An exciting game

In the Ruy Lopez exchange variation, 5. O-O f6 line. I was playing black. Exciting to play, a bishop versus knight endgame that ended in a stalemate 4 seconds away from losing on time.

Analysis to follow, perhaps. Lots of mistakes made.

An interesting opening idea

1. Nc3 {anything} 2. Rb1

Preparing the b4 pawn push, supported by the rook, to be followed up by b5, especially if there is a knight on c6, and a4, grabbing lots of queenside space and waiting for the opponent to commit to placing his pawns in the center before deciding what to do with the central pawns and kingside pieces. Prevents black's king's bishop from developing naturally to c5 or b4, and has the possibility of giving white two nice diagonals to place his bishops on: a3-f8 or a1-h8 and a2-g8. Probably has a high propensity to getting creamed on the kingside, but good for a laugh, especially in 1 minute games, like the following [the same opening idea but reversed, as black].

The same idea as white, accidentally in a 5 minute game, intended for a 1 minute game.

Mate in three

Exciting position from the game Evgeny Sveshnikov vs. Ruslan Scherbakov, 1991. White to move and mate in three.

1. Qg7+!! White sacks his queen to trap black's king in a mating net ... Kxg7 the only move. 2. Nf5++ The double check forces black's king to move and prevents him from escaping via h6 ... Kg8 the only move. 3. Nh6# or 3. Ne7#

Click to show/hide solution.

A satisfying win; a tactical shot

One of the most satisfying wins I've had in a while; not because of any amazing mating combination, but because I was able to positionally clamp down on black's position throughout the game.



[Event "rated blitz match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2009.05.08"]
[Round "?"]
[White "waparker"]
[Black "Blogjam"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1168"]
[BlackElo "1129"]
[ECO "D10"]
[TimeControl "600"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 Be7 7. Bxc4 Nbd7 8.
O-O O-O 9. Rc1 b5 10. Bb3 b4 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Na4 Ba6 13. Re1 Qc7 14. e5 Be7
15. Nc5 Bxc5 16. dxc5 Bb5 17. Qc2 Rad8 18. Ng5 g6 19. f4 h6?
{Rybka 2.2 (score 4.22 at depth 13) thinks this is not a good move}
({Rybka 2.2 suggests:} 19. ... a5 20. Ne4 +/= {(score 0.61 at depth 10)} )

20. Ne4
{Rybka 2.2 (score 0.83 at depth 10) thinks a good move has been missed}
({Rybka 2.2 suggests:} 20. Nxe6 Bd3 21. Qxd3 Nxc5 22. Rxc5 fxe6 23. Qxg6+ Kh8
24. Qxh6+ Qh7 25. Qxh7+ Kxh7 26. Bxe6 Rxf4 +- {(score 4.22 at depth 13)} )

Kg7 21. Rcd1 Rfe8 22. Re3 Nf8 23. Nd6 Re7 24. Rg3 f6 25. exf6+ Kxf6 26. a4
Ba6 27. Qe4 Qd7?? {This offers a mate in 1 to the opponent}
({Rybka 2.2 suggests:} 27. ... Kg7 28. f5 g5 29. f6+ Kxf6 30. Qd4+ e5 31. Ne4+ {(score 3.28 at depth 10)} )

28. Qe5# {Blogjam checkmated} 1-0

From a different game, a tactical puzzle. Black to move and win material. White has just played Bh6.

1 ...f5! Black covers the g7 square with his Queen and simultaneously attacks White's queen, which must protect the rook on e2 as well as pin the g-pawn so that it cannot take the bishop on h6. If 2. Rxe8+ Rxe8 as was played in the game, 3. Qd1 must be played to prevent ...Re8#, losing the bishop. The best line for white is 2. Qh5 Rxe2 3. Qxe2 gxh6 4. Qe6+ Kg7 5. Qxf5 Bh2+ 6. Kh1 (6. Kf1 Qc4+ leads to mate)

Click to show/hide solution.

A fun Philidor's game

Here is a fun game I just played on the Free Internet Chess Server. If you copy-paste this as a PGN into your viewer you can read my comments as well as look at some variations.

[Event "rated blitz match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2009.05.08"]
[Round "?"]
[White "waparker"]
[Black "pencsev"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1171"]
[BlackElo "1048P"]
[ECO "C41"]
[TimeControl "300"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Qxd4 Bg4 5. Rg1 $5 {A cute little move to have some fun that I just came up with. If black takes the knight and opens the g-file, he will basically be forfeiting the right to castle on the kingside, and the development of his dark-square bishop might be difficult due to the pressure on g7. But it's definitely not a very sound idea.} Qf6 6. Qe3 (6. Qb4 Bxf3 7. gxf3 b6 8. Nc3 Qxf3 9. Nd5 Kd8 $16 {If black goes for pawn-grabbing, white will have a lead in development and threats on c7 to force the king to forfeit the right to castle.} ) Nc6 7. Nc3 a6 8. Bd2 (8. Nd5 Qd8 9. Qb3 Rb8 10. h3 Bd7 11. Bd3 ) O-O-O 9. O-O-O Nd4 10. Be2 (10. Nd5 Qg6 11. Qxd4 $18 {A simple tactic to win a piece. The queen can't stay on the diagonal to protect the knight.} ) Nxf3 11. gxf3 Be6 12. Kb1 (12. Qa7 b6 13. Qa8+ Kd7 14. Qxa6 g6 15. e5 Qf5 16. Bb5+ c6 17. Qb7+ $18 ) Kb8 13. Bd3 d5 {Black offers to open up lines when he is the player with poor development.} 14. exd5 Bxd5 15. Nxd5 Rxd5 16. Be4 Rb5 17. Bc3 Qb6 (17. ... Qe7 {A better alternative to the move played which immediately loses;} 18. Rd2 Rb6 19. Ba5 Rd6 20. Qb3 b6 21. Bb4 Qe5 22. Rgd1 Rxd2 23. Rxd2 Qg5 24. Qd3 $18 ) 18. Rd8+ Ka7 19. Qxb6+ (19. Rxf8 Qxe3 20. fxe3 c5 21. Rxg7 ) cxb6 20. Rgd1 (20. Rxf8 f5 21. Bd3 Rd5 22. Bxg7 ) Bc5 (20. ... Be7 21. R8d7 Kb8 22. Bxb7 Bf6 23. Bxa6 Rg5 24. f4 Rg6 {Rybka gives Rg1, sacking the rook to stop white's rook coordination. This more human-like move leads to checkmate.} 25. Be5+ Bxe5 26. Rb7+ Kc8 27. Rxf7+ Kb8 28. Rd8# ) 21. R1d7 a5 22. Rxb7+ Ka6 23. Ra8# {pencsev checkmated} 1-0

Quick link to latest chess video

Featuring three games: two from me, and one from Paul Morphy, the famous Opera Game.

Video

More and more videos

I have made a whole slew of new videos, mostly on the youtube site. http://www.youtube.com/waparker4

I achieved my highest blitz rating on FICS last night of 1234. I think making live videos will improve my ability to make plans quickly and avoid indecision. I have actually been winning some five minute games instead of losing on time!

Here is a game from the book Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev. Try to go through the moves in your head without looking at a board. It's not a long game so it should be possible.

A highly recommended book.

von Schieve - Teichmann Berlin 1907 - Guioco Piano

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4
This game comes from the "kingside attack" chapter of this book. A good development of the bishop, it is aggressively pointed at f7. It also contests the d5 square.

3 ... Bc5 4. c3
White aims to establish the central pawn duo of e4 and d4. This c-pawn thrust also makes Qb3 an option to attack f7. It does, however, deprive the queenside knight of his best square. The threat is 5. d4 attacking the bishop and forcing 5 ... exd4 6. cxd4.

4 ... Qe7
Black counters the threat by counterattacking on the e-pawn. If 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 then 6 ... Qxe4+ wins the pawn.

5. O-O d6 6. d4
White delayed the d4 thrust to castle his king. The move indirectly protects the e-pawn, because 6 ... exd4 7. cxd4 Qxe4 8. Re1! and the queen is pinned and will be lost.

6 ... Bb6
Black's move d6 allows him to retreat his bishop after 6. d4 and not lose his central pawn.

7. a4 a6 8. a5
White is losing time on a fruitless attempt to trap the bishop or fool black. If 8 ... Bxa5 then 9. d5! Nd8 10. Rxa5 wins a bishop. But black does not fall for it.

8 ... Ba7 9. h3
A weak move that I have been seeing alot in blitz games on FICS. White wants to prevent Bg4 pinning the knight, but it is unnecessary. Chernev writes, "It is better to submit to the pin -- a temporary inconvenience -- than to prevent it by a move that looses the position of the pawns defending the king." Now Bxh3 is a constant option for black to trigger a kingside mating attack.

9 ... Nf6 10. dxe5
Black is poorly developed, so opening up lines in the center will favor black. White has just increased the scope of black's a7 bishop, which now pins the f2-pawn to the white king.

10 ... Nxe5 11. Nxe5 Qxe5
Black is right to replace his e-pawn with pieces. Now white's knight on f3 -- the best defender of the white kingside -- has disappeared, replaced by a powerfully placed queen on e5.

12. Nd2
Although the white e-pawn is attacked twice and defended once, taking it would cost the game: 12 ... Nxe4 13. Nxe4 Qxe4 14. Rc1 pinning the queen.

12 ... Bxh3!
Black has no interest in the e-pawn; he is more interested in the white king.

13. gxh3 Qg3+!
A powerful move; black is utilizing the pin on the f-pawn thanks to the bishop on a7.

14. Kh1 Qxh3+ 15. Kg1 Ng4
Threatening mate on h7. One try that fails immediately is 16. Re1 to give room for the king, which is met by 16 ... Bxf2#.

16. Nf3 Qg3+
Removes one of the defenders, the king, from protection of the f-pawn as well as attacking it a third time with the queen.

17. Kh1 Bxf2! 0 - 1
White resigns. The bishop is taking away the g1 square for the king to escape to, so that black is threatening 18 ... Qh3+ 19. Nh2 Qxh2#. Unfortunately for white, the bishop cannot be taken, because of 18. Rxf2 Nxf2#.

More videos

I'm having fun making the videos- it gives a new sense of life to the game of chess for me because it allows a different angle from which one can look at the game.

1. A serious production, a presentation of the game Leko vs. Gelfand from yesterday's Grand Prix Tournament in Nalchik. It was an exciting middlegame! Link

2. A non-serious production. A humorous, poorly played, clownish game on my part which started well and went terribly wrong. But spotting one tactic is enough to turn a loss into a win. Click at your own risk

Suggested link: The Nalchik tournament website

Second; third; fourth chess videos I ever produced

I've been on a tear. I even started a Youtube channel!

A fun live blitz game with a very winning rook and pawn ending,
here.

A couple of fun live blitz games, on my new youtube channel!
Go!

I have another video ready, which is a 20 minute analysis of a classic game from 1905, Janowski vs. Alapin. I haven't uploaded it yet because I'm not sure about a copyright issue, because it's a game from a book I am reading. So I will hopefully post that soon! It utilizes ChessBase and the colored squares and arrows! Fun!

First chess video I ever produced

I'm not so sure everything was in right place in my head while recording, but anyways: here it is.

An aggressive opening.

Today I tried out the King's gambit in one game, and I tried two games in the Vienna game, 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3. It looks quiet and passive, but can lead to very aggressive and tactical play for white if he plays an early f4 ala the King's Gambit. In fact, Wikipedia cites, "Weaver W. Adams, whom Grandmaster Larry Evans described as having an 'all or nothing' mentality, famously claimed that the Vienna Game led to a forced win for White."

I wouldn't go that far, but it can lead to some quick development and powerful attacking chances. I will relay some basic guidelines to the opening from Wikipedia's article. After 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 black has two options. If 2 ... Nf6 white can play 3. f4, the Vienna Gambit, which can lead to open lines against the black king if black does not defend properly. In the few games of blitz I have played I have seen most often 3 ... exf4, but 3 ... d5, a counterstrike in the center, is indicated for black to keep it equal. After 3 ... d5, "4. fxe5 Nxe4, either 5.Nf3, 5.Qf3 or 5.d3 usually follows." After 3 ... exf4 I have been playing 4. Nf3 like the King's Gambit but 4. e5 Qe7 5. Qe2 is another good line, as black's knight must retreat. 3 ... d5 does not seem like a move likely to be found in blitz games, unless the black player knows a little bit about the opening.

I felt like spicing up my blog posting with a picture of Vienna.

Other options after 2 ... Nf6 include 3. Nc4 which can transpose into countless different openings, such as the Four Knights Game, Bishop's Opening, or King's Gambit Declined, and though there are some "wild" lines discussed in the Wikipedia article, this move is not really my main focus at this time. Another popular idea is 3. g3 which prepares the kingside fianchetto and a quieter more positional game, which may be a useful idea if playing a slow game against someone who knows his stuff. The move has been played by Vasily Smyslov, "most notably in a win over Lev Polugaevsky in the 1961 USSR Championship. That game continued 3...d5 4.exd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Be6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.O-O Be7 8.Re1 Bf6 9.Ne4 O-O 10.d3 Be7 11.a3 Nb6 12.b4, resulting in a position which the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings assesses as slightly better for White. The main line today, however, is considered to be 5...Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bd6 7.Nf3 O-O 8.O-O."

After 2 ... Nc6 there are still the 3. f4 or 3. g3 ideas, and in either case, "3...d5? would be a weak response losing a pawn, unlike after 2...Nf6." A good sharp line for blitz games might be the Hamppe-Muzio gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 exf4 4.Nf3 g5 5.Bc4 g4 6.0-0 gxf3 7.Qxf3, where white is down a piece but has a significant advantage in central space and development, and has the f-file and the weakened a1-h8 diagonal to generate a powerful attack with.

Now I will recount a game just played on the FICS server in the Vienna/ King's Gambit.

[Event "rated blitz match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2009.04.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "waparker"]
[Black "ayi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1145"]
[BlackElo "1254"]
[ECO "C25"]
[TimeControl "600"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4
Unsure of whether I want to go in for the 3. f4 lines, as I have heard that 3. f4 is not as good against 2. Nc3.

3 ... Nf6 4. f4 exf4 5. Nf3 h6 6. d4 g5 7. h4 g4
Gives white the advantage. Better for black would have been 7. ... Bb4 8. d5 g4 9. dxc6 gxf3 10. gxf3 bxc6 11. Bxf4 d5 12. exd5 cxd5 13. Be2 and black has better central control but white has a small advantage. Note in this hypothetical position black cannot attack the pinned knight because if 13 ... d4 14. Be5 dxc3 15. Qxd8+ Kxd8 16. Bxf6+ Ke8, and here 17. Bxh8 would be a weak move leading to material equality as opposed to 17. O-O-O which threatens checkmate and the hanging rook on h8 simulataneously, which will win material.

8. Ne5 Nxe5 9. dxe5 Nxe4
Not good. My opponent spent much time on this move so I could predict that he was thinking of sacking his knight instead of humbly retreating it. It only took a few moments to decide that 10. Nxe4 would not be very strong because of 10 ... d5 forking knight and bishop, and 10. Qxg5 would lose a piece to 10 ... d5 discovering an attack on the queen. Rybka suggets for black 9. ... d5 10. exd5 Nh5 as the immediate 9. ... Nh5 loses a pawn to 10. Qxg4 d5 11. Bb5+ c6 12. Qxh5 cxb5 13. Nxd5 White is a pawn up with an aggressively placed Queen and knight.

10. Bxf7+
Not the strongest continuation, but it displaces the king and regains material equality. (10. Qd5 Qe7 11. Nxe4 Rb8 12. Bxf4 b5 13. Nf6+ Kd8 )

10 ... Kxf7 11. Qd5+ Kg7 12. Qxe4 f3 13. h5
Not the strongest continuation. I thought it was clever to threaten mate in one with a pawn push, because I didn't see anything concrete after 13. Qxg4+, but Rybka is better at looking 9 moves deep than I am: 13. Qxg4+ Kh7 14. Qe4+ Kg8 15. gxf3 Rh7 16. Nd5 Be7 17. Be3 c6 18. Rg1+ Rg7 19. Rxg7+ Kxg7 20. Nxe7 Qxe7 21. O-O-O {Black can do nothing to stop the threat along the g-file} d5 22. Rg1+

13 ... Kf7??
Leads to a mate in two; black missed a continuation leading to equality by 13. ... Rg8 14. Qxg4+ Kh8 15. Qxf3 d5 16. Be3 d4 17. O-O-O

14. Qg6+ Ke7 15. Nd5# {ayi checkmated} 1-0

Note: I have found another great youtube chess commentator, SeanGGodley. He has a great series of Grandmaster miniatures which all feature great tactics in sharp positions and a number of subvariations, with good explanations of what moves are strong and what are not.

waparker_ayi_2009_4_18_00_22.pgn

A moral victory

I am back from an extended hiatus from online chess. Here is a game in which I was quite happy with my position out of the opening. I think this is the primary benefit of blitz chess. It really is not enough time to calculate a winning combination to convert a positional advantage into a win. But it is a good venue to practice opening ideas and hone one's skills at evaluating the static and dynamic characteristics of positions and moves. Thus, I am trying to work on being happy if I am 24 moves into a blitz game and I have control over a central square that I can use as a home for a knight, or I have a strong pair of rooks blasting down an open file. I am sad if I am 24 moves into a blitz game and I am passively defending a backward pawn or have just hung my knight.

Position after 24. Rxa5

In this game at move 24 I have just won the a5 pawn, I have control over some dark squares in the center, my opponent's dark square bishop is hiding passively in the corner and "biting on granite" on my strong central pawn chain. My pawns are defending the c4 and e4 squares, limiting the activity of my opponent's pieces.

Position after 30. c4

After a few moves, everything has fizzled out. I must have missed something because my dream of establishing a knight on the powerful c5 square has not come to fruition. I must have missed something else, because my dream of establishing my rook on my opponent's 7th rank by Ra7 did not turn out to be possible by 29. Rxa8. Although I have a considerable static positional advantage, I am not able to take the initiative and win the game because of the passive placing of my queen and knight. That is, I do not have a dynamic positional advantage.

Position at which I was flagged on time

The most heartbreaking part of this game is where I am in a position with a very simple mate-in-two, but run out of time. But it's okay, because it's the first 7 minutes of a blitz game that really matter, right? At least, after losing in this manner, it helps me establish some peace of mind to think in this way.

The game. A pirc defense that had some ideas cross over from the King's Indian Defense and Philidor's defense.

waparker_koufaxrules_2009_4_13_23_35.pgn

Hello world.

Hello world. I have played my first chess game in a few days. I have been playing Scrabble but felt like a little chess action. It was a good game, but looking at it with Rybka's analysis just makes me a little depressed. I don't really feel like saying anything about this... I don't think I'm mentally ready to come back to playing chess as often yet.

[Event "rated blitz match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2009.03.27"]
[Round "?"]
[White "MrGambitMan"]
[Black "waparker"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1266"]
[BlackElo "1200"]
[ECO "B23"]
[TimeControl "600"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. Bc4 Bg7 4. Nf3 d6 5. d3 Nf6 6. Bg5 Nc6 7. Nb5? (7. O-O O-O 8. Qd2 ) a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Bb3 Bg4 10. O-O Nd4 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Bd5 Rc8? (12. ... Rb8 13. c3 Nxf3+ 14. gxf3 Bh5 ) 13. Bb7 Rc7 14. Bxa6 Bxf3 15. Bxb5+? Kf8? (15. ... Nxb5 16. gxf3 Nxa3 17. bxa3 ) 16. gxf3 e6 17. c3 Nxb5 18. Nxb5 Rb7 19. a4 Be5 20. Qd2 Qh4! 21. f4? Qg4+ (21. ... Bxf4 22. f3 ) 22. Kh1 Qf3+ 23. Kg1 Bxf4 24. Qd1?? (24. Re1) Qh3 25. Qg4? (25. Re1 Bxh2+ 26. Kh1 Bg3+ 27. Kg1 Qh2+ 28. Kf1 Qxf2# ) Qxh2# {MrGambitMan checkmated} 0-1

Practice with Combinations

I'm going to try something new this time. I'm going to look at some random positions from this book Combinations: The Heart of Chess by Irving Chernev which is a really, really old book - from 1960. I'm going to utilize my newly learned Javascript trick from last post, so under each position will be my proposed line and on the right will be the solution from the book. So let's get started and see where it takes us.

White to move. Gereben-Troianescu 1951
1q3r1k/1br1bpnp/pp2p1p1/2n1Q1P1/2PN1PBP/1PN5/PB6/3RR1K1 w - - 0 1

Show/hide my solution.

I have a feeling there is something more here. 1. Nxe6 {threatening checkmate} Nxe6 2. Nd5 {uncovering the bishop to threaten mate on g7 and attacks the rook} f6 {attacks the queen to save both the rook and mate 3. Qxc7 Qxc7 4. Nxc7 Nxc7 5. Rd7 Bd8 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. gxf6 Rxf6 {can't allow gxf7+ picking up the rook} 8. Rxc7 and white has a dominating position and is up the exchange.

Note: Rybka analysis reveals Nxe6 as a mistake that loses a 4 pawn advantage; suggests 2 ... Bxd5 as the newly placed knight on e6 is guarding the mate, so 2 ... f6 would not be played.

Show/hide the book's solution.

1. Nd5! {Attacks the rook and cannot be taken as it threatens 2. Qxg7+! Kxg7 3. Nf5+ Kg8 4. Nh6#} 1 ... Rfc8 2. Nxe6 {threatens mate on g7} Nxe6 {the one that's not pinned, of course} 3. Bxe6 {renews the threat} Bc5+ 4. Kh2 fxe6 {covers g7 with the rook on c7} 5. Nxc7 Rxc7 6. Rd7! {Gangs up on the pinned rook and blocks its control of g7. Looks like black is forced to give up his queen e.g. Rybka: 6 ... Bf8 7. Rxc7 Qxc7 8. Qxc7} 1-0

Ok. Maybe I should try an easier one. I will flip to the chapter called "Simple and Pleasing".

White to move. Tarrasch-Amateur 1919
1R6/2p5/Rnk1p3/1pppP3/1P6/2P5/2K5/7r w - - 0 1

Show/hide my solution.

OK. This one is easy. 1. bxc5 {attacks the knight} Kxc5 2. Raxb6 cxb6 3. Rc8#

Show/hide the book's solution.

1. bxc5 Kxc5 2. Raxb6 cxb6 3. Rc8# Woohoo! Irving was right, that was simple and pleasing.

Note: Rybka gives the line 1. bxc5 Kxc5 2. Raxb6 c6 as cxb6 leads to mate. Here black is down a whole rook and will ultimately lose.

Aside: Funny Honda commercial involving chess.

A trap in the Veresov attack

Not the most wonderful game, but demonstrates a trap in the Veresov attack which sprung up tonight. I was basically improvising my opening in a blitz game, which centers around playing the freeing e4 early in the queen's pawn game at the expense of hampering the c pawn from expansion. See this excellent Youtube video by Matt Pullin for another line in the Veresov where black can go wrong very easily. Play began 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 {The Veresov} g6?! {Doesn't prevent e4} 3. e4 d5 {Too late. The e-pawn is already there.} 4. e5 Ne4 5. Ne2?!

What is the trap hidden in this move, and what must black play to avoid it?

Black must play f6 to create a secure square on g5 for his e4 knight, as it is trapped.

Click to show/hide solution.

I'm having alot of trouble with this stupid Blogspot. It wouldn't let Javascript work because it automatically inserts break tags every time I press return, even though I am in "Edit HTML" mode. So I learned how to turn off this "feature" and now the Javascript works. The only problem now is that all of my previous posts are completely screwed up because of the hidden break tags that are now gone. Anyway, back to the chess game.

My opponent didn't see this trap and so lost his knight next move after 5 ... Bg7? 6. f3! Ng5 7. Bxg5. Play then went on in a pretty standard fashion. I pushed to f4 to clear the f3 square for the king's knight and tried to develop my pieces to good squares. I missed the obvious 11. Bxd8 winning the queen, but still managed to win another piece. After 13. Bf6+ I had a huge bishop right in black's king position which is hard to dislodge. I pushed c3 to shore up my central pawn wedge and establish the light square bishop on the aggressive d3 square. And then there was 16... h6

What is white's move in this position?

The correct move is 17. Qh5! The queen cannot be taken because 17 ... gxh5 18. Bh7#.

Click to show/hide solution.

Of course the real game didn't make it to move seventeen as my opponent resigned after 16 ... h6 because he had to go. But it was a pretty good place to resign anyway because it is a forced mate! The game below contains two ending variations that could have occurred, but keep in mind that they did not occur. I was thinking about 17. Qg4 which is not immediately winning, so I need to work on recognizing ccombinations more still.

waparker_famousMortimer-2.pgn

Tournaments Galore

Happy March. It's supposed to snow 14 inches tonight. Here is a game from my Slav-themed tournament, which I am currently leading with a score of +10 -2 =0. This was a very fun game. Drew Parker_Carlo Benarrivo_2009_2_25_12_43.pgn Comments: 9. Be2 loses a pawn. Bd3 instead keeps the pawn. 12 ... f5 13. Ne5 The move f5 opened up the a2-g8 diagonal to black's king, weakens e6, and gives my Knight a outpost on e5 where he cannot be molested by black pawns. 14. Nc5. There is probably a better move, but the series of exchanges that follow do a few good things. It exchanges my knight on the rim for black's centralized knight, and establishes a blockade on the c6 pawn so black cannot open up the diagonal for use by his bishop. 18. Nxc6 Nxc5 19. Nxb4 Reestablishing material equality, and starts a pretty knight maneuver as he jumps round and round and lands back on his outpost on e5. 23. Rc7 Didn't want to passively defend the b2 pawn, instead we exchange weak pawns. 24 ... g5 Black isn't going to get anywhere with his kingside pawn majority as long as his e-pawn is blocked. 27. a4! The rook can't continue to defend the knight. The correct move for black is 27... Rb7 supported by the knight. 27... Nxa4? Leads to a forced win for white. At first, I thought it was a clever move as it offers the knight as a sacrificial lamb in order to take the e5 knight, but I found a much better move. 28. Rcc7! The fatal zwischenzug. Rxe5 fails to the mate in 3 (28... Rxe5 29. Rg7+ Kh8 30. Rh7+ Kg7 31. Rag7#, a familiar mating pattern.) 28 ...Rd8 gives the king some space to move, but my doubled rooks on the seventh will deliver the fatal blows. 29 ... Kf8 Raf7+ Ke8 Rg8# and the knight protects the rook on f7. Alternatively, 29 ... Kh8 30. Rxh7+ Kg8 31. Rag7+ Kf8 32. Rf7+ Kg8 (32 ... Ke8 Rh8#) 33. Rhg7+ Kh8 34. Ng6#, a very pretty mating combination. I just participated in a mamer tourney on FICS which was a 3-round 15 0 tournament. I was ranked 6th out of 8 players. In game one, I drew against a 1720 opponent, in game two I upset a 1737 opponent, and in game three I was slaughtered mercilessly by a 2168 opponent. Here is the second round game, which was a Benko gambit with 5. b6. I was worse for the majority of the game so I threw some pawns at his kingside and managed to open up a very nasty h-file attack after he blundered with 27. ... Bd4. Some themes from this game that I have learned about from watching videos on youtube: The rook on a3 to swing over to the kingside, controlling the b5 outpost, the Nf3-Nd2-Nc4 maneuver, restraining the advance of black's center pawns. But I was down a pawn the entire time so my position wasn't that great. waparker_illdf_2009_3_1_23_53 15 0 tourney.pgn

The dynamic(?) Slav defense

Hi. I have been playing in a tournament on Facebook where the theme was games in the Slav defense, specifically the line in the Semi-Slav 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 e6 5. Nf3 dxc5 (not sure if that is the correct move order, but the games begin from the position that these moves create. This system is called the anti-Meran gambit, and it is very complicated. Anyway, I was inspired by this tournament, in which I am doing quite well, to play 1...d5 in some online blitz. Here we have an interesting game which reached some of the same positions as in some of my games in the tournament. katiebloo_waparker_2009_2_24_01_15.pgn
The game started out in a simple semi-slav style opening until white made some dubious decisions that made the game much wilder, but ultimately much better for black. So I had to play with a great deal of care, but a few moves after the initial creation of imbalances, I had complete control over the initiative plus a considerable material advantage, and some latent potential energy generated by tactics along the open g-file toward white's king. I think in the opening instead of going for these imbalances, white should have played it slow and tried to take advantage of his advantage in space. Through move 10 white had a pretty solid advantage (I would say +/=, as a new shorthand that I learned today). However 11. a3? just gives away at least a pawn for little compensation. 13. e5? still doesn't solve the problem of losing the pawn, as Bxb2 is a nice zwischenzug as the threatened rook is a more immediate threat than my threatened knight. However, my opponent made the dubious choice after 13 ... Bxb2 of sacrificing the exchange in order to really mess up my pawn structure. 17... Kf8 guards the hanging rook on g7 and is probably a better move. 19. Qe5 I suppose the entire point of those crazy exchanges was to try to put pressure on my very weak pawn structure. However, white missed the opportunity to gain a tempo with 19. Rd1 Qe7 20. Qe5, which also traps black's king in the center. 20... O-O-O Maybe it took some guts to castle here with such sparse cover, but Rybka agrees. It connects my rook and I can use the rook on the open d-file to do some damage. 21. Nd4 I took a brief look at sacking the exchange back with 21 ... Rxd4 but I couldn't come up with a convincing way of keeping the advantage. Rybka showed me a very neat line which has been included as a variation in the flash applet. 22. Nxe6? The beginning of white's demise. White didn't want to trade queens with Qxe6 because he is material down, but this move pins his knight and gives me the initiative to do something nasty. Also notice how the g-pawn is attacked twice throughout (which is why 21 ... c5! is a good move). 23 ... Rxg2+! A great tactic. I will exchange two rooks for the Queen, and after the dust settles will have a queen and bishop vs. rook, knight and bishop. After the trade of bishops, my queen proved much more powerful and manouverable than the rook and knight. 35. ... Qf5 I missed the neat trick 35... c1=Q! 36. Rxc1 Qa3+ 37. Ke4 Qxc1. I think Qf5 is pretty good anyway because I can just advance the b-pawn at will, but above is much better. 36. Ke3?? Do you see how I win immediately? Stare at it until you do. I missed 45 ... Qe4#. I was looking for a while to find it and my opponent was frustrated and started insulting me. I didn't see it so I decided to do some moves that I knew would checkmate in a short while. Next time I will share some of my games from this Slavic tournament on facebook.

The Nightly 5 0 tournament

Hello world. Tonight I participated in the Nightly 5 0 tournament on FICS. I usually do very very badly on these FICS tournaments, as it pairs you against highly rated players with very little time. But in this tournament I finished in 8th place with a 2.5/5 score! Go me. Here are the 5 games I played.

The first game featured me against a 1421 player. Opening was an English opening. He must have been half-asleep, because he missed several very simple tactics and I had a position where I could have ended with a Queen versus bishop. Unfortunately, by that time I had only about 20 seconds left on the clock and so couldn't make any moves. The game ended in a draw, which I was happy with, because I outplayed my opponent in the opening and middlegame.

waparker_Wedberg_2009_2_17_22_13.pgn
Result: 1/2-1/2

Second game featured a King's gambit, which I hate playing against. I had a losing position and then a winning position against a 1480 before losing on time. This was a position where I snatched material and had to endure a siege upon my back rank, but came out of it material up after my opponent blundered.

MauriceP_waparker_2009_2_18_01_39.pgn
Result: 1-0

Third game was a Dutch defense stonewall variation. My opponent was closer to my own rating and missed several good moves. I managed to reach a position where I had complete control of the f and h files surrounding his king, and I won after my opponent failed to defend his king.

wojowhiskey_waparker_2009_2_18_01_45.pgn
Result: 0-1

Fourth game: French defense advance variation. I got into trouble early on, but after a very dubious bishop sacrifice (move 18) I freed my game up some. I then was able to win the piece back after some tactical fireworks centering around the theme of attacking the defender (moves 24 - 30). After all this it simplified into an endgame where I was a pawn up and with a knight versus a bishop. All the pawns were on the same side of the board so my knight was an asset. I managed to put all my pawns on dark squares so my opponent had nothing to attack with his bishop. I won on time after a very exciting endgame! Unfortunately I missed the two opportunities to just take the bishop and win but it is blitz.

waparker_trentthechessnut_2009_2_17_22_46.pgn
Result: 1-0

Final game: Stonewall attack (Bird's Opening). I just got thumped in this game by a 1678 rated player. Not too much to talk about in this game. I had a nasty pin going on my opponent that would have won a piece (19. Bd3 instead of what I played). Afterwards my position just started to crumble like feta cheese!

waparker_Lemurian_2009_2_18_01_52.pgn
Result: 0-1

End results: waparker 2.5/5 (2 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw)

Facebook tournament, pt. 2

As promised, my second victory in this facebook tournament: Drew Parker_Ed Brosky_2009_2_12_12_51.pgn
Comments: 12. O-O: A mistake. I need to look after my c4 pawn, as its only defender is about to be lured away. I should have played 12. Nxe5. 24. Qxa6: Restored material equality, but my position is terrible. My own a-pawn will be impossible to defend without becoming completely passive. 33. Rxc5!: Amazingly, this move seems to either win a pawn or force perpetual check. It is easy enough to see that taking the rook leads to either a perpetual check or, if the black king ever reaches e8, a skewer of king and queen and I'm up a queen vs. a rook. The only moves I had to worry about are Re1+, which leads to a draw according to Rybka, and Qb1+, trying to avoid the eventual skewer. But in this line, white has complete control over the 7th and 8th ranks from the c-file to the h-file, so a perpetual check will be easy. My opponent chose Re1+ followed by dxc5, and didn't see the skewer, so after 40... Ke8 41. Qh8+, black resigned. My two games in the king's indian defense have not gone very well, so I should avoid playing 1. d4 until I have learned more about the opening. I have another game in a Taimanov Sicilian that I am just losing terribly, and a couple of endgames which seem like draws. But endgames are such an easy place to make a fatal mistake that they could each go either way.

Facebook Tournament

I'm currently tied for first place with 2 points in a correspondence tournament on facebook. I will show the completed games here. Jacob Bard_Drew Parker_2009_2_11_11_26.pgn
Some comments: 5. Nf3: White is trying to control the e5 square. An e5 push is my eventual plan. 9... Nh5: White's rook opposes my queen on the c-file. This means I have to be wary of white opening the c-file. I almost have control of the e5 square. With 9 ... Nh5, I expose my bishop to control of the square while attacking white's dark-square bishop which defends the square. 11... a4: I am trying to slow down white's opening of the c-file. White wants to play b4 and b5, at which point I would have to either open the c-file, or play c5, which gives white control of the d5 square as an outpost. 21... Bh6: The start of some tactics based around this pinned knight. The only piece that can defend is the queen and some pawns. However, my doubled pawns on the e-file control the squares that these pawns need to be on in order to support the knight. 23... Qe7: attacks the pinned knight as well as introducing a discovery on the unprotected bishop on e2 after 24. f4 exf4. 25... Qxg5: To avoid any discoveries on the e-file. I have won a knight and am now threatening to take the g3 pawn. 26. Kg2?: The worst possible way to defend the g-pawn. Better would have been 26. Qxf4 Qxf4 27. gxf4 Bxf4 and I'm a piece and 2 connected passed pawns up. 29... Bxc1: I am now a whole rook up and I have two entry points into the 2nd rank with check. 30... Ra1: Threatening to remove the bishop for checkmate. It is a forced mate here. After 31. Bg2 to create a hiding square for the king there is 31... Be4! and the bishop is effectively pinned, as moving it would allow checkmate on the back rank. Mate by the following line: 31. Bg2 Be4 32. Kh2 Rxg2+ 33. Kh3 Bd2 34. Rb1 Rxb1 35. bxc6 Rh1+ 36. Kg4 h5# Will come back to post the other game. It involved a rook sacrifice to force(?) a perpetual check. I will be checking if it actually would have worked with best play.

Coming back from behind

Hi there. I had a game today on FICS where I stuck with it even though I was a piece down basically the entire game. I got a large advantage in pawns and was able to promote them and convert them into a material advantage by the end of the game. I have been playing very badly again as of late on FICS, losing lots of games straight out of the opening and missing mates-in-one and/or hanging pieces, or succumbing to simple tactics. On the other hand, I have been having lots of draws lately too in positions where I was down material. Anyway, here is the game. I hope it isn't too small to see. I will try to find another place to get a PGN plugin. waparker_johncecil_2009_2_6_21_57.pgn
Computer analysis courtesy of FICS I found a great online book on tactics. It is pretty simple stuff but it is a good read. EDIT: I found that I played a game against the same opponent back in December. It was funny because a very similar position arose out of the opening. Here is the game, just for fun: waparker_johncecil_2008_12_18_13_02.pgn

Combinations

I just had a fun game in which I had a nice tactic to stop my opponent's counterplay and then win the exchange. What followed was a really bad king hunt on my part, since I had about 5 minutes on the clock and couldn't find the best moves to put the game away. I ended up with two queens and 4 pawns versus one queen and 1 pawn, but the game was about 30 moves longer than it should have been. Since there are so many beautiful variations from Rybka, I'm going to just talk about a few key points during the games and show the crazy computer combinations that I would never have found, as well as a few combinations that I should have found. [Event "rated standard match"] [Site "Free Internet Chess Server"] [Date "2009.01.31"] [Round "?"] [White "waparker"] [Black "----"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1582"] [BlackElo "1576"] [ECO "A20"] [TimeControl "900"] 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Qf6 3. Nc3 Bc5 4. Ne4 Qe7 ({Ne4 which I thought was a resourceful move, stopping the mate and winning the bishop pair, turns out to be a blunder because of ...Qc6 pinning the knight to the rook} 4. ... Qc6 5. f3 Nf6 6. Nxc5 Qxc5 ) 5. Nxc5 Qxc5 6. d3 Qc6 7. Nf3 f6 8. Bg2 Qb6 9. O-O Nh6 10. h3 d6 11. Qc2 Nc6 12. Bxh6 gxh6 13. e3 Be6 14. a3 O-O-O 15. Rfd1 Rhg8 16. b4 Ne7 17. Rac1 h5 18. h4 Bg4 19. c5 dxc5 20. bxc5 Qc6 21. Nxe5! Qe6 22. Nxg4 Rxg4 23. Bh3 Rdg8 24. Qe2 {A waste of time. I can't move the f-pawn because of Rxg3+ breaking the pin} f5 25. Bxg4 fxg4 26. d4 Rf8 27. Rd2 Nd5 28. Rb2 b6 29. Qa6+ Kd8 30. cxb6 Nxb6 31. Qxa7 (31. Rxc7 Kxc7 32. Qxa7+ Kc8 33. Rxb6 {black must give the queen for the rook because white is threatening mate by Qc7 or Rb8} ) Qd6 32. Qa5 Kd7 33. Rc5 (33. Rxc7+ Qxc7 34. Rxb6 Qc1+ 35. Kg2 Rh8 36. Rb7+ Kd6 37. Qe5+ Kc6 38. Qb5+ Kd6 39. Qd7# {just amazing} ) Ra8 34. Qb5+ Ke7 35. Qd3 Na4 36. Re5+ Kd7 37. Qxh7+ Kc6 38. Rc2+ Kb6 39. Qxh5 c6 40. Rc4 Qxa3 41. Qg6 (41. Rxc6+ Kxc6 42. Re6+ Kd7 {here black would have to give up the queen or face checkmate as follows} 43. Qf7+ Qe7 44. Qxe7+ Kc8 45. Rc6+ Kb8 46. Qc7# ) Rc8 42. Re6 ({42. Qb1+ is the move I should have seen} 42. Qb1+ Ka6 43. Re6 Nb6 44. Rcxc6 Rxc6 45. Rxc6 Qa5 46. Rxb6+ Qxb6 47. Qxb6+ Kxb6 48. h5 ) Qa1+ 43. Kg2 Kb5 44. Rcxc6 Rxc6 45. Rxc6 Qd1 46. Rf6 (46. Qc2 Qf3+ 47. Kg1 Qxc6 48. Qxc6+ Kxc6 49. h5 {The pawn can't be stopped.} ) Nc3 47. Qf5+ Kb4 48. Rb6+ Kc4 49. Rc6+ Kb3 50. Rxc3+ Kxc3 51. h5 Qe2 52. h6 Kd2 53. h7 Ke1 54. h8=Q Qf1+ 55. Kh2 Ke2 56. Qxg4+ Kd2 57. Qhh3 Qxf2+ 58. Kh1 Ke1 59. Qg2 Qf1+ 60. Qxf1+ Kxf1 61. Qf3+ Ke1 62. Kg2 Kd2 63. d5 Kd3 64. d6 Kc4 65. d7 1-0 Once again, the best way to view this is probably to paste it into a PGN viewer and read the comments as they come up. Too much to really write in depth about, but the moral of the story is I need to work on combinations! I am only seeing good one or two-move tactics right now, which are giving me winning positions, but I am having trouble capitalizing on those positions because I need to work more still on tactics.

How I'd like to be playing.

I just had an exciting game that was more tactical than the terrible games I've been playing lately. Of course it helped that my opponent made a ton of mistakes, but the point is that I am at my best when I am playing this style of game. The game ended with a really nice tactic; unfortunately my opponent ran out of time so we didn't see a continuation. [Event "rated blitz match"] [Site "Free Internet Chess Server"] [Date "2009.01.29"] [Round "?"] [White "waparker"] [Black "----"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1137"] [BlackElo "1236P"] [ECO "A07"] [TimeControl "600"] 1. Nf3 {With Nf3 I plan to play g3 Bg7 and either c4 or d4.} d5 2. g3 e5 {Hanging the e-pawn.} 3. Nxe5 f6 4. Nf3 Qd6 5. d4 {With the e-pawn gone it will be easy to maintain a strong pawn on d4. I plan to meet ...c5 with c3.} Qb4+ {Helping me play c3 with tempo.} 6. c3 Qa5 7. Bg2 Bg4 8. Nbd2 {Right now if he takes the knight I will recapture with the bishop as the knight on f3 has no immediate future due to the f6 pawn.} c5 9. h3 Bf5 10. Qb3 {A double attack on the unprotected b7 and d5 pawns. If ... cxd4 to protect the d-pawn then Nxd4 and the bishop, d-pawn and b-pawn are all unprotected.} c4 {Doesn't resolve the issue of the b-pawn. It would be better to gambit the d-pawn with ...Qb6 Qxd5 Ne7 developing with tempo.} 11. Qxb7 Bd6 {Surprisingly it is very difficult for black to trap my queen in this corner. Blacks own d-pawn prevents his light square bishop from coming in time.} 12. Qxa8 {Rybka suggests Qxg7 winning another pawn and attacking the other rook.} Be6 {This bishop should move because after Ng4 I threaten to extricate my Queen by taking the d pawn. Rybka suggests that d7 is a better square to try to trap my Queen, forcing b4 and the black Queen has to chose between the a7 pawn and the d5 pawn.} 13. e4 {Trying to break open some lines so my Queen can escape, and undermining blacks pawn chain.} Qb6 {It is amazing that black can't trap my queen while also guarding both the a and d-pawns!} 14. exd5 Bd7 15. Nxc4 {After the knight takes the dark square bishop the Queen will have to leave the a-pawn to recapture.} Qc7 16. Nxd6+ Qxd6 17. Qxa7 {Sanctuary is in sight.} Na6 18. Qa8+ {I want the knight to get out of my way so I can escape, or to trade queens. Black choses to move his king, which leads to some safety issues.} Kf7 19. Bf4 Qb6 20. O-O-O {Protects the d-pawn and connects and centralizes my rooks in one move. Castling rocks!} Nc7 {My queen may be under attack but now, finally, she can escape.} 21. Qa3 Nxd5 22. Qc5 {I was pleased with this move, thinking that if queen takes, then pawn takes and my rook is discovered attacking both the bishop and the knight. However, the line 22 ...Qxc5 23. dxc5 Be6 and neither one of the pieces will fall. 24. Nd4 Nxf4 25. gxf4 white is better but it wasn't as good as I'd hoped. There is a much better move which I will discuss later.} Qe6 23. Rhe1 Qf5 24. Ne5+ {This is the tactical shot I made at the end of the game. After 24 ...fxe5 the knight is hanging. 25. Bxd5+ Kg6 26. Rxe5 and white has a winning position. In fact this move would have been more appropriate at move 22. Here a much better move is the simple 24. Nh4 because the Queen would have no squares! 24. Nh4 Nxf4 Nxf5 Bxf5 gxf4 Kg6 and white is winning very soon.} {Black forfeits on time} 1-0 Position after 24. Ne5+ Position after 24. Nh4, trapping the Queen. Addendum: Just had a great little blitz game in the Philidor defense. This move order tends to lead to the so-called Lion system which seems popular and solid for black. [Event "rated blitz match"] [Site "Free Internet Chess Server"] [Date "2009.01.30"] [Round "?"] [White "----"] [Black "waparker"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1067"] [BlackElo "1147"] [ECO "B07"] [TimeControl "120+12"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. Nf3 e5 {The Lion Variation. White enjoys more space and central control but black's setup is solid and hard to crack.} 5. dxe5 dxe5 {I have seen this exchange a few times today. It is just a bad idea for white. He loses his central control over e5 and also black's dark-square bishop, which is usually a problem for black the entire game, has just opened up to become a marvelous piece.} 6. Bb5? {I have seen this move once before today as well. It does nothing, only loses time.} c6 7. Bc4 Bb4 {White's e-pawn is hanging and black threatens to double white's pawns. Black could alternatively have played 7...b5 to gain some Queenside space and further punish White's incorrect bishop move.} 8. Bd2 Bxc3! 9. Bxc3 Nxe4 {White has won a pawn and still threatens to double white's pawns.} 10. Bb4? Qb6! {White must lose the bishop here as mate is threatened on f2. White should castle.} 11. c3?? Qxf2# 0-1 This game should go as an example why white should not exchange on e5. Compare white's central control and black's bad dark-square bishop above with below, after the exchange of pawns:

What has gone wrong?

I'd like to make a quick post about a game that is a great example of how my play has gone downhill the past few days. I'm trying to learn the Philidor defense because it can be very solid if played correctly. In this game I really outplayed my opponent in the opening, and (almost) every move was a good, sound developing move with a threat. Then I just didn't think correctly about an exchange, thinking I would go a piece up, and my advantage completely dissipated. I didn't feel like making all the diagrams for this post, so I came up with a new idea. You can copy what's below and paste it into BabasChess or some other PGN viewer and read the post as comments after the moves. Pretty cool huh!?! [Event "rated blitz match"] [Site "Free Internet Chess Server"] [Date "2009.01.28"] [White "----"] [Black "waparker"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1097"] [BlackElo "1142"] [ECO "B00"] [TimeControl "120+12"] 1. e4 d6 {This is how alot of GMs do the move order for the Philidor defense. It looks like the dynamic Pirc defense for a little while and then transposes.} 2. Bc4 Nf6 {I have to watch out for a quick attack on f7.} 3. Nc3 e5 {Nc3 gave me time to develop without worrying as much about f7. Better for white is probably Nf3.} 4. Qf3 c6 {Qf3 threatens to try to dislodge the knight with 5. Nd5. The knight is pinned to the mate on f7, so I would have to double my pawns if I allowed Nd5. That is why I played c6.} 5. h3 Be7 {He wants to keep my bishop off of g4. h3 wastes time, better is probably d4, or developing the King's knight. Be7 clearing the way for castling.} 6. Nge2 O-O 7. d4 exd4 {My first inaccuracy. I wanted to have e5 as a square for the knight to chase away the queen. However, the knight is two moves away from e5, so capturing does nothing for me, it only gives away my advanced central pawn. I should have played 7... Nbd7.} 8. Nxd4 Nbd7 9. O-O Ne5 {Luckily for me, I still got Ne5 in.} 10. Qe2 b5 {I have read that it is important in the Philidor for white to prevent ...b5 by playing a4. I am gaining time on the bishop and eyeing the skewering line between the Queen on e2 and the rook on f1.} 11. Bb3 a5 12. a4 b4! {Gaining another tempo on white's minor piece! The skewer should come next move.} 13. Nd1 Qd7? {Completely illogical move. I have just enough time here at move 13 to play Ba6 winning the exchange. The white light-square bishop can't block because my e5-knight covers the c4 square. Unfortunately, I just didn't see that my lovely knight on e5 also covers the c6 square so I don't have to worry about 14. Nxc6.} 14. Nf3 Ba6 {White's Nf3 takes all the bite out of Ba6.} 15. Nxe5 Bxe2 {Here is where I miscalculated. I thought I would be going up a piece here. It ends up that I lose alot of time getting my bishop out of the morass so my advantage in time is gone, and I have less central space. Actually my time advantage was probably gone after 13 ... Qd7} 16. Nxd7 Nxd7 17. Re1 Ba6 18. Ne3 Nc5 19. Bc4 Nxe4?? {I knew in the back of my mind that I was losing a piece by making this move, but I made it anyway. This has been the hallmark of my crappy play as of late. The discovered double attack is just too obvious, but I missed it. I would still have a playable game with 19... Bf6 or ....Bxc4.} 20. Bxa6 Rxa6 21. Nf5 Bf6 {waparker resigns} 1-0

F-file attack!

Hello there to all my fans. That's right, I'm talking about you. Here is a game in the Philidor's defense where I did well in the early parts of the opening, got into some minor trouble with the king safety, but then was able to quickly counterattack while defending my weaknesses on the kingside. [Event "rated blitz match"] [Site "Free Internet Chess Server"] [Date "2009.01.16"] [Round "?"] [White "waparker"] [Black "----"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1157"] [BlackElo "1129"] [ECO "C41"] [TimeControl "600"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 The Philidor defense with 3. d4. White aims to take control of the center. If it were white to move, white would exchange pawns, then Queens, then white would win the e-pawn and black would lose the right to castle. Usually black here will develop the queen's knight to d7 to protect the e-pawn (3 ... Nc6 is regarded as a bad move, as it can transpose into a variation of the Ruy Lopez favorable for white, the Steinitz Defense, and doesn't resolve the threat of removing the Queens from the board). The other options are to exchange the center pawns, or to gambit the pawn with f5. 3 ... exd4 Black choses the exchange variation. In fact I've never seen anyone play anything else on the internet in the Philidor's defense. 4. Nxd4 Bd7 Perhaps this move is too passive. A better line seems to be 4 ... Nf6 attacking the e pawn, 5. Nc3 g6 preparing the kingside fianchetto. 5. Bc4 Nc6 6. O-O Nf6 7. Nc3 Black has finally started to challenge my presence in the center with ... Nf6. I have some slight pressure on the f7 pawn. 8 ... Ne5 8. Bb3 Be6? After a quick inspection of this position I realized I would win a center pawn by exchanging. However, for whatever reason I took with the bishop first, giving me two knights in an open game. Better is 9. Nxe6 fxe6 10. Bxe6 9. Bxe6 fxe6 10. Nxe6 Qe7 11. Nf4 I chose Nf4 because I want to establish a knight on d5 on the open file. It will tempt black to play c6 to kick the knight which permanently weakens the d6 pawn. This is from Nimzowitsch's theory of play on open files. 11 ... O-O-O 12. Nfd5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 Qd7 14. Bg5 Re8 15. f4 h6 16. Bh4 Nc6 17. Qd3 g5 This is where I felt I went slightly off. My bishop has become a target to allow white to open the files directed toward my king. Rybka still gives white a two pawn advantage, so I guess it's not that dangerous. I missed Rybka's choice 18. Nf6 in this position, forking the queen and rook. 17. Qd3 seems quiet but I wanted to connect the rooks and the Queen becomes very useful on the f1-a6 diagonal later. 18. fxg5 hxg5 19. Bxg5 Not only have I won another pawn, but the f-file is now open for me to double rooks. 19 ... Re5? This looks like a blunder. It allows me to exchange my problem piece, this hanging bishop, for one of the rooks by playing... 20. Bf6 Bg7 21. Bxe5 Bxe5 Black's compensation is a very strong bishop on e5 looking straight at my king. Here's where I start making defensive mistakes, which, if black had played "energetically" would have made for a much tougher position for me. Here Rybka suggests 22. h3 22. g3? Qh7 23. Rf2? Here Rybka suggests 23 ... Bxg3 24. Qxg3 Rg8 pinning the Queen to the king. 23 ... Bd4 Trying to pin my rook to my King, but I found Ne3 blocking. 24. Ne3 Be5 Now the threat of Bxg3 isn't as dangerous after I double rooks on the f-file because I can force the exchange of rooks. 25. Raf1 b6? This seems to be a losing move, as it opens up the diagonal for Qa6+. 26. Qa6+ Kd8?? Better was Kb8, as Rf8+ can be blocked by Nd8. This is the losing move. After this move Rybka's analysis jumps up to +300 (i.e. forced win for white). 27. Rf8+ Rxf8 28. Rxf8+ Ke7 What is the winning move in this position? 29. Qc8!! 1-0 I am glad I found this move. Here is the position: White threatens mate in two places: if this were white to move, he could play Nd5# or Qe8#. It is impossible for black to guard these two squares at once. So, for example, if Qg6 then Nd5#, if Nb4 then Qe8#. If Nd8 then Qxd8+ Ke6 Qe8#. For black, Qf7 covers both squares, but is met by Nd5+ Qxd5 Qe8#. This is the point in the game where black resigned. In fact there is only one move that black can play: d5, to create an escape square. Rybka continuation: [29 ... d5 30. Re8+ Kf6 31. Qe6+ Kg7 32. Nf5+ Black must give up his queen for the knight. 32 ...Qxf5 33. exf5 Bd4+ 34. Kg2 Ne5 Black must protect from the mate on g6, but now black does not protect f6. 35. Re7+ Kf8 (35. ... Kh8 36. Qc8# ) 36. Qf6+ Kg8 37. Qg7# 1-0 ] So in summary, black played a bit passively in the opening, and I won a few pawns and then the exchange of bishop for rook. Then I blundered, allowing black to get some pressure on the h-file, but black missed the move Bxg3. After doubling on the f-file and a final pair of blunders from black, I reached a devastating mating position (mating net). Thanks to chessvideos.tv for their diagram generator, and to Chessops for the info on the Philidor's defense. Finally I completed a game on this blog.

Hello. I had a really interesting game just now in the Two Knights Defense. I used to be afraid of playing the two knights defense because of the quick pressure on f7. But then I saw GreenCastle's great video on the Ulvestad variation which can be found here. Play began 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 The Two Knights Defense. 4. Ng5 d5 (black must sacrifice a pawn to stop the double attack on f7 5. exd5 b5! (The Ulvestad Variation). This caught my opponent off guard which is probably worth as much in generating an advantage as the variation itself. The Ulvestad Variation. According to the video, the correct move for white is Bf1 for tactical reasons (i.e. the unprotected g2 pawn. But, white sees a free pawn and so he feels compelled to take it. 6. Bxb5 Qxd5 7. Bxc6 Qxc6 Black trades immediately to save the g2 pawn as he doesn't want to lose time with 7. Bf1. 8. O-O Bb7 Threatening checkmate. 9. f3 Protects against the mate but allows me to develop with check. 9 ... Bc5+ 10. Kh1 h6 Notice how white has only one developed piece whereas black has three and can castle queenside to develop the rook to the central file. Now 9. f3 is shown to be a bad idea as the knight must move to h3 instead of the more natural Nf3. Now I can accelerate my kingside pawn attack by harassing this knight, taking advantage of the pin on the f3 pawn, and the fact that white needs two moves to start developing his queen or bishop. 11. Nh3 g5 12. d3 g4 Gaining time on the knight. I will continue this later!