Gothenburg 2005

Round 7

We chose a team for this round, not with the aim of just playing out time and evening up games and colours, but to make one last desparate charge for another match victory. If we could have secured it would have meant our best ever finish in the competition, and I was still happy we'd done the right thing after an hour or so's play. In the end we just weren't up to the job though against a moderate Luxemburg side.

7.19 39 Wales 1 - 3 38 Luxemburg

1 FM Jones Richard 2325  ½ : ½ IM Bakalarz Mieczyslaw 2423

2 FM James David 2213    ½ : ½ IM Berend Fred 2374

3 Kett Tim 2192                 0 : 1  WGM Berend Elvira 2350

4 Spice Alan 2175             0 : 1  Wagener Claude 2273

Richard unexpectedly met 1...e5 and in the spirit of the occasion decide to forget the Ruy Lopez "learning experience" and go back to his roots with 2.f4. His opponent played the "Fischer bust" 3...d6 variation after accepting the gambit. Qd3 was possibly a dubious alternative to the normal 7.Nc3 though and he didn't get anything going. Both sides castled Q-side and then he missed the neat ...Nc3+ later on after which his opponent might have played on instead of settling for a perpetual.

David defended very resourcefully and correctly in a long manouevring game. Mr Berend finachettoed his KB but later transposed back to an open Sicilian structure from where he probed away and at some stages held a small but clear advantage. David more than held firm though and eventually even won exchange for a pawn. Still suffering from less space and faced with a central passed pawn though he could not really mount a serious winning challenge.

I made some stuff up against Mrs B (the former Soviet WGM) in an Open Sicilian (Taimanov / Kan hybrid) and got a playable position with some attacking potential. The tension quickly built up as I offered a piece thinking it would be too 'hot' to accept but she coolly took it off. The sac offered lots of chances and many complications but then I'm afraid I completely hallucinated. For those of you following the games I analysed 21.Bg6 but since I couldn't see it all the way through to a win I cast around for alternatives. At this point I remembered the Turkish geezer's brilliant Bxa6!! from yesterday and so, in a flash of inspiration, continued Bxa6?? and immediately realised that 21...g6 is now possible and immediately winning.

Alan's hopes of a norm have now sadly ended after a steady slide to defeat in the Tarrasch French with 3...Nc6. His opponent seemed to play pretty well to be fair and controlled the game positionally before initiating some tactics which won a pawn and led to a clearly winning endgame.

It might have been, but it wasn't. Chess is a hard game at this level and even against relatively weaker opponents you have to work really hard for any chance of the full point. We were just dreaming really. Oh well, its over now ... time for some beers.