Author: Gawain
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4ncl season 2012-2013
As usual normal day-to-day living has got in the way of this update but I’ll try and write a few words on the 4ncl season and see if I can get some photos from Sue. This year I joined the Guildford team and we were looking to challenge Wood Green’s hegemony. The 4ncl (Four Nations…
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Italian Team Championships 2013 – Bratto
I recently played in the Italian Team Championships for the second year. Last time I got a disappointing 3/7 and so was hoping to improve on that. Then there were only 2 spots for the European Club Cup with only 19GMs competing but this year there were over 20 and so 3 qualifying spots. Last…
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Bundesliga Season 2012-2013
The German Bundesliga was played over 7 weekends from October to April. Unfortunately last year my team, Remagen, got relegated and so I was obliged to find a new team. Luckily Solingen were happy to take me on board. Solingen is a city on the West side of Germany famous for its steel, a bit…
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Southend Easter Congress
I promised to write up my experience in Southend, particularly the incident in the last round. I delayed publishing it online as I wanted to give the organisers time to respond. Below is the letter I sent them which outlines my grievances around the last round. Dear Sir, I am writing to complain about the…
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Icelandic League Final Weekend
I left you on Wednesday with the completion of the Reykjavik Open. We went out for a nice meal at Gandhi, an Indian restaurant (obviously) followed by a few beers in the English Pub and Obladi-Oblada, a bar with three chess boards and clocks which were obviously used for some wind down blitz. Thursday was…
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Reykjavik Open 2013 – Round up
This is my third time playing the Reykjavik Open and we again played in last year’s impressive new venue: Harpa, the picturesque concert hall in Reykjavik’s harbour. I remember last year noise was a bit of an issue but the organisers seem to have done a good job and there was only one day with…
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Gibraltar Masters
Sue’s been writing so magnificently on the website but I better write a post or two or we should change the address to suemaroroa.co.uk 🙂 Hastings went very well for me and I managed to get 7.5/10 with the old Soviet model of drawing my blacks and winning my whites (with one exception, beating Vocaturo…
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London Chess Classic – A personal retrospective
Now we’ve had a bit over a week since the end of the London Classic I decided it was the right moment to look back at the tournament and take stock. My final score was somewhat disappointing; my aim was to pick up at least one win and, while I knew it would be difficult…
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Kilkenny Masters 2012
Last weekend I made my usual November trip to Ireland to play the Kilkenny Masters. As there had still been no decision on Sue’s appeal, she still had no passport and thus was unable to accompany me. However my Mum came out of chess retirement and played her first tournament in 18 years – competing…
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Bundesliga 2012-2013
With a little spare time at Frankfurt Airport I thought I’d let you all know what’s been happening in the Bundesliga this season. After Remagen were relegated – too many 3.5-4.5 upsets, not that my 10 draws and 1 loss helped particularly, I switched to Solingen this season. Solingen came 3rd last year and with…
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4ncl Guildford Debut
The Four Nations Chess League started this weekend. This season I’m playing for Guildford and we had a good start, winning the first match 7-1 against Warwickshire Select and the second 6.5-1.5 against Barbican’s second team. In round one I had Black against IM Ameet Ghasi. Ameet is the same age as me and was…
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The Paralytic Games
Yesterday evening my flatmates Tom and Pete and me headed into Central London to The Plough, the pub that hosts the home matches of the Drunken Knights in the London League. Nevil Chan had organised their annual blitz tournament, nicknamed the Paralytic Games – see their name! After a tough Olympiad I wanted to play…
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Istanbul Olympiad continued
I left off the last report after four rounds when I had drawn every game but the team was on a very creditable 3.5/4 (or 7 match points). Round Five we were paired against India, another very close match. I had White against Pentala Harikrishna and decided to surprise him with the English. The game…
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Game of the Month – May/June
Hey guys, As we’re halfway through the month, and considering I really doubt I’ll manage a GOTM from June what with getting married and all, I decided to combine the two. In the past month we’ve had two big matches. First there was the Kramnik-Aronian friendly match. As they weren’t playing for a title they…
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Italian Club Championships 2012
Hello dear readers, Don’t worry the game of the month is on its way, but for now I’ll give a brief recap of my most recent tournament – the Italian Club Championships in Arvier, Val d’Aosta. This was my first time playing in the top division, Serie Master, and I made my debut for Chieti.…
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Bundesliga 2011/ 2012 Round-Up
Apologies again for a long break between posting but again I’ve been very busy. I promise to update as much as possible now while I have a bit of time at home. This year I made my debut for SC Remagen in the German Bundesliga. The top division is composed of 18 teams with 8…