The Corus Tournament

Margriet and I are playing in the Corus tournament.
We play 9 games G/120+60 round robin.
Total amount of players is about 650 for the 9 round event.
Here you can find the results every day.
I'm in groep 5F and Margriet is in groep 8B
Please respect privacy.

Continuous update.
Day 9.
I had a beautiful win with white against 1738. The whole week he had played 1. ... e5, but since he knew I'm a king's gambit player he decided to play the Pirc. He had better not!! I played my home-made attack which I developed years ago. I invested an exchange and a knight in a crushing attack. He had to give a bishop and a rook back to prevent mate, but at a certain moment he was two pieces behind. For some reason he didn't resign and I lured him in two other tricks, which handed me his last pieces. So I was a rook, two knights, a bishop and a few pawns up, but he kept playing. Some people really have difficulty to say farewell to a point. Maybe he waited for my cellphone to beep?
Anyway, we had a wild game with castling and attacking on opposite wings.
I'm too tired now, but I will post the game tomorrow.
These are the games where all my efforts reap fruits. Razor sharp crushing of opponents who hadn't estimated my attack so dangerous. That's what I'm doing it for! I suggest that all you Pirc players out there have a close look at the game when I post it to see what NOT to do in the Pirc!!
Margriet drew her game.

Day 8.
I played the Portugese gambit against 1772. My opponent declined and managed to make the game very dull. Draw.
Margriet lost with a king's gambit.

Day 7.
The first 6 days of a tournament you exchange viruses with the group, so after the restday an amazing amount of people had caught a cold or the sniffles:)
Margriet and I weren't 100% either, but we felt luckily not too bad.
My opponent of today (1627) was promoted to this group last year. So far he had lost all his six games. He played 1.Nc3. It costed me 19 moves to deliver his 7th zero. That guy has a looong tournament!
Margriet tried the dutch defense for the first time but got so entangled that she lost a rook.

Day 6.
I played the Alapin against 1717. Since I don't feel comfortable with too much pawns on the board I sac'd one (DIY-gambit). I thought my opponent would give it back at a certain moment, but he decided to keep it. He was very surprised by the following crushing attack. In the end I had two connected pawns more, ready to run for promotion. So I declined his draw offer.
I had a little time trouble, but not so much as my opponent.
I got greedy and took a pawn to much. That was a tactical error, so my knight disappeared from the board. Even with one knight behind, I stood still better. But the psychological blow of the blunder made that I didn't see the mate in one delivered to me. A silly way to lose a point!
Margriet was one pawn behind the whole game, but managed to keep the balance after six(!) hours of play.

Temposchlucker: 5/9
Sacrificed by Tempo:
Pawns: 6
Exchange: 1
Bishop: 3
Knight: 3
Rook: 1
By opp:
Knight: 1
Bishop: 2



Margriet: 3.5/9
Sacrificed by Margriet:
Pawns: 4
Exchange: 2
Knight: 1
Queen: 1
By opp: -

Who said tactics and sacrifices don't occur in a game?

Day 5.
I played with black the Fajarowicz against 1729. It was again a very wild game. He hadn't the courage to take my two times sacrificed bishop. The sacrifices helped me to trade off pieces on my own terms, so he got a double isolani. That was enough compensation for my gambit pawn. So I could easely hold the balance in the following endgame with knight vs bishop: draw.
Margriet lost her Kings gambit. No comments, no flowers, no visiting.

Day 4.
I had an extremely wild game playing the King's gambit against 1759, an expert of the Falkbeer countergambit. After we mutually sacrificed two pieces each, all pieces were traded off, leaving us with an endgame with bishops of opposite colors: draw.
Margriet withstanded an heavy attack, losing one pawn.
But she got tired and blundered at her endgame with bishops of opposite colors: lost.

See here a video of Yasser Seirawan from behind the scenes at Corus.

Day 3.
I played with black the Dutch defense against 1743.
It was hefty manoeuvring but I got the bishop pair plus the possibility to open up the closed position. We were both in time trouble. I managed to lure him in a hard to see trick and he lost his queen for a knight. The moment I made the 40th move within the time limit, he resigned.
Margriet played the Alapin against 1464 and won the exchange with a good combination. After the first time control she got tired and blundered her rook away. Her opponent thought she would queen first and offered a draw.
She accepted immediately since she eveluated her position as lost. Once she showed him how he could have won he was assured of a bad evening.:)

Day 2.
I was tactically outplayed by 1795. I played the Alapin. Later he told me he was 100 points underrated. I'm more than happy to believe him. . .
Margriet played with black an Icelandic gambit against 1485 and won a rook, lost a knight, sacrificed the exchange and won the queen.

Day 1.
Today january 20th we played our first game.
The main playing hall is rather psychedelic this year.
Margriet played with white against 1402 and had a walkover with a King's gambit.
I played with black an Icelandic gambit with a lot of pressure.
I sacrificed a rook which gave me my pawn back in the end with equal position.
He didn't see it coming.