20th World Senior Chess Championship:
26 October to 6 November 2010
A report by Tony Ashby
The 20th World Senior Chess Championship took place recently in Arco, Italy. Arco is a small town to the north of Lake Garda, Northern Italy. Your reporter found himself to be the only English player who had entered, although Scotland was represented by Craig Pritchett, International Master. There were also other native English speaking players from Australia, New Zealand, USA and South Africa.
The number of entries was down slightly from two years ago in Germany, when I last played, but the overall standard seemed to be very much higher. Out of a total of 224 players in the men’s tournament there were 16 Grand Masters, 19 International Masters, 28 FIDE Masters and two Candidate Masters, of which I was one. Some 46 countries were represented overall. The playing conditions were excellent, being based in Arco’s grand Edwardian Casino building, with a vast playing hall, a cafe adjacent to the hall, and an analysis room. Daily bulletins, giving results and a number of games, were 1 Euro each.
The Casino Building in Arco
Play started at 3.00pm and the time limit was 40 moves in 90 minutes, + 30 minutes, with a 30-second increment after each move. There were 11 rounds for the men and 9 rounds for the women. The new FIDE regulation which defaults any player not at the board at the start of play was strictly enforced. In fact, there was a giant digital clock on the stage which counted down the last 5 minutes and as the clock reached zero the chief arbiter gave the command to start play. There has been a lot of debate about this rule, most of it uncomplimentary, but it seemed to work very well for this tournament. However, I can understand that for some competitions, such as team events where teams may have to be bussed in from outside town, it can be harsh if players are delayed from reaching the playing hall through no fault of their own.
Arco itself is a charming town, typically Italian, with piazzas, a large church in the centre, a small shopping street, and a number of cafes and restaurants. The main tourist attraction is an ancient castle high above the town. A very steep walk to the top of the hill gave wonderful views over the town and surrounding countryside and mountains. The menus in the restaurants had a strong Germanic slant to them. Apart from Pizzas and Pasta – which were of course excellent – you could also have escalopes, goulashes, and grilled meats. Meat was usually beef and pork, there was very little chicken or lamb. One restaurant had horse (chevalier) on the menu, which I don’t think I’ve seen when abroad for a very long time, even in France.
Arco attracts a large number of walkers, cyclists and climbers; in fact, next year it is hosting the World Climbing Championship. On most days the weather was warm enough to sit outside a cafe in the morning, sipping a cappuccino, trying to plan the afternoon’s strategy – or simply just idling. Pairings were usually posted up by 9.00pm to 9.30pm the previous evening, giving time for those so inclined to spend the morning consulting Chessbase, Rybka and Fritz. I tended to go for walks or bus trips most mornings and then spend two hours over lunch in my room looking my opponent up on Chessbase and reading up on opening theory. Any more preparation and I find my eyes glaze over, my attention wanders, and it uses up energy that is better spent during the game. There was a good bus service to Riva del Garda, the northernmost town on Lake Garda, which has a large shopping centre, a very pleasant harbour front, and an excellent museum. The fare was 1.8 Euros return, definitely much cheaper than London fares! So, on to the play.
Round 1. In round 1, I was paired against a French player, Monsieur C Bardin (1796). [Figures given in brackets after a player’s name indicate his FIDE grade, not the year of his birth – we seniors may be old but we’re not that old…]. This was a fairly easy win for me, but given the difference in grade it should have been. (Although I have to say that grades were rarely a definite indication of a player’s ability. Many players played well above the standard of their published grade.) Here is the first game:
AC Ashby, England (2149) – C Bardin, France (1796)
20th World Seniors (1), 26.10.2010
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qe3 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bd2 0–0 7.0–0–0 d6 8.f3 Be6 9.a3 Bc5 10.Qe1 a6 11.Bg5 h6 12.Bh4 g5 13.Bf2 Bxf2 14.Qxf2 Ne5 15.h4 g4 16.f4 Nc6 17.Nge2 h5 18.Ng3 Qe7 19.Qd2 Rad8 20.f5 Bc8 21.Qg5+ Kh7 22.Nxh5 Nxh5 23.Qxh5+ Kg7 24.Qxg4+ Kh7 25.Qh5+ Kg7 26.Rh3 Rh8 27.Rg3+ Kf6 28.Qg5+ Ke5 29.Rd5# 1–0
Round 2. In round 2, I was Black against Raimundo Garcia (Argentina, IM, 2331).
R Garcia (2331)– AC Ashby (2149)
20th World Seniors (2), 27.10.2010
1.Nf3 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 0–0 6.0–0 Nc6 7.d4 d6 8.d5 Ne5 9.Nxe5 dxe5 10.e4 a6 11.exf5 gxf5 12.b3 Rb8 13.Ba3 b5 14.cxb5 axb5 15.Bb4 Ne8 16.Rc1 Rf7 17.Qe2 Bd7 18.Rfd1 Nd6 19.f4 e4 20.Qe3 Ra8 21.Rc2 Qb8 22.Ne2 Ne8 23.Bf1 Qb7 24.Bc3 Bxc3 25.Qxc3 Qb6+ 26.Qd4 Rf6 27.Nc1 Qxd4+ 28.Rxd4 Rd6 29.Ne2 Kf7 30.Rdd2 Ra7 31.Nc3 Rb6 32.Nd1 e6 33.Ne3 exd5 34.Rxd5 Rd6 35.Rdc5 c6 36.Nxf5 Rd1 37.Re5 Nf6 38.Ne3 Ra1 39.a4 bxa4 40.bxa4 R7xa4 41.Kf2
Now, sadly, comes a huge blunder. We had both been short of time coming up to the first time control at move 40, and now that I had made my 40th move I should have got up from the board, had a short break, and come back with a fresh mind. But, no, I go and move too quickly, planning to exchange one rook, after which my c-pawn has potential. 41....Kf8 is the move, and Fritz now evaluates this as roughly equal [0.32 to White, which is not even half a pawn advantage]. Instead I blundered the exchange and, with no compensation whatever, immediately resigned.
41...R1a2?? 42.Bc4+ 1–0 Oh dear, very disappointing…
Round 3. White against M Rubinstein (Israel, 2010) I essayed my Wing Gambit against his French Defence and eventually won after 57 moves.
Round 4. I was Black against Francisco Trois (Brazil, IM, 2309). This was another long game (53 moves) and was one of the last games to finish in the playing hall after almost 5 hours play. This was a fairly typical example of Black manoeuvring behind a hedgehog set-up, with both sides trying to improve their position before meeting head-on. To be frank, for most of the game I was defending but this time it was my opponent who made a mistake on his 41st move, missing a not very obvious move that trapped his knight. However, I was pleased with the way I finished the game.
F Trois, Brazil (2309) – AC Ashby,England (2149)
(4), 29.10.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 c5 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.g3 Bc5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Bg2 0–0 9.0–0 d6 10.e4 Bd7 11.Nd4 a6 12.a4 Qc7 13.b3 Rad8 14.Nde2 Bc8 15.h3 Nd7 16.Ba3 Nde5 17.f4 Ng6 18.Kh2 Rfe8 19.Qd2 Na5 20.Qc2 b6 21.Rad1 Bb7 22.Rd2 Rd7 23.Rfd1 Red8 24.Rd3 Qb8 25.Nc1 Bc6 26.Qf2 Qc7 27.R1d2 h6 28.Rc2 Qb8 29.Rdd2 Ba8 30.Qe2 Qc8 31.Nd1 Rc7 32.Ne3 Bc6 33.b4 Nb7 34.b5 axb5 35.cxb5 Be8 36.Nc4 Qb8 37.Bb4 d5 38.Bxe7 Nxe7 39.exd5 Nxd5 40.Bxd5 exd5 41.Nxb6 Rxc2 42.Rxc2 Na5! 43.Nxd5 [after a very long think] Rxd5 44.Qe4 Rd8 45.Nd3 Qd6 46.Ne5 f6 47.Nc4 Nxc4 48.Qxc4+ Bf7 49.Qc7 Qd1 50.Rf2 Rd2 51.Qc8+ Kh7 52.Qf5+ Bg6 53.Qc5 Be4 0–1
Round 5. With 3/4 my next pairing saw me elevated to board 20 (out of a total of 112 boards) and on one of the boards which were being relayed live on the internet. Sadly I did not rise to the occasion and lost in 37 moves to Craig Pritchett (Scotland, IM, 2314). But Craig is a very strong IM who has played for Scotland many times in the Olympiads and going through the game with him afterwards was very instructive. I consoled myself with telling him that at least England always beat Scotland at football…
Round 6. No let-up in the strength of my opponents, as I was paired against yet another 2300+ player, W Wittmann, Austria, 2303. Looking him up on Chessbase I found that he invariably played a specific line in the French Tarrasch. I had taken a DVD on the French Defence with me and found a line that seemed to guarantee at least a draw – with best play, of course. Usually I find my opening preparation is a waste of time but this game followed my preparations for the first 19 (!) moves.
W. Wittmann,Austria (2303) - A. C. Ashby (2149)
20th World Seniors (6), 01.11.2010
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.Nf3 Bd6 11.0–0 0–0 12.Bf4 Bxf4 13.Nxf4 Ne4 14.Qc1 Qf6 15.Ne2 e5 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Bxe4 dxe4 18.Nxe5 Qxe5 19.Nc3 Bd7 ½–½
This is where my preparation had finished; 19....Bf5 may be a slightly more precise move than ...Bd7 but Black’s position is very solid. My opponent played on for a further 4 hours and a total of 68 moves [perhaps hoping his lower-graded opponent would make a mistake] but I made no mistakes and he eventually offered me a draw. Given the length of this game I won’t bore the readers with the whole score.
Round 7. Yet another strong opponent, this time K Kunz of Germany, graded 2273. I was White, played 1.e4 met with the Sicilian Defence. This was a very complicated game and another long one – 66 moves this time – and for most of the game I was holding my own. But he played the ending better than me and at the end I had to give up my bishop for an advanced pawn. So 0–1 was the end result.
Round 8. This was a draw in only 19 moves against an Icelander, G Finnlaugsson (2072). To be honest I was glad of a shorter game because I had entered the Blitz Tournament that same evening and the early draw gave me time to have a meal before play started at 9.30pm.
Blitz Tournament. This was played at the standard 5 minute time-limit, no increment. I started the Blitz in blistering (ho,ho) form, winning the first four games. I was then paired against Larry Kaufman, an American GM (2413) who had won the World Seniors two years previously. I was Black and played a Blumenfeld Gambit and much to my surprise I completely outplayed him and he resigned with only seconds left on his clock. My reward was to have White in the next round against another GM, Dusan Rajkovic from Serbia (2443). This turned out to be very exciting. I played my pet line of 2.a3 against his Sicilian and sacrificed a piece to force his King in to the open. Unfortunately I became so involved in trying to weave a mating net around his King [which by now was on e5!] that I forgot to monitor my clock and I ran out of time. Sad to say I then proceeded to run out of steam as well and I lost the remaining four games, mainly through silly blunders, and ended up 8th out of 18 players. Dusan came first on 8/9 with Kaufman a close second on 7.5. First prize was a giant salami (yes, seriously!) with prizes of bottles of wine for the runners-up. But it was good fun and at least I can now legitimately claim that I’ve beaten a World Champion.
Round 9. My opponent in round 9 was G Schowalter (Germany, 1994), a distant relation, he claimed, of the famous American player Jackson Showalter (nicknamed the Kentucky Lion, partly because of his mane of hair and partly because of the aggressiveness of his play). At one stage I thought I had an easy win, with a passed c-pawn, but he found a very ingenious defence and after 43 moves I offered a draw which he accepted.
Round 10. This was a win for me in 41 moves [that number again!] against A Ramusch (Austria, 1955). Not a very exciting game on either side but I seized my chance when it presented itself, winning two pawns and then the exchange.
Round 11. Another tough game, when I had been hoping for a nice easy draw to finish the tournament with! I was White against N Malmdin (Sweden, IM, 2300). This is a game I prefer to forget, as he completely outplayed me and I resigned after only 30 moves. Not one of my better efforts partly, I think, because I was feeling somewhat jaded after almost two weeks of chess.
So with 5.5/11 I had scored a point less than two years ago, but I had met some very strong opposition and overall I was happy with my play. More to the point, I had enjoyed meeting old friends from Norway, Australia and the USA and with one exception all of my opponents had played in a very sporting and friendly manner – albeit with no quarter asked or given!
At the top, four players tied for first place with 8.5/11 but the title and first prize went to Anatoly Vaisser of France on tie-break. The others on 8.5 were Vlastimil Jansa (Czech Republic), Viach. Dydshyko (BeloRuss) and Larry Kaufman (USA), all Grandmasters. The Women’s Championship was won by WGM Tamara Khmiadashvili of Georgia, just ahead on tie-break of Nona Gaprindashvili, also of Georgia, who has of course been overall Women’s World Champion in the past.
The organisers arranged a concert in the playing hall on the last night, given by the “Casanova Venezia Ensemble”, dressed in 18th-Century costume. This was very good, but perhaps went on slightly too long, ending at 10.30 pm, after which we had a lengthy prizegiving and then a buffet. Those of us who had to meet the coach at 6.00am the next morning to go to Milan airport decided to give the buffet a miss!
Finally, most tournaments have their characters, who make life interesting. One such at Arco was Mihai Suba, a Romanian GM, who came joint 1st in the World Seniors two years ago with Larry Kaufman. In the 1980s Mihai sought asylum in England for a while and, if I remember right, even played for England in a European team championship. A very lively and friendly person, his book “Dynamic Chess Strategy” has just been reprinted and is an excellent read. Mihai’s games were always worth watching as you could never guess how the games would end. More than once the spectators were absolutely convinced he only had a draw, when he would somehow pull the rabbit out of the hat and win. One game in particular, in round 5 on board 6, had us all completely bemused as he seemed to be totally lost [well, not seemed,actually was losing!], only to somehow conjure up counterplay and win. This is a long game but well worth playing through, if you have the time. At the end of the game, which went on until well after 8.00pm, his opponent seemed to be completely bewildered as to how he could have failed to win!
B. Gruzmann (2235) - M. Suba (2460)
(5), 30.10.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e6 6.Be2 a6 7.a4 Qc7 8.0–0 Be7 9.f4 0–0 10.Kh1 b6 11.Bf3 Bb7 12.e5 dxe5 13.fxe5 Nfd7 14.Bxb7 Qxb7 15.Bf4 Nc6 16.Qf3 Rfc8 17.Rad1 Nf8 18.Ne4 Ra7 19.Bg3 Nd8 20.Qe2 Ng6 21.h4 Nc6 22.Nd6 Bxd6 23.exd6 Nf8 24.c3 Qd7 25.Nf3 f6 26.Bf2 Rb8 27.b4 Raa8 28.h5 h6 29.Be3 Nd8 30.Qa2 Nf7 31.Nh4 b5 32.a5 Rc8 33.Bc5 Rc6 34.Rfe1 Re8 35.Qb3 Kh8 36.Nf5 Rec8 37.Nd4 Ne5 38.Nxc6 Rxc6 39.Qc2 Qe8 40.Qe2 Ned7 41.Rd5 Qc8 42.Rd3 Nxc5 43.bxc5 Rxc5 44.Qd1 Qd7 45.Qf3 Rf5 46.Qa8 Rxh5+ 47.Kg1 Kg8 48.Qxa6 e5 49.Qa8 Rh4 50.Ra1 Qf5 51.Qd5+ Kh7 52.d7
This is the position I, and many others, saw as a spectator. We all thought Mihai was completely lost; and of course he is. Fritz gives this as +7 for White! How on earth could White lose this? Watch and learn…
52...Ne6 53.Qf3 Qg5 54.Re1 Qg6 55.d8Q Nxd8 56.Rxd8 e4 57.Qd1 Qg3 58.Qd2 Qh2+ 59.Kf1 Rf4+ 60.Ke2 Qh5+ 61.Ke3 Qg5 62.Ke2 Qg4+ 63.Ke3 Qg3+ 64.Ke2 Rf2+ 65.Kd1 Rxd2+ 66.Rxd2 Qxc3 67.Rxe4 Qxa5 68.Re7 Qb6 69.Ke2 Qc6 70.Kd1 Qc5 71.Ree2 b4 72.Rc2 Qg1+ 73.Kd2 b3 74.Rb2 Qd4+ 75.Ke1 Qd3 76.Kf2 Qd4+ 77.Ke1 Qc3+ 78.Kf2 h5 79.Rb1 Qd4+ 80.Kf1 Qd3 81.Rbb2 h4 82.Kf2 Qc3 83.Rb1 Qc5+ 0–1
For those of you who might be eligible and interested in playing (or interested in just following the games online), next year’s Championship is being held in Opatija, Croatia, from 14th-27th November. Website is www.rijekachess.com.
Tony Ashby
November 2010