think? Its all just a mess to my mind.
Just try explaining to a non chess player the situation as pertains to this years event and they just cant believe it. My own efforts to document and articulate my views have been published elsewhere and can now be seen at Tournament Conclusions As I mention there, I don't understand why there can't be an open international event called the Irish Open and a normal national championships called the Irish chess championships?
Personally it really doesn't effect me so much, in the sense that I would at this stage be far more interested in getting my rating up or making more IM norms than winning the title of Irish champion again.
What is such a loss and frankly an annoyance is that younger players and players rising fast have now been denied the chance to become the "Irish Champion" because nobody is going to take seriously someone trying t explain something like the following: Oh well I came 4th [9th - whatever it might be in years to come with the current format] and seen as I had more points than any of the other Irish players playing...
Well you can just see most people politely nodding and saying, yes that is very good while thinking to themselves something like "jasus thats weird - thats complicated" Perhaps it does indeed signify the end of the nation state! Either way, it all seems so very OIRSH to me. At the end of the day you have to have a sense of humor about these things and get a laugh out of it all. as for having a bad tournament? Well sure it can get you down if you let it, but I tend to think that a good blast of Black Diamond Bay sorts out the chess blues and your smiling about it all in no time.
Such is the fantasy and self delusion that sometimes comes with good intentions. In truth when I was honest with myself I had to admit that I was not particularly impressed or motivated by this event and in many respects was simply playing because I could!If that does not make much sense then let me explain.
Basically I am more or less retired as a serious chess player and have been for many years really. I rarely have the time or opportunity to either study chess or play it much. That’s not a complaint, but just a fact of modern life were we try to juggle so many things at once. Anyway, as much as I like playing in international events in which I can test myself and immerse myself in the game. In Ireland, such opportunities basically don’t exist, and so with the exception of the annual Irish championships, one simply has to go abroad to play tournaments that have "fide rated games" and good international standards of opposition. This essentially means having to combine a holiday with chess or choose one or the other.
Well, when I was younger the choice was simple enough I opted for chess nearly every time. Problem was, then my resources didn’t allow me to be in a position to make such choices very often. Therefore such opportunities were loaded down with the weight of all sorts of baggage and self imposed pressure and expectations – Oh if only I had been rich! Nowadays and in more recent years this is not a problem but the thought of sacrificing a holiday for chess can at the best of times seem just a little crazy.
So when it turned out that there was going to be an international open in my home town it seemed like an obvious idea really, what was there to think about really? No travel or accommodation costs and as I told myself, little by way of disruption to any work I might be doing [self delusion]? Hey why wouldn’t I play in such an event?
Previously I had done this most years when the Irish championships was being held every July, if it was in Dublin. Well that had very poor results too generally, so one would perhaps think you might learn from such mistakes? Not me I’m afraid! Last year I only entered the tournament the day before the event hours after I had just returned form a holiday in Thailand. Again the enticing logic being that as I don’t have many chances to play international chess/fide rated games and as I was the defending champion it seemed maybe worthwhile? Especially when you figured there were again no travel or accommodation expenses on account of it being in my home town.
Of course it was a disaster and I scored very badly indeed. The irony of which, for me, was that it underlined so much part of the reason why I had done so well in 2005 when I had won the event so comfortably and convincingly. Then there had been all sort of other things [chess politics] going on behind the scenes and some really outlandish and disgraceful efforts to impede me. Such shenanigans were not merely futile but hilariously counter productive and galvanizing on various levels. The net result of which, in any case, just saw me being extremely motivated, and for the most part, greatly helped/nudged me to be very focused and diligent.
2006 by contrast was such a nothing event that it was virtually impossible for me to take it seriously and after the high of having just been on a great holiday on the other side of the world, I don’t mind admitting that I felt like one sad fool to be playing in such a depressing and embarrassing event as was last years Irish. The journey alone from Clontarf to the very heart of the south side of Dublin city giving me a new and greater appreciation for the traffic hell that can be commuting in Dublin.
Back to 2007, and a new tournament entirely, well ever the optimist, I failed to do the sensible thing, which was to either not play [almost certainly the case for me next year] or just take time off and put everything else on hold and give the tournament the sort of attention it deserves. Which of course means treating the event like you might when playing abroad?
Well as it turns out, it too was another disaster and my play was pretty awful for most, if not all, of the tournament. My score of 5.5 points masking a truly shameful performance. Worse still I had a nagging discomfort at the whole event generally? It was to say the least odd and somewhat surreal to be participating in an event which for my own selfish reasons suited me greatly yet I also deplored what it represented.
It used to be that there was the Irish Championships and then there was the Irish Open, two clearly defined and identifiable events. Now the former has been discarded and its chief asset of the title of Irish champion “incorporated” within the latter. The result of which is the clear downgrading [and that’s putting t nicely!] of a title and tournament that had a tradition and essentially unblemished authenticity and history going back to the early part of the last century. All just thrown out, and on the whims of a few, perhaps well intentioned people, discarded on the alter of political or economic expediency.
Basically nobody wanted to uphold the obligations of the Irish Chess Unions constitution and instead dumped/subcontracted out the Irish championships to the “private sector/interests” with a license to do with the event whatever was so desired.
To my mind it seemed a bit like giving away the family jewels without much thought or consideration for the implications and general good further down the line. Though of course some might think that it was worth getting rid of the family jewels if there was a buck or two to be made, and they may well be right?. Especially if nobody was willing to give the jewels a good cleaning and invest the time and energy on a badly needed good refurbishment project.
The upshot of the event saw two deserving GMs Mark Hebden and Nick Pert win the 2007 Irish Open and become joint Irish Open champions, though nobody seemed to afford them that recognition? I mean, if you win a tournament it should make you champion of something?
Instead there was subsequently the hilarious specter of the official ICU/Mark Orr website not merely spinning things but then contorting to try glibly convince people that not only was the Irish Open really the same thing as the Irish Championships proper, but that it was credible to suggest that comparing previous Irish champions with the Irish champion/s of 2007 was anyway valid?
As it happens, I think I am on pretty safe grounds in thinking that in the case of the two players declared joint 2007 Irish champions, by virtue of finishing with the highest amount of points of any other Irish players, Brian Kelly genuinely couldn't care less about the title and in fact, most likely has little regard for it now and perhaps ever? The added irony being that Brian played a mere three Irish players in the entire event compared with Stephen playing eight, and worse still, Brians rating performance being about 2550 while Stephens being about 2380. Clearly it is as if the two players were playing in two different tournaments, such are the possible anomalies when a tried and trusted format is messed with and rendered absurd.
The polar opposite in attitude to the title of Irish champion being Stephen Brady who could justly take pride in winning his fifth title in 2006 but may well be somewhat embarrassed by the absurd suggestion that somehow it is now credible to afford the artificial and arbitrary title from 2007 with having anything like the same worth or legitimacy as previous titles.
Accordingly, fanciful assertions like those one has come to expect from Mark Orr on his ICU website can only make you laugh and wonder how such a bright guy can contort and twist information to such a misleading and farcical extent. As was said to me recently "its bloody obvious that you cant compare this years event with anything that went before" which is surely obvious? Apparently not to some?
Essentially a committee decided who would be Irish champion for 2007, as opposed to the usual method. The concept of being a champion usually means winning something. You win a tournament then your the champion, you don't, and your not.
Personally I don't mind admitting that I regard Mark Hebden and or Nick Pert as the 2007 Irish champions and sure why not? Logically they played in the "Irish Championships" [The 2007 Irish Open really] and they won it. So whats not logical about that? Well its all pretty silly really, but then that was the main feature of this whole event. The reality now, for good or ill, is that there is no Irish champion title and what is passing off as one is so devalued as to be now truly virtually worthless.
I even recall thinking how farcical it was that both Stephen and Brian got a mere 400 Euros, not for becoming "Irish champions" but for coming joint 3rd to 6th in a tough event held over nine days, while for example I got 500 euros for the considerably weaker Malahide weekender held over three days. This means that either the title of Irish champion is now worth nothing [there was no prize for winning that title?] or at best, it was worth a mere 400 euros, compared to last year when it was about 750 I think? Its all just a mess to my mind.
Just try explaining to a non chess player the situation as pertains to this years event and they just cant believe it. My own efforts to document and articulate my views have been published elsewhere and can now be seen at Tournament Conclusions As I mention there, I don't understand why there can't be an open international event called the Irish Open and a normal national championships called the Irish chess championships?
Personally it really doesn't effect me so much, in the sense that I would at this stage be far more interested in getting my rating up or making more IM norms than winning the title of Irish champion again.
What is such a loss and frankly an annoyance is that younger players and players rising fast have now been denied the chance to become the "Irish Champion" because nobody is going to take seriously someone trying t explain something like the following: Oh well I came 4th [9th - whatever it might be in years to come with the current format] and seen as I had more points than any of the other Irish players playing...
Well you can just see most people politely nodding and saying, yes that is very good while thinking to themselves something like "jasus thats weird - thats complicated" Perhaps it does indeed signify the end of the nation state! Either way, it all seems so very OIRSH to me. At the end of the day you have to have a sense of humor about these things and get a laugh out of it all. as for having a bad tournament? Well sure it can get you down if you let it, but I tend to think that a good blast of Black Diamond Bay sorts out the chess blues and your smiling about it all in no time.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Time Keeping And Draws In Chess - Part One
It is something of a pet hate of mine that the draw in chess can play such a negative role on the game. It is not that I object to making a draw or that I feel draws cannot be both honorable and interesting, far from it, often draws can be beautiful, majestic and anyway sometimes they are even unavoidable. Where I feel they can be negative and indeed intrusive is when they are overused or abused as a crutch or a tool to either be lazy or disruptive of the natural flow.
Who hasn’t seen the vast amount of silly games played at the higher levels in which no effort is made to even play a game and at least engage in a fight with an opponent? Then there are the prearranged draws, even between top international teams! These should of course be seen as blight on the game but ultimately I guess not of such frequency to warrant undue alarm or concern, which is not the same as welcoming or encouraging them.
So called “grandmaster draws” aside, the vast majority of draws come about from the natural flow of a game, or if and when the two players are somehow so nervous or afraid/weary of each other that they decide to make peace early on.
In the context of Ireland it is probably fair to say that I think when it comes to draws I am a little bit of an oddity among our best players. Mainly in that it would be rare indeed, among the very best players we have, for any of them to sit down to play me without knowing full well that they had a major fight on their hands. Add this to my unconventional style and uncompromising attitude and you can get a sense of what is involved.
This has sometimes been a reason behind some players, at times, feeling that I am an unpleasant opponent to play against. In the literal sense this must be true, and I take this more as a compliment than anything else. It is true to say that I generally exude a sort of self confidence, ambition, and energy, or what some might even call arrogance during a game.
How this affects my opponents, if at all, is a bit of a mystery to me as I just get on with the chess and usually get lost in the problems on the chess board. Anyway, I suspect that as my chess prowess and sharpness diminishes with each passing year and I become even more erratic or unpredictable, than has thus far already been part of my chess playing signature, any fear or discomfort playing me becomes less and less of an element when facing me across the sixty fours squares.
Also, while there are of course exceptions that have seen me not even disguise my indifference to making a draw, these are rare and more often than not would feature me gaining some tactical advantage within the tournament, or perhaps some other gain that may not be readily apparent.
I have often marvelled at the incredible statistical frequency of draws between our very best top players. Often it seemed to me, with little by way of a real effort or struggle on their part. It is as if they have too much “respect” for each other? In truth, such notions as “respect” for an opponent are, for the most part, utterly bogus and irrelevant during a game.
In the end of the day, all that actually matters is the moves you play during a game. If they are good ones, and you know what you are doing then you will do well, if not, you wont!
My own games generally tend to be tough and long drawn out affairs in which tension mounts and my determination and will to win sometimes get the better of objectivity and judgment. All of this being par for the course, when you consider how optimistic and emotional of a player I am for much of the time. In the really rare and dramatic cases this lack of objectivity or surplus of subjectivity is very extreme and meets with extreme punishment, the type of which many lesser players would not even be capable of inflicting upon themselves.
Still for all that, the wins and success amazingly usually far outweighs the folly of such misadventures. Though it could be argued that ultimately these bouts of subjectivity and misadventure have held me back overall in terms of results? Well be that as it may, I am not going to change my ways too much now in the twilight of my chess playing days.
Anyway it also provides some hilarious stories and comical reversals. Plus it s often said that tragedy and the inherent drama is more interesting than the virtues of caution and consistency.
So what more can be said of draws in chess? I can mention some recent experience which got me thinking about the more negative and disruptive aspects of them. In particular people offering draws when they should not! Worse still people trying to claim draws at the first chance of the position being equal after a long period of having been worse for them.
Who hasn’t seen the vast amount of silly games played at the higher levels in which no effort is made to even play a game and at least engage in a fight with an opponent? Then there are the prearranged draws, even between top international teams! These should of course be seen as blight on the game but ultimately I guess not of such frequency to warrant undue alarm or concern, which is not the same as welcoming or encouraging them.
So called “grandmaster draws” aside, the vast majority of draws come about from the natural flow of a game, or if and when the two players are somehow so nervous or afraid/weary of each other that they decide to make peace early on.
In the context of Ireland it is probably fair to say that I think when it comes to draws I am a little bit of an oddity among our best players. Mainly in that it would be rare indeed, among the very best players we have, for any of them to sit down to play me without knowing full well that they had a major fight on their hands. Add this to my unconventional style and uncompromising attitude and you can get a sense of what is involved.
This has sometimes been a reason behind some players, at times, feeling that I am an unpleasant opponent to play against. In the literal sense this must be true, and I take this more as a compliment than anything else. It is true to say that I generally exude a sort of self confidence, ambition, and energy, or what some might even call arrogance during a game.
How this affects my opponents, if at all, is a bit of a mystery to me as I just get on with the chess and usually get lost in the problems on the chess board. Anyway, I suspect that as my chess prowess and sharpness diminishes with each passing year and I become even more erratic or unpredictable, than has thus far already been part of my chess playing signature, any fear or discomfort playing me becomes less and less of an element when facing me across the sixty fours squares.
Also, while there are of course exceptions that have seen me not even disguise my indifference to making a draw, these are rare and more often than not would feature me gaining some tactical advantage within the tournament, or perhaps some other gain that may not be readily apparent.
I have often marvelled at the incredible statistical frequency of draws between our very best top players. Often it seemed to me, with little by way of a real effort or struggle on their part. It is as if they have too much “respect” for each other? In truth, such notions as “respect” for an opponent are, for the most part, utterly bogus and irrelevant during a game.
In the end of the day, all that actually matters is the moves you play during a game. If they are good ones, and you know what you are doing then you will do well, if not, you wont!
My own games generally tend to be tough and long drawn out affairs in which tension mounts and my determination and will to win sometimes get the better of objectivity and judgment. All of this being par for the course, when you consider how optimistic and emotional of a player I am for much of the time. In the really rare and dramatic cases this lack of objectivity or surplus of subjectivity is very extreme and meets with extreme punishment, the type of which many lesser players would not even be capable of inflicting upon themselves.
Still for all that, the wins and success amazingly usually far outweighs the folly of such misadventures. Though it could be argued that ultimately these bouts of subjectivity and misadventure have held me back overall in terms of results? Well be that as it may, I am not going to change my ways too much now in the twilight of my chess playing days.
Anyway it also provides some hilarious stories and comical reversals. Plus it s often said that tragedy and the inherent drama is more interesting than the virtues of caution and consistency.
So what more can be said of draws in chess? I can mention some recent experience which got me thinking about the more negative and disruptive aspects of them. In particular people offering draws when they should not! Worse still people trying to claim draws at the first chance of the position being equal after a long period of having been worse for them.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Turin Memories
Some things are best forgotten to be sure, and so it could be said of my experience of the 2006 Turin Chess Olympiad. My experience of this event was actually not without some interest even though it was quite a nightmare for me, albeit with some rays of sunshine.
I simply hated this Olympiad for a multitude of reasons which were probably mainly subjective and perhaps unique to me? Though subsequently I have talked to various other people about this Olympiad and been surprised by the generally unflattering comments about it.
Nevertheless I think it is actually not hard to understand that, for many other people, this was a most enjoyable Olympiad, and it is true that there were many positive aspects to the event.
Indeed I had a couple of good/crazy nights out with some of the other members of the Irish delegation which proved to be very memorable. This was perhaps best summed up by the occasion most of the players didn't make it back from a night out until around 0630 in the morning, and even then it was only to arrive back to the bar just across from the "Olympic village" which incredibly was still open when we got back.
Click on image above for pictures gallery
Just for me this was not a happy Olympiad overall and I ended up leaving early [after having arrived three days after the start of the event- for last minute work reasons] after becoming ill during the tournament which was a very unusual and odd sort of feeling. I had a bad leg infection which required anti inflammatory drugs duly prescribed by the two doctors that team captain Joel had sent to see me.
Really though, it was only the nail in the coffin of my whole stay, as it was truly one big nightmare in which so many things put me in bad form and made me wish I had never accepted my place on the team.
Chief among my pet hates for this Olympiad was the accommodation. I never seen anything like it at an Olympiad and I have been to a few! Worse still was the fact that I along with one member of the Irish delegation had actually chosen to pay extra to get a single room as opposed to possibly/probable sharing. Something like 400 Euros plus extra! Which as it happens turned out to be a complete waste. Basically the accommodation was totally basic and the living conditions less than that. Below is a sample picture of what it was like.
Click on image above for pictures gallery
As can be seen from the photos, it was to say the least depressing to be going back to that everyday. At least I had brought my speakers and could chill out with plenty of music. The walls were like paper apparently as it seems others next door were able to hear this. Though nobody actually complained to me about it. The one good thing about the rooms was indeed that the acoustics were excellent for listening to music.
Other than meeting up with the rest of the lads in the evenings and maybe getting drunk(or merry) as heck, it was a pretty terrible experience to be stuck in this "olympic village" especially when in more recent times I have viewed chess as a holiday and liked the normal holiday experiences. Compare the sort of accommodation I got used to, in for example my trips to Thailand, and you can see why it felt so miserable to be in this awful "olympic village".
Click on image above for pictures gallery
Even allowing for the different nature of the two events it is comical to consider how bad the accommodation was in Turin. However, then there was the playing venue itself. Sure it was actually very nice inside, and very big with lots and lots of space. Indeed when you included all the other events taken place under the same roof it was huge actually! Below are some as of yet unpublished photos of the venue from me and pictures of some the Irish in action.
Click on image above for pictures gallery
The main problem with this venue was that it was so far away from the accommodation that it required the players walk for about a half a mile with really hot temperature's of 25 and 32 degrees centigrade. Though as usual some people did manage to get lifts if they were officials or knew somebody. Still I saw the likes of Ivanchuck, Short and many others have to follow the crowds as they all made their way to the venue on mass around the same time each day.
The routine for meals was not very good either as although the food was generally not bad everything was done on the cheap so there was no cold drinks unless you wanted pay about 2 Euros for a can. Stocking up with food items or drink was not much use either as there was no place to put them in your accommodation, though I did hear that Korchnoi actually bought a fridge? Easy to see why the bar on the corner across from the "olympic village" was so popular.
Nevertheless while things were going awful for me on the chessboard I did have the chance to see plenty of the city. Generally the days were the best part when you were not playing, as with the free transport pass we were given, we could explore Turin at our leisure. As my performance was so bad I had a lot of free days, which was just as well because if nothing else I could at least enjoy exploring and seeing what Turin itself had to offer. Quite a lot as it turns out! Check out some of the photos I took below and you can get a bit of a feel for the city.
Click on image above for pictures gallery
A few times I made good use of the free travel pass and made sure I got lost trying different routes and see where they might take me. You also get to see the real life and heartbeat of a city when you use public transport so I enjoyed this greatly. Of course compared to Dublin the transport system was fantastic. One of the great pleasures of this city was riding around on the public transport system and stopping to eat in some place or other and just walk around and wander through the streets.
One of my favorite routines was to have ice cream from the ice cream parlour beside the bus stop at least twice a day. Once going into town and then when you got back later in the evening. This was no ordinary ice cream, here they take it very seriously and the taste and variety was simply wonderful. A few times I went out for the day sightseeing and did not return till it was dark. The venue was so awkward to get to that it was just too much of a hassle to bother going there at all.
So the only times I really would see the rest of the lads would be if I was playing or in a bar at night. Usually this involved watching Mark Heidenfeld and Alexander Baburin do battle with each other over the backgammon board. I think they are addicted to it this game! Meanwhile the rest of us got tanked up before we went on downtown to some of the more lively spots.
Mark Quinn being fluent in Italian was a great help and he was like an unofficial tour guide for much of the time. On at least one occasion he was able to bring Brian Kelly, Sam Collins and myself to some very fashionable nightclubs (apparently). Of course I had to mildly rebuke Brian and Sam a couple of times for not being more pro active and quicker to engage with the local talent, because although compared to them I am an old man, I would despair to think of the opportunities they were passing by or overlooking. Such complacency could not be said of the debonair Mark who more than once was able to use his language skills to make some introductions for all of us.
Well aside from these pleasant distractions things were pretty awful! Other problems that affected me had included my laptop not working and all my chess stuff being rendered obsolete. Normally I have lots of back up gear like two or three hard drives with fully working and ready to go operating systems that require only a 3-5 minute swapping of the drive if something really bad goes wrong. Here however the problem was that the power supply pin inside the laptop broke. A real disaster! So once the battery was dead there was actually nothing I could do.
Then on one of the free days then ICU Chairman Eamonn Pitts turned up and he and I decided to spend the day sightseeing together, but in a lazy and very relaxed sort of way. We wandered around and saw quite a lot, stopping at various points to get some light refreshments. During the course of this ambling around the town our conversations managed to cover history, philosophy, culture and politics and thats just to start with. It is one of the great things about being on holiday, you can relax and without a care in the world take it all in enjoy what life has to offer.
The streets of Turin are certainly worth a stroll in. There are so many beautiful squares and during the Olympiad they were decorated with giant chess sets and all sorts of chess activities Below are some photos of these with various other photos of Turin. Here below, we see one of Eamonn in the main square.
Click on image above for pictures gallery
Also, seen as I was sort of in the market for a laptop I decided on a bit of an impulse to buy one in Turin on this very day that I was with Eamonn. He was somewhat amused by my impulse purchasing but patient while I tried to get the best deal in a high street shop. Well in the end these things are all pretty much about the same the world over. The only drawback was that when I got the laptop back to the room later that day and went to change the hard drives this laptop would not accept the hard drives I brought with me. This meant I was stuck with a laptop that had an operating system in Italian which was basically no use to me!
This in turn meant that I now had still no chess program for preparation so the next day I bought Fritz 9 and so I could at least access my database through that. It made little odds as I was playing chess so badly that after getting a very easy game as Black in one round by playing very correctly as Black in a G3 Sicilian I incredibly made a most absurd blunder that lost an otherwise drawn ending. Then in what turned out to be my last chance for some sort of redemption I outplayed an IM from New Zealand effortlessly from the opening only to make a couple of huge blunders in the later part of the middle game and ended up losing in a very odd and embarrassing manner.
That was the last chess I played at the 2006 Olympiad and I was glad to be back in Dublin soon after. After all the heat and discomfort combined with my feeling so unwell in general I opted to get the heck out of there and just go home! I was clearly no use whatsoever to the team and explained this to most of them, as and when I got the chance just before I did finally leave. They were very understanding and cool about it. We also saw the funny side of it so it was a case of, boy oh boy was I glad to get back to Dublin.
I soon was able to fix the new Italian laptop up with a proper operating system and I am writing on it now! So at least something good came from this Turin Olympiad for me. As for Turin itself? Well I will probably go back some day, as I did like the city quite a bit.
I simply hated this Olympiad for a multitude of reasons which were probably mainly subjective and perhaps unique to me? Though subsequently I have talked to various other people about this Olympiad and been surprised by the generally unflattering comments about it.
Nevertheless I think it is actually not hard to understand that, for many other people, this was a most enjoyable Olympiad, and it is true that there were many positive aspects to the event.
Indeed I had a couple of good/crazy nights out with some of the other members of the Irish delegation which proved to be very memorable. This was perhaps best summed up by the occasion most of the players didn't make it back from a night out until around 0630 in the morning, and even then it was only to arrive back to the bar just across from the "Olympic village" which incredibly was still open when we got back.
Just for me this was not a happy Olympiad overall and I ended up leaving early [after having arrived three days after the start of the event- for last minute work reasons] after becoming ill during the tournament which was a very unusual and odd sort of feeling. I had a bad leg infection which required anti inflammatory drugs duly prescribed by the two doctors that team captain Joel had sent to see me.
Really though, it was only the nail in the coffin of my whole stay, as it was truly one big nightmare in which so many things put me in bad form and made me wish I had never accepted my place on the team.
Chief among my pet hates for this Olympiad was the accommodation. I never seen anything like it at an Olympiad and I have been to a few! Worse still was the fact that I along with one member of the Irish delegation had actually chosen to pay extra to get a single room as opposed to possibly/probable sharing. Something like 400 Euros plus extra! Which as it happens turned out to be a complete waste. Basically the accommodation was totally basic and the living conditions less than that. Below is a sample picture of what it was like.
As can be seen from the photos, it was to say the least depressing to be going back to that everyday. At least I had brought my speakers and could chill out with plenty of music. The walls were like paper apparently as it seems others next door were able to hear this. Though nobody actually complained to me about it. The one good thing about the rooms was indeed that the acoustics were excellent for listening to music.
Other than meeting up with the rest of the lads in the evenings and maybe getting drunk(or merry) as heck, it was a pretty terrible experience to be stuck in this "olympic village" especially when in more recent times I have viewed chess as a holiday and liked the normal holiday experiences. Compare the sort of accommodation I got used to, in for example my trips to Thailand, and you can see why it felt so miserable to be in this awful "olympic village".
Even allowing for the different nature of the two events it is comical to consider how bad the accommodation was in Turin. However, then there was the playing venue itself. Sure it was actually very nice inside, and very big with lots and lots of space. Indeed when you included all the other events taken place under the same roof it was huge actually! Below are some as of yet unpublished photos of the venue from me and pictures of some the Irish in action.
The main problem with this venue was that it was so far away from the accommodation that it required the players walk for about a half a mile with really hot temperature's of 25 and 32 degrees centigrade. Though as usual some people did manage to get lifts if they were officials or knew somebody. Still I saw the likes of Ivanchuck, Short and many others have to follow the crowds as they all made their way to the venue on mass around the same time each day.
The routine for meals was not very good either as although the food was generally not bad everything was done on the cheap so there was no cold drinks unless you wanted pay about 2 Euros for a can. Stocking up with food items or drink was not much use either as there was no place to put them in your accommodation, though I did hear that Korchnoi actually bought a fridge? Easy to see why the bar on the corner across from the "olympic village" was so popular.
Nevertheless while things were going awful for me on the chessboard I did have the chance to see plenty of the city. Generally the days were the best part when you were not playing, as with the free transport pass we were given, we could explore Turin at our leisure. As my performance was so bad I had a lot of free days, which was just as well because if nothing else I could at least enjoy exploring and seeing what Turin itself had to offer. Quite a lot as it turns out! Check out some of the photos I took below and you can get a bit of a feel for the city.
A few times I made good use of the free travel pass and made sure I got lost trying different routes and see where they might take me. You also get to see the real life and heartbeat of a city when you use public transport so I enjoyed this greatly. Of course compared to Dublin the transport system was fantastic. One of the great pleasures of this city was riding around on the public transport system and stopping to eat in some place or other and just walk around and wander through the streets.
One of my favorite routines was to have ice cream from the ice cream parlour beside the bus stop at least twice a day. Once going into town and then when you got back later in the evening. This was no ordinary ice cream, here they take it very seriously and the taste and variety was simply wonderful. A few times I went out for the day sightseeing and did not return till it was dark. The venue was so awkward to get to that it was just too much of a hassle to bother going there at all.
So the only times I really would see the rest of the lads would be if I was playing or in a bar at night. Usually this involved watching Mark Heidenfeld and Alexander Baburin do battle with each other over the backgammon board. I think they are addicted to it this game! Meanwhile the rest of us got tanked up before we went on downtown to some of the more lively spots.
Mark Quinn being fluent in Italian was a great help and he was like an unofficial tour guide for much of the time. On at least one occasion he was able to bring Brian Kelly, Sam Collins and myself to some very fashionable nightclubs (apparently). Of course I had to mildly rebuke Brian and Sam a couple of times for not being more pro active and quicker to engage with the local talent, because although compared to them I am an old man, I would despair to think of the opportunities they were passing by or overlooking. Such complacency could not be said of the debonair Mark who more than once was able to use his language skills to make some introductions for all of us.
Well aside from these pleasant distractions things were pretty awful! Other problems that affected me had included my laptop not working and all my chess stuff being rendered obsolete. Normally I have lots of back up gear like two or three hard drives with fully working and ready to go operating systems that require only a 3-5 minute swapping of the drive if something really bad goes wrong. Here however the problem was that the power supply pin inside the laptop broke. A real disaster! So once the battery was dead there was actually nothing I could do.
Then on one of the free days then ICU Chairman Eamonn Pitts turned up and he and I decided to spend the day sightseeing together, but in a lazy and very relaxed sort of way. We wandered around and saw quite a lot, stopping at various points to get some light refreshments. During the course of this ambling around the town our conversations managed to cover history, philosophy, culture and politics and thats just to start with. It is one of the great things about being on holiday, you can relax and without a care in the world take it all in enjoy what life has to offer.
The streets of Turin are certainly worth a stroll in. There are so many beautiful squares and during the Olympiad they were decorated with giant chess sets and all sorts of chess activities Below are some photos of these with various other photos of Turin. Here below, we see one of Eamonn in the main square.
Also, seen as I was sort of in the market for a laptop I decided on a bit of an impulse to buy one in Turin on this very day that I was with Eamonn. He was somewhat amused by my impulse purchasing but patient while I tried to get the best deal in a high street shop. Well in the end these things are all pretty much about the same the world over. The only drawback was that when I got the laptop back to the room later that day and went to change the hard drives this laptop would not accept the hard drives I brought with me. This meant I was stuck with a laptop that had an operating system in Italian which was basically no use to me!
This in turn meant that I now had still no chess program for preparation so the next day I bought Fritz 9 and so I could at least access my database through that. It made little odds as I was playing chess so badly that after getting a very easy game as Black in one round by playing very correctly as Black in a G3 Sicilian I incredibly made a most absurd blunder that lost an otherwise drawn ending. Then in what turned out to be my last chance for some sort of redemption I outplayed an IM from New Zealand effortlessly from the opening only to make a couple of huge blunders in the later part of the middle game and ended up losing in a very odd and embarrassing manner.
That was the last chess I played at the 2006 Olympiad and I was glad to be back in Dublin soon after. After all the heat and discomfort combined with my feeling so unwell in general I opted to get the heck out of there and just go home! I was clearly no use whatsoever to the team and explained this to most of them, as and when I got the chance just before I did finally leave. They were very understanding and cool about it. We also saw the funny side of it so it was a case of, boy oh boy was I glad to get back to Dublin.
I soon was able to fix the new Italian laptop up with a proper operating system and I am writing on it now! So at least something good came from this Turin Olympiad for me. As for Turin itself? Well I will probably go back some day, as I did like the city quite a bit.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Chess Holiday In Thailand
The recent trip to Thailand turned out to be most enjoyable, but from a chess point of view, very frustrating and disappointing experience. Though not without many interesting moments and exciting games, it was yet again a case of another missed opportunity as I lost my focus and vital momentum at a critical stage in the event, just when all had seemed possible. I still had excellent chances to do well after my reversal in round four but seem to flounder a bit after this disaster and then found it hard to keep up my level of play throughout the event.
Firstly drawing against a lower rated opponent in round six and then losing a crucial game in the second last round when even a draw could have allowed for a chance to fight for a good result in the last round. It seems that my previous blog about Irish players playing abroad had proved to be somewhat prophetic and while it could have all turned out so differently, the fact is that once again I showed clear signs of inconsistency and rustiness.
It is not so much that there is a difficulty in playing to the higher levels required at international chess (There must be upwards of about 10 Irish players capable of doing this nowadays?) but more a case of such exposure being so irregular as to make the required adjustment in discipline and attention to detail that bit harder and more elusive. In my own case, which is not too different from most if not almost all Irish players, I would have to think hard to recall the last time I even played in an international event! So to say I needed match practice would be an understatement.
Aside from the odd local tournament in Dublin I sort of consider myself to be in a state of at least semi retirement. I very rarely play any chess outside the capital these days and tournaments abroad are a luxury that have to be combined with a holiday. All this is however not to suggest that I am any less ambitious and passionate about my chess when I do play abroad. As soon as an event starts, all the old hopes and aspirations usually return, even if by now they are very jaded.
In this same tournament in 2004 when no less relaxed and out of practise than now I made an IM norm comfortably without ever being preoccupied with such a goal. Though I think there were probably other helpful motivating factors on the side too at the time. Something true for my performance in say, the 2005 Irish Championships also which was in stark contrast to the limp efforts from 2006 generally.
In any event, chess really is, more than ever, a young persons game and so while I do enjoy the battle of fighting over the board and still get mad at myself when I blow good or winning positions (as I have always managed to do) I don’t let myself get too stressed out and become far more philosophical about results as a whole.
The comforting thing is that having picked a good holiday destination to play in an event one can always tune out of the chess side of things and enjoy the holiday aspects of things. This was never more true than for this event in Thailand which I think has got to be top of my list of events to play in. A more general report less centered on the chess side of things can be found back on dublinchess.com at Thailand 2007
Still it was certainly not all about disappointment on the chess front either, there were some really satisfying games well worth the effort and even the losses were rich with ideas and themes. It had all started so smoothly with not so much just easy wins in the first two rounds, but actual nice wins with some clever and curious elements involved.
My first game allowed me a quick and devastating attack that was at least mildly instructive as a way to refute flank efforts of play with the usual opening of the center theme. The second round however was a rather more sophisticated but no less sweet affair in which with patience and some timely interventions I was able to squeeze the living daylights out of my opponent in an ending that saw me launch a kside attack after securing the bishops pair and a big central advantage. I even got to execute one of my all time favourite themes in chess, namely the kside attack by and with the KING!
Round three saw me finally pitted against one of the big boys and I was keen to avenge my only loss from the first time I played in this event in 2004. Then GM Rogelia had narrowly but impressively beaten me when I blundered in an unclear and complex ending. Now with a couple of decent games under my belt and having the White pieces I was confident of a good result.
As it turned out during the game I was somewhat surprised by what I regarded as rather poor or inaccurate play but as if to illustrate what playing at this level is all about, after obtaining a nice clear advantage from the opening and well into the middlegame I simply couldn’t see the most accurate way to extract even more from the position. While the position did contain real prospects for me, my opponent was never going to just blunder and it was up to me to find the most precise moves to make any advantage count. I was not up the task on this occasion and in the end had to be content to go into an ending, which I drew quite easily.
The thing I recall thinking was that it would generally take several games like this against this level of opposition before one would start to win such games with any regularity. By contrast this experienced GM so well used to such games, would more often than not put me away if I made any blunders and would be far more used to this level of play in general.
The fourth round game still saw me very optimistic and hopeful as I played a pretty good game only to blow it all in really annoying and embarrassing manner. The notes to the games explain it all and suffice to say I was gutted when I not only failed to win but then managed to lose. It has been a characteristic of my play for years that I can sometimes be very erratic and display a certain unique talent in being able to screw up even the most decisive of advantages or simple positions. Here was another one to add to the other classics from down the years.
At least there was some entertainment and creativity in the following round as I was able to take a dull technical position and turn it into a bizarre and fascinating endgame, something which stimulated much interest and provided a curious distraction for some onlookers. While I was still in a bit of mental turmoil from my previous incredible reversal and still partly reflecting upon such a missed opportunity this game did take my mind off this and instead of being negative this games helped me to think positive so I was actually enjoying the chess now quite a bit.
Such games remind me of the richness of chess and its ability to throw up all manner of surprises. What was just as enjoyable for me was the excitement shown by my opponent and the creative idea he found just when the game looked to be dead. He really believed he was going to survive with a miracle escape but while he failed to do so, at least there was some beauty in the effort. It provided a good talking point for the next day also as with two rounds a day we had really no time to look at the game straight away.
Round six, had me playing against the same WGM Brian had comfortably drawn with earlier in the event. I had a brief look at her games and noticed that with White she was a very well versed and capable player who had lots of experience with the open Sicilian, an opening which although perhaps my favorite opening, often sees me play really well or really recklessly. I therefore decided to go for the French Tarrash variation instead, as I often do against certain players when I want to take them out of their book and into my book so to speak. It almost never fails to gain me lots of time on the clock and put me in a situation in which I know the positions and themes very well whereas my opponents don’t.
With that in mind it is perhaps all the more surprising how often I can get really careless and mess things up in this line too, a variation which sometimes walks a tightrope between complete obliteration and a strategic edge growing into something more in the late middle game or ending. Here it is the former and although I ended up with an advantage later in the game it was never very much I could work with [though I did try] and I always had the sense that I was somewhat lucky not to have been blown off the board early on in this game so was grateful for what I was able to get from the game. A strange sort of experience for me was how I felt about this game but logically I can’t see why I should be disappointed with the result?
The next day I was playing against one of the best Thai players and after a very boring opening in which I went into an ending and even seemed to be worse at some point I was able to baffle my opponent with lots of sneaky play/moves (appearing to be doing nothing yet preparing for all sorts of things) and then mount what should have been a winning Kside attack in this previously sterile ending.
Instead in my opponents time trouble I faltered and failed to play the best moves at a few critical moments, nearly blundering at a few critical stages but then recovering well to find the only moves to keep playing for an advantage. When my opponent ran out of ideas he too faltered and the win was as easy as it was elegant at the very end. I felt bad for my opponent because it was a big game for him and despite appearances his position was much better than was assumed at a few stages. Tactically he was very alert but was a bit unsure of how to proceed when the positional choices made were critical.
After such an exciting game I was feeling somewhat confident and even cocky going into the next round but then when I found myself in an opening variation I have not played or looked at for years, so I was a bit unsure of myself and even when I was comfortable I was rather frustrated by the lack of a clear path to create counter play and be active.
Certainly my opponent couldn’t do much in the position either but somehow I was too keen to try keep it simple, and seemed to half expect the position to play itself out. Then when I got into time trouble I totally lost my steadiness and instead of wrapping things up with a drawn ending I put myself under all sorts of pressure which only encouraged my opponent who sensed possible victory with the useful combination of an outside passed pawn and an opponent with only seconds or minutes on the clock at any given moment in the final stage of the game.
The last round was particularly amazing for me. Not only was my game the very last of the tournament but it was one of the most satisfying wins I have had for ages. It was a real grind, but the sort which I really like. For long periods it seemed I was doing nothing, but with considerable patience and determination I was able to eventually make the two bishops count against two knights in a closed position.
There was a lot of very long and tedious maneuvering involved but the funny thing was that I had not packed the knight before and our taxi to the airport was booked for a time very close to the end of the last round. I had not imagined I would be in this position [whoever said chess players are good planers?] and Martin had informed me during the game that we were in serious contention to win the bets team prize which was a most unexpected state of affairs. It turned out that GM Ian Rogers needed to win what looked like a totally drawn ending while if I then managed ot win then we would win the team prize – something which would have been very funny considering our team leader Martin was actually the sponsor for this prize!
Well I managed to win very nicely but then Ian Rogers opponent blundered and lost a simple rook and pawn ending. After I won the game I was told about this and then had to make a mad dash to my room and finish off my packing ASAP then get down to the Hotel lobby pronto!
I was running at least 20-40 minutes plus past the time of our taxi ride [it was actually a mini van that seats eight and there was just four of us leaving at this time]. Poor Brian and John were a bit annoyed at my failure to have packed but in fairness never showed it and were really cool about the whole thing at the time.
Brian actually packed my computer stuff and laptops etc so that was a big help. It was all a bit weird and frantic but I thanked goodness that I actually won that game. It is such a long game that I did not bother to do any notes for it as it would take for ages to do it justice.
Karpovian would be the best way to describe it in terms of the pattern of the game. Such games come along rarely and it was one of my favourite games in quite a while. It reminded me of a game I played in the Istanbul 2000 Olympiad, if only from the point of view of me being ultra calm/cool under pressure and yet very determined to extract a win.
The drama of making our flight in time did not quite end however as the driver decided to stop for petrol on the way to the airport! Then when we arrived, the small Phuket airport was mad busy and we had to skip the queue to be sure of checking in on time. All is well that ends well though and the flight was delayed a bit anyway so we all arrived back in Bangkok safe and sound.
Thereafter all thoughts of chess quickly subsided and we all had a very relaxing end to our Chess Holiday In Thailand! A more general report less centered on the chess side of things can be found back on dublinchess.com at Thailand 2007
Firstly drawing against a lower rated opponent in round six and then losing a crucial game in the second last round when even a draw could have allowed for a chance to fight for a good result in the last round. It seems that my previous blog about Irish players playing abroad had proved to be somewhat prophetic and while it could have all turned out so differently, the fact is that once again I showed clear signs of inconsistency and rustiness.
It is not so much that there is a difficulty in playing to the higher levels required at international chess (There must be upwards of about 10 Irish players capable of doing this nowadays?) but more a case of such exposure being so irregular as to make the required adjustment in discipline and attention to detail that bit harder and more elusive. In my own case, which is not too different from most if not almost all Irish players, I would have to think hard to recall the last time I even played in an international event! So to say I needed match practice would be an understatement.
Aside from the odd local tournament in Dublin I sort of consider myself to be in a state of at least semi retirement. I very rarely play any chess outside the capital these days and tournaments abroad are a luxury that have to be combined with a holiday. All this is however not to suggest that I am any less ambitious and passionate about my chess when I do play abroad. As soon as an event starts, all the old hopes and aspirations usually return, even if by now they are very jaded.
In this same tournament in 2004 when no less relaxed and out of practise than now I made an IM norm comfortably without ever being preoccupied with such a goal. Though I think there were probably other helpful motivating factors on the side too at the time. Something true for my performance in say, the 2005 Irish Championships also which was in stark contrast to the limp efforts from 2006 generally.
In any event, chess really is, more than ever, a young persons game and so while I do enjoy the battle of fighting over the board and still get mad at myself when I blow good or winning positions (as I have always managed to do) I don’t let myself get too stressed out and become far more philosophical about results as a whole.
The comforting thing is that having picked a good holiday destination to play in an event one can always tune out of the chess side of things and enjoy the holiday aspects of things. This was never more true than for this event in Thailand which I think has got to be top of my list of events to play in. A more general report less centered on the chess side of things can be found back on dublinchess.com at Thailand 2007
Still it was certainly not all about disappointment on the chess front either, there were some really satisfying games well worth the effort and even the losses were rich with ideas and themes. It had all started so smoothly with not so much just easy wins in the first two rounds, but actual nice wins with some clever and curious elements involved.
My first game allowed me a quick and devastating attack that was at least mildly instructive as a way to refute flank efforts of play with the usual opening of the center theme. The second round however was a rather more sophisticated but no less sweet affair in which with patience and some timely interventions I was able to squeeze the living daylights out of my opponent in an ending that saw me launch a kside attack after securing the bishops pair and a big central advantage. I even got to execute one of my all time favourite themes in chess, namely the kside attack by and with the KING!
Round three saw me finally pitted against one of the big boys and I was keen to avenge my only loss from the first time I played in this event in 2004. Then GM Rogelia had narrowly but impressively beaten me when I blundered in an unclear and complex ending. Now with a couple of decent games under my belt and having the White pieces I was confident of a good result.
As it turned out during the game I was somewhat surprised by what I regarded as rather poor or inaccurate play but as if to illustrate what playing at this level is all about, after obtaining a nice clear advantage from the opening and well into the middlegame I simply couldn’t see the most accurate way to extract even more from the position. While the position did contain real prospects for me, my opponent was never going to just blunder and it was up to me to find the most precise moves to make any advantage count. I was not up the task on this occasion and in the end had to be content to go into an ending, which I drew quite easily.
The thing I recall thinking was that it would generally take several games like this against this level of opposition before one would start to win such games with any regularity. By contrast this experienced GM so well used to such games, would more often than not put me away if I made any blunders and would be far more used to this level of play in general.
The fourth round game still saw me very optimistic and hopeful as I played a pretty good game only to blow it all in really annoying and embarrassing manner. The notes to the games explain it all and suffice to say I was gutted when I not only failed to win but then managed to lose. It has been a characteristic of my play for years that I can sometimes be very erratic and display a certain unique talent in being able to screw up even the most decisive of advantages or simple positions. Here was another one to add to the other classics from down the years.
At least there was some entertainment and creativity in the following round as I was able to take a dull technical position and turn it into a bizarre and fascinating endgame, something which stimulated much interest and provided a curious distraction for some onlookers. While I was still in a bit of mental turmoil from my previous incredible reversal and still partly reflecting upon such a missed opportunity this game did take my mind off this and instead of being negative this games helped me to think positive so I was actually enjoying the chess now quite a bit.
Such games remind me of the richness of chess and its ability to throw up all manner of surprises. What was just as enjoyable for me was the excitement shown by my opponent and the creative idea he found just when the game looked to be dead. He really believed he was going to survive with a miracle escape but while he failed to do so, at least there was some beauty in the effort. It provided a good talking point for the next day also as with two rounds a day we had really no time to look at the game straight away.
Round six, had me playing against the same WGM Brian had comfortably drawn with earlier in the event. I had a brief look at her games and noticed that with White she was a very well versed and capable player who had lots of experience with the open Sicilian, an opening which although perhaps my favorite opening, often sees me play really well or really recklessly. I therefore decided to go for the French Tarrash variation instead, as I often do against certain players when I want to take them out of their book and into my book so to speak. It almost never fails to gain me lots of time on the clock and put me in a situation in which I know the positions and themes very well whereas my opponents don’t.
With that in mind it is perhaps all the more surprising how often I can get really careless and mess things up in this line too, a variation which sometimes walks a tightrope between complete obliteration and a strategic edge growing into something more in the late middle game or ending. Here it is the former and although I ended up with an advantage later in the game it was never very much I could work with [though I did try] and I always had the sense that I was somewhat lucky not to have been blown off the board early on in this game so was grateful for what I was able to get from the game. A strange sort of experience for me was how I felt about this game but logically I can’t see why I should be disappointed with the result?
The next day I was playing against one of the best Thai players and after a very boring opening in which I went into an ending and even seemed to be worse at some point I was able to baffle my opponent with lots of sneaky play/moves (appearing to be doing nothing yet preparing for all sorts of things) and then mount what should have been a winning Kside attack in this previously sterile ending.
Instead in my opponents time trouble I faltered and failed to play the best moves at a few critical moments, nearly blundering at a few critical stages but then recovering well to find the only moves to keep playing for an advantage. When my opponent ran out of ideas he too faltered and the win was as easy as it was elegant at the very end. I felt bad for my opponent because it was a big game for him and despite appearances his position was much better than was assumed at a few stages. Tactically he was very alert but was a bit unsure of how to proceed when the positional choices made were critical.
After such an exciting game I was feeling somewhat confident and even cocky going into the next round but then when I found myself in an opening variation I have not played or looked at for years, so I was a bit unsure of myself and even when I was comfortable I was rather frustrated by the lack of a clear path to create counter play and be active.
Certainly my opponent couldn’t do much in the position either but somehow I was too keen to try keep it simple, and seemed to half expect the position to play itself out. Then when I got into time trouble I totally lost my steadiness and instead of wrapping things up with a drawn ending I put myself under all sorts of pressure which only encouraged my opponent who sensed possible victory with the useful combination of an outside passed pawn and an opponent with only seconds or minutes on the clock at any given moment in the final stage of the game.
The last round was particularly amazing for me. Not only was my game the very last of the tournament but it was one of the most satisfying wins I have had for ages. It was a real grind, but the sort which I really like. For long periods it seemed I was doing nothing, but with considerable patience and determination I was able to eventually make the two bishops count against two knights in a closed position.
There was a lot of very long and tedious maneuvering involved but the funny thing was that I had not packed the knight before and our taxi to the airport was booked for a time very close to the end of the last round. I had not imagined I would be in this position [whoever said chess players are good planers?] and Martin had informed me during the game that we were in serious contention to win the bets team prize which was a most unexpected state of affairs. It turned out that GM Ian Rogers needed to win what looked like a totally drawn ending while if I then managed ot win then we would win the team prize – something which would have been very funny considering our team leader Martin was actually the sponsor for this prize!
Well I managed to win very nicely but then Ian Rogers opponent blundered and lost a simple rook and pawn ending. After I won the game I was told about this and then had to make a mad dash to my room and finish off my packing ASAP then get down to the Hotel lobby pronto!
I was running at least 20-40 minutes plus past the time of our taxi ride [it was actually a mini van that seats eight and there was just four of us leaving at this time]. Poor Brian and John were a bit annoyed at my failure to have packed but in fairness never showed it and were really cool about the whole thing at the time.
Brian actually packed my computer stuff and laptops etc so that was a big help. It was all a bit weird and frantic but I thanked goodness that I actually won that game. It is such a long game that I did not bother to do any notes for it as it would take for ages to do it justice.
Karpovian would be the best way to describe it in terms of the pattern of the game. Such games come along rarely and it was one of my favourite games in quite a while. It reminded me of a game I played in the Istanbul 2000 Olympiad, if only from the point of view of me being ultra calm/cool under pressure and yet very determined to extract a win.
The drama of making our flight in time did not quite end however as the driver decided to stop for petrol on the way to the airport! Then when we arrived, the small Phuket airport was mad busy and we had to skip the queue to be sure of checking in on time. All is well that ends well though and the flight was delayed a bit anyway so we all arrived back in Bangkok safe and sound.
Thereafter all thoughts of chess quickly subsided and we all had a very relaxing end to our Chess Holiday In Thailand! A more general report less centered on the chess side of things can be found back on dublinchess.com at Thailand 2007
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