match w/ kirk

me and kirk are having a four game match and he's killing me. i've gotten beat in 46 moves (the game was over in 20) and 17 moves. the first game i played a passive Schlechter-Grünfeld and the second game i botched up the white side of a QGD. i need to pay attention and remember that he's a comfort player and i have to play aggressively. i *need* to win with black today. i wonder if he will try 1.e4 or 1.d4 today. if he does play 1.d4, i'm going to an exchange grunny with him or maybe i should try the QGA. i want to get some queenside play. maybe i'll just memorize some theory and try that. there is an interesting Botwinnik-Euwe game because i don't figure kirk will go to D29, he will play a4 stopping b5. the problem is what to play if he plays 1.e4. i want to play 1. ...e5 but the problem is that he seems to have a fascination with 3.Bc4 so i guess i can always just play my line in the two knights

OMGP vol. 3

i think it's absolutely fantastic. i've gone through a bunch of petrosian games (taking a break now) and i think i enjoy his style. it's alot easier for someone to try and be patient and be alert for opportunities than play like tal and force the issue constantly. i think petrosian may be a good influence...of course by the time i get to spassky and through bronstein i'll be back to my old romantic ways. i don't mind his stuff though

merry ho ho

so i got Kasparov's Great Predecessors Volume 3 featuring Petrosian and Spassky and Bronstein's "Sorceror's Apprentice" which are both great books and I will eat them up. Merry Christmas

2004 in review (2)

and of course my win v. JM would go in my good games from the year

ironically, all my "good games" were with white, and 3/4 i opened 1.f4. interesting :) and all my "bad games" were with black. and here i was always worried about my white openings instead of black :)

now for the bad games

COS - CS
Owen Sound Spring (4) 2004
B53 - Sicilian, Chekhover variation

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 a6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nc3 g6 9. Bg5 Bg7 10. Qd3 O-O 11. Rad1 Bb7 12. e5 dxe5 13. Qxd8 Rfxd8 14. Rxd8+ Rxd8 15. Nxe5 {Black to move and lose} 15... Rd2 ?? 16. Bxd2 1-0

terrible

another bad one was against "fridge" who is rated about 1000...even though i won i played terribly

Fridge - CS
Owen Sound Summer (1.2)
A07 - Réti

1. g3 Nf6 2. Bg2 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. d3 O-O 6. O-O c6 7. b3 Qa5 8. Bb2 Ne8 9. Qd2 Bg4 10. e4 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 d4 12. Nb1 Qxd2 13. Nxd2 c5 14. Rac1 e5 15. Nc4 b5 16. Nd2 Nd6 17. c3 f5 18. cxd4 cxd4 19. Rc2 Nd7 20. exf5 Nxf5 21. Bxa8 Rxa8 22. Rfc1 Nb6 23. Ba3 h6 24. Bc5 Nd5 25. f4 Nc3 26. Nf3 exf4 27. gxf4 Re8 28. Bxd4 Ne2+ 29. Rxe2 Rxe2 30. Rc8+ Kh7 31. Rc7 Nxd4 32. Nxd4 Re3 33. f5 Kg8 34. Ne6 Be5 35. Rc8+ Kf7 36. Rf8+ Ke7 37. Rg8 gxf5 38. Nc5 Bd4 39. Rg7+ Bxg7 0-1

my final terrible game was against TK at the london tournament (see below). other than these three games my play was relatively consistent in 2004. here's hoping i crack 1600 in 2005. there's two ways i can do that. one, play well enough to gain enough points to 1600 at kitchener (not likely). work on stuff and go down to london in the summer or something and get them (more likely). hans jung said in en passant that people should play 100 tournament games a year. i played 26 this year and my all time high was 39. i need to play more often.

merry christmas everyone.

2004 in review

(to start, i am only doing this now because hopefully on saturday i will get some chess books and start devouring them. what's happened since i last wrote...i finished Chernev's Capablanca book, i played some blitz. me and kirk are going to the february Kitchener tournament and i'm likely going to barrie in january for a warm up. we've decided on 1.Nf3 and the accelerated dragon as our main weapons. i'm gonna play U2000 and he's gonna play U1600...you can play within 200 points of your rating so i'm playing up...don't like playing millions of kids. i'm likely gonna get my ass handed to me, but it's gonna be a barometer)

so now on to my best (and worst) games of 2004.

Here was one of my favorite games from last year's Kitchener tournament. I was playing in the U1700 and I was at 2-0...

C.Sadler - CT
Kitchener Winter U1700 2004
B78 - Sicilian : Dragon, Yugoslav variation

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 d6 (7...
O-O 8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O Bd7 10. Bc4 Rc8 11. Bb3 a6 12. h4 = Na5 13. Bh6 Nxb3+ 14. Nxb3 Ne8 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. h5 Rh8 17. hxg6 fxg6 18. e5 Be6 19. Nd4 Bg8 20. Qh6+ Kf7 21. e6+ Kf6 22. Ne4+ Ke5 23. Qg5# 1-0

a fun little miniature. i lost my next game in round 4, mostly because i was hungover and then drew in round 5 to finish with 3½/5 and get some prize money.

This next one wasn't the greatest game, but i really enjoyed it. He could've improved all over the place

C.Sadler - AC
Owen Sound Summer Active (2.2) 2004
B09 - Pirc : Austrian Attack

1. f4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 g6 4. e4 Bg7 5. d4 b6 6. Bb5+ Nbd7 7. e5 dxe5 8. fxe5 Nh5 9. O-O f5 10. e6 Nhf6 11. Bg5 a6 12. exd7+ Nxd7 13. Bxd7+ Bxd7 14. Re1 Bf8
15. Nd5 h6 16. Nxe7 Bxe7 17. Rxe7+ Qxe7 18. Bxe7 Kxe7 19. Ne5 g5 20. Ng6+ 1-0

A third game was also from that tournament, vs. a visitor from Kitchener. I had improvements all over the place, but I basically led from pillar to post.

C.Sadler - TK
Owen Sound Summer Active (5.1) 2004
B06 - Modern : Pseudo-Austrian attack

1. f4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. d4 d6 4. Nc3 Nd7 5. Nf3 e5 6. dxe5 dxe5 7. Bc4 Ne7 8. O-O O-O 9.fxe5 Nxe5 10. Qxd8 Rxd8 11. Nxe5 Bxe5 12. Rxf7 Nc6 13. Bg5 Rd4 14. Raf1 Bf5 15. exf5 Rxc4 16. fxg6 Bd4+ 17. Kh1 hxg6 18. Rxc7 Re8 19. Nd5 Rc5 20. Nf6+ Bxf6 21. Bxf6 Rf5 22. Kg1 Rxf1+ 23. Kxf1 Rf8 24. Rg7+ Kh8 25. Rf7+ Kg8 26. Rxf8+ Kxf8 27. Ke2 Kf7 28. Bc3 Ke6 29. Kf3 b5 30. h4 b4 31. Bd2 Nd4+ 32. Ke3 Nxc2+ 33. Kd3 b3 34. axb3 Na1 35. g4 Nxb3 36. Kc3 Nc5 37. Kc4 Ne4 38. Be3 a6 39. b4 Nf6 40. Kc5 Nxg4 41. Bc1 Ne5 42. Kb6 Nd3 43. Bd2 Kf5 44. Kxa6 Kg4 45. b5 Kxh4 46. Be3 Nb4+ 47. Kb6 Nd5+ 48. Kc5
Nc7 49. b6 Na6+ 50. Kb5 Nb8 51. b7 Nd7 52. Kc6 1-0

oops gotta get ready for work

more good and bad to follow

$46,130

Your salary in this position will be $46,130.00

This temporary assignment will commence December 5th, 2004 for a one year duration

You have been placed at step one, Grade 5 of the non-union salary scale. Your salary will increase at the completion of each 1950 hours

oh craig is happy

ultra accelerated dragon

why not just try 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 i was always worried about 3.c3 but Capablanca gave a good try with 3. ...d5! in Merenyi-Capablanca. I'll have to try it out. 4.exd5 Qxd5 gets into a position i don't necessarily like to be in, but Hamdouchi and Kudrin gave it a couple goes in the FIDE Championship (1 win WHite, 1 win Black, 1 draw) so i'll have to take a look at that as well

idea

if i get this new job, and i have wednesdays off i want to have CFC rated stuff on wednesdays. i was thinking instead of active, play like 4 game matches every month versus people with similar ratings. e.g. both v. shah, me v. kirk, kees. v. clinton, etc. it's superior to the show up active thing because then you're not taking on someone the same strength, either win easily or lose easily. it's an idea

what we're gonna play

so kirk came home from Buffalo and we decided to play 1.Nf3 as White and 1.e4 e5 and 1.d4 d5 as Black. I may try 1.d4 e6 or 1. ...c6 because I don't like the Colle but we'll have to see. I convinced Kirk to try and go to the Ontario Open this year (2005) because it's in Ottawa where there's places to stay. I believe that Kirk has to get better for me to improve because we play so much. He disagreed but we'll see

what to do what to do?

so kirk wants to play the same things as me, or vice versa ;) in any case i'm not sure what to play. he mentioned like a dragon/KID kinda thing and both play 1.e4, but i would rather play 1.d4/1.Nf3 to tell the truth. the accelerated dragon isn't bad (want to avoid the yugoslav) but i was hoping to start playing the giucio as black. in any case...

London games

C.Sadler (1499) - JM (2004)
London (1) 2004 G/60
A03 - Bird's Opening

Jane drove me to this tournament, which I had decided to play 1.f4 as White, and the Open Lopez and Nimzo as Black. It was supposed to be split into the Open and U1700 but they merged them into one section. I took on the number four seed in the first round. After the game he told me "I don't know that opening very well" :)

1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 c5
I don't believe this is the strongest. In the Bird Black should be encourage White to play d4. The way he plays allows me to develop my light squared bishop relatively easily.
3.e3 Nc6 4.Bb5 Bd7 5.b3 Nf6 6.Bb2 e6 7.O-O
All this has been pretty straightforward so far.
7. ... Qc7!?
This move was the first one that wasn't "theory". 7. ...Be7 and 7. ...Bd6 have been played here before. I think he was trying to threaten queenside castling, but I don't think that was realistic.
8.Bxc6
I was thinking about 8.Bxf6 gxf6 but I was worried about the impending kingside attack on the g-file. He was rated 500 points higher than me, so I'm sure he could take advantage of the open file better than I could defend. It's sad but true. Plus positionally, my dark squared bishop was the best piece on the board
8. ...Bxc6
If 8. ...Qxc6 I was going to play 9.Ne5 and get a perfect square for the knight, with tempo, e.g. 9. ...Qc7 10.Nxd7 Qxd7 11.Bxf6 gxf6 is favored by the computer, but again, I didn't like the open g-file. This may be okay though
9.Be5 Bd6 10.Nc3
Keep on developing
10. ...Bxe5 11.Nxe5 Nd7?!
Obviously simpler to play like this v. a patzer like me, but Fritz liked 11. ...d4! opening lines towards my king 12.exd4 cxd4 13.Ne2 Rd8 for instance looks very strong
12.d4!
This strong move, kicking at c5, gave me some initiative
12. ... O-O 13.Ne2 Rac8
13. ...f6 was recommended on Chessgames.com as well as on the next mvoe. The knight is too powerful here
14.Rc1
During the game I thought I might try 14.Nxd7 Bxd7 15.dxc5 Qxc5 16.Qd4 with the idea of making the bishop the worst piece on the board, but I think this is okay for Black
14. ...Nxe5?
Maybe individually this move isn't that bad, but the plan he has is terrible. Opening up the f-file, allowing me to have a pawn on e5. A kingside attack is inevitable
15.fxe5 Qa5
Seeking queenside counterplay
16.a4 c5 17.Nf4 b5?!
If he would have seen what was happening 17. ...g6 would have been best, but I can still get my pieces in there
18.Nh5! Qc3 19.Qf3 bxa5 20.Qg3
20.Nxg7! wins immediately as well, as was pointed out by Maoam on chessgames.com 20. ...Kxg7 21.Qf6+ Kg8 22.Rf3 or 20. ...axb3 21.Nh5 f5 22.Qg3+ Kf7 23.Qg7+ Ke8 24.Nf6+ etc.
20. ...g6 21.Nf6+ Kg7 22.Nh5+ =
and I offered a draw here because he can get a perpetual. If he doesn't take the perpetual he's in trouble. Since he was 500 points higher than me and arrogant he said "nyet" and played ...
22. ...Kh8 23.Nf6 axb3?? 24.Qh3!
I had calculated this a lot earlier, opening up the g- and h-file similar to play in the infamous Oll-Ulibin (okay i'm flattering myself here)
24. ...h5 25.Nxh5 gxh5 26.Qxh5+ Kg7 27.Qg5+ Kh7 28.Rf31-0
I was very happy with this game. A second expert scalp for me. This proves that CT-ART works because I saw this mate a bunch of moves earlier. I'm upset I missed the winning 20.Nxg7! but it shows I have stuff to work on still.

The next two games weren't quite as good. I will put them in with little comment because I was just terrible. I ran out of energy, which wasn't surprising. If I play in London again, I will go down the night before. It was funny...the TD was asking me where I played, because my win was shocking. I told him mostly the internet, and he was like, yeah a couple of guys mentioned that?! I need to keep a lower profile on the internet i guess lol

C.Sadler (1499) - BVDV (1841)
London (2) 2004 G/60
A03 - Bird's Opening

1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bg4
I find these sorts of less ambitious schemes by Black harder to face than outright attempts to "refute" the Bird by ...c5, ...Nc6 and come at me. Watch what kinds of trouble I get in because I can't/don't develop my light squared bishop
4.b3 e6 5.Bb2 Be7 6.c4?
Now of course I get too ambitious with the pawn moves. 6.Be2 taking an unambitious position and castling was the way to go
6. ... O-O 7.d4?
I need to develop! And why did I give up e4?
7. ...Nbd7 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3
Fritz preferred 9.gxf3 taking away e4. Obviously I didn't look at that hard enough
9. ...Ne4 10.Nc3?
I didn't even see the threat...
10. ...Bh4+
10. ...Bb4 may have been even stronger 11.Rc1 Qh4+
11.g3 Nxg3 12.Rg1
This is tough with discovered check. I decided I was going to try and play like Spassky and pretend I "sacrificed" the pawn. I couldn't help but stare at that gaping hole on e4 though.
12. ...Ne4+ 13.Kd1 Nxc3+ 14.Bxc3 c6 15.Kc2
Hoping for freedom over there
15. ...f5 16.Bd3 Nf6 17.Be1 Bxe1 18.Raxe1 Qa5!
A strong move
19.Kb2?? Qd2+ 0-1

Not the greatest game ever. I was going to give up on the Bird, but it wasn't because of my opening, but my idiotic decisions. The Bird is as good as anything else, I just have to remember not to fire out d4 so soon.

TK (1726) - C.Sadler (1499)
London (3) 2004 G/60
A45 - Trompowsky attack

The third round game (I had already decided to go home after this, skipping the fourth round game because I was exhausted) was against I guy that both me and Kirk had played previously in Kitchener. He plays 1.d4 with crap to follow so that soured me before the game even started. Psychology at its finest

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4?!
I need a new anti-Tromp line. I guess this is okay but the follow up is terrible
3.Bf4 e6?
The worst move on the board. Of course I thought I could stop 4.f3 with 4. ...Qh4+?? missing that 5.g3 Nxg3 6.Bxg3!. Stupid me. 3. ...d5 or 3. ...d6 look decent. Maybe ...Ne4 is playable after all
4.f3 Bf6 5.e4 b6
This position has been reached a number of times, but "my novelty" has never been played but rather 5. ...d5, 5. ...c5 and 5. ...Be7 my brain was dead
6.c4 Bb4+
My opponent said he liked this move
7.Kf2!?
Now of course he has an inferior position. So instead of playing a move like 7. ...O-O and just beating him eventually, still high off the first game, I decide to Morphy him in the middle of the board, like a tool. Sneaky gave some good advice on Chessgames.com that I could/should follow

"I can appreciate however, that if you want to play chess professionally you can't just throw a draw away by chasing some fantasy variation in vague hopes of a win. The players who stubbornly say, 'I'm not taking any chances, YOU take the chances' are the ones who finish with plus scores".

Well met Sneaky, well met. In any case, the rest is just terrible after

7. ...Nxe4+?? 8.fxe4 g5 9.Be5 O-O 10.a3 d6? 11.Bg3 Qf6+ 12.Ke2 Bc5 13.e5 Qf5 14.Nc3 Qg4+ 15.Nf3 dxe5 16.Bxe5 Nc6 17.h3! Qf5 18.g4 Qg6 19.dxc5 Rd8 20.Qb1 Qh6 21.Bxc7 Rd7 22.cxb6 axb6 23.Bxb6 Bb7 24.Bg2 Qf6 25.Rf1 Ba6 26.Qe4 Bb7 27.Qe3 Qg6 28.Qxg5 1-0
and I finally ended the pain because once the queens come off I'm toast. The whole game was a waste of both our times. Maybe 2. ...Ne4 v. the Tromp isn't garbage, but my middlegame play was.

So what can I take from the tournament? CT-ART is the way to go! :) Also, I need to get in better physical condition/get a good night's sleep before. Also realize that a slight advantage is good enough out of the opening :)

Back from London

For starters, I'm giving up correspondence I think. It's just a waste of time.

Secondly, I scored 1/3 at London. Jane drove me up and we had a good time, but I took a bye in the last round because I was exhausted! We got up at like 6am to go to London. I won my first game against an expert (second expert scalp) then went down without a fight v. an 1850 and a 1720. I'll put in the games with annotations (except the third one) once I finish them. The tournament proved one thing...CT ART works! The expert walked into a position where I could tactically abuse him. The second game, I played d4 (giving up e4) way too early in the Bird...and the third game...well you'll see that one. Anyways, I'm off to analyze.

self imposed blitz ban

so for a grand total of 2 days i'm putting a ban on myself from blitz of all forms including, but not limited to FICS and ICC. which will be tough for me. it turns out i'm a moron...it took a book to convince me that the Bronstein variation of the ruy

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.O-O Qd6

was played with the intention of castling queenside. no shit sherlock. it makes perfect sense now. i had a good meeting today about the GBRHC hospital and it looks like i may be making $20/hr there which is a significant increase on the job i'm at now or any other job i've ever had.

i'm pumped for this weekend, i get to see pat, spend some time with jane and make a road trip album. i bought the new Eminem album and i really, really like it. good shit. anyways, off to learn more about the bronstein lopez. wish me luck

i love the internet

just as i was about to add an entry into wikipedia, i do a google search and come up with unass. sweet sweet can...

so i've been playing okay and working through shereshevsky's endings book. things are progressing nicely.

heh heh unass ;)

comings and goings

so me and kirk decided not to have a rated match...he wanted some opening advice and we're going to have a "fun" match instead after christmas. i bumped into Shah at Subway today and he said he was interested in going to the tournament which is cool. I decided to play the Bird's/King's Gambit as White and the Open Lopez and Nimzo as Black. Me and Kirk had a practice G/35 today, i'll show the game with some light annotations. I've sucked mightily in blitz so it was nice to get a win

C.Sadler - K.Sadler
London Training (1) G/35
A03 - Bird's Opening : Lasker variation

1.f4 d5
This is the position we started at
2.Nf3 c5!?
Bird himself called this move weak (or was it Blackburne) because this makes it easier for White to develop his light squared bishop
3.e3 Nf6 4.Bb5+
This is the Lasker line. We are following Bird-Janowski 1895 Hastings, but this is wrong. Better is 4.b3 and I should have waited for him to move his knight so I could actually pin it.
4. ...Bd7 5.Bxd7+ Nbxd7 6.b3 e6 7.Bb2 Bd6 8.Qe2!?
Maybe not the strongest move, but I was planning on trying d3,e4 to open the center that way, also I wanted to keep the option of castling queenside a threat. I only half intended to do it, but the threat is greater than the execution or something :)
8. ... O-O 9.d3 d4?!
Kirk wanted to open the center since I was behind on development, but I wonder if this wasn't the best mvoe
10.exd4 Bxf4 11.Nbd2 Rc8
11. ..cxd4 12.Bxd4 e5 was better, killing my bishop
12.c4 Qa5
12. ...Ng4 was playable with a juicy square for the knight on d3. Funny, I never even saw his threat of Ng4 the whole game and Fritz says he could've played it at any time around here
13. O-O Rfe8 14.dxc4 Qxc5+ 15.d4 Qa5 16.Ne4 Nxe4 17.Qxe4 Qc7 18.Rad1
The immediate 18. Ne5 was better...blocking off his pieces from the kingside after 18. ...Bxe5 19.dxe5
18. ...Nf5 19.Qe2 Ng4!
This seemed strong during the game, I wonder if I picked the right continuation
20.Rd3
g3! Ne3 21.gxf4 Qxf4 22.Ne5 was strong for WHite
20. ...Bxh2+ 21.Kh1 Bg3 22.Ne5
22.Ng5! was better 22. ...Nh6 23.Qe4 Nf5 24.d5
22. ...Nxe5 23.dxe5 Bh4 24.Qh5 Bd8
Fritz says it's even but I believe I'm in the drivers seat
25.Rh3 h6 26.Bc1 f5?? 1-0
I'm better in all lines...Kirk's move loses instantly but let's see what else there was
26. ..Qd7 27.Bxh6 (27.Rg3 Bg5 28.Bxg5 hxg5 29.Qxg5 f5 30.exf6 Rf8 +-) 27. ...g6 28.Qf3 +=

Anyways, I'm off to bed. I'm going to get back on the CT-ART track. Hopefully I'll be playing well by then. I'm not sure what King's Gambit to play, probably 3.Bc4 we'll have to see. I want to play another practice game v. Kirk.

sucking

even though i know that blitz doesn't matter in the big picture, i've been sucking hard particularly using the sicilian as black on ICC lately. and i get a lot of crap as both white and black in my tax bracket

yay me

today i finished santasiere's The Romantic King's Gambit including entering all the annotations and analysis into chessbase. where do i go from here? i'm thinking about doing some endgame stuff. i'm really not sure though. i'll probably do a PDF. i've took a chunk out of a lot of books in 2004

Andrew Soltis' Rediscovering Fischer

Hastings 1895

Tal-Botwinnik

Samuel Reshevsky's The Art of Positional Play

and finally The Romantic King's Gambit

that's pretty good. i'm part way through the Capablanca book so maybe I'll just finish that off. I might work on Reassess Your Chess. I'm not sure...maybe I'll just go play some blitz or do CT-ART :) good night

grrr...

so i tried out the sicilian last night and today and i had decent results (i'm just pissed off now because i lost 2 miniatures with the sicilian and the falkbeer as white and had a bad day with 1.f4 as well). the reason why i may give up the sicilian is because i played 6 games and didn't get 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 once. it pisses me off

london's falling

so the london tournament is a go-go...i thought of something new to play v. kirk...so allegedly he plays Be2 v. every sicilian, why not play a sicilian he can't play Be2 against? the sveshnikov 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 i think it's good. i'm gonna try it out. not sure if kirk, kees or shah will be going but jane said she would tag along...i dunno how much she will like it, but it's nice of her. she also mentioned that she may be interested in going to the canadian open in edmonton, but we'll see ;)

99 problems and the french ain't one...

i think i may try for the french, but if kirk decides to try and snooker me and play the QGA i know at least what the main ECO Is

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.O-O a6 7.Qe2 b5 8.Bb3 Bb7

i tried to get a picture of the position but my IE is fucked so i'll have to do it later. but i thikn i can play this if worst comes to worst

kirk thinks i should play 1.f4 and the najdorf at london if i go (must call kees today). he says if i get 1.f4 d5 i can win and be a positional master and if i get 1.f4 e5? 2.e4!! i can win and be a tactical master, which will make me a great master...lol

white wedding

it's a nice day to...start again!!!!!!!

anyways, i've got to stay in a positive mental frame for my openings as white. i should just play the Advance French and just try to beat him. that may be what i do. i remember kirk mentioning a while ago that he had never received the tarrasch defense v. the french, but i won't go crazy. i have three choices if i play the french

• Learn the main line of the advanced
• Play Kupreichik's 5.Be3 and try to overprotect d4
• Play the Milner-Barry gambit

i'm not sure which is the best choice. i'll probably just play the kupreichik variation and see how it goes. the milner-barry is an excellent idea, but i think i already have a positional advantage in the french, so why give a pawn as well? :)

kirk had mentioned that he is going through the "level 10" problems in CTART to learn the baby steps and i might as well too. better that than scoring 50% all the way through, scoring 90%, committing everything to memory then going on.

match v. k.

so i was checking out the CFC home page and apparently there's a tournament in London, ON on November 27th which is 4 G/60s. November 27th is a Saturday and apparently also is also BUY NOTHING DAY in England. random. anyways, i think that would be a good tune-up...there's a guy at work who would likely trade me so i'm gonna ask kirk if he wants to go. i can't think of any reason why he wouldn't want to. the problem is that i wouldn't want to unass my opening "secrets" but it shouldn't be a big deal.

Opening "Secrets" so far

well i have a couple of ideas actually. firstly, i have to decide whether i want to play chess or if i want to win. if i want to win, i believe i will play the Dilworth Variation of the Ruy Lopez the line basically goes 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Bc5 10.Nbd2 O-O 11.Bc2 Nxf2 12.Rxf2 f6 and so on. the only problem is getting kirk to play 11.Bc2. let me see if there's any realistic alternatives for white.

Dolezal - Z.Polgar 1994 continued 11.Nxe4?! dxe4 12.Ng5 Bxb3 13.Qxb3 e3 14.Ne4 exf2 15.Nxf2 Nxe5 16.Bf4 Ng4 17.Bg3 Ne3 18.Rfe1 Qf6 19.Ne4 Qc6 0-1

there's some brutal open lines there. if i can get polgar's position after 13. ...e3 i should be fine :)

i'll try the open lopez one game...possibly two. i wouldn't mind actually playing some chess with kirk with either the marshall or the tchigorin but i worry i'm fighting an uphill battle with either. i guess i'll plan on playing the open and go from there. the open lopez is an excellent idea because kirk feels "above" playing garbage and will go for the ruy lopez. we've played in once before in a "fun" match and also in a blindfold game at work. i feel confident enough in that line. it will all depend on how the match is going. here's the ratings of us after the match is over depending on the score...(btw, we decided on a 4 game rated active G/50 match)

K.Sadler	Score	C.Sadler
1606	4-0	1478
1574	3½-½	1494
1542	3-1	1510
1510	2½-1½	1526
1486	2-2	1542
1470	1½-2½	1558
1454	1-3	1574
1438	½-3½	1598
1422	0-4	1630

so basically i need to score at least 2½/4 to keep my rating and anything higher is gravy. my goal is likely to win both games with black and 1/2 with white.

so what are my plans for v. 1.d4? probably a nimzo if possible. i had a good idea from Sasikiran-Torre, Olympiad 2004 where he played ...d6, ...Nc6, ...e5, ...O-O-O. i likely already posted that but i think it's a lovely idea. if he played 3.Nf3 instead of 3.Nc3 then i will likely play the Queen's Gambit Declined : Tartakower, Makagonov, Bondarevsky system against him. But if he wants to go into a QGD he can't be hoping for that much. Let's say he gets brave and tries 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 i guess i'll just do my usual two knights stuff v. him. okay enough about black

WHITE

okay i have a couple of ideas here. firstly, i believe that i am going to play 1.d4 for a couple of reasons. 1.i'm worried that he's going to unass the Alekhine defense. for real. i was planning on meeting it with 1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.f4?! but i realized that it may not be my cup of tea. same with the sicilian. who knows what he will play, i don't want to try an inferior line, he would likely play 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 hoping to get me into an advanced french. to be perfectly honest i wouldn't mind playing a sicilian. maybe i could try 1.Nf3 in the second game and give him the option. in any case, i'm hoping for 1.d4 e6, my plan is James Mason's 2.Bf4



it looks terrible but maybe it's not so bad. my trick here is to piss him off horribly then attempt to transpose into a QGD with Bf4, or a QGD Exchange with Bf4.

i have a couple of other ideas...firstly being 1.f4 e5 2.e4 exf4 3.Bc4 because he has absolutely no idea what to play and it would piss him off to no end. that is a possibility for the second game. another idea, if let's say he doesn't play 1.d4 e6 (but he will the first time because he will want to offer me the french, is the Geller gambit as played in Shipov-Lesiege FIDE KO 2001


1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.O-O a6 7.e4

although that is taking a gamble, because who knows it he plays 6. ...a6 in the QGA or even if he plays the QGA, but if he does it's an interesting gambit. i don't think he'd offer the botwinnik system, but if he did i would have to take it. my main plan though is the Bf4 QGD. i think it could work.

anyways that's enough for today. time to study the lines a little bit :)

1.d4 e6 2.Bf4

so i was thinking of a way today to get to some transpositional stuff and piss off kirk and i came up with 1.d4 e6 2.Bf4 there are many transpositional things to the QGD with Bf4, either exchange or normal. also i feel that 1.d4 e6 2.Bf4 c5 3.e4 going to some crazy smith-morra might work, but we'll have to see. i think at best it might transpose to something good, and it is not immediately losing, which is always a bonus. secondly it will likely upset kirk and possibly stop him from playing 1.d4 e6. if worse comes to worse i get a look at the Bf4 QGD :)

E32

i think kirk may play 1.d4 against me (i could be wrong...he could exclusively play 1.e4) but i don't think i'm wasting my time working onthe nimzo...i l ike the idea of a ...d6,...Nc6/Nbd7 then trying to force ...e5 through. i saw a nice game by eugenio torre where he played 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d6 and i was inspired. maybe i can castle first, but i like the idea of ...d6 and ...e5 as opposed to my normal ...c5,...d5, ...b6 in the nimzo. i'll have to take a look

trash talking

so i mentioned to kirk today that two of the main battlegrounds will likely be the ruy lopez and the french. so that got kirk thinking that i would play nothing but 1.d4 and 1.e4 e5. he claims that he would play 8 marshalls in a row as white. i don't believe him. my plan is to plan 4 games ahead, so first white will be 1.e4, second white 1.d4. first black 1.e4 c6 second black 1.e4 e5. probably i will play the nimzo v. 1.d4. not so sure about the makagonov-bondarevsky. that will probably change though. i was gonna say that the nimzo will be a battleground as well except i don't want to show my hand with regards to the nimzo. he allegedly plays the queen's gambit declined...should i try and play the botwinnik as white? i think i will...in any case kirk will play a bunch of things he doesn't want to. he said he figured the final score would be like 8-4. i'd be happier with a higher score than that, but we'll see.

hmmm

kirk came home and made some off the cuff remark about me playing 1.g3 after seeing his refutation to the exchange alekhine...just talking or is he really thinking about the alekhine? time will tell :)

This is a pic of me and Jane at Thanksgiving 2004. :)

new anti-alekhine strategy

i am actually thinking about studying 1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.f4?! tonight as an anti-alekhine thing. kirk won't play 2. ...d5 but if he does i'll just smash him. it says spielmann played 39 games with it so that will be my starting point along with MCO and NCO

surprise!

okay so i have to start thinking seriously about my openings here. particularly white. i can actually play 1.d4 against him because he has class and won't play any real junk v. me. the problem is that i don't know what he will play v. either 1.d4 or 1.e4. against e4 he plays the alekhine, the french, the sicilian, 1.e4 e5 and has even played the caro-kann. i will probably open 1.e4 the first game with white, and see if he is willing to try the alekhine. if it's the french, he has to prove to me that he can beat the advanced. he has mentioned experimenting v. 1.d4 though. things like the QGA. truth be told i would like to get in as many nimzos as possible on both sides :) i will probably start with 1.e4 the first game, play a closed sicilian, advanced french, ruy lopez the first game, probably panov. if i am ever going to play a king's gambit in this match it will be via 1.f4. if he plays the alekhine, i'm not sure. i don't necessarily want to play 1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 i'll have to actually do a little research. i realize the main line is good enough.

good morning

i deleted my old blog because someone read something they shouldn't have (hi jane) so this is going to be mostly for chess related stuff.

i was thinking about going back to the Nimzo-Indian because I prefer the positions for it. i was dabbling in the Tartakower but i find the positions after 1.d4 Nf6 2.e3 are better than the positions after 1.d4 d5 2.e3 and that's the only reason why i'm trying that :)

K was interested in having a 16 game active match during his christmas break, which i think is cool. i need to think about some ideas. i'm not particularly happy with anything as white. the nimzo may be my main weapon v. 1.d4, i would try the grünny but i think the exchange may be better for white. not sure what my main weapon will be v. 1.e4 i think kirk may give me a lot of ruy lopezes if i play 1.e4 e5. he is very solid v. the sicilian and i can't remember what caro line he plays. switches between advanced and panov if i remember correctly. probably i will ruy lopez him to death, but likely not the Marshall. probably mix it up a little sooner. we'll have to see. i've got a month to think. the schliemann is always an interesting attempt, but not all the time.