Looking for Sponsorship!

[andyburnett]

Hi folks,

As some of you may know I have recently been chasing the FM title by playing a lot of tournaments in the Czech and Slovak Republics. I am within touching distance of this now and am looking to push on and gain the IM title.

I have funded the last 6 months of chess myself, but am now looking for sponsorship to continue the quest!

If anyone out there knows of individuals/companies who might see value in sponsoring a media-savvy, kilted Scotsman either on a 'long-term' or 'individual tournament' basis, please contact me via

abburnett@hotmail.com

Regards,
Andy Burnett

P.S. For the avoidance of doubt/questions of integrity/etc. I will not be using the Chess Scotland magazine to further my personal goals in this respect (although if/when I gain a title I might treat you all to a wee report!)

[andyburnett]

Currently playing Brno Open along with Peter Constantinou and Mikey Groves (who have to play each other today!)

http://chess-results.com/tnr151675.aspx?lan=1

Thanks to some kind private sponsorship I will also be playing the Plsen open which starts immediately after Brno

[andyburnett]

A decent win yesterday against my Anglo-Welsh opponent, who blundered badly in a difficult position. Mikey and Peter had a hard-fought draw. Round 3 today.
[pgn][Event "Brno open"]
[Date "2014.11.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Burnett, Andrew"]
[Black "Davis, Lee"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2269"]
[BlackElo "1971"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 d6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Be3 c6 5. Qd2 Nbd7 6. Nf3 Bg7 7. Bd3 Qa5 8. h3
O-O 9. O-O e5 10. Rfe1 Re8 11. Rad1 Nf8 12. d5 c5 13. Nb5 Qd8 14. Na3 a6 15. b4
b6 16. bxc5 bxc5 17. Nc4 Bd7 18. Nxd6 Nxe4 19. Bxe4 f5 20. Bg5 Qb6 21. Nxe8
Rxe8 22. Bd3 e4 23. Bc4 exf3 24. d6+ Ne6 25. Rxe6 Rxe6 26. Bxe6+ Bxe6 27. d7
1-0[/pgn]

[andyburnett]

Bit of a setback yesterday, After a good opening I slightly mis-assessed the middle-game plan with 15...Nc5?! (15...a5 was better) and then gave away 3 tempii! Not good, but still time to recover.

Mikey G. lost an interesting game in the Scotch, so it was left to Peter to save face for team SCO/ENG by winning quickly.

[pgn][Event "Brno open"]
[Date "2014.11.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Rehurek, Lukas"]
[Black "Burnett, Andrew"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2188"]
[BlackElo "2269"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. O-O e5 7. Nb3 d6 8. c4
Be7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Qe2 Nc6 11. f3 Be6 12. Be3 Rc8 13. Nd5 Nd7 14. Rfd1 Bg5 15.
Rac1 Nc5 16. Nxc5 dxc5 17. Bxc5 Nd4 18. Bxd4 exd4 19. Rc2 Re8 20. g3 Bxd5 21.
cxd5 Be3+ 22. Kg2 Qd7 23. Rxc8 Rxc8 24. f4 f6 25. h3 g6 26. Qg4 Qxg4 27. hxg4
Rc1 28. Rxc1 Bxc1 29. b3 Ba3 30. e5 fxe5 31. fxe5 Bb4 32. Kf3 Be1 33. Ke4 Bxg3
34. Kxd4 Bf2+ 35. Ke4 Kf7 36. d6 h5 37. Bc4+ Ke8 38. gxh5 gxh5 39. e6 h4 40.
Bf1 Bg3 41. Kd5 b5 42. Bh3 a5 43. e7 1-0[/pgn]

[andyburnett]

Some good news today as Friends of Chess have kindly offered some money which will allow me to play another Open event over here!

My game yesterday was amusing - my opponent has probably the worst opening repertoire of anyone I've seen for a long time, and used only 13 minutes for 40 moves!

Two tough draws today against 2100+ Ukrainian opposition - not ideal but I'm playing reasonably well.

[pgn][Event "Brno open"]
[Date "2014.11.18"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Burnett, Andrew"]
[Black "Stanek, Stanislav"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "2269"]
[BlackElo "1938"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Qe7 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bc4 Bg4 6. dxe5 dxe5 7. h3 Bxf3 8.
Qxf3 Qf6 9. Qg3 Bd6 10. Bg5 Qg6 11. O-O-O Ne7 12. Rxd6 Qxd6 13. Rd1 Qc7 14.
Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Qxg7 Rf8 16. Qxh7 Nd7 17. Qf5 O-O-O 18. g4 Kc7 19. g5 Rg8 20. h4
Rg7 21. Be2 Nc5 22. Rg1 Qe6 23. b4 Qxf5 24. exf5 Nd7 25. Ne4 Rh8 26. h5 Nb6 27.
c4 Nc8 28. Rd1 Rd8 29. Rxd8 Kxd8 30. f6 Rg8 31. c5 b5 32. Bg4 a6 33. h6 Ne7 34.
fxe7+ Kxe7 35. h7 Rh8 36. Nf6 Kf8 37. Bf5 Kg7 38. Ng8 Kf8 39. Kd2 Ke8 40. Ke3
1-0[/pgn]
[pgn][Event "Brno open"]
[Date "2014.11.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Shevchenko, Kirill"]
[Black "Burnett, Andrew"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B72"]
[WhiteElo "2141"]
[BlackElo "2269"]


1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. Be2 Nc6 8.
Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Be6 11. h4 Qa5 12. Qg5 b5 13. Qxb5 Qc7 14. e5 a6
15. Qb6 Qxb6 16. Bxb6 Nd7 17. Be3 Bxe5 18. Nd5 Bxd5 19. Rxd5 Rfb8 20. c3 a5 21.
Rb5 a4 22. a3 e6 23. h5 Rc8 24. hxg6 hxg6 25. Kd2 d5 26. Rb4 Bf6 27. Bb5 Nc5
28. f3 e5 29. Bxc5 Rxc5 30. Bxa4 Be7 31. Bb3 Rd8 32. Rb7 Bg5+ 33. Ke2 e4 34.
fxe4 Re8 35. Rd1 Rxe4+ 36. Kf3 Rf4+ 37. Kg3 Rf5 38. a4 Kg7 39. Rd7 Bf4+ 40. Kg4
Be5 41. R1xd5 Rc8 42. Rd8 Rc6 43. g3 Kh6 44. Rd3 Rb6 45. c4 Bxb2 46. R8d5 Rxd5
47. cxd5 f5+ 48. Kf3 Be5 49. Bc4 g5 50. Bb5 g4+ 51. Kg2 Kg5 52. Rd1 f4 53.
gxf4+ Kxf4 54. Re1 g3 55. Rf1+ Ke4 56. Rd1 Rh6 57. Rh1 Rxh1 58. Kxh1 Kf3 59.
Bf1 Kf2 60. Bg2 Bc7 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

[Event "Brno open"]
[Date "2014.11.19"]
[Round "6"]
[pgn][White "Burnett, Andrew"]
[Black "Cherednichenko, Elena"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2269"]
[BlackElo "2174"]


1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4 c6 7. Qc2 O-O 8. e3
Bd6 9. Bg3 Re8 10. Bd3 g6 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. h4 Nbd7 13. O-O-O Qe7 14. Kb1 b6
15. g4 Nxg4 16. h5 Qf6 17. hxg6 fxg6 18. Rdg1 Nf8 19. Rg3 Bf5 20. Bxf5 Qxf5 21.
Qxf5 gxf5 22. Ne5 Ng6 23. Nxg4 fxg4 24. Rxg4 Re7 25. f4 Rg7 26. Rhg1 Rf8 27. b4
b5 28. Rg5 Rff7 29. f5 Nh4 30. f6 Rg6 31. e4 Nf3 32. Rxg6+ hxg6 33. Rxg6+ Kh7
34. Rg2 Rxf6 35. Rf2 dxe4 36. Nxe4 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

[andyburnett]

Another tough game yesterday and another draw! Despite winning a clear pawn in the opening as Black, I couldn't find a way to make it count. Can anyone find a clear plan for Black?

White today against WIM Elena Semenova (2222) from Russia in a must-win situation. Mikey Groves is having a tough time of things, while Peter Constantinou plays Black on top board v the very strong Greek player Epaminondas Kouroussis (try saying that name when you're drunk!)

[pgn][Event "Brno open"]
[Date "2014.11.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Kratochvil, Karel"]
[Black "Burnett, Andrew"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A43"]
[WhiteElo "2148"]
[BlackElo "2269"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 d6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 e5 6. e4 Nbd7 7. Nd2 g6 8. Nc4 Nb6
9. Ne3 Bd7 10. a5 Nc8 11. Nc4 Bg7 12. Be2 O-O 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Bg4
Bb5 16. Na3 Ne7 17. Be2 Bxe2 18. Qxe2 Qxa5 19. O-O Bg7 20. Rfb1 Qc7 21. Nc4 f5
22. f3 f4 23. Ra2 b5 24. Na5 c4 25. Nc6 b4 26. Nxe7+ Qxe7 27. Nd1 Qc7 28. b3
Rfc8 29. bxc4 Qc5+ 30. Kf1 Bf6 31. Nb2 Bd8 32. Qf2 Qxf2+ 33. Kxf2 Bb6+ 34. Ke2
a5 35. c3 bxc3 36. Na4 Bd4 37. Kd3 Rab8 38. Rb5 Rxb5 39. cxb5 Rb8 40. Nxc3 Bxc3
41. Kxc3 Rxb5 42. Rb2 Rc5+ 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

[Matthew Turner]

Andy has now achieved his FM title as has Clement, so I guess the next step is who is going to make it to IM first. Would there be any interest in Chess Scotland offering a prize for the next Scottish IM? It would only take 20 of us to put in £50 to offer £1000 - that would pay for a few European events. Of course the players would have to gamble that they would make it to the title first, but hey that's life.
Any thoughts/bundles of cash?
Matt

[Hugh Brechin]

I think that's a great idea - I don't have any particularly large bundles of cash, but I'd be very happy to be one of the people stumping up £50.

[Patrick McGovern]

I played Elena Cherdnichenko in Slovakia a few years ago, is she still as pretty