e2e4 Hinckley Congress

[John Moore]

Poor old Chris Kreuzer - tough position anyway.

[John Moore]

Dunno what Jonathan Nelson is thinking about - if you get into this, surely you have to go 6 c3. There is nothing else to do.

[John Moore]

Actually, I now see that Black's clock is going - although the board shows it as white to move!!

[John Moore]

Burrows-Wang is interesting. I have been looking at these ideas as White on and off for years and recently paying more attention to Black taking the pawn since that's what people seem more prepared to do in these computer days.

Maria played all her moves very quickly in the opening but after 13 g4, I suspect Black should just get on with developing and play Bd7 and 0-0-0. It doesn't matter so much if you lose your pawn back on h5 because it will involve the exchange of white's g4 pawn. In the game, you lose the pawn back and white's g pawn sits on g5 - doubt you want that as Black.

[John Moore]

In Burrows-Wang after 20 Bc4 I wonder whether Black should take with the pawn - well I am sure she should. Suddenly there is a square on d5 and Black's white sqaured bishop has a chance to join in.

[John Moore]

On Board 3 isn't Fernandez just lost - playing a3 is fun but not playing h3 as well in the first 6 moves

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Poor old Chris Kreuzer - tough position anyway.

Thanks for the commiserations. Blundering my queen at the end (this is the round 4 game against Richard Weaving) didn't help. It happened mainly because I hadn't realised that taking the d5 pawn was a possibility after 31.Kc2, and when the move occurred to me I just completely forgot to check for tactics. Annoying because I saw what was wrong with that move milliseconds after touching the pawn to capture it... Should have resigned then, but was so annoyed I played on for a bit longer. Interesting post-mortem looking at the obvious alternative (31...b5, though White may have 32.Nf5). The blunder was annoying, but I felt I held my own for most of the game up until that point. And am still very pleased with my performance so far. Though it is nearly time for round 5!

EDIT: The above was written before round 5. The internet connection failed just before I had to go and play. Managed to win in round 5 (all five games I've played have been won by White!), so a grading performance of ECF 201 so far and 22.5 ELO points (so no need to feel that sorry for me!), but there are still two rounds and enough time for things to go horribly wrong... (or back to normal) Some interesting games to watch as well, on and off the live boards.

And I see my round 4 opponent is trashing the IM (Fernandez) on board 3. Anyone know what the assessment is in Arkell-Ghasi? Currently at move 28. I'd say Arkell has the two bishops and two pawn islands versus three, and White's position looks better, but is it enough? (A few moves later - it was enough).

[AustinElliott]

Christopher's Rd 3 conqueror, Richard Weaving, has followed up his Rd 4 victory over IM Daniel Fernandez with a notable win over Keith Arkell in Rd 5. Fine showing by him. I'm presuming he will get another IM (Hawkins or Ghasi) next round?

[John Moore]

Last round being delayed a bit by a Rook and pawn ending which has now reached move 125!

[John Moore]

Stewart-Burrows has now reached move 165!

[John Moore]

Last capture on move 147 - I can never remember, do you have to claim under the 50 move rule. It may well be that Burrows has an up to date scoresheet - he has never been really short of time.

[John Moore]

One wonders whether Whitfield-Spence is influenced by the late start - players needing to catch pre-booked public transport, maybe. Certainly it's been a horrible game so far.

[John Moore]

Brandon Clarke also seems to be playing all his moves a la Jack Rudd

[Peter D Williams]

One wonders whether Whitfield-Spence is influenced by the late start - players needing to catch pre-booked public transport, maybe. Certainly it's been a horrible game so far.

Black has been outplayed so far by Craig.Will that be blacks excuse should he lose to a junior that i was worrying about public transport? We should do a thread on here for the excuses adults give for losing to juniors.

[John Moore]

Peter - I don't know if the late start is a reason and I didn't know that Craig was a junior. Good luck to him if he can finish David off.