Chess Mates 2020
Live Games here
Chessmates is an international team competition. 6 teams consisting of 10 junior players in All-play-all for 3 days. This year teams come from France, Estonia, Ireland + 3 Russian teams.
The travel
Waking up at around 3am, we travelled from Dublin via Paris & Moscow to reach Murmansk at 1am local time (+3h vs GMT). Keeping as far as possible from all other passengers, naturally…
About Irish team After few last minute cancellations – due to Covid 19 travel related concerns – 6 players + 4 parents came to Murmansk. Players are Kavin Venkatesan & Alex Goss (both playing U20), Leon Putar (U18), Lara Putar (U16), Lucy & Diana Buckert (U12). The few missing places will be filled by Russian reinforcements, that organizer will send in.
About Murmansk
A place that most Russians would see as far north… Murmansk is as much northern of Dublin as Dublin is of Seville. Murmansk is known for its beautiful nature, and is top Russian location for observing the Northern lights.
Round 1 - Ireland Vs Murmansk
Our first match was against very strong Murmansk side. With 3 FMs on top 3 boards, they outrated us by an average 300 points. And Russians are usually underrated in junior categories…
After 90 minutes, we were 0:1 down, as our Board 6 Russian sub (outrated by almost 600 points) lost. Lucy looked like winning. Diana & Board 7 sub looked very good, while Alex & Lara were struggling to stay in the game.
Then Alex unfortunately lost to a very strong FM. Our sub Dmitrii surprisingly won against 250 better rated player and got us back in the match. Lara also lost. So it was 1-3 after 2.5 hours of play. Kavin (against a 2400!) & 2 subs lost, 1:6 now.
Lucy finally won, as the opponent in losing position fought to the end. Diana drew. 2.5:6.5. Leon, after being better for 3 hours, got to slightly worse position, with pawn down – but with bishops pair vs knight & bishop. After 4 hours of play, he couldn’t hold it anymore and lost. 2.5:7.5 final score.
Next round we play the French team, who won 9:1 in the morning.
Round 2:
From bad to worse! After playing 2nd seeds in the morning, we get to play 1st seeds in the afternoon. Two 2400s on boards 1&2, and 4 more 2100s on boards 3, 4, 5 & 7 - while we have only Kavin above 1900, and he is playing against 8 years older opponents.
Lucy and Alex were the first to lose. 0:2. Kavin followed soon after, 0:3. Then our sub Vladislav won on B6 to get us off the mark: 1:3. Board 7 & Diana lost, while B8 drew: 1.5:5.5 after 2.5 hours of play. On the positive side, Leon & Lara look much better for a while now – both playing French defence against the French opponents. Unfortunately, opponents turned it around – so Leon lost just as our board 4, and Lara only drew. Final score 2:8.
After day 1, we are among bottom 3 teams – but we did play against the best. Looking at opponents ratings, tomorrow should be easier.
Round 3 : Our Round 3 match vs Estonia looked like we have a chance of achieving something. Yet it didn’t start great, as 2 of our Russian subs lost within an hour. 0:2. Lucy won 2 pawns and opponent resigned. So she got her second win, getting us back in the match. Another Russian sub lost. 1:3. Alex played a great game as black, launching a strong kingside attack leading to unavoidable mate. Opponent resigned. 2:3. After our Vladislav on board 6 equalized after 2 hours of play, it was clear it will be an equal match. 3:3. At this stage Kavin was equal, Leon slightly worse, while Diana & Lara looked much better. Could we win our first match in Round 3? Then Lara found a 3-move tactics to win an exchange and a pawn. Opponent resigned. 4:3 Ireland! We need 1.5 points more to win the match Leon lost to their best rated player, and we were back at the beginning: 4:4. After a long drawish game, Kavin agreed a draw. 4.5:4.5. All up to Diana now. Being much better most of the game, Diana didn’t manage to win in the end… The opponent found an exchange sacrifice leading to perpetual check. Final score 5:5.
Round 4 Match vs Novorossiysk didn’t start great for sure: Lucy, Diana & Kavin lost quickly, Leon looks completely lost after an hour. Dmitrii drew on board 7. 0.5:3.5. Valerii on b7 & Lara look like they might be winning, though. One sub won & one lost, 1.5:4.5. Lara won nicely, winning a piece in a forced combination. After an hour of suffering, Leon lost: 2.5:5.5. Remaining players also lost. 2.5:7.5 Before last round, Lara is team’s top scorer with 2.5/4, followed by Lucy & Vladislav with 2/4.
