Chess Pundit

G&d d*mn it! Agh! There is a 14/15 year old at my club. In June 04 after his first event he was 980. Now, he is over 2100. In under 18 months…de la Meza eat your heart out. Anyway, I’m now 3-5 against him. The first time I played him he was about 1800 and I was about 1650. He won in the first encounter, but I won the next 3 between January and April when he was about 1900. Now, I’ve lost the last 4. He’s now 250 points higher than me. Here I had a better position than him, but let my position crumble. He knows I play the King’s Gambit and we played the French last time. He’s been getting lessons by a grandmaster, so his opening knowledge outshines mine by far. All that withstanding, he's a great kid, never showboats, isn't cocky and I enjoy our encounters.

White: Christopher (1860)
Black: The teenager (2104)
Opening: Robatch Defense.

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. h3 a6 5. a4 (prevents b5) b6 6. Be3 c5 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. Bc4 e6 At this point I think I have the better position. 9. d5!? Na5 I missed this tempo on my bishop. I consider castling or Qd2. I was trying to take advantage of the king’s knight not being developed.



10. Qd3 e5 11. Nd2 f5 12. f3 f4 Unfortunately, if I had been castled, I could have responded with f4 instead of the more passive f3. 13. Bf2 Nf6 14. Rb1 O-O 15. b4 Nxc4 16. Nxc4 g5 17. Kd2 Ne8 I thought about castling as well here but felt the kingside could open up quickly with a bishop sac. Ke2 aligned my queen and king on light square so I avoided that.18. bxc5 bxc5 19. Rb6 h5 20. Rhb1 g4 21. hxg4 hxg4



22. Rbh1 g3 23. Be1 Rf6 My bishop is misplaced, but I can bring it over to a5. 24. Kc1 Bd7 25. Ne2 Bxa4 I sacrificed the pawn for the position of the bishop. 26. Ba5 Qc8 27. Nc3 Bd7 28. Kd2 Bf8 29. Qf1 Nc7 30. Nxe5 Nb5 The time control is 30 moves in 90 minutes, and he must have hit the (digital) clock with 0.00 seconds left, because it was at 1:00 even. So close. 31. Nxd7 Qxd7 32. Nxb5 axb5 Here I achieved my best position. I am up a pawn, but obviously not won.



33. Rxb5 Rf7 In hindsight I should have taken with the queen, but I had visions of playing Qb1 and then putting pressure up the b file. 34. Bc3 Rh7 35. Rb1 Bg7 I was worried about Rxh7 Qxh7 with Qh2 to follow. However, the bark may have been worse than the bite. My queen is tied up on f1, but so is the black queen. 36. Qc4 Rxh1 37. Rxh1 Ra4 38. Qb3 Bxc3 39. Qxc3 Rd4 40. Kc1 (forced or Qb5+) Qa7 41. Qb2 Kg7 42. Rh4 Qa6 The better move was Rd1, but it was late, I was tired and missed Qa6. 43. Rh1 Kg6 44. c3 Ra4 This just hasted the end. Re1 in post game analysis is really no better. I had been hoping to play e5 at some point, but it was too late. 45. Kb1 Qd3 46. Kc1 Rc4 47. Qd2 Rxc3 48. Kd1 Qb1 49. Ke2 I almost think I can get out of everything, but nope.... Qb5 50. Ke1 Re3 51. Kd1 Qb3 52. Qc2 Rd3 53. Kc1 Rc3 54. e5 Qxc2# 0-1

Wait 'till next month!

For pgn loading:
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. h3 a6 5. a4 b6 6. Be3 c5 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. Bc4 e6 9. d5 Na5 10. Qd3 e5 11. Nd2 f5 12. f3 f4 13. Bf2 Nf6 14. Rb1 O-O 15. b4 Nxc4 16. Nxc4 g5 17. Kd2 Ne8 18. bxc5 bxc5 19. Rb6 h5 20. Rhb1 g4 21. hxg4 hxg4 22. Rbh1 g3 23. Be1 Rf6 24. Kc1 Bd7 25. Ne2 Bxa4 26. Ba5 Qc8 27. Nc3 Bd7 28. Kd2 Bf8 29. Qf1 Nc7 30. Nxe5 Nb5 31. Nxd7 Qxd7 32. Nxb5 axb5 33. Rxb5 Rf7 34. Bc3 Rh7 35. Rb1 Bg7 36. Qc4 Rxh1 37. Rxh1 Ra4 38. Qb3 Bxc3 39. Qxc3 Rd4 40. Kc1 Qa7 41. Qb2 Kg7 42. Rh4 Qa6 43. Rh1 Kg6 44. c3 Ra4 45. Kb1 Qd3 46. Kc1 Rc4 47. Qd2 Rxc3 48. Kd1 Qb1 49. Ke2 Qb5 50. Ke1 Re3 51. Kd1 Qb3 52. Qc2 Rd3 53. Kc1 Rc3 54. e5 Qxc2#

I played my 100th game in the US since I started playing again.

White: Gary (1660)
Black: Chris (1843)

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 Bf5 4. e3 e6 5. h3 Be7 6. g4 Bg6 7. Ne5 c6 A large deviation could have been played here to uncertain results. Sometime in a situation like this, white can play 8. h4 forcing black to play h6 and white can play Bd3 attacking the weak g6 pawn. My bishop on e7 proves very useful. 8. h4 Nbd7 9. h5 Be4 10. f3 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Nxg4 12. fxe4 Bh4+ 13. Ke2 Nf2 and the fork gets the rook.

Whether or not he saw that far, he took immediately. 8. Nxg6 hxg6 Now I have a nice open file attacking a weak pawn. 9. c3 Qb6 There really isn't a good move for white. Probably Nbd2 or Be2 would have been the best, but there is no way to hold onto all the pawns. Not only does Nxg4 look good, Ne4 followed by Bh4 is promising as well.

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10. Qb3 Nxg4 If 10. Qe2 Nxg4 anyway and the rook on a1 will fall. 11. Be2 Nf6 12. Nd2 Qxb3 Normally in a Queen standoff on b3 & b6 like this, it is best to be taken, because the open file is valuable. I decided it was okay as I had the open h-file as well as the additional pawn and I would prefer to get the queen's off the board. 13. axb3 Nbd7 14. Nf3 e4 15. Ne5 Bh4 I also looked at 15....g5 16. Bh2 Rxh3 16. Rh2 g5 17. Nxf7 Kxf7 18. Bc7 Ndf6 19. Bd3 Nxf2 20. Rxf2 Bxf2+ I had been planning to play g4 and then Ng5, but in my calculation I forgot that the knight would be pinned by the pinned rook. 21. Kxf2 Rxh3 22. Rg1 g4 23. Be5 Rah8 Although I am "ahead", I am wary of the bishop pair. 24. Bf1 g3+ 25. Kf3 g2+ 26. Kxg2 Rxe3 27. Kf2 Re4 28. Kf3 Re1 29. Bd6 Ne4 30. Be5 Rxf1+ 31. Rxf1 Nd2+ 32. Ke2+ Nxf133. Kxf1 Rh1+ 34. Ke2 Rb1 0-1




1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 Bf5 4. e3 e6 5. h3 Be7 6. g4 Bg6 7. Ne5 c6 8. Nxg6 hxg6 9. c3 Qb6 10. Qb3 Nxg4 11. Be2 Nf6 12. Nd2 Qxb3 13. axb3 Nbd7 14. Nf3 e4 15. Ne5 Bh4 16. Rh2 g5 17. Nxf7 Kxf7 18. Bc7 Ndf6 19. Bd3 Nxf2 20. Rxf2 Bxf2+ 21. Kxf2 Rxh3 22. Rg1 g4 23. Be5 Rah8 24. Bf1 g3+ 25. Kf3 g2+ 26. Kxg2 Rxe3 27. Kf2 Re4 28. Kf3 Re1 29. Bd6 Ne4 30. Be5 Rxf1+ 31. Rxf1 Nd2+ 32. Ke2+ Nxf133. Kxf1 Rh1+ 34. Ke2 Rb1