Category: Games
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A successful two weeks
On Saturday 9th April I headed back to Munich. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to play much for Munich 1836 this year but at least could drop in en-route to Dubai for the last round. We were in second place, ahead of the other Munich team (Tarrasch) by just one and a half board points, and…
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Abu Dhabi Masters
I’m writing this from the lobby of the Sofitel Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The tournament has just finished and at least I remembered how to play a little. Scored 6.5/9 and came 8th. Results. A big congratulations to my friend, Nils Grandelius, who had a great time and won the tournament. A cool $12,000 to…
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A sunny week in June
Early June I played in the Swiss Rapid Chess Masters, a well organised one day tournament in Pfaffikon on Lake Zurich. I received a pleasant surprise on arrival with a gift of a bag of Swiss chocolates waiting for me in my room. The weather was really good and I decided to take a walk…
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Recent developments
So my intention was to write a tournament update for each of my tournaments played since the Icelandic League but that isn’t really viable so I’ve decided to round it all up in one update. Going back to March I played the Reykjavik Open. I started with a couple of quick wins but then…
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Cork – Amateur Point of View.
So I had to book a 10pm flight (which meant a half point bye in the first round) from Heathrow to Cork as I left it quite late to book and the prices for earlier flights had shot up! It’s really easy for me to get to Heathrow and my bosses invited me to stay for…
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Bunratty 2014
Last year I was unable to play Bunratty as it clashed with my time in Iceland but with the dates moved to earlier in February this year Sue and I were able to return to Ireland’s premier weekend tournament. I had been over at my parents’ and took the long, slow bus down the west…
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London Classic 2013
Hello all. I’m writing this from Auckland, in the pleasant New Zealand Summer, at my in-laws. I decided to try and give you some Christmas reading with an update on the London Classic from my point of view. NOTE – Currently I’m having a problem with the games relayer here so you can find this report…
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Return to Iceland
The first half of the Icelandic League was played a couple of weeks ago and Sue and I made the trip over to play for our team GM Hellir. When I started playing the team was Matar which then merged with Godinn. Just before the start of this season we made another merger and we’re…
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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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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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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…
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Game of the Month April 2012
Apologies for missing out March’s GOTM but I’m been really busy! Updates on the Reykjavik Open and European Individual Championships will be written when I get time, but for now here’s the GOTM. After winning my first four rounds I started being paired up with the big boys. After draws with White against Nikita Vitiugov…
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Bunratty Weekender
Last weekend Sue and I made the trip over to Shannon airport to play in one of the big two Irish weekend tournaments (the other is Kilkenny). Thanks to Gary O’Grady’s very generous sponsorship this year’s tournament was the strongest weekender I’ve ever seen and must have been the strongest ever tournament in Ireland. Nigel…