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.