weren't the suns supposed to save basketball?

i like the suns, i really do. i watched them play the spurs last night and they got beaten bad. i like run and gun basketball but they really need a big man in there, or at least to move Amare to the power forward. they got physically destroyed. which is fine if you're making shots, but the spurs got every shot they wanted. their style is good to beat 95% of the teams in the league, the problem is that once you get down to the final 4, you're playing that other 5%. even the run and gun sonics or the showtime lakers played defense. they gave up a ton of layups. and they didn't even go through duncan hardly. they just busted phoenix off the dribble...not a good showing by the suns. i hope miami wins. i wanna see the shaq v. duncan ;)

if i ever play 1.e4 again...

i've got a new line


Three Pawns Gambit

it's perfect for blitz..not sure how good it is OTB ;)

i must have been more patient in the 20th century...

i was surfing yesterday and i stumbled back upon IECG the first correspondence place i played. man i was patient...i was looking to get a record of my "first win" or something...in the 2 years i played there (not counting forfeits) i lost 48 games and drew 2. here are the two draws

[Event "QN.1999.0.00086"]
[Site "IECG"]
[Date "1999.10.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sadler, Craig"]
[Black "Bisplinghoff, Steffen"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E88"]
[WhiteElo "538"]
[BlackElo "684"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "1999.10.28"]
[Source "IECG"]
[SourceDate "2004.12.16"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5 c6 8. Bd3 Nfd7
9. Qd2 Nc5 10. b4 Nxd3+ 11. Qxd3 c5 12. bxc5 dxc5 13. Bxc5 Re8 14. Nge2 Nd7 15.
Be3 Qa5 16. O-O Nc5 17. Bxc5 Qxc5+ 18. Kh1 f5 19. f4 b6 20. exf5 Bxf5 21. Ne4
Bxe4 22. Qxe4 exf4 23. Qxf4 Bxa1 24. Qf7+ Kh8 25. Rxa1 Rxe2 26. Rf1 Rae8
1/2-1/2

[Event "TE.1999.P.00101"]
[Site "IECG"]
[Date "1999.11.01"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Perez, Giorgio"]
[Black "Sadler, Craig"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E84"]
[WhiteElo "1903"]
[BlackElo "547"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "1999.11.01"]
[Source "IECG"]
[SourceDate "2004.12.16"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 Nc6 7. Nge2 a6 8. Qd2
Rb8 9. Bh6 b5 10. h4 e5 11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12. cxb5 axb5 13. h5 b4 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15.
exd5 Nxd4 16. hxg6 hxg6 17. Qh6+ Kf6 18. Qh4+ Kg7 19. Qh6+ 1/2-1/2

it was terrible how weak i was in most of the games...part of it was the way i "kept score". back in those days, i would keep sticky notes with the pieces written on in pencil basically in FEN. you can imagine how that would suck. i had no idea what a dark square was or a light square. some things you keep on playing somethings you don't. for instance, i played the RL back then and also the caro-irregularly, but i had some sort of fascination with the King's Indian which thankfully i gave up. in any case it was interesting...too bad i couldn't find my "first" win ;)

aaron clinton

so i was thinking about playing a match v. clinton since the o'shea match doesn't seem to be happening...i think it may be worth a go

C.Sadler		Clinton
1581	4-0	1340
1549	3½-½	1365
1525	3-1	1390
1509	2½-1½	1415
1493	2-2	1440
1477	1½-2½	1465
1461	1-3	1490
1445	½-3½	1515
1429	0-4	1540

so basically i need to score 2½-1½ which is very doable...i may give him a call, particularly since jane isn't around much on the weekends anymore..

subway stamps no more

this isn't chess related but i went to Subway for lunch today and apparently they aren't giving away stamps anymore. apparently employees were selling them on E-bay.

Here is an Article and all over the blog world

it's brutal. i grew up on that shit and i'm upset. all this insanity has caused me to think about playing 1.d4 e5...maybe not but there's some neat traps

1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7 4.Bf4 Qb4+ 5.Bd2 Qxb2 6.Bc3? Bb4! 7.Qd2? Bxc3 8.Qxc3 Qc1# 0-1

i dunno if i go to chess on wednesday maybe i'll give er a go ;)

luck favors the aggressor

i was thinking back to some of my more brilliant games (draw v. hugh morrison for example) and i recalled that luck favors the aggressor. i think i may go back to 1.e4. But C, i can hear you asking, aren't you afraid of the French, particularly the Winawer? not anymore

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qg4

luck favors the aggressor...there's an article on this line (or a line like it) in the NIC yearbook i have...also i bought a subscription to New In Chess...i'm a sucker...they sent me a pamphlet and ig ot it. jane got a job today at Sauble Beach and i hope she likes it...may gimme some more time for chess. which reminds me...there's a tournament in hamilton coming up soon....i'm thinking about unassing the king's gambit and 1.e4. we'll see

problems

so against 1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 i've bene playing 3.c3


Geller's system

it's worked pretty good. i'm worried there's a strong line against it, but it stunts the dark squared bishop and builds up a big center...now that i'm unofficially a 1.d4 player, it's the closest thing to a 1.e4 opening i get ;)

now here's the problem i have...it's with


Fischer's defense

to the Nimzo-Indian. The traditional 5.Bd3, 6.Nf3, 7.a3, 8.O-O etc. isn't very strong and i've been gettng my butt kicked. the strongest move is 5.Ne2 similar to the Reshevsky variation which I have played semi-successfully in the past. I may try the old Nge2, f3, e4 variation and who knows I may even try this as black, because i subscribe to the whole, if you can't beat em, join em theory of chess ;)

also i have convinced myself that after 1.d4 d5 2.e3 c5 an exchange is either a weak CK Exchange or a weak Slav Exchange depending on which pawn he takes back with (assuming 3.c3). armed with this knowledge, i may be able to go back and play 1.d4 d5 once again. stay tuned ;)

This is a picture of me at Pizza Hutt with Jane a couple of months ago...check out the crazy eyes ;)

chess

i may have talked kirk into playing the Alekhine again, considering he likes open and familiar positions. i think it would be a good temporary choice. i am back in the 1670 range on ICC and happy enough with the way i'm playing. i emailed chris o'shea about a match...i think i may be getting the itch...or i'm horny, i can't tell the difference lol. i think i may be going to the active tournament in may in hamilton (we'll see) and kirk talked to me this morning about running an active tournament in august. i put a message up on chesstalk to the kitchener, london, barrie players about whether it would be too far.

chess

i've got a couple of ideas...one is playing 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 * 3.f4 v. the Sicilian. there's only two main ideas for black...either play ...e6 and ...d5 or play a dragon basically. it looks interesting. the idea v. the dragon is basically Bb5, Bxc6 and slowly make your way towards the king. haven't looked into the ...e6, ...d5 move order yet.

i did get an interesting idea from "http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=14587">Kotronias' book "Winning with the Caro-Kann"

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e6 5.g4 Bg6 6.Nge2 c5 7.h4 Nc6?!



8.h5 Bxc2?!

it's interesting....it's been played in two games by Djuric in the early 1990s and forgotten, but i'm gonna revive it in blitz and potentially v. kirk

here's the games

[Event "Corfu op"]
[Site "Corfu"]
[Date "1993.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Kotronias, Vasilios"]
[Black "Djuric, Stefan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2590"]
[BlackElo "2495"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "1993.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.01"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nc3 e6 5. g4 Bg6 6. Nge2 c5 7. h4 Nc6 8. h5 Bxc2
9. Qxc2 cxd4 10. Nb1 Rc8 11. Qa4 Qb6 12. Nf4 Qb4+ 13. Qxb4 Bxb4+ 14. Kd1 Nxe5
15. Nd3 Nxd3 16. Bxd3 Nf6 17. f3 h6 18. Bf4 Nd7 19. Nd2 Ke7 20. Nb3 e5 21. a3
Bd6 22. Re1 Kd8 23. Bg3 Rc6 24. Na5 Rc7 25. Kd2 Re8 26. Rac1 Nf6 27. Bf5 Ree7
28. Nxb7+ 1-0

[Event "Saint Afrique op"]
[Site "Saint Afrique"]
[Date "1993.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sax, Gyula"]
[Black "Djuric, Stefan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2485"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "1993.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.01"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nc3 e6 5. g4 Bg6 6. Nge2 c5 7. h4 Nc6 8. h5 Bxc2
9. Qxc2 cxd4 10. Nb1 Rc8 11. Qa4 Qd7 12. Na3 Nxe5 13. Qxd7+ Kxd7 14. Nxd4 Bc5
15. Nac2 Nxg4 16. Rg1 N8f6 17. Be2 Nxf2 18. Kxf2 e5 19. Rxg7 exd4 20. Rxf7+ Ke6
21. Rxf6+ Kxf6 22. Bd3 Rhg8 23. Bh6 Bb6 24. Nb4 Rc5 25. Rf1 a5 26. Bxh7 Rh8 27.
Kg3+ Ke7 28. Bg5+ Kd6 29. Rf6+ Kc7 30. Bf4+ Kd8 31. Rd6+ 1-0




i also had an idea in the sicilian...can you play a QID? 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 (let's say) 5.Nc3 b6 i don't see why you can't. or even 4. ...b6 and then ...Nge7 if you want to stop the threat of e5 after Ngf6. threw it into fritz and Ndb5 looked strong...it may be a 3 minute thing ;)

kirk played a nice KG

i was watching kirk play on ICC tonight

[Event "ICC 5 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2005.04.19"]
[Round "-"]
[White "kirksadler"]
[Black "Shaohua"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black forfeits on time"]
[WhiteElo "1352"]
[BlackElo "1325"]
[Opening "King's knight's gambit"]
[ECO "C38"]
[NIC "KG.03"]
[Time "22:43:21"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 g5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. c3 Nc6 6. O-O h5 7. d4 f6 8. Qb3
Na5 9. Bf7+ Kf8 10. Qd5 c6 11. Qc5+ Kxf7 12. e5 fxe5 13. dxe5 Bf8 14. Qd4
Qb6 15. g3 Qxd4+ 16. Nxd4 Bc5 17. gxf4 g4 18. f5 Bxd4+ 19. cxd4 Nc4 20. Nc3
Ne7 21. b3 Nb6 22. Ne4 Nbd5 23. Ng5+ Ke8 24. f6 Ng6 25. f7+ Ke7 26. Ne4 d6
27. Bg5+ Kf8 28. Nxd6 Bd7 29. Nxb7 Rb8 30. Nd6 Nde7 31. Rae1 Be6 32. Rf6 Bd5
33. e6 a5 34. Nf5 a4 35. Nxe7 Nxe7 36. Bh6+ Rxh6 37. Rxh6 Kg7 38. Rxh5 axb3
39. Rg5+ Kf6 40. Rg8 Nxg8 41. fxg8=Q Rxg8 42. Rf1+ {Black forfeits on time}
1-0

it was a nice aggressive win...the king's gambit is great...the only problem is that there's many other better things to play v. 1.e4 e5. what's comparable v. the sicilian? smith-morra? likely not, but i think i/we may be able to get some mileage out of the grand prix 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 whatever 3.f4

refutor - the rock band

LOL my lifelong dream almost happened Click here

one week away

we're on for 1pm next week...i'm not really prepared but i'm good to go.

too bad i don't trust him enough to play 1.e4 e5 (trust = him playing the ruy lopez). i would love to get into a theoretical discussion of the open lopez. probably won't happen though...grr..

what to play after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 probably go for a Queen's Indian.

Billy is coming out with an album. i'm a little worried...here is a quote from the article

"Many people assume when I do more progressive work that I am trying to move away from something, when honestly what I am trying to do is get closer to who I really am," Corgan says of the upcoming album. "I tried to sum up all my feelings about my life and the world around me in the most beautiful ways I could dream up. It is easy to be negative, and much harder to find that silver lining behind the clouds of modern society."

so i have a feeling that it won't be hard rocking.

the pope died yesterday...don't have much to say about that, just put it in for historical purposes.

match with o'shea

so the first two games are set for April 10th here in Owen Sound, so i get the home board advantage lol. I'm soooooooooooo not prepared for this it's not even funny...i'm not even sure what i'm playing. it looks like i might try the Sicilian, but we'll see. i'm not sure between 1.e4, 1.d4 and 1.Nf3 it will likely be a game time decision. my biggest concern now is focus and clock management. kirk has been working with me but we'll see.

i was going over my match with Clinton today, and man i need to pick up my play if i'm going to compete with this guy. not that he's fabulous by any stretch of the imagination but my play was decidedly weak. if i'm going to bring up complex positions i need to play more accurately.

sadler-sadler

so me and kirk are going to have an active match, 30 moves in 40 minutes, then G/15 afterwards. i'm probably going to play the caro v. him as black, or the najdorf. the problem is i don't want to throw away a game. i can get an excellent position in the caro and maybe he'll switch to 1.d4 or something ;) i think he may try and switch to the grünfeld so if he does i may try 1.c4 c6. as white i was going to play 1.e4 but i think he may either play the ...e6 sicilian or the french or something else. so i'm gonna play 1.d4. but he made some comment about playing the black side of the slav exchange, because he "didn't want to play the semi-slav or the nimzo against" me. you think he would allow the botwinnik?

bronstein

i am going through "Sorceror's Apprentice" and i am amazed by bronstein. i even half-thought about taking up the
Old Indian. half-thought.

an interesting line is from the game
Botwinnik-Bronstein, World Championship (17) 1951. After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Nge2 Ba6! with a similar idea to the Benko Gambit where the light squared bishop trades off its counterpart on f1.

finished OMGP vol. 3

I received Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors Vol. 3 (Petrosian/Spassky) for Christmas and I finished it today. 85 games by March 14th. that's more than one per day which I am happy with. i am extremely tired, but i found the Spassky games interesting. Since I am having this match, Armando advised me to do nothing but tactics, because I "develop my pieces like a 2200 player" which is a good thing I think :) Morphy would be proud. i think i will work on Bronstein next, then the Polgar book.

it's on

i like the idea of having an annual post-Kitchener match to tell the truth. well O'Shea wants to play, it's just a matter of setting up when. as far as openings go...i'm thinking about playing the Caro as Black...i think he may try the 3.Nc3 variation but it's hard to tell. as White i may go with the Clinton strategy of playing 1.e4 and if he plays something I don't like, going to 1.d4. i'm excited

Hi Craig,

That sounds interesting.

Let me know some specific dates, so I can book them.

-Chris

2 potential matches

two potential matches - Martin Tolton from Tottenham, i have no idea where that is. i am rated 200 points higher than him, so i need to score at least 3/4 to keep my rating. probably not going to happen.

the second is Chris O'Shea from Thornbury. that's more realistic. plus he's rated higher, so i don't need to score a ridiculous score and we can have some good games. i emailed him inquisitively so we'll see what happens. he's kinda strong so he'll fight me tough and if we split our games i won't lose any points which is a bonus

chess is an art

i've lost all verve for actually competing...i still appreciate the beauty of chess though...i'm thinking about writing up a little treatise on the slav exchange...at lower levels it's still good...also on the winawer gambit of the slav and slav exchange 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e5 and 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nc3 e5