Christian Laverton

Once again I’ve been too lazy when it comes to updating my blog, despite my promises. Rather than write 10-20 posts now, I’ll try to sum up the highlights since last time.

When starting in my new job, I had a very good excuse to buy a car. I ended up spending 190k on a 2006-model Toyota Corolla 1.6 station wagon. I really like the car, and it’s been really nice to drive to work rather than sit on the bus 40 minutes each way.

Knut Brokstad memorial was held quite early this year, 19-20th of September. I played fairly well, finishing 17th with 2.5/5 and a 2030 performance (see results). But I was very disappointed with my last game, against Viktor Hansen. In the position below I would have had a very good position after 13. bxc3 Bxc3+ 14. Ke2, but couldn’t remember the theory (or calculate anything…) and played the silly 13. Ke2??

In this autumn’s club tournament, Pokalturneringen 2009, I played very well. In the end I won 8 games and lost only one, giving me 1st. place half a point ahead of second (see results). Bent Hestad has written a summary of the tournament here, with some very generous comments about my chess “carrieer”.

I have to mention the Premier League season, with Spurs performing really well so far. Of course there have been some painful moments (0-1 against Stoke and Wolves), but loads of good ones (2-1 against Liverpool, 9-1 against Wigan, etc..). Let’s hope they can continue what they’ve started and finally finish in the top 4!
Also I’m hoping Canal Plus wont lose their rights to broadcast Premier League.

This autumn has been very busy when it comes to organising chess activites in Trondheim chess club. First off, I had my share of work with Knut Brokstad Memorial. Second, I spent quite a bit of time arranging the Trondheim qualifier for BNBank blitz at City Lade (shopping center in Trondheim). Finally I spent loads of time on the Norwegian junior championship 2009, held at Adolf Øien school in Trondheim. Of course all these tournaments were in addition to doing all the regular stuff in the chess club, like arranging the autumn tournament. The good thing is that all tournaments were successful, without too many complaints

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Today we tested my brother’s Supervee speedboat. We had quite a few problems getting the engine running properly, but we managed to get a few good runs.

Watch video of Supervee speedboat

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Monday 2 weeks ago, I started in my new job at WapTheWeb (WTW). WTW is a relatively small company, working mainly with mobile solutions. For example they created a system for ordering doctor appointments and prescriptions through SMS, which has become very popular. The work is interesting and diverse, which suits me very well! Also the people working there are very nice, and I already know some of them quite well, as I worked as a consultant for them a year ago.

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As the “champion” of Sør-Trøndelag (this title shouldn’t be taken too serious, since the best players of Sør-Trøndelag didn’t compete for it…) and qualified to play in the master’s class in the norwegian championship, I really had no choice but to sign up for “Landsturneringa i Bergen“. To be honest I had planned to compete anyway.

Being a pessimistic human being, I very quickly started thinking about worst case scenarios. How awful it would be to lose all my games and end up last! Luckily that didn’t happen, although all my opponents were rated 150 points or more above me. I wont bore you with the details, and only mention that I scored 3.5 out of 9 points, with a performance of 1965. This gave me a 35th place of 44. Similar to TSSK NVGP I felt I could have played better, but all in all I played solid.

The trip to Bergen was really nice. One evening I went to the pub “Naboen” together with Hallvar Gisnås. This pub has an amazing selection of beer. One type, which we of course had to try, is “The deadliest ale”. It is dedicated to the Northwestern from the series “Deadliest Catch” on Discovery Channel.

Nice beer, and really strong! 14.5% alcohol. The price, 150kr for a pint!

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After winning Bondeofferet and TSSK NVGP I was suddenly the leader in the “Norske Vandrerhjem Grand Prix” (Norwegian Hostels GP). This meant I had no choice but to sign up for Tarva Chess Festival, to try to gather even more GP-points. You may ask why…well, the prize money is very good.

Tarva Chess Festival (20-21th June) was divided into two tournaments, one blitz and one rapid. In the 18-round blitz tournament I played very good, only losing to FM Kjetil Stokke and Stig Martinsen, both from Bergen. In the rapid tournament I was hoping to give the guys from Bergen a closer fight, but failed badly Thus, I didn’t get the GP-points I needed in the master’s class. However, in class 1 and class 2 I scored well, giving me the maximum score of 120 points in both.

At the end of the NVGP-season my final positions were:
Master: 3rd
Class 1: 2nd
Class 2: 2nd
This gave me prize money of 2000 + 4250 + 2500 = 8750,-
Not bad at all!!!

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The first weekend of May I competed in the student club’s 5 round long chess tournament. This tournament counted as a sort of championship for Sør-Trøndelag, meaning the winner would be qualified to play in the master class (second highest) in the Norwegian championship in Bergen.
Also, my chess friend Thomas Pronstad came to visit and play in the tournament.

Being the fourth highest ranked player, I naturally expected to be in the top part of the standings, but didn’t think too much about winning. However, I got off to a very good start, scoring 3 out of 3 the first day. I won game 1 and 3 fairly comfortable, but was lucky when Lasse Solbu blundered badly in an advantageous position in the second game.

In game 4 I played against Pål Andreas Hansen from Verdal. Being a young talent, becoming stronger every day, it’s fair to say he has passed my level. But still, he seems to have some problems when playing me (he hasn’t beaten me in long chess yet, but he sure will sooner or later…). With the advantage in the middlegame, he started making some mistakes, and soon I had a winning advantage.

Before game 5 the tension was building up inside me. I knew I would win the tournament with a draw in the last game! Here I faced Brede Hagen, with the black pieces. Again my opponent had the better position in the middlegame, but once again I was saved by a blunder! At that point, Brede offered a draw which I quickly accepted, although I could probably play on for the win.

All in all I played alright throughout the tournament, but I must admit I was quite lucky to finish first!
Anyway, that’s chess…

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My best tournament last year was definetely Bondeofferet 2008, a rapid tournament where I scored 6 out of 6! Before this year’s Bondeofferet I was joking that I had to score 6 out of 6 again, but I didn’t really believe I would make it. As it turned out, I came really close! Read on…

The first real challenge came in round 2, when I played Håkon Haugsrud, rated same as me. After a great opening, I messed up and equaled the chances. However, Håkon returned the favour and allowed a few blows resulting in mate. After this, I continued playing relatively solid, and was able to convert advantages in each of the following games. Before the last round I had an impressive 5 out of 5, and the tournament program showed that I was secured first place! Håkon could also get 5 points, but would be behind on quality.
Unfortunately I messed up the last game, and failed to score 100%. But I can’t really complain, winning the tournament!

The crosstable is here

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Since I’m in a bragging mood (see previous post), I want to tell about the computer I bought a few months ago. For many years I’ve been sceptical to buying computers from Dell, HP, Compaq, etc…, and have chosen to assemble all my computers from scratch. But in this case I was talked into buying a Dell Studio XPS, and so far have not regretted it even a little bit!

First of all, the computer is very quiet, which is a big plus when you spend a lot of time on it. Second, with the new Intel i7-core processor and 6 Gb RAM it really has all the power I need for my work. It’s not the best gaming-computer, as the graphics card is very cheap, but I don’t really do a lot of gaming anymore. For heavy multi-tasking it’s great!

Also, the 23″ widescreen LCD is great!

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Just now I set a new personal best in the 5-minute pool on ICC. So, why not brag a little about it I achieved my new rating of 2125 after beating two IMs in a row. The first win was well deserved, the second a little lucky.  2000-2100 in the 5-minute pool on ICC is quite respectable. At this level, quite a lot of the players are titled players.

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Thursday we went to see the FA youth cup quarterfinal. Tottenham played Arsenal at home, and it only cost £3 for the ticket, so why not. Youth here means U18, but you would be surprised to see how good the football is. I’d compare it to the lower teams in the Norwegian Tippeliga. That’s why an impressive 19,084 attended the game. Unfortunately Tottenham lost the game 1-3 after being up 1-0.

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