Monday 30 July 2007
Our Man in Havanna
Or, more accurately, Our Boy in Austria (Mureck to be precise). Yep, Brandon is on his travels again, playing in the U12 section of the European Union Youth Chess Championships from 31 July - 9 August. Hopefully we will have reports here but you can follow his progress via the official results site by clicking here Or you can play through his games online by clicking here
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Brandon drew his first game against a Belgian girl today. Finger crossed for a victory tomorrow.
The finger crossing worked. Brandon beat English player Polly Lambert in 31 moves yesterday (although she could have resigned after abou a dozen moves). He is now on 1.5/2 and has an interesting test against Estonian Mark Lapidus (1820) today. We're hoping to have on the spot reporting from tomorrow!
Round 3 game yesterday, was a little difficult, not sure what went wrong usual Brandon stuff, with an awful middle game - eventually got a draw even though his opponent only had 30 seconds on his clock, but with 30 second increments with every move - that was enough to go on forever !! Still, 2/3 and unbeaten is a good start in a tournament like this. A useful looking Romanian awaits in Round 4.
Brandons Round 3 Game Annotated
(746) Clarke,Brandon - Lapidus,Mark (1821) [C18]
EUnion-ch U12 Mureck, Kulturzentrum (3.6), 2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 Qc7 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 cxd4 10.Ne2 dxc3 11.f4 Nbc6 12.Qd3 Bd7 13.Nxc3 Nf5 Still all book, but a6 is more usual here 14.Nb5 Qd8 15.h4 The first new move, but with both bishops still at home and a huge hole on g3 that can never be filled, this move is premature. Playing g3 instead looks adviseable, eg [15.g3 a6 16.Nd6+ Nxd6 17.exd6 Qa5+ 18.Bd2 Qc5 19.Bg2 Nd4 20.Bc3 Nf5 21.Bb4 Qe3+ 22.Qxe3 Nxe3 23.Kd2 Nc4+ 24.Kc1 Ba4 25.Bf1 Rc8 26.Bd3 d4 27.Re1 Kd7 28.Ra2 Rh8 29.Re2 f6 30.Be1 Kxd6 31.h4 f5 ½–½ Krutko,A (2324)-Pogromsky,M (2243)/Dagomys 2004/EXT 2005] 15...a6 16.Nc3 Nd6+ was required here as now black has all the initiative. 16...Rg3 17.Qd2 Ncd4 18.Ne2 Re3 19.Kd1 Nxe2 20.Bxe2 Rxe2 21.Qxe2 Ng3 22.Qe1 Nxh1 23.Qxh1 Qb6 24.Bd2 Qb2 25.Rc1 Qxa3 26.h5 Qg3 27.h6 Underestimating blacks threat. 27...0–0–0 [Missing the winning move 27...Qg4+ 28.Ke1 Bb5 {Threatening...Qe2#} 29.c4 Bxc4 30.Rxc4 dxc4 down and exchange and a pawn, white is effectively lost here.] 28.Rb1 Ba4 29.Qg1 Qd3 30.Rb2 Qc4 31.Qa7 Bb5 32.Qa8+ Kc7 This move forces a draw by repetition 33.Ba5+ Kc6 34.Qxd8 Qe2+ 35.Kc1 Qf1+ 36.Kd2 Qe2+ ½–½
The useful looking Romanian was far too useful and Brandon lost. Still, 2/4 is not bad, and a couple of wins could make all the difference!
Round 5, and another Romanian opponent. However, a better result this time as Brandon puts her to the sword!
Clarke, Brandon [ENG] - Gelip, Ioana [ROM]
European Union Youth Championships – Mureck, Austria 2007 Under 12 Rd 5
[Annotated by Tom Eckersley-Waites]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 e6 8.Qd2 Be7 9.g4 d5!? a rare, and probably slightly premature continuation. 10.0–0–0 [10.g5 Nh5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Be2 is a fairly standard-looking position, that may or may not yield any advantage.] 10...dxe4 11.Qf2 [11.g5 is again thematic, after which 11...Nd5 12.Nxd5 (12.Nxe4 Nxe3 13.Qxe3 is not going to yield enough activity.) 12...exd5 13.fxe4 dxe4 is interesting, with some initiative for the pawn.] 11...Qc7 12.Be2?! [12.g5 has to be played here. 12...Nd5 13.Nxd5 exd5 14.fxe4 dxe4 15.Nf5!? (15.Bc4 Ne5 has been played before, but doesn't look as though it offers white much for the pawn.) 15...Bxf5 16.Qxf5 is my suggestion, when white is very active with a lot of options.] 12...Ne5 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.fxe4 and the position is certainly no better for white. 14...0-0 is this necessary now? Perhaps …b5 is better first. 15.h4 Nc4 16.Bxc4 Qxc4 17.Kb1 b5 18.b3!? a double-edged move; it pushes the black queen back but it burns positional bridges. [18.Nf3!? is another idea, after which 18...Qxe4 19.Rd4 Qc6 20.Rhd1 f6 21.Qg3 probably isn't enough for the pawn.] 18...Qc7 19.e5!? Bb7 [19...Qxe5? 20.Nc6 Qc7 21.Nxe7+ Qxe7 22.Bc5 wins for white] 20.Rhe1 maybe f1 is a better square. [20.Nf3 is again possible, although provided black avoids 20...Bxf3 (20...f5! is a good move that fritz found) 21.Qxf3 Qxe5 22.Rd7 Rae8 23.Bd4 Qb8 when white is very active, there may be no problems.] 20...Qxe5 21.Bf4 [21.Bg5 Qc7 22.Bxe7 Qxe7 is maybe more sensible.] 21...Qc5 22.h5 Bf6 [22...a5 looks quite scary, when black's attack will almost certainly hit first.] 23.Be3 Qe7 [23...Rfc8 is a possibility.] 24.h6? g6? [24...Bh4! is winning for black.] 25.Ne2 Bg5 [25...Rfd8 Still looks pretty solid for black.] 26.Bc5 Bh4 27.Qd4 Qf6 28.Qxf6 Bxf6 29.Bxf8 Rxf8 30.Rf1 Bg5 31.Rd7 Bc6 32.Ra7 b4 33.Nd4 Be4 34.Rxa6 Be3 35.Re1 Bb7 36.Rb6 Bxd4 37.Rxb7 Bc3 Some care is required now – one of the drawbacks of 18.b3! Despite Brandon’s material advantage, which is enough to win, he’s got to be careful due to the fantastic bishop on c3 that allows mating threats and the advance of the e-pawn. 38.Rd1 e5 39.g5 Kh8? [a pointless move; 39…Re8 at least forces Brandon to find 40.Re7! [40.Rdd7?! e4 41.Rxf7?? is natural but insufficient; 41…e3 42.Rfe7 Kf8 looks good enough to hold. Again, that monster bishop is pretty useful! 40.Rf1 Kg8 41.Re7 now it’s easy. Bd4 42.Rf3 Bc3 43.a4 Rd8 44.Rd3 Ra8 45.Rdd7 Rf8 46.a5 Bd4 47.a6 Bc3 48.a7 Bd4 49.Rb7 Bc3 50.Rxf7 1–0
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