Gothenburg 2005

Round 2

2.17 39 Wales 0 - 4 29 Sweden 2

1 FM Jones Richard 2325 0 : 1 GM Andersson Ulf 2584

2 FM James David 2213   0 : 1GM Karlsson Lars 2472

3 Kett Tim 2192                0 : 1 IM Olsson Anders 2416

4 Trevelyan John 2196       0 : 1 Lindberg Bosse 2359

It was welcome to the hard, harsh world of modern international chess today. We all fought our socks off but narrowly lost all four games to Sweden II.

Richard seemed to be going OK in another Taimanov Sicilian (we got White on board 1 for the second day running) against the legendary Ulf Andersson - the latest in a potential galaxy of superstars he's going to play here. He accepted double isolated e-pawns in order to get a lasting grip on the d- and f- files and the a2-g8 diagonal.  Andersson gradually neutralised Richard's active play but the ensuing endgame always looked as though it should be within drawing bounds. Unfortunately winning drawish endings is what Andersson is renowned for. With R,B & 3 vs R, N & 3 all on the K-side (e, g & h pawns each), Rich decided to swap B for N but this allowed Andersson's King to get in and combined with a R on the 7th the GM had just enough to squeeze it out

David really was doing well and more than equalised against his opponents slow double fianchetto build-up. He got into a favourable IQP position which seemed safe enough to allow him to start planning trades and steer to a favourable ending. Unfortunately he was awakened by a Ne5xf7 tactic which effectively decided the game in an instant.

My prep went OK in an "exchange Winawer" and the position to about move 10 was just what I was looking for (i.e. solid and holdable !). A couple of small inaccuracies (like 17Qg3 instead of Qh5?!) allowed him to improve his position and go after my weak Q-side pawns. I let one go and kept some active chances in the Q & R ending but although he admitted missing one shot (33.Rxf6) in the time scramble he still had enough control.

John played his usual Philidor setup (like a Kings Indian but with the B on e7 instead of g7 !) but his opponent attacked vigorously and the game exploded into life a little too early for John's liking. By the time he finally got the queens off (much later than he wanted !) the ending of R & B each was no longer really holdable.

Oh well, we'll keep battling away ... we knew it would be tough !