Chess Pundit

Games with Jude Acers

2011-06-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

I was in New Orleans and played Jude Acers, a local master who has a table set up near the Decatur Cafe. He'll play all comers for $5/game. He's USCF rated at 2359 and FIDE rated at 2241 (USCF rating tend to be 100 points higher). He's finished 3rd at the World Senior Championship in both 2009 and 2010.

I played 2 long games and 4 blitz games. I drew one long game and one blitz game, and lost the rest. Since I started practicing again, I was wondering how I was playing compared to my previous 1951 USCF rating. While its only two games, the loss and draw results in a 2168 performance for the long games, so I was quite happy.

In the first game, he played the Richter-Veresov Attack, and opening I was quite unfamiliar with. I quickly got my rook trapped. I got some active counterplay and a good knight but files got opened and I lost.

With white, he played the Center Counter defense. I didn't keep count of the moves, but I'm quite sure I was able to reconstruct it. At a minimum, all the snapshots are correct actual positions.

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.h3 (to prevent Bg4) a6 6.Nf3 b5 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.0-0 e6 9.Bg5 Nbd7 10.Qe2 Be7 11.Rad1 0-0

In the below position I also contemplated 12. Ne5, but I think I made the right choice

2.Ne4 Nxe4 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Bxe4 Bxe4 15.Qxe4 Nf6 16.Qc6 Qd6 17.Qxd6 cxd6 18.Rfe1 Rfc8 19.c3 a5 20.Rc1 Ra7 21.Rc2 Rac7 22.Rec1 Nd5 23.g3 Nb4 24.Rd2 Nd5 (Nxa2 is bad) 25.Rdc2 Kf8 26.Kf1 a4

27. a3 was the obvious move, but I was worried about a knight on c4 or b3.

27.Ke2 a3 28.bxa3 Ra8 29.c4 bxc4 30.Rxc4 Rxc4 31.Rxc4 Rxa3 32.Ng5 Rxa2+ 33.Kf3 h6 34.Ne4 Ra3+ 35.Ke2 Ke7 36.Rc2 f5 37.Nd2 Nc3+ 38.Kf1 Ra1+ 39.Kg2 Ra2 40.Rxc3 Rxd2 41.Rc7+ Kf6 42.Rc4 d5 43.Ra4 Rc2 44.Ra1 Rc4 45.Rd1 g5 46.f4 g4

I contemplated playing 47. hxg4 hxg4 48. Rxh1, but after 48...Rc2+ 49. Kg1 Rc1+, the rooks come off and I loose.

47.h4 Ke7 48.h5! (keeping the black pawn on the 6th rank becomes vital later) Kd7 49.Kf2 Kc7 50.Re1 Kd6 51.Rd1

In the below position, I expected him to play 52.. Rd2 with the intention of Re4. I thought it was scarier because it was harder to . get to the h6 pawn if e6 is protected. However, 53. Ra1 Kc6 54. Ra8 Re4 55. Rh8 Rxd4 56. Rxh6 Re4 57. Rh8 d4 58. h6 d3 59. Rd8 Re1+ 60. Kg2 Re2+ 61. Kg1 d2 62. h7 Re1+ 63. Kg2, black must settle for perpetual check, because otherwise black will queen. White also cannot move to f1/f2 because of Rh1/2.

Instead, I'll trade the d4 pawn for the e6 and h6 pawns. Then the race begins.

54.Rd1 Kc6 55.Re1 Kb5 56.Rxe6 Kc4 57.Rxh6 Kxd4 58.Re6 Rc7 59.Kf2 Kd3 60.h6 d4 61.Rf6 Rc2+ 62.Kg1 Rc7 63.Rxf5 Kd2 64.Rd5 d3 65.f5 Rh7 66.Rd6 Ke2 67.Re6+ Kd1 68.Rd6 d2 69.Rd8 Ke1 70.Re8+ Kd1 71.Rd8 Rc7!

In the below photo during the actual game, began my longest think. Black plan is now Kf2 and to queen the pawn. Ra8 with the intention of Ra1 fails. 72. Kf2 with the intention of 73. Ke2 fails to Re7+. The right plan is to sac the rook, and use the king to advance the pawns.

72.Kf2 Kc2 73.Ke3 d1=Q 74.Rxd1 Kxd1 75.Kf4 Kd2 76.Kxg4 Ke3 77.Kg5 Ke4 78.Kg6 Ke5 79.f6 Ke6 80.h7 Rc8 81.g4 Ra8 82.g5 Rc8

My calculation had 83.Kg7 Rc7+ 84.f7 Rxf7+ 85.Kg8 Rxh7 86. Kxh7 and I can advance the pawn, but I missed his actual followup.

83.Kg7 Rc7+ 84.f7 Rxf7+ 85.Kg8 Ra7! 86.h8=Q Ra8+ 87.Kh7 Rxh8+ 88.Kxh8 Kf5 1/2-1/2

His intermove, made my king go to h8 instead of being on h7. I also looked a 83. Kh6 Ra8 84. g6 Kxf6 85. g7 Ra1 with mate threats. White can get a knight, and end up drawing, but is more difficult. There was a win after all for white. 83. f7 Rf8 84. Kh6 where 84... Kxf7 leads to 85 g6+ with 86. g7 to follow.

We played the blitz games, then reviewed the above game (why I can remember the moves). We also talked about the current chess world and chess history. He's an interesting character with bravado and strong opinions, but is genuinely nice. Some tidbits:

No one thought Fischer would actually play the World Championship due to his bizzare behavior.
No one would have gotten paid at the 1972 World Championship if 4 games weren't played. Max Euwe came with a cashier's check.
He's a big fan of the St Louis Chess Club and the benefactors (Rex Sinquefield) who have sponsored events and players, like Nakamura.
He also likes a guy named Sev who promotes chess tournaments in Chicago.
He's proud he made Fodor's 2011 for New Orleans

He then took me over to show Paul Morphy's house.

Full PGN

[Site "New Orleans"]
[Date "2011.06.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Chris "]
[Black "Jude Acers"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.h3 a6 6.Nf3 b5 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.0-0 e6 9.Bg5 Nbd7 10.Qe2 Be7 11.Rad1 0-0 12.Ne4 Nxe4 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Bxe4 Bxe4 15.Qxe4 Nf6 16.Qc6 Qd6 17.Qxd6 cxd6 18.Rfe1 Rfc8 19.c3 a5 20.Rc1 Ra7 21.Rc2 Rac7 22.Rec1 Nd5 23.g3 Nb4 24.Rd2 Nd5 25.Rdc2 Kf8 26.Kf1 a4 27.Ke2 a3 28.bxa3 Ra8 29.c4 bxc4 30.Rxc4 Rxc4 31.Rxc4 Rxa3 32.Ng5 Rxa2+ 33.Kf3 h6 34.Ne4 Ra3+ 35.Ke2 Ke7 36.Rc2 f5 37.Nd2 Nc3+ 38.Kf1 Ra1+ 39.Kg2 Ra2 40.Rxc3 Rxd2 41.Rc7+ Kf6 42.Rc4 d5 43.Ra4 Rc2 44.Ra1 Rc4 45.Rd1 g5 46.f4 g4 47.h4 Ke7 48.h5 Kd7 49.Kf2 Kc7 50.Re1
Kd6 51.Rd1 Rc2+ 52.Kg1 Kc6 53.Re1 Kd6 54.Rd1 Kc6 55.Re1 Kb5 56.Rxe6 Kc4 57.Rxh6 Kxd4 58.Re6 Rc7 59.Kf2 Kd3 60.h6 d4 61.Rf6 Rc2+ 62.Kg1 Rc7 63.Rxf5 Kd2 64.Rd5 d3 65.f5 Rh7 66.Rd6 Ke2 67.Re6+ Kd1 68.Rd6 d2 69.Rd8 Ke1 70.Re8+ Kd1 71.Rd8 Rc7 72.Kf2 Kc2 73.Ke3 d1=Q 74.Rxd1 Kxd1 75.Kf4 Kd2 76.Kxg4 Ke3 77.Kg5 Ke4 78.Kg6 Ke5 79.f6 Ke6 80.h7 Rc8 81.g4 Ra8 82.g5 Rc8 83.Kg7 Rc7+ 84.f7 Rxf7+ 85.Kg8 Ra7 86.h8=Q Ra8+ 87.Kh7 Rxh8+ 88.Kxh8 Kf5 1/2-1/2

Pocket Fritz 4 versus Chessmaster 9000

2011-05-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

Back when I was last playing, I always liked the idea of Pocket Fritz, a strong chess game in your pocket. (Standalone chess programs, such as a Saitek Mephisto, have poor screens and playing strength.) I still don't have a smartphone so I bought a vintage 2005 HP Ipaq RX1950 off ebay and bought Pocket Fritz 4, all for the about the same price as one of the handhelds.

My other chess program is Chessmaster 9000 which is run on my laptop. I decided to have the two compete. Chessmaster is purported to be rated 2815 and Pocket Fritz claims a performance of 2938.

Game 1: Fritz, as white, outplays the Chessmaster for the victory.

[Date "2011.5.6"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Pocket Fritz 4"]
[Black "Chessmaster 9000"]
[Time Control "30 seconds per move"]
[Result "1-0"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Nf6 7.Re1 Be7 8.c3
O-O 9.h3 h6 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.Nf1 Bd7 13.Ng3 Na5 14.Bc2 c5 15.b3
Nc6 16.d5 Ne7 17.Be3 Ng6 18.Qd2 Qc7 19.a4 bxa4 20.b4 cxb4 21.cxb4 Rec8
22.Bxa4 Bxa4 23.Rxa4 Qc4 24.Rc1 Qb5 25.Rca1 Rc4 26.Ra5 Qxb4 27.Qxb4 Rxb4
28.Nd2 Nf4 29.Rxa6 Rxa6 30.Rxa6 g6 31.f3 Rb2 32.Bxf4 exf4 33.Ngf1 Nh5
34.Nc4 Re2 35.e5 dxe5 36.d6 Re1 37.Kf2 Rd1 38.Nfd2 Ng3 39.Rc6 Nh1+
40.Ke2 Rg1 41.Rc8 Kg7 42.d7 Be7 43.Re8 Bh4 44.Rxe5 Kf8 45.Re8+ Kg7
46.d8=Q Bxd8 47.Rxd8 Rxg2+ 48.Kf1 Rh2 49.Kg1 Rxh3 50.Kg2 Rh4 51.Rd7 Ng3
52.Nd6 Kf6 53.N2c4 Ke6 54.Rxf7 g5 55.Rg7 Kd5 56.Rg6 Kd4 57.Nb6 Kc3
58.Nd5+ Kd3 59.Ne7 Rh1 60.Nef5 Nxf5 61.Nxf5 Ra1 62.Rd6+ Kc4 63.Rxh6 Ra2+
64.Kh3 Rf2 65.Kg4 Rg2+ 66.Kh5 Kd3 67.Ra6 Kc4 68.Nd6+ Kd4 69.Ra5 g4
70.Nf5+ Kc4 71.fxg4 Kb4 72.Ra1 f3 73.g5 f2 74.Rf1 Kc3 75.Nh4 Rg1 76.Rxf2
Kd3 77.g6 Ke4 78.Rg2 Rc1 79.g7 Rc8 80.Rg4+ Kd3 81.g8=Q Rxg8 82.Rxg8 Kc2
83.Rg3 Kd2 84.Nf5 Kc2 85.Nd4+ Kb1 86.Rb3+ Ka1 87.Kg4 Ka2 88.Kf4 Ka1
89.Kf3 Ka2 90.Ke2 Ka1 91.Kd2 Ka2 92.Kc2 Ka1 93.Ra3# 1-0

I'm Back

2011-05-06T18:47:00.001-07:00

After a Masters and a baby girl, it time to start playing again.

On Hiatus

2006-07-12T06:03:00.000-07:00

As anyone would have already noticed, I'll be on hiatus for a while. I started part-time business school in addition to my full time job so that will eat up most of my chess playing time. Additionally, I'm never really been a good summertime player. Something about playing chess when its sunny and warm outside.

Although short of my goal of 2000, I'm happily sitting at my all time high rating (over 1950). When I do start playing again, I'll have to remember to practice a little before jumping into rated games and destroying my rating by duffing a game against a 1500.

If I get some time, I might browse around the blogs or perhaps even post something. Till then, Cheers!

Texas Amateur Championships - Final 2 Rounds

2006-05-31T15:11:00.000-07:00

The 7 round Texas Amateur tournament over Memorial Day Weekend wrapped up Monday. IT was held simulatenously with the Texas Championship for those U2000. After taking a first round bye, I won two games on the first day, got a win a draw on the second day, and a win and a final draw on the final day. I finished with 5.5/7 and a final place of 3rd equal out of 118 participants, 30 of whom were class A players. Not too shabby. I played both the #1 seed (draw) and the #3 seed (win). My rating went up 19 points to an all-time high of 1951 and had a tournament performance of 2118. I've already posted the first game in a previous post and below I have the final day. (I will add the middle three games soon.)

Going into the final day, I had 4 points and one person had 4.5. The morning game was a tough one. My opponent was a strong 1950 and 3rd seat in the tournament, who has spent a lot of time over 2000. During the endgame, I constantly thought it would draw and the I thought I had a win, but would find a draw for him, then back to the win. He blew about 3 chances for a draw during the endgame. I think the endgame is my strong suit, so perhaps that's why I kept seeing draws for him. The game took 4.5 hours to play leaving me quite drained by the end.

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1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2 Ne7 6. Nb5 Bxd2 7. Qxd2 O-O 8. f4 cxd4 9. Nf3 Nbc6 10. Nbxd4 Nxd4 11. Nxd4 Nc6 12. c3 f6 13. Nf3 fxe5 14. fxe5 Qc7 15. Qe3 Bd7 16. Bd3 Ne7 17. O-O Qb6 18. Qxb6 axb6 19. a3 h6 20. Rae1 Nc6 21. g3 Be8 22. Nd4 Rxf1 23. Bxf1 Nxd4 24. cxd4 Rc8 25. Bd3 Ba4 26. Kf2 Rc6 27. Ke3 Bb3 28. Kd2 Bc4 29. Rc1 Bxd3 30. Rxc6 bxc6 31. Kxd3 Kf7 32. a4 Ke7 33. b4 Kd7 34. Kc3 Kc7 35. a5 Kb7 36. Kb3 Ka6 37. Ka4 Kb7 38. b5 cxb5 39. Kxb5 bxa5 40. Kxa5 Kc6 41. g4 g6 42. h4 g5 43. hxg5 hxg5 44. Ka6 Kc7 45. Ka7 Kc6 46. Kb8 Kb5 47. Kc7 Kc4 48. Kd6 Kxd4 49. Kxe6 Kc4 50. Kf6 d4 51. e6 d3 52. e7 d2 53. e8=Q d1=Q 54. Qc6+ Kb4 55. Qe4+ Kb3 56. Qe6+ Kb4 57. Kxg5 Qd8+ 58. Kg6 Qd3+ 59. Qf5 Qd6+ 60. Kg5 Qd8+ 61. Kf4 Qd2 62. Kg3 Qe1+ 63. Qf2 Qc3+ 64. Qf3 Qe1+ 65. Kh3 Qe8 66. g5 Qh8+ 67. Kg4 Qc8+ 68. Qf5 Qa8 69. g6 Qg2 70. Kh5 Qh2+ 71. Kg5 Qe2 72. Qg4+ 1-0

On to the afternoon, still a half point behind the leader with one game to go, I was black. However, my teenaged opponent played a very drawish line and there was nothing I could really do about it. I was surprised he went for such a line. Perhaps I'll need to develop a fighting line as black that cannot as easily be avoided. It's such a slow and boring game that I will only post the final position and the pgn. It's very similar to my other draw in the 5th round, but even more drawish. His knight will go to c5 and it's way too risky to try for a break on e5. So we agree to our Grandmaster draw. In a small way, I was happy because I was quite drained from all the games, especially the morning game, which finished about 40 minutes before this game started.

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 a6 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. h3 Nc6 7. Bf4 Bf5 8. a3 e6 9. e3 Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. Bd3 Bxd3 12. Qxd3 O-O 13. O-O b5 14. b4 Rfc8 15. Rfc1 Rc7 16. Rc2 Rac8 17. Rac1 Nd7 18. Nd2 Nb6 19. Nb3 Nc4 20. Nb1 Nb8

Texas Championships - Rounds 4 & 5

2006-05-30T06:41:00.002-07:00

In the 4th round, I faced a 10 year old who looked like he was even younger. It's interesting to watch kids play. Being about 1650 and 10 years old, he probably beats most kids his age. He's certainly better than when I was 10. So he plays the first 12 moves, in about 5 minutes. (We have 90 minutes for the first 30 moves.) He blunders and then takes about 40 minutes for the next two or three moves. Some of the time he isn't even looking at the board, but his eyes wander around the room.

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1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Nf3 a6 5. g3 d6 6. Bg2 Qc7 7. d3 Nf6 8. O-O
Be7 9. Qe1 b5 10. e5 Nd7 11. exd6 Bxd6 12. f5 Nde5 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. Bxc6+
Qxc6 15. Qxe5 Bb7 16. Ne4 O-O 17. f6 g6 18. Qf4 Kh8 19. Be3 Rad8 20. Bxc5 Rg8
21. b4 Rd7 22. h3 Rdd8 23. Kh2 g5 24. Qf3 Rg6 25. Rf2 h6 26. g4 Kh7 27. Qg3
Qd7 28. Qd6 Bxe4 29. Qxd7 Rxd7 30. dxe4 Rg8 31. e5 Rgd8 32. Bd6 Rc8 33. Rd1
Rc4 34. Rfd2 a5 35. bxa5 Ra4 36. a3 Rxa5 37. Bb4 Rxd2+ 38. Rxd2 Ra7 39. Kg3
Kg6 40. Rd8 Rc7 41. c3 Kh7 42. Kf3 Rb7 43. Ke3 Rc7 44. Kd4 Rc4+ 45. Ke3 Rf4
46. Rb8 Rf1 47. Rxb5 Rh1 48. a4 Rxh3+ 49. Kf2 Rd3 50. a5 1-0

ROUND 5

For the 5th round, I drew the top seed, a 14 year old, rated 1989, as black. The game was actually quite boring. Afterwards he said he never faces the Caro-Kann, so he's never bothered to learn any lines. It's a boring game, and I couldn't really do anything about it. So we agreed to a draw. Since it's a dull game, I'm only posting the final position and the pgn.

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qc8 8. Nd2 e6 9. Ngf3 Bh5 10. O-O Be7 11. Rae1 O-O 12. h3 Bg6 13. Bxg6 hxg6 14. Ne5 Nxe5 15. Bxe5 Nd7 16. Bh2 Qc6 17. Qc2 Bd6 18. Bxd6 Qxd6 19. Qd3 b5
20. b3 Rab8 21. Rc1 Rfc8 22. Rc2 a6 23. Rfc1 Nb6 24. Nf3 Rc7 25. Ne5 Rbc8
26. Qe3 Nd7 1/2-1/2

Texas Amateur Championships - Round 2 & 3

2006-05-27T21:52:00.000-07:00

Over Memorial Day, I played in a seven round tournament. There were 118 people playing in a giant U2000 Amateur section, including over 30 class A players. For the Championship section, over 2000, School of Chess has a nice roundup of his games. There was a 17 year old GM there and he's been a GM for 2 years.

I took a first round bye. Here's my first game in round 2. I played a talented 13 year old girl. Whew, I won.

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1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Nf3 d5 5. Bb5 d4 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. Ne2 Nf6
8. d3 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Qe1 h6 11. Ng3 Ba6 12. b3 Qc7 13. f5 e5 14. Bd2 Bd6
15. h3 Rae8 16. Nh1 Kh8 17. g4 Kg8 18. Kh2 Nh7 19. h4 f6 20. Qg3 Qf7 21. Nf2
Bc8 22. Rh1 Bd7 23. Kg2 g5 24. hxg5 hxg5 25. Rh6 Re7 26. Rah1 Qg7 27. Rg6 1-0

ROUND 3
The next game was against a middle aged guy that I've played once before (and won). This time I was able to win again and leave the first day with a score of 2.5/3.

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1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. cxd5 Nxg5 6. h4 Ne4 7. Nxe4 cxd5
8. Nc3 Nc6 9. e3 e6 10. Nf3 Be7 11. Rc1 Bd7 12. Bd3 h6 13. h5 Rc8 14. O-O O-O
15. Bb1 f5 16. a3 Bf6 17. b4 Be8 18. b5 Ne7 19. Ne5 Qa5 20. a4 Bxe5 21. dxe5
Bxh5 22. Qxh5 Rxc3 23. Qe2 Rfc8 24. Rxc3 Qxc3 25. Rd1 Qxe5 26. f4 Qc3 27. Kf2
Qc7 28. Rd2 b6 29. g4 Qd8 30. Qd3 g6 31. g5 hxg5 32. fxg5 Kf7 33. Qf1 Qh8
34. Qg2 Qh4+ 35. Kf3 Rc4 36. Rc2 Qe4+ 37. Kg3 Qxe3+ 0-1

Crash Course Required

2006-05-23T06:43:00.000-07:00

I've been quite busy recently and consequently haven't played much chess. We've been looking at houses and I'm getting ready to go back to school part-time for my masters in business, so this weekend's tournament might be one of my last for a while.

Nonetheless, I need to prepare! My mind goes cyclically in terms of chess. There are weeks where I can't think of hardly anything else and then weeks of where my mind is else where.

Two steps Forward, One Step Back

2006-04-25T05:52:00.000-07:00

Saturdays at the club, there is a 3 round Swiss, G/60. Recently, what has been happening is an influx of underrated kids. If you win, you gain nothing, but if you lose, you lose a ton of rating points. My first game was against a 12 year old, who I've play the last three times. I've won all three times, but each time was a tough battle. This one included a rook sacrifice on my part. So then I hop into the next game as black against a 2158. I lost a tough battle there at the ending. After 4 straight hours of chess, I had to play the final game. I blundered a drawn position in time trouble to a 1700. So I lost 20 rating points. Eeek. Upcoming is the seven round "Texas State and Amateur Championship" over Memorial Day weekend and I have to figure a way to keep my mind fresh in the later rounds. I won't have games back to back, but I'm sure by the 4th day of chess, I will be knackered.

Chugging Along

2006-04-20T06:34:00.000-07:00

The first time I played last night's opponent, a 2046 rated expert. I was black and lost convincingly. This time I was white and the opening was a Sicilian. I aggressively (dubiously) gambited a pawn in the opening. When you gambit material for initiative, you really have to consistently find great followup moves. Often one mediocre move on your part can relieve pressure. I guess conversly, the defender also must stubbornly defend. Here, he cracked first, and I was able to squeeze out the win.

My 2005 record against experts was a measly 3-11. After this game, so far this year, I've now managed 4-4 against experts.

some compensation for the pawn but it's a not full pawn. If he is forced not to castle, I think I do have that compensation. However, if he plays Qd7, I think my best option is to play back to d3 and opt for the repetition. |36:18. ... fxg5? ; I think Ne7 is his best move.|37:19. Qxg6+|38:19. ... Qf7|39:20. Qxf7+ ; I was looking at this line, at I had originally planned to play Qxg5 and almost quickly did, but I forced myself to stop and re-evaluate the position. Siegbert Tarrasch once said when you find a good move, wait until you find a better one. For a change, I did and the obvious popped out a tme. |40:20. ... Kxf7|41:21. Nxg5+ ; Now his e6 pawn fails. Obviously, if Ke7, then Rf7+ wins the bishop.|42:21. ... Kg6|43:22. Nxe6|44:22. ... Rac8|45:23. Nxg7 ; I was quiet happy to take off his bishop. |46:23. ... Kxg7|47:24. dxc5 ; I can isolate his pawn and leave his rook in a so-so spot.|48:24. ... Rxc5|49:25. c3|50:25. ... Rb5|51:26. Rf2|52:26. ... Re8|53:27. Rd1 ; I was tempted to play Kf1, but after Rf8, I have to play the passive Rb1. |54:27. ... Re5|55:28. Kf1 ; Now I can play it. |56:28. ... Kg6|57:29. Re1|58:29. ... Rf5|59:30. R1e2 ; Now the trade is essentially forced. I can march my king out to d3 via c2. Additionally, this move order allows me to keep my rook on the f-file, prevent his king from moving into play.|60:30. ... Rxf2|61:31. Rxf2|62:31. ... Ra5|63:32. a3|64:32. ... Rb5 ; I thought Ra4 followed by d4 would have been better.|65:33. Ke1|66:33. ... Rb6|67:34. Kd1 ; I'm just continuing with my plan unless he forced me to change it. |68:34. ... Re6|69:35. Kd2|70:35. ... Re4|71:36. g3 |72:36. ... Kg5|73:37. h3 ; I need to prevent Kg4 and Kh3.|74:37. ... d4|75:38. cxd4 ; Sure, he gets to trade off his weak isolated pawn, but it is okay. 38. c4 Re3 just gave him too much counterplay.|76:38. ... Rxd4|77:39. Ke3 ; I can march my king into the center and eventually over towards the queenside pawns.|78:39. ... Rd6|79:40. Ke4|80:40. ... Ra6 ; An odd square. I was expected Rd1. |81:41. Rf5+|82:41. ... Kg6|83:42. Rb5 ; Now he is either forced to play b6 blocking in his rook or fall into my "trap." Traps are alright to set if it is essentially the best move anyway. |84:42. ... Ra4 ; He falls into the trap. Post game analysis, proved he was losing anyway. If he plays b6 then I can play Kd5 and march my king over to b7. Subsequent attempt to save his pawns will fail. If 43...Ra4 44. Rb4 Ra5 45. a4! and after 46. b3 there is Rb5 and there is nothing he can really do anyway. |85:43. Rb4 1-0. Either he takes the rook and goes into a losing pawn ending, or he drops a second pawn.">This browser is not Java-enabled.

Back in Stride

2006-04-13T16:06:00.000-07:00

I won my game last night against a solid opponent. I've been turning the Modern/Robatch defense into the King's Indian defence by playing c4. I think in some instances, this type of maneuver can throw people off their game, if they don't also the King's Indian Defense. Judging by some slow 5th, 9th, and 10th moves perhaps it's true. He really should be focused on playing f5 as soon as possible.

Overall, I enjoyed the game. I wasn't tired like last week, so I was thinking rather well. I like dynamic games when each side is attacking on one half of the board.

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1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. c4 d6 4. Nc3 Nd7 5. Nf3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Ngf6 8. d5 O-O 9. b4 h6 10. Ne1 Kh7 11. Be3 b6 12. Rc1 a5 13. a3 axb4 14. axb4 Ne8 15. Nd3 f5 16. f3 Nef6 17. c5 Rf7 18. Ra1 Ra6 19. Rxa6 Bxa6 20. Qa4 Bxd3 21. Bxd3 f4 22. Bf2 g5 23. Ra1 g4 24. Be2 h5 25. Qc6 Nb8 26. Qb7 Nbd7 27. Ra8 Qe7 28. Qxc7 g3 29. hcg3 dxc5 30. gxf4 exf4 31. bxc5 Ne8 32. Qc8 bxc5 33. Qxe8 Qxe8 34. Rxe8 Bxc3 35. d6 Kg7 36. Bc4 1-0

The 8th Deadly Sin

2006-04-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

When Scottish Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson wrote the book "The Seven Deadly Sins of Chess", he left out being tired. So for my first game in 2 weeks, I was black against a 1600 rated player, but I was exhausted from all these other things going on in my life. I should have just asked for a bye, but I figured I'd catch a second wind and win. I didn't and I didn't. It ended in a draw, and I was on the lucky side for that to happen.

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Out of the Archives- My First Expert

2006-03-29T06:03:00.000-08:00

No games this weeks, but I think one of the best milestones in chess improvement is the first time you beat an Expert and subsequently when you beat a Master, etc, but there is something about that 2000 rating that seems to divide the men from the boys. The first time I beat an Expert, was no "barely expert", but a 2126 rated virtual opening book. I played this about a year and a two months ago, right before I started blogging, so it's never been posted it on the blog.

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Inching Up

2006-03-23T05:59:00.000-08:00

I won the last game of the monthy tournament last night as black against a venerable Class A player. So I finished 2nd= out of 16 players, which is good because I was only seated 9th or 10th. It's a strong tournament. My calculated new rating should be 1948. It started out as the English, but turned into a Caro-Kann Panov Attack or a Queen's Gambit declined Semi-Tarrasch position. It's an interesting and common position of which to study. White has the isolated d-pawn, which is an endgame weakness, but he has attacking chances against black king. So my job is to trade and his job is to attack.

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Deja Vu All Over Again.

2006-03-20T06:42:00.000-08:00

I played Saturday and it was a flashback to the previous Saturday where I beat two lower rated people and lost as black to the same 2173 rated guy playing the Caro-Kann. First a note on kids, my first game was against a 1322 rated twelve year old, the same one I played the week before. He plays a LOT better than 1322. Kids play a lot on the internet or against friends, but do not play many rated games, so their rating stays artificially low. So I have to expend a lot of energy to win, take almost the full 2 hours, to only get one 1 rating point. Not to mention if I lose or draw, my rating drops tremedously.

Against the 2173 I did manage to get a better position via a decent tactic on move 18, but then I got greedy and blundered it away two moves later. At the end of the day, even though I beat two people and only lost to someone 250 higher rated than I, I still lost 2 ratings points.

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Happy Birthday (and Victory!)

2006-03-16T05:41:00.000-08:00

Last night's victory was dedicated to resident Pundit Emeritus, Danny, who celebrated his birthday yesterday. I sent an e-card to him in the afternoon, telling him that I would win in spectacular fashion for him, so the pressure was on! My opponent was a talented nearly class A player.

The opening was kinda funny. I started with e4, he played the Modern, I turned it into the King's Indian Defense, and then it turned into the Marorczy Bind of the Accelerated Dragon Sicilian. (The position also can arise from the symmetrical English.) See Dan, I'm playing the Accelerated Dragon! (Dan's recent advice to me after my repeated Caro-Kant failures as black has been to start playing the Accelerated Dragon...which I will look into, but it takes a while to learn a new opening.)

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Is it the Caro-Kann or Caro-Kant?

2006-03-12T21:19:00.000-08:00

First the good news, my latest 'unofficial' rating has me at 1930, my highest ever. The Caro-Kann is a defense to which I've been loyal to for the past 2 years. However, there are a lot of lines tricks and variations that I seem to only learn when I play. These "lessons" are costing me lost of ratings points. First let's look at the Classical variation, main line. According to the chessgames database (which has less game but is easier to use than chessbase), there are 322 master level games which the first 12 moves reach this position.

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This is a variation which I faced against a 1700 player in Scotland. I was lucky enough to draw it.

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Today I faced a yet new variation, which i got hammered in. I almost though it was similar to the previous variation but it wasn't. I almost got back in the game with a cool tactic, but it was too little too late.

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In the Advance Variation, this variation can be quite dangerous to the unsuspecting. Moves like the below has actually convinced me to give up 3...Bf5 in lieu of the pawn sacrifice 3...c5.

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Finally, Fri

Two Questions Arise from the US Championship

2006-03-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

The US Championship finished and a detailed report is here. They combined the men and the women's events into one event, where the top female gets the Women's crown. Surprisingly, there was a 1667 rated player, Kelly Cottrell-Finegold, wife of IM Ben Finegold in the mix. Unfortunately, she went 0/9. In this thread here, Cottrell-Finegold is criticized for playing a rook down against rook down against a GM. This leads to two questions.

First Question: (the easy one), is it rude not to resign heavily down, especially against a much higher rated opponent?

Chess Pundit's take: Everyone has the right to keep playing. Unless you are a beginner, I say, go ahead and resign, especially if you are in a tournament when you have games to play that day or the next day. I feel it's best just to cut your losses and rest. It is foolish to play futilely down, expending energy, then have to jump right into another game. Of course there is one player who never ever ever resigns at my club. I also feel it is perfectly acceptable to get 3 queens before checkmating him.

Second Question: What's your opinion of gender segregation in chess? Top ten ranked Judith Polgar is known for refusing women's only events (see question 11). However, that strong attitude is far from universal.

Chess Pundit's take: It's good to encourage girls (and all kids) to play chess. (There are a lot of valuable lessons for kids in playing chess...for another post). For girls to take interest, they need role models, and perhaps women's only events are needed to help push it into the "spotlight." However, unlike basketball, chess is not a physical activity, so women do not have some natural physical disadvantage. It can create the appearance that women cannot compete with men because they aren't as smart and need their own special events.
Recently making a buzz in the "chess world" was Jennifer Shahade's "controversial" book "Chess Bitch." She decries gender disparity, but uses the same disparity to sell a book and write articles for newspapers... something that a 2350 rated male could never do. I can see leading to a discussion of why women generally aren't as good at chess, and I think the Susan Polgar beautifully answers that question in #10 of this interview. In closing, I think of the due course of time, a woman will eventually win the world championship and then gender segregated events will naturally fade away.

I'd love to hear your take on these questions.

Getting Outplayed

2006-03-09T06:11:00.000-08:00

Have you ever played a game where you lost but just can’t figure out where you went wrong? Well, one of those games was last night. I was black against a 2029 player, who at one point in his life was a master so he’s no slouch. Facing e4, I played my shaky Caro-Kann defense. Versus 2000+ players against e4, I am lousy 0-4-2. So I did some game preparation, but it was to no avail.

The first 13 moves are popular book moves, so there is no real point in discussing them. I just can’t pinpoint what I did wrong. I’m not too mad at myself. I reviewed the game with my Chessmaster program afterwards. It didn’t help. I would make the moves that it recommended, but it’s evaluation of my position just kept getting worse. There were tactical mistake, but an earlier strategic one perhaps. I would really need a high rated master to look at the game.

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Using the PGN Viewer

2006-03-08T05:15:00.000-08:00

For all those interested in incorporating a PGN Viewer into their blogspot, here's how to do it:

Step 1: Go to this website
Step 2: Enter your game in pgn format. An example is here. You don't need all of the lines in brackets at the top, but you do need two....typically the white & black player. Remember no notations or exclamation points. There needs to be spacing as shown. Hit Submit.
Step 3: Right click on the page off to the right (not on the game itself). Go down to "view page source"
Step 4: Highlight and copy every line from "applet codebase" all the way down to near the end of the page where it says "applet" again. Include all the diagonal brackets around the words applet as well. (I tried to copy the exact text for this tutorial but then starts trying to make a java script)
Step 5: Go to blogger and create a new post. Click on "edit html" at the top right of the page (as opposed to "compose". Paste the script
Step 6: This is the "tricky" part that was giving me problems. Delete every line break after each line... all the way down the page. The keys "end" & "delete" should be repeated very often. The whole page should look like one giant paragraph.
Step 7: The pgn viewer should work after step 6. You can add some customizing which is detailed here.

Master Struggle

2006-03-07T07:35:00.000-08:00

My other real game from Saturday was against the club Life Master. Surprisingly this tournament got rated immediately and will be included in the April rating supplement, but my February Wednesday tournament has not been rated and will not be included.

The first 5 1/2 moves were the same, but he opted for another major line. In the beginning I had a bit of advantage, but he managed to take the lead after I misplayed a combination. During the rook & pawn ending, down a pawn, I manage to crawl back. At the very end, I accepted the draw rather (too) quickly. I didn't want to win purely on time, but I didn't sit and analyse the position properly. There are likely psychological reasons (excuses) for the draw. When you are down and fighting for a draw, you are constantly thiinking about how to draw, not win. A win doesn't even seem possible. I kick myself a little, but not too hard. I am happy about how I played the rook & pawn ending. Of course the difference between a win and a draw against this opponent was 22 points. I finished the mini-tournament (3 round G/60) in clear 2nd of 16 players.

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Chess Pundit Goes Advanced!!

2006-03-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

Thanks to help of my first chess teacher, latest Chess Pundit contributer, & family resident computer expert (Dad), I am now able to have a pgn viewer. On Saturday, I had a good day at chess at a 3 round G/60 club tournament, beating a 2124 and drawing a 2200. The below game is the win, one of my best games because I have a good attack and I see it through. Sometimes, I make a mediocre move and the attack falls apart. Coicendentally, the first 6 moves of both games are the same. (I was white twice). This game was against one of the top under-18s in the country. I played him 2.5 years ago and lost, when I just first started playing again. Back then I was experimenting with what to play against the Siclian and played the Alapin. Since then, I've settled on the Grand Prix and it has done well for me. Scroll through the game and the comments appear. I'll add a post explaining the PGN viewer for anyone who wants to try it (It took a wee while to iron out the bug.) I also updated my last post with a pgn viewer.

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The Road to Expert

2006-03-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

The long road to an expert rating goes through many wins against experts themselves. The new monthly tournament started yesterday and I was seat in the top of the bottom half, so I played the #2 seat as White to which he played the Pirc defense. An English master I knew in Scotland had distain for the Pirc, calling it a Dragon Sicilian without the queenside counterattack. Very true when you think about it. In the game, I maintained a slight advantage. Several times, I felt as if he caught up but then I’d find a move to regain my advantage.

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My First Sac - from the Archives

2006-03-01T11:45:00.000-08:00

Out of the archives….this game was played in Scotland. They have various chess leagues and teams of four play against each other. This was the 2nd round of a league tournament match against another city. The main significance of this game was that is was my first positional sacrifice. I think a player reaches another step in ability when he can really see the importance of the usefulness of pieces in a given position more so than the point value itself. These are my original annotations when I sent the game to my Dad.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bg7 This is the Pirc defense. I knew I had a choice of f4, Nf3, & Bg5 5. Qd2 c6 I want to eventually play Bh6 and I was toying with castling queenside 6. Bc4 Nxe4 This is one of those opening novelties I didn't know. With 7. Nxe4 d5, black does fine. 7. Bxf7+ Kxf7 I got his king out and prevented castling for losing a bit of my center and my good bishop. It was quite fine by me. However, I think this novelty works better if he is already castled. 8. Nxe4 Qf8 I think he was trying to prevent Bh6, forcing the trade of his good bishop 9. Ne2 Nd7 I play Ne2 because 9. Nf3 Bg4 looked annoying and I also wanted to play f4 sometime soon. When someone's king is exposed, you want to "break things open" and attack. I still wasn't sure which way to castle, though. 10. O-O h6 After some thinking I went kingside because I thought it would take several moves to get my pawns moving on the kingside (I would have to move my bishop too) and I didn't like his bishop on g7. I'm still not sure which way would have been better, but probably queenside as other pieces were uncoordinated.

11. Be3 d5 I really needed to move the bishop anyway. I went to e3 because I wanted to cover the g1-a7 diagonal. Bf4 block the pawn and Bh4 leads g5, which is fine since he isn't castled. 12. N4g3 Nf6 The knight on g3 now covers e4 and supports f5. 13. f4 Bf5 14. Nxf5 gxf5 The bishop on f5 was too strong - it was supporting e4, and attacking down to c2. I had to trade and make a new plan. I guess if I had castled queenside, I could have played h3 and g4 to remove the bishop. Now my bishop is blocked in and I have to look for a way to get it to a better spot. 15. Ng3 Ne4 16. Qb4 Nd6 Now tne b7 pawn is also under attack. Taking the knight would have given him a protected passed pawn on the "4th rank" which would be quite powerful. He doesn't want to trade his better knight for my weaker one anyway 17. Rae1 h5 The rook on e1 covers a lot down the e file. I also looked at playing b3 with and eventual c4 to attack, but it looked slow and it didn't have a clear followup 18. Ne2 a5 Okay, so h4 and h3 are coming shortly. Also Ne4 is also coming soon. He'll want to bring his other rook onto g8 as well. I want to get my knight to e5 via c1 and d3. There, my knight will be equally as powerful. 19. Qd2 h4 Any other queen moves took the queen out of the game. I also had to watch Nc4 and Ne4 as Nc4 attack the e3 Bishop as well. Qd2 was a good central spot. 20. Nc1 Nc4 21. Qd3 Nd6 He attacked, but retreated without any benefit for either side. He certainly wasn't going to take my crap bishop. Btw, 22. Nxb2 Qxf5+ 22. Bd2 b5 I have to get the bishop to a better diagonal. Somehow the a3-f8 diagonal was my goal. With b5 he gets more space, but his a5 pawn now need protecting. The c6 pawn is also now weaker. With most pawn moves, you gain something, but give up something as well. 23. Qe3 Ne4 Qe3 threatens Qe6+ and give the spot of d3 for me. 24. Nd3 Rh6 Still continuing with my knight plan. I think with Rh6, he was trying to bring is Queen over to g8 or f8… or bring his other rook over eventually too 25. Ne5+ Bxe5 He is forced to take because the c6 pawn is hanging. 26. fxe5 Rh5 Okay, so I've gotten the f file open again. Rh5 is forced because of the dual attack on the f5 pawn by the rook and the black rook itself. 27. Rf3 e6 Although his rook is a weird spot on h6, it was safe from an reasonable attacks. 27. Qf3 Qh8 gains nothing while the d2 bishop is hanging. Rf3 prevents h3. 28. Qd3 Qe7 At this point, I realized I had no clear plan. I couldn't find an effective way to get my pieces moving. Pretty soon, he would regroup his pieces and they would start bearing down on my king. His knight was overwhelmingly better than my bishop and I would be completely defensive.

29. Rxe4 dxe4 The big sacrifice. This is the first time I've sacrified only for positional benefits. I noticed since his f pawn was pinned, I could get a knight and a pawn for the rook. I would break up his center and would be on the offensive. 30. Qxe4 Ra6 With black's a5 and c6 pawns hanging, both needed protecting. Now his rooks are completely uncoordinated and rather defensive. 31. Qe1 b4 I have to maintain the offensive and not let him have a chance to regroup. Now I attack a5. 31…a4 protects the pawn but allows Bb4 32. c3 Rb6 I maintain the pressure to attack the pawn and get an active bishop. 32…c5 may have been slightly better for him. 33. cxb4 axb4 34. Rb3 Qa7 I thought I would win a pawn, but nope… Now I have to watch my d4 pawn because it would be unprotected with check if his rook moves. 35. a3 bxa3 The best continuation. Black taking is forced 36. Rxa3 Ra6 37. Qe3 Rxa3 Qe3 protects d4 and the a3 Rook. After the rook trade, the new A pawn blocks the file 38. bxa3 Qa4 Black threatens Qd1+. 39. h3 Qd1+ I played h3 giving my king a space and preventing black playing h3. Now I can play h3 though. When his knight was around, playing h3 would have given him g3. 40. Kh2 Qf1 Black is eyeing f2 for g3, and/or f4. His queen getting to g3 was dangerous.

41. d5 cxd5 I was looking at some sort of way to attack, but still needed to cover f2 and f4. I also saw with my pawn on e5 and his on e6, it sorta boxed his king in, so I thought if I could check him on b7, that would be great. Then I saw that playing d5 allowed my queen to go to a7, plus another problem. What's another pawn sacrifice if i can get my queen back there. Another move for black, such as Qa6, allows me to play 42. d6 instead giving me a very powerful protected passed pawn. His queen would be stuck on the defensive for several moves, while is rook is out in limbo. Still in hindsight is was probably better. 42. Qa7+ Kg6 Any other king move for him is futile. At this point I didn't see a clear win, but I knew I would win the pawn back as well as secure a draw. However, with a draw, I knew we would lose the match as a team because the other 3 games were long finished. A win and we would advance 43. Qe7 Qe2 Now I threaten, Qxe7 or Qf7+. Threatened was also 44. Qf7+ Kh7 45. Qg7+ Kh8 46. Qxh5 since h6 is covered by my bishop 44. Qxe6+ Kh7 45. Qf7+ Kh8 Now I see an obvious draw, but I didn't see a win…. Until….. 46. Bc3 f4 Ut oh for black. 47. e6 is mate and his rook also needs protection. Black also has no checks. 47. e6+ Re5 48. Qf6+ Kg8 Simple move to win a rook 49. Bxe5 f3 Now I have mate on f7, g8 & h8! 50. Qg7#

1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bg7 5. Qd2 c6 6. Bc4 Nxe4 7. Bxf7+ Kxf7 8. Nxe4 Qf8 9. Ne2 Nd7 10. O-O h6 11. Be3 d5 12. N4g3 Nf6 13. f4 Bf5 14. Nxf5 gxf5 15. Ng3 Ne4 16. Qb4 Nd6 17. Rae1 h5 18. Ne2 a5 19. Qd2 h4 20. Nc1 Nc4 21. Qd3 Nd6 22. Bd2 b5 23. Qe3 Ne4 24. Nd3 Rh6 25. Ne5+ Bxe5 26. fxe5 Rh5 27. Rf3 e6 28. Qd3 Qe7 29. Rxe4 dxe4 30. Qxe4 Ra6 31. Qe1 b4 32. c3 Rb6 33. cxb4 axb4 34. Rb3 Qa7 35. a3 bxa3 36. Rxa3 Ra6 37. Qe3 Rxa3 38. bxa3 Qa4 39. h3 Qd1+ 40. Kh2 Qf1 41. d5 cxd5 42. Qa7+ Kg6 43. Qe7 Qe2 44. Qxe6+ Kh7 45. Qf7+ Kh8 46. Bc3 f4 47. e6+ Re5 48. Qf6+ Kg8 49. Bxe5 f3 50. Qg7#

Victory is Mine!

2006-02-23T06:37:00.000-08:00

After all of the preparation on the Reti opening, as well as others like the King’s Indian, I face the Dutch which I’ve never played against. Since I’ve played Bird’s Opening before, I sat and thought about where what his play likely is. I certainly didn’t win this game in the opening though. I think the preparation did get me thinking about the things I should be thinking about. So I won $55 for first place. More than the money, I was happy to win the tournament outright with 3.5/4 especially since I was only seated 7th. To win I had to draw a 2214, beat a 1760, a 1726, and this, a 2044. My rating should go over 1900 again for only the 2nd time. It was also my 150th rated USCF game.

White: Chris (1845)

Black: Anton (2044)

1. Nf3 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. d4 Bb4 5. Bg5 a6 6. Bxf6 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Qxf6 8. e3 d6 I don’t think this is the best way to play against the Dutch defense, but I have the good bishop and a good center.

9. Bd3 e5 My ninth move was a mistake as Be2 is better. While I saw e5 and had my following move planned. Obviously I can’t take on d5 and doing nothing allows for the pawn fork. I thought there would be more exchanges in the center. 10. e4 f4 However, he’s nicely turned his bad bishop into his good bishop. 11. Qb3 Nc6 I have to get counterplay on the Queenside. The Queen on b3 helps to keep the bishop on c8 and prevent him from castling. 12. d5 Nb8 13. c5 dxc5 I have to play the pawn sacrifice c5. I can’t allow him to play Nd7, because then the knight nicely goes to c5 and I am losing. 14. Bb5+ Ke7 The sacrifice does make his e5 pawn weak. A lot of the tactics of c6 or Nd7 end him up with either doubled c pawns because the e-pawn would be unprotected if there is a Queen recapture on c6. 15. Qa3 b6 Keeping pressure on a new pawn, the move basically forces him to weaken his light square if he wants to keep the extra pawn. 16. h3 Bb7 I’m trying to remember why I played h3 instead of Nd2 right away. I really didn’t want to castle into a kingside onslaught of g5 & g4. The only way I can win is if I am able to break open the center and attack his king. Where can I do that? I wanted to put my knight on c4 and my rook on d1. Then push d6. Looking at the game afterwards Bd7 would have been better even though it seems like he is trading his good bishop for a bad bishop.

17. Nd2 a6 18. Be2 Nd7 19. Bg4 Nf8 He doesn’t want to trade knight for bishop but this ends up costing him in the end. He still could have held the position better with Rd8. 20. Nc4 h5 My knight is pretty nice on c4 and it’s why I never pushed the pawn to c4, which seems like a natural move, but it limits you’re your bishop and knight. 21. Bf3 Nd7 I really didn’t mind Bf3 because I knew it would be supporting the e4 pawn after d6. 22. O-O-O Kf7

I think he finally realizes the gravity of his position. The pawn break d6 is unstoppable. 23. d6 c6 24. Nxb6 Nxb6 25. Qb3+ Kg6 A mid-level tactic to dismantle his pawn structure and gain a pawn. 26. Qxb6 Rhb8 27. Qxc5 Qe6 28. c4 a5 I’m really in no rush and it’s best to stifle counterplay. 29. d7 Kh7 Now I threaten a rook pin on the queen. 30. Rd6 Qf7

The Queen is overworked and cannot protect all of the pawns. 31. Rhd1 Rbd8 32. Be2 g6 33. Qxe5 Kh6 Now that my pawn on c4 is secure, I can take the hopeless pawn on e5. I was the now threatening Re6 followed by Re7 pinning the queen. However, his follow-up isn’t better. 34. Qxh5+ 1-0 The pawn on g6 is pinned and the queen is protected by the bishop. He resigned as he has no counterplay and after 34…Kg7 35. Qe5+ 36. Kg8 I can play Re7 or R1d6 all threatening g6 and the king, he is toast.

Game Preparation

2006-02-19T16:05:00.000-08:00

Finally having time to study and finally being in a position to win the strong Wednesday tournament, I've had my upcoming game against an expert in my head. Against experts, I have a mere 3-13-2 record. For the game, I will be white.

It's interesting to have some time to prepare against an opponent you've played before. Ever since I've started playing again, I've always played e4 to which he has played the uncommon 1... Nc6. Since I've played this guy twice before as white, perhaps he will be changing up his openings, so I will preempt any preperation of his and change the opening myself.

Since he would naturally have a good handle on d4, I have to consider a less common opening. Contemplating both Bird's Opening (1. f4 ) and the Reti Opening (1. Nf3 d5 2. c4) , I have decided upon the latter.

An earlier game as white which I won against the same opponent.
1. e4 Nc6 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. Nc3 Qa5 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. O-O a6 8. Ba4 e6 9. d4 Bb4 10. Bb3 O-O 11. Ne2 b5 12. c3 Bd6 13. Ne5 Be8 14. Rf3 Ne7 15. Bc2 c5 16. Rh3 h6 17. Ng3 cxd4 18. cxd4 Qb6 19. Qd3 Nf5 20. Nxf5 exf5 21. Be3 g6 22. Rxh6 Kg7 23. Rh3 Nd5 24. Rg3 Rc8 25. Bb3 Nb4 26. Qxf5 Rc7 27. Qe4 a5 28. a3 Na6 29. f5 Bxe5 30. dxe5 Nc5 31. f6+ Kg8 32. Rxg6+ 1-0

Black to Play & Win

2006-02-16T05:46:00.000-08:00

In my weekly Wednesday night game (where the 4 weeks in a month adds up to a tournament), I won last nights game giving me a tie for the lead with 2.5. So next week I play for the tournament win against a talented 2045 rated Russian (against whom I have beaten). It will also be my 150th USCF rated game. The tournament is surprisingly strong and I am only seated 7th/ of 14 players.

Yesterday's game, hre I, as black, have rounded the corner, but the game isn't won. There are several ways to continue and many would probably eventually win, but one move can really do damage to white.

BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN

White: Gary - 1726
Black: Chris - 1846

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 Bf5 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. a3 Bd6 7. Bg5 dxc4 8. Bxc4 Be7 9. Nf3 O-O 10. Nh4 Bg4 11. f3 Bh5 12. g3 h6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Ng2 e5 15. d5 Na5 16. Bd3 b6 17. g4 Bh4+ 18. Ke2 Bg6 19. b4 Bxd3+ 20. Qxd3 Nb7 21. Rhd1 Be7 22. Rac1 a5 23. bxa5 Rxa5 24. Nb5 Nc5 25. Qc4 ....

Down to the Wire

2006-02-13T11:08:00.000-08:00

I played a regular wee club tournament on Saturday, beating up on a 1145 rated 9 year old, winning an interesting game against a solid 1710 player (which game I might post if I find time) and losing the below heartbreaker to an expert.

White: Chris (1845)
Black: Eric (2071)
Time: G/60

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bb5 Nd4 6. O-O Nxb5 7. Nxb5 Nf6 This is all part of my "standard" knowledge of the Grand Prix attack. I use it exclusively against the Sicilian and it nets me decent results. 8. d3 d5 9. e5 Ng8 10. d4 a6 11. Nc3 cxd4 12. Ne2 Bg4 13. Nexd4 e6 I like my position. My knights and pawns are well positioned. He made a couple of missteps which cost him development.

14. h3 Bxf3 My first debatable move. I could easily otherwise play Be3 or Qe1. 15. Qxf3 Ne7 16. c3 O-O 17. Be3 Qc7 My pieces are all setup and it's time to attack. 18. h4 Nf5 19. Nxf5 gxf5 In hindsight, the immediate 19. h5 would be better. I think I thought there was more action to be made along the g-file than there was.

20. h5 Bh6 21. Qg3 Kh8 22. Qh4 Rg8 23. Qf6 Bg7 24. Qh4 Qd8 25. Bf2 h6 I realize that I have no attack. My queen isn't any more valuable than his so I look to get my bishop to be more active. 26. Rad1 Qxh4 27. Bxh4 Rac8 28. Rd4 Bf8 I was worried about Rc4 but I really should have prevent his bishop from getting active by playing Be7. At the time, I thought my bishop was better than it was. When I post the previous game it was a similar type position and the bishop won it for me. 29. Bf6 Kh7 30. Kh2 Bc5 31. Rd3 Rg4 32. g3 b5 33. a3 R4g8 34. Rfd1 Rc6 35. R1d1 Bb6 36. Rg2 a5. Obviously he is advancing on the kingside. I think he has enough to break through. So you either wait around and play defense or your try to counter attack. We only have about 10 minutes left each so it's not a bad idea to play actively. It was a decent plan but my King is in the wrong square.

37. g4 fxg4 38. Rdg3 R6c8 I immediately regain the pawn because there is no way to defend it again. 39. Rxg4 Rxg4 40. Rxg4 Rg8 Unfortunately this is the only time that I realize that his bishop will win up on e3 and then down to c1. 41. Kg4 Rxg4 42. Kxg4 Be3 43. a4 bxa4 44. Be7 Bc1 The blockade is better than 43. b3 Bd2. 45. Ba3 Kg7 46. f5 f6 47. fxe6 fxe5 he nicely connects his pawn, however, if i had played 47. exf6 Kxf6 48. fxe6 Kxe6, would eventually lose the h pawn because my king is blocked from f4 & f5 due to the king & bishop. 48. Kf5 e4 49. Kg4 Kf7 50. e7 Bg5 0-1

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bb5 Nd4 6. O-O Nxb5 7. Nxb5 Nf6 8. d3 d5 9. e5 Ng8 10. d4 a6 11. Nc3 cxd4 12. Ne2 Bg4 13. Nexd4 e6 14. h3 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 Ne7 16. c3 O-O 17. Be3 Qc7 18. h4 Nf5 19. Nxf5 gxf5 20. h5 Bh6 21. Qg3 Kh8 22. Qh4 Rg8 23. Qf6 Bg7 24. Qh4 Qd8 25. Bf2 h6 26. Rad1 Qxh4 27. Bxh4 Rac8 28. Rd4 Bf8 29. Bf6 Kh7 30. Kh2 Bc5 31. Rd3 Rg4 32. g3 b5 33. a3 R4g8 34. Rfd1 Rc6 35. R1d1 Bb6 36. Rg2 a5 37. fxg4 38. Rdg3 R6c8 39. Rxg4 Rxg4 40. Rxg4 Rg8 41. Kg4 Rxg4 42. Kxg4 Be3 43. a4 bxa4 44. Be7 Bc1 45. Ba3 Kg7 46. f5 f6 47. fxe6 fxe5 48. Kf5 e4 49. Kg4 Kf7 50. e7 Bg5

Find the Cool Move

2006-02-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

Books of puzzles which tell you to find the winning move are nice, but you know there is a brilliant move to find. Sometimes over the board they are hard to find because you don't know there is a wonderful move to be found. Thus, finding such moves are ever more enjoyable. Here is from a game against a 1900 rated player about 3 weeks ago and it is I as black to move.

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 Bb4 8. e4 Bg6 9. Bxc4 O-O 10. Bg5 c5 11. d5 Qa5 12. O-O Bxc3 13. bxc3 Qxc3 14. Nxg6 hxg6 15. Rc1 Qe5 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Qb3 b6 18. dxe6 Nc6 19. exf7 Kg7 20. Bd5 Nd4 21. Qc4 Rad8 22. Rfe1 Rfh8 23. Kf2 Rxh2 24. Rh1 Qh5 25. Rxh2 Qxh2 26. Rg1 with the move and 14 more to follow.

Šachy

2006-02-09T06:18:00.000-08:00

The Czech word for "chess" is "šachy" (pronounced more like sha-key). Last night, I played a guy from the former Czechoslovakia, rated 1760. It was our 4th game, and our record before the game was an even 1-1-1. I won with a nice early knight sac and a subsequent pawn sacrifice.

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 b6 5. Nf3 Bb7 6. Bb5+ c6 6...Nd7 leads to disaster after Ne5. 7. Bd3 Be7 8. c3 Nf6 (8...Nd7 is needed first) 9. Neg5 h6

I really didn't want to trade or play the passive 9. Ng3. I also seriously considered just continuing to develop. I figured h6 would be played so I have to make sure that the knight sac if feasible before playing Neg5. Otherwise there is no point of playing back to e4 or to h3.

10. Nxf7 Kxf7 11. Ne5+ Kg8 12. Ng6 Nbd7 Yes, I looked at 12. Bg6 and 12. Qb3. 13. Qe2 Nf8 14. Nxh8 Kxh8 I convert the sac back into material, but now his knight is trapped on f8 and he has a weak pawn on e6. 15. Bf4 Nd5 16. Be5 Bf6 17. O-O Qd7 18. f4 Qf7 19. Rae1 Bh4 I have brought he last piece into play. An odd move and he later said he did it just to prevent a rook lift to h3. 20. g3 Bf6 21. Bd6 Be7 22. Bxe7 Nxe7 23. f5

The sacrifice is tricky but necessary. Right now, I have all of my pieces in play and we are materially even. However, I cannot allow him time to open up his light bishop or bring his rook into play. 23...Nxf5 24. g4 Qg6 It's interesting when there are several pins working against each other 25. Qg2 Nh4 26. Qg3 Qg5 27. Re5 Qe7 28. Rh5 Nhg6 29. g5 and black is lost.

If 29...Kh7 30. gxh7 gxh7 31. Rxf8! Qg7 32. Rxa8 and black is fubar.

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 b6 5. Nf3 Bb7 6. Bb5+ c6 7. Bd3 Be7 8. c3 Nf6 9. Neg5 h6 10. Nxf7 Kxf7 11. Ne5+ Kg8 12. Ng6 Nbd7 13. Qe2 Nf8 14. Nxh8 Kxh8 15. Bf4 Nd5 16. Be5 Bf6 17. O-O Qd7 18. f4 Qf7 19. Rae1 Bh4 20. g3 Bf6 21. Bd6 Be7 22. Bxe7 Nxe7 23. f5 Nxf5 24. g4 Qg6 25. Qg2 Nh4 26. Qg3 Qg5 27. Re5 Qe7 28. Rh5 Nhg6 29. g5

Interesting Chess Set

2006-02-05T19:37:00.000-08:00

While I was in the Cayman Islands on my honeymoon, I picked up this handmade chess set from Guatemala. It's the conquistadors versus the indians. Otherwise, I have a small collection.

I'll Take It!

2006-02-02T12:14:00.000-08:00

Last night I drew a 2214 rated master, the highest rated person, I've ever played (by 11 points). I played my Slav defense which is one of my most consistently solid

White: Bill (2214)
Black: Chris (1845)

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. e3 Nbd7 I recently played an interest variation with f3 followed by a quick e4. Here he chose the quiter line. 8. Nxc4 Nb6 9. a5 Nxc4 10. Bxc4 Bd6 I thought about Bb4, but after Qb3, Qe7 Ra4, the bishop must go back to d6 anyway. 11. f3 Bg6 I had several options. He looks to play e4 followed by e5. I also considered Bc7, or the breaks c5 & e5. 12. Qe2 Bb4 Since Qb3 isn't possible now. 13. O-O Bxa5 In other position this pawn grab might be considered greedy, but my position is solid enough to allow me to do it. 14. Rd1 O-O If 14...Bb6 15.Na4 Bc6 16. Nc5 looks better for white since b6 is forced. 15. e4 Bb6 16. Be3 Qe7 17. Na4 Bc7 18. Nc5 Bb6 The big difference is now with my queen on e7, I can just play my bishop back. 19. Qf2 Here he offered a draw to which I agreed. Although I am up a pawn and have solid position, his would be hard to attack as well. Where exactly to I make my advance? Sometimes forcing a drawn position can cause a loss.

2005 in Review

2006-01-12T08:33:00.000-08:00

2005 was a decent year in chess. I began the year with a 1632 rating and finished with a rating of 1845. My rating peaked in April at 1904, after a run of 17.5/18. I floated down to about 1850 where I remained, plus or minus 15 points for the rest of the year.

Below are the statistics, broken down. "Full time stats" means that each player had at least 2 hours to play the game. At shorter time controls, it was easier to lose against 1600 rated players. A 1650 player isn't a slouch, but a loss will drop your rating 20+ points. So any ratings gains could be quickly evaporated by one loss to a mid-level player.

To get above 2000, it would take a lot of work, analyzing openings. Perhaps I will have the time or motivation at some point this year, but not as of right now.

Heartbreaking Loss

2005-11-10T08:32:00.000-08:00

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#

The 100th game

2005-11-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

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

The Status Quo

2005-10-31T06:16:00.000-08:00

For the past 5 months my rating has hovered around 1850. I played a small 3/SS G/45 tournament on Sunday. Two wins and a loss....

Against a 1640 player, I played against my own opening, which I find rare. I've played white 37 times so far this year and this was the first time against the Caro-Kann. It's a solid opening?!...and considered I played against French at least 6 or 7 times. Since everyone hates playing against their own opening, i guess it's a good thing. I like playing the exchange variation though.

GAME 1

1 e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 e6 6. Bf4 Nf6 7. Nd2 Bd6 8. Bg3 O-O 9. Ngf3 Bxg3 10. hxg3 I really think the game is won here. We can analyse two major position errors by black to this point. 5...e6 blocks in his light squared bishop. After a move like 7...Bd6 many people might trade bishops which I think is a mistake in this position. Eventually Black has to take, opening up the h-file. Even if I am castled at that point I can play g4, g3, Kg2 and slide my rook to h1.

10....e5 11. Nxe5 Re8 12. f4 Nxe5 13. fxe5 Bg4 14. Bxh7+ Kf8 15. Qb3 (Qc2 may have been better) Nxh7 16. Rxh7 Kg8 17. Rh4 Qg5 18. c4 dxc4 19. Nxc4 Be6 He almost gets some counterplay here. 20. Qe3 Qe7 In postgame review, the computer suggested f6! 21. Nd6 Red8 22. Kf2 Rac8 23. Nxc8 Rxc8 24. Qd3 Qb4 25. Rah1 Kf8 26. Rh8+ Ke7 27. Rxc8 Bxc8 28. Qa3 Qxa3 29. bxa3 Be6 30. Rc1 Kd7 31. Rc2 Bf5 32. Rb2 Be4 33. Ke3 Bc6 34. g4 Bd5 35. g5 g6 36. a4 Ke6 37. g4 Kd7 38. a5 a6 39. Rb6 Bc6 40. a3 Ke6 41. Rb1 Kd5 42. Rf1 Ke6 43. Rf6+ Ke7 44. Rd6 Bd7 45. d5 Bxg4 46. Rb6 Bc8 47. Kd4 Kd7 48. e6+ fxe6 49. Rxe6 Kc7 50. Rxg6 1-0

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 e6 6. Bf4 Nf6 7. Nd2 Bd6 8. Bg3 O-O 9. Ngf3 Bxg3 10. hxg3 e5 11. Nxe5 Re8 12. f4 Nxe5 13. fxe5 Bg4 14. Bxh7+ Kf8 15. Qb3 Nxh7 16. Rxh7 Kg8 17. Rh4 Qg5 18. c4 dxc4 19. Nxc4 Be6 20. Qe3 Qe7 21. Nd6 Red8 22. Kf2 Rac8 23. Nxc8 Rxc8 24. Qd3 Qb4 25. Rah1 Kf8 26. Rh8+ Ke7 27. Rxc8 Bxc8 28. Qa3 Qxa3 29. bxa3 Be6 30. Rc1 Kd7 31. Rc2 Bf5 32. Rb2 Be4 33. Ke3 Bc6 34. g4 Bd5 35. g5 g6 36. a4 Ke6 37. g4 Kd7 38. a5 a6 39. Rb6 Bc6 40. a3 Ke6 41. Rb1 Kd5 42. Rf1 Ke6 43. Rf6+ Ke7 44. Rd6 Bd7 45. d5 Bxg4 46. Rb6 Bc8 47. Kd4 Kd7 48. e6+ fxe6 49. Rxe6 Kc7 50. Rxg6 1-0

GAME 2

Here I stumbled against a 1883 player, whom I had been 4-0 against. I got the better position, but let it falter a bit and then made an ill-advised sacrifice. Here is an English opening which I played in my study-minimizing fashion....c6. I was asked "do you played c6 against everything? Well, basically yes, but I have been looking at the Benko Gambit.

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. b3 d5 4. Bb2 Bf5 5. d3 e6 6. Nc3 d4 7. Nb1 c5 8. b4 b6 9. g3 Nbd7 10. Bg2 Rb8 11. b5 Bd6 12. h3 Qc7 13. Nh4 Bg6 14. O-O O-O 15. Nxg6 hxg6 16. Nd2 g5 17. Nf3 g4 18. Ng5 gxh3 19. Nxh3 Ng4 20. e3 Ndf6 21. Bf3 Nxf2 22. Rxf2 Bxg3 23. Rg2 Qe5 24. Qe2 Rbd8 25. exd4 cxd4 26. Qxe5 Bxe5 27. Nf2 Bf4 28. Bc1 Be3 29. Kf1 Nd7 30. Ke2 Bxc1 31. Rxc1 Nc5 32. Rcg1 g6 33. Ne4 Nxe4 34. Bxe4 Kg7 35. Rh2 Rh8 36. Rgh1 Rxh2+ 37. Rxh2 f5 38. Bc6 e5 39. Kf3 g5 40. a3 Kg6 41. Bd5 Rf8 42. Kg3 Re8 43. Re2 Kf6 44. a4 Rh8 45. Rh2 Rxh2 46. Kxh2 g4 47. Kg3 Kg5 48. a5 f4+ 49. Kg2 bxa5 50. c5 Kf6 51. b6 1-0

GAME 3

My venerable King's Gambit wins with ease against a 1580 rated player. My playing of the King's Gambit has gotten him to start playing it himself. Win or lose it's a fun game.

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5 This is what I call the patzer variation. 4. exd5 Bg4 5. Bb5+ Nd7 6. d4 a6 7. Bxd7+ Qxd7 8. O-O O-O-O 9. c4 Bxf3 10. Qxf3 g5 11. Nc3 h5 12. Ne4 f6 Development is the biggest key to the King's Gambit.

13. h4 Qg4 14. hxg5 f5 15. Nc5 Bxc5 16. dxc5 Qxg5 17. Bxf4 Qe7 18. d6 cxd6 19. cxd6 Qd7 20. Be5 Rh6 21. Qxf5 Qxf5 22. Rxf5 Re6 23. Rxh5 Nh6 24. c5 Ng4 25. Bc3 Rg8 26. Rh8 1-0

Drawn and Quartered

2005-10-27T13:43:00.000-07:00

Back at it Wednesday. Today was a draw as black against an 1836... in a game I should have won. I finished the Wednesday tournament with 2.5/4 and a 1915 performance. I expect my rating to go up 13 points, but if I would have won, it could have been 27. Wait 'till next month!

White: Ronald (1836)
Black: Chris (1843)

1. c4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Nc6 Why bother trying to learn another opening, the English when it is easy to force people into and opening you are more comfortable with. The move d4 is so natural that is has to be played. The exchange slav is pretty easy to play, as long as you know when to stop copying moves. 6. Bg5 Ne4 7. Bh4 Qa5 8. Qb3 e6 9. e3 Bb4 10. Rc1 O-O Here, I have some pressure going, but I don’t have enough going to win anything. The best is to continue to develop 11. Bd3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Ba3 13. Rb1 a6 14. O-O b5 He’s caught up in development but my goal is to pressure his weak pawn on c4. 15. Qc2 h6 16. Nd2 Qc7 Moves like f4 or e4 are coming. Also looked a Bd6 and f5. 17. e4 dxe4 18. Nxe4 Bb7 19. Bg3 Qd7 I should have gone straight to e7 here. 20. Rbd1 Rac8 Finally getting my rook in play 21. Qd2 Qe7 Dangerous looking was Nf6+ gxf6 Qxh6 22. Qf4 Rcd8 There is Bh4, and Nd6 to worry about. I’ve looked at f5 or g5 as well, but f5-Bh4-g5-Nxg5 looks dangerous and g5-Qf6 looks annoying. 24. Bg3 g5 However, now with my pawn on f6 I can play the dangerous looking g5.

25. Qc7 Rd7 26. Qb6 f5 27. Nc5 Bxc5 28. dxc5 f4 It’s not often the kingside pawns get revenge. 29. Rfe1 fxg3 30. hxg3 Rfd8 Following everything up took some thought. I also looked at playing the queen to f6 or f7 to pressure f2. 31. Re3 Kg7 There are no current check threats, but my position was okay so I thought I’d remove the threat. 32. Rde1 e5 Here I thought about playing Rxd3. I think it does hold now, but yesterday I was being a bit cautious. I am an instinct player and it didn’t feel right. 33. Be4 Rc7 34. Bxc6 Rxc6 35. Rxe5 Qxe5 36. Rxe5 Rxb6 His alternate 36. Qxb7+ looked threatenting, but Rc7 holds. (Qc7---Re7+ wins for black) 37. cxb6 Kf6 38. Rc5 Rd6 39. c4 Here comes by big mess-up. It was nearing 11 pm, the Astros were hanging on to their World Series chances and I had a few late nights in a row. If you need any other excuses, I probably can think of some.

39…b4 I thought this would trap in the rook 40. Rc7 Rxb6 Now I see the problems coming. I can’t play Rf6 without losing the bishop…but I do anyway. 41. c5 Rb5 42. c6 Ba8 43. Rc8 Rb6 44. Rxa8 Rxc6 Now he had a chance to win with c7—Bb7-Rb8. I should have played Rc5. 45. Rb8 a5 46. Rb5 Ra6 47. g4 Ke6 48. Kf1 Kd7 He offered a draw here. I had some hopes that I could still win with my queenside majority. 49. Ke2 Kc6 50. Re5 a4 51. Re6+ Kb5 52. Rxa6 Kxa6 53. Kd2 Kb5 54. Kc2 Kc4 55. g3 Kd4 56. f4 gxf4 57. gxf4 Ke4 58. f5 Ke5 59. Kd3 h5 1/2-1/2 The pawn ending is drawn and I offer this time.

King's Gambiteer

2005-10-20T08:11:00.000-07:00

I've been playing the King's Gambit as white against e5. It's fun opening and win or lose, it is an interesting game. It is hard to determine how well it is working for me because the opponents who play e5 thus far have been either 200+ points better than me or 200+ points below me. IT seems that either only beginners or experts play e5. Everyone else, including myself, has their own system. I've done "as expected", losing against the tougher opponents, and beating the weaker. I've glanced over this line, but it seemed to play itself, so I didn't really pay much attention to it. I, of course, could have played it better.

White: Me (1843)
Black: Francisco (2117)

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. d4 Nxd5 6. Bc4 Be7 7. O-O Be6 8. Ne5 Bf6 8. Bb3 would have been better here. 9. Bxd5 Qxd5 10. c4 Qd8 10. Nc3 is better. There isn't enough time to play c4 but it was soooo tempting. 11. Bxf4 Nc6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Be3 Bxc4 14. Re1 O-O 15. Nc3 Re8 16. Kh1 Qd7 17. b3 Ba6 18. Na4 Qd5 19. Nc5 Bc8 20. Qd2 (preventing Bh3) Bf5 21. Rac1 Bg6 Now I am getting some couterplay on the "c" file. 22. Na6 Qd7 23. Nb4 Be4 24. Bf2 Qg4 (threatens Bg5 & mate) 25. Be3 Qd7 This the last decsion point in the game. I'm down but far from out. I'm trying to play on the c5 file, but also wary of a lot of threats. There are a lot of threats involving Rxe3 or Bxg2. I thought Qc3 would hold, but it doesn't. In hindsight, Na6 was probably the best move here.

26. Qc3 Rad8 Oh boy. I can't take on c6 like I had hoped. 27. Nxc6 Bxc6 28. Qxc6 Qxc6 29. Rxc6 Bxd4 30. Bd2 Rxe1+ 31. Bxe1 Bf2! and I lose the bishop. Nonetheless, nothing else is better. Moving one of the rooks allows for

27. Red1 c5 28. Nc2 Bxc2 at this point I am toast and just played out a few moves. 29. Rxc2 cxd4 30. Bxd4 Bxd4 31. Qg3 Qf5 32. Qxc7 Bb6 33. Rxd8 Qf1#

I think, or at least wishful, that I can play at expert level positionally, and possibly tactically. Part of my problem is that I need to study the opening more. When you exit the opening being in a worse position, you have to fight tooth and nail to get some action.

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. d4 Nxd5 6. Bc4 Be7 7. O-O Be6 8. Ne5 Bf6 9. Bxd5 Qxd5 10. c4 Qd8 11. Bxf4 Nc6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Be3 Bxc4 14. Re1 O-O 15. Nc3 Re8 16. Kh1 Qd7 17. b3 Ba6 18. Na4 Qd5 19. Nc5 Bc8 20. Qd2 Bf5 21. Rac1 Bg6 22. Na6 Qd7 23. Nb4 Be4 24. Bf2 Qg4 25. Be3 Qd7 26. Qc3 Rad8 27. Red1 c5 28. Nc2 Bxc2 29. Rxc2 cxd4 30. Bxd4 Bxd4 31. Qg3 Qf5 32. Qxc7 Bb6 33. Rxd8 Qf1#

The Greatest Ending Ever Play (by me..)

2005-10-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

I've neglected my blog. Basically with the wedding, honeymoon, and Hurricane Rita, I haven't had much time to blog. Okay besides those excuses, I've also been wrapped up playing a computer game, Rise of Nations, and I've been playing Texas Hold'em on Mondays. I play chess every Wednesday though. There is a Wednesday tournament, where you play a game a week for a month, and that makes the tournament. It's full time control, 30 moves in 90 minutes and the G/60. For the past couple of months, I'd been idling. I'd beat people below me, and lose to people above me.

Finally I had a good comeback victory. For much of the game it looked like I was losing, then it looked drawish, and finally in the end I squeezed out a victory in an minor piece ending DOWN a pawn. So I am black versus a Russian guy nearly 200 points higher than me.

White: Anton (2038)
Black: Chris (1843)

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Be2 a6 9. e4 Bb7 Here 9...b4 would have been correct now my bishop gets blocked in. 10. e5 Nd5 11. Nxd5 cxd5 Trying exd5 looks risky with the ever possible e6 sac. 12. O-O Be7 13. Be3 O-O

14. Bd3 Re8 15. Nd2 b4 16. f4 f5 Well, f5 does certainly look weird, but f6 either last move or this move seemed sufficient. Allowing him to play f5 next move is bad. It become hard to defend f7 if I take. If i don't take, can proceed with f6. 17. g4 g6 18. gxf5 gxf5 19. Qh5 Kh8 20. Qf7 Rg8+ 21. Kh1 Rg6 I feel like I am out of the woods. I can force a trade of queens on the next move with Qf8, but wait...here comes a sacrifice.

22. Bxf5 exf5 23. Qxf5 Nf8 This was a good sac. I need to blockade the pawns on e6 and f5, but but my pieces are misplaced. I'm not sure if Nf8 was best 24. Qh5 Qe8 25. Qf3 Qf7 I've been looking at lots of moves and possibilities, but I couldn't find anything better. 26. f5 Rg8 27. Rg1 Rxg1+ 28. Rxg1 Rc8 I figure f6 is coming soon, but wanted to get my rook in a more active position. 29. Bh6 So what is Russian, for "oh crap". There are tons of threats. There is Bg7 followed by a discoverd check or Rg7. If I sac the queen for the knight and bishop, f6+ follows winning the dark bishop.

29....Ng6 I'm forced to give the piece back under unfavourable circumstances, but he must trade queens to do so. 30. fxg6 Qxf3+ 31. Nxf3 hxg6 32. Rc1 Kg8 He could have played 32. Rxg6 Rc2. There would have been a lot of pawns being grabbed. I wonder what Chessmaster says, but in hindsight it could have been a better try, but more risky. Often when you are up you want to trade and move on. 33. Kg2 a5 34. Rxc8+ Bxc8 I could wait until he takes me getting my bishop to a better diagonal. 35. Bg5 Bf8 No way am I trading the dark bishops. I will however trade dark for knight, leaving me with an opposite colored bishop ending (which normally draws.) 36. Kf2 a4 I am aiming to get my bishop to g1. He cannot play a3 himself.

37. Bc1 Bf5 38. a3 b3 He looked surprised by b3, but then realized I can play Bxa3 and the push b2. 39. Kg3 Be7 Here I offered a DRAW. I now honestly thought I could hold on to the draw, but he declined. 40. Ng1 Bd3 preventing his knight from getting to c3. 41. Nh3 Bf5 42. Nf2 Kf7 I should have played Bc2 in keeping with not wanting to let his bishop get to c3, but I missed his move. 43. Nd1 Bd7 44. Nc3 Ke6 4 5. Kg4 Kf7+ 46. Kf3 Ke6 He nonetheless is going to have trouble getting through 47. Kf4 Bd8 48. Kg3 Bb6 49. Be3 Ba5 The knight on c3 cannot stay. Taking on c3 has the same affect as taking on a3, but here I would get a knight. 50. Ne2 Kf5 51. Kf3 Be1 If he moved his knight, I would have taken it, again going into the drawish opposite colored bishop ending. 52. Bc1 g5 53. Be3 Up until move 53, I figure the game would draw & I would have accepted a draw proposal. However, here is where psychology in chess comes into play. When someone is near victory as he was after move 29, or worked so hard to win a pawn, it tough to step back and realize that not taking the draw will lead to a loss. I've been there once myself. 53..g4+ 54. Kg2 Ke4 Now my king has penetrated. The b2 pawn looks weak and difficult to defend.

55. Kf1 Ba5 Here I did look at trading bishops, but decided to keep it. Time has finally become a factor. We are both under 20 minutes. 56. Kf2 Kd3 57. Nf4+ Kc2 I've already calculated that I win the race handily. 58. Nxd5 Kxb2 59. Nf4 Kc2 0-1 The final touch for victory. The a3 pawn looks tempting, but Nd3 or Bf1 gives him some possibilities.

Next week I will be white against a 16 year old player rated 2110 to whom I have a 0-1-1 record. Now its time for me to study!!!!

If you want to plug it into a computer, here is the pgn:
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Be2 a6 9. e4 Bb7 10. e5 Nd5 11. Nxd5 cxd5 12. O-O Be7 13. Be3 O-O 14. Bd3 Re8 15. Nd2 b4 16. f4 f5 17. g4 g6 18. gxf5 gxf5 19. Qh5 Kh8 20. Qf7 Rg8+ 21. Kh1 Rg6 22. Bxf5 exf5 23. Qxf5 Nf8 24. Qh5 Qe8 25. Qf3 Qf7 26. f5 Rg8 27. Rg1 Rxg1+ 28. Rxg1 Rc8 29. Bh6 Ng6 30. fxg6 Qxf3+ 31. Nxf3 hxg6 32. Rc1 Kg8 33. Kg2 a5 34. Rxc8+ Bxc8 35. Bg5 Bf8 36. Kf2 a4 37. Bc1 Bf5 38. a3 b3 39. Kg3 Be7 40. Ng1 Bd3 41. Nh3 Bf5 42. Nf2 Kf7 43. Nd1 Bd7 44. Nc3 Ke64 5. Kg4 Kf7+ 46. Kf3 Ke6 47. Kf4 Bd8 48. Kg3 Bb6 49. Be3 Ba5 50. Ne2 Kf5 51. Kf3 Be1 52. Bc1 g5 53. Be3 g4+ 54. Kg2 Ke4 55. Kf1 Ba5 56. Kf2 Kd3 57. Nf4+ Kc2 58. Nxd5 Kxb2 59. Nf4 Kc2

Going to the Chapel

2005-08-31T12:02:00.000-07:00

'll be absent for a couple of weeks. I'm getting married on Saturday. In the run-up the wedding, I've been awfully busy, so my free time to chess blog, has diminished.

I hope to be back in full force in a few weeks. I certainly have some games to be catching up on.

Tournament Results

2005-08-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

I played in the Open section of a tournament this weekend. It started off good, with 1.5/2 games. My next two games were long tough battles, which I lost. I was happy to finally get white again in the fifth game, but with little break from the morning game, my mind was absent and a made a blunder without thinking about the move. I'll post the games when I have time.

Game 1
Draw versus 2100 as black
Game 2
Win versus 2015 as white
Game 3
Tough loss versus 2105 as black
Game 4
Tough loss versus 2155 as black
Game 5
Embarassing loss versus 2000 as white.

2005-07-28T06:11:00.000-07:00

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

Continuing mediocrity

2005-07-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

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.

Small Hiatus

2005-06-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

In case, any of y'all are wondering, I've been on a small, but rather forced hiatus from chess. First, I was busy studying for and taking the GMAT (a standardized test). Then, I was busy moving. Finally, I think my schedule will clear up enough to allow me to get some games in. I hope I haven't forgotten everything.

The Unusual Feeling of Victory!

2005-06-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

I’m back, baby! It was great to win again, against a 1900 player. The key difference is that this time control was 30/90’, G/30’ instead of between G/30-G/60. I had time to think about the position and candidate moves. What’s interesting about this closed Sicilian game is that it turns into a position that resembles the French defense. Not a bad pyschological plus though. Most Sicilian players wouldn't be comfortable in a French position

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 a6 4. Nf3 b5 5. g3 Bb7 6. d3 Nf6 7. Bg2 d5 8. e5 Nd7 9. O-O Be7 10. d4 Nc6 11. Be3 Qc7 12. Nce2 Nb6 13. b3 c4 14. g4 I played this move to force a decision about which side he was going to castle. I felt my pieces were fluid enough to mount an attack on either side.

14...O-O-O?! Both a queenside and a kingside castle could be dangerous. Here, keeping the king in the center is probably best. 15. a4 g6 16. axb5 axb5 17. Nc3 b4 18. Nb5 Qd7 19. c3 bxc3 20. Nxc3 Bb4 21. Nb5 Na5 Here is a critical point and without proper black, white could find himself quickly loosing. 22. bxc4 Nbxc4

23. Qa4!! Bc6 Here 23…Nxe3 fails to 24. Qxb4 Nxf1 25. Qxa5 where Ne6+ or Rc1+ are devastating threats. 24. Qxb4 Bxb5 25. Rfc1 Kb7 26. Bf1 Ra8 27. Rxa5 Rxa5 28. Bxc4 Kb6 I liked how the bishop on e3 was hanging for fives moves! 29. Bd2 Rc8?? 30. Qxa5 1-0. Black blundered badly, but his game was rather lost anyway. Both Rha8 and Ra4 lose at least a piece after Qc5+.

The game in pgn:
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 a6 4. Nf3 b5 5. g3 Bb7 6. d3 Nf6 7. Bg2 d5 8. e5 Nd7 9. O-O Be7 10. d4 Nc6 11. Be3 Qc7 12. Nce2 Nb6 13. b3 c4 14. g4 O-O-O 15. a4 g6 16. axb5 axb5 17. Nc3 b4 18. Nb5 Qd7 19. c3 bxc3 20. Nxc3 Bb4 21. Nb5 Na5 22. bxc4 Nbxc4 23. Qa4 Bc6 24. Qxb4 Bxb5 25. Rfc1 Kb7 26. Bf1 Ra8 27. Rxa5 Rxa5 28. Bxc4 Kb6 29. Bd2 Rc8 30. Qxa5

The Importance of Endgames

2005-06-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

Although I made some good moves and some minor mistake, this game as white against a 1702 game to this position. The position after 48...Rd1. Can I win this game? In the limited time, I could not find a way to make progress.

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. Be3 Ne4 7. Qg4 Nxc3 8. Bd2 Nxa2 9. Qxg7 Bxd2+ 10. Kxd2 Qg5 11. Qxg5 hxg5 12. Rxa2 Nd7 13. Bd3 c5 14. c3 cxd4 15. cxd4 Nb8 16. Nf3 g4 17. Ne1 Nc6 18. Nc2 Bd7 19. b4 Ne7 20. Ne3 Rg8 21. b5 Nc8 22. Be2 Nb6 23. Rc1 Nc4+ 24. Nxc4 dxc4 25. Bxc4 Rh8 26. Rh1 a6 27. h4 gxh3 28. gxh3 Ke7 29. bxa6 bxa6 30. Rxa6 Rxa6 31. Bxa6 Bc6 32. Rh2 Rh4 33. Kc3 Bf3 34. Bf1 f6 35. Bg2 Bxg2 36. Rxg2 Rh3 37. Rg3 Rh7 38. f4 fxe5 39. fxe5 Rf7 40. Kc4 Kd7 41. Ra3 Rf1 Ra7+ 42. Kc6 43. Ra6+ Kd7 44. Kb5 Rc1 45. Ra7+ Ke8 46. Ra4 Kd7 47. Rc4 Rb1 48. Kc5 Rd1 49. Rb4 Rc1 50. Kb5 Rd1 51. Kb6 Rd2 52. Kc5 Rc2

The other game, I was white and didn't play the middlegame well but I played the rook endgame well to give myself new life. Yet, I lost anyway. I can't say I had a ton of time left either. . I think I definitely have more chance for a draw here, than I did for a win in the first. I ended up not being able to stop the two connected passed pawns with my rook. There has to be theory regarding a rook vs 2 pawns. I'm black and the position is after 54. Rf8:

Anyway I think I even missed a win?! Perhaps allow the rook to blockade, and bring the king over to stop the pawns. 55….Rb6 56. Rb1 56. Rb1 Kd5 57. g4 Ke5 58. g5 Kf5 59. h4 Rb8 where you are threatening mate. 60. Rf1+ Ke6 61. Rb1 Kf7 62. Rf1+ Kg7 63. Rb1 Rb6. There is certainly other tries and I need to run it through Chessmaster.

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Nf3 Nd7 7. Bd3 Bxd3 8. Qxd3 e6 9. Bf4 Ngf6 10. O-O-O Nd5 11. Bg5 Qc7 12. Rhe1 h6 13. Bd2 O-O-O 14. c4 Nf4 15. Bxf4 Qxf4+ 16. Kb1 g6 17. Qe4 Qxe4 18. Nxe4 Nb6 19. b3 Bg7 20. Ne5 Rhf8 21. Kc2 Kc7 22. Nc5 Nc8 23. Nxf7 Rxf7 24. Nxe6+ Kd7 25. Nxd8 Kxd8 26. d5 cxd5 27. Rxd5 Kc7 28. f3 Nd6 29. Re6 Nf5 30. Kd3 Rf6 31. Rxf5 Rxe6 32. Rf7+ Kc6 33. Rxg7 g5 34. Kd2 a6 35. Rf7 b5 36. cxb5 axb5 37. g3 b4 38. f4 gxf4 39. Rxf4 Kb5 40. Kd3 Rd6+ 41. Rd4 Ra6 42. Ke3 Rxa2 43. h3 Rg2 44. Kf3 Rb2 45. Rd5+ Kc6 46. Rd3 Rb1 47. Kg4 Rc1 48. Kh5 Rc3 49. Rd4 Rxb3 50. Rg4 Kc5 51. Kxh6 Rd3 52. Rg8 Rd6+ 53. Kh5 b3 54. Rf8 b2 55. Rf1 Kb4 56. g4 Ka3 57. g5 Ka2 58. g6 b1Q 59. Rxb1 Kxb1

Hemorraging Rating Points

2005-06-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

My last month of chess has been dismal. My last 16 games, I'm +5 -8 =3 against an average rating of 1711. My rating has slipped from 1904 to an expected 1817. So what is going on? I think it's important to analyse why I'm getting hammered.

Too much chess? I've played on 7 different occasions in the last 6 weeks, totalling the 16 games. Before that, it was about every other week.
Short time controls. Of those 16 games, 4 were G/30, which I was +1 -3 against a 1694 average rating.
Opening Shortfalls. Of the 16 games, I was on the black side of a Caro-Kann 9 times, +2 -5 =2 against a 1738 average rating. Worse yet, playing the classical variation I'm =2 -4 against 1848 average rated opposition. I got the feeling that I don't know what I'm doing in the Caro-Kann! Time to study it I guess.

Two Games in 30 moves!?

2005-05-31T09:08:00.000-07:00

I played two games on Saturday, one against a 2200 and one against a 1656. I lost the former and won the latter, both last a mere 15 moves. The first began unconventionally:

1. Nc3 c6 2. e4 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bg4 5. Bc4 e6 6. h3 Bh5 7. Ng3 Bg6 8. h4 h6 9. Ne5 Bh7 10. Qe2 Qe7 11. d4 Nd7 12. Bf4 Ngf6 13. O-O-O O-O-O 14. Nxc6 Qd6 15. Bxd6 1-0

Position after 13....O-O-O

What a blunder O-O-O was. I'm certainly not going to hit 2000 soon if I make moves like that. Sometimes I feel it's easier to see the tactics against you opponent than it is to see potential threats. After 14. Nxc6 the game is lost. Taking the knight loses to Ba6# and Qe8 looses to Nxa7#.
As for the odd opening, a move like Nc3 can be played a player with a flexible opening strategy. It essentially can let black dictate the opening, but if he is not careful, he can find himself playing an opening that is he not used to. For example 1. Nc3 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. e4 and all of a sudden the position is a philidor's defense. My transposition to the Caro-Kann was relatively fine, but I wasn't terribly used to the 2 knights variation. 13...Nb6 14. Bb3 Nd5 would have been best for me and lead to a fine position.

The second was a reversal of fortunes:

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4 a6 8. Qg4 g6 9. Nf3 c5 10. dxc5 Nxc5 11. O-O-O b5 12. Nxd5 Qb7 13. Nf6+ Kf8 14. Rd8+ Kg7 15. Nh5+ 1-0 as it is mate in one.

Position after 11.... b5

12. After Nxd5, the loss is rather forced, though it took me a few minutes to find it. There is no better move for black than Qb7. 13...Ke7 also loses to 14. Ng8+ Rxg8 15. Qg5+ Ke8 16. Rd8#. is the only Hopefully this win will break my slump which has seen me go 3-5-1 since my win streak ended.

Lackluster Results

2005-05-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

After a couple of busy weeks, for which no chess was possible, I returned to competitive play with lackluster results. In the first round I played a rather unexciting game versus a 1625 as black. It drew, but I was the one fighting for the draw. The second game began much better for me against a 1654, but the result didn't turn out so good. Now I've had two losses in the last four games. When you lose, it's best to analyse why, not only game, but the surrounding circumstances.

I got into time trouble at the end and that's what made me lose, but what was the cause of my poor time management? Instead of working on openings, perhaps I was playing a little too much blitz on the net? I think playing blitz at time controls less than 5/0 hurts your game. Playing at these quick times disrupts your timing as well as playing any chess variants does. 5/0 blitz is good practice for openings, but you need to back it up with other studying. Playing itself, doesn't necessarily improve your game.

1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 exf4 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. d4 Nf6 6. Bc4 O-O 7. O-O Bg4 8. Qd3 c6 9. Nc3 b5 10. Bb3 b4 11. Ne4 Nxd5 12. Nxd6 Qxd6 13. Ne5 Qe6 14. Bxf4 Bf5 15. Qf3 Nd7

I thought for a while here. I looked at 16. Nxc6 Be4 17. Bxd5 Bxf3 18. Bxe6 Bxc6 19. Bb3. I thought, all that, and I would just win a pawn. Chessmaster (CM) liked it, but engines tend to go for the quick pawn. I thought that it would eleviate all the pressure and that winning with just a pawn isn't a walk in the park. However, black's b4 pawn is very weak and 20. Bd6 will fork the rook and the pawn. Something like this is hard to see when you are playing. I decided instead to bring the other rook into the game and continue putting pressure. It was still a fine move (2nd best according to CM)

16. Rae1 Nxe5 17. Rxe5 I also looked at bishop takes, but thought Bg4 was an easy way out for black. Turns out that CM likes Bxe5 much better. 17...Qg6 18. Bxd5 cxd5 19. Qxd5 Bxc2 20. Rg5 Qd3 21. Rg3 Qe4 22. Qc4 This is played to continue to prevent the f pawn from moving. 22...a5 23. Be5 g6 24. Qc7? This was my major mistake, although it's not obvious! I thought the queen was the most ill placed pieced so I wanted to try to bring it around to f6. I was running short on time by this point though. I had about 7 minutes to my opponent's 25. While 24. Rgf3 would be winning and would have given me a score of 2.47. Instead CM calls it an even game after O-O. Sometimes, you need to create a weakness and then switch to where you are attacking. The only was to protect f6 is 24...Ra7 but 25. Bd6 would have white with a much clearer advantage.

24...Bd3 25. Qe7 Ra6! 26. Rc1 Rc6! 27. Qg5?? f6 I saw f6, but I didn't have time to realise that the rook trade on c1 first, would kill my chances to recapture his bishop. 28. Qd2 Rxc1 29. Qxc1 fxe5 0-1 There was a few more moves, but I shortly ran out of time afterwards.

I'm also including a pgn version of this game here without any comments or move anontations. I will start doing this for my games that I post and I recommend others do it as well. Although screenshots are nice, it's still hard to follow a game. If you to the "Chess Lab" site, hit the link for Load Game, then cut and paste the below, the game will be loaded for easy replay! Proper format is no "!" or "?", one space in between the number and the move, castles are with "O"as in oh, not "0" as zero.
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 exf4 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. d4 Nf6 6. Bc4 O-O 7. O-O Bg4 8. Qd3 c6 9. Nc3 b5 10. Bb3 b4 11. Ne4 Nxd5 12. Nxd6 Qxd6 13. Ne5 Qe6 14. Bxf4 Bf5 15. Qf3 Nd7 16. Rae1 Nxe5 17. Rxe5 Qg6 18. Bxd5 cxd5 19. Qxd5 Bxc2 20. Rg5 Qd3 21. Rg3 Qe4 22. Qc4 a5 23. Be5 g6 24. Qc7 Bd3 25. Qe7 Ra6 26. Rc1 Rc6 27. Qg5 f6 28. Qd2 Rxc1 29. Qxc1 fxe5

M-tel Masters-Updated

2005-05-22T18:53:00.000-07:00

Just finishing in Sofia, Bulgaria, a super-GM tournament. The big catch is that draw agreements are not allowed, removing the tendancy of GMs to draw after 20 moves. I did well with my predictions! I figured of the top 3 playing (Topalov, Anand, & Kramnik) that the early draw happy Kramnik would have some psychological difficulties.

Final Score out of 10 games (ties breaks are included in placing):
1: Topalov 6.5
2: Anand 5.5
3: Polgar 5
4: Ponomariov 5.0
5: Kramnik 4.0
6: Adams 4.0

My pre-tournament predictions:
1: Topalov (home field advantage)
2: Polgar (she's a risk taker)
3: Anand (how could he finish less than third?)
4: Adams (typical Adams finish)
5: Kramnik (he'll be uncomfortable playing on in certain positions)
6: Ponomariov (who is he going to beat?)

Playing Juniors

2005-05-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

I haven’t played any over the board games in a few weeks so I don’t have too much new to discuss. However, I was thinking about play against juniors.

Playing children can be psychologically challenging to adults. Perhaps you are scheduled to play a 10 year old in your next round of your tournament. He can’t drive, vote, and hasn’t even learned algebra, yet he may be your rating equal at the chess board. It certainly can be intimating because you fear a serious loss of pride if you lose. Perhaps you have some friends with you that will amplify that loss as well. However, I think it’s time to turn the tables on them

My anti-kid strategy:

1. Play slow. Kids tend to play quickly. Don’t play at their speed. Use the time you have to work out combinations and strategy. Making them sit there and be bored will make them impatient.

2. Play old openings. Kids tend to play openings that are in fashion…which means Sicilian, Roy Lopez, etc. They know the opening moves by heart. They have several lines memorize, but they don’t necessarily understand the strategy behind them. I love the look of bewilderment on a kid’s face when I play the King’s Gambit. Often then, they go into a bad line. Since nearly all children play the Sicilian, a closed Sicilian of some type works well against them. They never see them when they play against their friends at school. It's all about quick attacks.

3. Closed positions: Kids are all about tactics, tactics, and tactics. They seem them and they can run through them quickly. What they don’t understand are slow buildups, queenside expansions, minority attacks, weak pawns, control of individual squares, or endgames.

4. Complicated positions: When there is a lot going on in a position, whether tactically or strategically, kids get frustrated having to sit there and think about all the complications. Typically they will trade to get out of it. Make sure any result trade gives you an advantage, like in pawn structure.

Sicilian - Alapin variation

2005-05-04T07:23:00.000-07:00

Originally wanting to drift away from the opening complexities of the Open Sicilian, I was looking for a viable alternative. I played the Alapin 1. e4 c5 2. c3 a few times with mixed success. I continued looking and found the Grand Prix, which has given me much better results.

The Sicilian Defense, Alapin Variation begins 1. e4 c5 2. c3. It looks rather intriguing, but I don’t see white gaining much of an advantage. Although, I’m certainly not qualified to evaluate an opening, I can see how effective an opening will be for the club player who has a limited amount of time to study. For the average tournament player, it doesn’t seem troublesome for black can easily equalize.

The first variation to evaluate is 2...d5. Many of the moves are natural but I don't think black has any trouble bring out his pieces. Looking at the below position, White has an isolated pawn, Black can put his light bishop on b7. It already looks drawish at best. The position isn't complex enough to give White chances to attack. Many pieces will probably get traded and white's isolated pawn will be a liability. 1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Be2 Nc6 7. O-O cxd4 8. cxd4 Be7 9. Nc3 Qd6

The other major variation is to play 2...Nf6. Here white's pieces are slightly better placed. The pawn on e5 is a good pawn and hinders a Black defense of his kingside. White has better chances to attack. However, white has two isolated pawns on the Queenside. If Black can trade pieces, he will have an endgame advantage.
1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nf3 e6 6. cxd4 d6 7. Bc4 Nc6 8. O-O Be7 9. Qe2 O-O 10. Nc3 Nxc3 11. bxc3 dxe5 12. dxe5 Qa5

The third variation, which people didn't seem to play, transposes into the Advance variation of the French defense after 1. e4 c5 2. c3 e6 3. d4 d5 4. e5.

In Part II, I'll add positions I faced over the board.

The Streak Is Over. Oh the Horror

2005-05-03T06:49:00.000-07:00

I had managed to stretch my unbeaten streak to 21 games (+18 =3), which included two masters (both wins), and 16 people over 1600, and I had also won 17 of the 18 games. This period also saw my rating go from 1699 to 1915. All good things must come to an end, I guess. I lost a battle with a 2000 rated player during a time scramble. Both of us had under 3 minutes and I blundered first. I’m not too distressed because I know I played a solid game.

The opening began favorably for me. I’ve had good results with the Grand Prix. I was actually 7-0 with it before this game.

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bc4 Nc6 6. O-O Nf6 7. d3 O-O 8. Qe1 Be6

I decided trading the bishops here would open the h-file for him and add a pawn in the center.

9. Bb5 a6 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. Qh4 Nd7 12. f5 gxf5

Here I thought for a good 10 minutes. There are many different possibilities and continuations to consider. The other variation I looked at was 13. Ng5. after 13…Ng5 14. fxe5 Bd5 15. Ne4 Bxe4 16. fxe4 I saw this position. I didn’t really know how to continue from here. Perhaps 16. Nxe4 would be better? Perhaps Rf3 could follow. I chose to continue the way I did because I wanted to get the bishop in the game before “blocking” it by knight. It may have been the move to make but it’s quite difficult to decide at the time.

13. Bh6 f6 14. Qg3 Rf7 15. exf5 Bxf5 16. Nh4 Be6 17. Nf5 Bxf5 18. Rxf5 Kh8

13…f6 is an excellent defensive resource. My 14th move also took a long time to think. There are several things to consider. If I allow the light squared bishop to go to g6, any attack is stopped. I also don’t want to allow his rook to control the g-file. I want to bring my other pieces into the attack, but also am aware of how long that will take. Ne5 looks to be like another defensive resources. His dark squared bishop isn’t great, so I’m also not in a rush to trade it away. I looked at 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Qh4 pinning the f pawn to the bishop. I even looked at Ng5 sacrifices, but I don’t think they worked. I decided on the line I played because it allowed my knight to move out of the way for my rooks to come into the game.
The line I looked at took me here. I didn’t want to trade bishops as mine is better. His really just gets in the way.

19. Bd2 Rb8 20. b3 Ne5 21. Rh5 Qd7 22. Qh4 Bf8 23. Rf1 Qg4

Here black is able to force a trade of queens. Perhaps 23. h3 would have been better. At this point I have about 6 minutes to his 30 minutes. I spent so much time trying to find the correct attack.

24. Ne4 Rg7 25. Qxg4 Rxg4 26. h3 Rg6 27. Kh2 Nf7 28. Rf4 Rh6 29. Rh4 Rxh5 30. Rxh5 Bg7

Now black’s pieces are coming alive and he’s up a pawn. However I think my piece aren’t bad at all. Black has three isolated pawns to guard and it won't be too hard to pick off one. After 32. Rh4 I have the option of Ra4 as well.

31. Ng3 e6 32. Rh4 f5 33. Nh5 Be5+ 34. Bf4 Rb7 35. Bxe5 Nxe5 36. Nf4 Rb4 37. Kg3 Kg8 38. Nxe6 Rxh4 39. Kxh4 Kf7

The rooks get traded and we go into a knight and pawn endgame. I think I have a significantly better position here. I think with time, I could have won this position. He has three isolated pawns. However, he’s got about 4 minutes at this point, and I’ve got about 3. That’s the downside of a G/60…the endgame will suffer. I might have even started to play TOO quickly. At one point, after about move 43 or so, I even had more time than him. However, I was moving somewhat blindly at 5 seconds a move or so. Resulting, I walked into a pawn fork. I’m not too disappointed with the loss. I know I played solidly. Perhaps next time I will have a better feel for the attack and not have to spend as much time on planning it over the board.

40. Ng5 Kg6 41. Ne6 Kf6 42. Nf4 d5 43. a4 Nf7 44. Kg3 Ke5 45. Ne2 Nd6 46. Kf3 Nh6 47. Ke3 f4+ 0-1

Club Battles

2005-04-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

I had been playing rather well recently and have had some good luck on my side. Here we see another game against a regular club opponent. Although, I’m +3-1 against this opponent, we are closely matched and I enjoy playing him. My loss, I should have drawn (he offered and I declined!) and one victory, he blundered in a won position. Only recently learning the game, this 14 year old has gone from his first provisional rating of 970 in June 04 to 1937, 10 months later!

1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Bg4 5. O-O dxc4 6. Ne5 Be6 7. Qc2 Nbd7 8. Nxc4 g6 9. d3 Bg7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. e4 Bxc4 12. dxc4 e5 13. f4 Ng4 14. f5 Qb6 15. Kh1 Ne3 16. Bxe3 Qxe3 17. Rf3 Qc5 18. Na4 Qa5 19. Raf1 Nf6 20. h3 Rad8 21. Nc3 Rd4 22. b3 Qd8 23. R1f2 Qd6 24. Bf1 Rd8 25. fxg6 hxg6 26. c5

When you play in tournaments, you never know what your opponents styles are. When you play in a club, you get used to different opponents and their openings. Here, this particular teenaged opponent changed from his customary d4 tot he English. I tried to force him back into a Queen's Gambit Slav by playing c6. d4 is logical good move. The result is a rather interesting position and white has just played a forceful move. White is calling bluff.

26…Qxc5 27. Rxf6 Bxf6 28. Rxf6 Rd2 29. Qc1 Qe3 White has gotten two pieces for the rook and pawn, but he’s allowed the rooks to penetrate. Notice that black is now threatening the pawn on g3 and trapping the rook with Kg7!

30. Ne2 Kg7 31. Rxf7 Kxf7 32. Qc4+ Kf6! The King goes to f6 to keep the queen out of the back area and scoring a perpetual check draw. I looked at this before playing Kg7. 33. Kg2 Rxe2 34. Bxe2 Rd2

I was able to sacrifice the rook back to break apart his king protection. Notice 32...Kf6 is the square that keeps the queen out of the back area. The rook had covered the g8 square and the king covered e6 and f7. Now the queen is tied down to protected the bishop and against mate.

35. Kf1 Rxa2 36. h4 Qxg3 37. Qg8 Ra1+ 38. Bd1 Rxd1 39. Ke2 Qd3+ 0-1

The Streak Continues

2005-04-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

My streak continues, as I’ve gone 15 games without a loss at +12 =3 against a median rating of 1846. My last 12 games (the most I can calculate on the rating calculator) has produced a performance of 2479! However glad I am, I say this all with humility. Certainly several of my games have been won through missed opportunities of my opponents. A few of them have been noteworthy, but many have relied on opponent mistakes after they had a better position. This particular game is against a 1890 rated opponent.

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bb5 Nd4 6. O-O e6 7. d3 Ne7 8. Be3?! O-O 9. Qd2? Qb6! 10. Bc4 Qxb2 11. e5 Qxc2 12. Nxd4 Qxd2 13. Bxd2 cxd4

I’ve certainly made some poor moves. My 8th and 9th moves were made as I wasn’t completely sure of a plan, so I decided just to develop instead. My 11th move avoids 11. Rb1 Nxf3+ 12. gxf3 Qxc3 winning a piece. So here my mistakes have cost me two pawns. My only compensation is being slightly more developed. I have to activate all of my pieces in order to save the game.

14. Nb5 Nc6 15. Nd6 f6 16. exf6 Bxf6 17. f5!! Ne5. Utilizing the pinned pawn, I can attempt to open the kingside or gain a pawn or two back.

18. fxe6 Nxc4 19. Nxc4 dxe6 20. Bb4!! Bd7

There is no way to save the exchange or the bishop because with 20…Rf7 21. Nd5 wins it anyway. It is best forego the exchange and get his pieces active. Although I gained the exchange, I feel the potential power of his bishop pair and extra pawns. I still feel he is winning, and I need to make my knight powerful. I can’t honestly say I saw bishop move until about move 18. However, I think that if your pieces are well placed, sometimes, tactics will appear and make themselves available.

21. Bxf8 Rxf8 22. Nd6 Bc6 Our resident master had suggested afterwards for black to forego a pawn in order to activate bishops or play b6 instead to allow the pawn to defend the pawn. Luckily, for me, as white, he didn't! 23. Rae1 Bd5 24. Ne4 Bxe4 25. Rxe4 e5.

26. Rc1? Bg5! After all the effort to contain his pieces, I rushed the 26th move and didn’t notice his threats. Luckily, I was able to win due to my constant threats and his dwidling time. 27. Rce1 Be3+ 28. Kh1 Rf2 29. Rxe5 Rxa2 30. Re7 b5 31. h3 b4 32. Rf1 Bf2?? Black gives up his control of the c1 square and loses. Afterwards he said he was planning 32…Rf2, which is better, but changed his mind at the last minute, which leads to 33. Rxf2 Bxf2 34. Rxa5 Be1 White’s extra pawn on the kingside would probably prove decisive anyway. However, my thoughts of 32… b3 33. Rf7 Bh6 looks better for black. In hindsight, perhaps for me 32. Rb7 would have prevented this by slowing down black. Nonetheless as Savielly Tartakower said, "The winner of a game is the one who has made the next to last blunder" 33. Rc1 Kf7 34. Rxh7 Re2 35. Rc8+ 1-0.

Rating Intimidation

2005-04-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

A young player I know sent out his game, which quickly ended in a repetitive check draw. He wrote wondering, if he should have played on. He was white rated 1250 facing his 1688 rated opponent. Here is the final position

Here's what I wrote:

Of course you should have played on! I hope you weren’t intimidated by the rating gap. The position is crying out for it to be played. In a position like that, there HAS to be something, even if it only involves picking up a pawn or two and then trading down to a won endgame.

Here’s my 2 p analysis:

17. exf5 Nxf5 18. Ne4+ Ke7 (18…Kf7 19. Qh7 Ng7 20. Rh6) 19. Qxg6. Now Rh7+ is threatened. You have a lot of possibilities. The knight is only protected by the bishop and the bishop is only protected by the king. Allowing Rxh7 would pick up the bishop. If 19….Qe8 which may be black’s best move here, 20. Rh7+ anyway and 20… Kd8. If 20…Rh7 21. Qg5+ Kd7 22. Nf6+ wins the queen. After 21. Qg5+, you are up a clear pawn and his position is in shambles.

If 17… Bxf5, but 18. Nf3 Rh8 19. Qg5+ Kf7 (19…Ke6 20. g4 traps the bishop) 20. O-O-O and you have a substantially better position.

Ratings can either be intimating or make you relax too much. I think it’s best not to know if you can. In high school, I played a teenager sensation who was a master and I was so intimidated I lost before I even moved a piece. On the other hand, I recently played a 1300 and although I actively tried not to be overconfident, I still didn’t evaluate as much as I should have, so I got in a bad position. Luckily I was able to win, but it wasn’t pretty.

Play for fun first, winning second, and rating third. Always be eager to try to beat a higher rated player.

Caro-Kann learning experiences

2005-04-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

Expanding on my earlier 2/22 post regarding Caro-Kann lessons learned, I had another “learning experience.” This game was played about 2 months ago against a player rated 1867. The good news is that this game, touched off an unbeaten streak which has now lasted 12 games with a performance of 2235. My opponent 1 e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Nf3 Nd7 7. Bd3 Bxd3 8. Qxd3 Ngf6 9. O-o e6 10. Re1 Bd6? 11. Nf5!

Crap! I wanted to prevent Bf4, but missed the knight move. I knew I was in for it now. Now I know that Qc7 or Be7 are the two acceptable moves.

11… Bf8 This move is forced. 12. Bf4 Nb6 13. Nd6+ is threatened. 13. c4 g6 The bishop has to get out and the knight is a pain 14. Ng3 Bg7 15. c5 Nd5 16. Bd6!

Ne7 The problem with having played both e6 and g6 is that the white dark bishop has two ways to prevent me from castling. 17. Qb3 b5 18. Ng5. There are many knight sacrifice threats possible now. 18… Nfd5 19. Qf3 O-O I was taking a pounding, but so far staved off his threats. I couldn’t move my f8 rook and my e7 knight was still pinned. On top of all of this, I had spent time thinking and was down to about 20 minutes.

20. h4?! Bxd4 21. Rad1?! Bxb2. 22. Qe2 Bg7. He sacrifices two pawns for not much. The quiet 20. Rad1 would have been much better. There’s no immediate rush for him as I am with many opportunities. I was thinking to sacrifice the exchange somehow to alleviate my position. His attack fell apart after this and I even had some winning chances. However, without sufficient time, we both ended up in a time scramble and we both had to settle for a draw.

The main idea here is to the potential danger of Bd6 and to show the power of pins. Generally, it's a good idea to break a pin regardless of whether it is threatening anything. Here psychology comes into play. There was a chess saying that in order for my opponent to beat me, he needs to beat me in the opening, the middlegame, and the endgame. Here, my opponent won the opening. It is easy to fall apart at this point. However, you need dig down and make it as difficult as possible for your opponent to win. You can turn the psychological tables on him. If you thwart threat after threat, he may get frustrated and begin to make mistakes. Perhaps 20. h4 was a psychological need to crush me, instead of being patient. I know I’ve made that mistake before.

What Do People Play These Days?

2005-03-29T08:35:00.000-08:00

Remember the days when everyone played 1. e4 e5. ? No more, I say. Since I started playing chess again, I’ve played as white 47 times, enough to collate some statistics. 46 of these times I’ve played 1. e4. Knowing what people play can help to determine what openings to concentrate on. However, watching the grandmasters can be deceiving as they will play vastly different openings than club players.

As white, I’ve played against:
Sicilian (35%)
French (18%)
1…e5 (17%)
Pirc (14%)
Center Counter/Scandinavian (12%)
Caro Kann (7%)
Alekhine (2%)

The most interesting statistics is that I’ve played against 1…e5 only twice by a player rated over 1400, which means 2 in 35 times. The other 6 times were against low rated junior players. Grandmasters frequently play e5. At the recent Linares tournament, e5 was play in 10 of 27 e4 openings (all 17 others were Siclian.) Is there too many opening variations to learn or is it black just constantly battles for equality? I’m also a bit surprised to see how little people play the Caro-Kann.

As Black, I’ve faced
1. e4 (60%)
Queen’s Gambit (30%)
Queen’s Pawn (8%)
English (2%)

Beating a Master in 20 Moves

2005-03-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

My second victory against a master, a USCF Life Master, was more thrilling and fulfilling than the first, which I still have yet to post.

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Bb5 Nge7 5. Nf3 a6 6. Bxc6 Nxc6 7. O-O b5 8. d3 Bb7
The game begins in reasonable fashion. Typically with the Sicilian – Grand Prix variation, White seeks to trade off his white bishop for Black’s queenside knight and double the pawns on the c-file. Black has chosen a variation to replace his queenside knight with his kingside. I didn’t think retreating the bishop after a6 was worthwhile so I traded it off anyway. I would say that this position is even.

9. Qe1 g6 White moves to begin a kingside attack and black tries to fianchetto his king’s bishop, which is common in the Sicilian, but in this variation it looks out of place. 10. e5 I was to block his bishop in at g7, but more importantly try to maneuver a knight from c3-e4-either f6 or d6. I think black may have had a better try with Nd4 here to prevent Ne4. I also could have played f5 myself with Bg5 to follow. Chessmaster (CM) rates e5 as the best move at 0.20 advantage for me. (Remember a 1.0 advantage is considered 1 pawn)

10....f5?! Better for black would have been d5 or Nd4. CM gives me a 0.86 advantage 11. exf6 Qxf6 12. Nd5! Qd8 The black queen has only one square to go to as he must protect c7.

13. f5 Nd4 I try to sacrifice my f pawn in order to put the bishop on g5. Black tries to play actively which is good. 14. Nxd4 Bxd5 These two moves are rather forced and natural on both sides, but my advantage is 2.37. 15. Qe5! Rg8? This is the only square the rook can move to, however, in hindsight foregoing the rook and playing actively would have been better. 15...Qh4 was looked at immediately after the game and CM gives 15...gxf5 16. Qxh8 cxd4 17. Bh6 Qe7.

16. fxe6! dxe6 If 16…Bxe6 17. Nxe6 dxe6 18. Qxe6+ wins the rook on g7. Also note that the bishop is hanging after fxe6, so black must do something to save it as well. Other moves also allow exd7+.

17. Nxe6 Bd6 Black cannot play Qe7 because of Nc7+ winning a piece. Now I originally thought that 18. Qxd5 loses to Bxh2+ winning the queen (and so did my opponent), but subsequent analysis shows that 19. Kxh2 Qxd5 20. Nxc7! wins the queen back. However 18. Ng7+! Kd7 19. Qxd5 Rxg7 20. Bf4 Black cannot save the bishop. If 20…Kc7 21. Bxd6+ Qxd6 22. Qxa8 wins a rook instead. 1-0

Tournament Review - Last Round

2005-03-16T18:23:00.000-08:00

I had to take a fourth round bye, but it was okay as I was leading alone with 3. For round 5, I faced off against the only other person with 3.5 A victory would secure clear first. I draw would mean a multi-way tie for 1st.

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3. Here I sat and thought for a period. I wasn’t sure how sound playing my usual 4… Bf5 was in this position. I could have imagined that 5. Qb3 Qd7 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Bb5 Nc6 could have been annoying. I’ve seen the Meran variation (4… e6 5. Bd3 dxc4 6. Bxc4 b5 7. Bd3 a6 with plans to play Bb7 and c5) but had no experience with it. However, I went with the Meran. 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. a3. Now seems to mess up my plans for the Meran. If 6… dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 a6 9. b4! Would prevent any hope of c5 and my bishop getting out. 6….a5!? This isn’t a typical move I was aiming to prevent a vast expansion on the queenside with 7. b4.

7. b3?! This was a bit strange. However, it was explained that he feared 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxd4 b5 9. Bd3 b4 10. axb4 Bxb4. I decided that I need to plan for a break on e5. 7…. Bd6 8. Bd3 e5. I felt that this move was absolutely necessary. If 8…O-O 9. e4 would have permanently cramped my position. CM agrees giving it 0.24 still in favor of white. 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Nb5 (You can’t win the pawn with Bb5). Here is the crucial position for this game.

I evaluated Nxd3, but saw that if 11…Nxf3 12. Qxf3 Bb5 then the Queen would be trapped. I was disappointed to see the 13. Nxd6+ would have ruined the trap. Then I noticed the quite in between move. 11… Nxf3 12. Qxf3 Be5!! Now white has a choice of losing a rook or getting his queen trapped. I notice by my opponent’s reaction was that he saw the queen trap, before his 12th move, and saw the Nxd6+, but obviously failed to see the quiet move. What makes this trap good is that it is the best move anyway. White’s other option is 12. gxf3. While this doesn’t make White lose by any means, it hampers White from ever castling. While this is a perfect acceptable position to resign, it did take some thought to save the bishop. Being up a rook is an easily won game, but a mere exchange can be challenging.

13. e4 Bxa1. I briefly looked at dxe4, but sometimes simplicity is best. 14. Bf4 O-O The bishop move eliminates any retreating square for the bishop and threatens Nc7. 15. O-O Bg4 16. Qg3 dxe4. Up a rook, I am happy to trade any knight for bishop combination. 17. Bxe4 Nxe4 18. Qxg4 f5. 19. Qe2 Qf6. My bishop had been en-prise for 4 moves. However, it is possible to keep attacking pieces until you can secure it.

White tries one last tactical try. 20. f3 Bd4+ 21. Nxd4 Qxd4+ 22. Be3 Nc3! This marks the end of white counterplay and his demise.

23. Qe1 Qd3 24. Qd2 Qxd2 25. Bxd2 Nd5 26. Rd1 Nf6 27. Bc3 Rad8 28. Rb1 b6 0-1

Happy to put this tournament victory under my belt, I look forward to playing in the next tournament, this time in the Open Section.

Tournament Analysis - Round 3

2005-03-14T20:22:00.000-08:00

My third game was against my lowest rated opponent, but coincidently my worst game. I’m rather embarrassed to show how poorly I played in this game. I’m surprised that I actually won this game. Again I am white and the opening is the Sicilian Grand Prix. 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Bb5 e6. 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. d3 d5 8. e5? Rb8?! 9. O-O Ne7.

It started out to be similar to my last game. Although I tried not to be over-confident, I felt the need to win decisively rather than just win. I think, if possible, it’s best not to look at someone’s rating before you play them. 8. e5 was a weak move that I didn’t make in similar situations against other opponents. So why did I play it here? No idea. I was quite fixed on now capturing his c5 pawn. There is nothing wrong with leaving the pawn alone. Black shouldn’t capture, he has double isolated c pawns and I would have controlled the f5 square, penning in his knight.

10. b3 Nf5 I was aware of the knight moving to Nh4 and doubling up on the pin 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Be7. I later regretted playing h3 (because it weakened the dark squares on g3 and h4, the tactical machine Chessmaster 9000 recommends it anyway. It does give black a -0.22 advantage. 13. Na4 O-O 14. Ba3 Qa5. A Queen being able to move to e1 now would have been advantageous. 15. c4 Rfd8 I wanted to lock his pawn on c5. 16. Qf2? dxc4. Oh the humanity! I think I stopped concentrating on any potential black plan. If the logical 16. Rad1 d4, CM lists the game as -0.07.

17. dxc4 Rd2! 18. Qe1 Rbd8. 19. Bc1 Bh4. The immediate 18… Bh4 would have been better for black. 20. Bxd2 Rxd2 21. Qe4 Nd4. 22. Rfd1 Ne2+. Things are getting dodgy for me. 23. Kh2 is forced 23… Bg3+ 24. Kh1. Here black can go for a repetitive check draw 24… Bxf4 25. Qxc6 Ng3+ if he wants it. Even consider. 24… Bxf4 25. Qxc6 h6 26. Qxc5 Qxc5 27. Nxc5 Bxe5. In post-game analysis, black said that he feared losing the c6 pawn. 24… Nd4?! Is almost a retreat. Now there are no check threats.

25. Nxc5! If 25… Rxd1 26. Rxd1 Qxc5 27. Qxd4 and white is forcing a queen trade by threatening mate. 25… Qx3 26. Rac1 h6! White cannot take. 27. Nd3 Rxd1.27… Ne2 fails to Qxe2. 28. Rxd1 a5? 29. Rc1 Nc2

30. Nc5? Qb4. Why did I miss Qe2 winning the piece with ease? I failed to be able to simply exploit a pin? 31. Na6 Qb6. I aim to lure the queen into a more obscure square. 32. Qxc2 Qxa6 33. Qd2 a4?? 34. Qd8+ 1-0.

Tournament Review - Round 2

2005-03-13T18:26:00.000-08:00

I'm continuing reviewing my games from my recent tournament. My second game, I was white. I had been working on different variations of the Sicilian as there are many variations of the open Sicilian that take a long time to work on. I’ve ventured into exploring the Alapin variation which is 1. e4 c5 2. c3. It seems promising, but I don’t see white gaining much of an advantage. At some point, I’ll write an article about it. I’ve been exploring variations of the Grand Prix.

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nf6 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bb5 a6 6. Bxc6 cxb6 7. d3 g6 8. O-O Bg7 9. Qe1 O-O 10. Qh4 Bg4!?

I had actually looked at a variation like in my home preparation, so I was completely comfortable with my first ten moves. At this point I believe I had a small advantage and was making plans to attack on the kingside. However, Chessmaster 9000 (CM), my analysis tool calls it -.018. Bg4 was an interesting move, one I hadn’t seen. Well, do I try to keep the knight? My plan was to play f5 and then Bg5 or Bh6. I decided to forego the knight and continue with the plan.

11. f5 Bxf3 12. Rxf3 Nh5. CM liked 11. e5 Bxf3 12. Rxf3 Nd5 Ne4 giving a 0.16 versus my -0.20 score. Here I sunk into thought. Do I play 13. g4 or 13. Bg5. So I thought 13. g4 Bf6 14. Qh3 Bd4+ 15. Kh1 Nf6 versus what I played. I didn’t actually prefer this position although CM gives it a 0.38, the better score. I, instead played 13. Bg5 Bf6 14. fxg6 fxg6. With 14…Bxg5 15. Qxh5 wins a piece. 15. Raf1! Qb6! First I pin the bishop, but black effectively counterattacks. Coincidently CM liked the immediate 13… Qb6 and gave me a small advantage after black's 13th move. However, I can feel the tide of the game turning against me. I had considered black playing Qb6, but the possibilities of the position didn’t quite sink in until he actually played it.

16. Bxf6 Rxf6. His bishop is better than mine and it’s time to trade it. CM agreed but recommended continued with a trade of rooks. 17. Rxf6 exf6 18. Na4 Qc7 19. b3 (0.57). However, I was still thinking attack and wanted to keep pieces around. 17. Na4 Qb4 18. b3 Qd4+. Here I considered 19. Kh1 Rxf3 20. gxf3 Re8 21. f4 (CM says -0.03) or 19. Qf2 Rxf3! 20. gxf3 Nf4! 21. Qxd4 cxd4 (CM says -0.52). Why I played Qf2 was that I decided to simplify into the endgame and try to attack black’s weaker pawns on the queenside. However, black is better here. His knight is well placed on f4.

22. Kf2 (preventing Ne2 and the knight wandering over to the queenside) 22…Rf8 23. Re1 e5. Here I wanted to force e5 so my target pawns were on c6 and d6 instead the chain ending on e7. Otherwise, I would have played e5. 24. Nb6 (getting my knight active) 24… Nh3+? Here is black’s first major mistake. There is no reason to pull his well placed knight off of f4. 25. Kg3 Ng5. Now black’s knight has maneuvered to an inferior square. Better was to start moving the king in and rolling the kingside pawns. 26. Rf1 Rf4?? The move looks natural but really is a huge mistake. This loses a pawn by force for black. Who was it that said “The person who wins a chess game is the one to make the second to last mistake.” 27. Nc8! Kf8 29. Nxc6+ g5. Now I am eyeing Nxd4 30. a4 which stops the a-pawn so I can attack it without it going to a4 and ruining my pawn structure. 30…g4?! was the move I was hoping for.

31. Nxd4! Ke7. It’s surprising that CM recommends g4, but followed by Ng5. 32. Nf5+ I also looked at Ne2 followed by f4. 32… Kf6 33. Rf2 h5 34. Ne3 . This threatens a fork while allowing me to play fxg4, without black playing Rxg4+ 34…Kg5 35. fxg4 hxg4 36. Nd5! Obviously trading rooks right away would allow him to pawn fork my king and knight.

36…Rxf2. With the rooks off the board, I can start moving the queenside pawns. Up two queenside pawns, the rest is just a matter of elementary technique. 37. Kxf3 Kh4 38. Kg2 Ng5 39. b4 Nf3 40. b5 axb5 41. axb5 Ne1+ 42. Kg1 Kh3 43. Ne3 Nf3 44. Kh1 Nxh2 45. b6 Nf3 46. Nxg4 Nd4. Although I could have immediately played 46. b7, with only 8 minutes left, I wanted to remove any hope of black getting any play. 47. Nd4 b6 Nc6 48. Nf6 Nb8 49. Ne8 Kg3 50. Nxd6 Kf3 51. Nc4 Nc6 52. Nxe5+! 1-0
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Although I won this game, I made several 2nd best moves. This is the game I feel I needed some serious analysis. I wonder where my attack exactly went wrong. I can’t find one particular blunder using Chessmaster. It’s somewhere between move 11 and 15. Should I have allowed the knight to get traded? Perhaps I didn't look far enough into the 13. g4 line. So again 13. g4 Bf6 14. Qh3 Bd4+ 15. Kh1 Nf6 is what I evaluated and the position looks "okay" for black.

now perhaps 16. Ne2 Be5 17. gxf6 fxg6 18. Bh6 Re8 19. g5 Nd7 20. Qe6+ leaves white with a much better position. I think I may see a position like this in the future, so it is a valuable learning lesson.

Game Anaylsis of Round 1

2005-03-13T06:46:00.000-08:00

This is the post game analysis fo the the first round of the recent tournament I played in. In the U1800 section, I was matched with the #1 seat and I was playing black. This particular teenaged opponent I had played once before and lost as white, so I know he is a very talented player.

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Qc2 dxc4 5. e4 b5. 6. a4 a6 7. e5 Nd5 8. axb5 cxb5 9. b3 cxb3 10. Qxb3 Bb7. 11. Bd3 e6

4. Qc2 was a less typical move. It's designed to keep my bishop off of f5, but it doesn’t help white to win his pawn back. Typically, with 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 black forgoes his pawn in order to develop. This is why it is more important to focus on the principles of the opening as opposed to memorizing lines. Here, I'm out of my book knowledge. 10….Bb7 removes any threat of a take on b5 with a pinned a-pawn. Black has a well placed bishop and knight, has two passed pawns, up a pawn, and white’s d4 pawn is weak.

12. O-O Be7 13. Nd2 I see white’s knight aiming for d6 via e4. So I was also considering Nd7, Nc6 or O-O. With Nf4, I either knock out his light squared bishop which makes me great on the light squares or I can play Ne2+ and win his dark squared bishop. Hence if he plays Nd6 eventually, I can take on d6 with my dark squared bishop, without having weak dark squares.

13… Nf4. 14. Ne4 Here, I missed the tactic 13… Bd5 15. Qc2 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 Bc4! skewering the Queen. 14…Nxd3 15. Qxd3 Nc6 My several candidate moves for this last move also included Bxe4, O-O, and Nd7. I’ve delayed castling, because 15. Ng5 would force an unpleasant 15… g6 16. Ne4 with intentions to go to f6. I decided my light square bishop was too important and Nd7 was too passive. 16. Rd1 Nb4! 17. Qb1 Nd5 The knight makes it way back to it’s best square on d5 with tempo! 18. Bg5

18…. f6!? I felt forced to play f6 here. I didn’t want to take, and was still a bit wary of castling. Chessmaster 9000 is my main analysis tool. Perhaps not as good as Fritz, it still is a solid program. It did slightly prefer castling giving it a score of 0.96 versus my 0.9 for f6. 19. Bd2 O-O 20. Ba5 Qb8 This is the only square that protects d6 and avoid the pin following 19…Qd7 20. Nc5 Bxc5 21. dxc5. I also value my light squared, “bad” bishop more. 21. Re1 f5 This is forced as 21. dxf6 Bxf6 22. Ng5 threatens both the pawn on e6 and mate on h7. 20… dxe5 21. Ng5 threatens the pawn on e5, e6 and mate on h7. 22. Nc5 Bxc5 23. dxc5 Qe8. Now I’m aiming to go to the kingside. I also looked at playing the immediate Nf4, but I thought the white queen would have an chance to chase away the knight. I was looking at tactics like 23…Nxg2 24. Kxg2 Qg6+. Chessmaster preferred the immediate Nf4 giving it -1.00 but my move only -0.53. 24. Nd4 Nf4 25. f3 Qg6

26. Ra2 Bd5 27. Rd2 Rfc8 The f -rook is blocked by the f- pawn and I want to keep the a rook on a8 so I can start rolling the passed pawns on a moment’s notice. Again, Chessmaster preferred the other rook, giving it a -0.44 versus my -0.19. 28. Qb4 Bc4 threatening a fork. If 28. Red1 then Nd5 and my pieces are all better placed than the previous diagram. Moves like f4 and Ne3 can follow.

However, perhaps the psychology of the position became a factor and a blundered followed 29. Re3? Nd5 0-1. It’s interesting to watch how Chessmaster’s evaluation fluctuates during the game. It gives the subtle 29. Qa3 a rating of -0.09, almost an even game although I have a secure extra pawn. My opponent ended up winning his next four games and finishing second.

A Bronstein Annocdote

2005-03-11T07:58:00.000-08:00

An annocdote by David Bronstein, former world champion challenger, in a lecture in California. I think it carries some weight. Perhaps it's time to try some more interesting openings:

Bronstein played the first two moves of the King's gambit on the display board. "This is what you should play," he said. "This is what you can learn about chess. Play for fun. Play the King's gambit." As for openings popular with grandmasters, he said, "They're boring. Look at this. Nowadays they play something like this." He played out the first three or four moves of a Nimzoindian defense and an English opening. "This is popular with the grandmasters. But it's boring."

Linares - Final -& Kasparov Retires

2005-03-09T12:31:00.000-08:00

The shocking news is that Gary Kasparov, world #1 has decided to retire. It has come as a shock to the chess world as Gary is playing some of his best chess. His retirement will leave a void in the chess world as to who the best player is.

In the final round Gary lost to Topalov blundering away the draw, Adams beat Anand with black, and Leko drew. Leko drew all of his games.

Final vs Predicted
1. Kasparov 8 vs 8
2. Topalov 8 vs 6.5
3. Anand 6.5 vs 7.5
4. Leko 6 vs 7
5. Adams 5.5 vs 6
6. Kasimdzhanov 4 vs 4
7. Vallejo Pons 4 vs 3

My round by round predictions were 21/38. There were 26 draws in all fourteen rounds, a 63% ratio.

Linares - Round 12

2005-03-09T05:14:00.000-08:00

Round 12 results.
Topalov - Kasim - 1-0 - Haven't had much of a chance to see the game
Anand - Vallejo - 1/2 Anand misplayed and Vallejo blundered an easily won endgame sparking rumors that
Adams - Kasparov 0-1 Great counterattack by Kasparov. Truly amazing.

Predicitions -Round 13
Kasimdzhanov-Leko 1/2
Kasparov-Anand 1-0
Vallejo Pons-Topalov 0-1

Why oh why would anyone predict anything but a draw for Leko? Kasparov is on a roll and unless Vallejo gave Anand a "gift" he'll still be reeling regarding this blown opportunity to win.

Round 14
Leko - Vallejo 1/2
Topalov - Kasparov 1/2
Anand - Adams 1/2

Victory is Mine!

2005-03-07T07:56:00.000-08:00

After weeks of serious preparation and studying, I was able the minor tournament (U1800) this weekend. I went 4/4 plus a 4th round bye. I'll analyse all of my games here, though they weren't all spectacular. One of the best learning tools is to analyse all of your games. Not only do you begin to learn tactics, but you can evaluate opening mistakes. All of them had minor mistakes and my 3rd game had two major mistakes for which I was incredibly luckily to win.

It looks likely that my rating will surge over 1800 by the time the ratings finally get updated and my 15 games since the start of the year are rated. Future tournament, I plan on playing in the Open section looking to play higher rated players.

Linares Round 10 & 11

2005-03-07T07:29:00.000-08:00

Due to my tournamnet preparation and participation, I haven't been able to follow Linares quite as closely. -See chessbase site for details

Round 10
Anand-Leko 1/2 - 24 moves
Adams-Kasimdzhanov 1/2 - long draw
Kasparov-Vallejo 1-0 - Nice win

Round 11
Vallejo-Adams 1/2
Kasim - Anand - 0-1
Leko - Topalov -1/2 okay so why do i bother predicting anything but a draw for Peter Leko?

Round by Round my predictions have been 18/30. Actually if I just predicted every game to draw, I would probably be right around the same value. My overall prediction from February 21st is doing well. Kasparov leads with +4 ahead of Anand's +2.

Round 12 -Predictions
Topalov - Kasim - 1/2
Anand - Vallejo - 1-0
Adams - Kasparov 1/2

Let the Tournament Begin

2005-03-04T13:58:00.000-08:00

Well, my tournament start tonight. I play in the U1800 section, SS/5 -G/120 and there are substantial prizes. I need to take a 4th round bye, so there pressure is on to go 4/4. Sometimes I psych myself on out wondering how I will not screw up and win four games in a row. I think the best way is just to take one game at a time. Take one move at a time. We'll see.

Rd9
Kasimdzhanov-Kasparov 0-1
---I had a chance to follow this game live online (as with some of the previous games) but this was one of the most exciting. Kasparov's exchange sacrifice was great.
Leko-Adams 1/2 - Adams grabbed a repetitive check draw.
Topalov-Anand 1/2 - Opposite color bishop ending

Linares - Round 8

2005-03-03T12:41:00.000-08:00

Kasparov had an interesting attack against Leko, but it fizzled out and the game drew. Adams also drew Topalov and Vallejo beat Kasim...something others with higher ratings failed to do.

I will be occupied with a tournament this weekend. I'll be spending the next two days preparing.

Here are the predictions.

Rd9 Kasimdzhanov-Kasparov 1/2 Leko-Adams 1/2 Topalov-Anand 1/2
Rd10 Anand-Leko 1/2 Adams-Kasimdzhanov 1/2 Kasparov-Vallejo 1-0
Rd11 Vallejo-Adams 1/2 Kasimdzhanov-Anand 1/2 Leko-Topalov 1-0

Yawn....

2005-03-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

Linares Round 7 was the dullest round so far. The previous rounds typically had one decisive game, one interesting draw and one short draw. Considering, yesterday was a rest day, there is no plausible explanation why today was so boring. Perhaps they were enjoying resting so much, they didn't want to stop. There aren't any Scots there so I doubt they would be hung over.

Vallejo versus Leko went a whole 13 moves! Vallejo had a slightly better position and there was no reason to draw so early! While hard fought draws are an aspect of chess, I tire of "Grandmaster draws." The problem is that an even position isn't necessarily a drawn position. There's a difference. What will we see next? 1. e4 e5 draw.

Hence, I am disallusioned and am predicting all three games to be drawn tomorrow.
Adams-Topalov 1/2 Kasparov-Leko 1/2 Vallejo-Kasimdzhanov 1/2

I'm actually busy preparing for a tournament of my own this weekend. My openings needed work so I've been brushing up on them. I've now worked my way up to the U1800 section, so the competition gets increasingly harder.

Linares - Round 6

2005-02-28T12:34:00.000-08:00

Round 6 ends with Kasparov leading +2, ahead of Anand +1 & Topalov +1.

Anand vs Kasparov 1/2 - exciting draw. Kasparov survived an onslaught.
Leko vs Kasim - 1/2 - yet to see it. The "live" website is really quite poor.
Topalov vs. Vallejo - 1- 0 - As suspected...Vallejo isn't in these guys league.

Round 7 predicitions: So far I'm 9/15 in predictions. I didn't do it the first round

Francisco Vallejo vs. Peter Leko- 0-1 - Leko still needs to score.
Garry Kasparov vs. Veselin Topalov- 1-0 - Gary is in good form
Michael Adams vs. Viswanathan Anand- 1/2 - Mickey can't beat Anand.

FIDE Tries Again at Reunification

2005-02-28T06:48:00.000-08:00

I think a reunification match would be interesting and exciting, like the 1948 match, but I doubt this latest proposal will happen. There is no reason why Kramnik would go for it, because there is no consideration for him already holding a "title." I'm not sure what Morozevich has done to qualify, except to have a high enough rating.

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - The World Chess Federation said Sunday it would hold a tournament this year in an attempt to unify the chess world that splintered nearly a decade ago with the world champion's walkout. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of the federation known by its French acronym FIDE, said the world's eight top chess grandmasters would play a tournament in October to name the world champion. The planned match is the fifth attempt to reunify the chess world since then-world champion Garry Kasparov broke away from FIDE in 1993....
The most recent attempt at unification failed last month, when Kasparov withdrew from a world championship match with FIDE champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan scheduled for this spring. Kasparov said he had suffered financial and psychological damage from the match's repeated postponement.
In 2003, FIDE champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine refused to sign a contract with FIDE to play against Kasparov. The rift in the chess world grew after Ilyumzhinov, the president of the impoverished Russian province of Kalmykia, became president of federation in 1995. While Ilyumzhinov was praised for pouring millions of dollars into chess, he also introduced numerous controversial changes, including a new knockout format for the world championship and a new, faster time control.
Under a 2002 plan to reunify the chess world, known as the Prague Agreement, Kasparov was to play a FIDE champion. The winner of that match was to face the winner of a contest between Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Peter Leko of Hungary. Kramnik beat Kasparov in 2000 to become the Classical World Champion, a title not recognized by FIDE. Under the latest Ilyumzhinov's plan, grandmasters Kasimdzhanov, his runner-up Michael Adams of England, Leko, Viswanathan Anand of India, Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Russians Kramnik, Kasparov and Alexander Morozevich will play two round-robbin rounds to decide the world title...."

Linares - Round 5

2005-02-27T13:15:00.000-08:00

Well this round I went 2 for 3 with my predictions

Anand drew Vallejo with black.
Kasim drew Topalov
Kasparov beat Adams with white.

Gary now leads with +2 over Anand with +1

Predictions for Round 6
Kasparov-Anand 1/2 - This will be a solid game.
Topalov-Vallejo Pons 1-0 - Topalov has been playing well albeit losing some won games. Vallejo is crumbling and will be the Linares whipping boy.
Leko-Kasimdzhanov 1-0 - Kasim has managed to hold off several onslaughts by top players. Not this time. Leko knows he needs to make his move.

Linares - Round 4

2005-02-26T18:07:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Michael Adams for beating Vallejo Pons. I figured he'd try but not have enough.
Anand couldn't beat Kasim and Topalov blew a lead to also draw Leko.

Predictions for Round 5

Kasim-Topalov 1/2-1/2
Vallejo-Anand 0-1
Kasparov-Adams 1-0

Linares - Day 3

2005-02-25T10:47:00.000-08:00

So I went 3 for 3 with my predicitions for this round.

Kasim vs Adams was an uneventful 27 move draw.

Leko vs Anand was 24 move draw, but that ended with Anand sacrificing for a perpetual check draw. I think Anand was happy to grab the draw as black.

Vallejo was taken to school by Kasparov. Essentially Kasparov has a slight positional advantage and a 40 minute time advantage. Then Vallejo played 27. Ra5? in time pressure.

Standings

Kasparov and Anand lead with +1.

Round 4 Predictions

Adams-Vallejo 1/2 - Adams will be out of his shell and attack. However, he won't have enough.
Anand-Kasimdzhanov 1-0 - Anand is on a roll.
Topalov-Leko 1/2 - Topalov is still liking his wounds from Anand. Short draw

Linares - Day 2

2005-02-24T13:48:00.000-08:00

Round 2 finished with another decisive game.

Adams vs Leko was a short 18 move draw, which I assumed yesterday. I figured Leko is happy to draw as black and Adams was too stunned/timid from yesterday’s collapse to push an aggressive game against Leko.

I thought Kasparov was going to win the following endgame versus Kasim, but it resulted in a draw. Kasparov only had about 3 minutes to go and 9 moves from time control.

Annan vs Topalov was an interesting game. It was a Sicilian.Najdorf. Here Annan has prevented Topalov from castling and has the queenside majority, but the position is still quite dynamic.

The game then traded down into an interesting endgame. However, white's pawns were able to get rolling faster than black's.

Nearing the end, some chess kibitzers kept clamoring that it was going to be a draw, but I could see that Anand had the easy win.

Predictions for Round 3

Leko - Anand 1/2-1/2 -- Anand looks for revenge and Leko knows it. Look for a long tough draw

Kasim - Adams - 1/2-1/2 GM draw. Adams is still shaky and won't press as black. Kasim is spent from his draw with Kasparov.

Vallejo Pons - Kasparov 0-1 - Gary knows he needs to press any advantage against the young Spaniard.

Linares 2005 - Day 1

2005-02-23T11:05:00.000-08:00

Linares 2005

Both Leko vs Kasparov and Kasim vs Vallejo ended in 26 move draws. Annan had the day off.

Topalov vs. Adams

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 e5 8. e3 exd4 9. cxd5 Qxd5 10. Nf3 Nd6 11. Nxd4 Bd7 12. f3 Nc6 13. Nxc6 Bxc6 14. a4 Qh5 15. Be2 Qh4+ 16. g3 Qh3 17. Kf2 O-O-O 18. Ra3 Rhe8 19. Bf1 Qe6 20. Be2 g5 21. Rf1 g4 22. fxg4 Qh6 23. Kg1 Qh3 24. Bd3 Ne4 25. Rf4

Here comes an interesting sacrifice:

25...Nxg3 26. Rc3 Re6? 27. e4! Nh5? 28. Bc4! Qh4 29. Bxe6+ fxe6 30. gxh5 Qxh5

After Re6 the position crumbled on Adams. 26...Rxd3 seems like the best continuation. 27. Rxc6 Rd7 doesn't yield much for white. 27. Rxd3 Rg8 will be black's best continuation.

31. Rd3 Rg8+ 32. Rg3 Rd8 33. Be3 e5 34. Rf1 h6 35. b4 a6 36. b5 axb5 37. axb5 Bxb5 38. Rg7 c6 39. Qa2 Ba6 40. Qe6+ Kb8 41. Qd6+ 1-0

Games can be viewed live here

Tricks of the Caro-Kann

2005-02-22T09:01:00.000-08:00

The Caro-Kann is a venerable defense against e4, but there are several traps and problems that one must be aware of. I’ve learned some of these at the cost of points over the board, which I will know share for free. If you know them, they can be easily defeated.

Part 1
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. N1e2 (or 6. Nh3). White’s last move seems a bit strange, but I was expecting f4.

6…Nf6 7. Nf4 e6. So now it seems the whole venture was to trade knight for bishop. 8. h4!! Oh, now I get it! If I play h6, which is typical in other variations (6. Nf3 Nd7 7. h4 h6), he’ll take the bishop and I’ll be forced to recapture with the f pawn. Other typical variations also see 6. Nf3 Nd7 7. Nh4 where the knight is traded away, but the open h file can be used to attack. The only other recourse now is 8…Ne4 9. Nxe4 Bxe4 10. f3 e5 11. fxe4 exf4 12. Bxf4 leaves white with a great position. (See diagram B.) The other option is no better: 8... Bd6 9. h5 Bxf4 10. Bxf4 Bf5 11. Nxf5.

I was subsequently able to draw the game against this particular opponent, but it wasn’t due to my opening play. So how to play it? Go back to the first diagram. 6…Nd7 7. Nf4 e5! The d pawn is protected because of Qa5+. The sequence may continue 8.N xg6 hxg6 9. c3 exd4 10. Qxd4 Ngf6 and black is fine.

Simply put, this variation is a ruse. If you see 6. N1e2 or 6. Nd2, just know 6…Nd7 then 7…e5 and white won’t have any advantage.

Part 2

White has another trick in the form of 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. g4!? Bg6 5. h4. Here without realizing it, if black plays 5…h6 6. h5 Bh7 7. e6! fxe6 8. Bd3 Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Nf6 10. Nf3 you end up at a position where black is in trouble.

The correct move is 5….h5! leading to 6. g5 e6 7. Bd3 Ne7 8. Ne2 Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Nd7 10. Be3 e6 and black is fine. Black’s knight will go to f5 and be a thorn in white’s side all game. White’s dark bishop is hemmed in by his own pawns.

If you are white, these variations, might be a try in a blitz game, but if you try them in a serious over the board game, you are gambling whether your opponent knows them. If he does, you'll be left with a mediocre position.

Linares Tournament 2005

2005-02-21T13:23:00.000-08:00

The Linares tournament starts tomorrow. It will feature (1) Gary Kasparov- 2804, (2) Vishy Anand- (2786), (3) Vesselin Topalov- 2757, (5) Peter Leko- 2749, (6=) Michael Adams- 2741, (18) Francisco Vallejo Pons- 2686 and (25) Rustam Kasimdzhanov- 2678.

This is a double round robin tournament where everyone will play everyone else once as white and once as black. This will be the closest thing to a World Championship the world has seen in a while. The only high rated person missing is Vladimar Kramnik, who holds the "classical world championship."

Vallejo Pons is Spain's #1 native player. Usually a local will get invited to these "super-GM" tournaments. Rustam won the 2004 FIDE "World" Championship in which he beat Michael Adams in the tiebreak blitz games in the final rounds. I don't see either of them beating any of the other 5. At Wijk ann Zee, neither Adams, Topalov, Anand, or Leko lost to anyone under 2740.

I think Kasparov, whom some pundits claim is "dead," will surprise many and take this tournament. I think his major wins will be against Topalov and Adams. Anand will have revenge on Leko from Wijk ann Zee.

My official predicted results:

Kasparov - 8/12
Anand - 7.5
Leko - 7
Topalov - 6.5
Adams - 6
Kasimdzhanov - 4
Vallejo Pons - 3

Plugging US Chess Live and the death toll of Yahoo Chess

2005-02-21T13:15:00.000-08:00

Although Yahoo Chess was once an easy way to play a game, I've since grown frustrated with it. I think any decent players have left. All there is, are people playing 1/0 games with a program, and people who set up a game and disappear. It's frustrating to join a game, press start, and never have the opponent start...time after time after time. I've since moved to US Chess Live which has been created by the US Chess Federation.

You have to be a member to have access, so it's not necessarily for the occasional player. They have nightly blitz tournaments, and when you seek a game people are joining with seconds. For additional money (of course), you can get in on instructional seminars or play certain masters. Although I haven't done the latter yet, I am generally pleased with the site and will not go back to Yahoo.

What Makes a Good Player?

2005-02-18T11:09:00.000-08:00

What makes a good chess player? Typically, players with analytical minds make good player. Former world champion Max Euwe was a mathematician, and Mikhail Botvinnik was an electrical engineer. Is that it? No.

Talent – Talent is innate, but can be improved.
Knowledge – Openings, tricks, endgames, tactics. Many of these are learned. How often you seen them depends on your talent.
Time Management – Time pressure can cause blunders and lose games.
Clear Head – You need to be in the right frame of mind to play.

We see books on chess taught by grandmasters. Sometimes it feels like they are talking over your head. Sometimes we sit and play out moves, and everything makes perfect sense. However, when you sit down at the board, sometimes you make the moves, sometimes you don’t. When you play moves out in your head, sometimes you neglect to see where the pieces actually end up and what squares they cover.
Here is a game I played recently against a Yugoslavian club player rated about 1800. I have the black pieces and have a dominant position. I have 31 minutes on my clock versus his 29.

Here I played 23…Re4 which threatens the continued 24. Qd2 g5. 25. Rae1. Originally missed was 23… Rxg3 24. Qxg3 Qd8! The real game continued 25…gxh4. Again I missed 25…. Rxf4 26. Rxf4 Qxf4 27. Qxf4 gxf4 28. Rc1 fxg3 29. Rxc4 Be3! Instead 26. g4 h3 27. Rxe4 hxg2+ Kxg2 fxe4. 30. Qc3. Here I am still up a bishop, but the position is open and the queen’s are on the board.

I play 30…Kc8?! in order to protect the g7 pawn and get my king into a safer position. 30… Kd8 was probably better as it would have avoided complications resulting from 31. Qxc4. I see 32. Rc1 coming. Not only can the bishop be pinned to the queen, it can be pinned to the king. So moving my queen would result in 32. b4. 31… Kb8 can be either met with 32. Rc1 or even 32. Qxe4. Now, I have a bishop for two pawns and my advantage is not decisive. What I missed was 31…Rh2+!! 32. Kxh2 Bxg1+ or 32. Kg3 Bf2+ wins the queen. Instead I played 31…Qb6? thinking that he would have to play b3 and I would have another tempo to move my king. Otherwise (remember these are my thoughts) If he played Rc1, I could play Qxb2 then play b6. What I forgot was that 32. Rc1 Qxb2+ 33. Rc2 blocks the queen with tempo for white. Thus I squandered my advantage and had to settle for a draw. After my 31st move I still had 13 minutes (compared with his 19). I wasn’t in time trouble. So why did I blank? How did I fail to see that he wouldn't be able to block on c2?

Introduction to the Web's Newest Pundit

2005-02-14T14:25:00.000-08:00

Despite any misgivings in your life or the world, there is welcome respite in chess. Chess is played by the young and old. Chess is played all across world. Whether you are Russian, Chinese, Kuwaiti, French, Scotch, or American, people can come together to enjoy a good game. You don’t even need to speak the same language.

I will devote this column to grandmaster games, the world of chess, and my games and learning progression. The Wijk an Zee tournament in the Netherlands just finished. It starred the top 2-9 players in the world, where the only exception was Garry Kasparov would thought he was going to play a match with Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Peter Leko ended up edging out Vishy Anand for first place with 8.5/13.

The next big tournament, Linares, starts on February 22nd, 2005. It will star Gary Kasparov, Vesselin Topalov, Peter Leko, Vishy Anand, and Michael Adams, which is the top 3 players and 5 of the top 7 players in the world.