NSW Championships - Round 2

Travelling to West Ryde by bus is always the preferred mode of transport. It's fast and easy. But this afternoon, FM Canfell and myself were seated right across the man himself - Johnny Bolens. It was the longest bus ride of our lives. Anyway, thank God Almighty, we reached the venue with our sanity still intact.

Despite a slightly weakish field this year, the top section round robin still manages to demand the best from the participants. On board 4, the all Pinoy duel, Cabilin - Capilitan, was a hard fight with the latter eventually winning. And in Song - Reitmans, the young dynamo pushed and prod here and there until finally, Reitmans took a simple misstep and lost. Over on board 3, Canfell shot down the Israeli newcomer, Atzman-Simon.

But today, Max Fuller had an easy afternoon. By the time Canfell was finishing off his game, Max was already into his third schooner of beer! Max's opponent, Mendes Da Costa, turned up an hour late and thus forfeited the game. To Da Costa's credit, he took the situation quite sportingly and shook Max's hand saying, "Good game", and went home.

A view of the lower section.

The first game I present is the board 1 match-up, Song - Reitmans. It seems a simple affair with Song playing one-move threats throughout. I couldn't see how such a strategy would suffice against Reitmans' calibre. On move 24, Black should probably have played 24...g6 and neutralise any back rank threats immediately. Sadly for Reitmans - he was too slow to properly coordinate his pieces and lost the Bishop.

2005 NSW Championships
Song, Raymond
Reitmans, Quinton
C11

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qd2 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Bc5 10. O-O-O Nxd4 11. Bxd4 O-O 12. Bxc5 Nxc5 13. Bd3 b5 14. Qf2 Qc7 15. Qh4 f5 16. exf6 Nxd3+ 17. Rxd3 Rxf6 18. Ne2 b4 19. Rh3 Rh6 20. Qg5 Rxh3 21. gxh3 Qb6 22. Rg1 Ra7 23. Qh5 Qe3+ 24. Kb1 Bd7 25. Qg5 Be8 26. Nc1 Bg6 27. Qg3 Qd2 28. f5 e5 29. fxg6 Rc7 30. gxh7+ Kh8 31. Qg6 e4 32. Rg2 Qd1 33. Qd6 Rf7 34. Qe6 Qh5 35. Rf2 1-0