Pursuits: Chess
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Your support makes all the difference.ON SATURDAY I played in an absolutely splendid tournament, an event that is, as far as I know, unique: the fourth edition of the Dutch Open Blitz Championship.
Situated in Dordrecht, just south of Rotterdam, with primary sponsorship from the Financial Plannning Organisation (FPO) in Rotterdam and additional help from several local firms, this consisted of exactly 200 players including 16 grandmasters, headed by Alexei Shirov, with other players ranging right down to one poor gentleman rated 1,200 - that's 75 BCF - who scored just 4/34.
Yes, 34! For between a little after the projected 10am and 6.30pm when they finished smack on time, they fitted in no fewer than 17 double rounds - in which you play the same opponent with both colours. At a time limit of five minutes each per game that gives 20 minutes' playing time per round, yet these started promptly at 25-minute intervals and there were even a lunch break of 35 minutes and two shorter ones of 20 minutes each later on in the day.
The organisation that achieved this near-impossible feat consisted of 26 people, including the two arbiters; and I was told that they even had two dress rehearsals at a local school hall to ensure the requisite smoothness. With specially written software, the pairings could, once all the results had been entered, be completed in seconds; and these were then displayed on five large screens, strategically placed so that milling around was kept to an absolute minimum.
As you may well imagine, there was a colossal amount of both bloodshed and fun. In the end, it was Rafael Vaganian, an Armenian now resident in Germany, who ended up clear first on 25/34. He was followed by Tiviakov on 24, Lautier, Baklan and myself on 23.5, Gurevich on 23,Van Wely and Schmalz on 22.5 and Shirov on 22. (I was fortunate that in the penultimate round my opponent took my king - the correct procedure was to stop the clocks and claim the game - which in this event was deemed to be an immediate draw!)
The games on the top board were recorded on an electronic board. Generally, blitz games often contain tactical errors but can be quite clean positionally. Here is a particularly clean win by Vaganian. After some heavy opening theory he won a pawn and then showed splendid technique.
White: Rafael Vaganian
Black: Loek van Wely
Neo-Grunfeld
1 Nf3 Nf6
2 c4 g6
3 g3 Bg7
4 Bg2 0-0
5 d4 d5
6 cxd5 Nxd5
7 0-0 Nb6
8 Nc3 Nc6
9 d5 Na5
10 Qc2 c6
11 dxc6 Nxc6
12 Rd1 Bf5
13 e4 Bd7
14 Qe2 Qe8
15 Be3 Rc8
16 Rac1 Bg4
17 h3 Bxf3
18 Bxf3 Ne5
19 Bg2 Nec4
20 Bxb6 axb6
21 b3 Bxc3
22 Rxc3 Na5
23 Qe3 Rxc3
24 Qxc3 Nc6
25 Qe3 e5
26 Qxb6 Qe7
27 Rd5 h5
28 h4 Rc8
29 Bh3 Rc7
30 Qc5 Qf6
31 Qd6 Qxd6
32 Rxd6 Nd4
33 Bf1 Rc1
34 Kg2 Rc2
35 Bc4 b5
36 Bd5 Kf8
37 Rf6 Rc7
38 Rb6 Kg7
39 a4 bxa4
40 bxa4 f5
41 a5 Rc2
42 a6 Ra2
43 Rb7+ Kf6
44 a7 1-0
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