CCL Game 3

It was game day again for me yesterday.
I was playing against another UIUC player.
Higher rated than me (uscf 1700++) of course everyone is higher rated than me since i have not been playing in many tournaments due to budget constrain and no means of transportation.

I had a Black against Reti. I used to play Reti before so i know some of the variations although not in depth.
This guy went for a quick knockout using one of the sharpest line in accepted variation with 4. Ng5. I was prepared for something like 4. Na3 but not for this line. Furthermore, I have been staying up last night preparing for anything against 1. d4.

5...e5 is that a novelty? hehe.. i'm not that good to declare that it's a novetly.
I was afraid of the knight actually and want to get rid of it as soon as possible.
5...e6 is of course another option but then 6. Nxf7 and I couldn't castle anymore.

8. Qf3 !? he scared me once again with another unexpected move.I was expecting 8. d3 and dcthe next move. I think 8...Nc6 is interesting with the idea of Nb4.

12. Bxd5? I think bxd5 is more interesting. 12...Nb4 =

White offered a draw a few moves later and I accepted since anything can happen in that position.

CCL Game 2

I have white against an unrated player in my second game.
A quick search has given me some information that he is currently the president of the chess club in his college.
It's actually a university but we used to call it college in the US.
Anyway, playing an unrated player is risky since if unlucky, he/she could be a very good player or if lucky, he/she maybe just an average player.

Here is my second game.
I had a blunder 11. Be5 but maybe he didn't see through the continuation.
He made 3 consecutive blunders 13...Nd5, 14...Ke7 and 15...Ne7
I also missed a mate in 2 on move 18 (if you want to find the mate) and almost made Black struggle longer on move 22.

Collegiate Chess League 2006

I am playing for the Case Western Reserve University in a tournament since 3 weeks ago.
I played a uscf 2000++ player from uiuc in my first game as black. I had a promising start, deviated from symmetrical english as soon as possible, had a blocked center but then blundered a few times especially with 28...b3 ? when 28...a3 -/+.
Games with some annotation is available here

Why you should learn chess!

From Susan Polgar's blog:

Today, I visited the Research Center at Columbia University Medical Center (Department of Radiology and Psychology - Center for Neurology and Behavior) in New York. I met with Dr. Joy Hirsch (Professor of Psychology and Functional Neuroradiology and Director of fMRI Research Center).

She spent several hours conducting and analyzing various fMRI tests with my brain using state of the art technology. The finding was fascinating! The results clearly showed that when I analyze chess positions, both my right and left brain were functioning in full force. This finding decisively confirms that chess as an activity connects the right and left side of the brain.

Every step was documented. The full results and video will be included in the major film for National Geographic next year. This will be an amazing film for chess!

source: http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-break-through.html

College Chess League Round 1

I player a 2047 USCF player in my first match of the CCL 2006.
I haven't played in a tournament for a long time, thus my rating is very low at 1099 only.
I do play everyday though either on the internet or against the Kasparov Chessmate on my Mac.
Hence, I think my rating does not display my actual level.
But anyway, since my rating is low, I have to be paired with a higher rated player and furthermore, I have to play Black.

He played an English, and I was planning to play symmetrical but when he played 3. g3 I figured out I might just go into his trap since he's an experienced player. Thus I played 3. .. d6 rather then the more popular e6 or symmetrical with g6. I totally deviated from the opening book (or principal) when I replied Qd7 to his 4. Bg7. I think it might have made him over-confident because he played some weird moves too.

I think I played the middle game rather well but then I blundered twice!! I think that's why I need a lot more experience. I was considering a pawn move of either b3 or a3. b3 looked bolder, so I choose a3 when the reality is if I play b3 instead, I can temporarily sacrifice a knight and will probably be able to get a Rook for the exchange - if I played it right. The worst is when we are almost equal, with the center was blocked, I was considering a knight move for a long time. Then I tried to look at the Bishop-Knight exchange, which I'm pretty sure is not as good as the knight move. I was ready to move the knight, when suddenly I moved the Bishop instead! I guess maybe because that's the last command I've put in my head. I dont know!! I'm still figuring out why I did that.

Any explanation? Or same experience?

Anyway, I handled the end game very very bad and thus I lost.
I'm happy with the performance though.
At least I know I can play a higher level opponent with more preparation and tournament experience.

The problem is of course: I don't have money

Kramnik the Unified World Champion

I'll just write a few sentences about it.
I've been following the games at a few places.
First on the official website.
Then it went down, so I followed Susan's commentaries in her blog.
Then I followed it on ICC using Mac's Chessic, which is neat.
I love game 3 and 4 the most.
Got a few predictions right.
But i'm not as fast as Susan to blog them out.
I've got Rb7+! too!!
But I didn't know that it will lead to Topalov's resignation right after the move.
I thought Topa might want to struggle a little bit more, but then, it's definite the best continuation.

sign off
-zabbura-

Testing...

I played a 10 minute Blitz just now so that I can try
the chess publisher recommended by Gila Chess
Thanks a lot!

Game 10

Another Catalan today. Kramnik White.
[moves in square brackets are my predictions]



[19. .. Nf6]
19. .. Nf6 (got it right this time)

20. Nxb5 Ba6

21. a4 Ne4 (didn't get a chance to predict)
[22. Rac1 Qe8]
I think both Rac1 and Rdc1 is good. Moving the a-Rook will give white some attacking nerve even though it will leave the pawn on a4 without a defender for awhile.

22. Rdc1 Qe8 (White should use the open c-file for progress. He should also think about something to do with the knight on e5 which is very strong.
[23. Rc7 Bd8 24. Rc2]
in order to double on the c-file later.

23. Rc7 Bd8
[24. Rc2 f6 25. Nc3 Bxb5 26. axb5 Qxb5]

24. Ra7 (I have also thought of this line to double the rook on the a-file but i think it's draw-ish. For example, Bxb5 25. axb5 Qxb5 26. Qxb5 Rxb5 27. Nc6 Rxb2 28. Nxd8 Rxd8 29. R1xa5.)

24. ... f6 (I like 25. Nd7 now forking black's rook although white will actually lose one with 25. .. Rf7 26. Nxb6 Rxa7)
[25. Nd7 Rf7 26. Nxb6 Rax7 27. Nxd5 Rd7] I think Topalov has another plan since f6 is inviting Nd7. Black's rook and bishop are not active for the time being.
--Even Kramnik thought that Topalov might have some tricks here. The truth: a horrible blunder.

25. Nd7 Rf7 26. Nxb6 Rax7 27. Nxd5 Rd7 (exactly... i like white so far. Seems to be going into an imbalance game. White's a-pawn is of utmost important now.)
[28. Qc4 Qf7]

28. Ndc3 (I think this move is too defensive in an attacking position)

28. ... Rxd4 (White can play 29. f3 Bb6 30. Kg2 Nd6 31. Qxe8+ Nxe8 )
-- Susan Polgar also suggested either f3 or Re1 here and pointed out that this is another blunder.

29. Re1 f5 (Topalov made a few quick moves. Kramnik has 18 minutes for about 10 moves in a complicated position. Just like yesterday. Will he blunders again?)
[30. f3]

30. Qc2 (!)(Rook has to move and then white can play f3)

30. ... Rb4 31. Nd5 Rxb5 32. axb5 Qxb5 33. Nc7 (Oh my God... hmm another imbalance game.. will it favors Topalov again? I think Black will try to trade Queens now. The Bishop pair will be strong.)
--i don't even know that the game should be over by now.. all GM's knew like 6 moves ago..poor me..

33. ... Qc4 (thought so.. White doesn't want to trade)

34. Qd1 Bxc7
[Qd7!]
--A few GMs said that White should have traded Queens and can already do that here. However, I think Kramnik was afraid of the bishops pair.

35. Qd7 h6 36. Qxc7 (I think White will push to trade Queens now.)

36. Qb4 37. Qb8+ Qxb8 (Plan succeded)

38. Bxb8 Nd2 39. Ra1 (white should be winning)

40. g5 f4 41. Nb3
[41. Ra3 Bc4 42. Bc7 ]

41. Ra3 Bc4 42. Bc7 (Black might want to start moving the King to the center)

42. ... g4 (reminds me of Game 8 but white should not have any problem this time)
[43. Bxa5]

43. Bxa5 Topalov resigned.

1-0

My longest game so far

I've been playing Kasparov Chessmate on my G5 for some time now
My rating is now 1651. Not a good one.
I'm on level 12 and played 40 games so far in the Championship. More loses than wins especially in the Silvercup. I don't think I lost any game on Bronzecup - and that's good for me.



I just played a 174 moves game just now and that's the longest game for me so far against the software. I just couldn't finish it. We had different colored bishop and a passed pawn each. I tried a less popular Scandinavian variation. It's quite boring since the software always plays d5 as Black anytime I play e4.

Ops.. Game 10 is underway.. I'll have to continue later..

Game 9

Topalov had white today.
I watched the game started with Slav defense and then I went to take a nap since I slept late last night. I am going for a volunteering activity at a nature center today at 11 am.

When I woke up just now, move 33 has just been played. So I decided to make predictions for the next moves. White seems to be having a slight advantage since Black is kinda cramp. I am following Susan Polgar's style of writing a prediction and commentaries here. So credit should be given to her.



I think Rf3 make sense here

34. Qa2 (White is creating an option for attack along the a-file or f-file. I like Ra8 but it will separate the rook from protecting the f-file if an attack is launched.)

34. .. Nb6 (Now I think either Ra1 or Rf3 and white can play either Rda1 or Rdf1 later.)

35. Rf3 (Since black played Nb6 before, I thought he might want to play Ra8 but then Re7 and then Rf8 seems promising to me although white have option to change direction to attack the a-file instead.)

35. .. Nf8 (A rather unexpected move to me. Looks bad as well. Kramnik is cramping his own position and the knight will not be able to be a good defender except to defend f8 square by playing Nh7 afterwards - which does not seem to necessary since the square under attack is f7. White should play Rdf1 and win now.)



36. Rdf1 (white is totally winning. Now black can play Re7 but he couldn't play Rf8 later since knight has filled up the space.)

36. .. Re7 (as predicted, but it's very hard to defend now.)

37. Be3 (A rather fast move and I wasn't able to predict first. I think Topa is securing the win and he doesn't have to worry since black need 2 tempi to move the knight away and defend the pawn with his other rook. So i think Nh7 is the only option now. Kramnik should have gone to the toilet before move 35.)

37. .. Nh7 (As predicted. White can take the f7 pawn now. Another win for Topalov. What a great attacker he is.)

38. Rxf7 (I don't know what is coming next but Kramnik might want to consider resigning now. I am predicting a few words about game 5 and the toilet issue affecting Kramnik's concentration we be uttered by his team. I said before that unless Topalov gave the game 5 back, he might not be considered as a tru champion by some people; but with this style of play, Kramnik needs to win game 10 or people won't even care about game 5 anymore since it could have been a Topalov game just as well.)

38. .. Nd5 (I'm not sure if that can help at all. Just blocking the Queen from joining the assault but the Queen can always join in later whenever 'she' wants to. N7f3 is my prediction.)

39. R7f3 (indeed. And it seems like Kramnik has resigned before the time control. He won't be able to do anything anyway even if he gets more time.)

1-0

Another infamous comeback from Topalov. I think he will be remembered as a late starter in the chess history.

Do you think white should isolate the g-pawn?

I'm not sure. What do you think?