Channeling the Smurf within

There was a time when I was young and cute. No, really. I had hair and everything. Back then, thanks to an article by International Arbiter Charles Zworestine, the chessworld gave me the nickname Smurf. Not just a derivation of my surname, it also reflected that I was one of the youngest chesssplayers in the adult levels, playing guys 30-40 years older.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to channel my smurfness. These days, I more often than not find myself facing some talented junior with oodles of opening theory, hours of hanging with Houdini, and the recklessness of an English bachelor party in Amsterdam. But the last two rounds reminded me of the ancient times when I was the whippersnapper. In round 6, had the honour of facing GM Jan Timman – yes, the living legend himself. Jan was ranked in the top three in the world back in the eighties and is probably the most famous Dutch player of all time (“Even above World Champion Euwe? Hmm.” Controversial.)

Naturally I was pretty nervous to face the man, which may have had something to do with a huge oversight on my part on move 19, missing a clear and easy win. What a shame! I have to say, Manuel’s advice to “mix it up, head for unorthodox positions” proved invaluable, and I quickly worked up a dangerous attack. After my blunder, the position gradually slipped away from me, but I managed a last-ditch rescue operation to save the draw, which was probably a fair result. The game’s below, without detailed annotations unfortunately because I’m supposed to be preparing for my next round…

Round 7 was against another guy in his sixties, but not just any senior: the reigning World Senior Champion, Jens Kristiansen. I decided to resurrect my Grunfeld for the first time in a decade, and got a very atypical position for me: passive defence and use of the two bishops. For the nonchessers, “the two bishops” refers to situations in which one side still has both bishops while the other has swapped one or both of theirs off (usually for knights). The idea is that the two lasers should be a long term advantage which, if nurtured correctly, should wreak havoc when the board opens up. The technique to utilise them, however, requires patience, subtlety, finesse…traits that, unfortunately, the gods thought better than to bless me with. However, this time around, somehow I managed to keep my trigger hand still and eventually convert the win. Ironically, the Timman game also saw me pressing with the two bishops – but given my double pawn sacrifice that preceded it, the order of the day was swift violence rather than positional maturity.

My run of old-timing legends (“Jens is a CURRENT legend, you know!” protested one local Dane) has come to an end, as I’m facing the very talented Italian grandmaster Sabino Brunello today. I managed to squeeze two goals past his keeping in football last night, which I’m taking as a good omen. A couple of pics follow; I’ll put a bit more effort into the reports once the tournament wraps up, including a summary of the problem solving competition.