Jan. 13th, 2010

... it's done

Pretty unexpectedly Abir resigned today. A burden is fallen from my shoulders, another long tug of war ended.  :-) Now the sun is raising, I am definitively qualified to the final tournament starting maybe this year yet!

Belka - GM Har-Even
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Nb6 9.Nc3 Qe6 10.Qe4 g6 11.Bd3 Bg7 12.f4 O-O 13.O-O Ba6 14.c5 d5!? 15.Qe2 Bxd3 16.Qxd3 Nd7 17.Ne2 f6 18.Nd4 Qe8 19.Nxc6 fxe5 20.Qxd5+ Kh8 21.g3 Nf6 22.Qg2 exf4 23.Bxe4 Ne4 24.Ne5 Bxe5 25.Qxe4 Bxb2 26.Rae1 Qxe4 27.Rxe4 Rfe8?! 28.Rxe8+ Rxe8 29.Rd1 Be5 30.Bxe5+ Rxe5 31.Rd8+ Ke7 32.Rd7+ Kf6 33.Rxc7 a5 34.Kf2 Ke6 35.h4 a4? (Abir missed his last chance for a draw!) 36.c6 Rc5 37.Ke3 h5 38.Kd4 Rc2 39.a3 Rc1!? 40.Rc8!? Rc2! 41.Rg8 Kf7 42.Rc8 Ke6 43.c7 Kd7 44.Ra8 Kxc7 45.Rxa4 Rg2 46.Rc4+ Kd6 47.Rc3 Rg1 48.Kc4 Kc7 49.a4!? Rf1 50.a5 Rf5 51.Kd4! Kd6 52.Ra3 Kc7 53.a6 Kb8 54.a7+ Ka8 55.Ke4 Rb5 56.Ra6 g5 57.hxg5 Rxg5 58.Kf3! Rc5 59.Kg2 Rb5 60.Kh3 Rg5 61.Ra4 Rc5 62.Kh4 Rb5 63.Ra6 Rd5 64.Rh6 Kxa7 (surprisingly Abir offered conditional moves) 65.Rxh5 Rd4+ 66.g4 Kb6 67.Re5 Kc6 (here mating Black was already visible) 68.Kh5 Rd1 69.g5 Rh1+ (Abir: "Perhaps I'll be resigning before the London Classic." and joking: "...unless you're going to offer draw for getting a whole point in the final...") 70.Kg6 Kd6 71.Kf6 Rh8 (all conditional moves offered were declined by Abir) 72.g6 Rf8+ 73.Kg7 Rf1 74.Rh5 Ke6 75.Kh8 Rf8+ 76.Kh7 Kf6 (Abir: "Yes, it takes time to decide when to resign and say bye to the chance to be the best 4-th and be in the final because they need a G.M. for title purposes. So one more move...") 77.g7 Rf7

diagram 78.Rh6+... 78.Rh6+!... have a look to left.
Abir resigned: "Congratulations and best wishes for succes in the final."
I asked him for his conclusions delivering some detailed questions on problems I've seen while playing and he replied:
"Dear Wieland,
The Scottish is used from time to time, I don't like it, especially when I'm black and my opponent

has a much lower rating that mine, because most of the games I played 8...Ba6 ended as draws. An exception was 40 years ago when the Israel champion M. Cherniak played it against me in OTB tournament. He got a very slight advantage, but he played endgames better than me so he won. (All this are good reasons for you to play it with white). 
You are right, 16...f6 wasn't the best move, perhaps Qe7 was better than Qe8, but at this time I wasn't worried because I considered the position as draw. 
Only after 35...a4 I realised that the last chance for draw was 35...h5 36.c6 g5 37.Rh7 gxh4 38.gxh4 Kd6 39.Ke3 Rc5 40.c7 Rxc7!
friendly chess greetings
       Abir"

Indeed, to my shame I had to confess that I had overseen that possibility for drawing the game in move 35 completely!
Yeah, an interesting insight again, isn't it?

Jan. 12th, 2010

A new smoking signal from Abir

"Dear Wieland, yes, it takes time to decide when to resign and say bye to the chance to be the best 4-th and be in the final because they need a G.M. for title purposes. So one more move..." -)
I do understand his thinking but am hardly involved in two another tournaments in the meantime so wishing to finish this one finally. It's more of a little bit of burden than a pleasure now ...

Jan. 9th, 2010

A lucky chess fellow

Yeah, chess fellow Hermann Karg is a lucky man at time because he won his battle against our grandmaster Abir Har-Even! Karg: "[...] Konnte erst jetzt schreiben, da ich wieder mal in Thailand weilte.
Hier meine Partie gegen unseren GM, habe sie gewonnen. Welch ein Start in das neue Jahr. Bin happy!"
To hell why did he return from the very warm Thailand to the cold snowy Germany staying in catastrophic circumstances?! Aah, I'm getting that now he was very eager to look at his game against our grandmaster!  ;

Jan. 3rd, 2010

Surprise, surprise

Over a longer time it seemed as there were at least 3 another guys with good chances on qualifying to the final. But now all assumptions and doubts are gone, Kermer today: "Bei den Restpartien rechne ich noch mit 2 bis 3 Niederlagen (Har-Even, Tonne, Shablinsky), aber höchstens einem Sieg (Bandl). Ich werde also irgendwo im unteren Mittelfeld landen."
My 'secret favorite' Kermer stumbled, Christoph Zill blundered terrible against Abir and lost immediately, and Abir is indeed right: Keller and Kizimenko are the other both having been practically qualified to the final!

Dec. 27th, 2009

Mating Abir ...

Abir is back from the London Chess Classic: "It was nice in London even the weather, 5 points from 9 is not bad, but I should have been more careful."
Well, I had an eye on him while he was playing in London. And with a look into the perspective: "I'm going to win against Dr. Kermer, so now it is obvious that you, Keller and Kizimenko will be in the final."
Not entirely right because Zill will speak a word with at least for the another qualifying places ...

In our game it came as I had foresighted, had analyzed a longer time back already.
75.Kh8... have a look to right.
Mating Black is already visible over the horizons but Abir battles on. So we're walking the long track ...
Just a question of technique ... and avoiding the most dangerous thing now: finger slips!  ;-)
diagram 75.Kh8...

Over the last moves I offered again and again conditional moves trying to shorten this game but Abir has fun to avoid that sometimes ...

Dec. 13th, 2009

Leading group renewed lost

After a pretty long time there was some movement again in our group: Keller won his last game against Kermer and is now a half point ahead, and that a 2nd time. But I wish to win my last tug of war and want to return to top.  ;-)
Although, what about Christoph Zill? An unknown variable yet. Should he be able to win his last three games? If yes, then he would also gain 9.5 points like me?! Otherwise there will be a true crowd battling for another two places! I trust on my SB value.  :-D

And Abir is battling yet over the board in the London Chess Classic till Dec. 17th ...  :-/

Nov. 23rd, 2009

Good things take time

I reported on October 3rd how the BdF tournament board failed in an incredible way. Well, Germans have a saying as 'Good things take time'. Finally I came through and achieved a correcting of our tournament rating rules having title norms available now. Read the whole story's end, too.

Nov. 6th, 2009

Another tug of war?

Over the last 7 moves Abir took repeatedly a very long despite. And I am so impatiently, am able to see my last 'big impact'. Winning also my last game I was able to win this semi-final tournament!  :-)

Belka - GM Har-Even
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Nb6 9.Nc3 Qe6 10.Qe4 g6 11.Bd3 Bg7 12.f4 O-O 13.O-O Ba6 14.c5 d5!? 15.Qe2 Bxd3 16.Qxd3 Nd7 17.Ne2 f6 18.Nd4 Qe8 19.Nxc6 fxe5 20.Qxd5+ Kh8 21.g3 Nf6 22.Qg2 exf4 23.Bxe4 Ne4 24.Ne5 Bxe5 25.Qxe4 Bxb2 26.Rae1 Qxe4 27.Rxe4 Rfe8?! 28.Rxe8+ Rxe8 29.Rd1 Be5 30.Bxe5+ Rxe5 31.Rd8+ Ke7 32.Rd7+ Kf6 33.Rxc7 a5 34.Kf2 Ke6 35.h4 a4 36.c6 Rc5 37.Ke3 h5 38.Kd4 Rc2 39.a3 Rc1!? 40.Rc8!? Rc2! 41.Rg8 Kf7 42.Rc8 Ke6 43.c7 Kd7 44.Ra8 Kxc7 45.Rxa4 Rg2 46.Rc4+ Kd6 47.Rc3 Rg1 48.Kc4 Kc7 49.a4!? Rf1 50.a5 Rf5

diagram 51.Kd4... 51.Kd4!... - have a look to left.
That is an attacking move - long-dated White's passed pawn will be sacrificed in favour of a breakthrough on the kingside!
51...Kd6 52.Ra3! Kc7 (that is already forced) 53.a6 Kb8 54.a7+ Ka8 (As long as the White's passed pawn resists the Black king must not leave anymore its square - it is

a prisoner of White's passed pawn now, a 1st step for winning this endgame!) 55.Ke4 Rb5 56.Ra6 g5 (forced again) 57.hxg5 Rxg5

58.Kf3!... - have a look to right.
Indeed, that's an attacking plan: the White king is wandering to the rook file attacking now the Black rook pawn and being protected by its pawn g3 - the only chance for getting on and my 2nd step for winning.
58...Rc5 59.Kg2 Rb5 (after 7 days respite) 60.Kh3 Rg5 61.Ra4... (preventing an exchanging in any case) 61...Rc5
diagram 58.Kf3...

62.Kh4 Rb5 (Black without having any chance for counter-play)

diagram 63.Ra6... 63.Ra6... - have a look to left.
And now the 3rd step for breaking through: the White rook is stepping to the king side attacking Black's rook pawn, and sacrificing the passed pawn on the queen side now. It doesn't matter anymore because the Black king is too far away for battling against White's new passed pawn on the king side!)
63...Rd5 64.Rh6...

It's done, White has practically won a long battling for an at first tiny advantage.
Abir has been playing his last moves taking a pretty long despite again and again. I think he wants to get to be shown the right plan for winning this endgame. And I did ...  ;-)

Okt. 10th, 2009

A last (?) greeting from Michael

From anywhere I got this smoking signal - today the daily newspaper 'Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten' published an entertaining issue on Michael Fuhr and his CC playing. Maybe a last greeting from him?!  ;-)

Okt. 3rd, 2009

Tournament director and arbiter are failing ...

Over about 11 weeks I was struggling with our arbiter trying to complain on a maybe wrong tournament classification. And it seems it was not possible that the responsible tournament board is able to work correctly.
If interested here the whole story on an unbelievable instance ...

Sept. 18th, 2009

Abir, I'm getting you finally!  ;-)

A few days after my returning I got again serious snatching my last game, my special game against a CC grandmaster. And now all my analyzing showed that I should have won this game! What an extraordinary feeling ...  :-)

Belka - GM Har-Even
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Nb6 9.Nc3 Qe6 10.Qe4 g6 11.Bd3 Bg7 12.f4 O-O 13.O-O Ba6 14.c5 d5!? 15.Qe2 Bxd3 16.Qxd3 Nd7 17.Ne2 f6 18.Nd4 Qe8 19.Nxc6 fxe5 20.Qxd5+ Kh8 21.g3 Nf6 22.Qg2 exf4 23.Bxe4 Ne4 24.Ne5 Bxe5 25.Qxe4 Bxb2 26.Rae1 Qxe4 27.Rxe4 Rfe8?! 28.Rxe8+ Rxe8 29.Rd1 Be5 30.Bxe5+ Rxe5 31.Rd8+ Ke7 32.Rd7+ Kf6 33.Rxc7 a5 34.Kf2 Ke6 35.h4 a4? (A mistake Black misses its last chance for drawing! Har-Even later: "Only after 35...a4 I realised that the last chance for draw was 35...h5 36.c6 g5 37.Rh7 gxh4 38.gxh4 Kd6 39.Ke3 Rc5 40.c7 Rxc7!") 36.c6 Rc5 37.Ke3...

37...h5 - have a look to right.
Does the grandmaster want to proof now?
38.Kd4 Rc2 39.a3 Rc1!? (what a pity Abir found the best move: 39...Ra2?! 40.Rg7 Kd6 41.c7 Rc2 42.Kd3 Rc1 43.g4 hxg4 44.Rxg6+ Kxc7 45.Rxg4...)
40.Rc8!?... (Trying to fish in muddy waters but preserves the possibility to switch to main variant 40.Ra7(Ra8)...)
diagram 37...h5
diagram 40...Rc2 40...Rc2! - have a look to left.
Abir is waiting for me!
41.Rg8... (just another try to misleading Black)
41...Kf7 42.Rc8 Ke6 (connected with a draw offer by Abir but I rejected in friendly manner)
43.c7... (okay, just another try and surely the last chance)
43...Kd7 44.Ra8 Kxc7 45.Rxa4 Rg2 46.Rc4+ Kd6 47.Rc3...
47...Rg1 - have a look to right.
Surprising me completely. I analyzed five alternatives but the grandmaster chose an 6th one.
48.Kc4 Kc7 49.a4!?... (Attacking and that goes only with the passed pawn. Now all analyzing shows winning lines first time!)
49...Rf1 (surprising me again)
diagram 47...Rg1
diagram 50.a5... 50.a5!?... - have a look to left.
A decision hardly to do: I waived to the golden rule positioning the rook behind the passed pawn! And that after studying hardly and renewed my big chess endings encyclopedia!!
Again: I'm feeling better and better, I see the sun at horizons!  :-)) Now I expect 50...Kd6 being pretty forced.

Sept. 16th, 2009

Finishing phase is heating up

Over a pretty long time it seemed that nobody was interested in gaining something here?!  LOL
Our chess guy Seelig had been leading in our tournament undisputedly over a long time. But today Christoph Zill came in and told that he wishes to win his games against Minchev, Shablinskij and Fuhr and to draw against Har-Even - wow!  8-O
That would mean that there were four competitors for two another places now qualifying to final: Keller, Kizimenko, Kermer and Zill?!
I see it's really better to gain the full point against Abir so not getting into that crowd!  ;-))

Sept. 1st, 2009

... back again from wilderness

I am back again, back from wilderness having experienced again great adventures!
I've lived for long 14 days and nights alone in wild nature among wild animals as moose, reindeer, wolverine, bear, lynx ...
And I had an encounter of that resistless kind. At an evening having my camp close to a big river hearing its noise of wild waters all the time being under the impact of a cold wind and moving around my camp keeping me warm I found suddenly and truly unexpected a bear's track being very clear and fresh and complete over several meters just about 60 meters from my camp! This was something shocking me. I did know of the bears in that large valley but it is a true different story whether knowing of them or encountering them ...
Now I am returning brainwashed being healthy and strong again and ready for new chess adventures ...

Aug. 2nd, 2009

Laponia is calling me quietly

I can hear it: Swedish Laponia northern of polar circle, the Sarek mountains are calling me quietly but steadily! My silent craving for great nature, for wilderness, for being alone among wild animals is growing again ...
That's why I take my leave now, for about a month. I am getting again that extra-ordinary feeling ...

July 31st, 2009

A tug of war has ended

Indeed, a true tug of war ended now, Valentin Minchev threw in his towel! I am very satisfied. Against one of the strongest opponents here in this group playing in the recent 8th European Team Championship on board 1 for Bulgaria I could win with my strange idea to play the Zvjagincev system. I'm convinced that my opening choice surprised Valentin and opened a wide range of possibilities avoiding any secret weapons he could have. And this win was the final nail for my qualifying to the final tournament!  :-D
By the way I am just realizing that I've reported about this game just a single time?! That happened just accidently. It was surely worth to tell more over the time. So let's go for now.

Belka - Minchev
1.e4 c5 2.Na3 g6 3.c3 Bg7 4.d3 Nc6 5.f4 d5 6.Be2 dxe4 7.dxe4 Qxd1+ 8.Bxd1 Nf6

diagram 9.Nb5... 9.Nb5... - have a look to left.
Yeah, a truly different position as reached in the other both games, much more opened and aggressive ...
9...O-O 10.Nc7 Rb8 11.e5...
11...Ng4 - have a look to right.
That was surprising. Is that focussing on White's pawn e5 ? I counted on ...Nd7 and ...Ne8.
12.Bf3 Rd8 (And surprisingly again. Did Valentin try to trap me catching my knight on c7 ?)
13.Nd5... (13.Ne2 Ngxe5 14.fxe5 Nxe5 15.Bf4 Nd3+ 16.Kf1 Nxf4 17.Nxf4 e6 18.Nb5... or 13.h3 Ngxe5!? 14.fxe5 Nxe5 15.Be2 Bf5 16.Nf3 Rbc8 17.Nb5... etc.)
diagram 11...Ng4

13...Be6 (very fast replied compared to my own efforts for analyzing) 14.Ne3 h5 15.h3 Nh6 (Surprisingly again. I counted on 15...Nxe3 16.Bxe3 Rbc8 17.Ne2 b6 18.Kf2...)

diagram 16.g4... 16.g4... - have a look to left.
This move controls the square f5, prepares an attacking on Black's king.
16...hxg4 17.hxg4 f6 (based on my analyzing just 2nd choice)
18.Nh3... (even after longer analyzing favourited over 18...f5)
18...fxe5 (and again replied immediately)
19.Ng5 Bc8 20.f5 gxf5 21.gxf5 Nxf5 22.Bd5+ Rxd5
23.Nxd5... - have a look to right.
White has won a first round: the quality up and Black with a weak doubled pawn!
23...b6 (to my analyzing not the best: 23...b5 24.Rf1 b4 etc. or 23...Nd8 24.Rf1 e6 or 23...Be6 24.Ne4 Bh4+ etc.)
24.Bd2 Rb7 25.Ne3 Rc7 (a little unexpected less active)
26.Rg1... (a quiet threatening)
26...Nh4 (what is going on??)
diagram 23.Nxd5...

27.Rg3 Kf8 (fastly replied: suspending the black king's pinning) 28.Kf2... (freeing the first rank for White's rook a1) 28...Rd7 (maybe a little worse than Ke8) 29.Ne4 Ba6 (threatening deeply into White's camp)

diagram 30.Rh1... 30.Rh1... - have a look to left.
Now White's both rooks are playing. White with advantages I'd had already a good feeling.
30...Bd3 31.Nxc5 bxc5 32.Rxh4 Bb1 (just consistent)
33.Ke1... (a tiny bit better than 33.Bc1...)
33...Bf6 34.Rh6 Rd3 35.Nf1... (more lasting than 35.Rf3 Ke8 36.Rf1 e4 etc.)
35...Rd8 (Just tactics?!

Here I offered a conditional move sequence but Valentin differed repeatedly from my proposal.) 36.Be3 Rb8 (immediately replied) 37.Bxc5... (another main move was b3...) 37...Kf7 38.Ba3 Bxa2

39.Nd2... - have a look to right.
White with clear advantage but executing that is a true different story.
39...Rb6 (Valentin here: "I think, that I have not a big chance (for qualifying). I will lose 2 games."
Well, is he referring to our game, too?!)
40.Ne4... (Only after very long analyzing played and with pretty much feeling from belly.
diagram 39.Nd2...

I analyzed also 40.Rh7+..., 40.Rh1... and Rh4...) 40...Na5 (a little surprising because 40...Bb1 should be better) 41.Rh7+... (that makes an avalanche rolling resulting in getting more material and clear winning chances) 41...Ke6 42.Nc5+ Kd5 (forced) 43.Nd7 Rb5 (Big surprise! I examined 43...Bb1 and 43...Re6) 44.Bxe7 Bxe7 45.Rxe7 Nc6 46.Re8 Kd6 47.Rd3+ Kc7 48.b4... (After many hours of analyzing a little better than 48.Rd2... I'm getting closer and closer to a win.) 48...Bf7 49.Rf8 Bc4 50.Rd2 Rd5 51.Rxd5 Bxd5 52.Nf6 Bc4 53.Rh8...

diagram 53...a5 53...a5 - have a look to left.
Valentin executed the most unpleasant move to me.
54.Rh7+... (but now it's running to the end)
54...Kd8 (Surprise. I didn't count on that analyzed 54...Kd6 and 54...Kb6 being more plausible)
55.Rh4 Bd3 56.bxa5 Nxa5 57.Ng4 e4 58.Ne5 Bb5 59.Rxe4 Kc7 60.Kd2 Nb3+ 61.Ke3 Nc5 62.Rb4 Ba6 63.Kd4 Ne6+

64.Kd5 Ng5 65.c4 Bb7+ 66.Kc5 Ne6+ 67.Kb5 Kd6 68.Kb6...

68...Kxe5?? - have a look to right.
Unbelievable - after a long time playing the first crystal-clear mistake: Black need not exchange a man! Now it's just a matter of technique ...
69.Kxb7 Kd4 70.Kb6 Kc3 71.Ka5 Nd4 72.Ra4 Nd6 73.Kb5 Nd4+ 74.Kc5 Nf5 75.Ra3+ Kc2 76.Rf3 Nh4 77.Rf6 Kd3
diagram 68...Kxe5
diagram 78.Kd6... 78.Kd6... - have a look to left.
Valentin threw in his towel. Wow, that needed a long breath my longest game in this tournament so far.
Valentin: "Ich vunsche Sie fiel erfolg!"
I asked him for his final word to our game as I did to all opponents but he didn't react any more ...  :-/

July 22nd, 2009

Temporarily (?) lost the leading

Yeah, there is some movement in our group yet! Our chess fellow Kizimenko with a double impact winning his games against Bandl and Fuhr so Harald Keller was a tiny bit worried about his qualifying chances.
But today Keller took the leadership first winning against Bandl although ending in a tie regarding points. But that is just a stimulus to me for battling on!  :-)

July 21st, 2009

Abir indeed in troubles

Today surprisingly a smoking signal came in from Hermann Karg talking a little bit flutteringly about his game against Abir Har-Even playing White. Apparently he cannot believe that himself that he was able to win against the grandmaster?!
Have a look to right showing the recent position after 23...Qxe6.
No doubt Black should have all advantages on his side although
diagram 23...Qxe6

Hermann has to put in some battling yet.  ;-)

July 13th, 2009

Switching national CC federation ...

Well, I haven't been ever a member of the German CC federation BdF but am playing correspondence chess for decades already (since 1975). After starting again a serious CC tournament for a longer time I've also been getting interested in a membership with the goal for playing CC more seriously, for going to earn international titles maybe.
Since 2006 playing this tournament I've been getting aware much closer of the BdF, of behaviour of the executive board members, of the BdF web forum etc. And I've experienced more and more how many little and more important things doesn't work in a reasonable way in this or that sense. But the worst thing so far was the little talk on the BdF web forum regarding the missing tournament tender information as told on June 24th, and the very bad and ignorant reply of an BdF board member when I was giving hints on serious mistakes regarding linguistic usage and misleading context on the BdF website. Unbelievable.
Enough is enough. I searched for foreign CC federations and their membership rules and goals, talked to several CC guys and decided to join the US-American CC federation CCLA switching my formal national CC federation membership approved by the ICCF. And that happened today!

Well, that is a major step, of course. But I want to follow the fine slogan 'amici sumus' and not battling with bad circumstances in this or that regard and with very bad politics as Susan Polgar already criticised.
At least I found a warm hearted invitation to all interested CC players there, found very fair rules for membership fees, found guys which were striven to help in my regard. Time will tell ...

June 27th, 2009

Our grandmaster is stumbling?!

After a longer time a new smoking signal came in from Karg today. I asked him for his Shablinskij game score before and he replied:
"Bei meiner Partie gegen unserem GM stehe ich auf Sieg!! Nur ein dummer Schreibfehler könnte mir vielleicht noch einen Strich durch die Rechnung machen."
Wow never in mind!  :-O
Well, already in the preliminaries 3 grandmasters didn't get to the semifinals. But if that comes true then maybe a 4th grandmaster would fail, and several other players could dream again of the final yet?!
And I had to correct my assumption about the qualifiers in our group as Har-Even, Belka and either Shablinskij or Keller or Kermer ...

June 26th, 2009

My 2nd Zvjagincev also drawn

After a longer tug of war my 2nd Zvjagincev game against Kuzaj was also drawn silently.

Belka - Kuzaj
1.e4 c5 2.Na3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 g6 5.f4 Bg7 6.Nf3 O-O 7.O-O d5 8.e5 Ng4 9.h3 Nh6 (White already with more room and more active men) 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.Be3 Qb6 12.Qd2...

diagram 12...Nf5 12...Nf5 have a look to left.
(I counted on that but it was surprisingly though. 12...Qxb2?! 13.Bxc5 Qb7 14.Rab1 Qc7 15.c4 Be6 16.Ng5...)
13.Bf2!?... (avoiding exchange and keeping under control the diagonal f2-b6)
13...f6 (now move gets into game but I expected 13...Bh6) 14.Qc3 fxe5 15.fxe5... (although long analyzed without any final
conclusion) 15...Nd4 16.Nxd4...
16...Rxf2 have a look to right.
(that is bravely played but indeed ensuring equal play!)
17.Rxf2 cxd4 18.Qb3 Bxe5 19.Re2 Bf6 20.Qxb6 axb6 21.Nb1 e5 22.Nd2 Ba6 23.Ree1 Bg5 24.Nf3...
diagram 16...Rxf2
diagram 24...Be3+ 24...Be3+ have a look to left.
(Black has been getting stronger. After finishing the game the idea came up to my mind that maybe this situation was the only one in the whole game where White had a tiny chance for getting more when analyzing much deeper?! But ...)
25.Rxe3... (... I sacrificed back for getting a more solid position.)
25...dxe3 26.Nxe5 Bb7

27.Nd7 Ra6 28.a4 Kf7 29.a5 Rxa5 30.Rxa5 bxa5 31.Kf1... (plausible the king has to go for initiative now) 31...d4 32.Nc5 Ba8 33.Ke2 Ke7 34.c3 dxc3 35.bxc3 Kd6 36.d4... (defends the knight trapping the Black's bishop) 36...Kc7

37.Kxe3... have a look to right.
37...Kb6 38.c4 Bb7 39.Ke4... (just a try for fishing in muddily waters)
39...Ba6 (pity but Black didn't get into the trap as 39...Bc8?! 40.Ke5 Bf5 41.Kd6 Bc2 42.Nd7+ Kb7 43.g4 h6 44.d5...)
40.Na4+... (just another try for fishing in muddily waters ;-) )
40...Kc7 41.Nb2 Kd6 42.Kd3 c5 43.d5 Bc8 44.Kc3 Bf5 45.g4...
diagram 37.Kxe3...

(and a very last try for fishing ...) 45...Bd7 46.Nd3 h5 47.Nf2... (here all hopes were gone ...) 47...Ke5

diagram 48.Nd3+... 48.Nd3+... connected with my draw offer, have a look to left.
And after some days it was accepted, Kuzaj:
"Natürlich nehme ich Dein Remisangebot an und bedanke mich für die interessante Partie.
Dir gratuliere ich schon zum Erreichen des Finales, wenn nicht sogar zum 1. Platz! Ich wünsche Dir alles Gute und weiterhin schöne Schacherfolge."

June 24th, 2009

The Dirty Hidden Truth

About two and half years are past while playing this big tournament. The time runs and only then and when raising the head one is realizing that. And no end is visible at the horizons, a true time consuming project ...

At the end of May I was interested in the tournament tender information while battling for qualifying to the final but found nothing neither on the ICCF nor German BdF website. In these days I took a 2nd run on the BdF web forum asking my questions there in the hope that any German tournament players taking part could help out ... and experienced strange things.
Well, the German tournament director replied fastly but pretty incompletely and I had to ask back additionally 3 times (!) in order to get the information, have a look on this strange thread. Even more after more than 1,000 (!) views just a single German participant of about 360 German players delivered that tender information?! But even more strange: this tournament tender became obsolete due to changed tournament playing rules when the tournament started! Apparently an up-to-date tournament tender doesn't exist anymore although the tournament will run for several years yet?! What is that??
And the most weird thing: the German tournament director stated it was quite normally as a matter of course when delivering the tournament tender information to public (to tournament participants) for about 6 months only and then taking it away from public again?
And as everybody can see reading through this forum thread the tournament director was getting more and more impolite and even arrogant, didn't realize at any time how a chess organization board had to serve its membership.  :-(

Do you have any idea why all that happened? No? The answer is the ugliest and dirtiest 8-letter word: POLITICS! You can't believe that? Well, maybe you should read what Susan Polgar a well-known and proper person in the chess world had to say about "State of Chess in America" in an issue brought to public on chesscafe.com on June 3rd, 2009.
Another example is what Ed Meiners alias pawnslinger had to tell about chess organizations and their goal on the ICCF forum in these days. All he discussed I experienced myself over years and decades, too.  :-(
Not convinced yet? What about Mr. Herbert Bastian's issue about serious problems of the German over the board chess organization 'DSB' (as PDF document sizing 2MB) published in the German chess print medium "Schach" vol. 7 in 2009 ?
Just accidental similarities? Oh dear ...

June 6th, 2009

No smoking signal anymore after finishing game?

One of my most important motivations for playing correspondence chess (and here playing international) is the possibility of communicating, of talking to each other. Chess enthusiasts from all over the world, from partly very different living and working situations and political resp. cultural background - that's interesting!

Michail Shablinskij And in this way I also talked to my Belarussian chess friend Shablinskij while playing. But finishing our game, asking him for his conclusions on our game as I do to all others, too, I didn't get any reply anymore although I e-mailed twice?!  :-/

May 31st, 2009

Also third Sicilian Najdorf drawn

Well, after two rather fastly running Sicilian Najdorf games this one against Kizimenko was a harder battle but seeking my winning chances now!  :-)

Kizimenko - Belka
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Be7 9.Qd2 O-O 10.O-O-O Nbd7 11.g4 b5 12.g5 Nh5 13.Nd5 Bxd5 14.exd5 f6 15.gxf6 Bxf6 16.Na5 Qe8 17.Qb4 Be7 18.Bd3?! Nf4 19.Be4 Nf6 20.Kb1 Nxe4 21.fxe4 Qd7 22.Nc6 Nh3

23.b3...  have a look to right.
(A true surprise. 23.Rdf1... and 23.Rhf1... were common and plausible replies. I didn't really get the idea behind but got into a comfortable play now.)
23...Rf3 24.Bb6 Bh4 (avoiding an exchange against White's knight, ensuring the knight action h3-f2)
25.Rhf1 Nf2 26.a4... (actively played but expected already)
26...bxa4 27.Bxf2 Bxf2
diagram 23.b3...

28.Qxf4 Rf4 29.Rd2 Qf7 (Black is getting active) 30.Re2... (a little bit surprising) 30...Bh4 (Just consequently after 28...Rf4. Here I had a first time the feeling for getting more than just a draw.) 31.Rc1...

diagram 31...Rf1 31...Rf1  have a look to left.
(getting more and more active)
32.Qc4 Rxc1+ 33.Kxc1 Qf1+ 34.Kb2...
34...Bg5!?  have a look to right.
(following the plan started with 31...Rf1)
35.Ka3!... (Kizimenko: "Nach deinem Zug 34...Bg5 habe ich es ploetzlich gesehen, dass meine Stellung aller Wahrscheinlichkeit nach verloren ist. Ich habe eine Rettung hektisch gesucht. Zum Glueck habe ich den Zug 35.Ka3 gefunden. Es war doch eine gute Idee, ich bin zufrieden." - Indeed
diagram 34...Bg5

that is the culmination point of game.) 35...h6 (the logical move was 35...Qa1+ but I tried a trapping by 36.Ka2?!...) 36.Kb4 Qa1+ 37.Qc3 a5!? (surely the only alternative for keeping the attack) 38.Kc4... (all forced starting with this move) 38...Qa3 39.Kb5 a4 40.Qb4 axb3 41.Qxa3 Rxa3 42.cxb3 Rxb3+ 43.Ka6... (A little bit surprising White's king stepping asidely. I expected 43.Kc4...) 43...Kf8 (all air squeezed out of game now?) 44.Na5 Rb4 45.Nc6 Rb1 46.Na7...

diagram 46...Ke8 46...Ke8  have a look to left.
(just a very last try for getting more than a draw?)
47.Nc8 Kd7 48.Nb6+ Kd8 49.Rc2 Re1 50.Rc6 Rxe4 51.Rxd6+ Ke8 52.Re6+ Kf7 (during the last moves I swayed between hope and resignation)
53.Kb5 Bf6 54.Nc4 Re2 55.Nd6+ Kg6 (following the inner logic that the king has to battle now)
56.Ne8 Rxh2 57.Nxf6 gxf6
58.d6...  have a look to right.
(Looks dangerous a last exciting position! But all that has been analyzed very carefully long before ...)
58...Rd2!? (Played on purpose! A last fishing in turbid waters forcing little problems for White for a stumbling.)
59.Kc6 Kf5 60.Re8... (what a pity I counted on 60...Re7 with some complications)
diagram 58.d6...

60...e4 (Here I was kidding to my opponent: whether we'll play the longest game in our group?)
61.d7 Kf4 connected with a draw offer. And Kizimenko accepted replying with a warm hearted e-mail:
"Danke fuer diese gespannte Partie. Sie war fuer mich schwierig. [...] Es war mir angenehm, Umgang mit Dir zu pflegen. Ich wuensche Dir jegliche Erfolge und hoffe, dass wir unsere Bekanntschaft fortsetzen werden."

Indeed - amici sumus!  :-)
And he added his conclusions as following:
"Fuer mich ist es die schwierigste Partie an diesem Turnier. 23.b3 war ein Fehler. Ich habe die Zugreihenfolge falsch geaendert. Zuerst musste man ja 23.Tdf1 machen. Nach diesem Versehen hat Schwarz Vorteil bekommen.
Ich hatte eine gute Idee mehr nicht und war erzwungen, auf die Weiterentwicklung passiv zu warten. Mir gelang es doch mit Muehe, die Rettung zu finden.
Nach dieser Partie habe ich wenig Lust, als Weiss Sizilianisch zu spielen. Meiner Meinung nach eignet sich es nicht gut zum Fernschach. Viele Varianten sind hier bis zum Endspiel durchgesucht. Schwarz hat die angenehme Moeglichkeit, verschiedene Wege zum Remis zu waehlen."

And my conclusion: in all three Sicilian Najdorf English Attack games played at a higher level I resisted without problems, resisted like a rock and kept the Black's fortress in fine condition. That I didn't expect before ...
On the other hand I do believe yet that the Sicilian Najdorf system is a sharp weapon although deeply analyzed. But one has to be aware of new theory, and there are some possibilities yet for subtle adjustments, for original ideas. There will be surely never an end, not drawn to death any when.
A true bad example in this regard was chess fellow Seelig in his Najdorf game against Zill not knowing the newest ideas and therefor being defeated very fast. Bear in mind!

May 26th, 2009

Statistics and remarks

In these days the new BdF newsletter came in. Incredible, there are some postal groups playing yet in the preliminaries!
Here are all World Open 60 Years BdF groups for server, postal and e-mail, in the preliminaries and semi-finals.
And on Sept. 13/15/23, 2006 the ICCF published all tournament information and interesting statistics on this very big international CC Open delivered by the former ICCF president Med Samraoui.
The German CC federation BdF as tournament organizer published the tournament statistics only via its BdF newsletter as following. I wonder how a majority of the foreign participants could take notice from that??
All in all 63 players are IM, 18 are SM and 5 are GM. And 3 GMs have already stumbled in the preliminaries?!

It's pity but ICCF and the German federation BdF didn't work together when pronouncing these news. The tournament tender information isn't right anymore, and I wasn't able to search any recent tender information even on the BdF website. I have no idea which players from the server section will be qualified to the final, I have no clue how the finals will be played out, whether there will be 3 finals for every section or not, no information on the final group playing mode. A strange situation to every player taking part ... :-/
And even more, since Sept. 23, 2006 the ICCF has seemingly not delivered again any recent information on that big international tournament excepted tournament tables generated automatically?! Huch, a such big international tournament played to honour the biggest and maybe strongest national CC federation worldwide does get so little publicity?  :-(

May 22nd, 2009

2nd 'Russian' finished

Just a few days later also my 2nd Russian defense game is finished, Shablinskij accepted my draw offer.
It was a strongly orthodox played game without any battling, exciting moments or problems. The only remarkable thing: this game was played following modern theory till move 13 deviating with White's move 14.
Not a tiny breeze of getting a chance for gaining anything. But I'm stepping onwards slowly but steadily.

And a side affect: this draw made me leading our group now - a place at the sun!!  :-)
But how long can I stay there? Where are the big guys??

May 18th, 2009

My 'Russians' ...

Indeed, about two games I haven't talked on so far, about my two 'Russians'.  :-)
But today is a good day again, I drew one of both in a true battle game and made another little step onwards qualifying to the final hopefully!

Belka - Kermer
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 (Is that the way running for a win? 8-) ) 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Nd7 6.Nxd7 Bxd7 7.O-O Bd6

diagram 8.c4... 8.c4... have a look to left.
(Actually 8.Nc3... is Noomen's favourite here but I wished to gain some room.)
8...c6 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.Nc3 Nxc3 11.bxc3 O-O 12.Qh5 g6 13.Qxd5 Qc7 14.Bh6...
14...Rfe8 have a look to right.
(Noomen means here better to play 14...Rfd8. Is my opponent only targeting on the free file?)
15.h3 Be6 16.Qg5 Qxc3 (the game is getting lively) 17.Rfd1!?... (defending Bd3 and pawn d4, occupying an important half-open file!)
17...Bf8 (Unexpected and apparently rarely played. Very interesting had been 17...Qxd4
diagram 14...Rfe8

18.Bxg6 Qe5 19.Rxd6 Qxg5 20.Bxf7+ Kxf7 21.Bxg5... etc.)
18.Bxf8 Rxf8

diagram 19.Be4... 19.Be4... have a look to left.
(Does anybody believe the game was practically over?? No, actually the true battle starts now!)
19...Rad8 20.d5!? h6 21.Rac1!? hxg5 22.Rxc3 Rd7 23.Rcd3 Bf5 24.Bxf5 gxf5 25.Rg3... (yeah!) f6
26.f4... have a look to right.
(game is getting more and more alive ;-) )
26...Rfd8 (only after 8 days replied and indeed a rather complicated position being worth to analyze deeply)
27.fxg5 Rxd5 28.Rxd5 Rxd5 29.gxf6+ Kf7 30.Rg7+ Kxf6 31.Rxb7 Ra5 32.Rb2...
diagram 26.f4...
diagram 32...Ra3 32...Ra3 offering a draw, have a look to left.
Well, the black rook took the perfect place - now all air is squeezed out of game, I accepted the draw offer.
But heh, has this game been boring? Not at all. We've seen more than many would expect from the Russian defense ...

I asked again my opponent for his conclusions asking detailed questions and he replied as following:
- How about the alternatives in move 8 as 8.c4... and 8.Nc3...?
Kermer: " In zwei Fällen war ich auch in C 43 mit 8.c4 sehr zufrieden. Jetzt bin ich aber in einer anderen Partie mit 8.c4 auf der Verliererstraße, ohne danach einen Fehler erkennen zu können. Mit 8.Nc3 habe ich noch keine praktischen Erfahrungen, werde das aber demnächst erproben."
- What was your background to 14...Rfe8 ? Noomen advises 14...Rfd8 ...
Kermer: "14. ...Rfd8 erscheint mir weniger überzeugend, weil Weiß dann ungehindert die e-Linie beherrschen kann."
- Why 17...Bf8 ? Why not 17...Rac8 or 17...f5 or 17...Qxd4 ?
Kermer: "Mit 17...Bf8 sollte der gefährliche Läufer auf h6 vertrieben bzw. abgetauscht werden. 17...Rac8 oder 17...f5 aber auch 17...Qxd4 (nebst 18.Bxg6...) bergen m.E. erhebliche Risiken, denen ich aus dem Weg gehen wollte."
- What alternatives did you check besides 26...Rfd8 ?
Kermer: "Die Alternative 26...Tg7 sieht m.E. nach 27.d6... nicht so gut aus. Auch 26...Kf7 kommt nicht in Betracht."
- Had you tried to gain more than just a draw with the Russian (Petrov) defense?
Kermer: "Ich suche noch immer nach der idealen Antwort von Schwarz auf 1.e4... ! Im vorigen Jahr [in unserer Partie - d. A.] habe ich mein Heil in Russisch versucht. D.h.: Es war meine Absicht auf Gewinn zu spielen."

Yeah, such background is always interesting, isn't it!

And my 2nd Russian game? Well, that I tried as Black against our Bela-Russian chess friend who is a seriously strong player here!  ;-)

Shablinskij - Belka
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxd4 5.d4... (That was pity I hoped for the 5.Nc3 Nxc3 line in order to get into a recently found new idea for Black!) 5...d5 6.Bd3...

6...Bd6 have a look to right.
(6...Nc6 is the recently favourited line but I wished to keep my chances for a c-pawn dropping)
7.O-O O-O 8.Re1 Re8 9.c4 c6 10.Nc3 Nxc3 11.bxc3 Rxe1+ 12.Qxe1 h6 13.c5 Bc7 (until here we followed known paths but ...)
diagram 6...Bd6
diagram 14.Nh4... 14.Nh4... have a look to left.
(That surprised me. Noomen advises only 14.Qe2...)
14...b6 15.cxb6... (and out of all books and databases) 15...axb6 16.g3 Be6 17.Ng6 Nd7 (just after longer analyzing) 18.Bf4 Nf6 19.Ne5... (after 23 days a surprise) 19...Bxe5 20.Bxe5...
20...b5 have a look to right.
(I didn't get a clear picture didn't get serious conclusions but the text move is enabling a wading through deep waters lurking for more than just a draw, at least I hope for.)
21.Bc2 Ne4 (provoking a pawn loss but ...)
22.f3... (White forgoes a pawn gaining and probably connected adventures) 22...Ng5 23.Qe3 f6
diagram 20...b5

24.Bf4 Nh3+ 25.Kg2 Nxf4+ 26.Qxf4 Ra3 27.Bb3 Bf7 (entirely drawish play now) 28.Kg2 Bg6 29.Re1 Ra8 30.Re6 Be8 31.Re2...

diagram 31...Kf8 31...Kf8 connected with my draw offer, have a look to left.
I think this is a deadly drawish game. Nothing to see, no ideas, no excitement, no battle ...
The only reply I await from my opponent now is accepting my offer.

May 8th, 2009

What about my grandmaster game?

Indeed, what about my big highlight here playing against a CC grandmaster? I bravely played a 'Scottish' ...  8-)

Belka - GM Har-Even
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Nb6 9.Nc3 Qe6 10.Qe4 g6 11.Bd3 Bg7 12.f4 O-O 13.O-O Ba6 14.c5 d5!? 15.Qe2 Bxd3 16.Qxd3 Nd7 17.Ne2 f6 18.Nd4 Qe8 19.Nxc6 fxe5 20.Qxd5+ Kh8 21.g3... (A true long running decision: what is better on the long distance - 21.g3... or 21.Qc4...? After long analyzing I went for the text move but who knows ...) 21...Nf6 22.Qg2...

22...exf4  A little bit surprising because apparently a tiny bit weaker?! Have a look to right.
(I analyzed 22...e4 23.Ne5 Nd7 24.Nxd7 Qxd7 25.Be3 Rad8 26.a3...)
23.Bxe4 Ne4 24.Ne5... (surely no alternative) 24...Bxe5 (24...Nxc5?! 25.Rae1 Qe6 26.b4 Na4 27.a3 Qb6+ 28.Be3...) 25.Qxe4 Bxb2 26.Rae1 Qxe4 27.Rxe4...
diagram 22...exf4
diagram 27...Rfe8 27...Rfe8?!  A little surprise, have a look to left.
(I'd analyzed here 27...Ba3!? 28.c6 Rad8 29.Re6 Kg8 30.Kg2 Rd4 31.Rfe1 Bf4 32.R1e2 Rc4 33.Bxc7 Rc8 34.Re8+ Rxe8 35.Rxe8+ Ke7 36.Ra8 Ke6 37.Rxa7 Rxc6 38.a4 Rc2+ etc.)
28.Rxe8+ Rxe8 29.Rd1 Be5 (Not expected I analyzed 29...Re2 30.Rd7 c6 etc.)
30.Bxe5+..., have a look to right.
(An interesting position and a hardly met decision, what is right? Alternatively 30.Rd7 Bxf4 31.gxf4 Re2 32.a3 Rc2 33.Rxc7 a5 34.c6 Kg8 35.Kf1 h5 36.Ke1 Kf8 37.Kd1 Rc4 38.Kd2 Ke8 39.Ke3 a4 etc.)
30...Rxe5 31.Rd8+ Ke7 32.Rd7+ Kf6 33.Rxc7... (all that was clear, just a forced line) 33...a5 (here I expected 33...h5) 34.Kf2 Ke6
diagram 30.Bxe5+...

(and again surprised!, 34...h5 should be a tiny bit better?!)
Now the game ran pretty fast into an endgame. White with a pawn up but already Tarrasch said once: "All rook endings are drawn!" Well, on one hand achieving a such position against a grandmaster is awesome but on the other hand I've been eager now for getting more! ;-))
35.h4... Now the time was come for snatching an endgame encyclopedia! Indeed, having awesome weather at the end of April until now I went into the garden again sitting in the sun, with a cup of good coffee and a heavy endings book and studied renewed what the big guys had to tell!  :-D
35...a4 (And to third time Har-Even surprised me! I counted on 35...h5 36.c6 Rc5 37.Ke3! Kd5 38.Kd3 a4 39.Rg7 Rxc6 40.Ra7... etc.)
36.c6... (I have only tiny hopes for achieving more than just a draw ;-/ )

diagram 36...Rc5 36...Rc5, have a look to left.
37.Ke3... That's it what I got at the moment.
I would mean Black now in a cleavage: attacking White's pawn c6 or defending the own kingside's pawns? What will the grandmaster do?

April 25th, 2009

Coffee, sun and right mood

We have uncommon fine weather at the end of April and the garden lures for sitting there having leisure with a good cup of coffee and ... a heavy chess endings encyclopedia at hand!
Indeed, the time is come, my games against Kermer and Har-Even got into a hard to play rook endgame. Once the German Tarrasch meant all rook endings were drawn. But it is more or less just a metapher one has to find the truth yet in every single game.
Well, not simple to read that encyclopedia but nevertheless I got two important rules of general meaning. We will see whether it works to me, too ... ;-)

April 18th, 2009

Encouraging ...

After a longer time chess friend Karg came in again:
"Du entwickelst Dich in der Gruppe direkt zum Favoriten, super.
Ich muss ehrlich gestehen ich mache mir bei einem Turnier nicht den Gedanken wer Favorit sein wird, da ich immer zu mir sage: Ich muss ganz vorne stehen.
Aber es kann durchaus der Fall sein, dass wir in der Endrunde wieder gegeneinander spielen."

That's encouraging, isn't it?!  ;-)
And renewed in the final? Maybe to 3rd time my Zvjagincev system??  :-D

April 15th, 2009

Rumors III ...

Today chess fellow Keller came in with a warm hearted email:
"Gratulation zu Deinem zweiten Sieg! Womit sich die Frage nach meinen (meinem) Favoriten wohl von selbst beantwortet... Mein Favorit bist Du.
Ich denke, mit einem score von +3 ist man vorne mit dabei, mit +4 ganz sicher. Ich hoffe noch schwer, daß SF Seelig seine Niederlagen etwas besser aufteilt, sonst wird`s zumindest schwer für mich...
Ich stehe in zwei Partien ganz aussichtsreich, wenn ich das durchziehen kann, wäre es schön. In den meisten restlichen Spielen ist alles ziemlich remisverdächtig und in einer Partie fühle ich mich nicht wohl...
Die Tabelle ist halt noch nicht sehr aussagekräftig, wann schlagen endlich die Herren Shablinskij und Har-Even zu, und was ist mit SF Kermer? Auch Minchev ist noch mit dabei. Schachfreunde, die jetzt bereits mit einer "0" belastet sind, haben m. E. keine Chance mehr, aber wer weiss...
Gegen Kizimenko habe ich jetzt remis gespielt, Shablinski habe ich eines angeboten, das er wohl nicht ablehnen kann. Im Nahschach wären das zwei absolute Herzinfarkt-Partien gewesen..."

Interesting, isn't it?!  ;-)

April 15th, 2009

All good things are three!

Today there is a good day again - chess fellow Fuhr threw in his towel.

"Hatte den vorletzten Zug wieder mal den falschen Läufer gesetzt. Nun reichts und ich tue uns den Rest nicht mehr an. Wünsche Dir weiterhin viel Erfolg." Michael Fuhr

Fuhr - Belka
1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 e6 3.d3 d4 4.Nce2 c5 5.Ng3 Nc6 6.f4 e5 7.Nf3 exf4 8.Bxf4 Bd6 9.e5? Bc7 10.Be2 Nge7 11.O-O O-O 12.Ne4 Ng6 13.Qd2 Nxf4 14.Qxf4 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Qe7 16.Rae1 Bxe5 17.Qg5 Qc7 18.Qh5 f5 19.Ng5?! h6 20.Nf3 Bf4 21.Bd1 Be3+ 22.Kh1 Qd6 23.c3 g6 24.Qh4 Kg7 25.b4 cxb4 26.cxd4 f4 27.Ne5 g5 28.Qh5 Bxd4 29.Nc4 Qf6 30.Qf3 Rb8 31.Re2... (again a little surprise) 31...Bd7 32.Nd2... (surely better Rc2...) 32...Be3 (Black with much space for its pieces being very contrary to White, and with the prospect to pawn storming on the queensside)

diagram 33.Bb3... 33.Bb3...  not expected, have a look to left.
Better Rfe1... or Ne4... or h3...
Fuhr: "Ich hatte den Le6 und nicht e3 von Dir gespielt. Was ich dann nach Dd4 bemerkte."
I played yet 33...Qd4 and Black resigned. "Nun reichts und ich tue uns den Rest nicht mehr an."
Yes, after White's move 9 this strange game ran down slowly but steadily.

I asked Fuhr for his conclusions and he replied: "Die Eröffnung bis zum 9. Zug, der die Partie entschieden hat, war ok. So ist der Sleipner. Tja, ich dachte mit der offenen Linie mehr anfangen zu können. War aber nichts. So lief dann alles andere automatisch.
Nun solltest Du keine Probleme haben die nächste Runde zu erreichen. Dann habe ich auch mit Recht verloren ;-) "

Inch'Allah!  :-D

April 12th, 2009

Awesome ...

Today chess fellow Minchev came in with his assumption: "You will be one of the winners in our group!"

Wonderful, I'm feeling awesome! :-))

April 12th, 2009

Sicilian Alapin silently finished

There is a game I haven't mentioned till today, my game against Tonne running as Sicilian Alapin. A system I'm choosing myself when playing against very strong Black players and battling for a draw. And now I am myself in a such situation and haven't had any weapon against that system.  :-/

Tonne - Belka
1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.cxd4 d6 7.Bc4 Nb6 8.Bb5 dxe5 9.Nxe5 Bd7 10.Nxd7 Qxd7 11.Nc3 e6 12.O-O Rd8 (so far both followed well-known pathes but now ...)

13.Qb3... surprisingly, have a look to right.
(Noomen recommends here 13.Be3... or 13.a4... But that move I haven't found in a single game in all of my databases?!
Is White here offering its pawn?)
13...Be7 (I decided to go for development, no adventures while gaining a pawn. Afterwards I think now I should have been bravely and have analyzed very
diagram 13.Qb3...

carefully my chances after 13...Qxd4 14.Bg5 Rd7 15.Rad1 Qe5 16.Be3 Bc5 17.Bxc5 Qxc5 18.Na4 Nxa4 19.Rxd7 Kxd7 20.Bxa4 Kc8 21.Bxc6 bxc6 etc.)
14.Be3 O-O 15.Rfd1...

diagram 15...Qd6 15...Qd6, have a look to left.
(Unleashing the knight, enabling queen-moving to b4. Noomen's recommendation is ...Nd5 but I tried another idea freeing my pieces first.) 16.Be2... (a little bit surprising: when moving back the bishop why not Bd3...?) 16...Qb4 (One idea of 15...Qd6 but afterwards I must commit that this move is oversimplifying the game.)

17.Qxb4 Nxb4 18.Rac1 Rc8 (18...f5 is a serious idea, e.g. 19.g3 Bf6 20.Bf3 Rd7 21.a3 N4d5 but finally rather equivalent) 19.a3 N4d5 20.Nxd5 Nxd5 21.Bf3...

21...b5, have a look to right.
(Seems the game is got stuck. How could it go on yet?)
22.Kf1 Rfd8 23.Ke2 Rc4 24.g3 g6 25.Be4... (not expected) 25...Rdc8 (Purposefully played. When 25...Nxe3 then White could consolidate its pawn on d4.) 26.Bd2 Bf6 27.Bd3 Rxc1 (Here I offered a long conditional moves sequence) 28.Rxc1 Rxc1 29.Bxc1
diagram 21...b5
diagram 29...b4 29...b4, have a look to left.
30.Be3... (My long conditional moves sequence was accepted. Whether White is running for a draw all the time? Shall I really battle alone for a win??) 30...bxa3 31.bxa3 Nxe3 (just securing that a White's bishop pair cannot become dangerous) 32.fxe3 Kf8 (Is there anything yet preventing a draw?) 33.a4 Ke7
34.Bc4... connected wit a draw offer, have a look to right.
Nothing goes anymore, and I accepted. This game ran silently all the time, no exciting situations, no true problems, no big surprises. But I did put pretty much energy and time also into all my analyzing this game.
I entirely failed to defend myself against a such 'low-level-running' game, I even failed against one
diagram 34.Bc4...

of my own systems!  :-(  Now I do know of the need for analyzing deeper 13...Qxd4 and 15...Nd5, and if that shouldn't work then finding another, an 'Anti-Sicilian-Alapin system'!  ;-)

My chess fellow's final words:
"Herzlichen Dank für die faire und angenehme Partie. In der Tat haben wir beide wohl die sichere Variante gewählt. Andererseits habe ich die geringste FWZ aller Teilnehmer in diesem Halbfinale, so dass ich mich nicht wirklich der Illusion hingebe, um die Finalplätze mitzuspielen. Für Experimente sind mir die Gegner allesamt zu stark."

April 9th, 2009

Rumors II ...

Asking renewed my question on who could go for qualifying in our group my chess fellows replied as following:

Laube (29.03.09): "Ich vermute, dass die beiden Erstplatzierten mindestens 9,5 Punkte erzielen. Normalerweise müsste man glauben, dass sich diese Plätze unsere Koryphäen Har-Even, Shablinski und Minchev erobern. Dafür gibt es aber noch keinen Hinweis in den Ergebnissen. Ich weiß also wirklich nicht, wer die Sieger sein werden. Sicherlich wird es überraschend sein.
Wenn Du es weiter so gut machst wie bisher, kannst Du ja selbst einer der Aufsteiger werden. Ich wünsche es Dir."

Minchev (01.04.09): "I think +2 point were necessary for qualifying in our group."

Tonne (04.04.09): "Ich kann die Situation in der Gruppe nur sehr schlecht einschätzen. Da müssen wir wohl noch ein bißchen abwarten. Auch bei meinen Partien stehen etliche noch auf der Kippe, können sowohl positiv wie auch negativ ausfallen!"

Minchev (07.04.09): "I think 9 points in summary were necessary."

Fuhr (08.04.09): "Ich denke, da sind 7-8 die sich um das weiterkommen streiten werden und wo die Partien gegeneinander entscheidend werden. So mit 9 Punkten dürfte eine Chance bestehen.
Auf jeden Fall wirst Du dabei sein."

Kizimenko (08.04.09): "Seelig und Du - warum nicht? Meine Chancen sind minimal, da ich schon eine Partie verloren habe. Wie stehst Du in den übrigen Partien?"

Me (08.04.09): "Ich bin ja nur ein 'Nobody', die Favoriten wären eigentlich Har-Even, Minchev, Shablinski, Keller, Laube und Kizimenko.
Aber die meisten sind schon 'gestolpert', haben wenigstens einmal verloren oder werden wohl noch eine Partie verlieren wie z.B. Seelig und Minchev. Selbst unser Großmeister ist in Schwierigkeiten gegen Karg.
Und so bleiben in meinen Augen nur noch Shablinskij, Keller, Har-Even und hoffentlich ich, die noch Hoffnungen auf das Finale haben könnten. ;-)
Meine Hoffnungen liegen auf +4 =10, wenigstens jedoch +3 =11. Ich hoffe noch gegen Fuhr und Minchev zu gewinnen, die restlichen Partien sind gänzlich ausgeglichen oder mit kleinen Vorteilen für mich, keinerlei Gefahr, auch nur eine zu verlieren."

March 28th, 2009

Zill with a guess on qualifying

It's getting more and more interesting. Who can go for qualifying? We've already experienced several surprises. Today a smoking signal from Zill guessing what was necessary for qualifying:
"Ich denke, +3 oder +4 müssten für das Finale reichen. Mit den Favoriten halte ich mich noch zurück. Ich kann es echt nicht einschätzen."

I don't agree, think at least +3 =11 was necessary. But who could be those guys? Well, here my 2 cents:
- 3 of Keller, Shablinskij, Har-Even and me (I do hope so!) will get to final,
- Kermer and Kuzaj are a "black box" yet,
- Zill should have lost his chances due to his unlucky loss,
- all other big guys should be out because they've already been defeated
  at least once or will lose yet ...

March 26th, 2009

A 2nd strike defeating Bandl

The most strange game I was playing here ended today, Bandl resigned: "Ich überlasse dir als erstes meine Partie - unkonzentriert gespielt. Ich gebe die Partie auf und gratuliere, wünsche viel Erfolg in den anderen Partien."

Bandl - Belka
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.c3 Qb6 6.Qc2 Nh5 7.Bg3 g6 8.dxc5 Qxc5 9.Nbd2 Bg7 10.Nb3 Qb6 11.Qd1 Nxg3 12.hxg3 e6 13.a4 O-O 14.a5 Qc7 15.g4 Rd8 16.g5 e5 17.Be2 Qe7 18.a6 bxa6 19.Kf1?! Rb8 20.Ra2? Be6!? 21.Ra3 d4! 22.exd4 exd4 23.cxd4 Qb4 24.Nc5 Nxd4 25.Nxe6 Nxe6 26.Qa4 Nf4 27.Rh4 Bxb2 28.Ra2 Bc3!? 29.Qxb4 Rxb4 30.Kg1 Nxe2+ 31.Rxe2 Rxh4 32.Nxh4 a5 (without any delaying ahead) 33.g3...

33...a4, have a look to right.
Bandl resigned. What shall I say? Indeed a weird handled game regarding opening choice, and many time losses. All the time I didn't know what I should make of it. This was a to-do job without any inspiration ...
diagram 33...a4


March 26th, 2009

Our for a long time leading guy stumbles ...

Almost from beginning of playing our chess fellow Seelig is leading our group, and that until today. After asking a question about his views he replies today: "Im Moment freue ich mich über die Tabellenführung mit 6 Punkten, aber der Schein trügt, es werden nicht mehr viele Punkte dazu kommen.
Hier meine Prognose:
- klare Niederlage gegen Dr. Kermer,
- mit viel Glück noch Remis gegen Laube,
- Remis gegen Zill,
- Remis gegen Tonne.
Das wären dann max. 7,5 Punkte, nicht schlecht aber zu wenig um noch weiter zu kommen."

Wow, never in mind. To the hell, where are the guys being able to win here??

March 20th, 2009

Achieving first full point with the Scotch

Today an e-mail from Keller came in congratulating me surprisingly for my win against Laube and I didn't know that?! No e-mail from Laube about resigning our game.  :-o
I e-mailed Laube regarding our game and he replied immediately ... but a 3rd time?! Two times his e-mail was returned. Strange things ...

Belka - Laube
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Ba6 9.b3 Qh4?! 10.a3 Bc5 11.g3 Qe7 12.Bb2 Nb6 13.Qc2 f6 14.Bd3 fxe5 15.O-O d5 16.b4 Bd4 17.Bxd4 exd4 18.Nd2 O-O 19.Bxh7+ Kh8 20.Bd3 dxc4 21.Nxc4 Nxc4 22.Bxc4 Bxc4 23.Qxc4 Rad8 24.Rad1 Qe4 25.Rfe1 Qf3 26.Re2 Qd5?! 27.Rc2 Rfe8?! 28.Qxd5 cxd5? 29.Rxc7 Re2 30.Rxd4 Rf8 31.Rf4 Rxf4 32.gxf4 a6 33.Rc6... (avoiding 33...Re6) 33...a5!? (Already examined before. It's a very inconvenient move in general but no danger here just a sign of helpless or trying a last dubious action?) 34.bxa5...

diagram 34...Re4 34...Re4,  have a look to left.
Laube here: "Ich habe gar keine rechte Lust, mir unsere Partie anzusehen." - Indeed.
Black's plan is clear: trying to stop White's doubled pawns. But White can act now on both wings!
35.a6 Ra4 36.Kf1... (there is a need for stopping Black's "last hero", the pawn d5) 36...Rxa3 (that pawn is meaningless) 37.Ke2 Kg8 38.h4... (starting the

pawn-storming on the kingside!) 38...Kf8 39.f5 Ke8 (a true sign of helpless: Black's king is catched on the ground rank and its rook enchained on the a-file) 40.h5... (just consequently threatening on both wings) 40...Kf8

41.f6..., have a look to right.
Black is faced with ruin, nothing goes anymore. Laube threw in his towel.
Against one of the strongest opponents here a good win in one of my favourited openings. I'm feeling good, the first win in tournament is always a special thing!  :-)
diagram 41.f6...


March 15th, 2009

My single French was shortly drawn

Over the time I've seen quite many short draws here and I'd bet several games were drawn just by tactical reasons. Now I am member of this "outstanding club".  :-/
But my single French game was only drawn in move 19 because of missing winning ideas or chances, there was nothing to see anymore.

Belka - Zill
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.Qd2 O-O 9.O-O-O Be7 10.Bd3 c5 11.Nxc5 Nxc5 12.dxc5 Qc7 13.h4 Bxc5 14.h5 h6 15.g4...

15...Bd6 after two weeks of thinking, have a look to right.
Zill: "...habe nichts vergessen. Die Stellung muss nur genau überdacht werden :-)) "
Well, that is true, of course. And that I had now to do, too. ;-)
Black threats now with ...Bf4 with queen loss. And my idea of playing g5... seems to be gone ...
16.Qe2... (Oh god, what a long analyzing and that without a final
diagram 15...Bd6

idea yet! The only serious alternative seems to be 16.Bh7+... but that leads to an early exchanging of the queens, e.g. 16...Kxh7 17.Qxd6 Qxd6 18.Rxd6 b6 19.Re1 f6!? 20.Nh4 e5 21.f3 Re8 22.c4 Be6 23.b3 Kg8 24.Kc2 Kf8 25. etc. with an about equal position. Nothing being desirable ...)
16...Bd7 17.Qe4... (Again decided only after a long analyzing. After the interesting 17.g5... White remains with a pawn down without true chances, e.g. 17...hxg5 18.Rhg1 Bf4+ 19.Kb1 f6 20.h6 gxh6 21.Rh1... ) 17...f5 (more or less forced) 18.gxf5 exf5 19.Qd5+... (the alternative was 19.Qc4+... but after a long analyzing no decisive difference)

diagram 19...Kh8 19...Kh8  connected with a draw offer, have a look to left.
All attacking chances are gone again, nothing to see. So I accepted.
Asking the question how my opponent sees our game and especially White's move 8 and Black's move 10 he replied:
"An den beiden Zügen gibt es nichts auszusetzen. Ich denke der achte Weißzug ist ein guter

Versuch. Aber in meinen Augen gleicht c5 aus. Vielleicht haben wir ja nochmal Gelegenheit diese Variante zu diskutieren."
Yes, the French is indeed a tough nut ...  :-/

March 14th, 2009

Big guy Minchev unenthusiastic?!

I have a nice contact to chess fellow Minchev, one of the "big guys" here in our group. Occasionally we're talking offsidely playing chess. And in these days I put a question who would go for qualifying in our group. Today he replies: "I think, that I have not a big chance. I will lose 2 games."

Wow, that I'd never in mind! Apparently most big guys here have some difficulties ...

March 7th, 2009

Renewed drawn against Karg

A first of my three Zvjagincev games is drawn, my game against Karg. Again a draw against a surely strong player but renewed just a draw in a favourited line?!

Belka - Karg
1.e4 c5 2.Na3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 g6 5.c3 Bg7 6.f4 O-O 7.Nf3 Qc7 8.O-O a6 9.Ba4... (just after long analyzing but without final conclusions) 9...b5 10.Bb3 d6 11.Qe2 Rb8 12.Bd2 Na5

13.Bd1... have a look to right (again after long analysis, and renewed without final conclusions, just out of the belly) 13...Bb7 14.Kh1 e6 15.Bc2 Nc6 (Yet very unclear, what was the right plan here?) 16.Rad1 Nd7 (unexpected) 17.Be1 Nb6 (Aha, is that preparing a pawn storm in the center?) 18.Bb3... (again decided just by feeling) 18...Na5 diagram 13.Bd1...

(surprising me again, not pawn storming yet) 19.Bc2 Rbe8 20.Bg3...

diagram 20...b4 20...b4  After a longer manoeuvring without true actions Black gets into action now, have a look to left.
Indeed, I must confess I haven't had any plans for making progress here.  :-/
21.Nb1 f5 (Trying to open the diagonal b7-f3 ?) 22.Rc1... (freeing the square d1 for the bishop, defending c3 and occupying a half-open file)

22...Qc6 23.Bf2... (better attacking than defending) 23...fxe4 24.dxe4 bxc3 25.Nxc3 d5 (that was a true nasty surprise) 26.Bb1... (following moves were analyzed carefully before) 26...Rxf4 27.b4 Bxc3 28.Rxc3 Nac4 29.Bxc5... (White has to poise yet, battling for the balance) 29...Na4 30.Rxc4 dxc4 31.Ne5 Qc7 32.Rxf4 Nxc5 (according to my analyzing only the 2nd best option, e.g. 32...Qxe5 33.Be3 Nc3 34.Qxc4 Nd5 35.exd5 exd5 36.Qc5 Qxe3 37.Rf8+ Kg7)

33.Nxg6...  have a look to right.
That's an exciting and sharp position but entirely correct. 33...hxg6 Asking him a question about our group and our chances he replied: "Nun ja es kommen die ersten drei weiter. Denke Kizimenko, Keller und Har-Even kommen weiter.
Gegen Har-Even stehe ich sehr gut, könnte diese Partie gewinnen.
diagram 33.Nxg6

Ich habe mich mehr auf die vierte Gruppe spezialisiert, denke dort schaffe ich es in die Endrunde. Habe eine exzellente Chance auf einen der drei Plätze. Schau ma mal."
34.Qg4... (Suddenly there is much action in the game!) 34...Kg7 35.Qg5 Qd8 36.Qe5+ Kh6 (the last few moves were played fastly) 37.Qxc5 Qd1+ 38.Qg1 Rd8 39.h3 Qxg1+ (that's very little ambitious, e.g. 39...c3 40.Rf1 Qe2 41.Kh2 c2 42.Bxc2 Qxc2 43.Qe3+ Kg7 44.Qf4 Bxe4 45.Qf6+ Kh7 46.Qe7... and draw) 40.Kxg1...

diagram 40...e5 40...e5  have a look to left.
Yet another new idea but connected with a draw offer. Indeed, what could I do yet? That's a true deadly drawn game now, and I accepted.
I think this was my hardest Zvjagincev game so far ...

March 6th, 2009

Fighting against strange tactics

Well, in a tournament strange things can happen, also weird tactics trying to confuse the opponent or putting him away from prepared lines. And in this regard I met two guys here trying that: Fuhr and Bandl.

Bandl - Belka
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 (here I focussed on the wc games Bonn 2008) 3.Bf4... (Wow, what a move!) 3...c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.c3... (Bandl here: "Mordsstimmung auf dem Schachbrett!!") 5...Qb6 (seems to be most ambitious) 6.Qc2... (after this riposte out of my Noomen book) 6...Nh5 (just after longer analyzing) 7.Bg3 g6 (Renewed just after long analyzing. Alternatively 7...cxd4 8.exd4 g6 9.Qb3 Nxg3 or 9...Bh6 or 9...Bf5 or 9...Qxb3) 8.dxc5 Qxc5 9.Nbd2 Bg7 10.Nb3 Qb6 11.Qd1 Nxg3 12.hxg3 e6 13.a4 O-O 14.a5 Qc7 15.g4... (The last 3 White's moves seems to be little determined, White neglects its development.) 15...Rd8 16.g5... (again not the best?!) 16...e5 17.Be2 Qe7 18.a6 bxa6 19.Kf1?!... (Bandl here: "Ich überlasse dir einen weiteren Bauern..." - and that should be really bad.) 19...Rb8 (Black now with clear advantages) 20.Ra2?... (now I understand White's last king move even less) 20...Be6!? (a strong threat) 21.Ra3... (forced) 21...d4! 22.exd4 exd4 23.cxd4 Qb4 24.Nc5 Nxd4 (Black now with winning advantages based on clearly better development) 25.Nxe6 Nxe6 26.Qa4 Nf4 27.Rh4 Bxb2 28.Ra2 Bc3!? (threatening mates, and the focus on square e1 is very strong!) 29.Qxb4... (forced again, otherwise mated) 29...Rxb4 30.Kg1...

diagram 30...Nxe2 30...Nxe2+,  have a look to left.
Now on the winning path. The only question is how fast. It's a question of technique in the endgame now ...
After 30 moves with a won position, in a CC game, in a semi-final ...  :-o

The other game in this regard is the game against Fuhr who tried something offsidely.

Fuhr - Belka
1.Nc3 d5 2.e4... (in my Noomen book declared as not playable) 2...e6 (trying to merge into French) 3.d3... (Very passive?! Is that the King-Indian attack in the French? Only 17 reference games in my large databases.) 3...d4 (Aggressively played, alternatives were 3...c5 or 3...Nf6) 4.Nce2 c5 5.Ng3 Nc6 6.f4... (only the 2nd best option?!) 6...e5 (and out of book) 7.Nf3 exf4 8.Bxf4 Bd6

9.e5?...  truly surprising, have a look to right.
White loses its pawn now, only a slip-up?
9...Bc7 10.Be2 Nge7 11.O-O O-O 12.Ne4 Ng6 13.Qd2 Nxf4 14.Qxf4 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Qe7 16.Rae1 Bxe5 (and Black wins a pawn without any fighting) 17.Qg5 Qc7 18.Qh5... (a little bit infamous) 18...f5 19.Ng5?!... (and renewed mistaken?!) 19...h6
diagram 9.e5...

20.Nf3 Bf4 (targeting e3) 21.Bd1 Be3+ (this is a strong piece there) 22.Kh1 Qd6 (a silent move but important: focussing on g6) 23.c3... (unexpected) 23...g6 24.Qh4 Kg7 (protecting the square h6) 25.b4... (interesting idea but ...) 25...cxb4 26.cxd4... (I expected 26.Nxd4 f4 27.Nb5... The idea is clear: attacking my strong piece on e3 but leads only to three white isolated pawns?!) 26...f4 27.Ne5... (A true surprise! That I didn't expect ...)

diagram 27...g5 27...g5  have a look to left.
Black now with winning chances! An alternative was 27...Bf5 freeing my rook on a8, e.g. 28.Ng4 g5 29.Qh5 Bxd3 30.Be2 Bxe2 but the text move is forcing White with even stronger chances, e.g. 28.Qh5 Bxd4 29.Nf3 Bf6 30.d4 Bf5 31.Ne5 Rac8 with clear winning views for Black! Wow, two wild games but surely won ... :-)

March 2nd, 2009

Chess fellow Laube suffers ...

Today Laube's next move came in, and he wrote: " Ich habe gar keine rechte Lust, mir unsere Partie anzusehen."
Well, the one guy's pleasure is always the other one's suffering ... :-/

And he added: " Ich habe auch (noch!) in keiner der übrigen Partien etwas zu befürchten. Allerdings werden die meisten wohl remis ausgehen."
That makes some hope. I think that a result at least as +3 =11 was necessary for qualifying. And I do hope for 3 sure wins having at least equal chances in the rest of games ...

Febr. 28th, 2009

Rumors ...

Asking the question what fellows could make the run for qualifying here Karg replied: "Nun ja, es kommen die ersten drei weiter. Denke Kizimenko, Keller und Har-Even kommen weiter."
Interesting and formally right. But I have some doubts. Kizimenko lost a game already, Har-Even in troubles against Karg, and even Minchev as one of the strongest players here with problems being in danger in 2 games.
And I wish to qualify with the hope for winning 3 games at least ... ;-)

Febr. 17th, 2009

Another Sicilian Najdorf drawn

And an 2nd Sicilian Najdorf is finished now and ... drawn again.

Seelig - Belka
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Be7 9.Qd2 O-O 10.O-O-O Nbd7 11.g4 b5 12.g5 Nh5 13.Nd5 Bxd5 14.exd5 f6 15.gxf6 Bxf6 16.Na5 Qe8 17.Qb4 Be7 18.Bd3?! Nf4 19.Be4 Nf6 20.Nc6 Nxe4 21.fxe4 Qd7 22.Kb1 Nh3 23.Rhf1 Bg5!? 24.Qa3 Bxe3 25.Qxe3 Nf4 26.h4 Rf7 27.Qa3 Rf6 28.Qa5 Rh6 29.Rh1 Nh3 30.Qb6 Rxh4 31.Nb8 Qe7 32.Rde1 Rh5 (enabling ...Nf4) 33.a3... (This is an important intervening move: protecting the a-file in order to be able to capture Black's pawn a6. Alternatively: 33.Nxa6?! Qa7 34.Qxa7 Rxa7 35.Nb4 Nf4 36.Rxh5 Nxh5 37.Nc6 Ra8 38.b4 Nf6 with little advantages for Black regarding its passed pawns on kingside.) 33...Nf4 34.Rxh5 Nxh5 35.Nxa6 Qa7 (Here I feared a draw and searched deeply but found nothing different.)

36.Qxd6... and offering draw, have a look to right.
I had this position several moves before on board but couldn't find anything avoiding this situation.
Well, Black with a minor up but White's passed pawns are strong of course, and Black had to give back its knight for a pawn, e.g.: 36...Qxa6 37.Qxe5 Nf6 38.d6 Re8 39.Qg3 Rxe4 40.Rxe4 Nxe4 41.d7 Nxg3 42.d8Q+ Kf7
diagram 36.Qxd6...
diagram 43.Qc7+... 43.Qc7+... and White was able to hold a draw yet with perpetual check, have a look to left.  :-/

Again a Sicilian Najdorf game based on modern opening theory and again White was not able to win! On the other side I couldn't gain anything in one of my favourited lines ...

Febr. 6th, 2009

First game finished ... and drawn

Yeah, a first game is finished now:

Keller - Belka
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Be7 9.Qd2 O-O 10.O-O-O Nbd7 11.g4 b5 12.g5 Nh5 13.Nd5 Bxd5 14.exd5 f6 15.g6 hxg6 16.Na5 Qe8 17.Nc6 f5 18.Kb1 Nb8 19.Nxe5 dxe5 20.d6 Nf6 21.dxe7 Qxe7 22.Qg2... (Noomen and Canbaz declared this move as not playable?! Instead 22.c4...) 22...Qf7 23.Rd6... (That I was afraid of. White threats with move repetition.) 23...Qc7 (I analyzed deeply but found nothing different) 24.Rd3... (and indeed ...) 24...Qf7 (What could I do? The only alternative seems to be 24...Nc6 but I fear White had little advantages.)

diagram 25.Rd6 25.Rd6... - have a look to left.
What I was afraid of happened now, Keller offered a draw.
On one hand I was a little bit disappointed about the draw in one of my favourited lines but on the other hand I drew against a very strong player here in my group, this draw increases my rating now.
As expressed before this was apparently my hardest Sicilian

Najdorf game of all three ones so far. And at time I would say White can obviously nothing do, was not able to win in this sharp line?!

And what did my chess fellow say about the whole story?
Keller: "Wie konntest Du "befürchten", dass ich remis anbiete? Hätte ich die Initiative ergreifen können, hätte ich es getan, und Du hättest vielleicht Probleme kriegen können. Da die weiße Stellung absolut nichts mehr hergab, hätten irgendwelche 'Nullzüge' von mir nur die Entwicklung Deines Damenflügels beschleunigt - und warum hätte ich das wollen sollen!?
Im Nachhinein muss ich sagen, dass ich 15.g6 nicht mehr spielen würde!
Ich hatte drei Referenzpartien, die ich wiederlegen wollte (zwei Partien endeten remis und eine gewann Schwarz - allerdings schienen mir die Partieausgänge nicht zwingend), und ich hoffte, Verstärkungen für das weiße Spiel zu finden.
Und die Alternative zu 22.Dg2... war natürlich c4... - aber Du kriegst danach Chancen am Damenflügel, während ich immer noch nicht richtig aktiv werden kann.
Meine "Gewinnabsichten zu Grabe getragen" habe ich erst nach Deinem 23...Dc7 - da lief es dann leider auf eine nahezu unvermeidliche Zugwiederholung hinaus.
Alles in Allem war es eine für mich lehrreiche Partie - das Bauernopfer 15.g6... scheint wirklich nichts zu bringen!"

Interesting, isn't it? Seems I "won" a theoretical dispute ... ;-)

Febr. 3rd, 2009

Snow on the Golan heights and the Scottish

After weeks and months of silence being focussed on playing our game I took an opportunity for chatting a little bit with my grandmaster fellow ... about the weather.  ;-)
In these days we've had snow and coldness what is pretty seldom compared to the past 30 years ago and I asked what is going on in his area. He replied surprisingly: "This year the winter didn't come yet to Tel-Aviv neither snow to the Golan heights. Snow on the Golan heights is a normal issue every year (not this year). In Jerusalem once in two years and it remains only a day." - Wow, that I didn't know. Seems this climate is more an European than an African one ...

And my 'Scottish' against the CC grandmaster?  ;-)

Belka - GM Har-Even
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Nb6 9.Nc3 Qe6 10.Qe4 g6 11.Bd3 Bg7 12.f4 O-O 13.O-O Ba6 14.c5... (my last book move) 14...d5!? (very active, a true grandmaster alike move!) 15.Qe2 Bxd3 16.Qxd3 Nd7 17.Ne2... (A silent attacking move! Black threatens ...g5, very uncomfortable, e.g. 17.Be3 g5 18.g3 gxf4 19.gxf4 f6 20.exf6 Qxf6 21.Kh1 Qf5 with a little advantage for Black.) 17...f6 (A true surprise! I expected 17...Qe8 18.Nd4 Nxc5 19.Qc3 Ne6 20.Nxc6... with tiny advantages for White. Has the grandmaster already analyzed very deeply here? To my analyzing this move means now a forced, very forced transition into an equal ending?!) 18.Nd4... (obviously) 18...Qe8 (Ouch, entirely overseen. I awaited just 18...Qe7 19.Be3 fxe5 20.Nxc6 Qe6 21.Qxd5 Qxd5 22.Ne7+ Kh8 23.Nxd5 exf4 24.Nxf4 Bxb2 25.Rad1...) 19.Nxc6...

19...fxe5 have a look to right.
20.Qxd5+ Kh8 So far this game right now.
And what is better now on a long perspective, 21.g3... or 21.Qc4...? It's a hard to do job yet playing this game ...
diagram 19...fxe5

And what is going on in my 2nd Scottish where I had already been getting into a much promising game?? ;-)

Belka - Laube
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Ba6 9.b3 Qh4?! 10.a3 Bc5 11.g3 Qe7 12.Bb2 Nb6 13.Qc2 f6 14.Bd3 fxe5 15.O-O d5 16.b4 Bd4 17.Bxd4 exd4 18.Nd2 O-O 19.Bxh7+ Kh8 20.Bd3 dxc4 21.Nxc4 Nxc4 22.Bxc4 Bxc4 23.Qxc4... (The big exchanging! But the question is whom would that be helpful to?) 23...Rad8 24.Rad1 Qe4 (24...Qf6 25.Rd2 Rd6 26.Re1 Qf3 27.Qc5... with advantages for White) 25.Rfe1 Qf3 (seems to be suggesting but probably weaker than 25...Qd5) 26.Re2... (Maybe just "jugglery", 26.Rd2... was obviously ... Now it was time to have a look into lines leading to good endgames, maybe I should grasp the "Grundlagen der Schachendspiele" by Müller/Lamprecht?  ;-) I had to analyze very largely.) 26...Qd5?! (Clearly surprising me. I analyzed deeply ...Rd6 and ...Rd5) 27.Rc2 Rfe8?! (Again truly surprising me. What is going on here?? I analyzed e.g. 27...Rf3 28.Qxc6 Qxc6 29.Rxc6 Rxa3 30.Rxc7... etc.) 28.Qxd5... (here I had a clear picture from the endgame reaching) 28...cxd5? (Incredible, a clear weakening of the pawn structure?! Have I missed something here again and again?? I can't believe what I see ...) 29.Rxc7 Re2 (Fastly replied but all I analyzed showed very clear advantages for White.) 30.Rxd4 Rf8 (Laube wrote: "ich merke erst jetzt, dass ich mit 24.Tfd1 statt Tad1 spiele." -- Wow, strange things can happen under our chess heaven ...)

diagram 31.Rf4... 31.Rf4... have a look to left.
That I had already analyzed deeply some moves ago. I'm pretty convinced now that this game is won ...  :-D

Jan. 26th, 2009

My Sicilian Najdorf battles

I think the Sicilian Najdorf opening is one of my favourited lines since the great Spassky-Fisher world championship battle in 1972, and here especially the Poisoned Pawn line. That's why it was clear to me from very beginning of tournament to play that as Black.
And indeed I took the chance 3 times though all games are running the English Attack line. Well, it's clear that this stuff is analyzed largely and very deeply. But I can use a rather modern opening book, and I'll get open positions with their own charm as I love ... :-)

Seelig - Belka
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3... (the English attack) 6...e5 7.Nb3... (the sharper alternative compared to 7.Nf3..., and all opponents went this way) 7...Be6 8.f3 Be7 9.Qd2 O-O 10.O-O-O Nbd7 11.g4 b5 12.g5... (and now a first hard decision: 12...Nh5 or 12...b4, defense or attack? I analyzed most up coming lines for both alternatives shortly and found that 12...Nh5 should be a little bit safer.) 12...Nh5 13.Nd5 Bxd5 14.exd5 f6 15.gxf6 Bxf6 16.Na5 Qe8 (all that just theory, and here I trusted in my book entirely) 17.Qb4 Be7 18.Bd3?!... (first surprise: in my book a not playable move, better 18.Nc6... ?!) 18...Nf4 (attacking white bishop) 19.Be4 Nf6 20.Nc6 Nxe4 21.fxe4 Qd7 22.Kb1 Nh3 23.Rhf1... (Sedat Canbaz advises 23.Rdf1...) 23...Bg5!? (Canbaz' recommendation and my decision just from belly: active play!) 24.Qa3... (immediately replied but not recommended by Canbaz, instead of 24.Bxg5 Nxg5 25.h4...) 24...Bxe3 25.Qxe3 Nf4 26.h4... (Again not recommended by Canbaz. Whether my opponent doesn't know his book using only game archives?) 26...Rf7 (Until here I followed known recommendations from my books but now I deviated from advised 26...Rf6 after some analyzing: I wish to avoid manoeuvres as ...Rf6-Rf7) 27.Qa3... (again not the best I would say, better 27.Qb6 Qc7) 27...Rf6 (LOL I wished to avoid such short-stepping moves but White's riposte enables a new idea hunting for the h-pawn.) 28.Qa5 Rh6 29.Rh1 Nh3 30.Qb6... (that was a long walk for White's queen getting to b6) 30...Rxh4 31.Nb8... (a strange square for White's knight, isn't it?!)

diagram 31...Qe7 31...Qe7  and again a very sharp position, have a look to left.
Now we're getting slowly but steadily into deeper waters, all bridges for running back are broken ...

The 2nd game in this regard is the game against Kizimenko following the Seelig game till move 19.

Kizimenko - Belka
[...] 20.Kb1... (Not in my books, and not a single reference in my gm archives. I expected 20.Nc6...) 20...Nxe4 (Canbaz' recommendation I'm following here: a strong bishop less threatening my king's pawn shelter) 21.fxe4 Qd7

22.Nc6...  have a look to right.
Well, pretty similar to my Seelig game though deviating in move 20. The main differences: both sides have a bishop yet and the material is equal. All in all this game is harder to play than the Seelig game.
The main moves now are 22...Nh3 and 22...Bh4. But what happens when White captures my bishop on e7 is still unclear ...
diagram 22.Nc6...

And my 3rd Sicilian Najdorf adventure is the game against Keller deviating from the first ones in move 15 ...

Keller - Belka
[...] 15.g6... (the other games went on with 15.gxf6...) 15...hxg6 16.Na5 Qe8 17.Nc6... (an alternative was 17.Rg1...) 17...f5 (here the book authors have different opinions: 17...Bd8 or 17...f5 ? I went for the more active alternative allowing ...Nf6 again) 18.Kb1 Nb8 (again different opinions on that by the book authors?! Noomen favourited this move but Canbaz flagged with an '?!' And in fact there are 4 moves to analyze: Nb8, Kh7, Bd8 and Qf7) 19.Nxe5 dxe5 20.d6...

diagram 20...Nf6 20...Nf6  have a look to left.
Now I'm gaining from my previous ...f5, and I trust in my book again.
No doubt this is the hardest and sharpest game of all three ones. But all my analyzing tiil move 29 shows about equal chances. I have a good feeling ...

Jan. 17th, 2009

A smoking signal "from the past"

An e-mail came in today, from a chess fellow of my preliminary group, the Blackmar-Diemer hero Thoralf Wecke telling that he's watching my today's tournament because he's playing against one of my today's opponents in the Support for Africa tournament group 12 , too - Michael Fuhr.
He was interested in my game standings, asking the question whether I'm playing again a BDG game. And in this regard I had a look into our tournament table on the ICCF server after a longer time again and was astonished that about a dozen of games were finished in the meantime. The most ones were drawn just a single was decided.

Jan. 15th, 2009

My single French ...

After some time it has been become clear what opening lines we're getting in, see my little overview.
And my game against Zill is the only French. But this game got into an open position as I love with some attacking chances, too!  :-)

Belka - Zill
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3... (3.Nd2... is a modern idea) 3...Nf6 4.Bg5... (4.e5... is an alternative) 4...dxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.Nf3 Nd7 (and now a first decisive situation) 8.Qd2... (another important continuations were 8.Bc4... and 8.c3... but I prefer to prepare a long castling and possible pawn storming on the king side) 8...O-O 9.O-O-O Be7 10.Bd3 c5 (this deviates from my books, and not a single gm game reference under more than 4,000 recent gm games?!) 11.Nxc5 Nxc5 12.dxc5 Qc7 (Bareev chose 12...Qd5 in a game against Topalov in 2003 but lost in move 48) 13.h4... (surely the most active continuation) 13...Bxc5 (and out of all books, known continuations are ...Rd8, ...a5 and ...Qxc5)

14.h5... just consistently following my idea to attack the enemy king.
Now I expect 14...h6 and plan to go with 15.g4... - that's the idea, have a look to right. And that's a situation I like ...  ;-)
White with a tiny advantage regarding development ...
diagram 15.g4...

Dec. 26th, 2008

A tactical break

Well, at the end of November it became a little bit strenuous, several games were hard to handle. That's why I decided to take a break of tactical reasons only, and for the whole December. Much time for analyzing.
The time has been left and I didn't do anything in this regard. Much time taken for my web projects, for a chess software (engine) development project, for chess software beta testing etc.
It's time to do something for my CC tournament now!

Nov. 30th, 2008

My dream came true!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I had much luck and got a CC grandmaster in my group!! The first time I've been able to play a CC grandmaster in my life ...  :-))

Belka - GM Har-Even
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6... (the Mieses line again as in the Laube game) 5...bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Nb6 (deviating here from my Laube game) 9.Nc3 Qe6 10.Qe4 g6 (rarely played but obviously solid) 11.Bd3 Bg7 12.f4 O-O 13.O-O Ba6 (and now on very rare tracks but actively played) 14.c5... (with far reaching consequences but maybe the only alternative for active play)

14...d5 have a look to right. Yes, again actively played. And now a sharp position was reached.
Here I should "take a break" for longer analyzing ...
diagram 14...d5

And here unbelievable I took my 3rd chance for playing the Zvjagincev system! ;-)

Belka - Kuzaj
1.e4 c5 2.Na3 Nc6 3.Bb5... (recommended) 3...Nf6 (and out of all 'books') 4.d3... (trying to keep f4...) 4...g6 5.f4... (on purpose played though 5.Nf3... was a little bit stronger but keeping some initiative maybe) 5...Bg7 6.Nf3 O-O 7.O-O...

diagram 7...d5 7...d5 have a look to left.
The 3rd Zvjagincev and a 3rd different being position reached in the opening. Also here some deeper analyzing is needed ...

Nov. 26th, 2008

My 2nd Zvjagincev system trial

Yeah, I'm crazy to play that strange Sicilian Zvjagincev system in a such tournament! That is my 2nd trial, against my Bulgarian opponent:

Belka - Minchev
1.e4 c5 2.Na3 g6 (already differing from my Karg game) 3.c3 Bg7 4.d3 Nc6 5.f4... (that's the move I missed two years ago but didn't forget it) 5...d5 (a move with far reaching intention - now the position will be opened) 6.Be2 dxe4 7.dxe4 Qxd1+ (that's why 6.Be2...) 8.Bxd1...

diagram 8...Nf6 8...Nf6 - have a look to left.
That is a truly different position as reached in the Karg game, much more opened ...
And maybe there is something hidden here? ;-)

Well, I was a little bit day-dreaming regarding the chess olympiad in our country. Surely the last chance to me in my life to experience a such event in my home. That's why I decided for an one day travel to Dresden very shortly. Yesterday was the last day playing the last round, and so I jumped into my car and went to Dresden.
Wow what a feeling - more than 1,500 humans in a single room, about 1,000 top rated players from all over the world! And I could see them all being very close to them!!
And what I won't forget for a long time was a drama which ran directly in front of me: Ivanchuk lost his game against Kamsky unexpectedly, was getting up, closed his eyes, covered his face with the hands and was obviously very heatedly ...

Nov. 21st, 2008

Maybe the sun is already raising?

My game against Laube is the game with biggest progress. And this Scottish fulfilled all my expectations so far creating an open game with pretty good own chances.

Belka - Laube
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Ba6 9.b3 Qh4?! 10.a3 Bc5 11.g3 Qe7 (ahh - the first chance is gone, 11...Bxf2+ 12.Qxf2 Qe4+ was have been nice!) 12.Bb2 Nb6 13.Qc2 f6 (yeah, there is some exciting on board. Black tries to get some initiative) 14.Bd3 fxe5 15.O-O d5 16.b4... (and now White's riposte) 16...Bd4 17.Bxd4 exd4 18.Nd2 O-O 19.Bxh7+... (this game is truly lively!) 19...Kh8 20.Bd3 dxc4

21.Nxc4... have a look at right.
White already with some advantages due to Black's doubled pawns, isolated pawns and a weakened king's pawn shield.
But the open files work for both sides, all is possible ...
diagram 21.Nxc4...

Nov. 20th, 2008

Missing two players yet

Well, most games are running already, differently fast running but running. But there were two players yet I didn't get any smoking signal until today. I e-mailed to arbiter Moedl but he didn't know anything more than me ...
But today they came in, 5 days after starting date. One of both apologized his delay with being away in Dresden, the chess olympiad! Wow, in anyway I forgot that big event in my home ...

Nov. 9th, 2008

First thrilling moments

As already mentioned a well-known guy from the preliminary round is playing again here, Karg. And we're playing with same colour again and I forced to play the same 'strange' opening again: Zvjagincev system!
Karg: "Wie in drei Gottes Namen bist Du auf diese Eröffnung gekommen. Habe im Internet recherschiert. Ist sehr selten." That was intended, of course ... :-)

Belka - Karg
1.e4 c5 2.Na3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 (deviating from our game two years ago) 4.d3 g6 5.c3 Bg7 6.f4 O-O 7.Nf3 Qc7 8.O-O a6

diagram 9.Ba4... 9.Ba4... and again a very unusual position.
Here there are not long lines being already analyzed deeply. It will need a careful treatment. Truly exciting circumstances from very beginning ...

Another game with an exciting position very early is the game against Laube favouriting my Scotch ;-)

Belka - Laube
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6... (the Mieses line) 5...bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Ba6 (here I did expect ...Nb6) 9.b3... So far we followed a well-known theory path but now my opponent surprised with an unclear riposte ...

9...Qh4?! I mean a too early queen move without any power.
10.a3 Bc5 And Laube here: "Kennst Du dieses Eröffnungssystem? Für mich ist es absolutes Neuland." Huch? Laube is a strong player accordingly his rating and his successfully played tournaments last. Should he really doesn't know the Scotch game??
diagram 9...Qh4?!

11.g3!?... A fine move looking simple but powerful! If Black should grasp now White's f-pawn then White would be able to get into many much promising lines, an exciting situation waiting for Black's answer ...

Nov. 7th, 2008

Sicilian adventures ...

Wow, within a few days some guys started their games against me, long before the official start date, and partly fastly running due to well-known opening theory.
So for example my games against Seelig and Keller as following:

Keller - Belka
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3... (the English attack) 6...e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Be7 9.Qd2 O-O
All that pretty fast and unisono. And against Seelig even faster:

Seelig - Belka
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3... (the English attack) 6...e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Be7 9.Qd2 O-O 10.O-O-O Nbd7 11.g4 b5

We've reached a modern and very aggressive position, and that already before the tournament started?! ;-)
Both sides very aggressive with the only intention to win. The game starts now!
diagram 11...b5

Oct. 31st, 2008

First opponent is e-mailing

No time for long pondering, the first opponent comes in! 8-)
This time I didn't get much into opening preparations. My big goals are just Sicilian Zvjagincev system and Scottish as White player and Sicilian Najdorf, Schara-Hennig gambit and Benoni defence (Geier) as Black player. Apart from that I trust my current opening book ...
And searching for my opponents in the web I noticed that most of them are playing a whole bunch of games in several tournaments in parallel - a better chance to me while being able to focus on just this tournament?! ;-)

Oct. 30th, 2008

Information on my tournament group comes in!

Yeah - post from tournament director telling who are my opponents. And a dream came true: under my 14 (!) opponents is a CC grandmaster!! :-))
Well, 10 German players but also 4 players from Bulgaria, Belarus, Russia and Israel. And an opponent again I played already in my preliminary round group - Karg.
That will be a big job playing against 14 opponents in parallel, and starting time Nov. 15th...

Oct. 21st, 2008

A smoking signal from Andrey?!

What a surprise, a smoking signal from Andrey, one of my opponents in the preliminary round. I didn't hear anything from him for about a year?!
It's always good to hear from friends and he could tell that he was qualified additionally to the semi-finals due to other players' refusal. I'll have a look on his group from time to time watching what he is doing ... ;-)

Oct. 9th, 2008

What the hell should I play??

At any time and just accidently a thought came to my mind: what to hell can I play? What openings are playable nowadays? Huch ... and rather spontaneously I thought of Stefan Bücker, editor of the well-known German chess magazine 'Kaissiber'. He is an experienced guy on this field for long times and I should drop an e-mail to him ...
And he replied immediately. His recommendations: Sicilian Najdorf, Sicilian Basman-Sale variant (e4 c5 Nf3 e6 d4 cd4 Nd4 Bc5), Dutch defense, Schara-Hennig gambit (d2-d4 d7-d5 c2-c4 e7-e6 Sb1-c3 c7-c5 c4xd5 c5xd4) and Benoni defense (Geier d4 c5 d5 Nf6 c4 Ne4) as Black and Sicilian Grand Prix variant (e4 c5 Nc3 e6 f4 by Jones) and Center game as White ...

Sept. 22nd, 2008

It goes on!

After a very long waiting for any smoking signal over nine months, wishing to play on the next stage having qualified for already on Dec. 2007 finally today an e-mail came in from the tournament director requesting a confirmation for taking part in the semi-finals! I took a long breath and e-mailed immediately my confirmation ...
All the time I refused any opportunities for playing any tournaments in order to be ready for THIS big adventure and now I could start maybe already on Nov. 1st!