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[David]

I feel alot better this morning after a better night's sleep. Not much time to write though; will do more tomorrow morning.

My spirits have been lifted too by the official news that the tournament website is currently taking 1.75 million hits a day; and 4.8 million in the three days so far. This is great news, giving me important stuff to wave at sponsors. Think of the good global PR for Liverpool.

But I have a tough decision to make today. My 15 year-old son has been selected to play cricket for Sefton Park 2nds. This is a huge step forward for the lad, and I really want to watch the game - being played, interestingly, at the ground where Wallasey Chess Club meet. So do I rattle off a game today against Steve McGrane, then leg it over to New Brighton? Or do I struggle to try and get back to 50%?

Awkward

David
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Optimum semper profectum

[David]

So much for 50%. A transposed move order in a long complex and very sharp variation of the Najdorf did for me in the chess, while a first ball out-swinger did for my lad.

Daily Telegraph chess correspondent and IM, Malcolm Pein, told me I’d be mad to organise a tournament and play in it too. Now I know why. I’m wound up like a clock-spring, stressed out and losing sleep again, starting to get ratty with my family. Not that they see me. The children have turned feral; and my wife says all this dining out is making her fat. Not at all, darling!

So why stressed when everything appears to be running smoothly and the players seem largely happy? I worked it out when I woke this morning after only fours hours sleep at 5.30am. I’m in a permanent state of anxiety that something will go wrong; that I’ll have to deal with some crisis; that something obvious has been overlooked. Mentally, I’m ‘looking after’ over 80 chess-players, most of whom are ‘my guests’ in this city. Notwithstanding the fact that they are capable of looking after themselves, I worry that one or more may wander into the wrong kind of bar, or the wrong part of town, whatever. Simply, I’m not able to disengage from that side of things, and therefore I’m not able to engage properly with the chess. And the brain, it appears, can only cope with so much pulling in different directions.

I say all this even though my spirits are high and I’m enjoying every minute of it. It’s just I’m so incredibly knackered - and there’s still six days to go! Last night will serve as a good example. I invited Nigel Short, English GM Stuart Conquest, German GM Thomas Luther, and John Carleton for a meal at my favorite restaurant. Sounds a simple enough task? Not a bit of it! Everyone is delighted by the idea. But somehow I have to round up the players and get them out of the madhouse of Liverpool city centre on a post-derby match Saturday night to a suburban restaurant by 7.30pm. First, Nigel finishes early and ‘disappears’; then Thomas and John are tied up in long games; Stuart checks details with me, then ‘disappears’ too. The restaurant rings to confirm the booking; “err, yes, I think so”, I tell them nervously. I have to go home to change and send some emails, leaving two still playing, and hoping that the three GMs will meet up in the hotel foyer as arranged, jump into a cab, and find their way through a city they don’t know to the chosen restaurant. There’s no time for me to go back and collect them. My wife says: “for God’s sake, relax! They’re all grown-ups!” But by 7.25pm, I’m waiting in the restaurant and panicking. Then a cab pulls up; people get out and disappear into a bar next door. It’s a total ‘zoo’ on a Saturday night so I’m glad it’s not them. But it was them! They emerge a few minutes later in high spirits to join John and I. At last I can relax, but not before our GM guests do my head in completely by suggesting it would be much more fun if we all went next door instead. Jesus!

They were teasing me, of course. Ha, bloody ha, guys! And so we settled down to what became an absolutely great evening, hilarious stories mixed with intelligent chat, ending near midnight with me insisting that the rest of them should down some mineral water before their brains became pickled in St Emilion. I don’t think they were listening though; they’d just seen some of Liverpool’s ‘finest’ shimmy into the bar next door. But that’s another story! I left them discussing what to do, and went home. Now I worry that they will all be missing at the tournament today!

And the chess? In my case, don’t ask! More on chess in my next ‘report’, otherwise this will become a boring account of the state of my head!

David
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Optimum semper profectum

[David]

I promised something on the chess. You can read Steve Giddins reports on the tournament website itself

http://www.liverpoolchessinternational.co.uk/eu_news_06.htm

My impressions are as follows: first, there's alot of fighting chess taking place. Few players are taking quick draws. Reigning champion, Zoltan Gyimesi, has five draws from six but all have been fighting draws. He's simply out of touch. I know the feeling . For the rest, IM Simon Williams is having a storming tournament, including much the better of a draw with Nigel yesterday. Form like this will bring him the GM title before long. His girlfriend, the lovely Alexandra Wilson, has recovered from a shaky start to reach 3.5/6, sent on her way two days ago with a tight win over Atticus's Luke Boumphrey. In general the British IMs are going very well, inspired by the Boss, Nigel Short.

Local players have had their moments too. John Carleton (Atticus) fought a hugely tenacious draw against one Hungarian GM, Gyimesi while Richard Savory (Atticus) fought arguably an even better draw against the other Hungarian GM, Zoltan Medvegy (somehow I don't think his name is pronounced 'Med-veggie' ). Richard hung on for the requisite 50 moves in a R v R+B ending. This is known to be a theoretical draw since the days of Philidor, but is frequently lost in practice. Ask IM Stewart Haslinger (Formby); he lost the same ending on the same night to GM Luke McShane. So Richard's performance was outstanding.

But hard scraps like this are very tiring whoever you are playing. John Carleton's 'reward' for his draw with Gyimesi was a game against German GM, Klaus Bischoff. John will have played better games while Richard took another draw before both met yesterday and fought out, you guessed it, another draw! It is hard work, especially for us veterans!

Apart from Stewart Haslinger, no local player has over 50%. And some have 50% by quirks of the draw. Take Aigburth's Roger Williamson for example. Roger was entirely blameless in receiving a full-point bye in Rd 1 when his opponent failed to show. Quite why a player who hasn't registered is given a pairing is beyond me, but Roger's 'win' propelled him up the leader board where he met German GMs, Klaus Bischoff and Thomas Luther in the next two rounds. Being a club amateur, Roger loses both and comes clattering down the leader board to play a rather weak opponent in Rd 4. Two steady draws since and he's 50%. It can work the other way round too; you get tough games every round. But distortions do occur when a number of byes are given, or when very weak players are included in the draw. Returning to Roger's experience: while it's great that he gets a shot at some GMs, as far as the tournament is concerned, two GMs have been given a 'free' point by beating a club amateur graded 350-400 points below them. Quite what the other leading competitors think is not printable And it all starts because the initial registration process wasn't well-organised.

That aside, if I don't win today, I'm dining with the fishes tonight. But first, I have to organise the closing ceremony on Friday - and it's less than an hour before I must leave for Rd 7

David
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Optimum semper profectum

[Red_Dalek]

[David]

...because it's not a KO tournament; it's an open Swiss. That is: in the FA Cup, a weak team has its day against an elite team. It wins (hurrah!) and has another day when, say, it loses. But a chess tournament is point-cumulative so mismatches are 'free' cumulative points to the professional player. Most tournaments avoid this, as Liverpool 2006 did, by 'accelerated pairing' (ie best v best). But this goes squiffy when 'byes' are included in the draw.

David
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Optimum semper profectum

[David]

Well, I won a game at last, and then a second one. Frankly neither was much to get excited about; and neither compensate for two painful losses incurred since I last found time to write. But at least I can fend off the urge to line my pockets with concrete and jump off the Pierhead My first win came against a charming Finnish gentleman who claims his international rating is 2200 (that’s ECF 200). I don’t wish to be disrespectful, but if he is rated 2200, so is my hamster The second win came against an even weaker opponent yesterday in a game the final position of which caused Nigel Short to burst out laughing. Play through my Rd 9 game v. Weidman to see why.

To be honest, these have been hollow wins: once you get trapped down the wrong end of an open tournament, you end up playing very weak players. I’ve paid the price for a faulty N sacrifice in a good position v. Ian Campbell (Aigburth). But nothing compares with the total catastrophe to come my way in Rd 8. Playing by far my most convincing game of the tournament, I’d just sacrificed N and R in a winning attack when, at the moment of greatest tension and faced with some complexity, the fire alarm went off and we had to clear the building. Twenty minutes later, we returned and I played the move I’d planned before the interruption. That was fine. But my mind must have gone walkabout meanwhile because on my next move, I left a R en prise and resigned. My opponent was suitably sheepish about his good fortune; ‘saved by the bell’, he conceded. Indeed!

It’s not just me who’s had disasters either. John Littlewood (Liverpool) overlooked mate in 1(v Luther, Rd 8 ); Richard Savory (Atticus) left a R en prise in even more astonishing circumstances than mine (v White, Rd 7); while Luke Boumphrey (Atticus) engineered a self-mate in a R+P ending (v Dunn, Rd 9)). Why do these things happen? Because chess is a tiring, cruel and unforgiving game, that’s why.

It’s not all gloom for local players though. John Carleton (Atticus) continues to hold his own against some tough opponents; Jonathan Blackburn (Atticus) too. But the real story among the amateur ranks is the progress made by John Redmond (Atticus). After an uneventful first few rounds, John got a break in Rd 7 when his strong opponent overpressed in a level R+P ending. This brought him head-to-head with Gary Quillan (Waterloo). John was graded 160 last year and Gary, 224; no contest on paper. But chess isn’t played on paper; on the board, John demolished Gary in impressive fashion. I say ‘demolished’ because that’s how a stunned Gary described it afterwards. The result propelled John onto the leader board with 5/8 and a game with German GM, Thomas Luther in Rd 9. Sadly John couldn’t continue ‘living the dream’ but he’ll have done enough already to win a category prize and a decent ELO rating. That’s more than some of us can say. I’m assessed at 2130 but I’ve played a dismal 200 points below that. I'm taking a bye today to sort out tonight's closing ceremony, so that's me done with a disappointing but fair 4/10

Up at the top of the tournament, it’s become a traffic jam. Seven players share the lead on 6.5 including Nigel Short and Luke McShane. The former looks tired to me. Since winning his first three games, Nigel has plodded through five draws. I had dinner with him and Luke last night, and packed them both off to bed by 9.00pm. At least, I dropped them off at the hotel. Nigel is now 41, and I fancy he hasn’t yet adjusted to the reality of early middle-age. He needs fewer late nights, and more water intake. Alcohol and lack of sleep are incompatible with chess. Believe me, I’ve proved that much this week.

Luke on the other hand is the coming man. He heads a group of very promising young English players. He was a strong GM before he went to Oxford University. Three years out of the game, he has returned after graduating this Summer to show he has lost none of his ability. The world’s top 10 and 2700 now beckons over the next few years.

So who do I hope wins the title today? Both Nigel and Luke have white against opponents they’d expect to beat. Others could be in the mix too of course, but not reigning champion, Zoltan Gyimesi; he’s dropped too many draws. To be honest, I hope it’s Nigel. Luke will have his day many times in years to come, but Nigel has never held an international title in his 30-year career. Alas, he may not have many more chances. So here’s my ‘kiss of death’ - let's make it Short!

David
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[David]

It must be Sod's Law: if it can go wrong, it will go wrong. I'm sitting here trying to watch the final round games. There is some incredible fighting chess going on. We're past the main time control. All games bar one in the leading group are in play. It's incredibly tense. I have a Press release drafted and waiting to go, but we need the final scores. And the live transmission has just gone down!!

Of course I can't phone anyone because mobiles are banned



David
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[David]

We have a winner - by a Short head It's Nigel Short (7.5) from a host of others on (7)

That's perfect! But what an incredible final round!

Now for the party and the farewells

David
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Optimum semper profectum

[David]

And so it ends. I’m pinching myself this morning, still muddle-headed with fatigue, that we got through it pretty much glitch-free. I’ll have time this coming week to write the overall evaluation and produce, as management consultants like to say, a balanced scorecard. There’ll be opportunities as well to sit down with the civic partners here and debrief. I’ll keep you posted on the feedback For now though, a few reflections on a tense and hectic final day.

Let’s start where we belong - with the chess. Seven players entered the final round with 6.5; any one or more could have won the title. But Simon Williams decided, at the end of his storming tournament, to stamp his effort on the history books. Playing Danny Gormally, Simon played 5...Rf7 in a Dutch defence You may play chess for a hundred years and never see this move again! In fact many players couldn’t imagine a credible sequence that could lead to it. The idea is either deeply original or devoutly bonkers Since Simon has authored a book on this opening, one must presume the former. But as we all know: you don’t mess with Danny Gormally He took careful aim, and decked Simon in 19 moves. One down, six left standing.

Sulskis-Jones looked odds-on a White win in the early part. But Gawain Jones is another young player with enormous skill and resilience. He held, then neutered the Lithuanian attack, and calmly entered a level ending. Sulskis tried everything but the draw was unavoidable. Three down. Meanwhile Short-Hebden looked very murky throughout the early and middle game. Nigel insisted afterwards that he always stood OK. Hhmm, maybe, Grandmaster; in which case, I must learn not to be taken in by appearances But McShane-Gordon never really caught fire even though both players needed something to happen.

Then, at the critical moment, with our PR people pressing me to tell them who is going to win, the live transmission goes down! I’m trapped in front of an inert screen with no means of contacting the playing hall because mobile phones are banned therein. Elsewhere, Carl from Blue Apricot (the hosting service in Evesham) tells me over the phone that he is chatting to our webmaster, Steve Connor, on the ICC forum. So at least the techies are in touch. Finally the live feed returns and, hey presto, like a real magician, Nigel Short has unlocked his chains, kicked open the coffin lid and is scampering around the board devouring Hebden’s pawns.

Relieved that the Press’s favorite is winning, and duly wins, I turn my attention to the last relevant game. Luke established a slight edge with an early f5, cramping Black on the light squares, but after the Rooks came off, further progress for either side was always going to be uphill. Luke is astonishingly persistent, played real fighting chess, really gave it his best shot. But in Stephen Gordon, he met another young player going places very soon. Stephen had already taken out GMs Bischoff, Galego, and Miezis, halving with champion Gyimesi, Simon Williams and Short, so he was in fine form. And it proved just good enough, after five and a half hours and 66 moves, to force the draw from Luke. Six down, one standing, and it’s champion, Nigel Short at the very last.

And so a quick change into my suit, and scuttle down to the Adelphi Hotel for the closing ceremony and prize-giving. This is my moment of greatest tension. I’ve thrown together the closing event at the very last minute and invited civic dignitaries, but then discover all the ‘Great and Good’ are booked to attend the opening of the Liverpool Bienniale (big Arts festival) that same evening. I receive lots of “love to join you, darhhling, but awfully sorry....blah blah......next time maybe.....mwwaahh” although my ever reliable and supportive Vice-Chancellor doesn’t let me down. I manage to drum up an MP and a few councillors, and I’ve given a last minute open invite to our chess community, so off we go.

The prize-giving and valedictions in the end went just fine. The players turned up in numbers; the wine flowed; speeches were mercifully short; everyone was relaxed. I even learned a bit of Lithuanian. I had to read out the names: Dagne Ciuksyte, Zivile Sarakauskiene and Sarunas Sulskis not once but twice. For your benefit, if you ever need to chat in Lithuanian, remember they use a ‘sh’ sound quiet a lot. It helps therefore to be a little ‘pished’ when pronouncing ‘Ciuksyte’(chi-ook-sheeter) or ‘Sulskis’ (shulsh-kish) and more than a little ‘pished’ when mentioning Zivile Sarakauskiene (shi-villay shara-kow-shkeener). Given the practice I’ve had each night over the past ten days, sounding a little ‘pished’ didn’t come too hard yesterday evening

Local players picked up their share of the grading category prizes: John Redmond, Edward Taylor & John Gorman (ungraded); Andy Legge (under 2050) and Stewart Haslinger (under 2450). But of course ‘The Boss’ won the one prize that mattered by winning the one game when it mattered. That’s the mark of a true professional, and a truly great player.

So here’s to Nigel Short, 2006 European Union Individual Champion. Well done, and thanks for all your support too.

David
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[David]

What of the players themselves? For me, the tournament was a chance to put faces to names, and personalities to faces. Who were these people whose names I knew, and whose games I played through in admiration over the years? Would they be as admirable in the flesh as in the chess? Or would they be obsessive, egoist and other-worldly isolates with limited interests beyond the game?

The suspicion is reasonable. There is no point to chess: it’s merely a set of rules governing limited actions for the management of complex variables - that is, a difficult if fascinating game. So those who pursue the pointless must be odd to some degree; those who pursue chess for a living, moreso surely? Of course, much of what we do in life is pointless: some would say life itself. The point lies perhaps in intrinsic merit, in ‘doing good’ or ‘creating beauty’, in making the world a better place. Does chess qualify in that way? And are chess players in some way different - do I really mean ‘better’ - than, say, train-spotters? And how do chess players compare with other ‘pointless’ people: cricketers, musicians, philosophers, estate agents, ECF officers?

I think that’s quite enough questions to be going on with. For christ's sake, get to the point, David

And the point is this: you can bet the farm I don’t spend long in the company of the dull or witless before my attention wanders; and I don’t spend the kids’ pocket money on good wine for egocentrics or obsessives. Instead I’ve spent ten days eating, drinking, chatting, laughing, drinking some more, listening and playing with some of the finest chess players in the world who’ve made some of the best companions I could have wished for. We may have some oddballs in our midst but I never met any. I’ve spent time in some fine restaurants with humorous, intelligent, high-spirited, fully-rounded human beings. Red blood runs through their veins; and being mainly blokes, familiar thoughts run through their heads with predictable and largely priapic regularity I’d pass on a few of their tales if I thought you’d be interested - who did what and where with whom - but I know readers of this thread are only interested in loftier matters Sufficient to say: get yourself selected for the Olympiad team and attend the ‘Bermuda party’; that’s the real reason most players like to represent their country

Overall, I’ve been thoroughly impressed by the convivial qualities of the great players away from the board, and the easy-going politeness of all players at the board. It has been an eye-opening and uplifting experience for me: the best chess players are not ‘geeks’; they are simply decent folk with an astonishing talent for a game we share.

Am I surprised? I guess, in a way, I am. I’d have expected people so good at chess to be annoyingly ‘up themselves’, a bit like many academics can be. But I gained no impression of this. Some of the best players can get irritated however if standards and conditions are not maintained. I think I scored a bulls-eye early on when I made the point, unprompted, to some senior players that chess was my pastime but their ‘day job’. That is: I’d taken time off work to play chess whereas playing chess was their work; that I understood the importance of professional conditions and adequate rates of pay to enable them to do their job properly. After all, I expect no less in my work. Once one establishes that an open tournament involving professional players cannot operate like a glorified weekend congress, everything begins to fall into place. Put bluntly, we amateurs have our place in such an environment only as long as we observe and maintain conditions acceptable to the elite players. If we want something more ‘democratic’, we should shove off behind the jumble sale down the local village hall where the NMS runs free, and the shabby sweaters reign.

...which brings me nearly to the end. Soon, sadly, the memory of this fantastic event will begin to fade. Soon, the forum can return to debates on the NMS, ECF and similar stuff. But soon, some of us will begin work on the 2007 programme for Liverpool. It will be bigger, better quality, and more varied. We will combine ‘elite’ with ‘mass’; we will support British chess; we will promote women and young players; we will learn from this event just finished. As my motto below says: optimum semper profectum. It means the best (must) always (get) better. It will

David
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Optimum semper profectum

[Craig Mnure]

Interesting and valid points, but it's a shame you can't make them without letting your snobbery show through David.

[SteveC]

[David]

The dogs bark, and the caravans move on. Already last week’s tournament is receding into the distance. A number of players have by now played two rounds of the 4NCL for their clubs this weekend. I note mainly draws from some tired people.

I’ve been mulling over the lessons we’ve learned, preparing for various debriefings in the next few days. One thing that has caught my eye is the well-established and forthcoming 15th Monarch Assurance International at Port Erin in the IoM (Sept 23-Oct 1).

http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/monarch2006/index.html

Comparisons between the two events are instructive. First, the Liverpool event had more or less the same prize fund as that on offer in the IoM tournament, yet the composition of the two events is radically different. One obvious reason is that the Liverpool event was restricted to players from EU member states whereas the IoM tournament is open. But this doesn’t wholly explain why the IoM tournament is heavily dominated by Russians and Ukrainians with very few Western Europeans or Brits playing. Presumably the Brits etc believe it’s too much like hard work with fewer chances of getting among the prizes battling against legions of professional players from the East. So I ask myself: what are the policy consequences, and how should we plan for the future? For example, do we want to run another Open in 2007 that attracts swarms of Russians but possibly drives away our own players? I feel the answer there is pretty clear: one principal commitment we make in Liverpool is to the promotion and prosperity of British chess; only when other elements are consistent with that will we proceed. Indeed, it was extremely encouraging to see two young British IMs, Stephen Gordon and Gawain Jones, achieve GM norms at Liverpool. And much of the cash went to Brits too. None of this can be guaranteed, but it’s good to see nevertheless.

A second comparison arises too. For roughly the same overall fund, the IoM tournament has attracted twice the number of GMs (35) compared with Liverpool (18 ). I find this easier to understand. I imagine the IoM organisers are able to offer more (and cheaper) ‘conditions’ to visiting players. This is an important factor. Hotel or B&B accommodation prices are significantly cheaper in Port Erin, especially end-of-season, than they are in Liverpool which is never out of season. The tournament hotel in Port Erin offers a 7-night B&B package at half the rate we secured at the Adelphi Hotel, which itself was a 40% discount on their standard rate. Hence funds go a lot further on the IoM.

One feature of the Monarch tournament that does attract me, worth exploring in Liverpool, is to run open tournaments as a 9-round Swiss over two weekends + 5 days. This point was explained to me last week by German GM, Thomas Luther. The point, utterly obvious when one thinks about it, is that players who need time off work can now arrange five days’ leave, not eight as they needed in Liverpool this year. In fairness to us though, we had no choice in the arrangements we made. By the time our money was agreed, we were squeezed for dates in the calendar; and the long-arranged first 4NCL weekend of the season cramped our options this past weekend. For the future though, a 9-round Swiss looks the way to go.

David
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[billyboy62]

i am a down to earth working class boy and i agree with david you can either go for medicraty or strive for excelance i will go with the latter everytime
but and there always has to be a but the majority of chess players are not pros what i would like to see is the same playing conditions for us average joes that the pros expect

i was a regular visitor to the official site and here througout the tournament and i have to say you all did a great job i also liked davids blog and steves news colum as it put a human touch to the event

thinking forward a 9 round swiss is probably the way to go and hopefully just as many brits will play in it especially the young ims. i followed gawain with intrest as he learned his chess in cleveland there are a few bruised souls up here who got beat up by a 8 year old lol
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chess players see everything in black and white

[Craig Mnure]

[David]

One of the more morale-boosting features of the Liverpool EU tournament was how happy everyone seemed. I don’t want to over-egg this point because I’m sure individuals would have had issues to raise, if pressed. But I got the sense of everyone rowing in the same direction, singing from the same song-sheet, whatever. From the time senior players gave to PR through the tolerance everyone extended to the organisers down to the final-round excitement, I got the impression everyone was really pulling for the event to succeed.

It began with the British players supporting their own tournament; has extended through the journalists giving us regular complimentary comment; and now, these past few days, the congratulatory emails have started to rain down. Our local chess community has done its bit; people would have probably done more, had I known what to ask of them. Our PR firm has given more than the value of its contract in time and effort; so too has my own university and Vice-Chancellor. The World Museum itself, having already given us a stunning gallery, rounded off their contribution by laying on top quality coffee and tea (and very nice biscuits) for the players every afternoon. A simple touch, but it made a huge difference in terms of comfort and a sense of being welcomed

If everyone does their bit to help, we all get to share in the success at the end. I re-inforce the point by quoting below a piece by Martin Regan, a prominent member of the NCCU and the Cheshire & North Wales CA. Martin is, among other things, a columnist in EN magazine, a journal for business entrepreneurs. This is from September’s edition, written to an important audience that we chess-players would normally find difficult to reach