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| | Some of my games on YWC 2008, Haapsalu | 2008-09-06 19:22:31 | First of all I would like to say thanks for the organizers, they made a great job. The quality of all the three tournaments (Youth World Championship, RIF 20 years anniversary celebration tournament, International Advanced Level Gomoku Tournament) were high and the atmosphere was also very good. This tournament, the Youth World Championship was my first really serious event in my life. Before the tournament, my goal was to get into the top 10, but deep in my heart, I wanted to be among the top 5. Let me show some interesting games of mine from YWC.
Already in the first round, I got an opponent, who had good chances in this tournament, Pavel Laube from Czech Republic. I was player number two in this game. Before the game I expected some risky openings because I knew that Pavel likes to put gambling variants. Although he likes unusual openings, he had put me d3. I am confindent in this opening, I decided to play by white stones.
| | I was sure that he will put me this 5, I knew that on this tournament, there will be so many games in this new pattern (5-5, 6-6). I had some preparations about this theory but I couldn’t find black win, neither big advantage, so I was satisfied with my situation. After 19, I began to think deeply, I couldn’t find any good defending move. I would not have like to play 20-22, 20-47, 20-24 therefore I chose some active move, 20-20. After 27, it seemed that black will keep the tempo and begin some attack at the bottom. Considering that I knew that my opponent is rather a defender player, I was not worried. Already after 28, I was expecting my threats on 38 or 36. I was wonder if he lets me make a threat or not. If he would close my opportunities on the top of the board, I would have gained the tempo and start some attack at the bottom. After 35, I began to calm down and prepare the winning attack. I was confident because if I fail on the top, I still can defend his base around 35, so I did not have to worry about losing the game at this moment. My 36 and 38 are the best attacking moves, it seemed that I will win the game soon. After 39 I had a VCT, ending with 3x3 foul but I couldn’t see the direct win. I tried to make another threat, my 40 was not the easiest win, but still win. 44 is a 4x4 threat, he blocked the foul threat, but it was not enough to survive, I won in move 52.
I was relaxed after this game, I was happy that I got my first point, against a player who was supposed to be among the top. In the following rounds I played against Alvar Timmermann and Jan Stradal, I won both games. Already after 3 rounds, it was only me who had the maximum points, but I still haven’t played with estonians, neither with Okabe.
In the fourth round, my opponent was Andry Purk from Estonia. I was player number two in this game. I expected d3 or d11. Finally, he has put d3, I kept white and was looking forward to the continuation. He suggested the same 5th moves as Laube in the first round.
| | The game went on the same way as in the first round, but Andry changed the 11th move. I think that this 11 is weaker than Laube’s. After 19, white’s only move is 20-20. After 27, it was time to make some offensivity, therefore I decided to block sharply. 34 seemed to be enough good in order to secure tempo. After 43, I think that I didn’t play the best moves. I felt in that moment, that white has win. So I had to find the winning combination. I failed. 56 shows that I had to give up the upper part of the board, I was looking forward to continue attacking at the bottom. After 71, I again felt that there is white win. I failed again, but this time the white win was easier. Look the moves, from 72 to 80, I played the correct moves, but 82… I wanted to secure the whole board. 84 is a great move in my opinion, it is the white win, indeed. After his 85, I had a simple VCF but I couldn’t see. I was focused to make an overline, not a 4x4 :-). At this moment, we both had big time trouble so I didn’t want to waste time, I played by my intentions in the left corner. I failed the win again… My last chance to win the game was in the right corner. So I again began to build up my base. The following moves (90, 92, 94, 96, 98) were good moves, white got so close to the final win. The last move is 110, I really liked this move, white got a very nice win. Black can’t move anywhere after 110. It was one of the biggest fight in my life, I really enjoyed this battle, although I missed win too many times. I have to say that I admire Andry’s defending ability, he is able to find the only moves in desperate situations. Great ability!
After 4 rounds, I had 4 points, I was the leader with 0,5 points gap. Aivo and Okabe were behind me, both of them had 3,5 points cause they made a draw in the 4th round. I knew that the following three rounds will be very decisive. It was obvious that I’m gonna play with Okabe and Aivo in the next two rounds.
It just happened exactly, in the 5th round, my opponent was Hiroshi Okabe, one of the best japanese players. I was a bit more afraid of this game than of previous ones. I have never played with him, neither with any player from Asia, and according to his games and results in tournaments, I knew that he is very strong. I was the player number one in this game. My tactic was to secure my leading position, therefore I didn’t want to put any risky opening. On the other hand, I didn’t want to play for draw, I wanted to fight for win, so I haven’t put d11 because in my opinion this opening leads to draw since every theory is well known. Considering this all, the only choice was d3. It was obvious, that he will keep white. I was confident with black stones cause as I saw from Okabe’s games that he is rather a defender player so I could use offensive style and drive the whole game. It was my tactic and it worked as I just planned.
| | It was quite a short game. I have never seen this 10 before, it was a surprise for me. I checked some databases after the game and made some analyses and it proved that my 11 is the best, it was not hard to figure it out. But what about 13? I had to decide which style to use: straight or positional. If I would have chosen straight, I would have play 13-f8 (Hasegawa played it against Kawamura in 2006 and won). I thought it is better to stay calm and wise, therefore I chose positional style and I played 13-13. Moves from 14 to 17 are logical. 18 seems a bit weak but maybe the only choice. Where to play 19? It was a big question because there are several possible moves. I was thinking about 19-21, 19-27. After the game I saw in the database that on the last World Champinoship, Okabe played the same variant against Chingin, but Chingin chose 19-27, and he won quite soon. Finally I decided to play 19-19. After 21, my position seemed good, I had to calm down and prepare some strong continuation. He played surprisingly fast the 22th move, maybe it was the only move. After 24, I was already looking forward to win the game. 25-25 and 27-27 is the winning variant. After my 27, white has no move which could avoid lose. I was very happy about this win, I have already beat 3 favourite players, including Okabe.
After the 5th round, I was thinking that I may have some chances to win this tournament, but if I fail, I still can be in top 3, which result could satisfy me. I knew that my hardest opponent -according to the first 5 rounds will be Aivo.
We played in the next round. The 6th round began late afternoon and I was already very tired. It was a very hard day for me, I had to play with the 3 hardest opponents, Andry, Hiroshi and Aivo. I could beat two of them, the question was if I am able to continue my progress whether not. I knew that if I lose this game, I will be dropped to the 2nd place. I was player number two in our game. I expected d11 cause I knew he likes it more than d3. He put d3, it was a surprise for me. Maybe he had the same tactic against me, as I had against Okabe: to avoid drawish d11 and try to win in d3, as black. I don’t know what happened to me but I made some fatal tactical mistakes, not even in this game, but in the following 2 rounds also. I swapped. I thought that he had some tricky preparations in the variant Laube-Demján, or Purk-Demján with black. I was afraid to let him play 5-k9 and I was sure he would suggest that 5th move. So I thought it’s a good idea to swap. I was wrong.
| | He played another 6th move than Okabe. I wanted to play positional game again but I realized after this match that black lets too many space for white to make a strong attack. As I saw in the database after our game, Aivo had the same game until the 22th move against Sushkov in last World Championship, but Aivo played worse moves in that game so he lost. My 23 was the first mistake. How can I be that stupid to play such a passive move. I was thinking about playing 23-30 but dunno why, I was afraid that if white goes to my 23, I can’t block. I mean 23-30, 24-30 then 25-26 and my position is good. Another possibility for white after 23-30 is 24-24, and then I would have played 25-i7, 26-m9, 27-26 and black is in good position. I was so stupid to play 23-23. My 25, 27, and 29 are also very weak moves :-). I don’t know what happened to me in this game. 31 was the last mistake. I have not seen white’s very nice win after 31-31. If I’d block on the other side, white wouldn’t have win and the game would have gone on. I think if I could have block correctly then the position could turn even into black advantage. This game was my biggest mistake in this tournament, but I have to say that Aivo played very well in this game. Maybe next time I can play normally against him :-).
After 6 rounds, I was the 2nd. Aivo had 5,5 points, I had 5 points and Okabe had 4,5 points. I didn’t want to lose any other game, after the half of the tournament my goal was to get onto the podium, instead of staying in the top 10 :-) (which was my aim before the tournament).
The 6th, 7th, and 8th round was my deep wave in this tournament.
I played with Michal Zajk from Poland in the 7th round, I was player number one. I decided to put d11 because I thought I can give him some theory surprises but I was very wrong. He knew well the theories in d11, and could play on a good way. I was white in this game and the game ended with draw. I played very badly.
In the 8th round, my opponent was Timo Ilu from Estonia. He was supposed to put the opening. I hoped that he will put me d3, but unfortunately he has put d11. I swapped because I wanted to make some attack with black but I failed again. The game ended with draw, I played very badly again.
The last 3 games were tragedic, I had to climb out of the hole and keep my position. After 8 round Aivo had 7,5 points, I had 6 points and Okabe had 5,5 points. I had to win the last 3 games. It was quite sure that my chances to win the tournament are not that high, but I still had good chances to get the silver medal.
My next opponent was Johann Lents, from Estonia. I find him a very clever but very lazy player. So I had to be careful. He was player number one and he has put d3, which I expected. I kept white, he offered 5-j8 and didn’t play the most common 7th, and 15th. After my 24, black has no way to go, after 26 he resigned.
In the next round I had to play with a friend of mine, Ondra Nykl, from Czech Republic. I really didn’t want to play with him since our gomoku game made a bad beat to our friendship :-(. But we had to play. I was player number one which made the situation worse. What opening could I put, which would suit him? I tried to play on the most peaceful way, I chose d3. He kept white and I wanted to play in some different mood that I did before. I just wanted to play, placing stones on the board and let’s see what happens. I wanted to avoid any bad feeling in him so I decided to offer not the best 5th moves, but 5-i8 and 5-i10. We played 5-i8. I won after 19 moves, he made a theory mistake, he played a wrong 14.
In the last round I had to play against my other friend, Artur Tamiola, from Poland. It was very bad that I had to play against my two friends in the last 2 rounds, I really didn’t like it. He was number one, he placed d3.
| | I decided to make some surprises against him so I again swapped in d3! Maybe some of you think that it was a dumb idea, but actually it wasn’t. I was almost sure that he doesn’t know enough theory in d3 so I could have some traps. Theoretically, my tactic was good but practically it wasn’t. I played 5-5 and his 6 showed that he doesn’t know theory, I was right. After his 6, I had to focus to find the good continuation. My 9 seems a new move, other players all played 9-21. I don’t know which is better, but I liked my 9. After 15, it seems very promising for black. He played his 16 very fast, maybe it’s because blitz intentions. I belived that there is win for black. The question is where to play 17? I was thinking about 17-17 and 17-20. I was very very tired after last days’ though fights, I could not focus well so I decided to make a guess about the place of 17. I chosed 17-17 which was a bad decision, because black has a win if plays 17-20. Until 32, the moves are logical but 32??? What happened? He just didn’t see my VCF. I managed to get this lucky win, he resigned after 35. I guess we both were very tired and could not focus to the tournament in the last round.
(I would like to say thanks for Arczi, because he woke me up when I only had 20 minutes on my clock. I just could not wake up in time by myself :-))
Finally, I got the 2nd place. I am glad that I got silver medal, I can say that I am satisfied. I think that I could play better but there was not enough big motivation in me to win this tournament. Probably if I take the whole competition a bit more seriously, my results would be better, who knows…
Attila Demján
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