6 rounds into Hastings...

...and I still have an outside chance of a norm. Three straight wins have propelled me to 4/6 and a clash with GM Milos Pavlovic today.

And tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1899

[Event "Hastings Masters"]
[Site "Hastings"]
[Date "2007.12.31"]
[Round "4.34"]
[White "Raddatz, Michael"]
[Black "Rudd, Jack"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2037"]
[BlackElo "2332"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2007.12.28"]
[SourceDate "2007.12.28"]

1. e4 e5 2. Ne2 Bc5 3. Nbc3 Nc6 4. f4 exf4 5. Nxf4 Nf6 6. Be2 O-O 7. e5 Re8 8.
exf6 Nd4 9. d3 d5 10. Kf1 Nxe2 11. Ncxe2 Qxf6 12. d4 Bd6 13. Kg1 c6 14. c3 g5
15. Nh5 Qg6 16. Neg3 f5 17. Bd2 f4 18. Nf1 Bf5 19. h4 h6 20. hxg5 hxg5 21. Nh2
Bd3 22. Qg4 Re2 23. Nf3 Bf5 24. Qxg5 Qxg5 25. Nxg5 Rxd2 26. Re1 Rxb2 27. Nf6+
Kg7 28. Nh5+ Kg6 29. Ne6 f3 30. gxf3 Rg8 31. Nhf4+ Kf7+ 32. Kf1 Bxe6 33. Nxe6
Bg3 34. Nd8+ Rxd8 35. Rh7+ Kg6 36. Ree7 Rg8 37. Rh3 Kf6 38. Reh7 Rf2+ 39. Kg1
Bh4+ 40. Kh1 Re8 0-1

Hastings 2007/08

After the mild disappointment that was Coulsdon, I'm now at Hastings. Two rounds have been played so far; I lost to GM Farhad Tahirov of Azerbaijan in the first round, and beat an English junior called George Salimbeni in the second. I was winning in the first game and losing in the second, but that's life.

"I'm off to do some Christmas Shopping"

My final game from Coulsdon:

J.Rudd (2332) - B.Lalic (2500), Coulsdon 2007:

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.f3 c6 5.e4 dxe4 6.fxe4 e5 ½-½

This meant I finished on 4½ out of 9, for a loss of 2.7 rating points.

I get ground down by a GM

Colin McNab is one of British chess's most active grandmasters. One of his skills is grinding people down in endgames, as demonstrated here:

C.McNab(2427) - J.Rudd(2332), Coulsdon 2007
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nc3 d6 6.d3 e5 7.a3 Nge7 8.Rb1 a5 9.a3 0-0 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bxe7 Nxe7 12.b4 axb4 13.axb4 b6 14.Nd2 Ra6 15.Qb3 f5 16.Ra1 Rxa1 17.Rxa1 f4 18.bxc5 bxc5 19.Ra7 Nf5 20.Qb8 Nd4 21.Qc7 Qxc7 22.Rxc7 Bg4 23.Bd5+ Kh8 24.f3 Bh3 25.Nde4 Rb8 26.Kf2 Rb7 27.Ra7 Be6 28.Bxe6 Nxe6 29.Nxd6 e4 30.Ndxe4 Bd4+ 31.Kg2 Rc2 32.Ra2 Rc1 33.Ra8+ Kg7 34.Ra7+ Kf8 35.Nd5 Rc2 36.Ra8+ Kg7 37.Ra7+ Kf8 38.Nxf4 Nxf4+ 39.gxf4 Rxe2+ 40.Kg3 Bg1 41.h4 h5 42.Nc3 Rd2 43.Nd5 Bf2+ 44.Kh3 Rxd3 45.Ra2 Bd4 46.Kg3 Rb3 47.Re2 Ra3 48.f5 gxf5 49.Kf4 Kf7 50.Re7+ Kg6 51.Rb7 Ra4 52.Rb6+ Kf7 53.Kxf5 Rxc4 54.Rb7+ Kf8 55.Kg6 Ke8 56.Rb8+ Kd7 57.Nb6+ Kc7 58.Nxc4 Kxb8 59.f4 Bf2 60.Kxh5 Kc7 61.Kg5 Kd7 62.h5 Bd4 63.Ne5+ Ke7 64.h6 Kf8 65.Kg6 Kg8 66.h7+ Kh8 67.Nf7#

There's nothing like a well-played ending

And this game had nothing like a well-played ending. It was very much an end-of-tournament game.

Rudd,J.(2332)-Muter, D.(2212)
1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 d4 3.Nce2 e5 4.Ng3 Be6 5.Nf3 f6 6.b3 Bc5 7.Bc4 Bxc4 8.bxc4 d3 9.0-0 dxc2 10.Qxc2 Nc6 11.Rb1 b6 12.Nf5 Qd7 13.Rd1 g6 14.Ne3 Nge7 15.Nd5 0-0 16.d3 Nd4 17.Nxd4 Bxd4 18.Ba3 c5 19.Bb2 Nc6 20.Qa4 Bxb2 21.Qxc6 Qxc6 22.Ne7+ Kf7 23.Nxc6 Ba3?? {23...Bc3(=)} 24.Rb3 Rfc8 25.Nxe5+ fxe5 26.Rxa3 Rc6 27.Kf1 Ke7 28.Ke2 a5 29.Rb3 Kd7 30.Rdb1 Kc7 31.Rf1 Rf8 32.h4 Rcf6 33.f3 R8f7 34.Rb2 h6 35.Ke3 a4 36.g3 Rh7 37.f4 g5 38.f5?? g4 39.h5 Rd7 40.Rc1 Kb7 41.Rc3 Kc6 42.Ra3 Ra7 43.d4 cxd4+ 44.Kd3 Rf8 45.Rb5 Re8 46.Rd5 Raa8 47.Kc2 Ra7 48.Kb2 Ra5 49.Rxa5 bxa5 50.Rxa4 Ra8 51.Kc2 Kb6 52.Kd2 Kc6 53.Kd3 Kc5 54.f6 Kb6 55.c5+ Kxc5 56.f7 Kb6 57.Kc4 Rxf7 58.Kd5 Kb5 59.Ra3 Rxf7 60.Rb3+ Ka4 61.Kxe5 Rf3 62.Rb6 d3. 63.Rxh6 Kb4 64.Rd6 Kc3 65.h6 Rxg3 66.Kf4 Rg1 67.e5 g3 68.Kf3 d2? {68...g2 69.e6 Rh1 70.Kxg2 Rxh6 71.e7 Rxd6 72.e8Q d2 (=)} 69.e6 g2 70.e7 Re1 71.h7 g1Q 72.h8Q+ Kc4 73.Qc8+ Qc5 74.Qg8+ Kb5 75.Qb3+ Qb4 76.a4+ 1-0

I am hacker. Hear me roar!

Well, I managed to break the run with a win today:

Heinis, V.(2202) - Rudd, J.(2332), Coulsdon 2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 c5 4.e3 d5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Bb5 Bd6 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.0-0 0-0 10.h3 a6 11.Bxc6 bxc6 12.Na4 Ba7 13.b3 Qd6 14.Bb2 Re8 15.Bd4 c5 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.Qd3 Bb7 18.Rfd1 Rad8 19.Rac1 d4 20.Qf5 Be4 21.Qh5 Bg6 22.Qh6 d3 23.Nb2 Qc6 24.Rc4 Bb8 25.Rg4 f5 26.Rc4 Qf6 27.Rd2 Rd5 28.Qh4 Qd6 29.Rf4 Re4 30.Nc4 Qe6 31.g3 Bxf4 32.gxf4 Rxc4 33.bxc4 Rd6 34.Ne5 f6 35.Nxg6 hxg6 36.Qh6 Qxc4 37.Qxg6+ Kf8 38.Qh6+ Ke7 39.Qh7+ Kd8 40.Kh2 Qc1 41.Qg8+ Kc7 42.Qf7+ Rd7 43.Qxf6 Qxd2 44.Qe5+ Kb7 0-1