2+2 Correspondence Championship (Chess.com)

[Gorgonian]

I timed out in one. Not even really sure how.

[Sholar]

Originally Posted by Gorgonian

I timed out in one. Not even really sure how.

Against me, by a couple of hours (or less--you moved in time for the other game). Unfortunate, too, since that was shaping up to be an interesting middlegame.

[Cadaz]

Yeah hiphop timed out both of our games which is a pity as I think I had a really good chance of winning the one

[valenzuela]

I timed out in all the games because of real life ****.

[TexAg06]

Originally Posted by Cadaz

Yeah hiphop timed out both of our games which is a pity as I think I had a really good chance of winning the one

Exactly why he "timed out"

[ganstaman]

Anyone have this problem? I get to my home screen on chess.com and it tells me I have 6 minutes to make a move in a certain game. I click on the game and go to the details tab where it tells me I have 1 hour 34 minutes. How much time did I have left??

[Cadaz]

I think that when you're a premium member it somehow gives you some extra time. I've had it before but not since I lost premium.

[Noir_Desir]

As premium member you get set on auto vacation, and since vacation is always at least one day it adds the time difference to your clock if you come back from vacation earlier.

[Noir_Desir]

got lucky to win against Cadaz because he messed up his move order at the end and missed a mate. Was feeling pretty unhappy with my play during most of the game.

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game...r.php?id=63358

At least the game would probably have made Bent Larsen ("if in doubt, push a rook pawn") happy.

[ganstaman]

Well, I held out for the last game of round 2 as well. And now that I lost, four of you have to finish battling it out. At least you should be done sooner without me there. Good luck!

I liked my last game, even though it didn't go well for me. http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=50598147



I guess 52. Bd4 was the last mistake here, but I've been wrong in my analysis of this game many times already.

[ganstaman]

I hope it's not too mean to cheer myself up with this game I played with Sholar (and since he killed me in our other game, I think he can handle this). I had the black side of an interesting Benoni: http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=50598159 (or here, which I needed for the diagram: http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game...r.php?id=66803 )

Here's the position after white's 22nd move:

Spoiler:

I played 22...Bg4. I'd like to think it's actually correct and winning. I'm not sure what I'd suggest to white instead of 22. O-O though. The alternative seems to be to move the play to the queenside, but he has a bishop and rook that will have trouble helping there.

[White "NSholar"]
[Black "hamstergang"]
[Result "0-1"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Bf4 a6 8.a4 Qe7 9.h3 Bg7 10.e3 O-O 11.Nd2 Nh5 12.Bh2 f5 13.Be2 f4 14.e4 Qg5 15.Bxh5 gxh5 16.Qf3 Nd7 17.Nc4 Ne5 18.Nxe5 Bxe5 19.a5 b5 20.axb6 Rb8 21.Na4 Bd7 22.O-O Bg4 23.hxg4 hxg4 24.Qd3 g3 25.Ra3 gxh2+ 26.Kh1 f3 27.gxf3 Rb7 0-1

[Do it Right]

Tough but awesome position ganstaman. It looks like some complex study straight out of an endgame manual.

[Ajezz]

Hi gansta, I just wrote you a message on chess.com about the game.

I haven't analyzed it yet, but during the game I felt that the diagrammed position above is still totally lost. I had spotted the g5 idea the move before (not many candidate moves there...) but gave the check first. Bd4 must be wrong, but after 52. Bd4 g5 53. Ke3 I don't think I have anything. 53.. f4+ 54. gxf4 and then after gxf4+ Ke4 or gxh4 a bishop move.

Even after 52. Bd4 g5 53. hxg5 f4 54. Ke4 is allright because if Rxd4 Kxd4 the king is in the square and otherwise the bishop just moves away and the three q-side pawns should win.

Let's see what the Oracle will say (Houdini, that is...).

[wlrs]

At a quick glance it seems doubtful whether either one of those lines is alright for White. In the first line the h-pawn will win a bishop really fast and in the second it also looks like the B is lost very quickly (and Black should win). Will be interesting to see what the engine says though.

And gl for the fellow finalists, it's showdown time

[ganstaman]

Originally Posted by Ajezz

I had spotted the g5 idea the move before

Same here, which is why I thought it was weird when you played ...g6 since ...g5 was your threat once the queens came off. And so often I wasted time analyzing a position only to find the same theme of ...RxB deflection lost for me, which made it more upsetting to miss it in the game. I think I initially planned 46. Bd6, and after 46. g5, I kept discovering new things that made me change my evaluation of it. I'm on my phone now so it's hard see the specifics (chess.com looks horrible on my phone, totally unusable).

Edit: oh, you're saying white is winning in the diagrammed position, even after Bd4? Well that definitely makes the situation feel worse.