Pre-departure: On your marks, get set…

A lot’s happened since my hurried mid-Doeberl update, which has caused me to neglect the website once more.  So here’s what you’ve missed…

The end of the tournament almost gave me the chance for a fairytale finish to my last chess event on home soil (for the foreseeable future).  In the final round I was paired with the unbeaten Bulgarian Grandmaster and joint-leader, Dejan Bojkov.  A win would most likely give me a share of first, and, with the highest tie-break of my other potential sharers, the Doeberl Championship.  And, after an hour, it seemed like Cinderella really had made it to the ball: I’d gotten my preparation to work to perfection, and had a technically winning position with the white pieces straight out of the opening.

Unfortunately, there would be no Prince Charming to finish this fairytale. Though, given what I had to endure on the television last Friday night, a royal wedding is perhaps not an apt metaphor for a happy ending (in the end, only Pippa Middleton’s dress and the brilliant chess banner kept me from a channel change to the Broncos).  A draw resulted, and in any case, the talented Russian Grandmaster Deviatkin successfully stayed abreast of the field to record a fine outright victory.

The Tuesday following the Cup was a public holiday in Canberra, and the Wednesday was my last day at work.  It was surprisingly emotional leaving Treasury, which is not only a great place to work career-wise, but also has a nice homely feel to it.  Indeed, our recently departed Secretary Ken Henry referred to Treasury as his ‘second family’.  A number of Treasury friends from all ranks, ages and areas (including two waitresses from the Treasury cafe!) contributed to a lovely surprise present, an autographed t-shirt, which was quite touching. 

There followed two horrid days of packing up my life and playing Tetris with the boxes and suitcases in the back of my car, before an epic drive up to Brisbane.  The lonely road trip was only broken by several “Learn Spanish Quickly” audio CDs, an incredibly intelligent mosquito, and an overnight stop at Andrew Fitzpatrick’s place on Burleigh Beach.

I’ve been following the recently completed Sydney International Open with much envy (and not a little jealousy!), of course, and was quite pleased to see Indian FIDE Master Akshat Khamparia take out the title.  I was fortunate enough to beat Akshat at the Doeberl, which dented his tournament, but not without extraordinary difficulties.  He is obviously very talented, but more importantly as far as I’m concerned, seemed a genuinely nice bloke and was happy and eager to analyse after what must have been a difficult loss.  I’m led to believe his performance at the SIO will finally grant him the IM title – well, there’s a little bit of justice and Karma (yes, I’m talking to you again…) right there! 

Unfortunately, and despite a return (of sorts) to form, my focus right now is not on chess, but rather on moving ‘life’ to Europe.  In nine days I jump on the plane to Santiago, the first of over a dozen flights that will eventually take me to a new home in Europe.  I already have three times the amount of belongings that can respectably fit into my backpack, and that’s already after giving up countless ‘essentials’ (that is, to a chess player, such as Bobby Fischer’s My 60 Memorable Games – heresy, I know!).  In fact, I’ve come to the conclusion that, to make this packing job work, I’m going to have to play in the style of Morphy – sacrifice, sacrifice and sacrifice some more, with no thought to the discarded material or “what if”s. 

I’m not entirely sure what ‘checkmate’ is in this metaphor – I’m open to suggestions – but at least it’s a bit more appropriate than Will and Kate’s royal yawnfest.