What Actually Happened

This is the position from the previous post which we discussed. The ideas suggested were an eventual h4-g5 push to open the black king and the other was b3 to increase the stranglehold on the queenside.

Here is what I played:

27. Nxd6 Bxd6
28. Rxd6 Qxa4
29. g5 hxg5
30. Bxg5 Qxa5
31. Rxf6 gxf6
32. Bxf6 Qc5
33. Rd4 exd4
34. Qh4 dxc3+
35. Kh1 Black Resigns

There are some mistakes in here, but it sure looks pretty. Thoughts?

Position to Discuss

Hi readers, this time I thought I would try to do something more discussion-based. I am going to post a position from one of my recent games and we will (hopefully) have a discussion on what white can do.

There are a few options for white in this position, so there should be plenty to discuss. White is visually winning, so I would like the discussion to be more based around how white should continue to press the advantage. Once we have discussed for a while I will post what happened in the game (I think you'll enjoy the finish).

Here is the position for white's 27th move after 26. ...Qc6-d7.


Don't feel like you have to look for tactics or any deep positional ideas, just share your thoughts about the position and some potential ideas.

I'll even go first - I like the white pieces a lot more than the black pieces here. The black pieces are pretty tied down and aren't very active, while white's pieces are attacking and (mostly) well-placed.

Video: Viewer Submission: Pins Galore

The following game was submitted by Mathew Jacob and is a great example of pins, pins, and more pins. Some threatened, some actual, all of them scary.

The Adventure Continues, Video: Laugher/Fundamentals

So I decided to post a game of decidedly lower quality this time. Partially just so I post something and partially because it illustrates fundamentals pretty well. As I state in the video, I am going to start to check out some of the clubs in the area this week, so hopefully I can find one to regularly attend. I might post another video later in the week, a good game that ends after an abrupt error. As always, I welcome any comments and suggestions.

Video: Psychological Play

So here we are again, with another new video. This game is not of particularly high quality, but it was more an experiment in psychology than an attempt to have a superb game. Also, I do not condone playing like I did in this game if you are playing seriously. This game took place during a lesson, so it is entirely for educational purposes. Something along the lines of the concept of a 'teaching game' in Go. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the game and are able to draw something from it.

Vs. J. Zhang: Queens and Pawns and Diagonals, Oh My!

I did moderately well at the Iowa City Open, with 3.0/4.0. My horrible lack of sleep the night before made things difficult, luckily all four games were pretty straightforward. It also helped that the tournament was only about two blocks from where I live, so I got to go home and rest between rounds. In the third round, I played Jiahua Zhang, a young player who in early 2009 I told Hank Anzis was going to be a strong player sometime in the next few years. Here it is a year and a half later, over 600 points later for Jiahua, and him coming off a nice draw against an expert, I knew I had my work cut out for me. The opening and middlegame of this game were nearly nonexistent. It felt like it just went 1. e4 c5 2. Rxe8+ and endgame. Because of this, there was obviously no room for a flashy attack. So I just did what I always do when I'm playing a dangerous young player, I just out-endgame them. For all my flashy attacks, I actually think my chances are better in any given ending than any given middlegame. Don't get discouraged by this video being about endgames, I still try to keep it interesting by adding in lots of pretty colors. Enjoy and share your thoughts in the comments!

Video: Against Steiner: How do you reach these positions, you maniac?

Finally I have returned to making video posts. I had a rather successful North American Open in Stillwater, OK. I scored a solid 6.0/10.0. Yes, that's right, out of 10 rounds. With 3 wins, 4 draws, 1 loss, and 2 byes, I felt like I played pretty well. Of my games, I believe this one to be the most entertaining, played against expert Tim Steiner in round 7. Since when I made this video, it was over 20 minutes, I chopped off most of the opening, since it was just a ...Bd6 Evans Gambit. That cut it down to 16 minutes of listening to me drone on. If you want a pgn of the game in its entirety with my notes, email me and I will send you a copy.

Vs Tyagi: Light Square Attack

As the poll said, you wanted middlegame ideas, so I chose a game in which the weakness of a certain color of square makes a large difference in the outcome of the game. Enjoy!

New Video: Vs Sobo; When you are in trouble

Back after a bit of a break from making videos. I got bit by the MMO bug for a while, and haven't played much chess, so coming up with material for videos is a bit difficult. It was kind of funny I missed a mate in 1 while recording the video so I had to add in text over the analysis near the end. As always, I welcome suggestions for future videos or comments on them.

New Video: Drake Chess Festival vs. Bernat

Here is a new video everyone! I scored 3.0/4.0 in the Open of the Drake Chess Festival, increasing my USCF to 1935, the highest it has been in nearly 2 years. I made a video of my last round game, which was the best played of the four. I also fiddled with the video settings some more to try and get more of a square look to the board. As always, I welcome any comments here or on the forum.

In the style of the old Masters

Game 3 of my match against George Eichhorn was an exceptionally interesting game to look at. I made a video post of some of my analysis for you all to look at and comment on. The match itself ended in a 2-2 draw. Home field advantage seemed insurmountable in this match, with George winning the two games in Stratford and me winning the two in Iowa City. I want to thank Jason for his assistance in verifying that the computers can't play the position after the sacrifice correctly. This game might end up being one of my crown jewels, so I hope that it can generate some discussion in the comments.

New Video - Madison-Hodina

As requested by Jason, I have annotated the game I played in round 4 of the Cedar Rapids Leatherjackets tournament against Jim Hodina. I messed around with the capturing again, so it should show up better now. Hopefully you cannot hear how stuffed up I was when I recorded this earlier today. As always, I welcome any comments on the game, the annotations, or the video itself. I uploaded straight onto Blogger this time instead of onto Veoh since the video has been in processing all day on Veoh with no sign of finishing any time soon.

First Video Annotations

Watch Chess Game Analysis in Sports | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Ok, so I finally managed to make the video and get it edited sufficiently well. On the plus side, since this is the first one, it can only get better than this. Please let me know what you think so that I can make more like this or not.

35. ...Ra7 36. Re8+ and a game by request

This felt rather forced, so luckily I didn't have to think much about it. Next move is coming along on Tuesday. Now, since a game from DSM or Ames was requested, I dug around and managed to find an actually instructive game from the Des Moines Fall Classic. It is my round 1 game against Gerald Hawkins, in which white relentlessly attacks and black quickly finds himself unable to defend. The game reminds me of looking through old games from the 1800s where one player never really sees their impending doom until it is already too late. Please let me know if you like seeing the games in this format or if you prefer my previous method of using diagrams once in a while.

Since I have nothing to post...

...I have decided to try something different. I propose a match between myself and the readers. Obviously this won't be the same quality as other such matches (Some GM vs. World, etc.), but it will fill the time until I have something to post. I will post a new move every 3 days and will give the viewers the time between to comment on the position, the most popular move in the comments of the current position's post will be made for the readers. If nobody decides to make moves, then I will just abandon the game. Hopefully this will kill enough time until at least the Iowa Open (Sept. 5-6) so I will have something to post. Anyway, here goes the experiment (I get white because it was my idea :-p):

1. d4


Hopefully some of you will let the game continue. Next move by me: Aug 18. Reader comments taken into account until: 11:59 pm Aug 17.

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

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

Did I Just Refute the Evan's Gambit?

For my usual brief description I will go ahead and direct you back to the title of this entry. I played GM Larry Christiansen in a simul and increased my record against him to +2 =0 -0. Enough fanfare, enjoy the game.

GM LarryC(2637) - MrMash(2047)
WCL Simul June 9, 2009

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4!? Bxb4 5. c3 Bd6!?

Lucky for me I vaguely remembered hearing somewhere along the line that this is supposed to give black a good game.

6. d4 Nf6 7. Nbd2 0-0 8. Bb3 exd4 9. cxd4 Bb4 10. 0-0?!



10. d5 was a bit better, although black should still stand a bit better because of the extra pawn and since white has committed the center.

10. ...Bxd2!

Forces a weakening of the center or a win of a pawn.

11. Qxd2 Nxe4-+

The position is rapidly becoming hopeless for white.

12. Qf4 d5 13. Re1 Re8 14. Ba3 Be6

Now that all of black's pieces are developed, black can more or less choose when to go into a winning endgame.

15. Rac1 Qf6 16. Qxc7 Nxd4



A quick glance at the position shows that the white pieces are swinging at air, and an overwhelming centralization of the black pieces.

17. Bd1 Bg4 18. Rxe4 Rxe4

The game is pretty much over now, as the white king is looking quite vulnerable.

19. Qxb7 Rae8 20. h3 Bxf3

Missing a tricky mate, but white is helpless at this point.

21. gxf3 Re1+ 22. Kg2 Qg5+



And white resigned without seeing Kh2 Qg1#. 0-1


Fun fact: There were no checks in this game until the mating combination.

Weak Computer, meet Direct Attack

Every once in a while it is fun just to hop on the old chess server and play the bots. Since I had just finished with my finals yesterday, it seemed like just the time to thrash a silicon enemy.

MrMash(2063)-SloBoBot(1863)
Standard 25/10, World Chess Live

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. a3

Why not? I have faith in my ability to take this computer down in a tactical showdown.

3. ...d5 4. e3 dxc4 5. Bxc4 c5 6. Nf3 a6 7. Nc3 Bd7



Here we finally leave opening theory, but as you might expect, I was out after about move 3.

8. 0-0 b5 9. Bd3 c4?!

I remain unconvinced of this idea. I think maintaining the central tension would be better since it doesn't seem like the queenside pawns will ever really get moving in this structure.

10. Bc2 Bc6 11. e4 Be7 12. Ne5 Bb7 13. f4 Nbd7



It was from here that I came up with the idea that I will eventually play on move 17.

14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15. e5 Qc6!? 16. Qe2 Nd7?

The knight is poorly placed here, and can only get back into the game by either wasting time getting to d5 via b6, or by f8-g6. Of course, in the mean time...

17. f5! 0-0 18. f6!!



The black king just castled, and already it is under heavy fire.

18. ...gxf6 19. Bh6 Kh8

To stop the mate threat (Qg4-g7#).

20. Be4!

Indirectly wins back the f6 pawn, and more than that, gets rid of that annoying mate threat.

20. ...Qb6 21. Bxb7 Qxb7 22. exf6 Bxf6 23. Rxf6!



The idea is that the pin after the next couple moves is unbreakable.

23. ...Nxf6 24. Qe5 Qe7 25. Ne4

25. Bg5! was a little faster, but come on, why not make the computer suffer for all that it has done to us humans lately?

25. ...Rfc8 26. Nxf6 Rd8



Most people would be tempted to play the immediate discovered check, but I turn the screws even tighter.

27. Rf1!!

A subtle strengthening move, makes the inevitable discovery even stronger. There is little else to explain, so I will present the rest of the game and then the final position.

27. ...Qf8? 28. Bxf8 Rxf8 29. Ne8+ f6 30. Rxf6! Rxf6 31. Qxf6+ Kg8 32. Qg7# 1-0

Another Interesting Corr. Game

I just finished another correspondence game which was very interesting. In fact, this was against the same opponent as the previous interesting game!

bobadillamitchelle(2051) - MrMash(2095) Chess.com

1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. Nc3 Bb4

Those of you who follow this blog will notice that I have learned my lesson and immediately played ...Bb4 when the knight went to c3.

4. e4 Bb7 5. Bd3 f5!?

The sharp reply. Of the alternatives, ...Nc6 is safer, and ...Qh4 is going to end decisively and quickly, but likely in white's favor if they know the theory (or look it up, since this is correspondence).

6. f3!?

A solid reply, aiming to slow things down and maintain the strong center. Theory says Qh5+ or Qe2, but I rather like the f3 idea. Note that 6. d5? is no good because of the pin on the c3 knight, among other things.

6. ...fxe4 7. fxe4 Nf6



More or less playable for both sides. Standard English Defense ideas come into play, white tries to maintain the center and attack, black tries to undermine the center, which would cause devastation in the white camp.

8. Bg5 h6 9. Bxf6!? Qxf6 10. Nf3 Nc6

The white center looks a bit awkward, but so do black's pieces.

11. e5! Qf7

Else the weakened e8-h5 diagonal will be black's downfall.

12. 0-0! Qh5

The white onslaught seems to come out of nowhere, so black tries to slow the game down now.

13. d5

White would rather attack quickly, before black can regroup.

13. ...Bc5+ 14. Kh1 Ne7

The computer thinks I can get away with the capture on e5, but it just looks too risky to me. Besides that, more support on that weak diagonal couldn't hurt.

15. Be2?!



Finally the pressure lets up a bit. This looks like it is setting up a strong discovery on the queen and supporting a capture on d6, but in reality, it gives black time to take the initiative and actually get an advantage.

15. ...Nf5!

Mate threat on g3 trumps anything white has.

16. Ne4 Ne3

Sure, I get an exchange, but then I have to sit back a little while to see if white can muster up some counterplay.

17. Qa4?

Takes the queen out of the equation for the moment. After 17. Nfg5! there are still substantial difficulties for black, who might not have an advantage at all.

17. ...Qg4

If not for mate threats, black would have been toast a long time ago.

18. Ng3 Bxd5!

Now we see the real weakness of 17. Qa4. This pin destroys the white position.

19. b4!



A desperate try to sharpen up the game. Anything less is tantamount to resignation.

19. ...Bc6 20. Qb3 Nxf1

I finally take my exchange that I won several moves ago.

21. Rxf1 Be7 22. b5 Bb7 23. Qd3

"I'm still gunning for you!"

23. ...0-0-0

"Show me what you got!"

24. a4 Rhf8



The black bishops will soon prove decisive, but white still has faith in the queenside attack.

25. Ra1 Bc5 26. a5 Kb8

Better safe than sorry.

27. axb6 axb6 28. Nf1 Qe4

Once the queens are off, this should become trivial.

29. Qxe4 Bxe4

Uh... looks like it should become trivial then.

30. N1d2 Bb7

As long as I don't do anything too rash, this should be a fairly straightforward grind.

31. h3 Rf7 32. Kh2 Rdf8 33. Rf1

Waiting around for the hammer to fall.

33. ...Bb4

Threatens simply to take on d2.

34. Nb3 Bc3

These bishops are just unstoppable and unrelenting.

35. Rd1 Kc8

Calmly preparing rook penetration.

36. Rc1



And now the hammer comes down swiftly.

36. ...Bxf3! 37. Bxf3 Bxe5+ 38. Kg1 Rxf3!!

And it all gets simplified to a very easy ending.

39. gxf3 Rxf3 40. Rb1? Rxh3



White has had enough and resigned. 0-1

Hope you all enjoyed this one. As always, I welcome comments here or via email.