Here you go SamuraiPawn

I owe this virtual beer to SamuraiPawn who took off some time from his studies to thrash me in a Vienna Gambit. As in many king gambit positions, an incorrect move forces black to grasp for air. Fun to play and hope to see him again on Playchess.com. Samuraipawn will see you again there hopefully with better play on my end.

I played the game below in a Simul on playchess against a 2200 rated player. I am starting to play the Alapin Gambit. Fritz's opening book had two winning games with 6. Ne5 and 6.Bc4. Tempo any advice on this?


[Black "Camille Claudel"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Be3 dxe4 4. Nd2 Nf6 5. f3 exf3 6. Ngxf3 Be7 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. h4 c5 9. c3 cxd4 10. cxd4 h6 11. Ne4 O-O 12. Nfg5 b6 13. Nxf6+ Bxf6 14. Qh5 Bb7 15. Bh7+ Kh8 16. Nxf7+ Rxf7 17. Bxh6
Kxh7 18. Bg5+ Kg8 19. O-O-O Be4 20. Bd2 Bxd4 21. Rhf1 Qc7+ 22. Bc3 Rxf1 23. Qg5
Bxc3 24. Rxf1 Bxb2+ 25. Kxb2 Qc2+ 26. Ka3 Qc3+ 27. Ka4 Bc6+ 0-1

paste game into this viewer.

Two Knights Defense & Traxler Counterattack

The Two Knights Defence
by Alexander Beliavsky, Adrian Mikhalchischin

I spent some time with this book last night. It is only 112 pages long but it is excellent. Half the book is 18 2 knight games with commentary and the other half is a "theoretical survey" and MCO walk through some of the lines. There is not alot of fluff and I can get by without the extras having played the 2 knights for a while.
I enjoy playing The two knights as black; It can get tactical with a lot of counterattacking options by black.


Beliavksky has played two of the more recent high level Traxler Games. I need to spend some time studying these which show a spirited defense against 5 Bf7+.

a training game draw against Karpov

a win as black against Anand


I created this game collection from the book on chessgames.com

The Pendulum Shifts again

a


It happened to me again. I did a large group of tactical problems,got better,and went on a month long game playing bender. Playing until I got bad again. Back to ct-art. grumble grumble..............

further experimentation with the deferred traxler

Once again I work to stick a square peg in a round hole by trying to play the Traxler a tempo or two behind. The bishop check on 6 is fine for white but I like
7 Bb3 better for whites next move.(since writing this I checked my heisman traxler cd, he likes the move Be7 for black and black Bd5 better after check) As is consistant for my experience with most players of Ng5, white needs to better evaluate King Safety and Piece activity vs immediate material gain.

Paste game into this viewer

[White "Meister28"]
[Black "Takchess"]
1. e4 {4} e5 {4} 2. Bc4 {4} Nf6 {3} 3. Nf3 {7} Nc6 {60} 4. d3 {14} Bc5 {27} 5.
Ng5 {31} d6 {6} 6. Bxf7+ {12} Kf8 {6} 7. Bd5 {26} Nxd5 {10} 8. exd5 {8} Bxf2+ {
57} 9. Kxf2 {6} Nd4 {13} 10. Rf1 {4} Ke7 {48} 11. Qh5 {14} g6 {27} 12. Qh4 {3}
Ke8 {34} 13. Na3 {33} Rf8+ {17} 14. Kg1 {3} Ne2+ {5} 15. Kh1 {13} Rxf1#

Here is an experiment forcing a traxler type game into a position where both of white knights are out. Not recommended. White went on to win this game.

[White "traxler"]
[Black "takchess"]

1. e4 {0} e5 {0} 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Nc3 {0}
Be7 5. Ng5 Bc5 6. Nxf7 Qe7 7. Nxh8 d5 8. exd5 Bxf2+ 9. Kf1 Bg4 10. Ne2 Nd4 11.
Kxf2 Ne4+ 12. Ke3 Nxe2 13. Qf1 Qg5+ 14. Kxe4 O-O-O 15. Nf7 Qg6+ 16. Ke3 Nd4 17.
Nxd8 Qg5+ 18. Kf2 Qxd8 19. d3 Nxc2 20. Rb1 c6 0-1

The picture with this blogg is the mate from this traditional traxler game.



1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Ng5 Bc5 5. Bxf7+ Kf8 6. Bd5 Nxd5 7.
Qh5 Bxf2+ 8. Kf1 Qf6 9. Nxh7+ Rxh7 10. Qxh7 Bg3+ 11. Ke2 d6 12. Rf1 Bg4+ 13.
Kd3 Qxf1# 0-1

Happy Thanksgiving.

nice combo at the end

1. e4 {1} Nc6 {2} 2. d4 {4} d5 {3} 3. Nc3 {4} dxe4 {1} 4. Bb5 {3} Bd7 {7} 5.
Bxc6 {7} Bxc6 {1} 6. Be3 {7} e6 {3} 7. f3 {1} exf3 {2} 8. Nxf3 {2} Nf6 {2} 9.
Qd2 {21} Bb4 {1} 10. O-O-O {3} Nd5 {3} 11. Ne5 {9} Bxc3 {9} 12. bxc3 {3} Nxe3 {
1} 13. Qxe3 {2} Bd5 {7} 14. c4 {17} Bxg2 {7} 15. Rhg1 {1} Bc6 {10} 16. Nxf7 {3}
Kxf7 {9} 17. Rdf1+ {10} Ke7 {6} 18. Rxg7+ {16} Kd6 {6} 19. Qe5# {
(Lag: Av=1.84s, max=24.3s) 6} 1-0

paste game in this viewer

Nezha is back

Nezha Knight victorious has returned from his hiatus to explore interesting chess questions again. Welcome back!

http://mrnezhmetdinov.blogspot.com/

King Gambit as Black

I am getting alot better playing as black against the King Gambit. I was especially pleased with this game last night. Scottcat is a good fellow on Playchess ,he and I correspond on the King Gambit. He has beaten me quite a few time with the KG. I am pleased that I can start giving him some better games.

Especially of note are the three sacrifices made by black. I liked 6....d5 the positional pawn sacrifice which binds up his bishop. This is a move played in many Morphy games. I was able to make developing moves with threats which allowed for greater piece activity which allowed me to make the exchange sac and bishop sac at the end.

This defense is the Kieseritsky Gambit-Berlin variation and ones highlighted in Emms book about playing the open game as black.



[White "Scottcat"]
[Black "Takchess"]
[Result "0-1"]
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4.
h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6 6. Bc4 d5 7. exd5 Bd6 8. d4 Nbd7 9. Nxg4 Nxg4 10. Qxg4 Nf6 11.
Qf3 Rg8 12. O-O Bg4 13. Qf2 f3 14. gxf3 Bxf3+ 15. Bg5 Rxg5+ 16. hxg5 Ne4 17.
Qxf3 Qxg5+ 18. Qg2 Qe3+ 19. Kh1 Ng3+ 20. Kh2 Nxf1+ 21. Kh1 Ng3+ 22. Kh2 O-O-O
23. Nd2 Rg8 24. Nf3 Nf1+ 0-1

Delayed Traxler

As you know my interest in the Traxlers Counterattack. I have been playing a line which I call the delayed Traxler. If White decides to play d3 in the 2 knights defense I play pawn d6 clearing a line of protection for my bishop to f4. Often the next move is Knight g5 preparing for the fork on f7 which is played about 10 times more often than the better bishop F7 check.

There are portions of this line that are questionable..... for example, white can take the checking knight with the queen,black bishop takes queen, white knight takes the queen,black captures white knight for an even game material wise and it is unclear to me who is better off. Both have lost the right to castle which is not at big deal with the queens off the board.

Is this bad chess? I don't think so but it is definitely sharp chess. For me it is definitely fun chess. But would I play it in a tournament game??? We will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Here is a representative game. paste game in here
[White "playchess person"]
[Black "takchess"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3
Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Ng5 d6 6. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 7. Kxf2 Ng4+ 8. Kg1 Qe7 9.
Nxh8 d5 10. Bxd5 Qc5+ 11. d4 Nxd4 12. h3 Nf3+ 13. Kf1 Qf2# 0-1

Chess Club OTB Game

Here is a long game that I played against Bill from the chess club.(we play without clocks) He plays better than I but occasionally, I steal one from him. I thought this was going to be an example of how he beat me positionally however I see that I missed a tactic which would of put me ahead. I traded queens when I simply could of took his Knight and be up a few pawns. He marched his pawns up on the Kingside and I could not stop it. I do not have the complete game recorded here is up to where I missed the tactic.

This was a fairly even game Fritz showed at move 18 it was =. In fact there were only three Fritz suggestions covering the first 23 moves.


Paste Game here

[White "bill a (from chess club)"]
[Black "takchess "]
{C20: 1 e4 e5: Unusual White second moves} 1. e4 e5 2. c4 Nf6 3. d3 Nc6 4. Nf3
Bc5 5. Be2 d6 6. O-O h5 7. Bg5 Bg4 8. Nc3 a6 9. Nd5 Ne7 10. Nxf6+ gxf6 11. Bxf6
Rg8 12. Nh4 Qd7 13. Bxg4 Rxg4 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Nf5 Qg5 16. Qf3 Rf4 17. Qh3
O-O-O 18. Ng7+ Kb8 19. Qxh5 Qxh5 20. Nxh5 Rh4 21. Ng3 Rdh8 22. h3 R4h6 23. Kh2
*




Bill played Bobby Fischer in the 1964 simul in Fitchburg, MA. He has an autographed scoresheet and I hope one day to see it. This game was never published.

My Mantra

There exists an extremely large group of chess players who are no longer beginners nor, on the other hand, masters or point hunters, but players who aim primarily at deriving an aesthetic satisfaction from the game. For such players an attacking game is more attractive than positional technique and they will continue to attack regardless of risk., for their stormy contest are not going to be noted down in theoretical textbooks.

From the introduction to Art of Attack in Chess Vukovic

Of course it is attitudes like this that force me to play games like this. paste game in here
[White "Krolock"]
[Black "Takchess"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 {1} e5 {2} 2. Nf3 {1} Nc6 {2} 3. Bb5 {2} Nf6 {4} 4. Bxc6 {2} dxc6 {3} 5.
O-O {1} Bg4 {9} 6. d3 {8} h5 {7} 7. h3 {13} Bc5 {6} 8. Bg5 {7} Qd7 {20} 9. Bxf6
{4} gxf6 {5} 10. hxg4 {1} hxg4 {3} 11. Nxe5 {12} Qd8 {35} 12. Qxg4 {13} Ke7 {16
} 13. Nf3 {24} Rh7 {21} 14. g3 {1} Qh8 {15} 15. Nh4 {2} Rg8 {7} 16. Qf3 {10}
Rxh4 {4} 17. Nd2 {5} Rh3 {29} 18. Kg2 {6} Rh2+ {9} 19. Kg1 {2} Qh3 {7} 20. Nc4
{22} Rxg3+ {4} 21. Qxg3 {6} Qxg3# {(Lag: Av=0.59s, max=1.6s) 3} 0-1

No Positional Strategic Pawn Structure Crap here 8)

Here are a couple of games as God (Michael De La Maza) intended them 8)

Paste Games into this pgn viewer

[Event "Rated game, 24m + 5s"]
[Date "2006.11.04"]
[White "takchess"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C34"]
[WhiteElo "1430"]
[BlackElo "1674"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2006.11.04"]
[TimeControl "1440+5"]

1. e4 {0} e5 {3} 2. f4 {3} exf4 {6} 3. Nf3 {7} h6 {5} 4. Bc4 {7} c6 {37} 5.
Bxf7+ {8} Kxf7 {2} 6. Ne5+ {4} Ke8 {9} 7. Qh5+ {5} g6 {59} 8. Qxg6+ {4} Ke7 {9}
9. Qf7+ {49} Kd6 {8} 10. Qh5 {40} Nf6 {8} 11. Nc4+ {31} Kc7 {5} 12. Qe5+ {11}
d6 {20} 13. Qxf4 {34} Nbd7 {16} 14. d4 {35} b5 {2} 15. Na5 {35} Kb6 {9} 16. a4
{36} Kxa5 {8} 17. Bd2+ {8} Kb6 {9} 18. axb5 {6} cxb5 {6} 19. Ba5+ {4} Kb7 {19}
20. Bxd8 {13} Kc6 {20} 21. e5 {14} Nd5 {4} 22. Qf3 {21} Bb7 {10} 23. Nc3 {36}
Rxd8 {22} 24. Qxd5+ {6} Kc7 {16} 25. Nxb5+ {6} Kc8 {7} 26. Nxa7+ {7} Kb8 {7}
27. Qb5 {26} dxe5 {22} 28. Nc6+ {24} Kc7 {9} 29. Nxd8 {16} Kxd8 {10} 30. Qxb7 {
12} Bd6 {5} 31. O-O {21} exd4 {5} 32. Ra8+ {
CHARLY-TFE rinde (Lag: Av=0.98s, max=1.4s) 10} 1-0

[Event "Rated game, 24m + 5s"]
[Date "2006.11.04"]
[Black "takchess"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "1645"]
[BlackElo "1458"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2006.11.04"]
[TimeControl "1440+5"]

1. e4 {1} e5 {7} 2. Nf3 {3} Nc6 {6} 3. Bb5 {0} Nf6 {8} 4. d3 {2} Be7 {16} 5.
Bxc6 {1} dxc6 {11} 6. Nxe5 {1} Bd6 {95} 7. Nf3 {3} Bg4 {11} 8. h3 {1} Qd7 {35}
9. hxg4 {21} Nxg4 {35} 10. e5 {61} Qe7 {9} 11. O-O {11} Bc5 {11} 12. d4 {12}
Bb6 {4} 13. Re1 {18} h5 {39} 14. c4 {3} O-O-O {20} 15. a3 {21} a6 {22} 16. Bg5
{5} f6 {6} 17. exf6 {3} Qd6 {12} 18. c5 {18} Bxc5 {6} 19. dxc5 {2} Qxd1 {2} 20.
Rxd1 {2} Rxd1+


0-1

Game Study

J'adoube recently commented that he did not get alot out of game study without the ideas behind the game. I thought Neil Macdonald book The Art of planning in chess might prove helpful. Read an excerpt here


I have found that Game study is helpful when assisted by a book with explanations appropriate to my level. Fierabras is using Kasparov book which I have the first volume. I love these early game but Kasparov analysis to me is very detailed and geared to a much higher rated player. In some ways there is alot of historical variations given and it feels to me like I am reading a Fritz Analysis.Ideas are in there somewhere but it is tough for me to skip over all the analysis. K is a very concrete analysis kinda guy who has thousands of games in his memory.

I am a fan of study older games in that they are openings I play and the play is somewhat inaccurate (more at my level).

I have these books that tend to be a little easier


for the beginner with Master play and explanation move by move

chess master vs chess amateur

historical perspective with big picture ideas

Masters of the Chessboard by RetiDevelopment of Chess Style by EuweImpact of Genius

I am sure that Fier and Tempo will get some real benefit out of the MGP books.I find anytime I deeply study and analyse chess positions I play better and have much better board vision .This study can be contained within tactical problems or a context of a master game. Just as repetition is helpful in tactical problem I also find that studying a game till it is memorized is of value. Unfortunately I seem to have a limited ability to handle multiple games in memory.

CT-art approach change

I have decided to start circle 2 again and do it by combinational motif. I also have been solving some of these problems using the book. I find it a different experience requiring much deeper calculation since the pieces do not move as in the program.


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Sunday - all 5X5 flash cards
Wednesday Knight Forks 1-*