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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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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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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Me, Anders Rundgren and Bent Hestad are now in Serbia playing an international tournament. The tournament is in Obrenovac, a town 30km outside of Belgrade.

In the first round, I faced a very tough opponent. FM Ivan Martic played the King’s Indian defence against me, and was able to get a decisive advantage in the early middle game. Today I will meet an unrated player, so it’s hard to know how difficult it will be.

Bent struggled against a 2100-player, but certainly had drawing chances. Unfortunately he didn’t find the right moves in the rook endgame. Anders played very well, also against a 2100-player, and won!! Today he faces a strong IM

Our Serbian friend GM Mihajlo Stojanovic is also playing in the tournament, but he spends a lot of time to help us feel at home and to improve our chess. He’s a fantastic person and a great chess teacher! So far we’ve had a great time down here, and believe that our chess will improve a lot.

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The tournament ended well for me, as I was able to snatch a full point on the final day. This put me on 50% with 4.5 of 9 points, and a nice 35th place. Doesn’t sound too impressive, but my performance was well above expected. The norwegian rating performance was 1881 (+172), and the international was 2021. I already have a provisional international rating of somewhere around 1800, so including this tournament I should get my first official international rating of somewhere around 1900 on the next FIDE list.

My friend and clubmate Anders Rundgren had a disappointing final day, but anyway ended up on a respectable 3 out of 9 points. His norwegian rating performance was 1573 (+143), so nothing to complain about!

Unfortunately I caught a heavy cold on wednesday, meaning that I’ve not been able to do anything useful the last few days. Hopefully I’ll be fit for fight again soon. Luckily I didn’t catch the cold during the tournament…

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I should probably have mentioned this before, but I’m actually playing in a tournament in Oslo now. Maybe I wanted to keep it a secret in case I played badly? Luckily I will never find out, since my performance has been above all expectations! My score is 3.5 out of 7, with 2 rounds to go, giving me an international rating performance of 2032 and a national rating performance of 1910.

I’m not sure what to say about the quality of my games. It seems that I often get very good positions out of the opening, but then struggle to make anything of the advantage in the middlegame. Actually in one of the games I lost and in two of my draws, I would say I had an almost winning advantage but failed to make any use of it. This indicates that opening play is one of my strengths, and that I should work harder on the middlegame phase and how to convert to an advantageous endgame.

The tournament is in memory of norwegian IM Svein Johannesen, who passed away earlier this year. The organizers have done a fantastic job so far, it has been a pleasure to participate!
I’ll try to write more about the tournament after today’s rounds. In the mean time, check the tournament blog.

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TSF arranged the rapid chess tournament Gamle Bybro 2008 yesterday, with 6 rounds of 30 minutes per player. My previous rapid tournament was a great success, where I won with 6 of 6 points. Because of this, I felt some pressure to perform well in yesterday’s tournament. But, the day before the tournament, Daniel Kovachev from OSS had signed up. He’s a 2250-player, especially strong in blitz and rapid chess. In addition, I went to a party saturday and drank quite a few beer.

Despite this, I played pretty decent chess and had 3.5 points after 4 rounds. In the fifth round I was paired against Kovachev with the white pieces. We played a classic Nimzo-Indian with 4. Qc2 0-0. As is usually the case for me in the Nimzo-Indian, I had no idea what I was doing. Still, I managed to survive all the way to an endgame where I should have held the draw. Unfortunately I’m far from a 2250-player in endgames, especially when low on time. 0-1 …

In the last round a relatively quick draw was agreed between me and Pål Andreas Hansen. I had the black pieces and was too tired to play for a win (although this could have given me the second place). So I ended up in third place, not a bad result at all!

My rating is now at 1709, which means it has increased 350 points in 1.5 year. Assuming my rating increase is linear, I should be 2000+ by the end of 2009

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