Greetings players and fellow patzers 🙂
After 16 months since the last live tournament, 4NCL held a tournament this past weekend at Leamington Spa.
Limited to 130 players across 3 sections, which were fixed at 48 in the Open, 48 in the Major and 34 in the Minor.
Due to this, folks who would have normally played in one section may have been placed in another,
in this case, some minor players were moved to the Major.
This was to limit the amount of people in a close space at any given time.
We were allowed to spectate games only in our room, we could not go to other rooms to look at games.
Non-participating spectators (i.e. parents, coaches etc.) were also not allowed in the playing rooms.
Players needed to wear masks at all times.
If a player was exempt and did not wear a mask, the opposing player had a choice to take a 1/2 point bye.
I personally did not see any instances of this occurring, at least in the Major.
The hotel venue was nice, although at £5 a pint it was an expensive weekend!
As is tradition, I will share each game annotated with my basic analysis.
Time controls were 90 mins + 30secs increment per move.
-------------------------------
Game 1 - Zak Tomlinson (1795) vs Siddharth Gopakumar (1953)
The first OTB game for many people in over a year.
I was paired vs the tournament 3rd seed, so was expecting a difficult test.
Also, I should mention that I did not prep for any game this tournament...
...my goal was just to enjoy the occasion after long last!
Zak Tomlinson
Inaccuracies - 2
Mistakes - 2
Blunders - 0
Avg. centipawn loss - 37
Siddharth Gopakumar
Inaccuracies - 1
Mistakes - 0
Blunders - 0
Avg. centipawn loss - 21
Game 2 - Paul Seymour (1713) vs Zak Tomlinson (1795)
After losing the first game I was hoping to bounce back with a win, this time against a slightly lower rated player, so pressure was on.
The game was a London System vs Kings Indian, where I've often publicly stated I prefer Black.
The game lasted just under 4 hours.
Paul Seymour
Inaccuracies - 4
Mistakes - 2
Blunders - 1
Avg. centipawn loss - 31
Zak Tomlinson
Inaccuracies - 6
Mistakes - 1
Blunders - 3
Avg. centipawn loss - 49
Game 3 - Zak Tomlinson (1795) vs Richard Chiang (1705)
Saturday afternoon's game was another epic, also lasting nearly 4 hours.
I probably played more chess than anybody that day, over 7.5 hours for two games.
Do I finally get on the score board?
The tale of the tape is not flattering on this one, I think some of the 'blunders' are really mistakes.
Zak Tomlinson
Inaccuracies - 4
Mistakes - 1
Blunders - 5
Avg. centipawn loss - 35
Richard Chiang
Inaccuracies - 3
Mistakes - 1
Blunders - 7
Avg. centipawn loss - 50
Game 4 - Ross Murphy (1713) vs Zak Tomlinson (1795)
Sunday morning I was paired against a friend of mine, we even had a chat over coffee before the game and thought about having a quick draw.
And why not? In these tournaments there aren't any rules regarding minimum number of moves.
We still somehow played over 20 moves, but all quite quickly and eventually we agreed a draw and got another coffee....
...because the bar wasn't open yet.
I was thankful for the quick game (<1 hour) after the previous day marathons.
Ross Murphy
Inaccuracies - 2
Mistakes - 0
Blunders - 0
Avg. centipawn loss - 15
Zak Tomlinson
Inaccuracies - 2
Mistakes - 1
Blunders - 0
Avg. centipawn loss - 19
Game 5 - Zak Tomlinson (1795) vs Edward Blanden (1698)
The final round and bear in mind the Euro finals were later this evening, so I was torn between a draw and playing for a win.
A win would at least put me back to 50% on the weekend, so I figured I had to try.
The game lasted 3 hours, I made it back home just minutes before kick-off... wish I didn't bother now!
Another not so flattering post-mortem here.
Zak Tomlinson
Inaccuracies - 3
Mistakes - 3
Blunders - 4
Avg. centipawn loss - 34
Edward Blanden
Inaccuracies - 5
Mistakes - 2
Blunders - 5
Avg. centipawn loss - 44
----------------
So 2.5/5, not too bad a result in the end, considering I lost the first two games.
My performance was apparently 1753 and the ratings have already been updated on the ECF rating database.
My new rating is 1790, I lost 5 points.
Here is the tournament cross-table:
http://chess-results.com/tnr568918.aspx?lan=1&art=4&flag=30
Apparently the winner on 5/5 had never played any live chess before and had only started learning the game two years ago.
To say I'm suspicious is an understatement.
I'm already looking at next tournaments, there is a 9-rounder in Gateshead, August bank holiday weekend.
It will be a longer and tougher tournament than this one was. Info below:
https://northumbriamasters.com/
I've also heard that Scarborough in October is planned to go ahead, I'll definitely be going to that one if so.
Anyway that's a wrap, hope y'all enjoyed and could take something away from it all!
Cheers,
Zak
@64squaresofpain saidWell recovered Zak
Game 5 - Zak Tomlinson (1795) vs Edward Blanden (1698)
The final round and bear in mind the Euro finals were later this evening, so I was torn between a draw and playing for a win.
A win would at least put me back to 50% on the weekend, so I figured I had to try.
The game lasted 3 hours, I made it back home just minutes before kick-off... wish I didn't b ...[text shortened]...
Anyway that's a wrap, hope y'all enjoyed and could take something away from it all!
Cheers,
Zak
All these openings and continuations are beyond me at my age but watching your games and Greenpawn's blogs is a pleasant distraction from playing my own stuff all the time.
@64squaresofpain saidHi Zak,
Game 2 - Paul Seymour (1713) vs Zak Tomlinson (1795)
After losing the first game I was hoping to bounce back with a win, this time against a slightly lower rated player, so pressure was on.
The game was a London System vs Kings Indian, where I've often publicly stated I prefer Black.
The game lasted just under 4 hours.
[pgn][Event "Leamington Spa Majo ...[text shortened]... n loss - 31
Zak Tomlinson
Inaccuracies - 6
Mistakes - 1
Blunders - 3
Avg. centipawn loss - 49
12...exd4.
Relieving pawn tension is appropriate if one gains from it or would suffer from not doing it. Neither seems to apply here, which would indicate that Black shouldn't exchange.
How were you planning to answer 13. Nxd4 (with the possibility of 14. Bb5 and 15. Nc6)?
17...Re7.
17...Nxd2 would have prevented White from playing d5 and could have been followed by 18...Bc6 to pressure the a-pawn.
26...Rxe2.
This essentially exchanges Black's mobile rook for White's immobile e1-rook. 26...Qxa4 seems decisive: 26...Qxa4 27. Qxa4 Nxa4 28. Bxd6 Bxb2, threatening 29...Bc3 or 29...Nc3. 29. Bc7 Bc3 30. d6 could be neutralized by 30...Nc5.
The post that was quoted here has been removedHe could indeed be genuine, I have no proof as I'm merely speculating.
It's just rare to see someone who's only played the game for <2 years and has never played OTB before
to win all his games at a high level.
Julia, on the other hand, has played OTB since 2014 and has gradually increased her grade over time.
@Duchess64
Like Mr Gomez I only know what the internet knows about her. The only player I know from the tournament is Brendan O'Gorman who I've played several times at weekend events when I was last active.