GM Turnier Bremen: Runde 3

he third round we didn´t play in the usual playing hall but in the VIP lounge of the Werder Bremen football stadium. When we arrived, there were already some camera crews and journalists present. Unfortunately, they didn´t come because of us, but because of Marco Bode and Zlatko Junuzovic who were playing chess against each other. Did you know that Marco is quite a good chessplayer?

When they had finished their game, both of them came to my board. Marco made the first white move and Zlatko asked me what to play with black. I don’t know exactly how long they stayed afterwards, but it must have been quite a long time. So, we had different playing conditions because the two celebrities gave interviews in the playing area and some reporters reported about this event right in front of our boards. Nevertheless, I was happy about those circumstances because otherwise there would have been hardly any attention to our chess tournament.

On the subject of attention to the tournament I told you about my shooting with Radio Bremen. Yesterday it was broadcasted. You can watch it online on http://www.radiobremen.de/fernsehen/buten_un_binnen/video51334-popup.html.

My game wasn´t very interesting. GM Vlastimil Babula prepared well against me. He decided to play 10.g3 in the main variation of the Kings Indian Defence like in the famous game Kramnik-Grischuk in 2012. During my game I remembered this match. Anyway, it didn´t help me because I didn´t know how to improve blacks play. So I lost without any chances but, in return, learned a lot about this variation.

Tomorrow I´ll play against IM Sven Joachim, who has not been lucky so far.