Same Old Story

PLAYED much too quickly - see posts passim - and blundered horribly today against a 1984 in round eight of the Bad Wiessee Senioren-Cup.
Still, the sun is again shining today, so I can feel another walk coming on.
The walk I promised myself yesterday started as a modest affair in that I intended to just head up to Bad Wiessee's panoramaweg.
But when I got there I saw a sign pointing in the opposite direction to Bauer in der Au at 704m.
Since it was gone lunchtime, and Bauer in der Au was shown as having somewhere to eat, I decided to head that way.
However, subsequent signs had the eating symbol covered, so I switched plans again and headed further up to Aueralm at 1270m.
I knew Aueralm consisted of a single "mountain cabin," as I passed it last year while ascending the Fockenstein (1564m).
Fortunately the cabin was still there, and it only closes on Mondays, so I was able to enjoy lentil soup and a large slice of blueberry cheesecake.
The route I took to Aueralm was different from the one I used last year. This was just as well as, when I tried to go back down via last year's route, I quickly found there was too much snow to be safely traversed when wearing walking shoes without ankle support and having left my walking pole in my hotel room.
Anyway, here are some photos showing scenes on the way up:

Passing under my hotel (behind the copper-coloured tree), the Landhaus am Bergwald

A shrine in the mountains

Last cafe before Aueralm, and it was abandoned

The weather grew threatening at times but I trusted (correctly) in the forecast of no rain

Much of the walk was between close-growing pines, but it opened up on approaching Aueralm

I had to retrace my steps along this bit after taking a 'shortcut' that finished in a dead end

Double Blunder

THIS is the 35th annual Bad Wörishofen congress, the exact timing of which depends on when Easter falls.
Last year Easter was early, so entries were down as the tournaments coincided with sub-zero temperatures; this year Easter is late, and there are 387 entrants - the most I can remember at Bad Wörishofen.

Father Kneipp's bust overlooks the playing hall before the start of round three

My game on board two in the U2000 yesterday was decided by me making consecutive blunders.

White to make his 51st move in Spanton (1890) - James Reed (1947)

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White is a passed pawn up, and Black's bishop is locked in by my pawns - but, as is usual in chess, a modicum of care is required.
51.Rd1??
I was playing too quickly (through tiredness rather than arrogance). Correct was 51.Qd4, but after the text Black has a draw.
51...Rxa2+! 52.Kg1??
White draws after 52.Bxa3 Qxd1 53.Qc4, but after the text Black has a win.
52...Qb2 (0-1, 58 moves)

Tricky Ending

FATHER Sebastian Kneipp did not just promote water cures - he advocated abstinence from meat and alcohol in any but small quantities.
He thought clothing should be self-spun and made from linen or hemp, rather than wool, and he believed breathing hot air was a major cause of disease.


Father Kneipp's statue dominates the town square

Kneipp was widely praised in his lifetime, although his bulky body-shape in the statue above suggests he may not have always followed his own tenets.
Then again, I am a great advocate of taking your time over a game of chess, but yesterday in round two of Bad Wörishofen U2000 I was well ahead on the clock as usual.
Nevertheless I was still doing fine when my game reached the following position:

I was offered a draw as I was thinking about my 25th move in Thomas Bergmann (1796) - Spanton (1890)

25....Qxd2
Considering the rating difference, I was not about to take a draw if I could help it, but anyway I felt Black's endgame prospects were slightly preferable.
26.Nxd2 f5 27.f3 Kf7 28.Kf2 Ke6 29.Nb3 Bf8!?
White threatened to win a pawn by 30.Nc5. This could have been stopped with 29...Kd5, as then 30,Nc5?? loses to 30...f4. I played  the text in the hope of inducing …
30.Nc5+ Bxc5 31.Bxc5
The analysis engine Komodo9 agrees with 30.Nc5+, and I presume TB played it because a bishop is usually significantly better than a knight when players have rival pawn majorities. However, I felt Black's better king was a key factor here, and making it an endgame of different minor pieces would increase the chances of the game not ending in a draw.
31...Kd5 32.Bb6 e4 33.Bc7 Ne5 34.Bxe5?
Swopping bishop for knight is not necessarily bad, but doing it this way is wrong, as will be seen.
34...Kxe5 35.fxe4 Kxe4
If White had played 34.fxe4+ Kxe4 35.Bxe5, then after 35...Kxe5 we would get the same position, with the same player to move, except Black's king would be on e5 instead of e4. That seems to make the difference between a draw and a Black win.
36.Ke2 f4?
I thought it was important to fix White's kingside pawns, but Komodo9 and Stockfish10 much prefer 36...g5, which keeps open the option of Black's king attacking White's kingside pawns via f4.
37.b4?
This loses by a tempo, but a tempo in the endgame is often vital. The engines give 37.a4, which Stockfish10 reckons equalises, whereas Knmodo9 at first believes Black has the upper hand but, if given plenty of time, agrees the position is drawn.
37...b5 38.Kd2 g5 39.c4
This was TB's idea, but, as noted above, it fails by a tempo.
39...bxc4 40.Kc3 Kd5 41.a4 h5 42.b5 axb5 43.axb5 g4 44.hxg4 hxg4
44...h4? only draws.
45.b6 Kc6 46.b7 Kxb7 47.Kxc4 f3 48.gxf3 g3 0-1

Losses Are Like Buses

I WENT 19 games unbeaten for Battersea - 20 if you count the internal club championship - but have now lost on consecutive evenings.

Black to make his 30th move  in Garik Mirzoyan (165) - Spanton (167)

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I am much better, probably winning, in this game for Battersea 3 away to King's College in division two of the Central London League last night (Wed).
30...Ra2?
Playing too quickly, as usual, I took the open file, which gives me a choice of attacking d3 or withdrawing to the back rank. It did not take me long to realise that correct was 30...Rc2. Then if White plays 31.Rh1, as in the game, Black has 31...Ke8 32.Rxh7 b5, and there is nothing to fear from 33.g6 as the c pawn is protected.
After the text, the position is equal.
31.Rh1 Ra8?
But now the position is lost for Black.
I rejected 31...Ra3 because of 32.Rxh7 Rxd3+ 33.Kf4 Ke8 34.g6 fxg6 35.Rxc7, missing that Black may well be OK after 35...Rd7.
Komodo9 and Stockfish10 give 31...Rc2 32.Rxh7+ Ke8 (Black's moves can be played in reverse order), when a draw follows 33.Rh8+ Ke7 34.Rh7 (threatening to play g6) Ke8 etc. Note that it is important for the Black rook to be on c2 to protect c7 in the event of White meeting ...Ke8 with g6.
32.Rxh7 Rf8
All moves lose, but this makes White's task easier.
33.g6 Ke8
And so does this, although 33...Ke7 34.g5 does not save Black, eg 34...b5 35.gxf7 Rxf7 36.g6.
34.g7 1-0
Updated statistics
Battersea 2018-19
Event...Colour...Grade...Opponent's Grade...Result
CLL.........B..........167...….........196..............…D
LL...…….B...…...167...………..159...………….D
CLL...…..B...…...167...………..161...………….W
CLL...…..B...…...167...………..190...………….D
LL...…….W...…..167...………..161...….………W
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..148...………….D
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..165...………….W
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..160...………….D
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..159...………….D
LL...…….B...…...167...………..168...………….D
LL...…….W...…..167...………..148...………….W
CLL...…..B...…...167...………..196...……….….L
CLL...…..B...…...167...………..165...…………..L
Overall this season for Battersea I have scored +4=7-2 for a grading performance of 175.
In season 2017-18 I scored +10=8-9 for a grading performance of 175.

Have Yourself A Coulsdon Little Christmas

PLAYED at Coulsdon over the weekend, scoring +2=1-2.
I was pretty disappointed with my play, not least at missing numerous tactics, not helped by my old sin of playing too quickly.
My performance was enough to cost me 5.8 elo, and I felt as though I deserved to have lost more.
My mood was not improved on putting the games into ChessBase this evening and discovering even more errors than I had suspected.
And yet, when I came to check my ECF grading performance, I found I performed at 172.4 - comfortably more than my ECF grade of 167 ...

Throwing Away A Win

BENIDORM U2000, along with its sister tournament, which is for players rated under 2301, is unusual in that it consists of 10 rounds over nine days (some years, but not very often, it is 10 rounds over 10 days).
Each round starts at 4.30pm, except for the double-round day when the morning game begins at 10am.
Yesterday saw this year's double-round day, but my morning opponent did not turn up (an all-too-frequent occurrence in Spanish tournaments in my experience), so I had to sit around twiddling my thumbs for an hour in case he showed.
In the afternoon/evening round, I reached the following position against an 11-year-old boy.

White to make his 40th move in Spanton (1940) - Pablo Fuertes Cirauqui (1807)

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40.e6??
White's advantage is overwhelming, but this is not the way to convert it.
If I had been taking my time, I would have seen the danger to my king from a check on h6.
Stockfish9 reckons it is mate in 29(!) moves starting with 40.g4. In any event, I needed to give my king more air.
40...Bh6+ 41.Ke5 Re3+ 42.Kd4 Rxe6 43.Qd8+ Bf8
I could see no way to make progress and so felt obliged to accept my opponent's draw offer (made in my time, naturally).

Bugbears Again

LOST feebly to a 148 today in the 'Paignton' afternoon U180 after turning down a draw offer in a marginally inferior rook-and-pawn ending.

Bad Run Prolonged

DREW one game (to a 1704/145) and lost the other (to a 1639/148) in the final rounds today of the Berks & Bucks Challengers.
That meant I lost a further 23.2 elo, bringing my tournament loss to 51.4, which reduces my live rating to 1923.6.
Statistically, this may have been my worst tournament ever, narrowly eclipsing the 50.2 elo I lost at Southend last year.
Major adjustments are going to be needed ahead of 'Paignton' next week.
CORRECTION: It appears from the Berks & Bucks website that I actually lost 52.4 elo, bringing my live rating to 1922.6.
Playing blunder chess AND getting simple maths wrong - I must be tired! Or perhaps I am suffering from a touch of the Tartakowers - the Russian-born, to Austrian parents, grandmaster gave a lecture in which he admitted that, despite his many chess successes, he had never managed to beat a fully healthy opponent (the quote has also been attributed to other masters).

Bugbears Continue

FACED juniors in my two games today at the Berks & Bucks Challengers, beating one (1584 Fide/128 ECF) and losing to the other (1762 Fide/158 ECF).
That gave me an elo loss for the day of 12.8, and 28.2 for the tournament, reducing my live rating to 1946.8.
Once again my twin bugbears - playing too quickly; overestimating my position - played big parts.

Old Bugbears

PLAYING at the 54th Berks & Bucks Congress, where I have been placed in the Challengers, which is both Fide rated and ECF graded.
In round one I lost to a junior (1684 Fide/162 ECF) after turning down two draw offers, and in round two beat a player with neither a rating nor a grade.
The common theme of both of today's games, from my perspective, is that of playing too quickly and hugely overestimating my position for most of the time.
I keep telling myself to correct these bugbears, especially the former, which, in theory, should be easily corrected, but they persist.
The round-one debacle has cost me 16 rating points, knocking my "live" rating down to 1959.