Return of the Traxler

(3113) D. (1823) - Takchess (1504)
Rated game, 33m + 15s Main Playing Hall, 25.04.2007
[Fritz 10 (30s)]
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.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2 Nxe4+ 7.Kg1 Qh4 8.Qf3 Nd4 9.Qf1 Rf8 10.Na3 d5 11.Bxd5 Bg4 12.Bc4 Qe7 13.c3 Qc5 14.h3 Ne2+ 15.Kh2 Qe7 16.Bxe2 Rxf7 17.Qe1 Bxe2 18.Qxe2 Nd6 19.d3 0–0–0 20.Be3 e4 21.d4 Nf5 22.Rhf1 Nxe3 23.Qxe3 Qd6+ 24.Kg1 Rxf1+ 25.Rxf1 Rf8 26.Rxf8+ Qxf8 27.Qxe4 b6 28.Qa8+ 1–0

Here is one I messed up as Fritz says "instead of just simply winning the game" . Other than that a well played game. See the board view black to move (find the mate)

Here is a game collection that I created

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1008357

Chess Tactic Book

I have my meter of chessbooks (as Tempo used to say). I was glad to add another one recently to my collection which was recommended by Cratercat : Understanding Chess Tactics . It is unbelievably good. The author wrote it from his notes of years of solving chess tactics.

It is a very practical book with tons of examples with arrows,circles and diagrams . This is a talky book not just a tactical problem book. I am currently reading the chapter on pins where it speaks to many of the aspects of pins and crosspins. There are alot of tips regarding looking for tactics within a position.

I started on a pass of the Ct-art L30 problems and I am happy with the direction and board vision that the How to beat your dad at chess and doing the earlier levels of Ct-art are bringing me.

Here is a game from my recent tournament that I lost against a 1400 player. I did not record it all. Toward the end I was playing hope chess looking for a swindle which my opponent took no part in.

(3107) takchess - Bruce,S [B08]

B08: Pirc Defence: Classical System 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bc4 Bg7 5.Be3 0–0 6.Nf3 Nxe4 7.Qd3 Nxc3 8.Qxc3 Nd7 9.h4 h5 10.Rh3 Nf6 11.Rg3 Ne4 12.Qd3 Nxg3 13.Qxg6 d5 14.Qxg3 dxc4 15.Bh6 Bg4 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.0–0–0 Qd6 18.Ne5 f6 19.f3 fxe5 20.dxe5 Qh6+ 21.Kb1 Qf4 22.Qe1 Be6 23.g3 Qxf3 24.g4 Qxg4

to view cut and paste into the viewer on the sidebar

also I played this quick trashy game on the internet which has some tactics. yes I know the bishop sac was not particularly sound and black was able to trap my queen with a Knight move.



(3108) Takchess (1476) - W, (1729) [B01]
Rated game, 30m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 25.04.2007
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.Bc4 a6 5.d3 Nf6 6.Nf3 b5 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Ng5+ Ke8 9.Nce4 Nxe4 10.Nxe4 Qg6 11.Qf3 Bb7 12.Nf6+ Qxf6 13.Qxb7 Qc6 14.Qc8+ Kf7 15.0–0 e6 16.Bf4 Bd6 17.Qxh8 Kg6 18.Qd8 Bxf4 19.Qh4 Bg5 20.Qg4 Nd7 21.h4 Nf6 22.Qxg5+ Kf7 23.Rae1 Qxc2 24.Qe5 Re8 25.Rc1 Qxb2 26.Qxb2 W. gibt auf (Lag: Av=0.40s, max=1.2s) 1–0

Play and Solve , Solve and Play

Did a full circle on L20 on Sunday
Monday did -170 on L20

960 no more

I went 3-1 in my chess tournament in Bow NH and tied for first in the under 1350. More info to follow. Made 1 small blunder but for the most part played acurately with good board vision.

Here is my second game. to view cut and paste game into the pgn viewer on sidebar


Dave - Takchess,Jim

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.Nc3 Bxd4 7.Nd5 Qe5 8.f4 Qxe4 9.Nxc7+ Kd8 10.Nxa8 Nf6 11.Qe2 Bxe3 12.Rd1 Re8 13.c3 Qxf4 14.g3 Bf2# 0–1

The Question is ??????

I have been doing alot of L20 ct art sets and htbydac. The questions is:
Will I have the patience and the creativity to truly see whats in front of me ?

Also Ill be looking for these danger signs

There has been a change in the pawn structure. Your opponent has 8 and you don't have any.
Your opponent begins to throw pawns at your eyes.
You have a postion won but your opponent has a gun.
The Director tells you not to bother turning in your scoresheet after the game.
Before game begins you notice your opponents 1st initials are 'GM'.
After completing your development you sense your opponent playing the endgame.
Just as you make your opening move your opponent announces mate in 11.
You don't control any squares at all.
Your draw offer sends all the people watching your game into uncontrollable laughter.
Your opponent has 3 bishops.

Sound ?

The games may or not be sound but I do find them interesting. Cut and paste game into viewer on sidebar .

addon note: Fritz showed me I missed a mate do you see it and Black had a chance to force me to sac my queen to avoid a mating threat soon after. both which were missed....

Did a superset of 100 problems from Level 20 tonight.

(3069) takchess (1417) - B (1460) [B06]
Rated game, 30m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 17.04.2007

1.e4 g6 2.h4 Bg7 3.h5 gxh5 4.Rxh5 Nf6 5.Rg5 0–0 6.e5 Ne4 7.Rxg7+ Kxg7 8.Qg4+ Kh8 9.Qxe4 f6 10.Bd3 Rf7 11.Nc3 Nc6 12.Bc4 Rg7 13.Nd5 Nxe5 14.Nf4 c6 15.Bb3 d5 16.Qe3 Bf5 17.d4 Ng4 18.Qh3 Qd7 19.Qh4 e5 20.Nh5 Rf7 21.Bd2 exd4 22.0–0–0 c5 23.f3 Ne5 24.Nxf6 Qb5 25.Bxd5 Qa4 26.Bb3 Qb5 27.Bxf7 Rf8 28.Nxh7 Rxf7 29.Nf6+ Kg7 30.Qg5+ Bg6 31.Nh5+ Kh7 32.Qh6+ Kg8 33.Ne2 Rh7 34.Nf6+ Kh8 35.Qf8# (Lag: Av=0.30s, max=0.6s) 1–0

I agree with Blunderprone !

In BP recent response to BDK he wrote

"I don't want to add more knowledge, I need to practice applying the knowledge I already have"

This is my montra for preperation for my tournament on Saturday in New Hampshire.

To prepare I have

1) Done a ton of circles on basic checkmates the 50 in HTBYDAC
2)Circles of Level 10 and 20
3)Reciting the positions on the chessboard from Black and Whites perspective to reduce stress of recording moves
4)Knight site drills

I am trying to keep the same openings and do precious little additional learning. It not the stuff that you don't know that kills you. It's the stuff you should know and don't apply I am worried about !

return of the charts

I am sure BDK remembers these cryptic number charts from my past blogs. I wish Ct-art had a bookmark feature

They represent ct-art problems that I want to see again due to

1) got them wrong

2) was slow to solve them or was tempted initially to give a wrong answer

3) think they illustrate an important principle

4) just think they are cool

100-200

150, 164, 172, 174,181,182,187,193,197,198

200-250

203,204,207=hat rack mate,208,215,217,221 importance of queens check in the center,

225,227 study 2.bxc3 rd1cm,231,233,234,235,239,247,248,249,250

Of course, all numbers are open to interpetation, so feel free to hunt down the vintage 1960 PF flyer secret decoder ring and dolphin whistle shown above.

scoring in the 90 percentile on L20 and will keep chugging till they are automatic again

Sat l20- 250 circle 4

Sun circle 9 completed of htbdc

l20-300

252,269.271.272.276,281 study,288,289 st,295,296,298study,300

Mon -396

301,302,304,397,308,309,310 is blackburne mate, 319-check for boden 320,321,323,324, 327++,329,332,334,335,340,341,342,343,348,350,352,352,354!,355!,356!,357 is a boden mate,

358,359,361,363,368,369,370,372,373,374,378,379!,383,385,389, 390!,391,392,393,394!,395,396!

Studying Structure : Black to move Ct-Art 172

On this circle of Level 20, I have been trying to concentrate on viewing the postion and studying the structure. My goal is to be able to pick up clues in playing simalar positions in my games.

Here the bishop on F1 is awkwardly placed and the King is cramped. The combination of the missing f2 pawn & no room for the king to move makes the g1 b7 diagonal vunderable. But note the pawn on h3 would still not give an escape square to the King due to the knight.

Blacks pieces are agressively placed and the Q-f2 would be mate if not for the whites queen protecting the square. This queen also guards the e5 square where a queen would deliver mate it the diagonal was open and it could not be recaptured or blocked.

The move ..... Re2! does two things :

1)Interferes with the white queens protection of f2 threatening mate>so any capture by pieces other than the queen would be immediately followed by ...Qf2#

2)Removes the queens protection of the e5 square since Qxe2 is forced.

There is an overworked piece portion of this problem since the queen is forced to protect two squares the rook e2 moves distracts her from her double duty.

Sat - L20-111-200 circle 4

Charge !

He who says he understands chess, understands nothing. Huebner

He who says he understands chess tactics understands nothing. Takchess

More on this NUT's theory 8)

http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1138856225.shtml

With the all the new Knights, I am starting to feel like a World War One Veteran. Around a long time. I am going to play in a tournament on Saturday April 21st in Bow NH. So my plan of preparation? I am going to do some tactics exercises , followed by more tactical exercises and for good measure do some more tactical exercises.

I just finished my eighth circle of How to beat your Dad at chess and did the exercises for the first time in the back of the book. I was mildly dissatisfied with my results. I like working with this book in that it drills on 50 checkmates in depth. My hope is to be so familiar with these mates that I can toggle between various threats as my opponents defense changes.

Last January I entered a New Year Day tournament a little rusty tactically and had poor results consistent with that: missed a mate, played poorly in an opening etc. Funny I don't feel like a 960 rated player. Anyway time to right this ship.

Tuesday 1-200 ct-art

Wednesday-270

Thur - 1-20 9th circle htbydc

Friday finished 3rd circle on l20

Welcome Cratercat !

http://cratercat.blogspot.com/

Classic Bishop Sacrifice on B7 -Greek Gift

It appears that it would take some excessive noodling to figure out all the ins and outs of the classic bishop sacrifice on h7. I'll blogg on some aspects of it but I will steer you to more complete and accurate sources for additional research. There is an involved chapter in the Art of Attack which has an excellent look at what conditions this sac is sound. Each position has to be analyzed in depth.

The classic bishop sacrifice on h7 takes the h pawn in front to the kingside castled position. In these positions you need to calculate 3 different responses after the King takes. They are Kg8, Kg6 and Kh6. If any of these variations stand better for black then white should not sac the bishop.

Here is an example of a classic bishop sacrifice where the king moves back to g8.

In the position above Black has played Rook e8 preparing for an escape route. White must play

Queen x f7 pawn + first in order to remove the f7 pawn to open up the lane for a future checkmate and to move the king back toward the corner. It would be a mistake to play Queen x h7 first.

Also notice how the pawn on e5 prevents escape for the king as well.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1284181

Here Susan shows that the bishop in the c8-h3 diagonal can refute the greek gift.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1109963

More to come on this topic....

Sat -300 L20 circle 2 ct-art

Greek Gift

J'adoube recent Art of Attack video reminded that there is a detailed chapter on the Classic Bishop Sacrifice on h7 and I plan to dive into during the next week. There is a detailed analysis to help determine positions where the Sac is correct and when it is not.

It also appears that Patzer2 of chessgames.com created this nice collection of Bishop Sacs on H7. I'll report in what I learn.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1001821


Here is a quick game I played on the internet with a Sac on f7. to view cut and paste the game into viewer on the left.


(2985) Takchess (1557) - B. (1618) [C53]
Rated game, 25m + 1s Main Playing Hall, 04.04.2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 h6 5.b4 Be7 6.b5 Na5 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Nxe5+ Kf8 9.Qh5 Nf6 [9...Qe8 10.Ng6+ Kf7 11.Qd5+ Kxg6 (11...Kf6 12.Qf5#) 12.Qf5#] 10.Qf7# (Lag: Av=0.49s, max= 0.9s) 1–0


circle 2 - level 20 -252 friday

Calling all Tacticians .I am looking for helpful comments on this game

This was an unusual game with involved my unintential double rook sacrifice and left me with some initiative turned to an advantage. I couldn't finish off the endgame and of course there was my blunder at the end. I saw the potential skewer on move 51 seconds after I made my move. Interested in tips as to how to better calculate my boxing in his king in this mating net.

I have always enjoyed double rook sacrifices games and it is interesting that blacks queen was so out of position after it that it left me with enough initiative, with better play, (I think) to have won the game.

Paste game into the PGN viewer in the sidebar

takchess (1506) - O. (1492)
Rated game, 20m + 6s Main Playing Hall, 05.04.2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Bb5 d5 5.Bxc6+ bxc6 6.exd5 cxd5 7.d4 Ba6 8.Ne5 Bd6 9.Qf3 Nf6 10.Bg5 cxd4 11.Nc6 Qc7 12.Nxd4 Be5 13.Nde2 Bxe2 14.Qxe2 Bxc3+ 15.bxc3 Qxc3+ 16.Kd1 Qxa1+ 17.Kd2 Qxh1 18.Qb5+ Nd7 19.Qc6 Qxg2 20.Qxa8+ Nb8 21.Qxb8+ Kd7 22.Qb7+ Kd6 23.Be7+ Ke5 24.Qc7+ Kf5 25.Bh4 Rf8 26.Qe7 Rc8 27.Qxf7+ Ke5 28.Qh5+ Kd6 29.Bg3+ Kd7 30.Qf7+ Kc6 31.Qxe6+ Kb7 32.Qd7+ Kb6 33.Qxc8 Qe4 34.Qc7+ Ka6 35.Qc6+ Ka5 36.Bc7+ Kb4 37.Bd6+ Ka5 38.Bc7+ Kb4 39.Qc3+ Kb5 40.Bd6 Qc4 41.a4+ Kxa4 42.Qa3+ Kb5 43.Qb2+ Kc6 44.Be5 Qe4 45.Bxg7 Qf4+ 46.Kc3 Qf3+ 47.Kb4 Qg4+ 48.Bd4 a6 49.Qc3+ Kd6 50.Qc5+ Ke6 51.Qc6+ Kf7 52.Qc7+ Kg6 53.Qg7+ Kf5 54.Qxh7+ Ke6 55.Qh6+ Kd7 56.Qh7+ Kc6 57.Qh6+ Kb7 58.Qb6+ Kc8 59.Qc6+ Kb8 60.Qd6+ Kc8 61.Qxa6+ Kd7 62.Qb7+ Kd6 63.Qb8+ Kc6 64.Qc8+ Qxc8 takchess resigns (Lag: Av=0.28s, max=0.6s) 0–1

Thursday ct-art l20 2nd circle -220

Pattern Recognition for the Boden Mate

I am looking for clues to recognize the various mating patterns such as when I see two pieces in a line I always check for pins/skewers tactics. Boden Mate does not occur all that often however I am sure I have overlooked the opportunity to play it.

The classic Boden Mate occurs in Queenside castled postion (rook and queen have not moved from the castled position) when you control the open darksquare diagonals in front of the bishop.

There also is a pawn on c6 (which is normally sacked by a queen) and a bishop that can be delivered to a6 square for mate.

I want to automatically think of Boden Mate opportunities when my opponent castles Queenside.

This is the game shown in the picture and involves a double rook sacrifice.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1264050

Here is a game collection of Boden's Mate games

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1005389

Tuesday 300-330 of Ctart L20 circle 1

almost finished 7th circle of htbdc

Wed 330-end of level 20 circle one
110-158 L20 circle two