big center QID

so me and K have decided to try and go to a chess tournament at the end of January since K is going to have a little k running around in the spring. so i've started playing less DDO and more chess again :) I went through a couple of Rubinstein games and I saw an interesting transposition in the QGD

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 b6 giving either the option of the Dutch or the Queen's Indian or something completely different. i tried it in blitz, for what it's worth, and it went okay. the way i play the Queen's Indian i go for the big center anyways. the idea with this though is that after 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 b6 etc. it's something i'd normaly play. anyways, there's my theory for the month :)

correspondence chess master

so as of today at ICCF i am a correspondence master

Rating Forecast Jan 2011 Rating 2206
Games 67
Calculation 90585 C 2189 from 63 games

very exciting...now i just need to get there OTB :)

also i've figured out how not to get upset when i start losing in blitz...if i tell myself i'm going through nerdrage that appears to calm me...we'll see how it goes

hopefully more chess in the new year...i'd like to play a "real" tournament...time will tell

hot theory and 1.e4 e5

i'm quite impressed with 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 Qb6 as a sharp line for Black



i used to play 3. ...dxe4 4.fxe4 e5 and get checkmated horrifically. Thank you Ivanchuk for bringing it to my attention.

Also, isn't it always a good idea to play 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 and not 2.f4! until they play the Petroff or the Philidor? :)

I'm also interested in 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g5?! as a lethal blitz weapon...can i use it v. 3.Bc4? likely not :)

am i a boring player?

in a fit of rage, i played about 25 3+0 games until 2am last night...and 2 players commented that i had a boring style or something along those lines (funny how when i lose no one ever comments). they said that i just exchanged everything off...i mentioned that it was 3+0 but that wasn't enough for them :) maybe i am boring...will have to look at my games...

Tournament in September?

K mentioned the idea of going to play an Active tournament in September. I am the new parent of a set of twins who were born in May and K has a baby on the way due in March 2011, so there is the chorus of "last chance for a long time". Critics will note that I haven't played a tournament since 2008 even with no kids. In any case, I think this will actually happen.

Which leads to the inevitable question of "What to play?" Since playing Correspondence my knowledge is deeper than it is wide, and playing my tax bracket at a rated tournament it would have to be wide. I'm toying with the idea of playing 1.g3 as White and the King's Indian and Modern as Black. It's active...not much time to refute...and I've become relatively battle hardened as these have been my blitz openings (more or less) since I read Suttle's books

i`m sure i will flip flop...if i`m playing in a section where there will be people rated lower than me, i could always play 1.e4, Sicilian. I will likely play King`s INdian v. everything else. In any case...more to come (hopefully!)

A correspondence game I'm happy with

here's a game v. a strong opponent in ICCF that i'm happy that my prep stood up

NN (C's rating + 400) - C
Slovenia (2) ICCF 2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.Nf3 Nd7 7.h4 h6 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 11.Rh4 e6 12.Bf4 Bd6 13.Bxd6 Qxd6 14.Ne4 Qe7 15.Qa3 Qxa3 16.bxa3



he had played this position in a previous game and I hadn't intended to play the Caro-Kann in this tournament, but I thought that, despite the fact that White has a *huge* score in this line, with the queens off Black had to be as good if not better.

16. ...Ke7

of course around this time the Anand-Topalov game took place where Anand had the doubled a-pawns and won a nice game and i was second guessing my positional judgement. Anand vs Topalov, 2010

17.Rb1 b6 18.Ne5 Nxe5 19.dxe5 f6 20.Nd2 fxe5 21.Rg4 g5 22.hxg6 h5 23.Rc4 c5 24.Nf3 Kf6 25.Re4 Ne7 26.Nxe5 Rhd8 27.Rb3 Rd4 28.Rf3+ Nf5 29.Rff4 Rd5 30.Nd3 Rg8 31.Rf3 Rd4 ½-½



i held it pretty easily and may have even been better in the final position. he was the correspondence champion of Poland a couple of years ago so I was very happy with this game.

draw v. a SIM

C - NN
D14
Slovenia's 15 years of ICCF (2) 2010

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 is going to an exchange slav here so bad? unfortunately i can't get any of the Bb5 lines where there is play, but I am outrated by 400 points.



5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Bf4 Nc6 7.Rc1 [A finesse because if 7.e3 Bg4 actually works] 7...Bf5 8.e3 Rc8 9.Be2 e6 10.0-0 Bd6 11.Bxd6 Qxd6 12.Na4 0-0 13.Nc5 Rc7 14.Qb3 Qe7 15.Rc3 Bg4 16.Rfc1



i wonder if i shouldn't have played sharper. i was going for equality and trying to follow Khenkin vs Karjakin, 2008 Khenkin ended up drawing.

16...e5 17.dxe5 Nxe5 18.Nxe5 Bxe2 19.Na4 Rfc8 20.Rxc7 Rxc7 21.Rxc7 Qxc7 22.Qc3 Bc4 23.Nxc4 dxc4



transforming the IQP into a 3 v. 2 on the queenside. i thought if his king was a little closer he'd have some winning chances. luckily i was wrong :)

24.Qd4 Nd7 25.Nc3 b5 26.b3 = and i offered a draw which he took ½-½ not a real glorious game but hey it was a titled player. it's a very strong tournament where i'm outrated by almost 400 points in every game...we'll see if i surprise some people. ir is cowardly to play the slav exchange, but hey if he just would've played a semi-slav the best i could've had was the QGD Exchange :)

Chessbase 8 and self-improvement

I am showing my age ;) but I still use Chessbase 8 for my chess database. One of my favourite features is the Dossier where it shows your repertoire and what the percentages are and what your performance rating is. Last year for instance it showed that I scored 18% with 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 (rated purely on games from 2001). i had played 1.g3 the odd time so I decided that if, over the year i got either 1.g3 d5 or 1.Nf3 d5 i would go for the King's Indian Attack just to raise my score. And I did :) So in the interest of scientific research I decided to do the same thing...this is from my personal database of over 11000 correspondence, OTB, and blitz games.

My lowest two as white are two of my most hated lines as White :

1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 e4 and 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4

(in the interest of putting some positivity my best numbers are against 1.e4 e5 2.d4 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6)

As Black my best is surprisingly the Queen's Indian 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 and my worst is the Colle 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3

maybe for 2010 I'll go back to playing 1.d4 d5...i enjoy the Queen's Gambit Accepted, the Tarrasch and the Semi-Slav. And if I happen to beat some Colle's too...so be it :)

Slovenia's 15 years at ICCF

i'm playing in my first Norm tournament. granted it's correspondence not OTB chess, but here it is. Starts March 30, 2010. I need 6.5/10 for a norm which will be quite the performance I think. i'm quite outclassed and am taking on 2 SIMs and one IM. will be interesting.

Slovenia's 15 Years Membership of ICCF - Semif. 13 TD Pheby, Ian M.
Category 5 SIM=7 IM=6½ LGM=4½ LM=2½ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Score SB R Place
1 GER 85172 Laube, Bernd 2376 . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 10 1
2 SWE 451180 Colin, Sonny 2322 . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 10 1
3 GER 83546 Starke, Heiko 2365 . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 10 1
4 NED 370381 Panman, Henryk J. 2361 . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 10 1
5 SLO 480115 Jemec, Viktor 2376 . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 10 1
6 GER 81252 SM Sielaff, Rudolf 2456 . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 10 1
7 POL 429125 Slawinski, Tomasz 2470 . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 10 1
8 DEN 150184 SM Nørrelykke, Svend G. J. 2408 . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 10 1
9 POL 421428 Szymanski, Robert 2325 . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 10 1
10 CAN 90585 C 2012 . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 10 1
11 ENG 211154 IM Shaw, Sidney S. 2398 . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 10 1

since the first round of this tournament i have only lost 3 games in ICCF. (8 wins, 3 losses, 12 draws) but the losses have been in the King's Indian and a Trompowsky where I grabbed a pawn prematurely and got beaten quite badly. The King's Indian losses were quite bad...i bet i get quite a few 1.d4s :) It is going to be fun. I have enrolled K as my "second" we'll see how it goes.

Fischer's 60 Memorable Games

Today I finished Fischer's 60 Memorable Games, 2008 edition, redone by Batsford in algebraic with no editorial changes. Fabulous book...highly recommended.

Here's one of my favourite games from it...there were a lot of fabulous games, Byrne-Fischer, etc. but here's one v. Smyslov that I quite liked as it gave me a new idea as White in the Lopez if, for instance, the guy plays a line i'm not too fond of



Fischer - Smyslov
Capablanca Memorial 1965
C77 - Ruy Lopez

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 Be7
7. Nbd2 O-O 8. Nf1 b5 9. Bb3 d5 10. Qe2 dxe4 11. dxe4 Be6
12. Bxe6 fxe6 13. Ng3 Qd7 14. O-O Rad8 15. a4 Qd3 16. Qxd3
Rxd3 17. axb5 axb5 18. Ra6 Rd6 19. Kh1 Nd7 20. Be3 Rd8 21. h3
h6 22. Rfa1 Ndb8 23. Ra8 Rd1+ 24. Kh2 Rxa1 25. Rxa1 Nd7 26. b4
Kf7 27. Nf1 Bd6 28. g3 Nf6 29. N1d2 Ke7 30. Ra6 Nb8 31. Ra5 c6
32. Kg2 Nbd7 33. Kf1 Rc8 34. Ne1 Ne8 35. Nd3 Nc7 36. c4 bxc4
37. Nxc4 Nb5 38. Ra6 Kf6 39. Bc1 Bb8 40. Bb2 c5 41. Nb6 Nxb6
42. Rxb6 c4 43. Nc5 c3 1-0

the concept of playing d3, Nbd2, Nf1 before castling is a great one! How often when playing the White side of a closed Lopez, could you have used the rook on f1 (behind the mobile f-pawn) instead of on e1?

Next book is Benko...this could take years ladies and gentlemen...lots of games and me and Mrs. C are going to be parents in May to twins!

pawn pushing

i showed my brother a couple of games that i have recently won (blitz, correspondence etc) and he mentioned that a lot of my nice wins involved pawn breaks. i have never made a special effort to do that (except on the queenside when the situation presents itself) but it's interesting to have someone else look at your games now and then.

How to play the English Opening (Karpov)

When we were in London a few months ago my lovely wife picked up this great book by Karpov for me. It is 30 games annotated by him, mostly on the King's English but also has a great section on the Hedgehog. The games are instructive, and many are quite spectacular. I have learned alot about the English and already some of the lessons learned in the games of the 12th World Champion (and others) have been used by me.

Here is one of the most spectacular

Karpov-Topalov 1994



Karpov - Topalov, Linares 1994

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. g3 Nc6 6. Bg2 Bc5
7. Nb3 Be7 8. Nc3 O-O 9. O-O d6 10. Bf4 Nh5 11. e3 Nxf4
12. exf4 Bd7 13. Qd2 Qb8 14. Rfe1 g6 15. h4 a6 16. h5 b5
17. hxg6 hxg6 18. Nc5 dxc5 19. Qxd7 Rc8 20. Rxe6 Ra7 21. Rxg6+
fxg6 22. Qe6+ Kg7 23. Bxc6 Rd8 24. cxb5 Bf6 25. Ne4 Bd4
26. bxa6 Qb6 27. Rd1 Qxa6 28. Rxd4 Rxd4 29. Qf6+ Kg8 30. Qxg6+
Kf8 31. Qe8+ Kg7 32. Qe5+ Kg8 33. Nf6+ Kf7 34. Be8+ Kf8
35. Qxc5+ Qd6 36. Qxa7 Qxf6 37. Bh5 Rd2 38. b3 Rb2 39. Kg2 1-0



We were in Ottawa a couple of weeks ago and stopped at Chess and Math and picked up Fischer's 60 Memorable Games...the 2008 edition in algebraic and unadulterated :) I'm gonna fly through this one...i'm feeling my urge to play chess coming back, maybe I'll get a tournament in during the year 2009. Cross your fingers! I've been playing all sorts of things as White...I started the English because I felt that 1.g3 d5 was strong for Black :) As Black I'm mostly playing the Caro again, but I will be trying out the hedgehog v. the English and I've partially returned to the Nimzo. I suspect after playing over Fischer's games I will be playing the Najdorf and KID again :) We'll see

Winning Pawn Structures - Alexander Baburin

This is a good book on playing both sides of the IQP. There was some issues between Baburin and the publisher and for a while Baburin even advised people not to buy this book, but I believe it has been resolved. There are some interesting games. One idea that definitely stuck in my head was attacking the IQP by moving the knight from f3, then instead of pushing the f-pawn (after being brought up playing all kinds of 1.e4 e5 gambits and the KID) moving the bishop to f3 and attacking the long diagonal that way. it sounds silly, but i had never thought about playing like that before. funny what "thinking" does for you

in any case, highly recommended! next post won't be for a (long) while, i'm dusting off Kasparov Volume 2 - Euwe, Smyslov, Botwinnik, Tal.

Volume 2 finished (finally)

2 down one to go (but not immediately i need something different). i did enjoy this version quite a bit. going through his Averbakh games inspired me to try and save two tempi on the King's Indian by either playing the Leningrad Dutch or the Averbakh. I also learned about defending tough positions. If nothing else, Suttles was a fighter. The other nice thing is that, because this includes all his games, good, bad and ugly, it's okay to get run over playing these king fianchetto games. Case in point


Gordon - Suttles

1.d4 d6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 Nd7 5.Nf3 e5 6.Be2 Ne7 7.d5 O-O
8.g4 h6 9.Rg1 Nf6 10.h3 c6 11.Be3 cxd5 12.cxd5 g5 13.Qd2 Ng6
14.h4 Nxg4 15.hxg5 Nxe3 16.fxe3 hxg5 17.Nxg5 Bh6 18.Nf3 Kg7
19.Bd3 Bd7 20.O-O-O Rc8 21.Kb1 Rh8 22.Rdf1 Bh3 23.Re1 a6
24.Ne2 Qf6 25.Rg3 Bd7 26.Rf1 b5 27.Rgg1 Qd8 28.Ng3 Kf8 29.Qf2
Qe7 30.Nf5 Bxf5 31.exf5 e4 32.fxg6 exd3 33.Nd4 Ke8 34.gxf7+
Kd7 35.Qf5+ Kc7 36.Qe6 Bg5 37.Rxg5 Qxg5 38.Rc1+ Kb7 39.Qd7+
Kb6 40.Qxd6+ Kb7 41.Qd7+ Kb6 42.Qe6+ Kb7 43.Rxc8 1-0

These things happen :) Again, highly recommended book.

First loss of 2009 :)

K - C
Game 25 Owen Sound, 02.01.2009
E97 - King's Indian : Bayonet Attack

1.e4 g6 [I almost played the Sicilian 1...c5 but then I remembered he played 2.c3 Maybe next time :)] 2.d4 d6 3.c4 Very nice 3...Nf6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nf3 [I really thought he was going to play 6.Bg5 ] 6...e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.Re1 f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.Bf3 c6 13.Ba3 a5? [13. ...cxd5;
or even 13...h6 14.Ne6 Bxe6 was fine. Instead of thinking of Bxe6 as a developing move, i thought of it as a "victory" for K because he was happy with this position] 14.dxc6 bxc6? [I didn't really look at 14...Nxc6 although this was good as I could block off the d-file] 15.b5 c5 [15...Ne8 was about the only move not to lose a pawn and it's ugly;
my idea was along the lines of 15...h6 16.Nh3 g5 17.-- etc. 17...g4 Of course with the d-pawn hanging it would never get to that] 16.exf5 Rb8 17.fxg6 h6? not a great post-opening by me 18.Nf7! Rxf7 19.gxf7+ Kxf7 20.Rxe5 [20.Bxc5 may have been cleaner] 20...Ng4 21.Rxe7+ [21.Re4 Bxc3 22.Rc1] 21...Qxe7 22.Bxg4 Bxc3 23.Qf3+ Qf6 24.Bh5+ i missed this 24...Kf8 25.Re1 Bf5 26.Rd1 Be5 27.g4 Be6 28.Qxf6+ Bxf6 29.Rxd6 Ke7 30.Bxc5 Nicely played game by K. He overwhelmed me and didn't allow me back into the game at all. 1-0

Merry Christmas!

Same as every year this time I'm going to talk about 2009 and give my "Game of 2008" and "Worst Game of 2008"

I didn't play very much rated chess this year, but when I did play it was of high quality (for me). I would like to play some more this year. In 2009, I'm going to talk K into playing some more and bringing back the King's Gambit or the Scotch Gambit. Players at my level can't defend so why not make them?

Game of the Year

I went over my games this morning and I had some fun games in 2008. My favourite though, for strength of opponent was the Panov v. MS in the Active Tournament in Kitchener, despite the error on move 31.

C - MS
B13 - Panov
Active Kitchener, ON (3), 06.09.2008

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Be3 e6 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Be2 Bd6 10.0-0 0-0 11.a3 a6 12.h3 Bh5 13.Rc1 Rc8 14.Na4 Re8 15.Nc5 Bxc5 16.dxc5 Ne4 17.Re1 Ng3 18.Bxa6 bxa6 19.fxg3 d4 20.Bf4 Rxe1+ 21.Qxe1 Bxf3 22.gxf3 Qd5 23.Qe4 Qxe4 24.fxe4 f6 25.Kf2 Kf7 26.b4 Ne5 27.Bxe5 fxe5 28.Ke2 Ke6 29.Kd3 Rf8 30.Ke2 g6 31.Rf1 Rb8 32.Kd3 a5 33.Kc4 axb4 34.axb4 Rd8 35.b5 d3 36.b6 d2 37.Rd1 Rd4+ 38.Kb5 Kd7 39.c6+ Kc8 40.Kc5 Kb8 41.Rf1 42.Rf8+ Rd8 43.b7+ Kb8 44.Rxd8+
"The MS game showed mature play on your part considering it was an active. Nicely played endgame." (HJ) 1-0

The worst game of the year was probably my first loss v. K in our match. He played quite well, but I played terribly...no plan and he manhandled me...although the same could be said of the last game of the match where he transposed a c3-sicilian into a French Advance and I fell apart

C - K
D36 - QGD : Exchange
Match Owen Sound, ON (1), 03.05.2008

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.Qc2 Be7 7.e3 g6 8.Bd3 0-0 9.Nge2 Nh5 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.Ng3 Nxg3 12.hxg3 Bg4 13.Ne2 Nd7 14.f3 Qxe3 15.fxg4 Rfe8 16.Qd2 Qxg3+ 17.Kd1 Qxg4 18.Kc2 Nf6 19.Raf1 Ne4 20.Qh6 Ng5 21.Kc3 c5 22.Rf4 cxd4+ 23.Rxd4 Rac8+ 24.Kd2 Rxe2+ 25.Bxe2 Qxd4+ 26.Ke1 Rc1+ 0-1

KW Active 2008

I played 4 round of the Kitchener Active yesterday and score 2/4. leave any comments please! (too many Caros) i am glad i got another Panov after completely mishandling the position in round one. the guy in the first round was rated about 100 points lower than me, the second guy was around the same, the last two were experts in "normal" chess, but only about 300-400 points higher than me in active


C - SS
Active Kitchener, ON (1), 06.09.2008
B13 - Caro-Kann : Panov Variation

This is the tournament I've played in the most over the years. It's a one day active in a city about an hour and a half from where I live. My opponent was a 13 year old kid. 1.e4 [I think if I could do it all over again I would've played 1.g3 and tried to mix it up a bit] 1...c6 What 13 year old kid plays the Caro-Kann? Come on! 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 dxc4!? Generally speaking Black should wait until I've used a tempo developing my light-square bishop before doing this. 6.Bxc4 e6 7.Nf3 Be7 Of course playing it this way like a QGD and sadding me with the IQP isn't terrible either. [I generally develop my bishop here 7...Bb4 ;
or 7...Bd6 ] 8.0-0 0-0 9.Be3 [If I would've thought for a second I would've played something like 9.Qe2 allowing me to play 9...-- 10.Rd1 -- 11.Be3 or somewhere else 11...-- 12.Rac1 and be able to just play a "normal" IQP position. My mind was blank and watch what I decided on instead] 9...Nbd7 10.Qc2? Start of my bad plans. Not sure why I put my queen on the only open file. [10.Qe2 was playable again, with ideas similar to above] 10...Nb6 11.Bd3 h6 12.Rad1 Wrong rook [12.Rfd1 -- 13.Rac1 and then move my queen should've been my plan] 12...Nbd5 13.h3? [13.Nxd5;
or if i wanted to move a pawn 13.a3 ] 13...Nb4! Nice move 14.Qe2 Nxd3 15.Rxd3? [again 15.Qxd3 is better. unless i was trying to get the other rook to the c-file. my plans were muddled and i didn't see much of what he was doing] 15...b6 16.Rd2 [Threatening 16.-- Ba6] 16...Bb7 17.Rfd1 Okay great! I've got a setup now (for better or worse), doubled rooks on the d-file, open up the file come up the middle it's gonna be great. 17...Rc8 18.a3? [admitting my mistake with 18.Rc1 was better] 18...Nd5 [18...Bxa3 was simple enough and then I have to start calculating lines like 19.Ra1 (19.bxa3 Rxc3) 19. ...Bxb2 20.Rxb2 Rxc3 21.Rxa7 and I'm down material. I saw 18. ...Bxa3 during the game right after I moved it and I realized I had to hunker down and dig my heels in.] 19.Nxd5 Qxd5 Now I'm in big trouble because of my toing and froing. He has opened up the c-file and has complete control. In addition, I'm stuck with my stupid knight not able to move against his two bishops because of mate on g2. I tried to hunker down 20.Qf1 Rfd8 21.Rc1 Bf6 22.Rdc2 [Maybe just 22.Rxc8 was better] 22...Rxc2 23.Rxc2 Rc8? giving away most of his advantage [23...Qf5 and pressuring my d-pawn (and rook) was better] 24.Rxc8+ Bxc8 25.b4 Trying to stake out some space [25.Qc1 was better 25...Bb7 26.Qc7 and get on with it.] 25...Bb7 26.Qc1 Qc6? Again trading off pieces helps me 27.Qxc6 Bxc6 28.Ne5 Bxe5? Now it's tough for him because he gets rid of my IQP and makes it opposite coloured bishops. We were in some time pressure here, so let's see if Fritz finds some flaws in my endgame "technique" [28...Bd5 was a better move] 29.dxe5 Kf8 30.f4 Be4 31.Kf2 Trying to get the active king. My plan was to try and win on the kingside because my bishop could take care of my part of the queenside 31...Ke7 32.g4 Kd7 33.Kg3 Bg6 34.h4 h5! This was a good move by him. Taking care of everything 35.gxh5 [I could've played 35.a4 here because his bishop was on the other side but I think it's still a draw] 35...Bxh5 36.Kf2 Kc6 37.Bc1 b5 38.Ke3 Kd5 39.Bb2 g6 40.Bc1 Bg4 41.Bb2= I kept my composure and defended a tough position, but didn't get much play at all as White. ½-½

JD - C
Active Kitchener, ON (2), 06.09.2008
A85 - Dutch Defense

I'm a control freak in chess...I want to impose my will on the position. After my opponent took it to me (when I was White) last game, I decided I was going to play a little more aggressively this round. 1.c4 f5 I was going to play the King's Indian against 1.d4 this tournament, but the Dutch is okay against 1.c4 because not only does it takes up space, but also White can't play a lot of the gambit lines having moved his c-pawn already. 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 Not as strong without White playing g3 4.Bf4 d6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Bg3 [6.e3 first was probably better. Although he did suck me in] 6...Nh5 [Fritz likes 6...Ne4 better. My idea was that I thought that either he had to move his h-pawn or else I would play ...f4 and win material. I know he wanted me to trade off his bishop and open the h-file, but with him playing h3 (or h4) that wasn't a possibility. Of course I missed that 7.e3 stopped ...f4. I got a little nervous that I was completely chess blind. Also my idea of not losing tempos by jumping my knight all around have gone out the window 7.e3 c5] 7.e3 [7.Bh4 h6 8.e3 g5 9.Nd2 Nf6 10.Bg3 is okay for White. I'm not going to castle into that mess am I?] 7...Nxg3 8.hxg3 e5 [8...Nc6 first was likely better. 9.Qb3 e5 10.0-0-0 e4 11.Nd2 but he still had good pressure] 9.Be2 [9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Qxd8+ Kxd8 was okay in my books. If i don't kingside castle, he has no attack.] 9...e4 [9...Nc6 10.d5 Ne7] 10.Nd2 Nd7 [I either had to fight back on the kingside 10...h5 ;
10...c5 or the center. I should've been trying to get him to push his d-pawn to activate my dark-square bishop] 11.g4 Nf6 12.gxf5 Bxf5 [I know that "every Russian schoolboy knows that you capture back with the g-pawn" but the holes were getting bigger in my position 12...gxf5 ] 13.Qc2 [I thought he was just going to play 13.g4 and run over me] 13...Qd7 wanted to stop g4. I had already mentally gambitted the e-pawn. 14.Ndxe4 Nxe4 15.Nxe4 0-0 [Fritz liked 15...0-0-0 but without trying to work on the f-pawn, I was just a pawn down] 16.Bd3 Rae8 17.Ng5 Bxd3 18.Qxd3 Qg4 Now it starts getting a little messy 19.Nxh7 Qxg2 [19...Rf5! was better, threatening to pick off the knight] 20.0-0-0 Rxf2 21.Rdg1 Qe4 This is all I had. I knew with the "two hogs on the seventh" I should be able to draw 22.Qxe4 Rxe4 23.Rxg6 [The text gives a draw but 23.Re1? Rg2 and I'm better. His pieces are overloaded and his knight is the worst piece on the board. Was that pawn worth it?] 23...Rxe3 24.Ng5 [I was worried about him trying 24.Rhg1 Kxh7 (24...Ree2 25.Rxg7+ Kh8 26.Nf6 Rc2+=) 25.Rxg7+ Kh6 26.Rxc7 and he's better] 24...Ree2 25.Ne6 Rc2+ 26.Kd1 Rcd2+ [26...Rfd2+ 27.Ke1 Fritz liked 27...Kf7 28.Rxg7+ Kxe6 29.b3 Rxa2 but that's a lot to hope for after defending for the better part of the hour...better part of two hours counting last game] 27.Ke1 Rde2+ 28.Kd1 Rd2+ 29.Ke1 Rde2+= ½-½

C - MS
Active Kitchener, ON (3), 06.09.2008
B13 - Caro-Kann : Panov Variation

Okay so I've played basically terribly the first two games and still ended up with two hard fought draws. I knew I could play better. I got paired with the second highest rated guy in the tournament. 1.e4 c6 On the inside I was happy about this. I had thought about everything I had done wrong in the first round and decided to play the IQP by the book, rooks on the c- and d-file, play to push the pawn, etc. 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 Personally I hate this line. I always feel like he's gonna pick off the d-pawn. 6.Nf3 [Maybe I should avoid the pin and just play 6.Bg5 but even still 6...dxc4 7.Bxc4 (7.d5 Ne5 8.Qd4 Nd3+ 9.Bxd3 cxd3 10.Qxd3 is okay too. It's got good pedigree too, going all the way back to Botwinnik-Flohr match 1933) 7...Nxd4 8.Nf3 Nxf3+ 9.Qxf3 Qc7 10.Bb5+ Bd7 11.0-0 is not an easy line to find if you've never seen it. Maybe i will look at 6.Bg5 further] 6...Bg4 7.Be3 e6 8.cxd5?! Taking the starch out of the position [8.h3 or;
8.Be2] 8...exd5? [If he played 8...Nxd5 he would have been better] 9.Be2 [Could've tried 9.h3 here too] 9...Bd6 [9...Qb6 would have been pretty annoying] 10.0-0 0-0 11.a3 Trying to start up a minority attack 11...a6 12.h3 Bh5 13.Rc1 Rc8 14.Na4 My idea is to trade off the dark-squared bishop for my knight, give him the IQP and give me a queenside majority 14...Re8 15.Nc5 Bxc5? [A positional error. Moving the queen was better, although after 15...Qb6 16.b4 i would be happy with my position] 16.dxc5 Ne4 17.Re1 [Played becuase of variations like 17.-- d4 18.Nxd4 Bxe2 19.Qxe2 (Of course 19.Nxe2 is playable, but just the idea of the queen being overloaded because of the piece on e2 ) 19...Nxd4] 17...Ng3? 18.Bxa6! winning a pawn [His idea was 18.fxg3 Rxe3 19.Kf2 and he's good...again with pressure on the piece on e2. I thought about the tactic that my opponent missed in round one when i played 18.Bxa6] 18...bxa6 Now I've got 3 v. 1 on the queenside. The rest should basically take care of itself. 19.fxg3 d4 20.Bf4 Rxe1+ 21.Qxe1 Bxf3 22.gxf3 Qd5 23.Qe4 Qxe4 [I thought he would have done better to keep the pieces on with something like 23...Qb3 ] 24.fxe4 f6 [Something like 24...Re8 25.Re1 f5 would've put some pressure on my position] 25.Kf2 Kf7 26.b4 Ne5 27.Bxe5 Even though this protected his passer, I figured that the 3 v. 1 would take care of everything. 27...fxe5 28.Ke2 Ke6 29.Kd3 Rf8 30.Ke2 Oops 29.Kd3 was a mistake 30...g6 31.Rf1?? Rb8?? [I thought this was trouble but he didn't look at it 31...d3+ 32.Ke1 d2+ 33.Ke2 Rxf1 34.Kxf1 I would've been ticked and beaten] 32.Kd3 a5 33.Kc4 axb4 34.axb4 Rd8 35.b5 d3 36.b6 d2 37.Rd1 Rd4+ 38.Kb5 [38.Kc3 and just getting rid of the d-pawn was probably cleaner] 38...Kd7 39.c6+ Kc8 40.Kc5 Kb8



41.Rf1! [I thought 41.Rf1 was a great move, but it turns out that 41.Ra1 was mate 41...d1Q 42.c7+ Kb7 43.Ra7+ Kc8 44.Ra8+ Kd7 45.c8Q+ Ke7 46.Qf8+ Ke6 47.Re8+ Kd7 48.Re7# I was happy enough with 41.Rf1 anyways] 41...Kc8 [41...d1Q 42.Rf8+ Rd8 43.c7+ Kc8 44.Rxd8+ Qxd8 45.cxd8Q+ Kxd8] 42.Rf8+ Rd8 43.b7+ Kb8 44.Rxd8+ He tried to take my rook with his pawn, not realizing he hadn't had time to promote. unfortunately, he had that d-pawn move, but i was still happy with the game. it was a nice win v. a strong opponent and i had a nice finish to it1-0

DR - C
Active Kitchener, ON (4), 06.09.2008
B12 - Caro-Kann : Advance

1.e4 c6 [I was gonna try something different against him, but I saw in round one he played the exchange Lopez against 1...e5 and I didn't want to take on a stronger player in that line] 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Ne7 6.0-0 Nd7 The Karpov knights. 7.b3!? c5 8.c4 I think this is too ambitious a plan. 8...dxc4 9.Bxc4 Nc6 [9...cxd4 10.Qxd4 (10.Nxd4 Nxe5) 10...Nc6 would've worked as well.] 10.Ba3? Qa5 [10...Bg4 11.dxc5 (11.d5 Ncxe5 12.Nbd2 Nxc4 13.bxc4) 11...Ncxe5 His e-pawn was weak;
Giving up my castling could've worked as well 10...cxd4 11.Bxf8 Kxf8 12.Nxd4 Ndxe5 13.Nxf5 Qxd1 14.Rxd1 exf5] 11.Bb2 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Nxd4 [Could I have grabbed a pawn? It's tough, but I guess it works of the unprotected bishop 12...Qxe5 13.Re1 (13.Nb5 Qxb2 14.Nc7+ Kd8 15.Nxa8 Qxa1; 13.Nxc6 Qxb2) 13...Qf6 14.Bb5 Bc5 15.Bxc6 bxc6 16.Nxe6 Bxf2+ 17.Kxf2 Qxb2+ 18.Re2 Qxa1 oh man it's ugly] 13.Qxd4 Bc5 14.Qd2 Bb4? [After having the position ugly and him having lots of weaknesses, I was too ambitious to play for equality just with 14...Qxd2 15.Nxd2 Ke7 etc.] 15.Qe2 0-0 16.a3 Be7 17.Nd2 Rfe8? [I had grandiose ideas with overprotecting e6 so i could push ...f6 and get rid of the e-pawn, but why would I? isn't there a saying about the threat being stronger than the execution? 17...Rfd8 was better ] 18.b4 Qb6 19.Nb3 a6 [19...Rad8 would be better so if the position continued as it did, my rook wouldn't be stuck where he was] 20.Rfd1 Nf8?! [Playing over too many Suttles games. 20...Rad8 was better. Again I had idea of overprotecting e6 for no good reason] 21.Bd4 Qc7 22.Rac1 Qb8



This deserves a diagram and not for a good reason. I'm squeezed. The only thing I could see that wasn't bad was me playing ...b5, trading off light square bishops, and letting my queen get some air on the light squares. 23.Bb6 Bd8 [23...Bg5 would be okay putting some pressure on the c1-square, as that rook is probably his best piece. Any exchanges would make me a little easier to defend 24.Be3 Bxe3 25.Qxe3 and so on] 24.Bc5 b5? [I played out of order 24...Bc7 25.f4 b5 for instance 26.Bd3 Bxd3 27.Qxd3 and again I'm short on space, but it's playable] 25.Bd6 Bc7?? all excited about trading on d3 and missing the pin. [25...Qb6 26.Bd3 Bxd3 27.Rxd3] 26.Bxc7 Not the best end to the tournament...i made some bad decisions but all in all I didn't play so badly. I defended hard in the two games, i made the most of the tactical chances in the third game and then i was just outclassed in this game which isn't the end of the world. 1-0

Volume 1 completed

As of today I have finished Volume 1 of the Duncan Suttles biography by Bruce Harper and Yasser Seirawan. The annotations are fabulous, the games are mindblowing...i am really enjoying it. if you are going to buy one volume, buy the first, it is more heavily annotated. Volume 2 is ECO A and Volume 3 is ECO B-E. I am going to start working on Volume 2 tomorrow likely. It's a nice combiation of Suttles' OTB games as well as his correspondence games. Here is Suttles' masterpiece

Bilek-Suttles, Venice 1974

1.c4 g6 2.g3 Bg7 3.Bg2 d6 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.d3 Nh6 6.e3 Bd7 7.Nge2
Qc8 8.h3 a6 9.b3 b5 10.Rb1 Rb8 11.Bb2 f6 12.Qd2 Nf7 13.Rc1
bxc4 14.dxc4 Nb4 15.f4 c5 16.Rd1 h5 17.Nd5 Nxd5 18.Qxd5 a5
19.Qd3 Rh7 20.Bc3 a4 21.Qc2 Kf8 22.Rb1 axb3 23.axb3 f5
24.Bxg7+ Kxg7 25.Kf2 h4 26.gxh4 Rxh4 27.Ng1 Bc6 28.Rh2 e5
29.Kg3 g5 30.fxg5 Re4 31.Kf2 Qh8 32.Nf3 Nxg5 33.Nxg5 Qh4+
34.Kg1 Qxg5 35.Kh1 Qxe3 36.Rg1 Kf6 37.Qb1 Qd4 38.Qc1 Rxb3
39.Qh6+ Ke7 40.Qg7+ Kd8 0-1

double-bishop sack

yes it was a blitz game and yes he had a save (a couple likely, including anything else after 21.f5) but i did get off the double-bishop sack and win

[Event "ICS rated blitz match"]
[Site "freechess.org"]
[Date "2008.06.28"]
[Round "-"]
[White "C"]
[Black "NN"]
[Result "1-0"]
[TimeControl "180"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Ndb5 Qb8 7. Bd3 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Ne2 Bxa3 10. bxa3 Nge7 11. Bb2 O-O 12. f4 d5 13. exd5 exd5 14. O-O Bg4 15. h3 Bxe2 16. Qxe2 Re8 17. Bxh7+ Kxh7 18. Qh5+ Kg8 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Qg5+ Ng6 21. f5 Ne5 22. fxg6 Nxg6 23. Qf6+ Kg8 24. Qxf7+ Kh8 25. Qxg6 Qa7+ 26. Kh1 Qg7 27. Qh5+ Qh7 28. Qxd5 Qxc2 29. Rf7 Qc3 30. Qh5+ Kg8 31. Qh7# 1-0

Final Score - 3.5-2.5

Even though I got back-doored into a French and checkmated horribly, it just felt good to play...i need a weekend tournament of 5 games in 2 days to get me out of this mood :)

K-C
C02 - French : Advance Variation
Match Owen Sound (6), 22.05.2008

1.e4 c5 I figured I'd give him another crack at the Sicilian 2.d4 Unexpected 2...e6 3.c3! This is the downfall of my move order. White can basically force an Advanced French v. 2. ...e6. 3...d5 4.e5 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 c4 7.Be2 [7.Nbd2 is theory. I should be working on b3 since he didn't get there before m] 7...Nge7 [7...Na5 8.Nbd2 Bd7 is a more sensible set up for me] 8.Nh4 g5!? 9.Bxg5 [I won a pawn because Kirk thought that 9.Nf3 g4 10.Nfd2 h5 I was happy with the position because with the b- and c-pawns gone it's just a matter of marching my passed c-pawn in right?] 9...Qxb2 10.Nd2 Qxc3 11.0-0 Nxd4 12.Bh5 Rg8? 13.Bxf7+! Kxf7 14.Qh5+ Ng6 15.Qxh7+ Rg7 16.Qh5 Nf5 [16...Qd3] 17.Ndf3 Nfxh4 18.Nxh4 Qxe5 19.f4 Qd6 [19...Qb2 20.f5 exf5] 20.Rae1 Be7?? [20...Qc5+ 21.Kh1 d4 protecting the 5th rank although it's still ugly 22.Re5! Qxa3 23.Nxg6 (23.f5 exf5 24.Bh6 (24.Rfxf5+) ; 23...Rxg6 24.f5 exf5 25.Rexf5+ Bxf5 26.Rxf5+ Kg8 27.Qxg6+ Bg7 28.Qe6+ (28.Qf7+=) 28...Kh7 29.Bd2 protecting mate by me. The position is still won for Kirk, but there were a lot of exact moves he would have had to find...i certainly didn't see it over the board :)] 21.f5 Bxg5 22.fxe6+ Kg8 23.Nxg6 Rh7 24.Qxg5 Qxh2+ 25.Kf2 Rg7 26.Rh1 Rxg6 27.Qxg6+ Kf8 1-0