Best in the West

The annual Best in the West weekender was held once again at the Louis Joes Arts & Community Centre & this year attracted another excellent turnout of 88 players. Given that I had been an arbiter at so many events of late, I thought I would play in the event - and it was a good change from the 'other' side of the chess board.
The top seeds for the event were IMs Kanan Izzat, James Morris & Ari Dale, as well as FMs Domagoj Dragicevic & Dusan Stojic. I was 14th seed for the event, so it was fairly top heavy & it would be tough going for me to finish with a prize considering I was the lowest seed who was not also eligible for a rating prize (divisions started at under 2000).

Top boards, with Phil Drew (in the red) helping provide live coverage online

The Joel Louis Arts & Community Centre, venue for the Best in the West

The venue is only a short walk to the beach - good for some relaxation in between games!

You can find all sorts of things at the beach!

A view inside the playing area during the Saturday night round

A nice touch by the organisers - pizza for everyone before the prizegiving! 

In round 1 I played improving junior Sam Trewin & was happy with the solid Philidor position that I achieved out of the opening. I played the more aggressive plan with castling on opposite sides &  a pawn storm with h6 & g5, however I did find some difficulty with the pressure Sam got down the d-file with his major pieces. Once the knights were exchanged on d6, I took control of the game after 23... Qg7, although I did miss a fairly clear win with 30... R8xg4 (I missed the follow-up 31... f3!, so didn't go down the line). Ultimately I had to win a fairly instructive bishop v knight endgame & was happy with my technique & glad to get past the first game safely.



In round 2 I played Geoff Barber & after avoiding my Blackmar-Diemer gambit, the position turned into a good version of the advanced French & my kingside pressure was able to overrun Geoff's kingside fairly easily.



In round 3 I played the fourth seed FM Domagoj Dragicevic & decided to play a more conventional opening (albeit a sideline) in the white side of the Grunfeld. Although I was under some pressure early once I had to do something about the centre (I decided to play d5), I exchanged off the major pieces & probably had slightly the better of the minor piece endgame that ensued. However this advantage was only slight at best & after some more exchanges we agreed a draw after reaching an opposite coloured bishop endgame.



In round 4, I played 8th seed & local Hobsons Bay/Altona club champion Dean Hogg. We played a symmetrical English & I thought the game might be drifting towards a draw, although the symmetry was eventually broken around move 14. I managed to develop some pressure on the kingside & I think I held the advantage through the early middlegame due to my superior black squared bishop. I missed an opportunity for a significant advantage with 24. Bf4, but retained an edge with an exchange sacrifice on h5. Dean's final blunder was playing 30.Rg1+ (the computer suggested only 30.d6 gave white any chances to hold the position) & I found a nice mating combination after 32. Bxe5 to finish off the game.

Concentrating hard during my game against Dean Hogg (photo courtesy of Ved Bhat)

I found myself with a tough final round assignment, playing tournament top seed IM Kanan Izzat. I decided to go for it in the opening & played into a Blackmar-Diemer gambit, but Kanan declined the pawn, choosing to play 4... e3. Once again I tried to take the most aggressive approach & castled on the opposite side to Kanan, but did not play the most promising follow-up, finding myself in a fairly even rook & bishop v rook & knight endgame. Unfortunately I played a poor move in 23. h3, putting another pawn on the same coloured square as my bishop & this allowed Kanan to exchange all the rooks & head for slightly better knight v bishop endgame, which I was unfortunately was unable to hold.



Although my final score of 3.5/5 left me out of the prizes, I was reasonably happy with my tournament. I played the toughest field out of all players in the event & my result should see me gaining a few rating points. I had the opportunity to finish in equal first place & although I did not win my final round game, I thought I played reasonably well apart from the mistake in the endgame that Kanan exploited with excellent technique.
I was also happy to once again play in a chess tournament after so many events where I have been an arbiter, particularly after my experiences at the Olympiad when I was watching high level chess up close on a regular basis for almost two weeks.
I look forward to playing some more chess in the near future (hopefully with similarly promising results) & look forward to the 2015 Best in the West event!

Tournament winners, FM Domagoj Dragicevic, FM Duasn Stojic & IM Kanan Izzat (IM James Morris absent) (photo courtesy of Ved Bhat)

Box Hill Autumn Open - Round 2

Round 2 of the Box Hill Autumn Open was another successful venture to the South-Eastern suburbs for me, though not without a fight! I played another junior (as seems to be the standard thing at Box Hill with so many juniors playing), John Ni (ACF 1484; FIDE 1559) & played a 'Sniper' as black (g6, Bg7 & c5 being the key opening moves for black) & managed to get a fairly level position once John turned it into a type of English. I wasn't really sure how to proceed & ended up playing a Hedgehog-style setup, which turned out OK, though it did require a few poor moves from John later in the game to secure the win. The computer liked John's position after the bishops were exchanged & he was able to play 18.d5, although I was still reasonably happy with my position at that point. The tables began to turn when John allowed me to play 27...e4, which game me a protected passed pawn, which would be a constant headache for John if too many pieces were exchanged. Although I though my 43...Nxf4+ tactic was good, the computer preferred the simple 43...Ra2, which looks like it just wins a piece because of the pin on the second rank. Having said that, the unintentional rook maneuvering in the rook ending was quite geometrically pleasing, with the moves Rg3-d3-g3-g6-g3-d3 being a key to winning John's final pawn. The other thing that occurred to me during the game was the similarity to the Philidor position (AKA the Third Rank Defense), but in this case it was an attacking technique to round up the final pawn of John's.
Full results for the round are on OzChess.

Australian Reserves Day 8

Another day, another ordinary game ... although this time I managed to squeeze out a win from a fairly drawn rook & knight ending. Although I tried to be a bit more enterprising early in the game, it really didn't amount to much & my attempts to confuse the position by sacrificing the exchange were both optimistic (Fritz thinks I have an edge after 26.Nb2 rather than my 26.exd6) and ultimately misguided after the poor follow-up. When the central pawns were liquidated, I had little choice but to go into the drawish ending, where I managed to create a few small concessions in the black position (such as 48...h6), when Fritz began to like my position more, until it gives me a deifnite edge after 56.Rb7. Ultimately Shanon's time trouble compounded the difficulty of his defense, and with only a few minutes on his clock (in addition to the 30 second increment), his position fell apart & I took the point.

This puts me on 4.5/8, which is hardly a score to crow about, although a day off from chess is probably a good thing for me for tomorrow (albeit that I have the ACF National Conference to attend in the morning). I'll see what I can do the for the rest of the tournament ... 7/11 or better would almost save face!