British Columbia Chess Championship 2009

Round robin tournaments are in my opinion more appropriate for improving one’s chess strength, compared to Swiss events or knockouts. In this post I will try to explain why. Round robins tend to have players of more balanced strength, and allow to prepare for your opponents well in advance, resulting in higher quality of games, and fewer accidental opening choices. Here are some lessons learned from a typical round robin tournament among players of average 2200 FIDE strength.

I competed in the 2009 BC Closed Championship last weekend. Thank you, Stephen, for running the tournament again, and providing the crosstable:

Last year I already wrote a summary of my games and tournament overview of 2008 championship. Back then I had 3 wins and 3 losses, only a single draw. This time I took a different path to the same result – 1 win, 1 loss and 5 draws, with a tie for the 3rd place yet again. In itself, regular participation in a tournament like this is definitely essential if I want to maintain and improve my chess level, so I am very glad I took part. Jack Yoos won convincingly, although he was clearly losing at one point in his game against Lucas in round 6, that game could have change the situation quite a bit. Dragoljub Milicevic was included at the last moment, but posted an awesome result. He now agrees to draws a lot more willingly than 10 years ago, but also is being practical about picking up points when opponents give him a chance. Tanraj Sohal showed a lot of potential for his age, I did not realize that he is only 12 years old.

A few personal observations again:

- I had a bit more time to prepare the openings before the tournament, and was more careful about getting enough sleep throughout the tournament. My games were also shorter, so I was not as exhausted as last year. Last year’s preparation was also helpful since 4 of last year’s opponents played again this time, and obviously their opening repertoires have not changed all that much since then. Opening preparation for a tournament like this (opponents are known well in advance) is time consuming and sets the tone for each game. Although I thought I was reasonably well prepared in the opening - my opponents still managed to surprise me by their choice in the opening in nearly every game. Still, except for the games against Jack Yoos and Brian McLaren, I felt sufficiently familiar with the position that arose …

- I am not happy with my time management again. In a couple of games I had a good position in the end, but went for a draw by repetition because I had significantly less time than my opponents. What was worse, in two games I knew all the opening moves quite well, but still spent half an hour or more on those known moves. Roman, if you know the moves – just frigging play them!

- UBC is a pretty nice place! It was a longer daily commute for me than last year, but I still enjoyed the playing site quite a bit.

I also posted the video of my only win – game against Alfred Pechisker, and a nice combination I found analysing my endgame against Howard Wu. Another tactical idea I posted about – was found while preparing for a game against him.

How to Attack in Sicilian Scheveningen – video with analysis

What does your best chess game look like?

I’ve put a complete video on ChessVideos site: http://www.chessvideos.tv/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5940, and split it up into two parts for youtube since the most popular video sharing site has a limit of 10 minutes per clip: Part 1 and Part 2. Why put up this game? It was my only win in a tournament, and it turned out quite nice. The game could have concluded with a really spectacular finish if Black did not resign and continued to the bitter end:

White to move

23.Qf6!! would threat with Qg7x and Qf7x, so the only response is 23… Nxf6, but then 24. Nf6 is mate

Alfred still has a positive score in our personal encounters (that started in 1998), so of course him walking into my opening preparation was the main reason for such a disaster. Our games are always more fighting than my average game, so I am sure I'll have to prepare even harder for to survive our next battle.

Replay the game in the viewer with all variations:

BC Chess Championship 2008 - quick overview

Stephen Wright has kindly posted the full games over here, so below is a quick overview of my games, in their critical moments. As you can see, I started with two good wins, but was then struggling to score a win until the last round, which did help me to 'save face'.

Round 1. Jiganchine - MacKay (1:0)

After 16... Kxe7 (variation)

White got a great attacking position in the Sicilian (which happens to me quite rarely), and Black had to give up a piece just to not get mated. Here is one of the "sacrificial" attacks:

17. Rxe5+!! dxe5 18. Bc5+ Kf6 (18... Ke8 19. Qd6) 19.Qf3+ Kg5 20. Be3+ Kh4 21. Qg4#

Given the strength of my opponent in this game (an FM who was once a member of the Scotch national team) - this was probably one of my best games ever.

Round 2. Davies - Jiganchine (0-1)

After 23. Bc4

I stopped liking the 'dynamics' of the game - White was about to play Ne3, and neither d5 nor f5 would be possible for me. So it seemed like I must try to break up White's bind on light squares and open up some files to expose his king.

So I came up with the pawn break that in the end worked out to my advantage

23... d5! 24. exd5 f5! The pressure on the f and b files was soon to much for white to bear, and after Nf5-d6xc4, the b3 pawn fell, and then the White king got under a mating attack. Perhaps this was my most satisfying game with the Sveshnikov so far.

 

Round 3. Jiganchine - Patterson (0-1)

After 35... f4

In in an unclear position I made a couple of aggressive moves, but my opponent discovered a hole in my plot. While I though my queen was putting pressure on Black king and pawns, it turns out that Bd8 is about to win my queen, and h3 is about to threaten checkmate. 36. Nd4 was an interesting suggestion from the computer (with the idea of after exd4 playing Re1, Re6 and going for the perpetual), I played 36.f3 (so that I can play Qg4 after Bd8) and after 36... h3 my king soon got burned (although there were a couple of chances to make things complicated along the way).

Round 4. Berry - Jiganchine (1/2:1/2)

After 10. e4 Bh7

Jonathan's move order in the opening allowed me to get the bishop to f5, so not being to happy about his position, he played 11. cxd5 and offered a draw. I accepted since getting a bit more rest before the evening game seemed like a good thing.

Round 5. Jiganchine - Wu (0:1)

The most important event in this game happened outside the board - the clock was setup "with delay" instead of "with increment", so in a complex endgame I made several crucial decisions in a bit of a panic, as my time appeared to be running away quite fast. That was of course my own fault - I should have paid more attention to how time was getting incremented before it got too late.

After 33... Nb6

34. Kf3 was still enough to keep the game balanced. Instead I overlooked the fact that Black can play ... f3 himself. Several moves later I was hopelessly tied up:

34. R5a3?! f3+! 35. Kd3 Rxa3 36. bxa3?! Re8 Now even if there is a draw, I played a few more "natural" moves and lost.

Round 6. Pechisker - Jiganchine (1:0)

After 14.Be2?

Apparently 14... Nxe5 15. Bxe5 Bf5+ 16. e4 Rxe5 was winning quite easily. White cannot take on e5 or on f5 because then a piece on either d2 or e2 falls with grave consequences. I was already very short on time, so I simplified into what turned out to be a difficult endgame with

14...Bxd2? 15. Nxd2 Rxd2+?  16.Kxd2 Nb3+ 17. Kc3 Nxa1 18. Rxa1 and soon lost. Perhaps that was my most frustrating loss in this tournament.

 

Round 7. Jiganchine - McLaren (1:0)

After 24. Nd6

It may seem that the position is unclear because of Black's advanced pawns and two bishops, but actually Whites' pressure on the queenside is more important. White won the b7 pawn, and soon - the game.

British Columbia Chess Championship 2008

Last weekend Stephen Wright directed the main round robin tournament of the year in our province - "the BC Closed". Jonathan Berry had a great run and won the first place with 5.5/7. This year I was both invited, and actually able to accept. I already posted an extensive collection of fragments from the 2001 championship - the last one in which I had competed. I also played in 2000. My play in each championship was probably characteristic of my chess strength and weaknesses at the time:

2000: 2.5/9 (-4=5)

2001: 6.5/9 (+5=3-1)

2008: 3.5/7 (+3-3=1)

In 2000 it was the first time I played in a stronger round robin, so I was unable to see a way to find advantage in any game at all. Opponents were not making the blunders I had been used to from playing U2000 rated guys, so I was not sure what to do about it (having fairly passive openings did not help either). In 2001 I was in a good shape, there were a couple of less strong players (who helped by playing a risky opening as black against me), so I collected all the points I could at the time, and then maybe a bit more when Jonathan Berry tried to win a drawn position so that he could catch up with Milicevic.

This year I was not in a terribly good shape. I want give a more detailed self-analysis of each game, but here are some general notes on what went well, and what did not

-my opening preparation was sufficient for this tournament - in two games my opponents knew more theory about the opening; in one game - I did, but overall each position I got out of the opening was playable, and in 2 cases it was plain better, borderline winning. In a way though, the opening preparation came at a high price - the night and morning before each game I was trying to prepare major opening systems that I had never played before. By the time I was playing the second game of the day, I was regularly having strong headache, and that was not helping. A more important conclusion is that I am more happy now about where my repertoir is going, since the 3 wins I did score - mostly came out of complex middlegames in the lines that are pretty important to my current repertoir.

- My tactical vision was reasonable, although I did miss a simple tactical shot against Alfred, and ended up losing the game.

- There was several complex endgames, and that's pretty much where I lost all 3 of my games. The fundamental problem however was not the endgame understanding, but awful time management. Going into endgames and feeling pretty optimistic, I was spending lots of time trying to find better continuations, failing, and going for simple options which were turning out to be inferior.

The conclusion is not very surprising - I need to be able to play faster, and to do that - I need to make progress in all parts of my game so that the same moves take less effort.

Keres Memorial 2008 - game over

Keres Memorial 2008 is over, Georgi Orlov and Bindi Cheng tied for 1st place with 5.5/7. These were the two strongest players in the tournament, so this is obviously not a surprpise. Bindi managed to revenge for last year's loss, and defeated Georgi in a complicated game, but himself lost to Vicente Lee. I myself tied for 4th place with 4.5 points out of 7, same as last year, and as in 2006. I am satisfied with the result, but the quality of my play in some of the games was awful. I did not take any byes this year, so in the middle of the tournament I lost concentration and started to make blunders. Here is the brief breakdown, in a diary form:

Round 1 - Jiganchine-Jack Cheng (1981) - 1:0

I was not too familiar with this line in Ruy Lopez, but soon after the opening got a large advantage. I won a pawn, but Black got some counterplay on the kingside. Fortunately Black had his knight stuck on b7 without any moves for most of the game, so when the position opened up I won with the decisive attack against Black's king. I was happy with my play in this game.

Round 2 - Bindi Cheng (2360)-Jiganchine- 1:0

This one was a true disaster. I played a line in Slav defense that I last time looked at about 9 years ago. Ever since Bindi came to BC 3 year ago I had a hard time in my games against him (a few difficult draws and a loss), but this time I did not even get out of the opening. What I vaguely remembered to be a book line, contained a few calculational problems for Black to solve, but I just could not decide which move was safe and which one was not, so by move 20 I was dead lost (down a pawn and in a terribly passive position). That does happen to me with Black pieces every once in a while against strong chess players (2300+) - they just play natural moves, and I am scrambling to remember something, ending up playing weak moves...

Round 3 - Jiganchine-John Niksic(1950) - 1/2:1/2

I played a passive line in Open Sicilian, and Black was better around move 30. John got a typical good Sicilian endgame, but misplayed it at some point (it was not obvious) and I got some initiative (strong passed pawn supported by a bishop). I was however down to 10 minutes on the clock (with increments), so I started to repeat when the opportunity arose. I had a feeling my technique did let me down - it is my goal, after all, to grind down lower rated players in slightly better endgames. Given that I don't study openings and play only one tournament a year - sacrificial attacks are not exactly what I should play for.

Round 4 - Andrei Kostin (2060)- Jiganchine - 1/2:1/2

I had some difficult choices in the opening as Black, but very soon Andrei made a couple of passive moves, and got a position with bad IQP. Again I was hoping to grind down my opponent, but instead I allowed lots of counterplay (all starting with White knight arriving on c5, never a good sign in IQP positions). Again, I got a better endgame (again - strong passed pawn supported by a bishop), but could not convert. I turned down a repetition, but a few moves later was glad that the position simplified to a draw.

Round 5 - Jiganchine-Dan Erichsen (2056) - 1/2:1/2

Ruy Lopez as White was a good sign, but in a Chigorin with ..cd my opponent seemed about equally familiar with the plans. I wasted a tempo on Bc2-b1-d3, but then he gave up the 'c' file, so there was hope for a complex struggle, but I made a terrible move Kh2, and with the Black queen on b8 that gave Black a chance to open up a diagonal against my king with d6-d5, winning at least a pawn. However, my opponent used that opportunity to ... offer to me a draw 3 moves later, despite him having a winning position. Draw by reputation, as John Emms calls it!

Round 6 - Paul Leblanc (1950) - Jiganchine - 0:1

I used to win lots of games like this when I was a junior: White plays d4 opening, followed by passive middlegame, trades into inferior endgame, putting all pawns on same color as a bishop. Should be an easy win, but it was not. I thought I found a plan with the pawn breakthrough; it seemed like it would work. However I missed a very simple defensive move, and my own rook was trapped on g4, surrounded by White pieces and pawns. Paul had to sacrifice an exchange which would leave me in total zugzwang, but instead he dropped a piece to a one move combination. Very lucky escape for me!

Round 7 - Jiganchine - Luc Poitras (2192)- 1:0

I was disgusted with my play in previous game and considered withdrawing, but decided to play since it was too late to worry about my performance. This game actually went very well for me, where in Kalashnikov Sicilian, Luc mistakenly simplified to a position where not only his d5 was a weakness, but also the d6 pawn was very hard to hold. He tried to create a kingside counter attack with knight and queen, but that only lead to his queen getting trapped via a tactical shot. This is what happens when luck is on your side - beating stronger opponents does not involve so much effort (or we were just both very tired and barely cared about the outcome).



The conclusion for me is that opening play was taking a lot of my effort, and combined with generally being in bad shape that led to missing more chances later in the games. Blunders like the ones in rounds 5 and 6 are also a very serious warning sign, as they did not happen to me in Keres'06 or Keres'07 as much.

Moving the real pieces - over the board tournament

Last weekend I came out and played 3 games in a weekend tournament. Great to see some people still organizing these kind of events, as well as others showing up to play. Tension in rated slow time control tournaments is much higher than during online blitz games, but satisfaction from playing games without obvious blunders is also much higher. I did miss some nice tactics, but was overall happy with my result. Bindi Cheng, Lucas Davies and Pavel Trochtchanovitch tied for first with 4/5; I scored 2.5/3 and with 2 byes was tied for fourth place.