Mechanics "FIDE" Sumer '06 Group B

So this tournament seems to have lasted forever which makes sense as it was an 11 round, round-robin event where the games where played self-scheduled. The tournament as a whole isn't quite over, but almost done, but I'm done with all my games finishing an acceptable 7/11 after a pretty disasterous start, but a strong finish. I only had 3.5/7 after my first 7 games and probably had a clearly superior position in all seven of those games at some point, but that's chess sometimes. My goal was to get 3.5/4 for my last 4 which I met after a spectacular swindle in my last game where my opponent could have sacked his knight to go into a position where I had a lone bishop vs 3 pawns and he was completely winning, but a little low on time he decided to keep his knight on the board and even up a pawn he was the one fighting for a draw which he was unable to find. I had some very interesting games this tournament and some messy ones as well. It looks as if I'll get equal 3rd at worst and probably clear 3rd which is a result I can be happy with. I don't know how happy I am with my play this tournament, I showed some nice technique in a few games, but in this last game I showed quite the opposite. In fact, looking back now, all of my wins were in endgames with 2 or fewer pieces on the board. I probably should have had one more real win, but I botched what would have been a very nice game to destroy my chance of that.

The only real "quality" I showed this tournament was my ability to convert lost positions into winning positions which is not a useless skill at all, but one I prefer not to have to use that often. Hopefully I'll continue my recent good results this weekend in the Cal Chess Labor Day State Championship tournament where I will be playing up into the "Master Section" I hope to soon be a regular part of.

Estimated Rating Change:
2134->2137

Chess Typos

So I was browsing for a moment and came across a review of a new DVD that is a repetoire for the black side of the french and then I ran across the following:


This DVD covers:

• 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5
• 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7
• 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7
• 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7
• 1.e4 e6 2.exd5
• 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3
• 1.e4 e6 2.d3 (King’s Indian Attack)
• 1.e4 e6 2.Qe2
• 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.b4 (Wing Gambit)

I really hope this isn't actually on the back cover of the DVD, I hope some editor somewhere along the way would have caught this mistake, but oh well, time for me to embarass somebody anyways (Note: feel free to point out all my typos and grammatical mistakes in this blog or even in this post). I find it quite difficult for white to play 2. ed against the French, this is a serious novelty that I can honestly say I have never faced over the board. I guess it's the 2 minute gambit line or something because after 2. ed, I will stop the clock, call the director, make an illegal move claim and then have 2 extra minutes on my clock. Alright, that was definitely a little harsh, but oh well. If you want to see the site for yourself click the link on the title.

Vladimir Pufnitieff Memorial

I haven't blogged in a while, mostly due to being busy and lazier with my free time now. I've been playing pleanty of chess with mixed results. I am taking part in an ongoing tournament that hasn't been too successful, but nothing too disasterous either. This weekend's tournament went fairly well though. I played chess I could for the most part be happy with other than a silly blunder in round 3 that I recovered from to draw that game against a 2000ish player. I won rounds 1, 2, and 4 in a simply fashion I could be happy with and round 5 I drew against Batchimeg Tuvshintugs (2300ish) to tie for 2nd place overall. I was a little unhappy with my 5th round game in that I misplayed the move order and got no advantage at all. I had one opportunity later to generate some winning chances, but I guess I felt some positional pressure and decided to liquidate into an endgame (pawn down) I was pretty sure I could draw. Overall a good result.

Rating Change Estimate: 2125->2135