Round 8 of the Moja Chess Extravaganza 2022 continued with some surprising results with the leader from the bottom half of the table, Alessandro Parodi deservedly holding down the leader at the top of the table to a draw!
Wat is ’tilt’?
When a chess player goes through a phase of game losses due to demotivation, frustration and other negative emotions, we say that the player is ‘on tilt’. CM Keith Khumalo seems to be displaying classic symptoms of this condition as he is performing way below his known strengths and seems to be trying to compensate by playing too fast and trying too hard. Hopefully he shakes it off but for this tournament in particular, he seems out of it.
GM/IM norm section Round 8
GM Nigel Short vs Alessandro Parodi
In a Ruy Lopez Wing attack both players had their chances with GM Short having the early advantage which Alessandro managed to take back.
Parodi, in turn, also failed to convert the still relatively complicated position and after queen exchanges on move 35 it went into rigors mortis.
The players continued to flog the dead horse position, with the occasional involuntary twitches, until an astounding 113 moves were played! No doubt GM Short thought his opponent would inadvertently make a fatal mistake but Parodi was up to the task.
GM Abdelrahman Hesham vs FM Banele Mhango
FM Banele Mhango tried to surprise GM Hesham with the Kazakh variation of the King’s Indian (characterized by that strange knight to a6 development) but the GM had no issue handling the resulting positions and was in control almost the whole game.
Christiaan Acho vs Kela Siame Kaulele
An interesting encounter between Acho and Kela ensued when Kela called on his trusted modern Dragon for the battle but Acho was ready for it. Kela was simply just dominated here and proceeded to lose the encounter.
GM Sahaj Grover vs CM Keith Khumalo
I have never seen FM Keith Khumalo beat like this. This was not an ordinary loss. This was a flogging! GM Grover played like this game was personal. I mean who takes his opponent’s queen, makes 2 queens then proceeds to harass his opponent until checkmate. That’s what happened..
GM Amir Zaibi vs FM Daniel Barrish
GM Amir Zaibi shut down any talks or thoughts of good form from FM Daniel Barrish by taking him to task in a – I don’t know what to call that opening. Barrish was outclassed and the GM showed why he is GM and Barrish is FM in this game. A sad loss for FM Barrish who was starting to make such good progress in the tournament.
Standings
GM Short still leads the group on 6.5 points followed by GM Grover with 5.5 points. FM Barrish rises to shared third spot with the GMs Hesham and Zaibi. Banele, Acho and Kela are now on 3 points apiece and Keith and Alessandro on 1.5 and 0.5 respectively.
We still root for the underdogs with Alessandro Parodi, FM Banele Mhango and CM Keith Khumalo facing grandmaster opposition in the upcoming Round 9.
The Moja Chess Extravaganza is a chess event organized by the Moja Chess Club, under the auspices of Frances Baard Chess, Northern Cape Chess and the Northern Cape Tourism board. Chess players both local and international have been invited to participate in Over-The-Board chess activities to be held at the Mittah Seperepere Convention Centre which is situated in Kimberley, Northern Cape on 18 – 22 March 2022. A GM/IM norm event is also scheduled to run concurrently between 18 – 27 March 2022.
Prizes for the event are:
GM/IM Norm event – PRIZE FUND: R87,000-00
Prestige Section – PRIZE FUND: R28,500-00
Ladies Section – PRIZE FUND: R18,250-00
B Section – U1600 – PRIZE FUND: R8,550-00
C – Section – U1100 – PRIZE FUND: R3,950-00
D – Section – U900 (Born 2011 or later )- PRIZE FUND: R1,750-00
