play against a better player

It is always nice to watch a craftsman at work. This fellow rated 1950 on playchess without wasted effort beat me in three games. Often times players rated this high will only give me one rated game(if any)then move on. I am pleased we played three times.


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This Vienna game I mechanically made a unsound bishop sac without calculating.

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Bc5 4. Nc3 d6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 Bxf2+ 7. Bxf2 Bg4 8.
Nf3 Qd7 9. O-O Nc6 10. a3 O-O-O 11. Nd5 Nd4 12. Bxd4 exd4 13. Nxf6 gxf6 14. Qd2
Rhg8 15. Qxh6 Rh8 16. Qxf6 Rdf8 17. Nxd4 Be6 18. Bxe6 Qxe6 19. Nxe6 fxe6 20.
Qxe6+ 1-0


This game he caught me in the Siberian trap in the Smith-Mora.

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Bc4 Qc7 7. O-O Nf6 8.
Qe2 Ng4 9. a3 Nd4 10. g3 Nxe2+ 11. Bxe2 Bc5 12. Bf4 Qb6 13. Nd1 d5 14. exd5
exd5 15. Rc1 a5 16. h3 Nf6 17. Nc3 Bd7 18. a4 Bxh3 19. Rfe1 Bxf2+ 20. Kh2 Bxe1
21. Rxe1 Be6 22. Nb5 Qf2+ 23. Kh1 O-O 24. Nbd4 Bg4 25. b3 Rfe8 0-1

Another Vienna and some poor play

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. Nf3 d6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. f4 O-O 8.
Be2 Re8 9. O-O a6 10. a3 b5 11. b4 Ba7 12. Kh1 Bb7 13. Bf3 c5 14. Nf5 Re6 15.
Nxd6 cxb4 16. Nxb7 Qb6 17. axb4 Qxb7 18. e5 Qb6 19. Bxa8 Nxe5 20. fxe5 Rxe5 21.
Bxf6 gxf6 22. Qd7 Qe3 1-0

Play like this is reinforces that I need some more tactical study before my tourney.

So Takchess what else are you doing to prepare?

I am working to improve my recording of the games so that it becomes second nature and not a negative factor in the play of games. Without a board in front of me,I am visualizing the board from both the black and white side and and name out the squares. I also visualize the moving the black H pawn from H7 to H1 in my mind and saying the name of the squares out loud. I at times am randomly saying HGF ED CBA. I also play through games and positions from memory and say the moves out loud.

These seems to be help as the game I just posted from Friday night Chess Club was recorded without errors.

I had a little time this weekend where I read through Mednis Practical Endgame book and followed it as much as I could without playing through the games over the board. I also read a few chapters of Alburts Just the Facts endgame book. I am starting to better understand some of the basic endgame principles and finding study to be surprisingly enjoyable.

I have played through some more games in The Comprehensive Chess Course V2 by Alburt and have only 2 more to go. This is a great basic book.

I need to make a decision if I am going to play the Halloween Gambit or the Kings Gambit as white in the tourney. If I am going to play the KG I better get back to study and playing it vs my recent facination with the HG. There is higher % chance of me playing KG games since all my opponent has to do is respond e5.

halloween night at the Chess Club

Fairly even game throughout. Did not end due to library closing .

Paste game into this viewer[Event "40'/40+40'/40+40'"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2006.05.26"]
[Round "?"]
[White "bob at chess club"]
[Black "jim"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C47"]
[Annotator ,Jim"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[TimeControl "40/2400:40/2400:2400"]

{384MB, Fritz9.ctg, D3YSNJ81} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nxe5 Nxe5 5. d4
Bb4 6. dxe5 Nxe4 7. Qf3 Nxc3 8. bxc3 Ba5 9. Bc4 Qe7 10. Bf4 O-O 11. O-O Qc5 12.
Bd3 d5 13. Qg3 f5 14. Be3 Qe7 15. c4 Bc3 16. Rad1 Bxe5 17. Bf4 Bxf4 18. Qxf4
dxc4 19. Bxc4+ Kh8 20. Rfe1 Qc5 21. Rd5 Qc6 22. Rd3 b5 23. Bb3 Bb7 24. Rg3 Qd6
25. Qg5 Qf6 26. Qf4 *

halloween gambit

Here is a Halloween Gambit game I have played today. It felt as though I had an inferior position with all the major pieces stacked but pulled it out in the endgame. An interesting point is that my opponent took over eight minutes to mull over the first 6 or so moves which lead to time trouble and poor endgame decisions.

2 Significant things I was happy in this game 1) I won with the Gambit 2) I won in the endgame .These are two things I am working on.The endgame choices seemed very clear to me and I saw quickly what I thought he should of played. I am interested in any comments on this game especially after 5....b-b5.

paste into this viewer

[Event "Rated game, 20m + 5s"]
[Site "Main Playing Hall"]
[Date "2006.05.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Takchess"]
[Black "Ccc"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "1489"]
[BlackElo "1543"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2006.05.25"]
[TimeControl "1200+5"]

1. e4 {2} e5 {8} 2. Nf3 {4} Nc6 {12} 3. Nc3 {6} Nf6 {192} 4. Nxe5 {7} Nxe5 {26}
5. d4 {3} Bb4 {167} 6. Bd2 {63} Bxc3 {20} 7. Bxc3 {10} Nxe4 {9} 8. dxe5 {25}
Nxc3 {1} 9. bxc3 {2} O-O {6} 10. Bd3 {6} f5 {29} 11. Qf3 {10} d5 {26} 12. c4 {
28} Qe7 {66} 13. O-O {26} dxc4 {145} 14. Bxc4+ {30} Kh8 {2} 15. Rfe1 {15} Rb8 {
36} 16. a3 {17} b6 {12} 17. Ba2 {58} Bb7 {7} 18. Qf4 {7} Rbe8 {86} 19. e6 {27}
Bc8 {101} 20. Qe5 {23} Rf6 {20} 21. f4 {18} Bxe6 {67} 22. Bxe6 {40} Rxe6 {2}
23. Qxe6 {12} Qxe6 {3} 24. Rxe6 {2} Rxe6 {6} 25. Kf2 {9} Rd6 {42} 26. Re1 {7}
h6 {19} 27. c4 {16} Rd2+ {8} 28. Kg3 {5} h5 {38} 29. Re7 {19} Rd3+ {16} 30. Kh4
{6} Rd4 {43} 31. Kxh5 {4} Rxc4 {7} 32. Kg6 {2} Re4 {74} 33. Rxc7 {8} a5 {22}
34. Rc8+ {2} Re8 {9} 35. Rxe8# {(Lag: Av=0.30s, max=1.1s) 3} 1-0

tournament preperation

Preparing for the New Hampshire opening in late June. I am going to play in the under 1400 which is the lowest category. Looking forward to some strongly played games.

Day 3
*

Day 2

ctart 110-134 74% ugh
played a couple of games online where I recorded moves
did ctw pages 18-25
light board vision drills
treadmill 40 minutes
Plan to play as white
King Gambit
Halloween Gambit(unsure if I have time to prepare)

as black
e5 to e4
unsure if Smith Morra or Standard Sicilian Defence to c5

Day 1
ct-art 1-110 92%level 10
played 2 games on internet while recording moves
did tactical problems in chess Tactic Workbook al wollum (pages 1-18)
Treadmill 30 mins

Deflection

A tactic which is hard for me to see during a game is the Deflection of a piece off the backrank to bring about a back rank mate. Normally this is done with a rook or queen .
When I first started playing Friday Nights at the chess club, there were two areas (outside of tactics and board vision) where I felt stronger players were significantly stronger than me : The strength of their rook moves and their endgame skills.

In reading Comprehensive Chess Course V2, it pointed to a game which amazed me. I consider it to be

The Immortal Deflection Game

I think there is a lesson for me to look closer for backrank weakness!

Halloween Gambit

Playing around with my new toy the Halloween gambit. Felt I had a strong attack but it disipated ......perhaps with practice.


1. e4 {3} e5 {5} 2. Nf3 {2} Nc6 {4} 3. Nc3 {4} Nf6 {4} 4. Nxe5 {2} Nxe5 {37} 5.
d4 {3} Ng6 {59} 6. e5 {44} Ng8 {21} 7. Bc4 {11} d6 {54} 8. Qf3 {20} Be6 {25} 9.
d5 {19} Bd7 {26} 10. e6 {11} fxe6 {29} 11. dxe6 {3} Bxe6 {44} 12. Bxe6 {27} Ne5
{56} 13. Qg3 {177} Qe7 {31} 14. Nd5 {28} Qd8 {117} 15. Bg5 {64} Nf6 {4} 16.
Nxf6+ {115} gxf6 {3} 17. Qh3 {66} fxg5 {24} 18. Qh5+ {3} Ng6 {12} 19. O-O-O {10
} Qf6 {46} 20. Rhe1 {8} Kd8 {32} 21. Qe2 {38} Bg7 {28} 22. c3 {17} Nf4 {36} 23.
Qe3 {85} Qxe6 {9} 24. Qxe6 {9} Nxe6 {2} 25. Rxe6 {1} Kd7 {7} 26. Re4 {21} Rhe8
{6} 27. f3 {4} Rxe4 {4} 28. fxe4 {3} Re8 {2} 29. h3 {9} Rxe4 {
Takchess resigns (Lag: Av=0.26s, max=0.4s) 10} 0-1



What a chessville article said how to deal with 8...be6







In this case White can safely take the b7 pawn 9.Qxb7 Bxc4? [ On 9. .. N8e7 White can play 10.Nb5 Rc8 11.d5 Nxe5 12.dxe6 Nxc4 13.Nxa7 Rb8 14.Qa6 Nxb2 15.Nc6 Nxc6 16.Qxc6+ Ke7 17.0-0 Rb6 18.Qf3 f6 “with long term compensation“ (M. Wind) ] 10.Qc6+ Ke7 11.exd6+ cxd6 12.Qxc4 Brause(2520)-godel(2250),ICC,1998,1-0(20)

traxler attack

This game pretty even until the end

[Event "40'/40+40'/40+40'"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2006.05.15"]
[Round "?"]
[White "traxler attacker "]
[Black "Jim Takchess"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C57"]
[Annotator "Fritz 9 (66s)"]
[PlyCount "35"]



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{C57: Two Knights: Wilkes-Barre/Traxler and 4 Ng5 d5 5 exd5, unusual Black 5th
moves} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Bc5 5. d3 d6 6. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 7. Kf1
Qe7 8. Nxh8 Bg4 9. Bf7+ Kd7 10. Qd2 Rxh8 11. Qxf2 Qxf7 12. h3 Be6 13. Nc3 Rf8
14. Ke2 Nd4+ 15. Kd2 c5 16. Ne2 Nxe4+ 17. dxe4 Nxf2+ 18. Kd2 Ne4+ 19. dxe4 Qf2 20. Re1 Nxc2)
17... Qxf2 18. Re1 0-1

Unsound(?) knight sac, giving excellent practical chances

I took this title directly from a chessgames.com collection of the Halloween Attack. I have been following with interest Dutch Defense, Quandoman, Blue Devil Knight discussions on gambits and especially the Halloween attack and played through the games on playchess.com.
see here for Dutch defense link


I find it very interesting in that this gambit can be reached in far more games than the Traxler Counterattack, Marshall Attack, Fried Liver,Max Lange Attack. This is the reason I started playing the King Gambit as I am guaranteed entering a KGD or KGA if black response 1...e5.

Here is my first win with it. yes I know that my win is the equivalent of a chess Hail Mary pass. It is based on inaccurate play at the end by black but isn't nice to see a gambit that puts you in these type of positions?

Here is the game

[Event "Rated game, 20m + 6s"]
[Site "Main Playing Hall"]
[Date "2006.05.14"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Takchess"]
[Black "Master of OSV"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "1553"]
[BlackElo "1499"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2006.05.14"]
[TimeControl "1200+6"]

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1. e4 {17} e5 {3} 2. Nf3 {5} Nc6 {3} 3. Nc3 {3} Nf6 {2} 4. Nxe5 {3} Nxe5 {5} 5.
d4 {1} Nc6 {44} 6. e5 {66} Qe7 {87} 7. Bg5 {67} d6 {20} 8. f4 {72} h6 {25} 9.
Bxf6 {11} gxf6 {4} 10. Qh5 {22} Nxd4 {10} 11. O-O-O {5} dxe5 {16} 12. fxe5 {13}
fxe5 {22} 13. Bc4 {11} Be6 {21} 14. Nd5 {23} Bxd5 {23} 15. Bxd5 {7} O-O-O {23}
16. Rhe1 {27} Rxd5 {8} 17. Qg4+ {22} Kb8 {9} 18. Qg3 {31} Qg5+ {49} 19. Qe3 {93
} Qxg2 {124} 20. Qxd4 {43} exd4 {29} 21. Re8+ {
Master of OSV geeft op (Lag: Av=0.26s, max=0.5s) 5} 1-0

Is Intense Game Study a viable alternative for 7 circles ?

It is Rashid Ziyatdinov conjecture in his book GM-Ram that one can become a 2500 player by memorizing 60 classic games and by studying 100 endgames positions and 150 middlegames position in his book. The middlegame positions all come from the classic games in his book. It is interesting that regarding the positions there is no discussion in the book itself about them. Rashid who is self taught offers no solutions or commentary to his positions believe that through finding the answers yourself for black or white to move is the better way to learn.

More on Rashid here
http://amchesscoaching.com/Articles/im_rashid_ziyatdinov.htm

I'm momentarily burnt out on CT-art so alot of my tactical training revolves around the study of games and working through Comprehensive Chess Course V2 of Alburts which has a ton of tactical and endgame problems mixed in with game study. I have done the 650ish problems in CCC once and only have to go through a dozen games to complete it on a first pass.

I believe Rashid methodology would make one a better player.The trouble is I tend to memorize a game know it for a while learn a new game and effective forget the older game. A while ago I had memorized the first game in his book a Mayet-Anderssen classic Ruy and I have repeatedly played games where I use the themes in the position. I have found this with the opera game as well. I have only memorized games that are fairly short to this point so I am interested to see if I can keep longer games memorized as well as retain the original games . I am memorizing the 2nd game in GM-Ram a longer Anderssen-Stanton game now.

If you are interested in Studying these classic games here are some links to game collections I have made on chessgames.com. I also suggest you purchase the books.

GM-RAM Games

Reti's Master of the chessboard

Comprehensive Chess Course V2

Here is my annotation of the Mayet-Anderssen Game .please let me know of any improvements or suggestions on it as it is one of my favorite games. I am not sure it stands up over time given whites better response 11. fxg3!

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1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {This is the Ruy Lopez Classical Defense. This is a casual game not a tournament game. Blacks bishop eyes to create future problems on the F2 square.} 4. c3 Nf6 5. Bxc6 { Bishop X Knight to greedily take the the now undefended e5 pawn.} dxc6 {Creating an open file and stronger development for black.} 6. O-O Bg4 {blacks bishop pins the Knight to queen and cannot easily be chased away. White no longer has a bishop to guard it and the only alternate to the queen guard is d3 and Nd2. if Queen stops guarding BXN opens ups whites queen defenses.} 7.h3 h5 8. hxg4 $6 hxg4 {Opens the H file to blacks rook} 9. Nxe5{Better is D4} g3 {white can't take pawn due to pin.} 10. d4 {tries to block pin} Nxe4 {Opens lines for Queen to h file and creates additional problems for black.
Black can't take bishop due to ....R-h1+ , kxh1,q-h4+, kg1 qh2 mate or the
simple Q-h4. with mate on next move.} 11. Qg4 {Better yet is fXg3 relieving pressure and maybe even equalizing the game.}Bxd4 {reestablishing pin and control of f7. Better yet is ...gxf2, rxf2 rh1+,kXh1 nxf2+,kg1 NXg4} 12. Qxe4 {avoid losing the queen in a knight fork.} Bxf2+ 13. Rxf2 Qd1+ 14. Rf1 Rh1+ 15. Kxh1 Qxf1# 0-1


also at

Mayet vs Anderssen Ruy Lopez Classical game

Perhaps the continuation went like this

[Event "Friend mode"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2006.05.08"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Paul"]
[Black "Jim ( corrected position) "]
[Result "*"]


1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O
Bc5 6. d3 Bg4 7. h3 h5 8. hxg4 hxg4 9. Nbd2 g3 10. d4 *

I wish I wrote this d*mn game down at time of play. Refering to the game in the last post.......

a Ruy at the chess club

I played Paul who is one of the better players at the chess club. I didn't record my game but it went something like this. I didn't finish off correctly a won position.
I ended up losing in a bishop vs rook endgame but played the endgame well.I should of walked away with major material but continued for a quick mating net that didn't happen.
Below is how it played out and how it should of played out.

[Event "40'/40+40'/40+40'"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2006.05.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Paul "]
[Black "Jim (How it played out)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[Annotator "Fritz 9 (66s)"]
[PlyCount "28"]
Paste game in this link

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 Bc5 7. Re1 Bg4 8. h3 h5 9. hxg4 hxg4 10. Nh2 g3 11. Nf3 Ng4 12. Be3 Qe7 13. fxg3 {0} O-O-O {0} 14. Nbd2 {0} Qd6 {0} 1-0

a better continuation would of been.

[Event "40'/40+40'/40+40'"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2006.05.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Paul"]
[Black "Jim ( a better continuation) "]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[Annotator "Fritz 9 (66s)"]
[PlyCount "34"]

Paste game in this link
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 Bc5 7. Re1 Bg4 8. h3 h5 9. hxg4 hxg4 10. Nh2 g3 11. Nf3 Ng4 12. Be3 Qe7 13. fxg3 O-O-O 14. Nbd2 Nxe3 15. Rxe3 Bxe3+ 16. Kf1 Rh1+ 17. Ke2 Rxd1 1-0

Some of the ideas in my game came from studying this game