Tactics training (hard)

Where is that from?

Wonder what was Black's previous move, Kd7? And what in the world is that rook doing on b8 besides stopping Qc6+ from being a win. I'm suspecting that this is composed

A very nice composition at that.

Chessity puzzle

Yeah I'm a fish

Won 1.5-0.5

Games to follow tomorrow.

[Event "Club Championship Playoff"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2014.07.23"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Villain"]
[Black "Hero"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A96"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[SourceDate "2012.02.19"]

1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. c4 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. b3 Ne4 8. Bb2
Bf6 9. Nbd2 Nc6 10. Ne1 Nxd2 11. Qxd2 e5 (11... Qe8 12. d5) 12. dxe5 dxe5 13.
Qd5+! {forcing the king into the corner for the endgame} Kh8 14. Qxd8 Nxd8 (
14... Rxd8 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. Nd3 {seemed pretty unpleasant.}) 15. Nd3 Re8 (
15... Nf7 16. Bd5) 16. Rfd1 Nf7 17. Nc5 (17. Bd5 Kg8) 17... c6 (17... Nd6 {was
my intention, but then I spotted} 18. Na6! {which is very difficult for
Black to meet}) 18. Nd7 Re7 (18... Bxd7 19. Rxd7 Re7 20. Rad1 Rae8 21. Ba3 {is
a lot worse}) 19. Nxf6 gxf6 20. Rd2 Rd7 21. Rad1 Rxd2 22. Rxd2 a5 23. Bf3 (23.
e4 fxe4 24. Bxe4 Be6) 23... Be6 24. Bh5 Kg7 25. Bxf7 {This surprised me, but
he said he couln't find a role for his bishop.} Kxf7 26. Kg2 {Seems to be the
start of a wrong plan. White really needs to make sense of his bishop, so I
think} (26. f4! {is a good move}) 26... a4 27. Kf3 axb3 28. axb3 b5! {Now
I have a very nasty initiative} 29. cxb5 cxb5 30. b4 Ra4 31. Bc3 Ra3 32. Rc2
Bc4 (32... Bb3 33. Rc1 Ra2 {looks more accurate}) 33. e3 {This definitely
seems wrong, giving me a bunch of light squares for free.} Bd3 34. Rc1 Ra2 35.
Kg2 Be4+ 36. Kf1 Ke6 37. Be1 Bd3+ (37... Bc2 {I didn't spot this strong move
yet}) 38. Kg1 Kd5 39. f3 Bc2! 40. h4 Kc4 41. h5 Kd3 42. Bf2 Ra4 43. e4 fxe4
44. fxe4 Rxb4 45. Bc5 Rxe4 46. Be7 f5 0-1

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game...r.php?id=93811

These are my 'instant' notes and are mainly the variations I considered during the game. Any feedback/improvements are very appreciated, and I will take a deeper look later.

Villain is an FM rated around 2230, and he is definitely much more solid at the longer time controls. The time control was 25+0, and in the first game I was always up at least a couple of minutes, which I think is quite important when there is no increment.

So, I just need a draw with White in the second game. Should be quite simple right...

[Event "Club Championship Playoff"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2014.07.23"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Hero"]
[Black "Villain"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C55"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[SourceDate "2012.02.19"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 {A surprise. I was going for} (3... Bc5 4. c3
Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Bxd2+ 8. Nbxd2 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Qb3 {
because I remembered the repetition after} Na5 (10... Nce7 {but actually this
has been played and looks ok.}) 11. Qa4+ Nc6 12. Qb3) 4. d3 (4. Ng5 {I'm sure
there must be a myriad of forced draws for White here, but I don't know it at
all.}) 4... Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Re1 d6 7. a4 Kh8 8. a5 a6 9. Nbd2 (9. c3 Ng8 10.
d4 f5 {seems to be the main line, and it looks like there is a lot of theory
attached.}) 9... Ng8 10. Nf1 f5 11. exf5 Bxf5 12. Ng3 Bg4 {woops...somehow I
completely missed that the rook was also attacking f3} 13. Bd5 Nd4 (13... Nf6
14. h3 (14. Bxc6 bxc6 15. h3 Bd7) 14... Nxd5 15. hxg4 Nf4 {All lines look
better for Black, but it's maybe not so easy to tell which one is best.}) 14.
c3 Nxf3+ (14... Bxf3 15. gxf3 Nc6) 15. gxf3 Bc8 16. d4 exd4 (16... c6 17. Bb3
exd4 18. Qxd4 Rxf3? 19. Qe4) 17. Qxd4 Bf6 18. Qd3 Ne7 19. Bb3 Nc6 20. f4 g6
21. Bd5 {I felt quite optimistic around here, I think Black didn't make the
most of my mistakes.} Bg7 22. Ra4 Ne7 23. Bg2 d5 24. Be3 Bd7 25. Bc5!? (25.
Rb4 Bb5) (25. Raa1 {looks fine.}) 25... Bxa4 26. Bxe7 Re8 (26... Qe8 {was
definitely a possibility and will require some deeper analysis.} 27. Re3 (27.
f5) 27... Rf7) 27. Bxd8 Rxe1+ 28. Bf1 Rxd8 29. f5 Bb5 (29... gxf5 30. Qxf5) 30.
Qd2 Ra1 31. fxg6 hxg6 32. Qg5 Rd6 (32... Re8 33. Kg2 Bxf1+ 34. Nxf1 Ree1 35.
Ng3 {and the draw is close.}) 33. Qe7 Kh7 34. Qxc7 Re6 35. Kg2 Bxf1+ 36. Nxf1
Ree1 37. Ne3 Rab1 38. Qxb7 Re2 39. b4 Rbb2 40. Ng4 Rec2 {I assume I'm winning
here, but I saw the draw and went for it.} 41. Nf6+ Kh6 42. Ng8+ Kh7 43. Nf6+
Kh6 44. Ng8+ Kh7 1/2-1/2

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game...r.php?id=93813

Does anyone know of any better game replayers? If you have Chessbase, the best thing to do will be to copy and paste into that, but if not the chessvideos one is awkward for following the notes.

You can use http://chess.tuxtown.net/game/.

Game #1.

Game #2.

Congrats on the win, and thanks for the annotated games. Really enjoyed playing over them. I thought the first one was a really instructive way to win opposite colored bishops. I also liked your practical decision to force the draw in game 2. Like you said, sure you're winning, but if all you need is a draw to seal the deal, why not take it? Practical chess is underrated.

And Rei, that game replayer site is awesome. I've been using chessvideos but am annoyed at not being able to input text. This is excellent. Gracias.

Tactics training

Tactics Training





I've been slacking off a bit on the chess studying last few days At least Olympiad starts soon! It will be really exciting to watch and hopefully get me in the mood again.

My game against TexAg06 with light comments.

http://chess.tuxtown.net/game-replay...617d1f2cc55b54

Over the last few days I was away coaching at a junior event, good fun and motivation is high again.

Tactics Training

f5?? What was your idiot opponent thinking?

Ok, so I think I have identified a big weakness in my play. I suck at prophylaxis. I have just completed the chapter in GM Prep- Strategic Play and hardly got any exercises right. I was actually getting kinda depressed towards the end. Now starting the next chapter which is Dynamic Play the exercises feel so simple, and I have not got one wrong so far.

I have struggled to get another big tourney organised before the European Club Cup, so I think I will have to make do with a couple of weekend tournaments. Since the opposition tends to be quite weak in these, I will use them as a training ground, and the theme for the first one will be always trying to work out what is my opponent's idea!

Need help with a game!

http://chess.tuxtown.net/game-replay...5efba1f2231c4f

I felt I should have had a small/medium sized advantage, but somehow it just evaporated. Where did I go wrong?

Some quick thoughts - I didn't analyze the game deeply, just thinking out loud here. I don't play 1. c4 and get this c4-d3-e4 pawn structure really ever, so forgive me if these suggestions are dumb.

-Is 11. d4 standard in these types of positions? Could you try either f4 or b4?

-After 17. dxe5 I think it'll be very tough to get a tangible advantage. Black always has the d4 square and white doesn't have such a square (dang c6 pawn), plus black is so solid and the pawn structure is symmetrical.

goldaxe, could you elaborate on two moves that seemed weird to me:

12.Qb3: maybe set the pieces up in some other way?
16.dxe5 (as noted by Tex): possibly making things too simple. 16.d5 and try to work with the better bishop?
Delaying Qd7 seemed odd at first but I guess there's not much going on either way. You can even lose those Pirc type endings if you are sucky and careless like me.