Chess Weekly

Every day 15-20 spectators visited the tournament hall. If one decides to calculate the percentage of the town's population, then that will make an unusually large figure. Fans watched the games on monitors installed near every board; all the games were relayed over the Internet.
The tournament obtained XIIth category, when the average rating of participants reached a solid mark of 2547. Me and Alexander Beliavsky were considered to be favorites before the start. Really, the closest competitors were finally left behind by two points. Each one of us, however, could obtain a half point more at the least.
I expected the Greek player Stelios Halkias to display a good performance. He is young and he works on chess vigorously. Being the sole player who obtained his deserved point in games against me and Beliavsky, Stelios however scored only 50 per cent points in other games. The young talented players Lenic and Borisek know a lot but they become confused when encountering some unusual problems. Unlike the Soviet chess school's alumni, they lack some firm grip, some persistence. One more talented young player, Nikola Sedlak, really plays at the grandmasters level. He resembles young Anand by making moves at a machine-gun speed, by forcing his opponents into a time trouble - but after obtaining a big advantage in real time he usually starts some superficial playing.
The tournament was rather successful for me in some creative aspect; all five games won by me were interesting. For example, in my game against Lenic I demonstrated some new concept of play in one of variations of the Paulsen system. I obtained the decisive advantage there after having made three moves 'backwards' in a row (Bd3-e2, Qf3-f2,Nc3-a2). I beat Borisek in the last round implementing my preparation from the past year. Undoubtedly, my best game there was a game against Sermek.
Beliavsky was especially successful when playing with white pieces. He displayed an apparent lust for win in this tournament and fought to the very end finding the slightest chances. For example, Alexander Genrichovich beat Sermek in the last round, in a deadly drawn rook endgame. I am not sure about the creative component in his play, but the leader of Slovenian chess players may be proud of his sporting result.
Despite a couple of lost opportunities, I also did quite well by winning some bright games. I managed to perform at 2700 level there. It is always pleasant to play in a round robin tournament!