Thursday, July 28, 2005
I haven't been playing as much chess recently, mostly because life has gotten in the way and I've been keen on playing games with longer time controls. Here is a recent game. I'm black. I've had good success with playing 1...c6 against the English.
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After 13...Nxa6. I think Black is winning here.
1. c4 c6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 d5 4. e5 Nfd7 5. d4 e6 6. Nf3 Be7 7. c5 b6 8. b4 a5 9. cxb6 Bxb4 10. Bd2 Nxb6 11. a3 Be7 12. Bd3 Ba6 13. Bxa6 Nxa6 14. Na4 Nc4 15. Qc2 O-O 16. h4 c5 17. g4 cxd4 18. Nxd4 Nxe5 19. Qc3 Rc8 20. Qh3 Rc4 21. Be3 Rxa4 22. h5 Nd3+ 23. Kd2 Nac5 24. f4 Nb2 25. Nc6 Qd7 26. Ne5 Ne4+ 27. Ke1 Bb4+ 28. Kf1 Qb5+ 29. Kg1 Rxa3 30. Rxa3 Bxa3 31. g5 Nc4 32. Ng4 Nxe3
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After 13...Nxa6. I think Black is winning here.
1. c4 c6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 d5 4. e5 Nfd7 5. d4 e6 6. Nf3 Be7 7. c5 b6 8. b4 a5 9. cxb6 Bxb4 10. Bd2 Nxb6 11. a3 Be7 12. Bd3 Ba6 13. Bxa6 Nxa6 14. Na4 Nc4 15. Qc2 O-O 16. h4 c5 17. g4 cxd4 18. Nxd4 Nxe5 19. Qc3 Rc8 20. Qh3 Rc4 21. Be3 Rxa4 22. h5 Nd3+ 23. Kd2 Nac5 24. f4 Nb2 25. Nc6 Qd7 26. Ne5 Ne4+ 27. Ke1 Bb4+ 28. Kf1 Qb5+ 29. Kg1 Rxa3 30. Rxa3 Bxa3 31. g5 Nc4 32. Ng4 Nxe3
Monday, July 11, 2005
Continuing mediocrity
I played 3 games on Saturday. The first one I was black, and reached this pawn endgame. Looking back, I'm not sure if I can win this at all (black to move). I played the ugly f5. I was scared about g4, where an eventual g5 creates an outside passed pawn. My king has to go catch it and he wins the d pawn and gobbles up my queenside pawns. The game preceeded 1...f5 2. c5! Ke7 3. Ke3 Kf6 4. Kd4 . I originally thought about going Kg6 and going for his h-pawn but g3, makes the effort take too long and he queens first. Nonetheless, I found eventually myself in zugwang and lost.
The second game was a rather easy game (as white) with the King's Gambit against a 1600 player, which looked like I was playing an 800. The brilliant thing about the King's Gambit is that the games are usually draw free.
My third game, against I was black. It was on the losing side of knight endgame but with under 2 minutes on my clock was able to deliver the surpising checkmate, Ne4-d6#.
I'm still in a bit of a slump. When I sit at the board, I don't have the . This is likely due to my lack of studying. Chess was forced onto the backburner due to other obligations, but I haven't been able to get "back into it." In my last 24 games, I'm 12.5/24 against an opposition of 1691. Little wonder my rating has dropped so. In 3 weeks, there is a big tournament in town and I still plan to play in the open section.
The second game was a rather easy game (as white) with the King's Gambit against a 1600 player, which looked like I was playing an 800. The brilliant thing about the King's Gambit is that the games are usually draw free.
My third game, against I was black. It was on the losing side of knight endgame but with under 2 minutes on my clock was able to deliver the surpising checkmate, Ne4-d6#.
I'm still in a bit of a slump. When I sit at the board, I don't have the . This is likely due to my lack of studying. Chess was forced onto the backburner due to other obligations, but I haven't been able to get "back into it." In my last 24 games, I'm 12.5/24 against an opposition of 1691. Little wonder my rating has dropped so. In 3 weeks, there is a big tournament in town and I still plan to play in the open section.
