Well, it was fun whilst it lasted. Its been awhile since the last post, and MER has just finished round 8 of the tournament, where he currently sits on 4.5/8. The bane of every chess player, he has massive regrets about the last 2 games.
But lets recap, at last time of mention, the Commonwealth tournament was going strong, and MER was recovering from an shameful loss after abandoning his beloved Kings Gambit like a Premier League footballer abandons the local tramp in the dodgy nightclub. He was on 1/3, and things were looking dark and dangerous. The next day the 2 games played were against children. In the first, the WP Under 14 girl, Olivia Bernstein managed to build a strong promising position against me, with moves played with the precision of a Swiss watch maker. Fortunately, experience does count in chess, and MER was able to pounce on a small error, much like a seagull on a hot chip. 1-0 and 2/4
The next game was against an unknown small boy. Here MER brought the kings gambit back into his bosom, and was immediately rewarded with the shortest tournament game he has ever played, with a new queen arriving early on. Perusing through current opening literature, he is fairly confident that the e4 e5 f4 f5 variation of the Kings Gambit will not take on, and accordingly has named it the "I would rather resign than play a game of chess variation" 3/5
Then came an epic encounter. In the left hand corner, with the white pieces was Andrew Horne, club mate of MER, and man sitting on 8.5/10 in the league this season. A performance rating on 2100 in the league, due to slashing tactics more often seen in Sin City than on the chess board. Playing black, MER. Armed with a toothpick, and a shotgun under his coat in case Andy decided to play the infamous Bird defence which he planned to blow out the sky. Andy hower demurred, and after e4 MER played the unexpected c5, which enabled him to stun Andy. A totally crazy slugfest ensued, with Andy having better chances, but in a scene reminiscent of Foreman vs. Ali, he overextended, allowing MER to rip off the queens and convert and endgame. 4/6
The next match was against a tough 1890. MER's preparation immediately failed to deliver, and he was put under early pressure early on. However, drawing on all his blitz experience of the last 3 years, his animal east rand cunning, and lots of luck he managed to get to a slightly better endgame. However, his current bout of flu, coupled with more cowardice than a white man in Hillbrow conspired to allow him to take a draw offer. The streak was still alive 4.5/7
Then the game today, the big game that MER had been building up to. Preparations for the game were somewhat spoilt in that the LOC function took place the previous night, and as LOC reporter, MER decided to tag along. However the combination of large numbers of GM's, a fairly large bar tab, and the inevitable desire to demonstrate that South Africans can imbibe alcohol more than Australians. MER was pacing himself well, until the flaming lamborghini drove into his skull, and left the sort of immediate effect that a large sledge hammer will have on an orange. This was followed by several games of pool, where certain players demonstrated that the correlation between ELO a pool skill is similar to the correlation between African rogue elephants and pygmy koala bears being good at maths. The night concluded at the very late 2:30am, which is fairly ridiculous for a school night. Still, MER had been drinking coke for the last 3 hours so he was confident with rest and recuperation he would be fine for the game at 3pm. Nay not so. Work raised its ugly head, and between work and admin, only 6.5 hours of sleep were achieved. Not ideal for the game.
Chess can compare itself to sport in the most painful ways. Thing Liverpool - AC Milan as an AC Milan supporter, or SA cricket 1992 to current day. It can hurt. Any sitting in the lovely tournament venue as people stream out, MER is hurting, ripped and gutted by a stupid swindle that Bernie Madoff would have scorned. It was probably the best game of the tournament from MER's perspective, pieces smoothly intermingled and strode across the board with arrogance, 2 black bishops laughing at the meagre attempts of block footed knights to try and tame them. And then, at the height of imminent glory, MER's brain went into total meltdown, and he missed the easiest win of all, walking into a trap that cost the game.
There is no other sport that does this. Golf you stuff up, worst case you lose 2 shots. Rugby worst case is a red card and 7 points. Soccer, a single error costs a goal. This costs everything, all 4 hours of work consigned to the mental toilet of 2 move blunders which cascade across the mind like horrible re-runs of Titanic for hours afterward.
The tournament itself has been stellar. Dave Smerdon was speaking to use earlier, and reckons the biggest mistake we make is that we give the GM's and higher rated players too much respect. He's probably right. The final tournament standings are looking unbelievably close at the top, and its still all up for a whole cluster of GM's to win it. Check out the tournament parings and results on the main website to check it out. Signing off is a wounded, despondent Muppet who will now commence to seek solace.
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