As most of you already know, i played a quite interesting tournament in Vienna. Although i've had the best performance of my life ELO-wise, i actually played some pretty crappy chess. I'll try to post some impressions and a game every day or two.

Day 1: I live around 1100 km from Vienna, so it's quite a trip if your too lazy to book flights in advance. I get on a train at 7pm, board a night train at 10:30 and after a rough night with maybe 2-3h sleep (if someone has a tip how to sleep on moving vehicles without large quantities of alc, let me know, i just can't). I get off in vienna at 9am, walk the 50m to my hostel where i booked my stay at a 6-man dorm in true lowroller style. Well, you can't argue with 18 €/night i guess...So i walk up to the girl behind the counter, who tells me that i failed to confirm my reservation per e-mail and so it got cancelled. WTF. I was like 99.9% sure i wrote them back.
So after 15 minutes she has a bed for me, equips me with free breakfast and bar vouchers ("because we messed up") and i leave my baggage because i can't check in until maybe 1-2pm. So i walk out of the hostel and a really beat-up sceletal woman who has like 4 teeth and 2 swollen eyes tells me she just got raped and i should take her to her home with a cab. OK i don't want to get mugged after 5 min of Vienna so i brush her off, later i got told that i should have offered to call the police, which would have saved me some bad consciousness (what if her story were true...).
I walk around 1,5 miles to Ajezz' upscale hotel on the Opera Ring, where i talk my unwashed, unshaved self past the concierge to get to his room, where i take a quick shower and we are off to the registration.

Nothing eventful happens, and we get seated for the first round. I am around 10 ELO-Points too heavy to get shown the c3-sicilian by Tiviakov and instead play an 18-19 year old German kid on board 181 of 186. This is something of a black box, because of the existence of a B-and C-Tournament there are no really bad players around and oftentimes people without ELO are seated on the bottom of the board, who can have a national rating of 2000. Also i saw someone i knew to be 2250 strength seated at the 3rd-last position...

We are treated to a 30-min podium discussion where they detail their efforts to revive the famous Vienna chess scene, which i believe was destroyed first by the Nazis who deported or exiled the Jewish players (remember, Steinitz, Nimzowitsch, Tartakower, Rubinstein and many more were Jews) and then by the tourismization of the Vienna Coffeehouses. Then we start...

[Event "Vienna Open 2009"]
[Site "Wien, Rathaus"]
[Date "2009.08.15"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Noir_Desir"]
[Black "B,J"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "2118"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2009.08.15"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 That's awesome. If given a choice
of theoretical positions after 4 moves, i would probably start all my games
from here. 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 c6 7. Qc2 Nbd7 8. Bd3 b6?! This is inaccurate.
It weakens the black Q-side and prepares to develop the bishop to a square it
doesn't even want to be on. Compare the standard Tartakower positions, where
White is even happy to lose a tempo (Bg5-h4xf6) to lure it on b7 before
exchanging on d5. 9. Nf3 I wanted to play a system with Ne2 vs the main
lines, but after b6 i think this makes more sense because the standard f3-e4
plan with the N on e2 actually gives the Bb7 a role. Bb7 10. O-O O-O 11. Rad1 !



This is an important moment. White has developped all minor pieces on
their best squares and castled. Now the question is where to put the rooks.
This is determined by our plans for the middlegame: 1) Put pressure on the
c-file ->Rc1 2) Put pressure on d5 in anticipation of c5 -> Rd1 3) Play Ne5
and f4 (the Pillsbury-plan): We need a rook on e1 for that, because after Nxe5
dxe5 Ng4 we need to be able to play f4 without dropping e3. In this plan, the
hyper-aggro treatment is Rae1 and leave the other one on f1. I like a setup
with Rad1 and Rfe1 better, because it's way more flexible and helps to
restrain black's counterplay. Here with the passive black setup i
definitely like the Pillsbury plan best.

Re8 12. Rfe1 a6 ?! Pointless. Here
i was pretty sure my opponent was not that strong. 13. Ne5 h6 !? Always a
double-edged decision. It weakens the light squares to the point that he can
almost never chase away my e5-Knight with f6 because disaster would loom on
e6-f7-g6 (look where his white-squared bishop is). It does force me to a
decision though, and after a 20-minutes think i reluctantly parted with my
Bishop to keep the Knight on e5. 14. Bxf6 (14. Bf4 Nxe5 (14... Nh5 ? 15. Nxf7
!) 15. dxe5 Nh5 looked like a worse way to give up the Bishop to me.)

14...Nxf6 15. f4 Bd6 16. Qe2 preparing to blow him away with g4-g5 and also
keeping an eye on e3-e4 and a6. He now radically prevents g4 but i'm not sure
if it was worth the weakening of the K-side. h5 17. Qf2 This looks somewhat
lame. I didn't like e4 because of the reply c5!, when things get murky. Maxbe
slowly preparing g4 is better, but it would rid him of the h5-weakness and i
wasn't sure how to exploit an open h-file. c5 This doesn't bother me much,
because i can just ignore it. My centre is secure enough. 18. Qh4 c4 ? A
typical mistake. His counterplay is much too slow to grant me free hand in the
centre and on the K-side.

19. Bb1 b5 20. Ne2 Planning to force g6 and then
sacrificing something for 3 pawns and an attack. b4 21. Ng3 Rc8 ? (21... g6
22. Bxg6 fxg6 23. Qg5 isn't clear, but looks good.) 22. Nxh5 With only
around 10 minutes plus 30 sec increment to reach move 40 i just chopped off
the pawn. I thought Nf5 might have been even stronger, but that doesn't seem
to be the case, Bf8 defends. Ne4 23. Qg4 Bf8



Now i calculated a nice finish.
24. Bxe4 dxe4 Here i originally wanted to play Nd7 to threaten to remove the
Bf8 and Nf6+ at the same time, but Re6 defends. So i switched moves... 25. f5
f6 26. Nd7 ! Qxd7 Obviously pointless to play on here, but on most other
moves like Re7 27. Nxf6 mates. 27. Nxf6+ Kf7 28. Nxd7 Be7 29. Qg6+ Kg8 30. f6
Bxf6 31. Nxf6+ Kf8 32. Nxe8 Rxe8 33. Rf1+ 1-0

Pretty good way to start off the tournament. Afterwards we grab some beers and something to eat, luckily there's a festival right outside the venue where food from all over the world is sold.

Neat game!

The point of 12. .. a6 was that he wants to play c5 but without relinquishing control of the potentially annoying b5 square.

On your side I think 22. Nf5 is definitely more accurate.

22. Nf5 Bf8 23. Qg5 g6 24. Nh6+ Bxh6 25. Qxh6 is all more or less forced but now f5 can't be stopped, after which black will rapidly demolished.

Day 2

Thankful for having a bed that is not moving at 100 miles/hour, i sleep in a bit and miss the Blitz donkament. I sweat Ajezz a bit, kibitz some GMs blitzing (damn their good) and use Ajezz' netbook to prepare for my next opponent. It's an 81-year old Austrian IM who is a chess legend in his country. He played most of the games' greats in the 50s and 60s, and beat two former world champions (Spasski and Botwinnik) over the board. Despite his age, he still looks in decent shape (and he turns out to be a very nice guy), but his rating obviously has declined, so i do think i have a chance there.
The game turns out to be fairly uneventful, but it's nice to make an untroubled draw with black. If someone has a suggestion where i could reasonably have played for the win, please post it, i could have certainly tried more.


[Event "Vienna Open 2009"]
[Round "2"]
[White "D, A"]
[Black "Noir_Desir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "2258"]
[BlackElo "2118"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. b3 Nf6 4. Nc3

not a very dangerous system for White. Rogozenko gives Nc6 with equality here and it's hard to argue with that, though i went for something sharper. I didn't prepare for 3. b3, expecting 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 or 3. Bb5+ instead. The stuff i played has been played before up to move 13, but i was out of the book here.

g6 5. Bb2 Bg7 6. Nd5 O-O!? (6... e6 7. Nxf6+ Bxf6 8. Bxf6 (8. e5) 8... Qxf6 9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 a6 looks OK for black also.) 7.Nxf6+ exf6 8. Be2

Afterwards he suggested 8. Bd3 as the only way to try for something. 8....d5 looks OK for black though, and White should probably avoid 9. exd5 Re8+.

Re8 9. d3 f5 10. Bxg7 Kxg7 11. exf5 Bxf5 12. O-O Nc6



This looks like a small pull for Black, but it's not easy to do something concrete. ...d5 always runs into d4 and i might end up with a bad bishop. Advances on the Q-side could always be countered by the same central advance.

13. Qd2 Qf6 14. c3 Rac8 15. Rae1 h6
To forestall Ng5-e4 ideas and maybe play g5 and Qg6 with pressure on d3.

16. Bd1! I liked that maneuvre, it effectively equalizes the game. Now the threat of Re3 followed by Rfe1 convinced me to exchange on the e-file.

Rxe1 17. Rxe1 Rc7 18. h3 Re7 19. Rxe7 Qxe7 20. Be2 Qf6 21. d4 cxd4 22. Nxd4 Nxd4 23. Qxd4 Qxd4 24. cxd4



Here White can even claim a small advantage, because his space advantage makes it difficult for me to activate my pieces. It's obv still a draw though, although i would have expected him to try a bit longer.

Kf6 25. Kf1 Ke7 26. Bc4 Be6 27. Ke2 Bd7 28. b4 Bf5 29. Ke3 g5 30. a3 Be6 31. Bd3 1/2-1/2

After the game i analyse a bit and then sweat Ajezz trying to draw that Berlin Wall endgame. Then it's too late to do much, so we just have a beer again and watch the free open-air film in front of the venue, which features a tremendously aged band named "The Cure" playing a concert.

You didn't edit out your name.

Interesting game, but I really think you floundered in the middle game after Qf6 though. His c3 looks quite bad. The reason being that black can then target the d4 square with b5!? This builds an initiative oddly quick and white must respond very energetically to avoid being run over. The immediate 15. d4 stroke fails to b4. Definitely not a fun spot to be in for white, which is good for you.

After 15. Rae1? you have 15. .. d5! Now 16. d4 cd 17. cd Re4 appears to simply win material.

After 16. Bd1 you still have d5 with the same Re4 idea which seems to still likely result in simply winning material as that d pawn is very hard to fold for white. b5 is also still promising as well.

After 16. .. Rxe1 it's all gone though!

ouch, im dumb...too late too edit now. I might have to ask Roundtower again...

I don't know, i saw the d5 + Re4 ideas earlier, but dismissed them because of Bd3. After Re1 they seem to work obv. It should give me an edge, but Fritz doesn't think black has much after 15...d5 16. a3 d4 17. c4.

looking at it again, i like the 14.... b5-b4 plan though. thx for the input, nice food for thought.

I already know all of your games, but it's nice of you to comment them for the guys here.

Was the old guy Duckstein?

@nezh: correct. Someone even told me there's an opening variation named after him, though i have no idea which.

Day 3:

In the morning, Ajezz, me and a tourist guy meet to visit the Hofburg, the residential castle of the former emperor of Austria-Hungary. This country used to be much bigger than it is now, and encompassed big parts of former Yugoslavia, former Czechoslowakia and Romania, as well as parts of Italy. You can visit the luxurious rooms in the castle, the "Sissi-museum" which is devoted to Empress Elisabeth, and the Silver Chamber, which is especially interesting if you're into looking at gold plates and silver cutlery (which i'm unfortunately not). All in all a site i would not necessarily recommend spending 10 Euros (the standard Vienna price for entrance in any museum) on.

Ajezz informs me about my opponent, who has roughly the same rating like the IM yesterday, but is 18 years old instead of 81 and from Germany. Ajezz informs me that his rating has had a quite exponential curve in the last time, which doesn't really enhance my belief in my chances. My rating curve of the last ~6 years can be described by an exponential function too, but only with an imaginary exponent. If you're not a math geek, that means it oscillates.

After some dumb attempt at an opening preparation, and a subway sandwich for lunch, i'm off to the gallows.

Noir_Desir(2118) - S,W(2256) [A55]
Vienna Open 2009 (3)

1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3

Having no idea what to do after 3. c4 Bg4 (which i was sure he would play, but was too stupid to prepare for, focusing my lazy preparation on a transposition to the Philidor which i decided 5 min before the game not to play), i went for a type of position i knew at least something about.

3...Nbd7 4.Bg2 e5 5.0–0 c6 6.c4 Be7 7.Nc3 0–0 8.e4 a6 9.d5?!



This seems premature. I was at a loss how to prevent black's coming counterplay with ...b5. Most games continued 9. h3 b5 10. c5!? or 9. a4. The latter move allows ...a5 with blocking of White's Q-side play though, so he has to switch to play on the K-side or in the centre, with complicated play.My move allows black to take over the initiative on the Q-side.

9...cxd5 10.cxd5 b5 11.Ne1 Nb6 12.Nd3 Bd7 13.f3

This looks risky, but i wanted to develop the bishop without allowing it to be hassled by Nc4. But maybe b3 and Bd2 was preferable.

13...Qb8 13...Nc4 14.Kh1 (otherwise ...b4 is a threat) and he probably can't do much before his knight is driven back.

14.Be3 Rc8 15.Rc1 b4 16.Nb1 Nc4



I can't do much else than try to exchange what black throws at me on the Q-side. He has clearly won the opening battle, but it's not clear how black can get more than a slight advantage here. Fortunately my space advantage prevents him from piling up on the c-file.

17.Bf2 a5 18.Nd2 Bb5 19.Nxc4 Bxc4 20.b3 Bb5 21.Qd2 Qb7 22.Rfd1 Bd8 23.Bf1

23. Nb2 was probably more precise, to prevent him from exchanging to a possible knight vs bad bishop scenario. He has made some progress here, but i'm sure he could have done better.

23...Bxd3 24.Bxd3 Bb6 25.Bxb6 Qxb6+ 26.Qf2 Nd7?!

better was 26. ...Qxf2+ 27. Kxf2 Nd7 to get his knight to c5.

27.Qxb6 Nxb6 28.Bb5



28. Rc6 forces a passed pawn on c6, but he can block it on a light square, so i felt it brought me more losing chances than winning chances. The "bad bishop" does a good job on b5 containing his allegedly superior knight.

28...Rxc1 29.Rxc1 Rc8

Here Rc6 looks somewhat better than before, because if he just passively blocks the pawn with Na8-c7, i can try to bring my K over and play a3 to force an entry path. He can walk over his K though and leave his knight on b6, or play Na8-c7, approach with his king and then play Ne6-d4. I don't think white is better there.

30.Rxc8+ 30.Rc6 Rxc6 31.dxc6 Kf8 32.c7 Ke7 33.Kf2 d5 34.exd5 Kd6 and black seems to be better.

30...Nxc8 31.Kf2 Kf8

I think he should have played ...g5 before f5. I was a bit wary of playing h4, because he can get a candidate with f6 and g5, which might divert my king's attention from the Q-side entry squares. Maybe that's overly pessimistic thinking and i should just have played h4.

32.Ke3 Ke7 33.Kd3 Nb6 34.Ke3 f5 35.h4



Preventing him from taking more K-side space and if he plays h6 and g5, i can just exchange on g5 and then more pawns by a well-timed f4.

35...Kf6 36.Bc6 fxe4 37.fxe4 Ke7
Now i just have to prevent his knight from coming to f6 and h5, which will force a real K-side weakness the K can't defend because i can't let his K in on the Q-side.

38.Kd3 Kd8 39.Ke3 Kc7 40.Kd3 Nc8 41.Kc4 Kb6 42.Be8!
My bad bishop actually seems to dominate the knight, which is short of squares thx to my spatial advantage.

42...Ne7 43.Bf7 Ka6
now i either have to let the knight out of his cage or give up the nice c4-square for my king. I thought that a knight on f6 would force my K to retreat anyways, so i preferred the former.




44.Kd3 Kb5 45.Ke3 Kb6 46.Kd3 a4
Preparing a3, after which i have to make sure his knight doesn't reach a4, which would be devastating even if my king was as close as d3. I could take the pawn and defend it with Be8, but this gives me no winning chances and might lead to my pieces caught in a tangle.

47.Kc4 Ka5 48.Kd3 a3 49.Be6
I could have stayed on f7 as long as i play Be8 against Nb6, but i prefered not to give him any threats. I also had seen that he couldn't activate his knight.

49...Ng6 This is unnecessarily risky and almost loses. He should really go Kb5 first.



50.h5 Ne7 ....Nf8 loses: 51. Kc4 g6 (...h6 52. Bf5) 52. h6 g5 53. Bf5.

51.Kc4 h6 52.g4 Unfortunately there's no way to lose a tempo with the bishop without letting the knight out.

52...g5 he sees the last trap: ...g6 53. g5! winning.

53.Kd3 Quite a cute final position. ½–½