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| Game Selection |
Opponent / Synopsis |
|
Round 1
December 2002 |
| Game 1 - drrw black |
prasert3 white (Thailand) |
Classic Roy Lopez game when castling is on opposite sides - game hangs by a thread to move 22. |
| Game 2 - drrw white |
YellowIdol black (England) |
Black forces the Queens off the board early. The critical move here was white a4! that negated
black positional advantage and forced a tactical error, allowing bf5. Again an extremely finely balanced tactical
game with a tortous knife edge position. |
| Game 3 - drrw black |
YellowIdol white |
Rare Queen v 3 minor pieces endgame - but the exposed position of the white king is critical,
allowing black to capture pawns and restrict whites moves. |
|
Round 2
March
2003 |
| Game 2 - drrw white |
mnemiroff black (USA) |
22 move game with pretty mate ending against a dangerous opponent |
| Game 3 - drrw black |
Viper white (USA) |
28 move game against a tough veteran of hundreds of games |
| Game 4 - drrw black |
mnemiroff white |
This game has everything! White overreaches in the opening, risky pawn grab of three pawns by
black; vicious counterattack by white; opposite side castling and very precise defense then counterattack by black.
35 moves of fireworks! |
| Game 5 - drrw black |
PawnQueen white (England) |
This was a must win game. We were both tied in points, and so either could knock the other out. Opposite side castling
again!
At move 15 blacks Queen move introduces weaknesses into whites K-side pawns that ultimately prove fatal 15 moves
later. White reacts to the threat - Ng4. But black is calculating that with the white N on c3, he has one or one-and
one half tempi available before white can re-introduce his knight to the defense, and that is just enough to build
a k-side attack before white breakthrough in the center. Again 30 nerve racking move win with both sides going
all out.
A really tough Round - having to win every game to get through. |
|
Round 3
July
2003 |
| A strange round - Kamken withdraws early; Jabberwocky times-out in mid-game in even positions
with me; I make a silly opening mistake against Alanivison, but then recover, and Alanivison gifts his Queen trying
to avoid losing his knight. This leaves Alanivison needing to win all his remaining games to force a match-off. |
|
The points leader in tournament wins in 2002 is battling to get to the finals yet again! |
| Game 5 - drrw white |
Alanivison black (England) |
My worst game, but I end up winning! |
| Game 6 - drrw black |
Alanivison white |
Toughest game yet - five moves in a row I manage to eek out the only saving move, and then suddenly,
there is no way in for white, and black has winning lines. Meanhile Alanivison loses his other crucial game with
Jabberwocky, meaning all I have to do is draw here, so the game ends in a timeout. Who says chess is not crazy?!? |
|
Round 4
Final Round |
| Into the final against Big John, after Satandan fails to dispatch his old adversary Big John
in a won position! (He missed mate in 2 and that allowed Big John through) |
|
Big John clearly is renown for tough fighting and never-say-die attitude as veteran of 200+ games.
He plays out both games to the end, hoping for an inaccuracy. Hey, this is the final afterall! But finally even
he has to concede when facing mate in two. My challenge was finding the shortest number of moves to finish each
game in. |
| Game 1 - drrw white |
Big John - black (USA) |
Definately one of my most precisely played games, and a very nice winning rook sacrifice combination
to take his Queen off. |
| Game 2 - drrw black |
Big John - black (USA) |
For once I get the opening right, and force a mistake, and then exact play from there to convert
the win and not let Big John have any chances to complicate play. |
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