C41 - Philidor Defense : Nimzowitsch Variation
This is the first I've touched a chessboard (Tuesday) since the tournament (Saturday). It was a very unpleasant tournament for me and I'm not sure what caused it. Too much quickplay no doubt. I forgot to bring my clock that should have been a warning. I had decided beforehand to play 1.e4, the Alekhine and the Nimzo/QGD. I had White the first game
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 As everytime Black avoids the Ruy, I wonder why I didn't just push my f-pawn on the second move 3.d4 Nf6 Interesting move order. Regular is [3...exd4;
and of course every White player v. the Philidor is looking for 3...Bg4 ;) ] 4.Bg5?! [I had to protect the pawn. Kirk recommended 4.dxe5 but after 4...Nxe4 i wonder if i would've found 5.Qd5!;
The mainline is 4.Nc3 and after 4...Nbd7 it is the Hanham Variation] 4...h6 [Schwartz-Paulsen continued 4...exd4 but I like the idea of him putting the question to my bishop. 5.Nxd4 Be7 6.Bd3 0-0 7.Nc3 c6 and eventually White won. I think I would play 4.Bg5 again though] 5.Bxf6? [Better was 5.Bh4 but I couldn't see what to play after 5...g5 6.dxe5 (not 6.Bg3? Nxe4) 6...Nxe4 7.Bd3 and it's messy but i doubt he wants his pawn on h4;
Even better was the immediate 5.dxe5 hxg5 6.exf6 g4 7.Nd4 Qxf6 I thought about it, but I realized why complicate things unnecessarily and just gave up the bishop pair, which I was loath to do before the game started.] 5...Qxf6 6.Nc3 c6 7.d5!? [I probably should have got on with it 7.Qd2 or;
7.Be2 but I thought that with all his pawn moves, I could try one too. In addition, this indirectly stopped him from playing ...b5] 7...Be7?
White to play and win
8.Qd2? [I missed that the bishop on e7 stopped the queen from coming back to d8 and stopping the fork 8.dxc6! bxc6 (8...Nxc6 9.Nd5 Qg6 10.Nc7+ is pretty obvious) 9.Nd5 Qg6 (9...cxd5 10.Qxd5 and wins the rook) 10.Nc7+] 8...0-0 9.0-0-0[9.dxc6 bxc6 (9...Nxc6 10.Nd5) 10.Nd5 cxd5 11.Qxd5 still worked, but if I missed it the first time, i was sure to miss it again. Of course it's not as strong this time because in the other line 11...Nc6 12.Qxc6 was check] 9...Nd7
White to play and lose horribly
10.g3?? Believe it or not there was some thought behind this move. [I wanted to put my knight on h4 and get to f5 but of course I couldn't do it immediately because of Qxh4, so I played 10.g3 losing the knight immediately. 10...-- 11.Nh4;
Of course something like 10.Be2 was better.
] 10...Qxf3
Why did I miss that the knight was defended only by the g-pawn? I wanted to play g3 while I could because I didn't want him to be able to pin. Kirk gave a more realistic excuse...not being used to playing with "real pieces". I had too much time to think, so I was making these deep knight inflitration ideas instead of looking at the board like I would in a blitz or active game. My opponent felt terrible and even apologized after the game.
So what's the solution? I want to play at the Canadian Open but I' m not real good at losing. Should I go back to playing things like the Caro? Should I give up chess? Should I analyze with a real board? I have given up correspondence. I'm thinking about just playing chess as a social activity, but I think I need a break. I may go to play more passive things as Black and just play 1.f4 as White and actually go through GM-RAM and endings books and sit at a board instead of this idiot box. We'll see 0-1
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