2013-05-27

WAITING...

My editor is busy, working on another project. The present goal is to publish the book in time for the Swedish Championship in July.
It means that I can still change things. And at every training session I hold or every game I see, I think about what I have written. Every day I change something.

I am not a good waiter, but I am glad that the book has been delayed. I wouldn't have liked to see it published without those changes. But at the same time, it's really unproductive to be perfectionist. If so, the book would never be finished.
It is the same in chess. From time to time, you have to make moves without having checked everything.

Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament, the strongest tournament in Sweden, is currently played in Malmö. The organization is splendid as always, and I guess few tournaments beat the atmosphere in the commentary room, with Stellan Brynell and legendary Ulf Andersson as commentators. But you have to understand Swedish...

In the fifth round Nils Grandelius was an exchange up against Emanuel Berg, but unnecessarily allowed counterplay, leading to a pawn race. So what did he do? Certainly not "calculating backwards", thinking of what he should have played. But he did also not calculate forward!

Grandelius knew that he had to push the pawns, so why thinking too much if it won or not? 39.e5    This is the best pawn, since the rook can stand behind on e1. A rook on d1 can be disturbed by ...c2. 39...Ka3 40.e6 Kxa2 41.Re1 b3 42.Rxb6    Still, Grandelius didn't calculate much, only saw that he will queen first and have some checks. 42...Rxb6 43.e7 Rb8 44.d5 b2 45.d6 c3 46.d7 c2

A beautiful position! It actually reminds of a game I played a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, it was my opponent's move and I lost. White started with 51.b8Q, and after 51...h1Q he started checking. 47.d8Q b1Q 48.Qxa5+ Kb2 49.Qe5+ Ka2 50.e8Q Qb3+ 50...Rxe8 51.Qxe8 c1Q 52.Qa4+ Kb2 53.Qb4+ Ka2 54.Qxb1+ Qxb1 55.Rxb1 Kxb1 gives a winning pawn ending for White. 51.Kg2 Qb7+ 52.Kh2 Rxe8 53.Qa1+ Kb3 54.Rb1+

If I were Black, I would have taken the rook before resigning, promoting to a queen for the fourth time in the game. 1–0 I show this example mostly because it's beautiful, but it also says something. To play well, you have to allow yourself to lose control. It's not only to avoid the continuous threat of time trouble, but also to make us of the intuition work.    But before losing control, you have to get control! That is what the book is about. (In the end, Grandelius shared first place with 4½/7 - final standings.)