I found out that Hackdeath generally does quite well with complications, even at this time control.

Cadaz - Tomukas 0:1. There's no need to post a game there - just got lucky on early blunder, that's all...

Indeed. A monkey could have played my side better. gg Tomukas.

yes, I'm familiar with the article. It doesn't really propose anything better though! There are suggestions to deviate, but the computer will throw cold water over pretty much anything you can come up with. I think Black is just worse (+/-) in all of the critical lines.

It looks like Qe6 isn't necessary, or even good, and almost any move that doesn't get White mated works instead. Which is a shame.

Noir_Desir - HorridSludgyBits 1:0


[White "NeroDesiderio"]
[Black "Sludgy"]

[PlyCount "43"]

1. Nf3 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 Bg4 5. e4 e5 6. dxe5 Bxf3 7. gxf3 dxe5 8.
Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Bg5 Be7 10. O-O-O+ Kc7 11. Bh3 Ng8 12. Be3 Bb4 13. Na4 Nf6 14. c5
Nbd7 15. f4 b5 16. fxe5 Nxe5 17. Bf4 Rhe8 18. a3 Ba5 19. b4 bxa4 20. bxa5 Kb7
21. Kc2 Ng6 22. Rb1+ 1:0

I always believed in my bishops
But if he doesn't miss the mate, i wasn't so sure of my advantage.

god, i'm so bad. I saw the mate looking at another variation then I play right into it. I decided to take a little more time than my last games, so I ended up with a bad position AND short of time.

I've played the Latvian a couple of times, and I've found that it gives white a decent position in the 3.d4 lines, don't know much theory in it though, the article seems pretty intense. btw what's the line where Black plays d6 and takes white's knight on e5, can't remember it but its quite an interesting one iirc.

Thanks , I assumed I should have something for Qf6 as his king was very weak but couldn't find anything. I saw the Qe6+ Bxe6 line as played quite early, but didn't find anything for Qxe6 until much later. I was rather fixed on making the idea work, standard mistake I guess, lucky there was something there.

I used to play a lot of 1 min chess on ICC, so that must have improved my calculation speed although it was already pretty good before.

There is a line in the Philidor with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5(?) 4.Bc4 (4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Neg5 with Nf7 ideas is supposed to bury this line these days as far as I know) fxe4 5.Nxe5, not sure if that's the one you were after.

smilingbill 1 - 0 confirmedtroll

http://www.ficsgames.com/cgi-bin/sho...83;action=show

He played gxf6 by accident in the opening, after which things got pretty random, not sure if I should 6.d5 but couldn't resist. Felt like I was so close to knockout very many times but he kept finding only moves. I managed to scramble through in the end, almost lost faith a couple of times when he just refused to drop

lol_gxf6.
Otherwise I try to focus on defending after that.
I'd be happy to have some feedbabk on Qxb2 and Bxc3 afterwards.

GG otherwise

Firebird disliked 6.d5, loved the pawn grabbing action (surprise surprise), disliked Bb4 and hated d6 if I remember correctly. After that the White advantage rollercoastered away between +1 and +3 with some missed wins. At least I managed to stay on the plus side

Although gxf6 isn't the move you want to play in that position (Qxf6), its not as bad as you might think. After d5, I'd be looking to play some kind of setup with e5, d6 & f5 (though the particular move order may be important), using the open g-file to discourage kingside castling for white, while the double f-pawns are useful for attacking the centre & e4 in particular (especially if you can fix the central pawn structure).
As played, you neglected the development of your queenside too much, and that is essentially what cost you the game, particularly when combined with the pawn grab on the queenside & the further developmental losses when trying to retreat your queen.

Nezh-Scholar 1-0

palinca - ganstaman: 1-0

http://ficsgames.com/cgi-bin/show.cg...55;action=show

Even though it's my 4th loss in 4 rounds, I really enjoyed this game and think it's pretty cool with a pretty final position (before I see what the computer has to say).

It was a Sicilian Scheveningen, which I play whenever someone meets my French with 1. e4 e6 2. Nf3. But I was guessing the theory, and I can find only 1 game with 9...Nbd7, which really is just cramping instead of 9...Nc6. The knight on d7 blocks exits for my Nf6. I actually spent 2 minutes on move 12 trying to make 12...Nxe4 work so I wouldn't have to play 12...Ne8.

It seems I really blundered with 13...exf5 since 14. Nd5 Qd8 (as played) loses to 15. Nc6. Oh, black is also losing after 15. Nxf5 Bxg5 as played too, but with the follow-up 16. Bxg5 Qxg5 17. Rg1 (I thought I'd be safe after 17...Qd8 since my Ne8 protected g7 but 18. Rxg7+ Nxg7 gets mated by 19. Qg1). Thankfully for me, white played 16. Rg1, which isn't at least immediately losing (at some plies, the computer is favoring black ).

White gets a mate-in-5 with 18. Rxg7+ again after my 17...Bb7 instead of 17...Ne5. But we both missed it in favor of the still totally winning 18. Qh6.

Eh, this is getting to be too much. White is basically crushing the whole time. The computer is seeing mates and sacrifices all over the place. And the moves I thought were nice (17...Bb7, 19. Ra3), the computer thinks were pretty relatively bad. There's a mate-in-12 starting with 22. Bb5! based on Rg1-e1-xe8.

Fun attacking game to me, should give BobJoeJim much confidence...

HipHopRTR 0 - 1 mc4chess

http://www.ficsgames.com/cgi-bin/sho...85;action=show

Totally butchered the rook ending ... swapping everything is an easy draw, but I kept rooks on & found a way to lose.

It's hard to believe Nbd7 is really bad, it's playable in a lot of these positions even if you get cramped and have to eventually play Nf6-e8. I expect there are quite a few games with 9. Be3 Nbd7.

However, once White plays a4 it's a lot more normal to put the knight on c6 (in almost every similar position). The knight is more active there because it has an extra possibility to go to b4, and maybe some tiny extra possibilities of Na5-c4 or Na5-b3. It's also useful to hold back a4-a5. Also he's spent a tempo without attacking your king (a major plan for White in these positions), so the knight doesn't need to panic over to f8.

Hey guys, I'd like to be considered for the next tournament if possible, thanks.

Absolutely, all are welcome. This tourney should run through the end of the year, but I'll be setting up the 2+2 Chess Open VII for registration the first week of 2011, most likely. Just keep an eye out for the thread

ganstaman: 9.-Nbd7 might be a little careless but can't imagine it being too bad. 11.-d5 or even 11.-Nc5 12.Bf3 d5 seem pretty thematic to me and worth analysis. 13.-exf5 is indeed really bad on both thematic and concrete levels, maybe 13.-Ne5 14.f6 Bd8 instead

Hoyasaxa forfeits round 4, so that makes it time to pair up the final round! Because Christmas is this weekend, and I don't want to put undue pressure on anyone to be at the computer during the holidays, I am making this round last TWO WEEKS. The tournament will be officially over on Sunday, January 2nd. Please, if you *are* able to play this week, do so. Don't take this as an excuse to put things off until the last minute. If all eight games are played sooner than then, I am happy to post final standings early as well.

Here are the pairings for the fifth and final round:


Best of luck everyone!

confirmedtroll 1 0 Noir_desir

http://www.ficsgames.com/cgi-bin/sho...68;action=show

Black's initiative on queen's side seems really strong.
I butchered the opening so bad..

Yeah, just looking quickly it looked like a5-4 was a waste of time for black. I don't understand the reluctance to get c4 in with the crushing threat of c3.

not playing 13.-Bd5 before going b5 is pretty criminal iyam. not to mentioned 13.-f6 looks pretty great too, sorry for rubbing it in N_D

HorridSludgyBits 0 - Sholar 1

http://www.ficsgames.com/cgi-bin/sho...25;action=show

Perhaps White plays 12.h3 instead to prevent the annoyance on the h3-c8 diagonal, and 14.Ne3 is probably too ambitious (my computer thinks Black should continue with 15...Bf5/Bxd3/d4).

19.h3 might have been needed...after 20...f5 White is suffering, although I underestimated 26.Rf8 and missed 29...Nh3+.

Thanks for running the tournament BobJoeJim!

You're welcome Sholar, it has been my pleasure as always!