Cork Congress 2017

The Cork Congress happened over the weekend of 29th-31st March and I didn't do too bad in it. I finished third in my section and got some cash for my troubles! The event was very well organised - great credit must go to those at the club who ran the tournament.

Thankfully this year didn't coincide with the clocks changing but it did share the hotel with a Fawlty Towers show! It's a bit sureal to be playing the game and hearing Basil's German speech coming from the adjacent room. At times during my games I wished I was in that show rather than at the chess board!

My first game was a long draw. I got an ok position as black in the QGD but then lost the plot a bit and got into some trouble. I managed to get into a rook endgame where both of us were threatening to promote. I picked up an extra pawn here at this stage but when things simplified it was into a theoretically drawn position. I could and probably should have played on here but my brain was frazzled and I was down to a couple of minutes. My opponent had offered a draw and I accepted. One of my problems here is that I know the position is a draw but I'm not sure what to try to do to complicate it and win. In future if I have this position, I think I would play it until the pawn endgame and see what happens.

I was paired against an unrated opponent in the next round so I had no idea of how strong he was. It was a crazy game. He attacked on the kingside and I on the queenside. I held him off and I think I had a good position before it all went to pieces in mutual time trouble. I missed a win with Nxc6 - I managed to miscalculate this both during the game and also in the post mortem. He managed to get a pawn on f3 and with the way my pawns were arranged I realised I had serious back rank issues. Thankfully he missed some critical moves and I managed to get a win when he blundered his rook.

The next round had me as black against the French Exchange. I always think that this is the variation to go for as white as the pawn structures and positions are completely different to the other French variations. I've had good results though with it but I'd struggle to find a coherent plan or common thread in my Exchange games. I equalised fairly easily in this game but wasn't sure where to go from there. I had a bye booked for the fourth round so when my opponent offered a draw and I didn't see much of a plan I took the opportunity to knock off early for the day. The idea was to come back more refreshed the next day and try again.

Realistically this bye and the two draws put me out of contention for the top prize from early on but I was enjoying myself playing at this more relaxed pace.

The first game on the Sunday morning was another King's Indian game. I tend to lump these in with the Dutch and various kingside fianchetto games as they all seem to end up in similar positions. I think I'm learning in these positions. Up to now I tended to mess around on the queenside too much with unnecessary preparation moves. This time I just went for it with the attitude that if he survived my attack and countered then fine - but at least I'd get an attack in first. This worked out well for me and I won an exchange just out of the opening. I slowly increased the pressure and managed to convert the win. I may have had an easier win on move 26 with Bxf7 Qxf7, Nxe5 Bxe5, Rd8+ getting the piece back and gaining a pawn. I was worried that my rook may find it hard to get back out but going over this after the game I think it would have been fine. I went for the more solid option and eventually my opponent flagged in a lost position.

My last game in the tournament was one in which I was fortunate to get a win. I thought I was winning a piece after the opening but in reality it just forced him into playing it as a sacrificial attack! I had to give back the piece to survive. I think I took my longest think ever for a move on Qc7 - about 30 mins. My opponent waited a bit, went away, got a coffee, came back and still had to wait for another 10 minutes. I was thinking that I was in trouble during the game but on the computer I'm perfectly fine. I have great trouble evaluating these kinds of positions. In the endgame I think he should have tried to keep on both rooks as that would have been far more drawish. Once I won a pawn and traded off the rooks, the King and pawn endgame was always going to be good for me and eventually I queened and won the game.

In the end I won a prize for joint third place in my section. I even gained a few rating points! All in all a good tournament for me.

→ posted on March 29, 2017chess