Chessbase 8 and self-improvement

I am showing my age ;) but I still use Chessbase 8 for my chess database. One of my favourite features is the Dossier where it shows your repertoire and what the percentages are and what your performance rating is. Last year for instance it showed that I scored 18% with 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 (rated purely on games from 2001). i had played 1.g3 the odd time so I decided that if, over the year i got either 1.g3 d5 or 1.Nf3 d5 i would go for the King's Indian Attack just to raise my score. And I did :) So in the interest of scientific research I decided to do the same thing...this is from my personal database of over 11000 correspondence, OTB, and blitz games.

My lowest two as white are two of my most hated lines as White :

1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 e4 and 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4

(in the interest of putting some positivity my best numbers are against 1.e4 e5 2.d4 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6)

As Black my best is surprisingly the Queen's Indian 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 and my worst is the Colle 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3

maybe for 2010 I'll go back to playing 1.d4 d5...i enjoy the Queen's Gambit Accepted, the Tarrasch and the Semi-Slav. And if I happen to beat some Colle's too...so be it :)

Final Score - 3.5-2.5

Even though I got back-doored into a French and checkmated horribly, it just felt good to play...i need a weekend tournament of 5 games in 2 days to get me out of this mood :)

K-C
C02 - French : Advance Variation
Match Owen Sound (6), 22.05.2008

1.e4 c5 I figured I'd give him another crack at the Sicilian 2.d4 Unexpected 2...e6 3.c3! This is the downfall of my move order. White can basically force an Advanced French v. 2. ...e6. 3...d5 4.e5 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 c4 7.Be2 [7.Nbd2 is theory. I should be working on b3 since he didn't get there before m] 7...Nge7 [7...Na5 8.Nbd2 Bd7 is a more sensible set up for me] 8.Nh4 g5!? 9.Bxg5 [I won a pawn because Kirk thought that 9.Nf3 g4 10.Nfd2 h5 I was happy with the position because with the b- and c-pawns gone it's just a matter of marching my passed c-pawn in right?] 9...Qxb2 10.Nd2 Qxc3 11.0-0 Nxd4 12.Bh5 Rg8? 13.Bxf7+! Kxf7 14.Qh5+ Ng6 15.Qxh7+ Rg7 16.Qh5 Nf5 [16...Qd3] 17.Ndf3 Nfxh4 18.Nxh4 Qxe5 19.f4 Qd6 [19...Qb2 20.f5 exf5] 20.Rae1 Be7?? [20...Qc5+ 21.Kh1 d4 protecting the 5th rank although it's still ugly 22.Re5! Qxa3 23.Nxg6 (23.f5 exf5 24.Bh6 (24.Rfxf5+) ; 23...Rxg6 24.f5 exf5 25.Rexf5+ Bxf5 26.Rxf5+ Kg8 27.Qxg6+ Bg7 28.Qe6+ (28.Qf7+=) 28...Kh7 29.Bd2 protecting mate by me. The position is still won for Kirk, but there were a lot of exact moves he would have had to find...i certainly didn't see it over the board :)] 21.f5 Bxg5 22.fxe6+ Kg8 23.Nxg6 Rh7 24.Qxg5 Qxh2+ 25.Kf2 Rg7 26.Rh1 Rxg6 27.Qxg6+ Kf8 1-0

Pre-Guelph (1 and 2)

K - C
Pre-Guelph Owen Sound (1), 28.01.2008
E91 - King's Indian

I am going to a tournament in Guelph this weekend so K decided to challenge me to a couple of quick games (G/10+20 seconds) to warm up. I asked him to play up to move 6 this game 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 Bg4 [Mainline is 6...Nc6 7.0-0 e5 8.d5 etc. but I was inspired by Lawrence Day's book on Bryon Nickoloff and Nickoloff's use of this move order. Spassky has also used it as well as Ivanov] 7.0-0 [7.Be3 is the main line. Normally White can't get away with this becaue of ...Ng4] 7...Nc6 [Continuing in a normal KID way. 7...Nbd7 was playable as well] 8.Re1 [8.Be3] 8...e5 9.Be3 [9.d5 Bxf3 10.Bxf3 Nd4] 9...exd4 [9...Bxf3 10.Bxf3 exd4 was stronger because then I got the dark squared bishop off for sure 11.Bxd4 Nxd4 12.Qxd4] 10.Nxd4 Bxe2 11.Ndxe2 Ne5 I'm happy with my position. 12.b3 This was forced and opens up the diagonal for my dark squared bishop 12...Nfg4 13.Nf4? [I thought 13.Bf4 taking away the queen idea as he can retreat to g3 if necessary] 13...Nxc4? [13...Qh4 immediately was better 14.Nh3 Nxh2 15.Kxh2 Ng4+ 16.Kg1 Bxc3] 14.bxc4 [14.Qxg4 Bxc3 15.bxc4 Bxa1 16.Rxa1 was better for K] 14...Bxc3 [same idea 14...Qh4 I had the right idea but all in the wrong order] 15.Qc2? [15.Qxg4 i thought] 15...Nxe3? [A comedy of errors. I should've just grabbed the exchange 15...Bxe1 ] 16.Qxc3 Ng4 17.Nd5 Qh4 18.f3? [18.Qg3] 18...Qxh2+ 19.Kf1 Qh1+ 20.Ke2 Qxg2+ 21.Kd1 Ne5 [21...Nf2+ 22.Kc1 Qg5+ 23.Kb1] 22.f4 Qf3+ Three pawns up I have to trade 23.Qxf3 Nxf3 24.Rf1 Nd4 25.Nxc7 Rac8 26.Nb5 Nxb5 27.cxb5 Rc5 28.a4 Re8 29.Re1 Rc4 30.e5 dxe5 0-1and he resigned.

Not the greatest game, but he made the last error

C - K
Sadler_C - Sadler_K
Pre-Guelph Owen Sound (2), 28.01.2008
C18 - French : Winawer

1.d4 e6 So after the first game I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to play 2.e4 and give the French a go. It has been my nemesis over the years, but I've been reading over some stuff and the Winawer doesn't seem so scary anymore. 2...d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ [I was worried for a second he would play 5...Ba5 my mind went blank on what to play v. this] 6.bxc3 Qc7 7.Qg4 f5!? [Botwinnik played this against Tal. The main line of the Poisoned Pawn is 7...Ne7 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 cxd4 10.Ne2] 8.Qg3 [8.Qh5+ g6 (but Black can also go for the endgame after 8...Qf7 9.Qxf7+ Kxf7) 9.Qd1] 8...cxd4 9.Ne2? [Being too "brilliant" 9.cxd4 was good enough] 9...dxc3 10.Nxc3 I thought I was better here, Fritz disagrees 10...f4? [Dropping a pawn 10...a6 was better] 11.Bxf4 d4? [Again 11...a6 was better] 12.Nb5 Qa5+ 13.Kd1 [Again trying to be brilliant 13.Bd2 was much better (and winning) 13...Qd8 (13...Qb6 14.Qxg7) 14.Qxg7 +- ] 13...Ne7 14.Nd6+ [14.Qxg7 Rg8 15.Qxh7] 14...Kd7 15.Bb5+ [I was losing the thread here, and should have taken my time 15.Qxg7 is good enough] 15...Nbc6 16.Bd2 Qb6 17.Rb1 a6 18.Bxc6+ Qxc6 19.Ba5 b5 20.Qd3 Qd5 [I thought I was good with 20...Qxg2 21.Re1 but of course 21...Nc6 guarding everything saved the day] 21.a4 Qxe5 22.Nxb5? [Brutal. I should've just bit the proverbial bullet and played 22.Nxc8 ] 22...axb5 23.Rxb5 Qf4 24.Re1 Ba6 25.Re4 [25.Qb3 was better 25...Bxb5?? 26.Qxe6+ Ke8 27.Qxe7#] 25...Qxe4? [25...Qxf2 was much better as his queen guards d4 26.Qxd4+ (26.Rxd4+) 26...Qxd4+ 27.Rxd4+ Nd5] 26.Qxe4 Bxb5 27.Qxd4+? [We both missed a lot of tactics 27.Qb7+! Ke8 (27...Kd6 28.Bc7+ Kd7 29.Be5+ Kd8 30.Qxa8+ Nc8 31.axb5) 28.Qxa8+] 27...Nd5 28.axb5 Rhg8 [28...Rxa5 29.Qxg7+] 29.Bd2 Ke7 30.c4 Nf6 31.Qc5+ Kf7 32.Kc2? [Something like 32.Bb4 was better. I walked into a tactic] 32...Ra2+! 33.Kc1 [33.Kc3 Ne4+] 33...Rxd2 34.b6 [34.Qc7+ Rd7;
34.Kxd2 Ne4+] 34...Rgd8 35.b7? Should've moved my queen...the position of it took a bunch of squares away because of forking possibilities. My game is still in a shambles 35...Rd1+ 36.Kb2 R8d2+ 37.Ka3 Ra1+ 38.Kb4 Rb1+ 39.Ka5?? [39.Ka3 Rxb7 wasn't still terrible for me] 39...Ra2+ Comedy of errors. At least it was an interesting game :) I wasn't happy with the quality of play, but i was happy with the style of play (if that makes sense)? 0-1

Game Two

C - K
G45 Owen Sound (2), 12.08.2006
C19 - French: Winawer, advance, positional main line

A bit of a miniature today 1.e4 e6 [I was hoping he'd play 1...e5 but I suspected he'd play the French] 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 [I had been avoiding the Winawer for years with 3.e5 but I figured what the hell ] 3...Bb4 4.e5 [Of course there's a lot of decent ways to play this 4.Qg4 ;
4.a3;
Even 4.Bd2 ] 4...c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Nf3 [Avoiding the Poisoned Pawn 7.Qg4 which I know Kirk likes] 7...Qc7 8.Bd3?! [8.a4 is the mainline but I wanted to castle...I've dropped a c-pawn too many times in the Winawer...this also contains a trap] 8...0-0? [8...b6 is the mainline;
Botwinnik tried 8...Nd7 ] 9.Bxh7+ Kxh7 10.Ng5+ Kg8 11.Qh5 [11.Qh5 and he resigns. I imagine he could play on a little longer but it looks tough 11...Rd8 12.Qh7+ Kf8 13.Qh8+ Ng8 14.Nh7+ Ke7 15.Bg5+ Kd7 16.Bxd8 Qxd8 17.Qxg7 I was happy enough with my play. I could never have been set up better for the h7-sack ever] 1-0

March match (3)

C-K
C02 - French : Advance variation

1.e4 e6! [A nice choice from Kirk. I was hoping for 1...e5 and playing a Ruy Lopez] 2.d4 d5 3.e5 [I had a feeling that Kirk was hoping for 3.Nc3 Bb4 but I still don' thave a good line] 3...c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 c4 7.Nbd2 Nge7?



8.Bxc4! The only trap I know in the French 8...dxc4 9.Nxc4 Qa6 [Kirk claimed after the game that he was lost at move 8 but I disagree. I liked his ...Qa6 better than 9...Qc7 ] 10.Nd6+ Kd7 11.Nxf7 Rg8 12.Qb3 [Sveshnikov-Milos went 12.Qc2 h6] 12...Nf5 [The subtle 12...Qd3 was an interesting try, but it was counterintuitive after all the tempi i gained] 13.d5!? I figured that forcing play would have been better. I may have been wrong 13...Na5 14.dxe6+?! [14.Qa4+ was better] 14...Ke8 [Believe it or not ,because of the way the pieces are set up 14...Kc7! is safer for Black] 15.Qa4+ Nc6 16.Qxa6 bxa6 17.g4 Again I wanted to be forcing and keep the threat of Nd6+ available [17.Bf4 protecting e5 may be better] 17...Nh6 18.Nxh6 [Protecting g4 was probably better, but I am down a piece after all and I was hoping to open lines. Kirk was blitzing moves at this point and had almost given up 18.h3 ] 18...gxh6 19.g5? Bxe6 20.gxh6? [20.Rg1 was better but even still... ] 20...Bg4? [Kirk missed 20...Bd5! after which 21.Rg1 Rxg1+ 22.Nxg1 Nxe5 he is just better] 21.Rg1 Kf7? 22.Ng5+ Black resigns I wonder if Kirk didn't really want to play. There is still some play left. 1-0

luck favors the aggressor

i was thinking back to some of my more brilliant games (draw v. hugh morrison for example) and i recalled that luck favors the aggressor. i think i may go back to 1.e4. But C, i can hear you asking, aren't you afraid of the French, particularly the Winawer? not anymore

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qg4

luck favors the aggressor...there's an article on this line (or a line like it) in the NIC yearbook i have...also i bought a subscription to New In Chess...i'm a sucker...they sent me a pamphlet and ig ot it. jane got a job today at Sauble Beach and i hope she likes it...may gimme some more time for chess. which reminds me...there's a tournament in hamilton coming up soon....i'm thinking about unassing the king's gambit and 1.e4. we'll see