Время публикации: 17.04.2015 02:33 | Последнее обновление: 17.04.2015 06:24

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Opens

An open is a tournament which is attended by a large number, thirty up to a thousand, chess players of varying levels - from amateurs to grandmasters. Sponsors and contributions from players who pay an entry fee cover the prizes and organisation costs (tournament hall rental, payment of arbiters, etc.).

Chess has its own aristocracy, the elite playing in super tournaments and matches for the world chess crown. Those are widely covered in the media and the Internet. The names of legendary champions are known even to people remotely familiar with the ancient game - Kasparov, Karpov, Fischer, Capablanca, Carlsen ... Books are written about them, films and TV shows made.. The number of elite players is small – the 20-30 top players on the rating list of the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

But this is only the tip of the iceberg. According to various estimates, chess is played by between 100 and 600 million people. Professionals and semi-professionals make up from two to ten thousand of them. Opens are their bread and butter, as up to 95 percent of all chess competitions are open tournaments. A huge number of professional open tournaments with prize pools ranging from 5 to 200 thousand dollars are held throughout the world. They are attended by about one million people. This is the chess underground, with its unspoken rules, heroes, tragedies, dreams, virtually unknown to the public and the media.

I want to give you an example of life in a tournament, sharing my own thoughts and observations.





January 1

The night bus from Melbourne to Sydney slowly moved along the narrow road. In the middle of the coach without much comfort, I settled down with GM Rustam Khusnutdinov from Karaganda. My friend had a headache – he had celebrated New Year's Eve, and now felt lousy. I was also suffering, but in my own way – the girl behind me began to grumble as soon as I tried to lower the backrest. We had twelve hours to spend on the road.

The decision to go by bus was dictated by austerity – it saved us paying for a night at a hotel. In Sydney, this could mean an expensive 150 dollars for two. The night journey wasn’t the most comfy by any means; we were trying to sleep, but succeeded only on rare occasions. Rus connected to Wi - Fi and watched the Premier League, where my beloved Man Utd failed to reduce my discomfort and rather added to it. The best moment of the journey was a stop at an all-night cafe, where we indulged ourselves shamelessly. Big, bad, tasty portions of greasy french fries with ketchup compensated for the roughness of the road.

And about the weather.... Observation 1 - Buses. I often travel long distances by bus. I did Warsaw to Paris in 1995 in two nights. The bus offers minimum comfort, but is the cheapest and most interesting form of travel. Low speed and frequent stops along the way give the most complete picture of the travelled terrain. The bus ensures chess players who aren’t top-level don’t forget about their social status in the modern world.



January 2

We arrived in the Australian megapolis at eight in the morning. Two young organisers of Chinese origin met us at the bus stop and we were immediately taken to the venue, not to the hotel as we had hoped. On the way, we stopped at a shopping mall, where they bought a camcorder. We then duly dumped our stuff in the tournament hall and waited several hours for the start of the first round. There was no rest after the long overnight trip - we got to the hotel only in the evening ...



Australian Open. Sydney, 2-11 January 2015

The largest Open in the southern hemisphere had just 106 participants - a living hell for the organisers. They expected a much larger number of amateur players, those who pay an entry fees to play, for now they were sure to be at financial loss. To top it all, the sponsor didn’t carry out its agreement, providing only one free room, not five as promised. It happens here in the Wild West - yes, indeed, everywhere.

The two tournament directors were about 21-22 years old. They were good people – they undertook a risky business, but here, in Sydney 2015 they were obviously down on their luck - they finished the tournament in the red. To reduce their costs, they had to recoup money as they could. The prize fund was reduced by a quarter, the first prize dropped from 8000 to 6000 Australian dollars, the second prize from 4000 to 2900, and so on. Frankly speaking, I was beyond caring. I just wanted to finish my month-long marathon, which had begun December 12 – the Sydney Open was already my fourth tournament in a row. I was only confused that I had to play 11 rounds instead of the planned 9. However, I heard about the opportunity to take a half-point bye on one of the days and almost immediately decided to miss the ninth round.

The competition was of typical composition - the rating favorite was the wonderfully-named Ni Hua of China [for those who speak Russian there is definitely a play on words bordering “no...penis” (to stay polite)], I was seeded second, followed by a local Chinese player, then another five GMs and a dozen masters. You can and should fight for money, but the main thing is to test yourself again and again.



Round 1 - Victor Bragin (Australia, 1925 - ELO rating, rather than the year of birth), black - victory.

(1/1, shared 1-48 places)

Having recently retired, my opponent lost himself in chess-playing, but was clearly still inexperienced, and made ​​a pretty ridiculous mistake from the word go. He fought desperately, but two extra pawns provided me with a comfortable win. I played without due care but it was enough.

At length, we checked in to the hotel, and started looking around, to realise to what extent a hole in the middle of nowhere we found ourselves in. Roads, a deserted industrial area and a few small restaurants is all that will surround us for the next ten days. The supermarket had closed before we could get there so we had dinner in a Chinese restaurant. Our mood was dark and sleepy. And the next day we had another round, so we kept off the booze.

And about the weather.... Observation 2 - Rus (GM Rustam Khusnutdinov). Rus was willing to prepare for his games for a few hours, and his enthusiasm, as well as knowledge, I can only envy. But it is true - he loves chess much more than me. We had shared hotel rooms for a month at this point - and so far we had managed not to drive each other crazy. We’re different, but this isn’t a problem really. Rus consumes an incredible amount of information - chess, football, social networks, Skype, TV shows, music. The Internet is basically his umbilical cord.



January 3. Round 2 - FM Gene Nakauchi (Australia, 2213), white - victory.

(2/2 points, sharing 1-22 places)

Vasya [GM Vasily Papin - CN], who was sharing a room with the Australian GM Darryl Johansen, suggested also sharing Darryl’s car, and luckily for us Darryl was very kind; otherwise there could have been a problem - forty minutes bus rides and waiting under the scorching sun is not a pleasant prospect. Thank you, Darryl!

The game was surprisingly easy, my opponent didn’t know the subtleties of the opening and quickly got into a hopeless position. I thought for a while and found a forced win.

And about the weather.... Observation 3 – Double rounds. Many of my peers hate double-rounds; when you have to play two games a day. But personally I love them, and regret there are so few of them. My favorite tournament in France is a three day event that includes seven rounds. I played there three times and won each time - perhaps by accident. But the fact is, I like to play non-stop. There is no time to get bored or to reflect on life. You play and then play some more. After all, the best entertainement during a tournament is to play chess.



Round 3 - IM Richard Jones (Wales, 2414), black - victory.

(3/3, shared 1-6 places)

We had dinner in the same place, not cheap, but delicious. On a double-round day, almost no-one is on his best form - in the morning the players have not yet woken up, and after in the afternoon they are already tired! However, for me it’s different - I can easily get up early in the morning and sleep less than others - 5-6 hours suits me fine. In the third round, tough fights started, as the leader’s group had tightened. I had forgotten everything in the opening, but my opponent didn’t take his chance when he could have, and the game developed in my favor. Slowly I got the advantage and won after three and a half hours.

We decided to celebrate a Hard Day's Night in a good restaurant. We asked for beer and wine. Vasya was exhausted, Rus and me also were barely alive... Fucking expensive internet in the hotel! We continued to cut costs as much we could, and bought just one modem for both of us. The next morning we went to the liquor store and bought a couple of bottles of an excellent local red wine going for five dollars – just to make sure we’ll have something to wet our lips.

Rus and Vasya were right behind the leaders, with a draw and two wins.

And about the weather.... Observation 4 - Alcohol. Chess players are no different from other people when it comes to alcohol consumption. Even among the top players in an era of athletic teetotalers, many still drink. Among professional players in open tournaments, one can find all sorts - from fans of the bottle to non-drinkers. Some say alcohol helps relieve nervous tension after a game, and thus makes it easier to fall asleep. Some pros, alas, drink too much. I love red wine, a glass or two in the evening, every evening. Vodka and whisky...less. Beer, no.



January 4. Round 4 - FM Kanfell Gregory (Australia, 2331), white - victory.

(4 points out of 4, shared 1-3 places)

In each of the first rounds, I had been very lucky in the opening, even though I hadn’t spent much time on preparation - 30-40 minutes in the morning, max. This time again I had a bit of luck. My opponent was predictable and didn’t pose serious problems. With White, I soon achieved a big advantage, though not the type that is easy to convert. A surprisingly good start: 4 out of 4.

That evening we had cheese and pita-bread with red wine.

Chess during the day. Lunch, dinner, Internet. That’s how we live. Very simple.

Good night!

Tomorrow also is a double round. No sex! Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. And try not to think of anything.

And about the weather.... Observation 5 - Sex. It's safe to say that open tournaments aren’t compatible with sex. Most of participants in such events can’t financially afford to bring their wives or girlfriends. So they face a difficult choice – to be unloyal or to masturbate. However, the unmarried have a similar problem – lack of time, energy and money, difficulties in verbal communication, obsession with results strongly reduce their chances of a happy acquaintance. If in Russia, and former Soviet countries, a chessplayer is quite respected as a person and women still follow basic instincts, in Western countries the situation is much more complicated. Any professional will confirm this. Of course, chess has its own Don Juans, but they hardly play any opens. OK, prostitutes exist, but there are some drawbacks as well. Almost forgot about the best solution - sex should be forgotten altogether.



January 5th. Round 5 - GM Ni Hua (China, 2689), black - defeat.

(4 points out of 5, sharing 4-13 places)



In the morning, I faced my old Chinese friend. Without a doubt, he was favorite to win, but our previous games had been double-edged - in 2010 in Guangzhou I beat him in a rapid, but lost in Macau in 2007. Playing Black, I managed to surprise my opponent in the opening, he spent a lot of time, and at some point I had forty minutes more on the clock. But Ni Hua came up with a devious plan and the position became dangerous. The tension increased, White seized the initiative. Then it was necessary to think hard in order to try to solve my problems, but I fell into a trap. I put up as much resistance as I could, but all in vain… Ni is a member of Chinese team – who won the World Chess Olympiad last year. He did not leave me any second chances.



At that point nobody could imagine Ni Hua would finally get 10.5 points out of the 11 possible and win the event leaving his pursuers well behind.

And about the weather.... Observation 6 – Chinese players in world chess. Some twenty years ago, the Chinese team was nowhere near contending as a world leader on the chess scene. Even our modest Kazakh team was rated above them. But times have changed quite rapidly. Already in 2005, China began to play a leading role in Asian chess and compete for the highest awards in team tournaments. Their first player to break the 2700 Elo-rating mark was Wang Yue in 2007, followed by Wang Hao and others, and today's young Ding Liren and Yu Yangyi are knocking on the door of the 2750 elite club. No wonder - China simply took chess up seriously. This year's world women's champion Hou Yifan has for the first time in 26 years pushed Judit Polgar out of her dominating role on the women's rating list. Anticipating this, the legendary Hungarian chess player hurried to announce the completion of her excellent sports career. In any open tournament of the world one can meet young Chinese players, and they will always be dangerous competitors.



Round 6 - GM Khusnutdinov Rustam (Kazakhstan, 2476), white - draw.

(4.5 points out of 6, sharing 4-15 places)

I dined with Rus and waited for the pairing, which brought us closer together still. I had White and on the seventh move entered a variation where Rus knew all the details. An intense struggle ensued. I stood worse, but defended myself, secretly hoping for a counterattack, and after three hours of play I was very close to failure. Under time pressure, however, Rus loosened his grip, began to make mistakes, and I almost won. Draw - not a bad result, considering the course of the game.

The second double round day had seriously blew my standing. I was now stuck in a group running behind the leaders. The quality of my play was not very encouraging, but the weekend was approaching and I would be able to relax a little...



January 6

The free day presented the long-awaited escape to the city center. The hotel was a 45 minute underground journey from the beauty of the ocean that ran through the famous Harbour Bridge. I was happy to be reincarnated as a child, a carefree tourist walking around in circles, Sydney Opera House, the Bay, the beach, boat trips, souvenir shops and merciless photographing. Rus even met a fellow countryman named Serik. Karagandas encounter in Australia!

And about the weather.... Observation 7 - Rest days. Organizers do not always spoil the participants with holidays. And not all the players like these days off during the tournament. In my opinion, at the Youth World Championships they are needed - sometimes kids need to be kids. And here also young eyes get a chance to see a new country. It's a little more complicated with adults. If the city is large and beautiful, it is a big plus; if it’s a remote isolated backwater job, best not distract the players. There’s always the possibility to go half way - to hold a blitz tournament, for example, and let everyone choose for himself.



7th January. Round 7 - FM Christopher Wallis (Australia, 2348), black - draw.

(5 points out of 7, sharing 5-18 places)

My young, educated opponent spent the entire tournament on the rise and deservedly fulfilled the International Master norm. I knew that to win by conventional means will not be easy, but I decided to take no risks and play classical chess. Unfortunately, the opening didn’t go as well as planned. Christopher avoided my preparation and seized the initiative. Trying to keep some winning chances, I took a risk, and a terrible struggle ensued. He pressed, I defended. At some point, the Australian made ​​a mistake, lost control for just a moment, and I equalised. But then he pulled himself together and found several best moves in a row. We passed the first time control and found that no one could claim victory. Draw.

I had been sucked into the tournament swamp. My luck in the openings had disappeared with the first defeat, and less infamous rivals weren’t inferior in any of the aspect of the game. Moreover – they were showing superior opening preparation, accuracy and speed. I had to grin, bear with it and wait for better times to come.

For lunch, we had discovered a wonderful Thai restaurant. Excellent cuisine and reasonable prices. However, for dinner that evening, the Indian restaurant turned out to be a disaster. I was saved by the cheese and red wine awaiting in my room. Debilitating games, monotony and lack of communication with the human race, were getting me depressed. My soul demanded a vacation. I needed a breath of fresh air. And then, out of the blue, an unexpected encounter... And who knows - maybe sex?

And about the weather.... Observation 8 - Vasya (GM Vasily Papin). It was the third week the three of us were in Australia. At the start of the Melbourne Open I had met with Vasily Papin over the board. For some, he’s just a solid GM, but for me, he has been Vasya for ten years already. Though the first time I heard his name as Papín – as a French chess player pronounced it during the Aeroflot open many years ago. Since then, Vasya and the famous French footballer from the early 90s, Jean-Pierre Papín, have always been blood-related in my mind. Vasya is cheerful and smart. An expert on the world. Only recently has he visited Angola, Venezuela, China, India and this wasn’t his first time in Australia either. Always has his camera with him at each tournament, shooting away and making videos. Very sociable guy and as a player, has a very original style.



January 8th. Round 8 - GM Johansen Darryl (Australia, 2404), white - victory.

(6 points out of 8, sharing 3-7 places)

Johansen is the ultimate cool dude – a real hippie. Every morning, he drove our trio to the venue, with an accompanying soundtrack from the unforgettable '70s. It’s a pity I didn’t manage to have a drink with him.

Darryl is a little over fifty. His generation of Grandmasters listen to rock, read clever books and enjoy a strategic game. This is pre-computer era chess. They are great at understanding the position, able to think, but to play move by move is boring and uninteresting to them. Today, Darryl plays tournaments in his spare time, when he isn’t teaching the royal game. It’s common knowledge in the pro circuit that this is a relatively good pairing. I, of course, was aware of it too. At the beginning of the game, Johansen made ​​a mistake and got into a difficult position. But I started to drift and lost my entire advantage. Hating myself, I still continued applying pressure and sought to find even the slightest chance of winning. After four hours of play, my rival blundered – he either got bored or ran out of energy. In an agonizing struggle, I managed to scrape a win by the skin of my teeth. My standing improved significantly.

And about the weather.... Observation 9 - Books and movies. The whole tournament I read the book "Changing", by the famous actress Liv Ullmann. The muse of Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman remains true to herself. Describing her life and work, she is simple, sincere and honest. One night out of boredom I discovered the fabulous cinematographic world of Paolo Pasolini and began to sink rapidly into his wonderful characters. Under no other director have I come to observe actors like in his films; it’s funny to say even their faces are quite unique, an exclusive experience. Mesmerizing.



On 9 January. Round 9 - Draw without playing.

(6.5 points out of 9, sharing 3-9 places)

Everybody played this round, except one GM-tourist-professional from distant Kazakhstan. Strictly speaking, it was not very smart, but you have to pay for your curiosity, and it was the first time I had ever earned half a point before leaving the hotel room.

And about the weather.... Observation 10 - Exception to the rule (happy). My online dating had rapidly evolved. Dasha - 33 years old, a native of Siberia, living in Australia for more than ten years. Married. A daughter of four years of age. She was keen to invite guests to a luxury five-star hotel suite where her family was staying. I called. Alex, her husband, picked up the phone.

- We are waiting for you, come.

- What should I bring?

- We already have wine. Come with a friend.

Dasha had made ​​it clear beforehand that her husband knew everything about our exchanges via the website and telephone. Rus refused to go with me, so I went for a solitary escapade. No war involved though.

- If you stay the night, then sleep on your back - my friend jokingly advised.

- No worries, I’ll remember that - I winked.

Dasha met me in the lobby of the hotel - in real life she was no less beautiful than in her photos on the dating site. I was in luck.

- Come, my daughter is already asleep.

The three of us sat in the bedroom and talked. They were wonderful people: educated, intelligent and sincere. I had opened a door to a new, incredible world.

- The Australians are straightforward and simple. They can be nice to talk to, but speak strongly about things - said Alex, a 45-year-old Muscovite, with twenty years of Australian experience.

I was familiar with this problem of Russian intellectuals abroad - the Western world presents a simplified model of man. It is impossible to speak about the meaning of life, physics, or jazz with an ordinary representative of the Anglo-Saxon world – they simply don’t understand.

Over a bottle of chilled white wine, the evening flowed smoothly into the warm Australian night.

- We've been married for eight years. And since the first month of our marriage we’ve invited a third party into our intamacy, men and women, it depends. No one has ever forced anyone – we let people act according to their own free will. The intrigue remains to the end - Dasha added.

- I'm not into any gay stuff - Alex reassured me just in case. - But this way of life is the only way to keep the family together in the modern world. Loving, we do not limit ourselves to communication with each other and get acquainted with people in order to strengthen our relationship.

We then proceeded to play truth-or-dare with slight nuance in the rules. You have to answer any question sincerely and honestly, or get punished. We were getting more and more sincere.

I have not yet met a chessplayer - said the girl whom I liked more and more with each passing minute. - Therefore, we decided to call you.

- Murtas, I'll help you. Your punishment is to bathe Dasha - Alex decided to play along with me.

We went to the bathroom. From an excess of tenderness, I nearly lost my mind. But it was just a game, and I played along, with a soft washcloth under warm running water. Even her child's awakening didn’t stop the game and was seen as just a minor setback.

Dasha went to calm her daughter. I continued to talk with Lesha. He talked about Moscow, about the old and the new work of Australian life.

- Do not be distracted. If Dasha comes now, we will give her a massage - she wants to continue. After putting her daughter back to bed, Dasha returned naked. She was beaming with happiness and beauty.

- Lie down, beautiful. This is what us guys have been waiting for - her husband commanded.

In the bright light of the bedside lamp, she was just gorgeous. Happiness filled my heart to the very limit...



January 10th. Round 10 - GM Vasily Papin (Russia, 2513), white - draw.

(7 points out of 10, shared 4-9 places)

I woke up the next morning at seven on the couch. My head was spinning a little, and I began to prepare for the game – I had brought my laptop with me. Vasya is a difficult opponent, but still, I needed to win, and prepared seriously. I wanted to stay longer, but had to rush to the metro station. On Saturdays, trains run infrequently. In anticipation, I spent 40 minutes in the unbearably stuffy Sydney subway. I was lucky not to be late for the game.

At the hotel I was met with two pairs of the most inquisitive eyes in the world.

- Well, how was it??? - asked Vasya and Rus in unison.

- Super! - said the proud returnee and I launched into the story of my unexpected adventure. Everyone was excited, lively.

Unusually overwhelmed by the night's emotion, I attacked, but Vasya desperately defended. Papin is a great defender. I lost control of the game, and only narrowly escaped disaster.

- You know, I could not lose today. People would then have told legends about your Australian triumphs - explained the Russian after the game. But I also had no right to lose - to disappoint my new friends would be very annoying.

I was terribly upset. Not to win this position! I blamed myself. But checking the game on the computer showed that I wasn’t winning after all. I was greatly surprised, but soon calmed down.

We had dinner this time in a nice, solid, Chinese restaurant, but no one was cheerful - Rus had lost an important game and the second place lead with it. Soon after, the pairing for the final round was announced.

And about the weather.... Observation 11 - Before the last round. Almost all (with rare exceptions - like here, with Ni Hua) opens are decided in the last round; who wins the prizes thus the money. You can take the jackpot, you can be left with nothing. Therefore, the number one task is to get to the last round with a chance of a prize. Goal number two - play well in the crucial game.

In recent years, more and more strong players have sprung up out of nowhere - due mostly to the Internet, computer chess programs (engines) and a publicly-accessible databases such as ChessBase. Maybe it isn’t that the prizes in open tournaments have become smaller, maybe the competition has just increased many times over. And the stress with it.

The last round is often played in the morning - the organizers save on hotel expenses, and many amateurs hurry home. For the professional the situation is not very pleasant, but his opinion matters little. You will agree that it isn’t very logical to start each game in the afternoon, and then on the most important day - in the morning. Wouldn’t it be better then to play in the morning everyday? I'm not complaining, quite the contrary, I'm an early bird, and in the morning I often play better than many of my rivals. They struggle.



January 11. Round 11 - GM Zhao Zong-Yuan (Australia, 2564), black - victory.

(8 points out of 11, sharing 2-3 places)

I get a message from Dasha - in the evening, she and Alex were inviting Rus and I to come pay a visit.

Alas, this eventuality had to be aborted. That morning, it was not only necessary to quickly prepare for the game, but also to leave the hotel with our luggage - the bus to Melbourne would depart at 19.00.

Zhao Zhong Yuan is the best Australian player and a strong grandmaster. However, recently he has been more busy studying medicine than chess. It increased my chances. It was necessary to win with black – he was ahead of me by half a point.

My opponent plays every opening in the book, so I limited myself to a ten-minute preparation. I had to try to maintain a fresh mindset. I drank a double dose of vitamin C. For courage, and confidence too. Papin also encouraged me:

- Murtas, put on a suit, show everyone that you’re coming to claim a big prize.

For a whole month I had carried around my white suit in a large suitcase, but never put it on - the heat and the Australian habit of dressing in shorts and sandals didn’t permit it.

I took Vasya’s advice and appeared at the scene of the crime dressed for the occasion. The game quickly went according to the best scenario - neither my opponent nor I knew the intricacies of the opening variation. The position was precarious, I strained my mind to the full extent – at some point you could even see smoke steaming out of my ears. Zhao was also sweating blood. For 2.5 hours, a tough balanced fight ensued, but the white suit and the Chinese player's tired look gave me extra strength. I soon obtained a minimal advantage, and my opponent started to slip into time trouble. Then, after a long period in which I could not make the slightest progress, I set the last trap. Finding the right defence wasn’t easy, and with his time running out, Zhao made ​​a mistake, giving me the greater chance of a full point. The game moved into the endgame, the position remained difficult, somewhere I miscalculated, but was lucky – I did not lose my advantage.

The game lasted for more than five hours, the last mistake was my opponent's, his knight was lost, and the game was soon over. The future doctor congratulated me on my victory, and we went off to analyze the game. I was happy.

And about the weather.... Observation 12 - Closing. The closing ceremony at an open tournament is usually quite a routine procedure. The medalists want to quickly get their money and go about their business. The losers leave the playing area before that. Organisers and the like get to talk at this point. The exact same thing happened in Sydney – we were allowed the ritual tradition of never-ending speeches.



Results:

1. GM Ni Hua - 10.5 points, 4800 US dollars

2-3. GM Kazhgaleyev, IM Illingworth - 8 points, 1720 US dollars each

4-12. GM Khusnutdinov, GM Papin, GM Zhao Zong-Yuan, GM Smerdon, IM Lee, IM Cheng et al. - 7.5 points, 280 US dollars each.



The organisers had forgotten about foreigners playing in their tournament, and had prepared cheques drawn out by Australian banks. I managed to avoid any problems with this - it was solved by the main inspirer and organiser of our Australian adventure Leonid Sandler. It was in his home that we had celebrated the New Year 2015 and in a very suitable fashion. A huge thank you to him!

... Once again, the night bus, this time Sydney - Melbourne, slowly moving along the narrow road. And again in the middle of the coach two seats are occupied by Rus and myself. The chessplayers were damn tired, but at least one of them wasn’t feeling it so bad.