Well only one round remains to be played after Wednesday's round 8. So far I am having a solid tournament with 6 out of 8 but I have no chances to win as the leaders have 7 and 3rd place has 6,5 and plays the leader. It's a strange situation but has a little to do with perhaps some players rated around 5-10 not having a good tournament and therefore not playing the top players and taking away points from them. It must be said that on 6 out of 7 the #1 and #2 seed got fairly easy opposition at this stage in the tournament.
For myself, I finally won after 4 draws in a row, and in three of them I was lucky to escape with a draw, putting my undefeated streak in jeopardy. With today's game I have now played 24 games without being defeated in this specific tournament. My last loss was in round 2 in 2009 after I allowed myself to be tricked a piece up. I have to say I am very happy with this streak and I will do everything I can not to break it in the last round which will be a very tough game against talented Gudmundur Gislason 2317, who has underperfomed in this tournament, losing to a 1600 player and to my opponent today. I know however how strong my opponent is and in the last two Icelandic Championships he has been in contention for the title after 7-8 rounds before slipping in the last rounds.
Enough about that. Here is my game from today which was a nice creative effort. I played a rare opening and got a "chess position" as I like to call it and my gameplan worked well, my opponent didn't handle the position well and I managed to demonstrate the strength difference which is never a given!
For myself, I finally won after 4 draws in a row, and in three of them I was lucky to escape with a draw, putting my undefeated streak in jeopardy. With today's game I have now played 24 games without being defeated in this specific tournament. My last loss was in round 2 in 2009 after I allowed myself to be tricked a piece up. I have to say I am very happy with this streak and I will do everything I can not to break it in the last round which will be a very tough game against talented Gudmundur Gislason 2317, who has underperfomed in this tournament, losing to a 1600 player and to my opponent today. I know however how strong my opponent is and in the last two Icelandic Championships he has been in contention for the title after 7-8 rounds before slipping in the last rounds.
Enough about that. Here is my game from today which was a nice creative effort. I played a rare opening and got a "chess position" as I like to call it and my gameplan worked well, my opponent didn't handle the position well and I managed to demonstrate the strength difference which is never a given!
Surprised that you play the Hippo! I hear both disparaging and encouraging things about it. I've played it a few times with OK results but I'm not sure I "believe" in it.
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I know only play it occasionally and only against lower rated players. Don't trust it vs IM+
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