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.

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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.

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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".

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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.

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

Irish Players Abroad

As any astute reader of my blog or visitor to dublinchess.com will by now know, I am off to Thailand this month to play in the Seventh Bangkok Chess Club Open 2007. See this Chessbase Feature for some more general information on the event. This event will be my first serious chess tournament in a while and an event that I am very much looking forward to for many reasons, not least of which being memories of my previous good fortune in 2004 when I made an IM norm very comfortably and finished third. Happy memories to be sure!

This year it turns out that there will be a gang of Irish players participating, which is a most welcome novelty. There is something cool about the idea of playing in such a beautiful and far off exotic destination. All the better then that there will be a substantial Irish contingent which has been helped by some generous sponsorship from London based Irish ex pat : Martin Crichton who came up with the idea after having previously played in the tournament himself, and being the first Irish player to do so.

One of the ideas was that such an event offered good norm chances and good experience of international chess for Irish players {my own norm being evidence of this} while being able to combine this with a holiday seemed both desirable and practical.Thankfully a good mixture of players will be going and this should lead to a good team spirit and added social dimension to the event.

From a personal point of view I have often found that I do better in such team like environments, as you get some sense of your own identity by having people you know [and who know you] around you. This means you have the familiar banter combined with either encouragement or playful slagging off, which is either a welcome ego boost, or a good way to bring you back down to earth and help to keep everything in perspective

Irish players traditionally have had all sorts of troubles adjusting to playing abroad and there have been many inconsistencies over the years. It might sound like making excuses but I think this accounts for many of the major failings of Irish players over the years. If there is some doubt about Irish players being able to compete at this level? Then consider this fine game by Stephen Brady against a player very much on the up at the time and now an established GM and serial British Champion: Jonathan Rowson.

Either Irish players simply had far too little exposure to international chess, or the fact of lack of exposure, combined with a lack of confidence, and maybe even an overly deferential attitude to titled players or foreign players generally perhaps has lead many players to fluff their lines, so to speak? Consider just some of the blunders made that would rarely occur between two top Irish players, or if they did occur, would be punished. Sadly such blunders seem too common a feature of Irish players when playing on the stage of international chess, and under the spotlight. Though far less now than in previous years.

Later this month a few more of us will be putting ourselves under such examination but playing for pleasure, and now being so much older and wiser [hopefully] there will be no pressure, and some high points worth noting by the end of the event. I think John Joyce could well do very well [have a look at this comfortable draw against GM Tony Miles from 1993 ] and see what he is capable of. Hopefully he has not lost all his touch.

The event will also see Brian Galligan gain more valuable experience of this type of event, as will Martin Crichton who has been too much of a spectator of such events for far too long. England based Irish International Andrew Smith should also have some interesting games and be a useful guy to have around [If I am not mistaken he was ateam captain at the last Olympiad too for one of the mens teams - I just can't recall which one]. In any event, a blog or and detailed report, will follow and chart all of our progress and any adventures we have.

Speaking of which, we have been promised an evening of entertainment courtesy of Thailand based ex pat business man :Conor Bracken who with fluent Thai, and nearly two decades of living in the vast metropolis that is Bangkok, is a resident expert and veritable mine of information on all things relating to Thailand. I can still recall the first trip in which he generously steered Martin and myself away from the usual tourist traps. He showed both of us the more authentic and cultured wonders that are to be seen by those who know their way around such an exciting and ever changing city. Thankfully he has again agreed to take time out from his busy schedule and so it should be a night to remember I am sure. Here is a little sample Thailand video clip from an evening out on that first trip.

Back to international chess in general, it has often occurred to me that when Irish players do play abroad it is so often the case that the Irish players are so conditioned to playing weekend chess, or playing against the very same players over and over, that when we do go abroad, our very best and most promising players perform much less than their true potential [and yes I would include myself in that category] . I think there is a major problem with making the adjustment. Added to this is the fact that, for the most part, there are so few active players of really good international standard here, and in Ireland the instinct to play for wins is paramount - if you want to win or do well in tournaments. Thus the standard is such is that the level of play varies greatly, usually this is on the low side but does fluctuate.

As if to illustrate my point,,I will now digress a bit here to expand on my general theory and discuss an excellent example of this with another well known top Irish player - and current Irish Champion no less : Stephen Brady . Incidentally there is also a short video interview available with him from just after he won his latest title in July of 2006 which may be of some interest. See Irish champion interview .

Noteworthy also is the fact that apparently, following some selection rule changes for Irish Olympiad teams at the last ICU agm, Stephen, along side the winner of the 2007 Irish championships, now has an automatic place on the Irish team to participate in the next Olympiad which is being held in Germany in 2008. It would be great to see Stephen return to the squad, and with only five players allowed to play instead of the usual six this time around for the 2008 Olympiad, it should be very tough and something of an a achievement to get on this team. [I'd probably have to win this years Irish champion title to get on the team, as otherwise my own chances of getting on the team would seem to be an outside bet.] Still it just may be prestigious enough to entice Stephen to step back onto the international stage, in a green jersey again! I am sure many of Stephens fans would certainly be vey pleased to see him make a return. Only time will tell?

Anyway getting back to my theory about Irish players playing abroad, I have often had a great quandary with regards to my own frustrations and experience of playing certain Irish players and then comparing it to playing strong foreign players. My all time classic puzzlement and frustration is possibly the above mentioned current Irish Champion Stephen Brady . For years I had underestimated him to a stupendous level, often arrogantly assuming that he was somehow so unpolished as to be fundamentally lacking in depth or substance.

It would never be denied by Stephen, or few others, that somehow, while his results were very good and very impressive, his play often seemed,at least superficially, to be not so convincing and indeed he took pride in being primarily a practical player, as opposed to a player that would ever easily dazzle you. By nature his humble persona masking a dogged determination and tenacity. In my case, his actual skill being obscured to me by my own arrogance.

Many losses over many years, and my stubborn inflexibility in assessing his true strengths and weaknesses correctly resulted in an incredible number of losses. [I think he has possibly the best record against me of any other Irish player, with a shockingly comfortable plus score over many games]. I don't think Stephen would mind me pointing out that many of these were classic examples of self destruct extremes by me, in which I would either refuse draws from drawn and winning (!) positions, and then go on to lose stupidly or overrate my position entirely, and again lose by either over pushing or not defending worse positions well enough. Though of course many games also just saw me being, out played, out prepared and simply beaten by a better player on the day.

After all the defeats at his hands, and a long overdue reassessment and mature adjustment by me, I went quite a while without losing any games, even gaining a two game plus score. From 2002 until 2006 I avoided defeat in several games and had a couple of decent wins that lasted to mid 2006 when I went back to my old ways and lost a game from a totally drawn position in a comical finish . At least he then went on the win the Irish again for the fifth time, with an impressive 8 points out of nine.

The reason for mentioning this brings me to my real source of puzzlement and frustration. Somehow I had always convinced myself that if only I played to the correct international standard I should be able to win game after game against Stephen and other similar strength Irish players. Somehow believing that they were not really able to play to that level if pushed hard enough. The problem was that that when such players did indeed play to such a standard I would get so freaked out over the board that I often went astray quickly, usually looking to gain an advantage where there was none, or just allowing my emotions or frustrations get the better of my judgments.

The really annoying bit about all this was that when I looked at some of these same players, in particular Stephen Brady , I noticed that whereas when he was playing against me it had often seemed like as if a mistake or two by me was fatal, by contrast when playing in international events there were opening variations and lines I was sure I knew or understood better than IMs or GMs yet they seem to get results against Stephen.

This was particularly infuriating because in my heart of hearts I just knew that I would never get away with some of the stuff that these players tried. For a long time I just put this down to confirming my original idea that if only I played to the correct international standard I should be able to win game after game against Stephen, and other similar strength Irish players, because logically they were somehow not really able to play to that level, if pushed hard enough. It seems laughable now of course and many painful defeats later I took some weird sort of comfort in being able to actually see what was really going on. So lets see what I think this is then?

Consider the following incredible examples below. In the first game we see me defeat Mel O Cinneide in a very flawed game after 20 moves of sharp critical theory in which we were actually breaking new ground. I actually had looked at the position some time before this game in my opening preparations, even discussing the various complications with former Irish champion Joe Ryan . The possibility of meeting Stephen Brady with this exact position being a distinct possibility for both of us and the variation being of interest to all concerned. Indeed at the 2005 Irish championships, which I won with 8/9, a critical /crucial defeat of Stephen had come about after he had declined to enter such an opening debate at all by playing the 3...dxe4 line of the French for the first time in quite a while. Perhaps he had a sixth sense about my preparation?

As to the position itself? Well I had originally assessed it as being a comfortable advantage for White with the plan I give in the notes to the game versus O Cinneide. During this game I had forgot the work I had done and actually played fairly poorly and required some luck in gaining what turned out to be an easy enough win . Subsequently I went back and had another look at the critical moment in the variation and found a line that I think, as good as wins for White, [something I kept to myself of course].

So imagine my consternation when I seen the second of the examples under discussion. This sees a very decently rated GM make a complete mess and blunder big time against Stephen. What happens next? Well unbelievably Stephen returns the favor and goes on to lose without much fuss . What was screaming off the screen at me when I first saw the game was that I could not help thinking to myself, that if I had made such a blunder against Stephen he would have effortlessly refuted the move, and oh it would probably be a critical game in the Irish championships or some other such important game!

Think I am joking? See what happened to me in 2001 when I was leading the annual Malahide Open, which had a very decent first prize of 1000 Euro and all that I needed to do was either win [outright first] or draw and get about 450 Euros [shared first with a few others]. In this game I was never able to decide properly which I should be doing and so instead of playing for a draw ,which without meaning to seem too casual, I could easily achieve against Stephen with the White pieces just about nine out of ten times if I wanted, I convinced myself that I should have an advantage from the opening, and when this was not happening for me went off balance and got totally outplayed.

It at least assured me that for all these years I had been facing very competent players indeed, and that the problem was more to do with the nature of the situation that pertains to the best Irish players generally. Often players who were capable of playing to a very competent and good international standard were so unused to competing at such a level regularly that while capable of doing so, they [we] were not at all conditioned or used to playing that level on cue. It was very much a hot and cold sort of thing with individual results varying greatly.

Nowadays, and in more recent times generally, as if to mirror [in a very minor way] the changes within Ireland generally, there are a great many more accomplished international players who have the confidence and self assuredness to get all manner of results in international events, [though still it has to be admitted quite sparsely] . Who would have thought of world class players like Michael Adams being held to a draw by a 2300 plus Irish player like Mark Heidenfeld ? Though lets not overlook the like of pioneers such as Phillip Short with his two impressive GM draws from the first telecom event, one against Michael Adams and the other against GM Suba all those years ago.

Chess Old Age - The Year That Was

2006 was an eventful year for me on the chessboard, but for all the wrong reasons! After a brief return to good form and some renewed interest in chess in the period 2004/5 I managed in 2006 to lose my way and go so off the chess rails as to leave a trail of disasters and comical reversals. I will share some of these with some light annotations that point to how it feels to be entering a sort of chess old age.

Looking back at some of the events I have played in throughout 2006 I cringe at the level of lazy, unpolished and indifferent approaches taken by myself. These range from outright apathy and boredom to sheer stupidity, though some of these lend themselves to comedy in a tragic/comical sense.

It was a year that saw my return to the Olympiad team, and what a hilarious affair that turned out to be, as the whole enterprise turned into a fiasco for me and ultimately a profoundly wasteful endeavour. Though it was something that needed to be done and at least I had a few laughs with members of the team, so it was nice to have normalized relations with the team members. On the chess board my few efforts were so atrocious that I actually was so happy to just get out of the whole situation! See my blog on Turin Memories for some details.

Other glorious highlights/low lights for me, that indeed made me feel old, was the City Of Dublin event in which I was so jaded that when playing a critical game against rising star Karl Mc Phillips and repeating a variation that I had won in the Leinster Championships of 2005/2006 I seem to just lash out the moves and then after achieving easy equality made a huge tactical blunder and was punished promptly.
[ CLICK ON THE DIAGRAMS TO PLAY THROUGH GAMES ]

Though I did get some measure of redress with a fairly easy win at the 2006/2007 Leinster Championships. It was a competent or even one might say clever win though I had faltered early on when I had allowed a chance for an advantage by going for a win of a pawn [an illusion which nevertheless came to pass] instead of the succesful conclusion of some accurate opening play and some advantage for Black out of an otherwise sterile Queens Gambit Declined type position.

Still when Karl missed his chance early on and the game proceeded along the lines of him having sacrificed a pawn for activity I was pleased enough with how I dealt with his efforts to attack me and simply grab all the pawns before counter attacking. I might be getting old I thought, but apparently I can still play a bit?

Following my loss to Karl in the City of Dublin event I then had a remarkable loss to one of my old adversaries Mark Quinn when after playing rather a nice game I ended up with an easily winning endgame a full exchange up only to make several awful moves in succesion and only then blunder yet again to actually lose! It had been a time scramble but I had about 3-4 minutes versus about 1 minute! Mark was as surprised as I and those watching were and went on to win the event jointly with Karl.

After winning the 2005/2006 Leinster Championships jointly with GM Alexander Baburin with a nice enough last round win versus Karl McPhillips I had some high hopes for 2006/2007.

Alas it was not only not to be but here again it seemed that a sort of Chess Old Age had consumed me and here too, despite some competence and even skill by me I blew it all with a vintage loss in the last round that deprived me of a joint first place victory.

This merely matched my awful play from the first round in which I blundered in the opening from a promising position to end up with a sterile drawn position that I tried to create some winning chances from only to get a lost position and have a miracle escape.

The event was remarkable for the fact that despite there being many strong players participating, no one player dominated or even stood apart. Many of the results were unusual or error prone with lots of draws. In my own case I accepted a draw versus a Czech GM Jan Votava when the position was very good for me indeed, if not virtually winning.

Then allowing a well known Bxh2 check themed piece sac that forces a perpetual against Gavin Wall [though following a totally pedestrian opening by me I was never better anyway].

The last round against John Redmond however was to be yet again more evidence of my seemingly inevitable decline as I played what was a nice opening and middlegame only to first fail to play the most accurate move and retain a nice advantage to go horribly wrong with a one move blunder that left me defenseless and turned the game in an instance. By then I was only equal but it seemed to underline my chess at the moment so well.

At least it was good to see John Redmond after so many years [which again makes one feel old!] as I think it must have been about 16-18 years since I last seen him. John was a strong player who like many before him had emigrated to the UK and had unfortunatley been a loss to Irish chess ever since. He played in the big international in Liverpool and had got his first fide rating back in September but nobody knew this at the time of the Leinster Championships.

Thus Sam Collins [duly impressed by John] got more than he bargained for when the round before he had a truly miraclous escape against John. If nothing else this game was easily one of the most wonderful I have seen in quite a while. I simply loved the themes in this game and if anyone can get a hold of this game I suggest they look at it. The end saw John spoil all his good play when he blundered to allow an opposite bishop endgame become a typical drawn position.

Then at the end of the event it was refeshing and pleasant to retire to the Pub after the tournament with many of the players enjoying a bit of craic with GM Jan Votava, IM Mark Quinn, IM, Gavin Wall, Gordon Freeman , IM Sam Collins plus John Redmond and myself all exchanging stories and experiences over a few drinks in a most relaxed and civilised way. It reminded me of days gone by when this was the norm for such tournaments and at the same time this nostalgia for days past did make me wonder if I was entering my Chess Old Age.