GM Turnier Bremen: Runde 1
Pushups in front of the camera
I am so exhausted; I just want to go to bed. But I convinced myself to drop some lines for my homepage first. There is a lot to tell… and it’s not all about chess.
Yesterday I arrived in Bremen, where I take part in a grandmaster tournament. Like most of the participants I stay in the Balladins Superior. It´s not the best hotel I ever stayed in, but it´s totally adequate. There is free W-LAN in the whole hotel and the breakfast is quite good. Since these are the two most important things for me, I am completely satisfied.
As I already mentioned, the present day was full of events. It started with a visit of a camera crew at 9.30 am. They were interested in the tournament and had chosen me as the only female participant to report about. They wanted to show how I prepare for a tournament. I told them that, besides analyzing my opponent, it´s very important for me to do some physical training. So they had the gorgeous idea to film me while I jog, do pushups, sit-ups and so on.
The shooting was pretty funny. We went to a special location where I did all the exercises. Because they needed different perspectives, I had to do it again and again. I am rather sure that tomorrow I´ll have sore muscles!
Afterwards, we did all the “normal stuff” like interviewing, filming in front of a chessboard and so on. It took us plenty of time, so I had hardly time for real preparation … not the best conditions for the first round of a grandmaster tournament.
I played with black against FM Dr. Joachim Asendorf (2356). It´s hard to believe, but he is the weakest opponent I have in this tournament. That means that I have the lowest rating of all participants and this on the other hand implies that I have nothing to lose. It´s a new situation for me, but I think it´s much easier to be an outsider than the odds-on favorite.
The game was exciting. We played 79 and in the end I won. Until now I thought it was well-deserved because I was convinced I played good and it was always me who made winning attempts. Buuuut… now, that I have analyzed my game, I am not so sure about this anymore. I was shocked when the computer showed 0.00 in the final position. To be honest, in the game I had some doubts as well. But then I thought it should be won somehow… nevertheless, I was relieved when my opponent resigned and now I am even happier about it. In addition to my happiness I feel pretty stupid, because it was totally unnecessary to sacrifice the exchange to receive this position. Have a look at the final moves:
76...Rxg4?? (76...d5 -+) 77.Rb4 77...Kf3 78. Rxg4 g5 79. Ra4 d5 0:1
Tomorrow I play against GM Gennadij Fish. You can follow my game on http://www.werder.de/de/schach/turniere/live.php.