Too much pondering!

I am late writing this Blog since I have been flailing myself about pondering over nuances in my game against David. After ekeing out a small edge with a simple plan - protected passed pawn + good bishop vs bad bishop - I slid into equality before overlooking a simple piece trap seen a few moves earlier. So devestated I sulked! Unable to come to grips with the fact that 24 moves of careful play had resulted in a tiny edge, which I had thrown away 12 moves later, I played on hoping David would have a massive brain explosion and give me back my piece, and have been ruminating since.
Much better chess was played on the other boards!
Phil and Andrew had an interesting game with Phil commanding space and an attack, Andrew had a chance to strike back (i think) but missed it and the attack came alive.
Reg with black seemed to have a massive cannon against Dylan's King. A return to the board saw Dylan's Bishop and Rook in dominating positions, defence solid and then like a bolt of lightning his Queen flew across the board to force checkmate.
Carey beat Nigel - someone said Nigel played too fast.
Fred and Peter were both absent.
Next week - Fred plays Andrew, Peter vs carey, Nigle vs Phil, Reg vs Russell, Kevin vs Dylan.
April 7 is a break from play.

Round 7 in Club Champs

The 2010 Club Champion is a 3 way tussle between Phil, Kevin and Andrew with myself and David outside chances. Andrew is having his best tournament. This week's notes by Phil.
For once I had a quick game yesterday evening and had the time to take notice of what was going on in other boards:
Phil v Peter (1-0)was a Steinitz defence that started quietly.
Peter left his King in the centre and was caught out by a thrust of the white e pawn which broke up the black pawn structure.
White was soon throwing a mating net around the black K.


Andrew v Dylan (1-0) Dylan blundered his dark squared Bishop on move 9 after which it was only a question of time.

The other three games were rippers.
Nigel v Kevin (0-1) In an orthodox …e6 type Sicilian Nigel fianchettoed his light squared B in his castled kingside position.
However he allowed it to be traded off for a knight and black’s bishop pair teamed up powerfully on diagonals to open up the white K position.
The King was forced to take a walk on the wild side, and shortly after when he had to give up a Rook for a queening pawn it was time to pass round the cigars.


David v Carey (1-0) with kings castled on opposite wings and neither of them looking at all secure it was nail biting stuff to watch.
I thought that Carey, with big crossfire along open lines on the enemy K, might have had the best chances to breakthrough, but running low on time he grabbed a poisoned pawn walking into a R pin on his Q against his K.

Reg v Fred (Still going when I left at 10pm) In a congested pawn centre Reg managed to get a R in behind enemy lines and picked off a backward pawn securing a passed e pawn.
Meanwhile on the other side of the pawn mass Fred got his Q and R lined up such that it looked like he could force perpetual by harassing the white Q on the 1st and 2nd ranks with his R.
However Reg calmly left the Q en prise and pushed the pawn! I couldn’t tell who was going to win this one but whatever the result both players fought well.


Cheers
Phil.

Round 6 - bunching up

Andrew (4.5/6) remains in good form taking a draw against another in form player - Kevin (4.5/6).
I had the slight advantage agianst Carey in a marathon 73 move game.  A  pawn centre advance didn't produce the advantage I hoped and his defence was too solid.  I couldn't find the better moves to convert active pieces, settling for half point (4.5/6).
Nigel played quickly and when the game got complicated found the correct line to come away with more pieces in a combination against Dylan.
David omce again did better with the black pieces to score a hard fought win over Fred.  Fred has been playing well but alas mistakes cost dearly.  He will be one to watch later in the tournamet as his board vision returns.
Cohen and Anthony have withdrawn from the tournament.

Peter returns to form

This week Peter ,top seed, returned to form with a clear win over Dylan.
Andrew continued his excellent form, a possible by-product of his play and coaching at the recent Aust Jnr, with a win over Nigel.
Phil and Reg fought an even game. A pawn sac to gain compensation by Reg, petered out, and a late error turned the game over to Phil.
I had a lead in development over Fred but in the middle of piece manoeuvring Fred won an exchange from a simple tactic. With a mixture of bluff and pressure I was fortunate to tie down Fred's pieces and win an attack on the king.
Players away: David - unable to drive; Anthony, Cohen and Kevin school work.
Meanwhile we wish Neville a speedy knee recovery and look forward to his return.
Sadly it looks as though no Burnie players will be going to Hobart for the 2010 Tasmanian Championships.