Participants Pairings Results Progress Table Games Round Report 9

Well what a finish to this tournament! Firstly we had Alon Greenfeld gifted a win in just nine moves after John Redmond made a genuine finger fehler and blundered a piece while still in the opening . This left Alexander Baburin needing to win as Black against Stuart Conquest , which he duly did in impressive style and after an unusual and complicated opening by Stuart . He deserves great credit for the fighting spirit he displayed in this tournament when his results were so poor for him and lesser players would have just drawn out their tournament. In the end however it has to be said that the two winners were fully deserved winners and the most impressive throughout the event.

Meanwhile my own event ended in tragedy and disaster when I self destructed in a truly awful manner [Vintage Daly really] .I had been winning quite easily throughout the game, even being over an hour ahead on the clock too, only to then blow it in the third and final playing session and the time scramble. I needed a win to make an IM norm and for about 80 percent of the game I looked to be well on the way with a winning position that seemed to play itself. When I am good, I am very good, but when I am bad I am also very bad indeed

However a combination of stupidity, tiredness, nerves and the farce of a second session time scramble all conspired to see me gift my opponent, not merely a draw, but even a win, all after I failed to finish him off with the many knockout blows I had available to me. It is true that Stephen Jessel is a tenacious player alright, but that had little to do with him winning here really because he was still losing in so many lines and made even more errors than me, both in the time scramble and throughout the game in general. Alas I made the last mistakes of the game and it was so bad as to lose for me. I have done notes to the game which underscore how incredible it was for me to lose this game. Chess is a cruel game and I was sick as a parrot long after the game, and I was truly shell shocked after having thrown away such a good result and making such an easy IM norm as would be the case with a win. Better luck next year I guess?.

The games from this round are now thankfully available. for download as pgn files

Also See games section for an idea of how this round developed.