City of Sydney - Round 5

Among Australia's young talents, Raymond Song can be rightly considered the uber junior. As if we all need reminding of that equal first finish in the World U10 at the World Youth Championships in Greece. Since then, his strength has increased markedly.

Last Sunday, however, he got lucky. Robert Hvistendahl played a fantastic Black side of the Sicilian as if like a GM possessed. But, at the most crucial moment, he misplayed his position, lost a piece and, to top it all off, came within two moves of being mated. There was no choice but to resign.

City of Sydney 2006
Song, Raymond
Hvistendahl, Robert
B94

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. f4 b5 8. Qf3 Bb7 9. Bd3 e6 10. O-O-O Qb6 11. Nb3 b4 12. Ne2 Be7 (12... d5 is normal.) 13. g4 a5 14. Kb1 a4 15. Nd2 Nc5 16. Nc4 Qc7 17. Ng3 d5! 18. Nd2

After 18. Nd2

18...O-O (After the game, we were looking at the possibilities with b4-b3 18... b3 19. cxb3 dxe4 (19... axb3 20. Nxb3 Nxd3 21. Qxd3) 20. Ngxe4 (20. Bb5+ Kf8!) 20...Nfxe4 21. Bxe4 Nxe4 22. Nxe4 axb3 23. axb3 (23. Rc1 bxa2+ 24. Ka1) 23... f5!) 19. e5 Ne8? (19... d4 20. Nde4 Nfxe4) 20. Bxe7 Qxe7 21. Rhe1 f6? (Hvistendahl should prefer 21... Nc7 in order to connect the rooks immediately.) 22. exf6 Rxf6 23. g5 Rf8 24. Qg4 Qf7 (24... b3 25. a3 bxc2+ 26. Bxc2 g6) 25. f5 exf5 26. Qxb4 Nxd3 27. cxd3 f4?? 28. Re7 Qg6 29. Qxb7 Rd8 30. Ngf1 Qxd3+ 31. Ka1 a3 32. bxa3 Kh8 33. Rde1 Nd6 34. Qb3 Qd4+ 35. Qb2 Nf5 36. Qxd4 Nxd4 37. Kb2 Rb8+ 38. Nb3 Nf3 39. Rd1 d4 40. a4 Nxg5 41. Rxd4 f3 42. Rdd7 g6 43. h4 1-0


On the other hand, WIM Laura Moylan had a terrible time on Sunday. She was ill and came close to forfeiting her game. But our heroine opted to play reasoning that she didn't want to lose two points to George Xie. This is because she may yet have been repaired with Xie at a later round.

During her game, and between moves, Laura was seen rolling around on a couch. She was clearly sick and really had no business crossing swords with a powerhouse.

City of Sydney 2006
Xie, George
Moylan, Laura
B23

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Bc4 e6 5. Nge2 Nf6 6. O-O a6 7. a4 d5 8. exd5 exd5 9. Ba2 Ne6 10. d4 c4 11. b3 cxb3 12. Bxb3 Bd6!? A new move. 13. Nxd5 Bxh2+ (13... Nxd5 14. Bxd5 Bxh2+ 15. Kxh2 Qxd5 16. Ba3) 14. Kxh2 Nxd5 15. Ba3 Nef4 16. Nxf4 Nxf4 17. g3 Qg5 18. Qf3! (18. gxf4 Qxf4+ leads to a perpetual.) 18... Qh6+ 19. Kg1 g5 20. Rfe1+ Kd8 21. gxf4 gxf4 22. Qd5+ Bd7 23. Re7 Rg8+ 24. Kf1 Qh3+ 25. Ke2 f3+ 26. Kd2 Rg2 27. Qa5+ Kc8 28. Kc3 Rxf2 29. Bd6 Rxc2+ 30. Bxc2 f2+ 31. Kb2 1-0

City of Sydney 2006
Wright, Neil
Xie, Ken
B10

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Ne5 Nd7 5. d4 Nxe5 6. dxe5 e6 7. Bd3 Bc5 8. Qg4 Ne7 9. Bg5 Qc7 10. O-O Ng6 11. Bxg6 hxg6 12. Bf4 Bd4 13. Qe2 Bd7 14. c3 Bb6 15. Nd2 Rc8 16. Rac1 Bc6 17. c4 Qd7 18. Rfd1 O-O 19. b4 Ba4 20. Nb3 a5 21. c5 Ba7 22. Rc3 axb4 23. Rh3 Bxb3 24. axb3 Bxc5 25. g4 f5 26. Rg3 Bb6 27. Be3 f4 28. Bxb6 fxg3 29. hxg3 Rc3 30. Rd4 Qc6 31. Rxb4 Rc1+ 32. Kg2 d4+ 33. f3 Rc2 0-1

Exactly as I'd expected, I had a terrible time against my opponent, Tomek Rej. But you know, I'm going to make an excuse. On Saturday, I spent the better part of the afternoon at a modified motor vehicles autoshow. I love cars. Life is nothing without them. Not! I lie, of course. I was there for this. Bad idea. My mind was never on the job.


City of Sydney 2006
Rej, Tomek
Rosario, Amiel
D06

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d5? The first mistake, hence the '?'. For the past two days I'd set my mind on the Budapest Faj. I noticed that Rej doesn't seem to handle complexity very well, from a time management perspective. And so I looked for a system that could be new to him and which was also in keeping with my temperament. However, at the board I suddenly decided to play d7-d5. This shift changed my own psychological mindset from one of being prepared to the one being surprised. 3. cxd5 This move just made it worse! Now, I had to think. Lesson learnt: stick to your plan! 3...Nxd5 4. Nf3 c6 5. e4 Nf6 6. Nc3 e6 7. Bg5 Qa5?! Bugger it, I thought. Let's have fun. 8. Bd3 Nbd7 9. O-O h6 10. Bd2 Qd8 11. Qe2 Be7 12. Rfe1 g5? 13. d5 Nc5 14. Bc4 b5 15. b4 bxc4 16. bxc5 cxd5 17. exd5 Bxc5 18. Qxc4 Qb6? 19. Be3? (I thought the following was stronger. 19. Na4! Bxf2+ 20. Kf1! Ba6 21. Nxb6 Bxc4+ 22. Kxf2 axb6 23. Bc3 and White is clearly better.) 19... Bxe3 20. Rxe3 O-O 21. Rb1 exd5?? 22. Rxb6 Oops! 1-0

Other results:

Ingram - Rachmadi, 1-0
Bleicher - Barrera, 1-0
Zirdum - Chernih, 0-1
Bolens - Halpin, 0-1

More photos in my flickr account.