Author: Gawain
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Corsica – Round Two
Of course the big news of today was the Rugby. Glenn Flear headed over here early to join in watching the World Cup Final. To be honest, I didn’t think New Zealand played very well but their defences were strong and the All Blacks held on to defeat France 8-7 in a very tense game,…
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Corsica – Round One
This evening I played the opening round of the Corsica Masters. I was up against a kid from Switzerland: Alexis Skouvaklis, which sounds like he has Greek roots. I was Black and wheeled out the Dragon. This was actually my first pure Dragon since the draw with Mickey Adams at the British but I keep…
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A return to Corsica
I managed to catch a cold while in Germany, possibly from my team captain. A very short pause in my chess commitments meant I could have my first day off in a while on Monday (lots of board games with Sue and Tom – I may be addicted!) and generally relax and try to fight…
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My Bundesliga Début
This weekend I travelled to Cologne-Bonn airport to make my first appearance for SC Remagen. Our manager, Peter Noras, kindly met me at the airport despite feeling unwell and gave me a lift to our headquarters in Andernach. We stayed the night there and then were ferried across the 120km or so to Mulheim where…
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Mátar
We arrived back in England earlier today and, after a slight delay at the airport picking up an errant scarf, I travelled home and Sue off to work. We were both rather exhausted as we managed less than five hours sleep last night (in search of the errant Northern Lights but Sue will expand on…
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(Very) Drunken Knights!
Last night I made my début for the Drunken Knights in the Surrey Border League. I actually played a couple of rapid games for them last year while I was filming the Killer Grand Prix DVD. Be sure to check out Simon’s website; his recent releases are here while to purchase the one I did for gingergm then…
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Galway Congress – A repeat success!
I’ve just returned home from Galway. I believe the last time I played was in 2007 according to the trophy – I managed a win that time too 🙂 I arrived in Galway on Thursday and played an 18 board simultaneous display at the Galway Bridge club. As is customary in simuls, I had White…
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Game of the Month: October 2011
WHO: Kamsky, Gata (2756) Vs. Svidler, Peter (2740) This knockout tournament was played in Khanty-Mansiysk in Siberia. Gata Kamsky is currently the highest rated player in the USA but originally came from Novokuznetsk in the USSR and so arguably had some home advantage. He was a very strong chess prodigy with an overbearing and irascible…
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A sporadic update
Hey again people. Sorry for another delay in posting. Since getting back from Rome I’ve been recharging my batteries ready for my extremely hectic next seven weeks. I’m off to Northern Ireland to see my parents and brothers, and of course old Robbie the dog, early tomorrow morning before heading down to Galway for a…
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Barclays International – Last Round and Round Up
I arrived back at home in London at 1am this morning so this is the first time I’ve had to write an update. The last round was a 10am start, and after a few hours sleep, breakfast, a quick bit of preparation and packing I managed to arrive at the board just 15 minutes late.…
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Barclays International Round 8
Today I was up against Alexandr Fier, a GM from Brazil. He used to be over 2650 and I knew this would be a tough game. I decided to return to my beloved Dragon for this one and the opening worked out pretty well. He offered me a draw after 17 moves but I decided…
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Barclays International, Rounds 6 and 7
A familiar pattern seems to be emerging. Round 6 I was paired with Black against the Hungarian GM Lazlo Gonda. He’s a rather solid player, often happy with 1.Nf3, 2.c4 positions so I knew it’d be tough to get the whole point. I tried a new opening but he came up with a clever move…
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Barclays International Rounds 3,4 and 5.
The answer to my previous trivia question was 300 🙂 I left you after round two when I had had rather a slow start. I’m afraid the chess I played in round three wasn’t of the highest quality – after trying out the Big Clamp (1.e4 c5 2.d3) again I managed a pleasant edge but…
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Barclays International Round 1+2
Hello from Rome! As I type this we’ve played two rounds and about to head off for round three. The internet a bit slow so not sure if I’ll be able to post before the game but I’ll try. The weather here is very hot but the organisers have done their best with fans everywhere…
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World Cup and Botvinnik Memorial
Hello everyone. I’m off to Rome shortly, via Windsor to stay with the very hospitable Manuel + Brigitta before Manuel drives me to Heathrow for a very early flight. It should be an interesting tournament; with the new September rating list I’m actually top seed (alphabetically as Khenkin is also 2624) but with ten of…
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Game of the Month:September 2011
WHO: Galkin,Alexander(2598) – Kramnik,Vladimir(2781) Kramnik surely needs no introduction, known for his magnificent positional play, he reigned as World Champion from 2000-2007. Currently running at number 4 in the live ratings. Galkin – Born 1979, Won the 1999 World Junior championship. Not much is known about his life but I am lead to believe he’s more…