So I played a game of chess for the first time in a long time (roughly three months). Although it might not seem like a long time to play OTB (over the board for the non-chess readers), if it is compared to my days in Sydney when I was a uni student, one game in three months was unheard of. Back then I would play one or two nights during the week, as well as any weekend tournament within driving distance, which was normally once a fortnight, if not more often.
Since moving to Melbourne around 5 years ago, my chess has decreased considerably, for a variety of reasons. Of late, its because I don't have the interest I once had, combined with the fact that the nearest chess club is over 30 minutes away. I still keep an interest in the game & still have many people who I keep in touch with who I got to know through chess, but on the whole its a stage in my life that is almost past.
Anyway, to the game itself. I was playing board three for Elwood (four players per team) against Justin Tan for Canterbury Juniors (all the players in the team were under 18). To those unfamiliar with chess, this may seem like something of a mismatch, however the ratings of the various players were not that far apart (combined with the fact that as improving juniors, their 'current' rating tends to be more reflective of their standard 3-9 months previously). Regardless, I was the theoretical favourite, with a slightly higher rating (1966 v 1891), though having the black pieces somewhat negated this supposed edge.
The game itself started off fairly routinely, with my Gurgenidze defence giving me a position I was both familiar and comfortable with. Around move 10 things began to heat up & I took the commital step of playing Qb6, allowing my king to be 'trapped' in the centre (losing castling rights), however I thought it was my best option to get some activity in the position. This lead white to make the decision to sacrifice a piece to launch an attack on the king (17.Nxd5+). I simply took the piece, hoping to be able to successfully defend against the onslaught & win the ending. All good in theory ... and in practice as well ... until I blundered horribly with 32... Rad8. Amazingly I spent over 3 minutes on this move & still found a horrendous blunder! Pretty much any other reasonable move in the position (something like 32...Qxc4) let me keep my advantage, though it did still leave me with some work to do to convert the point. Of course it went downhill reasonably quickly from there, however the (almost) final position with the queen & pawn ending is not as simple as it might first look. There is no obvious winning plan for white (black simply keeps the h-pawn blockaded & looks for a perpetual check if either the king comes towards the centre or the queen tries to support the h-pawn), however I found a way to lose, managing to blunder into checkmate at the end when short of time.
Here is the full game ... feel free to comment:
White: Justin Tan (1891) Black: Kerry Stead (1966)
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c6 4. f4 d5 5. e5 h5 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Bd3 e6 8. Be3 Ne7 9. Bf2 Nd7 10. Bh4 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Qb6 12. Bxe7 Kxe7 13. 0-0-0 c5 14. f5 Bh6+ 15. Kb1 gxf5 16. Bxf5 cxd4 17. Nxd5+ exd5 18. Bxd7 Kxd7 19. Qxf7+ Kc8 20. e6 Qc6 21. Qf6 Kc7 22. Qe7+ Kb6 23. Rxd4 a5 24. c4 Rhe8 25. Qa3 Qxe6 26. Rxd5 Bf8 27. Rb5+ Kc7 28. Qc3 Qe4+ 29. Ka1 Bb4 30. Qg3+ Kc6 31. a3 Bc5 32. Rd1 Rad8 33. Rxd8 Rxd8 34. Rxc5+ Kxc5 35. Qc7+ Kd4 36. Qxd8+ Kxc4 37. Qxa5 Qxg2 38. Qxh5 Qg1+ 39. Ka2 Qg8 40. Qd1 Kc5+ 41. Qb3 Qh7 42. Qb4+ Kc6 43. h4 Qh5 44. Qe4+ Kb6 45. Qb4+ Ka6 46. Qc4+ Kb6 47. Qd4+ Ka6 48. Qf6+ b6 49. Qf1+ Kb7 50. Qc4 Qf3 51. a4 Qh5 52. Qe4+ Ka6 53. Qa8# 1-0
Overall the match finished tied 2-2, with boards 1 & 2 drawing (Cheng-Goldenberg & Sandler-Matheson) & board 4 was a win for the 'good guys' (Lindberg-Chan).
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