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