San Sebastian Rounds 4,5,6

July 13, 2009 • General

Since I finished my sixth round in relatively quick fashion today, (more below) I figured now would be another good time for a blog as we have progressed from 33% to 66% of the way there. Before I get into the actual blog itself, I would just like to thank everyone on ChessNinja, ICC and my blog here for the well wishes and congratulations (premature) which I have received thus far. Such inspiration greatly motivates me and keeps me going onwards as I try to push for world champion. So once again, thanks to everyone out there for the positivity.

Round 4: “Play To The Death”

In round four, I was paired with White against the Spaniard, Paco Vallejo Pons. Oddly enough, in a weird sense of pre-destiny, we first played on an airplane waaaaay back in 1996. I am not sure if Paco remembers this event at all but back in 1996, my brother, Asuka was playing in the World Youth Chess Championship in Menorca. While my brother played in the U10 for the US, Paco played for Spain in the U14 section. When my family left Menorca on the short flight back to Barcelona, I remember having the misfortune of ending up seated next to a random person at the time. For some reason, I took out my chess set and was looking at some stuff, when the guy next to me asked if I wanted to play. Although I was obviously not any good at the time, I figured why not. I should still be able to win as I was already about 15-1600 strength at the time. In the following two games which we played, I got completely blown off the board which left me terribly confused. I think it was only after we were on our way back to the US that it dawned on me that my opponent must have been someone who was playing in one of the higher up sections.

As far as the game was concerned, Paco seems to have a style much like mine in that he plays a little bit of everything. Despite the fact that I had a rest day after the third round, the task of preparation was not an easy one. Kris and I devised some basic stuff on pretty much of all of his openings except what he played! Paco made a very good choice by playing the Scandinavian with 3…Qd6 against me. After playing a highly conservative variation which led to a queenless middlegame, I declined an early draw offer as I felt there were some minimal chances of Paco going wrong. Nevertheless, I didn’t see any real risk so I proceeded to continue with the middlegame. The position was roughly equal until Paco started trying to play on the kingside instead of simply exchanging bishops on d6. After I got the bishop to e3, there was always some hope for me. But it was only once I was able to exchange the queenside pawns and push it down to b6 that the winning chances became quite realistic. Also, not to be forgotten was the time control which hurt Paco considerably as we both neared time pressure. In the end though, I was able to avoid any real danger and pick up the full point after a few miscues around move 30. After this rather unexpected (after the opening) win, I was pretty thrilled as this gave me a chance to really rack up the points.

Round 5: “The Art of Surprise!”

In the fifth round, I got Black against local Spaniard GM, Pablo San Segundo who at 2577 is the lowest rated player in the group. Although, San Segundo has not had an inspiring event overall, he has played quite solidly and were it not for an unfortunate oversight and a flag against Granda in a very complicated position, he would be undefeated. Over the past few years, I have a penchant of finding ways into trouble against lower ranked players in round robins. Case in point was back in 2007 when I was leading the Magistral event in Barcelona by 1.5 points after seven rounds only to go and lose to GM Oms who was the bottom seed. This led to a lot of unnecessary drama although I managed to win a highly dramatic last round game against GM Narciso to take the title. This time around, I really wanted to avoid such drama. Nevertheless, I decided to play the Cambridge-Springs for the first time (in a rated game) in my life. After the first nine moves of standard theory, I chose to play something off the beaten path when I chose 9…e5. Although this occurred in Kasparov-Smyslov, 1984, I was not particularly impressed with White’s play. That being said, the first surprise was when San Segundo allowed queens to come off the board with 14.cxd4. Even if he had chosen to play 14.exd4 0-0 15. 0-0 b5!? I thought that I was better. In the end, we went into a long endgame which I probably was winning in a much simpler way than how it actually went. Luckily though, I never was in any real danger of losing. With this monster win it put me on 4.5/5 and a point clear of the lead as Ponomariov was only able to draw against Movsesian in a Catalan.

Round 6: “Take Advantage of Your Chances When You Have Them”

In the sixth round, I had White against former Fide World Champion and current number 1 Ukrainian player, Ruslan Ponomariov. There really is not a whole to report here other than the fact that it was a rather quick, theoretical variation leading to a draw. No doubt, there are those who will ask why I took a quick draw when I have generally taken an anti-draw attitude towards events like Dortmund. In certain situations such as today where I have easier opponents at the end, and a clear lead, it is smart to avoid any potential disasters. Also, make no mistake about this much: IF WE WERE TIED GOING INTO THIS SIXTH ROUND GAME, I WOULD HAVE 99.9% PLAYED FOR A WIN. As is, the situation dictated that I did not need to be overly aggressive and that was my rationale behind the quick draw. In equally good news, Peter Svidler took a quick draw today with White despite having what I felt was more play than what I won with against Vallejo two days ago. Therefore, I maintain my one point lead as we head into the final stretch. That being said, I will now go and prepare for my game tomorrow and leave the internet sphere for the time being….