Edinburgh Live Games

[Jonathan Livingstone]

Other than the cold halls which had no daylight or heating the venue was excellent. Not many were brave enough to remove their coats. That's just one gripe, and a cold playing environment is not unusual for a non-hotel hosted chess congress.

The café is a real attraction, sensible prices i.e. Coffee was 50p. Can of juice and Chips for lunch £1.50. A fair amount of choice too and bacon/egg rolls in the morning was a nice start to the days chess.

[Alan Tate]

The Chess Tour folks seemed to have worked it out how to post the draw and results within minutes - not sure why Edinburgh could not emulate? For sure the viewing pleasure for the online audience is diminished without this. Seems a shame to get the technology all in place then miss this out That all being said, the allergo finish of Tate - Arakhamia fully stands up as quality entertainment all on it's own :p. Also have to wonder how well Mr Green slept last night after Black's Houdini act in same round. I doubt Neil Berry's can quite believe what happened to him in round 4 either.

My game v Keti was just embarrassing. In a non-armageddon time control I would resign, but then I would not have blundered the c-file and then a bishop... This is what the public wants. Hope it was good entertainment - can't say I enjoyed it much. The board didn't actually record the end of the game, probably because it's not designed for bullet!
Archibong - Berry makes no sense at first glance. White's play seems very deep, playing for a win in that position was brave! I guess the d4 pawn is always weak along with threats on the 7th rank - should be enough for a draw. Bg1 was an incredible move. I'm assuming the allegro finish had an influence there too.
I'm thinking the miss in Green - Lauridsen was 33 Rxd4!??!

[andyburnett]

My game v Keti was just embarrassing. In a non-armageddon time control I would resign, but then I would not have blundered the c-file and then a bishop... This is what the public wants. Hope it was good entertainment - can't say I enjoyed it much. The board didn't actually record the end of the game, probably because it's not designed for bullet!
Archibong - Berry makes no sense at first glance. White's play seems very deep, playing for a win in that position was brave! I guess the d4 pawn is always weak along with threats on the 7th rank - should be enough for a draw. Bg1 was an incredible move. I'm assuming the allegro finish had an influence there too.
I'm thinking the miss in Green - Lauridsen was 33 Rxd4!??!

I still can't even imagine how you escaped with a draw from that position Alan? Keti's flag fell?

I think Ubong's decision to play on was really bad against Neil - his only plan was to enter a lost position and hope for a blunder! Well, he got it...

I didn't realise there was no increment in play - I thought we used one last year!?

[Alan Tate]

80. Nd3 Nxh4 81. Nc5 g5 82. Nxa4 g4 83. Nc5 Kf5 84. Nxb3 g3 85. Nd4+ Ke4 86. Ne2 g2 87.
Kd2 Kf3 88. Kd3 Kf2 89. Kd2 Nf3+ 90. Kd3 g1=Q 91. Nxg1 Kxg1 92. Ke4 and in this winning position, Keti ran out of time (I had 4 seconds)

There was no increment last year as I distinctly remember having to play a position against Clement that was roughly -5 in my favour. I've never heard a reasonable argument against it - even getting 10 seconds after move 60 would work... Anyway that's my last word on the matter - I'm clearly in the minority as apparently 5+0 is now the best time control.

Didn't realise Neil's position was winning. Looking at the game last night made my eyes hurt!

[George Neave]

Thank you guys for joining in; can't remember last time some Scottish chess games were discussed on this board /

I haven't put these on the computer yet but I think it's quite clear and also rare to see so many late reversals at the top end. Alan - I am sure it was not fun to play for you in R5, I could sense the tension and it is commendable that neither of you backed down and agreed a draw which would have been perfectly reasonable at any point up to move 64? I guessed the result was determined by time given how little of it you both seemed to have when the pieces started dropping off.

Honestly I can hardly believe what happened to Neil - it looked to be heading to a study-like win but you have to admire Archibong's resiliency. I assume the won R+B v R was complete luck.

I have no sympthy for Mr Green now that I see he is regressing and playing this Barry Attack nonsense which has been the scurge of Scottish junior for so many years. :p Please stop it! [-x

For the non-partizan observer though it was all excelent entertainment.

[JRedpath]

George it's a London System not Barry Attack!

If it's good enough for Carlsen...

[andyburnett]

George it's a London System not Barry Attack!

If it's good enough for Carlsen...

Round 5 was a London System Joe, but round 3 v Keti it was the Barry Attack!

[Alan Tate]

A draw made no sense for either of us but I had no choice in the matter. There is no way White can play for a win in that position. Even if it's objectively equal or only slightly worse for White (I haven't analysed it yet), it's horrible to play as there is absolutely no active plan and Black can just shuffle around forever and eventually think about doing something. Going for that structure was a ridiculous decision.

Study-like wins sound interesting, will check out Neil's game properly.

(The Barry is actually not bad if White follows it up aggressively with 0-0-0. Otherwise you're just left with a stupid knight on c3 and no pawn breaks.)

[JRedpath]

George it's a London System not Barry Attack!

If it's good enough for Carlsen...

Round 5 was a London System Joe, but round 3 v Keti it was the Barry Attack![/quote

Oh fair enough thought we were talking about round 5! I've played the Barry for years it's OK opening but if black knows what to do it's almost completely equal. Still black has to take some risks to win and the positions are not to every Kings Indian players liking.

[andyburnett]

George it's a London System not Barry Attack!

If it's good enough for Carlsen...

Round 5 was a London System Joe, but round 3 v Keti it was the Barry Attack![/quote

Oh fair enough thought we were talking about round 5! I've played the Barry for years it's OK opening but if black knows what to do it's almost completely equal. Still black has to take some risks to win and the positions are not to every Kings Indian players liking.

Agreed Joe and to be honest, there are very few openings which aren't playable nowadays. Apart from really bad ones coupled with horrible mistakes early on, openings are not the be-all and end-all of chess. Good middlegame play is, combined with accurate calculation and technique (plus 100 other little things which help)