4th Ulster Blitz Championship

    

I am not going to write a full report about this event, as the UCU 
website will do it anyhow, most likely better than I could do - so I just 
write about my result and my impressions. I managed to win the tournament 
with 19 wins and only one draw. Overall I am quite happy with the quality 
of my game. 

As far as I can recall, I had only three dodgy games: the one against 
Ian Woodfield, where I was lost and down to 5 seconds, but my opponent 
(also short on time) preferred to take a perpetual; the game against Calum, 
where I came out worse of the opening and the game against Thomas Donaldson, 
where I had a promising position, but blundered horribly a pawn, 
missing a simple pin. Luckily, I was able to sacrifice my queen 
for a rook and bishop, and create enough confusion to win the game. 

My Pirc defence was under heavy testing: I had about 7-8 games in the Pirc, 
and in most of them I got good positions right after the opening. 

Quite unusually to a blitz event, nobody played any weird opening against 
me (except Damien, of course, who tried the Elephant Gambit again). 

What really struck me is the total lack of kids at the tournament. If we had 
a one day blitz tournament with similar conditions in Hungary, about 30 
percent of the participant would be children between 6 and 14. 

And it's not only Hungary, I had similar experiences in Brazil. In Vila Velha 
(the city where I lived for 4 years), the field of a rapid tournament would 
look like this:



I think it is the children who really keep these kind of tournaments alive - 
most kids prefer blitz or rapid to classical games, 
they have plenty of free time, and even the parents are happy to get rid of 
their offsprings for a Sunday afternoon... so it is really hard to understand 
why you don't meet any of them in Belfast chess. I don't think I have seen 
anybody younger than 16 at this tournament.


But anyhow, it was a well organized and really enjoyable event at a nice 
venue - thanks for the organisers for their efforts. Looking forward for the 
next one in 2015 - although I have to admit that I was wrecked on Sunday 
evening...

Lindores 1 - Ballynafeigh 2

My standing desk

Well, this is my newest chess-related project: a little tabletop standing 
desk, made from a small coffee table I bought for a fiver in a charity shop.

I realized a long time ago that it is actually my bottom and not my brain 
that gets tired of studying chess; and after reading a lot about the benefits of using a standing desk (in articles like this one), I decided to give it a 
try. Hopefully it will help to increase the time I am able to spend 
at studying.

Lindores - Belfast South

My game against Ray Devenney:

Play Online Chess

[Event "Lindores - Belfast South"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2014.12.11"]
[Round "0"]
[White "Horvath, Gabor"]
[Black "Devenney, Ray"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Nd7 6. O-O Ne7 7. Be3?! {7. Hbd2
is better. I am still learning this opening, so I did not remember the
theory.} 7... c5 8. c4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Nxe5? {That looks very risky.} 10. cxd5
exd5 11. Bf4?! {During the game I thought this was a strong move; but the
developing move Nc3 looks even better.} 11... f6 12. Nxf5 Nxf5 13. Bxe5 fxe5
14. Bb5+ Kf7 15. Nc3 d4? {After this mistake Black cannot save the game
anymore. Black should use his free move to catch up in development with Nd4!}
16. Qb3+ Kg6 17. Ne4 Be7 18. Qe6+ Bf6 19. g4 Nh4 20. Bd3 Nf3+ 21. Kg2 Nh4+
22. Kh1 {#r} 1-0

My game from Lindores - Bangor

McConnell, Alan
Horvath, Gabor

1.Nf3 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 f5 4.d4 Nf6 5.g3 O-O 6.Bg2 d6 7.O-O Qe8 

{After a slightly unusual move order we reached one of the main lines
of the Leningrad Dutch.} 

8.d5 Na6 9.Nd4 Bd7 10.a3 {Rb1 is more common.} (10.Rb1) 10...c6
11.dxc6 bxc6 

{This is all theory so far. White should play b4 here.} 

12.f4?

{That weakens the white king and blocks the way of the bishop. White is
hindering e5, but it was not threatening yet, as Black would have had problems
with the pawns on d6 and c6.} (12.b4!) 12...Nc5 

(12...Rc8! {looks better,delivering the queen from her defending task,
so she can move to f7, attacking the c4 pawn.} 

13.b4 (13.Qa4 Nc5 14.Qxa7 Qd8! {I did not see that during the
game. This move just takes away the escape squares from the white queen.})
13...Qf7! 14.Qd3 c5) 13.Kh1 a5 $15 14.Be3 Rb8 {Black has a lot of
possibilities here; it is hard to say which is the best. I opted for the rook
move, because it is the most principled: putting the rook on the semi-open
file!} (14...Ng4) (14...Rd8) (14...e5) 15.Rb1 Ng4 16.Bg1 e5 17.fxe5 Nxe5 18.b3
Kh8?! (18...Qe7 {Looks better, connecting the rooks and activating the queen})
19.Qc2 Ng4 20.e4 {Here I fell back into my old bad habit of not looking for
candidate moves. Somehow I immediately assumed that I had no other choice than
fxe4, so I started to calculate this line, but I saw that Black cannot have
any advantage after 21. Rxf8+ Qxf8 22. Nxe4, thanks to the awful position of
the queen. It took me 10 minutes to step back and ask myself: is fxe4 really
the only alternative here?} Qe5! {No, it isn't! This move is the only way to
keep some advantage, according to the engine. The point is that after 21. exf5
Black has the strong reply He3.} (20...fxe4 21.Rxf8+ Qxf8 22.Nxe4) 21.Nde2?!
(21.b4 axb4 22.axb4 Ne6) (21.exf5 Ne3) 21...fxe4 22.Rxf8+?! Rxf8 $17 23.Bd4?
{With a draw offer, but after that White is already lost} Qh5 $19 24.Bxg7+
Kxg7 25.h4 Ne3! (25...e3) (25...Nf2+ 26.Kg1 e3) 26.Qd2 Nxg2 27.Qd4+ Kg8
28.Kxg2 Qf3+ 29.Kh2 Bg4 30.Ng1 Qf2+ (30...Qd3) 31.Qxf2 Rxf2+ 32.Kh1 Rc2 33.Nd1
Bxd1 {The safest way, simplifying to a won endgame.} (33...Bf3+) (33...Ra2)
34.Rxd1 Nd3 35.Rb1 Nf2+ 36.Kg2 Ng4+ 37.Kf1 d5 38.cxd5 cxd5 39.b4 axb4 40.axb4
d4 41.b5 d3 42.b6 (42.Nh3 Ne3+ (42...Nh2+ 43.Kg1 Nf3+ 44.Kf1 e3) 43.Kg1 d2)
42...Rf2+ 43.Ke1 d2+ 44.Kd1 Ne3# 0-1