Saturday, January 20, 2007

Corus update

Sixth game 3.5/6
Today I played the fourth Scandinavian of this tourney against the highest rated and top-placed player of the pack. After long manoeuvring he was slightly better but in heavy time trouble. He offered a draw( the first draw offer in these six games from both me and my opponents!) which I happily accepted. I haven't been in time trouble in a single game. What a relief!
Tomorrow we have a rest day.

Fifth game 3/5
Today I played the kings gambit with the white pieces. He decided to get me out of book with the Nimzowitch countergambit. What he didn't know is that, however it is seldom played, I have a 100% score against the Nimzo. He thought that if he was out of book in this rare variation, I would be too. Which was not the case. When I was out of book I played a nice trick which costed him a full rook. So he resigned at move 11. You can find the game here.

Fourth game 2/4
I blundered my queen away at move 12. I had a great positional overview of the game today. But when my mind is in positional mode, I don't see tactics. Like the guided pattern recognition.
Interesting phenomenon. S**t happens.

Third game 2/3
Today I played the Grand Prix attack with white (1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.f4)
Arena says sometimes it is a Closed Sicilian though.
Allthough I know only these 3 moves plus two idea's from this opening (trade kings-bishop against queens-knight and start a kingside attack with Qe1) I already play it with confidence. White has most of the times a long lasting initiative.
I noticed that my opponents brain got paralyzed in quiet positions (same problem I used to have myself in the past) so I refused to open up the position. At a certain moment I had an hour more on the clock, highly unusual for me! Amazing to see that his mind went in overdrive while I did just little moves to improve my position and to activate my pieces bit by bit. When you have no clue, you can think untill the cows come home. When he had only 2 minutes for 10 moves, I decided to open up the position to complicate matters for him. In those 2 minutes he lost the exchange, a knight and his queen for my bishop and rook. He even got sentenced by the arbiter with two time penalties because he twice made an illegal move. At move 39 he resigned. An easy win.




















Second game 1/2
In my second game I had black again and played the Scandinavian.
Same trouble.
The problem is that every now and then I flick in a wild move in play that is basically positional. That's not a good idea.
But of course I have that rocket launcher in my backpack: tactics!
After his attack at the queenside grinded to a hold, I forcefully opened the position, sacced a rook and mated him in five.
Maybe I should adopt a new opening against e4. The French? Caro Kann?

First game 0/1.

In the early morning I got a call: our driver was ill and wasn't going to Corus.
Panic! Luckily we found another driver and car for the first 3 days. So I have some time to arrange transportation for the next 6 days.
Since we had a heavy storm, I had to replace 6 roofing-tiles before we could leave for Corus.
Pweww.
In my first game I played a Scandinavian with black. It revealed that my openings aren't very suited for positional play. So I got a very cramped position. After I freed myself, I was two pawns down. Still it costed him 30 moves to get me on my knees in the remaining rook ending.
So finally I get some endgame experience!
My usual time trouble seems to have vanished since I have no longer problems to find moves when there are no tactics. I'm very happy with that!

17 comments:

  1. Please don't start playing the French. That will only encourage J'adoube.

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  2. good luck. best regards!

    im only through, up to round 5 in the gm round, will view round 6 in a few minutes, then tomorrow morning r7, then in the night, r8.

    im glad to see topy winning again, and big bad vlad in form.

    id love to hear more.

    96.0% soon at CTS.

    dk

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  3. Do you play the standard Scandinavian (2....Qxd5) or the Icelandic-ish 2....Nf6? I've long wondered whether Nf6 is defensible.

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  4. Congratulations on another win!
    I see you are tied for first with 2 points.

    Tell Margriet to hang in there.

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  5. Don't forget about the Accelerated Dragon or the Taimanov.

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  6. Blue,
    the problem with J'adoube is that he thinks he can become a chess-adult without having a chess-youth. It's just common stubborn puberal behaviour to think that you can avoid the road of the grey mass and to think that you can do without the youth-sin of gambit play. He will grow over it though, some day:)

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  7. UPK,
    I play 2. ... Nf6 for four years now. It is very well playable, but you must not play it half-heartedly. That means, sac a few pawns, castle on opposite wings and throw the sink at your opponent. Not recommended for learning the subtleties of positional play though.

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  8. may the spirit of madam ouspensky, george gurdjieff, jg bennet, orage, rodney colin, all the initiates permeate your obligonian striving! voluntary and necessary suffering! the illusion on earth of control! identification! ... "self delight in a harsh world". entertainment. fun. leisure! gladness and fulfillment!

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  9. Hmmm, I'd like to see some of your games then. What do you do in response to 3.d4 ? Do you play 3....Bg4 ?

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  10. Grand Prix

    I recently started playing the grand prix too. The attack resulting from the position is awesome.

    :)

    We await seeing your games

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  11. Go Tempo! Go! Great to see you are having success. One day I'd like to go to Corus. It appears to be a very special event.

    Anyway, keep fighting, and keep us posted.

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  12. UPK,
    yes I play the Portugese Gambit.
    1.e4 d5 2.exd4 Nf6 3.d4 Bg4
    4.f3 (only way to keep the pawn)Bf5
    5.Bb5+ Nbd7 6.c4 a6 7.Bxd7 (7.Ba4 b5) Qxd7 8.Ne2 e6 to blast the center open and exploit the lead in development.

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  13. Well done Tempo, 2/3 is okay. Your first game report reminds me of similar situations I suffered. I also get nervous if I have no active play. Surely you paid too much for getting counterplay, maybe it would have been better to just wait until more wood has disappeared and more air was to breathe. We have a player at our club who always wants you to attack him, he only waits and lures for a possibility to strike back. And he wins many games with this strategy.

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  14. Great job winning with the GPA. I have also noticed that Sicilian players simply hate it. Buah ha ha ha!

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  15. Oops Tempo, I know quite well how this feels. So come on, forget that queen, and play your best game next round!

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