Ryszard, aka “Breslau”, took part in the Weekend Open this year at Olympia. Here, in his own words, is the tale of his journey.
Spoiler alert – he got joint-first place and should have won – he deserved it!!
The first round was on Friday evening. I got to Olympia early straight after work and had a meal before the game. No beer – so already huge sacrifice. I was ready for the first game.
So, it starts with an 1800 chap. He played a Slav where I always exchange usually with great results because I do not know anything else. However, I decided to try something else this time. Not sure about 6.g3, already maybe not so good and just leading to a draw after Na6 7.Bg2 Nb4 8.O-O Nc2 and repeating moves. So, I realised I needed to go crazy. After move 11 he is already doing very well but makes bad decision 12…Bd6 – one of those naive move many players would play. 12…Be7 and maybe not even enough compensation for white. Life after Bd6 was beautiful for me!
Maciol, Ryszard (2121) – Cherupalli, Ramprasad (1846)
10th CSC London Chess Classic (Olympia), 14.12.2018
1-0.
Second round after magic eggs and bacon from host Cluelesss. This one I struggled the most with. I do not know how to play black – I played 1….e5 for the first time in a long game I can remember. 5…Nge7 is not so good setup. I was not expecting he plays e4 as it was not what he played in games available online.
But ok it is chess and you need to defend sometimes. Move 15.Nd4 ed4 16.Bf4 was more principled and I would really suffer without any counter-play. But even in the game it is bad. I believe his mistake was 22.Ne7 after which it should be a draw (I have not checked with computer so may be wrong). 22.Re5 Be5 23.Re5 and it is very tough for me – close to lost.
After this I slowly outplayed him as I ensured I kept more time on the clock and he still believed in the ghosts of the great position he had. This is following Socko’s chess advice that time is the most important factor.
Donati, Michele (1962) – Maciol, Ryszard (2121)
10th CSC London Chess Classic (Olympia), 15.12.2018
0-1
Saturday afternoon I got IM and board 1:
Move 12 was critical for both sides – Be7 just blunders a piece. Qe8 is only one move that allows a defensive but still solid position (the computer agrees). Qc8 has been played in the past but black is already under pressure – research showed black is lost in all but one game I found online.
This followed a game from Kramnik-Kasparov in their WCC match. That game was Bg5 not Qe2 on move 10 and the queen landed on b3 then Re1 with a quick sacrifice on e6 though not winning. However, Kasparov couldn’t hold the pressure in such position.
Maciol, Ryszard (2121) – Horton, Andrew P (2397)
10th CSC London Chess Classic (Olympia), 15.12.2018
1-0
And I am now sharing first place with 3 people.
To the Sunday games.
My morning game – started with another rubbish French but I finished checkmating my opponent 🙂 9…Qc2 is really dodgy, do not do it at home 😉 I need to work on openings one day…
Walker, Nicholas P (2135) – Maciol, Ryszard (2121)
10th CSC London Chess Classic (Olympia), 16.12.2018
0-1
And the last round was real fun – unfortunately I did not execute when I had the chance!
A lot of really great lines behind the scene! I should have gone for a quick 9.b4 after dodgy 7…Nc6 and 8…Na5. But the point is that I wanted a quiet game with a small edge as the draw gives shared first, just didn’t want unbalanced material and he thought for a couple of minutes and I didn’t. I kept time advantage for the whole game but the game was not quiet!! Computer thinks it is equal until 27…Bd7. 27…h4 is the move, recommend to study it for a while without computer which we both did during the game! Move earlier 26…b3 is what I was expecting with the forced draw, again far from obvious until you see a few moves further. Recommend to study for yourself!
Then it is winning in style for white after 27…Bd7?. I just blundered a piece in move 35 (Qb4 and Ne5 are just winning with Ne5 forcing checkmate or big losses).
I get a piece back next move and funny enough position is just equal. I offered a draw at the right moment as he needed to calculate huge amount of lines and accepted it with 1 minute vs 7 minutes on the clock.
Maciol, Ryszard (2121) – Kalavannan, Koby (2328)
10th CSC London Chess Classic (Olympia), 16.12.2018
Hope you enjoyed!!
