Week Three - Victory for C.

i finally won this week...kirk had just been working at his school so that is a bit of an excuse...i did win though.

C.Sadler - K.Sadler
E27 - Nimzo-Indian : Samisch variation

Game three. I had a new idea to play for the tournament coming up in four weeks now. 1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 In all fairness, I did ask him to play the Nimzo against me this week over a few beers at the bar. 4.f3 and this is it. The Kmoch variation, transposing to the Samisch in most cases (like this case). I had been doing a little bit of studying, but I figured with the positional idiocy of the people at the club this is the way to go. Surprisingly a lot of them play the Nimzo 4...d5 This is basically the only move. Over the board though I was worried about Kirk playing [ 4...c5 for a couple reasons. For starters, he plays ...c5 v. every Nimzo. Secondly, I wasn't sure how to continue. 5.dxc5 is obviously bad.( 5.d5 I guess is the main line, but i'm not sure if that's any good or not. Theory gives 5...Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 d6 7.e4 e5 with a mutated Benoni Wall. i don't thikn my bishops would like this. This may be better for Black. Who knows.) ( or the Benko-esque 5...b5 ; but Kirk likes his Benoni so he probably would've tried 5...exd5 and after 6.cxd5 d6 7.e4 I have a pretty good Benoni. Maybe I have nothing to fear after all ;)) Over the board on Wednesday I got 4...0-0 5.e4 Ne8 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 and I duly punished my opponent with a kingside attack.]



5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 0-0 [ I expected 6...c5 after which there is an ugly line including 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.dxc5 Qa5 9.e4 Ne7 10.Be3 ( 10.Bd2 0-0 has never been played at the GM level, but feels easier to play than the mainline AFAIC) 10...Qxc3+ 11.Kf2] 7.Bg5 [ 7.cxd5 is the mainline 7...exd5 ( 7...Nxd5? 8.e4 Ne7 ( 8...Nxc3 9.Qb3 Qxd4 10.Bb2 Qe3+ 11.Be2 Nd5 12.Qxe3 Nxe3 13.Kf2 Nd5 14.exd5 with a better position for White. Komarov-Panchenko 1994) ) ] 7...Nbd7 [ I wasn't too concerned about 7...h6 because I was aiming to go to f2 with this bishop eventually anyways. The main idea of the Bg5 was to get him on a different diagonal because I am going to have to work to get e4 in, play e3 first etc.] 8.cxd5 exd5 Now I am happy with the position as if he plays ...c5 in one move he will isolate his pawn and i'm gonna have a huge center...once I get castled. 9.e3 Re8! A strong move. Now I have to fight to survive. 10.Qd2 [ Fritz liked 10.Qd3 equal to 10.Qd2, but I wanted to keep my options open for my bishop] 10...h6 11.Bh4 b6 12.Bb5! I actually was able to put some pressure on him this way. I was gonna play something like [ 12.Bd3 and 12...-- 13.Nh3 and get on with it, but I have to force myself to look a little deeper.] 12...c6? [ 12...Re6 was the only way to hang on to things, but then i can keep on developing, but at least this doesn't lose. The key is the pin on the queen and the hanging d-pawn.] 13.Bxc6 Rb8 [ I was worried about saccing the exchange 13...Ba6 but i mean i'm better in all variations 14.Bxf6 ( 14.Bxa8 Qxa8 15.Ne2) 14...Nxf6 15.Bxe8 Qxe8] 14.Bxd5? [ Pathetic. I didn't even look at 14.Bg3 winning the exchange. I thought a pawn was enough] A comedy of errors. 14...Ne4? [ I totally overlooked 14...g5 15.Bg3 Nxd5 16.Bxb8 Nxb8 but even still I'm pretty good after 17.e4] 15.Bxf7+ Kxf7 [ 15...Kh8 16.Bxd8 Nxd2 17.Bxe8 and i'm winning easily.] 16.Qa2+ Black resigns Not the greatest game by either side. We both need to work on tactics. I definitely needed to look deeper after 13. ...Rb8 The opening wasn't necessarily a success, but I got some interesting tactical patterns with the Bg5. I'll give er a go some other time. 1-0

week two

actually the way that our chess history has gone, i'm rather surprised that there is a week two. we decided to do our analysis on here. here's the moves with my notes

K.Sadler - C.Sadler

1.e4 e5 Okay i got black this time. I wanted to play an open game so I decided on this 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 But I didn't expect this! At all! I thought he played the Scotch. But I'm sure I would've complained if I got that as well :) 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 b5 I took a lot of time around here because I wasn't sure whether to play the Tchigorin, the Open Lopez or the Marshall. I decided on the Tchigorin 6.Bb3 Be7 7.Re1 d6 [I was thinking about playing 7...0–0 and then transposing to the Tchigorin but I didn't] 8.h3?! 0–0 [I should've move ordered him and played 8...Na5! with advantage] 9.c3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Nc6 [All theory. Usually I play 13...Bb7 . I was trying to induce d5] 14.a4 Now I started thinking for real. It's a little joke between me and Kirk that once you're "out of theory" in the Ruy Lopez, just play a4, because it's normally good. [The main line is 14.Nb3 overprotecting d4] 14...b4?! [14...Bd7 was likely better; Spassky continued 14...Nxd4 15.Nxd4 exd4 16.Nf3 Bb7 17.Bg5 (17.Nxd4! looks better) 17...Rfe8 18.Rc1 Qb6 19.Qxd4 Qxd4 20.Nxd4 ½–½ Ljuboejvic-Spassky but I imagine this was a prearranged draw because White looks better to me.] 15.d5 Nb8 I was happy enough with this position. I wanted to keep the c8-h3 diagonal open for some unknown reason, actually to stop Nf1–g3-f5, as the dark squared bishop is the most important piece for me at this point. 16.Nf1 Nbd7 17.Bg5 [I was a little worried about 17.a5 for him, as he'll get to my b-pawn faster than I'll get to his a-pawn.] 17...a5 [Fritz preferred 17...Nc5 ] 18.Rc1 Nc5 19.Be3 [I kinda liked 19.Bxf6 Bxf6 but I guess the weakness at d6 is hard to get at.] 19...Ba6?! [19...Bd7 may have been better. I thought that the space on the a6-f1 diagonal was better, but controlling the diagonal that the light squared bishop was originally on was a better idea. Poor judgement by me] 20.Bxc5 [I wonder if 20.Bb1 was better. Of course! 20...Nfd7 doesn't immediately lose material, but where are my kingside defenders?] 20...Qxc5 [Fritz thought that 20...dxc5 was better, but i was worried about pushing the d-pawn, and my weak e-pawn.] 21.Ng3 g6 [Admitting my mistake and coming back over to this diagonal was better. 21...Bc8 ] 22.Bb3 Qb6 23.Rc6 Qb7 [23...Qd8 brings more pieces over to the kingside] 24.Qd2 Rfc8 [The way things worked out 24...Rac8 was likely better as this way the f-pawn is protected] 25.Ng5 Rxc6? [25...Nd7! with the idea of 26.-- Nc5 was better as then the c-file is closed. I wasn't worried enough, I thought my position was solid. I should've looked a little deeper because this was the only tactical point of the game. The game falls apart from here] 26.dxc6 Qxc6 27.Nxf7 Kg7?? [27...Kf8 28.Qh6+ Ke8 and White is still better] 28.Qh6+ Black resigns. A nicely played attack by Kirk. He built up the pressure slowly and I crumbled. My sense of danger let me down, I absolutely missed that he could even check at Qh6 1–0

the training has actually started

me and kirk are going to have weekly G/30s and actually analyze and send the analysis back and forth. i think it's pretty cool. here is the first game (a draw) with light notes by me

C.Sadler - K.Sadler
Training G/30 Internet Chess Club, 16.10.2005

We have decided to have weekly G/30s which I think is a good thing. I had only thought about playing 1.e4 e5 v. him and not even what to play as White. 1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 I could've played the Nimzo, but I wanted to see what he played v. Nf3. I had a feeling it was the Queen's Indian, that's why I played this. I went through some of my blitz games from 2003 and I realized how much I had played the QID... 3...b6 4.a3 ...particularly the Petrosian variation 4...Ba6! [The usual move is 4...Bb7 , in fact I had never seen the text. The idea is to hinder White from pushing his e-pawn, and putting pressure on the c-pawn.] 5.e3 [The main line is 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Nc3 c5 and Black seems better. Interesting] 5...d5 6.Qc2? [Positionally a terrible move. My position is passive because my queen is stuck on c4 eventually. 6.Nbd2 is theory and stronger because if 6...-- 7.cxd5 (for instance). White can still play 7...Bxf1 8.Nxf1 -- 9.Ng3 and eventually castle. (Theory is 6...Be7 7.b4 0–0 8.Bb2 . I'd be comfortable enough with this.) ] 6...Bb7 7.Be2 dxc4 8.Qxc4 [I was gonna try and gambit here with 8.Nc3 knowing that Kirk wouldn't try and hold on to the pawn regardless. The trouble is that I can never recapture with the bishop because of; 8.Bxc4 Bxf3 and my king is exposed. LIke I said, my position became passive because of the queen on c4.] 8...Bd6 9.0–0 0–0 10.h3? [Too slow. I could have played 10.Nc3 immediately. I was worried about something along the lines of 10...Bxf3 11.Bxf3 Bxh2+ 12.Kxh2 Ng4+ forgetting of course, that in order for that sack to work properly, the pawn has to be on e5 (or in this case e4) to keep a piece from being on f6. The text was a waste of time with two queenside pieces undeveloped.; Maybe I could've even tried 10.b4 ] 10...c5 Stopping b4 and taking up space. I prefer his position. Kirk gave me lots of opportunity to both give up the bishop pair and choices for releasing tension in the center this game. I told him those were two things I was working on. I was kinda hoping he'd play ...cxd4 because after exd4, Be3, Rd1, i can protect the isolated pawn and be fully developed. 11.Nc3 Nbd7 [11...cxd4 12.exd4 Nbd7 13.Be3] 12.Rd1 Rc8 13.dxc5 I finally threaten something 13...Bxc5 [Fritz liked 13...Nxc5 14.Nb5 of course 14...Bd5 makes Black better] 14.Qa4 [Was there an alternative? My priority at this point was to get my queen to a safer square. I could never actually grab the a-pawn safely I don't think. 14.Qh4 ; 14.Qf4] 14...Bc6 15.Bb5 Qc7 16.b4 Bd6 In my calculations I missed that this was even possible (thinking it hung to the rook). 17.Bxc6 Qxc6 18.Qxc6 Rxc6 19.Nb5?! [Instead of sending the bishop to a better square, Fritz recommended 19.Bb2 +/- and I'm better.] 19...Bb8 20.Bb2 Rc2 21.Rd2 [21.Bxf6 Nxf6 22.Nbd4 and my position is slightly better.] 21...Rfc8 22.Nbd4 [22.Rxc2 Rxc2 23.Bxf6 Nxf6 24.Rd1 Is this better? At least I get a file. The a-pawn looks weak though. I guess the bishop hangs. 24...Rc8 Forced 25.Nbd4] 22...Rxd2 23.Nxd2 Be5? [I think his bishop was fine there. Progressing with his pawns either by 23...a6 ; or 23...e5 may have been slightly better. 24.N4f3 (24.Nf5 Kf8 25.Rc1 and if the rooks come off it looks drawish) 24...Rc2 25.Bc1] 24.N2f3 Bxd4 25.Nxd4 [Fritz says that this 25.Bxd4 was just as good, but I'm old fashioned, I like a centralized knight. ] 25...Ne4 26.Rc1= and this was an implicit draw offer, as with the rooks off and the symmetrical pawn structure it's quite even [Maybe almost threaten something with 26.Rd1 was better?] 26...Rxc1+= Game drawn by mutual agreement In any case a decent start. I should play more aggressively next game. I defended an inferior position as White. That's unacceptable. ½–½

maybe i'll get us to post on here with comments. the media isn't as good as sending the pgn back and forth but we'll see how it goes