For a lower level player or a beginner I have to recommend the joys of the King's Gambit. You can hardly go wrong. e4/ f4/ Nf6/ Bc4/ d4/ 0-0/ Bxf4/ Q somewhere/ sac on f7..., in roughly but not necessarily that order. If Black gets feisty enough to threaten something (like with Be7 or g5-4)--sac it. And next thing you know you're swarming over his king. It happens every time. Once in a blue moon you see a Falkbeer's (which you should play as Black yourself), and then it's not so fun. But 90% of the time they freeze to ponder their second or third move and you know the fun is imminent.

In this game, finally maybe for the first time in my life, after at least 50 KG's since I got back into it and several more years ago, someone plays 3. ... g5. I vaguely recall that this was the classical mainline, the Kiesseritzky, if I play h4 and then hop my N to e5 when he responds g4. (And Fischer made up 3. ... d6 just to avoid this so it's got to be fine for my level...) And I also vaguely recall that I can sac that N!, and play the Muzio! for the first time in my life (which he delays one move). Now I screwed it up, by taking with the Q on 7., since that allows the B to check me and his Q to swoop in and stomp me. So, sadly, that Q move was premature--however he missed the check, and the rest is history. (He was 1300ish, I was 1200ish, and the game was 2:00 plus :10, which is two reasons our play was less than stellar. And for comparison I'm now almost 1600 slow fics (which seems a lot lower than I thought I used to be if fics is about 2-300 pts over uscf...)) Played with a grin on almost every move:

1. e4 e5
2. f4 exf4
3. Nf3 g5
4. h4 g4
5. Bc4 Nh6
6. O-O gxf3
7. Qxf3 Qxh4
8. d4 Ng4
9. Bxf7+ Kd8
10. Bxf4 Bd6
11. e5 Rf8
12. exd6 c6
13. Qh3 Qxh3
14. Bg5+
{black resigns} 1-0

edit: and I meant to ask Curtains what he liked when he said the KG was almost refuted and he probably missed it. But would it be Falkbeers? Fischer's d6? or the classical g5? or more than one?

I was exaggerating a bit when I said it was refuted....but I just didn't like the positions, rather just keep my pawn.

I just got destroyed in these two games. I barley ever see f5, but that is no excuse. What are some good lines to take. I did better the 2nd game imo but it was just too much for me.

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2009.04.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Shadowruns"]
[Black "poilde"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteElo "1832"]
[BlackElo "2146"]
[ECO "C40"]
[TimeControl "900"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f5 3. exf5 e4 4. Nd4 Qf6 5. Nb5 Na6 6. g4 Qh4 7. Bg2 Nf6 8.
h3 h5 9. N1c3 c6 10. Nd4 Bc5 11. Nce2 O-O 12. d3 Re8 13. dxe4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4
Rxe4 15. Qd3 d5 16. gxh5 Bxd4 17. Qg3 Qxh5 18. f3 Rxe2+ 19. Kxe2 Bxf5 20. Kf1
Rf8 21. Kg2 Nc5 22. Qg5 Qe8 23. Qd2 Rf6 24. Re1 Qh5 25. Qxd4 Qxh3+ 26. Kg1
Qg3+ 27. Kh1 Qxf3+ 28. Kh2 Qh3+ 29. Kg1 Rg6+ 30. Bg5 Rxg5+ 31. Kf2 Rg2+ 32.
Kf1 Rd2+ 33. Kg1 Qg2# *



[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2009.04.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Shadowruns"]
[Black "poilde"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1830"]
[BlackElo "2149"]
[ECO "C40"]
[TimeControl "900"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f5 3. exf5 e4 4. Nd4 Qf6 5. Qh5+ g6 6. fxg6 hxg6 7. Qd5 Ne7
8. Qc4 d5 9. Qc3 Bg7 10. Nb5 Qf7 11. Nxc7+ Kd8 12. d4 exd3 13. Qxd3 Kxc7 14.
Qg3+ Kd7 15. Nc3 Nbc6 16. Nb5 Qe6+ 17. Be2 Be5 18. Qa3 a6 19. Be3 Rh4 20. g4
axb5 21. Qxa8 Bxb2 22. Rb1 Bc3+ 23. Kd1 Qe4 24. Rf1 d4 25. Bc1 Rxh2 26. Rxb5
Kc7 27. Bd2 Rh1 28. f3 Rxf1+ 29. Bxf1 Qxf3+ 30. Ke1 Bxd2+ 31. Kxd2 Qe3+ 32.
Kd1 Bxg4+ 33. Be2 Bxe2+ 34. Ke1 Bg4+ 35. Kf1 Bh3# {Shadowruns checkmated} 0-1

P.S. Have you decided to stop posting videos or what Curtains?

Why is it that the majority of players seem to play Nf3 instead of Nc3 in the slav? eg: d4 d5 c4 c6 Nf3? I cannot figure it out. It precludes the 'other' marshall gambit which seems excellent for white, and e5 is nothing at all to worry about as d4 d5 c4 c6 nc3 e5 dxe! d4 Ne4 with natural development and o-o-o seems so good for white (who is also scoring very well in it). There must be something people are avoiding but I can't find it.

Also, re: shadowrun, why not just play 3. Nxe5? I don't know any theory on that position at all, but I don't really understand exf at all. Nxe maintains your center and initiative (Qh5). exf seems to just give away your center and the initiative. But I'm tired and probably missing something.

Yeah, Nxe is the awesome, popular move.

Well you have to know some lines in that gambit, and it is definitely not that clear. Nf3 doesn't do anything wrong (tell me a line were you plan to develop that knight to some other square?), so why not avoid the gambit line especially if you don't know too many theory there?

I guess that makes sense. That is just a gambit I would never avoid. Given that it's still seen at the top level it's obviously sound, and white is the one with the initiative and thus much much easier to play. And it's one really strong initiative at that. I've had so many miniatures against some decent opponents, and my theory ends at: "sac the pawn, whoa dark square power, threaten mate on d8!"

3.-dxc4 works reasonably well against 3.Nc3 but not against 3.Nf3

This might be amusing. Could either of us have played worse? lol

[Event "Let's play chess"]
[Site "http://gameknot.com/"]
[Date "2009.04.14"]
[Round "-"]
[White "mzaza"]
[Black "vixticator"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1110"]
[BlackElo "1126"]

1. e4 c5 2. e5 d5 3. f4 f6 4. Qh5+ Kd7 5. Bb5+ Nc6 6. f5 fxe5 7. Nf3 e4 8. Ne5+ Kd6 9. Nf7+ Kd7 10. Nxd8 Kxd8 11. Qf7 Nf6 12. Be2 Ne5 13. Nc3 Nxf7 14. Bh5 Ne5 15. b3 Nxh5 16. Nxd5 Bxf5 17. O-O g6 18. Ba3 e6 19. Ne3 Nf6 20. c4 Kc7 21. d3 Nxd3 22. Nc2 Rd8 23. h4 b6 24. Bc1 Nxc1 25. Raxc1 Bh6 26. Rce1 Rd2 27. Rc1 e3 28. Rfe1 Bxc2 29. g3 Rhd8 30. Rf1 Rd1 31. Rxc2 Rxf1+ 32. Kxf1 Rd2 33. Rc3 Ne4 34. Rc1 Nxg3+ 35. Ke1 Rxa2 36. Rc3 e2 37. Rf3 Nf5 38. Re3 Kd6 39. Rd3+ Ke7 40. Rf3 Nd4 41. Rg3 Bd2+ 42. Kf2 e1=Q+ 43. Kg2 Bf4+ 44. Kh3 Qxg3# 0-1

lol

Brag: mated a GM in 35 moves in a serious open tournament game (2h/40 + 30 min to finish):

[Event "Neckar-Open Deizisau"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2009.04.09"]
[Round "1.17"]
[White "GM Bindrich"]
[Black "M. M."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B84"]
[WhiteElo "2516"]
[BlackElo "2100"]
[PlyCount "64"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. Be3 Be7 8. f4
Nc6 9. Qd2 Qc7 10. O-O-O O-O 11. g4 Nd7 12. g5 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 b5 14. a3 Bb7 15.
Rhg1 e5 16. Be3 exf4 17. Bxf4 Ne5 18. h4 Rac8 19. h5 Nc4 20. Bxc4 Qxc4 21. h6
Rfe8 22. hxg7 a5 23. Qh2 b4 24. axb4 axb4 25. Rh1 Bxe4 26. Nxe4 Qxe4 27. b3 Ra8
28. Kb2 Rec8 29. Rd3 Rxc2+ 30. Qxc2 Qxh1 31. Rd1 Qf3 32. Bc1 Bf6+ 0-1

Wow, very nice. I love the mating position in this game.

thx, he actually more or less mated himself but his position was probably lost anyway.

I might be improving now as I am 14-5-1 in my last 20 correspondence games. I am still *epically* bad under any time pressure. But then I'm something like 1-19 in my last 20 blitz games, yikes.

Any good chess podcasts out there?

Twoplustwo should host a chess podcast every week.

idea: !!!!!!!!!!!

You could play curtains HUHU for host rollz imo.

Edit: I would do it but I'm very bad at chess.

rofl I almost resigned this game.

[Event "rated blitz match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2009.04.19"]
[Round "?"]
[White "TriMind"]
[Black "vixticator"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1394"]
[BlackElo "744"]
[ECO "A22"]
[TimeControl "300"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 c6 4. d3 d5 5. Nf3 d4 6. Ne2 Bg4 7. Ng3 Bb4+ 8. Bd2
Bxd2+ 9. Qxd2 Bxf3 10. gxf3 Nbd7 11. Nf5 O-O 12. Rg1 g6 13. Qh6 Qa5+ 14. Ke2
Nh5 15. Qxh5 Kh8 16. Qh6 Rg8 17. Qh3 gxf5 18. Rxg8+ Kxg8 19. Qxf5 Nf8 20. Bh3
Ng6 21. a3 b5 22. b4 Qd8 23. c5 Qh4 24. Rg1 Kf8 25. Bg4 Nf4+ 26. Ke1 Nxd3+
27. Ke2 Qxf2+ 28. Kxd3 Qxg1 29. Qxh7 Qd1# {TriMind checkmated} 0-1

Wow. I feel like the luckiest bastard ever. Kind of a strange mate position.

I'm not averse to playing in some 5-min games vs. curtains for Host roles...

I guess he'd have to give me odds

Phew.. After a terrible downswing in my FIDE and USCF ratings for like a year, finally got my USCF back to 2300 (FIDE is still terribly low because most of the U.S tournaments don't count it (((( ). Still quite far from the best USCF, but I will be working on it

GL YouKnowWho

Thanks, GL to you too sir

whats a host role?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/host

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/role

Is there anything more douchy on the Internet then doing what you just did?