2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Feb 27, 2015 11:24 am

If we are going to look at the opposition, why not look at Keith's opponent. Pal Petran:

http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=700304

Became an IM in 1976. Currently rated 2291. Was 2426 back in 2006. Was there any reason to fear anything there? Any hope for the rest of the game, or is that still completely lost? (Currently at 28...Bg7 and I presume 29.Nb5 is the only option to keep the game going though I presume Petran looked at that and the knight gets trapped or something).

Tim Harding
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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by Tim Harding » Fri Feb 27, 2015 11:27 am

NickFaulks wrote:Keith has played a horrible game, but that can happen to anyone. The other team members are supposed to make some effort to cover for you.
I think that is unfair. Keith obtained a promising position by around move 12 so it probably looked to the others that solid play for draws was OK. But then Keith played Ba3? instead of Nd2, and missed later chances to play Nd2. The course of the higher boards was already set by then and it might have been risking loss to force matters.

Keith has managed to scramble to an ending so hope is not altogether gone yet.
Tim Harding
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NickFaulks
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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by NickFaulks » Fri Feb 27, 2015 11:29 am

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: Was there any reason to fear anything there?
There was at the point where John took a draw in a position that still had play.
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Jonathan Rogers
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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by Jonathan Rogers » Fri Feb 27, 2015 11:33 am

Tim Harding wrote:
NickFaulks wrote:Keith has played a horrible game, but that can happen to anyone. The other team members are supposed to make some effort to cover for you.
I think that is unfair. Keith obtained a promising position by around move 12 so it probably looked to the others that solid play for draws was OK. But then Keith played Ba3? instead of Nd2, and missed later chances to play Nd2. The course of the higher boards was already set by then and it might have been risking loss to force matters.

Keith has managed to scramble to an ending so hope is not altogether gone yet.
Even my optimism does not stretch that far. There are no targets for his knight and Black should be able to advance his king and pick off the g-pawn, if necessary by giving up the d4 pawn to distract the White king, and then there is an outside h-pawn....

Tim Harding
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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by Tim Harding » Fri Feb 27, 2015 11:42 am

Jonathan Rogers wrote:Even my optimism does not stretch that far. There are no targets for his knight and Black should be able to advance his king and pick off the g-pawn, if necessary by giving up the d4 pawn to distract the White king, and then there is an outside h-pawn....
I'm not very optimistic either but for the time being (move 38) Keith has a blockade.

I've been looking at regulations. Match points are the main factor and game points is only the second tiebreak. If England lose this match they really must beat Germany and Scotland, however narrow the margin, and hope one of them beats the Slovaks.
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Nigel Short
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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by Nigel Short » Fri Feb 27, 2015 11:57 am

John Nunn had food poisoning the other day and is still not well. Keith has played hideously with white in a game where he outrates his opponent by a significant margin. It is very disappointing, but it happens... There is still a lot of time left in the event, so I am hoping we can regroup.

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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by NickFaulks » Fri Feb 27, 2015 8:03 pm

We did not know about the food poisoning. Having two boards heading straight for draws and a third in no physical condition to try to win put a great burden on the only team member who has never been in the world top ten. I'm sure he is distraught that he could not carry it.
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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Feb 27, 2015 8:53 pm

Nick, I don't think Terry Chapman has been in the world top ten either (though by team, I suppose you meant the four selected for that match). It is possible to argue endlessly about how things went wrong in that match, but it is probably best just to let this go now and let the team regroup. We know at least two of the team read this forum - let's not put any more pressure on them by what is said here.

Keith Arkell
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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by Keith Arkell » Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:46 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:If we are going to look at the opposition, why not look at Keith's opponent. Pal Petran:

http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=700304

Became an IM in 1976. Currently rated 2291. Was 2426 back in 2006. Was there any reason to fear anything there?
That was not my opponent. I played inexplicably badly and spent a lot of time on the clock doing so (maybe the worst game I've played in 2 decades), but against someone stronger than the guy you mention here.

Hardly compensation. Not even a tiny fraction, but at least I got a bit of confidence back by getting 9/9 in the blitz

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Feb 27, 2015 10:27 pm

Keith Arkell wrote:
Christopher Kreuzer wrote:If we are going to look at the opposition, why not look at Keith's opponent. Pal Petran:

http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=700304

Became an IM in 1976. Currently rated 2291. Was 2426 back in 2006. Was there any reason to fear anything there?
That was not my opponent. I played inexplicably badly and spent a lot of time on the clock doing so (maybe the worst game I've played in 2 decades), but against someone stronger than the guy you mention here.

Hardly compensation. Not even a tiny fraction, but at least I got a bit of confidence back by getting 9/9 in the blitz
Oops. Sorry about that. As someone else just pointed out to me by PM, your opponent was Peter Petran of Slovakia, not Pal Petran of Hungary. Sorry about that. :oops:

http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=14900114

Glad to hear the blitz went well.

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David Shepherd
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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by David Shepherd » Fri Feb 27, 2015 10:28 pm

Keith Arkell wrote: I played inexplicably badly and spent a lot of time on the clock doing so (maybe the worst game I've played in 2 decades)
Was it really that bad though? - it just looked to me (although I'm pretty rubbish) as if you moved the wrong rook to d1 so either Na3, Rad1 or Nd2, Rad1 would have been ok, but after Red1 it just didn't look that nice to play and the ending just looked miserable to try and get anything out of, with increasingly there only being bad moves to choose from.

Its a big problem with rooks - chess players always seem to move the wrong one :(

Tim Harding
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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by Tim Harding » Fri Feb 27, 2015 11:51 pm

The good news (apart from Keith winning the blitz - congratulations!) is:
a) that Germany were held to a 2-2 draw by Thuringen but will still play Slovakia in round 5.
b) England-1 play Denmark, not Scotland, in match 3. Scotland will play Thuringen in match-2.

On paper the Danes don't look as strong (former senior world champion Jens Kristiansen isn't playing) but they do have on board 2 Jorn Sloth who won the postal world championship in the 1980s. A very solid positional player in the Smyslov mould,

In an ideal world, therefore, if Nigel & co. can win all the rest of their matches they can still win the tournament.
They just need Germany to beat Slovakia tomorrow and the leading places open up.
If Slovakia don't lose, however, they will be hard to catch. A drawn match would leave them a match point ahead.
The Scots (who have also had one drawn match) of course can have a big influence on the outcome because they still have to play the top teams.

England-2, who have lost to Slovakia also, and the Danes (who lost to Thuringen) are level on match points with England-1.
England-1 are likely to meet both England-2 and Scotland before the end,

In the 65+ Section it's the Germany-Russia showdown in round 5, the last two teams with a 100 per cent record.
Tim Harding
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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Sat Feb 28, 2015 12:51 am

Tim Harding wrote: In the 65+ Section it's the Germany-Russia showdown in round 5, the last two teams with a 100 per cent record.
Worth keeping an eye on KAISSA Deutschland as well, as they are almost as strong as the main Germany team. If Russia beat both those German teams, they will deserve the 65+ title. Russia have 5 players, though, compared to the four by the two strongest German teams.

Going back to the 50+ section, I hope this is not a silly question, but why is Terry Chapman playing for England 1, rather than having a GM like Flear or Plaskett in reserve? I suppose that is another way of asking how selection was done for England 1 and England 2.

David Sedgwick
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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by David Sedgwick » Sat Feb 28, 2015 9:13 am

Tim Harding wrote:[England 1] just need Germany to beat Slovakia tomorrow and the leading places open up.
If Slovakia don't lose, however, they will be hard to catch. A drawn match would leave them a match point ahead.
Germany have not done England any favours. Their top board, GM Uwe Bönsch, has been rested.

The Board 4 game has already been drawn.

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Re: 2015 World Senior Team Ch 24 Feb-4 Mar

Post by LawrenceCooper » Sat Feb 28, 2015 9:34 am

Two draws so far, ironically the Slovakian white games again.