Tuesday, December 11, 2007

a final book completed in 2007



My brother gave me this book for Christmas probably 5 years ago and i finally got around to tackling it and am I glad that i did. it is one of the few chessbooks that i've read that i can really say i've learned from it. it tackles all sorts of middlegame positions including isolated pawns, minority attack, maroczy bind and so on. fascinating reading and a lot of excellent games.

merry christmas everyone! not sure if i'm going to do a "Best game of 2007" and "worst game of 2007" this year because i only played one tournament this year, so i only had a handful of CFC rated games to choose from...next year maybe :)

cheers

Monday, November 26, 2007

tournament for 2008

so i didn't play much chess in 2007, i mean CFC-rated chess as i still did my blitz and correspondence thing, but didn't actually play that much OTB

i got a pleasant email today from my friend CL who was wondering if i wanted to go to Guelph in February

i think i might...CL is very enthusiastic which is a bonus because if left to my own devices i probably wouldn't play OTB at all :) time to start thinking about openings...

Are you interested in this tournament? Weather permitting!

Guelph Winter Pro-Am

Date: February 2-3, 2008
Location:Room 442, Guelph University Centre, Guelph, ON
Rounds: 5
Type: Regular Swiss
Times: Saturday 10:00am, 1:30pm, 5:00pm, and Sunday 10:00am, 1:30pm
Time Control: Game in 50 minutes + 50 Second Increment.
Entry Fee: Pro Section $50; Others $30
Prizes: 100% of Pro Section Entries returned as prizes.
Trophies awarded in U1500, U1800, U2100 Sections.
Sections: Open, U2100, U1800, U1500
Registration: -by mail: Make Cheques payable to:
Hal Bond
6 Wildwood Place
Guelph, Ontario
N1H 7X9
Cash only at the site. Register Saturday from 8:30am to 9:30am.
Players who register after 9:30am will not receive a swiss pairing in round 1.
E-mail: halbond@rogers.com
Miscellaneous: Maximum of 2 half point byes (rds 1 - 4) if requested with entry.
No smoking
Ramada Inn (2 minute walk)519-836-1240
Days Inn (8 minute walk)519-822-9112
NB: Coffee, Water, Snacks and Equipment provided by organizer.

An SWOCL Grand Prix event.

Monday, November 05, 2007

lol

i googled "C's Chess" this evening and found that in 2006 i won "Best Canadian Chess Blog by Someone Named C."

Makes me laugh

well now that i know that i have an award winning blog i will have to update it a little more

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Nick's best


Finished IM Lawrence Day's labour of love "Nick's Best" and I highly recommend it. The games are interesting, the annotations enjoyable and the stories are fabulous! It's a nice biography

Sunday, September 23, 2007

I actually played a tournament

it was active and U1600 and i scored 3½/5 despite being the top seed. But still...

same old, same old. i don't calculate enough...i lose confidence in positions and collapse. let's take a look at the games though just to be sure


SN - C
E27 - Nimzo-Indian : Samisch Variation
Active Kitchener, ON (1), 22.09.2007

First game of rated chess in almost a year. It's been too long. This was a good game by me, of course Fritz may rip it apart but so be it.

I had played this guy in Kitchener before and I know it was a Caro-Kann but i couldn't remember if I was White or Black in the game. Need to work on my memory 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 I was very happy with this. [My 3.Nf3 line was transposing into the Semi-Tarrasch 3...d5 (Or I was thinking about the Blumenfeld but I don't understand it at all so I'm sure I'd just be down a pawn and not understanding the compensation 3...c5 4.d5 b5) 4.Nc3 c5] 3...Bb4 4.Qc2 I was happy with this too. This is one of my "pet" lines as Black [4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 0-0 6.Qc2 is the transposition that happened..is it a Samisch after all?] 4...0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3?! [I had never seen that before as Black. The mainline is 6.Qxc3 with the idea of being able to push b4 eventually.

Of course Black has lots of options (as does White) 6...b6 (6...Ne4 7.Qc2 f5; even 6...b5!? ) 7.Bg5 Bb7 etc.

I did a little research and I see this (6.bxc3?!) has been played by Euwe, Winter, Ludek Pachman (in an interzonal) among others. I will have to check, I imagine it was via the Samisch move order but it's interesting that this is playable] 6...d5 7.e3 [I would have played 7.Bg5 to develop the bishop before pushing e3] 7...b6 [7...c5 is a transposition via 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.e3 c5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 O-O which is interesting in itself] 8.Nf3 Ba6 I thought this was kinda clever 9.Ne5 [9.Nd2 has been played twice. 9...c5 (9...Nc6 which I would never play. I'm dogmatic enough to believe that the c-pawn should be pushed before i move that knight 10.e4 Na5 11.e5 Ne8 12.Bd3 f5 13.cxd5 Bxd3 14.Qxd3 Qxd5 and in my opinion Black has a terrible position. Black did eventually win Zegada-Udovcic Tel Aviv oly 1964) 10.Bd3 Nbd7 11.0-0 Qc7 12.h3 Bb7 13.Bb2 dxc4 14.Be2 cxd4 15.cxd4 Rac8 16.Qxc4 Qxc4 17.Nxc4 Ne4 18.Rfc1 b5 19.Na5 Bd5 20.Bxb5 Ndf6 21.Bc6 Nd2 22.Rc2 Nfe4 23.Rac1 Bb3 24.Nxb3 Nxb3 25.Rd1 f5 26.d5 Rfd8 27.Rd3 Nec5 28.Rd1 Rxc6 29.dxc6 Rxd1+ 30.Kh2 Rd8 and Black eventually won Asten-Salonen, Finland cr 1972] 9...Nbd7 [Would the immediate 9...c5 be better?] 10.Nc6? all these knight moves can't be great. 10...Qe8 [10...Qc8?? 11.Ne7+] 11.Qa4 Bb7? [Of course 11...Nb8! wins immediately. Totally missed it because I was looking to develop not win material] 12.cxd5 exd5 13.Nb4 c5 14.Nd3 c4 Was this push any good? 15.Nb4 a5 Again I'm not too sure about this. The backward b-pawn on the open b-file is likely weak, but look at his pieces 16.Na2 [16.Nc2 allows me to try and trap his queen because the queen does not have many escape squares] 16...Qd8 17.Be2 Ne4 18.0-0 Ndf6 19.f3 Nd6 Again not so bad 20.Qc2 Re8 Hitting his backward pawn 21.a4?! Not sure why he played that...all the action is happening in the middle. 21...Bc8 22.Qd2 Nf5 He's so far behind in development, it's time to put pressure on his position. His rook and dark squared bishop haven't even moved. His pawn structure is a mess and his knight is on a2 23.e4 dxe4 24.Bxc4 exf3 [K liked 24...e3 and he was probably right, but I was just trying to open lines. Should have probably looked at this] 25.Rxf3 Ng4 26.Qf4 Re1+ 27.Rf1 Rxf1+ 28.Kxf1 [I totally missed that he could have played 28.Bxf1 in which case I would've been on the defense.] 28...Qh4 29.h3 g5!! I was quite happy with this move. The idea is that he has to guard f2 because of mate 30.Qxg5+ Qxg5 31.Bxg5 Nge3+ 32.Kf2 Nxc4 33.Re1 Be6 34.g4 Nfd6 35.Bh6 Nb2 36.Re3? Nd1+ 37.Kf3 Nxe3 38.Kxe3 Bxa2 and he resigned. I was happy enough with that game. Good energy from me! 0-1


GD - C
B19 - Caro-Kann : Classical, Spassky Variation
Active Kitchener, ON (2), 22.09.2007

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.Nf3 Nd7 He started taking gobs of time around here. 7.h4 h6 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 All theory up to here. I wouldn't be lying if I said I had this position from the black side 300 times in my life 11.Be3 [Mainline is 11.Bd2 . The problem with White's move is that is allows me to get in Qa5 eventually] 11...Ngf6 12.0-0-0 e6 and he's still taking loads of time. I'm playing from script almost as the setup that Black normally plays in this line isn't much affected by his bishop being on e3 instead of d2. One thing he does get from this is with the d5-push my a-pawn is hanging (after I castle) but as long as I'm aware of it... 13.Ne4 0-0-0 [Could've tried 13...Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Nf6 but i think that d3 is a good square for the queen. After I castle queenside the d-pawn is pinned] 14.Nxf6 Nxf6 15.Kb1 Bd6 16.c4 Qa5 Hitting the h5-pawn 17.Bd2 Qc7 18.c5? Terrible but he was down below 5 minutes [18.Qe2 Bf4 maybe?] 18...Bxc5 19.Qb3 Bb6 [19...Bxd4 20.Bxh6 Rxh6 21.Nxd4 looked messier than it had to be. I was up a pawn and he was down to like 2 minutes] 20.g3 Nd5 To blockade the pawn and to trade off the bishop when he tries to go to f4 to hit the queen 21.Rh4 Rhe8 22.Bf4 Nxf4 23.Rxf4 Rd5 Now I just pile up on the isolated pawn and win eventually... 24.Rd3 Red8 [I guess I could've grabbed the pawn 24...Rxh5 ] 25.Qd1 Qe7 26.Ne5 f6 27.Nc4 and he flagged

I would've liked to win the game outright instead of on time, but 2/2 is pretty good 0-1

C - MMV
A45 - Trompowsky Attack
Active Kitchener, ON (3), 22.09.2007

Second highest rated guy in the tournament (I was the highest)...we're both 2-0. 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 I was quite happy about this. I had started playing the Tromp about a year ago and I really like it, even despite my score of 0.5/2 with it this tournament :) 2...Ne4 3.Bf4 g5? This move only works after 4.Bh4 because Black is forced to retreat to g3 and trade off the bishop 4.Bc1! Kasparov played this once in a simul so it can't be terrible. Despite my undevelopment he has weakened his kingside and f3 and e4 are coming 4...h6 5.f3 Nf6 6.e4 c5 7.c3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bg7 9.Be3 [Maybe 9.Nc3 was better to take away the threats of checks (from Qa5)] 9...0-0 10.h4!? I'm sure this move was all kinds of unpositional, but he castled into a pawn structure of ...g5, ...h6 and he has none of his queenside pieces developed. Not that I'm much better, but I think the pawn storm was called for 10...Nh7 11.hxg5 hxg5 12.f4 To allow the Queen to get to the f-file. I can always kick the knight from f6 with a later e5 12...Nc6 13.fxg5 Qa5+ 14.Bd2! I think he missed this move 14...Qb6 15.Qh5 Nxg5 16.Qxg5 [Not even paying attntion. I was so happy with the idea of playing Bc3 after Qxb2 that I didn't even look at the capture by the bishop 16.Bxg5 f6 17.Qh7+ Kf7 18.Bh6 Rg8 19.Bc4+ For instance.] 16...Nxd4 17.Bd3 Qxb2 18.Bc3! Again I don't think he saw this 18...Nc2+



19.Kd1?? [Unless I wrote the game score wrong I overlooked that 19.Bxc2 wins because he can't get off the diagonal because of threat of mate. Instead] 19...Ne3+ 20.Ke1 [20.Qxe3 Bxc3 21.Qh6 again won] 20...Nxg2+ 21.Kf1 Ne3+ 22.Ke1= Oh man.

I played so good but i was nervous that I had missed something and he would mate me. It was active but that's no excuse.

Well played game by me right up to the draw offer :( ½-½

C - SL
A45 - Trompowsky Attack
Active Kitchener, ON (4), 22.09.2007

As much as missing the (relatively) easy win in the last game. This game really freaked me. 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.e4 Be7 4.Nc3?! I had played this move at least 30 times according to my blitz database [and even more likely considering the idea is to transpose to the French after 4.Nc3 d5 5.e5 Nfd7 6.h4 I never had even considered that Black's next move could work (disclaimer : i checked my blitz database and I did get 4. ...Nxe4 once).

So if that gives "Fritz-equality" and being up a pawn, what else can I play?;
4.Nd2 does the same sort of thing except the queen isn't a target;
4.Bd3 is a move I would consider...It's the sort of thing I would play.;
In a simul Topalov played 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bxe7 Nxe7 6.Nf3 0-0 I could probably get away with that as well. I'll have to think about it] 4...Nxe4! I do like this move 5.Bxe7 Nxc3 6.Bxd8 [A move to hold material is 6.Qg4 Qxe7 7.Qxg7 Qf8 8.Qxf8+ Rxf8 9.bxc3 I'll have to think about that one too] 6...Nxd1 7.Bxc7 [In my Blitz game I played 7.Rxd1 Kxd8 8.Nf3 f6 9.Bc4 d5 10.Bb3 Nc6 =+ but this looks a lot more comfortable to me v. the stuff that happened in the game] 7...Nxb2 8.Rb1?! [8.Bd6 Hodgson 8...Na4 9.c4 (9.Kd2 Nc6 10.Nf3 f6 11.Rb1 Nb6 12.c4 Nd8 13.a4 Nf7 14.Bc7 d6 15.a5 Nd7 16.Bd3 Nf8 17.Be4 Ng6 18.a6 b6 19.Bxa8 Kd7 20.Bxb6 Bxa6 21.Ra1 Rxa8 22.Rxa6 1-0 was Rogers-Hoffmann, Canberra 2005) 9...Nc6 10.Nf3 Ne7 11.Bd3 Nb2 12.Be2 Nf5 13.Ba3 Na4 14.Kd2 Nb6 15.Rab1 f6 16.g4 Ne7 17.Bd6 Nc6 18.Rb5 Nd8 19.Ra5 h5 20.Rg1 Nc6 21.Ra3 hxg4 22.Rxg4 Kf7 23.Bc7 Nxc4+ 24.Bxc4 d5 25.Bb3 b5 26.Rg1 a5 27.Bc2 g5 28.Bd6 Bd7 29.h4 b4 30.Re3 a4 31.hxg5 Na5 32.Bd3 b3 33.gxf6 1-0 was Hodgson-Gluckman London 1992

In any case I was busted out of the opening. Let's see what tactics there are] 8...Na4 9.Bd6 Nc6 10.Nf3 Nc3 Again if I had played Bd6 right away then he wouldn't get a tempo and if i had played Kd2 then he wouldn't have been able to play this 11.Rb3 Ne4 12.Ba3 [12.Bf4 but I was quite keen on stopping him from castling] 12...b6 13.Bd3 Nf6 [13...f5] 14.c4 Na5 15.Rb1? [Terrible oversight. 15.Rc3 was playable. Here goes a second pawn] 15...Ba6 16.Kd2 Bxc4 17.Ne5 Bxd3 [17...Bxa2 was even stronger] 18.Kxd3 Nc6 19.Nc4 d5 20.Nd6+ Kd7 21.Nxf7 Rhg8 [Of course 21...Rhf8 22.Bxf8 Rxf8] 22.f3 h6 23.Rhc1 Na5 24.Ne5+ Kd8 25.Bd6 I don't think Smyslov or Capa would have ever played this move [25.Bb4 was probably better 25...Nc4 26.Nxc4 dxc4+ 27.Rxc4 and I'm fine. I have my pawn back] 25...Nd7 26.Ng6 [Again keeping the c-file open should have been key 26.Nc6+ Nxc6 27.Rxc6 Rc8 28.Rxc8+ Kxc8 29.Rc1+ Kd8 30.Rc7] 26...Nc4 Now I'm just in trouble 27.Bg3 Nf8 28.Bh4+ [28.Ne5 Same idea 28...Nxe5+ 29.Bxe5] 28...Kd7 becuase I end up playing Ne5+ a move later and have to recapture with the pawn while my bishop is still unprotected on h4 and his diagonal is closed. Not good 29.Ne5+ Nxe5+ 30.dxe5 Ng6 31.Bg3 Rgc8 32.Re1 Rc4 33.Rb2 Rac8 34.h4? Brutal in time trouble 34...Nxh4 35.Bf2 Rc3+ 36.Kd2 Nf5 37.Bg1 R8c4 38.a4 Ra3 39.Bf2 Raxa4 40.g4 Nd4 41.Re3 Rc2+! I liked ths shot by him 42.Rxc2 Nxc2 43.Kxc2 Ra2+ 44.Kb3 Rxf2 45.Kb4 Kc7 46.Kb5 Rc2 47.Ra3 Rc5+ 48.Kb4 [48.Ka6] 48...a5+ and he eventually won

Not the greatest game. I had chances in the middlegame to get equality back, but was freaked out by being busted 4 moves into the opening

I hate playing kids :) 0-1


DS - C
B10 - Caro-Kann
Active Kitchener, ON (5), 22.09.2007

Another 7 year old kid. For the first 15 moves he asked me if I would let him win, then after I won his queen he gave a draw offer after every move 1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bb5+ Bd7 5.Bxd7+ Nxd7 6.0-0 Ngf6 7.Nc3 e6 8.d4 Bd6 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bxf6 Nxf6 11.Re1 0-0 12.Qd3 a6 13.Ne5 Nd7 14.Ng4 Qg5 15.h3 h5 16.Ne3 Nf6 17.Re2 h4 18.Rae1 Nh5 19.Qd1 Nf4 20.Rd2 Nxh3+ 21.Kf1 Nf4 22.Qc1 h3 23.gxh3 Nxh3 24.Qd1 Qg1+ 25.Ke2 Nf4+ and I announced mate. But of course it wasn't mate. I had seen [25...Qxf2+ 26.Kd3 but of course that wasn't on the board 26...Nf4# ] so he says "It isn't mate" and plays 26.Kf3 so again my brain turns off and I play 26...Qh2?? [instead of something like 26...Qg6 ] 27.Rh1 Ng6 28.Rxh2 Bxh2 29.Qh1 Bd6 30.Rd1 f6 31.Qg2?? and I get my queen back 31...Nh4+ 32.Kg4 Nxg2 33.Nxg2 Kf7 34.f4 Rh8 35.f5 exf5+ 36.Kxf5 Rh5+ 37.Kg4 Rah8 38.Rf1 Rg5+ 39.Kf3 Rf5+ 40.Ke2 Rxf1 41.Kxf1 g5 42.Kf2 Rh2 43.Kg1 f5 44.Nxd5 Ke6 45.Nde3 Rh3 and I eventually won a knight v. four pawns ending

Terrible horrible game, I obviously ran out of energy.

Not a great tournament. I won the first game nicely, won the second on time, drew the third in a dominant position, lost the fourth in the opening and beat a 7 year old kid who blundered his queen after he blundered mine. Maybe I'll have to go back into hiding for another year :) Or i'll have to keep on coming out. 0-1

Sunday, September 09, 2007

need a tune-up

K-C
E97 - Bayonnet Attack
08.09.2007


We played a fun game today in prep for the Active tournament we're playing in 2 weeks. It was half heated, K was drinking wine and I made some *dumb* decisions 1.e4 d6? Forgetting that he always tries to transpose to King's Indian. I don't play the King's Indian. I wanted to avoid the Caro for some unknown reason, didn't want to play the Najdorf, was worried he'd suspect something if i played 1.e4 e5 and didn't really feel like playing the Alekhine. 2.c4 Nf6 [ In a recent correspondence game I tried this move order and my opponent replied 2...c5 and transposed to an Accelerated Dragon which was interesting (of course the first move was ...g6)] 3.Nc3 g6 4.d4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5? [ Second big mistake. I should've went for a Benoni instead of going for a mainline King's Indian...of course I forgot the line he played... 6...c5 ] 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Of course. I had forgotten he played this. I was on my own at this point 9...a5 10.Ba3 axb4 11.Bxb4 c5? [ 11...Nh5 is better aiming for the f4-square, trading off the light -squared bishop and being able to play ...f5. my move drops material because i couldn't see one move ahead ;)] 12.dxc6 Qb6 [ 12...Nxc6 may have been better but i needed piece play] 13.Qxd6? [ 13.Bxd6 was much better. He missed that the bishop covered e8 as well] 13...Nxc6 14.Bc5? Qb2? [ Close 14...Qa5! was much better double attacking c3 and c5, making him move the knight and allowing me to capture the e4-pawn then] 15.Qd2 Qxd2 Forced 16.Nxd2 Rd8 17.Nd5! I would have never gone in for this line at all had i seen that he could block the d-file. i have no counterplay and i am down material. of course he has two isolated pawns, but is there any way to take advantage 17...Be6 18.f3 Ra5?? [ 18...Nd7 was much better, allowing me to mobilize my pieces and attacking his hanging bishop] 19.Bb6 Not the greatest game by me. Oh well, stuff happens. hopefully this doesn't carry on :) 1-0

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Karlsbad 1929



Finished a short, but very interesting book on the 1929 Carlsbad tournament which was won by the author, Aaron Nimzowitsch. His writing style is interesting...he judges his compatriots on how their style has evolved towards "neo-Romanticism" and, in an appeal to get a match with Alekhine, implores that he has the divine right to play a match with him, or else the chess world will revolt! All in all a highly recommended book, and very short with Nimzowitsch fully annotating 30 games by himself, Capablanca, Rubinstein, Tartakower, Bogoljubow, Spielmann and other greats from the time.

Monday, August 06, 2007

Finished Petrosian



Despite getting married, buying a house, etc. i have still finished another book :)

I was so excited I made a
Collection on chessgames

Saturday, June 02, 2007

repetoire fine-tuning

i need to get some lines v. the slav proper (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4) and the Queen's Gambit Accepted (1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4). They are things that are rare enough in blitz (and i'm probably making the same mistakes over and over) but i would get over the board

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

107 Great Chess Battles 1939-1945 by Alexander Alekhine



i've been working on this book on and off for years...and i finished it today. been a very monumental week...finished another book, wrote my 4000th post on chessgames.com, bought a house (!) and having bachelor party this weekend. very interesting annotations by alekhine, including writeups on capablanca and reshevsky...and in algebraic. i really enjoyed it

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

new high at ICC

Blitz 1833 2505 2689 513 5707 1833 (24-Apr-2007)

i told myself i wasn't going to play any CFC-rated chess until I got to a new high...showing that I am improving, even if only at moving the little pieces quickly ;)

Sunday, April 15, 2007

one more notch...

;)

The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal is complete

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

i almost forgot...

my/janowski's defense to the queen's gambit

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 a6!? (or 3. ...Nf6 4.Nf3 a6)

the idea is to get an improved Slav where Black can play ...c5 in one move. It's very interesting I think. I was going through my old blitz database this morning and found a couple of games from 2006 from me in this line (+1, =2, -0)

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Match With Chris

My buddy Chris accepted a challenge for a 4-game match with me. We haven't worked out the details yet, I proposed 2 games here, 2 where he lives.

here are the ratings based on the score
































































Match
Chris Craig
1515 4-0 1484
1492 3½-½ 1496
1468 3-1 1509
1445 2½-1½ 1521
1421 2-2 1533
1398 1½-2½ 1545
1374 1-3 1557
1351 ½-3½ 1571
1327 0-4 1586


so basically i have to score 3/4 in order to keep my rating which is approximately where we stand if you were to ask me how strong we were. should be interesting...i've got a couple of opening ideas i want to try out :)

Monday, March 12, 2007

game 4 on the bike


C - K
Sadler_C - Sadler_K
G20 On The Bike Owen Sound (4), 12.03.2007
D35 - Queen's Gambit Declined : Exchange Variation

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5
Unlike last game I had decided I was going to give a crack at the Botvinnik 5...Nbd7 [5...dxc4] 6.cxd5 exd5 7.e3 Bb4 [The opening books say that the text is too loose and 7...Be7 is better here] 8.Qc2 [I was going to try 8.a3 here and see if I could get a bad Nimzo (he has played ...c6) but decided against it 8...Bxc3+ 9.bxc3] 8...Qa5 This probably transposes into what he wanted (Cambridge Springs) 9.Bd3 0-0 10.0-0 c5? [10...Re8 has been played here;
I don't see a good move for him to free his light squared bishop 10...h6 but i can just play 11.Bh4 Re8 12.a3 etc.] 11.Nxd5 i'm just happy i saw this...normally i don't see anything 11...Nxd5 12.Bxh7+ Kh8 13.a3 g6 14.axb4 Qxb4 15.Bxg6 [My original idea was to play somethign like 15.Be7 and then 16.Ng5 but of course with the knight on d5 that is no good] 15...fxg6 16.Qxg6 N5f6 17.Ne5 Qxb2 [17...Ng8 stopping mate is best] 18.Nf7+ [18.Bh6! was best forcing immeditate resignation. I should have been sharper] 18...Rxf7 19.Qxf7 cxd4 [19...Ng8 was a little better, but it's still all white] 20.Bxf6+ Nxf6 21.Qxf6+ Kg8 22.exd4 [I could've tried 22.Ra5 but the text was good enough] 22...Bg4 1-0

Friday, March 09, 2007

game 3

K - C
G20 On The Bike Owen Sound, 09.03.2007
B40 - Sicilian Defense

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Bg5?
wins a pawn [I had the pin variation in mind 5.Nc3 Bb4] 5...Qa5+ 6.Bd2 Qe5 [6...Qb6 7.Nb3 Nxe4] 0-1

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

"I don't love endgames"

C - K

C - K
G20 On The Bike Owen Sound (2), 06.03.2007
D36 - Queen's Gambit Declined : Exchange Variation


Game two 1.d4 e6 2.c4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 c6 [4...c6 Last night when I was thinking about this game I was pretty sure I would get this variation. He doesn't play the Botwinnik any more so really there were only a couple of choices 5.Bg5 (5.e3 Bd6 6.Qc2 Nbd7 7.g4 Shabalov-Shirov) 5...Nbd7 6.Qc2 Qa5 Cambridge Springs, and a third option.] 5.cxd5 For a while I've been looking at some minority attack games. This should transpose into the main line of the QGD Exchange. If he plays ...cxd5 it's a horrid Slav Exchange (...e6 without freeing the bishop) 5...exd5 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Qc2 0-0 [The "main line" is 7...g6 After 8.e3 Bf5 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Nbd7 11.0-0 0-0 I was looking at this yesterday and apparently Black wins more according to chessgames, but this looks like a "Grandmaster opening" to me, e.g. I have no idea what's going on and how the dark squares aren't weak around the king. I assume he will move his rook to e8 and reroute his bishop on the long diagonal] 8.e3 Be6 [Theory is 8...Nbd7 but Kirk had a plan in mind. He wanted to advance his c-pawn.] 9.Bd3 Nbd7 10.0-0 Rc8 11.Rab1?! Probably not the most accurate move, but again I wanted to do the minority attack 11...c5?! Giving himself the isolated pawn. Sure it opens up my queen for attack, but ends up hurting himself long term with the isolated pawn. 12.dxc5 Nxc5 13.Bf5? [Better was giving up the bishop pair with 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.Bxh7+ Kh8 15.Bf5 I had looked at something like that on the bike, but I was worried about ideas like 15...Bxf5 16.Qxf5 Bxc3 17.bxc3 and now I have an easily attackable isolated pawn as well. Not necessarily in this position, maybe later, but I didn't necesssarily want to have the isolated c-pawn. I guess the difference is that the king wasn't exposed because I never grabbed the h-pawn] 13...Nfe4 [13...Nce4 may have been better, now I'm pinned] 14.Bxe7 Qxe7 15.Nd4? [I totally missed a chance to sharpen it up 15.Nxd5! Bxd5 16.Bxc8 Bxa2 (16...Rxc8 17.b4 Ng5 18.Nxg5 Qxg5 19.f4 Qe7 20.bxc5 Be4) ] 15...Nxc3 16.Qxc3 [Again not wanting the isolated c-pawn 16.bxc3 ] 16...Qf6 17.Bxe6 [Again 17.Nxe6 Qxc3 but I didn't look hard enough 18.Bxh7+ Kh8 (18...Kxh7 19.Nxf8+ Rxf8 20.bxc3) 19.bxc3 fxe6 20.Bc2 and I have a pawn] 17...Nxe6 18.Qd3 [18.Qd2 was probably better although my move allowed him to tempo me] 18...Nc5 [18...Nxd4 19.exd4 Rc4 looked good] 19.Qe2 [Should've went for the queen trade 19.Qf5 ] 19...Ne6 20.Rfd1 Rfe8 21.Qf3 Nxd4 22.Rxd4 [I thought this was forced but of course 22.Qxf6 Ne2+ 23.Kf1 and I'm good 23...gxf6 24.Kxe2 Rc2+ 25.Rd2] 22...Qxf3 23.gxf3 Red8 [I thought 23...Rcd8 24.Rbd1 Re5 25.f4 Rf5 was better] 24.Rbd1 f6? [24...Rc2 was better] 25.Rxd5 Rxd5 26.Rxd5 Rc7 27.b4 Kf7 At this point we were both down to around 7 minutes and played with almost blitz speed 28.b5 b6 29.a4 Ke6 30.Rd4 g5 31.Kg2 h5 32.h4 Ke5 33.Kg3 Kf5 34.hxg5 fxg5 35.e4+ Ke5 36.Rd5+ Kf6 37.f4 gxf4+ 38.Kxf4 Rc4 39.Rxh5 Rxa4 40.Rh6+ Kg7 41.Rc6 Ra2 42.f3 Rb2 43.Rc7+ Kf6 44.Rxa7 Rxb5= He offered a draw around here somewhere but I have connected passed pawns and my rook behind his passer 45.Rb7 Ke6 46.Kg4 Kf6 47.f4 Ke6 48.e5 [48.f5+ Kf6 49.Kf4 Rb4 50.Rc7] 48...Rb4 49.Kg5 Rb5 50.Kg6 Rb1 [50...Rb4 51.f5+ Kxe5 52.f6 Rg4+ 53.Kf7] 51.f5+ Kxe5 52.f6 Rg1+ 53.Kf7 Rb1 54.Ke7 Rh1 55.f7 Rh7 56.Rxb6 Rxf7+ 57.Kxf7 1-0

After the game Kirk said he wasn't ready for tournament chess becuase he didn't "love endgames". I don't particularly ever but since that's the brunt of my study i should probably aim for them periodically ;) we'll see what happens tomorrow

Monday, March 05, 2007

20 minutes on the bike

K - C
G20 On The Bike Owen Sound (1), 05.03.2007
D85 - Grünfeld

I'm getting married :)

So as a training program me and Kirk decided to ride the bike for a G/20 in the morning. We used the Chessmaster program from Playstation. The problem I'm going to have is that it's always from White's POV. I could use that as an excuse but really I didn't look very hard this game at all. 1.d4 First surprise. 1...Nf6 2.Nf3 Second surprise. I go for a Grünfeld, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do in the future if he keeps this up 2...g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 c5 8.Bc4?! Spassky line isn't as strong with Nf3 as I can play Bg4 and put pressure on the d-pawn [8.Rb1] 8...Nc6 [8...0-0] 9.Be3 Bg4!? [9...0-0] 10.e5? [10.Bxf7+! Kxf7 11.Ng5+] 10...cxd4 [Maybe something like 10...Qc7 would have been better] 11.cxd4 0-0 12.0-0 Bxf3 13.Qxf3 Nxd4 14.Qxb7 Bxe5 15.Rfd1 Qb6?? [15...Qd6 16.f4 Bg7 17.Rac1 Rfd8 18.Rd2 Qa3 and I'm okay] 16.Qxe7? [16.Qxb6 axb6 17.Bxd4 just grabs a piece] 16...Bf6 17.Qe4 Rfe8 18.Qf4 Qc6?? [18...Rad8 was much better] 19.Bxd4 Not particularly well played by either. Better chess to come (I promise) 1-0

Sunday, February 11, 2007

woot

i have finished another book Analysing the Endgame by Jonathon Speelman



i think i'm tackling Tal : My LIfe and Games next :) going through these speelman books i can honestly say that i've learned something, which is nice for a change :)

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

quick draw

here's a quick draw for people who don't like playing against the queen's gambit accepted

[Event "5th Gibraltar Chess Festival"]
[Site "Gibraltar Gibraltar"]
[Date "2007.01.29"]
[EventDate "2007.01.23"]
[Round "6.1"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[White "Yuriy Kuzubov"]
[Black "Ivan Sokolov"]

[ECO "?"]
[WhiteElo "2554"]
[BlackElo "2632"]
[PlyCount "20"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Be6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Ng5 Bg4 7. Bxc4 Bxd1 8.
Bxf7+ Kd7 9. Be6+ Ke8 10. Bf7+ 1/2-1/2


not that 4. ...Be6 is that common, but I can recall some computers playing it against me. if you're ever looking for a 10 move draw v. one of your buddies in a tournament where you don't want to be paired, here's an easy option ;)

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Christmas book - done

Today I finished Timman's "Curacao 1962 : Battle of Minds that shook the Chess world"



about half the games were annotated and there were lots of pictures. interesting games though. i prefer tournament books to game collections as you get to see the good the bad, and the ugly, so to speak, of the top players. Curacao 1962 was famous for Fischer's allegations of cheating in Sports Illustrated. Every game between Keres, Petrosian and Geller was a short draw, but the one that really got Fischer's goat was this one.

Black is winning in the final position and Timman does some analysis on it. Also I learned that openings are almost pointless, as Benko opened 1.g3 in all of his games and scored +4-2=6, which is as good as anyone and also Filip played 1. Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.O-O O-O 5.d4 c5 6.c3 v. Tal, one year removed from facing Botwinnik for the world championship and was doing well up to move 33. 33.Rxe5 instead of the blunder 33.Nxe5? and he had Tal beat with a passive terrible system.

i don't think i'm gonna play in kitchener. with who knows what's happening in the future (house? marriage?) i'm gonna make work a priority. with all the overtime i'm working my energy levels are low, so i'm gonna keep working on chess, tactics, and working out a little bit and then see what happens. i'm exhausted so i need to relax on the weekends and i don't find going and playing 5 rounds in 2 days relaxing anymore. if i take an (extended) break, maybe the love will come back, or maybe i'll just realize that i like going through games and playing blitz. sadly, i don't think i'll be playing in Canadian Open either (sorry Neil). Chrystelle at work is going for training the week of the Canadian open so i can't go.

I've got on a good system with this past book...history has shown that i like going through annotated games and I hate doing tactics, so I did the logical thing and combined them. 10 tactics for every game I go through. It's not a lot, but I've done about 1522 tactics since I started doing this book which is pretty damn good as far as I'm concerned.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Candidates Tournament 1959

Here's a cool video from a game between Tal and Fischer from the Candidates Tournament 1959