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