Her er en liten rapport fra Romania der Egmond-Gabriel og undertegnede (Jan Gunnar)
nylig har spilt en sjakkturnering (26/8 – 1/9).
Eforie-Nord er en liten ferieby som vaakner til liv i turistsesongen som varer
fra ca. 1.mai til 1.oktober.
Den ligger langs Svartehavet like ved Constanta som er den stoerste
kystbyen i Romania som vi ogsaa besoekte. Constanta er interessant i seg selv
og har historisk signifikans som gresk og romersk koloni.
Den romerske poeten Ovid ble forvist hit av keiser Augustus og byens arkeologiske
museum er absolutt verdt et besoek.
Eforie-Nord ligger fint til med nydelige strender som tiltrekker turister
baade fra det rumenske innlandet og andre steder som for eksempel Ungarn og Tyskland.
Den har en lang tradisjon for sjakkturneringer, og turneringen vi spilte
(Cristian Gheorghe Memorial Tournament, tidliger Centrocoop Tournament) ble arrangert
for 24. gang.
Etter turneringen ble det tid til litt mer reising oppover og nedover langs Svartehavskysten
(Mangalia, Tulcea, Sulina) før jeg returnerte via Bucuresti-München-Oslo med Lufthansa.
Egmond-Gabriel kommer til Norge om ikke så lenge for å spille Oslo Chess International (2.-9. oktober)
http://www.bergensjakk.no/oslointernational/
Runde for runde-rapport:
Egmond-Gabriel (rated 2100)
1 White against Silvia Spiegelberg (1817)
A harsh defeat against a German girl in 31 moves, with an inexactity at
move 28, followed by a weak continuation in move 29,
where I underestimated the tactical possibilities in the position and the
calculation power of my opponent.
She sacrificed a pawn for initative in the opening, but White maintained control and
entered the middlegame with the extra pawn.
2 White against Cezar Tazlaoanu (1201)
Kings Indian Defence with 5.h3, 6.Bg5. Black played the thematic f5 early hoping for
activity, but exchanging the light-squared bishop, and thereby weakening the kings
position. White increased the pressure and grabbed a pawn which Black gave away
hoping to hold the rook endgame. However, the Black king was cut off on the h-file,
while the White king penetrated the queenside threatening the pawn-chain based
on c7. The game was decided by the White d-pawn.
3 Black against Florin Enache (1895)
This was an interesting Caro-Kann with 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6. Black prevented White from
castling after 8.Rb1. The game was pretty wild with the White king caught in the centre,
Black castling long and an open d-file. Finally the pressure was too much for White who
also ended up in time trouble and lost in move 27.
4 Black against Ionel Linca (1932)
White played the double fianchetto, with passive intentions and a draw offer on
move 17. I concluded on having a better position because of some space advantage.
The kingside was blocked and I focused on creating some play on the queenside.
The game was strategical with plenty of manouvering, where the remaining
Black rook could invade via the b-file attacking the pawns from behind.
White could not defend all the weaknesses, so he gave up a pawn, traded off the
bishops and going into the rook endgame. The Black central connected pawns proved
to be too powerful. The game ended after 76 moves.
5 White against Daniel-Iulian Panainte (1871)
It was a closed opening where Black played a Stonewall-like position. After a weaker move
(19… h5) White managed to grab a pawn and looked to be winning, but I couldnt find the
best plan, playing a bit passively, allowing counterplay against the weak e3 pawn.
I ended up sacrificing two pawns in order to create some practical chances by penetrating
with the heavy pieces on the 6th and 7th ranks. The counter-attack was enough to get the
game into a drawish rook endgame. The draw was agreed at move 48.
6 Black against Sandor-Levente Ferenczi (1891)
This was a Caro-Kann with 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Bc4 Ngf6 6.Ng5 e6 7.Qe2 Nb6 8.Bb3 a6
9.N5f3 c5 10,dxc5 Nbd7 11.c6 bxc6 so far theory and now 12.Bd2 Qb6 13.Ne5? which allows the
following double-attack 13…Nxe5 14.Qxe5 Qxf2+ 15.Kxf2 Ng4+ with a fork. 16.Ke1 Nxe5 and Black
is a pawn up and converted the advantage in the endgame.
7 White against Aurelian Ciobanu (2248)
After a balanced opening, Black went for a pawn-storm on the kingside and got a pretty good
position. White maybe didnt choose the best moves, but Black missed an opportunity to bury the
White knight at g1. Instead Black chose to be a pawn up in a situation which still gave White some
hopes. In a serious time trouble Black managed to find some very good moves and didnt allow White
any counterplay. After the time control White resigned.
8 Black against Istvan Antal (1963)
This was a rather quiet and passive game for White who was happy with a draw. The position was
equal for a long time. While Black was trying to gain some space advantage on the kingside.
In the double rook endgame White managed to defend indirectly by creating some mate threats.
Black probably missed a better continuation at move 52. White exchanged a pair of rooks and the
position seemed to still be balanced. However when he exchanged the last pair of rooks the pawn
endgame was suddenly lost for White because Black could create a defended passed pawn, a
possibility that White had overlooked and he resigned on move 79.
9 White against Emil-George Pessi (2246)
This game was a rather passive and unambitious one by White. White even offered a draw at
move 15, but the opponent probably didnt even hear it (or pretended not to).
White didnt place his pieces on the best squares but instead preferred to exchange them and
and simplify the position. Black was maneuvering better. He created a lot of pressure around
some White weaknesses at b4 and f4. White still hoped for a draw but in time trouble his
opponent was playing some very exact moves and some triangel maneuvres in order to
put White in zugzwang. Eventually this happened and a pawn was lost due to a pin.
White lost quickly after this.
Final result 5,5 points out of 9.
Jan Gunnar (rated 1978)
1 White against Diana-Alexandra Ciungan (1653)
A draw against a lowly rated girl might sound dissapointing but in fact I was chasing to
equalize for the most part of this game after the Scottish opening did not go as
expected. Black was never in any trouble but her lack of ambition led to her avoiding
some critical continuations that might have put White under a bit of pressure.
2 Success with the Philidor!
Most players seem to think that the Philidor (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6) should better be left
at some other century but I try to prove otherwise. This time the White player (rated 1688) did
everything wrong in the opening (3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Bc4 Be7 5.d4 Bg4 6.Be2 Bxf3 7.Bxf3 Nxd4)
and Black proceeded to win a comfortable game with his extra pawn.
3 Black against IM Matthias Thesing of Germany (2404)
After a Bishops Opening (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5) I later played a bit of a provocative h6-move
combined with castling short and White lined up a little battery with Qd2 and Be3 and
prospects of an attack. Fortunately my timing in the eleventh move was perfect when
I played f5 and the position was still playable. White’s timing however
was terrible as he played 12.Bxh6 which is simply a faulty sacrifice. The resulting
game is entertaining but Black is very close to converting into a win on several
occasions. The German master improved his position move by move however and when
he got connected free pawns on g and h the outcome was not so obvious anymore.
Right at the end of the Zeitnot before move 40 I sacrificed my extra piece for
the two pawns and after some more thinking it turned out that the resulting endgame
was very drawish after 41…c5 and a draw was agreed on move 45.
4 White against Florian Milea (1897)
This time I got to play my favourite side-line against the Sicilian defence
(1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.b3), and when there was castling in the opposite direction I was
a happy duck even if the chances objectively speaking should be equal. When my kingside was
threatened I invested some tempi by relocating my white-squared bishop from b5
via e2-f3-g2. When Black was unable to punish this I got a setup I was comfortable
with and started to hack away at the attacking Black pieces, who did not have
optimal coordination anymore. Black did not find the best moves and went
down without making too much trouble.
5 Black against Alexandru Kutnik (2248)
Disaster with the Philidor!
After four rounds of solid play the temptation to gamble of course got the better of me and I played
a very risky side variation in the Philidor against a strong player (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5??!).
White made no mistakes and slowly increased his advantage and when the Black king got stuck in
the centre it seemed to be only a matter of time before the attack would break through,
and so it did around move 20.
6 White against Cornel Dumitrescu (2107)
Trying a solid approach for once I castled already at move seven which is unusually early for me.
But then I was too tempted to grab the bishop pair with Nh4 and Nxg6 which opened the
h-file for Black who castled long and drummed up some attacking chances.
I still liked my chances but some more creative play by Black resulted in an advantage for him.
It shall be interesting to see if White had enough resources to hold the resulting
endgame, but a serious mistake in time trouble gave Black an easy win.
7 Black against Alexandru-Vasile David (1850)
With two losses in a row I was not in fighting mode anymore in round 7.
Unfortunately my young opponent was ready to fight and played a gambit against
my French defence (1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4).
My intentions to finish early and go to the beach was therefore spoiled as he
proceeded to decline my draw offer on the seventh move.
While the position should give equal chances White was clearly more ambitious
and turned out to be more capable of forming a plan so my position slowly
drifted from slightly worse to worse in the endgame. Even after losing a pawn it
should be possible to hold but White managed to squeeze out a win.
8 White against Pavel Damian (1880)
Like in the first round I tried the Scottish Game and again was unable to claim an
advantage. Being the favourite I tried to push for a win and finally entered
a risky endgame continuation with two connected passed pawns to either side.
Black should probably have the better chances here but he did not find the best
moves and lost rather easily. I suspect he was convinced the White position was
better than it was and was a bit mentally defeated.
9 Black against Nicolae Sandru (1910)
I like to take risks, and this time I entered the Dragon variation of the Sicilian without
knowing a single piece of theory! Of course the White player with his rating just
above 1900 did not look like a Dragon-slayer and Black survived the opening without
any lasting damage.
The initiative changed hands several times but in the late middlegame I was not able
to form a convincing plan and White managed to convert to a promising endgame
while Black also had to fight the clock in the time-trouble.
Luckily the resulting position was only very bad for Black as opposed to directly losing and
suddenly there was no obvious way for White to continue. Being better he
played on anyway and invaded with the rook via h1 and h8.
This continuation was very interesting but allowed counterplay as Black broke up the
centre with a well-timed pawn move. The resulting position was very tactical and
complicated and White could not afford playing second-best moves anymore.
Suddenly there was a free Black pawn running down the board and the game
was decided and all the critical side-variations was just a distant memory.
Even with Black low on time there was no play left for White and
he had to resign on move 77. A bit of a lucky escape for Black, but a good player (like me)
is supposed to grab opportunitys like this and execute the counter-attack.
Well that’s it I guess, please remember to buy our tournament book which we are sure
will be a best seller (50 $ on Amazon.com).
Tournament link:
http://chess-results.com/tnr55230.aspx?lan=1