I've Hit the Big Time!

Look at this! I have a game on the ChessGames site! It wasn't a particularly good game for me, but still!

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=120707

A Nostalgic Miniature

Here is a funny little 13-mover from back in 2006 that I played the black side of on a correspondence site. Through this whole game I thought I was winning. It is great how ignorance really is bliss when you are a class C/B player.

jkr333-MrMash (2006)

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. e4?!

Nothing too special until this move. This is strategically bad since it allows black to get a great game several ways. The most notable reason this is bad for white is that however the central tension is resolved, it benefits black, by either giving white an isolated pawn or placing a pawn on e5 that is very likely overextended. A better alternative is either 6. d3 or 6. Nf3 with a fairly equal position.


6. ...Be6?!

Responding in kind. A simple 6. ...d4 would suffice.

7. d3 Nc6 8. Qb3? Nd4

A better way to exploit this error was 8. ...d4!, which is -/+.

9. Qxb2 Nc2+ 10. Kd2 dxe4??

Slightly horrible. Threatens Qxd3#, but the drawback is that when white handles this properly, the lack of black development is quite apparent.


11. Bxe4??

The cavalcade of errors continues. 11. Nxe4! gives white the upper hand, since 11. ...Nd5 12. Qc6+ Ke7 seems forced, and things are quickly turning sour for black.

11. ...Nxe4+!

Only given an exclamation mark since somebody finally found a not bad move.

12. Kxc2 Nxf2 13. Nb5???

Yes, three ?'s. All white had to do was cover d3 once or make an escape square... and they failed.

13. ...Qxd3#

Here is a look at the final position to this gem:


I hope you enjoyed this poorly played, yet quite humorous game. Please leave comments and send me emails so I know how to improve the blog!

Opening Insanity

This 21-mover becomes so chaotic so fast that my annotations are going to be of a more general nature than concrete variation style.

Here is the aforementioned game Simpson-Madison:

1. e4 d6 2. d4 f5!? (!!)
It looks risky, it is risky, and it completely dashes any hopes white may have had of a normal game.

3. Bd3?! fxe4! 4. Bxe4 Nf6 5. Bd3 g6!?
Seems to be the best way to continue for black. If black ever gets to play ...e5 without consequence, black will stand much better.


6. Nf3 Bg7 7. Be3=+
White is already displaying that he has no idea what to do here, and thus 2. ...f5 is justified. It seems that Bg5 was better.

7. ...Nc6 8. Nbd2 Ng4!
Forcing the dark squared bishop off, after which it will be difficult to attack black and black will stand better.

9. Ng5?! Nxe3 10. fxe3 e5!
This is the reason that Ng5 was not so strong. Playing the ...e5 break with tempo really hurts white. That is not to say black can relax; white still has dangerous threats in the air, most notably Nxh7 with the idea of ...Rxh7? Bxg6+!

Of course, 11. Nxh7 fails to Qh4+ picking up the piece and not losing the rook in the process.

11. Ndf3 exd4!?
Now the chaos begins. This move invites white to take on h7 since there is no Qh4+ available now. It is hard to say what kind of plan either side should adopt, since both sides are precariously uncastled. If white castles immediately, it is entirely possible that black will be able to hold on to an extra pawn on e3. Simply recapturing will only serve to further mobilize the black pieces. Here is how white handled the situation:

12. Nxh7 Bf5!?
This is the idea I had in mind on Nxh7, that it will be hard to get that knight out of there without giving up all of white's remaining attacking chances. So trading seems to help black, not trading seems to help black, what should white do?

13. e4??
This is the losing move. A loss of time when every tempo counts. White's best try may simply be to trade the bishops and hope for the best.

13. ...Bg4!
If you think this pin is nasty, just wait.

14. e5
Its kind of sad, but this almost seems forced.

14. ...Nxe5 15. Qe2 Qe7
Now white has nothing, his pieces are all over the place, swinging at air, and black can even taunt white by castling soon.


16. Nhg5 Bh6
This has to be just agonizing for white.

17. Ne4 0-0-0
How horrible is this? Black castles and white just has to sit there and watch his position get worse.

18. 0-0? Be3+
White has been in losing since e4, but now it gets real bad real fast.

19. Nf2
It really doesn't matter what white does, the end is nigh.

19. ...Bxf3 20. gxf3 Qh4
There was a technically more accurate mate in some large number for black here, but as they say, a win is a win.

21. h3?? Qxh3 0-1
Here is the final position:


Just looking over the game, it almost seems like white never really got comfortable after 2. ...f5. This just goes to show what shock value can do to an opponent.

Updates coming

Sorry for the extremely long delay everyone. I had a rather rough semester on both a school and personal level. Now that I have an easier semester coming I will be able to update this more frequently. In the mean time, here is an update on how things have been going:

Almost all of 2008 was a slide for me, all in all dropping to 1900 exactly from a peak of 1941 in January. I recently played in Illinois at Tim Just's Winter Open where I scored 2.5/5.0 and managed to only lose 2 points. On the bright side, I actually think I am a much stronger player than at this time last year. In the next couple days I will post a very interesting game from that tournament in which I really get to use my imagination, starting from move 2! Here is a preview:

Simpson-Madison, Tim Just's Winter Open
1. e4 d6!? (I have not played this in several years!) 2. d4 f5!?(!!) a very unique way to handle the situation. More to come later.