Winter Plans

HERE are the tournaments I have committed to for the rest of December through to the end of February.

Dec 14-15: Coulsdon Late Autumn in the Surrey town's church-based location. I have entered the five-round open, asking for a half-point bye on Saturday afternoon.

Dec 27 - Jan 4: 35th Cracovia chess festival in Poland's old capital, Kraków. I have entered the 60+ seniors, which is nine rounds over nine days, but that includes a double-round day and a free day on January 1.

Jan 18-25: 23rd Mariánské Lázně chess festival in the former Habsburg spa town of Marienbad. I have entered the 50+ seniors, which is nine rounds over eight days.

Feb 17-26: world senior team championships in Prague. I will be playing for one of the England teams, although I do not know whether that will be in the 50+ or 65+ championships (my priority is to be in a four-person team, rather than a five-person team, the latter probably meaning two byes on top of a free day). Nine rounds over 10 days.

I also hope to play team chess in the London League, the Central London League and the 4NCL.

Spa Chess

FLEW to Prague yesterday afternoon - it should have been yesterday morning, but my British Airways flight from Heathrow took off more than three hours late - and caught a train to Mariánské Lázně.

It is a spa town in Bohemia, better known until WW1 under its Germanic name of Marienbad.

This is the 22nd edition of a chess festival held by the CzechTour, and includes round-robin norm tournaments, an open, a 50+ seniors, a rapid and a blitz.

I am playing in the seniors, which has 79 entries, including an international master and three Fide masters.

The format is nine rounds over eight days, with a time control of 40 moves in 90 minutes, a further 30 minutes to finish, and a 30-second increment throughout.

The Colonnade (tourist office photo)

Golden Age

THE golden age of Mariánské Lázně was undoubtedly in the second half of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th.
This coincides with what was probably also the high-water mark of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and at that time the town went by its German name of Marienbad.
Most of the town-centre's buildings date from this period, including an impressive cast-iron colonnade.

Detail from the colonnade

It was in 1904 that Britain's Edward VII met the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph in Mariánské Lázně. Their discussions focussed on the balance of power in Europe, with Edward trying to detach the emperor from his alliance with Germany.

Franz Joseph and Edward

Edward did not succeed, and he died in 1910, aged 68, which meant he did not live to see Britain and Austria-Hungary go to war.
Franz Joseph lived on to 1916, dying aged 86 at a point in the Great War when events were going well for his empire (Serbia conquered, Russia in retreat and the Italian front stabilised).
My game today, in round seven of the Seniors, was anything but stable and had more than its fair share of instructive moments.
Jan Lacha (1727) - Spanton (1943)
Sicilian Defence, Grand Prix Attack
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.f4 Bg7 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bc4
The main alternative to 5.Bb5. The text has been favoured by Anand and Aronian.
5...e6
I have a friend who has tendency to play ...d6 in these sort of positions, and it is fair to say 5...d6 has been the choice of many players. But it is certainly logical to blunt White's light-square bishop with the text, when the plan is to get in ...d5 without first spending a tempo on ...d6.
6.0-0
The speculative 6.f5!? is also popular, and considered more effective here than against 5...d6 - an argument in favour of the latter for players unsure of how to meet White's pawn sac.
6...Nge7 7.d3 d5
More popular is 7...0-0, but the text has been chosen by some strong players, and seems fine.
8.Bb3 0-0

The chief tabiya of the 5.Bc4 line

9.a3!?
The mainline goes 9.Qe1 Nd4 10.Nxd4 cxd4 11.Ne2 dxe4 12.dxe4 b6 with a position that Stockfish10 reckons favours White but that Komodo9 declares to be equal.
JL's choice appears in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database in the games of several players rated 2400+. White's main idea is to preserve his light-square bishop against the threat of ...Na5.
9...Nd4 10.Nxd4 cxd4 11.Ne2 dxe4!?
The analysis engines do no like this move. Stockfish10 prefers 11...Qb6 while Komodo9 suggests 11...Bd7. In both cases one possible reply is 12.f5!?
12.dxe4 Qb6 13.Kh1 Bd7 14.Be3?
This move works tactically, but JL failed to properly consider the position after the little combination is over.
14...dxe3 15.Qxd7 Nc6
Threatening to win White's queen by bringing a rook to the d file.
16.Qd1 Rad8
16...Rfd8 might seem more natural, saving the other rook for the c file, but I wanted to keep f7 well protected.
17.Qe1 Na5
Grabbing two pawns with 17...Bxb2 18.Rb1 Bxa3 looks risky but may be playable, while 18...Bg7 19.Bxe6 looks even more dangerous for Black.
18.f5!?
This may well not be the best move but it leads to complications and was probably White's best practical chance.
18...Nxb3 19.cxb3 Bxb2?!
More sensible was 19...exf5 (now Black has two pieces covering the f6 square) 20.exf5 Rd2 with a big advantage.
20.Rb1 Bf6 21.e5!?
Adding fuel to the fire - again a practical choice.
21...Bxe5 22.f6 Rd2 23.Ng1!
The best move in the position. Note that 23.Qh4? is hopeless in the face of 23...Rxe2 24.Qh6 Bxf6.
23...Qd6?
Throwing away nearly all of Black's advantage - I somehow missed that I was leaving the e pawn en prise. The engines give 23...Bc3, and if 24.Qh4, then 24...Rf2.
24.Qxe3 Rc8?
A deliberate piece sac, but there is no need for this. Simplest was 24...Rd8, giving the d2 rook extra protection so 25.Qh6 can be met by 25...Qf8.
25.Qh6 Bxf6 26.Rxf6 Rc2

Black is a piece down and will remain so for the rest of the game, but Black's very active pieces, and White's uncoordinated ones, mean the position is unclear

*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
27.Qf4?
I thought this was White's best chance as 27.Qh3 (27.Qg5 comes to the same thing) runs into 27...Rxg2 28.Qxg2 Rxg2 29.Kxg2 Qd5+ 30.Rf3 g5, but this position, like the last diagram, is unclear - Stockfish10 reckons Black is winning while Komodo9 calls it equal.
27...Qxf4?
The engines point out a win by 27...Qd5 28.Nf3 Rxg2 when White cannot sensibly defend the h2 square.
28.Rxf4 Rxg2 29.Rh4
29.Nf3 does not seem to be an improvement after the reply 29...Rgf2.
29...g5
Black's initiative continues, giving White no time to get coordinated.
30.Rh5 Kg7 31.Nf3
Not 31.Rh3?? g4 32.Rh4 Kg6 as White will have to give up the knight to let his king's rook escape.
31...Kg6
Better, it seems, was 31...h6! as White is obliged to play the game continuation of 32.Ne1 because 32.Rh3??, which is possible in the game, loses trivially to 32...g4.
32.Ne1
But here White could have played 32.Rh3! as I had missed that 32...g4?! can be met by 33.Nh4+, when 33...Kg5 34.Nxg2 gxh3 gives White a better version of the game continuation, although the position is still not clear.
32...Rb2
The engines at first strongly prefer 32...Kxh5 33.Nxg2 f5, but their evaluation steadily goes down with more thinking time while their evaluation of my move goes up.
33.Rxb2 Rxb2 34.Rh3 Re2 35.Nd3 f5 36.Rg3!?
I thought this was just playing for a trap (White threatens 37.Nf4+), but JL seems to have had in mind going for a draw by repetition. The engines prefer 36.Kg1 but reckon Black is much better after 36...f4.
36...e5 37.Rg2 Re3 38.Rg3 Re2 39.Rg2

What should Black play?

*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
39...Rxg2!
I felt I was taking a huge risk as the resulting ending of knight-and-three-pawns versus six pawns was by no means clear to me.
40.Kxg2 e4 41.Nc5
The alternative try of 41.Ne5+ is met by 41...Kf6 42.Nd7+ Ke7! (42...Ke6 runs into 43.Nf8+! Ke5 44.Nh7 when the engines reckon neither player can make progress after 44...g4 or 44...Kf4) 43.Nc5 b6 44.Na4 Kf6 and White's knight cannot get at Black's queenside pawns quickly enough nor effectively interfere with the advance of Black's kingside pawns. In this latter line the attempt 43.Ne5 is answered by 43...Ke6 44.Nc4 f4 with similar results.
41...b6 42.Nb7 f4 43.Nd6 e3 44.Nc8 Kf5 45.Nxa7 Ke4 46.Nc6 f3+ 47.Kf1 g4 48.a4 h5 49.b4 h4 0-1

Marianske Lazne (aka Marienbad)

GOT into Mariánské Lázně - formerly Marienbad - last night for an event on the CzechTour that I have not previously attended.
The weather forecast during the tournament is for a high of -2C, but with no snow (falling - there is plenty on the ground) and little wind-chill.
The place, which is in west Bohemia, was founded by German settlers, becoming a famous spa with the name of Marienbad in the 1800s, which is also when it officially received its charter as a town.
It was renowned for attracting royalty and was the site of a widely publicised meeting in 1904 between Britain's King Edward VII and Austria-Hungary's Emperor Franz Joseph.
Marienbad became part of the new state of Czechoslovakia after World War One, getting its Czech name of Mariánské Lázně, and German speakers were expelled following World War Two.

Mariánské Lázně's Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary

The communist coup of 1948 led to the town being closed to most foreign tourists, but this policy was reversed with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the coming of democracy.
Today, judging by café menus and signage around the town, most visitors speak - apart from Czech - German or Russian.
I was warned very few people would speak English, but, as I suspected, this has proved false, although it has to be said locals have tended to reflexively say "danke schön" when I hold a door open or do some other little kindness.
It is early days, or rather early hours (as I type this, I have not quite been in town for 24 hours), so impressions may easily change.
But I am enjoying myself so far and the chess - I am playing in the Seniors - got off to a reasonable start today when with Black I beat a 1625, although I can hardly claim to have played particularly well.