On my way back from a family visit in France, I spent a couple of days in Paris. Mainly for museums, but also for my yearly visit to the “Jardin de Luxembourg”. The “Jardin de Luxembourg” is one of Paris’ many beautiful parks in which a variety of activities take place:
There’s tennis…
…there are some very intense games of boules (great fun to watch!) …
…and there’s chess! Lots of it!
Under all weather conditions, the hard-core 3-minute blitzers gather under the covered area to while away the evening hours. If you’re ever in Paris, don’t miss the chance to spend a few hours there!
I got challenged to a “winner-stays-on” and was still going at the end of proceedings at 8pm. Looking back at it, that was a lot of games (with Black!) No really nice games to show, but just a few to give a taster. If any of my opponents see this and want their names to be immortalised, please get in touch with me!
Jardin du Luxembourg – Matthew Sadler
Blitz 3–3, 22.07.2016
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0–0 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Be2 Nfd7 8.Be3 Nc6 9.0–0 Nb6 10.d5 Bxf3 11.gxf3 Na5 12.Bxb6 axb6 13.Rc1 c5 14.Bd3 b5 15.cxb5 c4 16.Be2 Qb6+ 17.Kh1 Qe3
18.f5 Be5 19.f4 Bxf4 20.Rc2 Be5 21.Rf3 Qh6 22.Qg1 b6 23.Bf1 Nb7 24.Rh3 Qg7 25.Rg2 Nc5
25…Bd4 would have been a cute spot!
26.Be2 Bxc3 27.bxc3 Rxa2 28.fxg6 fxg6 29.Rhg3 Nxe4
30.Rf3 Rxf3 31.Bxf3 Rxg2 32.Qxg2 Nxc3 33.Bg4 Qe5 34.Be6+ Kg7 35.Qf1 Qe4+ 36.Kg1 Ne2+ 37.Kf2 Nf4 38.Kg3 Nxe6
0–1
Jardin du Luxembourg – Matthew Sadler
Blitz 3–3, 22.07.2016
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0–0 Bg7 5.c3 Nf6 6.Re1 0–0 7.h3 d6 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 d5 10.e5 Ne4 11.Nbd2 Bf5 12.Nf1 Qb6 13.Bxc6 bxc6 14.Qe2 c5 15.Be3 c4
16.g4 Be6 17.Rec1 Rab8 18.Rab1 Qa5 19.a3 Rb3 20.N3d2 Nxd2 21.Nxd2 Rd3
22.Nf3 Qb6 23.Ne1 Rb3 24.Kg2 f5 25.f4 fxg4 26.Nc2 gxh3+ 27.Kh2 Bf5 28.Nb4 Be4 29.Ra1 a5 30.Rxc4 axb4 31.Rc5 bxa3 32.bxa3 Rb2 33.Bd2 Qb3
0–1
Jardin du Luxembourg – Matthew Sadler
Blitz 3–3, 22.07.2016
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 0–0 8.f3 Qb6 9.Nf5 Qxb2 10.Bd2 gxf5 11.Rb1 Qa3 12.exf5 d5 13.Bd3 Ne5 14.g4 d4 15.Nb5 Nxd3+ 16.cxd3 Qxd3 17.Rb3 Qc4 18.g5 Nd5 19.f6 exf6 20.gxf6 Bxf6 21.Nd6 Bh4#
0–1