Reykjavik Open 2009 Rd. 4

I was really stressed out before this round. After last night's debacle I really needed to get a positive score today, but this player uses opening lines that don't sit well at all with my style. Even worse, when I looked through his games, in the possible opening lines I might see, he plays so tough that I couldn't imagine actually winning this one. With how badly I figured I would do today, I have to be pretty happy that I got a draw. My opening preparation helped some. He varied pretty early into something I didn't know, but studying the opening all day helped me figure out some plans.

I chatted with American grandmaster Vinay Bhat before the round and took the photo above. That's GM Bhat on the left. He seemed like a really great guy, and I wish I knew him better.

[Event "Reykjavik Open 2009"]
[Site "Reykjavik, Iceland"]
[Date "2009.03.27"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Naslund, FM Mikael"]
[Black "Cross, Ted"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D23"]
[WhiteElo "2195"]
[BlackElo "2076"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Qb3
It was a relief to see him actually play this, because it was the only line I studied all day.
4...dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bf5 6. g3 e6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Nc3 Nbd7 10. Re1
This was new for me. I didn't really know what to do now, so I stuck with the same basic plan tht I had from the original game I was following. I had expected him to play 10. Qb3 here.
10...Qb6
Looks like this is a novelty, and not too horrible according to my computer.
11. e4 Bg6 12. Bf4 a5
I wanted the option to play the queen to a6. I wasn't yet sure exactly which rank I wanted to put each rook on, so I 'passed' with this move. The computer likes 12...Rfd8 here.
13. a3 Qa6 14. Qxa6 Rxa6 15. d5
Yeah, I knew this was coming. The question was just whether I would find enough counterplay to survive.
15...cxd5 16. exd5 Nc5 17. Ne5 Bd6
After the game my opponent said that this move really surprised him. We looked at some alternatives, and some looked okay, but I still think this works out best.
18. Nxg6 hxg6 19. Bxd6
The computer comes up with a very difficult to see line that seems to give white a big edge here. 19. Be3! exd5 20. Rad1 Re8 21. Nxd5 Nxd5 22. Rxd5 Bf8.
19...Rxd6 20. dxe6 Nxe6 21. Red1 Rfd8 22. Bxb7 Rb6!
This was my saving grace. The endgame is slightly better for white, but it should be manageable.
23. Rxd8+ Nxd8 24. Bf3 Rxb2 1/2-1/2
Since he was already getting low on time and I didn't see any winning chances for me, I offered a draw and was grateful that he accepted.

Reykjavik Open 2009 Rd. 3

What a terribly distressing game today. I finally outplayed a strong titled player only to throw all of my hard work away in one instant of blindness when the game was finally all but winning for me.

[Event "Reykjavik Open 2009"]
[Site "Reykjavik, Iceland"]
[Date "2009.03.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Cross, Ted"]
[Black "Johannesson, FM Ingvar Thor"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A08"]
[WhiteElo "2076"]
[BlackElo "2345"]

1. e4 e6 2. d3
I was in the mood for something more solid today.
2...d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. g3 g6 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. O-O Nge7 8. Re1 h6 9. c3 Qc7 10. Nf1
This is apparently a novelty, at least according to my database. I had an idea to play for an attack due to the pawn on h6 being a little weak.
10...O-O 11. Ne3 Rd8 12. e5!
I really liked this move. It blunts the power of the rook on d8 and gives some kick to my kingside attack.
12...d4
You can see the point of 12. e5 if he had played 12...Nxe5 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. Ng4 Bg7 15. Nxh6+ Kf8 16. Qf3 Nc6 17. Bg5 with a good advantage to white.
13. Ng4 dxc3 14. bxc3 Nf5 15. Nf6+ Kh8 16. g4!?
I was in the mood for attack and attacking is always easier. A more solid advantage could have been gained by 16. Bf4 b6 17. Qa4 Bb7 18. g4 Nfe7 19. g5 h5 20. Rad1.
16...Nxe5 17. Nxe5 Bxf6 18. Bf4
Here I thought I was flat out winning, but I overlooked his next move.
18...Nd6 19. Qf3
I wanted to build up pressure, especially since he was getting into time trouble. Probably best was simply 19. Bxh6.
19...Bg7
A better defense for him would be 19...g5 20. Bg3 Kg7 21. Rad1 with an unclear game.
20. Qh3!?
Again I wanted to keep adding to the pressure. Better is probably just 20. Nc4 Kg8 21. Bxd6 Rxd6 22. Nxd6 Qxd6 23. Rac1. The computer calls this equal, but I have to believe white has the advantage here.
20...Kh7 21. Bxh6
Crazy complications arise after 21. Nc4!? e5 (21... Bxc3 22. Qxh6+ Kg8 23. Rac1 Bxe1 24. Rxe1 and white wins.) 22. Nxe5 g5 23. Bxg5 f6 24. d4 fxg5 25. Qd3+ Nf5 (25...Kg8 26. Bd5+ wins.) (25...Kh8 26. Ng6+ Kh7 27. Re7 wins.) 26. gxf5 Bxe5 27. f6+ Kh8 28. Qg6 Bxh2+ 29. Kh1 Bf5 30. Qxf5 Bd6 and white has a large edge.
21...Bxh6 22. g5 Nf5 23. gxh6 Rh8 24. Re4 Qe7 25. Bf3
I had two things in mind when I played this. First I wanted to begin opening the g file for a rook. Second, I was concerned about black playing f6, and this move prevented it.
25...Bd7
You see, if he had played f6 there could have followed a nice queen sac: 25...f6 26. Nxg6 Rg8 27. Qxf5 Rxg6+ 28. Kh1 e5 29. Qxg6+! Kxg6 30. Rg1+ Kh7 31. Rg7+ Qxg7 32. hxg7 Rb8 and white is better.
26. Kh1 Kg8 27. Rg1 Rxh6 28. Nxg6
I thought that this gave me the edge, but according to the computer black ends up better with correct play.
28...Qf6?
He should have played 28...Rxh3 29. Nxe7+ Kf8 30. Bg2 Rxd3 31. Nxf5 exf5 32. Rh4 Ke7 33. Re1+ and black has the edge.
29. Ne5+! Kh8 30. Nxd7?
This felt so right at the time, but the right way to win here is 30. Qg2! Bc6 31. Ng4! Nh4 (31...Rg8 32. Nxf6 Rxg2 33. Bxg2 Rxf6 34. Rg4 Bxg2+ 35. Kxg2 Rh6 36. Rb1 Nd6 37. Ra4 a6 and white should win.) 32. Nxf6 Nxg2 33. Ng4 Bxe4 34. Bxe4 Rh5 35. Bxb7 Rd8 36. Bxg2 Rxd3 37. Nf6 Rg5 38. Rb1 Kg7 39. Ne4 and white wins.
30...Rxh3 31. Nxf6 Rxf3 32. Reg4??
Aaaaaaaagh!! I still had around twenty minutes on my clock so this is hard to explain. Basically I flat out overlooked that once his knight moved my own knight would be hanging on f6. I literally thought the game was over; that after my move (which threatens mate on g8) he could only play 32...Nh6 and then I would mate him with Rh4. Obviously once he played his move I saw that I had blown it. I still could have had good winning chances with 32. Ng4 Rxd3 33. Ne5 Rxc3 34. Nxf7+ Kh7 35. Ng5+ Kh8 36. Nxe6 Rg8 37. Re5 Rxg1+ 38. Kxg1 Nd4 39. Rxc5 Rxc5 40. Nxc5 b5 41. Kf1 Kg7 42. Nb3 Nc2 43. Ke2 Kf6 44. Kd2 Nb4 45. a3 Nd5 46. Kd3 Ke5 47. h4 Nf4+ 48. Kd2. I had to leave out many possible variations in order to keep this manageable, but they all led to a white edge. How come my opponents never blunder like this against me?
32...Nh6
I could have just resigned right here, but I was stunned to suddenly go from believing I was won to having to accept that I had lost.
33. Nd7 Nxg4 34. Rxg4 Rxd3 35. Rh4+ Kg7 36. Rg4+ Kh8 37. Rh4+ Kg7 38. Rg4+ Kh6 39. Ne5 Rd5 40. Nxf7+ Kh5 41. Re4 Rf8 42. Ne5 Rxf2 43. Re1 Rdd2 0-1
A humiliating disaster!

Reykjavik Open 2009 Rd. 2

At last year's Reykjavik Open I never had to play down during the entire event. In the second round I had to play against an unrated player. There were very few games in the database, but he seemed to be a pretty strong player, and about the only preparation I could do was to assume he would play 1. e4. I am always very nervous in such situations because I really don't like to lose to lower ranked players. The game ended up being a mess, where the computer sees better moves for both sides on nearly every move at one point when we were in time trouble.

[Event "Reykjavik Open 2009"]
[Site "Reykjavik, Iceland"]
[Date "2009.03.25"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Unnarsson, Sverrir"]
[Black "Cross, Ted"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[BlackElo "2076"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. Bd3 Be6 12. c3 Bg7 13. O-O O-O 14. Nc2 Rb8 15. Nce3?!
The first doubtful move of the game. Other games have gone (15. Qh5 f4 16. g3 Qd7 17. f3 fxg3 18. hxg3 f5 19. Nce3 f4 20. gxf4 exf4 21. Nf5 Rxf5 22. exf5 Bf7 23. Qg5 Bxd5 24. f6 Ne5 25. Be4 Bxe4 26. fxe4 Rb7 27. fxg7 Qh3 28. Qd8+ Kxg7 29. Rf2 Nf3+ {Klundt,K-Maugg,L/Bad Woerishofen 2003/CBM 93 ext/1/2-1/2 (33)}) or (15. Nde3 f4 16. Nd5 Bxd5 17. exd5 Ne7 18. Qh5 f5 19. f3 Qd7 20. g4 fxg3 21. hxg3 Nxd5 22. Rae1 Rbe8 23. Kf2 Nf6 24. Qxf5 Qxf5 25. Bxf5 a5 26. Re2 Re7 {1/2-1/2 Bergen,K-Deutschmann,R/Graz 2002/EXT 2003 (26)})
15...fxe4 16. Bxe4 f5 17. Bc2 e4?!
I was playing to try to trap his knight in the center with f4, but this move just throws the initiative to white. Better was 17...Qd7 18. Bb3 Rf7 19. f4 b4 with an unclear game.
18. Bb3 Kh8 19. Nf4 Bxb3 20. axb3 Be5?!
Although this move is doubtful, it at least attacks, while white still retains an advantage after the supposedly better 20...Qc8 21. b4 Be5 22. Ned5.
21. Ned5
I was happy to see this. I had feared 21. Ne6 Qh4 22. g3 Rg8 23. Nxf5?, but this actually loses to 23...Qh3 24. Ned4 Nxd4 25. cxd4 Bf4. White has a clear edge after 23. Rxa6 instead.
21...Rg8
I keep attacking. I could have had equality with 21...a5 22. Qh5 Qe8 23. Qh6 Qf7.
22. Qh5
Better here is 22. Rxa6! with an advantage.
22...Rg4?
A bad move, showing how my mindset was just to attack. I could have held white's advantage to a minimum with 22...Qc8 23. Qh6 Qb7 24. f3 b4.
23. Rxa6!?
Now he could have had a winning advantage with 23. Qxf5 Qg8 24. h3! Rg5 25. Qxe4 Re8 26. Qf3.
23...Qc8 24. Rxc6
Better was 24. Rfa1 Bxf4 25. Nxf4 Rxf4 26. Rxc6 Qxc6 27. Ra7 Rb7 28. Ra8+ Kg7 29. Qg5+ with a big advantage.
24...Qxc6 25. Qxf5 Rbg8 26. g3?
A mistake. Still winning is 26. Nf6! Bxf6 27. Qxf6+ R8g7 28. g3.
26...Qb7
I was trying to be tricky, hoping he would take the e4 pawn so I could win the knight on f4. Better is 26...R4g5 27. Qe6 (27. Qxe4? Bxf4) 27...Re8 28. Qh6 Rg7 29. Re1 Bxf4 30. Nxf4 Qb6 31. Qf6 Kg8 32. Rd1 e3 33. fxe3 Rxe3 34. Qd4 Qxd4 35. Rxd4 Rd7 an white has a tiny edge. Note that white was in significant time pressure somewhere around here.
27. Ra1?!
White could get back a significant edge with 27. Re1 b4 28. Qxe4 bxc3 29. bxc3 Qxb3 30. c4.
27...e3?!
My heart's in the right place, but this is not a good move. I actually could have taken over the advantage with 27...R4g5 28. Qe6 Rf8 29. Kf1 e3.
28. fxe3 R4g5 29. Qd3 Qg7 30. e4 Qh6 31. Ne7?
This is when I finally felt I would win. He was in terrible time pressure and just threw this move out. 31. Rf1! keeps an edge for white.
31...Bxf4 32. Nxg8 Rxg8 33. Qf3 Be3+ 34. Kh1 Rf8 35. Qg4 Bc1
I really liked this move. I wasn't going after the pawns really; I was cutting off the rook on the file so that my queen and rook could better pressure his king. Luckily for me, with his next move he made this plan work even better.
36. Ra7? Bxb2 37. Rc7 Qc1+ 0-1
If the king moves then Qf1 is mate.

I wasn't happy with how I played, but it was a relief to get a win. Now I just hope I can do better next round.

Reykjavik Open 2009 Rd. 1

It's been a long time since I have blogged, mainly because I have not been playing. I last played in October, so I worry that I will be rusty in this event. I love the Reykjavik Open because it gets so many strong players. The only sad thing was that they did not post the first round pairings, probably due to many players dropping out at the last second, so I didn't know who I would play, and I didn't get to prepare anything.

[Event "Reykjavik Open 2009"]
[Site "Reykjavik, Iceland"]
[Date "2009.03.24"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Cross, Ted"]
[Black "Thorhallsson, GM Throstur"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2076"]
[BlackElo "2442"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6
Well that tears it. I already know next to nothing about the Center Counter defense, but once he plays 2...Nf6 I literally only know one more move (3. d4) in the opening. That's not a good sign when you are playing a grandmaster!
3. d4 Nxd5 4. c4
Like I said, I didn't know if this was a line or not (it is). I just prayed that I could somehow come through the opening alright.
4...Nb6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3
While this move didn't feel right to me, I was purposely playing to prevent his white square bishop from developing easily. If I ever played Nf3 early on it would give him the g4 square. I was hoping to force him to play e6 before developing his bishop.
6...Bg7 7. Be2 O-O 8. Rc1
You see? I am still playing to prevent the bishop from coming out.
8...Nc6 9. d5 Ne5 10. Bd4
This was a spur of the moment decision because I saw some tactical motifs that I liked.
10...e6 11. f4!
This is what I was thinking of when I played Bd4. It feels terrible, especially when I haven't completed development, but I didn't see any instant attacks available for black, and I liked pushing the knight back to where it further impeded his development.
11...Ned7 12. Bxg7 Kxg7 13. d6!?
I decided on this because I didn't like opening lines for him. I had initially thought to play the correct line, but it worried me so I ended up trying to keep the center more closed. Better was 13. Qd4+ Nf6 14. g4 Kg8 (14...c5 15. Qxc5 Nxg4 16. Bxg4 Qh4+ 17. Qf2 Qxg4 18. d6 and white is slightly better)15. g5 Ne8 16. Nf3 exd5 17. c5 Nd7 18. Qxd5 c6 19. Qc4 Nc7 20. O-O with an unclear position.
13...Nf6 14. c5
Better was 14. Nb5 cxd6 15. Qxd6 Bd7 16. Nd4 with equality.
14...Nbd5 15. Nxd5 exd5 16. dxc7 Qxc7 17. Qd2 Re8 18. Nf3
I finally get a chance to develop the knight! I felt like I was just barely hanging on here.
18...Re4 19. Ne5 Bg4 20. Nxg4 Nxg4 21. O-O Ne3!
His plan over the past few moves was good, as this knight will be much better than my bishop.
22. Rf3 d4 23. g3 Rd8 24. Bd3 Re6 25. b4
It looks like it is better to go ahead and play f5 right here rather than later. (25. f5!? Re5 26. fxg6 fxg6 27. b4 a5 28. a3 axb4 29. axb4 b6 30. cxb6 Qxb6 31. b5 =)
25...a6 26. f5 Rf6 27. Re1
A little better is 27. Rf4
27...h6 28. Qf2 g5 29. h3 a5 30. a3 axb4 31. axb4 b6 32. cxb6 Qxb6 33. b5 Qb7
I am so close to being about equal, but not quite. It was frustrating that he never really made any mistakes.
34. g4 Rc8 35. Rg3 Rc3! 36. Bf1 Nxf1 37. Rxc3 dxc3 38. Qxf1 Qb6+ 39. Kg2?!
It probably wouldn't have made a difference to the outcome, but Kh1 is a touch better.
39...Rd6 40. Qc4?
I'm lost anyway, but here I overlooked a cute tactic. Qf3 was slightly better.
40...Rd2+ 41. Re2 Qe3!
Cute! This is what I didn't see. I could have just resigned right here, but I kept hoping I was overlooking something.
42. Rxd2 Qxd2+ 43. Kf3 c2 44. f6+ Kxf6 0-1

Playing the Stonewall Dutch All Wrong

Since I got back into chess recently, one of the openings that I gave up on is the Dutch Stonewall, an opening that I played for more than twenty years. My results were simply not good enough, so I decided it was time to try fresh openings against 1. d4. Part of my dismal results is due probably to my simply not playing the opening properly! Here is a good example, from one of the 1st Category round robins in which I played during the four years I lived in Moscow.

[Event "1st Category Round Robin#4"]
[Site "Moscow, Russia"]
[Date "1995.05.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Tarshilov"]
[Black "Cross, Ted"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A85"]

1. c4 f5
Well, what can I say? It is not good to play the Dutch immediately against 1. c4, but I didn't know that at the time. Back then I thought it was pretty clever to have the same opening against 1. c4, 1. d4, and 1. Nf3. Later on GM Aleksander Wojtkiewicz crushed me badly in this line and told me that I can't play the Dutch until white has played d4. He proceded to play the pawn to d3 and use it to support an early e4 thrust. Not what black is after...
2. d4
Until GM Wojtkiewicz's lesson I always got away with it, as every player invariably played d4 at some point and transposed into the Dutch proper.
2...Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bf4 d5
I always played the Stonewall Dutch, though I think it does not suit my style of play.
6. c5 c6 7. e3 Be7 8. Be2 O-O 9. Nf3 Bd7
I know this is not the usual move, but I was overly impressed once by a GM game in which black moved this bishop (usually locked away behind the wall of pawns) to h5 via d7 and e8 and then traded it for a knight. It seemed to me to be a logical way to get rid of this usually bothersome bishop, but I adhered to this idea far too faithfully for too many years.
10. Ne5 Be8 11. g4
Uh oh, I always dreaded when white delayed castling and threw the pawns at my king. I have never been great at defending against this and I usually overreact in my attempt at defense.
11...g5 12. Bg3 Nbd7 13. h4
He's coming at me with everything, so my thinking was that I needed to find a way to exploit the fact that his king was still stuck in the center of the board. It wouldn't matter how ugly his attack looked if I could corral his king.
13...Ne4 14. gxf5?
He makes a move that doesn't look so bad to my amateur eyes, but the computer takes white from a significant advantage down to nothing because of this move. The way I see it, this ruined white's potential attack, because black now gets to shut down all the attacking lines, and in fact appears to get more attacking lines himself out of the deal. Taking on d7 followed by Be5 was far better for white.
14...Nxg3
Naturally!
15. fxg3 Nxe5 16. dxe5
This was the first difficult choice, to take on f5 or c5? I decided I would do better with my bishop on the other side of the pawn chains, but I think taking on f5 is nearly as good.
16...Bxc5 17. f6
It looks slightly better to play 17. e4, though black still has a slight edge.
17...Bxe3
This move looks obvious but may be a mistake. Fritz likes Qc7 much better and gives black a large edge.
18. Qd3 d4
I thought I was much better here since I was locking his king in with my bishop.
19. Ne4?
Whoops! This gives black a winning advantage due to the check on a5. White needed to try Bg4.
19...Qa5+ 20. Kd1 Qxe5
This move is simple and good, but Bg6 may be even stronger. Black cannot be careless now. Having a winning game is not the same as actually winning the game! A few careless moves and black can easily blow it - something I have learned many times in the past.
21. hxg5 Bxg5
This move is not bad, but it overlooks the far better Bg6, which wins more easily despite giving white some counterplay.
22. Bh5 Bf7
I should have just taken the pawn on f6 - 22...Bxf6 23. Bxe8 Raxe8 24. Rxh6 Bg7 and black wins.
23. Bxf7+ Rxf7 24. Rh5 Qb5
It is also fine to sack the rook on f6 here, but I was happier just trying to trade down to a winning endgame.
25. Qxb5 cxb5 26. Nxg5 Rxf6!
It pays to be accurate. Taking immediately on g5 makes things harder than necessary. Taking on f6 works due to the threat to win the rook on a1.
27. Ke2 hxg5 28. Rxg5+
Rah1 immediately is a better try to save the game, though black is still winning of course.
28...Kf7 29. Rxb5 b6 30.Rh1 Ke7
I get a bit too conservative, but it all works out as black's passed central pawns are simply too strong.
31. Rg5 Rf7 32. Rh6 Raf8 33. Kd3 Rd8 34. Rh4 Kf6?!
The computer really dislikes this move and gives black only a slight edge now. It much prefers 34...Rf3+ and only then Kf6.
35. Rf4+?
White needed to keep both rooks to have any chances. 35. Rgh5 was the better try.
35...Kxg5 36. Rxf7 e5
It is fine to give up the a pawn in order to get the central pawns rolling.
37. Rxa7 e4+ 38. Kd2 e3+ 39. Kd3 Re8 40. Rg7+ Kf6 41. Rh7 e2 42. Rh6+ Kg5 43. Rh1 e1=Q 44. Rxe1 Rxe1 45. Kxd4 Re2 46. Kc3 Kf5 47. b4 Rxa2 48. Kc4 Rg2 49. Kb5 Rxg3 50. Kxb6 Ke6 51. b5 Kd7 52. Kb7 Rb3 53. b6 Ra3 54. Kb8 Kc6 55. b7 Rb3 56. Ka8
This is why white did not give up earlier - one last clever attempt at a stalemate.
56...Kc7 0-1

Icelandic Team Championships

Anchoring my Haukar club's top boards are Lithuanian GM Aloyzas Kveinys (on the right) and Danish GM Henrik Danielsen.

The first four rounds of the Icelandic Team Championships took place this weekend. It was nice to see some strong GMs out playing for various teams. GM Loek Van Wely was the best known (though he has lost a lot of rating points and was only the fourth highest rated), playing alongside GMs Baklan and Kuzubov. My Haukar team is led by GMs Kveinys and Danielsen. I played for the Haukar B team, though I only got to play in rounds 2 and 3 due to my wife's birthday. They might have been better off without me as I played well up until time trouble (the time control is far too short!) and then blew both wins, actually losing one of them. I was happy with my level of play until I got under one minute left in each game. My blitzing skills are quite poor...

Our team won the first round 5-1, so we hoped to continue this good performance. This round we were paired against one of the strongest teams by rating, so we knew it would be difficult. I didn't know my opponent's rating when I played him, so I just assumed he was around my own playing level, though it turned out he is a master. That makes me feel pretty good since I feel I outplayed him with the black pieces, and only collapsed in time trouble where both sides were moving with under a minute on the clock.

[Event "Icelandic Team Championships"]
[Site "Reykjavik, Iceland"]
[Date "2008.10.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Steindorsson, Sigurdur"]
[Black "Cross, Ted"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A23"]
[WhiteElo "2208"]
[BlackElo "2088"]
[WhiteTeam "KR-a"]
[BlackTeam "Haukar-b"]

1. c4 e5
This is a new try for me against the English. Few people have played the English against me, so I rarely get to learn anything about it. I decided to try to get a reversed Sicilian down a tempo and see what happens.
2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 c6
I was happy to see his 3. g3 move, since it made me feel that I was catching up a bit on the lost tempo, so it made sense for me here to play a reversed Alapin setup.
4. Nf3 e4 5. Nd4 d5 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Bg2 Bc5 8. Nb3 Bb6 9. O-O Bf5
This is apparently a novelty, though I don't think it is anything bad.
10. d3 exd3 11. exd3 O-O?!
Castling looked fine, except that I overlooked a weakness in my position, which my opponent duly exploits. I should have played 11...Be6 12. Bg5 Nc6 though white retains a slight edge.
12. Bg5! Nbd7
This was the first move I looked at, knowing it lost at least a pawn. I examined some alternatives, but they all just looked even worse than this, which at least develops.
13. Nxd5 h6 14. Bxf6
It's not so easy to see, but there was a stronger line with 14. Qf3 hxg5 15. Qxf5 Nxd5 16. Qxd5 Rb8 and white has a strong advantage.
14...Nxf6 15. Qf3?
This move throws away the advantage, which could have been retained with 15. Nxb6 Qxb6 16. Qf3 Bg6.
15...Qxd5 16. Qxd5 Nxd5 17.Bxd5 Bxd3 18. Rfe1 Ba6 19. Re7 Rab8?!
I actually looked at the correct move, but not deeply enough. Much better is 19...Rac8! and black suddenly has the initiative.
20. Rae1
Slightly more accurate is 20. Rc1
20...Bd8?
The time control is simply too quick at game in 90 plus a 30 second increment. We can't spend enough time analyzing, and both of us make some sloppy moves. I couldn't see a better plan for me here than my bishop move, but much better is 20...Rbc8!
21. Rxf7! Rxf7 22. Re8+ Kh7 23. Bxf7 Bc7 24.Re7 Bb6 25. Kg2 Rc8 26. Bd5
More accurate is 26. Be6.
26...Bd3!
Excellent! Cuts off the danger to that diagonal and now my rook threatens to take over the second rank.
27. Nd2 Rc2 28. Ne4 Rxb2 29. Nf6+?!
Better is 29. Kf3.
29...Kg6 30. Ng4 Bd4 31. Rd7 Kf5 32. Bf3 Rb1?!
I thought that Rb4 looked to dull here and I wanted to force a perpetual check if he took the bishop. Better, though, is 32...Rb4 33. Ne3+ Bxe3 34. Rxd3 Bd4.
33. h4?!
White has a nice shot here with 33. Nxh6+! gxh6 34. g4+ Ke5 35. Rd5+ Ke6 36. Rxd4 Bf1+ 37. Kg3 Rb2 with a large advantage.
33...Rb4 34. a3 Ra4 35. Ne3+ Bxe3 36. Rxd3 Bc1 37. Bxb7 Rxa3
White was in time trouble by now, but my clock was catching up rapidly as I spent a considerable amount of time just trying to keep my king from becoming fatally entangled over the next several moves.
38. Rd7 Bb2 39. f4? a5?
For some reason, probably time pressure, I overlook the rather obvious 39...Kg4 which simply wins for black.
40. Bd5 Bc3 41. Rf7+ Kg6?
I needed to play 41...Bf6, which retains an edge for black.
42. h5+?
White also misses the winning 42. f5+! Kh7 43. h5.
42...Kxh5 43. Be4!?
White spurns any drawing lines, hoping to make me blunder in our mutual time trouble. He could have forced a cute draw here with 43. Rxg7 Bxg7 44. Bf7+ Kg4 45. Be6+.
43...Bf6 44. Kh3 Re3 45. Bf5 a4 46.Ra7?
White misses the winning idea of 46. Rd7!
46...a3 47. Ra6 Rc3?
Since neither side is seeing the winning idea of white moving the rook to d7 it is hard to call this a blunder, but it is wiser here to head for a draw with 47...a2 48. Rxa2 g5 49. Bg4+ Kg6 50. f5+ Kg7 51. Re2 Ra3 52. Bh5.
48. Rc6
Again 48. Rd6! wins for white. Obviously I cannot take the rook on c6 as it will be checkmate.
48...Re3 49. Re6 Rc3 50. Re2?
White gives the advantage to black when he still could have had a big edge with 50. Rd6.
50...Bh4??
In the crazy seconds with little time left on the clock I blow everything. I simply forgot that his bishop could come back and check me. Without that move my idea works. Anyhow, I could have won here with 50...g5 51. Bg4+ Kg6 52. f5+ Kg7 53. Bh5 Rb3.
51. Bg4+ Kg6 52. Kxh4 Rb3 53. f5+ Kf7
I was so upset at the turn of events that I decided to just 'fall on my sword'.
54. Bh5+ Kf6 55. Re6+ Kxf5 56. Bg4# 1-0

I was shattered by the way this game ended, so much so that despite not having eaten breakfast, I now didn't go to lunch either but simply waited around for the next round. Again I didn't know my opponent's rating, but most of all I was irritated that I again had to play black. I am much better with white. After losing 2.5-3.5 in the second round (thanks to my blown game) we needed to get back on track.

[Event "Icelandic Team Championships"]
[Site "Reykjavik, Iceland"]
[Date "2008.10.04"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Vigfusson, Vigfus"]
[Black "Cross, Ted"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2001"]
[BlackElo "2088"]
[WhiteTeam "Hellir-c"]
[BlackTeam "Haukar-b"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6
I had a poor experience against the Alapin Sicilian last year, so this year I played a bit more soundly with 4...Nf6.
5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. Na3 cxd4
I shouldn't have traded here, because it leads to my having to place a knight out of the way on a6.
9. Nb5 Na6 10. Nfxd4 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 O-O 12. Rd1 Rfd8 13. Be3 Qh5?!
Not a good idea, but I couldn't see anything better. Funny, but I actually looked for a second at the correct move - 13...Qe4 - but I thought it looked too strange to actually play!
14. Nf3?
He needed to take it! 14. Qxh5 Nxh5 15. Nb3 Nf6 16. Bxa7. I recall looking at the position and wondering how I could possibly drum up any activity. It didn't look likely any time soon, yet I marvelled a few moves later as I actually did get that activity.
14...Nd5 15. Bd4
Taking the pawn leads to a slight black edge after 15. Bxa7 Nf4 16. Rxd8+ Rxd8 17. Qc4 Qg4 18. Qf1 Bc5 19. Kh1 Bxa7 20. Nxa7 Nc5.
15...Nf4!
Here comes the activity!
16. Qe5 Qg4 17. g3 Nh3+ 18. Kg2 Rd5
I thought I was winning now.
19. Qe3 Rxb5 20. Ne5 Qf5 21. c4 Rxe5?!
I looked at 21...Bg5 but didn't see how it could help me. I looked at moving the rook but it always got trapped. I failed to see that by playing 21...Bg5 I could move the queen away from covering the c5 square, thus allowing my rook to escape with 21...Bg5 22. Qe2 Ra5 23. Bc3 Rc5 and black wins.
22. Bxe5 Ng5?!
With such a short time control it is hard to take the time to see tactics properly. I looked at 22...Nxf2 briefly but just dismissed it because of 23. Rf1. I missed the fact that I had a way out with 23...Ng4!
23. Rd7 Bc5 24. Rad1 f6 25. Bd4 b6 26. f4 Nf7 27. Qf3 Rf8 28. Rxa7 Nb4?!
I looked at the right move but did not see the correct follow-up - 28...Qc2+ 29.Kh1 Bxd4 (the move that I overlooked; I was looking at Qxc4) 30. Rxd4 Qxb2 31. Rd1 Nc5 and black has the edge.
29. Bxc5 Qxc5 30. Rdd7 Qxc4
I was rightly concerned about white taking over the 7th rank and how I could defend against it. I felt I had the edge and didn't want to proceed to lose now. To make matters worse, both of us were now drifting into time trouble.
31. Rac7 Qxa2 32. Qb7 e5
This was my plan for defending. I looked briefly at taking on b2 with check but didn't see that I could still come back and defend the knight on f7. 32...Qxb2+ 33. Kf1 (33. Kh3 Qe2 34. Rxf7 Rxf7 35. Rxf7 Qh5+ 36. Kg2 Qxf7 and wins) 33...Qb1+ 34. Kg2 Qa2+ 35. Kg1 Nd3 36. Qxb6 Qe2 and black wins.
33. Qxb6? Nd5
This looked obvious, but even better is 33...Qxb2+ 34. Kh3 g5 35. Qe6 Qa2.
34. Rxf7 Nxf4+ 35. gxf4 Rxf7?
I miss the required intermediate check - 35...Qd5+ 36. Kf2 Rxf7 37. Rc8+ Rf8.
36. Qb8+ Rf8 37. Qb7 Kh8 38.Rc8?!
He should have gone ahead and taken on g7 - 38. Rxg7 Rg8 39. Rxg8+ Qxg8+ 40. Kf3 and it is hard to see how black can win.
38...Qg8 39.Rxf8 Qxf8 40. fxe5 fxe5 41. Qe4 Qb8 42. b4 g6 43. Kf3 Kg7 44. Ke3 Qd6
A little more accurate is 44...Qa7+ 45. Kf3 Qa3+ 46. Kf2 Qb2+ 47. Kg1 Qc3.
45. h4 Kf6 46. Qc4 h6 47. Qc5?? Ke7?
In time trouble I worried that taking the queen would let the white king gobble up all the pawns on the kingside. I simply didn't have time to calculate or it would have been obvious that I win here with 47...Qxc5+ 48. bxc5 g5 49. c6 Ke6 50. c7 Kd7 51. Ke4 g4.
48. Qa7+ Qd7 49. Qc5+ Ke6 50. b5 Qd5 51. Qc8+ Kd6 52. Qd8+ Kc5 53. Qxd5+ Kxd5 54. b6 Kc6 55. Ke4 1/2-1/2

Although our team won this round 4.5-1.5 we should have done better by me winning. I feel like a liability to the team when I have results like these. An interesting note that I found out later, though I was playing on board 4 this round, my opponent was their team's highest rated player.

On the left are GMs Van Wely, Baklan, and Kuzubov while on the right is Icelandic GM Hannes Stefansson.
Grandmaster Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands played first board for the Bolungarvikur-a team.

My Best Novelty

I haven't bothered to blog for awhile, because I haven't had any chances to play chess. I keep writing to local organizers asking them about things, but no one has been responding. I don't know if they are simply not receiving my emails, or if I am not receiving their replies.

I have never written about correspondence chess, because it is something that I tried for only a few years and promptly decided I didn't like it much. I do have a few interesting games from those years, though. In this one, I came up with my very first novelty; one that I think was quite good, given how poorly white had fared up to this point. In fact, according to my database at that time, white had not won a single game in this particular variation. Even now when I search the database I don't see anyone using my novelty, though some strong players have played into this line.

[Event "1999 Golden Knights"]
[Date "1999]
[White "Cross, Ted"]
[Black "Hanlon, Richard"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2246"]
[BlackElo "1897"]
[EventType "tourn (corr)"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Qb6 7. Be3 a6 8. Na4 Qa5+ 9. c3 cxd4 10. b4 Qc7
No one had played this variation against me before; they had always sacked the bishop on b4.
11. Qxd4 a5 12. b5 b6
After following the percentages in the databases that showed a nice advantage for white in these lines, I was suddenly shocked here to see the percentages plummet. I scanned over the games and saw that white had won none of them, and black had scored many victories from this position. Needless to say, I was suddenly quite worried. I looked over all the games and saw a common theme: black always moved his knight to c5 and it got traded for the knight on a4. I thought this was strange, because to me it looked as if black's pieces were cramped, especially the knights, so why trade the knight on a4 and help black untangle? Was it required? I tried to see how I could prevent the trade. Coming back to b2 with the knight didn't look good, so the only other way to keep black cramped was to free up the c3 square for the knight to retreat to. No one had played c4 before, but looking at it I couldn't see anything wrong with it. The only thing I was unsure of was whether black could get something out of playing bishop to b4 now that it was available. So, I went for it and played my novelty, unsure as to whether it was good or not. After the game was over I analyzed it with a computer and it did not recommend c4, so I remained unsure; however, computers have progressed much since then, and nowadays the computers promptly recommend c4! So, I feel that I actually came up with a good novelty, though I doubt anyone else has ever noticed this.


13. c4! Nc5
He didn't play Bb4+, though it looks like white retains an advantage if he does. (13...Bb4+ 14. Kf2 Nc5 15. a3 Ne4+ 16. Kg1 Bc5 17. Nxc5 bxc5 18. Qd3 Bb7 19. cxd5 and white has an edge)
14. Nc3
This was the point of my novelty, to retain the knight, thus leaving black cramped. Black's queenside pieces have real trouble untangling without giving some other advantage away to white.
14...dxc4 15. Bxc4 Bb7 16. O-O g6?
This is much too slow, and it also weakens the dark squares too much. It is easy for white to bring both knights around to e4 and threaten the f6 and d6 squares.
17. Ng5 Bg7?
This weakens black further, though white retains a significant edge after 17...Nbd7 18. Rfd1 Be7 19. Rac1.
18. Nce4 Nxe4 19. Nxe4 Bxe4 20. Qxe4
Black trades off both of the offending white knights, but white has enough continuous threats to prevent black from castling, meaning that black is essentially lost.
20...Ra7 21. Rac1 Qb7 22. Qxb7
I wasn't sure that trading the queens was the best move here, but I was able to see a fairly straightforward winning plan, so I figured it was fine even if there might be better moves.
22...Rxb7 23. Be2
This is why: I threaten to bring the bishop to f3 and go after the weak pawns on the queenside. This also keeps black from castling still.
23...Nd7
If 23...O-O then 24. Bf3.
24. Bf3 Rb8 25. Rc7 Bxe5
Complete desperation.
26. fxe5 Nxe5 27. Bc6+ Nxc6 28. bxc6 f5 29. Rd1 1-0