Brain Explosion

In a won endgame, I suddenly picked up a pawn and lost. Having touched the pawn, I had to take it and that, unfortunately, lost me a piece! Have you ever had one of those situations when you calculate a line and, for some reason, your brain somehow just latches on to it? No matter that the situation has changed, your thinking and, therefore, your muscles still follow that line in your head. This is exactly what happened to me yesterday against former world title contender, Jose Escribano.

There is no point seeing the game as I am too distraught. It's a miracle I can still manage to post.

I leave you instead a fine game by current New South Wales state champ, Andrew Bird. He and his opponent, Herman Rachmadi, are following the game Vallejo Pons - Kasparov, Linares 2005, until Rachmadi deviated with the novelty, 12. Bb4.

City of Sydney 2006
Bird, Andrew
Rachmadi, Herman
D21

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 e6 3. c4 dxc4 4. e4 b5 5. a4 c6 6. axb5 cxb5 7. b3 Bb7 8. bxc4 Bxe4 9. cxb5 Nf6 10. Be2 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. Nc3 Bb4 (12... Bb7 13. Bf4 Bb4 14. Na4 Nbd7 15. Qb3 Nd5 16. Bg5 Be7 17. Bd2 a6 18. b6 Bc6 19. Ne5 Nxe5 20. dxe5 Nxb6 21. Nxb6 Qxd2 22. Nxa8 Qxe2 23. Nc7 Qxe5 24. Qg3 Qf5 25. Rxa6 Be4 26. Ra7 Bc5 27. Ra5 Bxf2+ 28. Qxf2 Qxa5 29. Nxe6 Bxg2 { 0-1 Vallejo Pons,F (2686)-Kasparov,G (2804)/Linares ESP 2005}) 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. Qc2 Nf6 15. Bg5 Be7 16. Bd3 Nbd7 17. Ne5 Bd6 18. Bxh7+ Kh8 19. Be4 Rc8 20. Qd3 g6 21. Nxd7 Bxh2+ 22. Kh1 Ng4 23. Bxd8 Rfxd8 24. Qh3+ 1-0

A view of the Open Section.

On board 1, Xie defeated Neil Wright. The same-coloured bishop endgame was difficult for black and Xie eventually won. The timely 56. b6! was the important breakthrough.

City of Sydney 2006
Xie, George
Wright, Neil
C41

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. dxe5 Nxe4 5. Qd5 Nc5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. exd6 cxd6 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. a3 Be6 10. Qd2 d5 11. O-O-O Ne4 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Nd4 O-O 15. Nxc6 bxc6 16. Qe3 f5 17. f3 Rad8 18. Be2 Bd5 19. Qc3 Rd7 20. Kb1 Rfd8 21. Rde1 Qg5 22. Rhg1 Qh4 23. Qe5 Qf6 24. Qxf6 gxf6 25. f4 Be6 26. Kc1 Kf8 27. Rd1 Ke7 28. Rxd7+ Rxd7 29. Rd1 Rb7 30. b3 c5 31. Kb2 Rd7 32. Rxd7+ Kxd7 33. b4 Kd6 34. c4 Bf7 35. Kb3 Be8 36. Kc3 Kc6 37. Kd2 Bf7 38. h3 Kb6 39. g4 Be6 40. Ke3 Kc6 41. gxf5 Bxf5 42. Bg4 Bg6 43. f5 Bf7 44. Be2 a5 45. b5+ Kd6 46. Kxe4 Be8 47. Bf3 Bf7 48. Kd3 Kc7 49. Be2 Be8 50. Ke3 Bf7 51. Kd3 Be8 52. Bf3 Bf7 53.Bd5 Bh5 54. Ke4 h6 55. Bg8 Kd6 56. b6 Kc6 57. b7 Kxb7 58. Kd5 Be2 59. Kxc5 Bd3 60. Be6 1-0

And on board 2, Laura Moylan justified her board 3 selection for the women's Olympiad team by downing the strong Tomek Rej. I have the game with me but Laura has made a special request not to publish it. This is for security reasons, I suppose; that is, to avoid Olympiad opponents from preparing against her. We cannot even name the opening system. I'm guessing that her arsenal has been through a massive overhaul at the Sydney Academy of Chess. One can only imagine the fearsome firepower that she has in store for her opponents!

WIM Laura Moylan, seen here playing against Tomek Rej

One more game, from the u1700 section. Tracey, playing black, looked to be doing alright. He then overpressed and forgot all about the knight on f6 .

City of Sydney 2006
Christensen, J.
Tracey, M.
B01

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bc4 c6 5. dxc6 Nxc6 6. d4 e6 7. Nf3 Rc8 8. Bb3 Na5 9. c3 Nxb3 10. Qxb3 Bc6 11. Qd1 h6 12. O-O Bd6 13. b3 Bb8 14. Ba3 g5 15. Ne5 Qc7 16. g3 h5 17. Nd2 g4 18. Ndc4 Qd8 19. Nxc6 Rxc6 20. Qd3 h4 21. Rae1 Qd5 22. Nd2 Qh5 23. Re2 hxg3 24. fxg3 b5 25. Rxf6 Ra6 26. Bc5 Qd5 27. Qxb5+ 1-0

Finally, Peter Parr made a special visit to the tournament venue today issuing gift certificates to some players. (Actually, I guess it must have been to everyone since the special gift of a glass chess set was for the first 100 entries, but there are only 44 players!) I will be redeeming my reward tomorrow and I will report on what it's like.

More pictures in my flickr account.