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