Thursday, July 29
I went into Zurich as discussed mainly because I had nothing else to do. I did not like just sitting around yesterday waiting for my game. I also noticed that two of my three losses occurred on days where I relaxed and did not do much. The trip went better than expected. First, downtown Zurich was 15 minutes closer than the airport, so the ride was 15 minutes shorter on both sides. Second, I missed that during the middle of the day there was an extra train, meaning that trains left at 32 minutes past the hour and at 7 minutes past the hour. I wandered around downtown Zurich taking pictures and reserved my hotel for Friday night. I got back to the train station in time to take the 11:32 train. I could have taken the next train and still gotten back in time but didn’t think there was much I could do with the time and still make the train. Besides, I’ll be back tomorrow after the last game.
In my game today, I was Black against a higher rated opponent, but I won a clean pawn. I suppose I should have tried harder to win, but I was satisfied with a draw and started trading pieces. My opponent then declined (!) my draw offer and played 40 more moves before realizing that the best he could do was win the one extra pawn back. The grandmaster invitational tournaments ended today. GM Alexander Morozevich had already clinched first place with a round to go. I was pleasantly surprised that he and his opponent (GM Ruslan Ponomariov) did not just have a short draw. The game was drawn anyway, but it was an interesting game. In the woman’s section, WGM[1] Tatiana Kosintseva (RUS) won easily. (Yes the young girl in the pictures.) I told you to never bet against a Russian. Poor Monika Seps went 0-10. The other girls beat her in every game and then made fun of her clothes. Ok, bad joke.This impressive old castle is across the street from the train station.
Tatiana Kosintseva (right) is ready for Iweta Radziewicz who is the only player who can catch her. The game was drawn with Kosintseva better throughout.
Alexander Morozevich (left) goes undefeated in easily defending his title at Biel.
There goes the sun da-da-da-da-da. Ok, it was lame the first time.[1] Woman Grandmaser, a FIDE title some consider of lower strength than an IM title. This is not a sexist remark. Woman can obtain men’s IM and GM titles if they can earn them. But while there exist women who have received men’s grandmaster and international titles, there are many WGM who do not have a men’s title to their credit.
