Monday coffee
My objective this year is to play approximately 80 rated games. and get back over 2600. It is the beginning of March and already I have some 20 rated games (Gibraltar, Cappelle and a team game in Barcelona). Considering that I have a few more invitations in the coming months, I think that I will meet my goal. I am also playing reasonably well, so my rating is starting to float back…
Click on image to enlarge
Congrats to Bachmann and Azarov for winning the tournament with 7.5 from 9 games! I scored 6.5, having lost a winning game against the talented chinese player Wan, but then recovering a lucky half-point more when the French grandmaster Abergel turned down a triple repetition and immediately lost a Rook! For readers who would like to have a pgn-file of my Cappelle games (with a few brief notes), you can download it HERE.
Unlucky day for Thal Albergel The 31-year old French Grandmaster is one of France’s more popular competitors on the European circuit.
gm Spraggett,K
gm Abergel,T
Position after 52 moves of play. Black has an extra pawn, but White’s strong passed pawn is full compensation. Here Abergel can play 53.Re5 , repeating the position and forcing me to do the samething with 53…Rc8 (I should not let the White Rook penetrate into Black’s position). The game would then be a draw, and a reasonable result from a hard-fought and interesting game. INSTEAD, Abergel hallucinated:
53.Kc3??
BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN!
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