may (1)

C - K
May Match (1) Internet Chess Club, 14.05.2006
C42 - Petroff Defense

1.e4 [I am planning on playing 1.d4 at the Canadian Open, but for some reason I got nostalgic and wanted to play the Ruy Lopez. Unfortunately, I forgot that Kirk only allows the RUy Lopez when he's White and plays the Petroff as Black. I didn't feel like playing the King's Gambit so here we go] 1...e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 [I never felt comfortable playing 4.Nxf7 ] 4...Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Be7 [When I played the Petroff my choice was Marshall's. Kirk's line is more complicated 6...Bd6 ] 7.0-0 Nc6 8.c4 Nb4 I knew this was theory but I also thought it couldn't be good. How could I try to get an advantage 9.cxd5 Qxd5 [Theory is 9...Nxd3 10.Qxd3 Qxd5 11.Nc3 Nxc3 12.Qxc3 but with the isolated pawn i prefer this for Black] 10.Bxe4? A bad idea here. I was hoping to take advantage of all the knight and queen moves by Black [10.Re1 was probably better] 10...Qxe4 11.Re1? I didn't see Qc2 until I played this [11.Nc3 was probably better. 11...Qc2 12.Bg5] 11...Qc2! 12.Nc3 Bg4 13.Rxe7+? [Another terrible idea. I had played over Steinitz and von Bardeleben before this game and it clouded my judgement. Even 13.Bf4 was okay for Black as he can't castle because of the pin and 13...Qxd1 14.Raxd1 is good for White. Terrible decision by me] 13...Kxe7 14.Nd5+ Kd8 15.Qxc2 Nxc2 16.Ne5 Be6 White resigns 0-1

move orders

i got move ordered a couple of times lately by 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3



which is fine for most people but for a card-carrying najdorf player like myself? no thanks. i ended up playing the Classical Sicilian, or the Accelerated Dragon, I didn't like it. then it hit me...why not play what the Super G's play?

3. ...e5!



sure it's ugly as all hell, but it does keep white from playing d4, and if it's good enough for Ivanchuk, Morozevich, Leko (v. Kasparov btw), Shirov and Krammy it's good enough for me.

also i was thinking about recommending Spassky's Qe2 v. the Petroff



white has no losing chances at all, what's not to like?

play continues 5. ...Qe7 6.d3 Nf6 7.Bg5 and White has a lead in development. if i played 1.e4?! and allowed the Petroff i would play it

clin-ton

so i went over and "analyzed" with clinton, which basically means drinking some beers and pushing the pieces around the board. when i showed him my games from the barrie tournament he was amazed at how upset i was that i missed tactics, and he was like "everyone misses some tactics". do i hold myself to too high a standard, that is impossible to live up to? that would explain why i'm never satisfied with a game. maybe i should aim for realistic expectations...i'm a 1600 player at this point. let me be happy with a 1600 result. too hard ;)

also he showed me a game he played with the Cochrane Gambit





i always thought it was garbage but is it worse than the Allgaier gambit i doubt it. and it is tricky. maybe i'll give it a second look eventually ;) plus if i do a little research i'll never get a petroff at the tournament so i figure it's a win win situation.

also i was worried that clin-ton was catching up to me, but when i saw his games i'm still significantly stronger which is important to me, because i'm trying to improve ASAP