And finally, here is the game.

Played at the Training Quad tournament in Marshalltown. I got some revenge for my loss at the State Championship.

Madison - Eichhorn

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5!?

Ah, the Albin Countergambit. Nary a normal position ahead.

3. dxe5 d4 4. a3 Be6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. e3

So far so good. White usually can't hold on to the extra pawn, but instead tries to generate play while black takes the time to regain the pawn on e5. e3 threatens to take on d4, which would have white up two pawns and e5 would be tough to take back (which I assume is why e3 is the book move).

6. ...dxe3 7. Qxd8+ Rxd8 8. Bxe3 Nge7 9. Nc3 Ng6 10. Nb5 Rd7

I had been out of book since 4. ...Be6, but Master level games have actually made it to this position before. All of them I could find ended up in draws though.

11. Rd1!N



Only later to find out that the book move was an immediate Nbd4. Haven't found any previous games with this, but I assume it has been played. I figure this is slightly stronger since it challenges the d-file and also really strains the rook on d7, but what do I know?

11. ...a6 12. Nbd4 Ncxe5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Bf4

Now I am unsure of this move. It is hard to say whether the black knight is worse on e5 or g6. I just wanted to add pressure to c7 and also concluded that the knight would be less active on g6.

14. ...Ng6 15. Nxe6 fxe6

Another point of Bf4 was to lay the easily avoided trap 15. ...Nxf4?? 16. Nxf4! winning a piece.

16. Be3 Be7

This is where it gets a little tricky. During the game I had seen the idea Bf8-e7-f6, and had trouble figuring out how to deal with it. I spent a few minutes mulling it over and then played...

17. Be2 Bf6 18. b3 Bc3+



There is a pretty critical decision here: play Bd2, several exchanges and can I win this endgame? Doubtful despite having the better of it and a pretty safe draw. Or I can play Kf1 and walk into the uncharted desert.

19. Kf1 Rf8

During the game this felt like a mistake to me, but I can't really find anything particularly wrong about it.

20. Rxd7 Kxd7 21. Bd3 e5?!

The idea is to anchor the bishop on d4 and/or possibly play for e4 at some point to disrupt the white pieces. Personally, I prefer ...Ne7 and trying to liquidate the queenside. White can't take on h7 because of ...g6 and ...Rh8.

22. Bxg6!

You might be saying, "But Jeremy, the two bishops is an advantage, especially with an open center and in an endgame!" To which I respond: I like my chances to win better and my chances to lose on a downward spiral when my opponent has shattered pawns and all else is equal. All I have to do is play a flawless endgame, and how hard could that be?

22. ...hxg6 23. Ke2 Ke6 24. Rd1

This rook is a beast on d1.

24. ...b6 25. f3 a5 26. c5?

It looks strong, but simply capturing and ...Rb8 suddenly puts the squeeze on white.

26. ...b5?



27. c6!

This is one of those subtle things that you get to play once in a while. Namely, if my rook is a beast on d1, it must be a demon on d7.

Rh8 28. h3 a4 29. bxa4 bxa4 30. Rd7 Ba5 31. Bd2 Bxd2?

This is the decisive error. From here I felt that the rook ending was completely won for me. I had been calculating 31. ...Bb6 the whole time to close counterplay on the b-file, to which I intended to respond 32. Bb4 with the idea of moving my king up and creating more threats. I can take the pawns at my leisure I think.

32. Kxd2 Rb8 33. Rxc7 Kd6 34. Rb7!

Forces the black rook off of an active file. 34. ...Rxb7?? is a lost king and pawn ending, so...

34. ...Rc8 35. Rxg7 Kxc6 36. Rxg6+ Kb5



37. Re6 Rc5 38. g4

I have all the time in the world to gradually advance these pawns, while black is suffering from piece paralysis.

38. ...Kc4 39. Rb6!

Buying as much time as possible.

39. ...Rd5+ 40. Ke2 Kc3 41. Rb4 Rd2+ 42. Ke3 Rd3+ 43. Kf2 Rd4 44. Rb5 Rd2+ 45. Kg3 e4 46. fxe4 Rd3+ 47. Kh4 Kc2 48. g5 Rxa3 49. g6 Rb3

And now for the finishing blow...



50. g7! Rxb5 51. g8=Q Rb3 52. Qc4+ The last pawn about to fall, black calls it a day. 1-0

Thursday the game will be posted

I am all finished moving now (Yay!). All that is left between me and being able to annotate and post the game from Saturday is my Differential Equations Final tonight (ah summer classes). That said, I will have all the time in the world from tomorrow until the fall semester starts up. I expect to have the game posted by 2-3 PM Central Time, so in case you are just itching to see it, that is when to stop by. Anyway, back to studying for me!

I have a game to post...

...but I won't be posting it for a few days since I am in the process of moving to my new apartment. On a side note, I hurt my back during the 8.5 hours of moving stuff yesterday, and today I get to move the really heavy stuff, i.e. couches and TV. Goodie gumdrop.

Coming Up: Training Quad

This Saturday I will be playing in a training quad to help Iowa's Denker representative prepare for the Denker tournament.

The Players are as follows:

-Matt Anzis (Denker Rep)
-George Eichhorn
-Jason Juett
-Myself

Should be able to get some good games, and ideally something interesting that I can post.

Finally a tournament, and a good game from it!

Here is a game I played from the CCCP July Open, held yesterday in Ankeny. I did not use computer analysis for this, so feel free to question my analysis. Make sure to pay special attention to this endgame after move 25:

Walker - Madison
CCCP July Open, Round 4

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. Nc3 Bg4?!

This is playable, but it gives up the bishop pair right away, which is black's only advantage.
(5... f6)

6. h3 Bh5?

I show that I am still a bit unfamiliar with Ruy ideas.

7. g4! +/- Bg6 8. Nxe5 Bc5

The idea is Bxf2+ Kxf2 Qd4+ to regain the piece on e5.

9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. Qe2 Nf6 11. d3

(11. e5!? Nd5 12. Ne4 Bb6 13. c4 Ne7 +/-)

11. ...Qd7 12. Be3?

(12. g5? Ng4!! 13. Nd1 (13. f3 Nf2!) 13... Ne5 Is unclear, but black has play for the pawn.)

12... Bxe3 13. Qxe3 Nxg4!


Got my pawn back.

14. Qf3

Forces the retreat of the knight.

14. ...Nf6

(14... O-O-O?? 15. hxg4 +-)

15. O-O-O O-O-O 16. e5 Nd5 17. Ne4!? Qf5

Black sees that the weakness of the white kingside pawns will give good chances without the queens on.

18. Qxf5+ gxf5 19. Ng5 Rdf8

(19... f6?? 20. Nf7)

20. Rde1 Nf4



Now the ...f6 idea is playable, which would win the h-pawn.

21. e6?! = fxe6 22. Nxe6 Nxe6 23. Rxe6 Re8 24. Rxe8+ Rxe8 25. Kd2



Draw offered. I would have accepted, but those kingside pawns look so weak. See if you can figure out a plan to try for a win and then look at what I did.

25 ...Kd7 26. Rg1 Re7 27. Rg5 Ke6 28. Rg3

(28. Ke3?? Kf6+ 29. Kf4 Re2 -+)

28... Kf6 29. h4?!

To stop ...g5, but I think that Re3! is the correct move.
(29. Re3 Rxe3 (29...Rf7 +=) 30. Kxe3 Kg5 31. Kf3 Kh4 32. Kg2 Looks threatening, but white can
make a passer on the queenside which the black king can not reach.)

29... g6 30. Re3?

Now this is a mistake because it wastes a key tempo.
(30. f4! And this should end up drawn.)

30... Rh7! 31. Rh3



Forced.

31. ...f4!! -+

Cuts off the white king, prevents the white rook from going back to e3, and
allows the black king to advance to f5, which will be important in a few moves.

32. Ke2

The only other try is to play on the queenside, but black's pieces
are much more active, so black should still if nothing else have the better
end of a draw.

32. ...Kf5 33. Kf3 g5!

The reason ...f4!! and ...Kf5 needed to be played first. Now white cannot take with check.

34. Rh1 Rxh4 35. Re1

(35. Rxh4 gxh4 36. Kg2 Kg4 37. f3+ Kg5 Now when things start to look dangerous the
black king will run back and devour the white pawns and win.)

35... Rh2!

Much stronger than the obvious ...g4+

36. Re8 g4+ 37. Ke2 g3

Forces the win of the f2 pawn and game.

38. Rf8+



38. ...Ke5 39. d4+ Ke4 40. Re8+ Kxd4 41. Rd8+ Kc5 42. Rg8 Rxf2+ 43. Kd3 g2 44. Rg5+ Kb6 45. Rg4 f3

(45... Rf3+ Is technically more accurate. 46. Ke4 Rg3 47. Rxg3 fxg3)

46. Rg3

(46. Ke3 Rf1)

46... Rf1



And white resigned. 0-1

All Quiet on the Wooden Front

Still nothing new to report chess fans. Sadly, none of my correspondence games are ending with interesting tactics or anything, and there are no tournaments around for me to go to. The previously mentioned cool tactic is being ridiculously drawn out by the opponent (who is now in a completely lost endgame), so it will be weeks until I can post it. That is not to mention some of my games, which thanks to my opponents constantly using vacation time and then buying more from the site, have been going on for nearly a year.

On the plus side, I am nearing completion on Dragon Quest 8, to reduce my "need to beat" video game pile to 14 titles. Next on the chopping block: Xenosaga Episode 1, followed promptly by episodes 2 and 3.

So what else is going on? I am taking Differential Equations as a summer class, seems interesting so far. Started going to chess club again, but nothing terribly interesting has gone on there either. I found out that the Hawkeye Chess Club no longer exists within the University, which is a bit of a bummer, but not too devastating to me. I do have one thorn-in-my-side person that constantly wanted me to take over the club and do all sorts of things with it, but I came here to be a student, not to be the overseer of the chess club. Besides that, I will be graduating after the fall semester with degrees in Mathematics and Anthropology, with a minor in Computer Science. Yes, thats right, 2.5 degrees in 3.5 years.

If anyone has anything that they would like to see, please let me know, since otherwise I do not know when the next actual chess-related content will be posted. I am open to Q&A type stuff too, so feel free to ask me anything.