Last night, Wednesday, about a dozen people gathered for the organizational meeting for the Albany Area Chess Club. The club has been more or less out of business for the last two years after losing its club room in Albany. The club's team has managed to play in the Capital District Chess League during this time with the aid of other local clubs.
The club will be meeting at the Hamilton Union Presbyterian Church, 2291 Western Ave., Guilderland at 7:00pm on Wednesdays. Until the beginning of the next chess season (October 2010) membership will be free.
Bill Townsend, the Schenectady Gazette's chess colunmist, attended the organizational meeting. Look for a report in his column with more details soon.
4.28.2010
CDCL Matches in Saratoga
Sunday last saw a gathering of local chess “names” that has been rare in recent years. The Saratoga club hosted matches for both its “A” and “B” teams. Saratoga A faced off against Schenectady’s B team, more well known as the Geezers - a comment on the somewhat advanced years of some of the team members. Saratoga B did battle with the formidable Albany A team.
Playing on the various teams were Matt Katrein, Steve Taylor, Jonathan Feinberg, Peter Michaelman, Michael Mockler, Alan LeCours, John Phillips and Bill Little, your humble correspondent. In the 1980’s seeing all of us at some event was pretty common. Such has become far less usual in the years since. It was a pleasant beginning to an evening of chess to see so many old friends playing again.
The formidable Albany A team won quickly. Saratoga B was over-matched on ratings by several hundred points on each board, and this time form held. I believe Albany won the match 4-0. I can’t be certain as Jonathan Feinberg kept me very busy in our game.
Saratoga A won over the Geezers 3-1. Mockler, Phillips and I were not able to hold off the efforts of Taylor, Gordon Magat and Feinberg. We all lost. The only glimmer of light for us Geezers was Richard “The Giant Killer” Chu. Richard’s rating has been between 1600 and 1700 for a long time, however, every year it seems he has been able to take an Expert or high Class A player’s scalp. This year there has been more than one. This time he wins from Alan LeCours, an A player/Expert who has been having an up and down year.
CDCL Match: Saratoga A versus Schenectady Geezers
Site: Staunton Chess Club, Saratoga Springs, NY
Date: 4.25.2010
White: Chu, R., Schenectady
Black: LeCours, A, Saratoga
A game having several errors by both sides, nevertheless, it has some interesting points.
1. Nf3 Nf6
2. g3 g6
3. Bg2 Bg7
4. O-O O-O
Shades of my youth! Reti Opening Barcza System, King’s Indian Attack, or King’s Indian Defense depending on subsequent moves are names applied to this debut where both sides ignore the other and rearrange their pieces before making contact. Many Grandmasters have played so from the 1950s right up to the year 2000. These opening moves have not shown up very much in the last ten years at the top level. I don’t why.
5. Nc3 ….
An uncommon continuation. The 2600 types have used 5 c4, and 5 d4, here. The text is not bad by any means, just not usual.
5.… d5
6. e3 ….
Long age Tartakower, and before him Tarrasch warned against advancing the e-pawn when you have made a finachetto for the K-side Bishop. The move creates weak light squares around Richard’s King. They play a role in the rest of the game. A normal approach is 6 d3, trying for e2-e4 if allowed.
6.… c6
7. b3 Bg4
8. Bb2 ….
White offers a free advance of the Black center pawns believing he will be able to balance the game by striking back at the center.
8.… Qc8
Alan declines the offer to focus on the weak light squares near the White King.
9. Re1 e5
10. Qc1 e4
11. Ne5!? ….
Risky and interesting. There is no obvious path of retreat for the adventurous Knight. The two move threat; …, Ne8; and …, f6; picking off the Knight has to be a concern for White. The Knight is semi-safe because …, Ne8; is answered by Bb2-a3, hitting the Rf8. White also has to keep in mind he may have to play f2-f4 to lend support to the Ne5. Richard does not necessarily calculate all the details when he goes for this kind of dynamic play. He uses his intuition. There is an article in last month’s Chess Life by Soltis about this very subject.
11.…. Bh3
12. Bh1?! …..
Here 12 f4, is better. After 12 f4, Bxg2; 13 Kxg2, Ne8; 14 Ba3, f6; 15 Bxf8, Bxf8; 16 Nc4, dxc4; 17 bxc4, f5; or 17..., Qe6; Black has two minor pieces for a Rook and pawn with lots of material on the board. Andy Soltis in his book “Rethinking the Chess Pieces” Batsford, 2004 offers this insight to such imbalances; a) Giving up the pieces for a Rook and one pawn is generally bad in the opening and roughly even in the ending. b) Two pawns offers excellent winning chances if you can trade Queens. In this case it is the middle game, when who holds the initiative is critical in this kind of imbalance. The Black minor pieces are not really developed much less coordinated. No obvious method of forcing a trade of Queens is apparent. White has a small window of time where he must look to open lines upon which the Rooks can operate. If either 17..., f5; or 17..., Qe6; then 18 d3, suggests itself as the way to do so.
After the text, the Ne5 is in danger. Chu wanted to preserve the light squared Bishop to defend the weaknesses around his King. An intuitive decision. Soltis’ Chess Life article discusses the problem of electing to follow intuition or bearing down on calculation in a chess game. He does not come any firm conclusions about which way is the correct path.
12.… Nbd7?
Alan seems to have taken the intuitive road also. If he had calculated all the candidate moves and used Botvinnik’s scientific approach to the position, there is no reason Aln would not have found 12..., Ne8; when Black can either get two pieces for a Rook and no pawns, or a full piece for two pawns depending on how White wants to take the disadvantage. Trailing in development, LeCours naturally wants to catch up. Now the dangerously placed Knight exchanges itself.
13. Nxd7 Nxd7
14. Ne2!? ….
A more direct defense of the weak light squares begins 14 d3, to undermine the strong pawn on e4.
14.… Ne5
15. Bxe5 …..
At first blush my computer sees this move as not so good, but as the lines are played out Black gets really threatening play on the light squares. I’m certain it was an intuitive choice by Richard and this time correct.
15.…. Bxe5
16. c3? …
Another intuitive choice, but this time probably not correct. More light square weaknesses can’t be useful for White. Better 16 Rb1.
16.… g5
17. Qa3 Qd7
18. Rac1 Bd6
19. Qb2 c5
Over the last few moves the computer’s evaluations have swung back and forth, first favoring White, then Black. When I let the electronic beast chew on one of the positions for awhile, the numeric value settled to only a small plus for one side or the other.
20. c4 f5!?
Black offers the d-pawn on temporary basis to get things going. The offer is temporary only if he has given thought to how the pawn is recovered. My bet this was one more intuitive idea in this game. As subsequent play shows, Black did not have a firm notion in mind about recovering the pawn.
21. cxd5 Rae8
22. f4 exf3
23. Bxf3 Qf7
24. b4 b6
25. bxc5 bxc5
26. Qb3 Rb8
27. Qc2 h5!
The natural 27..., f4; leads to equality. The trading on f4 gets rid of two pairs of minor pieces along with the elimination of some pawns easing the burden of defending the light squares for White. The trades also open up the position allowing more pieces to be exchanged. Down a pawn, Black does not welcome that.
28. d4 cxd4
29. Nxd4 f4
30. exf4 gxf4
31. Bg2 Bxg2
32. Qxg2 f3
33. Qf2 Qxd5
Black has the pawn back. The light squared weaknesses around the White King remain. With accurate play White can hold probably. Black used a great deal of clock time to keep alive hopes of winning the game. Time trouble was beginning to dog Alan now.
34. Nb3 ….
A good question here is 34 Ne6, a better move?
34.… Bb4
35. Red1 Qe5
36. Rc2 a5
37. Kh1 a4
38. Nd2? ….
Maybe better is 8 Nd4, but Black has been slowly improving the position of his forces and White is having trouble finding workable moves.
38.… Qd5?
The inexorable advance of the hands on the clock is beginning to pinch Black. 38..., Qe2!; would have carried home the full point for Saratoga because 39 Nxf3, loses to 39..., Qxd1+; and otherwise Black wins at least a piece. Now the f3-pawn falls and White is back to equal.
39. Rf1 Rbe8
40. Nxf3 Re7
41. Re2? …..
Tossing away equality. White is not in serious time trouble, so he does not have that excuse. What may have happened is, since Black’s clock difficulties had become so glaring with only seconds left now, White wanted to move quickly not allowing Black any time to think. Much better is 41 Kg2, reinforcing the Nf3. The move played gives Black at chance to win immediately.
41.… Rd7?
With no time to think, as Soltis characterizes it, Alan “hand” fails him. 41..., Rxf3; wins material after 42 Qxf3, Qxf3; 43Rxf3, Rxe2. Black comes out a piece ahead. I don’t think that is any kind of easy win. The a-pawns will both go off and Black is left with the hard task of demonstrating a R+B+P can win against R+2P all on on side of the board. If there were no time trouble, perhaps Black could torture White for some long while. Given Alan had but seconds left the draw is reasonable.
42. Kg2 Qxf3+
Better 42..., h4=; but there is virtually no time left and Black snaps out a couple of moves.
43. Qxf3 Rxf3
44. Rxf3 Resigns and the flag falls.
A heartbreaking loss for LeCours and another flawed but exciting adventure for Richard Chu.
More coming from these matches and the Schenectady Consolation Swiss, and we hope from the Schenectady Finals.
Playing on the various teams were Matt Katrein, Steve Taylor, Jonathan Feinberg, Peter Michaelman, Michael Mockler, Alan LeCours, John Phillips and Bill Little, your humble correspondent. In the 1980’s seeing all of us at some event was pretty common. Such has become far less usual in the years since. It was a pleasant beginning to an evening of chess to see so many old friends playing again.
The formidable Albany A team won quickly. Saratoga B was over-matched on ratings by several hundred points on each board, and this time form held. I believe Albany won the match 4-0. I can’t be certain as Jonathan Feinberg kept me very busy in our game.
Saratoga A won over the Geezers 3-1. Mockler, Phillips and I were not able to hold off the efforts of Taylor, Gordon Magat and Feinberg. We all lost. The only glimmer of light for us Geezers was Richard “The Giant Killer” Chu. Richard’s rating has been between 1600 and 1700 for a long time, however, every year it seems he has been able to take an Expert or high Class A player’s scalp. This year there has been more than one. This time he wins from Alan LeCours, an A player/Expert who has been having an up and down year.
CDCL Match: Saratoga A versus Schenectady Geezers
Site: Staunton Chess Club, Saratoga Springs, NY
Date: 4.25.2010
White: Chu, R., Schenectady
Black: LeCours, A, Saratoga
A game having several errors by both sides, nevertheless, it has some interesting points.
1. Nf3 Nf6
2. g3 g6
3. Bg2 Bg7
4. O-O O-O
Shades of my youth! Reti Opening Barcza System, King’s Indian Attack, or King’s Indian Defense depending on subsequent moves are names applied to this debut where both sides ignore the other and rearrange their pieces before making contact. Many Grandmasters have played so from the 1950s right up to the year 2000. These opening moves have not shown up very much in the last ten years at the top level. I don’t why.
5. Nc3 ….
An uncommon continuation. The 2600 types have used 5 c4, and 5 d4, here. The text is not bad by any means, just not usual.
5.… d5
6. e3 ….
Long age Tartakower, and before him Tarrasch warned against advancing the e-pawn when you have made a finachetto for the K-side Bishop. The move creates weak light squares around Richard’s King. They play a role in the rest of the game. A normal approach is 6 d3, trying for e2-e4 if allowed.
6.… c6
7. b3 Bg4
8. Bb2 ….
White offers a free advance of the Black center pawns believing he will be able to balance the game by striking back at the center.
8.… Qc8
Alan declines the offer to focus on the weak light squares near the White King.
9. Re1 e5
10. Qc1 e4
11. Ne5!? ….
Risky and interesting. There is no obvious path of retreat for the adventurous Knight. The two move threat; …, Ne8; and …, f6; picking off the Knight has to be a concern for White. The Knight is semi-safe because …, Ne8; is answered by Bb2-a3, hitting the Rf8. White also has to keep in mind he may have to play f2-f4 to lend support to the Ne5. Richard does not necessarily calculate all the details when he goes for this kind of dynamic play. He uses his intuition. There is an article in last month’s Chess Life by Soltis about this very subject.
11.…. Bh3
12. Bh1?! …..
Here 12 f4, is better. After 12 f4, Bxg2; 13 Kxg2, Ne8; 14 Ba3, f6; 15 Bxf8, Bxf8; 16 Nc4, dxc4; 17 bxc4, f5; or 17..., Qe6; Black has two minor pieces for a Rook and pawn with lots of material on the board. Andy Soltis in his book “Rethinking the Chess Pieces” Batsford, 2004 offers this insight to such imbalances; a) Giving up the pieces for a Rook and one pawn is generally bad in the opening and roughly even in the ending. b) Two pawns offers excellent winning chances if you can trade Queens. In this case it is the middle game, when who holds the initiative is critical in this kind of imbalance. The Black minor pieces are not really developed much less coordinated. No obvious method of forcing a trade of Queens is apparent. White has a small window of time where he must look to open lines upon which the Rooks can operate. If either 17..., f5; or 17..., Qe6; then 18 d3, suggests itself as the way to do so.
After the text, the Ne5 is in danger. Chu wanted to preserve the light squared Bishop to defend the weaknesses around his King. An intuitive decision. Soltis’ Chess Life article discusses the problem of electing to follow intuition or bearing down on calculation in a chess game. He does not come any firm conclusions about which way is the correct path.
12.… Nbd7?
Alan seems to have taken the intuitive road also. If he had calculated all the candidate moves and used Botvinnik’s scientific approach to the position, there is no reason Aln would not have found 12..., Ne8; when Black can either get two pieces for a Rook and no pawns, or a full piece for two pawns depending on how White wants to take the disadvantage. Trailing in development, LeCours naturally wants to catch up. Now the dangerously placed Knight exchanges itself.
13. Nxd7 Nxd7
14. Ne2!? ….
A more direct defense of the weak light squares begins 14 d3, to undermine the strong pawn on e4.
14.… Ne5
15. Bxe5 …..
At first blush my computer sees this move as not so good, but as the lines are played out Black gets really threatening play on the light squares. I’m certain it was an intuitive choice by Richard and this time correct.
15.…. Bxe5
16. c3? …
Another intuitive choice, but this time probably not correct. More light square weaknesses can’t be useful for White. Better 16 Rb1.
16.… g5
17. Qa3 Qd7
18. Rac1 Bd6
19. Qb2 c5
Over the last few moves the computer’s evaluations have swung back and forth, first favoring White, then Black. When I let the electronic beast chew on one of the positions for awhile, the numeric value settled to only a small plus for one side or the other.
20. c4 f5!?
Black offers the d-pawn on temporary basis to get things going. The offer is temporary only if he has given thought to how the pawn is recovered. My bet this was one more intuitive idea in this game. As subsequent play shows, Black did not have a firm notion in mind about recovering the pawn.
21. cxd5 Rae8
22. f4 exf3
23. Bxf3 Qf7
24. b4 b6
25. bxc5 bxc5
26. Qb3 Rb8
27. Qc2 h5!
The natural 27..., f4; leads to equality. The trading on f4 gets rid of two pairs of minor pieces along with the elimination of some pawns easing the burden of defending the light squares for White. The trades also open up the position allowing more pieces to be exchanged. Down a pawn, Black does not welcome that.
28. d4 cxd4
29. Nxd4 f4
30. exf4 gxf4
31. Bg2 Bxg2
32. Qxg2 f3
33. Qf2 Qxd5
Black has the pawn back. The light squared weaknesses around the White King remain. With accurate play White can hold probably. Black used a great deal of clock time to keep alive hopes of winning the game. Time trouble was beginning to dog Alan now.
34. Nb3 ….
A good question here is 34 Ne6, a better move?
34.… Bb4
35. Red1 Qe5
36. Rc2 a5
37. Kh1 a4
38. Nd2? ….
Maybe better is 8 Nd4, but Black has been slowly improving the position of his forces and White is having trouble finding workable moves.
38.… Qd5?
The inexorable advance of the hands on the clock is beginning to pinch Black. 38..., Qe2!; would have carried home the full point for Saratoga because 39 Nxf3, loses to 39..., Qxd1+; and otherwise Black wins at least a piece. Now the f3-pawn falls and White is back to equal.
39. Rf1 Rbe8
40. Nxf3 Re7
41. Re2? …..
Tossing away equality. White is not in serious time trouble, so he does not have that excuse. What may have happened is, since Black’s clock difficulties had become so glaring with only seconds left now, White wanted to move quickly not allowing Black any time to think. Much better is 41 Kg2, reinforcing the Nf3. The move played gives Black at chance to win immediately.
41.… Rd7?
With no time to think, as Soltis characterizes it, Alan “hand” fails him. 41..., Rxf3; wins material after 42 Qxf3, Qxf3; 43Rxf3, Rxe2. Black comes out a piece ahead. I don’t think that is any kind of easy win. The a-pawns will both go off and Black is left with the hard task of demonstrating a R+B+P can win against R+2P all on on side of the board. If there were no time trouble, perhaps Black could torture White for some long while. Given Alan had but seconds left the draw is reasonable.
42. Kg2 Qxf3+
Better 42..., h4=; but there is virtually no time left and Black snaps out a couple of moves.
43. Qxf3 Rxf3
44. Rxf3 Resigns and the flag falls.
A heartbreaking loss for LeCours and another flawed but exciting adventure for Richard Chu.
More coming from these matches and the Schenectady Consolation Swiss, and we hope from the Schenectady Finals.
4.25.2010
The Right Move #44
The Right Move # 44
Team & Individual Chess Championships
Saturday, May 1, 2010 – NYS Library (
Free Parking available
7 Sections: FREE (Players who have Expired USCF registration must renew.)
Not yet a USCF Member? Here's your chance to help support Chess and play in a nationally rated event.
A – Now Unrated: Open - Adults Welcome
B – Rated USCF section, Under 1200
C – Rated USCF section, Under 800
D – Rated USCF section, Under 500
E – Non-USCF Member, HS & JHS Gr. 6 – 12
F – Non-USCF Member, Elementary Gr. 3 - 5
G – Non-USCF Member, Primary Gr. K - 2
Trophy: 1st – 2nd
Team Trophy to Schools with the best four scores added from all sections for 1st , 2nd ,
Make your Early Registration by April 29 to brjohn@juno.com Check Website at www.maketherightmove.org to see you are signed up correctly!!
Registration at site 9:30-10:00 AM. Players registering after 10:05 A.M. get to begin in round 2. Rounds 10:30, 11:40, 1:15, 2:25. Awards at 3:30.
Food available at site.
For info: Brother John McManus,
4.23.2010
The Schenectady Consolation Swiss Ends, maybe
Thursday the 22d of April was the finish of this year’s Consolation Swiss at the Schenectady Club. Only five of the scheduled six games were played. The Capitummino - Dipre game was not played. I don’t know if, or when it may be rescheduled.
We hoped to see another make-up game from the Finals, but that was not to be - a work schedule conflict delayed the game between Bobby Rotter and Patrick Chi once more. Rotter also has a game to play against Philip Sells. That brings me to a correction needed to my last post. There I said, or at least implied Mr. Sells was home and dry for the Schenectady title. For some reason, I put it down to the fading recollection of old age, I believed Sells had a total of 3 ½ points and no one could catch him. Philip has three points and the game against Rotter to play. Should Bobby win that game a tie (Sells and Mockler) at 3 points is possible. If Bobby wins his two remaining games a three way tie (Sells, Mockler and Rotter) could occur. And, if Chi wins his remaining game… In such a short event with closely matched players, it is possible to have very tight finish and some kind of play-off scenario is maybe in future.
The games today are all from the Consolation Swiss;
Consolation Swiss 09-10
Date: 4.22.2010
White: Qu, C
Black: Stanley, M
Mike Stanley comes very close to upending the rising scholastic player, Chen Qu in an interesting battle.
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 a6
4. Ba4 Nf6
5. O-O Be7
6. Re1 b5
7. Bb3 d6
8. c3 O-O
9. h3 Na5
10. Bc2 c5
11. d4 ….
Like a pair of solid GM’s these guys have rolled out 10 ½ moves of theory in the most classical of openings, the Ruy Lopez.
11.… exd4
Unusual but not unknown. Mostly Black tries to hold on to the strong point on e5. Some GM’s have tried the text; chiefly Chiburdanidze and Kuzmin.
12. cxd4 Nd7
13. e5 Nc6
14. exd6 Bxd6
15. d5 Nce5
Sharper is 15..., Nb4; aiming at the elimination of the Bc2.
16. Ng5!? ….
Neglectful of development is this move. More useful is 16 Nc3.
16.… Nf6
17. f4 Ng6
18. Bxg6 hxg6
19. Nc3 Qc7
20. g3 Bb7?!
Putting the Rook on d8 to pressure the d-pawn is more accurate. White has not played very sharply and has let Black equalize and maybe a little bit more.
21. Nf3? ….
This is an error. The Knight should go to e4. Black’s development is better than White’s is, the White pawns, a passed pawn not withstanding, are worse, and the White King’s situation is a long term worry - with the pawn cover advanced from in front of the King, and Queens on the board, surprises are possible.
21.… Rae8
22. Ne5 Re7?!
A telling moment. Mike has gotten to a very favorable position. Stanley could cement his advantage by displacing the Nc3 by advancing the pawn to b4. The d-pawn can then be captured leaving Black with extra material, a space edge and a pair of Bishops eyeing the open lines pointing at the White King. Played so, Black has a nearly winning advantage.
23. g4 fe8
24. g5 Nh5
25. Bd2 Bxe5
26. fxe5 Rxe5
27. Rxe5 Qxe5
28. Qf3 Qd4+
29. Qf2 Qxf2+?
To here White has not defended well. Black has not realized winning the d-pawn was the thing to do. Nevertheless, Black could have found the key to the position with 29..., b4; or 29..., Re5. Trading Queens eases White’s problems even if it does not eliminate them entirely. Black now sees a mirage costing him the full point.
30. Kxf2 Bxd5?
A tactical error. Black thinks he is going to come out of the transaction in good shape.
31. Nxd5 Rd8
32. Ne7+ ….
Mike must have missed this in-between move. White is winning.
32... Kf8
33. Ba5 Kxe7
34. Re1+ Resigns.
I don’t quite what to say about this next game. David Connors played nicely to obtain a winning advantage, made a mistake that only gave up the advantage, and then resigned in a position no worse than equal!
Consolation Swiss
Date: 4.22.2010
White: Connors, D
Black: Chu, R
1. Nf3 Nf6
2. b3 g6
3. Bb2 Bg7
4. d4 d5
5. Nbd2 O-O
6. e3 Bf5
7. Be2 Nc6
8. a3 a6
9. O-O Re8
10. Rc1 Ng4
11. Nh4 Nh6
12. Nxf5 Nxf5
13. c4 e6
14. Nf3 Rc8?
Much could be said about Black not really finding the sense of the position. His layout of forces just does not inspire much confidence in his chances. This move loses a pawn at least immediately. Better 14..., Nd6.
15. cxd5 exd5
16. Bxa6 bxa6
17. Rxc6 Ra8
18. Qd3 a5
19. Rfc1 Re7
20. Ra6 Bh6
21. Kf1 Rb8
22. Ne5 Rxe5?
Richard miscalculates. He must have believed that 22..., Re8; 23 Nc6, is really dangerous. It is not. If 22..., Re8; 23 Nc6, Nxe3+!; and Black is nearly equal with dangerous attacking chances. Of course, White should simply remain calm, capture the a-pawn retaining a winning advantage.
23. dxe5 Qg5
24. Rc2 Nh4
25. f4 Qd8
26. Rxa5 c6
27. Rxc6? ….
Oversights are contagious in chess. Just 27 Rac5, keeps everything under control.
27.… Qxa5
Resigns?? White has three pawns for the piece and every hope of holding the game. Play could continue 28 b4, Qa8; 29 b5, Qa5; 30 Rxd5, and Black has to fight not to succumb to a White attack, or some advance of the White pawns. I have experienced similar shocks. It is too easy to quit the game and walk away to play again another day. Such actions are harmful to one’s rating and to the development as a chess competitor.
The rating effect is really not so important. Becoming a better competitor at chess is crucial. That has to be the motivation that brings us to the chessboard for hours of work when most of our contemporaries are relaxing from the day’s labors. When we get surprised it is useful to use this mental tool to regain a realistic appreciation of the position in front of you. The tool: Examine every legal move on the board, not in great depth, but just enough to re-establish a balanced view of the situation. It will give you the technical aspect of the position, what can capture what, etc. More importantly, the exercise calms the emotions. If things are truly hopeless, resignation is always available. If there counter-chances, you just may find them.
My win from Ray Alguire gave me clear first place in the Consolation Swiss.
Consolation Swiss
Date: 4.22.2010
White: Little, B
Black: Alguire, R
1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. Bb5+ Bd7
4. Bxd7+ Qxd7
5. c4 Nf6
6. Nc3 Nc6
7. d4 cxd4
8. Nxd4 g6
9. f3 Bg7
10. Be3 O-O
All theory and all good. White is happy to gotten rid of the light squared Bishops because he is planning a pawn curtain on the light squares.
11. Rc1 Rfc8?
This move is an error in that it does not fit into an active plan. White has the edge in space. It is based on the pawn chains. Black’s counter-play should be aimed at obtaining equality by attacking the pawn chains. GM Har-Zvi schooled me in couple of casual games in this line demonstrating Black should be thinking about …, a6; and …, b5; or …, e6; and …, d5; or …., f5. Any or all of these breaks help Black to reduce White’s advantage in space. If …, f5; is to be part of the program, the Rook belongs on f8. The text does not do much to help any of the breaks mentioned.
12. b3 Ne8
13. Nde2 Nc7
14. Qd2 Ne6
15. O-O b6
16. Rfd1 Rd8
White has played the Maroczy Bind formula. Either a win or a draw ensured me of first place in the tournament. That pleasant circumstance suggested the approach taken; keep everything under control, no wild complications, grab any positional advantage offered, hold it, and wait patiently for Ray to try something active.
Moving the Rook back to the d-file hinted to me that Ray was not certain of the right ideas in such positions. If he was going to spend a tempo, it is better to put the Rook back on f8 to support the f5 break.
17. Nd5 ….
Sufficient, but the most principled is 17 Bh6.
17.… Rab8
18. a4? ….
After quite solid play, this move introduces unnecessary complications. The b-pawn and the square b4 are weakened and Black can look to put a Knight on c5 to force the Rook to b1 disrupting the smooth cooperation of the White forces.
18... Nc7
Instead of 18..., Nc5; with decent chances in difficult positional struggle, Black begins consider wholesale exchanges of minor pieces in the center. After the text, I began to think hard. It seemed to me that Ray decided the game was going towards a draw. My thought was even after the material is traded my space advantage is still there. If Ray is at all careless, there are chances he could go wrong. Also, I suspected he thought in any trade on d5 I would recapture with the c-pawn.
19. Nd4 Nxd5
20. exd5 ….
Much better than the alternative, 20 cxd5. There is now an imbalance of four to three pawns on the Q-side and Black’s pawn majority on the other side of the board is not completely healthy. Not much upon which to build a win, but my “read” of Alguire was he would trade all the Rooks off. The “read” is similar to that done in Poker. Watching professional Poker tournaments brings amazement about how some players can uncannily guess what cards their opponents are holding. Sometimes in chess you can have a similar flash off intuition. Such was the case here.
20.… Nxd4
21. Bxd4 Qf5
22. Rc3 Bxd4+
23. Qxd4 Qf6
24. Qxf6 exf6
25. Re1 Re8
26. Rce3 Kf8
27. Kf2 Rxe3
28. Rxe3 Re8?
29. Ke2? ….
Taking the Rook is correct. Black has a chance to save himself.
29.… Rxe3+?
Fatal. Keeping the Rooks on leaves White with an advantage that looks difficult to make into a win. Now the winning process was clear to me; make a passed pawn on the Q-side and use it to draw the Black King away, then run in my King to pick off pawns on the K-side. Around here Ray offered a draw. I declined because a win would be very beneficial for my rating.
30. Kxe3 a5
31. Kd4 Ke7
32. Kc3 Kd7
33. b4 Kc7
34. g4 ….
An important move. Thanks to Dvoretsky and his endgame manual I learned about the importance of preventing the opponent having too many tempo moves on the far side of the board in pawn endings. That is the underlying purpose of the move, as well as intending to make a capture that weakens the Black K-side pawns if …, f5; or …. h5.
34... Kb7
35. f4 Kc7
It does not help matters to play 35..., axb4+; because there is a theme similar to the game that runs Black out of moves giving White his passed pawn in the end. The trick behind the scenes is if White gets a pawn on g5, the Black pawns on f7 and h7 have legal moves which will lead to another passed pawn for White and the win in short order. Ray offered the draw a second time. With the win clearly in sight I declined again.
36. bxa5 bxa5
37. g5 Kb6
38. Kd4 f5
39. h3 ….
Now Ray recognized my scheme and why the draw offers were refused.
39.… Kc7
40. c5 dxc5+
41. Kxc5 Kd7
42. d6 Ke6
43. Kc6 f6
44. h4 fxg5
45. hxg5 Resigns.
After the game Ray asked where I thought he had gone wrong. I said it was 23..., Qf6. That is incorrect. It is likely, if he had retained his last Rook, there was considerable counter-play for Black with an eventual drawn outcome very possible. If White wanted the win, he would have had to take some risks on the Q-side breaking open lines that just might give the Black Rook opportunity to get in amongst my pawns. In that case, I might well have accepted a split point to avoid worse.
I have two more games from the last round of the Swiss and some material from earlier rounds in the Finals to post. I hope to get this stuff up over the weekend.
We hoped to see another make-up game from the Finals, but that was not to be - a work schedule conflict delayed the game between Bobby Rotter and Patrick Chi once more. Rotter also has a game to play against Philip Sells. That brings me to a correction needed to my last post. There I said, or at least implied Mr. Sells was home and dry for the Schenectady title. For some reason, I put it down to the fading recollection of old age, I believed Sells had a total of 3 ½ points and no one could catch him. Philip has three points and the game against Rotter to play. Should Bobby win that game a tie (Sells and Mockler) at 3 points is possible. If Bobby wins his two remaining games a three way tie (Sells, Mockler and Rotter) could occur. And, if Chi wins his remaining game… In such a short event with closely matched players, it is possible to have very tight finish and some kind of play-off scenario is maybe in future.
The games today are all from the Consolation Swiss;
Consolation Swiss 09-10
Date: 4.22.2010
White: Qu, C
Black: Stanley, M
Mike Stanley comes very close to upending the rising scholastic player, Chen Qu in an interesting battle.
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 a6
4. Ba4 Nf6
5. O-O Be7
6. Re1 b5
7. Bb3 d6
8. c3 O-O
9. h3 Na5
10. Bc2 c5
11. d4 ….
Like a pair of solid GM’s these guys have rolled out 10 ½ moves of theory in the most classical of openings, the Ruy Lopez.
11.… exd4
Unusual but not unknown. Mostly Black tries to hold on to the strong point on e5. Some GM’s have tried the text; chiefly Chiburdanidze and Kuzmin.
12. cxd4 Nd7
13. e5 Nc6
14. exd6 Bxd6
15. d5 Nce5
Sharper is 15..., Nb4; aiming at the elimination of the Bc2.
16. Ng5!? ….
Neglectful of development is this move. More useful is 16 Nc3.
16.… Nf6
17. f4 Ng6
18. Bxg6 hxg6
19. Nc3 Qc7
20. g3 Bb7?!
Putting the Rook on d8 to pressure the d-pawn is more accurate. White has not played very sharply and has let Black equalize and maybe a little bit more.
21. Nf3? ….
This is an error. The Knight should go to e4. Black’s development is better than White’s is, the White pawns, a passed pawn not withstanding, are worse, and the White King’s situation is a long term worry - with the pawn cover advanced from in front of the King, and Queens on the board, surprises are possible.
21.… Rae8
22. Ne5 Re7?!
A telling moment. Mike has gotten to a very favorable position. Stanley could cement his advantage by displacing the Nc3 by advancing the pawn to b4. The d-pawn can then be captured leaving Black with extra material, a space edge and a pair of Bishops eyeing the open lines pointing at the White King. Played so, Black has a nearly winning advantage.
23. g4 fe8
24. g5 Nh5
25. Bd2 Bxe5
26. fxe5 Rxe5
27. Rxe5 Qxe5
28. Qf3 Qd4+
29. Qf2 Qxf2+?
To here White has not defended well. Black has not realized winning the d-pawn was the thing to do. Nevertheless, Black could have found the key to the position with 29..., b4; or 29..., Re5. Trading Queens eases White’s problems even if it does not eliminate them entirely. Black now sees a mirage costing him the full point.
30. Kxf2 Bxd5?
A tactical error. Black thinks he is going to come out of the transaction in good shape.
31. Nxd5 Rd8
32. Ne7+ ….
Mike must have missed this in-between move. White is winning.
32... Kf8
33. Ba5 Kxe7
34. Re1+ Resigns.
I don’t quite what to say about this next game. David Connors played nicely to obtain a winning advantage, made a mistake that only gave up the advantage, and then resigned in a position no worse than equal!
Consolation Swiss
Date: 4.22.2010
White: Connors, D
Black: Chu, R
1. Nf3 Nf6
2. b3 g6
3. Bb2 Bg7
4. d4 d5
5. Nbd2 O-O
6. e3 Bf5
7. Be2 Nc6
8. a3 a6
9. O-O Re8
10. Rc1 Ng4
11. Nh4 Nh6
12. Nxf5 Nxf5
13. c4 e6
14. Nf3 Rc8?
Much could be said about Black not really finding the sense of the position. His layout of forces just does not inspire much confidence in his chances. This move loses a pawn at least immediately. Better 14..., Nd6.
15. cxd5 exd5
16. Bxa6 bxa6
17. Rxc6 Ra8
18. Qd3 a5
19. Rfc1 Re7
20. Ra6 Bh6
21. Kf1 Rb8
22. Ne5 Rxe5?
Richard miscalculates. He must have believed that 22..., Re8; 23 Nc6, is really dangerous. It is not. If 22..., Re8; 23 Nc6, Nxe3+!; and Black is nearly equal with dangerous attacking chances. Of course, White should simply remain calm, capture the a-pawn retaining a winning advantage.
23. dxe5 Qg5
24. Rc2 Nh4
25. f4 Qd8
26. Rxa5 c6
27. Rxc6? ….
Oversights are contagious in chess. Just 27 Rac5, keeps everything under control.
27.… Qxa5
Resigns?? White has three pawns for the piece and every hope of holding the game. Play could continue 28 b4, Qa8; 29 b5, Qa5; 30 Rxd5, and Black has to fight not to succumb to a White attack, or some advance of the White pawns. I have experienced similar shocks. It is too easy to quit the game and walk away to play again another day. Such actions are harmful to one’s rating and to the development as a chess competitor.
The rating effect is really not so important. Becoming a better competitor at chess is crucial. That has to be the motivation that brings us to the chessboard for hours of work when most of our contemporaries are relaxing from the day’s labors. When we get surprised it is useful to use this mental tool to regain a realistic appreciation of the position in front of you. The tool: Examine every legal move on the board, not in great depth, but just enough to re-establish a balanced view of the situation. It will give you the technical aspect of the position, what can capture what, etc. More importantly, the exercise calms the emotions. If things are truly hopeless, resignation is always available. If there counter-chances, you just may find them.
My win from Ray Alguire gave me clear first place in the Consolation Swiss.
Consolation Swiss
Date: 4.22.2010
White: Little, B
Black: Alguire, R
1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. Bb5+ Bd7
4. Bxd7+ Qxd7
5. c4 Nf6
6. Nc3 Nc6
7. d4 cxd4
8. Nxd4 g6
9. f3 Bg7
10. Be3 O-O
All theory and all good. White is happy to gotten rid of the light squared Bishops because he is planning a pawn curtain on the light squares.
11. Rc1 Rfc8?
This move is an error in that it does not fit into an active plan. White has the edge in space. It is based on the pawn chains. Black’s counter-play should be aimed at obtaining equality by attacking the pawn chains. GM Har-Zvi schooled me in couple of casual games in this line demonstrating Black should be thinking about …, a6; and …, b5; or …, e6; and …, d5; or …., f5. Any or all of these breaks help Black to reduce White’s advantage in space. If …, f5; is to be part of the program, the Rook belongs on f8. The text does not do much to help any of the breaks mentioned.
12. b3 Ne8
13. Nde2 Nc7
14. Qd2 Ne6
15. O-O b6
16. Rfd1 Rd8
White has played the Maroczy Bind formula. Either a win or a draw ensured me of first place in the tournament. That pleasant circumstance suggested the approach taken; keep everything under control, no wild complications, grab any positional advantage offered, hold it, and wait patiently for Ray to try something active.
Moving the Rook back to the d-file hinted to me that Ray was not certain of the right ideas in such positions. If he was going to spend a tempo, it is better to put the Rook back on f8 to support the f5 break.
17. Nd5 ….
Sufficient, but the most principled is 17 Bh6.
17.… Rab8
18. a4? ….
After quite solid play, this move introduces unnecessary complications. The b-pawn and the square b4 are weakened and Black can look to put a Knight on c5 to force the Rook to b1 disrupting the smooth cooperation of the White forces.
18... Nc7
Instead of 18..., Nc5; with decent chances in difficult positional struggle, Black begins consider wholesale exchanges of minor pieces in the center. After the text, I began to think hard. It seemed to me that Ray decided the game was going towards a draw. My thought was even after the material is traded my space advantage is still there. If Ray is at all careless, there are chances he could go wrong. Also, I suspected he thought in any trade on d5 I would recapture with the c-pawn.
19. Nd4 Nxd5
20. exd5 ….
Much better than the alternative, 20 cxd5. There is now an imbalance of four to three pawns on the Q-side and Black’s pawn majority on the other side of the board is not completely healthy. Not much upon which to build a win, but my “read” of Alguire was he would trade all the Rooks off. The “read” is similar to that done in Poker. Watching professional Poker tournaments brings amazement about how some players can uncannily guess what cards their opponents are holding. Sometimes in chess you can have a similar flash off intuition. Such was the case here.
20.… Nxd4
21. Bxd4 Qf5
22. Rc3 Bxd4+
23. Qxd4 Qf6
24. Qxf6 exf6
25. Re1 Re8
26. Rce3 Kf8
27. Kf2 Rxe3
28. Rxe3 Re8?
29. Ke2? ….
Taking the Rook is correct. Black has a chance to save himself.
29.… Rxe3+?
Fatal. Keeping the Rooks on leaves White with an advantage that looks difficult to make into a win. Now the winning process was clear to me; make a passed pawn on the Q-side and use it to draw the Black King away, then run in my King to pick off pawns on the K-side. Around here Ray offered a draw. I declined because a win would be very beneficial for my rating.
30. Kxe3 a5
31. Kd4 Ke7
32. Kc3 Kd7
33. b4 Kc7
34. g4 ….
An important move. Thanks to Dvoretsky and his endgame manual I learned about the importance of preventing the opponent having too many tempo moves on the far side of the board in pawn endings. That is the underlying purpose of the move, as well as intending to make a capture that weakens the Black K-side pawns if …, f5; or …. h5.
34... Kb7
35. f4 Kc7
It does not help matters to play 35..., axb4+; because there is a theme similar to the game that runs Black out of moves giving White his passed pawn in the end. The trick behind the scenes is if White gets a pawn on g5, the Black pawns on f7 and h7 have legal moves which will lead to another passed pawn for White and the win in short order. Ray offered the draw a second time. With the win clearly in sight I declined again.
36. bxa5 bxa5
37. g5 Kb6
38. Kd4 f5
39. h3 ….
Now Ray recognized my scheme and why the draw offers were refused.
39.… Kc7
40. c5 dxc5+
41. Kxc5 Kd7
42. d6 Ke6
43. Kc6 f6
44. h4 fxg5
45. hxg5 Resigns.
After the game Ray asked where I thought he had gone wrong. I said it was 23..., Qf6. That is incorrect. It is likely, if he had retained his last Rook, there was considerable counter-play for Black with an eventual drawn outcome very possible. If White wanted the win, he would have had to take some risks on the Q-side breaking open lines that just might give the Black Rook opportunity to get in amongst my pawns. In that case, I might well have accepted a split point to avoid worse.
I have two more games from the last round of the Swiss and some material from earlier rounds in the Finals to post. I hope to get this stuff up over the weekend.
4.20.2010
Schenectady: the Rotter - Mockler Game
We’ll open today’s post with a tidbit, just a short game that illustrates a number of points.
Consolation Swiss 09-10
Date: 4/8/2010
White: Stanley, M
Black: Capitummino, J
Mike Stanley and Jeff Capitummino are two of the contestants fighting not to end up as the “tail ender” in the Consolation Swiss event. Jeff had some problems Thursday as all home owners do from time to time; plugged toilets, etc., the domestic disasters the plague those of us who pursue chess as an avocation while our living comes from other endeavors. For the non-professional chess player the game should be a distraction that removes us from the worries of day-to-day aggravations. Chess did not do that successfully for Jeff Thursday evening.
1. d4 Nf6
2. c4 e6
3. Nc3 Bb4
4. Qc2 c5
5. dxc5 Bxc5
6. Bg5?! ….
An interesting mistake. I did the same thing against Philip Sells recently and lost the game.
6.… Be7?!
Best is 6..., Bxf2+; when White gets some initiative after 7 Kxf2, Ng4+; 8 Kg3, Qxg5; for the pawn lost, but it does not seem to be sufficient for the material given and positional problems associated with a weakened pawn structure. The loss of the castling privilege is not too critical if White is careful. I don’t know if 6 Bg5?!, is just a blunder, or is considered a dubious sacrifice. In my game with Sells it was an oversight. There are a few examples of players in the 2400-2450 range in my databases trying out the move. The best these good players could do was eke out a draw or two, most lost.
When I first looked at this game the text move struck me as just wrong. If Black doesn’t see, or for a lack of confidence, does not want to capture at f2, more useful is 6..., Nc6; developing a piece.
7. Nf3 b6?
Too slow. Again 7..., Nc6; working to stay close in development makes sense.
8. e3 …..
Tactically OK, but more forceful is 8. e4, taking space in the center.
8.… Nc6
9. a3 Ba6
10. b4 Bb7
11. Bd3 h6
12. Bh4 g5
13. Bg3 Nh5?
In a general sense we have a kind of Sicilian position where White has some advantages; rather than the c-pawn setting on c2 to be a target, it is standing on c4 where it contributes to the fight for d5, Black has embarked on a questionable expansion on the K-side with …., h6; and …., g5; leaving the natural short castling unappealing for Black. Jeff could have passed on the K-side expansion and tried to take up a Hedgehog kind of formation with …, d6; …, a6; and …, Qb8; if required. After doing so, Black crouches waiting the make a sharp counter-stroke should White become ambitious and overextend his formation. To play in that fashion requires confidence in one’s positional judgment and the willingness to undergo prolonged tension. Such is beyond Jeff’s state of chess skill at the moment. As a consequence, what might be suggested as an alternative? Within Jeff’s current skill level is 11..., h6; 12 Bh4, 0-0; 13 0-0, a6; 14 b5, axb5; 15 cxb5, Na5; and the possibility of …, d5; gives Black a reasonable middle game to play. That, a reasonable middle game, should be the goal of opening play for the club-level player. Seeking ultra-sharpness in the opening is dangerous to us club players; our sense of danger and calculating accuracy is not as good as it needs be for that approach.
14. O-O Nxg3
15. hxg3 Bf6
16. Rad1 Bg7?
Up to here Black had not played particularly well. He, however, avoided a serious deficit. The text move changes that. White has his pieces deployed to control the center squares. Black has a somewhat overextended his K-side pawns, which would make sense if the other Black forces were ready to support a pawn storming attack on the White King’s field, but they are not ready to do so. A judicious plan is to make a virtue of the advanced K-side pawns to coordinate his pieces with 16..., g4; 17 Nd2, d6; 18 Be4, Be4; and while White certainly is for choice, Black can keep the material balance and hope to see some exchanging of minor pieces to reduce the White control of the center squares.
The distractions off the board now seem to have really spoiled Jeff’s concentration. He is just not seeing anything on the board, and I suspect his heart is just not in the game anymore.
17. Be4 Bxc3?
Just 17..., Rc8; keeps the game going. The text opens the door for the White pieces to slip in to the holes in Black’s K-side.
18. Qxc3 Qc7??
Overlooking the hanging Rook. Jeff’s position was lost in any case. Even if Black saved Rook with 18..., Rf8; there is not much Black can do to oppose White doubling Rooks on the d-file. That will lead to the loss of material at the very least.
19. Qxh8+ Resigns.
There is a strong need for club players to fulfill our commitments to play our games as scheduled. Failing to do so can be inconvenience our club mates. There also a clear understanding within the membership that families and our lives outside of chess can prevent us sometimes from meeting those commitments. Each of us have to make a decision to play or not based on our own evaluation of our circumstances. If we believe we can not play well, it is not necessarily wrong to postpone a game.
The situation in the Finals was clarified a bit more in Thursday’s games. Mockler defeated Rotter in French Defense to bring Mockler’s score to 3-2. With Sells at 3 ½ - 1 ½ and Rotter now at 1 - 2, it seems Philip Sells has a lock on the Schenectady title to go along with his Saratoga Championship. I’m not certain, but this maybe the only time one player will have held both titles in the same year.
SCC Ch Finals 09-10
Date: 4.15.2010
White: Rotter, B
Black: Mockler, M
1. e4 e6
2. d4 d5
3. Nc3 Bb4
4. e5 b6
A somewhat rare sideline of the French Winawer, instead of the usual 4..., c5; variations. This is an interesting change of pace. Ivanchuk used it against Kasparov and won in 1995. Many from the 2600 to 2700 range of players have played so; Petrosian, Vaganian, Chernin and Beliavski to name a few.
5. Qg4 ….
Topalov, Shirov and Spassky have met Black’s plan with the early Queen sortie.
5.… Bf8
This move, that looks so opposite to what we have all been taught, was also the choice of many of the GM’s versus 5 Qg4.
6. Bg5 ….
This move looks to be a bit wasteful of time. Black’s program calls for his Queen to go to d7 soon in any event. White could have saved a move and developed the Knight to f3 here. In defense of the text stands the fact both Topalov and Shirov have used the text often. Such players do not play time wasting moves repeatedly, there must be something to this move.
6.… Qd7
7. Nge2 ….
The normal move here is 7 Nf3. It may be that Rotter did not like 7 Nf3, h5; 8 Qg3, but I believe that White has a small edge after 8..., Nh6; 9 Bb5, c6; 10 Bd3, and so does my computer. The text move takes us out of the “book” and away from the paths trod by the super-GM’s.
7.… Nc6
After 7..., c5; the game would have a more familiar pattern and not be too dissimilar from standard Winawer variations of the French. Another curious aspect of this game is both sides elect to develop their light squared Bishops unusually. Most often Black puts this cleric on a6 intending to exchange it for its counterpart on f1.
8. a3 Bb7
9. g3 h6
10. Be3 Na5
11. Bg2 Ne7
12. Nf4 Nf5
13. Nd3 c5
This is the natural, standard, normal break for Black in the Winawer. What is unusual is Black seemed to be doing something else entirely. My thought Black intended 13..., Nc4; hitting the Be3 twice and threatening, if 14 Bc1, h5; when the White Queen will either take the awkward post at f4, or retreat to d1 leaving the d-pawn hanging.
14. Ne2 Nxe3
In a position where Knights are more valuable than Bishops for the moment, Black decides to take off the less-than-exciting Be3. In doing so he opens the f-file for White to use. Still available is the sequence beginning 14..., Nc4; where White just may have to give up the d-pawn, at least temporarily, or get his Queen misplaced. I don’t understand this decision. The dark squared Bishop was White’s worst minor piece. Is the damage done to the White pawn formation enough to make the trade a good choice?
15. fxe3 Nc4
16. Qf4 Be7
17. h4 g5
18. Qf2 O-O-O
Here maybe we can see Black’s intentions more clearly. He has marked out a very active role for the Be7. If White captures on g5, the Bishop takes back bringing pressure to bear on e3, and if White tries to dispossess the Nc4, there is the neat tactic as in the game.
19. b3 Nxa3
20. Rxa3 c4
21. Nc5 bxc5
22. Rxa7 Kb8
23. Ra1 cxb3
24. cxb3 gxh4
Creating a target on h4 to worry White in the ending, a nice finesse.
25. gxh4 Rhg8
26. O-O Rg4
White has been too busy dealing with immediate problems to have time to clip the pawn on f7. Bobby could have taken it here. Either the next text move, or capturing on f7, keeps the balance. Taking on f7 to be followed by Ne2-f4 fights for the initiative by making threats on e6. Sending the Knight to f4 immediately clears the way for a quick build-up on the a-file. Both Kings lack real security and open lines are beginning show up, a one pawn plus or minus is not significant. The initiative is all important now. That, and the Bishop pair in Black’s hands, must have certainly been worries for Bobby Rotter. Those concerns were prods to look for ways to offset the future activity of the Bishops. Rotter decides going directly at the Black King is the best course.
27. Nf4 Rdg8
28. Qa2 Qb5
29. Qa7+!? …..
The game has been dynamically balanced, that is both sides have serious threats and it is not clear which side’s threats are stronger up to this point. It turns out the White position is somewhat less forgiving than is Black’s; the pin on the Bg2 is annoyingly restrictive, the h-pawn is fatally weak, danger looms around d4 and e3 threatening the Nf4 outpost. On the other hand, White can get three “heavies” on open files if he so wishes, while Black has more difficulty increasing the pressure down the g-file. Concentrating the heavy pieces on the open files is probably sounder than this rush to get behind enemy lines.
The alternatives that come to mind are; 29 Rc1, and 29 Qc2. If a) 29 Rc1, Rxh4; 30 Rc2, Qb6, 31 Qa3, when for the pawn given the White heavy pieces are very active, while the Black Rooks on the opposite side of the board are less immediately dangerous. White might claim a small advantage. If 29 Qc2, and then b1) 29..., Rxh4; 30 Qh7, favors White. However, b2) 29..., Rg3, sets a difficult problem for White; if b2.1) 30 Re1, cxd4; 31 exd4, Qxb3; and because White is on the way to dropping another pawn, Black is for choice. If b2.2) 30 Rfc1, Rxe3; 31 Qh7, Qe8; 32 dxc5, Rg4; 33 c6, Bxc6; 34 Rxc6, Qxc6; 35 Qh8+, Kc7; 36 Ra7+, Kb6; 37 Qb8+, Kc4; 38 Rxe7, and White is ahead significantly, maybe even winning. Note in this line, if 38 Ra4, Black has some chances with 38..., Re1+; 39 Kh2, (if 39 Kf2, Bxh4+; leads to mate.) 39..., Qxa4; eliminating mating threats, and then 40..., Rxf4. If White gets frisky trying to advance the a-pawn Black takes on h4 with the Rook and later the e-pawn falls giving Black a bunch of material, maybe enough to win. Of course White likely has perpetual check chances with his Queen because Black has to watch for some dangerous double attacks.
A position with more complications than a few. Such a position illustrates what is meant by “dynamically balanced.” I am sure all of the possibilities in this position have not been set out in my note above and would not be surprised to find a shot that overturns my opinion.
29.… Kc7
30. Ra5? ….
As they duel along the edge of a precipice, Rotter makes an error. Better is 30 Qa2, admitting the mistake.
30.… Qb6?
Black reciprocates with a mistake of his own. Leading to an advantage is 30..., Qxb3; pocketing a pawn, and the continuing threat of …, Rga8; limits White’s choices. White will likely have to keep the Queens on the board giving Black time to maybe clip the h-pawn. If Black gets the edge on material, he will have all the winning chances, while White will face a difficult defensive task.
31. dxc5 Qxa7
32. Rxa7 Bxc5
33. Rc1 Kb6
34. Rxb7+ Kxb7
35. Rxc5 Kb6
36. b4 d4
Rotter in all likelihood had calculated the foregoing sequence as did Mockler. Michael may have been convinced the text gives him an advantage. According to my trusty computer the game is even. That is also true of the alternative 36.…, Rxh4. I am inclined to like the game move because it gives White more opportunities to go wrong.
37. Kf2 dxe3+
38. Kxe3 Rxf4
39. Rc6+ ….
The reader may ask why is Bobby making things complicated when simpler methods safely maintain equality? The answer is in the tournament situation. Rotter, before this game had dropped only a single point, he still had the mathematical chance to tie, or even out score Philip Sells. A loss would rule out any chance for the title clear.
39.… Kb5
40. Kxf4 Rxg2
41. Rc7 Rf2+
42. Ke3 Rf5
43. Rb7+ Kc6
44. Rb8 ….
The game continued to about move 72 with Rotter getting in some time trouble as they played out a classic Rook and pawn ending. Bobby continued to try to win. Bit by bit the game slipped out of control and Mr. Mockler obtained the full point.
For some reason I have trouble every time I try to record games with Michael Mockler participating. Each time there is a move pair dropped in my score. This is another example of that happening. I put it down to Michael getting into interesting positions when my attention goes more to trying to understand what is going on than to making certain the record is accurate.
More to come soon.
Consolation Swiss 09-10
Date: 4/8/2010
White: Stanley, M
Black: Capitummino, J
Mike Stanley and Jeff Capitummino are two of the contestants fighting not to end up as the “tail ender” in the Consolation Swiss event. Jeff had some problems Thursday as all home owners do from time to time; plugged toilets, etc., the domestic disasters the plague those of us who pursue chess as an avocation while our living comes from other endeavors. For the non-professional chess player the game should be a distraction that removes us from the worries of day-to-day aggravations. Chess did not do that successfully for Jeff Thursday evening.
1. d4 Nf6
2. c4 e6
3. Nc3 Bb4
4. Qc2 c5
5. dxc5 Bxc5
6. Bg5?! ….
An interesting mistake. I did the same thing against Philip Sells recently and lost the game.
6.… Be7?!
Best is 6..., Bxf2+; when White gets some initiative after 7 Kxf2, Ng4+; 8 Kg3, Qxg5; for the pawn lost, but it does not seem to be sufficient for the material given and positional problems associated with a weakened pawn structure. The loss of the castling privilege is not too critical if White is careful. I don’t know if 6 Bg5?!, is just a blunder, or is considered a dubious sacrifice. In my game with Sells it was an oversight. There are a few examples of players in the 2400-2450 range in my databases trying out the move. The best these good players could do was eke out a draw or two, most lost.
When I first looked at this game the text move struck me as just wrong. If Black doesn’t see, or for a lack of confidence, does not want to capture at f2, more useful is 6..., Nc6; developing a piece.
7. Nf3 b6?
Too slow. Again 7..., Nc6; working to stay close in development makes sense.
8. e3 …..
Tactically OK, but more forceful is 8. e4, taking space in the center.
8.… Nc6
9. a3 Ba6
10. b4 Bb7
11. Bd3 h6
12. Bh4 g5
13. Bg3 Nh5?
In a general sense we have a kind of Sicilian position where White has some advantages; rather than the c-pawn setting on c2 to be a target, it is standing on c4 where it contributes to the fight for d5, Black has embarked on a questionable expansion on the K-side with …., h6; and …., g5; leaving the natural short castling unappealing for Black. Jeff could have passed on the K-side expansion and tried to take up a Hedgehog kind of formation with …, d6; …, a6; and …, Qb8; if required. After doing so, Black crouches waiting the make a sharp counter-stroke should White become ambitious and overextend his formation. To play in that fashion requires confidence in one’s positional judgment and the willingness to undergo prolonged tension. Such is beyond Jeff’s state of chess skill at the moment. As a consequence, what might be suggested as an alternative? Within Jeff’s current skill level is 11..., h6; 12 Bh4, 0-0; 13 0-0, a6; 14 b5, axb5; 15 cxb5, Na5; and the possibility of …, d5; gives Black a reasonable middle game to play. That, a reasonable middle game, should be the goal of opening play for the club-level player. Seeking ultra-sharpness in the opening is dangerous to us club players; our sense of danger and calculating accuracy is not as good as it needs be for that approach.
14. O-O Nxg3
15. hxg3 Bf6
16. Rad1 Bg7?
Up to here Black had not played particularly well. He, however, avoided a serious deficit. The text move changes that. White has his pieces deployed to control the center squares. Black has a somewhat overextended his K-side pawns, which would make sense if the other Black forces were ready to support a pawn storming attack on the White King’s field, but they are not ready to do so. A judicious plan is to make a virtue of the advanced K-side pawns to coordinate his pieces with 16..., g4; 17 Nd2, d6; 18 Be4, Be4; and while White certainly is for choice, Black can keep the material balance and hope to see some exchanging of minor pieces to reduce the White control of the center squares.
The distractions off the board now seem to have really spoiled Jeff’s concentration. He is just not seeing anything on the board, and I suspect his heart is just not in the game anymore.
17. Be4 Bxc3?
Just 17..., Rc8; keeps the game going. The text opens the door for the White pieces to slip in to the holes in Black’s K-side.
18. Qxc3 Qc7??
Overlooking the hanging Rook. Jeff’s position was lost in any case. Even if Black saved Rook with 18..., Rf8; there is not much Black can do to oppose White doubling Rooks on the d-file. That will lead to the loss of material at the very least.
19. Qxh8+ Resigns.
There is a strong need for club players to fulfill our commitments to play our games as scheduled. Failing to do so can be inconvenience our club mates. There also a clear understanding within the membership that families and our lives outside of chess can prevent us sometimes from meeting those commitments. Each of us have to make a decision to play or not based on our own evaluation of our circumstances. If we believe we can not play well, it is not necessarily wrong to postpone a game.
The situation in the Finals was clarified a bit more in Thursday’s games. Mockler defeated Rotter in French Defense to bring Mockler’s score to 3-2. With Sells at 3 ½ - 1 ½ and Rotter now at 1 - 2, it seems Philip Sells has a lock on the Schenectady title to go along with his Saratoga Championship. I’m not certain, but this maybe the only time one player will have held both titles in the same year.
SCC Ch Finals 09-10
Date: 4.15.2010
White: Rotter, B
Black: Mockler, M
1. e4 e6
2. d4 d5
3. Nc3 Bb4
4. e5 b6
A somewhat rare sideline of the French Winawer, instead of the usual 4..., c5; variations. This is an interesting change of pace. Ivanchuk used it against Kasparov and won in 1995. Many from the 2600 to 2700 range of players have played so; Petrosian, Vaganian, Chernin and Beliavski to name a few.
5. Qg4 ….
Topalov, Shirov and Spassky have met Black’s plan with the early Queen sortie.
5.… Bf8
This move, that looks so opposite to what we have all been taught, was also the choice of many of the GM’s versus 5 Qg4.
6. Bg5 ….
This move looks to be a bit wasteful of time. Black’s program calls for his Queen to go to d7 soon in any event. White could have saved a move and developed the Knight to f3 here. In defense of the text stands the fact both Topalov and Shirov have used the text often. Such players do not play time wasting moves repeatedly, there must be something to this move.
6.… Qd7
7. Nge2 ….
The normal move here is 7 Nf3. It may be that Rotter did not like 7 Nf3, h5; 8 Qg3, but I believe that White has a small edge after 8..., Nh6; 9 Bb5, c6; 10 Bd3, and so does my computer. The text move takes us out of the “book” and away from the paths trod by the super-GM’s.
7.… Nc6
After 7..., c5; the game would have a more familiar pattern and not be too dissimilar from standard Winawer variations of the French. Another curious aspect of this game is both sides elect to develop their light squared Bishops unusually. Most often Black puts this cleric on a6 intending to exchange it for its counterpart on f1.
8. a3 Bb7
9. g3 h6
10. Be3 Na5
11. Bg2 Ne7
12. Nf4 Nf5
13. Nd3 c5
This is the natural, standard, normal break for Black in the Winawer. What is unusual is Black seemed to be doing something else entirely. My thought Black intended 13..., Nc4; hitting the Be3 twice and threatening, if 14 Bc1, h5; when the White Queen will either take the awkward post at f4, or retreat to d1 leaving the d-pawn hanging.
14. Ne2 Nxe3
In a position where Knights are more valuable than Bishops for the moment, Black decides to take off the less-than-exciting Be3. In doing so he opens the f-file for White to use. Still available is the sequence beginning 14..., Nc4; where White just may have to give up the d-pawn, at least temporarily, or get his Queen misplaced. I don’t understand this decision. The dark squared Bishop was White’s worst minor piece. Is the damage done to the White pawn formation enough to make the trade a good choice?
15. fxe3 Nc4
16. Qf4 Be7
17. h4 g5
18. Qf2 O-O-O
Here maybe we can see Black’s intentions more clearly. He has marked out a very active role for the Be7. If White captures on g5, the Bishop takes back bringing pressure to bear on e3, and if White tries to dispossess the Nc4, there is the neat tactic as in the game.
19. b3 Nxa3
20. Rxa3 c4
21. Nc5 bxc5
22. Rxa7 Kb8
23. Ra1 cxb3
24. cxb3 gxh4
Creating a target on h4 to worry White in the ending, a nice finesse.
25. gxh4 Rhg8
26. O-O Rg4
White has been too busy dealing with immediate problems to have time to clip the pawn on f7. Bobby could have taken it here. Either the next text move, or capturing on f7, keeps the balance. Taking on f7 to be followed by Ne2-f4 fights for the initiative by making threats on e6. Sending the Knight to f4 immediately clears the way for a quick build-up on the a-file. Both Kings lack real security and open lines are beginning show up, a one pawn plus or minus is not significant. The initiative is all important now. That, and the Bishop pair in Black’s hands, must have certainly been worries for Bobby Rotter. Those concerns were prods to look for ways to offset the future activity of the Bishops. Rotter decides going directly at the Black King is the best course.
27. Nf4 Rdg8
28. Qa2 Qb5
29. Qa7+!? …..
The game has been dynamically balanced, that is both sides have serious threats and it is not clear which side’s threats are stronger up to this point. It turns out the White position is somewhat less forgiving than is Black’s; the pin on the Bg2 is annoyingly restrictive, the h-pawn is fatally weak, danger looms around d4 and e3 threatening the Nf4 outpost. On the other hand, White can get three “heavies” on open files if he so wishes, while Black has more difficulty increasing the pressure down the g-file. Concentrating the heavy pieces on the open files is probably sounder than this rush to get behind enemy lines.
The alternatives that come to mind are; 29 Rc1, and 29 Qc2. If a) 29 Rc1, Rxh4; 30 Rc2, Qb6, 31 Qa3, when for the pawn given the White heavy pieces are very active, while the Black Rooks on the opposite side of the board are less immediately dangerous. White might claim a small advantage. If 29 Qc2, and then b1) 29..., Rxh4; 30 Qh7, favors White. However, b2) 29..., Rg3, sets a difficult problem for White; if b2.1) 30 Re1, cxd4; 31 exd4, Qxb3; and because White is on the way to dropping another pawn, Black is for choice. If b2.2) 30 Rfc1, Rxe3; 31 Qh7, Qe8; 32 dxc5, Rg4; 33 c6, Bxc6; 34 Rxc6, Qxc6; 35 Qh8+, Kc7; 36 Ra7+, Kb6; 37 Qb8+, Kc4; 38 Rxe7, and White is ahead significantly, maybe even winning. Note in this line, if 38 Ra4, Black has some chances with 38..., Re1+; 39 Kh2, (if 39 Kf2, Bxh4+; leads to mate.) 39..., Qxa4; eliminating mating threats, and then 40..., Rxf4. If White gets frisky trying to advance the a-pawn Black takes on h4 with the Rook and later the e-pawn falls giving Black a bunch of material, maybe enough to win. Of course White likely has perpetual check chances with his Queen because Black has to watch for some dangerous double attacks.
A position with more complications than a few. Such a position illustrates what is meant by “dynamically balanced.” I am sure all of the possibilities in this position have not been set out in my note above and would not be surprised to find a shot that overturns my opinion.
29.… Kc7
30. Ra5? ….
As they duel along the edge of a precipice, Rotter makes an error. Better is 30 Qa2, admitting the mistake.
30.… Qb6?
Black reciprocates with a mistake of his own. Leading to an advantage is 30..., Qxb3; pocketing a pawn, and the continuing threat of …, Rga8; limits White’s choices. White will likely have to keep the Queens on the board giving Black time to maybe clip the h-pawn. If Black gets the edge on material, he will have all the winning chances, while White will face a difficult defensive task.
31. dxc5 Qxa7
32. Rxa7 Bxc5
33. Rc1 Kb6
34. Rxb7+ Kxb7
35. Rxc5 Kb6
36. b4 d4
Rotter in all likelihood had calculated the foregoing sequence as did Mockler. Michael may have been convinced the text gives him an advantage. According to my trusty computer the game is even. That is also true of the alternative 36.…, Rxh4. I am inclined to like the game move because it gives White more opportunities to go wrong.
37. Kf2 dxe3+
38. Kxe3 Rxf4
39. Rc6+ ….
The reader may ask why is Bobby making things complicated when simpler methods safely maintain equality? The answer is in the tournament situation. Rotter, before this game had dropped only a single point, he still had the mathematical chance to tie, or even out score Philip Sells. A loss would rule out any chance for the title clear.
39.… Kb5
40. Kxf4 Rxg2
41. Rc7 Rf2+
42. Ke3 Rf5
43. Rb7+ Kc6
44. Rb8 ….
The game continued to about move 72 with Rotter getting in some time trouble as they played out a classic Rook and pawn ending. Bobby continued to try to win. Bit by bit the game slipped out of control and Mr. Mockler obtained the full point.
For some reason I have trouble every time I try to record games with Michael Mockler participating. Each time there is a move pair dropped in my score. This is another example of that happening. I put it down to Michael getting into interesting positions when my attention goes more to trying to understand what is going on than to making certain the record is accurate.
More to come soon.
4.15.2010
More news from last Thursday at Schenectady
Alan Le Cours and I have known each other for some long time, decades in fact. Somehow we did not get to play much if at all over those many years until recently. I began attending the Saratoga Club and playing in their championship event and Alan did similarly become part of the Schenectady championship regulars in about the middle of this past decade. Now we face-off over the board a couple of times each year. Honors have been about even. Our skill and fighting spirit seem to be an level match-up, therefore, winning a game from him is gratifying and losing one no shock.
Consolation Swiss
Date: 2010
White: Le Cours, A
Black: Little, B
1. Nf3 d5
2. d4 Nf6
3. c4 dxc4
We both were members of GM Ronen Har-Zvi’s Saturday study group for the past three years. One subject explored at length was the Slav Defense. The GM covered it in depth over about six months of meetings of the group. During that trip through the intricacies of the many flavors of the Slav, Alan did some of his own research on the Dutch variation of the Slav and published to an interested group an opening survey of this line.
A year ago Alan and I played a Slav that ended drawn in just a few moves. We were both leery what trick the other might have thought up. This time, when preparing for the game, I thought about some way to vary the program from the Slav without playing some kind of KID/Benko/Benoni line. As part of the Slav study, Ronen had touched on some tricky wrinkles in the KID that has the pros moving away from it, the Benoni has never been a favorite of mine and my tries with the Benko have been unsuccessful the last few years. By that process of elimination, the QGA came to the fore.
4. e3 e6
5. Bxc4 a6
6. a4 c5
7. O-O Nc6
8. Nc3 Qc7
9. Qe2 Be7
More usual is 9.…, Bd6. GM Glenn Flear, in his book “New Ideas in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted”, Batsford, London, 1994 suggested the game move as an improvement over putting the Bishop on d6. He thinks there may be some advantage for Black in not having to recapture immediately on c5 with the Bishop if 10 dxc5. GM Flear supports his position with two and half columns of dense analysis quoting several GM games from the early 1990’s. That mass of material was certainly not in my head in any well digested fashion when playing the move. What I did have was his suggestion, and the …, Ng4; idea if White pushes e3-e4 quickly.
10. Rd1 O-O
11. e4 ….
After the game, Alan said h2-h3 was needed to prevent the Knight leaping to g4. This is where that should be tried. Flear believes that Black can find equality if, in reply to the h-pawn advancing one square, he plays
11..., Bd7; but must be very accurate subsequently.
11.… Ng4
12. Be3? ….
Le Cours spots the fundamental trick behind 11..., Ng4. If 12 h3, Nxd4; wins material because 13 Nxd4??, loses to 13..., Qh7+; and mate to follow. However, he did not come up with the best answer, 12 g3, after about 18 minutes of thought. That is not surprising. Difficult decisions abound in this position. One alternative line goes: 12 dxc5, Bxc5; 13 Be3, Nxe3; 14 fxe3, Qb6; 15 Re1, when according to theory White is in good shape. Maybe a GM could see that White is not in trouble, but we at a lower level would not be thrilled to have double e-pawns and an opponent with the Bishop pair versus a Bishop and a Knight. After the recommended move; 12 g3, straight forward play; 12..., cxd4; 13 Nxd4, Nxd4; 14 Rxd4, Bc5; leads to an edge for Black. The pressure on f2 and c4 will likely win a pawn. In this line White has to find tricky moves such as 13 Bf4!?, when the game goes spinning off into very complex play indeed.
I had the advantage in preparation here. Flear’s work had given me the idea …, Ng4; with the notion of making threats on h2, c4 and d4. It is always surprising how clear things become when a correct idea is in your mind in a chess game. Alan was not so equipped. He was working through complicated calculations and trying to evaluate unfamiliar positions. Those problems were burning time. The flaw in the text move is it does not end any of the threats.
12.… cxd4
13. Bxd4 Nxd4
14. Rxd4 Bc5
15. h3 ….
White now had 47 minutes remaining for the balance of the game and he is down the Exchange. Black had 87 minutes remaining with a clear plan for the rest of the game; force trades of material using the Queen’s natural affinity for double attacks until a Rook versus minor piece ending is reached. This idea means the Queens stay on until as much damage as possible is done to the White pawns. Every weakness in the White pawn formation inflicted will pay dividends in the ending.
15.… Bxd4
16. hxg4 Bxc3
17. bxc3 Bd7
18. a5 ….
I was more concerned about 18 e5, but analysis with the computer shows the text is a good try for White.
18.… Rac8
19. Nd2 Bb5
Simple and forcing, the text is in line with the plan mentioned above; trading and making targets. More Grandmaster-like is 19..., Rfd8; getting everything developed before making significant changes in the position. I thought White might play Ra1-b1 at some point offering the a-pawn in hopes of trading down to pawns on the K-side only. If the Bishops go off in that sequence, the Knight would have some chances of holding versus the Rook.
20. Bxb5 axb5
21. Qxb5 Qxc3
My Queen begins to make double attacks. White now has the added need to be very precise lest one of these wins more material.
22. Nb3 Qc6
23. Qb4 Rfd8
Now everything of mine is out and working. All I have to do is not to become “dizzy with success” as I did the week before against Barnes. Alan’s time stood at 32 minutes for the rest of the game. I had 77 minutes.
24. Rc1 Qd7
25. Re1 ….
What else? If 25 Rxc8, Rxc8; 26 Nc5, Qd1+; 27 Kh2, Qd6+, wins more material. The best try is 25 Nc5, then 25..., Qd2; 26 Qa3, Rd4; keeps the pressure on, but White has hope for an error by Black.
25... Qd6
I was pretty confident for no concrete reason that Alan would not agree to a trade of Queens here. This is a moment when chess and Poker come close to one another. In Poker there are intances where you get a "read" on what your opponent intends. It is similar in chess.
Trading is probably the correct choice for White, then trying to engineer the exchange of the a-pawn for the b-pawn. Such a plan shouldn’t hold the position for White, but it is a reasonable try in a bad situation. My move did not conform to my plan and could have made winning a little less simple.
26. Qb5 Qc6
27. Qg5 h6
Taking advantage of the Queen’s post to create a “luft” for my King at no cost of time. White was down to 12 minutes, I had 70 minutes remaining. The following moves were made in just four or five minutes of total time. Alan played them out just to check if I had the right idea.
28. Qf4 Qc3
29. Re3 Rd3
30. Rxd3 Qxd3
31. Nd2 e5
32. Qe3 Qxe3
33. fxe3 Rc5
Resigns.
Preparation can be memorizing long strings of moves. Such has not been very useful to me over the years. As in this game, preparation of a really good idea ou a general theme that works in a particular position, along with a sketch of the tactics that support the idea, have worked the best for me. That is what happened in this game. I caught Alan in a hole in his preparation, and managed for once, not to lose my composure in the face of success. The problem is really the next time Alan and I play. He will put his considerable talent to work finding a surprise for me, no doubt.
In the Finals Philip Sells took the lead with a win from John Phillips. The game followed a pattern becoming common when Mr. Sells is playing, lots of moves in time trouble. This time the players reached move 25 with roughly the same amount of time remaining, 20+ minutes. They made more than forty-five moves each in those remaining minutes. I was not well placed to see the clock and did not record the time per move in the last flurry when both were down to very little time.
SCC Ch Finals 09-10
Date: 4/8/2010
White: Sells, P
Black: Phillips, J
1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 g6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nc6
5. c4 Nf6
6. Nc3 d6
7. Be2 Nxd4
8. Qxd4 Bg7
9. Be3 O-O
10. Qd2 Be6
11. O-O Re8
After ten and one half moves of heavy duty theory we have a move not recommended by any of the opening mavens. Up to Black’s last there are a large number of games in the databases, many by the best such as Ivanchuk, Kramnik, Adams, Psakhis, etc. as White and Anand, Alteman, Khalifman, Kovacevic, etc; as Black. The “big guys” have mostly tried 11..., Qa5; a few have taken the alternative 11..., a6. Both of these moves intend counter-play against the so-called “Maroczy Bind” formation with such thrusts as …, b7-b5; and maybe …, d6-d5. Expert opinion has swung pendulum-like from claiming a near winning edge for White to believing Black has more than adequate counter-chances.
The game move was tried just one time by Laszlo, D against Korbel, F in the 1951 Hungarian Championship. In those days before ELO ratings and FIDE titles it is hard to judge the quality of players. Laszlo finished minus 3 in the ’51 event losing to Benko and Barcza while winning from Szabo, L. and Florian, T. Clearly Laszlo is of master strength, Koberl played in several Hungarian Championships in the early 1950’s racking up an even score and was likely about IM strength. Koberl defeated Laszlo but it does not appear the opening had much to do with the outcome. The game went to a Rook endgame finishing in 54 moves.
Looking at the position with my computer found nothing in particular about the text to suggest there is some deep or hidden intention in it. My guess is the plan the GM’s like of starting action on the Q-side to breakdown White’s light squared pawn wall is a better choice.
12. Rab1 ….
More usual for White is to place his Rooks on c1 and d1. Some very good players have suggested putting a Rook on b1 to prepare the push b2-b4 grabbing space on the Q-side as a viable alternative to the standard Rook placement.
12.… a5?!
This looks wrong because it does not support the …, b7-b5; break.
13. b3 Ng4
14. Bd4 Bh6
This very small tactical interlude is apparently the reason why Sells didn’t want a Rook on c1. When I play the Maroczy Bind I prefer to put a pawn on f3 preventing the tactic. For some reason Philip rather would trade off Black’s dark squared Bishop.
15. Qd1 Ne5
16. Nd5 Nc6?
Black overlooks a standard trick for White in the Sicilian. The White dark squared Bishop and the Knight conquer b6 leading to material loss. Better is 16..., Nd7; or even 16..., Ra5; trying to defend b6. After the text, Black is losing. Black has the worse of it after 16..., Nd7; 17 f4, but material loss is avoided.
17. Bb6 Qd7
18. Nc7 Nb4
19. Nxa8 ….
White could have played 19 c5, threatening 20 Bb5. The game continuation is simpler and simpler is better. White has an Exchange in his pocket, and Black has no compensation to offset it.
19... Rxa8
20. a3 Qc6
21. Bd4 Na6
22. b4 Qc7
Black must be hoping to get some compensation by breaking up the Q-side pawns getting open lines for his lone Rook and Bishops. The problem is White has two Rooks to oppose a single Rook and his Bishops can certainly fend off the Black Bishops.
23. Qd3 Rc8
24. Be3 Bxe3
25. Qxe3 axb4
26. axb4 Bxc4
27. Rfc1 b5
28. Bxc4 bxc4
29. b5 ….
The result of Black carrying out his plan is White has, at the cost of a pawn, freed the b-pawn which will keep the Black pieces busy preventing it rushing towards the 8th rank. The rest of the game is easy to understand. Philip will keep his b-pawn on the board to tie up Black, then work towards winning back the pawn, finally using his material advantage to break the blockade of the b-pawn eventually getting more material for the demon pawn.
Time. Sells was under 20 minutes remaining for the balance of the game. Phillips had somewhere about 35 minutes.
29.… Nb8
30. Rb4 c3
31. Rb3 Qa5
32. h4 Rc5
33. Rcxc3 Nd7
34. Rxc5 Nxc5
35. Rb1 Qa2
36. Qc1 ….
White must have been down to very little time remaining, he was moving almost instantly. Quibbling about whether the absolute best move is found at each turn is useless. It is enough that White avoids serious error and doesn’t drop material.
36.… Qe2
37. Qe1 Qc4
38. b6 ….
The beast shakes loose. Black has to rush to get it back under lock and key.
38.… Qa6
39. Qb4 Qb7
40. f3 Kf8
The monarch hurries to lend a hand stopping the b-pawn. Black must have began to feel the pressure of the clock, he was now moving very quickly too.
41. Qa5 Ke8
42. Qa7 Kd7
43. Qxb7+ Nxb7
44. Rc1 Nc5
45. e5 ….
White got the Queens off and now seeks to break open lines so his Rook can roam unhindered. The Rook’s long legs will most times have no great problem out running the Knight’s short legs. Pawns will fall one way or another.
45.…. Kc6
46. exd6 exd6
47. Rb1 Nb7
48. Kf2 d5
49. Ke3 ….
Sensibly the White King approaches to take a hand in the final fight.
49.… Nc5
50. Kd4 Nb7
51. Ke5 f5
With 51..., Nd6; 52 b7, Nxb7; 53 Rc1+, Kd7; 54 Kxd5, Black would have gotten to a technically lost ending, but getting down to all pawns on one side of the board holds some hope in a time scramble. That would have been a sterner test of Philip’s technique. The text allows the scary b-pawn to remain on the board limiting Black’s choices. John was so short of time that he elected to try his luck with his own charging pawn.
52. h5 Kc5
53. hxg6 hxg6
54. f4 d4
55. Kf6 Kc4?
Abandoning the K-side is less testing than trying to keep the several White pawns from breaking loose with 55..., Kd5; 56 Kxg6, Ke4; 57 g3, d3; when White is still far ahead but time to think just how to win the won game is not available. The way the game goes permits White to create a gang of free running pawns, too many for the only Black resource, the Knight, will not be able to do much.
56. Kxg6 Kc3
57. Kxf5 d3
58. g4 Kc2
59. Rh1 d2
60. g5 1-0
The game continued for several more moves with John Queening, Philip capturing the Queen with his Rook, and then demonstrating a single Knight can not cope with three passed pawns when its King is not available to lend a hand. My guess is nearly 70 moves were played altogether.
More tomorrow. There will be a couple of games from last week and hopfully new ones from tonight in both the Consolation and the Finals.
Consolation Swiss
Date: 2010
White: Le Cours, A
Black: Little, B
1. Nf3 d5
2. d4 Nf6
3. c4 dxc4
We both were members of GM Ronen Har-Zvi’s Saturday study group for the past three years. One subject explored at length was the Slav Defense. The GM covered it in depth over about six months of meetings of the group. During that trip through the intricacies of the many flavors of the Slav, Alan did some of his own research on the Dutch variation of the Slav and published to an interested group an opening survey of this line.
A year ago Alan and I played a Slav that ended drawn in just a few moves. We were both leery what trick the other might have thought up. This time, when preparing for the game, I thought about some way to vary the program from the Slav without playing some kind of KID/Benko/Benoni line. As part of the Slav study, Ronen had touched on some tricky wrinkles in the KID that has the pros moving away from it, the Benoni has never been a favorite of mine and my tries with the Benko have been unsuccessful the last few years. By that process of elimination, the QGA came to the fore.
4. e3 e6
5. Bxc4 a6
6. a4 c5
7. O-O Nc6
8. Nc3 Qc7
9. Qe2 Be7
More usual is 9.…, Bd6. GM Glenn Flear, in his book “New Ideas in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted”, Batsford, London, 1994 suggested the game move as an improvement over putting the Bishop on d6. He thinks there may be some advantage for Black in not having to recapture immediately on c5 with the Bishop if 10 dxc5. GM Flear supports his position with two and half columns of dense analysis quoting several GM games from the early 1990’s. That mass of material was certainly not in my head in any well digested fashion when playing the move. What I did have was his suggestion, and the …, Ng4; idea if White pushes e3-e4 quickly.
10. Rd1 O-O
11. e4 ….
After the game, Alan said h2-h3 was needed to prevent the Knight leaping to g4. This is where that should be tried. Flear believes that Black can find equality if, in reply to the h-pawn advancing one square, he plays
11..., Bd7; but must be very accurate subsequently.
11.… Ng4
12. Be3? ….
Le Cours spots the fundamental trick behind 11..., Ng4. If 12 h3, Nxd4; wins material because 13 Nxd4??, loses to 13..., Qh7+; and mate to follow. However, he did not come up with the best answer, 12 g3, after about 18 minutes of thought. That is not surprising. Difficult decisions abound in this position. One alternative line goes: 12 dxc5, Bxc5; 13 Be3, Nxe3; 14 fxe3, Qb6; 15 Re1, when according to theory White is in good shape. Maybe a GM could see that White is not in trouble, but we at a lower level would not be thrilled to have double e-pawns and an opponent with the Bishop pair versus a Bishop and a Knight. After the recommended move; 12 g3, straight forward play; 12..., cxd4; 13 Nxd4, Nxd4; 14 Rxd4, Bc5; leads to an edge for Black. The pressure on f2 and c4 will likely win a pawn. In this line White has to find tricky moves such as 13 Bf4!?, when the game goes spinning off into very complex play indeed.
I had the advantage in preparation here. Flear’s work had given me the idea …, Ng4; with the notion of making threats on h2, c4 and d4. It is always surprising how clear things become when a correct idea is in your mind in a chess game. Alan was not so equipped. He was working through complicated calculations and trying to evaluate unfamiliar positions. Those problems were burning time. The flaw in the text move is it does not end any of the threats.
12.… cxd4
13. Bxd4 Nxd4
14. Rxd4 Bc5
15. h3 ….
White now had 47 minutes remaining for the balance of the game and he is down the Exchange. Black had 87 minutes remaining with a clear plan for the rest of the game; force trades of material using the Queen’s natural affinity for double attacks until a Rook versus minor piece ending is reached. This idea means the Queens stay on until as much damage as possible is done to the White pawns. Every weakness in the White pawn formation inflicted will pay dividends in the ending.
15.… Bxd4
16. hxg4 Bxc3
17. bxc3 Bd7
18. a5 ….
I was more concerned about 18 e5, but analysis with the computer shows the text is a good try for White.
18.… Rac8
19. Nd2 Bb5
Simple and forcing, the text is in line with the plan mentioned above; trading and making targets. More Grandmaster-like is 19..., Rfd8; getting everything developed before making significant changes in the position. I thought White might play Ra1-b1 at some point offering the a-pawn in hopes of trading down to pawns on the K-side only. If the Bishops go off in that sequence, the Knight would have some chances of holding versus the Rook.
20. Bxb5 axb5
21. Qxb5 Qxc3
My Queen begins to make double attacks. White now has the added need to be very precise lest one of these wins more material.
22. Nb3 Qc6
23. Qb4 Rfd8
Now everything of mine is out and working. All I have to do is not to become “dizzy with success” as I did the week before against Barnes. Alan’s time stood at 32 minutes for the rest of the game. I had 77 minutes.
24. Rc1 Qd7
25. Re1 ….
What else? If 25 Rxc8, Rxc8; 26 Nc5, Qd1+; 27 Kh2, Qd6+, wins more material. The best try is 25 Nc5, then 25..., Qd2; 26 Qa3, Rd4; keeps the pressure on, but White has hope for an error by Black.
25... Qd6
I was pretty confident for no concrete reason that Alan would not agree to a trade of Queens here. This is a moment when chess and Poker come close to one another. In Poker there are intances where you get a "read" on what your opponent intends. It is similar in chess.
Trading is probably the correct choice for White, then trying to engineer the exchange of the a-pawn for the b-pawn. Such a plan shouldn’t hold the position for White, but it is a reasonable try in a bad situation. My move did not conform to my plan and could have made winning a little less simple.
26. Qb5 Qc6
27. Qg5 h6
Taking advantage of the Queen’s post to create a “luft” for my King at no cost of time. White was down to 12 minutes, I had 70 minutes remaining. The following moves were made in just four or five minutes of total time. Alan played them out just to check if I had the right idea.
28. Qf4 Qc3
29. Re3 Rd3
30. Rxd3 Qxd3
31. Nd2 e5
32. Qe3 Qxe3
33. fxe3 Rc5
Resigns.
Preparation can be memorizing long strings of moves. Such has not been very useful to me over the years. As in this game, preparation of a really good idea ou a general theme that works in a particular position, along with a sketch of the tactics that support the idea, have worked the best for me. That is what happened in this game. I caught Alan in a hole in his preparation, and managed for once, not to lose my composure in the face of success. The problem is really the next time Alan and I play. He will put his considerable talent to work finding a surprise for me, no doubt.
In the Finals Philip Sells took the lead with a win from John Phillips. The game followed a pattern becoming common when Mr. Sells is playing, lots of moves in time trouble. This time the players reached move 25 with roughly the same amount of time remaining, 20+ minutes. They made more than forty-five moves each in those remaining minutes. I was not well placed to see the clock and did not record the time per move in the last flurry when both were down to very little time.
SCC Ch Finals 09-10
Date: 4/8/2010
White: Sells, P
Black: Phillips, J
1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 g6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nc6
5. c4 Nf6
6. Nc3 d6
7. Be2 Nxd4
8. Qxd4 Bg7
9. Be3 O-O
10. Qd2 Be6
11. O-O Re8
After ten and one half moves of heavy duty theory we have a move not recommended by any of the opening mavens. Up to Black’s last there are a large number of games in the databases, many by the best such as Ivanchuk, Kramnik, Adams, Psakhis, etc. as White and Anand, Alteman, Khalifman, Kovacevic, etc; as Black. The “big guys” have mostly tried 11..., Qa5; a few have taken the alternative 11..., a6. Both of these moves intend counter-play against the so-called “Maroczy Bind” formation with such thrusts as …, b7-b5; and maybe …, d6-d5. Expert opinion has swung pendulum-like from claiming a near winning edge for White to believing Black has more than adequate counter-chances.
The game move was tried just one time by Laszlo, D against Korbel, F in the 1951 Hungarian Championship. In those days before ELO ratings and FIDE titles it is hard to judge the quality of players. Laszlo finished minus 3 in the ’51 event losing to Benko and Barcza while winning from Szabo, L. and Florian, T. Clearly Laszlo is of master strength, Koberl played in several Hungarian Championships in the early 1950’s racking up an even score and was likely about IM strength. Koberl defeated Laszlo but it does not appear the opening had much to do with the outcome. The game went to a Rook endgame finishing in 54 moves.
Looking at the position with my computer found nothing in particular about the text to suggest there is some deep or hidden intention in it. My guess is the plan the GM’s like of starting action on the Q-side to breakdown White’s light squared pawn wall is a better choice.
12. Rab1 ….
More usual for White is to place his Rooks on c1 and d1. Some very good players have suggested putting a Rook on b1 to prepare the push b2-b4 grabbing space on the Q-side as a viable alternative to the standard Rook placement.
12.… a5?!
This looks wrong because it does not support the …, b7-b5; break.
13. b3 Ng4
14. Bd4 Bh6
This very small tactical interlude is apparently the reason why Sells didn’t want a Rook on c1. When I play the Maroczy Bind I prefer to put a pawn on f3 preventing the tactic. For some reason Philip rather would trade off Black’s dark squared Bishop.
15. Qd1 Ne5
16. Nd5 Nc6?
Black overlooks a standard trick for White in the Sicilian. The White dark squared Bishop and the Knight conquer b6 leading to material loss. Better is 16..., Nd7; or even 16..., Ra5; trying to defend b6. After the text, Black is losing. Black has the worse of it after 16..., Nd7; 17 f4, but material loss is avoided.
17. Bb6 Qd7
18. Nc7 Nb4
19. Nxa8 ….
White could have played 19 c5, threatening 20 Bb5. The game continuation is simpler and simpler is better. White has an Exchange in his pocket, and Black has no compensation to offset it.
19... Rxa8
20. a3 Qc6
21. Bd4 Na6
22. b4 Qc7
Black must be hoping to get some compensation by breaking up the Q-side pawns getting open lines for his lone Rook and Bishops. The problem is White has two Rooks to oppose a single Rook and his Bishops can certainly fend off the Black Bishops.
23. Qd3 Rc8
24. Be3 Bxe3
25. Qxe3 axb4
26. axb4 Bxc4
27. Rfc1 b5
28. Bxc4 bxc4
29. b5 ….
The result of Black carrying out his plan is White has, at the cost of a pawn, freed the b-pawn which will keep the Black pieces busy preventing it rushing towards the 8th rank. The rest of the game is easy to understand. Philip will keep his b-pawn on the board to tie up Black, then work towards winning back the pawn, finally using his material advantage to break the blockade of the b-pawn eventually getting more material for the demon pawn.
Time. Sells was under 20 minutes remaining for the balance of the game. Phillips had somewhere about 35 minutes.
29.… Nb8
30. Rb4 c3
31. Rb3 Qa5
32. h4 Rc5
33. Rcxc3 Nd7
34. Rxc5 Nxc5
35. Rb1 Qa2
36. Qc1 ….
White must have been down to very little time remaining, he was moving almost instantly. Quibbling about whether the absolute best move is found at each turn is useless. It is enough that White avoids serious error and doesn’t drop material.
36.… Qe2
37. Qe1 Qc4
38. b6 ….
The beast shakes loose. Black has to rush to get it back under lock and key.
38.… Qa6
39. Qb4 Qb7
40. f3 Kf8
The monarch hurries to lend a hand stopping the b-pawn. Black must have began to feel the pressure of the clock, he was now moving very quickly too.
41. Qa5 Ke8
42. Qa7 Kd7
43. Qxb7+ Nxb7
44. Rc1 Nc5
45. e5 ….
White got the Queens off and now seeks to break open lines so his Rook can roam unhindered. The Rook’s long legs will most times have no great problem out running the Knight’s short legs. Pawns will fall one way or another.
45.…. Kc6
46. exd6 exd6
47. Rb1 Nb7
48. Kf2 d5
49. Ke3 ….
Sensibly the White King approaches to take a hand in the final fight.
49.… Nc5
50. Kd4 Nb7
51. Ke5 f5
With 51..., Nd6; 52 b7, Nxb7; 53 Rc1+, Kd7; 54 Kxd5, Black would have gotten to a technically lost ending, but getting down to all pawns on one side of the board holds some hope in a time scramble. That would have been a sterner test of Philip’s technique. The text allows the scary b-pawn to remain on the board limiting Black’s choices. John was so short of time that he elected to try his luck with his own charging pawn.
52. h5 Kc5
53. hxg6 hxg6
54. f4 d4
55. Kf6 Kc4?
Abandoning the K-side is less testing than trying to keep the several White pawns from breaking loose with 55..., Kd5; 56 Kxg6, Ke4; 57 g3, d3; when White is still far ahead but time to think just how to win the won game is not available. The way the game goes permits White to create a gang of free running pawns, too many for the only Black resource, the Knight, will not be able to do much.
56. Kxg6 Kc3
57. Kxf5 d3
58. g4 Kc2
59. Rh1 d2
60. g5 1-0
The game continued for several more moves with John Queening, Philip capturing the Queen with his Rook, and then demonstrating a single Knight can not cope with three passed pawns when its King is not available to lend a hand. My guess is nearly 70 moves were played altogether.
More tomorrow. There will be a couple of games from last week and hopfully new ones from tonight in both the Consolation and the Finals.
4.12.2010
Cleaning up a loose end from Schenectady
The games played last Thursday at Schenectady brought into focus the struggle for the title. Philip Sells’ win from John Phillips puts him at 3-1 and he has to be seen as the clear leader in the tourney. The only contestant with a chance of overhauling Mr. Sells is Bobby Rotter. Rotter stands at 1-1 with three games to play, one of which is against Sells. It should be said there is a mathematical chance of a kind of logjam finish with several players ending up with 3-2 scores.
Two guys are out of contention, Dean Howard and John Phillips. Dean has finished his schedule with 2 ½ - 2 ½ score, and John has dropped 2 ½ points with one game to play against Rotter. Bill Townsend summed up the situation nicely: “No one who has lost two games can win the title outright.” Those who fall into the category of “could possibly tie” are; Mockler and Chi.
With Bobby Rotter being the key participant in most of the delayed games to be made up in the next few weeks, the situation will resolve itself slowly. Rotter has to face; Sells, Mockler and Chi. The Sells - Rotter game has the potential of being the most dramatic. Philip and Bobby began playing at the Schenectady Club at about the same time, around the turn of the century. There seemed to be a rivalry from the beginning even to the point of a rated match between the two - won by Sells. Philip has had the edge in the rivalry winning the match and couple of championship titles. Bobby has yet to take the title. There certainly will be much to write about in the coming weeks.
In the interest of completeness here is the reconstructed score of the game between Michael Mockler and Philip Sells. These two players won their respective Preliminary Sections and I believed they would battle to the end for the title.
The game was played three weeks ago. A large part of the game was played in terrific time pressure. You will see the time remaining for the players noted where possible within the following score. Getting this game into print was the result of much effort by Bill Townsend who used his considerable experience with reconstructing games and the cheerful cooperation of Michael Mockler even in defeat. As can be seen from the times noted by the various moves, Philip Sells had no leisure to record moves for much of the game. Given the score was a reconstruction from several sources, it is possible errors creept in. Crediting Messrs. Townsend and Mockler for helping in no way relieves me of responsibility for accuracy. Any mistakes in the game score are ultimately mine.
The time control for the game was all moves to be made within 100 minutes with an added five second per move. This Sudden Death time control is a mixed blessing. Games end in a single playing session with adjournments eliminated, and that is good for easy, predictable scheduling . The downside is time scrambles have to be faced as result of the benefit. This is one of the longer time scrambles I have come across.
SCC Championship Finals
Date: 2010
White: Mockler, M
Black: Sells, P
1. b3 e6
2. Bb2 Nf6
3. e3 c5
4. f4 Nc6
5. Nf3 Be7
6. Bd3 Nb4
7. O-O Nxd3
8. cxd3 b6
9. Nc3 Ba6
10. Qc2 O-O
11. Ne5 Rc8
12. e4 d6
13. Nf3 Nd7
14. Rae1 b5
Sells had 46 minutes left
15. Kh1 …..
Mockler had 50 minutes left.
15.… Nb8
Sells had 30 minutes left.
16. Nd1 Nc6
17. Qb1 ….
Mockler had 44 minutes left.
17.… Qb6
18. Qa1 f6
19. d4 Nb4
20. Qb1 c4
21. Nf2 cxb3
22. axb3 Rc7
23. Re3 Rfc8
24. Rc3 d5
25. e5 Nc6
26. Rfc1 b4
27. Rc5 fxe5
Mockler 20 min., Sells 7 min.
28. Nxe5 ….
Mockler 18 min.
28.… Bxc5
29. dxc5 Qb5
Sells 4 minutes left.
30. Nf3 Qe2
Sells 2 minutes left.
31. Ng4 ….
Mockler 10 minutes left.
31... Bd3 Sells 2:33 left
32. Qa1 Bf5 Sells 2:15
33. Ne3 Be4 Sells 1:53
34. Re1 Qd3 Sells 1:34
35. Ng5 Qxd2
36. Nxe4 dxe4
37. Nc4 ….
Mockler had 5 minutes left.
37.… Qd7 Sells 0:54 seconds left
38. Nd6 Rf8 Sells 0:50 seconds
39. Rxe4 Nd8
40. Rc4 Nf7
41. Be5 Nxe5
42. Qxe5 Rf5 Sells 0:19 seconds
43. Qe4 Rf8
44. h3 ….
Mockler had 1:34 minutes left.
44.… g6 Sells 0:14 seconds
45. Rc1 a5
46. Qe5 Rc6
Mockler had 0:59 seconds left.
47. Ne4 Qg7 Sells 0:06 seconds
48. Qg5 Rc7
49. c6 Qe7
50. Qxe7 Rxe7
51. Nd6 Rc7
0-1 Time. Mr. Mockler’s flag fell. This is another amazing performance by Mr. Sells in time trouble that would cause what little hair I have remaining to fall out if it were me playing! He had a similar experience in his game with Steve Taylor in the Saratoga Championship this year. That victory got Philip the Saratoga title. Clearly hoping for clock trouble to overwhelm Sells is not the way to go.
More from Schenectady in the next day or two.
Two guys are out of contention, Dean Howard and John Phillips. Dean has finished his schedule with 2 ½ - 2 ½ score, and John has dropped 2 ½ points with one game to play against Rotter. Bill Townsend summed up the situation nicely: “No one who has lost two games can win the title outright.” Those who fall into the category of “could possibly tie” are; Mockler and Chi.
With Bobby Rotter being the key participant in most of the delayed games to be made up in the next few weeks, the situation will resolve itself slowly. Rotter has to face; Sells, Mockler and Chi. The Sells - Rotter game has the potential of being the most dramatic. Philip and Bobby began playing at the Schenectady Club at about the same time, around the turn of the century. There seemed to be a rivalry from the beginning even to the point of a rated match between the two - won by Sells. Philip has had the edge in the rivalry winning the match and couple of championship titles. Bobby has yet to take the title. There certainly will be much to write about in the coming weeks.
In the interest of completeness here is the reconstructed score of the game between Michael Mockler and Philip Sells. These two players won their respective Preliminary Sections and I believed they would battle to the end for the title.
The game was played three weeks ago. A large part of the game was played in terrific time pressure. You will see the time remaining for the players noted where possible within the following score. Getting this game into print was the result of much effort by Bill Townsend who used his considerable experience with reconstructing games and the cheerful cooperation of Michael Mockler even in defeat. As can be seen from the times noted by the various moves, Philip Sells had no leisure to record moves for much of the game. Given the score was a reconstruction from several sources, it is possible errors creept in. Crediting Messrs. Townsend and Mockler for helping in no way relieves me of responsibility for accuracy. Any mistakes in the game score are ultimately mine.
The time control for the game was all moves to be made within 100 minutes with an added five second per move. This Sudden Death time control is a mixed blessing. Games end in a single playing session with adjournments eliminated, and that is good for easy, predictable scheduling . The downside is time scrambles have to be faced as result of the benefit. This is one of the longer time scrambles I have come across.
SCC Championship Finals
Date: 2010
White: Mockler, M
Black: Sells, P
1. b3 e6
2. Bb2 Nf6
3. e3 c5
4. f4 Nc6
5. Nf3 Be7
6. Bd3 Nb4
7. O-O Nxd3
8. cxd3 b6
9. Nc3 Ba6
10. Qc2 O-O
11. Ne5 Rc8
12. e4 d6
13. Nf3 Nd7
14. Rae1 b5
Sells had 46 minutes left
15. Kh1 …..
Mockler had 50 minutes left.
15.… Nb8
Sells had 30 minutes left.
16. Nd1 Nc6
17. Qb1 ….
Mockler had 44 minutes left.
17.… Qb6
18. Qa1 f6
19. d4 Nb4
20. Qb1 c4
21. Nf2 cxb3
22. axb3 Rc7
23. Re3 Rfc8
24. Rc3 d5
25. e5 Nc6
26. Rfc1 b4
27. Rc5 fxe5
Mockler 20 min., Sells 7 min.
28. Nxe5 ….
Mockler 18 min.
28.… Bxc5
29. dxc5 Qb5
Sells 4 minutes left.
30. Nf3 Qe2
Sells 2 minutes left.
31. Ng4 ….
Mockler 10 minutes left.
31... Bd3 Sells 2:33 left
32. Qa1 Bf5 Sells 2:15
33. Ne3 Be4 Sells 1:53
34. Re1 Qd3 Sells 1:34
35. Ng5 Qxd2
36. Nxe4 dxe4
37. Nc4 ….
Mockler had 5 minutes left.
37.… Qd7 Sells 0:54 seconds left
38. Nd6 Rf8 Sells 0:50 seconds
39. Rxe4 Nd8
40. Rc4 Nf7
41. Be5 Nxe5
42. Qxe5 Rf5 Sells 0:19 seconds
43. Qe4 Rf8
44. h3 ….
Mockler had 1:34 minutes left.
44.… g6 Sells 0:14 seconds
45. Rc1 a5
46. Qe5 Rc6
Mockler had 0:59 seconds left.
47. Ne4 Qg7 Sells 0:06 seconds
48. Qg5 Rc7
49. c6 Qe7
50. Qxe7 Rxe7
51. Nd6 Rc7
0-1 Time. Mr. Mockler’s flag fell. This is another amazing performance by Mr. Sells in time trouble that would cause what little hair I have remaining to fall out if it were me playing! He had a similar experience in his game with Steve Taylor in the Saratoga Championship this year. That victory got Philip the Saratoga title. Clearly hoping for clock trouble to overwhelm Sells is not the way to go.
More from Schenectady in the next day or two.
4.11.2010
More Slow News From Schenectady
Yard work and weather without feet of snow on the ground have combined to make my postings slower than I would really wish. I have vowed to myself to do better in future.
The post today is not wholly about our local games. I stay away from commenting on international chess games and events. There are better placed observers more qualified to tell the stories of those games and dramas. The passing of Smyslov is an exception. On the 27 March, 2010 Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov died at age 89. The details of his career are well documented in excellent articles on TWIC as well as several nice pieces posted on the ICC. Today I want to add just a few thoughts about the 7th World Champion from someone who began to play chess when Smyslov was one of the very best in the world.
In 1950 I began to learned chess. These were the early days of the dominance by the USSR of international chess. The chess books available to me then extolled the virtues of Alekhine, Capablanca and Lasker. Their day was long passed by today’s standards, but the lead times for publication in the pre-computer age were considerable. Printed material about the contemporary players battling for the top spot in the world came to my attention in fits and starts from copies of the Kashdan’s Chess Review, or B.H. Woods’ column in the Illustrated London News that happened cross my path. Nevertheless, Vasily Smyslov’ name was well known to even us in the hinterlands of Upstate New York. Second in the World Championship tournament of 1948, the “Crown Prince” of Russian Chess was a name to conjure with when anticipating one of the matches for the world title that came up every three years. It seemed that the contest was going to be always between Botvinnik and Smyslov.
Botvinnik’s drawn match with Bronstein in 1952 was put down to the World Champion just not preparing seriously for someone other than Smyslov.
With few sources of news about chess available, we knew very little about Smyslov’s games themselves. His brief term as Champion of the World in 1957 saw a game or two of his published in Chess Life, or Chess Review. The games, or at least the annotations of the games, left one with the impression of a player with immense technical expertise and little of the dash and daring that so recommended Bronstein to us. It was not until 1980 when I obtained my copy of Jim Marfia’s translation of David Bronstein’s excellent book on the 1953 inter-zonal tournament at Zurich did I see the full talent of Smyslov displayed. There on the stage of one of the truly great chess events, while some of the pre-WWII stars (Reshevsky, Stahlberg, Najdorf, Euwe, Boleslavsky and Keres) faced off against the immediate post WWII talent (Smyslov, Bronstein, Petrosian, Geller, Taimanov, etc.), Smyslov demonstrated a creative approach that was clearly broader and more consistent than his competitors. He won the event two full points clear of the field.
Smyslov, like Korchnoi and Lasker of long ago, continued well into his later years playing at a very high level. He was eliminated by the eventual WC, Gary Kasparov, in the 1982-84 cycle after defeating Zoltan Ribli in the semi-finals. Now there is something remarkable; 1948 finishing second to Botvinnik, and 35+years later finishing in effect third to Kasparov and Karpov! There has been a spate of Smyslov games published on the occasion of his death. Playing through these games brings home to me how under appreciated this man’s talent and contribution was. We always knew he was good, but perhaps did not understand how infrequently such a talent comes our way. It is sad he is now gone, it is sadder one of the very best to ever play our game spent his final years in poverty and neglect.
As was said earlier in this piece, Alekhine, Capablanca and Lasker were the heroes of chess literature in my youth. They were all dead then, Alekhine in 1946 and Lasker and Capablanca in the early 1940’s. The living heroes of the chessboard of my youth are just about all gone now also; Botvinnik, Keres, Bronstein, Reshevsky, and now Smyslov. And so the orders pass and the ages roll.
Now on to a game far from the level of Smyslov‘s play. John Barnes and I met in the third round of the Consolation Swiss last Thursday. For awhile we played pretty decent chess, then strangeness set in, and we messed up what could have been a good game.
Consolation Swiss
Date: 4-1-2010
White: Little, B
Black: Barnes, J
1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 g6
Kramnik and Anand like to play this way as Black against the Rossolimo variation.
4. O-O Bg7
5. Re1 Qc7?
This move looks wrong. Kramnik and Anand have tried 5..., Qb6; here. Kasparov has used 5..., Nf6. Polugaevsky used 5..., e5. All are probably better choices than the text. I do not see the active idea behind the game move.
6. c3 e6
Possibly better is 6..., a6; making White decide whether to take on c6 or retreat the Bishop to f1. One idea in the Rossolimo/Alapin lines is to push the White e-pawn to e5 before Black has advanced the d-pawn from the 7th rank. Then when the d-pawn advances, White can capture en passant on d6 with a slightly favorable IQP formation in the offing. A Black pawn on e6 just might help White with this plan.
7. Na3?! ….
Now White begins to try to invent something new. Good luck only kept me from paying a price for such a radical development. I really don’t need a Nc2 to support the d2-d4 push, it can be done immediately. The text is a wasted tempo.
7.… Nge7
8. d4 cxd4
9. cxd4 d5
10. e5 O-O
11. Bg5 a6
12. Bf1 h6
Now we see where the tempo used to put the Knight on a3 might have been better spent; if my Queen was on d2 this move would not have been possible. My intention here was 13 Bf6. However, the more I looked at how things would roll out after 13 Bf6, the less liking I had for the move. True enough Black’s pride, the Bg7 would be gone, but holding the pawn on f6 looks impossible and the Black Ne7 could travel through f5 to a very nice post on d6. White has not made anything substantial out of a slight lead in development. The eccentric placement of the Na3 and the quirky “un-development” of the Bishop to f1, are certainly not precursors of some sparkling attack. It was pleasing, in a negative fashion, to recognize this reality before pushing on as I have so often done in the past and start down another path.
13. Bd2 …..
With no happiness to be found with 13 Bf6, I thought there might be something to do on the other side of the board.
13.… Bd7
14. Rc1 Rac8?!
This move looks natural, but better is 14..., Qb6; pressing on b2 and d4, then if 15 Bc3, f6; beginning operations to reduce the White center bulwark at d4 and e5. The game is about equal now.
15. Nc2 Qb6
An alternative plan for Black is to attack the White pawn wedge with …, f7-f6. That move could have been tried here.
16. Bc3 Na5
17. Nb4 Nc4?!
Better 17..., Rfe1; defending a loose piece, and opening a track for the Bg7 into action on the Q-side. The adventure of the Black Knight around c4, a3, and b5 seems to spoil the coordination of the Black pieces. White has ideas of putting a Knight on c5, and/or using his dark squared Bishop on the a3-f8 diagonal. White has obtained some advantage.
18. b3 Na3
19. Nd3 Nb5
20. Bb4 Rxc1
21. Qxc1 Rc8
22. Qb2 Nc6
23. Bc5 Qa5?
White has built the advantage up with Black’s help. Here 23..., Qd8; is a more careful choice. The text creates a tangle of Black pieces that should be exploited.
24. Rc1? ….
And I respond by missing the chance to deal Black a heavy blow. It was clear to me we were approaching the critical moment. Unfortunately, I was not able to muster the effort to calculate precisely and so picked a move that felt good in a general sense. Once more we see the truth of what the Russian School teaches; concrete calculation is usually superior to general principles. Rather than putting my Rook on the c-file, the correct continuation is; 24 a4! Because 24..., Nba7; 25 b4, Qxa4; loses after 26 Ra1, when the Black Queen is well and truly trapped, the retreat to c7 or d8 are the only options. The threat of b4-b5 will pick up material, but I’m not certain that is best. In the interest of keeping counter-play to a minimum, White might continue after 24..., Nba7; 25 b4, Qc7; 26 Bd6, to be followed by 27 a5, and 28 Nc5. White has an iron grip on the Q-side that will eventually cost Black a pawn and the game. I must become giddy when my plans are blessed with success, and then begin to think that serious work is no longer required. That is the explanation that fits the many, many occasions this has happen to me. After all the years of striving to correct that flaw in my chess character, it is doubtful such change will ever be accomplished.
24.…. Qd8
Better 24..., Nc7. The text allows White to get some greater advantage than he deserves.
25. a4 Nba7
26. b4? ….
Still thinking anything wins and not really seeing the facts on the board, I played this move not realizing the game is just about equal now. Other moves such as 26 Nf4, 26 Qa3, or Be2, offer better chances to keep some edge. At about this point in the game the fate of my Bf1 began to bother me. Whatever was to happen that Bishop had to be gotten into the game. The pawn on a6 is a natural target for the Bishop.
26.… b6
27. Bd6 Bf8?
This natural appearing move is an error. White now has the opportunity to get back to an advantage.
28. Bxf8 Qxf8
29. a5 bxa5
30. Nc5 Qd8
31. Bxa6 Rb8
I achieved my intention. The light squared Bishop is fully in the fight and White is somewhat better than Black.
32. b5? ….
This time at least I considered the better move, 32 Qd2. The consideration was once more superficial. Just a quick glance and I saw Black would have to play 32..., Kg7; and without more than a moment’s thought I dismissed the line. Again my assessment of the position was wrong. With 32 Qd2, White would win the vital a-pawn after 32..., Kg7; 33 Nxd7, Qxd7; 34 bxa5. The outside passed pawn is enough to make the defense Black must undertake very difficult. This is particularly so with John’s clock running down. He was not in desperate time trouble yet with a bit more than five minutes remaining but it would have been unpleasant. The way in which I played brings the game back to a rough equality.
32.… Nb4
33. Nb7 Qb6
34. Nxa5?? ….
Throwing away hours of work with almost no thought. White let slip the advantage a couple of times previosly in the game. Here once more I fail control my nerves, play a hasty move and should rightfully lose on the spot after 34..., Nd3. I thought my answer 35 Qd2, with the Queen and Knight threatening to combine to mate the Black King was a defense. My computer exposed the flaw in this idea. John must have seen some of the combination and decide not to play 34..., Nd3. He did not see enough to go for the win. A sample line is; 34 Nxa5??, Nd3; 35 Qd2, Nc1; 36 Qxh6, Nc1; 37 Ng5, Bxb5+!; and the weakness of my King’s situation will be decisive. There is just not enough time for my Q+N assault to work.
34.… Nxa6?
The ticking clock led Mr. Barnes to take what looks to be a safer path to an advantage. Black is still nicely ahead in this position.
35. Qd2 Kg7?
It takes two poor choices by Black to toss away the huge edge I conceded with the error on move 34. Capturing on b5 with any of the possible pieces would lead to a quick win for Black. I just do not have the needed couple of moves to make the threat to the Black King real.
36. bxa6 Qxa6
37. Ra1 …..
In defense of Black’s decision, the clock was becoming a serious problem now. John and I were leading the Consolation Swiss going into this game. A defeat for either of us would put the loser out of the running for first place. Time pressure in a critical game has caused all of us middle-of-the-pack chess players to make bad decisions and see danger where there is none. I can’t claim the justification of time trouble for my mistakes, they were just poor play.
37.… Nc6
38. Nb3 Draw by agreement.
I made my last move and offered a draw. After a moment’s thought John agreed to the splitting of the point. He could have tried 38..., Qxa1+; 39 Nxa1, Rb1+; 40 Ne1, Nxd4; and so on with a R+B+P for the Queen. That is a hard situation to win with fewer than five minutes on the clock in a Sudden Death time control. I had about thirty minutes on my clock. The time difference probably tipped the balance in John’s decision.
It is difficult to explain how two pretty experienced players, who didn’t do too badly up to a point, both lost their objectivity and understanding of a position so completely at almost the same instant. It has happened before and will again. I suspect the cause has something to do with the tension of an important game and our ability to successfully deal with the tension.
There are several games from Thursday last on my desk for publication. The aim is to get them out by Monday night. A quick summary of the results are:
Finals; Mockler - Chi was won by Patrick Chi in 54 moves
Sells - Phillips was won by Philip Sells in moves 60+ moves.
Swiss: LeCours - Little was won by Little in 33 moves
Chu - Qu was won by Richard Chu in 57 moves
Stanley - Capitummino was won by Mike Stanley
Northrup - Dipre was won by Cory Northrup
Some games from this round of the Swiss were delayed and will played next week. the final round pairings will be made after the delayed games are finished.
More soon.
The post today is not wholly about our local games. I stay away from commenting on international chess games and events. There are better placed observers more qualified to tell the stories of those games and dramas. The passing of Smyslov is an exception. On the 27 March, 2010 Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov died at age 89. The details of his career are well documented in excellent articles on TWIC as well as several nice pieces posted on the ICC. Today I want to add just a few thoughts about the 7th World Champion from someone who began to play chess when Smyslov was one of the very best in the world.
In 1950 I began to learned chess. These were the early days of the dominance by the USSR of international chess. The chess books available to me then extolled the virtues of Alekhine, Capablanca and Lasker. Their day was long passed by today’s standards, but the lead times for publication in the pre-computer age were considerable. Printed material about the contemporary players battling for the top spot in the world came to my attention in fits and starts from copies of the Kashdan’s Chess Review, or B.H. Woods’ column in the Illustrated London News that happened cross my path. Nevertheless, Vasily Smyslov’ name was well known to even us in the hinterlands of Upstate New York. Second in the World Championship tournament of 1948, the “Crown Prince” of Russian Chess was a name to conjure with when anticipating one of the matches for the world title that came up every three years. It seemed that the contest was going to be always between Botvinnik and Smyslov.
Botvinnik’s drawn match with Bronstein in 1952 was put down to the World Champion just not preparing seriously for someone other than Smyslov.
With few sources of news about chess available, we knew very little about Smyslov’s games themselves. His brief term as Champion of the World in 1957 saw a game or two of his published in Chess Life, or Chess Review. The games, or at least the annotations of the games, left one with the impression of a player with immense technical expertise and little of the dash and daring that so recommended Bronstein to us. It was not until 1980 when I obtained my copy of Jim Marfia’s translation of David Bronstein’s excellent book on the 1953 inter-zonal tournament at Zurich did I see the full talent of Smyslov displayed. There on the stage of one of the truly great chess events, while some of the pre-WWII stars (Reshevsky, Stahlberg, Najdorf, Euwe, Boleslavsky and Keres) faced off against the immediate post WWII talent (Smyslov, Bronstein, Petrosian, Geller, Taimanov, etc.), Smyslov demonstrated a creative approach that was clearly broader and more consistent than his competitors. He won the event two full points clear of the field.
Smyslov, like Korchnoi and Lasker of long ago, continued well into his later years playing at a very high level. He was eliminated by the eventual WC, Gary Kasparov, in the 1982-84 cycle after defeating Zoltan Ribli in the semi-finals. Now there is something remarkable; 1948 finishing second to Botvinnik, and 35+years later finishing in effect third to Kasparov and Karpov! There has been a spate of Smyslov games published on the occasion of his death. Playing through these games brings home to me how under appreciated this man’s talent and contribution was. We always knew he was good, but perhaps did not understand how infrequently such a talent comes our way. It is sad he is now gone, it is sadder one of the very best to ever play our game spent his final years in poverty and neglect.
As was said earlier in this piece, Alekhine, Capablanca and Lasker were the heroes of chess literature in my youth. They were all dead then, Alekhine in 1946 and Lasker and Capablanca in the early 1940’s. The living heroes of the chessboard of my youth are just about all gone now also; Botvinnik, Keres, Bronstein, Reshevsky, and now Smyslov. And so the orders pass and the ages roll.
Now on to a game far from the level of Smyslov‘s play. John Barnes and I met in the third round of the Consolation Swiss last Thursday. For awhile we played pretty decent chess, then strangeness set in, and we messed up what could have been a good game.
Consolation Swiss
Date: 4-1-2010
White: Little, B
Black: Barnes, J
1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 g6
Kramnik and Anand like to play this way as Black against the Rossolimo variation.
4. O-O Bg7
5. Re1 Qc7?
This move looks wrong. Kramnik and Anand have tried 5..., Qb6; here. Kasparov has used 5..., Nf6. Polugaevsky used 5..., e5. All are probably better choices than the text. I do not see the active idea behind the game move.
6. c3 e6
Possibly better is 6..., a6; making White decide whether to take on c6 or retreat the Bishop to f1. One idea in the Rossolimo/Alapin lines is to push the White e-pawn to e5 before Black has advanced the d-pawn from the 7th rank. Then when the d-pawn advances, White can capture en passant on d6 with a slightly favorable IQP formation in the offing. A Black pawn on e6 just might help White with this plan.
7. Na3?! ….
Now White begins to try to invent something new. Good luck only kept me from paying a price for such a radical development. I really don’t need a Nc2 to support the d2-d4 push, it can be done immediately. The text is a wasted tempo.
7.… Nge7
8. d4 cxd4
9. cxd4 d5
10. e5 O-O
11. Bg5 a6
12. Bf1 h6
Now we see where the tempo used to put the Knight on a3 might have been better spent; if my Queen was on d2 this move would not have been possible. My intention here was 13 Bf6. However, the more I looked at how things would roll out after 13 Bf6, the less liking I had for the move. True enough Black’s pride, the Bg7 would be gone, but holding the pawn on f6 looks impossible and the Black Ne7 could travel through f5 to a very nice post on d6. White has not made anything substantial out of a slight lead in development. The eccentric placement of the Na3 and the quirky “un-development” of the Bishop to f1, are certainly not precursors of some sparkling attack. It was pleasing, in a negative fashion, to recognize this reality before pushing on as I have so often done in the past and start down another path.
13. Bd2 …..
With no happiness to be found with 13 Bf6, I thought there might be something to do on the other side of the board.
13.… Bd7
14. Rc1 Rac8?!
This move looks natural, but better is 14..., Qb6; pressing on b2 and d4, then if 15 Bc3, f6; beginning operations to reduce the White center bulwark at d4 and e5. The game is about equal now.
15. Nc2 Qb6
An alternative plan for Black is to attack the White pawn wedge with …, f7-f6. That move could have been tried here.
16. Bc3 Na5
17. Nb4 Nc4?!
Better 17..., Rfe1; defending a loose piece, and opening a track for the Bg7 into action on the Q-side. The adventure of the Black Knight around c4, a3, and b5 seems to spoil the coordination of the Black pieces. White has ideas of putting a Knight on c5, and/or using his dark squared Bishop on the a3-f8 diagonal. White has obtained some advantage.
18. b3 Na3
19. Nd3 Nb5
20. Bb4 Rxc1
21. Qxc1 Rc8
22. Qb2 Nc6
23. Bc5 Qa5?
White has built the advantage up with Black’s help. Here 23..., Qd8; is a more careful choice. The text creates a tangle of Black pieces that should be exploited.
24. Rc1? ….
And I respond by missing the chance to deal Black a heavy blow. It was clear to me we were approaching the critical moment. Unfortunately, I was not able to muster the effort to calculate precisely and so picked a move that felt good in a general sense. Once more we see the truth of what the Russian School teaches; concrete calculation is usually superior to general principles. Rather than putting my Rook on the c-file, the correct continuation is; 24 a4! Because 24..., Nba7; 25 b4, Qxa4; loses after 26 Ra1, when the Black Queen is well and truly trapped, the retreat to c7 or d8 are the only options. The threat of b4-b5 will pick up material, but I’m not certain that is best. In the interest of keeping counter-play to a minimum, White might continue after 24..., Nba7; 25 b4, Qc7; 26 Bd6, to be followed by 27 a5, and 28 Nc5. White has an iron grip on the Q-side that will eventually cost Black a pawn and the game. I must become giddy when my plans are blessed with success, and then begin to think that serious work is no longer required. That is the explanation that fits the many, many occasions this has happen to me. After all the years of striving to correct that flaw in my chess character, it is doubtful such change will ever be accomplished.
24.…. Qd8
Better 24..., Nc7. The text allows White to get some greater advantage than he deserves.
25. a4 Nba7
26. b4? ….
Still thinking anything wins and not really seeing the facts on the board, I played this move not realizing the game is just about equal now. Other moves such as 26 Nf4, 26 Qa3, or Be2, offer better chances to keep some edge. At about this point in the game the fate of my Bf1 began to bother me. Whatever was to happen that Bishop had to be gotten into the game. The pawn on a6 is a natural target for the Bishop.
26.… b6
27. Bd6 Bf8?
This natural appearing move is an error. White now has the opportunity to get back to an advantage.
28. Bxf8 Qxf8
29. a5 bxa5
30. Nc5 Qd8
31. Bxa6 Rb8
I achieved my intention. The light squared Bishop is fully in the fight and White is somewhat better than Black.
32. b5? ….
This time at least I considered the better move, 32 Qd2. The consideration was once more superficial. Just a quick glance and I saw Black would have to play 32..., Kg7; and without more than a moment’s thought I dismissed the line. Again my assessment of the position was wrong. With 32 Qd2, White would win the vital a-pawn after 32..., Kg7; 33 Nxd7, Qxd7; 34 bxa5. The outside passed pawn is enough to make the defense Black must undertake very difficult. This is particularly so with John’s clock running down. He was not in desperate time trouble yet with a bit more than five minutes remaining but it would have been unpleasant. The way in which I played brings the game back to a rough equality.
32.… Nb4
33. Nb7 Qb6
34. Nxa5?? ….
Throwing away hours of work with almost no thought. White let slip the advantage a couple of times previosly in the game. Here once more I fail control my nerves, play a hasty move and should rightfully lose on the spot after 34..., Nd3. I thought my answer 35 Qd2, with the Queen and Knight threatening to combine to mate the Black King was a defense. My computer exposed the flaw in this idea. John must have seen some of the combination and decide not to play 34..., Nd3. He did not see enough to go for the win. A sample line is; 34 Nxa5??, Nd3; 35 Qd2, Nc1; 36 Qxh6, Nc1; 37 Ng5, Bxb5+!; and the weakness of my King’s situation will be decisive. There is just not enough time for my Q+N assault to work.
34.… Nxa6?
The ticking clock led Mr. Barnes to take what looks to be a safer path to an advantage. Black is still nicely ahead in this position.
35. Qd2 Kg7?
It takes two poor choices by Black to toss away the huge edge I conceded with the error on move 34. Capturing on b5 with any of the possible pieces would lead to a quick win for Black. I just do not have the needed couple of moves to make the threat to the Black King real.
36. bxa6 Qxa6
37. Ra1 …..
In defense of Black’s decision, the clock was becoming a serious problem now. John and I were leading the Consolation Swiss going into this game. A defeat for either of us would put the loser out of the running for first place. Time pressure in a critical game has caused all of us middle-of-the-pack chess players to make bad decisions and see danger where there is none. I can’t claim the justification of time trouble for my mistakes, they were just poor play.
37.… Nc6
38. Nb3 Draw by agreement.
I made my last move and offered a draw. After a moment’s thought John agreed to the splitting of the point. He could have tried 38..., Qxa1+; 39 Nxa1, Rb1+; 40 Ne1, Nxd4; and so on with a R+B+P for the Queen. That is a hard situation to win with fewer than five minutes on the clock in a Sudden Death time control. I had about thirty minutes on my clock. The time difference probably tipped the balance in John’s decision.
It is difficult to explain how two pretty experienced players, who didn’t do too badly up to a point, both lost their objectivity and understanding of a position so completely at almost the same instant. It has happened before and will again. I suspect the cause has something to do with the tension of an important game and our ability to successfully deal with the tension.
There are several games from Thursday last on my desk for publication. The aim is to get them out by Monday night. A quick summary of the results are:
Finals; Mockler - Chi was won by Patrick Chi in 54 moves
Sells - Phillips was won by Philip Sells in moves 60+ moves.
Swiss: LeCours - Little was won by Little in 33 moves
Chu - Qu was won by Richard Chu in 57 moves
Stanley - Capitummino was won by Mike Stanley
Northrup - Dipre was won by Cory Northrup
Some games from this round of the Swiss were delayed and will played next week. the final round pairings will be made after the delayed games are finished.
More soon.
4.05.2010
Delayed News from Schenectady
Last Thursday was a make-up round in both the Finals and the Consolation Swiss at the Schenectady Club. Two games were played; Howard - Rotter in the Finals, won by Bobby Rotter and Little - Barnes in the Swiss which was drawn.
The first game we will look at is Howard - Rotter. In it Bobby gets to play his favored Scandinavian versus 1 e4. He has been specializing in this, particularly the 2..., Nf6; variations for some while. Based on a conversation with Dean after the game, I think Bobby has a deeper and wider familiarity with these lines than does Dean. Rotter’s preparation has led to several good results against 1 e4, and this is one more.
SCC Ch Finals 09-10
Date: 3-31-2010
White: Howard, D
Black: Rotter, B
1. e4 d5
2. exd5 Nf6
3. d4 Nxd5
4. c4 Nb6
5. Nf3 Bg4
Rotter likes the Portuguese variations. This is not it exactly. The game is pretty much in the main line of the Scandinavian with just a touch of Portuguese thrown in.
6. Be3!? ….
More usual is 6 Be2. The most daring is 6 c5. If then 6..., Nd5; 7 Qb3; leads to some advantage for White. GM John Emms believes that 6..., N6d7; is best for Black and White can obtain some advantage after 7 Bc4, e6; 8 Nc3, Be7; 9 h3, Bh5; 10 Be3, Nc6; 11 a3, promises nothing great for White. In his book The Scandinavian, Everyman, London, 2004, Emms says 11 Qe2!, leads to a somewhat better game for White, plus over equals in ECO speak. The game move takes a less critical path.
6.… e6
7. Be2 Nc6
Black is counting continuing piece pressure to get some compromise of the White pawn structure. That is a slender reed upon which to craft a victory. My own excursions in the Scandinavian have often lead to draws if the player of the White pieces has even a general idea of what needs doing. White has space. That can offset even the loss of a pawn, sometimes.
8. O-O ….
Possible is 8 Nc3, getting everything developed. The pawn at c4 is really not in grave danger.
8.… Bxf3
9. Bxf3 Nxc4
10. Qa4 Nb6
11. Bxc6+ bxc6
12. Qxc6+ Qd7
13. Qc2!? …..
Emms states 13 Qf3, is best for White. It is possible Dean was concerned that after 13 Qf3, there was something is 13..., Qb5; for Black. The offer of the b-pawn in the line 13 Qf3, Qb5; 14 Nc3!, Qxb2; 15 Qc6+, Kd8; 16 d5!, is too risky to accept. In which case, White completes his development with Nb1-c3 and Ra1-c1, when he can consider bringing the Knight to e4 making threatening gestures about a direct attack on the Black King as well as looking something down the c-file. The game move is less dynamic than 13 Qf3, giving Black a chance to equalize.
13.… Bd6
14. Nc3 O-O
15. Rac1 Rac8
16. Rfd1 Rfd8
17. Ne4 Be7
Black is too interested in safety. With 17..., Nd5; he could obtain some solid initiative. It is unlikely White would capture the Be6 straightening out Black’s pawn formation and leaving the Nd5 unopposed.
18. Qc6 ….
If White has any edge at all it is in the element of space. The principles of positional play don’t recommend voluntarily exchanging Queens when you are ahead in space, it just eases the defender’s task. A reasonable try is 18 Bg5, offering to trade the Bishops. In this case, the Black Bishop is a little better than the White piece so that is a plus for White, and the Knight coming to g5 may induce …, g7-g6; leaving dark square holes for the Queen and Knight to exploit if Black is not careful. Of course, Black could play 18..., f6; avoiding the trade. Minor piece trades can then easily take place at c5 - White N and Black B, and at e3 Black N and White B; leaving a heavy piece ending with both sides defending weak pawns, a dynamically balanced game with equal chances.
18.… f5
19. Qxd7 Rxd7
20. Nc5 Bxc5
21. dxc5 Rxd1+
22. Rxd1 Nd5
Black entered the potentially inferior ending counting on the strength of the outpost Nd5 and the fact of having Rooks on changes the relationship of Bishop versus Knight with pawns on both sides of the board. The side having the Knight will not be willing to trade Rooks unless he can see a definite advantage resulting. Absent obvious targets for the Bishop and Rook to combine against, and with the Knight has a good post, the game is equal.
23. c6 ….
White elects to take on commitments in an effort to strike for victory. If he wanted to play safe, White could play here 23 Bd4; defending the pawn on c5 and covering e5 and a draw seems likely.
23.… Rb8
24. b3 Rb5
25. Rd3 a6
26. a4 Rb8
White has been relying on the tactic; if the Black Rook is off the back rank and the Nd5 moves away, White Rook checks on the d-file can win the Black c-pawn. This background tactic will only hold until Black takes steps to correct the situation. Black’s last sequence of moves seemed to be motivated by a wish to tempt White into continuing a policy of taking on commitments.
27. h3 Kf7
28. Bd2? ….
Dean now shrinks at making one more committal move, 28 f4, and if 28..., Nxe3; the complicated Rook and Pawn ending coming is likely drawn but not without some tricks. Given the usual state of Dean’s clock calculating some lengthy lines was a problem. Also playing a part was the sporting circumstances. Mockler and Sells had a half-point less in the loss column and are leading the event. In a tourney of only five rounds with such closely matched contestants a win is vital if there is the chance. This game was Dean’s last chance to put up a score. It was his last game in the event. Everyone else has at least a couple of games to play. The combination of factors persuaded Dean to avoid the minor piece trade keeping a winning chance alive. Black now gets an edge while time trouble makes White task tougher.
28... Ke7?
Better 28..., Rb6; simply winning a pawn.
29. Be3 ….
Going back is no cure for what troubles White’s game.
29.… Kd6
30. Ba7 Ra8
Dawdling a bit, but not too much. Black would have to completely lose track of the thread for the game to slip away now.
31. Bd4 g6
32. Rd1 Kxc6
33. Be5 Rb8
34. Rc1+ Kd7
35. Rb1 Rb4
36. Kf1 c6
37. Bg7 Rb7
38. Bf8 e5
39. Bc5 a5
40. Rb2 Ke6
41. Ke2? ….
With little time left to think, White makes a mistake, and the Q-side falls followed by a full piece.
41.… Nc3+
42. Ke1 Nxa4
43. Rc2 Rxb3
44. Rc4 Nb2
45. Rh4 Nd3+
46. Resigns.
The win brings Mr. Rotter up to an even score for the event, 1-1 with three games to play. If he can win them all, first, or a tie for first is possible. As Dean said right after play ended: I may not be first, but I was first to finish.” As it stands now, Mockler, Sells and Chi have two games to play and Phillips one game to play. With everyone losing at least once, visions of play-off games are dancing the TD’s head.
Some computer problems have made the time needed to write this post much longer than I anticipated. In the interest of getting something up on the blog, my game with Barnes will be posted tomorrow.
The first game we will look at is Howard - Rotter. In it Bobby gets to play his favored Scandinavian versus 1 e4. He has been specializing in this, particularly the 2..., Nf6; variations for some while. Based on a conversation with Dean after the game, I think Bobby has a deeper and wider familiarity with these lines than does Dean. Rotter’s preparation has led to several good results against 1 e4, and this is one more.
SCC Ch Finals 09-10
Date: 3-31-2010
White: Howard, D
Black: Rotter, B
1. e4 d5
2. exd5 Nf6
3. d4 Nxd5
4. c4 Nb6
5. Nf3 Bg4
Rotter likes the Portuguese variations. This is not it exactly. The game is pretty much in the main line of the Scandinavian with just a touch of Portuguese thrown in.
6. Be3!? ….
More usual is 6 Be2. The most daring is 6 c5. If then 6..., Nd5; 7 Qb3; leads to some advantage for White. GM John Emms believes that 6..., N6d7; is best for Black and White can obtain some advantage after 7 Bc4, e6; 8 Nc3, Be7; 9 h3, Bh5; 10 Be3, Nc6; 11 a3, promises nothing great for White. In his book The Scandinavian, Everyman, London, 2004, Emms says 11 Qe2!, leads to a somewhat better game for White, plus over equals in ECO speak. The game move takes a less critical path.
6.… e6
7. Be2 Nc6
Black is counting continuing piece pressure to get some compromise of the White pawn structure. That is a slender reed upon which to craft a victory. My own excursions in the Scandinavian have often lead to draws if the player of the White pieces has even a general idea of what needs doing. White has space. That can offset even the loss of a pawn, sometimes.
8. O-O ….
Possible is 8 Nc3, getting everything developed. The pawn at c4 is really not in grave danger.
8.… Bxf3
9. Bxf3 Nxc4
10. Qa4 Nb6
11. Bxc6+ bxc6
12. Qxc6+ Qd7
13. Qc2!? …..
Emms states 13 Qf3, is best for White. It is possible Dean was concerned that after 13 Qf3, there was something is 13..., Qb5; for Black. The offer of the b-pawn in the line 13 Qf3, Qb5; 14 Nc3!, Qxb2; 15 Qc6+, Kd8; 16 d5!, is too risky to accept. In which case, White completes his development with Nb1-c3 and Ra1-c1, when he can consider bringing the Knight to e4 making threatening gestures about a direct attack on the Black King as well as looking something down the c-file. The game move is less dynamic than 13 Qf3, giving Black a chance to equalize.
13.… Bd6
14. Nc3 O-O
15. Rac1 Rac8
16. Rfd1 Rfd8
17. Ne4 Be7
Black is too interested in safety. With 17..., Nd5; he could obtain some solid initiative. It is unlikely White would capture the Be6 straightening out Black’s pawn formation and leaving the Nd5 unopposed.
18. Qc6 ….
If White has any edge at all it is in the element of space. The principles of positional play don’t recommend voluntarily exchanging Queens when you are ahead in space, it just eases the defender’s task. A reasonable try is 18 Bg5, offering to trade the Bishops. In this case, the Black Bishop is a little better than the White piece so that is a plus for White, and the Knight coming to g5 may induce …, g7-g6; leaving dark square holes for the Queen and Knight to exploit if Black is not careful. Of course, Black could play 18..., f6; avoiding the trade. Minor piece trades can then easily take place at c5 - White N and Black B, and at e3 Black N and White B; leaving a heavy piece ending with both sides defending weak pawns, a dynamically balanced game with equal chances.
18.… f5
19. Qxd7 Rxd7
20. Nc5 Bxc5
21. dxc5 Rxd1+
22. Rxd1 Nd5
Black entered the potentially inferior ending counting on the strength of the outpost Nd5 and the fact of having Rooks on changes the relationship of Bishop versus Knight with pawns on both sides of the board. The side having the Knight will not be willing to trade Rooks unless he can see a definite advantage resulting. Absent obvious targets for the Bishop and Rook to combine against, and with the Knight has a good post, the game is equal.
23. c6 ….
White elects to take on commitments in an effort to strike for victory. If he wanted to play safe, White could play here 23 Bd4; defending the pawn on c5 and covering e5 and a draw seems likely.
23.… Rb8
24. b3 Rb5
25. Rd3 a6
26. a4 Rb8
White has been relying on the tactic; if the Black Rook is off the back rank and the Nd5 moves away, White Rook checks on the d-file can win the Black c-pawn. This background tactic will only hold until Black takes steps to correct the situation. Black’s last sequence of moves seemed to be motivated by a wish to tempt White into continuing a policy of taking on commitments.
27. h3 Kf7
28. Bd2? ….
Dean now shrinks at making one more committal move, 28 f4, and if 28..., Nxe3; the complicated Rook and Pawn ending coming is likely drawn but not without some tricks. Given the usual state of Dean’s clock calculating some lengthy lines was a problem. Also playing a part was the sporting circumstances. Mockler and Sells had a half-point less in the loss column and are leading the event. In a tourney of only five rounds with such closely matched contestants a win is vital if there is the chance. This game was Dean’s last chance to put up a score. It was his last game in the event. Everyone else has at least a couple of games to play. The combination of factors persuaded Dean to avoid the minor piece trade keeping a winning chance alive. Black now gets an edge while time trouble makes White task tougher.
28... Ke7?
Better 28..., Rb6; simply winning a pawn.
29. Be3 ….
Going back is no cure for what troubles White’s game.
29.… Kd6
30. Ba7 Ra8
Dawdling a bit, but not too much. Black would have to completely lose track of the thread for the game to slip away now.
31. Bd4 g6
32. Rd1 Kxc6
33. Be5 Rb8
34. Rc1+ Kd7
35. Rb1 Rb4
36. Kf1 c6
37. Bg7 Rb7
38. Bf8 e5
39. Bc5 a5
40. Rb2 Ke6
41. Ke2? ….
With little time left to think, White makes a mistake, and the Q-side falls followed by a full piece.
41.… Nc3+
42. Ke1 Nxa4
43. Rc2 Rxb3
44. Rc4 Nb2
45. Rh4 Nd3+
46. Resigns.
The win brings Mr. Rotter up to an even score for the event, 1-1 with three games to play. If he can win them all, first, or a tie for first is possible. As Dean said right after play ended: I may not be first, but I was first to finish.” As it stands now, Mockler, Sells and Chi have two games to play and Phillips one game to play. With everyone losing at least once, visions of play-off games are dancing the TD’s head.
Some computer problems have made the time needed to write this post much longer than I anticipated. In the interest of getting something up on the blog, my game with Barnes will be posted tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
