We can’t complain locally about not having many events to keep us busy. In the midst of the first period of extended serious winter weather the Schenectady Club was the site of a Capital District Chess League match. The Schenectady A team faced off with the Schenectady Geezers. The A team won 2 ½ to 1 ½.
The line ups and results were:
Geezers Sch’dy A Opening Result
Board 1 Mike Mockler Phil Sells Sicilian (?) ½ - ½
Board 2 Bill Little Patrick Chi Nimzo 0-1
Board 3 John Phillips Bobby Rotter Dutch 0-1
Board 4 Richard Chu John Barnes Sicilian 1-0
With this many games to hand all at once analysis is an impossible task. Rather than dawdle for days, publishing the game scores with a few brief comments gets the news out and may have more interest to the readers.
This match was a partial rehearsal of the soon to be played Finals. The games between Mockler versus Sells and Phillips versus Rotter give us food for thought about their contests in the Finals of the Schenectady Championship. There is also a good chance that Chu and Barnes will face each other again in the Consolation Swiss also.
White: Mockler, M
Black: Sells, P
Date: 2/25/2010
[ECO "B30"]
Mockler and Sells agreed the draw in this game when it appeared much material was to come off the board on the a-file.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bb5 Nge7 5. O-O g6 6. Nd5 Bg7 7. Re1 O-O 8.c3 a6 9. Bf1 d6 10. d3 b5 11. a4 Bb7 12. Ng5 Nxd5 13. exd5 Ne7 14. c4 (14.a5 Nf5 15. Ne4 Nd4) 14... Nf5 15. Ne4 Nd4 16. axb5 axb5 17. Rxa8 Bxa8 18. Bg5 f6 19. Be3 Nf5 20. Qb3
In the postmortem, Mike said he thought about 20 Bxc5, dxc5; 21 Nxc5, but after 21..., Ne4; it is not at all clear how the center pawn mass can be mobilized to justify the sacrifice of a piec for two pawns.
20.…Nxe3 21. Rxe3 f5 22. Nc3 b4 23. Nd1 Qa5 24. Re1
Bb7 25. Ne3 Ra8 26. Be2 Bc8 27. Rb1 Bd7 28. Qd1 Ba4 29. b3 Bd7 30. Nc2 Qd8.
Drawn agreed. As I suggested in an earlier post, these two guys are pretty evenly matched. This game supports that conclusion.
White: Chi, P
Black: Little, B
Date: 2/25/2010
ECO "E38"]
Patrick convincingly out played me in an opening I picked without serious preparation, Over the years the Nimzo-Indian has been a third choice weapon for me. I know it is supposed to be a battle for e4, but somehow that was forgotten in an ill fated attempt to confuse my young opponent. Patrick ignored my foolishness, played good simple chess and won logically.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. dxc5 Nc6 6. Nf3 Bxc5 7. Bg5 a6
This is the beginning of incorrect play. Just 7..., 0-0; is better.
8. e3 O-O 9. Be2 Qc7
The Queen is not doing much on c7. White is now clearly better.
10. O-O h6
Better is 10..., Be7; keeping the pawns intact. After this error my game is seriously compromised.
11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. a3 Ne5 13. Ne4 Be7 14. Qc3
Patrick did not make the most of the chances he had. I could now get back into the fight with 14.…, f5; or the principled 14.…, b6. Instead I continued with an incorrect plan that leads to quick defeat.
14.…, Nxf3+ 15. Bxf3 Qe5 16. Rfd1 Qxc3 17. Nxc3 d6
The two weaknesses on d6 and b7 are too much of a defense task for Black. The game is lost.
18. Na4 Rb8 19. Nb6 Rd8 20.Rac1 Bd7 21. c5 d5 22. e4 Bc6 23. exd5 exd5 24. Bxd5 Kf8 25. Bxc6 bxc6 26. Nd7+ Rxd7 27. Rxd7 Rxb2 28. g3 Rb5 29. Rc7 Rxc5 30. Rxc5 Bxc5 31. a4 (31. Rxc6 Bxa3 32. h4 a5) 31... a5 32. Rxc6 Bd4 33. Ra6 Bc3 34. Kf1 Kg7 35. Ke2 Kg6 36. Kd3 Bb4 37. Kc4 Kf5 38. f3 1-0
White: Phillips, J
Black: Rotter, B
Date: 2/25/2010
ECO "A82"]
Bobby Rotter demonstrates his determination to improve his endgame play in this encounter.
1. d4 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. Nc3 c6 4. Qh5+ g6 5. Qe5 Nf6 6. Nxe4 Bg7 7. Nd6+ Kf8 8. Nxc8 Qxc8 9. Bg5 d6 10. Qe3 Kf7 11. O-O-O Qe6
In the sharp and somewhat uncommon Staunton Gambit Bobby is out played! Most untypical. My guess he did not have anything prepared for the Staunton.
12. Re1, ….
And here John passes on the chance to give his opponent real difficulty with 12 Qxe6+, leaving Black with a poorly organized position and a clear edge for White.
12..., Qxe3+ 13. Rxe3 h6 14. Bh4 Nbd7 15. Bc4+ d5 16. Bd3 Rae8 17. Nf3 Ng4 18. Ree1 e5:
Bobby is back to his old self playing creatively in the middle game. He has just about equalized. His Knights have potential anchor points in the center and the White Bishop pair is not looking very active.
19. dxe5 Ngxe5 20. Nxe5+ Nxe5 21. Be2 Bf6 22. Bxf6 Kxf6
White voluntarily traded Bishops and Black has a fence of pawns on the light squares making the remaining White Bishop less effective than the Black Knight. The game is level.
23. f4 Nf7 24. Bd3 Nd6 25. Kd2 c5 26. c3 Rxe1 27. Rxe1 Re8 28. Rxe8 Nxe8 29. Ke3 Nd6 30. Kf3 Kf7 31. h4 h5
White delayed for reasons unknown advancing the g-pawn. That was the natural way to make the most of his K-side pawn majority. Now His K-side is not as strong as it could have been.
32. g4 hxg4+ 33. Kxg4 Kf6 34. a4 Nf7 35. Be2 b6 36. Bd3 Nd6 37. Bc2
John must have believed that almost any move would do in this position. Bobby bears down looking for threats while John does not sense the danger building. After the text White’s game is lost. Better 37 Kg3.
37.…, Nc4 38. Bb3 Nxb2 39. Bxd5 Nxa4 40. c4 Nc3 41. h5 gxh5+ 42. Kxh5 Kf5 0-1
White: Barnes, J
Black: Chu, R
Date: 2/25/2010
[ECO "B50"]
There was a second offbeat Sicilian in the match. John Barnes went in for a different, but not necessarily bad, line. Things went well for awhile, then Richard played a faulty sacrifice and John reacted wrongly. After some ups and downs for both sides, Barnes tried too hard to make an direct attack on Chu’s King. It backfired and Richard brought home the full point.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bd3 g6 4. c3 a6 5. a4 Bg7 6. Bc2 Nc6 7. O-O Nf6 8. d3 Ng4 9. h3 Nge5 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. Nf3 Bd7 13. Bf4 Qc8 14. Nxe5 dxe5 15. Be3 Be6 16. Qd2 f5 17. Bh6 f4 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. h4 Bh3?? 20. f3? ,….
The straight forward 20 gxh3, gives White a full piece, and there is just no compensation for Black. Richard should pile up heavy pieces on the d-file with 19..., Qd7.
20..., Be6 21. Kf2 h6 22. Rh1 Qd7 23. Rag1 Rf6 24. g4 fxg3ep+ 25. Rxg3 Raf8 26. Bd1 Rd8 27. Be2,….
On the surface one would think that c2 and e3 are about squares of equal worth. Such is not the case. Black now has the choice of clipping the a-pawn, or bearing down d6.
27.….Bc4 28. h5 g5 29. Rhg1,….
Timing is everything. This natural looking move misses a chance to sacrifice the Exchange to keep the game going with 29 Rxg5+.
29.…, Bxd3 30. Rxg5+,….
The sacrifice now has a lessened punch. John, maybe a little shocked by how things turned out missed a neat tactical finish. He pushes the h-pawn and gets mated for his trouble.
30.…, hxg5 31. Qxg5+ Kf7 32. h6 Bxe2 33. h7 Rxf3+ 34. Kg2 Qh3# 0-1
So, once more the Geezers fall short against the A team. Oh well, there some more teams in the League this year, and maybe we will do better as the rounds play out.
More in a day or two, perhaps something from the Saratoga tournement this weekend if the weather lets me get there.
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