Tuesday, March 29, 2005

match with o'shea

so the first two games are set for April 10th here in Owen Sound, so i get the home board advantage lol. I'm soooooooooooo not prepared for this it's not even funny...i'm not even sure what i'm playing. it looks like i might try the Sicilian, but we'll see. i'm not sure between 1.e4, 1.d4 and 1.Nf3 it will likely be a game time decision. my biggest concern now is focus and clock management. kirk has been working with me but we'll see.

i was going over my match with Clinton today, and man i need to pick up my play if i'm going to compete with this guy. not that he's fabulous by any stretch of the imagination but my play was decidedly weak. if i'm going to bring up complex positions i need to play more accurately.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

sadler-sadler

so me and kirk are going to have an active match, 30 moves in 40 minutes, then G/15 afterwards. i'm probably going to play the caro v. him as black, or the najdorf. the problem is i don't want to throw away a game. i can get an excellent position in the caro and maybe he'll switch to 1.d4 or something ;) i think he may try and switch to the grünfeld so if he does i may try 1.c4 c6. as white i was going to play 1.e4 but i think he may either play the ...e6 sicilian or the french or something else. so i'm gonna play 1.d4. but he made some comment about playing the black side of the slav exchange, because he "didn't want to play the semi-slav or the nimzo against" me. you think he would allow the botwinnik?

Monday, March 14, 2005

bronstein

i am going through "Sorceror's Apprentice" and i am amazed by bronstein. i even half-thought about taking up the
Old Indian. half-thought.

an interesting line is from the game
Botwinnik-Bronstein, World Championship (17) 1951. After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Nge2 Ba6! with a similar idea to the Benko Gambit where the light squared bishop trades off its counterpart on f1.

finished OMGP vol. 3

I received Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors Vol. 3 (Petrosian/Spassky) for Christmas and I finished it today. 85 games by March 14th. that's more than one per day which I am happy with. i am extremely tired, but i found the Spassky games interesting. Since I am having this match, Armando advised me to do nothing but tactics, because I "develop my pieces like a 2200 player" which is a good thing I think :) Morphy would be proud. i think i will work on Bronstein next, then the Polgar book.

Saturday, March 12, 2005

it's on

i like the idea of having an annual post-Kitchener match to tell the truth. well O'Shea wants to play, it's just a matter of setting up when. as far as openings go...i'm thinking about playing the Caro as Black...i think he may try the 3.Nc3 variation but it's hard to tell. as White i may go with the Clinton strategy of playing 1.e4 and if he plays something I don't like, going to 1.d4. i'm excited

Hi Craig,

That sounds interesting.

Let me know some specific dates, so I can book them.

-Chris

Thursday, March 10, 2005

2 potential matches

two potential matches - Martin Tolton from Tottenham, i have no idea where that is. i am rated 200 points higher than him, so i need to score at least 3/4 to keep my rating. probably not going to happen.

the second is Chris O'Shea from Thornbury. that's more realistic. plus he's rated higher, so i don't need to score a ridiculous score and we can have some good games. i emailed him inquisitively so we'll see what happens. he's kinda strong so he'll fight me tough and if we split our games i won't lose any points which is a bonus

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

chess is an art

i've lost all verve for actually competing...i still appreciate the beauty of chess though...i'm thinking about writing up a little treatise on the slav exchange...at lower levels it's still good...also on the winawer gambit of the slav and slav exchange 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e5 and 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nc3 e5

Friday, March 04, 2005

new old ideas in the slav

so i am thinking about taking up the slav exchange as a winning (!) attempt because people psychologically think of it as drawish, but there are some lines where white can play for an advantage. an example is 9.g4 as played in the following game



Alekhine-Euwe, 1938 Amsterdam


i know, i know. you're thinking, if you want to play g4 v. the slav, why not play the shirov-shabalov gambit. it's easier to get to the slav, and i proved to myself that white can play for a win. obviously, it's nice to have a draw in hand, but i think i might try it.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

you'll find me at the club...

went down to the chess club tonight and i was thinking about playing the kan, but i might not because i got a tough position, even though i won the game. also i tried the QGD exchange, but was pleasantly surprised to find it transpose into a nimzo

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.cxd5 exd5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qc2 Nf6 6.Bg5 Be6 7.e3 Nbd7 8.Bd3

as in Riumin-Botwinnik 1932

interesting transposition