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Ray Robson gets 4th Place in the 2011 World Junior Championship
My last blog on the World Junior Championship concludes with the last three rounds of the marathon 13-round event. Unfortunately, I became ill during Ray’s round 11 game, and was not able to help Ray at all for Round 12. Luckily, with the help of Gary (Ray’s dad), the organizers, and a participant’s parent (who was a doctor!) I was quickly given medicines and recovered quickly enough to be of some use for his last round prep!
Ray was white in round 11 (his last white!) against Indian GM S P Sethuraman. Black played the somewhat unusual 6…Bd7 against the Rauzer, and immediately Ray used up a lot of time and did not find the best continuation. The game was more or less equal (maybe white was a bit better) and then, as Ray put it, he simply blundered a pawn in time trouble. Ray was able to draw the pawn-down ending with good defense (as I lay in bed with a 102 degree fever… and this is India, so that was celcius!). 33.Kd3 would have been safe, instead Ray played 33.Kf3? allowing 33…Bxc3! winning a pawn. Luckily for Ray, his opponent was also in time trouble, and gave away a clear win on move 40 with 40…Bf8?! instead of the much stronger 40…Kf7! Ray’s dad was in the room with me for some of the game describing the action whilst I winced in pain (was it my illness or 33.Kf3?). But as they got to move 45 and beyond I was convinced Ray could hold. A lucky escape.
Round 12 was the most important game in the tournament for Ray--and also the most tragic. Ray was black in a sharp Sicilian against leader GM Robert Hovhannisyan on board 1. If Ray was to win gold, or any medal, he would need to win. And it looked like winning was in the cards, as a complex tactical struggle brought a bishop ending that was still quite tricky, but likely winning for Ray. This was one of the few games where Ray was outplayed in mutual time trouble. First white erred with 30.Be6? (30.Bf7 should draw). Then Ray should have played 30…Kxh4, which is likely winning after the lengthy (not absolutely forced, but you get the idea…) variation Ray provided. But, Ray was still looking good after 30..Bc6, but it was his 32nd move, Ba4+? That cost the win (32…Bd7!) and his 33rd move was losing (Still not too late to draw with 33…Bd7). But the bishop ending, with both sides queening, and less than three minutes to get to move 40 means a lot of guessing was involved, and Ray just got unlucky. A tough loss in the penultimate round.
The last round was tough for Ray, as he had to be thinking about the missed chances in round 12, but he played a sharp Sicilian Dragon and was rewarded with lackluster play by his opponent. Ray equalized easily, and after his opponent missed the powerful 26...Qd8! the win was within reach. Ray finished with an excellent 9-4 score, and gained a few rating points, pushing him to his highest ever, almost 2585 FIDE after this event.
My long trip is almost over, as I write this at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning from my hotel room in Chennai, India. I left Saint Louis over a month ago, July 8, driving to Detroit to drop off my daughter, then off to Toronto, Canada for a blindfold simultaneous exhibition and to watch the first two rounds of the 2011 Canadian Open. I drove back to Detroit July 11, met Tony Rich at the airport July 12, and we were off to China, arriving July 13 after a 14.5 hour flight! After two weeks in China, India was the next stop, and after 17 days in Chennai, I am flying back to Detroit, on a 24 hour trek (3 flights, 19 hours total, and 5 hours of waiting in airports between flights in Mumbai and Amsterdam). Thursday, I will drive back to Saint Louis (why fly 19 hours if you’re not going to drive another 8!), and then move into my new place, as we bid adieu to Jon Strand and his lovely NEW wife Julia, as they move on to new adventures in Minnesota.
See you all at the chess club Friday!
